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4stars-uswnt · 4 years

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You Take My Heart Away [Kelley O’Hara x Reader]

requested by anon: Kelley O’Hara x reader where reader gets into a fist fight but she’s like I won’t throw the first punch bc I’ll finish it and like she gets teased by the team but Kelley is mad at reader for it bc R could’ve gotten hurt but it was still cool

requested by anon: Can we get another Kelley O’Hara x reader doesn’t have to be anything specific just maybe along the lines of them both being crazy and maybe oblivious

A/N: i decided to combine these two prompts! hope y’all enjoy it. also bonus points to anybody who gets the title reference (there’s a lil connection to a reference within the story)

warnings: homophobic and sexist language, violence, and swearing

Conversation was flowing and music was playing in the background of the bar, as the USWNT finished up their first round of drinks and appetizers. The team had pushed together a couple of tables, where you all were now sitting, laughing at each other’s jokes.

The air was light, victory and celebration filling the atmosphere. Megan and Ashlyn had been the ones to suggest a night out after your win against Japan, not only to celebrate the 2-0 victory but also to celebrate Lindsey’s birthday that was in the next couple of days.

You were currently sitting next to your best friend, Kelley O’Hara, bridging the gap between the veterans and the youngsters.

“Anybody want another drink?” Alex asks, pushing her chair back, as she moves to get up.

A chorus of yeses ring out, the team’s orders ringing out.

“I’ll help you with that, Al.” You stand up from your seat, giving the other woman a warm smile.

Once the two of you had left for the bar, the rest of the team began interrogating Kelley, who let her eyes follow you as you moved through the crowd.

“Kel,” Ash calls out over the noise of the music. “When are you gonna admit to (Y/N) that you’re hopelessly in love with her?”

“What?” Kelley sputters, flustered.

Megan rolls her eyes at the defender. “It’s so obvious that you’ve had a crush on her for the past like six years, and a blind person can see that she likes you too.”

“I- I’m not in love with (Y/N).” Kelley’s face flushes, as she rubs the back of her neck nervously. “She’s my best friend.”

“Kelley,” Christen softly chimes in,, hoping to talk some sense in her friend she’s known since college. “You guys obviously have feelings for each other that go beyond friendship, and you’ve been dancing around them for years. We just want you two to be happy.”

Many of the women nod and voice their agreement.

“But what if it ruins our friendship and I lose her forever?” The freckled defender bites her lip nervously.

“That’s not gonna happen.” Christen gives her a knowing look. “Even if she didn’t reciprocate those feelings, she’s not gonna cut you out of her life.”

“And Kel,” Tobin adds on. “You never know until you ask her. And who knows? The risk of putting your heart out there may be worth it. But you’re just gonna live in the dark haunted by the unknown and what ifs unless you tell her how you feel.”

“I hate that you’re philosophical insights are usually right,” Kelley huffs.

Meanwhile, as the team holds their intervention for your best friend, you and Alex were at the bar ordering another round of drinks.

As you were waiting for the bartender, you and Alex were engaged in your own conversation, when you hear a boisterous voice interrupt you.

“Hey! It’s Alex Morgan!” A large man approaches the two of you, holding a half-full cup of beer in his hand, and you have a feeling he’s downed a couple pints already.

You sense Alex tense up next to you, as she gives the stranger a tight smile. “Hello.”

“Oh, and who’s this?” He turns to you, a leering grin on his face, making your insides turn. You reach for Alex’s hand in search of comfort but also as a protective gesture.

“Is she your girlfriend?” The man looks back at the star forward. “I hear your entire team is full of d*kes, but I didn’t think you were one. You’re way too hot to be a d*ke.”

Alex’s grip on your hand tightens, as anger radiates off of her. “I’m actually happily married.” She raises her left hand to show off her ring.

“Woah.” The stranger lets out a low whistle, his eyes slowly widening before he squinting to get a better look, as his movements impaired by the alcohol. “That is quite the rock. How’d you afford that with your pay? I’ve heard all about your team’s fight for equal pay and all that. I personally think it’s a load of crap. You guys aren’t even that good at soccer, and it’s so boring. The only thing that makes your games interesting is your smoking hot bodies.”

You scrunch your nose in disgust at this man’s blatant misogyny. “I’m surprised you know about our equal pay fight. I’d think it’d be too complicated for your thick skull,” you quip, throwing the insult right in his face.

“Ooooo feisty, are we?” He raises his eyebrows at you. “And where do you get off calling me dumb?”

“I’m just calling them as I see them,” you simply state, letting go of Alex’s hand, as you move to stand in front of her protectively. “Where do you get off disrespecting women and being a bigot?”

“(Y/N/N), it’s not worth it,” Alex whispers in your ear.

“I’d listen to your friend,” the man sneers and stands up straighter, slightly sobering up. “Because I’m not afraid to hit a girl, especially a mouthy one like you. Women like you deserve to be put in your place.”

“Go on then,” you challenge, probably a stupid decision on your part, but the adrenaline is rushing and you are at your wits end with this man in front of you. “I dare you.”

You thank all the gods in the universe that the stupid stranger was actually stupid enough to try and throw a punch with his blood-alcohol level because you can see his punch coming from a mile away.

Before his fist can make contact with your face, you grab his hand and twist his arm, leaning in closely to his face. “Is that all you got? My mom hits better than you.” You smirk.

“Let go of me, you bitch,” he growls, snatching his arm out of your grasp.

“Wait, I have one more thing,” you call out.

“What the hell are you talk-”

Before he can finish, you cut him off, rather your fist cuts him off. The man in front of you had been testing your patience and had used up all your grace, which, in your opinion, warranted a punch in the face.

You can’t help but wince at the sharp pain shooting through your hand upon the contact, but the cracking sound of his nose eases some of your discomfort.

By now, the rest of the team had become worried by your prolonged absence and then had noticed the commotion this stranger was stirring. Hearing the raised voices coming from your direction, many of the veterans, including Kelley, Christen, Tobin, Ash, Ali, and Megan, made their way over to where Alex was currently holding you back from unleashing your anger on this drunk man.

“What is going on here?” Becky asks, surveying the situation in front of her.

“This asshole was insulting Al and then had the audacity to continue being a sexist pig,” you spit out, directing your words at the man, who was still holding his bloody nose, while Alex was doing her best to keep you under wraps.

“I think it’s time for you to go,” Ashlyn states firmly.

As the goalie, along with Becky, Megan, and Ali, coax the stranger into leaving you alone, and hopefully leaving the club, Alex, Christen, Tobin, and Kelley try and calm you down.

“(Y/N/N),” Christen soothes, cupping your face. “I need you to calm down. Take a deep breath.” The curly-haired forward inhales and exhales, motioning for you to mimic her actions.

You take a deep breath, and upon exhaling, you feel the tension, along with the adrenaline, leave your body.

“Shit,” you sigh. “My hand.”

You lift your right hand, revealing your split knuckles on which bruises were starting to form.

“Come on, Sylvester.” Tobin claps your shoulder, letting out an amused chuckle. “Let’s get you back to the hotel, and on the way, you can tell us all about your heroics.”

You amusedly roll your eyes and lean into the other woman’s side.

As the team gathers their things, ready to call it a night after the turn of events, Megan approaches you, holding out a bag of ice.

“Here, (Y/N), the bartender gave me this for your hand.”

“Thanks, P.” You place the cool ice on your knuckles, hissing at the temperature shock.

On the way back to the hotel, many of your teammates were interrogating you about what had happened back at the bar. After telling the entire story, you received many hoots and hollers from the rest of the team.

“Damn (Y/N)!” Ash whistles. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

“Way to protect our honor,” Rose gushes, as many of the women nod along.

“Thank you, (Y/N), for defending me,” Alex says sincerely.

“Of course, Al. Anytime.” You give the forward a warm smile.

“Who knew (Y/N) could be such a badass?!” Emily exclaims with an impressed look on her face. “Kel, did you know that your best friend was a secret badass?”

While the rest of the girls had been teasing you about your heroic actions, your best friend had been oddly quiet.

“News to me.” Kelley answers shortly, her face hard and distant. You furrow your eyebrows in confusion, wondering if the defender was mad at you. You thought she would’ve been proud of you for standing up for the team and putting a sexist douchebag in his place.

Before going back to entertaining your teammates’s jokes and questions, you make a mental note to talk to her once you get back to the hotel, silently thanking Vlatko for rooming the two of you together this camp.

You would never in a million years admit it, but you were harboring a huge crush for your best friend, had been for the past six years, ever since you’d joined the national team. Not only did you not want to ruin your friendship and end up losing Kelley, but you knew she would never return your feelings.

Over the past several years that you’d been friends with the defender, you’d seen Kelley go in and out of relationships, and comparing yourself to her other girlfriend’s, you had a feeling you weren’t her type.

You also had reservations due to the fact that Kelley was your teammate, and you didn’t want to change the team dynamic, especially if the two of you didn’t work out.

Thoughts of Kelley clouded your mind all the way back to the hotel, only further exacerbated by her deafening silence.

Upon arriving to the hotel lobby, before you all disperse to your rooms, Alex gives you another hug and thanks you again, and Becky, ever the mother of the group, gives you a warning.

“Make sure to ice on and off. 20 minutes. You know the drill, (Y/L/N). Kelley, make sure she takes care of that hand.”

“Don’t worry about me, Becks. I got it,” you reassure the veteran defender, giving her a mock salute.

Following Kelley, you cautiously enter the hotel room. You nervously watch the other women move around the room, as she silently goes about her usual nighttime routine. Taking the hint that she wasn’t going to talk to you anytime soon, you go about your own routine and get ready for bed.

After about twenty minutes later, after both of you had showered, you were finishing wrapping your hand and were about to get into bed, when you noticed Kelley discretely staring at your bandaged hand.

Unable to tolerate the silence anymore, you break the tension. “Okay, what is up with you?”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“Kel,” you sigh, plopping down on the side of her bed. “You’ve been giving me the cold shoulder ever since what happened at the bar. Are you mad at me?”

“Nope. Not mad,” Kelley hums slightly passive aggressively, still not looking up from her book.

You roll your eyes, frustrated by your best friend’s childish behavior. “Kelley, I know when you’re lying, and I know that you’re mad at me right now, so would you please just look at me?!”

Sensing the exasperation and frustration in your voice, Kelley closes and sets down her book. “Fine, you’re right. I am mad at you.”

You thought you’d feel relieved, hearing her confirm your suspicions, but instead, the pressure in your chest increases.

“Why? What did I do?” You practically beg, scooting up the bed, so you’re closer to the other woman.

“As if you don’t know,” she scoffs.

Confused, you tilt your head. “I clearly don’t. Kel, please talk to me, tell me what I did.”

“You literally punched a dude in the face!”

“Yeah, but he deserved it, Kel! You heard the things he was saying,” you defend. “I couldn’t just let him get away with talking about our team like that. I thought you’d be proud of me for standing up to a sexist asshole like him.”

“I am proud, sort of. I mean that was completely badass and totally warranted, not that I necessarily expected that from you, and I’m glad you put him in his place,” Kelley babbles. “But that’s not the point, (Y/N/N). You were reckless tonight. You could’ve gotten hurt!”

Your face softens at her outburst. Taking a deep breath, Kelley confesses, “I love you, (Y/N). I’m in love with you, and I just can’t stand the idea of you getting hurt, especially by some drunk idiot who doesn’t know shit about football or respecting women.”

Your eyes widen and your heart practically stop, when you process the words that have come out of your best friend’s mouth.

“(Y/N), please say something,” Kelley begs.

“You’re in love with me?” You test the words on your mouth.

“Yeah,” she sighs contently, giving you a soft smile. “Have been for the past eight years.”

“Gosh, we really are idiots.” You let out a wet chuckle, shaking your head.

“What?”

“I’m in love with you, too, Kel,” you rasped, your voice laced with pure emotion. “I’ve loved you since my first camp.”

“Wow,” Kelley scoffs, an amused grin playing on her face. “Are we really that oblivious?”

“Apparently so.” You shrug. “But we’re here now.”

“Yeah, we are.” The freckled woman softens. “Can I kiss you?”

You nod eagerly, leaning in to meat the other woman’s lips. The kiss is nothing like you’d dreamed of; it’s better. It’s soft and tender, full of love and passion. You melt into each other, as your lips move together in harmony.

Not wanting things to get too heated, especially not before you’ve talked about what this meant for the future of your relationship, you pull away, resting your forehead against hers.

“Hi,” you whisper, smiling like a fool.

“Hey,” Kelley murmurs softly, returning your smile.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.” She takes your hand, kissing your wrapped knuckles. “But please don’t be getting into any more bar fights.”

“Hey! I would never start a fight, however I have no problem finishing them.” You smirk, boasting slightly triumphantly.

Kelley rolls her eyes playfully, but then looks into your eyes. “I mean it, (Y/N). I can’t stand the idea of you getting hurt. So no more fights alright?”

“I promise, Kel.” You give her a chaste kiss.

“Good.”

That night, you stay in Kelley’s bed, cuddling into her side. As you slowly drift into a peaceful sleep, you notice the woman next to you is already fast asleep.

You sigh contently, and you can’t help but feel extremely lucky that even after all these years, and everything that’s happened, life still led you to this woman and a love worth fighting for.

#uswnt x reader #uswnt imagine #uswnt imagines #kelley o'hara x reader #kelley o'hara imagine #kelley o'hara imagines #uswnt #kelley o'hara

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miraculouswolf99 · 4 years

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Somebody Fix This School Already

Another of my one-shots for Miraculous Ladybug. Includes more of my original characters that can learned about from my post Originals. Please support me by becoming a patreon of me. Thank you.

*****

"Can one of you explain to us how this place is even considered a school," Mason asked the class in front of him.

The group of visiting Greek students had been talking during lunch the day after the Zombizou apocalypse. Mason, Lena, and Apollo had been sent to Ms.Mendeleiev's class while Lyon and Vallia were in Ms.Bustier's. So the other three did not know how one of the sweetest teachers in the school had been akumatized.

To say that the three were shocked by what the twins had told them would be one hell of an understatement. So Mason asked the very first question that came to mind to the nearby class that his friends belong to.

"What do you mean, dude," Nino asked, confused.

Ms.Bustier's class was all sitting together that day, except for Chloe and her minion... I mean Sabrina.

None of the class really knew the other three very well. They only really heard some passing things from Aurore and Mirelle. Nathaniel had been told that the three were nice by Marc when he asked him.

"Well, from what we know, Marinette, Adrien, Lyon, and Vallia are the only ones not to be akumatized in your whole class," Apollo says. "The fact that your teacher has now been the victim to one of those moths makes it more of an anomaly."

"Butterflies, not moths," Marinette corrected.

"We're still not convinced about that," Apollo said. "But that may be more because Beautifly is a hero from our own country so butterflies do not come to mind when evil is being spoken of."

"Anyway, there just has been a lot of akumas from this school, and your class in particular," Lena says. "Even your principle has been akumatized."

They did have a point. Their class, alone, had Bubbler, Stone Heart, Lady Wifi, Antibug, Princess Frangrance, Vanisher, Refleckta, Horrificator, Dark Cupid, Gamer, Robostus, Evillustrator, Timebreaker, Volpina if Lila ever comes back, and now Zombizou. Even outside the class but still in school was Dark Owl, Stormy Weather, Syren, Riposte, Magician of Misfortune, and even the school fencing instructor as Darkblade.

Marinette and Adrien were probably the most aware of what the Greeks were talking about. Marinette actually kept a list of all akumas on her computer to keep track of them all.

"Even if Ladybug always fixes the damage done to the school, that doesn't always stop what has caused the akuma in the first place," Vallia said.

"I don't get it," Kim was confused.

"We figure that Ms.Bustier was not the type to really feel negative emotions, especially after what she tried yesterday," Lyon said. "I mean, Chloe vandalizes Marinette's gift for our teacher out of pure spite and she tries to give Chloe credit and say that she will think of both girls when she looks at it."

"Say what," Lena did not know about that. "Why would anyone on Demeter's green earth try anything like that?"

"It's Chloe being Chloe," Alix huffed. "Half the city has basically been akumatized because of her."

"From what I know, Nino and Max are the only ones in class that haven't been akumatized because of her," Lyon says. "That is excluding myself, Vallia, Marinette, and Adrien as we have not been akumatized at all."

"After how this guy has been basically feeding off of negative emotions for so long, that is an impressive feat to have never been a victim of it before," Apollo said.

"Hold on one second," Lena halted everyone. "I have one question. How long has Bourgeois been acting like a... um..."

"Spoiled brat," Marinette offered.

"Nightmare," Alya suggested.

"The biggest bully in Paris," surprisingly offered by Juleka of all people.

"All of the above," Adrien shrugged.

The class looked at him weirdly. Whenever anyone has anything bad to say about Chloe, he is usually the first one to defend her after Sabrina.

"I guess even the humanized sunshine has his limits," Mason snickered.

Adrien sighed. "More like Lyon really knows how to harshly, but necessarily, give someone a very needed slap of reality."

"Parakaló," Lyon said. Translation: You're welcome.

"What did you say to him," Marinette asked the icy teen. "Adrien can be as stubborn as Alya, and that says something."

"Hey," the Ladyblogger protested, making the class laugh.

"I basically force-fed him a few facts," Lyon crossed his arms, as stone-cold as ever. "Mainly how this girl enjoys making the people around her miserable and is always the first person to put them down."

"You probably needed more than that to talk some sense into him," Nino said. "No offense, dude."

"None taken," Adrien shrugged.

"Trust me when I say that when my brother verbally slaps someone, he doesn't hold back," Vallia said.

"It was just a few innocent questions to those like Marinette, Nino, and Kim that got my wheels turning," Lyon says. "They all said the same thing when it came to Chloe. They all shared a class with her for ten years and the girl has been a bully for all ten of them. Did she even stop when there is a psycho out there taking advantage of negative emotions? No, she did not. All for one simple reason. She. Does. Not. Care."

The class was thinking the same thing. That when Lyon gets icy, he really gets icy. It was one thing when Marinette and Alya would stand up to her, but Lyon took the cake when it came to verbal beatdowns. Vallia was not kidding.

"Do any of us even need to bring up the fire alarm incident," Lena crossed her arms.

That got groans out of everyone, even Lyon and Vallia. When Chloe had been the only one not to be punished that day, Mason and Apollo had to basically force Lyon to be cleaning on the second floor so that he would not shoot the brat with an arrow.

The Greeks were half-tempted to allow him. Especially since it was obvious to everyone that she had been the one to make the false call in the first place yet only got out of the punishment because her father is the mayor. The Greeks were sure that anything he does to make his daughter happy and so unpunishable would be considered abuse of power if anyone bothered to look.

"Has any teacher ever tried to actually punish her," Mason asked.

"Actually punish Chloe," Alix snorted. "It is more likely for Ladybug and Cat Noir to willingly surrender to Hawkbutt than for Chloe to ever be punished."

"I think most of us see akumas going after her as the punishments that she deserves," Alya said. "I certainly went after her when I was Lady Wifi from what Marinette told me."

"When I saw her being chased by a giant hairdryer, I thought that my birthday and Christmas had somehow both had been happening at that moment," Marinette giggled.

"I may have been the Evillustrator, doing that, but you're welcome anyway," Nathaniel said.

"When Sabrina was tormenting Chloe as Vanisher, that was certainly some karma coming back to haunt her," Ivan commented.

"From what Ali had told me, I managed to make her pretty repulsive when I was Princess Frangrance," Rose added.

"I would have paid so much money to see that," Kim laughed. "Especially after she posted that humiliating picture of me that got me akumatized as Dark Cupid."

"I wish I could have remembered Chloe's face when I made her look like me when I was Reflekta," Juleka said.

Each of the students that had been akumatized by the brat all shared their own similar thoughts. That they all wished that they could remember getting her back while they were villains, even if they didn't want to remember anything else.

"Hold it," Lena halted the class, silencing them. "How many of these akumanizations happened while on school grounds?"

Alya, Ivan, Juleka, Nathaniel, and Mylene all raised their hands. All of their torments by Chloe had happened at school, only Mylene's happening after hours though.

"So even with all of you being akumatized because of her bullying or abusing her father's mayoral status, no one in this school did a thing," Mason clenched his fists.

The silence was very telling.

"Unbelievable," Vallia pinched the bridge of her nose. "If anyone behaved like that at our school back home, they'd be expelled faster than you could say Olympus."

"Athena is most ashamed of them," Lyon says. "She is not the goddess of wisdom for nothing."

"It is not like we can do anything about it," Max wiped his glasses. "After ten years of Chloe getting away with her behavior and attitude, the odds of her changing or the school staff doing anything about her is about a quarter of a billion to one."

"Leaving the math to Max, I do still agree with him," Marinette said. "Chloe has always been like this and the teachers have always allowed it. They think that just because her mom left her and her father that she gets to act as horrible as she does with no risk of punishments or any sort of consequence."

"Why not do something about it," Lena asks. "Force a much-needed change."

"What could we do," Alya did not have a plan for once. "They never listen to us and we're just a bunch of teenagers."

"The best thing about being teenagers is that we grew up during this time," Apollo says. "So that means we know what needs to be fixed. The reason why those our age do better than their predecessors is that we have seen the problems they never bothered to fix because they are so set in their ways."

"There is a reason why people say that children are our future," Mason smirked. "That isn't some insane prediction that children will one day rebel and take over the world, you know."

"We... uh... we could all demand to be transferred to another class," Adrien suggested. "Like Ms.Mendeleiev's or something?"

"Would that even work," Mylene wondered out loud.

"If anything, so many students wanting out of the same class at the same time for the same reason should raise some red flags," Lyon stated. "Does this school have a Board of Directors or not?"

Marinette actually had a better idea. She pulled out her phone. There was a look on her face that even Alya was was a little scared of.

Fate chose that moment for lunch to come to an end. The bell rang for everyone to pack up and get back to their classes. Lena, Mason, and Apollo gave the class a look.

"Don't let adults make you think you have no power," Apollo advised. "Everyone has the right to stand up to a bully and to those that won't punish her."

With that, the three of them left, joining Kagami, Marc, and Ondine on their way back to class. Aurore and Mirelle were waiting for them at the top of the stairs.

"You, Greeks, don't hold back, do you," Alya rhetorically says.

"Alya," Marinette scolded.

"Just be happy that none of us are from Sparta," Lyon stated.

"So, what do you guys think," Alix asks them all. "Class or principle's office?"

They all got up as they put their things back in their bags. They were all looking between the two rooms.

"Now or never, right, dudes," Nino said.

"I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we have had enough of Chloe Bourgeois to last all of our lifetimes," Marinette says.

The rest of the class did nothing but nod in agreement.

*****

"You all want to WHAT," Principle Damocles yelled.

"Did you not hear us," Vallia crossed her arms. "We want to transfer out of Ms.Bustier's class."

Vallia proved that Gardens did not hold back even when dealing with authority figures. It was a bit of a shock that it was the Flower Princess saying things like that and not her Ice Prince of a twin brother. Not that Lyon's silence and ice-cold stare was anything less scary. If anything, it only terrified them more.

Ms.Bustier had also been called in when what they wanted had been made perfectly clear. Chloe and Sabrina were behind her, as the teachers did not want to leave the two students alone in the classroom.

"A...All of you," Damocles stuttered, the students nodding. "It...It isn't possible. There isn't enough room in the other classes for all of you, even separated."

"Then make room," Lyon stated as if it was that simple.

"Why would all of you even want to leave," Ms.Bustier asked.

Their teacher, soon to be former-teacher, did look hurt. The students felt guilty over being the cause of her feelings being hurt, but it was also her own fault for never punishing Chloe.

"I think it's quite obvious," Marinette says. "We want to be as far away from Chloe Bourgeois as possible. We are sick and tired of her bullying us and getting away with it."

The rest of the class all voiced their agreement with the bluenette. To say that the two adults were shocked would be one hell of an understatement.

"Just because you are all jealous that you aren't as rich or beautiful as me..." Chloe started.

"SHUT UP, CHLOE," they all yelled at her.

"You can't talk to me like that," Chloe took out her hone with a huff. "I'm calling Daddy to stop you all from being mean to me."

"Call him all you want, we don't care anymore," Nino yelled, shocking the class as he had never yelled at anyone before.

"You have been destroying our work, bullying, and insulting us for ten years and we are no longer just gonna lie down and take it," Nathaniel sternly stated.

"Destroying work," Damocles was confused.

"How have you not noticed," Marinette snapped. "What about last month when Chloe destroyed the children's book that Alya was working on about Ladybug so she could read it to her sisters. Or a few months ago when Chloe dumped all that red paint on a dress I was designing in the art room."

"Well..." Damocles tried, but Marinette was not done.

"What about last year when Chloe ripped apart one of Nathaniel's sketchbooks," Marinette continued her rant. "Or that same year when she stole, and then snapped, a CD that Nino made of his DJ music. Or two years ago when she stuck a bunch of Juleka's and Rose's pictures in a bucket of paint."

"When I first heard about her doing that, I started keeping all my spray paints in a locked box that's in my locker," Alix crossed her arms.

"Which I saw Chloe try and break into more than once but you refused to do anything about it even when I had pictures and videos of her doing it," Kim glared at the authority figures.

"She tried what," Alix yelled. "And you didn't tell me!"

"Hey, even with proof, they didn't punish the brat," Kim responded. "You punching her would not have helped, even though she would have deserved it."

"Chloe would NOT have deserved it," Sabrina defended her 'friend.'

"She would have deserved that and so much more," Alya glared at the minion. "The rest of us see akumas going after her as karma coming to bite her in the butt."

"She's worse than Hawkmoth," Alix said for the second time in two days.

"She's caused so many akumas that you can almost call her Hawkmoth's sidekick," Ivan says.

"The fact that no one in this school seems to care about her victims speaks volumes about the staff," Lyon said. "There were a lot of spoiled brats back home, but at least our teachers and headmaster punished them when the punishment was deserved."

"After all this, Chloe should have been expelled a long time ago," Vallia put a hand on her hip. "Just because her victims don't remember what got them akumatized doesn't mean that the act did not happen at all."

"She even effects what other people think about those that hang around her," Adrien finally spoke up.

"Adrikins..." Chloe tried.

"No, you are not going to steamroll me this time, Chloe," Adrien actually glared at her. "I spent so much time defending you to everyone, but you just used that to hang off me no matter how clear it was that it made me uncomfortable. People already had bad opinions about me before they even met me because you were my childhood friend. They thought I'd be like you. Marinette did when she saw me messing with that gum on our first day of school."

The mentioned bluenette blushed, remembering that she did think he was a spoiled brat like Chloe when she saw that.

"Sorry about that," she said quietly.

"No need to apologize, Mari," Adrien says. "But that doesn't mean Chloe's attitude did not almost keep me from gaining friends. I've tried to get her to change for years, but she seems to only get worse. Every day she bullies, insults, and torments everyone around her and all we get told is that we need to be the bigger person or that there is nothing you can do. There is EVERYTHING you can do. Give her detention, lower her grades when she forces other people to do her work, scold her when she insults someone, act like you are TEACHERS!"

By the end of Adrien's rant, everyone was staring at him like he had suddenly grown two more heads. This was Adrien Agreste, who people have called the Sunshine of Paris. He hasn't talked to anyone like that since... he's never talked to anyone like that.

"What Chloe does to Adrien can basically be considered harassment," Lyon said. "I had a girl once try what Chloe is doing to Adrien. One phone call later and she was slapped with both a lawsuit for harassment and a restraining order before she could say Olympus."

"The look on her face when our lawyer handed her those papers was worth more than an entire family's jewel collection," Vallia giggled.

"Maybe not worth that much," Lyon says, making his sister roll her eyes.

"The point is, we are putting our feet down," Kim said. "If you won't punish Chloe, then we don't want to be in the same class as her."

"She has already been the cause of all our akumazations, other than myself and Nino's," Max pushed up his glasses. "Taking in my calculations of Marinette, Adrien, Lyon, and Vallia never being akumatized, the result of Chloe being the cause of any of us being akumatized again is roughly ninety-nine point nine-nine percent."

"How does he do that without a calculator," Vallia whispered to Rose. "Or a supercomputer?"

"We have no idea," the sweet blond whispered back.

"Have I ever mentioned I hate math," Vallia shook her head. "I'll always prefer geology to geography."

"You just need to forgive Chloe," Ms.Bustier tries. "Set an example for her to follow."

"I can let the anger go but I will never forgive Chloé Bourgeois," Marinette said. "We shouldn't be held accountable for the stuff Chloé pulls because we have to be good role models. You've only been our teacher for four years but Chloé and I have been together for ten years. She's been like this for a decade and nothing has ever changed."

"It's because of people like you," Adrien says. "Adults like you who look at Chloé and think her mother leaving her is enough of an excuse to act like a horrible person. You're better than the people who just want to be on her dad's good side, but not by much. You keep giving her second chances when she's already gotten long past the point of no return. You're enabling her behavior instead of punishing her even when she's been bullying everyone for years. Even I know that and I only started public school this year."

"Now, I wouldn't say bullying," Mme. Bustier says, trying for a smile. "That's a bit too far."

"She's been the biggest bully in the entire school," Alya says, arms folded, eyes firm. "We told you how she destroyed Nathaniel, Juleka, Nino, Marinette's, and my work several times. She's vandalized everyone's work. She's insulted and personally attacked every person in class too many times to count. There's always evidence and several witnesses every single time."

