#I decided to make them end up in Elysion and meet the others after their death tbh !! idc if it doesn't make sense

[saintseiya-thoughts]

• Saint Seiya/HyoShun AU - Bad Ending AU (G Assassin Inspired)

\LIGHT GA SPOILERS/

Okay so ! It happens in an universe in which Hades wins. Well, he partly wins. In GA, Ikki was able to free a part of Shun's mind, using his Genma Ken : it creates a new kind of entity, partly Shun, partly Hades.

It is also inspired by a Hyoshun fanart from xena-ub-313 on Tumblr !! I'm too shy to tag her but her GA/Hyoshun art is adorable, follow her 🙏

Anyway !! As I was saying, Hades/Shun kinda realizes what happened : he killed all the other Bronzes Saints. A part of him accomplished his goal, but another part grieves the loss of his loved ones.

After witnessing everyone dead, he takes Hyôga's body in his arms, but a crazy idea comes to his mind : he can revive Athena's Saints and turn them into Specters.

Hyôga comes back to life, and Hades/Shun regrets his gesture and feels guilty, but a part of him also takes his revenge on Athena and her Saints. Hyôga is now just a puppet under his orders, alone.

They both struggle, shared between their love but also their hatred for each other, both despising a part of the other.

It doesn't end well (or does it ?), Shun's mind take over for a little bit and he asks Hyôga to kill him. Forced to order, and unable to live without Hades's powers, they're condemned, and they're crying, maybe tears of relief, for the first time in years.

Shun feels sorry and guilty for making Hyôga go through such a trial, but Hyôga tells him that despite the pain, he's glad he was able to not leave him alone with his own trial of being part Hades. They die in each other's arms, relieved to feel the pain end, together.

Okay I'm done !! Thank you for reading, it's my WORST AU, mind you I hate angst/hurt without comfort, major character death, and bad endings so I'm pretty much hurting myself too

[sableflynn]

Felivy - The Choice

Soooo after a solid week of constant gushing about this au with @whumpopology I decided to try writing a bit of it! I'm uh pretty much completely obsessed with this au at this point, the amount of brainstorming we've done is incredible and soooo much fun.

Very brief context: AU where Felicia and Ivy both end up at Volkan's mean man estate together. The girls bond, Volkan is mean, the teams try to find them. Volkan decides to spice things up, contacts the teams and tells them they can choose one girl to have sent home and he'll keep the other. This is the timeline where they choose Ivy to come home.

cw: drugging, noncon kiss/touch, general noncon implications (none happens), whumper pov. ao3 link here.

---

The girl was strapped into a chair, thick leather cuffs tight on wrists that strained against the imprisonment. Even with the needle still in her arm, the drug coursing through her bloodstream, she fought; she had fought from the moment he first showed her just how he planned to transport her back to her team.

Red, Harrison had called her, for the striking color of her thick curls, but her hair color wasn’t enough to set her apart here. That fighting spirit, though; that was something his healer lacked, a tenacity bordering on feral that kept things interesting in a way Felicia couldn’t. And yet all it took was one wandering touch, one comment dripping with innuendo, one look, and she fell apart. Beneath all her bluster and bravado, Ivy was a scared little girl, and he was happy to remind her of that every time.

Her head began to droop and he thought that was it, until she snapped back to full alertness with fresh fire in her eyes. “You’re—” Her words were slurred, the effort to get them out visible in her face. “You’re fucking sick.”

He smiled and inclined his head in acknowledgement. “You should relax,” he said, and just to make sure she couldn’t relax, he leaned over her where she sat, one hand rising to brush strands of hair from her face. “Just let this happen. Next thing you know, you’ll be waking up in your boyfriend’s arms.”

“Nuh—” Despite the determination blazing in her eyes, she shuddered. A thin sheen of sweat broke out across her forehead, and he imagined he could see the drug working its way through her body, slowing her nervous system until she succumbed. Yet she still fought it; she couldn’t not, not with the needle still in her, and the knowledge that there wasn’t a single thing she could do to stop him from taking anything he wanted.

He leaned in for a kiss, and she was still awake enough to snap at him. Pulling back with a grin, he watched the terror dancing in her eyes, drank in the soft hitch of her breath as his hand caressed her cheek before traveling down further. His second kiss dipped lower, lips tracing the curve of her neck, sucking hard enough to bruise until he pulled a weak sob from her. Her pulse was racing beneath his tongue; every touch from him would send the drug through her body faster, which would make her more and more vulnerable to his touch. A delicious feedback loop of her suffering.

He lifted his head to meet her gaze, and the fire he’d seen there moments before was snuffed out. She was breathing heavily, eyes glimmering with unshed tears, mouth working as if she wanted to speak but couldn’t push the words out. He took her in another kiss and she whimpered against him, and god, he was going to miss this. Her fear was so different from Felicia’s, tinged with frustration at her own helplessness, and he could spend months drawing it out, showing her again and again that she was small and weak and nothing. But he had made a deal, and he was a man of his word. Better to leave her a sweet memory to remember him by, then.

When he pulled back from the kiss, he let his hand drift lower, until his thumb fretted with the fastenings of her pants. He hadn’t thought she could become more despairing than she already was, but at that touch she let out another sob, her head shaking weakly, slurring out words that might’ve been stop, please, no, don’t. He didn’t particularly care what they were. Fingers deftly undoing the button of her pants, other hand rising to press a harsh thumb into the bruise he’d kissed into her, he took her mouth in his one more time. She had no resistance left, and his tongue touched hers, his teeth dragging along her lower lip as he tasted her once again.

Her cry left her in a rush of air, and she slid into oblivion.

He studied her face, hands still on her body. In sleep, her features softened, the panic and desperation of moments before dulled to the slightest downward curve of her lips. So different from the wild thing who’d spat blood in his face, laughed under the threat of his knife, fought against him with everything in her. So much more fitting for the weak, terrified girl she became whenever he began to undress her, the lost thing he knew she was deep inside.

Refastening her pants, he took his hands from her body and began undoing the leather cuffs holding her in place. She had somewhere she needed to be, and it wouldn’t do for her to be late.

***

Felicia blinked, and stared at the bare white wall of her room, and fought a losing battle with her emotions.

One of us is going home. Volkan had dropped that bomb on them, and then dragged them off to their separate rooms before they could fully process. Before they could think to ask a single question. Before they could say goodbye.

She couldn’t hope. She couldn’t dare to hope, because if she went home, that would mean Ivy was staying here, and if Ivy stayed here alone she would be dead within the week.

She couldn’t hope, because she wouldn’t be strong enough to survive if her hope shattered and Ivy went home and she was left here, alone, with him.

There was no solution; only branching paths that ended in different flavors of heartbreak. Even when he offered them freedom, he twisted it into a weapon against them. Her heart raged against the unfairness of it all, and she crushed that feeling down, closing herself off, a few stray tears leaking from eyes squeezed shut.

The door to her room creaked open and she gripped the edges of the cot she sat on. He filled the frame, silhouetted against the hallway lights. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him, and yet she knew she had to. His expression was unreadable. Maybe she just didn’t want to read it.

“Come with me,” he said, and walked away without waiting for a response. She rose and followed him.

He brought her to his lounge, all dark leather and polished wood and a fire crackling in the hearth. At a gesture from him, she sank into the couch and he poured two glasses of amber liquor, handing one to her. He sat across from her, and in his eyes she saw that look, that fucking look that meant he was savoring the anticipation of breaking her down in some new way, and that was how she knew to prepare herself a heartbeat before he said, “Why do you think they chose her over you?”

She pressed her lips into a thin line and willed herself not to feel. From the moment she had woken up in his office, some part of her had always known she was going to die here. This changed nothing. At least Ivy was safe. She could take this.

He gestured at the glass in her hand, the drink within untouched. “Drink. It’ll help you relax.” She stared through him, setting the glass on the table without a word, and he took a sip of his own liquor. “I just want to talk tonight. I know you must have a lot of mixed feelings right now.”

She shifted her gaze to look him in the eye, and his face crinkled with a genuine smile. “I wish I could’ve been there for the discussion,” he mused. “What do you think was the deciding factor? What was it that pushed them over the edge, made them realize that Ivy was worth more than you?”

He wasn’t going to let up. She bit down the urge to say they made the right choice—self-deprecation was only playing into his hands. And she couldn’t do it, couldn’t dwell on what sort of conversation must have taken place, so she said, “I don’t know.”

“No theories at all?” He raised a skeptical brow. “You have no idea what might’ve led your girlfriend to look me in the eye and tell me that she was choosing to leave you here with me in favor of a stranger?”

Elyse. Her face flashed in Felicia’s mind, and shit, a few tears welled up before she could close herself off to the feeling, and then her chest ached with longing and grief and despair, and her fingers dug into the leather of the couch as her breath hitched in a sob, and then another.

Volkan shushed her with a faux-soothing hum, his hand like fire against her skin as he tucked her stray strands of hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry. I know this must hurt.” Through the haze of tears, the smirk on his face was infuriating. “If it helps, I think their choice makes sense.”

“Nothing about this makes sense, and you know that, you—” Now that she’d started, the sobs kept coming, racking her body with shudders. “You know, because you rigged this fucking game from the start, because that’s what you do, you—”

“Shhh.” He pressed a finger to her lips as he shushed her this time, and she flinched. “You’re getting emotional. Try to think about this logically. I’m sure your team did when they made their decision.” He sipped his drink again, considering. “Ivy’s a strong girl. A much better fighter. She doesn’t just roll over and submit at the first threat of pain. Although,” and his smile turned mocking, conspiratory, “you and I both know she’s not as tough as she likes to pretend. For a girl with two boyfriends, she sure fell apart quickly as soon as I—”

“You don’t know a goddamn thing about her,” Felicia lashed, stomach churning. Her skin warmed with the memory of Ivy’s touch, the only kind thing about this place. Ivy’s beautiful fierceness as she fought Volkan in every way. Ivy’s smile, and her tears, and her whispered promises in the night. “She’s—she’s so brave, and she’s good, and she’s not going to just leave me here.” Please.

Volkan’s eyes sparkled with delight. “Adorable. She already did.”

The flash of Ivy’s hazel eyes, wide with shock as she was dragged to her own room to wait for a decision to be made. “She didn’t leave. You took her.”

He chuckled. “Technically, you’re correct. Would you prefer she was still here with you?”

“I—” Felicia hated herself, then, for how close she came to saying yes, and she hated him even more for the slight quirk of his lips as he saw the indecision play across her face, as he read her like a book. “I’m glad she’ll be safe now,” she managed at last.

“Safe is a relative term,” Volkan said, setting his empty glass down on the table. “But I’m sure we can both agree she’s in a better place than you are.” He leaned in closer to her, pressing her against the couch, and his arms surrounding her were the jaws of a trap closing in on her.

[calla-lefford]

The funeral of Grover Tully

Location: The Riverlands, Riverrun

Under the cut you will find Calla’s interactions at Grover Tully’s funeral with Wylla Tully ( @wyllatully ), Garrett Erenford ( @garrett-erenford ), Garland Hightower ( @garlandhightower ), Brynden Tully ( @rvrprnc ), Cedric Tyrell ( @visxionaries ), Harrion Stark ( @harrionstark ), Henry Lannister ( @henryoflannister ), Elyse Tully ( @goldcnaura ), Cian Tully ( @rxverlanders ), Hal Storm Jaehaerys Targaryen ( @targaryenstorm ), Mellara Tully ( @mellaratully ), Tyrin Lannister ( @tyrinlan ), Guinevere Lannister ( @gcuienveres ), Clare Tully ( @ladyotheriver ) and Araya Frey ( @ladycfthecrossing )

WYLLA TULLY: Planning and execution were two of Wylla Tully's greatest skills. There was nothing she couldn't put together that would not be excellent. A dinner to bring together the allied forces against Grover Tully in the very halls he used to roam on the same day he was buried as the Tully tradition dictated? Easy. A meal fine enough for kings but still tame enough for a funeral day was spread out for the family and their guests. As the last servant poured the wine and the last plate was brought out to pick from, she motioned for the family and guests to dig in. “Please, enjoy yourselves.” She kept her voice relatively somber, settling down in her chair fully after she spoke to the room, eyes settling on faces she'd never seen but had helped end her father's tyranny in one way or another.

GARRETT ERENFORD: The commander's respect for Grover Tully had been nonexistent, though a man in his position could at least pretend a certain amount of deference for the old trout. It was expected of him to be present at an event such as this one, he supposed, though he only found himself in attendance because of Grover's children, not the corpse himself. Some of them were family to him. As Wylla Tully spoke, he raised his glass and nodded in silence, knowing better than to offend her with condolences. He didn't say honorable words about the old man, all he hoped for was that the gods -if there truly were deities watching over this wretched world- would grant the Tully children long, better lives than that of their late father.

GARLAND HIGHTOWER: Garland didn't know why he was here. Well, he did, he knew his prince had decided on a deal with the Riverlands that made balancing the Reach's coffers and books more than a headache for the past few weeks as all the last details were ironed out between him and the Lord Frey in charge of the Riverland's gold. Sitting next to Cedric, Garland kept his wounded leg straight under the table while the good one bounced with anxiety as he drained his first glass of wine after given leave by the Tully princess. Such a position also let him favor the arm of his chair closest to his future king. “So far everything's settled in terms of the numbers, and we can start everything agreed upon when we return to Highgarden.” he said low enough to Cedric. “Unless you have last minute changes?”

BRYNDEN TULLY: There has been a long time coming. Between justice and un, the Tully children have been dealt a strong deal of both. Where they are now is not without the strength of family, duty, and honor that they make of their words and their values. Though, there was question brought to Brynden. What are they if not family? They stick together, their bond is true, but what are they if individual beings? A king is a king, not equal to one's brothers and sisters, nor even parents. A king is individual. Brynden could not be, he could not rule without his four sisters and half brother a title as great, and so would it be fair to call him king? Most especially after his findings? Findings calling another, king. There had been much thinking, observing done in the most recent of days. Questions of strength, self, and integrity. All Brynden knew he could be, or wanted to be was who he was before the war, and it was the version of self he would give it all up to go back to. His siblings would always be his siblings, and now he would choose to always be him, the Brynden that came before the neverending dance with spins and twirls. Brynden clears his throat, calling forth the attention of those who are seated around him. “Call it what you may, but this is an unfortunate passing, a passing that came not by traitorous acts, traitorous allies; worn masks by foes. Today I lost a father, and my siblings theirs. Today my father and mother meet again by the grace of the Seven. There is loss here, and there is sadness. And at the end of the day we all sit here, yours and ours,” he gestures to the parties joining the Tullys. “To bid farewell to one king and welcome another in his place. A place, that was meant for me.” His eyes move to Cedric, “but it is a place I cannot take, and will not take.” He raises from his lap a paper that he hands to him first, “It is for Cian to take. The legitimized heir, signed by with no other than the handwriting of my father.”

CEDRIC TYRELL: Cedric found himself remaining briefly in the Riverlands for the funeral of a king; an anointed king, with a bloodline that could be traced for a thousand years, he who seemed the most stable of all high within the walls of Riverrun. For the situation had grown effortlessly dire, with the River King remaining safe behind the walls of Riverrun whilst it looked as though they would have to siege; and all of Westeros knew, one could not siege Riverrun as though it were simply a castle made of paper cards. “See to it the books are kept safe under lock and key until we have returned to our soil.” Cedric spoke under his breath as he watched a serving girl pour him a glass of wine, turning his attention toward Brynden Tully, who had risen from his seat to utter some words. Family was a fickle matter; Cedric perhaps understood better than others how dire relationships between family could become, giving the correct circumstances. After all, were there not thoughts in the back of his mind, hoping the King of Thorns would befall some tragic accident?

Bringing the goblet of wine to his lips, he noticed the man's eyes looking over at him; they were beginning a new chapter of life around similar times. At least, that was until... his thoughts trailed to the books he had just spoken to his Master of Coin about; he had made his condition explicitly clear, it was only his childhood friend Brynden he would trust to start this journey with; with Reach money funding the Riverlands, there would be progress. Or would have been. There were no words to come from his mouth, his gaze remaining fixed on the man, his orbs becoming increasingly colder with each minute. Then, finally. “It would be wise to reconsider.”

HARRION STARK: Harrion felt like he had stepped back in time, sitting in the hall at Riverrun like he had done so many time during his time fostered here. And yet, so very much had changed. For one, Grover Tully’s formidable figure no longer sat at the front of the room. He had spent most of the day with his eyes trained like a hawk on Elyse, watching for any sign that she might not be alright, and moving to stand next to her or to throw her a smile across the crowd when it seemed so.

He had found a seat next to her during dinner, his leg pressed reassuringly against hers under the table in a manner neither of them had chosen to acknowledge. His wolfskin cloak, the best he owned, was draped over the back of her chair from when he had wrapped it protectively around her shoulders on their way back inside. Normally the loudest man in every room, his rough norther accent unmissable, he had grown quiet tonight.

When Brynden, the oldest friend he has, the closest thing he has to a brother next to Rodrik, clears his throat, Harrion’s attention is caught like a fish in a net. His head tilts ever so slightly to one side, a frown marring his brow, trying to figure out what it means. He manages to bite down on the curse against the dead man that threatens to leave his lips. It was not often he would willingly agree with a Tyrell, but he nodded his assent. “Bryn…” he looked from the man he had always assumed would take Grover’s place at the helm of the Riverlands and then the the Rivers bastard of the same auburn hair as the rest of them. “Surely not…”

HENRY LANNISTER: Truthfully; Henry Lannister little for the Grover king, and even less for the Tullys overall, for it seemed as though once again some element of family theatrics were spilling before the world stage. The man, dressed in velvet maroon and gold, was sat to the left of his siblings. he took a deep gulp of the Arbor wine in his goblet as the Tully prince stood to make a speech, no doubt regarding his limp, dead father. The man was expressionless, his eyes surveying the notable guests in attendance, those who had made their presence known, those who had sent delegates and thoughts and respects. In truth, such a man who would risk such turmoil upon his own lands would not be granted a funeral; but rather be hung, drawn and quartered. If one chose to behave like a thirsty animal in life, they would meet their end like an animal.

Though, his eyes looked up as it seemed Brynden Tully was renouncing his right to the River throne, all for a man called Cian to come and take. His gaze fixed upon the other Tully male, older than the prince in question, who looked as though the world had just been flipped from beneath his feet. Looking sideways at Tyrin and Guinevere, he simply shook his head. It was not something they should pursue any further, in his own opinion; they needed to ally with an experienced leader. “It no longer benefits this family.”

ELYSE TULLY: The mood had altered so much within the span of minutes that the Tully princess nearly felt faint. It made her queasy to think that things truly were out of their control. She had laid her eyes upon the lit boat, the flames embracing it had taken a liking to the river all the same. The girl had stood there, watching the flames for a moment too long before turning her back on whatever remained of Grover Tully. Harrion had been waiting for her, he had wrapped his cloak around her and she had gratefully accepted. Though the chills that claimed her body were perhaps not because of the wind.

Light gaze watched her brother as he stood, comforted by the presence of her family and the touch of the northern prince. she is unsure what she was expecting from Brynden but the words that spew from his lips… well, she was not expecting that. Gaze flickers instinctively to Wylla and she bites back a grimace as Cedric speaks. Eyes find her big brother, legitimized by her late father as a last means of perhaps being a pain even in death. She’s conflicted - Brynden had grown up expecting to take his father’s place, knowing he would and now… Cian was everything his siblings always saw him as. A Tully, not a Rivers.

“Cian?” Elyse calls quietly, glancing at him where he sat besides her. “Are you alright?” His life was about to change just as much as the rest of theirs and she cannot help but worry for him, wonder what exactly is going through his mind. Finally, her gaze finds Brynden. What was to come of him? “And what of yourself, brother ??” There’s heaviness in her heart, a silent sign she will not like his answer. Slowly, a hand finds Harrion’s beneath the table.

CIAN TULLY: The man remained sat as his brother rose to his feet, ready to make his euology regarding Grover Tully; and what a man he was, long before the dragons danced in the sky. He was a man that endured his bastard son was treated well within the triangle walls of Riverrun, ate at the same table as his siblings, was in family portraits, was called son regardless of surname; Cian himself never once felt a sense of resentment or anger toward his father, for it was his inviting nature and his prioritisation of family that gave Cian the confidence to be the man he was today. For yes, he were a bastard; but he were more than that too.

And yet, as Cian listened intently to the words of his brother, there were certain words he did not think to ever hear. For he had been legitimised; he was a Tully in name and heart. And yet, it came at a price, a price that could knock the wind from him. The man rose to his feet briefly, standing beside his brother and putting a hand on his shoulder, keeping his voice incredibly low.

“Come on lad..” Cian muttered, his tone concerned yet there was an element of irritation behind it, at the very back of his throat. “Think rationally, he wasn't in his greatest of minds toward his final days. This...” he trailed off, a slight laugh of shock escaping from his lips. “This isn't happening.”

HAL STORM JAEHAERYS TARGARYEN: Tension. It made him nostalgic for family dinners. He almost wanted to stand and give a speech. He didn't have a speech to give. He was hungry and he did want to eat. There were pluses. He could learn something new. There could be some information that he didn't know before. Jae looked around the table and smiled into his cup, taking another drink.

He didn't care about the Tullys. He didn't really hate fish unless it was in a stew. Maybe something thick cut. Jae put his cup down and considered offering something. He supposed that all funerals came with their own sort of tensions. Headaches. Dead men meant one thing. Schemes and Jae liked schemes. Especially schemes he could watch safely from the sidelines.

