#and i promise i will get to my sam and andrew asks soon!

[icanttakethemonmyown]

Current Midnight faves?????

Mine are currently:

Maroon

Bejeweled

Midnight Rain

Karma

omg TASTE anon!! My current faves in no particular order are bejeweled, karma, sweet nothing and basically all of the bonus/3am tracks

i feel like some of the other songs might be growing on me but that could totally be bc of all the fancams/edits on tiktok lmao

(i just wanna do a special shout out to paris and bigger than the whole sky for their 1989 and folklore/evermore vibes respectively, they are probably my top faves if we were counting!!)

[scribbleb-red]

i like your face - a morning au

“I’ll get the drinks,” Neil says as soon as they walk into Eden’s.

Andrew raises an eyebrow.

“No one needs to get stabbed tonight,” Neil says. “It’s Hapless Sam on the bar.”

“Spoilsport,” Andrew mutters, but doesn’t move with Neil when he heads to the bar.

Hapless Sam is the new barman helping Roland, stepping in for a few months whilst Ebony, the usual yin to Roland’s yang, is off to have surgery.

Hapless Sam is also the bane of Andrew’s life. He never gets a drinks order right. He constantly peppers them with bad one liners. He also once tried to pick up both Neil and Nicky and Aaron in one night - only stopping when Aaron suddenly duplicated and Andrew stuck a blade under his chin. After that, Roland stepped in.

But the bar was overrun tonight and if Andrew had to so much as look at Hapless Sam - well, someone is going to prison and someone is leaving in a body bag. And you don't need to be a genius to figure out which.

So Neil goes to the bar and Andrew keeps an eye on him - on the red of his hair, the sway of his hips, a new quirk that he had to know drove Andrew crazy. It should be illegal for someone like Neil to have any kind of rhythm - but Neil wasn’t a bad dancer. He was sinuous and unreal, if a little self conscious, and Andrew really really needed a drink before that happened again.

Because it will, promised the voice in his head. Nicky will never rest until Neil dances again. Even if it killed Andrew. He suspected it was partly because Nicky wanted him to dance too.

Neil came back an achingly long time later. There was something odd about the way he looked at Andrew, half a question hovering right beneath his skin.

He set down the tray and Nicky chitters, Aaron glowers, Kevin reaches forward expectantly.

But there’s a yell from the bar and Andrew looks up to see Roland’s furious face, Hapless Sam’s horror.

He catches Roland’s eye and the frantic look there - the way he's turned to stare at Andrew tells him everything.

“Don’t fucking drink anything,” he says to his table.

Aaron puts his glass down. Kevin looks torn but relents under Andrew's stare. Nicky frowns and leans back.

Neil however sways on the spot. His eyes are blown wide, two black pools ringed with the finest circle of ice blue. Andrew reaches for him and Neil reaches back. He looks sad and confused.

"N'drew..." he slurs, "Did I do su'thin bad?" There's a tinge of British in there, a twirl of French.

Andrew tugs Neil down beside him, stomach hollowing because he doesn't know what Neil's taken but it's clear he's taken something. Rage pools in the empty cavern of his chest. He goes to push Neil at Nicky - Roland clearly knows something and he wants answers - but Neil makes a noise in his throat and catches hold of Andrew's sleeve. Even high he's not crossing lines. Andrew aches with that knowledge.

"What did I do?" Neil asks again. "I don' have none secrets."

It takes a moment for Andrew to realise Neil thinks this was his fault. That in some part of this idiot's head, he believes Andrew would drug him again.

"It wasn't me," Andrew says, voice low. "You're okay Neil."

"Stay with Nicky, I'll talk to Roland." And probably gut Hapless Sam, whose fault it inevitably is.

Neil makes that whining noise again and Andrew wishes they didn't have an audience. "Don't wanna kiss Nicky."

"Who said anything about kissing?"

"Not Nicky. Only you."

Nicky's guilty look sets Andrew's teeth on edge.

Andrew needs to talk to Roland but can't leave Neil with the Monsters. Fortunately, Roland comes to them bearing a new tray of drinks and a harried expression.

"Fucking hell guys, I'm sorry. None of you drank those, right?"

"Don't worry Sammy's been banished to the kitchen, he's not doing anything like this again and--"

Andrew is up and in his face within seconds - pinioning Roland against the wall, arm across his throat, knife pricking his side.

"What has he taken?"

Roland notices Neil, gulps.

"It's a new syrup - they call it Goblin Juice and it looks just like lime cordial - Sam thought it was lime for the soda. Fuck Andrew do you need the knife? Ow fuck fuck fuck okay stop, it's made using shrooms. Non addictive. Just meant to make you happy - kinda soft."

But of course Neil was the one who drank it. If it had been any of the others, perhaps no one would have even noticed - maybe even celebrated the free high.

But Neil...

Kevin and Aaron are helping themselves to the new drinks when he lets Roland go. Nicky looks pale and nervous and is holding a shot but not drinking. Neil has flopped back on their sofa and is staring at Andrew, a wide smile on his face that Andrew immediately hates.

"I really like your face," Neil says when his brain catches up and realises Andrew is paying attention again. "You have a good face."

Andrew shoots daggers with his eyes at Roland and the barman flees, promising free drinks for the night and the next, forever, whenever.

Neil smiles and reaches for Andrew again as he comes back.

Andrew is not drunk enough for this shit, especially when Nicky coos. "Oh he's so cute. He should have gotten high sooner."

Andrew wants to warn his cousin to back off but Neil has wriggled around and nuzzled his face against Andrew's shoulder. It's heedlessly distracting. It's dangerously adorable.

"Do yous like my face Nyandrew?" Neil says. "I really really like yours. Look at your face. Hey is my head still attached?"

Andrew sees the way Neil is teetering, wraps his hand across the back of Neil's neck and tugs him close. It's not a hug. It's for the idiot's own safety that's all. However, apparently for sky-high-Neil, silence and gestures isn't an answer.

"You don't like my face?"

The slight tremble in Neil's voice is what makes Andrew swallow his frustration and reply. He can't stand that tremble. "I like your fucking face." "I like yours too." And then Neil's finger boops Andrew's cheek.

"Nose," he says. "Good nose."

For. Fucks. Sake.

But it's kind of hilarious (and ruinously cute) as Neil - gentle as a moth wing - strokes over Andrew's cheek and along his temple, finds the bridge of his nose and the swell of his lips.

"Good face."

Andrew contains himself by a miracle. He's fairly sure Aaron is filming this.

"If that footage goes anywhere but the trash, I'll fucking stab you."

"If you were going to stab me, you would have done it a long time ago brother."

"No stabbing," Neil says. "Too many witnesses. Oh hey, look at the fireflies."

Neil lifts one hand to the empty ceiling. There are no fireflies. This is Eden's. Andrew wants to take Neil home but doesn't think putting him in a car is going to do much good right about now.

"You like my face," Neil sighs and sits back. "Even all of this."

"Yes," Andrew says. "Because of all of this."

It's not the scars, it's because Neil survived. That he should have broken and yet still held himself together by tooth and claw.

"I didn't drug you," Andrew says, close to the shell of Neil's ear. "I promise."

"Okay," Neil says. "Good. I don't wanna kiss Nicky."

And there it is again, the second time Neil has mentioned this. Andrew looks at his cousin, who has escaped with Kevin onto the dancefloor.

They'll have a little chat later, when Neil isn't on another planet.

"You're the best," Neil says. "I'll kiss you."

"Not tonight."

Because even if Neil is warm and flush against him. Even if Neil is soft and pliant and willing. This is a man who has been drugged and cannot give consent. Hell, he's watching fireflies that don't exist and stroking Andrew's chin, like he's forgotten Andrew has teeth. Neil is not okay.

Aaron leans back in his chair. "If it's molly, he could be flying for hours."

"It's some kind of shroom shit."

"So even longer then."

Andrew's fingers tighten on Neil's shoulder. "So we can't wait this out?" He should have asked Roland that.

"Probably not, no. Take him home. I'll bring the others."

And for once Andrew decides to trust his brother. He gathers Neil and his loose limbs and leaves Aaron to manage Kevin and Nicky. It’s a one of the hardest things he’s ever done but Bee’s buzzing voice tells him it's time to let Aaron prove himself, standalone.

Neil is awful as they leave - smiling at everyone and everything, even things that aren’t there. His eyes shine and every time he looks at Andrew, there’s a draw of breathe like he’s never seen him before.

“You are,” Neil says, “the best thing. The abs’lute best thing. Hold me up and keep me sage, no safe. Mean safe. You me safe.”