"But what have you done? Nothing," Nino took his turn to rant. "You've never once stepped in because you coddle her and think she'll eventually change even though she's proven she is never going to change . And do you want to know why? Because of stuff like this. Chloé vandalized the purse Marinette made you out of pure spite yet you had the nerve to try and give her credit for it."

"You want us to fix Chloé when you should be doing that yourself," Marinette took the baton. "Instead of doing something a responsible teacher would. Like, suggest a counselor work with her, talk to her dad, or detentions when she acts like a horrible person. You throw the people who care and respect you under the bus. Beyond preaching about love and trust, you do nothing to help us deal with Chloe. Chloe doesn't respect anyone but herself."

"The akuma that turned you into Zombizou was only even here because it was most likely going after Marinette," Lyon was not happy when he figured that out. "We can add nearly getting the human embodiment of a cinnamon bun akumatized to her already very long list of bad things she's done."

"We are the victims of Chloé Bourgeois's bullying and you expect us to understand and excuse her behavior when she hurts us," Marinette continued. "But you will never think about it from our perspective and never when this is reversed. We're sorry, Ms.Bustier, but we don't want to be a part of a class with a teacher who has no respect for us and continues to let a bully hurt every single one of us."

Silence washed over the room after they were all finished. They were all just so done with the brat of Paris.

"Now that you have all gotten that off your chests, I find that it is time you all go back to class," Damocles tells them.

There were about five seconds of silence for the students to process what their principle tried to just make them do. They were about to blow their tops and start yelling and saying that he had lost his mind if he thought that just because they said all that means that they want to get away from Chloe any less than before.

But Marinette's mother, Sabine, came walking in. The look on her face and the way she simply sat down in the visitor's chair like she was supposed to be there in the first place was a little terrifying.

"You, kids, should go and wait in Ms.Bustier's classroom," she told them in a sweet voice that brought chills down their spines. "Your principal, teacher, and I have much to discuss."

They did as she said, everyone quickly leaving the office.

Seeing her mother like that made Marinette remember a time a few years ago when she was told about the Chinese zodiac. Her mother had told her that she, herself, had been born in the years of the tiger. Marinette never truly believed that until now.

"Marinette, your mother is awesome," Alya cheered. "How did she even know to come?"

"At that exact moment, too," Nino says. "That was perfect timing if I have ever seen it."

Marinette smirked as she held up her phone, that she had brought put earlier.

"My parents were listening the entire time we were in there," she snickered. "I figured that Principal Damocles wouldn't listen to us, so I brought out the big guns."

"After seeing your mother's wicked skills with a baking slab during that one time someone tried to break into the bakery last month, I do not doubt that," Vallia giggled.

Marinette slightly shivered as she remembered the beatdown that her mother delivered against a man that tried to rob their bakery. He had arrived just after closing time after nearly a week straight of having a line out the door after the debut of Marinette's Ladybug and Cat Noir baked goods line.

The robber thought that after such a long time of good days, they would have a lot of money lying around. While they did, he had no idea of her mother's past of being very well trained in the martial arts. She grabbed the nearest thing to her, a baking slab used mostly by pizza makers to put pizzas in their ovens, and he was a bloody mess on the floor by the time the cops came.

When Marinette put her phone away, the rest of the class seemed to catch on to her actions and decided to add their own pressure to the principal.

Alya whipped out her phone with a speed that only all of her blogging would have given her. Mylene was very theatrical with her phone call, doing a lot of talking with her hands as her arms waved around as she spoke. Rose and Nino were also quite enthusiastic with their phone calls, not that anything less was expected out of them. Ivan, Juleka, Nathaniel, and Max were a lot quieter when they made their calls. Kim and Alix, of course, were basically yelling into their phones.

When Marinette looked at the twins and Adrien, their phones were not out. It made sense with the twins, having told them that their dad, who came with them, did not speak any French. He was usually very confused whenever they went grocery shopping and one of the twins always had to come with him as a translator. With Adrien, with his very absentee father and non-family bodyguard and assistant/manager, he had no one to call for something like this.

"If you want, I could drag your father here by his hair," Lyon says to the blond. "Or threaten him with an arrow to get him here."

"Lyon, as much as I would appreciate that, both of those things are illegal," Adrien sighed, but Marinette could tell that he was tempted.

"Hasn't stopped me from threatening Chloe with my bow before," the Greek boy smirked. "And that was only when I had a very long breadstick notched in it, not even an actual arrow."

"As the daughter of a baker, I can tell you just how dangerous a stale piece of bread is," Marinette giggled.

One by one, other parents and guardians of their classmates came running or walking into the school.

Otis and Marlena Césaire were the first ones there. Otis was too angry to greet the kids, but Marlena happily gave her daughter a basket of food to give out before both parents vanished behind closed doors. Fred Haprèle, easily recognized from his movie roles, tipped his signature hat to the class before entering the office. Claudie Kanté was next to arrive, giving her son a hug before vanishing behind closed doors. Mr. Kubdel arrived with Jalil, both men looking angry as they passed the class, but Alix was given a thumbs up from her brother.

Mr.LêChiến, a military man, was very intimidating as he walked by after giving his son a pat on the back. It was very easy to see where Kim got his strength from. The same could be said for Ivan as Mr. and Mrs.Bruel greeted their son, as both parents could be compared to WWE superstars. Rose's mother, a keen gardener, was as bubbly and kind looking as her daughter and it was easy to see where Rose got her love of pink from. Mrs.Lahiff did some motherly things to her son after she arrived, also telling Marinette and Alya that they were welcome anytime before she too went into the office.

Madam Kurtzberg, Nathaniel's grandmother, was last to arrive with Captain Couffaine. Luka, having come with his and Juleka's mom, helped the elderly woman up the stairs.

"Rise and rebel, land lovers," Captain Couffaine cheered in the students as she passed them, making her two kids slightly embarrassed.

Luka just joined them in the classroom, sitting next to Marinette.

"All Juleka would say was to come to the school as quickly as possible and to not allow mom to bring her sword," he said.

"If I was Juleka, I would have let her bring her sword," Vallia snickered.

"Considering that I've seen you use your bo staff against an akuma, I can see why you would," Adrien said.

"You two have slight violent tendencies, don't you," Alya asks, only getting shrugs in response.

#chloe salt #original character #original miraculous #original heroes #bustier salt #damocles salt #i love salt

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judyhopps934-mt-zd · 3 years

Text

Thoughts on Lies

Warning: Spoilers! And possibly having your heart torn into pieces. Other than that, have fun!

We open up with Marinette figuring out the recipes for the power ups as the new guardian.

I am disappointed that she still has not stopped oogooling over Adrien when he appeared on the news. Especially since she was allegedly with Luka by then. (I'll explain what I mean in just a minute)

Adrien was tired after the day he had as Adrien, which is a contrast of what Marinette believes his life is like. But being Chat Noir is the highlight of his day...

...only to not see Ladybug show up for patrols. And we see that it was all due to her figuring out the powerups.

Also, the patrols are a thing in cannon and I am still not over it after "Truth".

Chat Noir hoping for an akumatization so he can escape his civilian life radiated the same energy as Alya asking for akumatizations to interview the temporary heroes on her IG post. I get it, but still! We do not have people in danger for our needs.

Plagg being the one who announces any voice messages for Chat and asking for cheese through the feature on the Chat Phone brings me a whole other level of life.

Also, the whole milk thing at Le Grand Paris bar counter. It was hilarious, but also very sad. He really missed his m'lady

He ends the patrol after he saw Kagami training with her mom. And the smiles on his face! *Cries in Marichat and Ladynoir*

Plagg is the one that encourages Adrien to move on from Adrien, just like he applauded him from doing so in Loveater.

Kagami apparently said that fencing lessons are scheduled an hour in advance and Adrien (with that goofy grin on his face) knew what was up!

Both Ms. Tsurugi and Gabriel are very pissed at one another for the schedule change. That's hilarious, although everything comes at a price.

The parallels! Kagami is apparently learning Russian at her mother's request. Truly is a reflection of Adrien, civilian life wise.

Kagami? Lying???? The hell???? Who are you and what have you done to Kagami????? (Why am I surprised, y'all did this in Desperada)

She lies to their parents and the teacher to be in the art room with Adrien. I get it, teenage rebellion after being under an uninvolved parent, but still!

I like how the writers gave Kagami another dimension by saying she loves art, but her mom does not like her passion for drawing.

To Kagami's mom: WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR DAUGHTER IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH???!!! HER DRAWINGS BELONG IN A MUSEUM!

Also, art reflecting the truth? Hmmm.....

Since people like mentioning that Marinette has a thing for people with absent parents after "Truth", I will now say that Adrien has a thing for people who are great at drawing. I do not take criticism.

Kagami is hinting that Adrien's civilian life is not his true self (thank you for understanding him!)...

...but also says that being a "clown" (it was the Chat pose) is also not who he really is. The fandom would disagree with you. Although that brings up the question of whether both personalities merge to form who he really is and cannot be seen completely by anyone in any part of his life. But he is more like Chat Noir regardless.

Also, I want to see Adrien and Kagami spend more time together prior to this episode to see why she was not pleased with him being a clown if that's who he truly is, because her repositioning him against the wall made me feel like she is trying to place Adrien into a mold that reflects the image she might have created in her mind. (I don't know, this was just the first thought that came in my mind.)

They almost kiss, with Adrien being taken into shock (not terrified as we thought) until the alarm saying they have fencing lessons starting interrupts them and Adrien runs out, not before BLUSHING LIKE HELLO?!?!?

This is what I referred to in my second point and confirms what everyone was saying about this episode: this is "Truth", but through Adrien's perspective. Finally, an Adrien-centered episode!!!

To continue, every time Adrien and Kagami are together or were about to kiss, a sentimonster appears, with Ladybug trying to do something about it. Just like Lukanette, just like Adrigami: being a superhero affects your love life as a civilian.

Chat being thrown off the roof by accident and being rescued will never get old or less funny lol.

Montages continues up until the boat scene, where Adrien missed the intro to the performance, but I will never get over the fact as to how Adrien made it there before Marinette. It is beyond me.

Kagami not letting Adrien stay for 5 more minutes. Hmm...

Their cute moment together was what will lead to the demise of Adrigami as Kagami noticed he dropped the infamous lucky charm bracelet. *le gasp!

Why *le gasp*? Because 1) I fear it symbolizes that something will happen to Adrienette or that Adrien has forgotten about her, and 2) Wait until later.

Kagami revealed she lied so she can spend more time with Adrien alone, lying about leaving rehearsal earlier, lying about the fencing lessons rescheduling, and who else knows what else so she can be with him.

She tells him she loves him. But Adrien notices Ladybug and an Akuma. Oh boy, he wasn't able to give her any attention.

Because he left towards the direction of the boat (and said he left something there), Kagami used that to conclude it had something to do with Marinette. Oh boy.

Either I missed an entire scene about Ladybug knowing ShadowMoth's name, or we were not supposed to know how they know until this episode. It feels out of place to me, but oh well.

"I..am...AN INCREDIBLE SWIMMER!" still cracks me up even when I know how important it was in protecting her secret identity.

Happy Birthday Prince Ali!

Apparently, Kagami lied that her mom was in charge of watching over Adrien (or maybe not? I can't tell at this point.)

Yep, Kagami believes that Adrien is going after Marinette and probably resents them both if her facial expression says anything

We get to see that Ladynoir moment from "Truth"!! I love these two and their banter.

Adrienette stans, not much has changed. Adrien was concerned that he lost the Lucky Charm bracelet, for real. But said again because he though he would be clear of the lie since he thought he had it on him.

Kagami confronts him with it. AND THIS IS HIS SHOCKED FACE SCENE FROM THE TRAILER!!!

Thinking that she lies to get out of being with her, she leaves. With the bracelet. The leaving part is understandable, especially because she does not know about him being Chat Noir or what entails him to do. But why take the bracelet???

Adrien is also saddened by what happened. He also liked her.

We've never seen that part of city hall. Well designed in my opinion.

She was the akuma in City Hall with the glowing sphere! We were right!!!

Adrien feels guilty, though it is not really his fault. He has a duty to Paris!

Why is the music sounding different in French.

Jagged Stone. How do I feel about you after learning you purposefully abandoned Luka and apparently Juleka? Also, what's with the song??? (Rhetorical question. Do not answer)

We were wrong about Kagami's power: it paralyzes people who lie, not kill everything in its path.

Jagged, you abandoned your children. And you apparently lied about your age?!?!?! Both episodes show something about Jagged Stone that make him seem like an awful person on the inside.

Ladybug, how do you know about Lies's powers?!?!? There is a hole in the plot here! Unless there were other paralyzed civilians that gave her power a dead giveaway.

Chat Noir, if you lie as a civilian for whatever reason, of course Ladybug will too, since as a civilian, you need to lie to keep your secret identity a secret. Same rules apply to Ladybug, especially as the guardian.

The Lucky Charm is a drone, not a camera like I thought. How the hell did I get into an ivy if I can't tell the difference?!?!

Chat Noir pretending to lie is funny. It might also be his peppy attitude to lying. Also, his funnier version of ShadowMoth's name.

Ladybug finds the akumatized object and gasps. I wonder if its only a eureka moment or also the fact that she recognizes the bracelet, especially if its custom made.

Brutally honest people does not exist (we have all lied at some point, even Kagami who is usually brutally honest with people), but animals can't lie.

Fang being involved in destroying the akuma is cool.

This is the moment that we dreaded so much, yet knew was coming: CHAT NOIR DIES!

JK! He actually is paralyzed by truth because he jumped into the glowing orb. We were right that this is an anguishing scene to watch, but we're wrong about the part that he's killed. Yet, he still unnecessarily sacrificed himself and caused Ladybug to be angst about it.

WHAT IS UP WITH CHAT NOIR BEING HAPPY ABOUT SACRIFICING HIMSELF?!?!? AND DO NOT SAY ITS BECAUSE HE TRUSTS LADYBUG!

Yes Ladybug. Chat is crazy. And also crazy for you. And you are right about the crazy unconscious part. My Ladynoir heart!

ShadowMoth almost won until Fang bit off the charm bracelet. Thanks Fang!

Chat backing away from Fang licking him is a mood.

My favorite Ladynoir moment of the evening: Ladybug telling Chat to stop sacrificing himself and Chat saying she likes her adorable angry face. Her smirk afterwards.. And then their pound it.

But no seriously Chat. You need to stop doing that to Ladybug. She cannot take it anymore

Plagg said that even if Adrien loves someone else, he is likely to go back to Ladybug. Just like he goes back to Camembert. Seriously, despite his cheese analogies, he gives great wisdom.

Not Kagami almost beating up Adrien during his fencing lessons. And Mr. D'Angercourt notices this too as he stopped Kagami's final blow.

Also, isn't it illegal in fencing to push people? Oh boy.

And there's the Adrigami breakup scene: Adrien telling Kagami that he enjoys their time together and Kagami knowing their is sincerity in him. It is sort of unclear who actually ended things when Adrien asks if they could still be friends, but Kagami ends it all by saying that she will let him know once she can face him again. Ouch.

Adrien is hurt and stares at the lucky charm bracelet with what looks like sadness. Once again ouch.

Like Lukanette, I want to see Adrien and Kagami be happy together at least until halfway through this season. The issue is that it will hurt them more in the end.

Also, I noticed the difference between Luka and Kagami when ending their respective relationships. It hurt them both, but Kagami was more forward about it and Luka was somewhat passive. It could be based on what they know about their now exes (Luka knew that Marinette had feelings for Adrien and was not secretive about it even when they were together if the truths her friends said and the opening scene to this episode reflect this, whereas Kagami only has a suspicion and Adrien does not say anything regarding to it.

Also, I really did not like how the breakup on this end resulted in. While more realistic for a lot of people, it did not help that it involved Kagami as there are people who will go after Kagami after watching this episode, and I believe that the writers know this. Kagami is a good person who has a different response to the trust issues and lack of communication, as well as lies in their relationship. Not saying its a perfect one, but an understandable one. In conclusion, don't trash Kagami, especially if you saw this coming.

I take back what I said before; this is my favorite Ladynoir scene. I want to hug them both because they have to lie and keep secrets from everyone, even have some secrets between themselves! But at least they can trust each other! Excuse me while I cry over how much we are being fed. Also, the fact that they broke up with their respective partners makes this both heartwarming and heart breaking.

Overall, this episode is just as good as Lies! It is the first fully Adrien-centered episode, which makes this a first and already exciting. While I did not like how their breakup was handled, it was realistic and showed that honesty and communication are important. Also, can my children be happy together for longer than an episode??? I swear, their pain hurts me.

But at least Ladybug and Chat Noir have each other's company to get them through. May us Ladynoir stans continue to be fed!

84 notes · View notes

witchofinterest · 3 years

Text

It’s my birthday! well, i’m making this post in advance, but i’m gonna post it on my birthday! i haven’t liked my birthday in years, but i love you all, so let’s talk about it!!! okays, it’s today! god, i love you all so much, and you’ve all given me a real sense of belonging and i wanna say thank you again! and if i somehow missed you, know i love you too, i just have a bad memory.

@foxesandmagic hey birthday twin!! yiu have lovely and you are so so nice i love any chance to converse with you!

@twinmasks you were the first person i was really friends with on here, and a big part of me feeling welcome in the community and i think you should know that! also, you are just so cool and talented, and i am always in awe of everything you say and make!

@nolanhollogay water sign besties! i adore you, it feels like we’ve been friends for 20 years allready! i hope we are friends for a lot longer, also you are one of the best people i know, and i want you to know that!!!!

@luucypevensie grace you are the sweetest girl ever!!!!!! ever!!!! you are sunshine in human form!! i love you so much!!! 💛💛💛

@whindsor hey nich!!!! i love you so much, you’re an excellent and amazing friend, and i adore you beyond words!!! god, i love you so much and i am so so proud of you, from your consistent updates to finishing your story!!!!! you put so much into life, and yiu deserve nothing but the best back!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

@kazinejghafa keke my beloved!!!! you are like, a real life disney princess! i mean, birds should follow you around if they allready don’t! i love you! you always make me feel like: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💛💚❤️💛💙💛❤️🧡💛💚💚🧡🧡🧡🧡❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

@ocfairygodmother you absolutely live up to your name! you are the backbone of this community and i couldn’t be more grateful to have you as a friend!!!

@anotherunreadblog you are the mutual!!! you are so nice, sweet, cool, talented, cultured, and i could keep going on forever! love you!! 💙

@darknightfrombeyond you are the cool, slightly intimidating because their so good, mutual!!! you are also one of my sweetest mutuals, with the coolest updates! you’ve got it all! love you! ^ _ ^

@water-writings hey mel!!!!! you are so sweet and supportive to everyone and your are so talented too and i love you!! and i am so happy your at a better job now!!!!! 💙

@elenapetrova hey tessa!!! god, we’ve been friends for so long now! this is the second birthday i’ve been your friend and i hope many more to come!!! you are so strong and so good and so so amazing!!! i love you a lot and i hope you know that!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

@taylorswiftrulestheworld heather! we just started talking, but your really sweet and talented and i had to include you!!

@perhapspearl pearl!! hello friend!!! i love whenever you rb things, and wow your writing is so good, regardless of whether it’s for your wonderful ocs or canon! and you have a gift for gifs too!! you are wonderful and talented!!

@richitozier hey mara!!!! you are so cool and you have such good taste in like, everything, and you are so fun to interact with!!!! love you!! ❤️

@lizziesxltzmxn hey Ali!!!!! you are a beloved mutual and i love talking to you and i love when you update about the things your watching/reading/etc, bc i always love to hear your thoughts on things!!!!

@starcrossedjedis hey sara!!!!!!! you are one of my favorite people ever, and even if your going through a rough time right now, your still the best, and ill always believe in you! love you a lot!!

@aceyanaheim hey acey!!!! you have the coolest ideas and i am so excited whenever i see you in my notifications and on my dash!!!! i love you!!!

@wokenhardies hey Siobhan!!! taking with you is a treasure!!!!! in fact, your a treasure!!!! i love you a lot!!!

@squirrelstone Squirrel!!! my cherished friend!!! i love you and all of your creations so so much!!!!!!! also, you are just the best!!!!!! this site wouldn’t be the same without you in it and i am so glad your here!!!

@alghulnyssa hello Flop! you probably didn’t know many others on this list, but we’re buddies and i wanted to put you here! you have the best taste in so many things! and the prettiest edits!!! your last nyssa one lives rent free in my head! and you are part of the reason i made this blog! also, i am gonna to try to be on instagram more, im sorry.

@randomestfandoms-ocs hey maddie!!! ah, you are such a good friend and i love you so much!!!!!!!!!!! you are the sweetest and super talented!!! ❤️❤️💖💖💖💜💜💜💜💜

@iron-parkr hey Rory!!!!! i am super proud of you and how you handle all your responsibilities!!! all of your stories you have out are so good and i love them all! and even more, i love you!!!!

@myoc-eansmind hey sof!!!!!!!! we haven’t been friends for too long, but you are such a good one and i love you!!!! also, you are just the sweetest!

@nightwingshero hey jodeci!!!!! your writing is so so good!!!! and i love your ocs, they have such cool and unique storylines!!! also, you are so nice and cool!!!!!!! :)

@ceruleanmusings mack!!!!! hello friend!!!!! i swear, reading anything you write is an absolute privilege i’m glad you allow!!! also, talking to yiu is always a highlight of my day!!! 💙💙💙

@raging-violets hey Ri!! Hey Rhu!!! god i love you both so so much!!!!!! from bonding over to shared interests to learning about things like narnia! being your friend is so so good!!! riley i admire your confidence in life! rhuben i admire your ability to never give up! and i love both of you so much!!!

@ben-bcrnes hey becca!!! you are so passionate about so many things and i love seeing you on my dash!!! ❤️❤️❤️

@stanshollaand hey!!! your blog and your ocs are so so cool, and even there only half as cool as you are!!! i hope to interact more in the future bc your awesome!!!

@cecesxwickedxocs hey cece!!! you are one of the most creative people i know!!!!!!! also, i love hearing about how your days going and your interests!!!

@fiercefray rachel my beloved!!!! i love you so so much!!!!!! you always come up with the coolest stuff for your ocs, and you have so many awesome interests!!!! and behind that, i just really love you a lot!!!!

@inkoutsidethelines ink!!!! hey buddy!!!!!!!!!!! you are so so amazing!!!! i love learning about you and your ocs and i hope to more!!!!

@padmeisqueen aaron!!!!!! we don’t talk a lot and i hope to change that, but from what i know you are super sweet and nice and make the prettiest aesthetics!!!!!

@the-october-reviewer hey ash!!! it’s been a minute, but if course you’d be on this post!!!! we’ve been friends for about 2 years now, if i’ve done my math correctly, and it’s been amazing!!!!! i love you so much, and i always love hearing about what’s caught your eye!

@pock-galliard sairaid!!! you are so cool and i love seeing all your posts on my dash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@codenamekryptonite V!!!!! hey, love. it’s been a minute since we’ve talked, but i love you so so much, so i had to our you in this post!!!!!! you are such a good person and i love you and your ideas so so much!!!!! 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

@superspookyjanelle hey janelle!!! you put out so much quality content and i admire you so much for it!!!!

@ofbadcharacters hey gabbie!! idk if you still check your blog, but i love and miss you, and you made me feel so welcome last year, i had to include you in this post!! you are such a good friend and i really miss you! love you! ❤️

@phoebestarks hey phia!!!!!! you have the best, super intricate plots and i am constantly in awe!!!! also, you are so nice to converse with!!!

@whctsherncme-archive hey madi! you de-activated, bir i love you and you belong on this list!!!! you were such a good friend with the best ideas and i miss talking to you, and you, so much!

@mystic-scripture gwen!!!! it’s been a minute since we’ve talked, but we’re friends!!!!! i love you and your ocs so much! you always knock it out of the park from the mcgrath clan to alex!!!!! your so good!!!!

@avengiers hey ari!!!!!!!! you are so so cool, and everything you make is so so pretty, and i just wanted to tell you that!

@shanaoharas hey dylan! you stopped using this account, but i wanted to include this bc we were good friends! and i have been meaning to catch up on your excellent stories! love you a lot!!!!

@cassercole hey lizzie, you are no longer with us, but i didn’t manage to make this post when you were like i meant to, so I wanted to add you. you were the first oc creator i followed (first account, actually) and you always made me so welcome in everything! you introduced me to so many things i love and i really miss you.

#18th birthday #whoo!#🎊🎉#i’m on mobile so no readmore sorrt!#sorry*

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Ducktales: The Treasure of the Lost Lamp Movie Reviewcap! (Patreon Stretch Goal)

Hello all you happy people! And we have a special review today for two reasons. The first is that this is my second patreon stretch goal review, having hit the 15 dollar goal back in march thanks to my wonderful friend Emma, the same patreon whose responsible for the Green Eggs and Ham Reviews, who helped me hit the 15 dollar goal. As a result you fine people are getting three movie reviews each based on a Disney Afternoon Movie with Treasure of the Lost Lamp today, a goofy movie at the end of the motnh for a weeklong tribute to my favorite dogmandadguy. Extremley was going to be part of it but the length of this review convinced me otherwise, but I will be doing it this summer so keep an ear out. If you want to help me hit my next stretch goals do yourselve a favor and zip on over to my patreon YOU CAN FIND MY PATREON HERE. My next stretch goal at “OH Look 20 Dollars” would give everyone patreon and not, a monthly review of Darkwing Duck as decided by my patrons, reviews of BOTH season 2 mini series from Ducktales 87, introducing Fenton to the world and blighting it with Bubba before the 2017 series fixed him, and as a brucey bonus added last month a review of Danny Phantom the Ultimate Enemy. And if that wasn’t enough if you help me get to the goal after that at 25 unlocks another trilogy of disney film reviews, this time for the proud family and recess movie and the best kim possible movie, and dcom period, so the drama as well as Bryan Lee O’ Malley’s two stand alone graphic novels, lost at sea and seconds for you Scottaholics in the audience.

The other reason now the shilling’s done. is that the plan WAS to review this back to back with Treasure of The Found Lamp, to the point the orginal review had a whole thing about that, why it was delayed etc... but now that review’s been scrapped all together as something sudden and wonderful happened. After just kinda giving up someone came through with a translation of Della’s first apperance so presumibly i’ll be doing that as part of the build up to mother’s day, and since I still want ot do maternal instincts too, and already had to let the Floyd Gottfredson birthday special slide away as well... it had to go as I want to leave the only open space on the schedule for the lovely person who found the story for me. But this review is still done, i’m very proud of it so join me under the cut won’t you?

Behind The Scenes: Before I get into it i’d just like to note this article from SyFy Wire. It , along with articles I found via wikipedia citations, was an invaluable resource.

The film was an experiment: It was an experiment to see if one of their tv properties could bring in theatrical money, to see if a movie made on a cheaper budget and still rake in decent money, to see if a film could be made being outsourced to several diffrent places, and to see what one of those places, their recently aquiried french stuido, could handle this kind of work.

The film, if succesful would be the first of Disney’s MovieToons line, a series of films based on their shows. As you can tell by the fact only this movie and Goof Troop happened and the Movie Toons label wasn’t applied to that one it very much failed. While the film was warmly recevied by people who liked the show general audiences didn’t turn out for it. As a result the MovieToons label was scrapped, future projects with it were canceled.. but the stellar work put in by the french stuidio lead to it perserviering for several more decades and lead to them working on the Goofy Movie, which we’ll get to later this month but needless to say was a MUCH bigger hit with a much bigger budget.

As for why the film failed... I have two theories. THe first is that parents were stupid back then and didn’t want to pay to see something on the big screen they could see on tv’s. This is a stupid mentality to me as generally a movie of a tv show puts in a ton of extra effort and usually goes bigger and dosen’t go home. It’s a likely theory given most liscened films of the era didn’t do quite well, with all three hasbro films tanking. And look I get Transformers the Movie is cheesy and killed a lot of people’s childhood toys, but damn if it ain’t aweosme.. and also something I need to cover at some point. Thankfully this died out by later in the 90′s with Rugrats getting a hugely succesful if flawed film, a better sequel and a third one that was also a crossover with the wild thornberries.

And even now in 2020 we’re getting the Loud House and Rise of the TMNT movies sometimes this summer, we were SUPPOSED to have gotten the bobs burgers movie this summer but arne’t because Disney is being a dick about it.

And we got a phineas and ferb movie last year. With this trend hopefully thsi means we’ll get a Ducktales 2017 movie at some point since season 4 left a huge sequel hook laying right there to grab for a feature film. One final note: The film was conceptually thought up as a 5 part serial like “Treasure of the Golden Suns”, “Catch as Cash Can”, “SuperDucktales” and “Time is Money, something that DOES show as the movie weirdly has act breaks. In a feature film. Yup.

The Guest Cast:

I won’t go into the full cast since I’ve sung Alan Young and Russi Taylor’s praises PLENTY on this blog before, and I plan to go into Beakly and Launchpad’s actors when they show up in the pilot movie. But i’d be remiss if i didn’t talk about our three guest actors for our three new parts.

