#TK knows nothing about self preservation

[cowboytarlos]

I’m working on something. In it TK gets beat up.

Here’s what I’ve wrote.

I couldn’t stop myself. It’s fitting.

It’s staying.

[detectivecarlosreyes]

Academy Together, Friends Forever 8/10

Also on Ao3 

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Buck stares up at Carlos, confused as to why this near-stranger was yelling at him and was about to answer his question when the paramedic swats at Carlos’ hands, “Carlos! Let the man go.” She exclaims, forcing him to release his shirt so she can work on his wounds.

Judd appeared in his field of view, peering down at him in confusion before realisation dawns across his face. “Cap! You should come over here! Your boy Buck was the person crazy enough to go inside without any gear.”

He couldn’t hear Owen’s response over the paramedic muttering to herself about all the numerous cuts on his body as she attempts to stop them from bleeding. Maybe it was the blood loss or the lack of oxygen, but it takes Buck longer than it should have to get the paramedic’s attention to give her an important detail. Fumbling with the oxygen mask and leaving a smear of blood on the plastic, he manages to say, “I’m on- I’m on blood thinners.”

Buck watches her eyes widen in alarm before settling into a calm sense of urgency over this new information and she reaches for her radio intending to call for another RA unit. Before she even utters a word, Buck stops her. “That guy looks like he needs the one that’s already here as much as I do. Just wrap what you can and put me in the seat, then you can watch both of us.”

“Alright then, we’ve gotta go now.” Quickly wrapping a bandage along each arm, she carefully helps him to his feet just as Owen joins them, immediately tucking his shoulder under Buck’s other arm, causing him to hiss slightly.

“You okay?” He asks, concern clear in his voice.

Buck can help but smirk through the sting, “Yep no worries, I’ll be fine. Just need to get these wounds sealed and I’ll be good as new.”

“If you’re sure,” Owen says hesitantly as they settle him into the ambulance. “I’ll send TK to keep you company at the hospital.” Buck looks down at the blood already seeping through the bandage, but then throws on a reassuring smile to Owen and gives him a one-fingered salute as they close the doors.

Admittedly, by the time they rolled into the hospital he was feeling a little lightheaded, and when Michelle, as he learned her name was, gives him a no-nonsense look when they wheel up a second gurney to the ambulance for him, he doesn't argue knowing there was no point, and graciously accepts help onto it as he fights a wave of dizziness.

As it turns out, the doctor was less than impressed by his apparent lack of self-preservation, especially when she discovers that he had two deep, freely bleeding lacerations; one on the underside of his arm and the other high up on the side of his chest. He guessed that he must have gotten them pulling the man through the window. It would definitely explain why he was feeling so tired.

She had just finished stitching up the second wound and was moving onto sealing the nuisance cuts on his arms when TK found him. “Dude, seriously, we leave you for a couple of hours and this is what you manage to do!” He says this in exasperation, but Buck could hear a hint of fondness in there too.

TK takes a seat beside him and waits in comfortable silence as the doctor dresses the wounds, and then informs them both that they’ll keep him for a few hours of observation to ensure there were no other complications from the smoke inhalation or the wounds.

After she leaves Buck immediately turns to TK, in a bid to distract him from the situation. “So, guess who I saw today.” He then proceeds to tell TK all about his encounter with Carlos at the scene and how he was none too pleased with his daring rescue.

“I can see why you like him. He has that fierce protector vibe, a quality might I add that your ex did not have and something that I think could do you some good.” TK blushes, and lightly punches him in the arm claiming that he didn’t need Buck’s approval, which Buck agreed, he didn’t.

After further discussion on the topic, Buck manages to convince TK to call Carlos and set up a date. What he did not expect however was for TK to include him in said date to go to the movies.

“So, what you’re saying is that I’ll be third-wheeling.”

“Come on Buck, baby steps, I don’t even know what our relationship is yet. Besides I want you to properly meet Carlos before you go home.” Buck, of course, relents to put TK at ease under the guise of reluctance but secretly he did want to get to know TK’s new man.

** ** **

Carlos has had a day. It's his day off and yet somehow, he still manages to be working in some capacity. In this case, its responding and calling dispatch about a house fire while keeping a distraught wife and mother from re-entering the house and being a third potential casualty instead of two.

And then out of nowhere, this guy, the one that he met briefly in TK’s hospital room starts questioning him like he’s the reason the house was burning. As soon as the guy got the answers he was apparently looking for, he was running towards the flames. What normal person does that? Does this guy have a death wish? Like sure, as a cop, Carlos was used to running towards danger, but he was trained for that sort of thing. Who was this Buck guy to do just that?

Conflicting emotions bubbled deep in his belly as he keeps the woman company while they wait with bated breath for some sign that Buck managed to pull off the rescue. Mostly, he was angry at this civilian who recklessly went into a burning house to play hero and frustrated at his inability to help besides calling for help is at the forefront. Surprisingly, fear was also swirling around in there.

Fear that this guy, Buck, a friend to both TK and Captain Strand, who he’s never seen before, had willingly put himself in danger and might not make it out safely. And then Carlos will have to be the one to tell the two Strands that their friend had put his life above two strangers and paid for it. He prays that by some miracle that Buck manages to save the father and son.

And then all at once, the 126 was at the scene, and Buck had emerged soot-covered, carrying the father on his shoulders along the rooftop with the child clinging to him. Carlos can’t help but cheer internally only to watch the man slip and land heavily in a deathly still heap on the ground.

He’s ashamed to say that he uncharacteristically let his fear and frustration control his actions and finds himself yelling in the poor man’s face. Michelle rightfully put him in his place and he moved off, going instead to give his statement to one of his colleagues before heading home to change out of his smoke scented clothes.

What he did not expect barely an hour later is to get a call from TK saying that he was out of the hospital and wanted to go out for a movie and possibly dinner afterward. In light of the morning he just had, it was a welcome surprise and he agrees to pick up him and this friend that TK wanted him to meet.

The afternoon came quickly enough and before he knew it, Carlos was at TK’s house and TK was opening the door and dragging him inside only to discover--

“Buck?!”

The man in question had just rounded the corner, pulling on a jacket and looking as if the morning didn’t even happen. Out of the corner of his eye, Carlos could see TK looking between them questioningly before stepping back and grabbing Buck by the wrist and bringing him up to stand in front of Carlos.

He’s not normally the type to feel threatened by another guy being close to someone he wants to be in a relationship with, but he can’t help but feel a twinge of insecurity at seeing the closeness between Buck and TK as they stand side by side with their shoulder brushing. He can’t help it, especially when Buck is this beautiful and muscular guy, a total catch.

After their re-introduction, the three of them head to the cinema which wasn’t far away by car. It didn’t take them long to decide on a rom-com and Buck shooed TK and Carlos off to wait somewhere more comfortable while he waited in line, insisting on being the one to pay for the tickets.

Almost as soon as they were seated, TK rounds on him.

“What’s going on with you? You’ve been acting weird since you knew it was Buck that was coming with us.”

“What’s the deal between you two?” TK’s thinly veiled concern morphed into amusement and he laughs at the question.

“That’s what this is about?” TK gently takes his hand in his own and presses it to his lips, “Oh Carlos, first off, I promise you there’s nothing going on between me and Buck. I mean yeah, he’s a pretty guy but its never been like that. Buck is more of a brother than anything and I’m pretty sure I’m not his type.”

At hearing this, Carlos groans and lets his head drop onto TK’s uninjured shoulder, burying his face into TK’s jacket in embarrassment. “I’m an idiot, aren’t I?” He mumbles into the fabric.

TK lightly pats his knee comfortingly. “You’re a cute idiot but don’t worry about it, it’s not the first time someone has thought that. We just got really close when he lived with us and we went through the fire academy together.”

“He probably thinks I’m an asshole.” Says Carlos lifting his head from TK’s shoulder, feeling guilty for the way he’s been acting. TK hums in response before patting his knee once more and gets up as Buck starts making his way over from the ticket booth.

“I’m sure he doesn’t but if you want to clear the air or whatever you can talk to him while I go to the bathroom, okay?” somewhat relieved in not having to ask, Carlos gives TK a quick nod and then TK was walking away, giving Buck a playful elbow bump as he passes him on the way to the bathroom.

Buck took TK’s spot and passes Carlos his ticket, looking away with a slight frown before he turns back to Carlos, and then they’re both speaking at once.

“Look, man, I’m sorry about this morning—” “Buck I’m sorry about how--”

Carlos stops talking abruptly and gestures for Buck to continue, “It's just- I’ve had experience with showing up too late to a fire, and knowing that I had a chance to save them, well, I had to take that risk. So, I’m sorry if I came across as a dick.”

He shakes his head. “Buck, I don’t even know why you're apologising when I was the one who was yelling at you for saving two people. I think you scared me more than anything, this civilian who I know is friends with TK and his dad just went into a burning house. I was afraid of what I might have to tell them if you didn’t make it out.”

Buck for his part, nodded along with his explanation, realisation dawning across his face at what he was implying, and Carlos couldn’t help but wonder if the guy had even considered that fact. From the looks of it, he wasn’t sure that he had, which was kind of concerning, to say the least.

Buck then scrunched up his face in confusion. “Wait, so why were you apologising?”

“Honestly, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I thought there was something going on between you and TK, and I kind of felt threatened with whatever relationship we seem to have. But I am also really sorry about getting in your face this morning, that was shit of me especially considering you were injured.”

“Oh. Well, apology accepted. And I swear there is nothing going on between us.” He grins, “besides TK isn’t really my type.”  

Carlos laughed at that, “Yeah, TK pretty much said the same thing.”

“So, we’re cool?” Buck puts his hand out for him to shake and Carlos takes it gladly, happy to put the misunderstanding behind them. “Yeah, we’re cool.”

TK came back after that, smiling at the two of them before gesturing towards the concession stand eager to get popcorn and candy before the movie started. Conversation flowed much easier for the rest of the evening and Carlos can't help but feel the beginnings of a beautiful friendship.