“Enjoy is a strong recommendation. give the circumstances. lovely table setting.”

MELLARA TULLY: The words from her brother clearly sent a shock wave throughout the entire hall. It was clear none of them knew this information was coming. Mel stared at her brother, dumbfounded he had no warned her of his news to come. After all the two of them had been through together. Everything at Dragonstone the two of them suffered, the night of the attack, the trials. Their time in the Vale, the war. All of that they had shared together and he could not tell her of this earth-shattering news.

Her eyes flickered over to Cian, clear by his expression he had little idea what was happening either. Cian was a good man, a good brother to them all. A Tully like he always had been. There was little doubt in her mind about that. But never had she thought of him becoming king, since that spot had always been in line for Brynden. And now everything was out of sorts. The quiet in the hall seemed never-ending as she waited for someone to say something. Lucian happily babbling away sitting on her lap stretching out his arms to his nearby aunts for attention, not aware of the changes his family was facing.

Mel wanted to say something to Cian but before she could, he rose from his seat and went towards their brother. Mel unsure of what to say or what even could be said. “Is this not something that should be discussed later?” she asked, her voice low hoping only her siblings could hear it. There were too many others here. But maybe that's what Brynden wanted. To announce in front of others. His words could not be taken back now after being heard by so many.

TYRIN LANNISTER: Tyrin is a man for surprises, but not this one. This news would mean that the Lannisters and the Westerlands would have to come up with a plan B, but they only ever needed their plan A's. There was frustration, anger within him. The wine he was to bring to taste, near came pouring out of his mouth. Who would give up their regency? And to a bastard? “You speak against your region if you speak for a bastard.” A bastard should never be king. Clare was better suited for queen than was a bastard and she was a full-blooded daughter when a full-blooded son was born and still breathed. The Tullys and Riverlands would be another weak link for the Lannisters and Westerlands. Already Alaric and his own wife failed them, his wife proving again the queen she is by not attending. “What better is it for a bastard to take the Riverlands based off of a dead man's word? A formerly mad dead man's word?” he near wants to laugh. “You favor not an alliance, but a foe when you choose to put a bastard on your already cracking throne to weaken your kingdom and those they align with.”

GUINEVERE LANNISTER: Guinevere's head had been leaning in her cousin Calla's direction, the girls engaging in some talk regarding the members of noble society that had made themselves present for what they all silently prayed was the final curtain call on the Tully matter. The topic of conversation had also fallen onto a certain Lord Hightower; whom her cousin would soon find herself wed to, should all go smoothly and according to plan. She fell quiet however when she saw a distant head of auburn hair stand upon their feet, setting her cold glass of water down and looking briefly across the faces of the Tully chldren; they were to be the next generation of their neighbours, and she truly hoped the two regions would be able to secure a benefit from their close geographical proximity.

The words of Brynden Tully had caught her attention, the words drying from her throat as she sat and fully contemplated the consequences. Her two brothers seemed to move first, as they always did, though she remained in her seat. She didn't look over at the prince, whom she had discussed a deal with; though a trip to the wall had been left out before she approached the matter with the Lion King. She bit back her words on the tip of her tongue, words that would no doubt only add to the tension. All the benefits for trade with the Riverlands still stood, though their leadership was now firmly under question. Was it a risk worth taking? There had to be more, another promise, another bind to the alliance; her eyes fell over to the Tully women, one she had never seen before... “Can we not strengthen this partnership by adding to it?” she asked, glancing slightly at Tyrin, before looking over at Harry.

CALLA LEFFORD: The eldest of the Lefford children behaved as the courteous woman her mother had raised her to be, offering condolences to the newly orphaned sons and daughters of Grover Tully. A plentiful dinner was served for those in attendance and Calla found her place by her cousin’s side. At any given situation she chose Gwen’s company above anyone else’s, and that was especially true throughout this dreary matter. They chatted privately regarding Lord Hightower, the man she was bound to marry. The crippled knight, she’d called him when speaking to her mother. If anything, this event might serve as an excuse to begin seeing if there was more to the man than being crippled.

Calla did wonder how many of those present here truly mourned the passing of the old king and how many found themselves present due to some requirement of some kind. She took some sips of her wine and watched the chaos erupt between the Tullys after Brynden’s unexpected announcement. She schooled her expression into a composed, dignified one; though she couldn’t help but feel partially amused by the sheer stupidity of airing these sorts of matters in front of an audience. What credibility could be in a house that didn’t have its own affairs in order? “Pardon me, my lords,” she glanced towards Brynden and then to Cian, “It must be the wine causing some confusion,” she smiled politely. She was perfectly sober in spite of the goblet in her hand, a drink she nursed slowly while continuing to pay attention to those around her. She never got drunk in public events. “So, who’s to be called king after all this?”

CLARE TULLY: Clare took her seat next to Wylla, knowing full well she could trust the other with the underhanded comments she would surely be muttering to her all evening. The last thing she wanted to do was play the part of the mourning daughter of Grover Tully in front of the many Kings, Lords, and Ladies of Westeros. It felt like putting on a mask. It was feign. It was exhausting. Clare was tired of the pretending, but she assured herself this evening would be the last, and then gods willing she would have to speak of Grover Tully no more. She took a long sip of wine, her second glass already, a choice she'd likely come to regret, but the bold flavors of the liquid filled her with a courage she feared she couldn't muster on her own. Along with her siblings, she knew she'd make it through this night. That was, until Brynden spoke, shocking the entirety of the dinner party in one fell swoop.

At Mellara's comment about private matters, Clare gave a firm nod and spoke quietly back, “It should have been spoken of earlier.” Her voice was harsher than she intended, but her frustration was clearly not aimed at her sister. Clare closed her eyes, only a few seconds, composing herself, especially of the Tyrell King's comment, before sitting straighter, formulating an appropriate, diplomatic response in her mind.  “Trust is not earned over dinner, alliances are not forged strongly in just one generation. Your graces, my lords, my ladies, surely you will give the Riverlands a chance to prove your trust would not be earned in vain. We, together, plan to continue our father's vision for our Kingdom, as duty, honor, and family are the core values we all hold dearly. Many of you put your trust into Brynden, and perhaps our father before him, I implore you to trust his decision in this, or at the very least, open your mind to it.” It was important to her to leave options on the table, and she hoped that even if one at this table took her words to heart, it might make all the difference.

ARAYA FREY: The passing of her great uncle was bittersweet for most of the river lands who had seen first hand how the man had slowly lost his mind, to put it ever so bluntly. She sympathized with her cousins of course, because mad or not he was still their father. The woman also could not help but recall the passing of her own parents on this day, and it made the whole affair all that much unbearable. Thus her goblet wasn’t without wine from the moment it had first been filled. It was when Bryn made his announcement that she finally had reprieve from the looming grief, a distraction. Her gaze sought out her brothers curious to see how he was reacting to this news, and then Garrett though ever so fleetingly. “And here I was expecting a peaceful dinner. ” She muttered into her wine glass. Though anyone who knew her at all could guess at how dreadful the idea of peaceful anything was to her.

WYLLA TULLY: She was seeing red. Her younger brother had gone and decided a public dinner with their allies was the best time to bow out and throw them a stranger, their brother, to rip apart while he ducked away from the throne. She could understand why, with what grover had put his heir through and perhaps how unprepared he might feel... but now was not the time to tell everyone. Definitely not the time to tell his own family. It was the foreign royalty that kept her mostly contained, but anyone could see a fire in the Tully's eyes as she stood, kicking away her chair and snatching their father's legitimization to read herself. “As the only sibling with free access to our father in his last days, I can attest our father was more intent on causing chaos than he was on domestic affairs. This surprises even myself.” She made her voice carry through the hall, the tone cold as she read the paper. She knew the handwriting anywhere, and it was real. Giving it back to her brother with a burning look in her eye to him, she turned to the room. “Cian was raised among us as a brother until he reached majority and left to start his own life, your highnesses. Never was he a bastard. To call him such is an insult to each and every Tully in this room.” Her eyes pass over the Lannisters and Tyrells, begging for a challenge from them, begging for an insult that she could unleash on them for. “We as a family will settle this matter privately, but rest assured both of my brothers always have the good of the Riverlands and our friends at heart. For you are our friends.” It was all she allowed herself to say, for she could not bear to start more trouble for her family when the last of it was sinking in the rivers and feeding the fish. Turning to her brothers though, her voice was low and left little room for argument. “Sit. We mustn't let them smell the blood in the water from this.” Wylla then sat and scooped up her nephew, holding him close so she didn't strangle one of them.

GARRETT ERENFORD: The commander was shocked by the news as he supposed everyone else was. All this time he’d expected to serve Brynden. Not that he would be any less honorable in his service to Cian but- Seven hells, what had possessed his friend to make this announcement now? He figured that after all their years of camaraderie there would be trust and honesty between them. But then again, Brynden had clearly blindsided his siblings so why should he expect special treatment? He would try and get a moment’s privacy with his friend after all of this was over.

He caught Araya’s eyes on him, even if she looked at him only briefly. He was subtle in the gesture but he raised his glass to her in the trajectory of raising the drink to his lips.

ELYSE TULLY: Chaos threatened to unfold and… in a way, had already done so. Her family was in discrete shambles, a brother had kept things from the rest, a brother was horrified, all three of her sisters were infuriated and offended. The kings did not understand, they saw a bastard where the Tullys looked at a brother. His lack of sharing a mother meant nothing to them just as Clare’s did. They were siblings, through and through. No one, not the Lion King or the Thorn Regent would change that. Elyse nods as her twin mutters the fact that these are private affairs and as the conversation continues, Clare’s irritation floods her tone and Wylla’s fire is mirrored in oceanic hues… the youngest stands. She abruptly does so, suddenly feeling as though the air is thick and the spoken words of others adds to it.

“Pardon me.” Her digits unthread from Harrion’s, releasing his hand suddenly and moving to exit the room. The soft voice of the princess is not as hushed as she excuses herself, no glance spared to any of her siblings so as to avoid Wylla’s particular one. The princess furrows her brows as she rushes through the halls and out towards the garden, breathless. “Gods…” she mutters, hands lifting towards her lifted hair. The pins holding it up are removed, held in her grasp tightly as long fiery locks cascade down her back.

GARLAND HIGHTOWER: With the announcement made, Garland looked between Cedric and the Tully family, before wincing from his leg. It was a legitimate pain, as it was always slightly aching, but he let it play as worse than it was on his face. “I need to retire, your grace. My leg.” He says loud enough for the rest of the room before making a bit of a production of getting up and walking out, leaning heavy on his cane until no one could see. The books were already locked away, but this would set him at the very least on a long night of new maths and figures that he didn't exactly want to set out on yet again.

CALLA LEFFORD: It didn't go unnoticed by Calla that some attendees were beginning to step out now that some of the complicated matters had been spoken. She took a sip from her wine and set the goblet on the table. Her attention went to Ser Hightower as he excused himself, making it known that his injured leg was troubling him in some way. “The wine is getting to my head, I need some air,” she said towards her cousin. Her eyes darted briefly towards the now empty sear of the Hightower lord and then back to Gwen. A spoken excuse for the rest, a truthful explanation for her cousin. Calla barely knew the man she was to marry and this served as a perfect opportunity to learn more about the knight.

[elencelebrindal]

Honest Opinion - Pegasus Seiya (Hades)

I try to drop as few f-bombs as possible in these posts, but my god Seiya makes me angry. I’m (not) sorry. 

Also, since this series has overall longer posts, I’m putting everything under the cut to make it less annoying for the people who aren’t interested. 

Overall score (character, not looks): still bad 1,5/10

Hades Chapter: Sanctuary

Overall score: 2/10

If you’ve read what I wrote for him (according to the classic series) you know Seiya is probably my least favorite character of the whole show.  They make him accomplish way too much, even if he doesn’t deserve it, he steals other characters’ merits, and he’s so much of a cliché protagonist that everything has to revolve around him.  I hate all of this.  And guess what? In Hades, all of this is even worse. From start to finish, Seiya is so annoying every time he appeared on screen I wanted to yeet his fucking attitude out the window. 

I know I’m being particularly harsh on him because I don’t like this character at all, but objectively speaking, he was as much annoying as he could be.

Starting off, he interfered in the fight between Mu and the resurrected Saints. I’m not blaming him for not giving a damn about what Athena said, because at this point I’m just resigned to these Bronze(s) sticking their noses in the Golds business, but I will never be tired to say that Seiya should have kept away. By interfering in the fight, he got in Mu’s way. He got in the way of someone who was busy defending the Sanctuary, of someone who needed to concentrate on his opponents and his surroundings.  Basically, Seiya forced Mu to intervene against him, distracting the Gold Saint from what he was doing, and if the show was just a tad more logical that distraction alone would have had awful consequences.

He didn’t even learn his lesson. Instead of staying put (and this is something I accuse every Bronze Saint of), he said “screw it, I want to fight” and went back there. This you/ng man has no sense of self preservation, and has no understanding of things that are above him (again, this applies to all of the Bronzes who tried to interfere in this chapter, but Seiya has been doing this since the very beginning, so it’s kinda worse that he didn’t learn his lesson). 

Of course, against Myu he proved himself useless. Of fucking course. What did he expect, coming on top as he always does? It was so satisfying seeing him getting beaten up for his stupidity, because finally there’s no protagonist bullshit going on. One of the very few moments of peace. 

But fine, let’s move on. Let’s move on to the next bullshit. And I mean it.  The Athena Exclamation face-off, as I like to call it. This is not inherently Seiya’s fault, because that’s just a bullshit the show itself pulled off, but... yeah, guess who suggested this.  Guess who suggested that four Bronze Saints could stop not one, but two Atena Exclamations.  You want me to believe Shun, Hyoga or Shiryu decided this? Yeah, no. They just went along with that, and boy was I disappointed. I’m not blaming the protagonist shenanigans for their intervention working, though. That was just the whole show throwing everything out the window. One Athena Exclamation has the force of the Big Bang, and what was happening was two of that. No way in hell anyone less than a god would have stopped those six from annihilating the entire planet Earth. 

And then, everyone’s happy and all ended well Athena died. Shion told them the truth about all the resurrected Specters and their mission, and cue Seiya being entrusted with the deux ex machina of the show once again (aka Athena’s Kamui).

I have to admit, I liked the part where he (and Shun) bid goodbye to Saga. I liked how they showed him really care about him. This is an honest opinion, after all. This doesn’t get rid of all the times he straight up didn’t care about other Saints’ safety (again, see Mu), but I appreciated it. 

Hades Chapter: Inferno

Overall score: 0/10

Yes, I gave him a 0. He doesn’t deserve anything better.  Since he stepped into the Underworld, Seiya became the most annoying and disrespectful he’s even been on this show. Not to mention he was dumb and blind all the fucking time. 

First of all, he straight up attacked Charon. Didn’t even think about it, just “PEGASUS RYUSEIKEN” and that was it. Strike one. Hadn’t it been for Shun, he would have 1. died then and there or 2. never crossed the Acheron.  Strike two happened when he (and Shun for being fair) trusted Charon to ferry both of them to the other side. The only one with a token was Shun, I screamed at the screen for five minutes that Seiya wasn’t going to make it.  Surprise surprise, Charon tried to throw him off the ferry halfway through the river.  Strike three was him deciding to fight against Charon on the other side of the river, which resulted in something that shouldn’t have happened. Seventh Sense or not, Seiya wouldn’t have won so easily against a Specter, especially judging by how much he sucked against Myu. Plot necessities aside, that decision alone showed Seiya’s carelessness and overconfidence. 

Moving on, the part I absolutely loved. Balrog Rune judging Seiya for the sins he committed, and me agreeing with every single thing (even though Shun was right and no one has no sins). Sure, most of it was Kanon’s doing, but I think Kanon is just as pissed off at Seiya as me, so it’s a win-win situation.  The main reason I loved this part is, believe it or not, not the fact Seiya got annihilated, but the fact Seiya was faced by the truth. The fact Seiya looked back at all the awful stuff he did in the past, and faced the consequences.  This scene alone won him the 0/10 score. 

I’m not going to concentrate on the part where they meet Orphée, because nothing noteworthy happened, but I will say Seiya’s reaction to everything in this part was appropriate. So... maybe he gets half a point, I don’t know. 

And now, what really made me feel good ad frustrated at the same time.  Seiya getting the absolute shit getting kicked out of him in the most realistic depiction of a Bronze Saint against a Specter I’ve ever witnessed on this show.  I will say: Seiya’s reaction to Shun being possessed by Hades was good. It was genuine confusion and fear, it was him wanting to understand what was going on and wanting to believe it wasn’t real. It was a realistic reaction to shock.  This will not be earn him any points, because it’s legit the only time this happens, but I appreciated it nonetheless.  I am not, in any way, approving the fact he managed to damage Rhadamanthys, because bullshit, but I approve how this burst of strength was similar to an adrenaline rush. Maybe it’s just my clever thinking, but I liked it. 

It’s just... what happened next started his protagonist bullshit™ all over again. I’m not talking about him ticking Valentine, because that was the least he could have done considering he is a Saint and should be a tad smarter than any normal person. I’m talking about him refusing to let go of Athena’s Kamui in his miserable state and in his unconscious state.  And Athena giving him (and him only) enough strength to do whatever he needed to do to be a protagonist once more. She was there, she could have helped her Saints along, but nope. Seiya was more important, until the plot decided her intervention was needed elsewhere.  This puts both of them at fault, but at the time I was so pissed Seiya had to be the first receiving her help I just cannot bring myself not to blame his very existence. 

To finish this chapter off, as soon as they reached the Wailing Wall, Seiya proceeded to be so fucking annoying I had to pause the show and take a walk around my room.  What the fuck was he thinking about?! Shaka, the most powerful of the Gold Saints still alive, didn’t manage to make even a microscopic dent in that wall. But nooooooo, he feels so fucking powerful and entitled that of course the wall will break down under his punches.

I don’t fucking care you’re in distress about Athena being trapped with Hades, you shouldn’t even have though about doing that. No sense of self-preservation, and an annoying behavior that would have killed him. This is not what a Saint should be like.  I get you’re terrified for your beloved deity, but that’s not what a Saint should do. I was mad at Shaka for trying to be stupid, and that was Shaka. 

But fine. The goodbye to the Gold Saints was good. Seiya put aside his protagonist issues™ and respected them fully.  I have nothing to say about the Hyperdimension. Let’s move on before the veins on my forehead explode with anger.

Hades Chapter: Elysion

Overall score: 1/10 for excessive protagonism™

Oh, this is a treat. A very bad treat. An expired treat not even the trashcan wants.  The only point he got into this whole chapter is thanks to his sister, because I appreciate and respect how much he loves Seika.  All the rest, throw it away.

He was so fucking stupid here, to the point of straight up ignoring a deity and subsequently trying to fight that same deity. He kept being inappropriately “funny”, like when the nymphs (were they called nymphs in English? i don’t know, I’m sorry) ran away in fear and disgust (thank you), and severely underestimated the danger he was in.  No wonder he got his ass kicked into oblivion, I saw that coming since the beginning. 

I have to admit, the scene of his Divine Cloth finally appearing was cool. Objectively, it was well made.  What bothered me was the build-up for that to happen, because the whole scene made me feel like Seiya was the only one who could get a Divine Cloth (even though I knew all the others would eventually follow). The whole “feeling Athena’s presence and friends inciting him” was too protagonist-driven for me to appreciate it. If something, in any show, is going to happen to everyone and not just to the protagonist, it doesn’t seem right to still put said protagonist at the center of it. 

I hate Seiya. I would have complained if he would have been the only one to get the Divine Cloth (favoritism aside). I’m biased against him.  But, if I have to speak objectively and not subjectively, I would have enjoyed the build-up scene of everyone talking to Seiya way more if no one else would have gotten that sweet divine upgrade.  It’s not appreciable anymore if you want everyone to be equal, but still refuse to make things actually equal.  This might be something petty, but it bothers me. Here, and in any other piece of media where this kind of thing happens. 

I’m not calling protagonist bullshit™ on him defeating Thanatos because, at least this time, there was an actual reason for Seiya to be powerful enough. Realistically, a Divine Cloth’s purpose is exactly that, and neither of the twins was expecting something so surprising to happen. So, for once, it’s fine. 

I cannot say I hated his way of confronting Hades, but I did dislike how disrespectful he acted. Even Athena refused to be offensive in his regards. I just don’t like people being disrespectful towards any deity in Saint Seiya (and in real life), so maybe it’s just that.  The fight against Hades? Nothing memorable, Seiya was pretty much useless against a major deity, and that was accurate. Divine Cloth or not, that’s not a minor deity or a personification of something. 

As for the end... I saw it coming. Even the very first time I learned Seiya was willing to sacrifice himself, I saw it coming way earlier in the series.  And you know what? As twisted at this might sound, I would have been happy to learn he died. For one single reason. It makes sense for him to die.  He just got stabbed by Hades’ sword. By a divine artifact. He should have died as soon as that sword hit him, if not for the wound itself for the cosmo the weapon definitely imbued with.  When, some time later, I learned he didn’t die... well, I just said “Fuck this bullshit” and never appreciated this scene again. 

I might hate him, but it doesn’t fucking make sense that he survived, just for the sake of him being a protagonist. He should have died. Period. Even if he was the most perfect protagonist to have ever protagonist, even if he was my favorite character. He. Should. Have. Died. 

[overanalyzingelswordiswhatido]

If Yuno and Mao were playable characters

I love both Yuno and Mao and I was bored so I started thinking it would be interesting if you could play as them. And naturally my brain took that and started developing random details along those lines.

Including job paths...