First up is Merlock voiced by legend and if I had a hall of fame, hall of famer Christopher Lloyd.. I need to get me one of those. Lloyd is of course known for playing Doc Brown in back to the future but has done countless other films, voicework, and other good stuff. Among his MASSIVE filmography includes The Back to the Future Trilogy (Already mentioned it but it bears repeating), Star Trek III, Who Framed Roger Rabbit as the pants destroyingly terrifying Judge Doom, The Addams Family duology as fester, a role rip torn would ironcially play for the animated series made to captalize on said movie, Hey Arnold! The Movie, The Oogieloves in The Big Ballon Adventure (Look everybody needs money sometimes okay?), and Art of the Deal: The Movie, which was not, thankfully an ego filating nightmare made by trump himself but a film made by funny or die parodying his terrible book and having Llloyd return as Doc Brown. TV Wise he’s known for Taxi, Back to the Future the Animated Series, Cyberchase and he most recently popped up on Big City Greens. How I missed that ep I.. do know as I haven’t watched season 2. Gonna fix that later this month. Lloyd is utterly awesome, a great guy and thankfully still alive at the time of this writing, so I was happy to have him here.

Less familiar to me but still known is Rip Taylor, a comedian known for his flamboyant unique way of speech and his marvelous mustache. He showed up in things occasionally and always seemed like the nicest guy and his passing in late 2019 truly is sad. He does a terrific job here but more on that in a moment.

Finally we have Richard Libertini, a comedian I never really saw in anything besides this who according to IMDB was most famous for his ablility to do a foreign accent. I REALLY hope all of them aren’t as horribly racist as this one. We’ll.. get to that in a sec as it’s time for the plot!

A Treasure Uncovered:

We open our film gorgeously. The animation is great in the film, having some rough edges I chalk up to the film’s hectic production, the studio being new at working at disney properties, and the film not being meant for HD. That being said a few rough spots here and there aside.. the film looks ungodly gorgeous. Like most theatrical films based on a cartoon it takes an already great style and makes it look great. It feels like a more fluid evolution of the cartoons look and it’s a shame we didn’t get more movies in this style for both this show and others, ESPECIALLY Darkwing Duck. Can you imagine a Darkwing Duck movie with this lush animation? Hopefully we’ll get one eventually.

So our heroes are going to somewhere in the Middle East. That’s.. that’s all wikipedia gives me and all the film gives me. As usual Scrooge is after treasure in this case the Treasure of Collie Baba, the greatest thief there ever was based obviously off Ali Baba from 1001 nights and that one Beastie Boys song.

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It’s here we find the WORST thing about the film, the thing that makes this a hard one to watch depsite otherwise being pretty good, and that makes my skin crawl knowing i’m a white man and a BUNCH of white guys, Ducktales series creator who did the voice casting for this character, the writers who wrote him, the direector disney them fucking selves who thought this was okay.

The film has some horrible steroytping. It starts with a bunch of backgorund guys surronding Scrooge, with crooked teeth and steotypical voices. This on it’s own is odious.

It somehow gets worse. Then we meet one of our antagonists. We meet Dijon.

This Fucking Guy

Djon is horribly offensive reminding me of other such luminaries in being ungodly offensive yet somehow getting put to film as Jar Jar Binks (With all respeect to his poor actor Ahmed Best, this is not his fault), Rob Schinder as a Sterotypically asian preist, Skids and Mudflap, Rob Schinder as a sterotypically mexican bandit, The Whitewashed cast of The Last Airbender, and Rob Schinder as a stereotypically asian preist. What i’m saying is Djon is an AWFUL, horribly offensive character.. and that Rob Schinder should be shot up into space, not to watch cheesy movies, he’s not funny enough for that, but instead to be sent to a satlitie that’s liveable, but also filled to the brim with spring loaded boxing gloves. Just tons of boxing gloves that feel like getting punched by a heavewight boxer all hidden... they could hit his legs, his face, his nuts, his face and his nuts, the point is he’s in constnat pain unless he moves carefully.

And lest you think i’m exaggerating for starters this is his design.

It just screams “vaugely but sterotpyically middle eastern” along with cowardly. The fact he’s also a literal rat is just the icing on the cake made of broken glass, shrapnel and broken DVD’s of Transformers; Revenge of the Fallen. They say if you eat a reveng eof the fallen dvd John Tutoro appears at the foot of your bed and watches you while you sleep.. and by they I mean me. It was a bad bet. I got rid of him with some insese and a bribe of five dollars.

Oh but that’s just design.. when he talks it’s MUCH worse. His voice is like if they took Apu from the simpsons and said “This but MORE offensive”, and his perosnality is WORSE. He’s a thief.. and not in the endearing loveable rogue way but he’s a pick pocket and a running “Gag’ is that he’ll often grab eveyrthing within reahc. As the deisgn shows he’s a coward running at every opportunity. Oh and to top it all off he’s the willing servant of the white coded, given all ducks in this series are white coded and voiced bby white actors, big bad. And the actor is naturally VERY white to make this cocktail of offensivness so complete that if Disney ever got rid of this film I GUARANTEE the republcian party would be running in with accusations of cancel culture gone amok and never shutting up about this like they did the muppets. Which for the record THEY DIDN’T CANCEL THEM, YOUR POINT IS ILLEGITMATE, THEY JUST WANTED TO BE SENSTIVE YOU GHOULS.

I do have a reason for bringing up Disney’s content warnings... most damming of all given just how DEEPLY uncomfortbale this character is.. there isn’t one for this movie. I double checked: There isn’t even wanring notes on the website. It’s just.. on there. And given just how ghastly a sterotype Djon is.. that’s not right. Seriously they DID put them on certain episodes of the show, theyk now this sort of thing is wrong and they done wrong.. but for NO reason they haven’t done so for a film released 31 years ago. Around the same time as the series and just offensive as that show at it’s worst if not more so. This is flatly inexcusable.. par for the course for Disney’s incompetence but still horribly furstrating, disgusting and shameful.. which has been the theme of the last three days really. I expect better because when it comes to putting that warning label on this stuff, they usually are better. First the scheduling mixup and now this. You already do a handful of things wrong Disney why add this to the list?!

It’s just draining not only to run into another Disney Fuckup after a weekend of dealing with one of their worst in recent memory, but just to watch Djon. To see this horrible caractrure saunter onto the screen and go on with his harmful schtick, to see that THIS is what Ducktales 87 reduced non white people to more often than not. It’s remarkable just how throughly and awesomely Frank and Matt completely and totally reversed this. Instead of horrible sterotypes in the reboot, we got TONS of loveable people of color, an endearing latino hero, a smart african american buisness woman who takes no shit but is still a consumate professional, and an egyptian HERO with an intresting story and a strong moral code instead of this horrible reminder that racisim in media was such an afterthought not ONE person brought this up during the scyfy wire stuff or in any inteview i’ve seen. No one cared. Djon was POPULAR enough that he got three episode sin the series. THREE FUCKING EPISODES. This film could be GOOD.. but it’s just so bogged down EVERY FUCKING TIME this artists interpreitation of what Tucker Carlson sees when he looks at a middle eastern person I had to pause to compose myself and had to take a break writing this review to avoid tyiping this in all caps and using the phrase YOU RACIST MOTHERFUCKERS every other sentence. And again i’m white, I get this is second hand offensiveness.. I do... but it dosen’t mean I can’t be offended other white people were so callous about other cultures behaviors this happened.

And what makes me feel worse.. is that I just sorta... never thought about white people voicing non white characters. Things like this I noticed sure, I realize now part of the reason I didn’t like this movie the first time I saw it was this alex jones version of a looney tune, but I do feel shame for not noticing or caring long before this. Sure I loved it when a character of color got played by a person of color.. but I didn’t realize just how deep that problem was and how LONG it went on for before the outcry post george floyd and the call to action lead to most shows still going course correcting. It’s why stuff like this extra botehrs me: because THIS was just as okay at the time. No one blinked twice about this and odds are the creators involved still haven’t. And that.. that’s just terrible and it hurts to think about and I still have most of the movie to go.

The Pyramid of Peril:

So we do get a gorgeous unvewling scene of a box Scrooge found out about from Collie Baba’s horde that should lead them to the treasure. This scene reminds me of Indina Jones.. and I bring this up because the poster was specifically made to mimick an indinia jones poster, to the point of getting drew struzan to do it. THe creator of Ducktales objected..l but I do not get WHY. While I”m not sure if he had yet, Speilberg flat out admits the Carl Barks comics were an inspiration for Indina Jones, with the iconic bolder chase coming from a similar scene in one of Barks Stories. Gotta cover that too. So yeah I don’t get not wanting an indina jones style poster when both were inspiried by the same work and it’s just simple logic and it looks so neat. Thank you.

Scrooge finds seemingly just clothes.. and a map. Jeff Dunham’s Most Racist Puppet reports to his master, Merlock. Merlock is a.. meh villian. Christopher Lloyd does try.. but Lock is your standard evil overlord wants to take over the world type. He dosen’t have much depth, or personality and only his style saves him from dragging the film down along with Dana Carvey’s most racist disguise in master of disguise. He does have a deent shape shifting gimick and being played by Christopher Lloyd means he’s acted TREMENDOUSLY. Alan Young was apparently in awe watching him work and that’s wonderful to hear. The guy did his best. Weirdly Merlock would show up in tons of other works, mostly video games.. but even weirder he NEVER showed up in ducktales 2017. Both Djon and Gene would, Djon thankfully renamed we’ll get to all of that tommorow thank god. I need it after this. But Frank has outright said they didn’t use Merlock because there simply wasn’t anything they could do with him they couldn’t dow ith magica. My likely guess is the might of found a way to revamp him EVENTUALLY, it’s not like radical revamps weren’t there thing come on, they just had way more stories with Magica and didnd’t get around to it before the show was canceled. Just make him some sort of evil god or something. it’s what I might do. There’s a lot of angles with him. Though I would’ve still gotten christopher lloyd back. I mean most of the recasting is good but he’s still alive and deserved a better shot at things.

So Merlock sends Djonn to go with scrooge as his guide to find the treasure, as there’s something of imense power within it. And I gotta ask WHY does Merlock need a minon. No really. This isn’t a situation like reboot magica where he’s trapped in another realm. He can shapeshift into any animal. We only see him use falcon, rat, cockroach and bear but theoritically he can become anything and bear alone is still a LOT. Why does he need this sterotype even other sterytopes ar eashamed of? The film dosen’t NEED Djonn. Just let Christopher Lloyd monologue and leave this post 911 propogranda cartoon at home.

So our heroes nad rejected jar jar prototype head into the desert, and seemingly find nothing before finding a small pyramid all while Merlock follows desecretley as a mighty hawk.

Scrooge makes the boys and Djon dig... because they clearly forgot the “work hard” part of his ethos.

Our heroes unveil the pyramid... and while Merlock SAYS he searched the desert and I get it’s hard to see thourgh all of that.. the dude is immortal, had decades to search and had Mickey Rooney there on standby to force him to go comb the desert. I have an artist rendering of that hang on

So our heroes enter the pyramid and it goes.. really how you’d expect: there’s a bunch of traps our brave explorers have to pass, the boys minintpret a juinor woodchuck saying about loosing your marbles to mean using the ones they actually have which geninely comes in handy as they trip the traps and Rob SChinder as a carrot stumbles into one. Also launchpad is wearing a hawaiin shirt and shades. This has no baring on the plot, but it does bring the movie up a notch in my book and I question why the reboot never used this outfit. Then again they also never properly used Donald’s Quack Pack Outfit (Which bad show or not, is objectively awesome), or his Quack Shot Indiana Jones Riff Outfit, so it’s not like there isn’t a presdecnt for not giving a character a cool costume change from a previous medium. I really should do a top 12 missed opportunities list for the 2017 cartoon.. the ideas for stuff are really piling up.

OUr heroes eventually find the treasure which has insidiously clever security the more I think about it: at first I thought it had none, just a pit with some... scorpions? I mean their supposed to be but they look like they crawled out of the same stygian hole in the sky Doofus crawled out of. And if your asking me “wait which Doofus” the answer is both. Both these abominations crawled out of a stygian hole in the sky.

But the treasure is on a platform surrounded by scoprions with the only way out being the trap filled way they came in. Unless someone comes in with a full team and a bunch of lootin sacks, they aren’t getting out with EVERYTHING. They can steal SOME of the treasure but there’s no way to get any signifigant portion... and the team thing itself is an issue, something Collie defintely predicted being a thief himself: while some thieves can work well as a team, hence why we have four oceans movies 3/4 damn good, and for the record 12 is the bad one, 8 is how you do a soft reboot and a female led reboot right, a good chunk of professional crooks will turn on each other or try and swinldle... and tha’ts dangerous in a trap filled temple but hey some criminals ain’t so smart. If they all were Rudy Gulliani wouldn’t have two razzies for preparing to pull his pants down, and have waved his phone around on tv like a dare for future adminstrations to arrest the shit out of him would he?

But Scrooge has his family so they get loading. But not before Webby finds the lamp. Not knowing about it Scrooge has no intrest in it, but Webby does. We also get a really simple but hilarious gag where SCrooge dickers over the idea for a second.. before Webby picks up a Jeweled tiara to possibly take instead. The best gags to me are often the ones that just let the character’s perosnalities take the lead and bounce off each other. It’s why when I reviewed the four lilo and stitch crossovers recently I harped on character interaction as their biggest weakness: it’s what MAKES a good work for me. It’s why my faviorite comics and shows often follow a loveable group of disfunctional misfits. I like a group of big personalities who despite in theory should NOT be able to work making it work anyway. And it’s honeslty what’s made Scrooge last so long: Scrooge on his OWN is awesome.. but iwth the boys, donald, and in the case of this series and the reivival Webby and Launchpad, with people to bounce off of who he contrasts heavily with, from Launchapd’s buffonery to Webby’s inehrent sweetness in both versions, to the boys genuine honesty and sense of adventure.... it makes him truly stand out. He’s a great character on his own, don’t get me wrong.. but it’s the people around him that give him chances to show WHY. A good character on it’s own is fine and dandy.. a good character with other good characters around them is where it gets truly special.

Merlock naturally bursts in and in a VERY Black Heron move needlesly outs what micheal bay sees when he closes his eyes as a bad guy... no really he grabs the guy with his talons as he captures the treasure and reveals he’s a bad guy. I don’t even get why keep Djonn alive. He’s done all Merlock possibly could’ve needed and Merlock is ruthless... this makes no sense and only happens because they need Djonn for later in the plot.

Our heroes barely escape, rafting out on the platform itself in a thrilling sequence.. but it’s the one right after that catches my attention. Scrooge utterly defeated, having searched for this treasure for forty years and unresponsive to everyone else. The anmation, coupled with the incomprable Alan young’s acting makes this the highlight of the film for me. Beneath the armor of wealth and skill.. is only a poor old man who just lost something he’s been chasing after most of his life. Scrooge tries his hardest not to be vunerable and both shows and the original comics all use that so when he truly is devistated like this, and i’ts belivible since this treasure is a personal goal of his and as someone who has had things that they seek out specifically, loosing them always hurts. It hurts to ALMOST reach a goal only to have it crumble out under you

But while this alone is good.. what’s next makes it great. Webby sweetly offers up the lamp. Scrooge turns it down, and her genuine gesture reinvgorates him and reminds us of who he is “I’ll find it if it takes another 40 years”> Scrooge may be bitter, mean and selfish a lot of the time.. but deep down, he’s a good man and one who will not give up, and a momentary setback can only stop him so long as long as he has his family to remind him of who he truly is.. and what’s truly important. It’s genuinely sweet and to me is also a reminder of why 87 Webby is a good character: Shes’ not perfect, her main personality trait is often Girl Sterotype”.. but she’s a genuinely sweet small child with a huge heart. It’s telling that while 17′ Webby is almost completely diffren,t and far better, that heart remains her biggest strength. Sure her reboot self could kill a man nad no one would ever find the body, but it’s her heart and empathy that makes that possible and makes her Webby. That inherent loving nature is what makes Webby webby wether she’s a toddler having a tea party or a tween getting ready to intergoate a guy with a meat tenderizer while saying ‘Cute girl stuff”.

Gene Genie Let’s Himself Go:

It’s a few days later and this is the point where it REALLY becomes obvious this was written as a bunch of episodes. Though to the film’s credit while it does ake this feel like a compliation movie as a result... it dosen’t hamper the film’s quality, condiment from Rush Limbaghs’ hot dog stand does that just fine, but once you notice it it’s impossible to unotice it. Weirdly though it seems chunked up into four episodes rather than the usual five, likely cutting down an episode, though I can’t see where they cut out material frankly if they did and i’ts just as likely they woudl’ve had to make one to fill in the space.

So Scrooge is in a mood, being grumpy with his secretary Mrs. Featherly, quackfaster in all but name, and having to be sent home. So while Duckworth goes to fetch him Webby polishes her treasure at long last readying for a tea party, something the boys roundly reject because their sexist little twits and swo were the writers or executies who assumed all little boys act the same. It’s easily my biggest pet peeve with the series as a whole: anytime this crops up with the boys it turns them into the worst dicks imaginable. It’s telling this, being mean about her wantin ga tea party with her surrogate brothersi s TAME. Normally they’ll say she can’t do things because she’s a girl or mock her hobies outright instead of just be mildly dickish. And while she dosen’t look much younger Webby is VERY CLEARLY, in this series anyway, supposed to be say 5 or 6 to the boys 8-10. 7 at most. SHe’s a small child and while it is realistic for older kids to bully younger ones, it’s not fun to watch. It’s why I get annoyed at all the big sibling bully characters.. some work, but most aren’t fun to watch because there’s nothing funny or intresting about it. It’s the same deal here.

Thankfully that quickly goes away as the lamp moves when Webby rubs it and does so again to prove it did move. Huey finishes it and we’re introduced to Gene, the best part of the film. Gene is a Genie and he takes a second to dart around before messing with the appliances in the kitchen, as he was last around during the time 1001 Nights Came About. Cleverly though, and so we thankfully don’t have 80 dozen fishout of water jokes that have already been done before. As you can probably guess i’m not a huge fan of time travel fish out of water stuff. Now from another dimensoin or planet, i’m on board with with Star Vs, Steven Universe and Sym-Bionic Titan being great examples of this, as is the comic resident alien. (Despite having the wonderous Alan Tuduk the show sounds way more mean spirited and misses the entire point of the comic as given by the author in the credits, i.e. that the alien is supposed to NOT be a threat and just be gently waiting for a ride) The inverse is also good with Amphbia and owl house, taking a human and plopping them into our world. But time travel stuff just usually runs the same beats of “look at the shiny thing” and what not. The only time i’ve sene something SIMILAR work is with thor where their society is SIMILAR to vikings time but still it’s own thing.. it also gave us a classic gag in..

So yeah i’m glad they dropped this and instead had a clever way around it: Gene reads the encylopedia at the mansion. Granted it’s Scrooge so I don’t know how current it is and given this came out in 1990 thus HOW racist it is. It’s not a questoin of IF it was, but how much.

But having caught up the kids confront him with the fact he has to grant wishes. This lamp runs on what I now realize are Aladdin rules: Whoever currently holds the Lamp is the Genie’s master, they only get three wishes, and that dosen’t reset if it changes hands. The only big diffrence from the usual is Gene dosen’t have to TELL them about the wishes like Genie did, and Gene very begrudginly agrees to it. He also seem’s phsyically pained when doing so.

So since all 12 know about him, each of the kids gets a wish though it seems unfair with HDL. Their one person, they shoudln’t get 9 wishes just because their brain is spread out over three bodies.

This film continues the weird simliarties to Aladdin by attaching rules though they instead come up as a result of our heroes talking rather than the Genie just flat out tleling them: both share the “you can’t wish for more wishes” thing, a common rule in these stories and usually only broken nowadays as a clever twist as the rule is SO common place, not having it is a twist. But it is there for a reason: to limit the sheer power of a reality warping wish. The wishes can also only go so far. In a nice line, when Huey, Dewey or Louie suggests wishing for peace one earth, Gene says “No pipe dreams’ He can’t bend people or reality on THAT scale. He can bend reality as we find out, but it’s smaller scales like turning someone’s possesions over ot someone else, warping the bin into a castle, or bringing inanitamte objects to limited life. Still HUGE feats worth of a genie, so Gene’s power isn’t so nerfed it’s unusuable, but it does explain why his evil pervious ownder Merlock, more ont hat in a bit too, didn’t just wish to have eternal dominon over the earth or something. Gene can do just about anything but he can’t change the world on a fundemental level.

And I do LIKE having rules in wished based stories like this, I chalk it up to growing up with Fairly Odd Parents... though they eventually went too far in the oppsoitie direction, pulling rules out of their ass to suit the episode, instead of simply having some very standard, very understandable rules that still pose challenges but don’t outright cheat so the episode can happen.

So Webby does her first wish.. and wishes for a Baby Elephant, something Gene is against as he prefers they keep the wishes small: otherwise he gets found out, and the fight over him begins. So one of the boys wishes him away. Or Webby does. Point is it’s gone though not before Beakly sees it and Scrooge smells something is up. Our heroes try to hide gene, but gene thankfully simply dresses up like a modern kid and thus is able to pass as a friend of there staying for the night.

So with the rules established and what not the kids find a clever solution: they simply go a ways away from the mansion into the woods, far enough from town to avoid any suspcion, and same iwth the mansion and just wish for all kinds of stuff: a giant bunch of ice cream toys, standard kid wish fufillment but it’s nice... in part because the kids treat Gene like one of them. Wihle they STARTED asking him about the wishes, this starts the bonding process. Soon he will be part of the hive mind.. SOON.

Until then though after using another wish to make scrooge not mad at them for coming home late and missing dinner, that night we find out Gene’s backstory.... and it’s an utter tearjerker. As it turns out Merlock wants him back because he’s Gene’s former master and as you’d guess.. it was NOT a happy existnace, used contstnatly to do horrible things with no power to stop himself. Pompeii and Atlantis were both directly Merlock’s fault and it was only Collie Baba stealing the lamp that put an end to his hell. He also answers the two obvious questions botht he audeiince and the boys have: How the hell is Merlock still alive and shoudln’t he be out of wishes then? The first is simple. Unlike pretty much every DBZ Villian whose WANTED to do so, Merlock wished for immortality first chance he got, taking the Zamasu route instead and thus leaving him free.

As for the wishes thing it turns out his amulet, in adition to shapeshifting, also gives him extra wishes becuase fuck it.

But the boys sweetly offer to protect him.

The next day, Apu’s Cousin let’s Merlock know the maps in the mansion and Merlock has him help sneak in with Merlock taking rat form. This backfires as Mrs. Beakley notices the form and chases after him with a broom

Meanwhile Webby has her tea party with Gene after he and the boys played cops and robbers earlier, and he’s bored.. though nicely not because it’s a girly thing, but because the stuffed animals aren’t alive and she naively has him fix that. This leads to

Which sadly is jsut scrooge vs a duck toy but admit it, you want that movie for Disney Plus yesterday. Call Charles Band Disney. CALL CHARLES BAND!

Whelp Scrooge Still Sucks:

Scrooge takes for a turn for the obnoxious in the next part, but i’ts fine by me as it’s part of the plot. Naturally this reinactment of Cult of Chucky has lead to Scrooge finding out about the Genie. To his credit, Scrooge is tactical about his wishes. As said by the Duck himself “I could wish for a diamond, no the world’s biggest dimaond, no ten world’s biggest diamond, no a diamond mind, no the MINING INDUSTRY!”

The sheer power this gives him is TERRIFYING, both because of his status.. and because unlike the kids who all wished for simple kid stuff and used up their wishes quickly, he both gets how much he can do with this and could conquer the world economy if he truly wanted to.

The obnoxious part comes in as he treats Gene as not a person, figuring he’s just there and forces him into the lamp despite the kids protests after Gene grants his first wish: Collie Baba’s treasure. It also dosen’t feel like the wishing nor him using the lamp to get the tresure back goes against his hard work ethos: for the former while he is getting all this magically, he’s still having ot use his wits to get the most out of it, and he did earn the lamp itself square. For the latter, he already earned the treasure square too and had it stolen. He’s onlyg etting back what’s by all rights HIS. Granted he plans on giving most of it up for a tax break but still it’s his by right.

However the reason his assholery works is twofold: first it’s Scrooge. While he’s not a TERRIBLE person, in the comcis and this cartoon he isn’t a GOOD person either. He DOES have a good heart and will usually do the right thing, but his first instnct is always to get more money and to be a cantakerous old bastard to eveyrone and everything. While he’s subtly grew out of “I hate eveyrone and everyone hates me” as his guiding principal, it’s still his defualt reaction to most situations. But he first relents by letting Gene attend the party, part of why the Collie Baba thing stung so bad was that he’s told the historical society he’d get the treasure for years only to come back empty handed, if shrunken. But he still manages to have a good time while Asok and Merlock infiltrate.. well I’mRunningOutofINsultingNIcknamesCanYouTell steals the silverware. Yes... that.. that really happens.

Look we’re almost done, i’m almost free of this racist mummies curse. Let’s continue. Gene sees melock and freaks and drags SCrooge with him and while at First Scrooge is cranky...

No but now I want a Donkey Kong Country crossover too dammmit. And to talk about those games. Another thing for the list. But Scrooge is righ tot be a bit surly...

Okay now your just pushing it. As Gene whisked him away without telling him anything other than vauge worries... but then he gets a full idea of why Gene’s so terrified when Merlock shapeshifts into a bear and starts breaking the door down. Eh, could be worse.

Gene shrinks them to escape and Merlock leaves thinking they fled but leaves Skids Minus Mudflap to go look for them. Scrooge sneaks out but bumps into a cart running from the photo you see when you look up stereotype on google. I mean I assume.. let’s try it.

Huh you know I HOPED but I never expected...

So Google Proving My Point plans to give his lamp to the master because of his weird Torgo-Esque obession with helping a man who clearly wants to murder him but takes his sweet time doing so because plot, and Gene figuring this COULDN’T POSSIBLY go as bad as Melock getting him urges the dummy to keep him and make his own wishes.

This goes about as well as you’d expect....

Wiped Out With A Wish:

Scrooge returns home to find Watto has wished to take his poessions, fortune, everything and Scrooge gets thrown in jail for breaking into his own house. We get two great moments back to back. The first is Scrooge lamenting loosing his fortune in jail, and realizing the sheer power and risk of the lamp, especially since he worked hard to earn it, every bit of it.. and Sam Wilson’s 70′s Backstory came in and took it all in an instant.

The second is Scrooge’s family coming for him, including Launchpad , Beakly and Webby obviously and bailing him out. Though Beakly is UNGOLDLY annoying in this scene, sobbing hysterically and adding nothing and it’s not nearly as funny as the film thinks. Turns out Goliath getting buried wrapped in chains threw them out.

Scrooge takes a bit to rebound from all this.. but eventually realizes something: he knows the security of the bin inside and out. He had it put in after all. So it’d be easy enough to break in. So they gotta break in to break out the lamp, undo this nightmare, and END THIS MOVIE. Seriously this review has taken two days as is I do NOT want to miss my invincible review.

So they break into the bin, and it’s a tightly paced Scene, scrooge going in one way while the kids go the other and we even get a nice callback as the marbels come in handy to get past one of the traps. It’s just a good scene. it’s only real flaw is that Launchapd just sorta disappears as does Duckworth despite the fact their in a plane, and the bin later gets turned into a floating castle. Kinda a plot hole to not have Launchpad crash in to save htem just saying.

Scrooge eventually does get to Djonn, whose been ignoring the imminent threat of Merlock while Gene sweats it out... and this backfires horribly as Merlock hitched a ride as a roach (Though there was a hilarious scene of him getting fried constnatly by lasers when Louie went through a laser hallway, as while Louie had the directions, it dind’t take into account passengers on your head.

So Merlock remanifests in full gets the Lamp and unleashes his wrath on Tin Tin in the Congo and turns him into a wild pig.

Not you sweetie. He then forces Gene to turn the castle into a fortress and float it back to his home in parts unknown. It’s a DAMN cool scene with impressive and horrifiing animation as the bin melts and crumbles into thte castle and the kids barely make it up the stares as they shift and disolve. Really top notch stuff.

Scrooge stands up to Merlock... and this naturally goes poorlyw ith Gene begging Merlock not to respond.. and Merlock having him blow scrooge off the top of the forgtess storm eagle style, though scrooge understands. And this is the true reason why scrooge being a dick didn’t bother me so much. Because it helps create a great contrast between him and Merlock. Both thought of Gene as a tool rather than a person.. but Scrooge grew to realize he was wrong and what he was dealing with wasn’t some magical goodies creator.. but a child forced to constantly grant wishes, in sheer agony to do so no less, likely so sick of it because again and again and again people used him as a slave to get what they wanted and to hell with what Gene wanted. He realized he was terrible for making this poor boy into his slave simply because that’s his job. In contrast Merlock could give no shits and is a malevolent monster who glefully uses Gene despite the pain the wishes put him through and his protests. It’s why Gene is the best part.. he’s athroughly likeable, throughly inncoent character with tons of personality and a truly tragic and horrifying backstory and Rip Taylor acts the hell out of every scene with the guy.

Thankfully the marbles come in handy one last time and Huey, Dewey or Louie snipes the lamp away and a struggle for it insues between Scrooge and Merloc mid air. it’s fucking awesome.. and it get sbetter in how scroogewins. He simply gets rid of Merlock’s amulet, taking it then throwing it. Grante dhe COULD’EVE used it for unimited wishes.. but it was too risky to do that and as we’ll see in the ending , Scrooge realized the Lamp was too powerful to keep around for much longer and too much of a tempting target for his rogues.. not that we see them this movie as the crew wanted it to bea ccesaible and thus kept hte cast to the main cast from season 1 and just made new vilians and a new supporting character, but still.