Tag list: @buckleystrand @seaofashes @kingtxhalla @justsmilestuffhappens @diazbuckleysworld @diazsbuckley @confessions-of-a-shipperholic @spell-of-the-rain @novemberhush @black-forest-girl @bluebelle88 @adamngoodbuck @overtimeme @captain--sif @rachbabe007 

Let me know if you want to be added to the tags 😊💖

[puckinghell]

Wanna Bet | Travis Konecny

Summary Request: Omg Lou can you write something with the ”am I just a bet to you” storyline?! Word count: 4.2k Note: You guys asked for something with TK so here we are!

----

It’s kinda funny, how just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, hearing the wrong thing, can cause your entire world to fall to pieces. 

You weren’t meant to walk past the locker rooms. Being in the analytics department, you don’t have to actually be in the arena much, and when you do, you’re in the stands, watching players on the ice to access if the data you have on them is correct. 

A guy’s plus minus really only makes sense when you’ve seen the way he carries the puck, seen the way his legs pump as he skates. 

No, you never have to be in the locker rooms for your job, but today you decided to take the long way from your office to the ice. Just so you could walk past him. Just so maybe, you could accidentally bump into him, sneak a kiss before the game, wish him good luck.

Now all you wish is to disappear. 

The voices are a little far away but not muffled, as the door is slightly opened. It’s Ghost’s voice, that you hear first.

“I can’t believe you’re actually dating her, TK. And all because of some stupid bet!” 

Dating her. You. Travis is dating you, so they must be talking about you. Laughter fills the hallways; laughing about you. 

“I never lose a bet.” The voice is familiar, too familiar. Just last night that voice was soft in your ear, whispering all kinds of things he clearly had not meant.

A bet. 

There’s a heavy feeling in your stomach, like a rock settled in your intestines. The thing is, well, you’d known it was too good to be true. Why would a guy like Travis Konecny be interested in you? 

You weren’t WAG material. Weren’t even puck bunny material, really. You work in the analytics department, for God’s sake; you’re as nerdy as they get, love math and numbers, you even wear glasses, just to completely fit the stereotype. 

And you’re not skinny. Never have been; no matter how many times you used to skip dessert, there has always been a little soft pudge on your stomach, your thighs have always rubbed together when you walk. You don’t do that anymore, now, skip dessert; you deserve some chocolate every now and then, and you deserve a guy who doesn’t care.

You hadn’t expected to find that guy in the Philadelphia Flyers locker room, but then Travis had shown up and you’d thought, stupidly, maybe...

The very first time you’d shown up at practice, when someone was showing you around after having just been hired, it had been Claude who first said hi. Captain’s duty, and all that. But it had been Travis that made you feel a little less nervous about all these big, bulky dudes, who seemed to slide on the dangerous knife shoes like they’d never walked before; he skated up to you, softly bumped into your shoulder and said: “Don’t let my numbers fool you. I’m an important locker room guy” before dumping his water bottle over Oskar Lindblom’s head.

Ever since then, he’d always been sure to make a little small talk when you were around. Sometimes, his comments had been borderline flirty: “Saw that goal? That was for you” and “Can you believe I missed that pass? Totally your fault for distracting me” but most of the time you talked about mundane things like the never ending snow and what restaurants were good for steak. 

You never expected anything to come of it, though. Perhaps Travis was just one of those kinda guys that couldn’t talk to anyone without flirting. Or maybe he was just taking pity on you. He couldn’t mean it; not when you were you, and he was him. You might as well be from a different planet. 

But then, one day, he’d skated over to the boards where you were standing, sent you a wide grin and asked; “Will you go to dinner with me? On a date?” 

You’d nearly dropped your clipboard and you’d definitely dropped your jaw, but then you’d stumbled a “yes” and stared after him as he skated away. For a solid hour, you figured it must’ve been a joke or maybe Travis had taken a puck to the head and was so concussed he mistook you for someone else, but then he’d texted you a time and date and suddenly it was all very real.

It was so easy, then, to fall in love with him. Between lame jokes and broad grins and the way his hand was always resting on your back, you couldn’t stop yourself from falling for him, even though you tried to convince yourself that was a bad idea. It was so easy to forget it was doomed to end badly when all Travis ever did was say the right thing.

It was a bit like walking on a bridge you know is gonna collapse, and now, it’s collapsed. 

I never lose a bet.

“I’m just a bet.” You don’t mean to say the words out loud but they fall from your lips before you can stop them, and apparently they’re louder than they sound to your own ears because suddenly the locker room goes very quiet.

You don’t get drunk a lot, but you know what it’s like to be very, very drunk; it’s like the world is a bit fuzzy, sounds are a bit muffled, and all you can focus on is the feeling of your heart beating, the way your tongue lays in your mouth, how heavy your feet feel against the earth. 

All you’ve had to drink today is coffee but you feel like that, now.

“Y/N?” The voice is familiar but it’s not Travis; you’re met with Carter, a worried look on his face as he sticks his head out the door. 

Beside Travis, Carter is the only guy on the team who really ever takes the time to talk to you. At first it was all just polite small talk, but then you found out you both liked the same TV shows and now you talk all the time. Carter is a complete sweetheart, would never hurt a fly, and that’s why it’s so hard for you to believe he knew this.

But you know, when you catch his eyes and there’s nothing but pity in them. He knew it was all a lie. 

Carter steps aside, then, and Travis comes flying out the door, his eyes wide and mouth slightly slack. 

“I’m just a bet.” You say it more forcefully because that’s the only way you can think of to make this make more sense. It doesn’t feel true, especially when Travis looks at you with clear panic written across his features.

If he didn’t care, why would he panic?

“Babe,” he starts, his voice a little scratchy, but he doesn’t say anything else and so you do the only thing you can think of doing. 

“Are we dating cause you want to win a bet?” 

Travis stares at you, swallows heavily. 

Please say no. Please don’t let these last three months of my life be a waste of time. Please don’t make a fool out of me. Please say no. 

“Yes, but...” 

That’s all you need to hear; you need to get out of here before the tears that are threatening to well up in your eyes find their way out, before you lose that last sliver of dignity you might still have left. 

“I don’t ever want to see you again,” you choke out, and then you’re pushing past Carter and out of the hallway, out of the arena, until the cold wind hits you in the face as you fumble with the lock of your car. 

You should’ve known better. Should’ve learned from the last time.

---

You were 14 years old, an awkward teenager with few friends and no sense of self-preservation. You were sitting in the canteen on your own, eating lunch, because your only friend at the time had called in sick that day. 

If she was there, you don’t think David would’ve approached you.

David was the cutest guy in school, and not just because he was the tallest. He had nice dark curls and sharp green eyes, and he was the captain of the football team. He always walked around with a bunch of guys following him around like lost puppies, and he was endlessly cool.

You, were not. You were part of the drama club, you excelled in math and the braces you had hadn’t managed to make your teeth look any smaller so far, and you were used to people snickering behind your back when you walked past. 

Of course you had a crush on David. Everyone had a crush on David. And the fact that he’d never actually made fun of you made that you allowed yourself that crush; it was just to look, just from afar. 

Until he came up to you, that day, his posse of friends in tow, and smiled.

“Hey, Y/N, you wanna maybe go watch a movie with me on Friday?” 

Everything inside you screamed ‘danger’, wanted to say no and run away. But something, just a little sliver of hope, stopped you from doing that. The part of you that watched too many romcoms and read too many Nicolas Sparks books wondered if maybe miracles still happened. That part of you said yes.

As soon as you said the word, David’s friends had started laughing.

“Dude, she actually believed you!” one of them laughed. “I guess I owe you 20 bucks, man.” 

“Thanks, Y/N,” David said, shrugging his shoulders. “Matt said you wouldn’t believe me if I asked, he thought you would know that guys like me don’t date girls like you. Guess he’s even dumber than he looks and you just made me 20 bucks!” 

He left and you ran off to cry in the bathroom, but you learned one thing that day.

Guys like that didn’t date girls like you. And that part of you that still believed in fairytales needed to be locked up in a box somewhere and never let out, because that part of you would kill you, if you let it.

---

You tried, to lock that part away, and you’d managed. Until Travis had looked at you with honest brown eyes and a little smile and you’d thrown away everything you had worked so hard for.

What good had that done. 

When you were 14 you locked yourself up in the bathroom until your mom came to pick you up from school. This time you lock yourself in your apartment and eat an entire box of cookies while you watch Property Brothers and cry yourself to sleep at night. The next day, you call in sick to work and watch Gilmore Girls and order Chinese.

It’s maybe not the healthiest way to deal with things but it’s a way, and it works. Well, not really; you still feel like shit, but it works enough that you find the strength to ignore your phone buzzing and eventually shut it off without looking at it.

You turn it back on in the evening and don’t respond to all the missed messages and calls - mostly from Travis, but a few from Carter too - and fall asleep listening to Adele. 

It’s not easy but you’ve gone through a lot in your life and you won’t let yourself be miserable over something like this for too long. If anything, this has just taught you that same lesson you learned when you were 14.

Guys like that, girls like you, etcetera etcetera. This time, you’re gonna remember. This time, you’re gonna know better. 

Every now and then you think of Travis, wonder what he got out of this bet and what exactly he bet on.

Did he bet on getting you to believe a guy like him could be interested in you, like David? Or was it more? How many dates was he obliged to go on to win the bet? Was the sex part of the bet or was that just because you were there and it was easy? Why had he been so nice, if it was part of the bet?

You try not to think about it. It gets easier when Travis stops texting and calling you. You haven’t read any of his texts, or listened to his voicemails. In fact, you barely touch your phone, nowadays. 

When you go to work, you avoid the guys on the team at all costs, and it’s easier than you thought it would be. You sit high in the stands and write in your notebook and try to not feel your heart sink in your chest when you see Konecny on your paper. 

It’s fine, you can manage. You’re an adult and you will move on with life and forget about these three months ever happening. You promise yourself you will and you seem to do okay.

Until one day you come home and you find Nolan Patrick sitting on the floor in front of your apartment door, two take away cups in his hands.