And Neil cannot sing but his voice is sing song and full of wonder.

Andrew is going to gut Hapless Sam like a fish from chin to pelvis.

They drive home - slowly because Neil keeps getting distracted by things Andrew is doing, like blinking (your eyelashes are so white, like snow flakes Andrew) and breathing (but look how you move, so amazing). But Neil is so soft and happy and obsessed, it’s hard to be angry.

Columbia is dark, their house musty with absence. They’ve not visited for a while and Andrew had been hoping for something slightly different tonight.

Neil apparently had too. “Yes? Andrew? Yes?” He says.

“No,” Andrew says. And he never thought he’d hate seeing Neil obey - not with this - but there’s hurt and confusion and concern and a thousand layers of emotion on Neil’s face when he hears it this time. All the feelings Neil must usually keep tucked away when it isn’t always yes for Andrew.

Andrew relents, “Just this,” he says as he settles onto the sofa, guiding Neil down with him. Neil’s reaction is instant - dopey smile and arms that snake around Andrew in a loose but escapable hold.

“Warm,” he says. “Strong.”

The hours tick by in highs and lows - Neil is happy in phases, then almost crying in others. He tells Andrew things that cross his mind, about Andrew, about the Foxes and exy. He hides in Andrew’s hoody when he sees shadows crawling and is convinced they’re from his father.

Andrew does his best to soothe and protect - it’s all in Neil’s head and Andrew isn’t a soft man, but he keeps Neil close and lets him talk. A few years ago he couldn’t have done this. But a few years ago he and Neil were new and still cutting each other on their sharp edges.

Aaron herds an unhappy Nicky and an almost paralytic Kevin inside. Aaron seems sober but that could just be in comparison.

“Our cousin,” Aaron tells Andrew, “is a fool. But you care about him and shouldn’t kill him for doing what you asked.”

“What did he do?”

Aaron shrugs. “Just a kiss I believe. But might explain a bit more why your nut-job boyfriend knocked himself out that time.”

“That was cos imma liar,” Neil chimes with all the confidence of the truly seshed. “Liar liar liar.”

“Not anymore.”

“Yeah. Not with you.”

There's water and toast and Neil naps at one point but Andrew doesn't because he knows what's next - and he's right. Neil is sick for what feels like hours but isn't. Aaron brings more water. A small part of Andrew wonders if his twin actually likes seeing Neil so ridiculous.

Turns out he's right about that too.

Aaron tells him when Neil is hurling up his guts that seeing Neil like this, seeing Andrew with him like this, makes more sense than anything he's seen prior.

"You're everything to him." Aaron doesn't say that Neil is everything to Andrew but the implication is there.

And when Neil is finally in their bed, safe and asleep, Andrew calls Roland and leaves a warning. Hapless Sam had better be fired or there wouldn't be an Eden's Twilight.

He stays awake and stays awake. He falls asleep around 6am.

Neither of them stir until well into the afternoon and when Neil does, he buries his face in the pillows and groans.

"Oh my god. Andrew I'm so --"

"Shut up." Andrew doesn't want apologies for this. He sees the embarrassed pink of Neil's ears, the flush on his neck. "Stop."

Neil groans again and Andrew knows he must feel like shit right about now. That he's mortified. That he's worried. That Andrew has the power to make it right.

Something wicked flickers in his gut.

"Hey junkie," he says. "I like your face."

-The End-

Notes:

[justjessame]

Starting Over Chapter 12

“Brooke?”  I shook my head when I heard Connie’s voice on the other end, the sounds of cartoons playing in the background told me she was home.  “Are you alright?”  The worry in her voice made me feel guilty for not calling more often, or checking in at least.  

“I’m fine, worrywart.”  I settled into my spot on the couch, smiling as I caught a whiff of Bucky’s scent.  “I -”  I took a deep breath and bit my lip.  “I’m sorry I haven’t -”

Connie shushed me.  “Stop,” I closed my mouth, worried that she was going to tell me that she didn’t have time for fairweather friends and that she had a family to take care of now.  “You don’t have to explain anything to me, Brooke.”  It felt like my heart restarted.  “I can’t imagine how you must have felt coming back.”  I heard a rustling in the background and then the noise that had sounded like cartoons went away and it got quiet.  “Sorry about that, Bryn wanted to watch Tangled again.”

I smiled, my goddaughter, or she would have been if I’d been here to do the honors was three years old.  “Tangled is a good one.”  I was happy that Connie was willing to talk to me, that she was willing to make time, even if I’d pushed her away.  “Is that her favorite?”  

Connie laughed and I was happy to hear that it was as familiar to me as my own.  “She likes all of the princesses.  Joey is thinking we’re going to have to push up the trip to Disney by a year.”  I was grinning at the thought of Joey Amoruso playing girl daddy through the Magic Kingdom.  “Don’t worry, I made sure she got to see Beauty and the Beast, too.”  That got a laugh out of me.

“I can’t help loving Belle,” I argued, and listened to her snort.  “How’s your mom?”  Connie worked at her mom’s beauty salon, she’d started as soon as she was tall enough to reach around a customer’s head into the sink to wash their hair and after high school didn’t blink about going straight into cosmetology school.  

“You know Mertle,” her mom’s name was Ismerelda, but some hard of hearing old lady had misheard it once and called her ‘Mertle’ to our forever hilarity.  I laughed.  “She makes me do Mrs. McGillicutty’s hair now, every damn week, just because she got tired of doing the same style over and over.”  I remembered Mrs. McGillicutty, she was a sweet lady, but a little dotty.  “Today was my half day, Bryn’s preschool runs a half day every other day.”

“Who keeps her on the off days?”  I got up to grab a drink and listened as Connie told me all about the nightmares of finding childcare, even with an extended family like hers.  Falling back into the type of conversation that two friends have, if one had gone away for a while.  I grabbed a glass of water and my eyes landed on the flowers that Bucky brought me, a smile finding its home on my lips again, I sat down at the table and talked to Connie while I pulled the vase closer and played with the petals.  

Before we said our goodbyes, a good hour and a half after we’d started talking, Connie finally asked the question that I knew she had to have been burning with since she saw my name appear on her phone screen.  

“Not that I don’t LOVE hearing from you, Brooke, but what brought this on?  Why now?”  I’d wandered back to the living room, curling into the chair that Bucky sat in, letting the residual scent of him cradle me.  

“I met someone,” she squealed, causing a tiny mimic to happen from the background and I chuckled.  Good God, she had a mini me.  “You’d know him, actually -” I bit my lip.  “EVERYONE knows him or knows of him.”  I squinted, shit, should I tell anyone?  

“Tell me EVERYTHING.”  But then I heard a male voice, Joey her husband.  “Shit, the conquering man returns.”  I snorted.  “You are NOT off the hook, Brooke.  I expect details and a NAME.”  I promised she’d get both and then we said goodnight.  

I’d missed a text while I was on with Connie.  Another attempt at a selfie, this time it had part of another person that I found out was supposed to be Sam when I read the accompanying text message.  “See UR cuter.”  I was grinning, but the next message made me sigh.  “Stuck w/ Sam. :(“ 

Sad face emoji indeed, I thought.  Contemplating what type of reply I could send to a 106 year old without pushing him away or over a cliff, I went back to the kitchen where his flowers were still holding tight.  Thinking about how creative I felt like getting, I found the largest bloom, went to the bathroom and brushed out my hair. I tried to remember what the women from Bucky’s younger days might have done to look tempting.  Dramatic eye, red lip, then putting the flower behind my ear I hoped like hell that I didn’t look completely ridiculous before clicking off a shot and sending it.  

“Too bad. Sam’s a lucky guy. :*”  

I was washing off my work and thinking about reheating some more leftovers for dinner when my phone chirped.  Glancing down I was left smiling by his answer.

“No, I am.”  

Dinner, a shower, then bed.  Well, after a LONG staring contest in the mirror where I did my own personal pre-bedtime mantra.  It was rote, and I did it with the same vigor that I’d done it with every other time.  And I was just as certain that it would work as well.  

Without Bucky, I had my bed remade and I was settled back on my pillows.  The soft blue glow of the television had been a nice addition, so I flipped it on.  Turning the volume down so it was the same murmur that was soft enough to not keep me awake, I hoped it would work as a surrogate for the anchor that Bucky’s presence seemed to be.