He does use his second wish though to undue the damage Merlock had done and the bin and clan mcduck are returned to duckburg in good condition.

Time for our ending, which is genuinely and wholly touching. With the lamp too dangerous to use Scrooge considers just sending it to the earth’s core, which horrifies the kids as it’d mean Gene would be trapped there forever... if the molten lava iddn’t just outright destory the lamp and probably kill him. But Scrooge.. isn’t the bastard he likes to potray himself as. Instead he makes Gene into a real boy. He gives the poor kid HIS wish, which designrates the lamp and undoes all the spells... so Merlock is PROBABLY dead but he does return for some games so maybe not?

And so we end on two things: Gene happily playing cops and robbers with the boys finally free.. and Birth of A Nation grabbing all the loot he can in his patns and running off. Ha ha ha thank god i’m done with this prick. And no I will not be looking at his ducktales episodes unless I have to.

Final Thoughts:

This movie is OKAY. It has a solid plot, gene is a wonderful chacter, the animatoin is pretty prettay pretty good, and the voice acting as usual is excellent, with Rip Taylor being the standout.

But as my paragraphs of rage shoud’ve made Clear Djonn is just BAD. Easily the worst character i’ve encountered in my year of reviewing and some of the worst writing i’ve ran into. And that writing includes a goblin man voyerstically forcing two teenagers to make out, making jokes about santa renaming himself Clem the sceneafter he tearfully confessed to letting the elves and ms. claus die, accidental transphobia via the u-men, and Bryan Lee O malley thinking we needed more than one volume of Julie Powers being around. This was disgusting, even by 1990 standards and especially by 2021 standards and it drags the film down considerably. Without it the film is okay.. with it the film is just VERY hard to watch any time he pops up. He made getting through the movie a nightmare and while I pause a lot becaue it’s a bad habbit I did so more simply because as I said earlier in the review I could not stand him.

It makes it a hard film to recommend. If you can stomach the racisim, then it might be worth it, but be aware of what your putting up with going in. But if you can’t.. there’s no shame in that, it’s carbombya levels of bad. Which yes was a real fictoinal country. It was so bad Casey Casem quit transformers over it. True story. So yeah, it’s an okay film, on par with the series at it’s best for the most part.. but Djonn just spoils it for me.

If you liked this review, like it, share it around that sort of thing and if you want MORE disney movie reviews, in addiiton to the goofy movie one later this month, if you help me hit my 25 dollar stretch goal on patroen.com/popculturebuffet, i’ll do reviews of the Recess, Proud Family and Kim Possible MOvies (Well so the drama anyway), so help me out would you and i’ll see you at the next rainbow.

#ducktales #ducktales treasure of the lost lamp #ducktales 87 #scrooge mcduck #rip taylor #christopher lloyd #launchpad mcquack #webby vanderquack #huey duck #louie duck #dewey duck #duckworth #bentina beakley #merlock #djon #faris djinn #movies #disney plus #disney

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thewayshedreamed · 4 years

Text

This Time— Part 6

A Nessian Fan Fic

Fic Masterlist

This chapter offers some additional insight into Nesta’s thought process and sheds a little light on the ongoing process her emotional development has become. I hope it comes through!

This is somewhat of a “building” chapter so that we can get Nessian to the crest, so to speak. Part 7 is already written and only needs some editing, so it’s possible that I’ll be doing a double update today ☺️ They certainly have a lot to discuss, and once I started writing, I couldn’t stop. 😂 Anyway, enough of me. Enjoy!

Links to the previous parts:

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 || Part 5 ||

Warnings for grief related to the loss of a parent and some strong language.

——————————————————————————

Around 11:00 PM, Nesta decided she couldn’t be alone with her thoughts anymore. She was ruminating on similar memories and effectively raking herself over the coals. Although she knew any one of her friends would be there for her no matter the time of day, she picked up her phone to call the one she knew would most likely be awake at this hour.

“Hello?” Azriel’s raspy voice came through the phone.

“Were you asleep?! Since when do you go to bed early?” Her surprise was obvious by her tone. What the hell? He’s never in bed before midnight.

“Nes. Always a pleasure.” Azriel breathed a chuckle into the phone. “I usually wouldn’t be. I’m.. umm.. at a friend’s house tonight.”

Nesta gasped and dropped her voice. “Oh my gods. Az, were you on a date?! Am I interrupting?” She clapped her free hand over her forehead. “I’m the worst. I’m sorry.”

Another chuckle from Azriel. “You don’t have to whisper, you know. She can’t hear you. You’re not interrupting anything. I was asleep when you called, but I’m out on the couch now. What’s up?”

”If you were asleep, then that counts as interrupting! Are you sure?”

”Yes. Just, maybe the short version?” His tone was tentative, almost as if he felt guilty asking her to keep it concise at 11 PM. No one truly deserved Azriel as their friend.

“I can do that. So, here it is. I’ll save you the long, tedious trip through my brain.” She paused for half a second to take a breath. “I’m in love with Cassian.” She let out a quiet groan for effect.

”Mhmm...” The lilting of his voice implied that he was waiting for something like the punchline of a joke; the unknown part of her statement.

Her breath caught. “I kind of expected more of a reaction.”

”Did you? I thought there was more to it.” He seemed entirely neutral in that grating way of his.

”How did you know?!” She asked, incredulously.

”You told me.”

“Mm.. I don’t think so. When?” Now she was actually confused. Did she make some kind of drunken confession at Rita’s? She would remember having this revelation before now.

“At brunch. When we were driving home.”

”What are you talking about?!” Her voice was definitely higher pitched than it had been previously. She was anxious to hear his response, thinking he had surely dreamed this.

”Nesta. We were in my car, backing out of the parking lot. You asked me, ‘Why couldn’t we be the ones to fall in love?’ Or something along those lines. I thought that you were using some cryptic way of telling me because it implied two parties. Why do you think I hit the brakes so hard?” He seemed impatient, as if he was telling her the most obvious thing in the world.

“I thought maybe the question weirded you out! I didn’t even realize what I said, to be honest. How the actual fuck do you notice tiny things like that?” She didn’t wait on his response. He would know it was rhetorical. “Now my problem is this: I think he’s dating someone, so I’ve lost my chance.” She briefly told him what she had overheard the night of Elain’s birthday, her voice starting to crack toward the end.

”Hm. He hasn’t said anything to me about that, but I could see why he would wait being that you and I are close. But honestly, I don’t know that you could ever lose your chance with Cassian, Nes.”

She didn’t have anything to say to that. She simply sat there, playing with the corner of her throw blanket and hoping he would continue. He seemed to sense her discomfort and started talking again.

“I think you’ll regret it if you don’t talk to him. But, if I can offer my opinion, maybe wait a little while so that you know you’re absolutely sure this is what you want. I don’t know how he would handle it if you decided it’s not what you want.”

She felt herself prickle with defensiveness. “I wouldn’t do that to him, Az. Of course I’m sure. It only took me an eternity to figure this shit out.”

Azriel responded in a soothing tone he so often used with her. “I know. But remember, you’re not the one he talks to about you. I’m just looking out for my brother. Maybe let it marinate, yeah?”

She knew his intentions were pure, and she couldn’t really blame him for being protective. Before she could respond, she heard a feminine voice in the background ask: “Az, everything okay?”

She heard him pull the phone away from his face to answer. “Oh, yeah. All good. It’s Nesta.”

Delayed by her scattered brain and the copious amount of wine, the identity of the voice finally hit her full force.

”IS THAT ELAIN?!” She sat up straighter as if it would allow her to hear them more readily.

She heard Azriel laugh, followed by a shuffling on the other end.

“Hello? Nesta? Everything okay?” Nesta could hear the genuine concern in her voice.

“Hey, El. Everything’s fine! Sorry to crash your date. It seems we have quite a bit to talk about. Very soon.”

It took Elain a couple of seconds to respond, and Nesta could hear the smile in her voice. “Yeah. I think we do. Someone told me I should just talk to him. Turns out that they were right.” She paused, waiting for an “I told you so” from Nesta. She didn’t have the energy. “You know you can talk to me about Cassian, too, right?”

Nesta shut her eyes tightly and shook her head. “Of course. I’m sorry. I’ve been leaning on Az since our fight, and I honestly haven’t had the energy to bring it up beyond that. But I do want to talk to you. And Feyre. It’s just been...hard.”

“I can imagine. It’s hard to remember a time before you and Cass. It’s like the end of an era or something. Just know that we’re here.” Her voice was soft, laced with worry and a desire to help her older sister.

”Maybe for now,” Nesta teased, “but you may not have much time to chat these days.”

She knew she was blatantly deflecting, but El’s words had caused tears to prick her eyes yet again. It’s hard to remember a time before you and Cass. She realized how true it was, and what upset her the most was that she knew she didn’t want to know a time without Cassian.

The call wrapped up with more gentle teasing between the sisters, and eventually, embarrassing Azriel a bit over speakerphone. She told them she loved them and promised to keep them updated on how she was feeling. Her heart felt lighter once she finally ended the call, thanks to the laughter they managed to pull from her.

——————————————————————————

Christine Archeron’s death anniversary fell on a Tuesday that year, and Nesta awoke with a similar irritation as last year— death anniversaries should never fall on weekdays. She went through the familiar motions as any other morning, headed to work, and concentrated on her various tasks she was expected to juggle at any given time. As appearances went, it looked like any other ordinary day to those around her, so the extra heaviness remained hers alone to carry.

On her lunch break, she got a chance to pull her phone to check her messages and mindlessly scroll through social media. She had been focused on scrolling for so long that her phone took her by surprise when it vibrated in her hand. She tapped the notification by reflex and found herself studying the sender’s name as if it was some sort of mistake.

Cassian: Thinking about you today. I know it’s a rough one. Keep your head up. Christine would have it no other way ❤️

Nesta read the text several times in a row; just to make sure it was real. It had been so long since he’d contacted her intentionally, and it made her happy that he still thought to reach out today. It simultaneously made her a little sad; however, because it was yet another reminder of what she’d lost in him. That was an issue to deal with later.

Nesta: Of course you are, because you’re the perfect human, and I don’t deserve you. Thanks, Cass 💕 Means the world to me to hear from you. Mom really loved you, and I know she would appreciate you looking out for us.

She hesitated over the send button for several seconds before deciding to go through with it. It felt so weird to intentionally script any type of message to him being that they had spent most of their relationship entirely uncensored. Everything about it felt wrong— she couldn’t act natural with him because it wasn’t appropriate anymore, yet she didn’t feel right having to draft and redraft their communication. It was all so fucked, and she was tired of this odd limbo they stayed in.

She reflected on her conversation with Azriel and Elain on the night she had unintentionally crashed their date. She knew that they both held strong points about her situation and wouldn’t advise her to try to repair things if they knew it was a lost cause. She acknowledged that Azriel, specifically, knew more than he was at liberty to tell her. That being the case, she decided that was evidence in favor of hashing things out with Cassian. It wasn’t long before she was lost in her own thoughts, her food entirely forgotten.

I’ve spent my entire life trying to ensure I didn’t need anyone. I never wanted to depend heavily on another person in a way that I couldn’t manage on my own. But that’s not really the case anyway, right? I’ve managed fine these few weeks, but that’s the thing. I’ve managed. Why do I try to insist that’s enough for me?

But what if the door is closed? What if this was Cassian’s final push, and he’s gone? I don’t know Alis, and she could be wonderful. She probably appreciates the shit out of him and saw immediately that he’s not the average person. She probably knows how special he is. She probably beams anytime he enters a room and tries to take care of his heart in any way she can. She’s probably fucking delightful.

But does that really compete with history? I guess if that history is filled with turmoil, it could. She’ll never know the Cassian that was a freshman in high school— braces and curly hair, still a head taller than most of the other boys in class. She won’t remember how he hit his second growth spurt the summer after sophomore year, where he started to fill out and caught the attention of any girl with a pulse. She doesn’t know what it’s like when he’s truly angry with his dad and the world. She doesn’t know the full range of his eclectic music tastes or the guilty pleasures he sings depending on his mood. She didn’t do the leg work to reconcile the tough, intimidating exterior when he gets upset with the gentle soul beneath. There’s no way she knows when his humor and his laughter are distractions from his pain rather than when they’re genuine. She can’t love him like I do. Im-fucking-possible.

She was pulled abruptly out of her head, and incredible jealousy, by her alarm. It was time to go back to work and finish out the day, and she hoped it passed as quickly as possible. She silently chastised herself for piling this emotional time bomb on today of all days as she threw away her lunch and walked out of the break room.

So much for leaving this issue for later.

She resolved to put all of these thoughts back into their little box until she had the emotional energy to open the lid once again. Whenever the hell that would be.

——————————————————————————

The rest of the day zoomed by at a blissful pace, thank the gods. In fact, when Nesta glanced at the clock, she realized it was several minutes after 5:00 PM. She clocked out, grabbed her things, and climbed into her car. She took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself to make the drive out to the cemetery. She wasn’t sure what time Elain had been able to go by, but Nesta had agreed to meet Feyre at 5:30 to pay their respects. It was becoming a standing tradition, where they would make their short visit whenever they could during the day and follow with dinner together as a family.

She made it with a few minutes to spare, so she took that time to sit with her mom one-on-one. She gave her a brief update on her life, told her how much she loved and missed her, and gently brushed any leaves or grass clippings off of her headstone. There were fresh flowers in her vase, something she noted each year on her death anniversary. Any other time of year, they kept seasonally appropriate faux flowers to make sure her site was properly decorated. She made a mental note to offer to contribute to the fresh arrangement in the years following when she saw her family at dinner. They were always taken care of before she made it out to the cemetery, and she didn’t want to risk forgetting for the next year. She leaned into the arrangement, taking in the various floral scents emanating from the blooms in the bouquet. There was a myriad of vivid colors, wildflowers throughout, and Nesta loved how true to her mother’s spirit they were.

She turned when she heard car doors and saw Feyre approaching with Rhysand. She stood, extending an arm out to her baby sister, who accepted it readily and rested her head on her shoulder. They wrapped their arms around each other, and Rhysand stood nearby, resting his hand on Feyre’s opposite shoulder. They stood together for several minutes until Nesta excused herself to allow Feyre some time alone with their mom as well.

She drove to her father’s house where she found Elain already setting the table for dinner. They worked together quietly, making sure they had plenty of place settings for everyone. Azriel offered his help to carry various dishes of food to the dining table and took his seat next to Elain once it was all settled. Almost as if on cue, Feyre and Rhysand walked into the house and took their seats as well. The dinner started off quiet considering the somber mood, but Feyre was the first to break the tension when she started to tell stories from their childhood. In a matter of moments, their home was filled with animated story telling and loud bouts of laughter, and Nesta couldn’t think of a better way to honor her mom’s love of life.

As everyone finished up, she suddenly remembered her mental note from earlier. She waited for a natural lull in conversation, then commented softly, “Mom’s flowers were beautiful, you guys. You did an amazing job.”

”They were really perfect. They couldn’t have been more ‘Christine’ if you tried,” Feyre remarked.

“Elain, Dad. I’m not sure which of you took care of them this year, but would you let me take care of next time? I haven’t contributed since she passed, and I’d really like to.”

Mr. Archeron softly shook his head back and forth, communicating to Nesta that it hadn’t been him. Nesta adjusted her gaze to Elain who looked just as confused.

“Oh. Nes, I assumed it was one of you. I didn’t... I didn’t order them. I wished I had.” She looked down at her hands, and Azriel placed a supportive arm across the back of her chair.

“Okay... so who did?” She glanced around the table from person to person, but no one took any credit. It was Rhys who spoke up first, clearing his throat to master his voice.

“You don’t know?”

”Obviously.” She looked to Feyre for support. What the hell is that supposed to mean? Feyre said nothing, watching Rhysand talk with rapt attention.

When he spoke again, it was cautious, as if his words may startle her. “Nesta. The flowers are from Cassian. He’s done them every year since Mrs. Christine died.”

She was suddenly short of breath. Everyone’s attention snapped to Rhys, including her father’s. Her sisters and Azriel were looking at Rhysand with stunned expressions, their eyes flicking to her face occasionally.

“What? How could you know— why would you know, when we don’t? What the fuck is going on?” She was falling over her own words, struggling to form any cohesive thought.

”I’m so sorry,” Rhysand glanced around the room for the first time, realizing he had everyone’s attention. “The only reason I knew was because he asked me to make sure they made it from the flower shop to her gravesite the year he had knee surgery. He asked me to keep it to myself then, but I figured by now he would have said something to at least one other person.” He looked down into his plate, various emotions playing over his handsome face. Feyre leaned over to comfort him, knowing he was likely embarrassed to be the reason the air had changed so dramatically.

Nesta’s head was swimming, emotions roiling from a million different directions. She knew anger was cheap and unfair, but she pulled on that tether as hard as she could to make sure she could navigate everything she was processing. She was on her feet suddenly, pushing her chair away from the table and walking toward her keys.

“I have to go.” She couldn’t be in here anymore. The room was too small, the walls were too close. Too many people. She picked up the pace, flinging the door open and shutting it hard behind her. She was down the porch steps when she heard the door open again. Azriel’s voice followed her.

”Nesta. Where are you going? Nesta, stop!” He had jogged lightly to catch up with her, and he tugged her gently by the wrist to stop her. She spun on him quickly, eyes flaring and brimming with tears.

“Anywhere but here! What the fuck was that, Az?”

He said nothing; looked down at his own feet as he shook his head.

“Cassian has some fucking nerve, you know that? Why is he insisting upon himself?” Her voice was lowered and had taken on an almost eerie quality; the calm before the proverbial storm.

“Nes, I don’t think he meant to upset you. It sounds like it’s something he’s made somewhat of a tradition. Maybe he just wanted to be sure and see it through.”

”He doesn’t get to do that anymore, Azriel. He doesn’t get to butt-dial me while he makes date plans with some girl, then turn around and send flowers to my dead mother. What am I supposed to think about that? And how would that make his girlfriend feel?” Azriel pulled her into a hug at that, resting his chin on top of her head. He didn’t answer her. There was nothing to say.

She pulled away from him, gripping her keys, and walked toward her car. “I’m out. Tell them I love them, and I’ll call tomorrow.” She nodded her chin toward the house, climbed into her car, and backed out of the driveway.

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She wasn’t sure how long she’d driven before she found herself in his driveway. She knew it hadn’t been very long considering the sun was still clinging to the end of the day. She honestly didn’t remember making the conscious decision to come here, likely fueled by anger and muscle memory more than anything else. She was still so frustrated at her situation, her emotions spilling over and refusing to be put into that stupid fucking box anymore. The worst part was that, as mad as she was with him, she so badly wanted to see him. She wished the circumstances were less complicated so that she could knock, ask for a hug and some tea, and lay on his couch. They were a hell of a long way from those people now.

She loosed a breath, puffing her cheeks with air and exhaling slowly. Just before she peeled her head from the headrest to get out, his front door opened. He opened it most of the way, then leaned against the door jamb on his shoulder. He had his hands in the pockets of his sweats and one of his ankles crossed casually over the other. For a moment, she only looked at him, unable to move or offer any type of acknowledgement. She took in the charcoal henley he was wearing, unbuttoned save for the very last one. The small flap of the opening leaned to the side, revealing the base of his neck and the beginning of his tattoos. He looked so very Cassian, casual and laid-back, that she struggled to keep her emotions level at the mere sight of him. His hair was down, looking like he had just run his fingers through it with its deep part and how it fell haphazardly around his face. He was wearing his reading glasses, she noticed, the thick frames highlighting the sharp angle of his cheekbones and the wide set of his jaw. He gave her a soft smile, and cocked his head to the side and back in invitation. She could almost hear him gently telling her to “get in here”.

Too late to turn back now.

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A/N: Alrighty, hope y’all enjoyed this chapter, even with minimal Nessian. The next chapter(s) will more than make up for it, though! I’m hoping to have max Nessian to y’all ASAP. A million thanks to all of you who continue to follow this au. Your comments/ feedback have meant the world to me!

If you’d like to be tagged, feel free to comment, reblog, or send a message! I’d be happy to add you to the list. If I’ve accidentally left you off or there are issues with your tag, let me know, and I’ll look into it! Comments and constructive criticism are welcome (even encouraged)!

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#nessian #nesta archeron #nesta x cassian #nesta #cassian #acotar #nessian au #nessian fwb #nessian angst #nessian fanfic #acowar #acomaf #archeron sisters #acotar fanfic #sjm #sarah j maas

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imaginesforyourfandom · 5 years

Text

I Do! - Christen Press Imagine

A/N: This is somewhat of sequel to Better Time. Also, I hope this beautiful woman had a wonderful birthday!

(Y/N) POV

I stood there making sure my suit looked good. I could feel just a little bit of nerves, but I knew that there was nothing I would rather do today than to marry my best friend. I let out a shaky breath as the door opened. I turned when JJ walked in giving me a giant grin. I smiled as she came over and helped make sure my outfit looked good.

“You look amazing. She’s going to love it.” She said as I smiled.

“I can’t believe it’s finally time…” I said failing to hide the grin on my face.

“Me neither, but it’s going to go great.” I nodded my head as we left the room and I headed towards where the ceremony would be held. I smiled and greeted some of our guests as I headed to stand at the front.

“You look incredible.” Alex said as I grinned.

“Thank you.”

“Are you nervous?” Ali asked me as I nodded my head.

“I just want it to start…I want to see her.” I admitted as they all smiled.

“Still think it’s a good idea to have Pinoe officiate?” Syd asked as I turned to where Pinoe was reading over something. I smiled and nodded my head. “You know I could have done it…I did it for Krashlyn I could’ve done it for you…”

“I appreciate that, but Pinoe was the right decision.” Eventually, everyone took their seats and the music started to play. I stood nervously as I waited for her to be revealed to me.

I felt my breath get caught in my throat as I finally laid eyes on her. I felt my eyes start to water as I smiled at how beautiful she looked. The music continued to play as she made her way to me. When she was in front of me, I was still trying to fight back tears. She smiled at me reaching forward to wipe away one of my tears.

“You look…perfect.” I said as she grinned at me. I could barely register everything being said as she held my focus for the entire ceremony. When it was time for us to say our vows, I took a deep breath hoping I could keep it together long enough to get through them.

“It’s unbelievable to think about the way you make me feel. I find it horribly difficult to put it into words. I know when I look at you that there is no place, I would rather be than by your side. Even in my worst moments I know that all it takes is to look at you and I am fine. I know that there is nothing that could keep us from each other. You are everything to me and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life getting to enjoy every moment with you.” I smiled as she finished up her little speech.

“When I was younger, it took a long time for me to figure out what I wanted in life. I didn’t have the best parental figures to look too. I didn’t even really know what love was. Then, I met you. All it took was one look at you and it’s like suddenly everything made sense to me. This feeling of love and happiness that I had been searching so long for was suddenly right there. I saw it in you, and I knew there was no way I could ever let you go. You are my home. You are my happiness. You are my universe and I will spend the rest of my life making sure that you know how much I love you and how grateful I am that you saved me.” It was her turn to have tears in her eyes as I carefully wiped one away.

“I love you so much.” She whispered as I smiled softly at her.

“I love you too.” I whispered back as we continued with the ceremony. Pinoe gave both of us smiles as she continued talking.

“Okay. (Y/N) do you take Christen as your favorite person – to laugh with her, go on adventures with her, support her through life’s tough moments, be proud of her, grow old with her, and find new reasons to love her every day?”

“I do.” I smiled as Christen grinned at me.

“Christen, do you take (Y/N) as your favorite person – to laugh with her, go on adventures with her, support her through life’s tough moments, be proud of her, grow old with her, and find new reasons to love her every day?”

“I do.” Christen said as I bit my lip in excitement.

“You've both chosen to wear rings as a reminder of these promises. People often say wedding bands are a perfect circle, with no beginning and no end. Love is like that. It comes from humble beginnings, and through a combination of serendipity and effort, imperfect beings shape it into something extraordinary. It's the process of making something beautiful where there was once nothing at all. As you look at these rings over the years, I hope you remember that. You've created something invaluable, and just as I know you'll protect these rings, I'm confident you'll protect the commitments you've made to one another today.” We turned to grab our rings as we waited to place them one each other.

“(Y/N), as you place this ring on Christen’s finger, repeat these words after me: This ring symbolizes my love for you and the commitment we made today.” I repeated the words as I placed her ring on her finger.

“Okay Christen as you place this ring on (Y/N)’s finger, repeat these words after me: This ring symbolizes my love for you and the commitment we made today.” She repeated the words and placed the ring on my finger as I took a breath.

“(Y/N) and Christen you have come here today of your own free will and in the presence of family and loved ones, have declared your love and commitment to each other. You have given and received rings as a symbol of your promises. By the power of your love and commitment to each other, and by the power vested in me by the State of California, I now pronounce you wife and wife. You may now seal your vows with a kiss.” I leaned in and gave Christen a kiss wrapping my arms around her waist as her arms came around my neck.

“I love you so much.” She mumbled against my lips as I grinned softly at her.

“I love you too.”

We walked off together hand in hand as Christen needed to change into her second dress. I waited patiently for her as she came out. It was like I was seeing her for the first time again as I felt my breath get caught again.

“I will never get tired of seeing you.” I admitted as she smiled at me.

“Well, considering we are married. That’s a great thing.” I took her hand as we headed to the reception.

We got to share our first dance to our song—This is Why I Need You by Jesse Ruben. We swayed together sharing a kiss every few seconds.

“You make the winter feel warmer…” I sang softly as she smiled at me.

“You make my weakness less weak…” she sang back to me as I leaned in to kiss her.

Once the song ended, we were given hugs by family members. As the night continued on, we celebrated with our families and friends. I think at one point I had just a bit too much to drink because I had started to cry.

“What’s wrong?” Christen asked with a worried look on her face.

“I just love you so much.” I said as she smiled at me. “Like, I am so lucky to have you as my own and to get to marry you. I get to wake up to you everyday and kiss you every day…I am so lucky.” I said going into full sobs as JJ and them all laughed at me.

“Oh, I think it’s time for us to go…” Christen said as I nodded my head. “Come on…”

We made it back to our room eventually as she helped me to bed. I laid there waiting for her to come to bed. She came and laid in my arms as I held her close to me.

“I love you so much Christen.”

“I love you too.” She said giving me a kiss.

“I promise to love you forever.” I mumbled playing with the ring on her finger.

“I’ll hold you to that.” She said kissing my hand before laying her head down on my shoulder. “Go to sleep my love…”

The End.

#Christen Press #christen press imagine #christen press imagines #USWNT #uswnt imagine #uswnt imagines

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unloveable-unreachable · 5 years

Text

You’re the One My Heart Wants- Chapter 10

Word Count: 4,073

Warnings: Coming out story, if this can be triggering then please don’t read the chapter & Swearing

Author: Me

A/N: Alright, as promised, here’s a birthday chapter for y’all. I hope y’all have a great day!

Alex’s POV

I wake up to the warmth of Y/N sleeping next to me and realize she’s still cuddled up to my side. She has her arms wrapped around me tightly like she’s afraid that I’ll suddenly disappear. It was adorable to see her like this, to say the least. Being wrapped in her arms I felt safe and happy with how my life was with her in it. We could stay like this forever and I’d never get tired of it. I smile at the sight of my girlfriend sleeping. She looked so peaceful and so beautiful, her breaths slow and quiet. Her brow furrows every now and then before returning to its relaxed state, it was fucking adorable. I could watch her sleep for hours on end and never get tired of her beautiful face. As I watch her sleep, I remember what she said the night before:

“I love you, Alex.”

I haven’t forgotten what she said (don’t worry), but I didn’t know if she did or if she actually meant to say it. The rest of the night before she acted like nothing happened while we were at dinner with the team, and she was her same flirty self when we got back to the room. I mean we’ve been together for a little over a month now, why should I be so surprised by her saying it? She’s all I think about all day, every day. She makes me happier than I’ve ever been, and she’s the one I want to spend all my time with. Could I love her, too? Yes, yes I could. But would she be happy with my love... I have a lot to think about, and it’s way too fucking early in the morning to be exploring the depths of my feelings for her. I want to explore them, but I’d rather do it alone.

A few hours of restless sleeping later, I look over at the clock to see that it’s 8 am, an hour earlier than we needed to get up for breakfast. I lay there with Y/N’s arms still around me and weigh my options. It doesn’t take long for me to realize that there’s no way I’m going back to sleep anytime soon, so I decide to get ready for the day. I gently pull my girlfriend’s arms off of me while trying not to wake her up, she rolls over in response and only lets out a small groan. I quickly and quietly get off the bed and grab some clothes before heading to the bathroom to shower. When I come out of the bathroom, I peer my head around the wall just to see Y/N still asleep, only now she was cuddling my pillow. She looks fucking cute honestly, and it takes everything in me to not climb back in bed with her. I grab the notepad and leave her a note so she knew where I was when she woke up:

“Hey, baby. I got an early start and I didn’t want to wake you up since you looked pretty comfy cuddling my pillow. I’ll see you at breakfast unless you read this before then. If so, then I’m in the hotel somewhere. Just send me a text.- Al”

I place the note on the bedside table, kiss her softly on the cheek, and head out into the quiet hallway. Lost in my thoughts.