And that's what this post is about. Though I'm not gonna lie, I haven't fully thought out all the details of the hypothetical situations behind Yuno and Mao becoming playable.

Also, fair warning, this post is a little bit long and I am on mobile so there's not much I can do about it.

-

So for Yuno the main premise for him being playable was basically "What if the damage done to him at the end of Atlas was somehow salvageable?" So the paths I came up with were based around how being found and rebuilt could affect his systems. I decided his base job would be called 'Administrator' and that he would be first job when he actually meets the El Search Party then gets separated from them before presumably??? meeting up with them again later???? Since of course every playable character ends up being a member of the search party eventually.

Station Administrator/System Projector/Cherubim Semblance

His 1st path was inspired heavily by Code: Esencia, not gonna lie. Since he was the architect of Elysion before Herbaon. However, in order to make him unique I started thinking about other abilities I could give him that were similar to Eve without being the same. That's when I came up with the idea of projections. Like, he creates projections of Atlas and Elysion Nasods that vaguely resemble the characters in the hall of El. Or something like Sun's semblance in RWBY. Something like that. I named his third job as such because Cherubim directly attend to God and that is the role he played with Adrian and he likely appears to fill a similar role with Eve but beyond the surface level appearance that actually is not the case. Hence 'semblance' being used as well. If he were to actually be a playable character this would be considered his 'canon' route.

Bright Administrator/Glitched Serator/Fragmented Oracle

The second path I made for Yuno was along the lines of him becoming a battle Nasod in order to not be as defenseless in the future as he was when he tried to help the El Search Party. But the battle codes conflict Yuno's core processes creating various 'glitches' that alter the way Yuno's abilities manifest in different ways. He also uses energy weapons he created for himself that are multipurpose and can change shape however he wants them to. Most of the job names for this path were actually created by my little sister and sounded too cool to not use, so the third job name especially doesn't have any thought out meaning behind it unfortunately.

Lonely Administrator/Patchwork Nasod/Malevolent Corruption

For this job path many of the parts used to rebuild Yuno were salvaged from parts of other Nasods and many of the various purposes those parts were originally created for clashed greatly, causing certain files to become corrupted. In an effort to fix this problem he attempted to seek out parts he could use but more and more files get corrupted as he scrambles to put himself back together until eventually the corruption consumes him and all that remains is his single minded drive to remain functioning no matter what he has to do. This path was the first one I came up with tbh.

-

In order for Mao to be playable I had to some tweaking to her story. I decided that Calonne gave Mao a pair of daggers. They were from the demon realm so they had demonic energy stored in them but not like that much. Then Mao would have to go with Laby when Laby decided to head for Elrianode instead of staying put. I decided her base job would be 'Thief' but I actually don't have as clear premises for her paths as I did for Yuno's. For some reason I have clearer ideas for hypothetical skills + mechanics for Mao.

Cautious Thief/Devious Striker/Silent Hexblade

This path prioritizes Laby and her wellbeing tbh and is determined to help and support Laby in any way she can after Laby helped her in North Fluone. She would probably do hit and run tactics with Laby often acting as a distraction in order to weaken enemies so Laby has an easier time dealing with them. Basically she does a lot of battlefield control/debuffs.

Hopeful Thief/Infiltration Master/Nightblade

This path would probably??? be canon if she were playable since she doesn't only prioritize Laby but is also able to look out for/prioritize herself. She could use smoke screens and flash bombs and stuff to disorient enemies and ambush tactics in order to take them out since she knows she won't do well in an upfront confrontation.

Broken Thief/Hazy Specter/Dream Weaver

This is the only Mao path I created that I have a solid story concept for.... So, I know I said the demon daggers didn't have a lot of demonic energy but having a path that could look into the dreams of others and freely manipulate them to her own will was too good of an idea to pass up. She isn't necessarily corrupted by the demonic energy, but it is what she uses to do her dream manipulation stuff. And this was all kicked off probably because something bad happened to Calonne tbh.

[hellas-himself]

Crack Ship Holidays- Interlude

Rhysand’s Birthday

It’s our favorite High Lord’s birthday *heart eyes forever* This bit is in his POV because why not. I’m feeling a tad better so hopefully I’ll have the nessian fic up later on. I wasn’t happy with what I’d written and I don’t want to put out something if I don’t feel good about it. ANYWAY. 

Happy Thursday/Happy Rhysand day everyone ;)

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.

.

“You know, I was only kidding about wanting breakfast in bed,” I say as Lucien approaches the bed with a tray. He sets it over my lap and leans in to kiss me.

“Happy birthday,” he says to me and I smile.

“Thank you, Luce.”

“We have a busy day as it is. The last thing we need is you getting grumpy after we spend more than an hour at the DMV.”

I groan. “Don’t remind me.”

He chuckles.

“Well, eat up. The sooner we get that nonsense out of the way, the sooner we can do something fun.”

“More fun than how you woke me up?” I ask with a grin and he rolls his eyes. 

“Rhys, you’re insufferable.”

“Hm… But you love it.”

“Maybe.” He sighs and sits down beside me. I offer him some of the food but he declines with a shake of his head. “I ate already. Enjoy it, love.”

After breakfast, Lucien joins me for a shower and we leave the house later than intended. The DMV is busy as always and I reply to all the well wishes and spend twenty minutes talking to my mother until my name is called.

“So,” I say as we finally leave the damned place, “Where to now?”

“You’ll see,” he replies with a smirk.

Lucien takes me shopping at the mall and we leave with new clothes and shoes.

“Are we going where I think we’re going?” I ask as I notice the street that we’re on.

“Do you want to go where you think we’re going?”

“Lucien, is that truly a question you have to ask?”

He laughs and turns the corner. Lucien usually leaves the bookstore for last on my birthday, but I don’t mind the change. It means I can be here longer.

“Would you mind if I grabbed a coffee, love?” Lucien asks as we walk into the store.

“Not at all. Besides, there’s a cup I had my eye on. I want to get one for Feyre and I to match.”

Lucien chuckles. “I expected nothing less.”

Once we’re properly caffeinated, I lead Lucien around the store. We spend the most time by the science fiction and fantasy, and after I grab four books, I decide to find myself a basket before we step into the young adult section. Then, like every year, Lucien and I pick one of the books and find a corner to read the first chapter together. It is something we have done since high school, at first to make sure we would like it but then because it gave us more time to be together.

“You’re staring,” Lucien says playfully and I smile.

“It cannot be helped. You’ve seen yourself in the mirror, you are divine.”

Lucien rolls his eyes but I notice the way he blushes. I reach over and brush my fingers over the scar on his face before I lean in and kiss his cheek.

“I love you,” I say softly and Lucien turns away from the book and smiles.

“I love you, too.”

*

“My love, I’ve made plans for dinner tonight. Feyre will meet us there,” Lucien says as we leave the craft store. I’m carrying bolts of fabric while Lucien has the bag with my new sketch book and pencils. He reaches into his pocket for the keys to the car and opens the trunk. It looks like we’ve gone Christmas shopping.

“Are you going to tell me where?”

“Of course not.”

“Formal? Casual? Nude?” I wriggle my eyebrows and he rolls his eyes.

“I was thinking of wearing that midnight blue button up shirt you like so much,” he says as he makes room in the trunk for the rest of the bags.

“With the grey pants?”

“I refuse to wear grey pants around Feyre. Or you, for that matter. You’re both utterly perverted.”

“She’ll be too busy staring at Cassian’s… ass.”

“You’re sick.”

“I’ll remember that later,” I quip and lay the bolts down flat in the trunk before I close it.

At the house, Lucien brings the books to his office upstairs where our bookshelves are. Across the hall, I bring the fabric and sketchbooks to the craft room. There is an unfinished bodice on the dress form that will eventually be a gown for Mor.

“You should wear this and roll up the sleeves,” Lucien says and I turn to find him holding up the long-sleeved black button up shirt we’d just purchased this morning. “Maybe with some chinos or something.”

“Plan on staring at my ass all night?”

“Perhaps,” Lucien responds with a grin.

“What incredible incentive,” I say and walk over to him. I take the shirt from his hands and give him a kiss.

*

“We’ve never been here before,” I note as Lucien parks the car.

“Precisely.”

“Feeling adventurous, are we?”

“Rhysand, every day is an adventure with you.”

“Do I push you out of your comfort zone?” I tease and he flicks my nose before we both get out of the car.

“You’ve kept me out of my comfort since the day I met you.”

I laugh and reach for his hand. The smile on his face betrays his attempt at sounding serious. I tease him the entire way into the restaurant but when he gives his name, the host guides us in the complete opposite direction of the tables.

“Plan on checking off something from our list?” I whisper in his ear and Lucien laughs but doesn’t answer my question. I almost take it seriously until we come to a stop before a set of double doors and the host turns to face us.

“Happy birthday,” he says and gives me a smile before opening the door.

“Surprise!”

“Holy shit,” I say and hope no one noticed how startled I am. Everyone is here- even my parents. Even Lucien’s parents and-

“Elyse?”

My sister pries herself from Morrigan’s hold to run over to me.

“Happy birthday, Rhysie,” she says with a laugh and throws her arms around my neck.

“How are you here?”

“You know I couldn’t miss the big three-o. Plus, I’m on break.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

I hug her tight and she laughs.

“Then it wouldn’t be a surprise. Duh.”

Elyse fixes her blue-eyed gaze on Lucien.

“Hello, foxy boy.”

My sister steals my boyfriend away as the others come to say hello. Amren and Varian usher me over to the table where Elain stands- There is lembas bread in a wicker basket and an array of fruits and fingers food that look eerily similar to the food in the movies. The cake looks like Bag End. It’s Bilbo’s house at the top of three layers of cake made to look like Hobbiton.

“The only thing I forgot was the ring but-” I hug Elain tight.

“I can’t believe you!”

“Thank Feyre, too,” she says when we pull away. “She drew it all up for me.”

I look around and find her with Lucien, the two are holding hands. Elyse is on Cassian’s back, ordering him to bring her to the dessert table.

“Babe!” I shout and Lucien and Feyre both look my way. “Look at this!”

I wave him over and Lucien brings Feyre with him.

“Get over here,” I say to Feyre and pull her in for a hug. “This is amazing.”

“Well, your boyfriend was very specific in what he wanted for you,” she says to me.  I look at him and he seems flustered by the attention.

“Can I eat this?” I ask Elain as I show Lucien the lembas.

“I would hope you do,” Elain replies. “Just don’t eat the leaves.”

Lucien takes me to get a drink while I eat the lembas bread, not giving a shit that Mor and my mother are taking pictures. I offer some to Lucien who takes a bite just as we’re blinded by flash. Amren surprises me with a bottle of my favorite wine which I happily share with Lucien until he is whisked away by his mother.

Iliana waltzes over and I take her up in my arms as Kallias and Viviane catch up with Amren, Varian and Tarquin.

“Happy birthday, tio. I have a present for you.”

“Do you?”

“Mhm. But mommy said I can’t give it to you until after we have cake.”

“Shall we cut the cake now then?”

Iliana laughs at me.

“No. Wela said we have to eat dinner first.”

“But it’s my birthday.”

“Tell that to your mother then, tio. I don’t make the rules.”

I excuse myself from my friends and set my niece down. I muss up her hair before I go pester my mother. Once she sees me, she pulls me in for a hug before kissing both sides of my face.

“Mi vida,” she says and pinches my cheek. “You’re making me old.”

“Cassian made you old. I’ve never done anything wrong in my entire life.”

She snorts. “Paquetero.”

“So, Adela, what’s this about me not being allowed to have cake?”

“My name is mami to you. And don’t be ridiculous, estoy segura that you and Lucien haven’t eaten anything since breakfast. Mira que flaco esta. I can’t with the two of you.”

My father laughs and throws an arm around her shoulder.

“Adela, let them be.”

She tsks and pokes his side.

“Don’t start, Vinny.”

“Anyway,” I say and kiss my mother on the forehead, “I’m happy you’re here, mami. And you too, papi.”

I leave my mother smiling and my father teasing her for it.

I sit at a table with Lucien and Az as we eat our dinner and watch Cassian stumble over his words as he tells our parents that Feyre is his girlfriend and that he had no idea Mor was going to put them on blast before he said anything to them. I know my parents are just fucking with him, but it’s worth it. Our parents adore Feyre, and she’s a blushing mess at Cassian’s side while she comes to his rescue, singing praises of him for all he’s done and how happy he’s made her.

“Do you ever wonder about it?” Lucien asks me quietly and I look at him with a raised brow.

“Wonder about what?”

Lucien gives a nod towards Feyre.

“I used to,” I reply. I had loved Feyre enough to picture that future. But we were young and I was stupid and never took the risk. “But once I was with you… I could never look back. There is no future without you in it, Lucian.”

Lucien gives me a smile when I look at him again.

“Why do you ask?”

He shrugs. “No reason.”

I make to speak but Iliana skips over to our table and Az completely lights up. His smile is contagious.

“Daddy, will you dance with me?”

“Of course, princess.”

“Two songs, please. Then I’m going to play barbies with Titi Elyse.”

“As you wish,” Azriel says to her and she squeals with delight. She has made Lucien and I watch Princess Bride so many times, I can quote the damn movie on command.

“Want to dance?” Lucien asks me and I look back at him with surprise.

“With you? Always.”

*

“I really don’t want to cut this,” I sigh, and everyone laughs. They have sung me happy birthday twice; once in English, once in Spanish.

“It’s okay, I’ve taken plenty pictures of it,” Mor says with a wink.

“Oh, before I forget!” Elain blushes at the sudden attention on her. “There’s a ring in there. So… Be careful.”

“Why didn’t you say that! I would’ve torn into this thing sooner!” I take the knife from Elain and she laughs.

“You’re an idiot, Rhys.”

I cut the first piece and happily pull the chocolate and wafer door off the cake and bite into it. Both my mother and Aurelie tell Elain to go sit and they help one another cut the cake. I am disappointed there is no ring in my cake and Lucien laughs at me.

“You’re pouting,” he teases.

“I am not.”

“I’m certain you’ll enjoy your gifts more than a toy ring.”

“But it’s the One ring…”

Lucien leans over and kisses me. “Well, if it is any consolation, I did not find it either.”

He holds out his plate to me.

“You didn’t eat the little windows.”

“I saved them for you.”

“Lucien, Lucien… What are you up to?”

“Whatever do you mean?” he asks and kisses me again.

“I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.”

Lucien flashes me a mischievous grin. We hear someone shriek and before we can panic, we realize it’s just Feyre pulling the ring from her mouth and waving it at Cassian.

I am not surprised when my mother has Cassian and Azriel to drag me to the table covered in gifts. True to form, she and Elyse come and put a crown on my head and help into a ridiculous birthday sash. I open present after present, from video games to clothes to graphic novels. There is a nice pile of books going beside me and I realize I may need another shelf.

Iliana happily makes her way towards me and hands me a small box tied with silver ribbon.

“This is your surprise,” she says.  

“Thank you, Lia.”

I untie the ribbon and set it on the table. I raise a brow when I see the little black box inside and Iliana is failing at containing her laughter. I take the black box out and open it but it’s empty, though there’s clearly a space to hold a ring-

When I look up, I see Lucien standing there with an almost unreadable expression on his face. Everyone is standing around us, and our mothers are already in tears. I take off the crown and pull off the sash and set them down as Lucien takes a few steps towards me. He takes my hands and kisses them both before he looks at me again.

And without a word, Lucien gets down on one knee. He reaches into the pocket of his shirt and holds out a gold ring inlaid with black tourmaline. It’s perfect.

“Rhys… Will you marry me?”

I somehow remember how to breathe. How to speak.  

“Yes,” I reply and pull him up to stand. I kiss him, ignoring everyone else in the room. Lucien is blushing when we stop to breathe. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Lucien.”

He breathes out and smiles. Lucien slides the ring onto my finger and this time, he kisses me. Everyone around us is cheering and clapping, I’m pretty sure that it’s Cassian whose whistling. But when I look at Lucien, all of it fades away.

“I love you, Lucien,” I say, my voice nearly a whisper.

“I love you, too Rhys,” he says and kisses me once more. “Happy birthday.”

.

.

.

Rhycien is everything I need in life. Truly. 

I finally found names I felt okay about for Rhysand’s parents. And Elyse is the name I gave her in WTAS but I decided to have her not be dead/completely absent from this fic. If we’re going to be cheesy, we’re going to go all out. 

There are a few phrases in Spanish that I used here. 

Mi vida- means ‘my life’ and is a term of endearment 

Wela- grandmother is abuela in Spanish and that ‘bue’ part is where we get wela from, another way of saying grandma 

Paquetero- in Spanish, the word paquete means package but also means bullshit/a lie so his mother is calling him a liar here lol 

Mami and Papi is literally mom and dad

Estoy segura means I am certain 

Mira que flaco esta is what you hear every Latina mom say during holidays. LOOK HOW SKINNY HE’S GOTTEN. which is always an exaggeration, they just can’t not tell you to eat. idk why. 

If anyone forgot/is reading this before all the others- Rhys is a tattoo artist in this AU and also sews and all that like in canon. I am horrible because I still haven’t decided Lucien’s profession. 

[justallamaimaginingthings]

Trapped [Harry Strickland x Reader]

Requests: "Hiya! Can you write a steamy imagine with Captain Harry Strickland?" by anonymous and "I’m still shook from the last episode of GOT and slightly mad at the wasted potential of the gorgeous man known as Captain Harry Strickland. So can you write a steamy imagine where the reader and Harry see each other at King’s Landing and are instantly attracted to one another and have a short but passionate affair. It would make me feel better lol" by anonymous

A/n: He had so little screen time I wasn't sure how to deal with his character. I realy hope you like it and sorry for the delay, like I've said before, exams are being a huge pain in the ass. Also, I may write another one for the second request, depends on the response to this one.

Words: 1300  ||  GoT Masterlist 

Having lived in King's Landing long enough to see it fall under siege twice under the rule of two different kings, you had realized it was about time you learned to defend yourself and your youngest sister, Elyse. It took a lot of time but after years of practice and a whole lot of physical pain, you had reached a very satisfying level of swordsmanship, which came in handy during the Battle of King's Landing.

It wasn't that you were willing to fight for Cersei Lannister, on the contrary you despised the woman and everything she stood for. However, the moment that dragon attacked the city you instantly whose side you were on, people's. Grabbing your sword you rushed to the streets, trying to help any women and children make their way out of the burning city.

"Follow me, this way" you yelled in an attempt to be heard over the deafening screams of the battle. Leading the small group of people to an opening in the street, a piercing cry came from the next road "Stay here" you advised Elyse running off.

"Help, someone please" a woman screamed again right before a northern soldier pushed her into the ground, tearing half her dress off in the process. Without hesitating you sprinted towards the couple just in time to block the would-be fatal blow towards the woman. The man's eyes snapped at you when he realized your presence, while the woman took that chance to run off.

"Bitch" he growled before lunging at you. You managed to avoid his blow by ducking and used the opportunity to kick him in the chest, but he held his balance due to his much larger size. Swinging again he aimed for your head but this time you successfully blocked him. The fight carried on for a while and you would have won if three other men hadn't appeared. The moment you spotted them, your eyes widened in shock.

Managing to push your original attacked to the ground, you knocked him out right before the other three attacked. Seeing that you were outnumbered and overpowered by the soldiers, you knew the chances were not on your favor, but you refused to give up. Just when you managed to disarm one of them while fending off the second, the third had sneaked behind you, ready to deliver a mortal blow when a sword pierced through him.

Turning around, you took a moment your unexpected savior in the golden armor, signifying he was a member of the infamous Golden Company, queen Cersei had hired to defend the city. You were about to thank the man when the last northerner soldier went for another attack, causing you to avoid his hit before plunging your sword into his chest. The golden armored man gave you an impressed look seemingly taken aback by your technique.

"Watch out" you yelled upon noticing the ceiling starting to collapse from above him, as you pulled the man towards you. He avoided being hit by the fallen bricks, but your harsh movement resulted in the both of you losing your balance and ending up on the ground.

"Thank you" the man said, turning to look at you only to realize your faces were actually nothing more than mere inches apart. Instead of moving away, the man took that chance to actually observe you. Seeing a woman wield a sword in such confidence was extremely rare and the Captain wanted to know more about you. What really captured his attention, though, was the fierceness hidden in your eyes and the striking beauty of your intense features.

"I should be the one thanking you…" you trailed off wanting to know his name. In spite of not being willing to admit it, your breath slightly hitched the moment your eyes met his green ones. There was no denying the man in front of you, or to be exact the man on top of you, was attractive with his piercing emerald eyes and sharp cheek bones.

"Harry Strickland" he introduced himself before realizing the situation the two of you were in and quickly getting up. Extending his hand towards you, Harry gently helped you up.

"Y/n Waters" you replied. Without another word you moved past him in order to inspect the gravity of the damage done by the collapsed ceiling, even attempting to move some of the bricks without getting any result "Well, Ser Harry Strickland I guess we will have plenty of time to get to know each other since this wall will take a lot more than the two of us to be moved" you declared sighting in defeat. Standing there and waiting for the battle to be over so that you could be saved was the exact thing you were wishing to avoid.

"If it takes fighting a war for us to meet, it will have been worth it, my Lady" he responded smoothly taking you by surprise, a pleasant one to be precise. There you were, in the middle of the worst fight of your life and he wanted to flirt.

"I may be a lot of things, but a Lady is definitely not one of them" you explained while giving him a sideway smirk awaiting his response.

"But you surely possess the grace of one" he said mirroring the challenging smirk. You were about to reply when he took a step towards you, eyes focused on something "You are hurt" he said prompting your hand to lift up to your face, tracing the small cut that had formed right next to your lip.

