#amelia x tom

[buffyfan145]

Fellowship of Fans have released their take on The One Ring Net's article last week about those major "Rings of Power" season 2 leaks. Was curious if they would and glad they did as it's interesting to hear what FOF has heard too. They actually confirmed some of these they have also heard and they've also debunked a few too, but there are a few they don't know about so could be possible as the show did keep a few things secret for s1. Again we won't know if any of these are true, including what FOF has said, till s2 finally airs later this year. But will say they also included more about Charlie Vickers' screen time in s2 and it's good news as I know some of us were worried about it, and they're suggesting something we wanted to happen actually is. I'll break down their take between what they've also heard and what they've debunked and/or haven't heard at all.

ETA April 2024: A lot of these spoilers have been confirmed as false now including some that were leaked on purpose from Amazon to catch the leakers.

Confirmed:

The first major thing is it is possible Amazon got the ok from the Tolkien estate to use some of "The Silmarillion" to explain Sauron's backstory. This likely is mostly the use of names like Mairon, Mirthrander for Gandalf, Melkor/Morgoth, and show the Valar and Maiar.

There are flashbacks telling Sauron/Mairon's story but they haven't heard anything about what this leak said with the details. Possible the Valar and Maiar are shown on-screen in the opening, similar to Galadriel's opening in s1.

Sauron is in every episode.

Charlie Vickers filmed almost all the flashbacks and FOF seems to suggest that the Halbrand form is the human-like form of Mairon. Like above we might see what Mairon actually looked like fully as Maiar and Charlie is playing him. There likely is a flashback to his time with Adar, as Adar know Gavi Singh Chera's version, that Charlie won't be in but sounds like Gavi is mostly being used only as the Annatar version.

The 3rd actor playing Sauron very well could be Calam Lynch. They have also heard that Sauron will pretend to be Celeborn when he goes back to Eregion too, as well as shifting into Annatar when needed, but will pretend to be Galadriel's husband. They haven't posted this scoop though yet as they were waiting to get more confirmation but it is possible this is correct.

Is possible The Stranger being Gandalf/Mithrander will be revealed in the flashbacks with Charlie's Mairon/Sauron.

Sauron does use his connection to Aule to convince the dwarves to his side.

Tom Bombadil and Goldberry likely will appear.

The One Ring likely is getting made in the finale and Galadriel might make a huge choice for the cliffhanger for s3.

Debunked:

There are no bottle episodes.

Shadowfax will not appear.

Amelia Kenworthy is not playing Celebrian and there is no evil Celebrian, but Amelia's unnamed character is a villain.

That thing about the same actors playing Morgoth and Ungoliant playing Tom Bombadil and Goldberry is false, and they are not the same characters.

While the Valar and Maiar might be shown in the s2 premiere it's not what this leak described.

Things they haven't heard at all:

That Sauron has a son. That was the first time they ever heard this and they think it's false. However they aren't ruling out anything as again s1 did have leaks come out this exact same way and like they said TORT has the right to post these if they want. Will point out too TORT has doubled down on all these leaks, including this one about Sauron's son and that Adar killed him. I posted my other posts how this makes sense and I kind of do want this to happen, so if it doesn't I might write a fic about it as it weirdly works. LOL

So again we'll know for sure once season 2 airs which of these leaks/scoops were true. But again I'm really happy that it seems like Charlie is playing Mairon after all as so many of us thought he should.

[pxmlx]

I’m in my Grey’s anatomy feels and I just want to say that I will be forever bitter that Teddy and Tom didn’t end up together. I just think they worked perfectly together and they should go in the direction that Teddy finally found someone who allowed her to let go of Owen

[kaylatoonz]

Amelia Rose Thorndyke (movie Amy Rose)

I know there’s a slim chance of this happening but I think it would be interesting if they gave the human characters from Sonic X another chance, the Thorndyke to be more specific.

Context: (probably take place in movie 3)

Backstory- Just like in the show, Chris is a pretty lonely kid until Amy Rose crashes into his life 6-7 years ago (literally crashing into their family pool). After a late-night rescue, Chris takes in the small pink hedgehog to make sure it’s OK. Chris originally wanted to keep Amy a secret, but those plans were ruined the very next morning when Chuck, Ella, and Mr. Tanaka discovered her when Chris was trying to find food suitable for the little pink hedgehog. They were a bit skeptical at first, but after some convincing from Chris’s end was allowed to stay until he could confront his parents about it. Chris was concerned that their growing friendship would be cut short once his parents returned, luckily Amy managed to warm her way into the hearts of everyone in the household, even his parents and uncle. Years later Amy Rose is considered a part of the family and is spoiled with love thanks to Lindsey and Ella. Over the years Amy was able to chase away Chris’s loneliness but unfortunately not her own. Although Amy spends much of her time with Chris and her family, she feels isolated from the outside world. She understands the rules set by Mr. And Mrs.Thorndyke to never go outside to keep her safe, but she still can’t help but feel sad that she can’t meet anyone new or someone like her.

Those feelings come to an end when a shocking new cast reveals three beings that were like her, the blue hedgehog the most. The second the story was over Amy rushed over to her parents begging them to take her to green hikes to meet these heroes. They immediately shoot down the idea, saying it’s too dangerous, and it could be a trap. This leads to a heated argument between the three ending with Amy being grounded until further notice. Feeling defeated Amy goes to her room as told. Left alone with her thoughts once again she came to one conclusion, she was going to take things into her own hands. That night she runs away to find the three heroes and hopefully go on an adventure to remember.

Sonic and Amy- unlike other iterations of Amy and Sonic's don’t see eye to eye as much at least at the start. Before Amy met the gang she built this image of the heroes that don’t quite compare to who they are. Despite this she gets along with knuckles and tails (though they are nothing like she imagined) it’s Sonic she has a problem with. Not only did he fail to meet every expectation she had for him, he’s also a jerky, reckless idiot in Amy's eyes. Sonic was always doing or saying something stupid getting them into trouble. Not to mention he always left her behind and never took her seriously (that is no way to treat a lady). This prompts her to prove him wrong by jumping head-first into danger that she believes she can handle (she is a bit of a hypocrite). On Sonic’s end, he sees Amy as a spoiled reckless brat who doesn’t understand anything. It’s a bit harsh but it's hard not to think that she is constantly getting into trouble when she can barely control her powers and keep making things difficult when he tries to leave her somewhere safe (sonic is also a hypocrite). Worst of all she left behind a perfectly good family to go on an “adventure”. Sonic would have done anything to have Tom and Maddie as a family on day one, so Amy's drives frustrated him. These frustrations grow during the adventure eventually leading to a heated argument between the two hedgehogs (similar to the argument Sonic had with Tom in the first film). Amy leaves the team hurt and conflicted by her original hope and goal.

“Was she selfish for running away in hopes of meeting others like her? Should just return home where she’d be safe and out of their way?” She couldn’t help but feel guilty for her behavior towards the team (specifically Sonic) and her parents. She had come all this way to meet them only to show how much of a burden she was and she probably had her family worried sick. Wanting to set things right she decided to head back to the team to give them a proper apology before returning home where she would be out of their hair (quills) for good. Before she can do anything she gets kidnapped by Eggman or Shadow.

Back with team Sonic, Knuckles and Tails are disappointed by how Sonic handled things. They agree that Amy can be a bit of a handful at times but she has also proven to have her strengths (though there’s room for improvement). Tails even insisted that they have a lot in common if they BOTH take the time to get to know each other. Sonic disagrees that he’s anything like her until he crosses paths with Chris.

It turns out that as soon as the Thorndykes found out Amy Rose was missing Mr and Mrs Thorndyke heard straight to green hills while Chuck and Chris followed their trail to find Amy ( behind Nelson and Lindsey's back of course). This leads to them eventually catching up with Sonic and the gang but still no sight of Amy.

Upon meeting with the humans, they both learn that Amy has been kidnapped. Like everyone else, Sonic shares concerns for Amy's safety, though he lets slip an offhanded comment about her getting into trouble again which Chris and Chuck don’t take lightly.

On the way to rescue Amy, the team gets to know the new humans leading to a heart-to-heart between Sonic and Chris (this could work with Chuck but I think Chris needs some redemption after his Sonic X iteration). Chris let Sonic know that there’s more to Amy than her sometimes feisty nature. She’s always proven to be the most kind and compassionate person he has ever known and is always doing something amazing when no one‘s around to appreciate it (foreshadowing of the scene with Shadow and Amy). He also laments his mistake of not noticing sooner how lonely and isolated Amy felt which caught Sonic’s attention. As Chris continues he reveals to Sonic how having a family from the beginning Amy never had as much freedom to explore or had any friends of her own. She didn’t even know there were others like her a couple of weeks ago. Knowing this Sonic felt he owed Amy a second chance and maybe an apology.

Fast forward after rescuing Amy, Shadow, and Amy’s scene, the team saves the world (this going on long enough)

With the day bringing save and families reunited Sonic and Amy meet face to face once again. Before Sonic can voice his apology Amy starts to tearfully apologize to Sonic about her behavior. To comfort her, Sonic hugs Amy telling her he’s sorry he wasn’t the nicest guy either. Sonic even suggests that they could start over and she can join the team. Amy agrees to start over but suggests that she hold off on joining the team for a bit. She doesn’t believe she’s ready to team due to her lack of control over her abilities (at the time sonic and Amy didn’t know about the impact Amy had on shadow and how it helped a lot in the long run. Amy also feels she needs a lot of self-reflection after their adventure (she’s still guilty for causing so much trouble for the team and possibly being responsible for Shadow's sacrifice himself).

After some parting banter (less rough compared to their first meeting) Amy promises when they meet again for their next adventure she’ll be stronger than ever.

First thing when the hedgehogs arrive home both get teased by their siblings/family about their new friend).

Bonus content:

Chris and Amy have a sibling relationship, so like siblings, they can get on each other's nerves from time to time.

Nelson and Lindsey both help fund the Wachowski’s expenses that the government won’t help cover for Sonic, tails, and knuckles. Chuck also helps fund tails projects cause he has taken a liking to the little fox (though the project Chuck and Tail work on together can get a bit wild).

Chris, Chuck, and Tails whenever they visit each other work on new inventions together. This may include an explosion or two, much to the concern of the adults (between the Wachowskis and the Thorndyke).

Although Sonic and Amy are on better terms they often have a hard time complimenting each other face to face stating that it would “go to their head”. Occasionally a compliment sometimes does slip out from one of them which causes both of them to become flustered whenever it happens.

Sonic and Amy, both still share banter, though it comes out a bit flirtatious to onlookers which knuckles, tails, and Chris happily teased them about.

After their adventure, Amy loses a bit of confidence in herself and holds a lot of guilt for nearly costing Sonic his life (when Sonic got shot into space trying to rescue Amy) and the loss of shadow. This is one of the many reasons Amy is hesitant to join the team even when she gets better control of her powers. When Sonic learns of this, he isn’t having it, giving Amy a heart-to-heart talk about how she should give herself more credit ( and maybe mentioning how he’s been through something similar).

Sonic eventually learns about what Amy did for Shadow and other “small” deeds that helped the team a lot more than Amy thinks. Sonic gained a lot of respect and admiration for her after that. (He’ll let her know that whenever Amy is being too hard on herself with her shortcomings).

Whenever Sonic and Amy go on their “not date” dates Sonic offers to pay for the expenses despite Amy being loaded. (Amy’s not sure if he's just being a gentleman or he forgot she’s rich but she’ll take it).

Despite having a rough introduction with Ella(Amy nearly gave Ella a heart attack when she first arrived), Amy and Ella have the strongest bond, especially in the kitchen. They both enjoy cooking delicious meals and baked goods for the whole family to enjoy. And whenever Sonic and the gang come to visit she always appreciates the extra hands she gets in the kitchen. The boys also appreciate the food Amy and Ella make for them when they visit.

Mr. Tanaka serves as a butler and bodyguard to the Thorndyke household. He gives both Amy and Chris self-defense lessons to show that he cares about them in his own way (and to keep them safe). Mr. Tanaka was originally on the fence with Sonic due to Amy losing so much of her confidence in herself the last time she interacted with Sonic. Once he gets both sides of the story, he’s more understanding, though he is still protective of Miss Rose when Sonic is around.

Sam Speed and Amy often have a hard time seeing eye to eye with each other due to Sam’s blunt and overconfident nature. Similar to Sonic X, Sam developed a rivalry with Sonic once he learned of Sonic's super speed.

[charles-eclair16]

Reviving Reputations

Pairing: charles leclerc x actress!reader

Trope: fake dating, friends to lovers

series masterlist

_______________•••________________

Charles Leclerc, a hero, a rising star in the world of Formula 1 racing. But now, his reputation lay in ruins.

It all started with rumours, news, whispers which he ignored thinking it would die down but how wrong he was. His ex-girlfriend Amelia Harper had been a terrible mistake one which ended in flames and his reputation down the drains.

Charles had tried to move on, to focus on his racing career, but the damage had been done. No matter how many races he won, the whispers and judgment followed him everywhere. He had become the fallen hero, the driver with a tarnished reputation.

Desperate to revive his image and regain his former glory, Charles knew he needed a plan. He couldn't let one mistake define him for the rest of his life. But where would he even begin?

Yn? Never heard of her.

All you need to know about the upcoming star of Hollywood. Y/N has recently become a very common name, after her successful debut in Marvel's 'Avengers End Game' and although it was for a very small role, she had managed to impress the audience with her acting skills and natural charm.

The 24 year old model turned actor had always dreamed of making it big in Hollywood. After years of auditions, small roles, and countless rejections, her hard work was finally paying off. With her breakthrough cameo role in Marvel's Avengers End Game, Yn's star was on the rise.

The success of Avengers End Game opened doors for Yn, leading to small roles in popular TV series like 'The Memories.' Although her appearances were limited, Yn's talent and charisma caught the attention of industry insiders. Rumors began to circulate that she was in talks to be cast as the lead role in 'The Illusions,' a highly anticipated film alongside the charismatic and talented Tom Holland. Even though it's not confirmed, people are sure that it's her who's gonna get the role.

What happens when she's asked to create a buzz around herself- to create curiosity in the public's eye without it being a scandal to secure the lead role. But where would she even begin?

The solution for both of them- a contract to fake date.

________________•••_______________

A/N: it's going to be a series of written and social media au's.

[tayfabe75]

Matty Healy: Cancelled on purpose?

"I'd rather be a pretend supervillain than some pretend hero." (x)

Matty Healy. If you're familiar with the name, chances are good you've already got an opinion about him. Probably a strong one, if I had to guess! Since opinions about Matty Healy tend to come in just two shades: black and white - revered and reviled. On the one hand, you've got people sleeping in tents on sidewalks, sometimes in sketchy cities and inclement weather, just for the chance to see him up close; on the other hand, you have chronically online Twitter users praying for his early demise, using AI art to bring their most depraved wishes to life. So, what's going on, exactly?

"The only fear I have is provoking ambivalence in people. I'd rather people be angry at me than be bored." (x)

And get angry they did! Matty's 2023 cancellation even earned him Pitchfork's "Villain of the Year" title! But...

Did he plan for it to happen all along?

On October 14th, 2022, Matty appears on Chicken Shop Date with Amelia Dimoldenberg. She confronts him about his plan to go on a podcast and pleads, "please don't", to which Matty replies:

"It's probably good advice."

A couple of months later in December 2022, Zane Lowe reveals that Matty meticulously planned their entire interview, lovingly describing him as a "TROLL!" Likewise, when questioned about their ambitious 'At Their Very Best' tour, Matty says that though the tour "feels loose", it's actually "very, very tight" and "very, very well-rehearsed".

Fast-forward to February 2nd, 2023: Matty makes an appearance on Q with Tom Power, where he describes his interest in the flimsy nature of interviews, saying:

"I could fuck my career, I could be a different person, I could do a Chinese accent, I could do anything!"

About a week later, on February 9th, 2023, Matty appeared on the Adam Friedland Show podcast. For context, this podcast is classified as "black comedy, blue humor, surreal humor, anti-humor, and political satire". It is associated with the "Dirtbag left", which is described as "a style of left-wing politics that eschews civility to convey a left-wing populist and anti-capitalist message using vulgarity". In other words, they're trolls. Just like Matty.