I wander around the hallways of the team's bedrooms for a while before I find myself on the roof, looking out at New Jersey. I look down at the people below heading to work, wondering if they’re in the same situation as me. If they were going over their own love life and if they were ready to face the truth of their relationship and if they were actually ready. The ‘silence’ of the rooftop helps me go over everything that’s happened over the last month while directing my gaze to the skyline. Getting to know Y/N this past month has been interesting, because like Kelley said it was hard to get her to open up. But she made it look so easy being open with me, which I appreciated. And she just keeps opening up to me every day, never hiding anything from me. She makes me extremely happy, we’ve been in a blissful state ever since we got together with no fights. That alone was refreshing to me considering my marriage was filled with constant fighting, there wasn’t much happiness. She doesn’t put me in the spotlight because I’m ‘Soccer Star Alex Morgan’, she does it because she sees me for me:

“You’re beautiful inside and out, Al. The way you see things, how you see the world, it’s beautiful. I’ve never met someone who cares more about their fans than the game than you. You’re going to change the world someday for all those little girls out there playing soccer.”

She said that to me a few nights ago while we were up talking about life, and honestly, it filled my heart with happiness hearing her say those things about me. She’s the most caring person I’ve ever met. She always makes sure I’m happy at all times, and she’s kept my secret from the team this long. She’d keep it forever if I asked. Here’s the thing, I’m one of those girls who plans for their future and who they want beside them in that future. When I think about my future, of course, there’s soccer but it’s no question who I want next to me, achieving our dreams together. It’s Y/N, and if I have anything to say about it, it’s always going to be her. I need to tell the team about me, about us. Because dammit, I love Y/N.

When I came down to breakfast, I sit down with Kelley and Allie, who are talking about our coming up friendly match. “Mexico always puts up a good fight, but I don’t think we have anything to worry about,” Kelley says as we nod in agreement. As we continued talking game tactics, Pinoe walks over to our table. I look down at my phone to see a message from Y/N asking if I was already at breakfast, as Pinoe sits down next to Allie. “Hey, guys. Can I ask you something?” she asks, gaining the attention of Ali, Ash, Tobin, and Christen from the next table. “Yeah, what’s up?” I answer for all of us as I set down my phone, not getting to answer Y/N. “If we win the World Cup --” “When we win the World Cup,” Kelley interrupts causing Pinoe to laugh. “Yes, when we win. If we’re invited to the White House, would you want to go?” she finally finishes with a serious look. “No,” we all say, with an added ‘Fuck no’ from Ash. “Okay, good. I was just making sure we were all on the same page,” Pinoe says with relief. When she gets up to leave, I see my girlfriend walk in the door. She sees me and gives a soft smile before going to sit next to Ali. “Is she still doing okay?” Allie asks quietly. I nod as I glance over at Y/N, who’s laughing at something Tobin said. “Al,” Kelley says, causing me to be pulled out of my thoughts, “Are you okay? You’re acting really weird.” “I’m fine, just a lot on my mind right now,” I answer, giving her a soft smile. After we finish eating, we head to the vans for training.

Training was uneventful today, just a lot of scrimmaging to get ready for tomorrow’s match. We look pretty good, even if one of our more powerful forwards can’t play. Christen is stepping up though, and I know Tobin is glad that Jill is giving her the opportunity to show her worth to the team for once. I still haven’t talked to Y/N, but that was mostly because she was still on the sidelines for at least one more game. Also because I had more media today with Pinoe that we couldn’t get out of no matter how hard we tried. Kelley told me that she would hang out with her till I got back, and I was thankful for that because I had to figure out my plan for later tonight and I didn’t need to be worried about my injured girlfriend. “Hey, Pinoe,” I say as we walk back to the car after our last interview of the day, “Can you call a team meeting for when we get back to the hotel? I want to talk to the team about something.” “For sure, no problem,” she says as we head back to the hotel.

“Okay, what’s this team meeting about? I have a show to watch,” Sonnett asks while everyone gets settled in one of the conference rooms in the hotel. I watch everyone sit down with confused looks, especially my girlfriend. She was sitting in between Ali and Ash, ignoring what they were talking about. She was looking at me, never taking her eyes off of me. “Alright, everyone. We called this short meeting because Alex has something to tell all of us. Alex, the floor is yours,” Pinoe says before taking her seat. The room got really quiet as I stepped in front of everyone. Breathe, Alex. It’s going to be okay. I let out a long sigh and look at my 22 best friends. “So, I wanted to clear this up before we leave for France,” I start, “I bet most of you are wondering who I was talking about on Good Morning, America and I’m going to tell you guys because I can’t keep them a secret anymore.” Y/N‘s eyes catch mine, she looks confused and concerned about what I was about to do. I see Ali and Ash look at her, but she just brushes them off, still not taking her eyes off of mine. I look at her waiting for permission before continuing, she nods with a small smile. I smile as I look back out to my teammates. “I’m bisexual, and I’ve waited a long time to tell you guys,” I say as confidently as I can, trying to read everyone’s expressions. “It’s one of the many reasons why Servando and I got a divorce. It wasn’t something I had planned on telling you this soon, but someone changed my mind and I’m really glad she did,” I say with a smile. “Is she someone we know?” Pinoe asks questionably. I smile to myself, then glance over to Y/N who was smiling too. “Yes, she is. I’ve been dating Y/N for a little over a month now. We’re really happy together, and I hope you guys can be happy for us. We want to keep our relationship private for the time being, but we didn’t want to hide it from the team any longer. Don’t give her any shit about this either. I love her, and I won’t think twice about kicking any of your asses if you fuck with her,” I say in a semi-serious tone with a small smile at the end. I look over at my girlfriend when I finish, and she gives me a shocked look.

Y/N POV

I’m sorry, did I hear Alex right? Did she just say she loves me in front of all of our friends? “Oh my god,” Ali says, “Alex loves you.” I just look at Ali, who’s shocked expression was as big as mine. “Holy fuck, kiddo. She loves you,” Ash says while giving me a big side hug, the joy clear in her face and her voice. Was this really happening right now? “I called it!” Tobin yells from across the room causing Christen to slap her arm. “About damn time! I was about to spill to everyone, I can’t believe you two trusted me with this secret,” Sonny says as Lindsey and Sammy laugh. Jesus Sonny, always making a scene. Everyone starts asking why Sonny got to know before them, and I ignore them because I’m still trying to get over the initial shock of what Alex said. I look up at her while she was still standing in front of everyone, she gives me a soft smile. Damn, she was beautiful up there being so open with everyone. I can’t take it anymore. I get up from my seat and step over Ash, walking past everyone giving me words of support and encouragement for my, our relationship. I was grateful for them because it meant that they were happy for me and Alex, and that’s all we ever wanted from them. When I finally reach Alex, she smiles brightly at me as I pull her into a hug. “I’m so proud of you, Al. I know how hard all of this was for you to tell them,” I say to my girlfriend, “Also, did I hear you say that you love me?” She blushes as she smiles up at me. “I do love you, Y/N. I wouldn’t want to do life with anyone else,” Alex says as she pulls me into another hug. When I pull away I look into her eyes, those beautiful eyes that melt me every time I see them. “I love you too, Alex,” I say, trying not to tear up. She gives me a big smile before pulling me in for a kiss. I kiss her back, as everyone cheers around us. God, she makes me so happy. I don’t want this feeling to ever go away.

The Next Day- Game Day

“Alex, wake up,” I say to my sleeping girlfriend. She groans while snuggling into my chest. “It’s game day, babe. You have to get up, like now.” She pulls herself up to lay on top of me before looking up at me. “Ugh, but I’m so comfy here with you,” Alex says with a pout, her voice much raspier compared to normal. Dammit, she’s adorable all the time but especially when she’s being like this. I let out a small laugh while trying to get her off of me. She wasn’t going to make us late, I wouldn’t let her. When I finally manage to flip her over on the bed, I hover over her causing her to give me a shocked expression. “Now that you’re awake, we have to get ready for the game,” I say with a smirk. She reaches up, wrapping her arms around my neck, and pulls me down to kiss her. She’s clingy and I loved her for it. Kissing Alex was like magic every time, and the kisses were always full of passion and desire. At some point during our kissing, Alex manages to get back on top of me, taking full control of our kissing. My hands slide underneath her (my) sweatshirt and I run my fingers across her back muscles. She lifts my chin and starts placing kisses all over my neck. She knew that was my weakness, fuck. I let out a small moan as she smiles down at me. We start kissing again, trying to keep the noise to a minimum. She moves her hand to the hem of my shirt, lightly touching my skin in the process. My skin burns at the feel of her touch, wanting more. We need to stop, we don’t have time for this. “Alex, we should stop,” I say while gently pushing her away. “I don’t want to,” she says with eager eyes, looking down at me. “We have to, babe. We don’t have time for this.” She groans, knowing I’m right. I lean up and kiss her nose before she gets off of me. She looked extremely beautiful especially in my college sweatshirt, and when she stretches I can see her abs peek out from underneath the sweatshirt. She knew just how to get me all hot and bothered, Jesus fucking Christ. I try to think about something other than Alex’s abs as we get ready for the game.

While in the locker room, Jill comes in and gives us another pep talk since this was our final send-off match before the World Cup and because we’ve always had a little trouble when playing Mexico. Before we walk out to the tunnel, I pull Alex to the side peppering her face with kisses. “Good luck today, babe. Kick some ass,” I say as she giggles. “Thanks, baby. It won’t be the same without you out there with me,” she says with puppy dog eyes and a pout. “I know, but this is the last one I have to sit out. I’ll be out there kicking ass with you soon enough. I’ll be happy to sit and watch you today,” I say as I kiss her forehead while we walk out of the locker room. Alex goes to her spot while I hang back with Sonny and Lindsey. “Hey, Y/N,” Lindsey says as we walk out. “Yeah, Linds?” I answer with a little confusion. “I bet you’re glad the team knows about you and Alex now,” she says while Sonny starts giggling. “Yeah...Why do you ask?” I answer with even more confusion. “Did you even look in the mirror this morning? Those are some niceeeeee hickies you’ve got there,” Sonny says through her laughs. My face turns bright red while I reach up towards my neck, causing them to laugh more. “Fuck you guys,” I say as I leave the group to catch up with Ali and Ash.

The match is pretty uneventful during the first half, and that’s an understatement. I’m sitting next to Ali with Ash on her other side, and we’re talking about the match (after they give me shit about the hickies covering my neck) and what everyone could be doing better. Not bad talking by any means, just constructive criticism based on what we were watching. We’d want the same from any of our teammates if we were in the game. “Come on, Pinoe!” Ash yells as she stands up. We watch the ball go towards the goal, just to see the goalkeeper save it. Collective groans come from our bench, and I can see the disappointment on Pinoe’s face as she gets back into position. Jill was probably getting irritated with the whole team because normally we would be up by at least one goal by now. I can see how irritated Alex was getting because the crosses weren’t getting to her and she kept getting caught offsides. I’m going to get an ear full about this later tonight, I just know it. The game was scoreless for what seemed like forever, until the goalkeeper and defense made a mistake, allowing Tobin to sneak in and score in the 11th minute. Our bench went wild with excitement, and so does the whole stadium. After that, we still haven’t managed to do much with the ball as the half continues, a lot of saved goals from Mexico which was irritating. I’m pulled out of a conversation with Ali when Alex goes down in the 28th minute. “No, no. Alex get up, you’re fine. Please get up,” I say to myself while I stare at my girlfriend. “She’s going to be okay, Y/N,” Ali says as she grabs my arm to get me to sit back down, “Look, see. She’s fine. Calm down.” As Ali’s talking to me, I lock eyes with Alex. She gives a small wave towards me to let me know she’s okay. I relax my body, letting Ali pull me down next to her. I watch Alex walk with a small limp back to the midfield line to meet Jill. She catches me staring at her and gives me a small smile and a wink before going back on the pitch. The rest of the first half goes about the same. We haven’t scored again, even though we’ve had a lot of opportunities, by the time the whistle is blown for halftime.

When we get back in the locker room, I can’t find Alex. She must have been brought back to the training room to get her leg checked out. We can’t risk any injuries since we leave for France tomorrow, so it would make sense that she would be there. Jill comes in after a while to give yet another pep talk, almost exact to the one she gave before the start of the match. Typical Jill. “Alright, so subs for the start of the second half will be Press, Horan, Long, Pugh, and Lloyd. Rapinoe, Sauerbrunn, Dunn, Lavelle, and Morgan are out for the remainder of the match. Let’s get out there ladies and finish the match on a high note,” Jill says as we all start heading back out to the pitch. Even after all of that, I still haven’t seen Alex which makes me worried. “Stop worrying, kiddo,” Ash says while she slings her arm around my shoulders as we walk back to the bench, “Alex is a tough cookie. Maybe she’ll come out with Pinoe after she showers.” I nod as I sit down next to Ali to finish watching the rest of the match. To our surprise, Carli gets an opening in the 48th minute after getting past the goalkeeper just to miss the goal. Ash groans while she puts her head in her hands, knowing that’s all Carli would be talking about for the rest of the night. In the 49th minute, I’m caught watching Kelley go down reaching for her leg. Fuck, please don’t be her fucking ankle again. Thankfully she gets up with some help from Sammy, with a little limp in her step as she walks back to her position. While I’m in a heated conversation with Ash, I feel someone sit next to me. What the fuck? Confused, I turn around to see my girlfriend smiling at me. “Well, hey there stranger,” I say as I return her smile. “Hey, yourself,” she answers. “Are you okay, babe?” I say to her, trying not to draw attention to us from the fans. “I’m okay. Just a little banged up. Don’t need to risk an injury before the World Cup, so Jill thought I should sit the rest of the match,” Alex says, “It also means I get to spend a little time with my girlfriend.” She winks at me before Ali leans over and says, “Okay, you guys are cute. But you’re also going to make me throw up with all that cute stuff you’re saying, so please save that for your room.” I pull her into a side hug and we both start laughing at her as we return our attention to the game.

The match ends with goals from Mal and Christen, with the ending score being 3-0. After we all get on the bus, Alex immediately falls asleep on my shoulder. She looked adorable and exhausted, the heat and the game must have really worn her out. When we got back to the hotel everyone wanted to go to dinner, but Alex and I decline the offer as she practically drags me upstairs to our room to watch Netflix and cuddle. Alex puts my sweatshirt back on after her shower and a pair of my shorts, I guess we’re sharing my clothes now, before getting in bed with me to watch a movie. During one of the horrible movies we were watching, I look over at her just to see that she’s asleep on my shoulder again. She looked peaceful and even more beautiful than usual, if that’s even possible. I smile at her as I move a stray hair that was covering her face behind her ear. I shut off my laptop and check our alarms for tomorrow since it’s a travel day and we have to be up early. Alex groans as I lean over to turn off the light. I roll my eyes and turn to her, pulling her close while we get comfortable. “I love you, Y/N,” she says while she snuggled into my chest. “I love you more, Alex,” I say back before kissing the top of her head. “Not possible,” I hear her say into my shirt. Pure happiness filled our room, and I never want it to go away.

To Be Continued

#alex morgan #alex morgan x reader #alex morgan imagine #alex morgan imagines #ali krieger #ashlyn harris #krashlyn #kelley o’hara #lindsey horan #emily sonnett #megan rapinoe #tobin heath #uswnt #uswnt imagines #nwsl #nwsl imagines #woso #woso imagine #You're the One My Heart Wants

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aaronhart93-archive · 4 years

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twins || alison and aaron

Discord thread featuring: Aaron & @alison-haynes

When: 9/28/2020

Where: the hospital

Mentions: briefly @romanbeckett

Description: Alison gives birth. And surprise! Twins!

Trigger Warnings: labor, child birth

Alison.

The weekend seemed to drag on. Alison felt lonely, she had did her best throughout the weekend to not text Aaron and bother him on his trip. Of course she facetimed with them a couple times over the time they were gone to talk to her small blonde headed daughter who was sure to tell her she was having so much fun at the beach. Before heading to bed Sunday night, Alison felt tightening and cramping in her abdomen and back, much like a contraction, but Alison wrote it off as a Braxton Hicks contraction. She had gotten those with Destiny, and she was still four and half weeks away from her due date. Alison didn't sleep well that night, constantly getting up and hoping that the Braxton Hicks would be over. But each time she woke up, they didn't seem over. Alison was drifting off to sleep once again, when she felt a gush sensation. Her eyes widened quickly, knowing that her water had just broke. Alison rolled over, trying to stay calm reaching for her phone. 4:32 AM. Alison wasn't even sure if Aaron had come back to the city Sunday night, or if he was planning to come back this Monday morning. But -- he was the person who she had to call. It wasn't like Luca was going to be there for the birth of his son, and Alison needed her friend. Shakily, Alison clicked Aaron's name in her contacts. She hated it was so early, she knew she'd wake the other, but this was happening and it was happening four and half weeks early.

Aaron.

Aaron had been back in the city for nearly the whole day but he was still exhausted from his trip to the beach house with Roman and destiny. It was a much needed relaxing weekend. He had been battling some depression lately which only only gotten worse when he relapsed at his birthday party. He didn’t like to believe that he was actually depressed which is why he didn’t tell most people about what he was going through. That included Alison. She was already so stressed out with her boyfriend leaving and with the baby‘s due date coming up soon. He didn’t want to stress her out with anything else. Besides, he was managing his mental health as best as he could. There wasn’t anything she could do about it so it was pointless for him to tell her anyway. Recently Aaron had been sleeping with his phone volume up all of the way in case Alison needed something in the middle of the night. Aaron was Alison‘s protector and with Luca gone she needed air now now more than ever. The sound of his phone ringing made him practically jumped out of bed. He turned to pick up the phone and saw it was Alison. His mind immediately went to his daughter, but she was with him tonight so he knew she was okay. “Hello?” He rasped. “Everything okay?”

Alison.

Alison couldn't believe this was happening so early. With Destiny, she had gone right up to her due date and even a couple days over. She was expecting at least another month before her son made his way into the world, but clearly the baby had other thoughts. He was coming tonight, and it wasn't like Alison could change that. She nervously listened to the ringer ring just once before hearing Aaron's voice on the other end. "I-Can you meet me at the hospital?" Alison hadn't even thought to call for help before calling Aaron, "Or pick me up? Or something -- Aaron, the baby is coming." She said into the phone. Her voice made it clear that she was surprised it was happening this early, and Alison did not at all feel prepared for this baby's arrival today. It was far too early, and Alison was only thinking of the worst. Was something wrong with her child? Why was this happening so early?

Aaron.

he paused for a brief moment, taking in everything that he had just heard. Right now? It’s way too early. He rubbed his eyes, thinking that that would make him hear her more clearly or something. “Are you sure?” Stupid question, especially because Aaron was already jumping out of bed and putting clothes on. “I’m coming. I’ll pick you up. I’ll be there — um, “ it was 4:30 in the morning in New York City, he could make it across north Kingsboro in a handful of minutes if he went quickly. “Less than 10 minutes. Did you pack a bag yet? Do you need me to bring you any clothes or anything?” He held his phone with his head between his shoulder and ear, hopping into a paid of sweat pants and already making his way towards her bedroom down the hall to grab a couple clothing items she had at his pent.

Alison.

Alison didn't want to be sure about this, she wanted to be wrong and to go back to bed, but she had a child before, she had gone through labor before and she knew it was time. Plus, her water breaking was a sure fire sign that her son was on his way to join the world and he'd be with them sometime soon. Of course she wasn't ready, as no one was ready to go into labor especially not ready over a month early. "I, everything is already packed." She told him, sure she wasn't expecting her son a month early, but she had packed the bag knowing it could happen at anytime. Alison reached for the water bottle on the side of her bed, taking a sip and then saying, "Please hurry."

Aaron.

“Okay. Okay.” He breathed, turning away from her room and back towards the master. “I’m coming.” He hung up the phone and shoved Roman awake to tell him where he was going and that he was in charge of Des and getting her to school in the morning. Without even letting him answer, he was out the door and starting the Range Rover with his car starter. He seemed to make it to the pop star’s pent in record time. He fiddled with keys to try to find the key to Alison’s when he got to the door. He was much less nervous for her delivery this time around. For obvious reasons. Once He finally got inside her apartment, he reached his hand out of her to take and slung her bag over his shoulder. “Round 2, momma!!!” He exclaimed.

Alison.

“Thank you,” she said into the phone before hearing the line go dead. Alison made her way slowly down to her living room so she would be closer to the door upon Aaron’s arrival. She just wanted to get to the hospital, deliver her son and make sure everything was okay with him. Her mind kept farting to the worst situation, but she knew she needed to just trust what was happening. Alison nodded as he spoke, “I can’t believe this is happening right now.” She mumbled, following him to the door. It was time to bring another life into this world.

Aaron

Aaron even did some tiny jumps and claps in an attempt to get her all excited. But he knew that she was definitely in a lot of pain, and was trying to lighten the mood or even make her laugh. He was probably still going to attempt those lame jokes even if they all failed. He just needed to stay calm, positive, and grounded for her. He still couldn’t believe this was happening a second time and he was so happy Alison asked him for his help with this. Of course, that was just because Aaron had this incessant need to be everyone’s savior. His therapist told him repeatedly that he couldn’t save everyone, but Aaron still believed he had to. The father wrapped his arm around his best friend and lead her to the Range Rover. He drove quickly yet carefully, and when they arrived to the hospital he pulled up front then ran around the passenger side to open the door for her. “Let’s go.” He said, offering her a hand before tossing his keys to the valet.

Alison.

Alison was beyond thankful that Aaron had agreed to help her through this. He was the only person to think to ask, the only person she was comfortable enough with to have him in the room with her while she birthed out a child. He had seen it all before, he knew how this was going to go down. It was different this time, as the baby she was about to bring in this world was not Aaron's child, but she was just as thankful for his presences as she was the first time around. Part of her wished Luca was here, and part of her was glad it was Aaron who would be holding her hand through labor. As they arrived to the hospital, Alison gently grabbed onto his hand as she pulled herself out of his car. She had called the hospital on their way, so they were greeted with a wheelchair for the Alison to sit down in. Alison looked up at Aaron, "Thank you again. For being here." She said, as they were brought inside to a hospital room.

Aaron

This was it. Aaron tried to keep an straight face but he was actually so terrified. He could feel the color draining from his face when they brought her into the hospital room. He followed her in. “Of course.” This was so weird; how this was happening again but in a completely different way at the same time. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly once she finally got into the hospital bed. Nurses entered the room, poking and prodding Alison and making sure she was really ready to give birth. “Are you doing okay, Ali?” He asked that question like three different times over the course of a several minutes. His heart raced but he was determined to keep a straight face for alisons sake.

Alison.

"I'm okay." She kept telling Aaron. But, she really wasn't. Her mind was all over the place trying to wonder why her baby boy was trying to make his entrance into the world so early on. The next few hours were brutally painful for the pop star, especially after refusing to get an epidural when offered, but then regretting it and asking for one just to find out it was too late for her to get one. Finally, it was time for Alison to push her son out into the world. Alison gripped tightly onto Aaron's arm, the sweaty popstar was by far ready for this to be over. She just wanted to hold her son and for the pain to calm down. After a few minutes of pushing, Alison heard the small cries in the room of her baby and a small smile spread over her face. Usually, the doctor would then put the baby on the mothers chest for a moment together, but that didn't happen instead the doctors told Alison because the baby was born so early and was on the smaller side, they needed to be sure he was okay. Alison felt overwhelmed, and the emotion was in her face, she also still felt more pain then she thought she would have. The doctor who delivered her son, turned back to Alison after handing her baby off to the nurses, "Are you ready to push for baby number two?" The doctor asked. Alison nearly lost all color in her face, "What do you mean baby number two?" The mother cried out. She wasn't having two babies, the entire pregnancy, every ultrasound there was only one baby. One little boy, not two babies. Alison felt tears running down her face once again as the doctor said the baby was coming whether she was ready or not. Alison squeezed onto Aaron tightly, getting ready to push once again.

Aaron.

Aaron tried to convince the singer to accept the epidural, knowing full well she’d regret that decision in a few minutes. This was all happening so fast and judging by how overwhelmed Aaron was, the billionaire could guess that Alison was feeling that tenfold. Alison gripped onto his hand so hard that he definitely thought his hand was going to break. He leaned on the railing of the hospital bed and tried to hold his hand as steady as possible for her. He saw that the pained look on her face and quickly realized that Alison could squeeze his hand as hard as she could, but that still wouldn’t compare to what her body was doing to her now. He stayed steady for her and tried to talk her through it as best as possible. Aaron peered over at the baby when the doctor held him. Oof. Gross. Still, it was kind of adorable. He frowned when the doctor told Alison she had to wait because the baby was so small. He did look a little on the small side. He looked down at his best friend. “He looks fine. Just like Des. Nice and healthy.” He lied in attempt to comfort her. His steadiness faltered when the doctor told her to prepare for baby number two. Two babies. Holy fuck. “C’mon, Alison.” He cheered, even though it sounded more like a demand. Like when you can hear your dad coaching you from the stands. That’s how he spoke to Alison.

Alison.

Alison wanted to know that her baby boy was okay, that he was healthy and that she could love him, but the current situation was distracting her mind. She was about to push out another child, one that she hadn’t even been aware of until just a few seconds ago. Was this another boy? A girl? And were both babies going to be healthy? All Alison wanted was for both babies to be healthy. The singer squeezed onto Aaron’s hand once again, as she pushed and pushed. Aaron’s voice might not have been the friendliest in the moment, but it comforted Alison just to hear it. Just a few short pushes later, Alison heard the doctor say, “Congratulations on your little girl.” Alison was mentally and physically exhausted, and wanted nothing more to hold the two small babies brought into the world by her. But she still didn’t even know if they were okay. Alison felt warm tears rolling down her face as she looked at Aaron, “Can you see them? Are they okay?” She asked worriedly. “I-I want to hold my babies.” She cried out, more to the doctors than to Aaron.

Aaron

Aaron gave her another strong arm as she pushed again. His face was one of horror but he tried to keep it straight for Alison’s sake. He couldn’t believe that she was having twins. What the fuck. Aaron smiled when the doctor held the second baby, knowing the worst of it was over and that she had delivered two whole babies. He smiled when he head the two baby wails as the nurses cleaned the babies off. “They’re perfect, Ali!” He exclaimed. Aaron moved out of the way so that the nurses could hand her her children. This was a lot. And so weird. One of the nurses turned to look at him, waving him over to hold one of the babies; she must’ve thought Aaron was the father. He’s headed wildly and made some weird hand motions to Signal to her that he wasn’t the father. This was Destiny’s min but these weren’t his kids. He was so damn happy for her because she knew how badly she wanted this. He could remember so clearly how she’d ask him to have another kid months ago. He liked his life right now, and he stepped aside to let his best friend have a moment with the two new additions to her’s.

Alison.

Alison was exhausted, as would anyone would be after giving birth to two babies. But that didn't matter right now, all Alison cared about was that her babies were okay. As the doctor handed over one baby and then the next, Alison looked down at the two very small babies with a tired smile on her face. Aaron was right, they were perfect. Alison couldn't see a single flaw in either of them, and she loved each of them so damn much. Alison knew at home she was only set up for one little boy and would need help setting up for the baby that surprised her, but looking down at the two perfect little faces in her arms, she wasn't upset that the little girl had surprised her or that they made their way into the world earlier than expected. She was just happy that they were okay. Alison tiredly looked from the babies over to Aaron, "I have two more perfect little babies." She said, happily.

Aaron

Aaron smiled when she looked over at him and took that as an invitation to go sit down next to her. He looked down at his daughter’s siblings and smiled widely. He could stop thinking about how excited his kid was going to be when she found out that she was gonna have TWO little siblings. “Congratulations, Alison.” He whispered to her. “Smile.” He said pulling out his phone and getting several pictures of Alison and the babies. She’d thank him later. “Did you decide on a name for the boy yet? Now you have to think of a girl name too.” He chuckled.

Alison.

Alison was excited for Destiny to find out not only did she get a little brother, but also a little sister. The smaller blonde had been a bit upset at first when she found out the baby wasn't a girl but had come around on the idea of a little brother. But, now she would have the best of both worlds. Ali was nervous about raising two more children, but she knew she could do this. As she smiled down at the twins in her arms, she knew there was no way she could ever disappoint those two beautiful babies. Alison felt Aaron taking pictures, and part of her wanted to tell him to stop because she was a hot mess, but she knew she'd cherish those pictures later on. Alison looked to the little boy, who weighed a little more than her daughter. "Yeah, his name is Graham Aaron Haynes." Sure, the baby wasn't Aaron's kid, but that didn't mean Aaron wasn't one of the most important people in Alison's life. It didn't mean that she couldn't give her son the middle name of someone who meant so damn much to her. She glanced at Aaron, hoping that he wouldn't think it was strange, and then back to the small girl in hands. "For her --," Of course there had been girl names that came to mind when Ali didn't know the gender and one stuck out and she could still think of now. "Emery. I think her name is Emery Rose Haynes."