"It's a mere scratch" you tried to brush it off. However, he used his gloved hand to gently caress the outline, wiping away any remaining blood. Slowly, his touch trailed down to your lips causing your heartbeat to speed up. Looking into his eyes, you found nothing but desire which only prompting a sight to leave your lips.

Taking another step backwards he pulled you with his, as your back hit the cold hard wall. Searching your look for any sign of hesitation, he found none. His hand ghosted over your lips once more resulting in a shiver rushing down your spine. Upon noticing him glance down on your lips, you decided to take matters into your own hands as you grabbed him by the collar and pulled him down on you, crashing your lips to his.

The kiss was rough as you both fought for dominance as you ended up giving in the moment his arms wrapped around your waist. Your hands made their way to his short hair, gently tugging at his dirty blond locks which caused him to groan in return. However, the smug smile that formed on your lips was short lived as his hands moved lower down to your hips

"Jump" he whispered into your lips and you couldn’t help following his order as he held you up while pushing you harder against the wall making the contrast between the stone cold material and his warm body even more prominent. Wrapping your legs around him, he started leaving a trail of burning kisses down your throat.

Maybe you were acting on impulse, but there was something capturing about that man you simply couldn't refuse. And you weren't willing to try to anyways…

A/n: There's a musical reference hidden in there, an internet cookie goes to all of you who spot it

[rosahope-a]

RELATIONSHIP WITH HELIOS

    Other than Hotaru, Helios is one of Chibiusa’s most important relationships in canon. While I consider myself largely a manga-based blog, I can’t discount the anime for all the development it brought to the bond between Helios and Chibiusa. While their bond is definitely present in the manga( i’ll touch on the bond specifically later ), I think it’s the anime that really shows the level of trust and friendship they share that illustrates the potential for a romantic relationship in the future.

     In the anime, Helios appears to Chibiusa in a dream as a white Pegasus. Just as she’s about to reach out for him, Usagi wakes her up and she chalks it up to her imagination. Later, Helios/Pegasus appears to help Sailor Moon and Chibimoon and finally reveals that he is looking for the Maiden with the beautiful dreams. He visits Chibiusa occasionally in her dreams after that, but the two didn’t really start talking until he felt he could trust her enough. He’s distant at first, understandably, but this doesn’t deter her from being curious about him and wishing to know more about who he is and where he comes from. There are several instances throughout the anime where she defends Helios and seeks his friendship. Most notably, in episode 135, which is the turning point in the beginnings of their real friendship.

      In the episode, during a battle with Monster of the Day™ Hebihanabiko, Helios/Pegasus is turned to stone and Chibiusa is dragged into a dreamlike state where Hebihanabiko attempts to manipulate her into controlling Pegasus ( I’ve paraphrased the following exchange due to length, but the meaning is still the same ):

Hebihanabiko: He’s a lovely horse. Very powerful. Don’t you want him to be yours? This isyour dream, after all. Here. ( A bridle and reins appear, which she tries to give to Chibiusa. ) Chibiusa: … Hebihanabiko: Go on, take the reins and he’ll be yours. Chibiusa: No! I don’t want to control Pegasus! He won’t trust me if I make him do things. I want to be… I want to be his friend!

      Chibiusa then kicks Hebihanabiko out of her dream and ultimately frees Helios/Pegasus. At the end of the episode, having proven herself trustworthy, he bestows Chibiusa with the Stallion Rêve, which allows her to communicate with him whenever she likes. This is where their late-night, often heartfelt conversations start and where their bond truly blossoms.

      There are a lot of conversations had from that point forward in which she often confides in Helios about things she wouldn’t normally tell the others, like Usagi or Mamoru. Helios sort of becomes a confidant for her— someone outside of family and friends she can talk to, whom can provide an objective view on the things she’s worried about. Helios is someone that takes her seriously and speaks to her without judgment. He doesn’t patronise her because she’s a child, but considers her worries and her fears and tries to help her with them, which is honestly– as far as I’m concerned– something she desperately needed. With Hotaru having been reborn and currently being raised as an infant by the Outer Senshi, she didn’t have anyone else to confide in. Helios provided that much needed interaction.

       Sadly, this whole dynamic, with the Stallion Rêve and the frequent conversations, doesn’t exist in the manga— which is why I think it’s a really important element to include in my portrayal when I consider their relationship with each other.

     Both the manga and the anime reveal Chibiusa as being the Maiden Helios has been searching for. In the anime it is because she possesses the Golden Mirror ( again, this is an element that doesn’t exist in the manga ). In the manga, it is revealed that Chibiusa’s older, future self, Princess Lady Serenity, came to him for help, setting him on the path to look for her in the past.  

  And at the end of the Dream Arc, we have that wonderful moment where Chibimoon finds Helios unconscious and wakes him with a kiss ( I love that it’s like a role reversal of Sleeping Beauty— which is fitting, all things considered ). This is actually their second kiss; the first having been when Helios mistook Usagi as the Maiden he was looking for, shattering Chibiusa’s hopes that she could be helpful to Helios in some way. After comforting her, he gives her a chaste peck on the lips and reveals his true, human form to her.

     Following the second kiss, however, she begins crying in relief that he’s alive and well and from her tears, her Pink Moon Crystal is born. Some other things happen and at the end of the arc, Helios departs for Elysion once more, with the two promising to meet again when Chibiusa has fulfilled her dream of becoming a “true, grown up lady”. As he leaves, Chibiusa makes a silent declaration to herself that Helios will be her Prince someday.

                          Here’s the thing, though: Helios and Chibiusa are not destined to be.

     WAIT A MINUTE, PUT YOUR PTICHFORKS DOWN AND LET ME EXPLAIN. What I mean is, their relationship is not and will not be like Usagi and Mamoru. Usagi and Mamoru are destined lovers. No matter what, Fate has decided these two MUST be together. In fact, the fate of the future depends on them being together. Without them there is no Crystal Tokyo. Without them there is no Chibiusa. Without a strong belief in their love for each other, a lot of their past villains probably wouldn’t have been defeated. This isn’t the case for Chibiusa and Helios. The fate of the universe doesn’t depend on them being in love and together. It is wholly Chibiusa’s choice that she wants Helios to be her prince when she grows up.

      Which isn’t to say that just because the fate of the universe doesn’t depend on their relationship, doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have their own slew of problems. Helios is the priest of Elysion and the guardian of people’s dreams on Earth. This is not a position he can simply leave. Likewise, Chibiusa can not simply give up her responsibility not only as a Senshi but as a princess. In a way, they’d sort of have the whole long-distance relationship thing going and it’d be difficult.

   Difficult, but not impossible. Which brings me to my next point. Helios and Chibiusa areconnected in some way. In the manga, Helios reveals that the reason Mamoru is so effected by the dark energy during the Dead Moon Circus’ rampage on the Earth is because his soul is connected to the Earth and to Elysion, and by association, Helios. This means that, on some level, Chibiusa and Helios would be bonded in the same way. For all that everyone seems to associate her with Usagi, people seem to also forget that she is just as much Mamoru’s daughter, too. It makes sense to me that Chibiusa would have some level of connection with Helios too, because she is Mamoru’s daughter. Their souls are bonded, and I like to think that means they can always sort of feel each other, even when they aren’t directly around each other.

      It also explains why out of the billions of girls he could have been drawn to when looking for the Maiden, he is immediately drawn to Chibiusa, whom, without even realising it, is the very Maiden he’s been searching for. Could it be coincidence? Sure. But it would be a hell of an ironic one.

      As a last note, a lovely Anon opened my eyes to a wonderful little parallel between Mamoru and Chibiusa. Both of them were led by their dreams to the person they love. Mamoru, being led by his dreams of Princess Serenity, and Chibiusa being led by literally Helios being in her dreams. It’s another little dynamic that I think wonderfully illustrates not only the bond between her and Helios, but also how she is more than just the daughter of Usagi/Neo Queen Serenity ( but that’s an entirely different discussion for another day ).

      In conclusion, Helios plays a HUGE role in Chibiusa’s growth as a person, as a soldier, and as the Lady she hopes to become one day. They have a wonderful connection full of possibilities waiting to be explored.

[chaniters]

The friend-zone.

This took me infinitely longer than usual to write. Mostly because Discord is so addictive. But I think the time paid off, re-reading it several times improved it so much. I generally fumble the middle of these stories in a rush to get to the sweet finales. So I guess I’m learning? I kind of feel somewhat more confident about  the end result. 

Enjoy!

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

THE FRIEND ZONE

You walk carefully through the large dark room, trying not to drop anything.

Hollow Ground, looms ahead of you, larger than life and ready for battle.

You keep walking towards him... until you find the right spot, sliding into your seat on the left row. You pass on the popcorn and sodas to Elyse and Anathema.

Now more relaxed, you lay back, taking your seat, as you watch rapid clips from many of the Ranger’s previous movies cycling through the screen until the Producer's logo comes out from a collage of them.

Anathema Is still watching some video about kittens in his phone, while Elyise still talks to her girlfriend, giggling in a way more befitting of a young teenager.

"Hey," you say  "It's about to start!"

"Oh.. right," Anathema says putting her's in airplane mode. Elyise finally hangs up and smiles to you.

And then, the movie starts...

------Some seventh art magic later--------

You walk out, feeling bit sick. Maybe you ate too much sweet popcorn... Why do they make the buckets so large?

"Well, I'll go first... I didn't like it much..." Anathema starts. "...it's just not a very good follow-up to the Eldritch movie"

"Well duh, Eldritch was... Eldritch. A great and interesting villain makes a better movie than an ensemble of random evil guys. Eldritch took all of us to defeat in the end, remember?”. And it could have killed us all, you say to yourself. We were lucky. 

"You think so?" Elsyise asks. "I kind of enjoyed it. Seeing all the different powers and abilities facing off against each other."

"I guess it's subject to debate" Anathema concedes.

They go ahead while discussing the movie. Your thoughts lie elsewhere.

You always watch movies like this along with Ortega and Themie... And now you've kind of replaced him with Elyise. You fucking miss him. 

She turns at you.

Oh shit.

You let your shields slip for a moment and she noticed you're thinking about her and Ortega.

She says nothing and goes back to talking to Anathema.

You walk him off to his bike and say goodbye as he sets off through the streets.

"So" Elyise finally asks.

"Sorry" you begin before she does. "I keep thinking about Ortega and that fight..."

"I'm intrigued. Steel had a point. Why didn't you join the Rangers already? You and Ortega are very close... Even after that fight"

"I... " you look at her. What lie can you possibly tell her? "I don't... trust the government enough to join them" you say at last. That's not really a lie.

Her eyes widen for a second at your honest response, and then she smiles.

"That's wise," She says with a bitter smile. "No telepath ever should trust them," she says walking onwards.

"W...why?" You ask, your shields raised into impenetrable barriers.

"You're too young to know about it... Back in the day when the first of us... telepaths ... gained our powers... there was a big scare in the media. They demonized us. Some of us had gone public... and suffered for it. The government just rounded us up. And took us to camps and labs... there were... experiments."

Fuck. You know all too well about it.

"That's terrible!" you say "What... happened then?"

"I was lucky. My parents had money... they sued big time. They had to release me in the end, but most who take the hero drugs are desperate, and they had no one outside. There was never any record of them being taken either." She looks much older, tired and sad as she speaks about this. "You know... I still look for some of them... In social media. I haven't been able to find a single one yet." Her eyes are bit tearful."

"It's.. over," you say "They can't hurt you now" You are not very good with words... but you have other means. You can't help it. Your shields open and you brush your mind against her... offering her some comforting thoughts.

You used to do this... when they weren't looking.  And so did your brothers and sisters. It's how you survived.

She gasps as she realizes what you're doing. Blocking and negating her fears and terrors... "THat's... that...." She takes your wrist  "I don't know how you can do those things. I thought I was a strong telepath... I've had these powers  for 20 years and I can't manage something like that"

"It's not so hard..." you smile. "Just... follow my lead" It's tricky teaching her these things. But you're good enough to play the game and hide your cards at the same time.

Her mind observes as you do it a few times... brushing thoughts against people around you. Leaving them with a sense of peace and stupid nonsensical smiles. Sometimes you wish you could do that to yourself...

And then... she attempts it herself. Slowly at first... until she manages to reach the superficial layers of a woman passing by, causing her to smile briefly.

"What the... I did it!" she is overjoyed.

"Told you it wasn't hard!"

"What? That was the hardest thing I've ever done!"

She’s not wrong... without someone showing you how to do it beforehand, you’d probably fry people’s brains and hurt yourself in the process if you tried. 

You roll your eyes. "I think Jupiter would beg to differ."

"Telepathy is the hard part you smartass."

"Hey, I can't toss motorboats at enemies!"

"Sure can... you just ask me!"

A couple passes looking at you and laughs.

“Oh fuck. More people thinking I’m your cougar mamma... Let’s go already” 

You just chuckle. She jokes about it, but she’s quite self-conscious. Oh well... you're not one to judge her. 

Your phone rings, startling you. Anathema made you buy it some time ago, but you almost never use it.

You fidget with it, trying to turn it on

It's Ortega.

You let it ring a few more times, while your mind decides what to do. Elyise stands patiently.

"Hello there" you say in the end

"Hey Cyrus" his voice sounds a bit hesitant. "I was wondering... can I meet you somewhere?"

You doubt for a moment.

Fuck.

"ah... sorry... If you're busy then maybe..." He starts again.

You take a deep breath.

"No. I'm not busy. It's ok. Let's meet"

You agree to meet in a bar, not far from where you're standing. Just a few blocks.

"Ooohh... you are meeting him tonight?" Elyise is guessing who he is... but it's not that hard to guess. She knows how hard it is to get your number.

"Yes... we are meeting. Not far from here actually"

"Well, what are you waiting for? I'll walk you there!" she grins. "I was wondering when were you two going to make peace."

You sigh. "Yeah... we are friends... it's about time we make out" She just snorts walking ahead as you realize what you just said.

"Make up! Make up i mean! We're not going to make out!" you try to correct but it's no use

"Of course!" she says laughing as you reach your destination. She turns to you, and gives you a strong patt on  both of your shoulders "You go in there tiger... and you make out with that man, you hear me?"

"I didn't..." you start

And she turns dramatically looking at you over her shoulder

"French-style" is the last thing she says as she walks away laughing towards her own ride.

You smile. She knows how to make you laugh.

THere's no loud music inside, and several pool tables. It's decent and has some good food.

He shows up a moment later.

"Hey," you say a bit awkwardly.

"Hey, you" he answers. You stand apart... 

"About the other day..." he starts. He’s also feeling the awkwardness, grabbing his elbow across his body tightly with his right hand.  

"Yeah... that was... bad..." you say looking down

"I mean... I'm so..."

"No... I am." You say it first. Let’s make this painless

"Hey, that was my line!"

"Yeah... but... I'm not happy about that argument...either"

"Well... I'm sorry too. We shouldn't have let you out of the loop, you were part of the mission too. Sometimes Steel gets too muddled up in the rules."

"I know... but still I  shouldn't have asked you to go against him. You're the Marshall"

"So... we forget about it?" He asks extending his hand

"Yes. Forgotten already, Ricardo" you shake hands, and he draws you into a hug.

"Darn. Should have called you sooner. We could have seen the movie together"

"It sucked. And I should have called you first"

"It's in the past. Let's go in!" he says, his bright smile flashing again. You avoid it like the plague. 

You talk. You play pool. You have some drinks. You're being careful not to activate any of his or your triggers, and thus he doesn't make another move on you this time. He's just grateful you're hanging out again. And you are as well.

Now if you can just manage to maintain this chemistry... he'll hook up with someone else soon enough and you'll be in the clear. It's all about knowing how to keep the balance.

A few hours later, you are leaving together. He had a few more drinks than he should, so you agree to drive him home. You can take a bus there.

"Put on your seatbelt, safety first," you say as you adjust the mirrors. "We should invite you to one of that safety on the road campaigns they make us do" he chuckles “You’d look swell in the posters!” "Well, if it pays, I'll do it," you say. "But the mask stays on" "Not sure if they can send you a check if they don't know your true name" "So we're not doing that then" you grin. "I have to tell you... you're the most paranoid, neurotic, unreasonably suspicious person I know..." "Oh, I just know what's best for me" you smile as you take a turn. 

Odd... your mind feels there are several bugs around. Did some insects get inside the car? You feel them flying towards you. You look around but don't see them. 

He bumps your arm lightly "You sir, are a loon. But you're my kind of loon!" "You're a crazy maniac yourself" you chuckle. You are happy. Success. You're plot worked, and you’re back in the friend zone. You just need to remember to never overstep the boundary again. Ricardo’s your best friend, after all you’d be lost without him.

You can't help it... you swat at the air around you.

"Is there a bee in the car?" you ask out of the blue. He looks around, a bit bewildered. If there is, Drunk Ortega won't be able to see it. "I don't think so?" he says in the end.

You stop at a traffic light. This is getting weird. You focus your thoughts, looking for the bee. Bees. Eight bees. All focused on you. And then you realize... they aren't inside your car. You look at the car next to you.

"Ortega.. what the fuck is that?" you look in disbelief.

The driver on the car next to you wears a trenchcoat and a hat... and its eyes glow burning yellow. IT's face isn't human... but robotic.

He turns. "Wha...” he takes a brief look before almost jumping in his seat “START THE ENGINE RIGHT NOW!" Ortega utters you.

"But the traffic light is...."

"Forget about the stupid traffic light! Get us out of here!"

You start the car, accelerating as fast as you can.

And then you hear the shots. The things in the car behind you are shooting.

"Just keep going, this car is bulletproof!" You take a turn, trying to avoid them.

"What are those things?"

"It's HIVE" he says as if that explained it all. "I mean they are HIVE."

"Wait... are those the bees?"

"Yes. HIVE always attacks in numbers! Keep going!"

You ignore the following two traffic lights. Another car joins the one already pursuing you, shooting energy weapons and bullets at Ortega's car.

You keep trying to outrun them...

And you don't notice the car coming from your left and right. They drive forward, ahead of you, trying to force you to slow down.

"They are going to catch us!"

"Not if I can... help it!" Ortega opens his window and you notice a discharge from him. The driver on your left explodes in a rain of sparks, overcharged, and its car goes out of control, crashing into a small flower shop. You take the chance to turn left now that it's not blocking you.

"What the fuck are they? I only sense bees inside them!"

"Rogue robot network, controlled by Bee's brains! It's my Nemesis!"

"What?! How come I’ve never fucking ever heard of it??!"

"It's a secret government project... and it was destroyed! Hood And I defeated Hive back in the day!"

"It seems pretty Healthy to me!"

And then you sense it... bees... so many bee brains.

"Fuck they have us surrounded! they're coming from all sides!"

"Can you evade them?"

"I'll try,” You say with little confidence. Fuck. Ortega is the better drive... if only he hadn’t had so many drinks...

More cars full of robots come into view.

You try to get in between them... but they turn at the last moment causing a crash. The airbags burst in your face, leaving you winded.

Something tears down the door on your side and a robotic arm struggle to pull you off, but the seatbelt gets in the way. You shoot at it with your energy gun, sending it into the ground. Another one inmediately takes it’s place, pulling the gun from your hand. It then unbuckles the belt and pulls you down onto the pavement, face-first.

You stand up with difficulty. They approach with their glowing yellow eyes. All of them wearing the creepy trenchcoats and hats, disguising their metallic bodies. You see Ortega fighting them off, he's good enough to do it even while drunk. And his electrical arcs are good excellent weapons against them. Several are already broken on the floor.

One of them charges.. and you try to block his fist, but the kick to your gut takes you unprepared, sending you down on your back.

You have no idea how to predict a or read a bee's brain.  You try to stand up again, but another one sends a metallic fist to your face that makes you see dotted colors.

Two of them take you by your arms and drag you away, your arms and legs refusing to cooperate.

"Cyrus! I'm coming to you, Cyrus! Hang on!!" you hear Ortega's voice in the distance, as the robots toss you at the back of a ban and start the engine.

Someone runs a hand through your face... what...? You look at them and immediately regret it.

"Oh hello, again you sweet sweet funny man!" The CandyMaster greets you. "We're going to play so many games together. It will be so much fun!!"

What. The. Fuck.

You open your mouth to scream.

His hand covers it before any coherent sound can come out of it.

"HHMMHGGFFRHFFHG!!" You scream for someone to help you. Anyone. This one gives you the fucking creeps.

He widens his gaze as he activates his power. You feel the crystal candy expanding inside your mouth. Sealing it shut. You can’t even spit it out. 

One of the HIVE robots takes hold of your hands and locks them with handcuffs.

"Now now, don't be rude! Eat your candy or there will be a ...punishment!" he chuckles giving you a smile with his shining white teeth that is just the stuff of nightmares.

The overwhelming sweetness in your mouth wants to make you throw up. But you can’t even do that. 

You try to enter his mind... but It’s so warped...  It will take a while to get to know how it works. 

The ban drives off through the dark streets of Los Diablos' suburbs.

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

My fanfiction: https://chaniters.tumblr.com/post/181692759294/my-fanfiction-for-fallen-hero

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and the setting of the Fallen Hero: Rebirth and upcoming Fallen Hero: Retribution games written by Malin Riden. I do not claim ownership of any characters from the Fallen Hero wold. These stories are a work of my imagination, and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. These works are intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by the author. I am not profiting financially from the creation of these stories, and thank the author for her wonderful game/s, without which these works would not exist.