Now, to make things easier for anyone reading who wants the full context, I clipped Matty's three "unforgivable offenses" from the dreaded podcast: here is the "ghetto gaggers" moment, the "Ice Spice" moment, and the "accents" moment. I hope you can tell the difference between British and American accents…

Adam and Nick would go on to clarify that they didn't actually know which website Matty was watching. Likewise, very recently, the woman who walked in on Matty clarified that he was not even watching ghetto gaggers:

When asked about the podcast and whether he baited his fans on purpose, Matty said:

"A little bit. But it doesn't actually matter. Nobody is sitting there at night slumped at their computer, and their boyfriend comes over and goes, 'What's wrong, darling?' and they go, 'It's just this thing with Matty Healy.' That doesn't happen."

Yet, it does! Shortly after the podcast, Matty's fans expressed their distaste for his appearance on The Adam Friedland Show. Part of that might be because it was amplified by this tweet from Yungblud:

Interestingly, a few months prior to his tweet, Yungblud went on record stating his admiration for Matty Healy in November 2022. And after Matty's very "unserious" video response wherein he mocks Yungblud, but Dom would later go on to admit that he found the whole thing funny and that he still likes the guy.

Conveniently, Ice Spice also happened to go on record with her admiration for The 1975 shortly before the dreaded podcast, in January 2023!:

"I listen to alternative music. I feel like a lot of people wouldn't expect that. Yeah, shout out Coldplay, The 1975. Obsessed with them."

This, of course, made the joke about her sting that much more a month later… Now, if Matty simply promoted Ice Spice by praising her on his social media accounts, she might have gotten a small boost in streams, that's true. But think about that pretend villain quote again… by taking the fall for a barely offensive joke that he didn't even say, himself… Matty practically turned Ice Spice into a household name.

And before you go assuming Taylor collaborated with Ice Spice purely as damage control… well, there was a rumor about the collab almost a full month before it dropped, on April 27th. And here's what Ice Spice had to say about it:

"That was mostly through management. I was talking about how I was watching Taylor's documentary 'cause I just wanted to really take notes as an artist and stuff like that. Just like how the lifestyle is for such a big artist like her. My manager heard me talking about that and had like reached out to her team and then they had a song for me and everything just played out real good."

Ice Spice's clarification often gets ignored in favor of the more dramatic version of events. The same way Matty's apology addressing the situation from last April gets ignored by so-called journalists who are rewarded for their biases via clickbait titles.

Ice Spice also clarified that Matty apologized to her personally several times:

"I saw him at the Jean Paul Gaultier party a couple days ago, and he was like, 'Hey, you OK?' and I'm like, 'Of course.' He apologized to me a bunch of times. We're good."

Speaking of podcasts… on April 8th, The 1975 released an episode of 'A Theatrical Performance of an Intimate Moment' (filmed in March) where Matty appears to be rehearsing lines for an upcoming and seemingly "candid" interview with Caveh Zahedi:

On April 15th, Matty revealed that he inspired the rat from Flushed Away. Now, Matty probably didn't actually inspire the character of Roddy St. James (although he really was close to one of the film's writers, Ian La Frenais, who was his mother's godfather), but... with this joke, he had just cemented his own "vermin" moniker that would continue to be used to insult him to this very day (sound familiar? 🐍)

What was it Taylor said? Ah, that's right:

"If you make the joke first and you make the joke better, then it's not as funny when other people call you a name."

Almost a week later, on April 21st, Matty would go on a four-minute speech on stage in Auckland, New Zealand, "finally" providing an apology and an explanation for the whole podcast debacle:

"It's not because I'm annoyed that me joking got misconstrued, it's because I don't want Ice Spice to think I'm a dick. I love you, Ice Spice. I'm so sorry. But I don't want to be… I don't want anything to get misconstrued to be mean. I just want to say, 'Hello. This is a bit embarrassing. I'm sorry if I get it wrong. We all get it wrong'. You know? Like, I just have to do it in public and then apologize to Ice Spice, and my life's just a bit weird. But I am genuinely sorry if I've upset her because I fucking love her."

Ignoring this pre-existing apology, on May 17th, Taylor's fans (allegedly) penned the "SpeakUpNow campaign", urging Taylor to dump Matty. On May 30th, Brad Troemel published the "Taylor Swift Fan Union", a series of satirical infographics targeting Taylor's most entitled fans.

Taylor and Matty were reported to have broken up on June 5th, just one month after Taylor had the nerve to date someone of her own volition, without first seeking fan permission!

And things were about to get even worse for Matty, as his labelmate Rina Sawayama would go on to call him out at Glastonbury in June:

"I wrote this next song because I was sick and tired of micro-aggressions. So, tonight, this song goes out to a white man who watches Ghetto Gaggers and mocks Asian people on a podcast. He also owns my masters. I've had enough."

Yet… Matty resigned from his position at Dirty Hit at the beginning of April, which, at the very least, should call the ownership of Rina's masters into question. Speaking of Rina, she's historically a friend of Matty's! Here she is photographed with Matty's dog Mayhem in 2020. And when Matty took over The Face podcast, they asked some of The 1975's friends to cover their songs… Rina was selected and chose 'Love It If We Made It'.

Speaking of Matty's friends… Bleachers were hand-picked to perform at The 1975's Finsbury Park show on July 2nd, where Matty would label Jack his best friend. Yet, just one month later, Matty would be allegedly "disinvited" from Jack's wedding.

In August 2023, Bleachers would go on to join The 1975's Dirty Hit label (alongside Rina). That same month, an episode of The Ion Pack podcast featuring Matty was published, revealing that Brad Troemel "lit a fire" underneath him "massively". Yep! The guy from earlier who created the "Taylor Swift Fan Union". And, though the podcast was published in August, it was filmed all the way back in November 2022…

Brad would go on to help co-write The 1975's 'Still At Their Very Best' Tour, which would launch in September 2023 (yep, the same month as Matty and Taylor's new relationships!):

During the SATVB tour, on February 13, 2024, Matty would describe what he does on stage as "simulating a breakdown", and, as was always intended, Matty's fans largely fell into the trap he laid… (or, at least, I personally saw a lot of speculation regarding Matty's possible drug relapse and mental health issues all over Reddit and Twitter, based solely on his on-stage performance - well, that and gossip blinds, I'm sure).

But... Matty called it a year earlier, in February 2023, when he said:

"I like these lines of like, blurring between what people consider is real. Because with the internet now, there's also a forum. So, there's a lot of conversation right now about like, whether I'm back on drugs, or whether the show is real."

Remember that pesky podcast that started all this mess? The Adam Friedland Podcast? Well, it's co-created and produced by Nick Mullen. Check out this file Matty shared on December 28th, 2023:

It's a little blurry, so let me actually type it out:

UNTITLED MH PILOT "Canceled" Written by Nick Mullen

Some interesting things started happening at The 1975's shows this February. Matty began playing the clip from Q with Tom Power during Consumption (the one about how he could fuck his career and do a Chinese accent if he wanted). And, in the midst of a seemingly earnest speech, Matty breaks the fourth wall, encouraging his fans to be skeptical of things they see on screens - even seemingly sincere moments...

I'll close this out by reminding anyone who happens to have read this far that Matty grew up watching tabloids profit off of made-up lies about his parents, and the media might have destroyed his relationship with the woman of his dreams (we'll see!) Basically, if anyone has the means and motive to troll the media, it's Matty Healy.

[gryffindormarveltwilight]

All We Need - Part 6 - Jake Seresin x Reader

A/N: Here is part 6! It may be a while before part 7 but I will try my hardest to get it up as soon as possible. As usual any feedback or request please let me know x

Masterlist

Pairings: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x reader

Warnings: Angst, Fluff, Naval inaccuracies, Medical inaccuracies, Mentions of Death, Mentions of the Mission from the Movie.

Jakes POV

I couldn’t believe I was sitting here again, next too a hospital bed but this time it was my best friend not my daughter. I look at her face as she lays there cuts on her face and eyes closed the past 3 hours running through my head like a horror movie.

“No, i didn’t see a shoot, send a rescue team control, Athena is down.”

I felt my heart plummet at Coyotes words, they hadn’t seen a shoot, Athena was gone, i was broken out of my trance by Rooster punching the wall and Fanboy dragging him out tears streaming down both there faces.

“Return to base, recovery team has been deployed.”  I feel frozen still staring at the radio Payback taps me on the shoulder and gets me to stand and we head to the locker room where Rooster Fanboy Phoenix Bob and Coyote are all sitting on the benches tears streaming down their faces. I nearly fall over as Phoenix jumps up and runs to give me a hug which i return. We all take a seat sitting in silence for what felt like an hour before Harvard crashes through the door.

“They found her.” He says out of breath and all our heads shoot up to stare at him. “Guys, shes alive!” 

We had never moved so quick across base to the hospital where we were greeted with Ice Sarah Penny Mav and Athenas parents all with tears. I stumble back into Rooster thinking she had taken a turn for the worst when Y/M/N came up and wrapped me in a hug.

“She is gonna be okay Jake, they said there is bruising but no breaks which is a miracle considering how late they think she open the parachute they just have to wait for her to wake up to test for a concussion.” I make the hug a little tighter at the news she is going to be okay. 

“She got her shoot open” I whisper slightly relieved it wouldnt be the first time a pilot has gone down and the other pilots just hadnt seen it i felt Athenas mum nod before looking me in the eyes. 

“Of course she did Jake but wouldnt be her if she hadnt scared us into thinking she hadnt”

“Family of Y/N Benjamin?” The doctor yells coming into the waiting room and we all turn to look at her.

“She has been moved to a room, and should be just fine, back up and flying I imagine with the next day or two. You can go and see her now.” Everyone nods following Athenas parents to the room where she was laying still unconscious. Once everyone saw her they started filing out most saying they would come back when she was awake to see her until it was just me and her parents.

“I will leave you two with her can you call me when she wakes up.” I didn’t let them respond before walking out of the room when I hear a voice behind me.

“Are you really going to leave?” I spin to see Y/M/N standing behind me.

“The doctor said only family was allowed to stay.”

“And what is it that you think you are Jake?”

“I didn’t want to intrude I know she must have scared both of you.”

She walks up to me placing a hand on my cheek.

“She did, but we didn’t listen to her go down, I really think she would like you to be there when she wakes up.”

“I can’t I need to pick up…”

“Daisy is fine she is with Amelia at the moment and Tom and Sarah are going to bring her here when she wakes up.”

“She nearly died.” I say in a whisper tears streaming down my face.

“But she didn’t Jake, she alright you heard the Doc she will be back flying in no time.”

“That is what scares me, it means she will still fly this mission, we might still lose her.” I lift my head to look at Y/M/N whose eyes are glistening with tears.

“I know sweetheart but we could lose any of you every time you get in those planes, its her job and she is stubborn like her father”

“How are you not scared that she might not come back.”

“I am terrified that she won’t, I always am and this mission has me more terrified than ever because I have 3 children who I love dearly flying it.” I tilt my head in confusion. I knew she was talking about Y/N and Rooster.

“I love you as a son as much as I love Bradley as a son. I am scared for you and him as well. Now go sit beside my daughter she will be a lot happier to see you when she wakes up than me and her dad.” I nod and head back to the room where Y/D/N is sitting and i move to the chair on the other side of the bed and grab her had squeezing it tightly.

I am broken out of my thoughts when I feel a squeeze in my hand and bolt upright to see Athenas eyes flutter open.

“Ouch” she whispers hoarsely and I let out a snort.

Y/N POV

“Trust you to be unconscious for 3 hours and wake up saying ouch.” Jake says with a small laugh under his breath

“Jake,” 

“How you feeling Peaches?”

“Like I just fell out of the sky.” There was a laugh that comes from door way and I look over Jake to see Y/D/N and Ice.

“Sweetheart, you did fall out of the sky.” Y/D/N spoke all moving further into the room. “Dad, Uncle Ice where are Mom and Aunt Sarah?”

“They are in the cafeteria with Daisy and Maverick, they will be up shortly.” I nod and look at Jake who is still staring at me tears welling up in his eyes by the second. I gave his hand a quick squeeze.

“So how close was it?” I whisper, I could have sworn I heard Jake mumble ‘too close’ under his breath but Ice spoke louder.

“The other pilots couldn’t see your shoot, we all thought you were gone. When they found you, you were unconscious but obviously alive. Gave us all one hell of a scare.”

“I am sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, we are all glad you are okay.” Dad says before I hear the sound of small footsteps enter the room.

“Mama!” Daisy yells and jumps onto the bed causing me to wince slightly as she wraps her arms around my ribs, confirming there was rising from the shoot.

“Daisy be careful.” Jake says as he goes to pull Daisy off.

“She is fine Jake,” He looks concerned so I grab his hand again, “Hey, I am okay, I promise.” He nods and squeezes my hand as Mum and Aunt Sarah walk further in the room also checking on how I am going. After about an hour the doctor came in and ran some final tests before telling me that I was going to be discharged. Everyone starts to file out of the room after giving me careful tight hugs until it is just myself, Jake and Daisy.

“Mama Thena, come home?” She says with a smile and eyes glistening with tears I bend down to meet her eye level Jake moving so his hand was in the missile of my shoulders .

“Yeah baby, we are going home.” Her smile becomes wider making me smile and pull her into a hug before releasing her and standing up.

“Come on Daisy, we need to get to the car so we can go home.” Jake says picking her up and placing his hand on the small of my back leading us towards the door of the room and to the reception desk I walk forward slightly to speak with the doctor.

“You are all clear to leave ma’am, all the paper work is finalised, just remember if you can try to stay out of the plane for a couple of days. Try your hardest to take it easy.”

“Thanks Doc, I will keep that in mind.” I say with a nod before walking to Jake explaining what the doctor had just said.

On the car ride home I sent a group text to the squad giving them an update on how I was going. Other than the occasional question from Daisy which we would both answer it was quiet, and I let out a small sigh as we pulled into the driveway. Jake gets out of the car and opens my door before moving to the back door to get Daisy who had fallen asleep not that long ago, as he picks her up and locks the car I move towards the house front door to unlock it. I open the door as Jake follows behind, tilting his head towards Daisy’s room, I follow them down the hallway stopping in front of my bedroom door as I watch Jake walk through Daisy’s door. I finally walk into my room and through to the bathroom and took of my shirt off, I turn to look in the mirror and look at the bruising around my ribs from the pull of the ejection I also inspect the bruising on my shoulder and cuts on my face. I hear a quiet knock on the door and grab one of Jakes old shirts that was hanging on the back of my door to cover up the bruising before opening the door to see Jake standing there. 

“I just wanted to check on you before we went to bed.”

“I’m okay Jake you heard the doctor, just a few cuts and bruises, I didn’t even have a concussion.” Jakes nods, “Do you want to stay in here tonight?” He nods again and moves to what has quickly become his side of the bed, so quickly I don’t see the tears in his eyes. I turn the light off and head over to the bed, Jake rolls over to pull me into his chest but stops out of fear of hurting me. Instead of saying anything I grab his hand that is hovering over my waist and move closer into his chest.

“I am not so breakable Jake, I promise.”

“You nearly were today.” I hear him say with a sniff I grab his hand and hold it tightly as we both drift off to sleep. I woke up a few times through the night when I would accidentally knock my bruises, however I was lucky to not startle Jake who still had hold of me. 

My alarm clock went off at 0530 as it does every morning and I felt Jake stir next to me as I sat up. 

“What are you doing?” “Going to have a shower and get ready for work.” That seemed to grab Jakes attention as he sat upright.

“You are NOT going into work.”

“Yes Jake, I am I need to be there, Doc said I cannot fly but I can still train you guys from the classroom.” Jake didn’t respond and just got up from the bed and walked out. After getting ready I walked out to find Jake, Daisy and my Mom at the kitchen table. Jake looked up quickly and then turned away as soon as I made eye contact. 

“Jake, I will meet you on base, I need to debrief with Cyclone and Warlock after yesterday.” I don’t give him time to answer as I walk out the door and too may car. As I arrive on base I head straight to Cyclones office where I see him Warlock and Mav waiting inside. I knock on the door and wait to hear cyclone telling me to come in.

“Athena, thank you for getting her early how are you after yesterday?”

“Fine, thank you sir, ready to be back in the air.” He nods.