“What are you doing here?” you ask, crossing your arms. You know Nolan hasn’t technically done anything to you but he’s Travis’ best friend and therefor he is guilty by association. Also, he’s always been nice to you and that was clearly all fake, so fuck him for that, too. 

“Oh, hi!” Nolan scrambles up when he spots you, extends one cup towards you. “I brought coffee. Hazelnut latte, one sugar and some cinnamon.” 

You frown, and he seems to understand your question, cause he shrugs.

“Teeks remembered your coffee order.” 

You almost ask him why; why would Travis remember your coffee order if he clearly didn’t care about you at all, but you don’t ask him that because why would he tell you the truth? Instead you take the coffee, open your apartment door and step inside without saying anything.

You let the door fall behind you, but before it can click into the lock Nolan has put his foot in front of it, and then he slips into your apartment.

“Nice place,” he says, as if it’s not super weird that he’s here, and then he flops down onto the couch.

“Right, sit down, make yourself at home,” you snap sarcastically; you grab your mail and start sorting through it, more because you don’t know what else to do than because you actually wanna know what mail you have.

Why is Nolan here?

“You must wanna know why I’m here,” Nolan speaks, as if he can read your mind.

You don’t remind him that’s the first question you asked. 

“I’m here,” Nolan continues, seemingly unbothered by your cold shoulder, “because you deserve to know the truth, and you won’t answer the phone so Teeks can tell you himself. Which I don’t blame you for, cause, you know, if he did what you think he did I would’ve kicked his ass myself.”

What you think he did?

“But,” Nolan crosses his arms now, seems genuinely offended, “you’re mad at Hartsy, really? You can’t be mad at Hartsy. That’s like being mad at a puppy. Or a bunny. Or anything else that’s super cute and impossible to be mad at.” 

“He knew and he didn’t tell me.” You didn’t mean to break your silence but you’ve got a soft spot for Carter and, to be honest, it’s almost been harder to ignore him than it has been to ignore Travis.

At least with Travis, you know what happened. He thought you were pathetic and it would be funny to turn you into a joke.

With Carter, it’s not so clear. Did he actually like you? Did he think Travis’ bet was funny? Or did he secretly disapprove but just not find it important enough to stand up for you? Or, maybe, did he try to stand up for you, but Travis didn’t listen?

You know you shouldn’t allow yourself to hope for that last option but you can’t help it.

Nolan rolls his eyes. “Hartsy didn’t know shit, all he knows is that Teeks is stupidly in love with you and that you’re good for him. He said that once, you know. That Teeks should never let you go because you’re good for him.” Nolan looks a bit sad as he said it, his face pulled into a pained expression.

It might be because of the way your face drops at his words.

Teeks is stupidly in love with you.

“He’s not,” you manage to bring out. “In... into me. It was all just a joke.” 

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.” Nolan shakes his head, then takes a sip of his coffee. “Y/N, can I be honest? I don’t know you very well. I think you’re a great girl, but I don’t know you enough to care about your feelings.” 

Well, ouch. The truth hurts.

“I have no reason to be here and lie to you.” 

You have to admit he has a point there. If Travis genuinely doesn’t care, why would Nolan be here? It’s not like you’ve ever even held a proper conversation with Nolan. He’s always just been Travis’ roommate, Travis’ best friend, Travis’ teammate.

“So why are you here?” you dare ask him, and he smiles, a little smugly.

“Cause I have a story about a bet, and I think you’d like to hear it.” 

---

It’s weird, to be back at Travis’ apartment. Nolan’s footsteps are heavy in the empty hallway; he’s walking a good meter in front of you and you don’t try to catch up to him because with every step you take it’s like you sink deeper into the floor.

“Come on,” Nolan says, impatiently. He takes his keys out of his pocket and opens the door to their apartment.

Your heart is beating so fast you can feel it all the way in your throat.

“Ooooh Teeks!” he calls out, annoyingly chipper. “TK! I have a surprise for you!” 

“Is it Thai? If it’s not Thai I don’t want it.” 

Travis sounds tired but he sounds so familiar, so like Travis, and it washes over you like a comfort blanket, fills you with warmth from the inside out. 

“You’re really gonna regret saying that,” Nolan answers, and then he suddenly steps behind you and pushes you into the living room.

The second Travis’ eyes meet yours, all the blood drains from his face and his eyes widen almost comically. Within a second he’s standing up, the xBox controller falling onto the floor; his hands are in the air like he’s going to reach out for you, but then they drop to his sides and his jaw clenches.

“Y/N,” he says softly. “Are you here to get your stuff?” 

Nolan has made himself scarce very discreetly and now that it’s just you and Travis, you suddenly don’t remember how to talk. 

It’s silent, for a solid five seconds - but it feels like 50 years - before your brain starts working again. It’s Nolan’s voice, that you hear in the back of your head, and then your own, as if one voice is fighting with the other. 

Teeks is stupidly in love with you. 

I’m just a bet.

Stupidly in love with you.

Just a bet. 

“What was the bet?” you burst out. It might not be the right way, might be too sudden or too harsh, and there’s not really a reason for you to ask; Nolan has already told you.

But you wanna hear Travis say it. You need to hear Travis say it. 

Travis’ face crumples, his eyebrows knot together and his eyes drop to the floor. It looks as if it pains him to speak, but he speaks.

“It was so dumb, Y/N. You have to believe me, I never meant... I didn’t want this to happen. I’m sorry.” 

You swallow; there’s a lump in your throat that seems to be stuck there, that’s in the way of your vocal chords, but you just manage to repeat the words.

“What was the bet you made, Travis?” 

Travis inhales sharply, and then looks up. His eyes are staring intently into yours when he answers. 

“Ghosty bet me I wouldn’t dare to ask you out.” 

“Why?” you ask. “Why would he think that?” 

There’s a lot of answers you’re expecting, all of which allude to the same thing; you’re not good enough for him. 

You’re not pretty enough. Not fun enough. Not thin enough. Not charming enough. 

“Because you’re way out of my league and I would’ve looked stupid if I asked and you said no.” 

It’s like everything inside you deflates, at that point; your shoulders sag and you release a breath you didn’t know you were holding. 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah,” says Travis. “Oh.” He sighs and then takes a step closer, a little one, very tentatively; as if he’s afraid you’re gonna turn around and run, if he moves too much. “I know it’s stupid, but I hate losing bets and the boys know that, so whenever they want me to do something I don’t wanna do, or in this case, am too afraid to do, they tell me that I can’t and I bet them that I can. They were all getting a bit sick of me pining after you so Ghosty thought, if he just said I couldn’t ask you out...” 

“Then you would bet that you could,” you finish his sentence.

Oh God. You’d gotten it so wrong.

“So,” you continue, softly, “they didn’t bet you to ask me out as a joke. Because they thought it would be funny if a guy like you asked out a girl like me.” 

The skin around Travis’ eyes crinkles as he frowns. “What does that even mean?” he asks. 

“Because you’re really hot, and really great, and I’m really nerdy, and not very pretty. And I’m not good enough for you.” 

Travis’ breath stutters as he hears you speak. “That’s.... insane,” he brings out, stammering. “Y/N, if anything, I’m not good enough for you. You’re so gorgeous, and so smart, and you look at numbers and see a Stanley Cup winning team and I struggle to hit a piece of rubber with a big stick. I couldn’t keep up with you even if I tried.” 

He takes a bigger step towards you, now, your words seemingly giving him a bit of courage. 

“I’m sorry for making you think all of this was based on a lie,” he mumbles, and he carefully takes your hand in his, lacing his fingers through yours as his thumb traces lines across your knuckles. “But I promise you, it’s not like that. None of this was fake to me. I wanted to ask you out long before I got the guts to do it and I’ve been happy about taking that bet ever since.” He takes a deep breath. “I love you. And that has nothing to do with any dumb bet.” 

Your heart leaps; he’s never said that before, and neither have you. You’ve felt it, sure, but there was always something inside you wondering if it was too soon, if you were just asking for trouble by saying it. 

But there’s nothing but honest truth in Travis’ brown eyes, now, and suddenly you’re not afraid anymore. 

“I love you too,” you say, and the words aren’t out of your mouth yet or Travis’ lips are on yours.

His hands are firm on your waist as he tugs you closer, and it’s like you can’t feel anything but him, everywhere, and it’s like everything that happened before has been forgotten.

Until he pulls away, both of you gasping for air, and you remember something else.

“Oh my God, I have to call Carter back,” you mumble against Travis’ shirt; he’s pulled you flat against him and nestled his face in your shoulder, meaning you’re now being smothered by his chest.

There are worse ways to go.

Travis laughs lightly, his breath hot against your neck. 

“Really?” he says. “I kiss you for the first time in two weeks and you think of Hartsy?” 

“I’ve been ignoring him, and that’s not fair, cause he, oh...” you break off as Travis presses a kiss to the sensitive skin on your neck, “cause he’s a great friend and... Trav!” The last part comes out as more of a whine and Travis chuckles.

“Hartsy can wait another hour, babe.” He starts pressing kisses along your jaw and you groan, lightly shoving against his shoulder.

“Trav, I gotta call Carter and...” You bite your lip to stop yourself from moaning as his teeth scrape across your skin “and I don’t know what you think you’re doing but you’re not getting me naked within the first hour of getting back together!” 

“No?” Travis pulls away, one eyebrow raised, and there’s a smug look on his face. His hands slowly travel to your back, fingers sliding below your shirt, and despite your best efforts, you can’t stop yourself from shivering. 

“Hmm,” Travis hums, right before he kisses you again. 

“Wanna bet?” 

[luverofsupernatural]

Okay. I acknowledge that my writing is not as bad as I think it is. Because I have read and re-read it so many times. I crafted sentences out of thin air. I changed scene dynamics with a single turn of phrase. Yes, no action may happen. But I make my characters deal with complex emotions.

Take Jackie for example. I had him lose his powers and then try and suck-it-up and accept that he was just going to be a regular civilian without giving him the space to grieve. Or to acknowledge that even if part of him likes the idea, it doesn't know what to do now since Jackie has never really been idle before.