[shiphaussecretsanta]

Inside Job

gift from @kovntag to @funheist

ship: killems

message: hey nik i kinda went… a little overboard with it (like 3,000 words overboard) but u deserve it + more! i hope you like it ily

Adam can’t really be upset about the whole thing, because the gist of this is going to dinner in a swanky, five star, food-is-too-small-for-the-plate restaurant. That’s the plan at its most basic.

Now, if you wanted to get into specifics, the plan is more complex than that. See, Fakehaus had gotten word that a new, budding crew was encroaching on their space, getting too friendly with crew borders. From word of mouth, the crew was small compared to Fakehaus, four people, maybe. Lawrence had dug up some dirt on them and found that they’d been cobbled together from a now-defunct crew made up of a mostly white collar crime syndicate which had gotten busted not even a year ago. The new crew had risen quickly, gotten a name for themselves by selling their skills in torture to the highest bidder. Then they’d branched out to drugs, hits, anything Fakehaus did.

The plan is James’: get in, bug the place, maybe figure out what the crew wants, and get out.

Adam shifts gears in his bright orange Lamborghini, James buttoning the cuff of his suit beside him. They’re both wearing them, James with a black suit Bruce picked out for him with a blue shirt Matt chose, while Elyse and Lawrence had dressed Adam in his grey suit and black shirt combo, a tie thrown in and everything. His tie is now in the backseat where he’s decided that he doesn’t want to get food or blood on it (if it even comes down to it; in this business, he’s never sure where the night is going to take him).

As they pull up to the restaurant, Adam glances at James, who smiles at him like he knows exactly how the night is going to go.

Adam steps out of the car, walks around to meet James while the valet takes their car. James is still smiling as they stand next to each other in front of the restaurant, and Adam feels a sort of restlessness crawl up his spine.

“Ready?” James asks, almost quiet. Adam feels James’ hand brush past his, in reassurance or tenderness or both.

All Adam does is nod. As they walk up to the restaurant, Adam takes in the small part of the dim room he can see through the glass door. It’s a swanky place alright, but the pictures online didn’t do it justice. The glass doorway is the only window in the place, while the rest of the restaurant seems to reside in a concrete box. The name of the restaurant is scrawled on the side reads Argent in an overly complicated script.

From what little Adam can see, the place is almost packed, so finding their targets is going to prove harder than they anticipated. He just hopes these guys are as big of showboats as Lawrence told them they were going to be.

Before they get to the door, James jogs a little ahead and pulls it open for Adam, an action which makes Adam scoff and roll his eyes before he walks through the open door, James following behind soon after.

“I can open doors, y’know.”

Adam can feel James’ presence behind him as he scoffs, almost mocking, in answer. “Never said you couldn’t, but I am still a gentleman.” He leans in to Adam’s ear. “Sting operation date or not.”

Before Adam can comment on his closeness or even cherish it, James is pulling away and Adam holds back the noise that almost escapes him. The thing is, James and Adam both agreed a few months back that dating wouldn’t be in the crew’s best interest. Relationships complicate things, yeah? So what if they kissed once? They still had an unspoken game of dating chicken. It wasn’t an intentional one, just… Adam told James he didn’t want to complicate their relationship and James respected that. But by now, Adam has acknowledged to himself only that he’s very wrong about that fact. He would date James in a heartbeat. But James is still giving him space, even though Adam is almost sure James knows that Adam wants to go out with him. It’s sweet in one way, annoying in the other, especially with what this night entails.

James pulls away from Adam’s back as if nothing has happened and walks up to the hostess with a smile on his face. He gives the cover name for their reservation and the hostess smiles and proclaims their table is ready, picking up menus before she leads them over to it.

In their walk there, Adam gives the inside a bit of a once-over. Some canned piano music plays while people talk quietly amongst themselves over the small tea candles laid on the tables. Most are pairs with the odd threes or fours but in the corner, between the bar and a wall, a group of six people sits together, all splayed over what looks to be a black and white couch. They’re laughing at something while a blonde man reaches over the table and pours champagne into another man’s cup, this one with long hair in a bun, overflowing it on purpose and watching as the man displays fond irritation.

As they get seated, Adam takes the seat facing the party. The other crew. They really were not hard to find at all. Their mannerisms scream Hey! This place is a front for our illegal business and we’re cocky enough not to hide it!

The hostess asks for any drinks to start them off and James doesn’t even open the menu as he says, “Krug Grande Cuvée, if you have any.”

“Good choice,” the hostess says, smiling at them before promising their waiter will be with them shortly. James almost beams with pride as she leaves, and Adam’s eyes drift from James to the people in the corner again.

James leans his elbows on the table, lays his chin in his hands, as if fawning over Adam. “So?” He asks, blinking at him slowly.

“There’s six of them,” Adam murmurs.

“No,” James pouts briefly. “I meant, what did you think of my champagne knowledge?”

“Oh, that was champagne?”

James sighs, exasperated. “I wouldn’t have asked you out if I knew you didn’t appreciate the finer things in life.”

Adam lets his eyes shift back to James. He lifts an eyebrow and says, “You didn’t ask me out, though.”

“It was my plan.”

“And then Bruce asked me out for you.”

“Yeah but who told Bruce?” James taps the side of his head with his finger. “You gotta look at the bigger picture, Adam.”

“Which is what? You were afraid to ask me out on a fake date?”

James shakes his head. “No! Papa Bruce just helped me by suggesting you come with me.”

“Ah. Still unsure what the bigger picture is.”

Adam watches as James leans back in his chair and unbuttons his suit jacket. His eyes are soft as he says, “I’unno yet. Guess we’ll figure it out together.”

The weight James’ words carry make Adam nervous, or maybe Adam is reading too much into them. Either way, he clears his throat and jokes, “Hope you know I’ll be rating this fake date at the end of it.”

“Ooo,” James straightens up in his chair. “Better make a good impression then.”

Adam thinks he’s joking but James reaches a hand out, lays it on the table, palm upturned, as if asking for Adam’s hand. Adam hesitates to lift his hand to meet it but he thinks twice, says to himself, It’s a job. This time, it’s just a job. Not the real thing, not… yet. He lays his hand on top of James’, fingers hesitant as James turns his hand, links their fingers together, smiles at Adam warmly. God, he hopes James doesn’t think this is just a job, because this is going to affect Adam one way or another. But, for now, and because Adam prides himself on being a professional, he does not dwell on how good James’ eyes look in conjunction with his shirt.

As Adam dwells on not dwelling on James’ eyes, their waiter walks up, champagne bottle in hand. He greets them and shows the bottle to James, who gives the label a once over while his thumb absently traces circles on Adam’s hand. James nods in approval and the waiter pours the drinks, Adam letting his eyes drift back over to the group in the corner. As he watches, he thinks of their half-baked plan. When Lawrence pulled up what little pictures they had of the crew, none of them recognized them, so it was a safe bet to go undercover with minimal cover. Bruce still insisted on parking the rest of the crew in a van in the alley around the corner, much to James’ complaining. So they were covered, in theory. Adam still had to call Bruce if anything happened. Which nothing would, because as he watches the other crew out of the corner of his eye, he definitely does not recognize any of them, which is weird. The crew is new but the money is not, apparently. They have this place, which doesn’t seem like it came cheap at all. But it’s their hub for anything, and so, here Fakehaus is.

They’re flashy, Lawrence was right about that. They have gold on their necks and logos shining on their clothes. Adam lets his eyes drift to the corner of their table and is almost startled when he catches a bearded man staring back at him, eyes discerning, a worn backwards ball cap on his head clashing with his expensive-looking suit. Before Adam can break off eye contact, the man looks away, showing no emotion on his face as he does. The man looks back to his group as Adam goes back to looking at James.

With a shock, he realizes their hands are still clasped between them. He makes a conscious effort to take his hand away and to play it off as casual, his hand going for his glass of champagne. James doesn’t say anything about it, but rather, grabs his own glass and holds it out for a toast. After they’ve clinked, James looks at Adam over the rim of his glass, his eyes holding some sort of feeling in them. A feeling that Adam isn’t sure is genuine yet. God, Adam is going to make it through tonight if it kills him.

—

The food turns out to be good. Really good. Adam is sad that the portions are so small and a little angry that this crew’s place is actually turning out some quality and legitimate shit. Why are these guys in the crime business if the restaurant business is going so well for them? Beats the fuck out of Adam, but he isn’t about to start questioning motives.

Halfway through their second course, some steak for Adam and fish for James, James holds out his fork for Adam to taste some again, like he had for their appetizer round. And Adam can’t find it in himself to roll his eyes again so he just leans in and lets James feed him, biting into the fish and potatoes. It’s extremely good. Adam avoids moaning.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees movement at the crew’s table. With his eyes fixed on James, Adam tracks the man who gets up, watching through his periphery as he walks across the salon and heads down the hallway to the bathroom. Adam swallows his bite and wipes his mouth with his napkin, says, “Bathroom,” hopes James understands his unspoken message.

The hallway is substantially quieter than the salon. He hears the sound of it die down behind him as he scans the hallway and its closed doors, the dim lighting not helping him in this case. He thinks he hears a man’s voice coming from the last door, a suspicion that’s confirmed when the man with the baseball cap comes out of it, turning out the light before he closes the door without locking it. The man is on the phone, distracted it seems, and Adam takes it as an opportunity. He slips a hand into his pants pocket and feels for the bug that Lawrence made for them. Adam watches as the man walks down the hallway, not even sparing a glance at Adam as he passes, murmuring heatedly about “No, it has to be tomorrow, at the warehouse,” while Adam makes his move, hoping and praying that the man doesn’t notice as Adam slips the bug into his blazer pocket.

Adam doesn’t stick around to see if he made him or not. He just slips into the bathroom and breathes a sigh of relief when he sees it’s empty.

Before he can lock himself in a stall, his phone rings, startling him, just a little. The caller ID says Bruce and he sighs, hates that he has to do this but the guy could still be here, be outside the door. Adam still isn’t in the clear. So he answers his phone and says, “Uh… hey, dad.”

He can’t tell if Bruce is amused by the prospect of being called dad or not. All Bruce asks is, “Are they there?”

“Yeah.” Adam replies, remembering what little coded speak Fakehaus has. “Sixth of June, I think?”

“Six at a table?” Bruce repeats back to him, understanding. “Do any of them suspect you?”

“I don’t think so, dad. And I don’t know if I can visit yet.”

“Okay, eyes everywhere, but you’re okay. Listen, Lawrence mapped the place out and Elyse can get in and bug the manager’s office. You need to make a distraction.”

Adam furrows his brow. “Is mom going to like that?”

“Elyse’ll be quick, in and out. She needs five minutes, tops.”

“Yeah, I’m doing it. Pretty soon, too. We’re about to have dessert.”

“Suit pocket, you should have a ring in it.”

Wait, what? Adam resists the urge to touch his breast pocket. A what?

Because Adam doesn’t say anything, Bruce sounds persuasive as he bargains, “It’ll buy us some time, Adam.”

Adam flits through annoyance, exasperation, tiredness, before accepting his fate. “Thanks for mom’s ring, dad. I’m just nervous to do it in front of so many people.”

“You’ll be fine,” Bruce sounds like he’s smiling. “Do it at exactly 10 o’clock, regardless of if you’re eating dessert or not.”

“Okay dad. I love you. Text you when it’s done.”

Bruce’s answering goodbye is sickly sweet, saying, “Bye, sweetheart.”

He hangs up and realizes, he hates Bruce, just a little. He stares at his phone while it flashes 9:50 pm up to him and he realizes he hates Bruce a lot.

Pocketing his phone, Adam heaves a sigh. God, he feels nervous. More nervous than he should. Now, he feels into his suit pocket and locates the ring, which is a simple, silver band. Jesus, he’s really gotta do this, huh?

As he walks out of the bathroom, he thinks about proposals. He doesn’t think the time he proposed to Bruce as a way of scamming the government for money as an actual marriage proposal, mostly because they were drunk and young. So, basically, he’s gotta wing this thing. Fuck, okay.

Before he gets to their table, he locates their waiter and pulls him aside to say, “Hey, I’m about to propose to my… partner. Can you turn the music down or something?”

The look of enthusiasm their waiter gives makes Adam even more nervous, if that’s even possible. The waiter scurries off to the back of the restaurant and Adam braces himself. He checks his phone. 9:53. Okay. He can do this.

Adam walks back to the table, noticing that James has already finished with his food. Adam’s food sits almost untouched but he can’t even think about eating now. God, why is he so nervous? It’s just something that’s necessary to the job! It won’t be real.

He sits down stiffly. James gives him a concerned look which Adam shakes his head at. He positions his phone beside him. 9:55.

The music over the speakers dies down and the chatter around them dies down a bit with it. Adam shakes himself.

James leans in and lowers his voice as he asks, “Is the cat okay?” Were you made? in coded.

“Cat’s fine. It’s about something else.” 9:57.

Their waiter picks up their plates and asks about dessert. Adam shakes his head at the same time James nods and the waiter looks between them. Adam clarifies, “After.” The waiter nods knowingly while James looks so confused.

When the waiter leaves, James leans in again, eyes even more concerned. Asks, “Are you okay?”

Adam nods again. 9:59. He gets up abruptly and James looks at him like he’s seriously considering calling in Bruce to help with whatever is happening right now.

Adam clears his throat and says, loud enough that the people around him will hear, “Honey, I….” He gulps and finds his knees stiff and he gets down on one knee beside their table. James’ face morphs from concern to surprise.

“Honey.” Adam says again, speaking loudly so that he’s sure he has people’s attention. The restaurant is mildly quieter, so he thinks it’s working. He continues, “It’s been four years since we met,” Adam remembers it clearly, smiles to himself. “Unexpectedly, you came into my life. But, definitely for the better. It’s been such a joy to watch you grow so much. We both have grown, you and I, partners in crime.” At that, Adam watches as James suppresses a laugh. “And now, I want to continue to grow with you. For a while if you’ll have me. So, I ask,” He holds out the ring. “Will you marry me?”

James’ eyes are shining when Adam finishes. The salon is incredibly quiet, save for the quiet clattering of plates.

James sounds so fond when he says, “Of course I will, baby.”

Adam lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He slips the ring onto the hand James offers and stands as James stands, finding himself enveloped in a hug by him. He laughs a little breathlessly, hearing the people around them give them some applause. God, who knew fake proposing to your crush would be so hard?

When they settle back into their chairs, the people in the tables next to them share congratulations. Adam feels happy, in that moment. James looks at him like he hasn’t ever seen a better person than Adam. Adam glances back to the corner where the other crew sits, looking at them while they talk amongst themselves. They’re smiling, and even the man with beard raises a glass up at them. Adam smiles, keeping up his cover and hoping he really hasn’t been made, when their waiter comes back dutifully and offers them dessert. James orders one dessert for them and asks for two spoons. Adam smiles at the prospect.

When their dessert comes, James picks up a spoon and leans in, asks in a hushed voice. “Bruce told you to do that?”

Adam nods, picking up a spoon and speaking as quiet as he can as he says, “Distraction for Elyse.”

James hums and digs into their cake. They both have a bite before James speaks again, his voice soft as he asks, “Did you mean that speech?”

Adam shrugs. He pokes at the cake, feeling like he shouldn’t say anything but opening his mouth anyway, “Yes. Maybe not the marriage part yet.”

James’ smile is sly as he brings a piece of cake up to his mouth. “Yet?”

“It’s our first date. Think it’s a little early to talk about so much commitment.”

“Oop. Don’t wanna scare the baby!”

Adam kicks him softly under the table. Finds his foot stays tangled between James’ after he’s done.

—

The restaurant gives them a discount on their dessert but the bill is still very high.

When they leave, they tip the valet guy and drive around the block, taking a convoluted route to get back to the stakeout van where they’re supposed to meet. Adam leaves the car a street over and they walk to the van, waving to Matt who sits in the driver’s seat.

Bruce opens the door in the back after James knocks and asks, “How’d it go?”

“Great,” James says as he climbs into the van. “Got a ring I can pawn off now.” He flashes his hand to James and Elyse who nod appreciatively while Adam gives Bruce his best (fake) annoyed look. Bruce just rolls his eyes at him and helps him in the van, closes the door.

They settle in as Bruce asks, “Was the whole crew there?”

Adam shrugs, “I think so. They were partying it up big time. Two women and four men, but there could be more. The place was packed, Bruce. You wouldn’t think it’s a cover.”

James chimes in with, “Maybe it wasn’t. The food was so good, I—”

That’s when Lawrence cuts in, his voice nervous as he pulls off his headphones. “Guys? You might want to hear this.”

He unplugs the headphones and turns up the volume on the laptop.

“—haus?” A voice floods the van. “Fakehaus, hello? Are you there?” Adam’s eyes widen when he realizes he recognizes the voice. He heard it earlier, in the hallway, when he dropped the bug in the man’s pocket and the man walked past, speaking— “Hope you are, because if you aren’t that’d be unfortunate. Anyway, don’t know what your play was but your burglar left our window unlocked and your bug guy looked nervous. Was that proposal real, by the way? Looked real. If it wasn’t, it was convincing as hell. Hey, maybe you just came here to our restaurant in our turf to propose to each other. Some sort of weird power move. But, whatever. Just, if you want to talk, we’ll be here. Come visit us, it’ll be fun. Hope something is recording this because that’d be a waste. Okay, goodnight!” The bug sounds like it’s dropped or mishandled before it goes dead.

Adam stares at Lawrence’s equipment in abject horror.

“Well.” James says. “Cat’s out.”

Bruce stifles a laugh.

“Wait,” Lawrence says, “Picking something up on the bug Elyse left.” He taps a few keys on his laptop and fiddles with the equipment before another voice comes through the speakers, a different man speaking, saying, “Fake Chop crew, out!” The bug goes dead, too.

Adam leans against the wall of the van while James scrubs a hand down his face. Bruce shakes his head. “Jeez.”

“What just happened?” Elyse asks.

James replies, “I think we just got played.”

Now, Bruce actually laughs. “Elyse, go tell Matt we gotta go. You two,” he motions to Adam and James. “Work out your prenup later.”

Adam glares at him just a little as Elyse climbs out of the back. As Matt turns on the van and starts driving, James shuffles over to sit in front of Adam. Adam notes how Bruce leaves Adam’s side and settles into the other side of the van.

James asks, “Prenup?”

Adam shakes his head. “I’ll just take the ring back.”

“Ouch,” James says but takes off the ring anyway, plays with it in his hands. Says, “Instead of a prenup, how about a second date?”

Adam pretends not to notice Bruce and Lawrence staring at them. He replies, “One condition. We don’t go back to that place.”

James huffs a laugh. “That’s a hard yes.”

Smiling, Adam says, “Then it’s a hard yes.”

“Stop talking about being hard!” Lawrence cuts in while Bruce laughs. James throws him the ring to shut him up but it just makes the laughter peak.

God, his crew is made up of assholes. Adam just makes a mental note to ask Bruce about the totally unplanned ring in his suit jacket later. He has an inkling of whose idea it was and the answer probably rhymes with everybody in the fucking crew.

[lackyducks]

a fainting spell

ship: grubin (bruce/joel)

summary:  joel faints and bruce realises he may not be as straight as he seems

AO3

Bruce hurries off stage, letting the fake anger fall from his body almost the moment he knows he’s hidden from the view of the ‘audience’ (it's only a rehearsal. There are tech and sound out there, some of the front of house guys and their director. It’s not quite what Bruce considers an audience, but when people have forgotten lines three times already, he’s glad of it.) Lawrence is talking almost silently, pausing only to give Bruce a thumbs up as he walks past. Something had fallen out of somewhere and Bruce guesses Lawrence is trying to work out what it is and when it’s fixable.

Joel is settled in the darkness of the wing, sat cross-legged on the spare chair. He's leaning forward, squinting his face as he concentrates on Adam and Elyse still on-stage, and the sound of their passionate argument. Bruce takes a quick glance at the script Lawrence has opened on the table, then decides to hover by Joel so he can steal the chair when he gets up.

Joel looks. Stunning. Is it gay to consider a guy this stunning? The dim lights catch his face, highlighting the green in his eyes. His front curl has already fallen back in front of his forehead, from his insistent playing with it. The director has tried to get him to stop, and failed each time. Bruce thinks it fits Joel- the character he's playing (of course) - far better.

Adam says a line and Joel perks up, Lawrence glancing their way at the cue. Bruce steps to the side and Joel stands, pushing himself up with a perk in his step and reaching for his prop. Then, it seems he blinks, and then suddenly he's falling.

“Joel?!” Bruce shoots forward, barely able to grab the lanky body before it hits the ground. He goes down with him, his knees hitting the floor with Joel laid out over them, his head tucked into his chest. Joel's eyes are shut, mouth open slightly as he breathes and thank fuck, he's breathing. He looks almost serene, the asshole. Bruce manages to drag his stare away, looks up and meets Lawrence’s.

Lawrence is still sat in place, mouth hanging slightly open like one of their broken props. Bruce isn't even sure he's blinking. The scene is still continuing on stage, Joel was just meant to be doing a simple walk on, walk off. Maybe they haven't noticed? Bruce looks at the light shining into the wings, then back at Lawrence, giving a hopeless gesture that looks fairly pathetic considering there's a fully grown man in his arms. Lawrence finally moves, tugging on the wire from his headset. He places a finger under Joel’s neck, shutting his eyes and focusing.

“Does anybody know first aid? Joel just fainted.” Lawrence sounds a lot less stressed than he looks, the magic of theatre. James has appeared from the dressing rooms, looking just as hopeless as the rest of them. He shrugs, panicked, and rushes off back to hopefully get help. It's a blessing, that by the time the director - Burnie - gets there followed shortly by Spoole and not Matt (there's a lighting cue coming up and they still haven't stopped the performance) , Joel is just blinking awake, groaning into Bruce's chest. Bruce hates to admit how much he jumps, and goes completely still to not bother him.