“The mission has been moved up we are leaving tomorrow morning, you will need to select the teams once we are aboard.” I nod as I glance at Maverick who is also wearing a nervous look.

“Further, we are changing the mission parameters.”

“Sir, we can’t if we do our planes won’t stand a chance.”

“It is a risk.”

“Sir with all  due respect is it a risk you are willing to take you will loose 6 of your best pilots.”

“We are risking them if they cannot fly the mission with it’s current parameters.”

“Sir,,,”

“Athena, this is an order that is not up for debate. Dismissed.”

“Yes Sir.” I say as I turn to leave the room Mav following behind me. “Mav, they cannot change the parameters if they do no one will come home.”

“You heard them Athena, orders are orders.”

“Bullshit Mav when have you ever been one to follow orders.”

“I cannot disobey, if I do not even Ice would have the power to keep me from being discharged.”

“You may not be able to do anything Mav. But I sure as hell can.” I say with a smirk.

“I don’t like that look Athena.”

“Well Mav it is the only one I got.” With that I turn and walk away.

Jakes POV

We are all gathered in the class room waiting for Mav and Athena to arrive, chatting amongst ourselves, I know she thinks I am mad at her and partly I am her complete disregard for the fact that she nearly died yesterday has me on edge. Suddenly the class room doors open and Cyclone walks into the room all of us standing to attention as he does Warlock Mav and Hondo take a seat at the back of the class room. Cyclone nods for all of us to sit down and starts explaining that there are new mission parameters. We all look at each other nervously a few times butting in to ask why this was happening when suddenly the screens behind him started flashing that there was a plane in the air.

“Who the hell is that?” Cyclone says.

“Athena to Range Control, Entering point Alpha, confirm green range.” I look across at Rooster who is wearing the same shocked look as me then I look back at Mav who is wearing a grin of pride.

“Uhh Athena, Range Control, green range is confirmed, I don’t see you scheduled for an event today.”

“Well I am going anyway.” I look across at Coyote who is also smirking as I hear Phoenix whisper a quite nice under her breath. I look around and everyone except myself and Cyclone look happy about what she is doing. Then her voice breaks me out of my thoughts 

“Setting time to target 2 mins 15 seconds.”

“2:15, that is impossible.” I hear Payback say in disbelief.

“Not when you fly like Athena.” I say at the same time as Maverick.

“Athena is inbound.” Suddenly the room is dead silent as we watch the screen, keeping a close eye on the timer and on the picture of the jet, I can hear her breathing heavily through the radio and grunting every now and then on the sharp turns probably as a result of the belt against her bruises. As the timer hits 30 seconds and she goes to pop up we all start moving forward on our chairs. I see Bob and Phoenix stand as she gets target lock, I start to get more nervous as I see she is pulling over 9gs on the pop up. With 2 seconds left the clock stop confirming a direct hit, with that we all jump out of our chairs, and we hear a few holy shits, I spin to see Maverick smiling and even warlock does a small fist pump.

“Maverick.” Cyclone says in a stern voice making all of us go silent and look at him, “Continue with the old mission parameters. I need to speak to Lieutenant Commander Benjamin.” Maverick stands and walks to the front and nods as Cyclone leaves the room.

“That can’t be good.” Coyote says to me, then Maverick starts splitting us into pairs to fly the course on old parameters, stating we only have 24hrs to get this right.

Y/N’s POV

I smile as I land my plane and jump down onto the tarmac, when I hear footsteps behind me.

“You are damn lucky that worked Athena.”

“I know, but he was going to change the parameters and no one including me would have come home. How made do you think Cyclone will be.”

“Made until he sees that you did somewhat have permission for that.” I smile and finally face Uncle Ice who is wearing a huge grin. We suddenly turn as we here Cyclone call out behind us.

“Well Athena, you are lucky you are team leader or I would have you up on charges, actually I may still put you up on charges for stealing a plane.” He yells before stopping and stuttering slightly, “I-Iceman, I apologise I didn’t see you there sir.”

“It’s quite alright Cyclone, but Athena did have permission to do that flight test.”

“Sir, whose permission?”

“Mine.” 

“Yes sorry Sir, I didn’t know.” With that he turns to walk away.

“Thank you for having my back Uncle Ice.”

“You didn’t give me much choice sweetheart you stormed into my office and demanded a plane and that I told Cyclone I gave you permission, and I honestly think you are scaring then your mother and my wife combined.”

“Thank you anyway, the squad needed to see it, they need to be ready we leave tomorrow.”

“Do you know who you are selecting.”

“Yes sir I am going to tell them this afternoon, that way they have tonight to let it sink in.” Ice nods at my response.

We make our way into the classroom where we are greeted by Maverick wearing the biggest grin. “Don’t you smile Pete, I know damn well you gave her that idea.”

“I did no such thing, Sir.” Ice rolled his eyes at the response, “How did she get you to sign off?”

“Have you ever been on the end of her wrath?” Mav shakes his head “Well that is how, she is down right scary our girl.” Maverick. Hondo and I laugh at Ices response as Maverick begins to go into detail about how the pilots are going up in teams. 

By the end of the day, every single pilot had successfully completed the course. Apparently my motivation flight worked. As they all start to gather into the classroom most of them give me a pat on the back or a hug congratulating me on my flight, after all while I may have convinced Ice to let me fly once after that I was confined to the class room on ‘doctors orders.’

“Please everyone take a seat.” I start as everyone takes a seat, “As you know we leave tomorrow at 0600 sharp, because of that I have made the choice to select the teams today in order for them to prepare. The two foxtrot teams will be Phoenix and Bob, Payback and Fanboy.”

“And your wingman?” Mav asks as I take a breath.

“Rooster.” I see Jake and Jays face drop slightly and I can tell they are disappointed. “Everyone is dismissed for the day we will see you tomorrow.” With that everyone stands up and leaves the room nodding as they do. 2 hours later I am walking through the door of the house where I am greeted with Jake on the couch slumped forward.

“Jake you okay?”

“Why would you pick Rooster? I should be up there with you?”

“I couldn’t have you up there.”

“Why I am the best pilot there next to you.”

“I know, but what about Daisy if this mission were to fail with both of us on it. I can’t have you up there because I know that you will not leave me behind.”

“Of course I wouldn’t, but neither would any of the team.”

“Jake, if something goes wrong, Rooster will follow orders so will the others you wouldn’t and I cannot risk both of us not coming home to Daisy.”

“But you will risk you not coming home to her!” He yelled.

“YES JAKE!”

“WHY?!”

“…because I am replaceable to you and her.”

Taglist: @dory-98 @djs8891 @brooke-stinson

[sarahsmi13s]

Duckie

Chapter 5

pairing: bradley ‘rooster’ bradshaw x twin sister!reader; (eventual) jake ‘hangman’ seresin x bradshaw!reader

characters: y/n bradshaw, nick bradshaw, bradley bradshaw, penny benjamin, amelia benjamin, tom kazansky, sarah kanzasky, ron kerner, henry ruth, rick neven, kendall adams

word count: ~2.9k

warnings: fluffy, angsty, being a single mom, crying, grief, letting go of grief, fear of forgetting, canon character deaths, i believe that’s it

a/n: i’m sorry.... and i’m going to be entirely honest with you guys, i don’t know when the angst will end

series summary: daughter of goose and carole and twin sister to bradley ‘rooster’ bradshaw, y/n bradshaw also got her papers pulled when she tried to enlist in the Navy. which turned out to not be as bad as she thought.

chapter summary: lil nick is now one! but it brings a lot of the feelings to the surface for duckie.

ch. 1  ch. 2  ch. 3  ch. 4  ch. 6

********** (23 and 1)

It was Nick's first birthday party.

His birthday had actually been Monday, but you couldn't put together a party on a weekday. So instead you planned it to be on the Saturday afterwards.

After getting Nick dressed in a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, along with a pair of little boots, you got dressed yourself. Penny had gotten you a shirt that said 'boy mom', so you put that on along with a pair of leggings and sneakers.

You pick up Nick and walk out to your car. "Alright, Nicky boy, let's go see everyone. Are you excited?" Nick clapped and made noises of excitement. You smiled and kissed the top of his head, "Good, me too."

The drive to the Hard Deck wasn't long, and when you got there, you were a little surprised at the turn out.

The parking lot had a good amount of cars in it; some you recognized, others you didn't. Like Penny's car, the Kazansky's, and a few others but that was it.

You got Nick out of his carseat and went inside. "Come on, bubba."

When you walked in, everyone turned to greet you.

After you made some quick small talk with a promise to catch up later, Ice came up to you and took Nick from you. "Hi birthday boy." He placed a kiss on his cheek before kissing your temple, "Hi, honey." "Hey Uncle Ice."

You looked around seeing all the decorations.

There were black, yellow, and white balloons, some of the white ones had smiley faces on them. The table cloths were black, the plates were yellow smiley faces, and the cups were white. Two walls had been designated for photos; one said 'one happy dude' and the other just had a smiley face.

"Guys, this is so cute. Thank you for doing this." Penny smiled, bouncing a two year old Amelia on her hip, "Of course, Sweetheart. Do you wanna see the cake?" Amelia looked at her mom, "Cake?" "Yes cake, Ames." "Wan' cake." "And you'll get cake, you just have to wait okay?" "Otay." Penny passed Amelia to Sarah and took you back to the kitchen.

When you got in there, someone was leaning on the counter.

It took you .05 seconds to recognize him. "Bradley!" You ran to him and hugged him tightly. 

"Hey, Duck," he hugged you back, picking you up a little bit. "Where's my nephew?" You pointed to the door, "Ice has him." He smiled and pecked your temple, "I need to go see the birthday boy."

Penny walked to the fridge and pulled out a yellow smash cake. “We decided to keep it simple. I hope that’s okay.” You nodded, “It’s perfect. Simple is really good, considering that kid destroys everything. I’d hate for a lot of work to go into a cake just for it to get ruined.”

She pulled out another cake, this one rectangular with smiley faces, “This one is for the guests. And I made some lemon cookies.” You hugged her, sighing a little, “Thank you, Penny. Really, thank you.” She tightened the hug, “Of course.”

Bradley reappeared in the kitchen, “Hey, there are some people here you need to come see.” Your brow pinched together, you had already seen everyone, “Who?” His smile widened, “Just come see.”

You casted a confused glance at Penny who just shrugged.

You followed Bradley out and over towards where Ice was. He was surrounded by other men his age and they were all just talking as Nick played with a toy.

When he noticed you, Nick made a little grunt noise and held his arms out for you. But you weren’t close enough. So, when you took too long to get to him, he made another noise of displeasure and this time he caught Ice’s attention.

“Hey, what’s wrong little man?” Another grunt and he dropped the toy. “What do you-” Ice turned his head to see you, “Oh, I see what you need.” You got there and Ice passed Nick to you. “You just saw your mama.”

One of the men in the group spoke up, “Duckie?”

You looked up at him, bouncing Nick and pulling his little hand away from your necklace. “That’s me.” By the time the words left your mouth, you recognized him. “Slider?” “The one and only. Wolfman and Hollywood are here too.” They both smiled at you.

“Wow, it’s been a while,” you gave them side hugs. “I’ll say. The last time we saw you and Bradley, it was your 16th birthday,” Wolfman said as he squeezed your shoulder. “Now you’re a college grad with a one year old and Bradley’s a pilot,” Slider said, wrapping his arm around Bradley’s neck to give him a noogie.

Bradley laughed and shoved the tall man away, “Alright, alright. Watch the hair, watch the hair.”

Wolfman crossed his arms, “You know, I’m surprised you-” He stopped talking when he saw Ice shaking his head behind you and Bradley. Bradley raised a brow, “Surprised I what, Wolf?” “That-that uh, you grew a mustache! I mean you tried once in high school but you shaved it when your girlfriend said it looked bad. But I mean look at it now, it looks so natural and you look a lot like your dad.”

Your brother nodded, “Thanks Wolf.”

You and Bradley walked away to mingle with other guests. And Ice looked at the three in front of him.

He gestured with his finger, “You guys can’t say anything.” “What do you mean, Ice?” Hollywood asked. “I mean-” Ice glanced around before stepping closer and lowering his voice. 

“I mean, they don’t know Carole never wanted them in the air.” Slider’s brows pinched in confusion, “They don’t know? Then why isn’t Y/N a pilot?” “Maverick pulled their applications to the Academy.” “Why would Maverick do that?”

Ice put his hands on his hips, “Because Carole asked him too and he wasn’t sure they were ready for it…” “And they don’t know that’s the reason?” “No, and it’s not our job to tell them. So zip it!”

****

After talking more with your guests and opening gifts, it was time for cake.

You grabbed a microphone and addressed everyone. “Hey, everyone! Hi. Before Nick destroys this cake, I just want to thank all of you for coming out. I know Nicky is just loving the attention, so without further ado, let’s have some cake!”

Bradley set the cake in front of your son and Nick’s eyes went wide and you could see amusement flicker in them. He clapped his hands and giggled. You pass the mic to Penny and walk over to your son’s high chair. “Okay, bubba, dig in.” Nick grinned and immediately started to plunge his tiny fists into the dessert.  

Everyone cheered as the cake and frosting smeared on the tray and on Nick’s face.

You laughed as you watched your son draw in the frosting with his fingers. You smiled and messed with the blond hair on top of his head, “I’m so glad I changed your shirt.”

He turned to you and grinned, cooing as if he understood you. He held out a tiny fistful of cake towards you. “Is that cake good buddy?” He cooed again and waved his fist. You got a little closer and Nick pushed the cake against your lips.

Everyone laughed and you pulled back surprised. You laughed and licked the icing off your lips. You smiled and kissed his cheek, “Thank you Nicky.” He laughed and clapped his hands before taking another fistful and pushing it into Bradley’s mustache.

“Okay everyone, who’s ready for cake?” Penny announced as she started to cut the guests' cake. Everyone got up except for you and Bradley, Ice was going to grab a piece for both of you.

Nick kept eating his cake and occasionally offering you or Bradley a fistful. You smiled and kept playing with your son's hair.

But despite your valiant efforts, Bradley could see the pain you were trying to hide in that moment. He knew you better than anyone, so he saw behind the curtain. He could tell you were holding back tears.

He watched your eyes finally gloss over when you made eye contact with your son. Nick grinned and cooed innocently at you and your lip trembled as you smiled back.

You sniffled, but kept your smile as you swiped a thumb over the apple of Nick’s cheek. “Oh Nicky, I wish your daddy was here.” You tried to say something else but your throat burned with tears.

You cleared your throat and looked at your brother, who was pretending he wasn’t watching you. “Hey, I’m gonna step outside. It’s getting a little stuffy, I’ll be right back.” You got up and went to the back deck.

Bradley looked after you with sympathetic eyes before moving his gaze back to Nick.

“Rooster, here’s your cake,” Ice said, holding out the plate. “Thank you, Ice.” “Where’s Y/N?” Bradley gestured outside, “She’s outside.” “Oh, I’ll just take this out to her.” Bradley reached out and touched Tom’s arm, stopping him.

Ice looked at Bradley, and just knew; Mav had given him that look before when it came to Carole.

He nodded and just sat the piece down, patting Bradley on the shoulder before walking away.

*****

Bradley gave you a few minutes before going outside after you.

He grabbed the slice of cake and got Penny’s attention. “Hey, Pen, can you watch Nick for a minute?” “Yeah of course.” “Thank you.”

He stepped out the backdoor.

You had moved from the railing to be curled up in a deck chair. Your eyes were distant but he could see you trying to pull yourself together.

He walked over and sat by your feet. “Hey Duckie.” You didn’t say anything, but your eyes flicked over to him. He sat the cake down, “I brought you a slice.” When you still didn’t respond, he turned to you.

“What goin’ on, Duckie?” You swallowed and picked at your nails, “I don’t know, Brad. I was doing so good…” “Y/N, you’re gonna have your days. That’s okay.” You looked at him.

“It’s my son’s birthday party, today is not the day.” You started to cry again.

“I don’t know what to do Bradley… This is a lot harder than I thought it would be,” you looked at your hands in your lap. “No one ever said it was gonna be easy. Grief is messy and unpredictable,” he grabbed your hands. “It’s been two years, Bradley. I thought I’d be better…” “Y/N-” 

You interrupted him to voice what was plaguing your mind. “Bradley, Nick is one and he will never get to know his father. At least we got to meet Dad and know how much he loved us. But Nick will never get to know that and it hurts.”