The flashes came red, blue, unnameable colors. The feelings of pain and suffering, darkness and terror creeping closer and trying to pull me back.  I still couldn’t see what caused it, where the pain came from, what was so terrifying that I felt trapped by it.  What or who was trying to drag me back to wherever I’d been was still as unknown as it had been when Thanos snapped his gold encased fingers and after the Blip the answers were still unavailable.  I didn’t feel as pinned down or as in danger or being yanked away from home, so I was still tethered to reality.  I just had to wait through it, to survive the feelings that I couldn’t figure out, until the flashes of colors came to let me know the end was coming and I was waking up - coming home again.

I woke to a text from Connie.  

“It’s McGillcutty’s day. Come visit me. PLEASE.”  I shook my head at the plea, but it wasn’t like I had plans or a job to get to.  I hoped she knew I wasn’t planning on spilling ALL while she was cutting hair and styling the neighborhood ladies, because I hadn’t been gone so long that I’d forgotten how fast gossip travelled.  

“Fine.” I hit send.  I got ready and grabbed some toast and a bottle of water.  My bag with a book, my earbuds and a charger for my phone, just in case, and I was out the door and heading to Connie’s mom’s salon.  

I was at the salon by the time both slices of my toast were finished and most of my water was gone.  Tossing the napkin I’d wrapped my breakfast in in the trash when I walked in, I almost missed the hush that fell over the entire room when I entered.  Almost.  Shit.  Standing up I realized that all eyes were on me.  Great.

“Brooke!” Connie beckoned to me from her station at the back of the shop, one she’d picked out when she was still washing hair.  “Put your eyes back in your heads,” she rolled her eyes.  “It’s JUST Brooke.”  I shook my head, only Connie would try to brush off the fact that I just walked into the neighborhood hen coop after steering clear of it for a full six months, and I looked five years younger than I SHOULD.  

Her mom grinned at me and called out a “looking good, Brookie” as I passed, getting a little red added to my cheeks, but aside from that Connie had shamed most of the clucking hens into at least pretending that they weren’t amazed by the very sight of me.  I made it to Connie’s station and found that she’d prepared for my visit by grabbing one of the waiting area chairs and brought it back so I wasn’t stuck leaning against the wall or counter.

Plopping down, I watched as she went about styling Mrs. McGillicutty’s hair.  After I’d said a polite hello to the elderly woman, of course.  It was almost mesmerizing, watching Connie wrap each curler with the blue washed thinning hair of the bird thin woman.  And as she wrapped she talked.  

“You remember how Tawny and Sam were planning on getting married the year after we did, right?”  I told her I did, and she snorted.  “Yeah, that went south so quick.”  I heard Margaret Andrews pipe up from two chairs down that it wasn’t all that surprising.  

“They were on again and off again so much growing up, I’m surprised either of their mamas let them make that much of a plan.” She offered up.  I bit my lip, the hen house was raring to go.  

Connie’s eyes met mine and I could see them sparkling with mirth.  And we were off, the mission seemed to be to get me back in the swing of things and she’d brought the troops.

I got another ‘selfie’ in the middle of my visit with Connie and I glanced at it and bit my lip.  It was marginally better.  Bucky was at least visible and discernible this time.  I couldn’t tell where he was, but the message wasn’t optimistic about my odds of seeing him soon.  

“Baltimore w/Sam.”

A sigh escaped and Connie glanced up from where she was cutting Kelly Taggert’s hair.  Since Kelly was someone who wasn’t exactly in our sphere prior to leaving school, much less before the Snap, Connie held her curiosity at bay.  Too bad Kelly didn’t get the memo.

“Bad news, Brookie?”  I glanced up, thinking about reminding Kelly that very few people had the privilege to call me that, and she most definitely wasn’t one of them, but held back.  This was Connie’s place of business after all.  

“Not really.  Just spam.”  Fuck it, why give her any grist for the mill?  Connie could smell my bull from a mile away, but Kelly didn’t know me from Adam.  

“I hate that, there should be a way to input a block for those automatically -” and she was off.  I grinned at my phone as I typed a reply to Bucky. 

A selfie was out of the question, not with this crowd.  “I’m socializing. Willingly.”  

Kelly was still telling everyone, because her voice could pound a nail into a wall it was so fucking loud and annoying, all her ideas for dealing with spam texts, emails, telemarketing calls and on and on.  I almost felt bad about setting her loose.  Until my phone chirped and I got another selfie from Bucky looking shocked in answer to my text.  

Tucking my phone away, I set back and let Kelly rant until Connie finished her hair.  

I stayed until closing and it wasn’t as bad as I’d thought it would be.  Connie told me that her sister-in-law was keeping Bryn after preschool, and we had some time to just relax and chat.  I had a feeling she made those specific plans after we talked on the phone, she was just that freaking curious.  

She grabbed two cans of soda from the breakroom and plopped into the swivel seat her customers usually sat in while she played fairy hair godmother.   “Spill.”  I rolled my eyes as I cracked open my can.  

“You only invited me to hang out today to ply me for information about my personal life, didn’t you?”  I squinted over the top of the can as I took my first drink.  She grinned and nodded, not the least bit shamed.  Swallowing, I dramatically sighed.  “Fine.” I couldn’t stop the smile that started growing at the thought of Bucky.  “Do you remember when Mom and Dad took us to the Smithsonian?”  

She was staring at me like I was crazy and didn’t know where I was going to go with the trip down memory lane, but she nodded as she opened her own drink.  “Yeah, we were like ten.”  

I bit my lip.  “We were,” it had been a fun trip, just Connie, me and my parents.  For Connie who had siblings and me as an only child - we both had a blast.  “We went to the Captain America exhibit.” 

“God we went to ALL of the exhibits it felt like, your dad was gaga over the Air and Space one -” she stopped, suddenly HEARING what I said.  “Wait, the -”  Her eyes met mine and went wide.  “NO.”  

“I bumped into him,” my hand went to my chest, still a little bit tender.  “He’s - he’s amazing.”  

Connie leaned forward and looked almost exactly like she had when we were 15 years old and I told her that Todd Garrison kissed me behind the bleachers during the pep rally.  Wide eyed and excited, she bit her lip.  “Is he -” she looked like she couldn’t quite decide what to ask first.  “Tell me EVERYTHING.”  So I did, within limits, sort of. 

[diaryofabeautyfiend]

Small Time Witch (11)

STEVE

In the dim light of morning the Avengers returned from battle. It was messier than they had planned but the job was done. In the coming days there would be debriefings and meetings. Raised voices. Things to clean up. Steve couldn’t think about that right now.

Adrenaline seeped from his muscles and as they relaxed he felt sore. He peeled off his suit letting it pool in a heap at his feet. Steam from the shower filled the room. He didn’t test the water before he got in. It stung and turned his skin red but it melted away the last tendrils of the fight.

He was hoping you would be in his bed waiting for him. On the ride back he thought of burying his cock in you and just falling asleep that way. You must have been in your bunk. Knowing you’d be up soon he texted you to let you know he was back safe and passing out. He didn’t say it but he hoped to wake up next to you. He was asleep seconds after his head hit the pillow.

LOKI

He woke up in a panic searching for his phone. The sun was up and he just knew any moment a mad soldier would kick in the door and turn his face into ground meat. The text from Thor came just after dawn. Since he had not been bludgeoned he guessed they all went to bed.

He started drifting back to sleep when you began to stir. He smoothed your hair and kissed the top of your head. You leaned into his touch pressing your body into his.

Mornings with you were as close to his version of perfect as he could imagine. You draped yourself over him like armor to protect his most vulnerable parts. Armor he would wear proudly into any battle. He kept saying his mother’s words over and over hoping they were true. “She’ll come around” He couldn’t live on hope though. It wouldn’t sustain him. He hugged you tighter knowing that soon you would be in the arms of another man. He felt like he was losing everything though you were never really his to lose.

YOU

Morning found you still wrapped around Loki. Even in his sleep he looked pensive. The man never relaxed. Though, when you held him, his face was a little softer. The usual hard line of his lips was more lax. You could see the fullness of his bottom lip. You traced it with your finger. He didn’t move.

He loved you. You felt it all the time now. He made no effort to reign it in. The weight of his feelings made you feel heady like the night you drank Thor’s liquor. The fact was though you did not have the capacity to trust someone with your heart. To say love has burned you is an understatement.

There was your first love Bobby Myer. That unfortunate incident got you removed from school. Your friends wouldn’t talk to you. He spread a rumor that you had VD. It was awful. Then there was your boyfriend in college. Ethan. He was thoughtful and spoke about books like they were his lovers. He listened to indie rock and only drank coffee ironically. You were head over heels for him. Then you caught him sleeping with your roommate. That shock wasn’t an accident. You heard he still has a twitch.