Or Jameson. He's always seen as their baby brother, no matter what. They want to try and encourage him for the small things, but they constantly underestimate how he actually is. He may not have thrown himself into danger like the rest of them, but being that different, he has to have a thick shell in order to survive. He knows how to fight (thanks to Jackie), how to care for others (in part, based on Chase and his kids), and how to talk about hard things (because of big brother Henrik). He knows how to be a human and adult. It's easier/safer with his brothers, but they just.... don't understand him like they should. And right now, he thinks he loves Emma, but what even is love? Because what he feels is nothing like what his brothers have described, or what movies show it as.

And Chase? Well, he is trying to recover from a depressive episode and suicide attempt. And his brothers are so timid around him and babying him with small tasks. He admits, the small tasks are great, but if he were to say "I don't have the energy today" to even go out on a walk, they wouldn't come back with "just, brush your teeth today. Don't want tooth decay." No, they'd go on about how it's simple, he'll feel better afterwards. If he's lucky, one of them would actually accompany him on the walk. But more than that, he's hiding the fact that he knows what happened to his kids ((and I actually have tk rewrite a bit, since J thought of this at ch 20)). He knows they are dead, but absolutely cannot tell his family. Why? Well, maybe he feels ashamed that he couldn't save them. Or maybe he thinks they'll pity him even more. Or maybe, maybe he doesn't want to believe it true. ((I haven't actually figured out why)). But he can't suppress his grief always. And when he does, the others don't understand it. They feel like he's overreacting or just being lazy. But he was like this before he learned of their deaths. it's made it worse, but he's still the same person struggling to even live normally again. And now Jackie is trying to be a martyr, and Jameson almost got killed, and he can't accept more loss because it'll destroy him again. It already opened his tightly kept grief box wide-open so that now he can't hide it anymore.

And Henrik. He's always a sourpuss, off-putting, and a hard person to love. Maybe he thinks that's easier. But when no one is looking, he has all the love in the world for his family. Because he can't dare show he loves them. They're loud, demanding, naive, screwed up, and have this sense of 'lets save the world' instead of basic self-preservation. But he'll be their caretaker. It's literally what he's done his entire life. To not have that would be like a part of Henrik is missing. But, he tries to remind himself of the human aspect in all of this. They get hurt, and cry, and need support, and someone to snuggle and say they love them. And Henrik is great- he's fantastic at making sure they have their basic needs met and he can be a rock for them to lean against. But he's never been great at the soft emotional side. Maybe because he never had a chance to just cry for himself unless he was alone. Or felt like he had to be the strong stoic rock. He can't say I love you. Because that's too much mush. So he says "eat your food, drink your water" because then they are cared for and looked after.

And Marvin? Well, let's just say he's been manipulated his entire life. He doesn't know how to trust. Only trust himself and his powers.

[woodlandcinnamonroll]

Ramble about the Jerrys

Hello!! I am the queen of reading between the lines and connecting things that aren’t there or don’t matter in the slightest. So please bear with me here, because I would like to go over a few things that have been running through my tiny mind as of late. (I warn you now, there is rambling) For a side-line character/s  I adore the Jerrys… They are such an oddity that I can’t help but be drawn to them and believe me, I understand it if some people don’t like him. I found their role interesting when it came to the overall story, mostly because I can’t tell if they are deviant or not deviant at all. I believe that we do see a few Jerrys rally at Markus’s speech after Jericho falls. (I believe it’s in the chapel?) They are seen cheering along with the others, and I’m sure that these androids involved are deviant… However, I don’t know if the Jerrys model was used to pack out the crowd to make it look full and variant. He’s a small character, and I don’t think it would matter to the story if they needed to do this. I only question Jerrys Deviant nature, because he is just a little more robotic than the other androids. Sure, he’s got an adorkable smile and a wonderful little jump of joy, but this could be the programming used at the park… After all, the Jerrys were used to hype up the children and give them a fun experience. Some points might prove that they are deviant, for they do show signs of self-preservation against the humans wanting to hurt them for fun, though I strongly doubt that they would retaliate… something about them screams pacifist in my opinion. Perhaps the first Jerry who speaks with Kara is indeed a deviant… maybe the first to turn after seeing the park close and his fellow Jerrys attacked by humans? We will never know because it’s not important to the main story. The Jerrys are part of a surveillance system and hivemind so it would make sense if one were to go deviant, then the others might follow. But there are small signs that make the Jerrys feel very robotic. At the recycling (Concentration camp) Jerry is greeted by Kara. At first, Jerry looks almost blankly back at her, probably drawing upon the surveillance information shared by other Jerrys to recognise her from their collective experience. If one Jerry has met Kara, then all of them have. (Hivemind is useful for security after all) Although it is a useful option in the game, The Jerrys are all a little too self-sacrificing for them to feel like a fully free android. I do understand that they are lovely through and through and would probably wish to keep others safe, much like Luther being just as self-sacrificing, however, he has more of a connection to Alice and Kara, and it feels more human for him to do this. I have a small theory that the Jerrys might be less complex then the characters we grow to love (or hate, depending on play) We first see a Jerry serving Marcus at the paint shop. So, we can tell that the use of Jerrys isn’t exclusively to pander to children… but it does make sense to have them serve in a store. They are inoffensive and have inbuilt security systems… how useful! They aren’t there to be a fancy android with multiple functions, they are there to do small work and keep an eye on things… and this could be why they were left to rot at the park. They were left to the whim of nature and the humans that used to visit after the closing to hurt them for fun. The company didn’t bother to sell on its parks androids… this might be because it wasn’t worth the time or the money or potentially there could have been a legal tie up somewhere… (Tedious stuff)   So the Jerrys are more or less… worthless (I know, it’s sad and I still love them) There are android boxes with (TK 400) printed on the side and I think it’s clearly the Jerrys model number due to no other androids working there. And let’s face it, the Jerrys are perfect! Lost child? No worries, Jerry saw them 30 seconds ago at the restaurant. No need to worry. (We see this with Alice) Maybe the TK 400 series is outdated and simplistic... bought by a company who might be looking to find the cheapest androids to run a dodgy park that eventually had to close due to lack of visitors or dodgy finances… The humans might not care for the theme park, but the Jerrys do. What does all this mean? Nothing really… but I do love to look behind the curtain of these things to see if I can make something out of it. In conclusion!!! I have doubts about the Jerrys being fully deviant due to the simple nature of their model (possibly old series) Though I don’t think it’s really important.

[vulptilla]

My actual oc page has been under construction since forever, so I promised to make some kind of an introduction post for my canon trio.

Long story short, meet my precious all-mage panel. From left to right, there is a disaster bisexual blood mage Faenel Amell, another disaster bisexual blood mage Katla Hawke & the most purest cinnamon roll Iliana Trevelyan, a former Tranquil who has done nothing wrong in her entire life. Behind the links you will find their own specific tags cluttered with art, screenshots, memes and various other stuff about them. 

Katla and Iliana even have their own faux Wiki pages, commissioned from the most awesome @tk-duveraun​. <3

Their “short” bios can be found under the cut. 

(Oh, and now when I remember, this is probably the best time to mention that I’m also up for all kinds of rp and other oc interaction stuff, too.)

Faenel is a former Circle mage who never particularly enjoyed his life in the tower, but he didn’t hate it either, at least not enough to attempt escape. He was always interested in studying blood magic (purely academically, of course), but nevertheless he was surprised to learn that Jowan, his best friend and occasional lover, had dabbled in it. He knew he should have known better, but still agreed to help He knew he should have known better, but still agreed to help Jowan and Lily with their plan—and as we know, everything went downhill from there.

Under different circumstances he even may have not agreed with being recruited for the Grey Wardens, but in his rather hopeless situation he didn’t even consider refusing Duncan. In retrospect, getting away not only from the tower but also from the Knight-Commander’s wrath was the second best thing that had ever happened to him.

The best was meeting Morrigan. He became fascinated with her intelligence, sharp wit and overall unique way of thinking, but unfortunately he was such a selfish prick back then. When Morrigan asked him to slay Flemeth, he agreed to do it, but when Flemeth offered him a way out of it, he took it and lied Morrigan about it. He didn’t expect it would matter, not until he agreed to perform Morrigan’s ritual with her. He didn’t care anything else than surviving the upcoming battle, and he was mighty fine with knowing that Morrigan would leave afterwards. 

After the battle Morrigan was indeed gone and Faenel was the celebrated Hero of Ferelden. He spent a couple of months in Denerim court as a honor guest of newly crowned King Alistair and Queen Anora. For a short period of time he truly enjoyed all those luxuries and privileges he had, but soon he realised that everything tasted like ashes. He felt empty inside and didn’t really like the person he had become during his time in the court. His past deeds and aloofness haunted him, and after carefully planning everything, he left the capital to begin his search for Morrigan. He had realised that he actually wanted to be part of his unborn child’s life. 

He found Morrigan and they spent a couple of years together with the baby Kieran, until he finally told the truth about Flemeth. Morrigan wasn’t *that* angry with him (basically meaning that she didn’t murder him at the spot), acknowledging that she might have done the same, but it didn’t change the fact that Flemeth being alive was a threat to Kieran. They agreed that Faenel should leave to find her and finish the job. 

His search for Flemeth lasted for years, taking him to foreign countries and uncharted lands, but it all was in vain. He patiently followed her tracks for years only to find out that she had already left way before his arrival—but he never gave up. He wanted to do this one thing right in his life.

After a few years of unsuccesful searching the Mage-Templar conflict forced him to turn back and travel to Skyhold. He didn’t expect to find his family there, and he most definitely didn’t expect to hear that Morrigan had drunk from the Well of Sorrows and thus become bound to Mythal—or in other words, Flemeth.

— — —

Katla was never part of the Circle, due to her parents’ efforts to keep her hidden from templars, but she grew to fear and loathe the Order and its’ ways nevertheless. She grew up praying every day for safe return of her father who used to take various mercenary jobs to keep his family fed.