You pulled your hands from his to wipe your eyes. “It hurts so much. And I don’t know how to make it stop.”

Bradley doesn’t know what to do, this is not his level of expertise. All he knows is that something as simple as a few words won’t fix this.

“Y/N, there’s not a lot I can say to make this feeling go away.” “I know, I’ve just been keeping this in for too long. Thank you for listening.” You hugged him and he hugged you back.

He decided to say the only thing he could think of. “You’re doing a great job. Nick has the best mom in the world.” You sniffled and pulled back, “Really? Cause I don’t feel like it…” “Yes, really.” He smiled at you and hugged you again.

****

Inside, Penny and Ice watched from the window..

Penny had just cleaned Nick up and changed him into the outfit he showed up in.

“She’s having a hard time,” Ice observed, arms crossed over his chest. Penny sighed sadly, and opened her mouth but Nick had other plans.

“Mmmm! Mmmm!” He attempted while pointing to you with his little hand. “What was that Nicky?” “Mma..” He whimpered a little frustrated. “I think he’s trying to tell us something.”

Ice noticed tears in his little eyes as Nick flailed his arms again. “Yeah, he wants his mom.”

They shared a look and stepped outside.

****

The door opened and you and Bradley looked towards the door.

You quickly wiped your eyes when you saw Nick. “Oh hey guys, Nick okay?” “He’s okay, just wants-” Penny was cut off.

“Mama!”

Your jaw dropped and both you and Bradley stood up slowly. “Did-did he just?” “I think he did, Duckie.”

“Mama!”

Nick leaned toward you as he said it, making grabby hands at you.

You stepped forward and scooped him up and planted kisses all over his face, “Oh, Nicky baby! You just said your first word!” He giggled and said it again. You laughed and held him to you. “Oh my sweet boy!”

You sat down and held him to you, tears coming to your eyes for a whole new reason.

“We need to tell everyone!” Bradley said, just as excited his nephew said his first word. You waved him away, “Sure, but I need some time alone with my baby. I’ll be inside in a little bit.”

Bradley nodded, smiling as he placed a kiss on top of your head before going inside.

After a few minutes you went in and everyone fawned over Nick; and then about an hour later, people left.

****

You laid on the couch as Rooster slept in the chair and Nick had dozed off in his play pen.

Your eyelids began to feel heavy as you watched reruns of crime shows and soon you were asleep.

****

You sat on the couch, head on Kendall’s lap as you looked at the playpen where Nick had fallen asleep. Kendall played with your hair, humming a tune as he did so. 

“I miss you,” you quietly said, turning your head back to look up at him. “I miss you so much.” Tears slipped from your eyes and Kendall wiped them away. “I know you do, sweet girl. I know. But you’re doing such a good job. I’m so proud of you.” 

You sat up, “I wish you were here. To watch him grow and turn into a mini version of you.” You rested your head on his shoulder, “He said his first word today. Gosh, I’m so proud.” 

He kissed the top of your head, “I know. I’m always watching. I’ll always be watching over you and Nick.” He stood up and took you with him.

He walked you over to the playpen, “I will be there. For every milestone, every step of the way. Maybe not physically, but I’m there. I’ll see it all.”

You nodded and wiped at your eyes. “I wish he knew how much you loved him before he was even here. I wish you got the chance to show him that. Bradley and I were lucky to know how much Dad loved us before he died.”

Kendall smiled and wrapped an arm around your shoulders, “They’re watching over you too, you know. Your parents. Your dad gushes over little Nicky every chance he gets and your mom, oh goodness your mom.” You both laugh. “She is so so proud of you and the woman that you’ve become.”

It was quiet for a few moments as you and Kendall watched your child sleep peacefully.

“You can let go, you know,” Kendall said out of nowhere.

You stepped back, confused, “What?” “You’re holding on, Y/N. It’s okay to let me go. You deserve to be happy.” You shook your head, “I can’t let you go Kendall.” “You’re hurting, Y/N. You’re suffering because of me. Getting past this-”

“No! I won’t!” You sank to the floor. “I can’t…” Kendall knelt beside you, “Why?” You looked up at him, “Because I’m afraid of forgetting you if I do…” “Sweetheart,” he wrapped his arms around you. You clung onto his shirt, “I don’t want to forget you.”

He rubbed your back, “Sweetheart, I want you to listen to me. Don’t say anything, just listen.” You nodded. 

“Just because you let go of this feeling, this pain, doesn’t mean you’re letting go of me. Because I will always be yours, no matter what, I’m yours. But this pain, this grief, is not all that’s left of me.” 

He tilted your chin up to look at him, “You have the product of our love just feet away from you. Our love will always be here-” He pointed towards Nick. “-and here.” He pointed at your heart. 

Kendall kissed your forehead, “You won’t ever forget me. I don’t think it’ll be possible. Especially with our little boy over there.” You chuckled a little bit, smiling as your head fell to his chest.

“But you can’t let yourself stay in this cycle. It’s not good for you or Nick. And while grief is ugly and unpredictable, you can get past it. I know you can, because you’re just like your mother. So try to let go of the pain and hold on to the love.”

You nodded, understanding what he was saying. “It’ll be a long road, but you’ve got support. And don’t think that you can’t have bad days, but don’t try to go through them on your own. Okay, I hate seeing you cry.” 

“I’ll try Ken.” He smiled and squeezed your arm, “I love you.” You gently kissed him, “I love you too.”

***********

lil nicky is one and said his first word!! and duckie and rooster got a special visit from some of their dad’s old classmates

duckie also got a special visit from her late love and got a little closure

if you want to be added to the ‘duckie’ taglist or my top gun taglist lmk!! 

tags <33: @roosterscockpit @luckyladycreator2 @hotch-meeeeeuppppp @hisredheadedgoddess28 @malindacath @bananas1234 @avengers-fixation @shawnsblue​ 

i’ll put these in the comments as well

[bellaireland1981]

Stubborn Hearts |3

Summary: Reader (Firecracker, Sunshine) has been in love with Bradley since she was a young girl. Growing up the two were inseparable, apart from short periods of time when she was on the West Coast with the Kazanskys. One faithful decision by her dad to block Bradley from going to the Naval Academy resulted in a huge rift between father and daughter and left her without Bradley in her life. Now all grown up, she’s called back to the west coast at the same time as her father and Bradley. Her mission, according to her dying godfather, is to mend fences with her dad and Bradley. Can stubborn hearts be healed?

(I suck at summaries for real).

This will have multiple chapters… this is 3 of ??

Characters: Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw x Mitchell! Reader, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell x Daughter! Reader, The Dagger Squad, Shay (OC), Penny, Tom “Iceman” Kazansky

Word Count: 6578 (OOPS)

Warnings: Angst, Fluff, Death of character, TGM Spoilers, Illusions to Smut (later on ), Turbulent relationship with parent, Friends to lovers, …Please let me know if I’ve missed any!

A/N- This is my first time writing for TGM. I do not own the characters or plot lines from the movie. I DO NOT GIVE PERMISSION TO COPY OR REPRODUCE MY WORK ON THIS OR ANY OTHER PLATFORM! Reblogging is always welcome! Feedback is MUCH loved and appreciated. THANK YOU to @waywardodysseys​ for all support and bouncing ideas!!

Ch 1    Ch 2

Taglist: @gracespicybradshaw​ @memoriesat30​, @khaylin27​, @snekssss,

(IF I FORGOT ANYONE WHO ASKED TO BE TAGGED, MESSAGE ME!)

You spent the next day helping your aunt by running errands so she could stay home with your uncle. You could tell he was getting weaker and more tired by the day. It broke your heart seeing him that way.

Determined to take some of the burden off your aunt though, you’d offered to go get the groceries and pick up new meds, the doctor had ordered for your uncle to keep him comfortable.

You were in the produce aisle of the store when your phone dinged with an incoming message. You pulled the cart to the side, out of the way of other shoppers and checked your phone.

Shay:  Still on for the Hard Deck tonight?

Deciding it would just be easier to talk to her, you called her so you could continue shopping.

“Hey!” She answered, picking up on the second ring.

“Hi!” You replied, “I’m grocery shopping for Aunt Sarah so decided it was just easier to call. Are you busy?”

“Nope!” She replied, “I’m on my lunch break. I actually brought lunch to Aunt Penny. We’re just soaking up some sunshine and eating outside of the bar.”

“Sounds great!” You said, “To answer your question, yes, I’m still planning on coming tonight, but the original terms and conditions still apply.”

“Yes!” She exclaimed, laughing, “Also, Aunt Pen said she wants to hear all about your chat with your dad. I’ll just put you on speaker.”

“Hey, Kiddo!” Penny greeted you. “Spill the tea!”

“You’ve been listening to Amelia too much” You laughed, “It went really well… better than I obviously thought it would. We hashed a lot out and I realized it was mostly lack of communication, stubbornness, and neither of us knowing how to navigate any of it. I think we both realize neither of us are mind readers and being hard headed doesn’t get us anywhere.”

“Anyone could have told you both that.” Penny laughed, “I’m glad you both finally came around. I know you didn’t believe me before but your dad really did miss the hell out of you.”

“I missed him too. Honestly, I didn’t realize how much until I saw him and it all hit me in the gut.” You admitted. “He’s coming over after work to see Uncle Tommy and have dinner, so it’ll be a little later when I get there tonight.”

“That’s fine.” Shay said, “Time with your family right now is more important.”

“I’ll definitely be there after dinner though.” You assured her. “I’m gonna finish up here so I can get Uncle Tommy’s meds and get them back to him.”

“Give them both my love.” Penny said, “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Call me when you’re on your way so I can be on the lookout and start my duties as your bodyguard!” Shay said, only half teasing.

“I will” You replied, laughing, “See you both later!”

You quickly grabbed the rest of the food on the shopping list, adding a few extra treats you knew your cousins liked, before heading to the checkout. It wasn’t long before you had everything loaded in the Jeep and was on your way to the pharmacy, the final stop before heading back home.

After arriving home, you carried all the groceries in, putting them away while your aunt took the meds to your uncle. She came back down as you were putting away the last of the groceries.

“Thank you, sweetheart.” She said hugging you, “He gets so tired so quickly, I hate leaving him now.”

“Of course, Aunt Sarah” You replied, “I’m happy to help in any way that I can. I wish there was more that I could do.”

“You being here does more than you know.” She assured you. “You were essentially our first child, Sweetheart. Before the kids were born, we lived for those stretches of time you’d come to stay with us. Tom loved having his little shadow follow him around when you were little. He loved taking you to the base and showing you the planes. Everyone called you Ice Nugget or Little Ice until you were about 10 I think. Do you remember that?I think when your dad came back from deployments he was always a little jealous of just how close you and Tom were. Tom would mope for weeks after you’d leave.”

“I do remember.” You said, wiping tears that had started to fall. “I used to mope around the house in Virginia after having to go back too. Bradley would do his best to cheer me up. Carol used to have to sooth dad’s ruffled feathers, assuring him I did in fact still love him too, but it was the stability I was craving and mourning when we’d get back.”

“I know it wasn’t easy getting bounced back and forth all the time but never think you weren’t wanted and loved by all of us, Sweetheart.” She said, reaching over the brush the stray piece of hair that had fallen in your face. “You had a whole village that loved you and helped to raise you.”

“I never doubted you and Uncle Tommy loving and wanting me, or Carol for that matter.” You assured her, “I knew my dad loved me but it really did feel like he didn’t want me. I know now that that wasn’t the case.”

“I would have told you how much your dad wanted you, sweet girl” She said, smiling, “His way of showing his love and his need to care for you was making sure you were with people who loved you as much as him when he couldn’t be there.”

“I’m glad he’s coming to dinner tonight. He needs time with Uncle Tommy.” You said, “I promised Shay I’d meet her at the Hard Deck tonight after dinner though. If she doesn’t live up to her promise of protecting me from Bradley she has to buy me copious amounts of alcohol. I’m not sure what state I’ll be home in.”

“Maybe Brad will have had an epiphany and realize he’s an idiot for pushing you away. That way you two can talk things out and your liver won’t suffer.” She offered. “If not though, call us, your dad or an uber to bring you home.”

“I doubt he will have been enlightened in the 48 hours since I’ve seen him, so I promise to call for a designated driver in the event that I need one.” You said. “I’m going to go shower and figure out what to wear in the meantime. I might even do my hair and make up. Who knows, maybe I’ll meet another hot aviator tonight and forget all about Bradley Bradshaw.”

“Or… you get all dolled up and show him what he’s missing.” She countered, “Make him jealous. Worked like a charm on your uncle when he was too stubborn to act on his feelings with me.”

“That only worked because Uncle Tommy was madly in love with you, Aunt Sarah.” You reasoned, “Brad would have to first be in love with me, and he doesn’t even like me.”

“I wouldn’t bet money on that, my sweet, clueless niece.” She teased, “I would bet money on him having feelings though.”

“Why does it feel like everyone has a magic 8 ball or sees something that I’m clearly missing?” You ask, shaking your head, “I swear you’re all drinking the wacky juice and are seeing things that aren’t there.”

Your aunt just laughs, tells you you’ll see it one day as she starts pulling things out to get dinner going.

You head upstairs to your room. You pull your hair into a messy top knot to keep it from getting wet, then jump in the shower. Deciding what to wear takes a lot longer than you’d anticipated. By the time you made a decision it looked like a tsunami of clothes had hit your room. You’d have to clean it all up tomorrow for sure. You shoved all the clothes into a pile to sort then. In the end you settled on a simple white gauzy sundress that came to just above your knees. It had spaghetti straps that tied at your shoulders, leaving you back bare. You planned on wearing your crop denim jacket with the dress, knowing it would get cooler when the sun went down.  

With your outfit finally chosen, you left the dress hanging up on your closet door and tackled your hair. You carefully pulled it down from the top knot and  combed it out. It fell in natural waves to the middle of your back. You decided to go with the waves instead of fighting to tame them. Adding a little product to help define the waves, you scrunch your hair until it was styled the way you wanted it. Finally satisfied, you washed the product off your hands and decided to do light makeup. You hated the way a full makeup look felt on your face so you often just tended to do the bare minimum. You did however, make sure to add mascara and eyeliner so your eyes pop and lip gloss that you’d have to re-apply before you go to the bar later.  All that was left was to get dressed and you decided you’d do that after dinner. You pulled on cut off jean shorts and an old Navy t shirt ended up with from somewhere and headed downstairs.

“Well you look…. Cute” Your Aunt said when you’d entered the kitchen. “Not the outfit I thought you’d go with… but the hair and makeup look good.”

“This isn’t what I’m wearing” You laughed, “I chose a sundress but decided to be comfy until after dinner.”

“Fair enough.” She said, “Go keep your uncle company and play scrabble with him while I finish getting this all ready.”

“Ok!” You agreed, “Let me know if you want me to help with any of the dinner prep.”

“I’ve got it covered, and the kids will be back soon to help too.” She assured, shooing you out of the kitchen.

You grabbed a couple of bottles of water and headed into the living room where you Uncle sat, staring out the window that faced a huge backyard.

“Hey, Uncle Icey” You said, using your old nickname for him and sitting down next to him, “Wanna play scrabble?”

He looked over and smiled widely at the name. Nodding his head and sitting up straighter.

“Ok! I’ll grab a TV tray stand so we can set it up closer to us.” You said, “That way you’re still comfortable.”

You set up the board and the two of you started to play, quickly losing track of time. In the end, your uncle still managed to beat you with some crazy 30 point word you weren’t fully convinced actually was  a word.

“I’ll take your word for it, but I think you cheated.” You grumped at him playfully, cleaning up the game while he sat back against the couch and beamed while watching you.

“Still giving her a run for her money, huh Ice?” Your dad’s voice sounded from across the room.

You looked up and smiled at him, motioning him into the room. “Always, but he cheats!” you exclaimed. “Did today go any better?”

“Yes and No.” Mav answered, coming around the couch to where you stood with your uncle.

“It’ll get better, Dad” You assured him, “Give them time to get all the cockiness outta their system, then they’ll listen.”