The last was Andrew Kale. He was your best friend Jennifer’s brother. He was also possessed by the demon who killed your family. You were told that, when the family unleashed him, Hellphyr had already taken over and Andrew was deceased. You loved him so much it consumed you. You trusted him and he betrayed you. They both did. You promised yourself that you would never again fall that hard. Now look at you. You are in the same place with Loki that you were with Andrew. When you said you couldn’t trust Loki with your heart you really meant to say you didn’t trust yourself.

You knew Loki would worship the ground you walked on. You could feel it in how he made love to you. He wanted to take you apart and know every centimeter of your body. You could see yourself living somewhere impossibly sheik with a couple of kids. Twins probably though you weren’t sure why. They would be scary smart and only communicate telepathically with each other. You would be happy but so tight knit that you wouldn’t have use for outsiders. You would probably die on the same day. He wouldn’t allow himself to go on without you.

Steve on the other hand, you knew you could love Steve. He’s strong and dependable like an old pickup. He was sweet and kind. He had endless patience for you. And, let’s face it, he fucked you like it was his job. He’s really great at his job. You imagined having children with him. He’d probably want a bunch. You would never feel like an outsider. You would always be surrounded by family. You’d have a warm home always full of laughter.

Your fantasies aside, you had to do what was right and safe for you for right now. Getting lost with Loki wasn’t the best path for you at the moment. You both knew it. You had so much healing to do.

You stayed holding him for a few more minutes then decided he likely needed the rest. It was getting late and you were starving. You got dressed and set out to find food.

Nat and Wanda were chatting with a few people in the cafeteria. They saw you and waved you over.

“How did it go?” They didn’t seem beat up so you assumed well.

“Not bad. Clint broke Cap’s no casualty rule.” Wanda explained.

“He had to save Sam. There was a sniper ready to unload on him.”

Wanda held her hands up to yield, “I’m not saying it wasn’t warranted.”

“Is Steve still asleep?” Nat asked

“I’m assuming. I didn’t stay in his room.”

Wanda knew where you were. You changed the subject.

“Well I guess I get to go back to payroll. It’s been fun but, I have to say, way too much excitement for me.”

“Speaking of which, you had better be ready. Tony and Steve are going to ream your ass for that little stunt you pulled.” Nat warned.

“I got the job done. Besides. Loki was with me. Between the two of us I was quite safe.” They both shrugged. Just then Tony spotted you.

“You! Come with me. We need to talk.” He pulled you aside and unloaded on you.

“We have protocols for a reason. Stupid move killing your comms.”

“Tony I...”

“No. That was the last mission you’ll go on with us if you can’t follow simple protocol. I told you before. We cannot protect your ass. I know you are powerful but you are also powerfully stupid. Not only did you endanger your life but you put Loki’s life at risk and ours. We’re a team. We look out for each other. Am I clear?”

“Crystal.”

“Good. I don’t like fussing at you like that. With all that said though, you’re an electrical engineer. I can use you at Stark Industries. I’ll pay much better than SHIELD and you’ll be doing a lot less grunt work.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“What’s to think about?”

“Lay off her Tony.” Steve’s voice warmed you to your very soul.

“Oh yay. Capsicle to the rescue. I expect an answer by end of business today, Y/n.”

You felt Steve’s arms sliding around your hips. He kissed you below your ear and whispered, “Hi.” A shiver ran up your spine. When you turned around to kiss him you saw his lip was split and his cheek was bruised. You frowned and touched his face. “What happened?”

“It’s nothing. I heal fast.”

“So I suppose you’re here to fuss at me too.” He tilted your head up to look at him.

“I wasn’t happy. I’ve been thinking about punishing you all night.” You smiled and your cheeks warmed.

“My my, Captain. I did not know this side of you existed. I’m intrigued. How do you plan to punish me?”

He chuckled a little rolling the many possibilities through his head. “I told you you wouldn’t be able to sit for a week. You disobeyed direct orders. That’ll cost your sweet ass at least two weeks.”

You kissed his too sore lips. He didn’t mind.

“I have to go to a debriefing. Shouldn’t take more than an hour or so. I need you to be in my bed when I get back. Be naked and ready. Make yourself wet. Think of your Captain when you fuck yourself with your fingers but don’t cum. All of your pleasure is mine.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“You had better not disappoint me.” He pulled you in for a deep kiss. His lip re-split spilling the copper taste of his blood onto your tongue. You squeezed your thighs together to relieve some pressure. He felt your body shift so he wedged his thigh between your legs. He contracted his muscle hard and rigid against your heat. You could feel an orgasm building. You moaned in his mouth. “Not yet, Princess. I’ll see you soon.” One more kiss on the forehead and he left you there panting. You just about ran to his room when you heard Director Fury’s voice behind you.

“Y/l/n! Why was there a letter of resignation with your name on it handed to me?”

Fucking Tony. This ought to take a while. You wondered how punished you would be if you were late.

[writinginthesecrettrees]

Currently thinking about Dean and he’s starting to get worried because Sam is being sneaky again. Sneaky like when Ruby was around, sneaky like when he had Charlie and Rowena working on a cure, sneaky like he has a secret.

Like Dean isn’t supposed to notice Sam slamming his laptop shut every time Dean walks into a room, keeping him from seeing what Sam’s looking at. Or the way he locks the door in motel bathrooms, and Dean just knows he’s doing something on his phone but he can’t figure out what.

He tries asking about it - “Whatcha looking at? Is it porn?” - but Sam distracts him with a case, with a “Let’s go out to that place with the great burgers,” with a touch and that special dimpled smile and Dean’s big brain shuts off for a couple hours in the shower, in their bed, in the backseat of the Impala and when his brain turns on again he’s cursing himself for being so easy. And it’s bad, because they’d finally gotten to a place where they were being honest, where this thing between them felt kinda healthy instead of messed up, and now Sammy’s got a secret and Dean is worried about what it could be. 

So Dean gets sneaky too, and he doesn’t feel guilty. He tried the direct approach and it’s not that Sam’s not allowed to have secrets, or privacy, it’s that they both need to be honest. “Me time, not hunting related” is all Sam would have to say to get Dean to back off, but he’s not even admitting there is a secret and that always leads to badness. So Dean doesn’t feel bad about lying to Sam, doesn’t feel bad for getting Donna involved with a “Just need one o’ you boys, for two, three days,” doesn’t make silent promises about healthy food for a month and definitely doesn’t use Mr. Andrew Czerneda’s credit card to buy a couple rare books Sam’s been lusting after off eBay.

Dean almost backs down as he sneaks back into the bunker an hour after heading out, not entirely sure he wants to know what Sammy’s secret is, not entirely sure it isn’t that Sam is looking for something a bit more normal than hooking up with his big brother. He tries to talk himself out of it as he creeps down the hallway, tries to convince himself to head back out and make a lot of noise coming home, give Sam a chance to hide whatever he’s got going on.

He doesn’t do any of that, finds himself standing just outside of their room and listening to a muffled voice coming from inside. A muffled female voice, and Sam bringing some chick into their room is like a stab through the heart. Now he knows this much, he can’t turn back and pretend not to, so he pushes the door open and peeks in, braced for the worst.

Sees Sammy sitting with his back to the door and his laptop in front of him.

Sees a video playing on the computer, YouTube format, and as he watches the lovely girl on the screen holds something up to the camera, hand behind it for the autofocus, and Sam pauses the video to paw through a bunch of...

Makeup. Dean’s been around enough to know what makeup looks like, and Sammy’s got a decent collection of powders and glosses and pencils and brushes, Wet & Wild cheap but colorful. And Dean can’t help staring as Sam finds a compact with a pinky-brown square of pressed powder and swipes it onto his cheeks like the girl in the video just demonstrated.

Stands there, watching, as Sam resumes the video and keeps following the tutorial, until he finishes with a swipe of peachy gloss over his lips and Dean is aching to see the result and aching that Sam didn’t let him know about this and aching at having invaded Sam over what turned out to be a very harmless secret.

“First of all,” he starts and winces as Sam jumps in surprise, “I’m sorry. I’m snooping and I’m sorry.”

Sam doesn’t turn around, sits with his back to Dean and his shoulders hunched up and his posture breaking Dean’s heart.

“Secondly,” he walks into the room, stops short of the bed and just out of reach of Sam, “can I see? Please?”

“You’ll laugh,” Sam mumbles towards his lap.