“Hey, Joel, you with us?” Burnie asks, softly.

There's a small moan, a blink, “Yeah, I think so? Shit, what happened?”

“You fainted at your cue. You stood up, and then you passed out.” Lawrence's voice doesn't hide the stress in it now. He's moved the headset to around his neck, more out of the way. It's at this point that Joel looks up, makes eye contact with Bruce, and Bruce can feel his face heat up and oh shit this is embarrassing fuck-

“Did I seriously?” Joel says, completely unaffected by whatever the fuck that was and how dare he? It's at this point Bones appears, cradling a bottle of water that he passes to Joel.

“James told me what happened. It's on the house.” He winks as he leaves. Joel just holds it to his side, makes no move to get up off Bruce.

“Are you going to be alright to continue tonight?” Burnie asks, ever to business, of course.

Joel nods, “Should be, I think I might need to eat something, though.” Lawrence gives him a look.

“Again, Joel? Really?” He sounds so done with this all and Bruce feels him. This show has been a hell of a journey so far. He knows he's partially to blame, too.

“I'll tell them to stop the scene, do ten minutes sound okay to you?” Burnie asks. Joel nods and then Burnie’s off, Spoole following behind him like a jittery puppy. Lawrence gets up too, taking his headset off and rushing off behind them. Which leaves Bruce. With Joel. Still in his lap. Why does this kind of shit happen to him, what did he do to deserve this, what the fuck?

“So, how are you?” Joel looks up at Bruce again and Bruce scowls at him. Finally shoves him to sit upright. Then, Joel wobbles, and Bruce immediately ends up offering his shoulder to him because he's fickle, damn it. “Wow, rude!” Bruce can't think of a response, and thankfully he doesn't have to, as there's the sound of Burnie ending the scene and Elyse and Adam rushing off stage, dropping beside them.

“Joel, oh my gosh, are you okay?” Elyse says, touching Joel with fluttering fingers, ever so careful.

“Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Do you guys have any snacks stored away somewhere?” Joel brushes her off carefully. Elyse perks up, grabbing Adam's hand.

“Joel, I always have snacks, who do you take me for?” She stands, pulling Adam up, dragging him away and Bruce only manages a small wave at them both. Which leaves them. Alone. Again. Joel is lying on Bruce's shoulder now, almost pressing into his neck.

“So, you caught me, huh?” Joel asks him, softly, so his voice doesn't carry onto the stage. Bruce tries to speak and on his first attempt, his voice gets stuck in his throat.

“Um, yeah. Yeah.” He takes a breath, “I wasn't exactly going to let you fall, was I?” Joel laughs, and Bruce doesn't know whether to focus on the ring of his laugh or the feeling of his breath against Bruce's skin.

“Yeah, I'm sure.” Joel is looking up at him with a smile and Bruce smiles back automatically. A bit of the artificialness vanishes from around Joel's eyes and he tucks his face into the crook of Bruce's neck. “Thanks.”

“You're, you're welcome.” Bruce hopes the low lighting hides how red he's sure his cheeks must be. He cannot believe, how many years of acting school, and he's acting like a damn teen around this man. This is bullshit. Joel shuts his eyes, head still resting on Bruce. His smile is lazy and relaxed, more relaxed than Bruce has seen for a long while. He finally yawns, sits up and grabs the drink Bones brought for him.

“Are you ready to continue?” Joel asks. Bruce looks at him, confused.

“Shouldn't I be asking you that?” He replies. Joel turns, dropping the bottle from his mouth to smile at Bruce again. Bruce tries to ignore how his heart flutters.

“Are you two still out here?” James pokes his head up from the stairs to backstage. “Elyse has so many snacks she could feed a small army and she'll be offended if you don't eat them.”

Joel nods, waves his hand towards him, “We're coming. Don't worry.”

“Oh, I didn't know I was interrupting something!” Bruce opens his mouth to protest but James is already gone, giggling down the corridor. Joel has a hand on his neck, finally having the decency to look a bit embarrassed, like Bruce hasn't been for the last what feels like forever.

“We should. Go.” Joel stutters out. Bruce nods, mutely. He stands first, and Joel ends up leaning on his shoulder, still. He looks completely at peace on Bruce's shoulder and almost like he was meant to be there and oh god this is gay, isn't it?

Elyse pulls them into her and James’ dressing room, food spread out over the entire table, “I thought you were never coming!”

“And miss stealing your food,? Not for the world, ‘Lyse.” Joel finally stands on his own, leaves Bruce's side and Bruce immediately feels a cold wash over him. He looks at Joel, only realises he's staring when Joel looks back, grins at him with a cookie in his mouth and Bruce has to look away quickly to find a corner to hide in. He sits, dropping into the chair and taking a deep breath. James appears at his side, nudging him with his elbow.

“You know you have to kiss him for like, eleven performances, right?” Bruce's breath catches in his throat, his eyes widen and hand grips the chair. James is immediately giggling again, already going to join the others at the table and leaving Bruce sat there like he hasn't just ruined his entire world.

The others start filing back out the room when the two-minute bell rings. Bruce gets up to follow them, but Joel's hand is on his arm and he stops, holds his breath as the others disappear around the corner. When they're gone, Joel tugs him, pulls him to face him.

“Bruce, I wanted to genuinely thank you for earlier. It could've been a lot worse if you didn't catch me and I- yeah.” He tilts his head down, his curls hide Bruce's view of his eyes but Bruce is sure there's red across his cheeks. Hell, the way he shuffles on his feet, the way his fingers twitch where they're still holding Bruce's sleeve. Joel is. Actually embarrassed. He looks up again, meets Bruce's eyes and god Bruce could get lost in those eyes, “Thank you.”

“You're. Still welcome.”

Joel doesn't break eye contact, “I'm glad.” They're both just staring and Bruce doesn't want to look away. So, of course, it's Lawrence who bangs on the wall. They both jump away from each other, laughing nervously.

“We should.” Bruce points to the door.

“Yeah.” Joel nods, rushes off ahead, trying to push his curls back up into place. Bruce stares after him for a moment, tries to make sense of everything. He jumps when he realises Lawrence is stood in the doorway.

“You've got it bad.” He tells him, pats Bruce on the back before leaving him alone. Bruce takes a breath, rubs his hand down his face.

“Yeah. Yeah, I think I do.” He mutters.

He thinks he might not mind kissing Joel so much anymore.

Even if it is just acting.

[colewald]

I MET JENNA COLEMAN ON SUNDAY THE 24TH OF SEPTEMBER 2017 AND HERE IS HOW IT WENT DOWN

I don’t even know where to begin so I’m just gonna pick a spot.

So I woke up this morning, put on a face mask, had a real nice shower, did my face, put on my Clara cosplay,

had my sister take a few pictures of me (the ones you see here are the only good ones she took asdijkdas) then we left for Comic-con! I had been fine all morning but the car ride there was...mESSY. It didn’t really hit me that I was SERIOUSLY about to meet Jenna until that moment. I started crying and breathing really heavily and my lovely mum was like “STOP CRYIGN YOU’RE GONNA RUIN YOUR MAKEUP YOU HAVEN’T EVEN MET HER YET” but I just kept on freaking out like...I was SO nervous, I think I actually could’ve vomited in that moment. I’d been planning what I wanted to say to her for forever but I was worried that I would be too nervous to say anything to her and just end up making a fool of myself :( 

Anyway, we eventually arrived in the convention centre, got our tickets scanned, went in, looked for the autograph area AND GUYS.

JENNA WAS SITTING RIGHT THERE. RIGHT FUCKING THERE. There was no line where she was because one of her autograph sessions had just ended or was about to. I just started CRYING and literally as soon as I saw her, I walked away. Like, I couldn’t. My brother and my sister were like “oh my god!!!!!!” but I was like “nonononono I can’t, I can’t look at her, I’m not okay”. 

After a few minutes of dying, I realised people going up to Jenna and getting things signed so I was like “oH she must still be signing things” and my sister told me that I should go up now and meet her while the line was short af instead of go to her next session which was an hour later (which was my original plan). I just kept saying I couldn’t do it bUT THEN I JUST DECIDED “FUCK IT I’M DOING IT”. 

And....................................

I think my soul actually LEFT MY BODY. This was UNREAL. 

I went up to the table where she was doing autographs, picked the photo I wanted her to sign thEN WALKED IN FRONT OF HER. I WAS IN FRONT OF MS JENNA LOUISE COLEMAN, LOOKING RIGHT AT HER. AND THE VERY FIRST THING SHE SAID TO ME WAS “love your outfit!”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WAS FREAKING TF OUT ON THE INSIDE. I just said “thank you so much!!!!!” then she started signing my photo (I can’t believe I witnessed her write my name like bitchhhh). As she was signing, I was losing my mind. None of it felt real. Here’s how the whole conversation went:

Jenna: Love your outfit! (she did the cutest little point at me and smiled GOD)  Me: Thank you so much!!!!! Jenna: So what’s going on out there? What are we missing? Me: I honestly have no clue ahhaha (I’m actually such an embarrassment wow)  She was finishing up signing my photo then I finally worked up the courage to say something.

Me: I just wanted to say thank you so much for all that you do...because Clara Oswald means so much to me and she’s helped me through some really difficult times in my life and just thank you so much.(It took me like 9032328 years to get this all out though lmfao I was so nervous) Jenna: Thank you!!! (When I started talking, she LOOKED UP AND INTO MY EYES LIKE I SWEAR SHE WAS STARING INTO MY SOUL I WANTED TO DIE SHE WAS REALLY LISTENING TO ME BE A COMPLETE NERD AND HAD THE BIGGEST SMILE ON HER FACE, IT KILLED ME) Me: And I’ve also been completely obsessed with Victoria, you’re so talented I love you so much. Jenna: Aww, thank you. Thank you. (gUYS HER SMILE HAD ME DEAD. IT WAS SO GENUINE AND UGHHHHHHHHH I MISS IT)

Then I took my photo and thanked her again, started walking toward my brother and sister who watched the entire thing happen from afar, and I just started BAWLING. I was literally SHAKING. I couldn’t even speak properly. We were walking away and my sister was asking me what I said to her and everytime I started saying “I thanked her for-” I just cRIED EVEN MORE. IT WAS SO HARD FOR ME TO FUNCTION. 

After we sat down and I calmed down a little bit, I asked my sister if she could see us talking and she said yeah so I asked her what she looked like and she told me she was sMILING SO HARD and I CRIED AGAIN. Then I asked my brother if he could see us and he said YEP I SAW HE SMILING A LOT. It was just so much to take in.

My mum and my sister kept asking me to tell them exactly what I said to her but it’s 392092347 hours later and I still can’t tell them without crying lmaoooo. I just can’t say it out loud. It wasn’t everything I wanted to say (I have PLENTY I want to tell her but we don’t have all the time in the world, sadly). But you know what? I’m SO fucking proud of myself for getting even that much out. I was sooo emotional and nervous and I was so close to just keeping my mouth shut, collecting my photo, then saying thank you and walking away. But I thought ‘nope. I’m going to make the most of this moment’ and bam. I said that. I’m really really really happy I did. Maybe it doesn’t seem like I said much at all to some of you but I honestly think that I got the most important thing out.

ANYWAY, NEXT MY PHOTO WITH HER.

I started lining up an hour early for the photo session so I was pretty close to the front. I was dying but wHATEVER. There were A LOT of people lining up for her. I think it was such a massive line because (other than the fact that she’s Jenna Coleman, of course) she was only doing ONE photo op session and was only in Brisbane for ONE day (and is in Sydney for two, how could she do me this dirty). As soon as her session started, the line started moving VERY QUICKLY. Like, I was shocked at how quickly it was moving. It was incredibly rushed, I think because they tried to make sure everyone got their photo in the little time Jenna had.

I finally reached the photobooth and the poor, poor thing looked sooo exhausted, I wanted to give her a hug. 

There were a few people in front of me in line and at one point I saw the photographer signalling people to hurry up and walk up next to Jenna for the photo. It was like a “hi!” “hi” *pose* “bye!” thing I was liKE DAMN because I wanted to talk to her more. When it was finally my turn, idk what came over me but I pretty much screamed “HI!!!” with the biggest idiot smile on my face but I saw her eyes light up (I’m not delusional I swear to you) and she said “hi!” with that beautiful smile once again. I put my arm around her and SMILED SO BIG (as you can see in the photos above) IT’S EMBARRASSING. I walked away and said “thank you so much!!!!!!” and once I exited the booth, I was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy like I felt so warm inside. Even though I only had two seconds with her, I didn’t care. ANY TIME I GET WITH HER IS GOOD FOR ME. 

Then about half an hour later, I went to collect my photo.................I......................strongly dislike how it turned out........................I’m not even kidding, I hate my smile and and even though I knew I’d look like a giant next to this smol bean, I was still so !?@#>@?!1!!!!!!!! when I saw it for the first time. I was kinda upset over it but SHUT UP ELYSE YOU MET JENNA COLEMAN AND THAT’S ALL THAT MATTERS. 

BUT SHE REALLY POINTED AT ME IN OUR PHOTO. A FEW MONTHS AGO I LITERALLY TWEETED THAT IF I EVER GOT THE CHANCE TO MEET HER I’D WANT HER TO DO DO THE ICONIC POINT. 

I’m honestly still so overwhelmed that that happened. Ughhh I love her.

NEXT WAS HER PANEL. 

SHE

IS

THE

CUTEST

THING

EVER

Y’ALL DON’T UNDERSTAND.

I’m not gonna go into details about what she said because she was asked a lot of questions she’d already answered in past cons (YES SHE REALLY TOLD THE STORY OF PETER’S ACCIDENTAL SHOWER AGAIN. IT WAS GLORIOUS) but shE’S TRULY DOWN-TO-EARTH AND LOVELY AND PRECIOUS. She was being so funny and kept making cute faces. I was laughing, dying, and almost cried at one point. It was such a fun little panel and she was talking and talking and I could have listened to her for days. Then the panel ended and I was just so content. 

I’m about to be such an overdramatic bi thc right now but seriously.....I’m not exaggerating when I say that meeting Jenna has been my DREAM for sooooo long. Meeting Jenna in Clara cosplay has been my ultimate dream. And that happened today. I told her what Clara Oswald meant to me (in short) and she listened to me and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. She really means the world to me and I’m so grateful for her and Clara Oswald. I still remember going through some really dark shit a few years ago then putting on Doctor Who and feeling so connected to Clara that I forgot about every bad thing in my life at that moment. I remember the first time I started doing a lil “research” on Jenna and seeing how smol, awkward, sweet, and hella stylish she was and she quickly became MY QUEEN. I adore everything about this woman. I adore her talent, her personality, her entire existence....my heart is just so full. 

Anyway, that’s my summary of today. It was such a good day. I really hope she comes again soon.

She’s also way prettier irl. I didn’t think that was possible buT

[chefgeofframsay]

Revelations

Title: Revelations Pairing: Trevor Collins/Reader Rating: PG-13 Word Count: 6,514 Summary: GTA V AU: “Reader and Trevor are in rival crews but they keep that from each other as they start a relationship and find out about the others criminal life while doing a heist and the crews meet?” Commission for @karlitaburrito Warnings: Guns, canon-typical mentions of violence, fights, angst

Rooftops were a quiet place for you to sit and consider things more often than not. Admittedly, you were mostly there to shoot people, which wasn’t the greatest thing that you could be doing but one, if you weren’t up there with a sniper rifle, someone else would be and the whole chain of events would happen regardless and two, at least it gave you time to clear your head. Los Santos looked the way most things did: better from a distance and up on the fifty-story skyscraper, it looked magnificent. It was far quieter than down on the sidewalks where there was constant screaming, car horns, and people who played their (shitty) music too loud. Paired with the smell of garbage and exhausted fumes, it made living in the city far less appealing.

But the view?

The view more than made up for it in the end. You dealt with everything else just to have the ability to jump in a helicopter and sit on a rooftop and stop for a minute, and enjoy. You just wish it’d stay quiet longer than it seemed to.

“Earth to [Y/N] up there!” A woman’s voice coming from the earpiece in your left ear shook you back to reality. “We need you to focus up on the target. We’ve got a minute, maybe a minute and a half tops before that door closes.”

“Have I ever let you down before?” you asked, taking the moment left of calm to screw the silencer onto your sniper.

“There’s a first time for everything,” another voice, male this time, chimed in.

“Adam?” you sighed, squinting to look into your scope properly. You aimed your shot at the fuse box just beyond the cargo bay door that had opened a few minutes ago, waiting until the truck pulled out to pull the trigger. There was a loud bang as the bullet made contact with the target and a shower of electrical sparks before total darkness. “Go fuck yourself.”

Adam’s chuckles buzzed through your earpiece and you smirked as you watched him and Elyse rush through the cargo bay, under the door that was permanently open now that the power was cut. You’d remain up there until they exited the same way they came, or until they told you otherwise. Then there’d be a jump, a parachute to the top of a parking garage, where there’d be a car waiting for you to drive away. Everything was planned perfectly.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Adam whispered quickly.

“What’s wrong?”

Adam’s reply was harder to hear over the sound of gunshots. “You’ll never guess who came in the front door.”

About ten seconds later, you saw three men rush out the cargo bay door and you didn’t have to think about it to figure out who they were. Two were more than familiar to you, and the third you could guess who it was.

“How the fuck did they get here before us?” you grumbled, tracking them as they ran for the alleyway next to the building. “Do you want me to take them out?”

“As much as I want to say yes, it’ll end up damaging the score and it’ll be useless,” Elyse sighed. “We’re bailing before the cops show up and you should do the same.”

“Yeah, yeah,” you grumbled, watching as three members of the Fake AH Crew, your immediate rival in Los Santos (all gangs were rivals but the shit they pulled? Another level of personal) speed out of the alleyway on bikes. In spite of what Elyse told you, out of anger, you aimed for the back tire of the bike holding two people and pulled the trigger. The bike skittered and slid out from under them once the tire popped. You chuckled as you watched them scramble, and as the other bike returned, you lined up a shot and pulled the trigger again, popping the front tire of the other bike. You could have shot those sitting ducks then and there, but deciding to let the LSPD deal with them (you noticed the lights coming) you decided to bail. The parachuting to the garage and getting to the car that’d drive you away worked flawlessly and as you drove down the street, away from the scene of the crime, you could see the cars surrounding them. If nothing else, that certainly made you feel better.

Unfortunately, not everyone was as pleased as you were with yourself about the fact you had shot out the usurpers’ tires.

“You did what?” asked Bruce, giving you a look as if you were absolutely insane.

“Tires. Shot them,” you repeated. “Makes the bikes useless. They got the score but they didn’t get away.”

“And you guys are sure it was Geoff’s lot?” he asked, glancing from you to Adam and then to Elyse.

“Yeah,” sighed Elyse, nodding.

“It was the angry one with glasses, the short one, and the one with the nose,” Adam explained. “Came in the front door and by the time we got to the vault, they were already in there cackling. Thanked us for turning off the lights and rushed out the way we came in.”

“Fuck!” Bruce exclaimed, slamming his fist on the table. “First, they beat us there and then we piss them off. You know we don’t have the numbers if they come for us, [Y/N]. And you got three of their guys arrested.”

“But I didn’t kill them, did I?” you asked. “I could have just as easily put those bullets in their head.”

“[Y/N] has a point,” came another voice from another of the men in the room. The source of the voice, Lawrence, was standing near the door, his glasses in one hand while the other rubbed his face. “Maybe not the smartest way to go about it, but they’ve been laughing in our faces and we’re just taking it.”

“Not your decision,” Bruce said slowly. “Though since you two are so bent on bringing a crew twice our size to their knees, you two can figure out how to get us out of this mess before the come knocking on our door.”

You and Lawrence looked at each other, and just shrugged. It wasn’t something that was a suggestion so much as a demand, and you’d already upset Bruce enough for one night. The group more or less dispersed after that, and you made your way over to where Lawrence was standing.

“Do you actually want to help?” he asked you, shoving his glasses back onto his face.

“Do you actually need my help?” you questioned, raising your eyebrows and when he shook his head, you snorted. “Then I guess we’ve got this figured out. I’m going to go home before Trevor gets off from work.”

“Do you want a ride?” Elyse asked as she approached, James close behind.

“Yeah, I’d appreciate it,” you told her, smiling. “I let him borrow my bike because his car got messed up at work.”

“How?” asked James, “doesn’t he work as overnight security?”

“I think his car got hit in the parking lot,” you explained, looking over at him, but it suddenly hit you that Trevor hadn’t actually explained what’d happened to his car. He’d just told you it wasn’t usable for a few days while it got fixed, and asked if he could borrow your Akuma. In the back of the car, while James and Elyse prattled away about a heist the two of them were planning, you pulled your phone out of your jacket pocket to text him.

 [To: Trevor]

 Sorry you might beat me home! I ended up staying at my friend’s later than I meant to. How was work tonight?

You always felt a little guilty about lying to Trevor. It was more of a preservation thing than anything else, and not even preserving yourself. He was safer not knowing the kind of things you got into, or how good you were with a gun. The Fake AH Crew were a predictable bunch, but they always seemed to change the game when you got comfortable. It also didn’t help that you felt as if Trevor was the one normal thing in your life. Your relationship with him was the one thing you never felt dirty about; there wasn’t anything shady about it. You were just two people who loved each other. It was nice (hell, it was necessary) to have one not criminal part of your life.