Your uncle quietly chuckled from his position on the couch. You beamed at him and winked.

“It worked for the poor instructor that had you and Uncle Icey at Top Gun!” You laughed, “I’m going to go change and see if Aunt Sarah needs help.” You hugged both your uncle and dad before heading out of the room to let them talk.

________

Up in your room, you changed into the dress you’d chosen for the night, slipping on some strappy tan sandals to go with it. You’d thought about wearing your converse sneakers but decided you’d go the more dressy route. You picked out some simple gold hoop earrings and your favorite pendant necklace to finish out the look. The necklace had been a gift from Bradley the last birthday he celebrated with you before life had imploded. It was a small gold sunburst with an opal stone in the middle on a dainty gold chain. There’d been a time when you’d never taken the necklace off. It had meant the world to you that he’d picked out such a beautiful and meaningful gift. You wore it for a while after he’d left but eventually it just became a painful reminder of what you’d lost. Wearing it again felt good. You decided that no matter what happened with him at this point, you’d continue to wear the necklace… if nothing else, as a reminder of happier times.  

Ensemble complete, you gave yourself a final onceover in the mirror, satisfied with the overall look and headed downstairs for dinner.

“Now that's what I meant by dressing for the part.” Your aunt said, catching sight of you when you entered the kitchen. “You look absolutely breathtaking.”

“Wow, Y/N!” Your cousin said, looking up from where she was getting plates out. “You look so pretty!”

“They’re right, Firecracker.” Mav said coming into the kitchen. “Absolutely beautiful. You look so much like your mom.”

“Thank you.” You said, twirling and laughing, “It’s fun to dress up once in a while.”

“That’ll definitely capture Brad’s attention.” Your aunt teased, “Make him regret being an ass at the last encounter.”

“I don’t know that Rooster deserves my girl’s attention.” Mav said, in full on dad mode. “I don’t know that he’s good enough for you, Firecracker.”

“Dad, you’ve always said that nobody is good enough for me.” You reasoned, shaking your head. “It doesn’t matter though because he isn’t interested in me. He doesn’t even  like me or want to be in the same room. I am dressed up for myself.”

“Regardless, if he hurts my kid, he’ll be doing far more than the 200 pushups he’s been doing.” Your dad remarked.

“DAD!” You exclaimed, “Why are you making him do 200 pushups?”

“The squad made a bet, whoever gets shot down in training does 200 push ups.” he explained, “They were cocky, thinking they’d best me and before you get mad, they came up with the terms.”

“Idiots.” You sighed, “Navy aviators are all idiots.”

“If it makes you feel better, Rooster almost had me.” He said, “He hesitated though. That worries me. He also got in his head and ended up leading us below the hard deck.”

“He feels he has a lot to prove.” Sarah guessed, “It’s messing with his head.”

“That is dangerous up there and in missions.” Mav stated.

“Just… don’t rule him out yet, Dad.” You pleaded, “Give him the chance to prove himself.”

Dinner went well. It was nice to all be together. For a little while you could almost pretend that nothing was wrong. That your uncle wasn’t reaching the end of his life rapidly. Your dad wasn’t training the only guy you’ve ever loved to fly a mission that could get him killed. It was just… a normal family dinner. Well as normal as could be with your less than conventional family.

After dinner your aunt shooed you out of the house, insisting you go have fun. Mav offered to stay behind and help with cleanup and visit some more until your uncle was too worn out.

“Have fun, Firecracker.” Your dad said as you gathered your stuff to leave. “Give him hell. If you need a ride home, just call me and I’ll come get you.”

“Thanks, Dad” You replied, hugging him tightly, “I’m really happy to have you again.”

“You never lost me.” He reminded you. “Never will.”

With a final wave to your family, you headed to the Hard Deck. As promised earlier, you’d texted Shay to let her know you were on your way. She promised to be waiting when you got there.

You spent the drive over giving yourself a pep talk and deep breathing to calm your nerves. Worse case scenario, you could always leave if it was too bad. You knew Shay would forgive you. You also had Penny who would have your back if needed. It would be ok… you hoped.

Pulling into the lot, you found a spot open and parked the Jeep. You glanced in the rearview mirror to make sure your eye makeup and hair still looked good, then with one final deep breath you got out and headed into the bar.  There were already a lot of people in the bar, but you spotted Shay immediately as she was already heading your way.

“Hey! You made it!” She exclaimed happily, “And you look fucking hot! Let’s grab drinks and claim a table tonight!”

“Thanks! You’re going to give a certain Aviator heart failure tonight yourself!” You replied, “Drinks sound amazing… I think I need liquid courage to be your wing woman tonight.”

You followed Shay as she weaved through the people and made her way to the bar. You kept your eyes straight ahead, refusing to scan the bar looking for anyone in particular.

“Well, hello again beautiful ladies.” You heard the familiar Texan drawl saw as you reached the bar. “It must be my lucky night.”

You could see Shay blush at his words, as she slid up to the bar next to him. You opted to stand on her other side, so she was sandwiched between you and Hangman.

“Play your cards right, Hangman and it may just be your lucky night.” You teased, nudging Shay. “You’ll have to up your game though to be worthy of my friend, Shay here.”

“Wouldn’t expect anything less.” He winked at you before leveling Shay with a downright smoldering look and megawatt smile. “You two feel like joining my friends and me tonight? Get to know one another better?”

Shay gave you a look, letting you know it was totally up to you and she’d go with whatever made you most comfortable.

“That’s up to Y/N, Hangman.” She said, even though the purpose of the night was to help her get to know and possibly score a date with him. “Before any decisions are made though, we need drinks.”

“I can take care of that. And, please, call me Jake.” He said, turning to get Penny’s attention. “Penny, my dear, these ladies are drinking on my tab tonight.”

“You don’t have to do that,” You said quickly, “I appreciate it, but it’s not necessary.”

“My momma raised me to be a gentleman, Y/N.” He informed you with a playful sincerity, “Also, Penny is kinda intimidating too.”

You and Shay laughed at that, happily accepting the drinks.

“Alright, but next time I’ll return the favor.” You declared. “I doubt your mom would be mad if you let a friend buy you drinks.”

“Fair enough.” He agreed. Penny brought the drinks over to you and Shay. You’d both opted for cocktails this time. Both needing something stronger to calm the nerves.

“Before it gets too busy in here, how did it go at dinner tonight? Did Mav say if he was coming in?” Penny asked.

“It went well. I think Dad and Uncle Tom had a good visit. He didn’t sound like he was coming in but he wouldn’t take much convincing if you wanted to see him.” You teased, “And he said to call him if I needed a ride home.”

“You missed it the other night before you got here…” Shay said, her aunt’s comment triggering the memory, “Your dad got the bell rung on him! Then his card got declined so the second bell meant he was tossed overboard!”

“Shut up! No way!” You laughed, “Penny! You’re a legend! Who got to do the honors?”

“That would be Payback, Coyote, and Hangman here.” Penny supplied, laughing at the shocked look on Jake’s face.

“Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is your dad?” He asked, recovering from the shock.

“Y/N Mitchell” you introduced yourself formally. “In all fairness, until just recently, we had a…complicated relationship. And, knowing Penny, he probably fully deserved to be tossed overboard.”

“It made for a little bit of an awkward first day of training.” Jake laughed, “Payback and Coyote are going to die when I tell them this.”

“Tell us what?” The aforementioned pilots asked, joining your little group at the bar.

“We tossed her dad overboard the other day, boys.” Jake said, “This is Y/N Mitchell. And this beautiful lady, is Shay Benjamin. I’m trying to convince them to join our group tonight.”

“No way!” Payback exclaimed, tipping his head back, roaring with laughter. Coyote joined in, shaking his head, “That’s too much.”

“Rules are rules.” Shay said smiling before taking a sip of her drink and looking over at Jake.

“Absolutely.” You agreed, “Like I told Jake, he probably had it coming so no worries.”

“Well the two of you should definitely join us.” Coyote said, catching on that he needed to play wingman for Jake.  

You took a large drink of your own cocktail, hopping the liquor would hit your system faster.

“Lead the way.” You said, attempting a brave smile, one you hoped nobody saw through.

“Yes!” Jake said, happy at the victory. “Right this way, ladies.”

As the self-proclaimed gentleman he was, he offered his arms to both of you, leading you over to the rest of the group gathered at the pool table. Coyote and Payback stayed back to get a round of drinks for everyone else.

Thankfully, upon reaching the back table, there was no sign of Bradley. You remembered Phoenix from the other night you’d been there. The other aviators were unknown to you.

“Alright, we’ve got new friends!” Jake said, “Shay, Y/N, meet the squad!” He went around the table pointing to and providing a name for everyone.

“Yes! Females!” Phoenix cheered happily, “Halo, we have more chicks in the group!” f

“Finally!” Halo agreed, “Welcome to the squad!”

“Are we allowed to join a squad if we’re civilians?” You asked, laughing at their enthusiasm but understanding the lack of females in their immediate circles.

“Y/n, your dad is Maverick. Shay’s grandfather was an admiral…” Jake said, “I’d say you both qualify as squad members.”

“Holy Shit!” Phoenix said, “You’re THAT Y/N?”  She threw a look to Bob, who subtly nodded back.

“Um… maybe?” You said, completely lost.

“Oh, tonight is definitely going to be interesting.”  She replied, seemingly to herself.

Deciding you were going to need much more alcohol for this, you tossed back the remaining cocktail, swallowing it down. Thankfully, a refill wasn’t too far behind and another round appeared at the table. Shay and Jake headed to the Jukebox to pick out music while you got to know the others around you.

They were quick to set you at ease, telling you stories from training so far but also from their first time through Top Gun. You especially tuned in whenever they mentioned Brad. You didn’t want to be obvious and ask where he was, but not knowing when he’d pop up was setting you on edge.

After finishing your second cocktail you excused yourself to go to the bathroom, partly because you really needed to use it but also because you needed a minute to collect yourself.

You were washing your hands when the door opened and Phoenix walked in.

“You ok?” she asked, coming to stand next to you.

“Yeah, I’m good” You smiled back, drying your hands off with a paper towel before tossing it in the nearby trash. “Why?”

“I should have put it together the other night when Rooster came back to the table looking like he’d seen a ghost, then took off quickly after he watched you leave.” She said, “But when Jake told us who your dad is, it clicked into place. You’re Rooster’s Y/N.”

“I’m not Rooster’s anything anymore.” You corrected her, sadness seeping into your voice. “He made it abundantly clear.”

“I don’t think that’s the case, Y/N.” She said, “When we were in Top Gun together, we became pretty close friends. He was drunk one night and told me all about you. I think it was your birthday or some important day. He’d been off all day and then made it his mission to get as drunk as possible. You’re definitely something to him still.”

“Not the impression I got the other night. Or in the last decade of radio silence.” You said, “It’s ok though. I’ve learned to live with it and move on.”

“He’s a guy. They’re idiots by nature, with the emotional maturity of toddlers.” She said, “Doesn’t mean they don’t feel the emotions though.”

The door opened and Shay peeked her head in. “Hey, just wanted to warn you that Brad just pulled in. He hasn’t actually entered the bar yet.”

“Thanks, Shay.” You said, smiling, “I guess it’s show time.”

“I’m ready to be your bodyguard.” She said, “As promised.”

“You’ll have more than one if you need us.” Phoenix said, “But maybe give him a chance.”

“She tried that last time and it didn’t end too well.” Shay said, coming to your defense.  “Although maybe now that the shock has worn off?”

“Exactly!” Phoenix said, “Let’s go get you a fresh drink and claim the pool table.”

The three of you headed out of the bathroom and to the bar. Jake cocked his head in silent question when he saw the trio of you together. Shay smiled and shook her head. You offered a smile of your own letting him know you were ok.  Your first impression of Jake had been right. He wasn’t your type, but he would make a really good friend.

“Penny, we need more alcohol!” Phoenix declared, “A certain barnyard animal is incoming and my new bestie here needs to be far more drunk than this!”

“Coming right up” She said, laughing, “Hangman’s tab still?”

You said no at the same time as Shay, Phoenix and Jake himself said yes.  You hadn’t even seen him sneak over to join your group. Glancing over though, you saw him standing behind Shay, his hand resting on her hip. You smirked at him, knowing at least tonight seemed to be working for Shay. You would endure whatever was about to go down for her sake.

Penny pushed the drinks across the bar towards you all and you grabbed them before heading to the pool table.

You sat down at the high table close to the pool table, your back facing the door. You didn’t need to see him come in to know he had. The others in the group called out to him when he walked through the door.

“About time Bradshaw.” Jake yelled. “Recovered from all your pushups?”

“Fuck you, Hangman.” Bradley shot back, “You did more than I did today.”

“And I’m clearly in better shape than you are.” Jake retorted, throwing a wink your way as he delivered the line.  “Rooster, meet our new friends. This is Shay, and Y/N. They’ve become honorary squad members as of tonight.”

Shay waved and you kept staring at your drink like it was the most fascinating thing in the world.

“Nice to meet you, Shay.” Brad said, “Y/N, can I talk to you?”

“I’m good here with my new friends thanks,” You replied, sipping your drink. You knew it was a petty thing to say, but you never claimed to not be petty. Shay laughed quietly, understanding the dig.

“Rooster, I feel the need to beat you at pool tonight.” Phoenix said, jumping to your rescue.

“Sure” He said, going over to pick up a pool cue, his eyes staying on you as he did so. You continued to sip your drink and ignore him, focusing instead on whatever story Jake was telling across from you. At least, you tried to pay attention.  You absently played with the sun pendant on your necklace, your nerves absolutely wrecked.

“Y/N, Shay said you’re a pilot?” Bob asked, pulling you out of your head.  

“Yup!” You answered, “I was bitten by the aviation bug at a young age. My dad and Godfather were pretty key in that.”

“Who’s your Godfather?” Jake asked, “Anyone we know?”

“Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky” You supplied, “I just call him Uncle Tommy though.”

“Holy shit. He’s a legend.” Jake replied, “Also, I’m sorry to hear he’s not doing well health wise, Y/N.”

“Thanks” You said, looking down at your drink. “He is a legend.”

“With connections like that, why didn't you join the Academy or enlist or something?” Coyote asked, joining the conversation.

“Zero interest.” You simply said, looking up to catch Bradley standing rigid, hands locked like a vice around the pool cue and watching you with a look in his eyes you couldn’t place.

“So what do you fly?” Bob asked, guiding the topic back to safer ground. Bless that sweet man’s heart.

“I flew charters when I lived back East. I own my own little Cessna too, that I try to log as much flight time in as I can.” You answered.

“Did your dad ever give you a call sign?” Jake asked.

“Not really a call sign” You laughed, “My dad calls me ‘firecracker’. My uncle and other aviators here on North Island called me ‘Little Ice nugget’ or just ‘nugget’.”

“Firecracker is pretty appropriate” Jake laughs, “I thought it would be ‘Sunshine’ though, or something like that with the necklace you keep messing with.”

“No…” You said quietly. “The necklace was a gift from another lifetime.”

Jake was quick to pick up on the shift in your tone, but didn’t know what he’d said to cause it. Shay, noticing your drink was nearly empty again, suggested the two of you head to the bar to get another one. You were 3 drinks in and figured another wouldn’t hurt. You’d already have to call an Uber or your dad to come get you.

You carefully hopped off the stool, swaying a little from the alcohol, but Coyote was quick to steady you. You thanked him before following Shay to the bar.

“Thanks” You said when you were away from the group. “On the bright side, he seems content in not talking to me, so that’s great.”

“Y/N, he hasn’t taken his eyes off you the entire time he’s been here.” Shay said, “He definitely wants to talk to you… you just did a great job shutting him down.”

“I’m too afraid to talk to him.” You admitted, “If I don’t talk to him I can hold onto hope that someday maybe I’ll get my best friend back.”

“How’s it going over there girls.” Penny asked, coming over to the side of the bar you were standing at.

“Need another drink, please.” You replied

“That good, huh?” She said, “I may get the pleasure of seeing your dad tonight.”

“Penny, you don’t have to wait for me to be drunk to see my dad.” You laughed.

“Pen, can I get another beer please?” Brad asked, coming up behind you. You shot a look at Shay for not warning you, only to see her making flirty heart eyes with Jake across the bar. “Add Y/N’s drink to my tab too.”