Aaron

Aaron eyes widened and he felt his stomach drop. Did he actually hear that right? There was no way that Alison actually named her child after him. Of course...he was going to be known as Uncle Aaron and be around the kids all the time. These were Destiny's siblings and he already cared about them so much; he could picture taking the three of them to hang out together and he couldn't wait for Destiny to have siblings. She was going to be such an amazing big sister and learn so much about responsibility (and maybe she'll learn to share more). "Alison." He covered his mouth with his hand to hide the huge fucking grin on his face. "Oh my god." He almost laughed because this was just so unbelievable and he was so happy. "That's so...thank you. Wow." He stuttered. "I love you, Ali and I'm so so so happy for you." He beamed. "They're both perfect names. Especially Graham's, but both prefect nonetheless." He joked, already letting this get to his head.

Alison.

Alison knew that it would be a big deal for Aaron, giving her son Aaron as a middle name. There was very few people in Alison’s life who were always there for her, and Aaron by far was her favorite person besides her children. He was the person who was there through absolutely anything and everything, even when the two were having an argument, he would still be there if something serious came up in her life. Alison smiled over to Aaron, “Of course. You have made such a serious impact on my life and he deserves a name as great as yours.” She said, adjusting slightly in the hospital bed. “I love you, too.” She told him adjusting the babies slightly, “Would you like to hold him?”

Aaron

Alison was genuinely one of the most important people to Aaron. Without her, his life would be so different and he genuinely thought he be in a much worse place than he was now without her. She kept hm grounded and, of course, she gave him Des which is the best thing that Aaron could ever ask for. Aaron felt his heart get so full at her words. He nodded his head wildly when she offered to let him old her baby. "Yeah." He said, reaching out to grab the infant from her. He looked down at the baby that was named after him. He cooed at the baby who had finally stopped crying. He was fucking perfect, and Des was going to love him so damn much.

Alison.

Alison gently handed over her son to her best friend, then snuggled her daughter closer. “I can’t wait for Destiny to meet them.” She mentioned, looking over to Aaron. She had a quick moment of deja vu, remembering the first time she saw Aaron hold Destiny. But this time, it was so different, it was a boy and he was so tiny in Aaron’s arms, and of course Aaron wouldn’t be this baby’s father. But, she knew Aaron would be there for anything she would need help with. She brushed her lips against her daughters head lightly before smiling to Aaron, “Thank you again. For everything.”

Aaron

This was still so weird. He had been thinking about the last time there were here like this together, and he couldn't stop thinking about his daughter and just how excited she was going to be. Which of course mad him so fucking happy. His eyes flickered from both babies then back to Alison. "Of course." He told her. There was no way he was leaving his best friend to do this all by herself. And Aaron actually felt so proud that Alison would think to ask him to be here with her. He just couldn't wait for Des to get here.

#discord #alison

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illyrianwingspans · 4 years

Text

Do Not Go Gentle: when the party’s over

Link to song: when the party’s over by Billie Eilish (ma queen)

Synopsis: Feyre says fuck it.

TW: Emotional abuse, non-con near the end, brief mention of physical abuse, dark thoughts. Please, if you're sensitive to the topics, read with caution.

Ao3 Link

Chapter 11: when the party’s over

Relapses come slowly.

They don’t happen overnight: you don’t go to sleep one evening and wake up the next morning with your brain scrambled and fried with darkness and shadows. It doesn’t hit like a wave or a bullet or blunt impact.

Relapses are like parasites. They present themselves slowly, precisely, they’re smart—they know exactly what they’re doing. Relapses know your weaknesses, your Achilles’ heels, they know which strings and blocks to pull in order to make you unravel and come crashing down. But never, never are they fast. Never are they quick and dirty. They take their time and they enjoy it as they slowly suck the life out of you and you’re let with nothing but the shell of the person you once were.

As I stared at myself in the mirror that night, I wondered how I let myself get this far. I wondered why I didn’t just leave, why I didn’t pack my things, cash my cheques, take my money and run. What was it that kept me here? Why didn’t I just…go?

In the shower, I scrubbed at myself over and over again, trying to figure out how everything had gone so wrong so quickly. Was it me? Was it my mind, prone to these slips?

Was it the man who occupied my bed?

I didn’t know. I didn’t know.

Because no matter how much I racked my brain, no matter how many times I tried to untangle this knot, all I found were more questions. More dead ends. More thoughts, darker than the rest, that were threatening to destroy me altogether.

The mirror was fogged over with condensation. Good. I didn’t want to see the finger-sized bruises peppering my neck.

Because I knew they were there. They were blue and purple and gruesome, and I’d need to cover them up for the next week. Tamlin hadn’t tried to speak to me this morning as he got dressed for work, and I pretended to be asleep. Tonight would probably be another night of unbearable, stifling silence.

But I didn’t care. It felt like somebody had poured cement in my body over night, leaving me stiff and heavy, and my head was filled with this mind-numbing static that wouldn’t go away no matter how much cold water I splashed on my face.

Because another day of silence wasn’t anything new. This silence… it was all I had anymore.

And I found that I’d grown fond of it, and began to fear the noise.

Noise, like the chime of the elevator that had me scrambling to the closet to pull on a turtleneck sweater and some leggings. Starting my day off nude in front of Alis wasn’t necessarily a good thing. She was supposed to stop by at some point today to drop off some groceries, but I didn’t expect her to be so early.

“Hey Alis—” I croaked, voice rough, as I made my way to living room, only the person in the entrance wearing a black, crisp immaculate suit definitely wasn’t Alis.

Rhysand stood in front of me, hands in his pockets, smug amusement pulling the corners of his mouth into a smirk. “Feyre, darling. Looking lovely as ever. Really love what you’ve done with your hair.”

I blinked. Seeing him here was a shock, but honestly I wouldn’t really put it past him at this point. Crossing my arms, I sighed. “How did you get in here?”

The smirk on his face paused for a moment as his eyes shifted around my face, then settled on my eyes. He shrugged. “You weren’t very subtle when you punched the code in. And Tamlin’s not very creative. Zero three twenty-one, first day of Spring.”

I stared at him pointedly, and the smug faded away. He took in my appearance—really searched my face and wandered my body. It would’ve felt predatory, even suggestive if his face wasn’t filled with concern and sorrow.

My face filled with heat once more, and I turned around, swallowing hard. “Why are you here, Rhys.” It sounded more bored than curious. I knew why he was here, and I didn’t want to hear a word he had to say.

I didn’t need to look over my shoulder to know he’d followed me and the scraping of the chair against the floors let me know he sat at the counter bar stool. For a few moments, he was silent as I got the espresso beans from the coffee counter and fired up the machine.

“I miss you making my morning coffee. Nobody makes an Americano quite like you.”

I didn’t say anything. He goaded, “Nothing? No, ‘Thank you Rhys, I’ve missed you too’. No ‘Go to hell, Rhys’. Or my favourite, ‘You’re a prick, Rhys’.”

I stilled and closed my eyes. “Get to the point.” I didn’t have time for his wit or sarcasm. I just wanted to be alone.

His eyes practically burned into my back. I paid him no heed, though, as I poured the milk into the stainless steel steaming cup. Rhys cleared his throat, then said, “I was worried about you. After everything that happened yesterday.”

The din from the street below filled in the silence between us as I tried to find something to say. “You couldn’t have called? Texted? Something a little less invasive?”

“I called you seven times. Both last night and this morning.”

I frowned. I hadn’t checked my phone at all, too preoccupied with…

Absentmindedly, my fingers brushed the collar of my turtleneck. “I’ve been away from my phone.”

“I knew there was a reasonable explanation. But I had to see you anyway. To make sure you were okay.”

The milk steamer whined and I winced, then said over the shrieking machine, “I’m fine. Happy? You can leave now.”

“Feyre.” He sounded hurt, like he was betrayed or something that I couldn’t trust him. “Please. I’ve been searching every possible lead to find the people trying to kill you. You know the police won’t know where to start, they have no clue what happened with Isaac and James.”

Hazel eyes flashed in my mind but I shoved them away.

The bullet yesterday was a blip. I knew I should’ve but I… I just didn’t care.

“I told you Rhys. Let the police handle it, they know what they’re doing.”

“They don’t because they don’t know where to begin. You’re not listed to have any known enemies. Say, I don’t know, people who were killed in an accident at a coffee shop.”

I whirled around to him, spoon still in my hand and pointing at him accusingly. “You’re a real prick, you know that Rhys?”

Rhys stared at me, spoon raised, looking like a madwoman, and grinned. “There’s the Feyre I know and love.”

But there was this…this distraught filling my chest. Like before an earthquake when you feel the ground beginning to tremble beneath you, so infinitesimally, but enough to let you know that the whole goddamn world is falling apart. The blood in my veins froze, then thawed and boiled over until I melted, angry tears in my eyes.

Because this one interaction was probably the most exciting thing that’s happened to me in the last three months. Even with the wedding, even with the absurdities I dealt with being attached to this whole mess, this one simple conversation was more stimulating than three months living what was supposed to be my perfect life.

“You don’t have to lie to me,” he murmured, and I looked up, realizing my cheeks were wet with tears. Rhys’s face was soft as his gaze met mine. And I could tell he knew.

The ring on my finger, though, Tamlin’s words in my ear, made me snap out of it. I wasn’t supposed to talk to Rhys. I wasn’t supposed to even be in the same room with him, lest I wanted to royally piss off my finacee.

And I really couldn’t afford more nights like the last.

“Please, just get out. Leave me alone.” My voice was guttered. There was no winning not for either of us. Though Rhys had been a good friend, one of my only friends, my loyalty was to Tamlin. To the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

The thought shook me to my core.

“Feyre—”

“Get out. Now.”

Rhys didn’t waste his time and slid out of the bar stool, feet swiftly carrying him to the front entrance. I followed behind him quietly, arms crossed in front of my chest as he straightened his jacket and cleared his throat.

“One thing, Feyre,” Rhys said quietly, defeat lining the droop of his shoulders.

“What?”

“It’s Cassian’s birthday tomorrow night. He’d really like it if you came. We’re going to Rita’s at seven.”

Tamlin would never let me go. And I was in no state to go to a night club, let alone with people I didn’t know, because surely there would be plenty more with them. But the kindness in his voice, the gentle, sincere manor with which he’d said it…

“I’ll think about it.”

***

I wanted to hurt him, I realized, as I sat in the bath, filled with bubbles so I couldn’t see my body. Alis had come and gone, the only other exciting part of my day—and I realized, stuck up here with nothing to do, that I wanted to hurt him. Like he hurt me.

Even if it would make things worse. Even if it was stupid, and I was being reckless, immature, infantile, I wanted to hurt him.

If that was going out with my friends, my true friends who had been there for me, then so be it.

Because honestly, at this point, I didn’t know if there was anything else left for me. Hope had flown out the window the second that I’d pulled that trigger. The second that the bullet had whizzed past my face.

The second he’d laid his hand on me.

And I knew, because every time I took a bath, I had to hold my sponge as tightly as possible to keep my fingers from reaching into the drawer beneath the sink and resorting back to my old ways.

***

That night, Tamlin bought me soup.

Soup, and flowers, and chocolates—and remorse. It was all over his face, I could tell when he saw me in the turtle neck, and his eyes had filled with shame. Something softened in me, and I let him pull me into his arms. I let him talk, talk about nothing and everything as we ate in bed together, and he put on my favourite movie.

I let him pull my body into the warmth of his. I let him touch me, intimate in a way we hadn’t been in a while.

I almost laughed when I realized after we’d both finished that he hadn’t taken off my shirt. That it was too painful to remind him of what’d he done, last night, not ten feet away from where we laid intertwined in each other.

So, no, there was no guilt the next day as I donned my warmest pair of dressy heels and a white, thin strapped dress I could layer beneath the black turtleneck I’d worn the day before. There was no guilt as I went out and bought a gift for Cassian using my secret debit card. And there was no guilt when I texted Tamlin saying I was going to Alis’s for her nephew’s birthday party. She wasn’t going to be at reception today, and I knew that tomorrow morning when she stopped by it wouldn’t be too hard to ask her to cover for me.

When seven o’clock came around, I was getting out of the Uber, my stomach in knots as I made my way to the hostess bar and asked, “Reservation for Cassian?”

“Right this way.”

The restaurant was food by day, shots by sundown, and I could see the dance floor in the distance, currently barren. I think I’d been here once, many moons ago in my college years, way before I’d met Tamlin. I also remember puking my guts out in the bathrooms, which only brought a small smile to my face.

It terrified me with each step we took closer to the table. Knowing Cassian, there were probably two dozen people there, maybe a few gym rats, or worse, mousy bimbos—

“Here you are,” the hostess said, and pointed to the table in the corner. Booth style, not too far off the dance floor, with only…

Five people. Five people sat around the circular booth, Rhys and Cassian included—both of whom were laughing heartily at something a gorgeous, jaw-dropping blonde woman who swirled a glass of red wine in her hands.

“Feyre!” It was Cassian who first spotted me, delight in his smile as he stood from where he was at the edge of the table. “You made it!” He slid out of his seat and made forward to wrap me in a hug. I couldn’t help but laugh as his arms squeezed me.

“Jeez, you really need to come back to the gym. You feel like a twig.” He said as he set me down. I punched him in the arm, which earned me whoop and a strangely terrifying smirk of approval from the other, smaller woman with black hair.

“A twig who hasn’t forgotten how to punch,” I said, before sliding into the table beside him. Across from me, looking as immaculate as always, Rhys grinned as he brought his drink to his lips.

“Everybody, this is Feyre Archeron. Feyre, this is Azriel, Morrigan and Amren. But feel free to refer to her as Tiny One.”

“Put a muzzle on it, Cassian. Lest you want spit in your food.” Amren, the asian woman with dark hair and grey, gleaming eyes looked as though she would rather be anywhere but here. She looked like she ate blood for breakfast.

The blonde one, Morrigan, said, “These two always go on and on about you. I’m so glad we could finally meet. Honestly, they’ve been hoarding you all to themselves.”

“For good reasons.” The last one, Azriel, said, voice low and rough like midnight. As I finally took in the dark hair, tanned skin and high cheek bones, I realized that I remembered him. I didn’t know where, but his face—it was like we’d seen each other just the other day.

“You look so familiar,” I said, and Azriel’s head tilted to the side. His face betrayed no emotion, and I could tell by his stiff demeanour that he wasn’t much of a talker. It was like shadows clung to him, like he preferred it that way, blending into the background.

He shrugged, the barest movement of his shoulders. Morrigan interjected, “I mean, he does look a lot like these two idiots.”

Rhys rolled his eyes. “Mor, that’s no way to speak to the person who signs your pay check.”

“Last time I checked, Mr. Noctis, we aren’t at work. And I may address my cousin however I please.”

My brows shot up as I looked from Mor to Rhys, from Mor’s round, rosy cheeks, fair skin and nearly bleach blonde hair to Rhys’s dark, tan features. I drawled, “Cousins?”

“In the loosest possible term biologically.” Cassian supplied. “Otherwise, they were basically attached at the hip as children. And now I’m stuck with her for every holiday and celebration against my will.”

“I can always return your gift, Cassian,” Mor said sweetly before taking a glass of wine. Then she looked to me and said, “Oh, we must get Feyre a drink. Pick your poison.”

I hadn’t drank in a long while. Usually just champagne or wine at Tamlin’s work events. But it’d been a long while since I had…

“Tequila?” Was the first word that left my mouth. I didn’t know what instinct made me say the most potent of liquors, but the knot in my chest was loosening with every smile and laugh shared around the table. Tonight, I wanted to let loose. I wanted to damn tomorrow and just do this one thing for myself.

For once, Tamlin’s voice wasn’t in the back of my head with a warning. And if that wasn’t a sign…

“Ooh, I like her. We can keep her. Make it two.” Amren said, a wicked smirk on her face. I didn’t know if it pleased me or horrified me.

Cassian jostled my shoulder and gleaned, “You’re gonna drink me under the table bringing the tequila out this early, Archeron.”

The waitress interrupted us, asking for our orders, and I quickly glanced at the menu and ordered the salmon and a salad, knowing I probably wouldn’t be able to finish half of it. And, just before she left, Rhys added, “We’ll also take a round of tequila.”

The evening passed by savoringly slowly, peppered with fine food, strong drinks and conversations that had me stifling my laughter. Cassian, Azriel and Rhys recounted the times they were in the Academy training together and the foolish things they’d pulled on each other—Azriel had stolen Cassian’s clothes and forced him to run buck-naked through the dormitory courtyard—and Mor told me of all the stupidities that came with working retail as a teenager. Amren offered quips and snide comments, and chatted quietly with Rhys about matters that seemed business-related, by the look of seriousness in Rhys’s eyes. His gaze flicked to me, catching me staring at him—I looked away quickly, but not before I saw the small grin on his face.

The meal, as the exorbitant prices promised, was delicious. And as I predicted, I only managed about two thirds of it before a wave of nausea and fullness ran over me and I had to resort to pushing food around the plate for the remainder of the meal. Rhys’s eyes narrowed as the waitress took away the plate, and I looked off towards the expanse of dance floor to conceal the blush flooding my cheeks.

There was cake—was, meaning Cassian ate most of it—then more drinks. Too many, because next thing I knew Mor was laughing and screaming at the top of her lungs against the din of the pounding music, trying to entice the table into dancing with her. Azriel and Cassian immediately stood, the both of them disappearing into the amassing crowd on the dance floor, whereas Amren headed over to the bar looking for something stronger, apparently (as if the other rounds weren’t enough to knock someone as tiny as her on their asses). It left Rhys and I remaining in the booth.

He pointed to the slice of cake sitting untouched before me. “You going to finish that?”

“Hm,” I snorted, “another bite wouldn’t hurt.” The chocolate mousse melted in my mouth and I sighed. Rhys was across from me in the semi-circle, and with the noise of the club, we’d have to shout at each other all night. So I stood, cake, fork and drink balancing precariously in my hands, and slid over until I was beside him.

He looked down at me and wondered, “Didn’t feel like dancing?”

“I’ve got two left feet.” I replied before taking another bite, my eyes wandering over his seated silhouette. Tonight he hadn’t worn his usual immaculate suit, but instead opted for a black silk-like button down and black jeans, tailored to the very inch. From beneath the collar of his neck, I could see the hint of a tattoo, and my brows shot up.

“You have a tattoo?”

His fingers tugged gently at the collar of his shirt. The movement sent a draft of something sweet in the air, like citrus and jasmine. A refreshing, comforting scent that had me leaning back against the plush leather. “It’s customary for people in my culture to get these tattoos.”

“Where are you from?” I wondered, fingers wandering over to my drink (though I knew full well I should’ve been slowing down).

“Illyria,” he answered, and pointed vaguely to the dancing crowd, “as are Cassian and Azriel. My mother was Illyrian and we were raised on the reserve. My father didn’t particularly like that, thought I should’ve been in the city with him, but my mother didn’t particularly care about what my father thought.”

Sipping from my drink, I nodded politely. I’d never been to the Illyrian reserve, which was an hour or so north of the city, though heard about it here and there in the news. Mainly about land disputes and rich assholes trying to buy it out. Now, looking at Rhys, the distinctive striking features made perfect sense.

“You can stare all you want. I consider it volunteer work, letting you gawk at me so openly.”

My cheeks heated and my mouth dropped open. I scoffed, “Gods, now I know why your only friends are your employees.”

“Keep your friends close and your payroll closer.” He gave me a wink, and I rolled my eyes. My gaze wandered off to the dance floor, where I could spot Mor in the distance flailing her arms—gracefully—and swaying from side to side in her bright red, skin tight dress. Cassian and Azriel were alongside her, though Cassian’s eyes were fixed on another woman who’d fallen into step with him, a slick, seductress smile on her face. Rhys shook his head at the sight, despite his cheeky grin, and I only laughed as I took another sip.

“Why aren’t you out there with them?”

At that, Rhys also took a long sip. He opened his mouth, closed it, then finally said, “I prefer your company far more to their sweaty…” he looked over, just in time to see the woman unabashedly grinding against Cassian, “‘dancing’.”

“Glad to know I rank a step above that.” My eyebrows raised emphatically, and Rhys’s face broke into a smile. I said, “Reminds me of my college days.”

“You went to college?”

“Prythian University,” I nodded, “two years only. I was part of a sorority for a while, though.”

His mouth fell open in surprise. “Oh, Feyre darling, you must tell.”

***

The rest of the night went…easy. I wasn’t worrying. There was no impending panic. There were no fears. Part of it had been the alcohol, yes—it’d loosened what’d been wound so tight for so long—but being here, being with people, laughing with friends… My mind, despite the haze of alcohol, felt clearer than it had in days.

Talking with Rhys was easier than breathing. It started with my college days, then to his studies abroad—peppered with some particularly interesting sexual experiences in foreign countries—then moved onto how he’d met his friends, which he assured me, were family first, employees secondly. Cassian had been abandoned in the Illyrian village, left to fend for himself in an inexistent, permanently drunk foster family, and Rhys could tell by the way the boy never had a lunch at school. CPS hadn’t gotten involved because of the abhorrence that was dealing within the torrid laws regarding indigenous communities, which meant Cassian was stuck. Rhys had found Cassian shivering in the cold at recess—his family hadn’t gotten him a winter jacket—and decided to bring him home to his mother. She’d been furious at first, but Cassian returned the next day, and the day after.

The same had been for Azriel, though the details were much more vague about the man cloaked in shadows. It was a gruesome tale, being an illegitimate son, constantly berated and beaten by his parents and older brothers. He’d gotten the gnarled, scarred hands because they thought a fun experiment would be to douse Azriel’s hands in gasoline and set them on fire. When Rhys came home with another stray, this time his mother didn’t even bother with fury. Only set to buying another cot to be squeezed in next to the two other boys.

Amren, though, met Rhys much later—in his college years, after the academy. She was an upperclassmen he’d met at a bar and tried to hook up with, to which she responded by humiliatingly laughing in his face. Rhys admitted he’d never felt more undignified than when Amren was doubled over in stitches at the thoughts of sleeping with him. Yet still, they’d become fast friends, and even faster business partners. Amren was the top of her class in law school, one of the smartest people he’d ever met, and as soon as he seized control of the company, his first order of business was hiring her as his second in command and chief legal officer.

The second order was to hire Morrigan—simply Mor—as his chief experience officer. Her and Rhys’s father had been the most invested in the company being the two major shareholders, though Rhys’s father shares made Keir’s, Mor’s father, look like pennies. Mor’s childhood had been a series of parental pressure, encouraging her to be wed off to exemplary, rich suitors Keir consistently tried to set her up with. She’d been engaged to marry one of them, Eris, son of Autumn Publishing’s CEO, not of her own volition. Rhys didn’t mention any specifics, only that it’d ended horribly, and Mor had never been the same since. But she was fiery, determined, and Rhys could only describe her as his best friend (though he made me promise to never mention that to her).

At some point, Mor had to come peel Rhys and I away from the booth—despite our vehement protests—and drag us onto the dance floor. The whole lot of us were jumping, screaming at the top of our lungs, and pounding back more liquor as the night sped along. I danced with everyone (Amren compromised by allowing us to dance near where she was seated by the bar), even Rhys, whose hands had been soft and warm as they wandered down the skin of my arms and shoulders. Cassian and I shimmied, Mor and I fake tangoed, even Azriel gave me a few twirls, not before it felt like the liquor was going to come straight back up, and I had to take a seat. The plush back of the booth seemed comfier than when I’d first sat down at the beginning of the night.

“Feyre?” Cassian asked. I opened my eyes, not having realized they were closed in the first place. Exhaustion had hidden just far enough away from me to have not noticed it drenching my bones. Beads of sweat had gathered on Cassian’s forehead from all the dancing. My tongue felt limp and heavy in my mouth, and the room felt as though it was spinning.

“Yes, my good sir?” I grinned sheepishly. Cassian’s mouth fell open in amused shock.

“You’re drunk,” he chortled.

“Pfft. Am not.”

“Are too,” he said, letting out another laugh. “Dear gods. What are we going to do with you?”

“Let me have some fun!” I whined, then knocked back the rest of my glass. My fingers groped at my throat as if they could ease the fire slithering in my chest. It burned all the way down, like I knew it would burn on its way back up—but I wanted more. This excitement, this pleasure, no matter how clouded or distorted it was, was all I had anymore.

“Let’s slow down, there, you’ve had a lot tonight.” Cassian suggested as I tried to wrench myself up from the table to get more. My butt hit the cushioned seat once more, body bouncing slightly with the impact. It made me laugh.

A laugh that slowly melted away as I took in Cassian’s sombre gaze, trained on my mouth. No, not on my mouth, I realized, but lower. My neck.

My stomach dropped. The neckline must’ve shifted, already it’d barely covered them in the first place—

Cassian’s eyes were burning when they met mine, and it was like my head was dunked into ice cold water, and I was sober in the span of a heartbeat.

“Feyre,” he breathed, and it was like the rest of the club disappeared.

I didn’t waste another second. He’d already known too much, and by some sort of miracle had kept it to himself, but this—this would ruin Tamlin and I. Quickly, I scrambled to find my bag, and pulled out my phone to call an Uber.

Only to find twenty two missed calls, and over fifty text messages from Tamlin. The earth dropped out from underneath me. My chest collapsed as I realized how horribly, horribly wrong this had all gone.

I should have never stepped foot outside the apartment. I should’ve just grinned and bared it instead of creating this steaming shit storm raining down on me.

Cassian was shouting something over the music, and I couldn’t hear him as I pressed away from the booth, heading to the club’s side door entrance where the smoker’s were. A voice called out my name, and I turned around to look over my shoulder—

To bump face first into a hard, male chest, sending me nearly teetering to the floor. When I looked up, an apology already on my tongue, every nerve in my body jumped as my eyes met Tamlin’s golden emerald ones, boring into my soul like he would shred it apart with his bare hands.

“I didn’t know Alis’s nephew was turning twenty one,” Tamlin snipped coldly, his fingers tightening around my wrist to the point of teeth-clenching pain.

“Tamlin, please. Not here. Let’s go.”

“What did you think would happen, Feyre? That I’d sit idly by as my wife was out to a child’s birthday party until one in the morning?”

“Fiancée,” I corrected seethingly, my hand slithering between us and pressing against his stomach to get him to move. “Let’s leave.”

“Feyre!” A voice called once more, only it died out right behind me. I sighed, tears pricking the corners of my eyes as I turned to see Cassian standing there, his expression one of stone cold fury as he stared Tamlin down.

Tamlin, the picture of opposition, only laughed. “I see. Alright.” He looked at me, but inclined his head to Cassian. “You came for a quick fuck?”

My face flushed with shame. I couldn’t even look at Cassian. “Tamlin, stop.”

“No, I get it. I understand. I think I have to set the record straight, though.” The only warning I had was the clenching of his fist, and it was the only warning I needed. I acted on instinct and brusquely grabbed my fiancée by his right arm to hold him back. I hate that I knew it was his preferred hand to punch with.

Tamlin whirled on me, his eyes burning with rage. His hand clutched my jaw, fingertips pressing painfully into my cheeks, and I gasped as he pushed me into the wall perpendicular to the exit door. He growled, “Stay out of this. You’ve done enough already, you fucking—”

“Let go of her!” Cassian yelled, striding towards us like he was ready to slam Tamlin through the goddamned door.

Another figure appeared in the background, the same man who’d been outside the door who only uttered, “You two. Out. Now.” Pointing to both Tamlin and I, he signalled for us to step out. Even Cassian paused at the bouncer’s presence.

And behind the bounder stood Rhys, whose eyes were filled with contempt for the man beside me. He’d lowered his hands, thank the gods—I don’t know what Rhys would’ve done if he’d found us like that. Eviscerated Tamlin, most likely.

I just wanted to go home. I wanted the silence back.

“Let’s go, Feyre,” Tamlin said, laying his hand on my shoulder. I flinched at his touch.

We stepped out the door, and I didn’t look back, though I knew their eyes were burning through me.

***

“I told you to never speak to him again.”

I said nothing. It was true. I’d explicitly gone behind his back.

“He was being friendly, Tamlin.”

“You’re not friends. Rhysand is not your friend. How many times do I have to say it to you for you to finally understand?”

He’s more of a friend than you, I wanted to spit, but there was no fire left in me. It’d been strangled out the moment his hands had clenched around my throat, bereft of the oxygen needed to keep on.

“I know you went to see him before the wedding.”

I swallowed hard. I couldn’t even look at him from where I sat perched on the edge of the bed. “You’ve been following me again?”

“Because you’ve been disobeying me.”

Disobeying. The word sliced through me. Like I was no more than his pet.

“He’s the danger, Feyre. He was involved in the operation that nearly got you killed. The day after you went to see him, the day of our wedding, that sniper nearly killed you. Don’t you see it?”

I wanted to laugh. I wanted to draw a map of Tamlin’s ignorance, of all the ways he’d went wrong—I wanted to show him his shortcomings, how foolish he was not to see that he’d dug this grave himself.

But there was nothing left within me. Only a barren of wasteland bestrewed with the ruins of the person who’d crumbled into nothing.

“I’m sorry.” The words were broken jagged pieces I offered to him with bloody hands.

He didn’t respond. Only approached me slowly, carefully, then tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. I sighed and leaned into the palm of his hand. Then he was kissing me, pushing me back onto the bed.

Mine, mine, mine—I could see the word in his eyes, feel it with every thrust of his body from behind me, hands gripping my back and pinning me to the mattress. Protect, protect, protect. We both finished, and he rolled onto his side and fell fast asleep.

I curled onto my side, wondering if the tears would ever come. They didn’t. Only silent, dry sobs I tried to stifle with my pillow.