“Nah, Sammy. Promise I won’t.” He stretches out a hand, almost brushes through Sam’s hair, lets his hand drop again.

Sam still doesn’t turn around. “I’m not trying to be girly. Guys wear makeup now.” His back straightens slightly. “It’s actually historical. Men used to wear makeup all the time. All the way up to the 19th century.” 

Dean smiles at that - of course Sam would geek out over the history of his new (or is it old?) interest. “Yeah they did. And there’s nothing wrong with a bit of guyliner.”

Sam snorts. “What do you know about guyliner?”

“I know I was told it made my eyes pop, back when you were at Stanford.”

“Are there pictures?”

“You wish.”

“I kinda do.”

“I kinda want to see you now.”

And just like that, Sam tenses up again.

“I’ll put on some eyeliner myself if it helps,” Dean tries, and he could swear he sees Sam’s cheeks round out with a smile.

“If you laugh...” Sam doesn’t wait for Dean to answer, just turns around. His brows are drawn together, and he’s chewing on his lip, and his eyes are searching Dean’s face for any hint of amusement.

Laughing is the last thing on Dean’s mind. He gazes at Sam, takes in the carefully groomed brows and subtle gold shimmer over his eyelids. Lingers on the lightly smudged brown liner that makes his eyes wider and brings out warm tones in the multicolored irises, emphasized by dense mascaraed lashes. A hint of bronzer and subtle blush make Sam look like he spends his days in the sun and make Dean swear to find a hunt near a warm beach sometime soon. The gloss on his lips draws Dean’s eyes and he lingers there, wonders if it tastes as sweet as it looks or if Sam chose a non-flavored product, wants to lick every speck of it off just so he can watch Sam reapply it and keep the taste on his own lips.

Overall, it could look feminine, but Sam’s clearly had some practice, managed to take the YouTube girl’s look and turn it into something ethereally masculine with a play on the angles of his face.

Sam fidgets under his stare, fidgets more the longer the silence stretches out between them. Finally, he bursts out “well, say something, jerk!”

Dean can’t make himself give the expected answer, falls to his knees at Sam’s feet and lays his hands on Sam’s thighs, never takes his eyes from Sam’s face.

“You know you’re always beautiful, Sammy. The decoration just makes you prettier.”

He leans in for a kiss, thinks briefly that if they could capture the flushed color of Sam’s pleased blush they could make a fortune, savors the sugar-sweet taste of slippery gloss, and then doesn’t think anything at all.

[nancybryans]

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[beautifulbuckys]

Cleaning week

Word Count: 2.3k

Warnings: None

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Y/N

A/N: This is for the wonderful @stanclub‘s 3k celebration! Congrats to Amanda, she deserves it!

With every movement of your arms, the sweater covering your torso grew itchier. The olive green dyed wool rubbed upon your arm, causing red patches to litter your arms. Despite the uncomfortable factors of your sweater, you loved it. The crisp fall air ventilated the heavy sweater. It was warm, yet cool simultaneously. The sweater's color was unique, and fun to wear. The best part about it, however, was that it was a Christmas gift from Bucky.

Your boyfriend was currently inside washing the dishes from your breakfast. You could still taste the lingering cinnamon on your tongue. From where you were standing, it wasn't hard to notice how rough Bucky was being while scrubbing off cooked on dough. The cinnamon rolls Bucky made were always your favorite. It was a morning surprise for you.

"Baby," Bucky whispered as he kissed your temples. "I need you to wake up before breakfast gets cold,"

"Okay," You mumbled, opening your eyes slowly. You saw his gorgeous face hovering over yours. Strands of brown hair fell from his face, framing it perfectly. His blue eyes shone in the morning light. You saw the strands of dark blue pop from the light blue. His eyes were an ocean, like ones you'd visit in the summer. The oceans on the beaches Tony would bring you to. They were the eyes that reminded you of team bonding at the poolside. Those eyes were the eyes you'd look into when you were scared. They were the eyes that loved you.

You eventually got up. It felt like forever to you, sluggishly arising from your soft bed. Your feet landed on the chilly wood floors. You didn't feel like getting dressed, walking into the kitchen as you were. As soon as you entered the room, delicious sents flooded your senses. The perfect balance of sweet and spicy was engulfing the room.

Over breakfast, the two of you discussed chores. You family was coming down for the weekend to visit. They were meeting Bucky for the first time, it was a big deal. They were a little weary when you told them you were moving in with Bucky, reasonably. They'd never met him, so they were scared for your safety. So ever since the week prior, Bucky has been in cleaning mode. He vacuumed once a day, which was typically a weekly chore. Bucky cleaned out the fridge, something you hadn't done in months. The countertops were clean after every meal. Every shelf was dusted and rearranged.

You tasked yourself to rake the leaves, desiring to be done before the weekend. Your Dad was a garden guy. He took good care of his lawn and garden. You figured you'd spare Bucky the stress, assigning yourself the chore. You understand gardening, for the most part.  It was a menial task, but not the worst. The bright orange and bold gold of the leaves surrounding you was calming. The small crunch they made when you stepped on them was entertaining. However, it was more alarming when you heard the 'entertaining' crunch approaching behind you.

"Surprise!" Bucky shouted, throwing leaves at you when you turned around. The leaves fluttered to the floor, a number of them sticking to your sweater.

"Bucky! I just raked this whole area," You scolded. You weren't genuinely upset. It was more of an 'I'm annoyed with you but you're too cute to be mad at' type of scold. It was a type of scold that Bucky earned a lot. You'd make sure he heard you playfully scoff when he brought Sam in the house after 10. Bucky felt the eye roll if he ever left his dirty clothes in the bathroom. He was used to it, but it was still effective in proving your annoyance.

Bucky wrapped his arms around your waist and kissed your nose. You could smell the spice in his breath, not that it's a bad thing.

"Sorry hon', didn't mean to. Need help?" Bucky asked with a grin on his face, placing another kiss on your forehead. He must've gotten a leaf in your hair, you felt his metal hand move from your waist and pluck something off your head.

You shook your head, denying Bucky's help. The bags under his eyes signified to you he was tired. He'd been tuckering himself out the past week. Bucky denied himself breaks while cleaning around the house. You couldn't remember a time he sat down for more than three minutes.

Bucky tilted his head at your denial. "Mmm, too bad," Bucky stated, departing you to find another rake in your shed. You giggled, getting back to work.

He soon returned with a taller rake than the one you had, a worn-down red handle to match some of the leaves. He whistled, raking leaves into one big pile. You two would talk every once in a while, making small talk. You guys didn't mind the silence, but small talk helped get the job done faster.

"If you could only have one color apple, which one would it be?" Bucky asked, raking around a small tree in your backyard.

"By color, do you mean like red, green and yellow?"  You shouted, being about fifty feet away from him, closer to the house.

"Yeah!" He replied, pushing a mixture of dead grass, twigs and orange leaves into his pile.

"Hm, probably yellow. They're sweet but not too sweet. They're not sour either, which is perfect!" You added, plucking a few leaves that found their way on your sweater, off. There were a few on your jeans too. You bent over, taking two off the knees of your distressed jeans.

Bucky made a disgusted face. His nose scrunched up, his eyebrows furrowing.  "Yellow? Seriously? Is it too late to move out?! Those are the grossest ones, Y/N! Green is the way to go, I'm a sour apple kind of guy,"

You chuckled, resuming raking the spacious yard.

This apple conversation later evolved. Who knew?

"Okay, Buck, if you like green apples so much, do you think green apple candy is good?" You ask, relatively closer to the brunette.

"Green apple candy is the worst, Y/N!" Bucky responded, with a playful mock of disgust. "It's too sweet. A green apple is sour, it should stay sour!"

"Bucky, it's sweet because it's candy!" You suggested. You knew that Bucky knew that's why it was sweet, but it's all for the sake of conversation.

Bucky shook his head, circling the tree to rid of the leaves at the base.

Other conversations arose, he questioned you about modern technology. You quizzed him about 40's music, a thing you loved to talk about. Bucky smiled every time you asked if he heard a specific song. He loved how infatuated you were with his time and pop culture. It was something admirable about you.

"Did you hear the song 'Rum and Coca-Cola', Buck?"

"Who was it by?" Bucky questioned. Maybe if he heard the artist name, it would ring a bell.

"The Andrews Sisters," You replied, picking up a few larger sticks and adding them to a nearby pile. It was in your head that you could have a small fire when your parents arrive.