“Her drinks are already on Hangman tonight.” Penny said, winking at you.

“They were. I’ll get the rest of them.” He said firmly.

“Why doesn’t anyone think I can pay for my own damn drinks?” You complained.

“Sweetheart, never complain about men wanting to buy drinks” Penny said laughing

“You planning on ignoring me forever, Sunshine?” Brad asked, taking a drink of his beer, “Or can we talk like adults now?”

“Careful, Rooster.” Penny said delivering your drink, “Don’t make me ring this bell on you. You’ll be buying drinks for more than just Y/N here.”

“Sorry, Penny,” He said, looking sheepish. “Can you please, convince her to have a conversation with me?”

“Ugh, Fine!” You said, exasperated and tipsy. “MIght as well get this over with while I have a good buzz going. You want to talk, Bradley? Then by all means… talk.”

“Can we step outside? Or at least find a place slightly more private?” He asked, not unreasonably.

You picked your drink up and headed towards the door that would lead out to the patio overlooking the beach. Bradley followed close behind, nodding at Phoenix and Jake on the way  by.

Once outside the noise level immediately dropped. The music was muted by the sounds of the ocean.

“You didn’t seem too inclined to want to talk the other night.” You said quietly.

“Sunshine, it was a bit of a shock seeing you.” He admitted, “I probably didn’t handle it the best.”

You stayed quiet, looking out to the water instead. Honestly now that you were face to face with him, you weren’t even sure what to say or where to start.

“I’m surprised you still call me ‘Sunshine’.” You commented quietly.

“That’s your name.” he shrugged. “I’m surprised you still have the necklace.”

“I haven’t worn it in forever.” You admitted, “But couldn’t part with it.”

“Did you know?” He asked.

“About dad pulling your papers? Or about him being here at Top Gun as an instructor?” You asked, needing clarification,

“Both.” He said.

“I didn’t know about him pulling your papers until you’d stormed into the house yelling, and then slamming out of the house…and my life.” You said, struggling to keep your voice steady and devoid of the emotion swirling inside. “I confronted him after you’d left, asking him what the hell had happened… he told me then what we’d done. I was furious. I tried calling you but it went straight to voicemail every time. I went to your house the next day but you weren’t there either.”

“And now? Did you know he was here to be the instructor for this mission?” He asked, his own voice rough with emotion.

“Yes. But not until I got here and Uncle Tommy told me.” You replied

“The other night when I saw you here, you didn’t think maybe I could use a heads up? Knowing what happened in the past? Did I really deserve to be blindsided?” He asked, his tone hardening to cover his feelings.

“Are you fucking kidding me right now, Bradshaw?” You seethed, years of anger and hurt breaking through the walls you’d built and flooding your system. “You do not get to get mad at me and tell me about what you deserve and don’t deserve. I fucking tried to tell you but you cut me off saying you needed to get back to your friends! So, FUCK YOU Bradley Bradshaw! Fuck you for you leaving ME when you were made at my DAD. FUCK YOU for throwing away our friendship. You know who didn’t deserve to be treated like trash, to be thrown away on the drop of a dime? ME! I didn’t deserve your anger Bradley. I didn’t do anything except love you. All I’ve ever done was love you.”

You hadn’t realized you’d started to cry until you felt the drops of tears fall onto your hand, You angrily wiped them away, not wanting to let Bradley see you cry. It had felt good to release the anger you’d kept locked in but the stretching silence wasn’t helping to calm the bubbling anxiety you now felt.

“Would you rather I stuck around and allowed the anger and resentment I had towards Maverick eat at me and cause me to lash out at you too? I thought by walking away I was saving you from getting hurt.” He said quietly.

“Newsflash, asshole, you leaving and going radio silent hurt fucking worse than anything.” You said, your voice cracking.

“Yeah, well, having your Godfather pull your papers to the academy, and block you from following in your father’s footsteps didn’t feel so great either, Y/N” He yelled back, “Especially when he’s the reason your father is no longer alive. So forgive me if I felt the need to cut myself off from the person who ruined my life. If it meant cutting you out of my life too, well it was just collateral damage I suppose.”

You felt like you’d been slapped. For what felt like forever you couldn’t get air into your lungs. Whatever buzz you had going for you coming into the conversation was now completely gone. In its place was left a horrible pain where your heart should be.

“Then let me do us both a favor and remove myself from your life once more.” You whispered, not trusting your voice anymore. You would not let him see any more of your tears. He no longer deserved the right to your pain. Reaching up behind your neck, you unclasped the necklace you’d once loved, but now knew would only bring pain in seeing. You removed it and carefully set it down on the wooden table next to you. You didn’t care what he did with it now, you just didn’t want anything from him, anything to remind you of him. You started to turn away when his hand landed on your wrist, desperate to keep you from walking away.  

“Sunshine, no.” He said, immediately realizing he’d fucked up, once again. “Please, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I wasn’t thinking. Please, don’t do this… put it back on. I didn’t mean it. I don’t want you out of my life…not anymore.”

“I stopped being your ‘Sunshine’ a long time ago, Bradley.” You said, defeated, “It’s too late. All we seem to do is hurt each other at this point. Maybe you did us both a favor before.”

Not giving him time to respond, you pulled your hand from his grasp and walked back into the bar. You desperately needed to hold it all together until you could get home and then you’d allow yourself to break down.

“I’m going to beat his ever loving ass!” Phoenix said, seeing the look on your face when you walked over to get your purse.

Jake and Shay turned towards you at Phoenix’s outburst, Shay immediately coming over to you.

“Sweets, you ok?” Jake asked, coming up behind Shay.

“Y/N, what happened to your necklace?” Shay asked.

“I’m going to go.” You simply said, not trusting your voice. You were barely hanging on as it was.

“Y/N, you can’t drive like this.” Shay said, “Even without alcohol, you’re in no state to drive.”

“I’ll call my dad to come get me.” You said, “I just can’t stay here.”

“I can take you home, Y/N.” Bob offered, “That way you’re not waiting long.”

You looked up when the door opened, seeing Bradley coming in, you quickly agreed to the offer.

“Thank you, Bob.” You said, “Shay, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

She gave you a quick hug before Bob led you out the front to the parking lot.  In your haste to get out of there, you once again missed the look of complete remorse and devastation on Bradley’s face as he watched you leave. You also missed Phoenix punching him in the arm and calling him every name in the book.

A/N: I PROMISE to start fixing the broken hearts!!! :) Thank you so much for reading!!! 

[saitama-vs]

Hello. THis is the big list of all the results, sorted alphabetically. Warning: LONG LIST UNDER CUT.

Aang from Avatar: the Last Airbender 41.0%

Ahti the Janitor from Control 52.8%

Akinator from Akinator 47.8%

Amelia Bedelia 80.8%

Amy Wong from Futurama 31.4%

Arale Norimaki from Dr. Slump (and one episode of Dragon Ball Super) 78.3%

Assassinlan Pasalan from The Battle Cats 54.0%

Astarion Acunin from Baldur's Gate 3 8.5%

Bambi from Bambi 19.1%

Barney the Dinosaur from Barney and Friends 27.8%

Batman 11.4%

Beedle from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword 52.5%

Bennett from Genshin Impact 18.3%

Bocchi from Bocchi the Rock 55.7%

Boyfriend from Friday Night Funkin' 22.2%

Brassmo the Chao from Saltydkdan 83.2%

Buggy the Clown from One Piece 37.9%

Bugs Bunny 86.2%

Bunga from The Lion Guard 25.0%

Burgerpants from Undertale 34.7%

Captain Biceps from Captain Biceps 22.9%

Cats from Real Life 76.4%

Cecil Palmer from Welcome to Night Vale 72.1%

Charlie Kelly from Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia 24.1%

Chell from Portal 54.9%

Chompy from Bug Fables 87.2%

Clover from Homestuck 57.1%

Columbo from Columbo 79.3%

Connecticut Clark 71.9%

Dan from Dan VS. 38.6%

Death from Discworld 63.7%

Discord from My Little Pony 34.2%

Ditto from Pokemon 57.0%

Divecat build Purrloin from Competitive Pokemon 62.8%

Dougie Jones from Twin Peaks: the Return 43.5%

Ebony Dementia Darkness Raven Way from My Immortal 45.8%

Eduardo from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends 40.3%

Fear from Inside Out 23.0%

FEAR rattata from Competitive Pokemon 57.5%

Figment the Dragon from EPCOT 47.0%

Flabébé from Pokémon 36.9%

Flan from Everhood 41.6%

Flora Reinhold from Professor Layton 72.2%

Fumihiko Takaba from Jujutsu Kaisen 62.9%

Gamzee Makara from Homestuck 41.5%

Genie from Aladdin (1992) 66.2%

Genie from Aladdin (2019) 14.3%

Gir from Invader Zim 61.5%

Gnome Ann from Xkcd 85.6%

Gorgeous Freeman from Gorgeous Freeman 56.8%

Gotrek Gurnisson from Warhammer Fantasy 63.1%

Hatsune Miku 73.8%

Holly Jolly from Sleepless Domain 72.6%

Homura Akemi from Madoka Magica 28.1%

Imposter from Among Us 50.5%

Ingo and Emmet from Pokemon 47.7%

Isca the Unbeaten from X-Men 3.1%

Jailbot from Superjail 46.2%

Jerry from Tom & Jerry 89.7%

Joltik from Pokémon 68.7%

Kabal from Mortal Kombat 23.2%

Kanade Yoisaki from Proseka 33.3%

Karl the Raccoon from Bungou Stray Dogs 84.9%

Kira from Death Note 16.9%

Kirby 86.8%

Kobeni from Chainsaw Man 53.4%

Kyubey from Madoka Magica 20.6%

Lamb from Cult of the Lamb 51.5%

Larry the Cucumber from Vegetales 48.2%

Leeroy Jenkins from World of Warcraft 37.2%

Link from The Legend of Zelda 22.0%

Luigi, While Doing Nothing 79.3%

Luo Binghe from Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System 43.4%

Macbeth 15.6%

Madoka Kaname from Madoka Magica 49.0%

Magda from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 67.0%

Mandy from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy 52.6%

Maxwell from Scribblenauts 75.4%

Melissa Foddebrat from Beware the Villainess 40.5%

Metal Cat from The Battle Cats 51.6%

Mindy from Animaniacs 58.4%

Minimoose from Invader Zim 82.3%

Mio Naganohara from Nichijou 80.3%

Mister Invincible from Mister Invincible 76.3%

Mister Miracle from DC Comics 37.0%

Mob from Mob Psycho 100 41.2%

Monkey D. Luffy in Gear Fifth 25.6%

Monokuma from Danganronpa 16.1%

Mosquito from One Punch Man 76.1%

Mr. Bean from the Mr. Bean Show 51.1%

Nahida from Genshin Impact 15.4%

Neco-Arc from Tsukihime 70.9%

One of Every Pokemon 44.5%

Orko from He Man/Masters of the Universe 53.4%

Peegue from Return to Wonderland/Wonderland Secret Worlds/the Wonderland Adventures trilogy 59.1%

Phoenix Wright from Ace Attorney 57.4%

Percy Jackson from Percy Jackson and the Olympians 10.1%

Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb 66.4%

Pikmin from Pikmin 77.4%

Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony 90.4%

Plank from Ed, Edd, N' Eddy 74.7%

Plankton from Spongebob 29.1%

Pop Fizz from Skylanders 41.6%

Princess Tutu from Princess Tutu 63.4%

Prismo from Adventure Time 61.2%

Q from Star Trek 33.3%

Raku-Chan from Nyan Neko Sugar Girls 42.1%

Reigen Arataka from Mob Psycho 100 41.5%

Remy from Ratatouille 54.2%

Rick Shades from Epithet Erased: Prison of Plastic 16.6%

Rio Mason Busujima from Hypnosis Mic 29.6%

Roadrunner from Looney Tunes 93.8%

Roger Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit 66.1%

Ryan, the 'I Like Trains' kid from ASDFMovie 68.1%

Saiki Kusuo from The Disasterous Life of Saiki K 65.7%

Saint from Rain World 56.4%

@saitama-vs 30.3%

Sans from Undertale 51.3%

Santa Claus 64.2%

Saxton Hale from TF2 43.5%

SCP-682, The Hard-to-Destroy Reptile 24.2%

Shedinja from Pokemon 72.5%

Sissel from Ghost Trick 68.3%

Six Balls from Scum Villains Self Saving System 70.1%

Socioeconomic Inequality from Real Life 72.3%

Spider Ham 53.0%

Spies from Spy vs Spy 45.3%

Squirrel Girl from Marvel Comics 83.5%

Stanley from The Stanley Parable 49.0%

Starchild Dave Bowman from 2001 34.7%

Steve from Big Top Burger 81.7%

Stuart Little from Stuart Little 23.7%

Swarm of Bees from Real Life 83.5%

Tenma Tsukasa from Project SEKAI 39.9%

The Animaniacs 86.9%

The Cabbage Merchant from Avatar: The Last Airbender 33.6%

The Djinn from Twisted: the Untold Story of a Royal Vizier 86.5%

The Great Gazoo from The Flintstones 55.7%

The Goose from Untitled Goose Game 94.3%

The Gopher from Caddyshack 79.4%

The Groke from Moomins 73.5%

The Midnight Crew from Homestuck 23.9%

The Monty Python Rabbit 64.8%

The Penguins from Madagascar The results of this one are complicated

The Pink Panther from The Original Pink Panther Cartoons 87.5%

The Swan from Hot Fuzz 90.7%

The TF2 Mercs The results of this one's complicated

The Tick from The Tick (1994) 34.7%

Tom Bombadil from Lord of The Rings 80.5%

V1 from ULTRAKILL 65.9%

Vriska from Homestuck 36.2%

Xi Ping/Xi Shiyong/Tai Sui from Tai Sui 34.2%

Yonah from Nier Replicant 28.6%

You 22.6%

Youngster Joey's Top Percentage Rattata 37.9%

[buffyfan145]

Thanks to the Rings of Power Updates Twitter/X they posted past of an interview with Charlie Vickers that a lot of us including me don't remember seeing from October of 2022 after the season 1 finale previewing his role as Sauron in the upcoming 2nd season. Here's the full thing since the preview image cut it off:

"I mean, to be honest, it hasn't changed my approach to the character that much compared to season one at this date, because I knew for most of season one, really. It's just that now it's out in the open. I guess that's where the difference is. And it's in the writing mainly. We get to see Sauron openly doing his thing, at least from the audience's perspective. The other characters don't know, but I think for me, it's quite interesting to be able to play things a bit more with the knowledge that the audience is in on it with me now. It informs some of the decisions I make. That's the main difference, I would guess."

Now for those of us like myself who been keeping up with the various scoops we've been getting from Fellowship of Fans and other interviews/sources this goes along with what they've been saying but also adds to it too. Putting that behind a cut as it contains likely major spoilers.

From FOF and others we know the show is doing some sort of Annatar storyline with another actor playing this "original form" but it's only in the last couple of episodes. However, we'll see Charlie shapeshift into this other form in a fight with Adar early in season 2 as it is the form Adar knew. Now reading Charlie's comments this makes me think again that even with them still doing the Annatar storyline that we'll actually still get Charlie with the most screen-time and doesn't change his status as the main Sauron actor going forward, and there's already spoilers backing that up as Charlie's filmed a lot as Halbrand with Adar, Amelia Kenworthy's character, the men, and the dwarves at least. Possibly in scenes with Galadriel too as a lot of us speculate they'll still have that connection to see each other in dreams. But Charlie's words also seem to confirm that Galadriel either doesn't tell the others that Halbrand is Sauron or only a select few know, so I'm curious how that is going to happen especially with Celebrimbor. But they can easily do this Annatar storyline line similar to how Tom Hiddleston shapeshifts as Loki and we/the audience knows it's him and then he shapeshifts back to his Halbrand form in the finale or we also see Charlie on-screen but the characters see this other form. Plus, I doubt this original form/Annatar actor is staying past this season as most of us think Charlie will still play Sauron till the show ends, especially for when he goes back to Numenor as he already was there as Halbrand, so seeing this statement from Charlie just helps to confirm that for me and I'm really excited we'll finally be getting season 2 next fall.