Because I wouldn’t dare shatter the silence I’d finally found at last.

#dngg #acotar #acomaf #acowar #a court of thorns and roses #sjm #sarah j maas #feyre #rhysand #rhys #acotar fanfic #acotar fanfiction #feysand #feysand fanfic

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slytherin-puffskein · 5 years

Text

twelve ways to fall in love with you.

the signs as moments falling in love | requests closed

from @crookzhanks:

libra: It was when our eyes met across the room. You’d never gone unnoticed- everyone loved you and you were fond of everyone else. But it’s like that look was meant for me only. One you’d never gave to anyone else, one you’d been saving for someone like me.

- - -

signs completed: capricorn - scorpio - libra

- - -

October 22nd was, to many’s eyes, an absolutely mundane day with nothing special attached to it. To Barnaby Lee, however, as well as several other people it only meant one thing: a day dedicated to their dearest friend whom they all cherished greatly, Laurent Dorian King.

It wasn’t hard to like Laurent, really. It was in his smile, it was in his eyes, it was everywhere. A sheer power inhabiting him, one that was wonderfully attractive and pushed you to become his friend without a shadow of regret in the future. He was kind, caring, funny, and yet awfully adventurous as well as downright mischievous. Not a day could be considered as boring when it was spent with Lau... or well, that was Barnaby Lee’s most honest opinion.

Finding a gift for his friend took him quite some time, and Barnaby’s only excuse was that he wanted it to be perfect. After all, Laurent did much for him, such as offering him his shoulder to cry on when his parents were simply too much, or simply distracting him when study sessions found themselves to be too overwhelming. Whatever problem Barnaby faced, Laurent had a solution.

As a result, Barnaby promised himself to thank him properly, and after days of research he had finally put his hand on the most ideal gift: a kit of gardening tools that will only bring the biggest smile on his friend’s face, he was certain of it. A few hours were dedicated to wrapping the present carefully, and it only took this long because Barnaby had to start over several times. He was working on the finishing touches, under the form of pretty flowers tucked under the package’s ribbons, when his phone suddenly buzzed.

From: Liz Tuttle

Hurry up, Penny and Rowan going to get Lau soon.

A smile immediately curved Barnaby’s lips, and he typed up his reply.

From: Barnaby Lee

Just finished wrapping up his gift! Will be on my way in a sec! :D

Heart fluttering with joy he grabbed the package, put a coat on and slipped outside.

- - -

One of Laurent’s favourite spots was a park located not too far away from their university, and Barnaby could fully understand why he appreciated it that much. It was, in short, beautiful. Bright green grass, tall trees on which birds sang peacefully, all of this topped off by an absolutely magnificent fountain on which he was sitting. The stone felt cool and made him shiver just a little, but he couldn’t possibly care about it. They were soon going to celebrate Laurent’s birthday! Doubt however shadowed his mind. Yes, Penny had planned everything, but what if Lau couldn’t come? What if he already had something planned? Barnaby had to admit, all of these what ifs made his chest constrict a little.

He was however dragged out of his own worries as Badeea Ali sat next to him, hugging herself for warmth despite her thick coat. “As much as I appreciate October, it’s rather cold... Penny did mention we will all hang in a café once the gifts will be unwrapped, right?”

“Yup! Lau’s favourite. I think I’ll pay him his drink if he accepts... usually he likes strawberry smoothies, but right now he might order hot chocolate. It’s pretty chilly, after all.”

Badeea took a while to react to Barnaby’s words, and when she did, only a smile formed itself on her lips as she started to giggle softly. Not in a mocking way, but Barnaby still couldn’t quite put his finger on it’s meaning. “What is it, Dee?” He questioned at last.

A gloved hand pressed against her mouth, she failed to conceal her smile for any longer and resolved to explain her attitude: “You like Laurent a lot, don’t you?”

Uh? What a weird question. “Of course I like him.” Barnaby replied, arching a brow. “He’s my friend. I wouldn’t befriend someone I don’t like!”

“Ah, of course.” Badeea nodded softly as she pulled out her own gift from her bag. It was medium sized, and brought Barnaby to wonder just what it might be. “I was just... wondering.” She suddenly spoke again, and Barnaby’s attention was solely on her due to a question floating in his mind: What is she trying to say? “You two spend a lot of time together, and the look in your eyes when he is around... it is pretty unique, and--”

She was however interrupted as Tulip Karasu suddenly spoke up, her cellphone in hand. “They’re coming soon! Laurent King just got done with his English classes, Penny and Rowan are taking the subway with him. It’s on, guys!”

Cheers from the other people present, and Badeea smiled softly before focusing back on Barnaby who was beaming following Tulip’s announcement. “Anyway, I will leave you alone. I think Andre is getting worried over his present again, I should go and talk to him. But... do think of what I told you.”

With that, she was gone, and Barnaby was left with his own thoughts. Usually he didn’t mind that, but now... odd things were in his mind. More specifically, Badeea’s words, which felt like she wanted him to understand something. The way I look at him is unique? Of course it is! He’s a friend, I look at him like I do with any friends... and I cherish all of them, so of course I look at them in a special way! ‘Do think of what I told you’... well, I just thought of it, so that’s that! Done!

He settled on brushing these thoughts away. Whatever point Badeea was trying to make, Barnaby decided that she was simply wrong. Whatever point? A voice slithered in his mind. You know very well what point she is trying to make, stop denying that. She wanted to know if you like Lau.

Like, as in like like, and Barnaby suddenly froze, a reaction that wasn’t due to the subzero temperature. No, I’m just over thinking.

- - -

As soon as Laurent showed up, eyes covered by a blindfold provided by Penny, everyone had a smile upon their faces. Barnaby’s, however, was the brightest.

When gifts were given out, sparkles of joy reigned over everyone’s gazes. Barnaby’s, however, seemed to shine the most.

But what could it mean besides deep friendship, right? That was what Barnaby was telling himself. If he were to say Badeea’s words didn’t frequently come back to his mind ever since she had told them, he would have been considered as a liar. Despite his best efforts, he kept mulling on them over and over. The way they were said, the smile on her face as she explained her thoughts to him... it had troubled him, to say the least.

And what emotional turmoil did it lead to!

Inside the cozy café, Barnaby was standing next to Laurent as they were about to order, and he was quick to ask him what he wanted. “It’s your birthday, I’m paying!” He declared, puffing out his chest in an attempt to make himself look taller. Like I do with any friend. Right?

Laurent, however, shook his head vehemently. No matter how bad people insisted, he usually always refused to have people pay stuff for him. Convincing him to let his friends get him gifts for his birthday has already been a huge feat. “No! Don’t worry, Barnaby, I have what I need.” He punctuated his sentence with a smile that made Barnaby’s heart skip a beat. It always does, whenever he sees him like this.

Like... with every friend I have, right?

A few minutes later and they were all sitting together drink in hand. Finding himself between Liz and Andre, Barnaby waited with hard to conceal excitement for what Penny had planned next. What is a birthday celebration without a cake? A joke, that is! With that in mind Penny had managed to put her hand on Laurent’s favourite cake from the café. It took a lot of convincing, but a generous amount of money given to the old man running the shop had managed to do the trick as he finally agreed to let her have an entire cake. Baked during the morning, it was now stored in the fridge and soon ready to give to Laurent. As the blonde discreetly stood up to walk to the counter Barnaby’s heart skipped a beat. Here it comes!

Did he care about cake that much? Not really. What he was looking forward to the most was Laurent’s reaction upon seeing his favourite cake, all for him and his loved friends.

The look in your eyes when he is around... it is pretty unique.

He discreetly looked at Laurent, who was being his usual jokester self with Tulip and Andre.

A shiver took over his body, but he had to forget about it since Penny was coming back with a plate in her hands. Plate which held the magnificent cake.

“Happy birthday, Laurent!” Her voice was bursting up with laughter.

Barnaby’s gaze immediately turned to Laurent, and joy filled his entire being as he saw just how happy and touched he looked. With the blush gently spreading over his freckled cheeks, it was hard for Barnaby to hold back from standing up and reaching for him to give him the biggest hug he could manage.

Penny was cutting up the cake when, suddenly, Laurent looked at him.

He had looked at Andre. He had looked at Rowan. He had looked at Penny. But the way he was looking at Barnaby was entirely different, he could feel it. It felt much, much softer, and much more personal. Something that his other friends hadn’t had the privilege to see. Something that was meant for him, and him only. Laurent’s shoulders suddenly relaxed, having been previously tensed from all the attention that has been on him, and his smile got bigger. Barnaby’s heart skipped a beat, then fluttered in his chest as he felt his cheeks reddening.

He’s looking at me like this. Not anyone else. Me. He’s been... saving that look for me.

Love is often said to happen at first sight, but there are also many cases in which it happens slowly.

Badeea’s words showed up in his mind one more time.

She thinks I love him.

Wait, correction.

I do love him.

#my writing #barnalau #barnaby lee #lau king #barnaby x mc #barnaby lee x mc #hphm barnaby #bansmdf i do this request 13748 yEARS LATER I'M

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evesbeve · 5 years

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It’s YOUR art!

So I’ve had this cork board in my room since forever, and no matter how many times I rearrange it, I NEVER end up with something that I like.

But yesterday that changed! I decided to use it to pin all the wonderful art you guys have made for me, whether it was a gift or a commission! So without any further ado, here it is!

Credits and extras under the cut!

Top Row (horizontally)

Me, Ali (@clumsinessinperson) and Ver (@xxwhisperapplexx) by Ali

I mean, this isn’t exactly for me, but I love you guys and I needed a pic of us up there ;w; next time we’ll add hollie and bri too bc we need the whole squad

Christmas gift by @dahrissy

OKAY BUT THIS IS AWESOME BECAUSE IT’S AN ACTUAL DRAWING THAT CAME IN THE MAIL AND?? UM?? I LOVE IT, IT’S ADORABLE ;W; ILY RISSU, I WANNA HUG BOTH YOU AND @bananabrianna77, YOU’RE MY FAVE HUMANS

Fanart of my fic boundaries mean nothing by @we-never-stop-fighting

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME ANYONE’S EVER DRAWN SOMETHING OUT OF A FIC OF MINE? I pinned it on top of the cork board because I wanna look at it every time I write and get encouraged to continue! It means so much to me ;w; Also it’s Ben, and he’s one of my fave characters of all time so!! Thank you so much for sharing this with me, I literally cannot express how much it means to me!

Second Row

Clumsy and my OC Dam by Ali

THIS DRAWING IS LOWKEY THE REASON WE BECAME FRIENDS AND ILY? It means SO much to me, you don’t understand!!

Freddie the Corgi by @sarcasticscribbles

Not really a gift (it was a request though) but it’s Freddie and I love him so much!! He’s there to make me smile ;w;

Me and Ver by mE

This is the only thing on this cork board that’s actually drawn by me, because it’s simply iconic-

Birthday gift by @diamantdrache

AAAAA?? I love this one to death?? A shirt that says “Cole from Ninjago is GAY!” what more can I ask for? I love you?

Cora by @nerdwaifuu

Also a birthday gift! I can’t believe we’ve known each other for sO LONG? Like holy crap Bella, you’re one of the only people in the Ninjago people I’ve known since the Wattpad days (you and Lindsey, that is) and just!! I love you!!

Remaining drawings at the left

Revali by @dyradoodles

This was a gift for my birthday in 2018, and I love it so much ;w; Revali is still one of my top fave characters, and it warms my heart still!!

My profile pic by @itsaduckblrr

Okay, this is the only one I can 100% call iconic. I can’t believe it’s been more than a year since you made this? ‘Cause like? It’s such a long time, holy crap 0-0 It’s one of my favourites up there, for obvious reasons, aND I STILL DEMAND THAT YOU TAKE MY MONEY, I LOVE YOU

More Cora by @sweet-mymble

This is under arrest for being way too adorable, it has stolen my heart ;w; ily

Dam and frens!!! by @loud-quiet-and-fragile

This!! Is!! Adorable!! I love how you drew our characters together, they’d be great frens!!

Remaining drawings at the right

Me and Dam by @kara-is-so-ninja

Kara: I don’t have enough time to make you a bday gift, but happy bday!

Also Kara: hEY SO I MADE THIS WONDERFUL THING

dUUUDE THIS IS LITERALLY SO ADORABLE, I had to put it there. Also you’re awesome and ily and I wanted your art on my board ‘cause you’re amazing ;w;

Me by @donnapaella

THIS IS SO OLD?? AT LEAST TWO YEARS HAVE PASSED?? HOLY MOLY?? I remember sitting at the exact spot I’m sitting at right now and you sending me this and me going “!!!!!!!!!!! :O WHA?” I ADORE it. It’s just the best thing ever, and it makes me feel special every time I look at it, ily dude ;w;

Some good ol’ Pixane by @nightlybirdie

I mean, there was no way I wouldn’t put something about these two up there, but this was also a birthday gift and it’s just sO CUTE, and it makes me SCREAM! It’s the best bday gift ever, tysm Nightly ;w;

Dam and Revali by @esmiden

This was also for my bday in 2018 and AAAAAAAAA IT’S ADORABLE?? This is another one of these drawings that warms my heart, thank you so much Esmi!!

Mystery Drawing by Storm

I didn’t want to post a picture of this on tumblr because I don’t have a way to credit Storm through tumblr anymore (I only have their Discord and that’s private information) but it’s a drawing of me as a Hylian and Revali and it’s the most beautiful thing ever ;w;

The second big drawing on this board

Mikey, Donnie and Freddie commission by @sarcasticscribbles

THIS TAKES THE TEA, it’s one of my favourites up here (thus why it’s so huge), the reason we became friends, and also it’s beautiful, I LOVE IT AND I LOVE YOU!

Extras

The cutouts by Ali

They’re all made by Ali. All of them. No exceptions. That brings the total of Ali drawings to 5. Thank you for your contribution to my room, fren.

The polaroids

The one at the bottom left corner are some pictures of me, @totallyevan and our Dad. We look... Interesting, to say the least XD

The other one, (second row, last pin) is of me and my best friend. We tried to take a polaroid selfie. I still can’t decide whether it worked or not.

Fortune Cookie Fortune

That tiny piece of paper under Candaru’s drawing is actually a fortune from a fortune cookie!! It says “Everybody loves you.” and I found it very encouraging ^^

Undertale Pin

(right bottom corner of the TMNT drawing)

OKAY BUT I WANT MORE PINS, and this one is from Undertale!! It’s a sleeping annoying dog, ‘cause Toby Fox owns me,,,

That One Random Red String

YOU KNOW HOW THEY HAVE THESE IN CRIME STORIES WHEN THEY TRY TO SOLVE THE MYSTERY? Well, it means absolutely nothing here, but I figured it looked cool and it was lying around my room!

A Conclusion™

So, obviously I’ve saved some space for future drawings, and I’m planning on putting some drawings at the sides of my workplace as well (you can’t really see it but it’s there) but I just wanted to say THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH!

I could have never imagined how much support I’d get by posting my content here, but you guys surprised me anyway.

This blog (and my presence in social media in general) was made to share my work with the world, but most importantly, to spread positivity.

I’ve never asked for anything in return, yet you guys have given me so much.

And especially if we’re friends (because the majority of these are from friends!!), thank you so much for being here!! Some of these are the REASON we became friends, and I LOVE YOU.

It would be impossible to pin every single doodle, so if your art wasn’t up here, don’t take it personally! These were just some that have some story behind them, but I appreciate every single piece of art I am sent.

And not just art!! Your guys’ comments and support is more than enough for me. So for the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

I’m trying to improve the environment I live in, and you guys are helping me so much with all your kind gestures. I don’t know how I could ever repay you, but I thank you for the bottom of my heart <3

#evelina nonesense #eve's faves #positivity #art #ninjago #botw #tmnt #rottmnt #ali i swear to god you're taking over my room and i am not complaining at all #but you have to promise me that you'll let me mail you a hundred copies of gay me #it actually has a clone #because i got the dimensions wrong at first #so watch your mail #:)#this was creepy okay #ily guys #all of you #you're the best

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kingsborodelilah · 4 years

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Discord Thread 001: Aaron & Delilah

FT. @kingsborodelilah, @aaronhart93, with mentions of @romanbeckett

LOCATION: Club Throuple

DATE: 7/31/2020

SUMMARY: Aaron and Delilah one into one another for the first time since their breakup. They have some small talk and Aaron buys her a drink.

Triggers? None.

Aaron was having the time of his fucking like at his boyfriend’s birthday party. He loved that they finally could be comfortable enough with their relationship to show some PDA. Aaron did love PDA, but when he was a little drunk he didn’t mind it at all. Besides, his boyfriend was hot as fuck and he couldn’t really keep his hands off of him anyway. He was having a blast, taking tequila shots with his friends and forgetting all about the drama with Alison until — Delilah Thatcher. A literal ghost from his very public past. His first love. His mouth practically gaped open when he saw her for the first time in years. “D-Delilah...shit. Uh, hi. You’re back in the city?”

Delilah simply could not say no to a party. It didn't really matter where she was, if there was, you could probably find her there. So, there she was at the club, dressed up and looking to have a good time. She was about to order herself a drink to start everything off when she locked eyes with a familiar face. It was Aaron. She stopped where she was by the bar, a curious brow raising. "Pretty sure that's my name," she joked as she let out a chuckle. "But yeah, I am."

Aaron looked around the bar, he wasn’t sure who he was looking for or why he was looking — he was just suddenly very nervous. This was the first time he’d seen Delilah since the show ended. He moved to Kingsboro immediately after the show was over, and had no idea where Delilah had went. He had heard she was doing great things with her dancing and he was so happy for her. Of course he was happy for her. She was his first love. “Did, uh, did you move to Kingsboro?” He shouted over the music.

Delilah nodded her head at Aaron's question. "Yeah, I just moved here the other day. Still getting everything situated at my place," she spoke. Oh god, this was nothing sort of awkward. But, she wasn't going to seem like that in front of him. Nope, she was going to look like her normally confident self. "Guess I just wanted to be closer to family, and my older brother," she spoke. It had been ages since she was just a quick drive to Finn and her own parents, not an entire flight across the country.

Aaron made an O with his lips and leaned against the bar. “Well — welcome back to the city. Your career has really been taking off. Congratulations.” Aaron did actually know that her brother had moved into Kingsboro a few years ago but he had managed to avoid him as much as possible so far. He would imagine that he wasn’t exactly his ex’s brother’s favorite person. “ let me know if you need help moving in or anything. I’d be happy to help.” Aaron was determined to her in her good side. They didn’t have a great history and Aaron knew that was his fault. He was determined to make things right. He’d changed a lot since they dated and he wanted to show her that.

"Um, thank you," she spoke simply. Nothing more. The two of them had kept their distance throughout the years since their break up. Thought they hadn't seen each other in person, they exchanged brief text messages through one another but that was pretty much the extent of what their relationship had been. So right now? It was a bit surreal. "I, uh, hired movers to help me but I'll keep that in mind," she nodded her head. Delilah wasn't really sure if she wanted her ex-boyfriend to help her with moving into her new place......it seemed a little odd.(edited)

All the memories of falling in love with her came flooding back as they spoke. He was such a child back then; immature and still living off his father’s money with no regard for it. God, he fell so hard for the woman in front of him. She had someone changed so much, yet not at all since he’s seen her last. I wasn’t sure if there could ever be a friendship between the pair; he was working on one with Eden and not he felt like he needed to work to fix this relationship as well. “Okay...yeah just... let me know.” He told her, nodding once. “Um... can I buy you drink?” He looked behind her then over her shoulder, looking for his high boyfriend to make sure he was okay. No luck. Where was he?

"I will," she offered him a smile. Even if it was forced, she could muster enough within her to act civil. Deep down, there was still a bit of a sting that went with seeing the older boy. They had history to say the least, enough that ended oh so terribly all of those years ago. A thick brow was raised in curiously at the offer of a drink being bought for her. "Um, sure," Delilah nodded her head. She always liked having things bought for her, even if was by an ex.August 2, 2020

Aaron waved down the bartender, and ordered the drink that she always used to get — he didn’t know how things had change. What her drink order was now. Nearly 6 years had passed, after all; Des’ whole life. God, she was even more beautiful now then she was then — he couldn’t even believe that was possible. “You still drink this?” He finally asked as their drinks were served. “You know I own this bar?” He asked. He had no idea why he asked that — Did she remember the club he named after her in Manhattan?

It didn't take long for a bartender to come their way and she was quick to see that Aaron ordered her the drink she typically got when they went out. For a second, things felt like how they did back in the day....drinks flying while she was with the person she loved. She nodded her head as she took the glass, taking a small sip from it. "Some things don't change, Aaron," she replied. "But no, I didn't know that. How many do you own now, moneybags?" she joked.August 3, 2020

He looked down at her, taking in how she looked, the way she dressed. How similar yet different she was now compared to when they were dating. Aaron smiled and let out a chuckle. He slid his hand in his pocket and leaned against the bar. He always admired her wit, and how much fun she was. She always had the ability to make him smile like that. "Five clubs, one restaurant, maybe a brewery soon." He bragged. "How many music videos have you been in now, tinkle toes?" He countered, raising his brow and smirking over at her.

Delilah was liking this; the playful banter. Things were still nothing short of awkward but she could be okay with this. The alcohol sure was helping calm her spirits and help her feel like her typical self. Taking another sip from her glass, she nodded her head. "Sure seems like you have a lot on your plate, are you sure you can handle a brewery too? Jeez," she chuckled. "I have happened to be in lots of videos, plenty of one's have hit million of streams. I just got off of a pretty major tour too," she pointed out.

The businessman shook his head. "Please, you know there's nothing I *can't *do. And I got rid of the porn, which took up a lot of my time so there's plenty of space on my plate for some side projects." He mused, giving her a nonchalant shrug. He immediately thought of Marissa as he watched her speak -- how she didn't get to see her Delilah like Aaron was right now. He also thought about the history between him and the woman in front of him; all the bullshit they went through on the show had to mean that they could get through anything, right? They could still be friends. "Who were you touring with?" He asked. "Ali's about to tour again soon -- you should catch up with her too." He looked around the room again. "She's not here tonight though. She's old." He joked, even though she was actually a couple months younger than him.

"Listen, not everybody is perfect....not even you," she continued with the joking. Aaron's hardwork and ambition was always something she could admire about him. He truly was always busy with something and was very well known within the city for it. Delilah was the same way, though she was much more interested in the dancing and modeling world as of late. "I was on tour with Sia. She's really awesome to work with," she admitted. "How is Alison doing? And everyone else from the show? Hard to believe it's been so long since Rich Kids, we were just well....kids back then," she shrugged her shoulders.

A satisfied smirk appeared across the older’s face. They always had this good, playful back and forth. They always just clicked like that. She had always kept him on his toes when they were dating; always trying to outwit each other. “I’m pretty close to perfect though.” He teased. His phone buzzed in the back of his pocket. He grabbed it and realized he had three texts from Ro. He squinted to read the texts, but decided to shove his phone back in his pocket instead of responding. He was just smoking with Khai outside anyway. There was no way he was going out there to hang out with him. “That sounds really fun.” He said, bringing his attention back to the conversation at hand. “Must’ve been an amazing experience. Congratulations.” Aaron smiled when he brought up Alison. They were still ‘taking a break from each other’. Whatever that meant. But she was still his best friend. “She’s — um — she’s great. I’m sure you heard about the new album. And Des is doing wonderful. She’ll be six on the 28th.” Aaron and Delilah had broken up while Alison was pregnant, and had only met Des once or twice when she was a baby. “You will be amazed at how she grew.” He chuckled. “We’re grown ass adults now. Or — at least we’re supposed to be grown.” He mused.

"Well, if you are perfect, what am I?" she raised a curious brow. She wondered what his response would be. Delilah didn't consider herself a perfect individual, even though many people would be envious of the kind of life style she lived. She had so many many people who looked up to her and saw her as an inspiration, having already accomplished so much in her young age. She wasn't done yet in her career and she had lots of plans on becoming a better version of herself. "It is, I love going out on tours bur for now, it's nice to have some time to relax, for the most part," she admitted. "Sometimes I forget that you have a kid, I feel like half of our castmates have settled down and had families. "Then there's me, I'm just married to my career," she laughed. It was true, dance was her child.

His smirked grew bigger when she continued playing with him. "I said close to perfect. No one's perfect, you're right but you might just be the closest person to perfect that I know." He cooed, chuckling. The show had brought a lot of opportunities for many of his cast mates -- Alison, Harry, Aaron, Marissa, and Delilah too. They were lucky to have all been able to know each other, and now they were supportive in each other's careers. "Vacation is good. I just went to Paris and Japan in June." He told her. He couldn't believe that was that long ago at this point. "Trust me, I don't forget I have a kid. She's impossible to forget because she's the loudest person I know." He laughed. "Hey, you can still be a parent and married to your career. I am." He told her.

"So basically what you are saying is that I'm the closest person to perfect that you personally know? How charming," she kept the jokes coming as she tucked a piece of her dark hair behind her ear. At one point in their lives, she happened to her such a statement a lot. Their relationship might not have lasted a long time, but it sure felt like it did. They fell hard and quick, their feeling strong for one another. "I should book a vacation for myself, but I want to get fully settled here before I make my next moves," she spoke. "You know how I've always been, Aaron. Not sure if a family is in the books for me right now, plus I'm not quite ready to settle down yet, I still have too much fun to get out of my system,"

The man gave her a confident nod. "Yep." He giggled. "You know me, always a charmer." He cooed. Aaron knew Delilah well. At least, he knew the her that she was when they were dating very well. She hadn't seemed to change so much even though her career had taken off. Aaron, on the other hand, had changed a lot since they had broken up. It was mostly the way his relationship ended with her, the way his relationship ended with Aria and Des being born that really woke up him and told him to get his shot together. "Vacations are good. You should do it." He encouraged her. Aaron put his arms out to his sides. "I'm out here, having fun! Not settled down. I'm still in my 20s. The party doesn't end when you're Aaron Hart." He laughed. "I hope you don't think I'm lame just because I have a kid." He teased.

"I have no idea where I'd want to vacation, it's something I'd really have to think about," she admitted. Delilah could honestly vacation anywhere in the world, she had the money for it now. She had grown up middle class, not super rich but her family lived comfortably. It was almost still a little crazy how much money she had brought in from touring and her various movies and music videos she had stared in. Hard work paid off, huh? "To answer your question, no....I do not think you're lame. We're in our late twenties now, plenty of people start families by now. You don't need to prove yourself to me, unless you really want to make me believe you aren't a lame ass dad now," she laughed.

"Paris. That should always be your go to." He said, way too overeager. "You still know that's my favorite place right?" He gave her a charming smile before sipping his drink. "Good, because I'm not. I'm a cool dad. And I want to stay that way too." He mused. "I'm happy with the way everything is going with me, Des, Ali and Ro- m-my , uh, my boyfriend." He cleared his throat, smile faltering a bit. He took another large sig of his drink. "But, uh, yeah a lot of my friends in their 20s have kids too. So I think I'm in track." He pressed his lips together. This had been such a good conversation up until he word vomitted.

”The city of love? Yeah I remember it,” she recalled. Even though it had been years since their break up, she could remember the little things Aaron liked. She wondered if he could remember too, since she was his first real relationship. Taking another sip from her drink, she nodded. “Oh, your boyfriend? Seems like you’ve been quite the busy man these last few years,” she chucked. “Is this Roman fellow someone I should worry about?” She joked, secretly liking to mess with him like this.

He nodded. "Of course you do. You always remember the important things." He mused, smiling down at her. Delilah was something very special to Aaron. She was his first love, after all. Feelings like that don't ever go away. Even if Aaron was the one to inevitably be the cause of the break up. "I have. I seem to be starting a new project every few months or so. It's going great. Look at us; both of our careers taking off." Aaron smiled though when he realized that Delilah was just messing with him. Like the old days. "Nothing, nothing. He's great. He dances too. He's an off broadway performer actually." He said, boasting about his boyfriend's talent. Speaking of..he pulled out his phone to shoot him a quick text back, telling him where he was then slid his phone in his back pocket.

”Oh, he dances too? Seems like you have a type,” she pointed out. Delilah’s biggest passion happened to be dancing and she was always eager to hear when someone else liked to do it too. “What shows has he done? One of the reasons why I wanted to move back here was to possibly see if I might like broadway shows or not. I don’t know, try something new?” She explained herself.

Aaron shook his head and chuckled. “I guess so.” He mused. “I know he was a dancer in Wicked on Broadway but now he owns his own off broadway theater here in Kingsboro. He’s starring in and directing Rocketman that’s playing right now.” He smiled. “I think you’d be great at that, Del.” He confessed.

"Wicked? Seems like he has taste," she nodded her head. Wicked wasn't her favorite musical but it was a classic and true staple when it comes to Broadway shows within the city. "I'm going to try and see if any place would want someone like me. I like to think I'm versatile and have the experience," she added on.

He nodded confidently. "He does. But I also think he kind of just took what he got, ya know? He definitely gets to be more creative now that he owns his own theater company." He nodded. "I mean, Bullskits will more certainly take someone as talented as you are." He told her. It was weird that he wanted his ex-partner to work with his new partner, but he knew she would fit in. "I could definitely talk to Roman...if you want." He was unsure if she would take his help. She was always so independent.