By the time the Blight forced her family to flee Lothering she had assumed the role of the protector of her family. She blamed herself for Bethany’s death. She swore that she would not let anything bad happen to Carver. She wanted to keep him close, but she also wanted to protect him from harm, and her trying to have control over her brother’s life only drove him more apart. She didn’t take him with her to the Deep Roads expedition only to learn that he had joined the Templar Order during her absence. They fought over it, and in result Katla refused to speak to him anymore, feeling betrayed by her own brother. She later realised that she was wrong about it, but they were never able to fix their relationship during her time in Kirkwall.

She never wanted to resort to blood magic, but it simply seemed to be the only choice for a mage who wanted to survive in Kirkwall. She despised herself for it, but she saw no other way to protect her loved ones from harm. 

Soon after meeting Anders she became infatuated with him. They basically made the rest of their friends mad with their constant flirting, but they both happened to have too much on their plates, thus they never took the next step in their relationship. They stayed close friends, and after a few years of loneliness Katla ended up with the templar Thrask. Their relationship was highly inconvenient and they never able to be together openly since it would have given too much leverage to Knight-Commander Meredith who was known to be preying on any opportunity to knock Katla — the Champion of Kirkwall and a fierce defender of mage rights—off her pedestal and drag her into the Gallows.  

After Thrask’s unexpected death she became more desperate that she had ever been before. She had always used alcohol to cope with her past failures, but now she didn’t even want to leave her estate anymore. Anders was there for her, comforting her and keeping her from any further self-harming than she had already done to herself. They grew closer, but agreed to not bring any kind of romantic aspect into it, feeling that they would be only taking advantage on each other. 

After defeating Meredith they escaped the city together and were never seen again, not until Varric contacted Katla and invited her to Skyhold. 

— — —

As the eldest child of two, Iliana was raised to become the heir of her noble family, but instead she was sent to the Circle as soon as her magic manifested. It was a big surprise—and disappointment—to her parents, but they never abandoned their firstborn child. Lord Trevelyan’s money ensured that she was kept safe from harm in the Circle, and she occasionally got to meet with her family. She adjusted to her new life quite well, although she was somewhat afraid of her own powers and never enjoyed her mandatory spellcasting lessons as much as she did enjoy studying magical theory in solitude in the quiet library. She was particularly interested in spirits and the Fade. 

She was in her teens when she began to have terrifying nightmares. She told her mentor about her nighttime struggles and the mentor—who was genuinely concerned of her wellbeing but also a firm believer of traditional ways—suggested that she should undergo the Rite of Tranquility. She was afraid of her upcoming Harrowing and ended up agreeing with her mentor. 

When the Mage-Templar conflict broke out, most of the Tranquil mages were left to the wolves, but Iliana’s mentor took care of her. They both attended the Conclave, and in result Iliana was cured of her Tranquility by being touched of the Spirit of Justinia. She was brought to Haven to be questioned. No one seemed to care of her highly unstable state of mind, not until she met with Cole, who was the first to truly understand and be able to help her with her struggles.

After some time she realised that she realised that she had fallen in love with Josephine. Her advisor was always gentle and kind and never aggressive or coarse. She felt comfortable in Josephine’s company, which couldn’t have been said of her other advisors. Cullen’s background made her extremely uncomforable, and she also found Leliana intimidating (until she found out their shared fascination with nugs).

As the Inquisitor Iliana did her best to restore peace and help her fellow mages whenever she could. After learning the truth about the Rite of Tranquility and the Seekers of Truth, she became devoted to fight for Tranquil rights. 

Iliana ended up preserving the Inquisition as a peacekeeping organization under Divine Victoria (namely, Leliana). 

[rebakadraws]

The Fox and the Hounds (pt 1?!)

My @inusecretsanta for @avannak !! Honestly I had never known about you before, so, nice to meet you fellow Inuyasha (and furthermore, Koga) fan!

The first prompt you had listed was ya bois Inuyasha, Koga, and Shippo interacting together, and that had really excited me, because I’ve actually thought about and really like the idea of these three’s dynamic! To anyone who knows me it might come as a surprise that I didn’t just draw something for your gift, but, well, your prompt that caught my eye inspired an idea for an entire story plot, so, I couldn’t help trying my hand at a fic this time! Unfortunately for me though, I was a bit.. too inspired, so this turned out rather long and like the title says, this is only part 1! Because I’m posting this first half to be in time for the SS, without a deadline anymore I can’t guarantee when the second part will be finished... But I’ve still got the ideas for the scenes of the second half so I am determined to finish it for you! ...Someday XD. Anyway, yeah! I hope you had a very merry Christmas and I hope your 2018 has been awesome so far! Enjoy!~

Rated: K+ for a couple mild-swears in there (GASP I’m breaking out of my shell I guess cOUGH thanks Kat lol) Word Count: 4965 |D Disclaimer: This story is told through the eyes of Shippo, and so the negative descriptions towards Inuyasha and Koga are based on his opinion, not my own. I love... basically all the characters in this great anime! The only character I would ever talk about negatively is Naraku pfff.

It had decidedly been Shippo’s most favorite toy, a truly unique gift from Kagome’s own time, even. The priceless pull-string-operated propeller toy from the future now found its final resting place on the grass, wronged and rendered completely useless, its string having been ripped from the toy’s base. The injustice had occured in a mere matter of seconds, but Shippo had seen the crime committed with his own two eyes. He turned said eyes up accusingly at the culprit standing before him.

Inuyasha blinked, and brought his fist of detached string up to his vision, his mind finally catching up with what had just transpired. “Ah jeez, I pulled too hard on it, huh? Sorry, runt.”

Forcing back tears for the broken trinket, Shippo pouted indignantly at the hanyou, finding that he did not fully believe his clearly facaded innocence. “Inuyasha! Don’t you act surprised! You did this on purpose!!”

Now Inuyasha raised an eyebrow, before squatting down to the young fox-youkai’s level. “An’ why in the hell would I have done this on purpose?” he responded, his face narrowing into an unconvinced look.

“Because,” the boy huffed, “You’re always bullying me! I bet that you got so annoyed at me shooting the toy up near your face, that you decided to take matters into your own hands, and put an end to it!”

Tk! The nerve a’ this kid, coming up with a conspiracy to accuse me—! Didn’t he hear me so graciously apologize?!, Inuyasha thought. It was true that he had been ticked off by Shippo’s antics with the toy earlier, but jeez, what did the kid take him for? A ruthless savage?

(That was exactly what little Shippo took him for, and was currently cursing him as, in the seclusion of his own young mind.)

From Inuyasha’s less-emotionally-charged perspective, what had legitimately taken place was as such:

Only minutes ago, the hanyou had come to fetch Shippo as their traveling group was preparing to trek the unbeaten path again; he had found the fox tyke still incessantly playing with his new toy from Kagome. The boy had looked so focused on the device, however, that Inuyasha had inquired, “Hey Shippo, whatcha up to over here?”

“Ah, Inuyasha! I’m trying to make the spinner go as high into the air as possible! My record is up to that tree branch right there,” Shippo had answered in pure boyish excitement, with a finger pointed upward to a specific tree limb.

“Keh, as high as possible, huh? Give it here, runt.”

From what Inuyasha had seen, Shippo’s teal eyes had lit up in supposed understanding — the elder hanyou’s superior strength could rip on the string so hard, that the spinner would go soaring! — so the boy then eagerly handed the toy to him. Inuyasha’s mouth had lifted into a confident smirk, and he indeed yanked on the string with all his might… forgetting to consider that pulling the string so ruthlessly hard would surely snap it clean off of the toy.

It had been a complete accident, and this twerp knows it! “Keh, some conspiracy ya got there! Didntchya hear me say ‘sorry’ for it, ya pea-brain—”

Both youkais paused their bickering when their sensitive ears picked up familiar footsteps approaching. They turned to see Kagome emerging from the brush, holding an overgrown-branch out of her way as she gingerly navigated through the forest foliage, over to the two boys. “What’s going on over here, Inuyasha, Shippo?” They recognized her tone as her ‘mother-hen’ voice, patiently yet firmly prodding for information. “I heard arguing.”

In a flash, Shippo scampered across the leaf-litter and up into the comfort of Kagome’s arms. He finally allowed the wetness to pool up at the corners of his eyes in order to clearly demonstrate his distress, and cried out his explanation, “Kagome! Inuyasha broke my new toy that you gave to me!!”

Her thin eyebrows furrowed in seriousness as she looked up at the accused. “Inuyasha, is that true?”

Shippo cut back in before Inuyasha could defend himself. “Yeah, it’s true! He even did it on purpose!!”

Kagome turned her gaze back down to the distressed fox-boy in her arms. “Now Shippo, I’m sure that Inuyasha didn’t mean it on purpose. But Inuyasha,” again she switched the focus of her gaze, “did you break it?”

As her chocolate-brown eyes, patient, calm, and yet in the depths of them chastising, were pinned down onto him, Inuyasha found himself hesitating to answer. God, how stupid would he look to her if she learned how carelessly he had accidentally broken a kid’s toy? He could already envision the weird look she would give him! So — as it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks — the hanyou instinctively resorted to the one strategy nailed the hardest into his head: self-preservation. He covertly concealed his fistful of evidence behind his back before releasing the pull-string to drop to the ground. “Keh, of course not! I ain’t that thoughtless! Shippo here broke his own damn toy.”

Shippo’s bleary eyes widened and a small gasp of disbelief escaped his lips. That Inuyasha—! That— that big, stinking jerk, lying like that! How could he do this to me; after breaking my favorite toy, too?! His eyes flickered panickedly to Kagome’s own, staring back down at him. “He—! He’s lying!! He broke my toy, I saw it with my own eyes!”

“Shippo…”

“Y’know what I saw, runt?” Inuyasha said, as he crossed his arms and turned away huffily, “I saw an overly-excited twerp pullin’ on his toy’s string too hard, until it gave out an’ snapped!”

“I wasn’t the one who snapped the string, you’ve got to believe me, Kagome!” Shippo’s eyes pleaded with the girl cradling him; his shimmering tears threatened to pool over and freely flow down his young cheeks.