He didn’t take long to reply, and the buzzing of your phone in your hand shook you from your inner guilt trip.

 [From: Trevor]

Don’t worry, I haven’t left work yet. It’s been a bad night. Boss is unhappy.

[To: Trevor]

I’m sorry, babe :( I’ll be up with whiskey and kisses when you get home.

“How is he, anyway?” Elyse asked, causing you to look up from your phone. She was looking expectantly at you from the rearview mirror.

“What?” you asked confusedly.

“Trevor,” she explained. “I’m assuming that’s who you’re texting.”

“It is,” you chuckled. “He’s had a rough night at work, apparently.”

“He’s not the only one,” she sighed. The two of you seemed to deflate a bit as you remembered the night’s events. How had they gotten there before you? You still couldn’t figure that out.

After a few more minutes of silence, James spoke, turning in the passenger’s seat to look at you.

“Have you told him yet?”

You grimaced. “No.”

“How much longer do you think you’ll get away with not telling him?” he pressed. You shrugged, really not wanting to have this conversation yet again. As much as you loved James and Elyse, they weren’t exactly proponents of how you chose to conduct your life. At least, not when it came to keeping Trevor in the dark.

“Hopefully forever,” you said shortly. “I don’t see the need to involve him in any of it. He’s got enough stress with work, and…”

“And he deserves to know there’s a real possibility that one day, his girlfriend might not come home,” James pointed out, giving you a look. The thought made your stomach churn. You knew how dangerous your chosen lifestyle was, and when you were alone, it didn’t matter much that you continuously put yourself in harm’s way to make money. Trevor hadn’t exactly been in the plans, but he’d appeared and you couldn’t let him get away and now you had to keep both facets of your life separate. It was what kept you sane.

“Just don’t,” you grumbled. “It’s not your business.” Thankfully, he couldn’t get another word in edgewise because Elyse was pulling into an empty spot near the front door of your building. You thanked her for the ride and quickly jumped out, slamming the car door behind you. After punching in the right code to get in the door, and pushing the button on the elevator to get you to the nineteenth floor. While the elevator rambled its way upward, you dug around your pockets for your keys, finally finding them in an inside pocket of your jacket, and as the doors slid open, you headed for the third door on the left. Shoving the key into the lock, you opened your front door and sighed with relief to see you’d still beaten Trevor home.

It didn’t help the guilt thing when he was sitting on the couch waiting for you.

You meandered into your kitchen, pulling two of the nice glasses from the drying rack next to the sink (they never seemed to make it back to their proper home with the rest of your nice drinkware because they were in constant use) and grabbed the bottle of whiskey from the cabinet that the two of you left for alcohol. You found your way back into the living room, putting the glasses and bottle onto the coffee table before flopping down onto the couch.

You told yourself you were only going to lay there for a second, and just close your eyes because you were looking right up at the light…

The next thing you knew, an exhausted looking Trevor was sitting on the floor next to where your head was with his back against the couch.

“Hey,” you greeted groggily (you’d definitely fallen asleep), rolling over to face him and reaching a hand out to run it through his hair. “How long have you been home?”

“About five minutes,” he told you, raising his glass to his mouth. “You looked much too cute to wake up.” He smirked, looking over at you before taking a sip of his whiskey. You pulled your hand away from his head and went to sit up to give him space to sit on the couch, but reached back, putting his hand on your hip to stop you.

“Don’t bother,” he said, “I’m comfortable down here. Besides, I don’t think I could get up right now if I tried.”

“If you say so, Trev,” you sighed, settling back in and beginning to play with his hair again; he let his eyes shut and a small smile appeared on his face. “Do you want to talk about work?”

“Not much to talk about,” he explained after a moment. Trevor sighed heavily and leaned back into your hand, giving you a better angle. “Three people didn’t exactly do their jobs right and now the boss isn’t thrilled with any of us.”

Well, that was something you could relate to.

“Sorry you had a bad night,” you said quietly.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, turning to look at you, causing your hand to fall from his head again. He smiled at you, and you could tell how tired he was. You’d been with Trevor long enough to notice the way that his tired smile pulled at the corners of his lips and how his eyes just didn’t have that sparkle they usually did.

“One bad night’s not the end of the world,” Trevor pointed out. “It’ll be fine.” He leaned over towards you, giving you a quick kiss. “What about you? How was Elyse’s?”

“It was good,” you lied, groaning internally. You hated these conversations and having to make stuff up, but it beat the alternatives of scaring him away and having two areas of your life you needed to keep secret colliding. “The three of us had dinner out at that place in Vinewood and then we came back and watched some movie and I might have fallen asleep.”

“It’s probably a good thing I had your bike then,” Trevor chuckled. “Or else you might not have made it home.”

“Maybe not,” you agreed. You let out a loud yawn as Trevor emptied his glass of whiskey.

“We should probably both get some sleep,” he suggested and with a bit of effort, he managed to push himself off the floor, stretching out and making various joints crack as he did. “Come on,” he said, holding his hand out for you to take. You grabbed it and went to sit up, but the nap seemed to turn your body to lead and instead of moving, you just groaned. Trevor laughed lazily, tightening his grip on your hand and pulling you up off the couch. He held your hand as he led you on the familiar path through the apartment and into your bedroom. The two of you fell into your usual routine of him changing while you brushed your teeth and washed your face and then switching out (and him kissing your head as you passed each other in the bathroom door way) and then you changed into your pajamas while he brushed his teeth and washed his face. You were waiting in bed, trying to hold off from falling asleep again until Trevor climbed into bed with you.

“Hey,” Trevor said suddenly, popping out of the bathroom as he dried his face. “You know where we haven’t been in a while?”

“Anywhere that doesn’t smell like exhaust fumes and garbage?” you replied, smirking. He rolled his eyes at you, shaking his head.

“I was thinking the Del Perro Pier,” he told you. “Which smells like fish and garbage, so I guess you’re right.” You both laughed at that, and Trevor tossed his towel back into the bathroom and headed for the light-switch. Not long after the room went dark, the bed dipped and an arm snaked its way around your middle. He buried his face in your neck, sighing happily.

“Do you want to go ride the ferris wheel and get stuck at the top for an hour again?” you asked him, chuckling. “Relive our first date?” You felt him smile against your neck.

“Why not?” His voice was muffled but so close to your ear that you had no problem making out the words. “It worked so well for me the first time.” He pressed a kiss to your neck. You couldn’t help but smile at that.

“I don’t see why we can’t,” you told him. “Saturday?”

“Yeah, I think Saturday will work,” he stated. “I think I’m off.”

“We can figure it out tomorrow,” you yawned. “Right now I can’t keep my eyes open.”

“Night,” he muttered into your neck, squeezing you a little bit as he shuffled closer.

You were asleep before you could say anything.

___

You were awoken rudely at noon by your phone ringing loudly on the night stand next to you. You were at a total loss of what was going on for a second, and then you were sure your phone was right there (but you hadn’t plugged it in last night?) and then you recognized the ringtone: Bruce was calling. You reached out and managed to accept the call right before it went to voicemail.

“Hello?” you answered, trying to stifle a yawn.

“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. We figured out how you’re going to fix this.” Bruce sounded to be in a better mood than he had been last night.

“How?”

“Be ready in an hour, we’re coming to get you. We’ll explain then,” Bruce told you, and then the line went dead. You rolled your eyes, but accepted the fact you had to get up and go take a shower before he got to your apartment. Stopping to check your notifications, you noticed the most recent one was a text from Trevor.

[From: Trevor]

Sorry I’m not home :( Boss called and I had to go in early. I plugged your phone in before I left though!

You shot him a quick sad face in response, and then thanked him for plugging your phone in. You then threw yourself out of bed and within fifteen minutes, you were standing in front of your mirror, dripping wet, trying to decide what to do with your hair. In the end, you blow-dried it the best you could, pulled a beanie (definitely Trevor’s) on as you got dressed, and called it a day. Grabbing your phone, you headed out of your bedroom, grabbed a quick snack, and headed down to the front door of your building. You had barely finished your snack when you saw James pulling up in Bruce’s car with Bruce in the passenger’s seat. Wordlessly, you slid into the back seat, waiting for Bruce to explain.

After a few minutes of driving in silence, Bruce finally spoke. “We’re going to meet with Geoff and one of his boys,” Bruce said simply. “You’re coming with me. We’ll see if we can’t hash things out. You’re going to apologize for your outburst and the unfortunate consequences, and that’ll be that.”

You desperately wanted to roll your eyes at the mention of an “outburst” because your actions were perfectly reasonable; if nothing else, they weren’t severe enough. Still, you held your tongue and waited to see if Bruce would go on. When he did, you just continued to listen.

“They might demand we surrender you to them,” he sighed, “and don’t worry, we won’t. Just keep your mouth shut besides the apology. Okay?”

“Fine,” you said quietly. You decided to just go along with it, at least for the time being. You had a terrible habit of not being able to bite your tongue and a burning desire to be snarky at any possible opportunity. But you’d agreed to (maybe) keep your mouth shut (for once) and that was what you’d do. As James pulled the car to the curb and brought it to a stop, you saw that you were meeting at an abandoned warehouse, which seemed cliché (read: lame) but you kept your mouth shut.

“I’ll be here waiting for you guys,” James informed as Bruce opened the door to get out. James turned back to face you and gave you a reassuring thumbs up, making you roll your eyes but nevertheless smile and return it. You slid out of the car, shutting the car door behind you and following after Bruce. The warehouse itself smelled like dust and rust and a bit of gunpowder, and it certainly made your nose crinkle, but you were just glad it didn’t smell like decomp. You hated the fucking smell of decomp. You weren’t surprised to see two other people lurking in the shadows by the staircase and you could just feel the words, the comment about what an obvious (read: lame) power move it was but you bit your tongue once more. You stopped right behind Bruce, crossing your arms while you waited for the others to join you in the middle of the room. After a minute of them talking to each other, they came to meet you, and the first into view was a man you were all too familiar with. Geoff Ramsey, while you’d never actually seen him out on a heist, you recognized his face from the posters. Someone in the crew had rounded up wanted posters of Ramsey a year back and tacked them to the wall for knife target practice. Your attention turned to the other man as he fully came into view. He was…

Trevor.

There was absolutely no doubt in your mind that that was your boyfriend. You squinted because it couldn’t be but the harder you looked the more you realized that yes, it was. The air seemed to leave your lungs and everything suddenly seemed so far away as you stared at him, unable to comprehend anything else that was going on. He was staring back at you like a deer caught in the headlights of a bus. You wanted to run. You wanted to throw up. You wanted to do anything that wasn’t see your boyfriend standing next to Geoff fucking Ramsey, representing your crew’s main rival.

Bruce nudging you in the arm was what brought you back to your senses. “Don’t you have something to say, kid?” he led, giving you a ‘don’t fucking embarrass me’ look.

“Right,” you said breathlessly, looking from Bruce back over to Geoff and Trevor and not really seeing anything. You couldn’t focus; all you saw was two people shaped blurs. “Sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” snapped Geoff. “Sorry for ruining our score or getting my guys arrested?”

You could hear your normal self in the back of your mind, saying something along the lines of ‘sorry I didn’t kill them when I had the chance’ but the rest of you was just freaking out about the face Trevor was there, and now Trevor knew what you did.

In the end, it was Bruce that answered.

“You know it wasn’t a big deal,” Bruce sighed. “Your guys are already out and she could have easily aimed those bullets somewhere else but she didn’t. I think we can let it go.”

“I think we’ll let it go when our boy over here has had a chance to show her his knife collection,” Geoff stated, looking over at Trevor with a smug face. Trevor looked panicked as he looked back at Geoff. He shook his head slightly, causing Geoff to roll his eyes.

“What? Are you not going to consider it because she’s a girl?” he groaned. Trevor looked from Geoff to you and back, mouth opening and closing it repeatedly. Geoff glared at him for a moment, and then turned back to you and Bruce.

“Fine,” he said through gritted teeth. “You guys will bring us the money you lost us when the cops confiscated everything we took, and we’ll call it even.” Bruce looked at you, and then back at Geoff.

“We can do that,” he told him. There was a silence, which Bruce took to mean everything was done. Without another word, he turned and headed back towards the door you came in. You looked at Trevor once more, shaking your head before running after Bruce, who was already at the door. You both got into the car and you couldn’t even hear what Bruce was saying in response to James asking how it went.

You had barely made it back into the crew’s planning room before Bruce was asking what the fuck had just happened and you had burst into tears.

“Trevor,” you sobbed, barely registering James pulling you into a hug.

“Do they have him or something?” Lawrence asked. “[Y/N] I can plan a rescue mission and we can get him back before anything happens.” You shook your head as best you could as James had smushed you to him, still crying.

That’s when it seemed to hit Bruce, judging by the noise of comprehension he made from somewhere near you.

“You know that lanky fuck who likes using knives for fucking everything?” Bruce asked. “I take it that’s Trevor.” You nodded wordlessly.

“Oh fuck,” James groaned. “And you didn’t know, did you?” You shook your head.

“The same way he didn’t know about her,” Elyse pointed out as she entered the mix, shoving a tissue into your hand. You detached yourself from James and wiped your eyes the best you could.

“What do we do now?” asked Lawrence, looking at you with the closest thing to pity you’d ever seen from him.

“First thing’s first,” Bruce sighed, “someone takes [Y/N] home.” When you opened your mouth to protest, he held his hand up to stop you. “You’re feisty and unpredictable at the best of times. You’d be absolutely volatile if we let you out now, and we really can’t afford that. Plus, possibly attacking your long-term boyfriend shouldn’t be high on your list.”

You definitely had no response to that.

“I’ll take her home,” Elyse declared, looping her arm with yours and beginning to tug you towards the door. “I’ll be back soon.” For once in your life, you had no fight in you, you let yourself be led out to Elyse’s car and get shoved into the passenger’s seat. You sat there in silence, still trying to dry your eyes before you realized you weren’t heading toward your home.

“Why are you bringing me to your place?” you asked Elyse, looking over at her. Her eyebrows knitted together and she glanced over at you with a confused look on her face.

“Because you can’t go home,” she told you as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. When you still seemed confused, she pressed on. “They know where you live and that you’re one of us. There’s nothing to stop them from killing you then and there.”

“I don’t want to talk about that,” you told her, glaring as your stomach churned at the reality of the situation. You knew she was right; the Fake AH Crew was definitely mad at you specifically, and they’d have easy access to the apartment, but Trevor wouldn’t let him in. You were sure of that. “Either take me home or I’ll walk there.”

“Are you ever not stubborn?” Elyse asked as she turned down the road that would take you home.

“It’s my best quality,” you told her, chuckling slightly. “It’s endearing most of the time.”

Elyse, once she had pulled up to your building, insisted on coming up to your apartment with you, but you talked her down. You wanted to crawl into bed and not deal with the world, and her tearing through your rooms with a gun would impede that. Besides, you seriously doubted they’d think you’d come back to your apartment. Once you were upstairs, you were sure it was okay. The apartment was fairly dark, which made sense considering you hadn’t left any lights on, and you closed the door behind you, sighing with relief.

You went to turn the light on, and once you’d flipped the switch, you found yourself being pushed up against the wall and face to face with Trevor. You gasped in surprise, but didn’t immediately go to throw him off. It wasn’t the first time he’d done it; it was, however, the first time he did it while looking so angry. In fact, you were almost positive you’d never seen him mad before but the way his face was contorted, you were sure he was now.

“How long?” Trevor growled, staring you down. You did your best to keep yourself looking perfectly at ease.

“How long what?”

“How long have you been running with Fakehaus?” he added quickly. “What did they tell you to get you to join? Have they been spying on me using you?”

Your heart fell right into your stomach and for the second time today, you felt your eyes sting with tears, but you’d be damned if you were going to let yourself cry then. “Like two years? Maybe three?” you offered, voice wavering slightly. “I’ve been with them before I even met you, Trevor. And before you ask, I wasn’t ever spying on you. I didn’t know, Trev.”

“When were you going to tell me?”

“I don’t know,” you said before you could stop yourself. “When were you going to tell me?”

Immediately, you knew that was the wrong thing to say. If it was even possible, his face contorted into an even angrier look. His hand met wall, nowhere near you, but the sudden noise was enough to make you jump. Trevor twitched and quickly stepped back from you, as if he’d gotten burned. He rubbed at his face, breathing heavily. You stood there, watching him.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I was never in this for any other reason than that I love you,” you told him, voice almost too quiet to hear. He stared at you for a long moment, an indescribable look in his eyes and then he shook his head.

“I need to go,” he told you and without another word, he opened the front door and slammed it on his way out. You felt like you had just gotten the wind knocked out of you again and without much thought, you slid down the wall to sit on the floor. Pulling your knees to your chest and resting your head on it, you finally let yourself cry. Things felt far too permanent. Considering all the talks of the future the two of you had had, for things to end like that broke your heart in two. You legitimately couldn’t imagine a life without him anymore.

You had no idea how long you were sitting there before the explosions started. At first, they seemed close by sound and the way the lamps in your apartment rattled. They seemed to go on for hours before slowly fading away, but not disappearing. They were just getting further away. It was entirely dark out before you couldn’t hear them anymore, and then James was opening your door with Elyse quick on his heels.

“There you are!” James exclaimed loudly. “Fuck, [Y/N], learn to use a phone.” You looked up at him, tilting your head like a confused puppy.

“What?”

“The bombs have been going off for hours,” sighed Elyse, bending down to be at face level with you. “We were afraid they’d started here…with you.” You shook your head.

“Nope,” you said weakly. “Trevor was here when I got home and he thought I was only with him to spy for the crew and…” you trailed off, sniffling. “He stormed out. The explosions started not long after.”

“One guess who it is, then,” James said. “There are reports that the Fake AH Crew are out in force tonight, but I don’t think it’s all of them doing this.”

“You think it’s Trevor,” you guessed. “I honestly…don’t know anymore.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Elyse told you, “what matters is that you’re alright.”

“Physically? Yeah, I’m fine,” you explained. “Mentally and emotionally? Not so sure about that.”

“No one blames you for that,” James responded. “But we’re worried about you.”

“Come on,” Elyse said, standing up and grabbing your arm to bring you with her. “We’ll grab you some clothes and your phone charger, and you can hole up with us for a while.” Seeing as you didn’t have it in you to argue anymore, you led her to the bedroom, pulled a bag from the closet (being incredibly careful not to touch anything of Trevor’s) and dropping it on the bed. Elyse busied herself with grabbing you changes of clothes, and climbing around your nightstand to unplug your charger while you sat on the bed, shaking your head. You let her lead you out, bag in your hands, and followed James out of the apartment, locking the door behind you guys.

___

The blasts around Los Santos went on for a couple days before they stopped entirely. All the time, you laid on the couch in an apartment that wasn’t yours, watching the news reports. By all accounts, it was the Fake AH Crew setting them off, but Lawrence told you one night (he had come to check up on you considering the crew didn’t seem to trust you alone anymore) that they were trying to track Trevor down to stop him. Hell, even your crew were out trying to find him before he blew up the entire city.

You’d gotten to go back to the operations base when the bombs finally stopped. You sat in your usual spot at the table, looking at each of your fellow crew members in turn and seeing just how tired they looked. What confused you was when Bruce entered the room, shoving his phone back into his pocket and declaring he’d just been talking to Geoff Ramsey.

“[Y/N],” he addressed you as he sat down. “Do you think you’d be up to doing something for me?”

“I don’t see why not,” you sighed. “Sitting around is kind of bumming me out more than I should be.”

“Good,” he said, nodding. “We have some restitution shit to deal with, but there’s something else that needs to be taken care of. I need you to go down to the ferris wheel on Del Perro Pier and wait for a guy.”

You waited for him to continue explaining; when he didn’t, you spoke: “You want me to wait for a guy? What guy? And then what am I supposed to be doing?”

“He’ll be looking for you,” Bruce explained, waving it off. “And you’ll know what to do when it happens. Just…get down there as fast as you can.”

“Without my bike?”

At that, a pair of keys were thrown on the table in front of you. Bruce motioned at them and told you he’d made arrangements to get you a new bike until you got your old one back. Finding no other reason to argue, you grabbed the keys and stood up from the table. You waved at everyone as you headed out the door, and out to the outside world. A click on the lock sounded a horn and brought your attention to a black Akuma not far from the front door. Shrugging, you got on it and kicked the bike to life and zoomed off for Del Perro Pier. You weaved through traffic, hopping onto the curb once or twice to avoid a truck and narrowly avoiding a pedestrian, but before long, you were parking the bike on the pier. You were planning on parking yourself on a bench but as you approached, you saw someone was already sitting there.

“Trevor,” you said breathlessly, causing him to look up at you. At first, there was a look of incredible relief on his face but then he looked ashamed of himself. As you got closer, he stood up and as soon as you were close enough, you threw your arms around him. He hugged you back tightly, burying his face in your hair.

“Fuck, [Y/N],” he breathed, “I’m so fucking sorry.” He pulled away, arms still around you but he was looking at you square in the face. “I shouldn’t have ever yelled at you but I was freaked and I didn’t know what else to do…” he trailed off, “that’s not an excuse but you need to know how fucking sorry I am.”

“I know,” you said quietly. “I’m…sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“Don’t be,” he told you. “I didn’t tell you either. We’re both in the wrong there…cancels it out.” You chuckled at the suggestion.

“Yeah?” you asked, “does that mean we can just forget this ever happened and go make out on the ferris wheel like we planned to today?” That made him laugh too.