[wheels-of-despair]

Enough | A Make Up Story | Tom Grant x You | Series Masterlist

Chapter 11: A Hint of Shared Embarrassment Words: 2.8k

The next two days went by in a glorious blur.

April had been overjoyed when you told her that you were going to stick around and help Tom pack for her.

But her enthusiasm didn't come close to how you felt after Tom asked you to stay.

You said goodbye to April and Amelia and walked out of the hospital with Tom's arm around your shoulders, and yours wrapped around his waist. You stopped for a quick lunch that you barely tasted, because you were so fucking happy about a few more days with him, you couldn't focus on anything else.

You picked up a pile of cardboard boxes, stopped by Doug's shop and paid a bill that was much lower than you thought it'd be - it was an easy fix, he's said, he was just waiting on the part - and followed Tom back to the caravan park in your little junk-bucket.

You packed while Tom worked, singing along to his borrowed radio to keep your mind from running wild. Packing April's things - dusting and organizing and wrapping her breakables - was surprisingly relaxing. She was a fascinating person, judging by the things she'd collected over the years; you wished you'd had more time to get to know her. You'd love to know the stories behind her treasures.

But the thing you most looked forward to was when Tom came home from work. You'd fallen into a routine almost immediately; you'd finish up at April's a few minutes before you expected him, and have dinner started by the time he arrived. He was clueless, but eager to help. You loved teaching him almost as much as you loved teasing him.

When you woke on Thursday, peaceful and warm beneath the covers in the hazy morning light, you carefully turned toward Tom. He was lying on his side, facing you with his mouth open, snoring lightly. He was so beautiful, it made you ache.

He moaned quietly, and you closed your eyes, so he wouldn't know that you'd been staring at him. You felt him move and heard him stretch, but didn't open your eyes until he'd settled back in.

Tom had been watching you too.

You smiled at each other with just a hint of shared embarrassment. Did he know you'd started it?

"What's the time," he mumbles, rolling over to look at the clock. He moans and turns back to you with a smirk. "Don't have to be up for half an hour."

"Hmmm," you hum, moving closer and running your hand up his bare chest. "A whole half an hour. What shall we do with our time?"

"I've got a few ideas," he grins. You let your hand slide into his messy morning hair and pull him close for a kiss. You have a few ideas of your own.

Exactly twenty-nine minutes later, Tom is out the door with a peck and a "see you at lunch", and you're on your way back to April's. You threw yourself into your task and quickly lost track of time, wondering about the stories behind the decades-old framed photographs you were dusting and packing into cardboard boxes.

You're folding clothes and marveling at your ability to remember lyrics to songs you haven't heard in a decade when you hear the floor creak behind you. You whip around in a panic and see Tom leaning against the door frame and smirking at you.

"Jesus, Tom!" You clutch your heart. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Not long," he grins. "Ready to take a break?"

You glance at the clock and confirm that it's lunchtime. "Sorry, got in the zone. I meant to have food ready by the time you got home."

"Don't apologize, we'll heat up something together."

You return to Tom's for a quick lunch of leftovers.

"Kyle's coming over later to help me waterproof the window. Supposed to rain tonight."

"Oh no, what if we get rained in? How ever will we entertain ourselves?" you smirk.

Tom grins and takes another bite.

"I'm gonna go wash April's sheets and the clothes from her hamper in a bit," you tell him as he chews. "Want me to throw in a load for you too?"

The air turns heavy, and Tom puts down his fork. You busy yourself with the salt shaker, sensing that you've overstepped.

"You don't have to do that."

"It's bland," you intentionally misunderstand.

"You know what I mean."

You shrug. "I'm going anyway."

"I mean, you don't have to take care of me."

"It's not a big deal, Tom. I have seen your underwear before, you know," you joke. That's right, ease the tension, hope he forgets that you just made it weird.

No such luck.

Tom reaches across the table for your hand. You hesitate. He flattens his palm and wiggles his fingers until you place your hand in his. When you finally dare to look up at him, you see pity in those big brown eyes.

"You're here because I want you to be. You don't have to earn your keep."

Your heart suddenly feels like it's made of lead. How does he see right through you like this? This is exactly what you did with Jade. You took care of her without question or complaint, hoping that she'd eventually see the value in keeping you around. Like an absolute fucking idiot. Perhaps it's time to revisit that get-eaten-by-shark idea.

You blink back tears, swallow the lump in your throat, and somehow manage a fraction of a nod. He squeezes your hand.

"I'm making you dinner tonight," he states, letting your hand go.

"Is it gonna be spaghetti or spaghetti?" you ask, hoping to laugh your way out of your shame.

"Oh, fuck off," he laughs, digging back into his lunch. You smile and start picking at yours again too. The tension doesn't take long to dissipate. Things felt almost normal by the time you finished eating.

But you left the dirty dishes in the sink when Tom went back to work anyway, just to prove a point.

You returned to April's and continued packing until you heard hammering nearby. You went to the kitchen window and spent a few minutes watching Tom and Kyle working on the plywood-covered hole. Tom had broken a sweat and shed his jacket. He and Kyle worked well together; no sniping, no nasty looks, no fighting like with Kai. You couldn't make out their words, but you could hear their laughs. You had to drag yourself away from the window and back to the box of figurines that needed to be sealed and labeled.

You tried your best to stop your thoughts from wandering back to the boy next door as you worked, but didn't have much luck. When he finally appeared, leaning against the doorframe in his sweaty t-shirt, it was all you could do not to maul him on the spot.

"Clouds are starting to roll in. You wanna call it a day?"

Words. Use your words. "Yeah."

"I'm gonna go jump in the shower, I won't be but a minute. Then I'll make dinner." He turns to leave, but you can't let it happen. You need him. Now.

"Wait."

He looks back at you expectantly. Your words have escaped you again, so you close the distance and pull him in for a kiss. He moans into your mouth, and you nearly lose it on the spot. Sorry, April's house.

The hand that's not in his hair traces his belt buckle, and he jumps as if you've given him an electric shock.

"I, uh," he licks his lips, "I'm all sweaty. Let me go shower."

"No." You step closer and suck at his salty neck, and wonder if he's going to collapse in your arms.

"Really, you don't want me all dirty like this, I'll only be a minute, I promise." The waver in his voice is entirely unconvincing.

You pull back and give him a hard look. His breath catches.

"Alright, Tom. If you really want to shower first, you can shower first." He swallows. You come in closer and speak quietly. "I'm going to finish up here. I want you waiting for me on the bed in five minutes… in nothing but a towel."

Tom's eyes widen. He nods, then turns and scrambles out the door. You didn't go to the window to watch, but you're fairly certain he ran across the yard to get home. You smile to yourself and look at the clock on April's kitchen wall. You move through the house slowly and start turning off lights, making sure to give him enough time.

When four and a half minutes are up, you lock her door and walk through the yard and back to Tom's.

He's waiting for you on the edge of the bed, in nothing but a towel, just as he'd been instructed. Droplets of water fall from his hair to his shoulders and roll down his chest. He's fucking perfect.

You stand between his legs and let him nuzzle his face into your stomach for a moment, raking your fingers through his wet hair. His palms remain on the bed, as if he were waiting for permission to touch you. You don't give it. Your hands eventually drift to his shoulders, and gently push him back onto the mattress. He watches you with wide eyes and shallow breaths. You could've told him to do anything in that moment, and he would've done it.

Instead, you sink to your knees on the floor between his legs and slowly peel away the towel. He's trembling.

"Tom? Are you alright?"

"Mhm."

"Do you want this?"

"Fuck yeah," he puffs. You start at his knee and kiss a slow trail up the inside of his thigh. When you look up at him, he's already clutching a fistful of the blanket in each hand. He's so hard, you can't bear to torture him much longer. You place your hands on his hips and give them a squeeze, to let him know what's coming.

When you take him in your mouth, he whimpers.

When your fist closes around his base, he moans.

When you start to pump him, he gasps.

When you swirl your tongue around his head, he erupts with a strangled cry.

You swallow him down and rest your chin on his thigh while you wait for his body to stop quivering.

He's so fucking beautiful.

"Fuck," he finally breathes, still panting.

"You alright?" you ask from between his legs with a smirk.

"C'mere," he mumbles, reaching his hands toward you blindly, not having the energy to lift his head and look at you.

You crawl up onto the bed and lie on your side next to him, propping your head up on your palm so you can keep watching him. He turns to his side and buries his face in your chest, pulling you to him with an arm around your back. You smile and kiss the top of his head, then twist yourself so that you're lying on your back and he's nearly on top of you. You stroke up and down his spine as his breathing evens out.

Eventually, Tom pulls his head away from your chest, with your shirt between his teeth. He lets it go with a devious grin.

"You're wearing far too many clothes right now."

"I guess you should probably help me out of them, then."

Tom Grant doesn't need to be told twice.

Two hours and several rounds later, you've both worked up a sweat.

"Good thing you took a shower beforehand, huh?" you tease.

"That's alright," he smiles. "Now we can take a fun one."

"Oh?"

"C'mon," he grins, rising out of bed and extending a hand to you. You don't take it.

"Tom, your tiny little shower cannot hold two people."

"Bet it can."

"Bet it can't."

"What do you want to bet?"

"Hm… if there's room for you to rock my world, then you must do so. But if there's not, you let me shower in peace while you go make dinner."

"Deal. Up." He reaches forward and grabs your hands, pulling you from the bed and into the tiny bathroom. Tom turns the water on, and gestures for you to enter the comically small shower stall. You step in, turn around, and cross your arms. He grins and follows.

"Oh, look. We both fit. I win." You roll your eyes and move half a step so that your back touches the wall. "Alright, if you put your leg here…"

The events that followed were awkward, slippery, and full of laughter. Knees and elbows were banged on walls, eyes were blinded with water, and one leg cramp threatened to ruin eveything. But Tom held up his end of the bargain, and you both returned to the bedroom happy, triumphant, and slightly less sweaty.

"Wait, which one of us is making dinner?" Tom asks, slipping into a pair of sweats.

"Doesn't matter, there's a pizza crammed in there somewhere, all we have to do is unwrap it and toss it in the oven."

"Oh yeah?" Tom asks, standing behind you as you wiggle your underwear up over your damp hips. His head dips to place a kiss on your neck, his arms circle you… then he throws you onto the bed.

"I'll make dinner!" he yells as he bounds into the kitchen.

You laugh, roll over, and get up to follow him. You pull a shirt over your head and step into the kitchen as he opens the pizza box.

"Don't hurt yourself with all that work, Tom," you warn, playfully snapping the waistband of his sweats as you pass him. He yelps, reaches out to smack your ass, and misses. You turn around and stick your tongue out, then proceed to the living room. You plop yourself on the sofa, lacing your fingers behind your head and crossing your ankles as you watch Tom go through the grueling task of putting a frozen pizza in the oven.

When he lets the oven door slam shut, he takes a run at you. You curl into a defensive ball and squeal, and he attacks. With kisses. He hovers over you on all fours and kisses every bit of skin he can reach.

Once you realize your life is not in peril, you stretch out beneath him and wait for him to find your mouth. He does, gradually stretching his body out over yours. You stay just like that, kissing lazily, until the oven timer dings.

"Dinner's ready," he whispers, still centimeters from your face. "I slaved all day."

"Better go get it out of the oven then," you said with a kiss to the tip of his nose. "Wouldn't want all that hard work to be for naught."

You grin at each other and reluctantly leave the sofa. The rain had started at some point, but you didn't notice until you sat down at the table.

The pizza is quite good for something that you only grabbed because it was on sale. Or maybe it was the company that made it seem that way.

The rain picked up as you ate, and the thunder began. You decided to forego dishes for the night, lest someone get electrocuted. Tom turned off the lights and opened the curtains so you could watch the storm, and you settled in on the sofa together.

You lay there for hours, talking about everything and nothing and tracing lazy patterns on each other's skin and wishing this night would never end.

"Why is it so easy with you?" you wonder aloud, as sleep draws nearer.

"What's easy?" Tom mumbles. His question sets your brain on fire.

Everything was easy with Tom.

When you were with him, you didn't feel pressure to be faster or more efficient, like at work. Or to be more interesting or social, like at home. Or to be charming and entertaining, like with Jade. You always felt like you needed to put in just a little more effort. Do more. Be better. Try a little harder. And you did. You tried, all the time.

But what was the point? Did it result in a promotion? A flatmate who thought of you as a person? Jade wanting to keep you?

Tom didn't ask anything of you. He didn't expect anything. You were simply two people lying on a sofa inside a creaky caravan, watching the lightning and listening to the rain pound on the tin roof.

For the first time in your life, you felt like you could just… BE. Like you were enough. The realization brought tears to your eyes.

"Everything," you breathe.

Tom responds with a soft snore. You let out a quiet laugh, nuzzle into him, and let the sound of the pouring rain lull you to sleep.

[cailynwrites]

A Very Pairy Christmas Masterlist - 31+ podfics for December

Week 1: ❄️ Snow ❄️

Warmth by @givereadersahug (James x Lily x Severus)

Knitting Hats for Puppies by @arielsakura (Harry x Bill)

Convergence on a Winter's Night by @inmyownlittlecorner5 (Ted Tonks x Severus Snape)

Snowdrifts by @indreamsink (Draco x Hermione)

Sock Snowmen by @givereadersahug (Harry x Severus)

The Great Biscuit Calamity of 1978, And Other Such Disasters by @lunapwrites (Sirius x Remus)

Snowdeer Charms and Concussions by @arielsakura (Tom x Harry)

Week 2: 🎵 Caroling 🎵

Sorry It Took Me So Long by @arielsakura (Luna x Harry)

With Love by @smallsherbert (Pansy x Hermione)

Fast the Night Is Fading by @snapesnailtape (Severus x Lily)

Sing My Song (For You) by @theselittleponders (Rose x Scorpius)

Draco, Merrily on High by @blythe-ly (Draco x Harry)

Remus Lupin and the Christmas Snail by @innermostplanet (Remus Tonks)

Beautiful the rose that in your garden is by porcelainsalt (Luna x Astoria)

Week 3: 🎄 Mistletoe 🎄

'tis the damn season (Pansy's version) by @the-francakes (Ron x Pansy)

Escaping Fred Weasley's Magical Mistletoe by @ptwritesmore (Fred x Hermione)

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe by @siriusly-sapphic (Narcissa x Dorcas)

Mistletoe Rescue by @indreamsink (Draco x Hermione x Theo)

Rocking Around the Christmas Tree by @ptwritesmore (Ron x Daphne)

Festive Mood by @paulamcg (Molly x Amelia)

House Unity by @tryslora (Draco x Neville)

Week 4: 🎁 Gifts 🎁

The Pink Prank/Prankmas Eve by @danpuff-ao3 (Draco x Ron and other pairings)

Fulfilling of the Secret Wish by smirkingcat (Draco x Remus)

Unlocking Christmas Joy by @ptwritesmore (Harry x Hermione)

The Seventh Annual Weasley White Erumpent Exchange by @constitutionalweasleymonarchy (many pairings!)

A Non-Christmas Non-Romance by kelly_chambliss (Snape x McGonagall)

Adeste Fideles by @madmaudlingoes (Draco x Ron)

you make me feel good by @facingthenorthwind (Albus x Scorpius)

Week 5: 🥂 New Year's Eve 🥂

snapshots by kitsunerei88 (Percy x Oliver)

The Enchanted Forest by @xslytherclawx-writes (Neville x Regulus)

A Magical New Year's Masquerade by @ptwritesmore (Draco x Hermione)

This Time Next Year by @janieohio (Draco x Harry)

Bonus: 🕎 Hanukkah 🕎

kindling and memory by @leftsidedown (Fleur x Tonks)

[beastkeeper91]

🔥Helluva House AU🔥

(Owl House x Hazbin Verse)

[Plot]

Instead of Luz stumbling upon The Boiling Isles, she ends up in Vivziepop's version of Hell.

[Background Info]

•Luz is the only human within this AU while the others are Demons.

•Known Sinners:

Eda Clawthorne

Age: 17.

Species: Owl Demon.

Died: 1990s.

Cause of Death: Poisoned.

Sins: Gluttony.

Story: Eda was the most rebellious, yet troublesome teenager in all of Oregon from random pranks to Arson, though despite her delinquency she was a child prodigy getting A+ in all of her classes, but sadly all of that ended when she died during a soccer match due to cyanide poisoning. *cough* Lilith.