“Oh, ya didn’t, didya? Didn’t I hear ya say t’ me, ‘I’m trying ta make the spinner go as high in the air as possible’?”

He was being wronged, framed! How could Kagome, ever-wise and perfectly-just, possibly believe such lies from the guilty face of that, dirty scoundrel?! In that moment Shippo put every ounce of his belief into her natural, motherly ability to sniff out lies... And yet her gaze hardened on him. “Shippo… I know you’re upset about your toy, but you really shouldn’t be taking it out on Inuyasha.”

“W-what..?” he squeaked out weakly, not believing what he was hearing.

Kagome tilted her chin upward, closing her eyes as she held up a finger, looking as though she was reciting some line of ancient wisdom, as she said, “Acting like an adult means taking responsibility for your own mistakes.” Inuyasha sniffed arrogantly and turned his face away from Kagome. “Keh, yeah.”

“I’m very disappointed in you, Shippo. I suppose that next time I return home, I’ll have to refrain from buying you another toy, if you’re proven to not be responsible enough for them.”

Shippo’s small head whipped back and forth between the faces of his judge and jury absolute disbelief. But as the reality of Kagome’s statement sunk in, he paused. His protruding bottom lip began to quiver as he bit down on it, until… Shippo finally lost his composure with an explosion of distress, letting out a sharp wail and allowing the tears to fly from his eyeducts. He hopped out of Kagome’s arms and fled from the suffocating scene of utter betrayal, choking out, “It’s not fair, it’s not fair!!”

The two grown teenagers left behind watched after the fleeing boy; Kagome shaking her head with a sigh, and Inuyasha holding his nose in the air pointedly (although, admittedly a twinge of guilt ran through him).

It’s not fair it’s not fair it’s not fair—!!, Shippo’s mind ran out in protest. How could Kagome believe Inuyasha over himself? It was simply because he was a grown-up, while Shippo was a kid, wasn’t it? But that didn’t really count for anything — Shippo knew that, at least! Out of the two of them, he was definitely more mature and trustworthy than that Inuyasha; that rude, ungrateful, two-timer, who didn’t even understand his own feelings! That Inuyasha who had so little control over his temper, that he took it out on sweet, innocent little boys such as himself?! How could Kagome trust a guy like that?! Shippo’s raging mind kept circling back to the same conclusion: It wasn’t fair!

~~~

A calm, crisp night had come and gone, but it had done nothing to quell little Shippo’s fury. His frustration had kept him from a peaceful sleep, rendering the fox-youkai even more irritable, even as he now perched on Sango’s shoulder while their comrades continued their journeying. As the elder teenagers commented on the scenery and joked to pass the time, Shippo was too lost in his aggravated whirlwind of thoughts to pay any attention to them.

Ever since that fateful day when he had first encountered Inuyasha and Kagome in their travels, Inuyasha had harassed and insulted him. He had been the cause of a great many of Shippo’s frustrations, teary outbursts, bumps to the head, and loss of snacks… But this — breaking his new favorite toy, and then not even having the decency to own up to it, consequently getting Shippo in trouble — this had been the last straw! Everything before this had only been meager actions of pettiness meant to mess with him, but now, now that Inuyasha had purposefully, traitorously, gotten him into trouble with Kagome? That was it! There was only one possible response to this, and it rang out clearly: revenge. Sweet, sweet revenge. Obviously Shippo had no other option but to teach Inuyasha a lesson — one that would put an end to his reign of tyranny for good.

But how?

Inuyasha was bigger than him, stronger than him, faster than him, and had keener senses than him — it had always made Shippo an easy target for his brutality, and any time Shippo had made attempts to get back at him in the past, Inuyasha always got the last laugh regardless. He didn’t think he could rely on his fox magic for this mission of grand justice, because his signature tricks and illusions would be a dead giveaway of their conjuror to Inuyasha. No, this time he required some other way to get his revenge — some round-a-bout, discreet way that wouldn’t point a trail back to himself, for a furious Inuyasha to—

His scheming was abruptly interrupted by a sharp, familiar scent having been thrust into his nose by a gust of wind. Shippo inwardly groaned as the rest of the group took notice of the sudden wind and turned around to face its source. As if his mood wasn’t already soured enough, now he had to watch this arrogant, run-through-the-motions display?

“Hey there, Kagome,” said the source of the wind and pungent scent, their ally, Koga.

Shippo didn’t even need to see it in front of him to know that Koga was already up in Kagome’s personal space, snatching up her gentle hands in his rougher ones.

“H-hello, Koga..,” Kagome greeted him back, with just a hint of awkwardness. “What brings you here?”

The wolf-youkai chuckled, the rumbling sound absolutely dripping with cockiness, before he answered, “I need a reason to come see my woman?”

Shippo wrinkled up his nose in distaste. Koga had spared his life once, so, the boy couldn’t find it in himself to hate the guy; but that did not stop him from labeling the wolf-youkai as an arrogant moron. How could he not see that Kagome’s friendliness towards him was nothing special — only her characteristic kindness that she freely offered to everyone? Even that jerk Inuyasha could recognize.. at least some of her feelings! Speaking of which…

Like clockwork, after only a couple of sentences input from Koga, a clawed-hand ripped his hands away from Kagome’s before shoving the youkai away from her. “Hell yeah ya need a reason, there’s no woman of yours here!!”

As the same scene they had witnessed countless times replayed once more, the uninvolved members of the party stood back and searched for a place to sit, where they would wait for the routine cycle to run its course. While Sango found a comfortable place to sit against a log, Shippo hopped off of his seat on her shoulder to make his way over to Kagome. He still held some bitter feelings towards his caretaker for not trusting him on the toy incident, but, they weren’t enough to withhold his instincts to protect who he considered kin from the gruff, pushy Koga. So, while Kagome’s hands were free from that brute’s grasp, Shippo took the opportunity to jump up into her hold, occupying said hands to perhaps rescue them from being stolen up again.

Shippo looked on as Koga’s entire face narrowed in displeasure at Inuyasha’s interruption, a complete opposite of the expression he wore only seconds before. “Tk, you just keep telling yourself that, mutt,” he responded. “But, y’know what, fine — the truth is…” Before anyone could react Koga had zipped past Inuyasha and was standing at Kagome’s side again. In the girl’s arms, Shippo squinted critically up at her assaulter, but it went wholly unnoticed.

Koga continued, “I came across a youkai who was looking for jewel shards, and the bastard had mentioned a pretty girl who held some shards so, naturally I assumed it was speaking of Kagome. I was worried,” he placed gentle hands on her shoulders as he said to her, “You alright? You’re not hurt?”

Again Inuyasha interrupted, “She’s fine, flea-bag; so why dontcha get your filthy mitts offa her and get lost already!”

Shippo silently agreed — as much as he loathed to be agreeing with Inuyasha right now — and he glared even harder up at Koga, frustrated that his subtle plan of keeping his hands off of Kagome had been in vain. Koga shot the indignant hanyou a glare, while Kagome also looked back at him and addressed him, “Inuyasha… Koga’s only asking how I’m doing, there’s no harm in answering him real quick…”

“No harm in—! Hmph, well, what about letting him grab ya like that?! You let him touch ya so much you two might as well be—“

“Inuyasha…”

Here it comes, Shippo thought, the ‘sit’ Inuyasha always earns whenever Koga comes around… But, as Kagome’s warning tone had been enough for Inuyasha to shut his trap before he reached the point of no return, the command surprisingly didn’t come. Kagome softened her gaze as she looked back up at Koga. “Anyways, yes Koga, I’m alright… It’s nothing that I can’t handle,” she answered with an upbeat smile.

Her words did not seem to satisfy him, however. “Nothing that you can't handle..? Kagome…”

“Okay well, maybe I’ve gotten a few scrapes here and there, and lately I’ve been wishing we could take longer breaks,” here she pointed another look back at Inuyasha, “But I’m fine, really.”

Alarm bells went off in Shippo’s head as Koga stepped even closer to Kagome, his form towering over hers creating somewhat of a more intimate moment between them. Indignantly the protective fox-boy in her arms immediately hopped to his feet, and attempted to push the wolf-youkai’s torso away from his caretaker, but to no avail.

“Kagome,” Koga began, “I know that you want to stay with your little pack, but if you ever wish to be taken better care of, I—“

He was cut off, and nearly cut open, by a giant swing of Inuyasha’s Tetsusaiga. The dust kicked up by the massive sword’s impact with the ground gradually began to settle, as the wolf-youkai landed back on his own feet about a yard away, developing an expression of pure rage. His shoulders tensed forward, his clawed hands balled into tight fists, and his whole face narrowed, save for his nostrils flaring. “How dare you interrupt me when I’m having a moment with my woman, you mutt-faced mongrel..,” he half-growled out.

“Keh-! ‘A moment’? Sounded more like a load of bull-crap to me, you mangy wolf!”

Fight, fight, fight! Shippo’s mind chanted impishly. Inuyasha should teach that creep to leave Kagome alone! ..But, at the same time... I wouldn’t mind seeing Koga make Inuyasha suffer a bit... He’s a strong youkai, and can do what I can’t.

However, to everyone’s surprise, Inuyasha turned away from Koga, ignoring the hostile youkai for a moment, to address Kagome’s previous comment. “You’ve been wanting to rest longer? Why didn't’cha speak up about it before?!”

Shippo tilted his head upwards to observe her reaction; she blinked, her eyes widening. “Um, because... I thought you wouldn’t want to hear it..?”

“Dammit Kagome, I’ve noticed ya acting more sluggish lately… Don’t think that I’ll take any complainin’ from ya, but jeez, if it’s necessary... You’ve gotta take care of yourself!”

Somehow her eyelids and eyebrows simultaneously raised even further in astonishment, as a hint of a blush crept into her cheeks. “Inuyasha…”

Sudden movement caught Shippo’s attention to witness Inuyasha, seemingly in embarrassment, whip his face away from Kagome’s view. “W-Well, ya ain’t of any use to me dead — Not any of ya!” he awkwardly recovered.

A new voice chimed in, “Well, my neck has been bothering me quite a bit lately…”

“Shut up, Miroku!!”

Meanwhile, Shippo and Koga appeared to be the only ones who were untouched by Inuyasha’s rough admittance of care for his companions. Telling us to take care of ourselves… Pretending to care about our health… The number of blows to the head he’s given me himself are countless — I bet he’s knocked off a few years of my life, even!

The group was reminded of a certain enraged wolf-youkai’s presence when he began to let out a low growl, his eyebrow twitching at being ignored. “Hey,” he interrupted the interruption, “Well as much as I’d love to rip you apart, you half-breed scum, I don’t have time to wait for you to decide whether you’re brave enough to come at me or not.” Koga cockily played it off, as always, as if he was the one championing a victory over the day.

Inuyasha rolled his head back with pure exasperated irritation, before he turned back to face the wolf-youkai, his fingers re-clenching the handle of his Tetsusaiga. “Then get outta here already, nothing’s stopping ya.”

Koga’s nostrils flared as he sharply took in an infuriated breath, tensing up his entire body for a moment — before releasing the breath and relaxing, straightening up his back. His blue eyes flickered to Kagome and a look of remorse flashed across his features, most likely as he calculated that he could not get to her with Inuyasha standing protectively right in the way. He leaned outwards to view her whole face past Inuyasha’s form, and waved a hand as he said to her, “I don’t want to stir up trouble in front of you, Kagome, so I’ll be going now.” He winked at her. “See ya.”

With a roll of his eyes, Shippo thought, Doesn’t want to stir up trouble in front of Kagome? The moron stirs up trouble just by coming around to see her! He stuck out his tongue in distaste, as he looked up at Kagome’s face to judge her own reaction. She smiled, and the fox-boy recognized it as a purely polite one, as she waved back, “Take care, Koga.”

Fully expecting Koga to immediately turn tail and stir up a whirlwind with his departure, Shippo shielded his face, before realizing that the wolf-youkai wasn’t finished yet. With a displeased growl he turned his sour gaze back to Inuyasha, and added, “You’ll regret coming between me and my woman you low-life… I can only hope you get what’s coming to you.”

With a start, Shippo’s ear twitched as he understood the truly icy tone of Koga’s voice: revenge, a craving for it. As the elder youkai sped away into the distance, it was then that Shippo had the epiphany — he and Koga were in the same boat. Though Koga and Inuyasha were so alike in their rude, brutish ways, Koga was equally as frustrated with the hanyou as Shippo was, and equally as unable to do something about it without facing repercussions. However, there was one advantage Koga possessed that Shippo did not, and that was being a youkai of Inuyasha’s  stature, a youkai evenly matched against Inuyasha. He could perform some of the more elaborate pranks that Shippo had conceptualized in his impish-mentality; perhaps… Koga could be the indirect route that he required for truly-successful revenge on Inuyasha.