“I don’t think we can forget this,” he sighed, “but we can figure it out. But right now, I want nothing more in the world than to go make out on the ferris wheel.” The two of you looked over to it, still holding onto each other. You remembered the ferris wheel fondly as it was there the two of you had gotten stuck on your first date and with the nerves of not getting down from the top until they fixed it, you forgot about being nervous about the date itself. It had worked out in your favor in the end, and after you finally got down, Trevor convinced the guy to let you guys go up again to have more alone time.

“I can’t imagine my life without you, [Y/N]” Trevor said seriously. “I spent three days trying to, and I lost my fucking mind,” he added, shaking his head. “I don’t care what it takes, what the crew wants…I’m not letting us go.”

Your heart soared and you couldn’t help but beam. “We’ll figure it out, Trevor,” you told him, “but that doesn’t have to be tonight. I feel like I haven’t seen you in a while, even before all of this. Let’s just enjoy some alone time.” You let your arms fall from his torso to instead grab his face and pull him into a kiss, which he reciprocated excitedly. “The world can wait for a bit,” you told him, panting slightly once you’d pulled away. “Right now, let’s go ride the ferris wheel.”

“I wonder if I can pay the guy to get us stuck on top like I did last time,” Trevor mentioned, smirking as he pulled you towards the ride.

[defunctblogtobedeleted]

10/31/19 3:14pm - Lotssaaaa Fet Stuff

I realize now that I wrote concerts, in anticipation of getting to this weekend in the last post, and I only wrote about one concert. Dumb.

I went to my first BDSM play party on the first sat of the month. It was wild. I went in a suped up kitty outfit but found that I didn’t really enjoy my new plug as much as I’d hoped. Everyone loved it though, I met a bunch of people and got to try my first scene! My buddy gerald and Lyn topped me for some elector play and I spent a half hour getting shocked with various metal thingies. Man, it felt like thousands of scratchy tickles. I was laughing my ass off the entire time. It was amazing. It felt like a lot. But it felt exhilarating too. And I watched some intense flogging and some medical scening like needles going through tits and medical staples and electrically conductive wire being run through all of it and then electrified. It was mind blowing. I’m definitely about the scene now. It’s like enchanting to see how everyone reacts to everything in different ways. The screaming, the moaning, the shivering, the stomping. I really like to watch rope play as well, I’m meaning to start learning it myself again. Lyn said she’d practice with me, and another girl Elyse did too but we’ll get to her later. I’ve just gotta make sure I can DO it. Don’t wanna like embarrass myself lol. Though I think they’d both be pretty understanding. But still, that might be one of my next creative projects. So I guess I’ve gotten away from it but the party at the hangar was fun as fuck. Lyn came over afterward, we finally had sex and she’s the first person to successfully convince me to wear a condom since my vasectomy 😂 Sex was sex/10, nothing super special, but delightfully satisfying. Lyn’s on the heavier end of my acceptable BMI range for partners, but she’s not super heavyset or anything. Since then we haven’t been able to hang out, she had to do some surgery and has been stuck at home. But she got some electro play stuff so as soon as she’s feeling better we’re definitely gonna fool around with that :3 So high hopes that she’ll be harem member #2. fingers crossed  😘

Lyn stats -  Str - 10, Dex - 6 (currently lol), Con - 13, Int - 13, Wis - 13, Cha - 12 Hob - 16, Spo - 14, Mhp - 14, Sex - 19, Beu - 13, Sta - 10

To be clear maybe this sex stat is a little inflated, but gotta give credit where credit is due. Pretty legendary just watching her love sucking my cock for a half hour.

We were up until like 4 in the morning watching somethingorother. I downloaded the marvel movies I hadn’t seen but it wasn’t the right time to watch them. We watched some anime and cuddled up and passed out. I don’t know when she left but I’m pretty sure I slept in til like 3 or 4 I think lol.

The next day I went to durham early to see KKB play again! Hung out with Kailey and Cane and Pacos beforehand and drank a bit of champagne to pregame the concert. Honestly I was pretty fucking beat by the time the concert happened though. Like was falling asleep standing up during the show. Plus we were way in the back, the venue was way more crowded than when we saw KKB at the coffeehouse. Felt a little less romantic. But I did bump into my buddies john and travis there, that was weird. and my other friends ended up messaging me saying they were there too but didn’t bump into them. I was still happy I saw the show though, and it’s always great chilling with manu and christina and maya and pacos and oliver and rianne. I was actually supposed to switch shifts that day so I could go to another fet event on wednesday, but bailed so I could hang out with them. Despite being tired as balls I’d say it was worth.

OH MY GOD then I’m not sure if it was this monday or the previous one. But I met this thick Chris Pratt looking welsh guy at the local Fet mixer (slosh night). He kept complimenting me and said if I wanted to fool around I should let him know. Well the night rolled around and my friend had tried to introduce me to this girl who wanted to do pet play but I really didn’t hit things off with her, and was talking to this chris pratt guy about his life traveling the world and also anime. So I took him home to his hotel room, and we tried to arrange for a girl to come play with us too. Unfortunately she flaked so we sat there drinking some rum together and reminiscing on our lives and sharing stories. We decided to get some food and then start fooling around, but right then he got a call that his brother died and he’d have to change his travel plans for the week to make it to the funeral. Pretty tragic. We kissed goodbye and that was that. Guy made bannnkkkk though, I probably would’ve been a boy toy for that kinda cash lmfaoooo. It wasn’t like that. But it could have been. Who fucking knows, man.

That week my fet friend Ann came out to do karaoke with me, too. We don’t have a thing, yet. But we talk once in a while. I haven’t seen her in a minute but she’s into nerdy shit. Turns out there’s a Lot of overlap with nerdy and fet. Which is amazing for me. But Ann joined me and Terri and our friend Matt and Skyler and Jacob and Caitlin are usually there and a lot of times our buddy Jonas from emo karaoke comes too so I’ve got a great fucking posse starting to build up. Karaoke is sick. It’s like my home.

But the next weekend was a fetish fashion show, and my second play party.

For the fashion show Lyn and I had been talking about dressing up to compete, but she ended up having her surgery and couldn’t go. I still was ready to go with my kitty outfit that I had given a test run at the hangar a week before, so I was ready to rock it. Tbh I was kinda nervous. It would have helped if I found out I was the only one competing in my category, but I just wanted to make sure I looked beautiful and shit. Did the best job I’ve ever done putting on eyeliner, I’m getting a lot better lol. Actually got some compliments from the host on it. And a whole bunch of my first fet friends were there to see me!

Sidebar - I came out of the closet as bi on national coming out day on oct 11. Figured it wouldn’t matter too much, but I really wanted to. I’ve identified as bi for a long time, and I’ve been telling people in person for years, but idk I just really wanted to be public about it.

It hasn’t been a relief per se, but it definitely has made me the subtlest bit more comfortable with picturing myself in gay situations. Like there was this cute guy at the fashion show who got tied up in rope and the way the rope tied around his cock made it look huge and he was this cute blonde and I kinda imagined making out with him for a while. lolol.  I think honestly it was because of my situation the week or two before with welsh chris pratt, like I just wanted to be able to DO these things without people questioning like “is this who you are?” well yes, yes it is and has been for a bit so hrmph. Of course nobody was ever questioning if it was who I am because I always introduce myself as bi, but the imaginary people living in my head definitely question. 

The play party that night was divine though. It was newbie oriented, so you could only do things with people if you had someone experienced involved to help show you how to do things right. I bottomed an impact scene for the first time to see how it felt, my friend summer, one of the people I carpooled over with, slapped me around with a bunch of toys. I watched a lot of scenes, my buddy Gerald gave a tutorial on all the different impact toys and how to use them and what you should be looking into when you buy them. I did some wax play with summer and painted on one of the most gorgeous girls I’d ever seen with latex paint with her boyfriend and one of the hosts of the party. Gave her some cute leopard spots and she loved them :3 Me and my friends that I carpooled with skinny dipped in the “hot” tub. Ann later told me that she’s dubbed it the Tepid Tub. It’s not great. LOL but I was stubborn and sat out there for a while with everyone. Still always love to be naked in water, though I would’ve liked it more if it were a better temperature. And I met a bunch more people as always! I started talking to this girl Mariah there. She invited me to cuddle on her lap after my impact scene and I instantly jumped at the opportunity and ended up getting her number and we might hang out sometime. (LOL I’m not fucking kidding I’m really trying to get a polycule going, this is gonna be the hypest thing ever if I actually get rolling.)  I had a blast at that party though, and I’m really pumped to go back this weekend. Should be a hell of a good time. 

Sunday I went out and did a How To Kink Good roundtable discussion, primarily focusing on consent and some issues surrounding it.

I. LOVE. how much of the BDSM community revolves around consent. Everything you do has to be talked out before and after. What you want to have happen during the scene and after the scene. What kind of things you want to happen and what should not happen. It’s more than just safewords, you basically know Everything you’re going to do before you go in. Really cool stuff.

I think beforehand I played a magic tournament, and so then I think after the fet talk I had nothing to do and hung out with Jill or something as normal.

Also somewhere around here I’ve started playing some basketball. I’m actually finally working on not shooting like a moron. Won some games of 2v2 and horse with the gang when they’re trying to play. I’m actually being a little sporty on top of all this weirdness and I’m still trying to run at least twice a week. Sometimes 3. Though this week I was def lazy and only did 1. Ah well I’ll get back into the groove and shave off the last 15 pounds I want off eventually.

For now everyone is calling me beautiful and I feel beautiful and fun and I’m meeting people and it’s all so great. Everything is wonderful. I love everything I’m doing and it’s all so fascinating and weird and feels unique as fuck lol. Just when I thought I couldn’t get any weirder I definitely took another great big leap  😂

[whipashwhipash]

Southside Serpent-ess

Alice Cooper never left the Southside, and her daughter was best friends with a certain beanied boy when they were young. He leaves, and when he comes back to live with his foster parents, the two reunite. 

Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones were inseparable. As young kids they would play with each other every single day. They were both outsiders. Even though their parents we’re both the top of the food chain with the Southside Serpents, they both seemed to be going down a different route. Betty had high blonde pigtails, and had a bright pink leather jacket the only one she wore because she refused to wear all of the black ones like her mothers, over her yellow sun overalls. Jughead always wore the beanie that Betty wore during her knitting phase. He was quiet and liked reading, unlike his father and every other serpent. 

They both went to Southside Middle School together. They sat at the back of the bus in silence everyday. Him with his books, and her just staring outside of the dirty bus window. 

When they were 5, FP left. That meant that Jughead had to leave the Southside and go live with another family on the other sides of the tracks. He was only allowed to spend two minutes with her before he had to leave with his new family. 

11 years later, the two best friends still haven’t seen each other, but his long lost best friend never left his mind. Jughead has transferred to many different foster homes and group homes, each feeling less and less like home then the one before. Jughead waited impatiently for his social worker to tell him where he is going to be living next. He knew the drill. He would go to his new home, and when they realized who he was, they would kick him out for the next family to come and take him. But this one, he was hopeful for.

“You’ll be staying with the Redlands. In the Southside.” she said, holding a folder with all of his past foster homes. 

Jughead took a huge sigh, and with a smile crossing on his lips she started talking again. “That means you will be transferring schools again. Now, you will be going to,” Jughead closed his eyes looking at his hands, praying for Southside High, “Southside High.”

Jughead looked up and smiled, not saying anything. He knew that if Betty Cooper was still on the Southside, she would be at that school. With him. Again. He was so excited he couldn’t stand it. He knew that it was Sunday, and he would be moving in later that day, so he wouldn’t be able to (possibly) see her until Monday. 

He got up and went back to his old foster home and packed his things into his large camping bag. It felt like all the air that was in his lungs was released. He finally got to leave the hell hole. He got to go back to where he belonged and blend in. 

When he left the house he felt like he was free. He could do anything he wanted because he was no longer cooped up in a house that treated him like a dog. Maybe the family on the Southside would be able to relate to him more. Maybe they even knew who FP or Betty is. 

As he walked back over the tracks, he felt like he was at home. The dirty air and sandy earth filled his lungs like nothing has before. He took a few more steps before reaching his new home. He knocked on the door and a dirty-blonde middle aged woman opened the door with a warm smile. 

“Hi! You must be Jughead. I’m Elyse. Come on in.” she said, opening the door. Jughead walked in and took a look around at the neat and tidy entryway of his new home. She showed his around the clean house and ended up in his new dark blue bedroom. 

He dumped his backpack on the blue queen size bed and decided that he would skip dinner and get to bed. 

“Hey Elyse? Is it okay if I just go to bed? I want to make sure I get enough energy for tomorrow. You know, first day of school and such.” he said, sitting down on the edge of his first real bed. 

“Of course, whatever you need. I’ll make sure we have breakfast tomorrow morning for you. Have a nice sleep Jughead.” she said, with a small smile on her face. She slowly closed the door behind her leaving Jughead in the dimly lit blue-themed bedroom.

The next morning Jughead was woken up by the sound of his alarm coming from his phone. He got up and walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. He stepped in and washed his hair and body before getting out and finishing getting ready.

He walked down the creaky wood stairs with the smell of bacon and waffles filling his nostrils. He quickly grabbed his phone and texted Archie saying that he’ll meet him at Pop’s after school.

After a delicious breakfast, courtesy of Elyse, he headed out the door and walked until he reached his new school. Southside High. 

He walked through the front doors and was unpleasantly surprised when he saw security patting down kids. He waited his turn and passed through the security with ease. He found his locker and then found his classes.

He felt like the teachers were stuck in molasses they were talking so slowly. A second in one of his first two period classes felt like an hour. Finally, the bell rang for lunch. He grabbed his stuff and bolted out of the classroom to the cafeteria. He grabbed his lunch and sat down at an empty table. A bunch of other rough looking guys came and sat down at his table. Jughead at first was intimidated, but they were actually cool guys.

“So Jones, got any girls on you mind?” the guy in the leather jacket asked. 

Another guy, wearing a blue and grey hoodie, wolf whistled, which made all the guys at the table turn their heads. Including Jughead. “Speaking of girls...” he started, but Jughead didn’t hear the rest.

She was beautiful. She was wearing black ripped jeans and a Pink Leather Jacket with the Southside Serpents logo on the back. She was wearing black leather combat boots and her blonde wavy hair was in a half-up half-down look, which reached her waist, right above her butt. And what an ass it was. She turned around and all the colour rushed out of Jughead’s face.

Betty Cooper.

She was even more attractive then when they were little. She had light eyeshadow on her lids, dark eyeliner and thick mascara on her long eyelashes. Her lips were tinted a dark red and she had light pink blush on the apples of her cheeks. 

Her greenish/blueish eyes met his dark ones and a smile grew on her face. She started to walk over to Jughead’s table and all of the boys at his table looked at Jughead in shock. 

Betty’s boots hit the tiled floor with loud thuds, making the whole cafeteria look her way. She ended up in front of Jughead, one eyebrow lifted, sitting on one of her hips and arms crossed. 

“Well I’ll be darned. Jughead Jones. I was wondering when you’d turn up again.” she said, her soft velvet voice making Jughead stare at her beautiful face. She sat down next to him, making Jughead’s stare end. 

“Hey, Betty Cooper. Long time no see.” he said, turning so they were facing each other. He knew that everyone’s eyes were on them, but he couldn’t care less. All that was on his mind was his beautiful blonde best friend that he hasn’t seen in forever. 

“So, want to catch up later? Pop’s then movie night at my trailer?” she asked, pulling her hair up into her ponytail like she sometimes did when they were little. 

“I’m meeting Archie Andrew’s there after school. Wanna come with me? Then we can head back to your trailer.” he said, playing with one of his suspenders. 

“Sure, sounds good. I’ve heard of Andrews. Football player right?” she asked, cracking her knuckles.

“Yeah. He’s my best friend- well second best friend, after you of course.” he said, and he noticed that her cheeks and neck started to redden. 

“So we’re still best friends? After all this time?” she asked, looking down at her hands.

“Of course. I never forgot about you. Remember? I love you.” he said, grabbing her hands with his.

“Yeah, yeah. I love you too Jones.” she said, finally building up the courage to look at him. 

He finally noticed that everyone was staring at them. They have all witnessed the daughter of the leader and the new kid confess their love for each other in the middle of the cafeteria.

And they weren’t mad at all.

[ethanalter]

‘Orphan Black’ Recap: What’s It All About, Alison?

Tatiana Maslany as Alison Hendrix in BBC America’s ‘Orphan Black’ (Photo Credit: BBC America)

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the “Beneath Her Feet” episode of Orphan Black.

Who are you, Alison Hendrix? Of all the surviving Clone Club sisters, this suburban homemaker has always seemed the least fully-formed in terms of her identity. If you were to describe the core four clones in Beatles terms, Sarah’s the Rebellious One, Cosima’s the Smart One, Helena’s the Crazy One, and Alison is… the Crafty One? The Stable One? The Pill-Popping One? Take your pick. The fact that she defies easy categorization is at once both a sign of her complexity and her confusion. Whatever personal journey she pursued early on in her life came to a halt when she traded rings with Donnie and she moved to a picture-perfect suburb, where she acquiesced to the community’s unspoken demand that she create and maintain the picture perfect family. Her own growth has been stunted in favor of what other people want from her.

It’s taken five seasons, but Alison is finally realizing how much she’s been shortchanged. “Beneath Her Feet,” then, becomes her declaration of independence. By the end of Season 5’s third hour, Alison has walked away from her neighbors, her sisters, and even her husband because, like the song goes, she’s been to paradise, but she’s never been to me. As she emphasizes to Donnie, though, their separation isn’t permanent. Team Hendrix will reunite just as soon as Alison decides what her new identity on this dynamic duo will be.

Taking a long view, “Beneath Her Feet” is the first step in Orphan Black co-creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson’s stated master plan to pepper character-based clone episodes into a season that also has to wrap up the show’s elaborate mythology. And it’s a strong way to begin that initiative, using flashbacks to pre-Season 1 events as a way to underline how Alison arrives at this point, in the present day, where she realizes she has to evolve or die. The episode even digs up the couple’s former friends, Chad (Eric Johnson) and Aynsley (Natalia Lisinka), the former of whom she slept with, while the latter she inadvertently killed.

Both of those actions resulted in the destabilization of another suburban nuclear family — a fallout that Alison hasn’t had to confront for some time. And Chad never does learn about her involvement in his wife’s death; just as she’s on the verge of owning up to the crime, he mansplains her confession away. But admitting it to herself is almost more important that admitting it to him. It’s all part of a past that she needs to take one last long look at, and then bury for good.

Maslany as Rachel Duncan in BBC America’s ‘Orphan Black’ (Photo Credit: BBC America)

Speaking of buried history, Alison’s not the only accidental murderer whose victim is exhumed in this episode. For four seasons now, the decaying body of former Dyad head, Dr. Leekie — the man that was on the receiving end of Donnie’s misfired bullet back in Season 2 — has lain beneath the concrete in the Hendrix garage. And that’s exactly where a determined Elyse and a reluctant Art, acting on the orders of Rachel, start to dig when a search of the Hendrix house proves empty of evidence of the cops’ actual target, the still-missing Helena.

With Donnie’s crime about to be exposed, Alison takes it upon herself to confess on his behalf to Rachel, bringing along Leekie’s remains as evidence. Believe it or not, it’s the first-ever in the flesh encounter between these particular sisters in the history of the show, and Alison walks away the winner, disposing of the only leverage Dyad had over them without sacrificing Helena in the process. Her selfless actions bring Rachel’s recent winning streak to an abrupt conclusion, and the two face each other on equal footing. “I should like to put my hands around your neck and squeeze,” Rachel snarls, to which Alison has the perfect reply ready to go: “Then we’re not so different, you and I.” After that encounter, is it any wonder why we’ve reshuffled the clone power rankings?

1) Alison In the wake of “Beneath Her Feet,” Alison has a definite Beatles identity: The Bad-Ass Clone. Not only does she have the strength to stare down Rachel, she courageously confronts her own misdeeds and bravely bids farewell to her “rock” Donnie to embark on a solo journey of self-discovery. We can’t wait to see who she’s become when she returns.

2) Helena Thanks to the kindness of friends, strangers and, now, nuns, Helena continues to evade Rachel’s grasp. The episode’s closing shot reveals her safely ensconced in an as-yet undisclosed sanctuary, furiously scribbling away in her journal. We’ll assume the nuns are meeting her unique dietary requirements.

3) Rachel The Neolution true believer was knocked down, but not out this week. For one thing, she’s slowly winning Kira to her side, introducing the girl to freaky genetically-altered mice who can shed their skin to avoid predators and, in general, being a calmer presence than her often-absent mother. Turning the kid against Sarah would be a victory sweet enough to make up for being outmaneuvered by Alison.

Skyler Wexler as Kira in BBC America’s ‘Orphan Black’ (Photo Credit: BBC America)

4) Sarah With Kira slipping from her grip, Sarah clings tightly to foster brother, Felix, even agreeing to pose for him while he indulges in his favorite pastime: painting in the buff. She may not have her daughter’s affection right now, but she’ll go home with a great piece of artwork.

5) Cosima Largely off-screen this week, Cosima’s primary job was to convince Alison to join the Clone Club in the flashback sequences. It’s a task that she failed to complete although, to be fair, you try explaining the mysteries of human cloning to someone tripping on magic mushrooms.

Non-Clone MVP: Donnie Here’s to the world’s greatest highlander husband not named Jamie Fraser. Having long since forsaken his Leekie-assigned role as Alison’s monitor, Donnie has instead given his wife the space to be herself, even if that means her no longer being with him.

Orphan Black airs Saturdays at 10 p.m. on BBC America.

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