"Well, you gotta start somewhere - huh? I've done my fair share of pure grunt work and being a backup dancer, simply so I can just put my name out there," she admitted. LA was hard for her at first, not landing every single job or audition that she had applied for. Eventually, she grew to hold quite a nice resume and background for herself. "Um, maybe? I can always send over my resume and set up an audition or something. It's worth a shot."

"Exactly." He nodded. "You get it." Aaron scratched his head, and once again scanned the room for his boyfriend. It was his birthday, so why was he talking to his ex? "Yes. Send it to me and I'll make sure to give it to him." He told her, enthusiastically. "Speaking of my boyfriend," he began, putting his hand on her shoulder, "It's his birthday, and I should probably go find him." This was awkward as fuck for him, but he wasn't sure if Delilah was feeling the same way. Without even asking her, he pulled her in for a hug. "Catch up more soon, Del?"

"I never to update mine, but I'll make sure to remember to do that," she spoke, finishing off the drink that had been ordered for her. "Oh well, Happy Birthday to him. Hope he's having fun so far,"Delilah added on, knowing that birthday parties were always a little stressful to enjoy when you were out like this. "But yeah, totally," she hugged him for a quick moment before pulling back, feeling odd after the act. Sure, they were asking civil in the moment, but she still didn't quite know where she stood with him.

#( ch: Aaron )#( threads )#( discord thread: 001 )

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siyeonjisoo · 5 years

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So this year for my birthday, I took an adventure to the exotic state of Ohio – just for a concert where I could meet someone I have looked up to for over a decade on the actual day of my birthday. And I guess hang out with some of my Ohio friends.

My friend @ali-kat211 was amazing enough to brave the cold and hang out with my outside the venue all day from like 12:30 until we finally went inside. Just so I could be the first person to meet Amber. Thank you for hanging out with me and making this so much fun <3

We were joined by the street team after a while and they called us the real MVPs since we technically even beat them as well as most of the artists.

We sat down and were just chatting and making friends in line when LB (Amber’s support drummer) came out the door and we were sitting in front of and made us all scramble and scream. This happened so many times, and I think LB was doing it on purpose after the 3rd or 4th time he came out.

We were across the street from the Ohio State Student Union building (I didn’t actually know American universities would have those. I thought that was something the UK made up lol) and would wander over there whenever we needed to use the bathroom or to warm up for a few minutes. The first time we went over, though, WE RAN INTO JUSTIN. I saw him walking toward us and I did a double take and then said “Hi, Justin” while all of the folks I was with just thought I was saying hi to someone I knew at first before they also did a double take and recognized us. He chatted with us for a few seconds and told us to stay warm before he walked inside the back entrance to the venue to eat his lunch.

We got back in line and screamed about it to everyone else but most of us were here for Amber, not Justin or Meg&Dia, so it wasn’t super exciting second-hand.

Time continues to pass and then we get let in for the Meet and Greet maybe like 15 minutes late so around 5:30. Two of my friends I was with didn’t have M&G so I told them that if they gave me cash, I would get some merch signed by Amber for them so I bought my merch and then stood there trying not to puke before meeting Amber.

We got let into the main area where they were gonna do the event and Justin was just wandering around and we all were just casually chatting with him. I told him about the group chat we have him added to from the Gone Rogue tour as well as after the NYC stop of this tour and he was really happy to know that we had a good friend group based off of our experiences at his shows.

Amber comes out and walks past us with Leo and, before I even say hi to Amber, I start chatting with Leo. (Leo is one of the amazingly talented dancers on this tour along with Dom) I told him that me and my friends from the NYC show wanted to know if we could adopt him. He agreed so everyone stay away from my son Leo, if you hurt him you will die.

And then. It was time to meet Amber. I thought they were gonna set up the table and figure things out and I would have to watch them for a few minutes but nope! She called me down right away and was like “come on down, give me a hug! We’re gonna take a minute to set this up but come and chat” kinda vibes and I almost tripped over my own two feet when she came to collect me from the stairs I was waiting on. I told her I was from the NYC show and that I made the nickname CuddlePuddle and she was soo happy to hear that. Her smile kind of blinded me. She then looked kinda confused about why I was here in Ohio so I explained I came from New Jersey but came all the way to Ohio because this show, on the 13th, was on my birthday and it was my wish to see her and to meet her on my birthday. I was then the only person she sang happy birthday to out of the whole M&G and it made me feel really special. She signed the stuff I bought and then we took some pictures and I am never posting one of them because I was too busy laughing (but also worrying about Amber falling over) and feel like I look a lil silly but the other pictures came out awesome.

I walked shakily off to the other side of the theater and just. Collapsed. Because this was already amazing and I couldn’t imagine things getting much better from here.

We all just stood around waiting for the rest of the M&G to end and were packed in like sardines (with no one wanting to move back but then completely fucking up the line order because folks were just stopping at the front of the crowd that were at the back of the line and I wasn’t having it and I got a lil snappy with folks in order to protect my spot). Justin was still just wandering around and chatting. He came over and gave me a handshake because I asked him for one as my birthday gift. He then told us to go and buy some of his merch and then we can attend his M&G after the show so we went running off to buy that since we still had time before the show was gonna start.

Meet and Greet finally ends and Amber waves good bye to us and then we all go running off to get our spots. I MANAGE TO BE FRONT AND CENTER ON THE BARRICADE. Literally dead center as marked on the stage. We all settle in and everyone else gets let in. This is prolly around 7 by now I think.

LB comes out and sits down on the edge of the stage and starts chatting with us. I told him I came from New Jersey and was actually at the birthday show. I told him he is birthday twins-ish with my friend and that he gave her his drum stick after that concert since the NYC concert on 2/7 was actually her birthday. He said he remembered her and that he needed to think of something to do for me. My friends next to me and I were all hungry too and he was sitting there and pulled out food. So LB legit gives me and one other person the first 2 bites of his food before he starts eating it himself. He learns that we have been there since 12:30 and haven’t really eaten much of anything so he decides he’s gonna go off to the back of the venue to the pizza stand and BUYS US A WHOLE FUCKING PEPPERONI PIZZA that we share with the whole crowd, ripping pieces in half and passing them around. It was actually some of the best pizza I have had in a really long time. We all decide that he has adopted us and is now a father of five. Ben comes out and is like “Yo, Justin is waiting for you to move so he can get his set started” so LB scrambles away and like 2 seconds later, the concert starts.

Justin is usual sexy fuckboi self. I know I should but I can’t help loving that man. He grabbed my hand and serenaded me and I have never been a more heterosexual human being in my life than those 3 seconds. I also handed him the second half of my pizza and I think he actually took it off stage and may have eaten it after and I love him.

Meg&Dia come out and they are sooo cute. Grant is a wonderful drummer and Carlo is super handsome. I’m sad they didn’t do the acoustic version of Koala like they did in NYC because that was almost hauntingly good but that’s the only thing I think I would have changed about this whole day.

Then it is time. The moment of truth (pt2). Amber. I am right in front of her. The stage is less than an arm’s width away from me and Amber comes pretty close to the edge of it a few times. I actually got scared at one point when Amber, Leo, and Dom stormed the edge of the stage and kicked out that I was gonna get kicked in the face and flinched and Amber saw and laughed at me a little bit.

I helped remind Amber to drink water and stay hydrated throughout.

When introducing the whole naming of the crowds thing she went through the recent nicknames and THEN POINTED TO ME AND SAID “This girl is the person who came up with the nickname for NYC, she made Cuddle Puddle” AND I TURNED AROUND AND WAVED AT EVERYONE AND GOT APPLAUSE.

I nagged Amber again for eating CDs and she apologized lol

DJ is just super chill and funny. One point he was clapping along with one of the songs and I copied him and he saw me and pointed at me with a smile. I think that’s what earned me something that happened later.

After the third song, Get Myself, Amber grabbed my hand and sang to me. I, feeling a little overwhelmed, looked at my hand and screamed a little bit. Justin, the lil shit, was sitting in front of the barricade and watching it and so Amber went over to him and did the same hand hold to him. Justin, I kid you not, looked at me and then FUCKING COPIED ME IN A VERY EXAGGERATED MANNER and I died laughing. After that song, I took literally the best picture I have ever taken in my LIFE

A lot of people started crying during Numb and Amber gave a person behind me her towel because we couldn’t find any tissues. That song almost got me but it was the next song, Borders, that had me literally dry sobbing because I didn’t have the hydration levels to be able to produce tears.

Amber, apparently, learned about LB adopting us and mentioned it and we all waved and said “hi, Dad” and LB waved back at us and I have not felt more proud of a father figure in my life.

Main set ends and everyone goes off stage for a few minutes and some people seemed to think it was legit over and were really happy to learn that there was still some more.

Frozen happens and it is terrifying chaos BUT DAMN CAN AMBER SING. I feel like she sings that song better than most people who try to do covers of it.

And then POKEMON TIME. It is the most impossible chaos for them to not be crashing into each other the whole time.

Carlo came out dressed as the Snorlax and just flops down on the stage and looked legit terrified someone was gonna run over him at a couple of moments but there were no accidents.

And then it was over. We took a picture all together. The instrumental for Other People was playing while we got situated for that and Amber looked really sappily happy but also kinda embarrassed that we were singing her song to her.

LB gives me his drum stick and wished me a happy birthday again before leaving the stage

DJ comes up with a sheet of paper that we all know is the setlist and people’s hands come flying up and I get crushed against the barricade since everyone behind me pushes up to get it. He folds it lightly and bats their hands away with it to make sure he GIVES IT TO ME.

We all make our way to the bar and get some water because we are all dying from screaming and singing for 2 hours before we make our way to the line for Justin’s Meet and Greet. The man is just chatting with folks and taking his time and the venue staff is like “c’mon man, we gotta go” and hurrying him along. And I think they had a flight to catch so they couldn’t linger, either, since they had a concert in Atlanta the next day. DJ comes running through the line to take a video and literally trips coming up the stairs. He showed us after because we were at the end of the line and he needed to show it to someone to laugh off the embarrassment lol. He edited it out before uploading it to Justin’s Instagram, poor soul.

Justin takes a picture with me eventually and I told him “thanks for making it worth coming all the way from Jersey” and he said something to the effect of you’re welcome and I’ll try to come back soon or whatever and then it is time for the trip back outside to the cold.

So this was the most amazingly wonderful concert experience I think I have ever had. In. My. Life. And definitely one of the most memorable birthday experiences I think I have ever had. In. my. Life. Thank you to everyone who was part of it. I’m writing this 2 days later while I sit in the airport, waiting to fly home and wake up from this wonderful dream. I’m gonna get home and just cry because the post-concert depression still hasn’t set in because I’m still not sure any of it was even real. Being back home is going to make it all settle in, I think.

#Hohio #Amber #f(x)#TourX #LB #Leo #Justin #JustinPark #best way to spend a birthday #wonderful memories were created

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artificialqueens · 5 years

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if we have eachother (Branjie/Ninex/Kasia/Scyvie/Everyone) 4/5 - PinkGrapefruit

chapter one.

chapter two.

chapter three.

chapter four. in which family means support

A/N - it’s been a while and i’m sorry but here i present you with a mess that i love rather alot. it contains a few deeply personal moments and has been so lovingly beta’d by frey and i really hope you enjoy it. remember, don’t be quiet with your feedback! it’s a writers coffee. enjoy!

When Monét and Nina go on a date, Brooke and Vanessa decide it’s the perfect time to give the twins some responsibility. In hindsight, it’s not their best idea, then again, hindsight is always 20/20.

They drop the pair in front of the two-story house - tell them they’ll be right down the street in the little French café, and leave rather abruptly. Noah knocks on the door, and the two cringe as they hear the kerfuffle of a house full of three young boys, and a rather disgruntled looking Monét.

“I’d tell you they’re usually saints, but that would be a bold-faced lie,” she tells them, out of breath, carrying the youngest of the three - Spencer. He’s a two-year-old from East Asia that they adopted six months prior. He smiles like he knows no other facial expression and likes “The Little Mermaid”. This is all the information the flustered adult relays to them before he yells up the stairs for his partner.

Nina comes down in a pressed white shirt, black dress trousers and a rainbow bowtie. He is not smiling - a fact which concerns the twins as they have only seen him frowning four times.

Noah has an allergy attack. No one is happy. Allie vividly remembers crying into Brooke’s shirt.

Brooke gets paint on the carpet. The paint is red. The carpet should not be.

Nina cannot put together an Ikea chair.

Monét drops Owen. No one knows how it happened, but Nina frowned for solid three days, and everyone thought the apocalypse was brewing.

Nina is trailed by Judah, the little boy carrying his stuffed Mufasa and being followed himself by Owen - the three-year-old sniffling as he shuffles down the carpeted stairs.

“Ah,” she turns, seeming to notice Allie and Noah for the first time. “Hey, kiddos! Can I get you anything?” She says all this while fixing Monét’s tie, which had been laying limp around her neck. Spencer tries to pull it undone several times, but Nina prevails through an impressive mix of brute force and ‘Part of Your World’.

“I think we’re okay?” Noah responds good naturedly, half-laughing at the scene unfolding.

Monét spends a few more minutes explaining various things to the twins, as Nina goes round kissing all of her babies good night. She tacks on that they’re ready for bed and need to be asleep by 7, but whispers to Allie that it’s harder than it seems, winking a little.

“Thank you so much guys!” Shouts Monét on the threshold.

“Yeah! We’ll be back by ten at the latest!”

The door shuts, and Allie wonders briefly if she’s agreed to babysit demons. She realises rather quickly, that the answer to that is complex. It is complex, because while they were not demons when she half-heartedly agreed - they certainly are now. Her head snaps up as she hears a yelp coming from her brother, and she stifles a laugh, seeing him lying on the sofa, being sat on by all three babies. Noah isn’t short - he’s long and tall, a mess of dark, curly hair complimenting his soft caramel skin - but he is lanky. So lanky that even the smallest of the kids engulfs his torso.

Allie scoops up Owen with little to no effort - the small blonde relatively light for his age - and sits him on her lap.

“What’s wrong, buddy?” She asks the sniffly child in a soft voice.

“Juju - he -” he starts crying softly again and she rubs his back calmly.

“He did what?”

“He took my dammy.”

At this moment Alie is so very grateful that she has been a part of the boys life for so long. Had she been anyone else, she would have had no idea what he was on about, but she just happens to have been the one who picked out the stuffed dalmatian toy, so she hoiks Owen onto her hip and very slowly carries him upstairs to where she assumes the animal will be. She is proven right, when it is found under Judah’s pillow - the four-year-old pretty rudimentary in his hiding skills (for being four). Once the child is calmer and almost fast asleep in her arms, she checks the time. It’s almost ten to seven, so she quietly places him in the toddler bed, tucking the covers under his chin and placing a kiss to his soft, blonde hair.

She turns around to see Noah at the door, Spencer lolled in his arms, and Judah clinging to his leg. She smiles warmly at her twin with a baby, and watches his face soften everytime he looks down.

“You take Judah?” He asks quietly, the little boy almost asleep on his feet, tired out by whatever game he was playing with Noah, and she obliges, guiding him to the slightly bigger bed, while her twin takes Spencer to his parents’ room. Nina must have been joking, she realises, as she tucks him in too, pushing her fingers through his thick, black curls. She might have agreed to babysit angels instead.

When Allie reaches Nina and Monéts room, she pauses at the door, hearing Noah softly singing. It’s a Spanish lullaby, the one their Papa used to sing when they were little. She hopes it brings Spencer the same peace it’s always brought her.

“'Arrorro mi niño’? Huh,” she jibes quietly as he closes the door.

“Shut up.”

“Noah le gustanlos bebés”

“You’re such an ass.”

“Español, por favor?”

“Eres un gilipollas.”

“Thank you, bro!“

“Wakey, wakey mijos!” Calls Vanessa through the sizzling of pancakes. He doesn’t hear anything for a second, as he leans on the staircase railings, but then hears a quiet thud and cursing, so assumes at least one of his children is awake. He figures he can tip some water on them if they aren’t awake in the next fifteen minutes.

The morning feels reminiscent of a time long gone. Brooke is stood in a plaid dressing gown, making pancakes while sipping from his very faded ‘Worlds Best Dad’ mug. Vanessa sits at the breakfast bar with his own coffee - his smaller frame dwarfed in a t-shirt of Brooke’s and some plain pyjama bottoms (almost certainly Brooke’s too). He smiles at the memories of school mornings with kids half the age, of herding them through doors and into the car, and has to stop as he feels tears rising in him.

“They’re only sixteen,” reminds his husband softly, placing down the pan to set a gentle hand on his arm.

“I know,” Vanessa sobs, “but sixteen means there ain’t long til we look at college and all that shit. I ain’t ready for that!”

“You got long enough, Papa,” comes Noah from the stairs, his voice a little huskier in the morning. He makes grabby hands at the cup of coffee waiting for him, before taking his usual seat at the bar too. Brooke slides a plate of pancakes towards him and smiles with pride as the boy reaches for the maple syrup.

“Happy birthday, son,” he says before making a vague gesture upstairs and raising an eyebrow. Noah shakes his head vigorously, and Vanessa wipes his eyes before grabbing a glass of water.

They hear a loud yelp and footsteps thunder down the stairs, the short Puerto Rican swiftly followed by an angry teenage girl - her dark curls flying after her.

“Happy birthday, Love,” calls Brooke, handing over a plate of food as a safety precaution. Allie has it within her to smile as she takes it, before slouching onto the chair between Vanessa and Noah. She makes a hand movement for coffee, and her Papa slides a mug to her with a chuckle.

“You’re clearly my kids,” he grins as he sips his drink.

“Annoying, speaks passable Spanish, highly caffeinated,” Brooke ticks off with his fingers. “Sounds about right.”

Vanessa sighs and tilts his head to the side. “I can’t even argue with you.”

“Happy birthday, dimwit,” whispers Allie, head on her brother’s shoulder as they listen to their parent’s bickering.

“Happy birthday, little sis.”

She hits him.

It’s the day after the twins’ birthday. They’ve had a fantastic time running around LA with their parents and messing around - just the way they wanted to spend it - and decide to end it cuddled up on the sofa, drinking cold lemonades and watching cartoons. It feels right.

“I hope you kids have had a good day,” calls out Brooke from across the living room, his own tall frame encompassed in blankets and his husband. Vanessa pokes his head up from the comfort of the cocoon and smiles, kissing Brooke’s cheek before resting his head again.

“We have, but we have one more thing,” Allie announces, wrestling with the blankets and pillows for a second, so she can stand up. She leaves the room only to come back with a box - A4 sized and with a red ribbon tied around it. Noah gets up to join her, and they meet in front of the couple, handing Brooke the box with expectant looks.

He chuckles nervously - “I thought it was your birthday weekend” - before he slowly unties the ribbon.

Within the box is a brown court envelope addressed to Brock Hayhoe-Cancel. He fumbles with it for a second, feels the weight of the paper in his hands, before he starts to peel at the opening, tugs and pulls out a sheaf of white paper. There’s a note at the top - on a school grade lined paper, it reads:

‘Dad,

You’ve been our dad for years, but we figured it’s time you became that officially. We love you!

Allie and Noah.’

Before he realises it, Vanessa’s hand is rubbing soft circles onto his back, and he is crying. He drops the papers onto his lap and takes one of each twin’s hands with his own.

“Thank you,” he says through choked sobs, “thank you for letting me be your dad.”

Allie swipes a finger under her eye and smiles wetly. “Thank you for being the best dad we could ask for.”

Noah gulps and smiles too - leans his head on his sister’s shoulder, sighing. He swings Brooke’s hand in his own before leaning forward to kiss his wet cheek.

“Thank you, Dad.”

“It was never something that needed thanking.”

“You want a cat?”

“Dad is always telling us how much you loved Henry and Apollo!”

“Yeah, but they weren’t my cats.”

“They were Dad’s.”

“Funnily enough, still no.”

It happens, as all important things do, on a Tuesday.

Noah arranges a family meeting by placing an event in the Hytes-Mateo google calendar (a necessity in a house where one or both parents can randomly be booked for a gig - both do more shows now than they have since before the twins). He does so without saying a word, half hoping the rest of the family will assume it’s been there for months, and just turn up. The next step in his plan is to order pizza to be delivered at the exact time the meeting is arranged for - he has always been taught that pizza is a universal bandaid.

And now he waits.

He struggles to sit through AP calculus, legs jittering and palms sweaty, as he tries to keep primary and secondary derivatives straight in his head - completely ignoring the teachers long-winded explanation of limits. When he gets home, he sits in his room for a little while until six, when he takes his seat in the living room and waits for his family.

Vanessa steams through the door, shoes and bag on the floor and ass in his chair before Noah can say a word. Brooke follows pretty soon after, although his movements are a little less frantic and better placed. Allie is last, then again she’s never had a penchant for being on time.

He stands at the front awkwardly, hands clasped in front of him, then in his pockets. One briefly lingers on his hip and another brushes through his hair, slick with sweat.

“Noah, honey. What’s wrong?” Asks Vanessa. He’s worried and Brooke places a hand on his knee in solidarity - whole body leaned forward, as if trying to hear the words that haven’t yet been spoken.

“Mhmm,” he assuages (rather unconvincingly), “it’s just that. I’m just-”

“I’m gay.”

The room is that sort of still quiet for a second. A pause in the woods, a page being turned, the moment after a hairdryer is shut off. They all just stare, and he looks a little queasy - pale green - never one to enjoy pointed attention.

“AND I LIKE MEN TOO,” Allie shouts, jumping up and going to put an arm around her brother - a small smile creeping onto his face. “You see, we’re just a set of twins who both like men, cool? Cool.”

“I love you,” Noah whispers into her ear, the girl just winking.

“I mean, it would be hypocritical to disapprove, son,” responds Brooke, beaming as he says it. “I- We’re so proud of you.” Vanessa stands up with him and they all move to embrace him. It’s a family hug that seems to go on for hours, the shorter man whispering affirmations into his son’s hair, nose deep into the chocolate curls.

When they pull away, everyone’s a little teary.

“I’m so proud to call you my son.”

“Who you texting?” Yvie asks, smirking as she leans into Scarlets side. The couple are hanging out with Allie for the afternoon - having become the favourite of her parents’ friends when she realised she could (and would) steal their clothes.

She hides her phone with speed, tucking it under the cushion next to her, and ignoring the way it pings every thirty seconds. The adults raise eyebrows but say nothing.

They are at the judging part of ‘Project Runway’ when Scarlet takes it upon herself to crawl across the other two bodies and grab the device unceremoniously. She hits the on button with a ferocity not seen since Penny Tration’s dumpster diving in season five, before it lights up displaying the texts.

“Ooooo,” she teases. “Who’s Michael?”

Allie flushes crimson, her face matching the sofa cushion she is hugging for emotional support. She tries to answer, but giggles instead - it’s sickeningly sweet and makes the air smell like spun sugar.

“No one!” She attempts to cover, but it comes out sing-songy and too high pitched, and she buries her face in the cushion instead.

She sighs, pulls her shoulders back and composes herself, looking straight into Yvie’s eyes. “He is a boy from debate class.”

“Well, is he cute?!” Scarlet asks, squealing a little, and Yvie looks embarrassed, trapped against her will in a conversation she thought she escaped years ago - teen boys.

“Ugh. Show me a picture then.” She concedes, frown turning to smile when she sees Scarlet’s reaction.

“He’s… hot?”

“YOU GOT THEM A CAT?!”

“He’s called Silver.”

“It’s a cat, Brock.”

“But the toe beans.”

“Brock.”

“Squish.”

“I swear to fucking god and the holy motherfucking ghost.”

“It’s a kitten, José. Language… Squeesh.”

“I guess. I guess it’s pretty cute. But it is your responsibility. You better be chill, Mr Silver. I don’t want no shit from you.”

“Told ya you’d like him.”

“Don’t push it.”

When Nina and Monét text the family Whatsapp group saying they’re taking their kids to the park, they don’t expect Allie to reply. They also don’t expect her to be as enthusiastic as she is, when she turns up at their door in her daisy dukes and a short-sleeved striped button-up.

She’s practically bouncing on her heels as she picks up Spencer, spinning him around before balancing him on her hip. She smiles softly as he tries to grab her glasses off her head.

They take a long wander to the park, Allie chasing Owen and Judah part of the way until she sits down on a park bench overlooking the play area with their parents.

“How come you’ve only adopted boys?” She asks out of curiosity, eyes fixed on Judah on the seesaw with a younger girl.

Monét looks at Nina with a furrowed brows before answering, “I guess we just felt more comfortable. I don’t know. Do you think we shouldn’t have?”

She smiles in a way that can only be described as a little lonely. “I don’t know. I just always wanted to be a big sister? You get me.” There’s a lull in the conversation, as she reaches down to untie and retie her shoes before sitting back up straight and looking them both in the eye. “I know that you guys have been such a great second family to me,” she says, bringing a smile to Nina’s face immediately. “I love being an older sister to your kids, and they will always be my family - you will always be my family.”

“The kids love you like you’re ours,” Monét points out as she sits forward to place a hand on Allie’s knee. “We all love you so much. You and Noah are always welcome round here.”

Nina looks proud as they sit there, rests his head on Monét’s shoulder, and they lean back on the park bench.

“I think we know what we’re doing next, then.”

“Hey, kids!” Shouts Brooke up the stairs one morning. “Asia feels like she hasn’t seen you in ages, and wants to know if you want to go over this afternoon.” He reads the text once more before adding, “Kam will be there?”

Noah replies first, his head poking up at the top of the stairs, nodding frantically, while Allie texts Brooke an affirmation, making him scoff a little before returning to his crossword.

He drives them to the house in the suburbs with the teal shutters, the red door and the pride flag hanging out of the second-floor window, like no one’s heard of homophobia. He chuckles to himself, as Kameron walks out in a pair of basketball shorts and an apron which proclaims ‘Kiss the cook’, but as each child walks past with a bemused look, the older man’s enthusiasm fails a little, and he looks dejected trailing back to the kitchen.

“Right, kids,” he states, clapping his hands authoritatively. “Me and Noah are gonna make lasagna. Allie, you’re upstairs, tiling the bathroom with Asia.” Kameron giggles at the reactions he gets (although is pleasantly surprised at Allie’s enthusiasm, when presented with a filler gun and a cement powder-covered man in his late forties).

They realise later that Asia would have been much better equipped to make the lasagna, as Kameron trips on the edge of a loose tile, briefly cursing the drunken wedding that led him to the moment. The lasagna, however, is beautiful (all due to Noah’s apparent culinary genius.)

The twins share the washing up, as Kameron and Asia drink wine at the kitchen island and wonder for a second why they never had kids. They realise that they never needed to. They have two Mateos (or five, with the Wests), and a family that spans across countries. Plus, they’re friends with Vanessa, and that’s enough.

Nina and Monét signed up to foster when they realised there were so many kids that needed non-permanent homes.

They got a call on a Wednesday night, telling them there was a seven-year-old called Amelia, that needed temporary housing, and the acceptance was instant. Now it’s two days later, and they’re not all the way convinced.

“We’ve never looked after a girl,” points out Nina, as she leans on the car window frame. They’re on the highway with the windows open and she can’t hear herself think, which she’s starting to believe may be just what she needs.

“We’ve half-raised Allie,” reminds Monét, placing a gentle hand on her partner’s knee. “Andrew, baby, look at me.” She sees the tears in her eyes, and if she wasn’t driving she would wipe every single one away. “We can do this.”

“You’re right. Let’s meet Amelia.”

It started as a joke:

“Vanessa Vanjie Isabella Mateo-Hytes ain’t your mother bitch!”

But it swiftly grew into so much more.

One day, Allie runs downstairs at a breakneck speed. She charges into the dining room, to find her Papa sat at the table stoning a pair of tights. She looks scared and she’s clutching her phone like a lifeline, and he stands up, ushering her to the nearest seat to regain her breath.

“Papa!” She cries, “it’s Lily, her- her mom’s boyfriend- he, he-” She starts sniffling, and Vanessa notices her phone ringing again. He reaches over slowly, and upon seeing Lily’s name, he picks up swiftly. The girl on the other end of the line is crying and it takes long enough for Vanessa to coax out that she’s hiding behind a sofa, because her mum’s boyfriend came home drunk and he’s not happy. She’s holding her little brother Dylan, who’s whimpering in the background, and she sounds utterly alone.

“Can you get out?” He asks, calm and collected. When she affirms she can, he asks her address and, dropping a kiss on Allie’s head, grabs his car keys and leaves.

He collects them from the lobby of the flat complex, bundles Dylan into the backseat with enough blankets to ensure he’s safely protected (they lack the car seat needed), and asks Lily to climb in the front. She’s come over for tea many times, and they’re familiar enough that she feels comfortable around the family, her tears clearing up as they round the corner onto their street.

“You kids can stay here ‘til you feel safe, okay?” He asks, affirming what he hopes had been an obvious sentiment from the beginning.

“Thanks, Mama Mateo,” Lily jibes (although she is clearly beyond grateful. Her eyes pool a little as she smiles, and Vanessa wipes off a stray tear.)

“I’ll get Nina and Monét to bring over some spare stuff for Dylan.”

Then, Noah’s boyfriend comes out to his grandfather and he kicks him out (albeit temporarily), and he comes to stay. Brooke comes down the next morning with a knowing smirk and a kind heart.

“So, we’re adopting strays, Mama Mateo?” He jokes as he hugs his husband from behind.

“That’s Mama Mateo-Hytes to you, sir.”

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