~~~

As the hours lazily dragged on, the conspirator anxiously anticipated the dark veil of nighttime to begin on his scheme of revenge. While his comrades would fall prey to their weariness and dream away, he would leave behind a false clone of himself to further avoid suspicion as he would, in actuality, be sneaking off to track down the wolf-youkai leader — the sole candidate for the position of a worthy partner-in-crime.

Staying awake through the night had proven much more testing than Shippo had initially thought, but having taken a nap earlier in the afternoon hours, he had managed to pull through. All had gone to plan; Inuyasha had no detection of his suspicious activeness in the night, and the cunning fox-youkai was now floating high over the forest terrain in his not-so-inconspicuous ballon-form, as he strained his nose to track a scent.

Being an animalistic youkai, he did possess a heightened sense of smell, but even so it was untrained and not even fully developed; it was nowhere near the level of tracking capability that youkais like Inuyasha and Koga utilized. He had barely managed to pick up the latter-youkai’s scent on the cool night air, but now the boy was finding difficulty in following the faint trail. However, unlike those canine-youkais who relied so heavily on their keen noses alone, Shippo thought to apply his perceptiveness to other methods of tracking, in order to compensate for his mediocre sense of smell. His teal eyes scanned through the darkness for trees shaken up by Koga’s whirlwind; his sharpened ears were at attention for—

Wolf howls, carrying clearly through the silent nighttime air, as if on cue. Shippo drifted in the vague direction of the echoing noise, and after a moment began to doubt his trajectory; until thankfully another howl was let loose, allowing him to pinpoint the exact location of its source. The obnoxious-looking balloon descended right above the spot, and with an unnatural pop!, transformed back into a young boy who landed on a branch of the forest’s canopy. He hopped down the layers of branches similarly to a squirrel, heading for a better view point to watch for the wolves’ alpha. He could only reveal himself if Koga was around, otherwise, his wolves probably wouldn’t hesitate to eat the young fox!

A secure branch both a couple of feet away and a couple of feet above the wolves’ heads seemed satisfactory, so there Shippo perched and began to peer out over the wolfpack. Wolves, wolves, and, more wolves... Huh. No wolf-youkais to be seen, only ordinary wolves… Could this just be a regular wolfpack that I tracked...?! In exasperation he let out a sigh of defeat, and flopped back against the tree trunk that his branch was attached to. A couple of the nearest wolves’ ears flicked towards his direction, but Shippo decided that he was at a safe enough height to have no reason to worry if they noticed his presence anymore.

Or, so he thought.

Before his brain could even process the occurrence, something had snatched him up by the tail and dragged him off the security of his branch. The boy’s eyes shot wide open with terror as he dangled precariously over the menacing hoard of wolves, thinking to himself, This is it, this is it—! This had all been a terrible idea — why did I think to go off on my own?!

“Well, well, what‘ve we got here?” a roguish voice spoke, and it was then that Shippo realized that his tail was firmly grasped in a large hand, not a snout of glistening fangs. He craned his head upwards to see the face of his assailant: Koga himself.

His intimidatingly-sharp eyes were gleaming in the moonlight and his fanged-smile was twisted up into a sardonic grin; with a shudder, Shippo recognized it as the trademark expression of a bloodthirsty killer. He had never seen the wolf-youkai make such an expression; even back when he and Kagome had first met Koga on not-so-friendly terms, when he had thrown the boy to his wolves, he had only sported a look of indifference. Now, Shippo was seeing that Koga wore it well, as if he wore it often… I thought Koga had been changed by Kagome, I thought he was our ally and wouldn’t harm me — is all the ‘ally’ shtick just for appearances, to look good in front of Kagome?! Curse him! Curse him, he’s even worse than Inuyasha! He never truly changed — I put my trust in him and now I only see him for what he truly is: evil! Evil, evil, evi—!

Shippo was so shaken by his enraged thoughts that he didn’t notice the wolf’s features shift from menacing to questioning. “Wait… Aren’t ya that little fox tyke that Kagome’s taken in?”

Said fox tyke’s scornful eyebrows shot up as he recognized a possible hook to escape from this peril. “Yeah! Yeah, I am! So you better not eat me, or else Kagome will never—!“

Koga’s fierce gaze softened, more to one of... friendliness? Yes, a sense of carefree friendliness and amusement twinkled in his sharp blue eyes, as his eyebrows relaxed to their typical cocky posture. He held up his free hand as a signal for his wolves to back down, before gently setting Shippo back upright on a nearby rock and squatting down to look him in the eye. “Well, if my woman’s taken ya in, then I’ve taken ya in,” Koga said decisively.

Okay, maybe Shippo had let the blood get to his head, and all that he had previously thought only moments ago about Koga being pure evil, was actually null and void.

“What brings you out here all alone, and at night, kid? From what I can smell, Kagome’s quite a ways away.”

Shippo breathed out a sigh of relief that he was correct in his original assumptions of Koga. “I was looking for you,” he started.

Koga raised an eyebrow. “Eh? Why, what can I do for ya?”

The fox-boy planted his hands on his knees and leaned forward conspiritively, with a sneer. “3 words: Revenge on Inuyasha.”

Now both of the wolf-youkai’s eyebrows raised... before furrowing in suspicion. “What? You’re all friends, arentcha? Is this... some kind of trick?”

“A trick? No, no no!” Shippo exclaimed and frantically waved his hands for emphasis. “All of us are friends — all of us, except for me and Inuyasha. You see, that uptight brute is always bullying me; he steals my food, insults my courage, and beats me up!! Does that sound like a friend to you?”

He actually gave it a moment of thought. “...No, I suppose it doesn’t.”

(Somewhere behind him, Ginta and Hakkaku’s faces simultaneously darken, drilling holes into the back of Koga’s head as they think, Those are exactly the things he does to us!!)

“So, ya wanna get back at Inutrasha, and you want my help for it? What do you want me to do, kid, beat him up for ya? Believe me, I’d’ve done that on my own a long time ago; but unfortunately I don’t think Kagome would appreciate that very much…”

“I already assumed you’d think as such,” the young fox replied, as he folded his arms within his loose sleeves sagely. “I can’t just use my tricks and beat him up either, he always knows it’s me and will just hurt me all over again! That’s why,” he concluded, “we should work together.”

“Work together?” Koga echoed.

“Yes. With my vast knowledge of trickery and Inuyasha himself, combined with your grown-up size and strength, together we can teach him a real lesson, and without getting in trouble for it!”

“Hmm,” Koga squinted seriously at the scheming fox-youkai. “That does sound tempting… But, what if I decide that my time is better spent hunting down Naraku, the despicable bastard that he is?”

“You yourself said it earlier: you hope Inuyasha gets what’s coming to him — This is what’s coming to him! But he won’t ever get it, not without your help!”

Although not phrased in the most eloquently compelling way, little Shippo’s meaning rang true in Koga’s ears. Pondering over the matter, he recalled that the whiff of Naraku’s scent that he and his wolves had been chasing had gone stale this morning... Perhaps his loyal companions could use a day-or-so’s respite. “Alright, you got yourself a deal, kid.”