Bucky shook his head with a small smile. "No, I don't think so. I might need to hear it to see if I know it. You can't rely on my old brain to remember something like that,"

"Whatever old man," You laugh, throwing some leaves at Bucky. He rolled his eyes, sticking his tongue out at you. He threw leaves back, which was a bad idea. You two had ditched the rakes and were now chucking small piles of leaves at each other. The you in ten minutes will be so mad.

Raking took hours. It's closer to three o-clock when you step back to admire your work. The yard was essentially barren! Bucky was going around, picking up a few strays from the ground and placing them in a plastic bag. You guys made three big piles. One was near the shed, and it was slightly larger than the third step of your patio. Another was near the small tree in the back of your yard. The last pile was in the dead center of your yard. Bucky held the plastic bag in his hand, waving when he noticed you were watching him. You grinned, returning the wave and walking up the patio steps.

"Where 'ya going, dollface?" Bucky asked, sneaking up behind you and placing the bag on your grill.

You chuckled, wrapping your arms around his neck. "I was wishing to go inside for a minute. Why do you ask, my love?" He beamed at the pet name.

"You're missing out on the best part of leave raking, Y/N!" Bucky sighed, planting his hands on your hips. "The only thing more fun than raking leaves is jumping in them once you're finished ranking 'em!" He let go of you, finishing his sentence. He pulled himself away from your arms. Bucky stood still waiting for your response.

"James," You warned. This provoked Bucky to depart from the old, wooden patio. Watching Bucky sprint to one of the piles was entertaining. His hair was flying behind him, the brown locks blending in with the dying grass surrounding you. You observed him barreling towards the pile near the tree. He jumped in, making leaves float above the pile, and settle on the ground and back in the pile. Your jaw dropped, he had the nerve to do that. "Bucky, what the hell?!" You watched Bucky's face. He had the widest grin on his face, he looked happy.

You sauntered over to the pile. You weren't angry, more amused than anything else. "You've got some balls to do that. We've been out here since nine!" You laughed, with a bit of annoyance and a smidge of happiness.

"Dollface, I pinky promise on Steve's life that after we're done, we'll clean it up. Hell, I'll clean it up!" Bucky mused.

You had an idea. You're gonna scare the shit out of Bucky Barnes. You shook your head no, turning on your heel. You walked about 10 steps towards the house until you turned back around and booked it towards the pile. You leaped into the bundle of leaves, making a small flurry of leaves float around the two of you. Bucky smirked, realizing you hopped on top of his chest. You giggled, leaning down and placing a kiss on the lips.

"Wanna get off of me, babe? I wanna show you the coolest thing ever." Bucky said, looking at you with admiration. His smile was wide. His white teeth popped out from the warm colors surrounding his face. The ocean that was his eyes stuck out from the oranges and reds underneath him. Everything about this moment was perfect, but you had to get up.

You lifted yourself off of Bucky, laughing as you did so. You wiped a few golden leaves that stuck to your sweater. Bucky made a hand motion for you to get out of the way, so you took a few steps backward.

Right before your eyes, you saw Bucky Barnes, your boyfriend, no a backflip into the pile of leaves.

"Holy shit!" You shouted, immediately covering your mouth in case any neighbors heard. It was too late if they did hear, though. You felt your eyes widen at the sight of Bucky's trick. He got up from the leaves, chuckling. His hair was full of orange, yellow and red leaves, it was like a wig.

"You're going to be the death of me, babe," You deadpan, plucking the leaves out of Bucky's hair. He mumbles something about you loving it while you take the remaining leaves.

"You, mister," You point to Bucky, "Are going to rake this up. I, Y/N am going to go make us some glasses of tea so we can relax" You check your watch. "I'll probably get a start on dinner too,"

It was nearing five now, by the time he finishes and dinner was done it would probably be six. If you add a shower into the equation, you two would be dressed in PJs and watching a Halloween movie at eight-thirty. Better start now.

Bucky nods, understanding what you're saying. He made the mess, he's going to pick it up. "What's for dinner?"

You start walking away, pulling a leaf from underneath your belt. "You'll find out when you come inside, leaf boy,"

Bucky shook his head as you walk away, chuckling at himself. You're going to be a tough cookie after all he made you deal with today. For all he knows, you probably have leaves in your sweater. What he'd give to find out.

Bucky was almost done when you hung out of the kitchen window.

"Dinner time!" You cheer out from the warmth of your house.

Bucky came running in, stomping off his boots in case they got mud in them. You giggled at the simple act, he'd been doing that ever since you educated him on mud tracks. He untied them and arrived in the kitchen, sliding a bit on the floor due to his mix and matched socks. He reached over you to grab two paper plates from a shelf and placed them on the counter. Did he smell the lovely smell of tomato and cheese, plus an interesting vegetable smell? It was pizza night.

"Looks amazing, babe," Bucky says as he kisses a kiss to your shoulder. You mutter a thank you while cutting out pieces for the two of you. They weren't perfect slices, some of the triangles being smaller than others. Though, it was hard to deny that it looked terrible.

The pizza was a hit. Bucky had almost all of it. He would've eaten all of it if you'd let him. However, you needed food to eat. The night concluded in watching a movie on the couch. Tonight was your choice, and you wanted to watch something spooky. 25 minutes into 'Beetlejuice' and your pajama-clad boyfriend was passed out. You heard the wind blowing when realization hit you like a truck.

You never put the leaves in the bag.

It was windy.

You'd need to do this all over again tomorrow.

[deanieweaniewrites]

We tried the world; Good god it wasn’t for us

Read on AO3 Here

Rated: T

Warnings: Major Character Death

Pairing: Destiel

Tags: Meet-cute, Florist Castiel, Bucket List

Summary: Dean had one job for Sam’s proposal to Jessica today: decorate the private room of the restaurant they rented out with flowers. Well, Dean forgot until about three hours before Sam and Jessica were supposed to be there.The florist, Castiel, saves his ass and steals his heart at the same time. He has a secret that keeps him from letting Dean get too close, but eventually, Dean finds out and almost wishes he hadn't.

Dean had one job for Sam’s proposal to Jessica today: decorate the private room of the restaurant they rented out with flowers. Well, Dean forgot until about three hours before Sam and Jessica were supposed to be there. When he arrived at the shop Sam requested, they said they could get the flowers to him in forty-eight hours. No good. Dean drove around town and found a little florist on a street corner. He ran inside frantically and put the list on the counter.

“Is there any way I can get a crapload of flowers right now?”

The florist turned from the arrangement he was working on and tilted his head. “What’s the occasion?”

“My brother is about to propose to his girlfriend, and I was supposed to decorate the room with flowers, but I forgot. I have,” he checked his watch, “two and a half hours to do it.”

The florist took a look at the list. “You need some for the table, the doorway, and a hanging piece…let me see what I have. I think I can help you out. I close in ten minutes, so if you’d allow it, I can bring the flowers and arrange them there.”

Dean’s jaw dropped. “Oh my god, I love you. You’re a lifesaver.”

The florist chuckled, almost looking sad for a moment before going into the back. A few minutes passed before he returned with a large box on his shoulder. “These are some of my favorites. I have a large centerpiece too if you’d like that for the table.” He set the box of flowers on the counter and returned to the back. He came back out with a silver vase with pink and white flowers gorgeously arranged coming out the top.

Dean had never felt so relieved. He looked at the florist, and their eyes met. Oh god, he wasn’t just a lifesaver, he was ridiculously attractive. “Those are perfect.” He pulled out his wallet and completed the transaction at the register. He saw the nametag on the florist’s shirt. “Thank you...Ca-steel?”

The florist smiled. “It’s Castiel. You can just call me Cas if you want.”

Dean smiled back. “You sure about arranging them there? I can probably figure it out.”

“I’m sure. I’m closing anyways, and I have nowhere to be. I like setting up things like this too.” He picked up the centerpiece. “Do you mind getting the bigger box?”

“Not at all.” Dean picked up the box and carried it out of the store, placing it in the passenger seat of the Impala. “You need a ride?”

Cas shook his head. “No, but thank you. I can follow you there.”

“Okay, it’s not too far from here, so it shouldn’t take long to get there.” Dean got into the driver’s seat and waited until a Prius with Castiel in the driver’s seat was waiting behind him. He drove off towards the restaurant and parked at the back so Jessica wouldn’t see the Impala.

Together, they carried the flowers to the back room of the restaurant and got to decorating. Dean didn’t do much except hand flowers to Castiel, who would add them to a garland on the doorway, place petals on the table cloth, and even made a path of little daisies that looped around the table in the shape of a heart. The room looked gorgeous by the time they were done. The server that knew what was going on offered to make them a table somewhere else in the restaurant and serve them too. At that point, they were both hungry and ready to eat.