Lilith Clawthorne

Age: 18.

Species: Raven Demon.

Died: 1990s

Cause of Death: Suicide.

Sins: Envy.

Story: Lilith is the oldest sister of Eda Clawthorne who was always trying to get attention or praise from her peers and parents, but yet she never did due to her younger sister being "better than her" and so one day she slipped poison into Eda's water bottle and instantly regretted after Eda told her that she was the best sister in the world. After Eda's death, Lilith had suffered a great ammount of guilt and despair to the point where she ended her own life.

Philip "Belos" Whitebane

Age: 50.

Species: Deer Demon.

Died: 1600s.

Cause of Death: Hanged.

Sins: Pride.

Story: Belos, one of the most powerful and fearful overlord hell has ever witnessed. In his life he was known as a Witch Hunter General during the witch trials similar to Salem, but what the pilgrims didn't know, until later on, that he was actually an Occultist and was later hanged for his crimes.

Raine Whispers.

Age: 17.

Species: Bat Demon.

Died: 1967.

Cause of Death: Shot during Flower Power.

Sins: Hersey *Witchcraft*.

Story: Raine was born and raised by pagans in a commune so throughout their whole life they were homeschooled by their parents, learning herbology along with other pagan traditions. During their high school years they would participate in protests and the last one they attended was Flower Power".

•Other Sinners:

Adegast.

Adrian Graye Vernworth.

Yiyi The Bat Queen.

Darius Deamonne.

Eberwolf.

Flora D'splora.

Hettie Cutburn.

Osran.

Piniet.

Terra Snapdragon.

Tibbles.

Vitimir.

Mason.

Scooter Crane.

•Known Hellhounds:

Barcus.

King.

•Known Imps:

Amity Blight.

Edric Blight.

Emira Blight.

Alador Blight.

Odalia Blight.

Willow Park.

Gilbert and Harvey Park.

Gus Porter.

Perry Porter.

Hunter.

Angmar.

Bo.

Derwin.

Eileen.

Roselle and Dottie.

Gavin.

Jerbo.

Kikimora.

Masha.

Matt Tholomule.

Steve Tholomule.

Hieronymus Bump.

Usurper.

Viney.

Moon girl.

•Known Succubi:

Amber.

Amelia.

Boscha (Hybrid).

Bria.

Cat.

Katya.

Skara.

•Other Known Hellborns:

Bill (Baphomet).

Warden Wrath (Greed Shark).

Braxus (Greed Shark).

Morton (Baphomet).

Salty (Greed Shark).

Vee (Possessor).

Hooty (Unknown).

•Known Ars Goetia:

Malphas.

Grometheus.

Faust.

•Blight Industries along with The Blight Family themselves are mostly within the Greed Ring along with Blight Manor. Like in canon, the company provides itself with accessories with home security and weaponry along with some robotics. Blight Industries is considered to be one of the most popular companies in hell. Supplying not just for Sinners and Hellborns, but also the Overlords and Demonic Loyalty of Hell.

•King is a Hellhound, Eda and Raine found him in a cardboard box in an alley when he was only a pup and they both decided upon themselves to take him ate their place and raise him. Basically the same way in "Echoes of the Past" but different.

•Perry Porter, Gus's dad, is still a field reporter in this and he works for 666 News. Though the only work associate he has is Tom, because Katie Killjoy is a total bitch to him due to being an Imp.

•In this AU Amity and Willow are still friends, but after confronting her bitch of a mother Amity decided to runaway to the Pride Ring with Willow, also Gilbert and Harvey fostered Amity.

•All the palisman in this AU are Hell-Fauna, which are Demonic versions of animals.

•The Collector in this AU is renamed Collie Morningstar and they are the youngest child of Lucifer and Lilith Morningstar along with the baby sibling of Charlie Morningstar and the archivists who are also in this AU as the children of Morningstar, but unlike the archivists Charlie is the only sibling that cares for Collie. *Also since the archivists didn't have any names in "Fort the Future" or "Watching and Dreaming" so the names I gave them are Salem, Basil, Aaren, Draco.

•The Nine Coven Leaders in this AU are Overlords.

•When humans, like Luz, are stuck in Hell for long periods of time that they begin to turn into a demon.

•After Lilith died she bumped into Eda and tried to apologize for what she did to her which of course didn't end well. For about several years Lilith has been jumping from job to job until she met Flora D'splora, also a Sinner, who hired Lilith as her assistant at the Museum of History of Demonic.

•Hunter is one of the many Imps Belos took in (for bad reasons of course, Because it's belos after all).

•Originally Willow and her dad's were from the Wrath Ring, then they moved to Greed due to Harvey having a job at Blight Industries which lasted for a little while until Odalia fired him after due to Amity not cutting ties with Willow which made them move to Pride.

•This AU mostly takes place in the Pride Ring, within a town called Malum which is just outside of Pentagram City just a few minutes away.

•Belo's true demonic form would be his kaiju form from "Watching and Dreaming" and his normal form would be a mix between his regular emperor self and his cursed self.

•Eda has trouble controlling her true demonic form every now and then just like how she had trouble controlling her curse in canon. Her true demonic form is the same as her Owl Beast form.

•Hooty is still hooty. (🦉 Hooty Hoot 🦉)

•Hexisde is also in this AU, but it's renamed "Hexside School District." Which is surprisingly one of the best schools in hell for Hellborns, better than Glandus and St Epidermis.

•Even though there's no coven system, each character has their own set of different demonic abilities and powers.

•Luz's Demon form is that same as her titan form, but instead of her witch outfit she's in her default clothes which are a bit torn due to her transformation.

•Eda and Raine own a store called "The Owl Nest" that sells trinkets, crystals, charms, herbs *including cannabis*, and other types of goods.

Art by AnnDevil88, though the last one with Sinner!Eda is unknown but still amazing.

[alitgblog]

litg characters I'd cast in romcoms

When Harry Met Sally: Seb as Harry!! Then Genevieve as his ex, Tom as MC's (Sally's) ex, Nicky as Seb's best friend, Elladine as MC's best friend

I actually have this all sorted how this would work out but my post got deleted 😭

Notting Hill: Jin as Hugh Grant's character (forgot his name lol) because in my head he's history nerd so like just imagine him in cozy sweaters okay. He's got that wacky roommate whose name I have also forgotten and naturally if we had to pick from S8, Liam, but I also think Jamal would be a fun pick (make the roommate less wacky and more just fun and wild though). The other version of this is Jake as as the main character with his roommate Tim.

Legally Blonde (and I'm going based off the musical): Literally only here because I know I can cast the lawyers, like clearly Suresh as Warner (and oh lean heavily on the implication that he cheated on MC while they were dating) and Blake or Marisol as Vivienne (I like her being cut throat but still looking for love). I'd really like Hari as Emmett because they have a backstory of working hard for their dream and would have a fun banter with the main character without being overly cheery and also is very competitive when needs to be although may be an underdog, but lowkey could also be anyone that has the very grounded boy next door vibe so like Tyler, Rohan, Jake, James, and Lewie are also good picks imo. The other sorority girls needs to include Chelsea, Thabi, basically any of MC's besties (...minus Amelia). It's hard to think of anyone as Paulette because she's an older character and everyone in the game is pretty young but we can further my Angie x Cora agenda and have it be Angie talking about her lost love and then in comes the hot deliverywoman, Cora. She also has like sage advice vibes when she's in the villa sometimes so I think that works.

She's All That: Gary as the main guy. Eddie as his shitty best friend. I don't know why but this came so quickly to me I'm not sure I'd even have to explain but like Gary gives off cool guy / player vibes but I'd also see him absolutely get into or at least support whatever weird artsy stuff his girlfriend is into and have a character arc and all that.

While You Were Sleeping: the OG "I fell in love with your brother while you were away" story, so clearly Ozzy as Peter, Marshall as the brother, Grace as the girl Ozzy's actually dating

How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days: Because I've already said Gary for a different romcom, I'm inclined to have the suave ladies man esque character be Will or Youcef. I also think an evolved Suresh or Finn or Mason or Levi could work. Often I forget about her but I think Lulu would be a fun whatever Kathryn Hahn's character's name is.

A Cinderella Story (the Hilary Duff version): I think the fandom's go to "I don't wanna do what my dad says" character may be Lucas but I want to give Oliver a chance as the sweet lead even though I remember nothing about his backstory in game. MC's best friend can be someone a little dorky and the only person coming to mind right now is Felix.

Ten Things I Hate About You: Again, a reformed Finn could've been so good. Instead, we're going for mysterious and brooding so I think Joyo is a good choice for Patrick. Then to continue the streak of me remembering S7 characters, I think Raf could be a good Cameron because he's got that innocence and silliness that works. Then we need the friend that gives Raf an explanation of how things work and I could see that going to Andy because he's a little silly and dorky but mostly pretty confident (slightly different vibe from the character but that's fine). Other option, Bruno. In the movie, I believe he also ends up with Kat's best friend, who I just remember being very confident and alternative vibes so I think Najuma, Cora, Bella, or Lottie for her. We also need Kat's sister Bianca, and that could be easy and I say it's Amelia, or we could pick a tolerable option like Bea. There's also the guy Bianca initially has a crush on, and dare I say we pick Toby?? Just a character that's full of nothing. Or it could just be someone pretty like Levi or someone rich and an asshole like Miles or Jasper. All I remember about Bianca's bestie is that she backstabs her at the end and since fusebox hates women that could be a number of characters but my pick is Sophie or Erikah.

I could go on forever so I must I choose to stop now before I get carried away 🤣

[tournament-of-x]

The Hole

Announcement!

The Second Half of Round Two will begin in two days on Tuesday, October 3rd, at 8AM EST! The Second Half of Round Two will consist of 32 matches, and each matchup will be open to voting for one week.

The lineup for the Second Half of Round Two is as follows:

Match 33: Cypher vs. Shinobi Shaw

Match 34: Isca the Beaten vs. Lodus Logos

Match 35: Amelia Voght vs. Betsy Braddock

Match 36: Shark-Girl vs. Glob Herman

Match 37: Wild Child vs. Jetstream

Match 38: Sunfire vs. Johnny Dee

Match 39: Birdy vs. Rain Boy

Match 40: Doctor Nemesis vs. Jamie Braddock

Match 41: Akihiro vs. Tag

Match 42: Rhapsody vs. Jamie Madrox

Match 43: Marrow vs. Evan Sabahnur

Match 44: ForgetMeNot vs. Sabretooth

Match 45: Wildside vs. Namora

Match 46: Apocalypse vs. Trinary

Match 47: Mister Sinister vs. Nanny

Match 48: Namor vs. Hellion

Match 49: Firestar vs. Avalanche

Match 50: Gabby Kinney vs. Magma

Match 51: Darwin vs. Fantomex

Match 52: Nature Girl vs. Blob

Match 53: Sage vs. Angel Salvadore

Match 54: Death vs. Maverick

Match 55: Stepford Cuckoos vs. Gentle

Match 56: Feral vs. Moira MacTaggert

Match 57: Pete Wisdom vs. Tarot

Match 58: Theia vs. Black Tom Cassidy

Match 59: Tempo vs. Maggott

Match 60: Madelyne Pryor vs. Wiz-Kid

Match 61: Aero vs. Catseye

Match 62: Stryfe vs. Adam-X

Match 63: Kid Omega vs. Egg

Match 64: Dust vs. Blindfold

Remember, this tournament is a contest of popularity, not a contest of abilities. As always, asks and propaganda are both welcomed and encouraged.

Contestants Index

[horsetailcurlers2]

YET ANOTHER long and obnoxious stream of my thoughts while watching grey’s anatomy for the first time (season FIFTEEN, bc i’m actually not sick of these yet)

-i don’t like this whole “she’s not really your sister” thing. like, it’s played for comedic effect and teddy is clearly just hormonal and panicking so whatever but i don’t like that.

-i don’t want to rehash owen x amelia. yawn. nor do i want to rehash owen x teddy. yawner.

-i like that we’re getting a *little* deeper into helms crush on meredith and that it’s not just comic relief

-why are there no doctors above the age of 45 in this entire hospital besides richard? they’re all so pretty, but at what cost?

-something is going to happen to this pregnant nurse… there’s a lot of focus on her out of the blue

-i love that almost this entire intern class is at least mildly gay

-bailey is pissing me off

-ted mosby!!! he looks a little slovenly for a date tbh. not to sound judgmental but like, she’s all dressed up and he isn’t.

-this guy is way chiller than ted mosby. i like this for her. i hope it doesn’t turn out really bad but i know it probably will

-is it worth it to watch station 19?? i kind of don’t want to tbh

-i forgot teddy was in new york until her friend passed in 9/11. i’m imagining an au in which teddy and addison knew each other in NYC in the 90s bc i think they should’ve interacted more

-the undiagnosable stomach issue is so clearly this patient’s suspicious heirloom lunch pail. like, duh.

-okay well i was wrong about that and now i’m embarrassed that i predicted that with such smug sureness and authority.

-playing “chasing cars” in spanish for the día de los muertos episode is an interesting choice. i think i like it??

-nurse debbie!!!! it’s been a while

-okay nvm that is NOT nurse debbie. they just have the same bangs

-everyone gets to have a tumor on this show. YOU get a tumor! YOU get a tumor!! and YOU get a tumor!!!

-richard no :(

-RICHARD, NO >:(

-as much as i hate the owen/amelia dynamic, i really LOVE this whole amelia and betty thing

-i DO NOT like meredith/deluca

-the only relationship that doesn’t completely bore or frustrate me right now is alex/jo but even then, they’re just kind of there, yk?

-i love that meredith has one format of outfit that she likes and that works for her and she sticks to it. relatable AF.

-why didn’t miranda just have a conversation with ben before she sprung the separation on him? he would have been more than understanding i think

-i really like teddy and koracick actually

-i’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop with betty :(

-did they change out writers and/or show runners?? the writing feels… cheesier almost? or maybe just like the emotional beats are less earned? i mean it’s always been delightfully soapy but it’s just different these past couple of seasons and i can’t put my finger on it

-betty/britney’s mom is baby from dirty dancing?????!!!!!

-alex just straight up not being able to understand the scottish accents is so fucking funny.

-i love it when bokhee has lines

-“it’s a real fire!!” alex, gleefully and wrapped in a homemade knit scarf while indoors

-richards reaction to they/them pronouns is very interesting and i think it’s definitely an accurate portrayal of how even the generally accepting and well meaning older people can sometimes struggle with that kind of stuff. like, he’s not trying to be ignorant or rude he’s just genuinely perplexed. “the world moves fast and i’m just trying to keep up”

-i SWEAR TO GOD if teddy gets back with owen instead of staying with tom i will start hitting things

-“you suffered for years bc of my brother so you should totally get together and move in with him”- megan hunt in a wig that’s almost as terrible as her advice

-nancy!!!

-the shepherd family dynamic is so interesting to me because we’ve heard about it from two different perspectives over the years (derek’s and things amelia has said mostly in PP) and what we’ve seen of them is mostly from derek and meredith’s perspective in which they seem nice if a bit overbearing.

-okay jeez kathleen is a piece of work. i’ve always liked nancy even though she is “mcbitchy”. i also can’t help but to think about how addison fit into all of this when she and derek were married lol.

-has amelia ever told her family about christopher?

-stop trying to push owen and teddy on me!!!! i hate it!!

-that is insurance fraud babe. is there not a way for them to do it pro bono or something??

-okay i can sense that teddy and owen is going to happen so i will not make any more notes about it bc all i have to say about it is some variation of “no! i hate it!”

-okay i lied because the way teddy is going about it makes me deeply upset. poor tom. also “he makes me laugh and feel safe but i don’t feel rage or passion or ecstasy” ????? i should hope you don’t feel rage??? owen hunt makes me enraged too but that doesn’t mean i want to kiss him on the mouth!!! jesus christ. just fuck tom i guess, right?

-WOAH. i was not vibing with merluca but he’s willing to go to prison for her??!!!

-there’s no way they’re really fired . meredith owns a good chunk of the hospital still, right??? not to mention there’s maybe three characters on this show that *haven’t* committed crimes/major ethical violations.

-i’ve been beefing with jackson for a few seasons now tbh