Shippo’s harsh conniving grin softened into a genuine, beaming smile up at the wolf-youkai leader, as he henceforth decided that he preferred this gruff canine over the one he traveled with anyday. His so-called-friend Inuyasha never took his brilliant, cunning ideas seriously! Koga flashed the young fox a friendly smirk in return, before he stood back up to his full height and extended an elbow out to him, wordlessly offering a perch for the smaller youkai. Shippo graciously accepted the affable action with an effortless leap up onto the wolf’s shoulder.

Koga and his wolfpack began navigating through the trees once more as he continued, “So, what’s our first move?”

TO BE CONTINUED...

Further disclaimer: I am aware that Inuyasha ignoring Koga for a moment and not immediately going after his throat might be a bit out of character, but, I needed Inuyasha to have some sort of ‘win’ to get Koga frustrated enough to say what he did about ‘getting whats coming to him’.

And also, I saw that another of your prompts avannak was Inuyasha and Shippo having brotherly/fatherly bonding, so, don’t worry, it doesn’t end here with such negativity from Shippo towards Inuyasha! Brothers fight sometimes, and kids tend to over-exaggerate things, right? ;D hahaha

[calebyap]

Came across some pseudo-wisdom today entitled “10 realizations that you have to embrace”. Decided to take a pen to it and reflect on God’s word.

“LIE 1. As you get older, you choose the people that you accept in your life. You do not want to waste your energy trying to connect with someone, and it will not prosper into a relationship that is worth keeping.”

TRUTH: ““If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke‬ ‭6:32-36‬ ‭ESV‬)

This lie tries to justify efforts to cut off people who disappoint. If all our relationships work this way, everything becomes transactional over time. Imagine if parents did this with their children? How would anyone grow — both child or parent? Consider the profoundity in how Jesus insists the very opposite — that we must love those who don’t love us back!

LIE 2. You can't stop people from saying things about you. It is not your responsibility to change their minds. You only have to keep on doing what you do best. For as long as you are not hurting anyone, then there is no need to explain yourself.

TRUTH 2: ““Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew‬ ‭5:9‬ ‭ESV‬)

““If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” (Matthew‬ ‭18:15‬ ‭ESV‬‬)

Again, in a seemingly wise encouragement to “let go” of obsessiveness, just justify things tk yourself by saying “I’m not hurting anyone.” The Bible holds out a higher standard that is the basis not just for the golden rule but for peace in our world — make peace. Self-justification never works anyway! Biblical wisdom says pursue your brother to the best of your ability.

LIE 3. You don't need so many friends in your life. You only need a few but are genuine with you. You cut off people in your life who do not respect you.

TRUTH: “Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Matthew‬ ‭18:21-22‬ ‭ESV‬‬)

Cutting off someone is easy. Forgiveness, genuine cross-shaped forgiveness, requires a supernatural act of mercy.

LIE 4. You are a work in progress, so there is no need for you to be hard on yourself. You have to continue learning and embrace that you will never please everyone.

TRUTH: ““Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews‬ ‭12:12-14‬ ‭ESV‬‬)

“Don’t be hard on yourself” is the rallying call of the therapeutic age. See how the Scripture calls us both to holiness through gospel centered striving and peace at the same time? We need both to keep from the antinomian’s and legalist’s trap.

LIE 5. Kindness goes a long way. If you have nothing good to say, it is better to keep your opinions to yourself. Allow people to grow and learn from their past mistakes.

TRUTH: “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,” (Ephesians‬ ‭4:15‬ ‭ESV‬)

This a half lie or a half truth at best. There is a place to be quiet. But love speaks the truth, not mere opinions. This is how we grow!

LIE 6. Those people who know you better will stay with you no matter what. These are people that you have to keep because they have the purest intentions for you.

TRUTH: “At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.” (2 Timothy‬ ‭4:16-17‬ ‭ESV‬‬)

Human beings will surely fail us, even those who can become idols to us. Jesus will not. Paul’s example and urging shows that if we ever put our stock in those with “pure intentions”, we will find ourselves heartbroken.

LIE 7. Maturity is to prioritize your needs over anything. For as long it can serve its purpose, you don't feel the need to buy a new one.

TRUTH: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, (Philippians‬ ‭2:3-5‬ ‭ESV‬‬)

This is a lie. Simple as pie.

LIE 8. Embrace the fact that we outgrew people. Some of them do not stay because they have other priorities. You don't stop them, you let them go.

TRUTH: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:4-7‬ ‭ESV‬‬)

Outgrowing people is the language of pride, simply put. When we outgrow people we exalt ourselves over them. This is wickedness.

LIE 9. You choose your battles because not everything is worth your time and energy. You would want to protect your peace of mind than engage in drama.

TRUTH: “As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James‬ ‭4:16-17‬ ‭ESV‬‬)

Self-preservation is the way of the world. Self-denial and the mortification of sin is the way of the cross. Nothing is more toxic than training your heart for self-centeredness.

LIE 10. You choose your happiness more than anything. You don't let people define your success. You make the most of every day because life is fleeting. You chase your dreams, not people anymore.” –neiljedcastro”

TRUTH: “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.” (James‬ ‭3:13-16‬ ‭ESV‬‬)

Chasing people is another way of saying loving them — love pursues, like the woman in search of the lost coin and the shepherd with the lost sheep — love also hopes and pines and yearns — like the father in the lost prodigal son parable. If we comfort ourselves by turning inward to self-centeredness the heart will shrivel up in itself.

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[ouroroshi]

Advantages Of Natural Pomegranate Face Wash

By Kimberly Ross

When you start to become more particular with your chosen facial wash, then this is where these several benefits would start to come in. So, simply get an authentic line and give yourself the chance to feel great by simply washing your face. It may be a small thing for others but it is one way for you to start a good day as well. Allow those cells to regenerate. Most of the time, natural pomegranate face wash is all you need for you to remove all the bad elements which have been brought about by the day. Be excited to wash up because you know that this could lead you to have a sound sleep afterwards. Let everything be connected. Your face will no longer be that sensitive to the sun. However, you should not take away the different products which you are already applying. Every element is crucial since the temperature nowadays can reach extreme and your appearance needs to remain flawless as much as possible. You would stop worrying about premature aging. It is truly your right to preserve that youth in you no matter what. Thus, be able to do this with the elements of nature and the effects would remain to be present even if you miss a day of using the product. This is one of the greatest benefits of coming back to these elements. You are bound to love your smoother skin. This is meant to last a lifetime if you find the perfect formula which is compatible with your pores. Thus, use your choice in a constant motion and collagen will begin to build up in your system. When you secure everything from the inside, the outer appearance can be flawless ever. Expect a clearer facial facade at the end of the day. That is essential when you want most people to have a good impression on you. So, begin to build yourself up again if you managed to lose your self confidence in the past. Do not die without getting this resolved because you deserve all the best things in life. You can start looking brighter as well. Nothing beats the results of allowing nature to take care of your skin. Thus, bring actual pomegranate to your diet and you would be reaping more benefits along the way. Put in more fruits into the mix and start promoting this kind of life to the rest of your friends. They deserve to be as healthy as you. Natural glow would definitely be there. Just bask in all the good things which can come out from this. You also need to do better in bringing confidence to the table. Without this element, you would never be noticed by others. Overall, just be sure that you are getting natural items from the very beginning. If not, then your effort and other resources will only be wasted. Only purchase from reliable stores. Homemade creations can be appreciated but you really need to try them for yourself. Become wiser in being a modern consumer.

About the Author:

Find a summary of the benefits you get when you use a natural pomegranate face wash and view our selection of natural skin care products at http://www.edensent.com today.

Advantages Of Natural Pomegranate Face Wash from healthyfoodshttp://www.healthyfoods2014.tk/2017/12/advantages-of-natural-pomegranate-face.html via IFTTT

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Advantages Of Natural Pomegranate Face Wash

By Kimberly Ross

When you start to become more particular with your chosen facial wash, then this is where these several benefits would start to come in. So, simply get an authentic line and give yourself the chance to feel great by simply washing your face. It may be a small thing for others but it is one way for you to start a good day as well. Allow those cells to regenerate. Most of the time, natural pomegranate face wash is all you need for you to remove all the bad elements which have been brought about by the day. Be excited to wash up because you know that this could lead you to have a sound sleep afterwards. Let everything be connected. Your face will no longer be that sensitive to the sun. However, you should not take away the different products which you are already applying. Every element is crucial since the temperature nowadays can reach extreme and your appearance needs to remain flawless as much as possible. You would stop worrying about premature aging. It is truly your right to preserve that youth in you no matter what. Thus, be able to do this with the elements of nature and the effects would remain to be present even if you miss a day of using the product. This is one of the greatest benefits of coming back to these elements. You are bound to love your smoother skin. This is meant to last a lifetime if you find the perfect formula which is compatible with your pores. Thus, use your choice in a constant motion and collagen will begin to build up in your system. When you secure everything from the inside, the outer appearance can be flawless ever. Expect a clearer facial facade at the end of the day. That is essential when you want most people to have a good impression on you. So, begin to build yourself up again if you managed to lose your self confidence in the past. Do not die without getting this resolved because you deserve all the best things in life. You can start looking brighter as well. Nothing beats the results of allowing nature to take care of your skin. Thus, bring actual pomegranate to your diet and you would be reaping more benefits along the way. Put in more fruits into the mix and start promoting this kind of life to the rest of your friends. They deserve to be as healthy as you. Natural glow would definitely be there. Just bask in all the good things which can come out from this. You also need to do better in bringing confidence to the table. Without this element, you would never be noticed by others. Overall, just be sure that you are getting natural items from the very beginning. If not, then your effort and other resources will only be wasted. Only purchase from reliable stores. Homemade creations can be appreciated but you really need to try them for yourself. Become wiser in being a modern consumer.

About the Author:

Find a summary of the benefits you get when you use a natural pomegranate face wash and view our selection of natural skin care products at http://www.edensent.com today.

Advantages Of Natural Pomegranate Face Wash from pdfbooks2015http://www.healthyfoods2014.tk/2017/12/advantages-of-natural-pomegranate-face.html via IFTTT