Dean pointed out Sam and Jessica to Castiel when they walked in. Dean hid his face behind a menu and watched them walk back. He beamed when he heard Jessica’s high pitched squeal and loud “Yes!” He couldn’t be more proud of Sam right now.

Castiel seemed excited by the entire situation as well. He talked to Dean for a full two hours while they ate and stayed for dessert. Dean offered to take him out for drinks, but Castiel declined and complained of a headache, saying he needed to go home. When Dean asked for his number, Castiel simply told him to visit the shop anytime.

~~~

Dean wasn’t sure what to say when he returned to Heavenly Arrangements. He brought two cups of coffee, and some packets of cream and sugar, unsure of Cas would want them. He entered the shop and looked around. The summer months brought some very green and colorful new flowers into the shop two weeks ago when Dean first came in here. He spotted some geraniums, sunflowers, and big bright lilies. Behind the counter, he saw Castiel sitting on a stool, slender fingers carefully arranging a large bouquet. When he met Dean’s eyes, a smile came to his face.

“Hello, Dean. How are you?”

“I’m great. How are you?” Dean walked over to the counter and looked at the arrangement. “Those are beautiful.”

“Mmm, thank you. I’m doing okay, I guess. Is that coffee?”

Dean nodded. “Yeah, I brought you some cream and sugar too. I didn’t know how you liked your coffee.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that. Thank you. Just the sugar is fine.” Castiel took the cup and added the sugar, stirring it with the little red stirrer. “What brings you here?”

“I just wanted to see you again. I had a great time at the restaurant, and I wanted to talk some more.”

Castiel blushed. “That’s very sweet. Come around the counter and sit down. I’m nearly done with this arrangement. I think it just needs a little baby’s breath to fill it out.” He added stems of these dainty white flowers that came in bunches. Around the bottom edge of the arrangement, it looked gorgeous.

Dean sat down on the other stool and sipped his coffee. “Wow. You’re really good at that.”

“Thank you. That’s why it’s my job,” he winked.

Dean laughed and started telling Castiel all about how excited Jessica and Sam were about the flowers and the wedding. They were already planning every detail they could and looking into venues. It was insanely sweet to watch.

Dean stayed in the shop until closing time and left at the same time as Castiel. They parted ways with Dean making a promise to return next week, same day, same time.

The second visit was better than the first. Dean got Castiel’s coffee just right and helped him gather flowers for a wedding archway he was making for a couple. Dean took a picture of it, with permission. If Sam and Jessica liked the flowers from the proposal so much, maybe they would want Castiel to make the arrangements for their wedding.

The third visit came with exciting news. Sam and Jessica wanted Castiel to make the centerpieces and Jessica’s bouquet. Dean couldn’t help but notice the bags under Castiel’s eyes and his face being a little sunken in. He didn’t comment, not today. Maybe it was just a rough week.

Dean asked about Castiel’s state of health on the fourth visit. He looked and was acting even worse. He wouldn’t stand except when he absolutely had to, and his legs would wobble. He looked tired and sad. Dean offered to take him out to dinner to get some good food in him. Castiel accepted, saying he needed a night where he wasn’t alone. They ate at a local diner. Castiel barely touched his food but didn’t stop smiling at Dean. He seemed so happy, yet so sad at the same time.

Dean came in for the fifth time, three days early. It was pouring rain, but he didn’t care. His worry got the better of him. He brought coffee and a blueberry muffin this time. He found Castiel sleeping on a chair in the back of the shop, surrounded by flowers. He gently woke him up and gave him the muffin.

“You’re really starting to worry me, buddy. You sure you’re sleeping at night?”

“I promise you I am, and that you have nothing to worry about...has it already been a week?”

Dean shook his head. “It’s been four days. I came early. I had to know that you were okay.”

“I told you that I’m fine.”

“Cas, I’m gonna be honest. You don’t look fine. You’re so tired. I can tell. I want to help.”

Castiel sighed and took a small bite of the muffin. “You’re right. I am tired. Maybe I should close early and go home.”

“Good. Rest is good. Come on, let’s get you out of here.” He offered a hand and helped Castiel up, leading him to the front of the store. As Castiel locked the door, the rain kept coming down in sheets.

Dean squeezed Castiel’s hand. “Promise me you’re okay.”

Castiel looked up at Dean, eyes almost sad. Before Dean could say anything, Castiel leaned up and kissed him. It was soft, sweet, and longing. The rain dripped down their faces as they kissed, hands and arms wrapped tightly around one another. When they pulled back, Castiel simply listed off a phone number. Dean repeated it again, making sure he had it right. As soon as he was in his car, he made a new contact on his phone and sent a text to Castiel so that he would have his number.

Dean Winchester

It’s Dean. Thanks for your number. I’ll let you know whenever I’m planning on coming in to see you :)

Castiel Novak

I’d like that :)

Dean smiled to himself and drove home, still giddy from the kiss.

The next morning, Dean was too excited to wait a few days to return. He texted Castiel.

Dean Winchester

Hey, I’m bringing you some breakfast. Be there soon

Dean picked up the coffee and some croissants from the coffee shop on his way to the shop. When he got to the door and pulled the handle, he found it locked. It was an hour after opening, so he should have been there. That’s when his phone buzzed.

Castiel Novak

St. Andrew’s Hospital. Room 324

Dean’s heart sank to his stomach, and he ran to his car. He sped away to the hospital and ran inside, taking the elevator to the third floor. He walked down the hall and saw room 324. The door was cracked open slightly. Dean knocked on it and swallowed.

A hoarse voice answered, “Come in.”

Dean slowly walked in and saw Castiel in the hospital bed. He had an oxygen tube in his nose and wires connected to his chest. There was an IV in the back of his hand and a pulse oximeter on his middle finger. “Cas?”

“Hello, Dean.” Castiel looked so tired, and a little loopy.

Dean walked over to the bed and sat down in the chair next to it. “Cas, what happened?”

“I’ve been sick for a long time, Dean. It just got worse faster than I expected, I suppose.”

Dean felt his hands shaking. “What is it?”

“I was diagnosed two months ago with a very aggressive form of brain cancer. It had already spread all over, so I was given about six months. They gave me some painkillers and other medications to help me manage. Chemo and radiation could have given me a few more months, maybe a year, but I’d rather have six months at home than a year in the hospital. I came in late last night because I couldn’t take the pain. They’ve given me something a little stronger, which is helping tremendously.”

Dean stared in shock. Here he was, falling head over heels for the cute florist that was supposed to arrange the centerpieces for his brother’s wedding. Now, that man is going to die. “N-no, you… there has to be something you can do, right? Y-you can’t just-”

“Dean, don’t. This...this is why I tried not to get close at first. You should leave now. I can’t bear for you to see me like this. Not when I know, I’m falling for you. I’ll get too attached, and you will too, and it’ll be too hard. Please, don’t do this to yourself.” Castiel’s eyes were watering, and a tear fell down his cheek.

Dean shook his head. “No, don’t tell me to leave. I’m not about to let you do this alone. You’ve told me about your family. I’m guessing they're not much help here. I’m not leaving you, okay?” Dean took Castiel’s hand, his own tears beginning to fall. “I don’t care how long we have. As long as I get to have you.”

Castiel let out a small sob, squeezing Dean’s hand. “You’re too good for me. I never should have said I could do the wedding. I wasn’t thinking, and I thought maybe it would be soon, and I’d make it-”

“Hush, that doesn’t matter now. I want you to tell me what you want to do, and we’re gonna do it. If that’s just working on floral arrangements for the next four months together, then we’ll do it.”

Castiel wiped his eyes with his other hand. “I made a bucket list of sorts. I haven’t gotten around to actually doing any of it though.”

“What’s on it?” Dean listened carefully and wrote down everything Castiel said he wanted to do. It wasn’t a long list, and nothing was hugely extravagant, but Dean liked it.

~~~

Castiel stayed in the hospital for two days before he was able to go home. Dean took time off work to stay with him in the hospital and for a day when he got back. Every day after work, Dean came to the flower shop and watched Castiel work on the arrangements.

The first item they checked off the bucket list was a hot air balloon ride. Dean booked it for that weekend and drove Castiel out to a field where they got into the wicker basket with a professional balloon flyer. Castiel looked out at the city with a big smile, the wind blowing through his already wild hair. Dean was terrified the whole time, which Castiel found hilarious. They shared several kisses in the air, arms wrapped around each other. Dean sprinted out of the basket when it was over.

The second item they crossed off came a month later. Castiel had gotten sicker faster than they thought, and was in and out of the hospital now. Palo Alto didn’t seem as pretty with Castiel unable to run the shop anymore. The second item was to eat octopus, which Castiel had never eaten before. They went to a fancy restaurant and stared at the dish in horror before trying it. Dean nearly gagged just at the mere idea. Castiel got it down but didn’t enjoy it. He still didn’t regret adding it to his list. Now he could say that he tried it.

The third item they crossed off was skinny dipping. Dean took Castiel to the beach at night. Once they were the only ones there, they stripped and walked out into the water to swim. Castiel was weak and needed support until he was in the water. He said it was freeing to just float without needing to struggle to walk. Making out in the water was more romantic than Dean could have ever imagined.

The last item they got to was to watch the sunset over the water. Castiel had never taken the time to simply watch the sun go down. By this point, he needed to be on oxygen at all times, so they had to take two tanks to make sure they had enough to last the night. They set a blanket on the sand and cuddled up together. Dean wrapped an extra blanket around them as they watched the sky come to life. Everything went from blue to pink, orange, and finally purple. The sun sank beneath the horizon, and eventually, the dazzling lights disappeared. Dean heard Castiel whisper a quiet, “thank you” from beside him. Dean carried him back to the car and drove him home.

~~~

It happened sooner than they both thought. Three months after Dean found Castiel in the hospital, he went downhill. In the middle of the night, he woke up in a panic, breathing shaky and tears streaming down his face. Dean sat up and cradled him in his arms.

“Shh, you’re okay. Just go to sleep.”

“I-I can’t...I don’t want to go-I’m so scared, Dean...Please, I can’t leave you…” Castiel wheezed in another breath, eyes drooping.

Dean swallowed thickly. “Don’t be scared. I’m going to be okay. I promise. You’ll never truly be gone. Remember what I promised you? I’m going to reopen the shop for you. I’ll keep taking those arrangement classes you showed me.”

Castiel looked up at Dean with glassy eyes. “It’s too soon..”

“Shhh. Close your eyes and sleep. I’ve got you.”

Castiel closed his eyes. “I love you, Dean.”

“I love you too, Castiel.” Dean’s voice broke a little. He watched as Castiel took his final few breaths before slowly slipping away. It was peaceful like he simply fell asleep. Dean finally broke down. He cried out in anguish, cradling Castiel’s body in his arms as the tears poured down his face. It wasn’t fair. He loved this man with everything he had, but he was gone before he knew it. There was nothing left to do but cry.

~~~

The funeral was a small service. Dean actually met a few of Castiel’s family members. Gabriel was friendly and genuine, but everyone else seemed so distant like they were only there on an obligation. It broke Dean’s heart when he watched Castiel’s coffin being lowered into the ground. Sam and Jessica were there too, mostly to comfort Dean. The flower wreath around Castiel’s portrait was arranged by none other than Dean himself.

Dean kept his promise about running the shop. He found that he loved arranging and growing flowers. It was peaceful work, and he could still repair and fix up baby in the evenings. He kept the original name of the shop, Heavenly Arrangements. He kept a picture of Castiel in his wallet. It was a stupid selfie they took together.

At Sam and Jessica’s wedding, Dean did all of the floral work. The centerpieces, decor, even Jessica’s bouquet, was arranged by Dean. It all looked beautiful. In a way, Dean felt like he got closure at the wedding. Here, it was done. He finished the last thing Castiel wanted to do. Even though he didn’t get to have much time with him, he knew he could never love like that again.

The world just wasn’t ready for a bond that profound.

[icanttakethemonmyown]

Hi darling! Just felt like dropping in to tell you I love you and I hope you're taking care of yourself

you are too kind ❤❤

im trying my best given the circumstances, dont know if we'll get back to regularly scheduled programming just yet, but i appreciate and am so thankful for all the love! i truly can't thank you all enough!!

[iprincezzinuyoukai]

Done! The babies have arrived and the best thing is that both parents are alive! [hides a scroll labed evil plan]

I’ve been thinking about the hatchlings since before, especially since they’re too cute and adorable not to appear in a future in some Legendary movie — This was my only conclusion as to how they might appear... It’s worth dreaming about. If anyone has any doubts about the size of these little ones, usually dragon cubs are human size, even smaller than us. Considering the height of Ghidorah and Rodan... well, they must be very careful with the hatchlings.

I don’t want to fight the ‘read more’ anymore. I tried to in my sister’s laptop, but it won’t let me! So if it makes you lazy to read it here, it’s okay, remember I post all my stories on my AO3, same name.

If at the end of this you want to kill me, I challenge you to a sword fight behind a McDonald 's.

Little Ones

The eggs were still warm, but there was still no sign of life in them. That’s what made Rodan start to worry. What if a few don’t hatch? What if none of them did? That they were still warm wasn’t because there was life inside, but because of the lava? He doesn’t remember that this would take so many days for his kind.

A roar in the sky made him look up. Ghidorah had returned from his search for Godzilla. The three-headed dragon was hell-bent on fighting his King again. On the one hand, Rodan was grateful that Infant Island was so impossible to find and reach, he didn’t want to know what would happen to his mate if they actually came to face his King, and Godzilla knew that Ghidorah was still alive — On the other hand, it pissed off Rodan, it was like fighting Godzilla was the most important thing to King Ghidorah.

For the first days Rodan didn’t allow Ghidorah or any of the heads to approach the eggs. They were too rough to deal with something so fragile, but now that the eggs had been hatched for several weeks and the shell had become hard enough the Fire Demon allowed his mate to get close to smelling them or at least touching them.

The King of the Skies could see the confusion and curiosity in their eyes. For him, too, this had been new, maybe it had something to do with his mate not being from this planet.

It was strange at first. Ghidorah didn’t know how they were born, did they also come from an egg just like this one? When they woke up they were already in the dark space with no one or anything, but themselves. So the eggs caused them such curiosity and at the same time a strange feeling.

Just as the eggs had tied Rodan to the ground, preventing him from flying with them in their search for the weak King or exploring the world as he promised them, they had them tied to Isla de Mara, they were all that the three heads could think of so they couldn’t focus at all.

It wasn’t a feeling they liked. But they had no other choice, they didn’t want to get away, they didn’t want to lose sight of their mate, but the eggs on the other hand...

Ghidorah came up to the nest, Ni touched one of the eggs with the tip of his nose, slightly moving it, this time without Rodan growling, this one was warm and smelled of them — Not exactly them, it was a mixture of Rodan’s lava and their thunders. King Ghidorah walked away from the nest once he finished analyzing all the eggs to lie on the edge of the volcano, watching Rodan return to cover the eggs and wait.

For a moment Ghidorah thought of inciting his mate to fly with them, the eggs would be fine, they were warm, firm, a faint sign of life came from within, so why not? However, remembering the times they insisted on the same thing to Rodan, to the point where San bit him — And not in a gentle way — To get him out of the volcano and this one will scratch his neck, maybe it wasn’t a good idea. As much as they wanted a fight, they didn’t want it to be with their mate.

Ghidorah couldn’t help, but question when their offspring would be born, whether they would resemble them or their fire mate, how strong they would be, and if they could already leave them...

Not many days passed since that night when clouds covered the moon on Isla de Mara and lightning began to light the night.

Rodan screeched from his place, rising from the nest, alerting Ghidorah who was confused by the sudden action of their mate. It was then that they saw one of the eggs move and with it another thunder roaring near the place. They weren’t creating this thunderstorm.

It was then that the first lightning struck the sky.

 And with it, the sound of the first shell breaking.

◆◆◆◇◇◇◆◆◆◇◇◇◆◆◆

“A thunderstorm,” Stanton commented, turning around in his spinning chair, “Titans like symbolism, don’t they?”

“I suppose this must be Ghidorah’s doing.” Coleman said.

“It’s not as strong as the ones he usually produces.” Chen said from her seat. Cameras installed near the volcano — Which they installed when Ghidorah was away and Rodan was sleeping — Had already begun to show both Titans and their curiosity and impatience towards the eggs.

Soon the doors opened, letting Mark, Madison, and the rest of Monarch in who were impatient for this moment, not every day is known of the birth of a new Titan.

“Are they going to be born now?” Madison asked, taking a seat next to Chen. After the trial with her mother, the mythologist kept in touch with her, knowing how much Maddie needed a friend, and Madison didn’t know how to thank her for stepping in for her.

“I see you’ve changed the camera’s viewing range.” Mark said, he was standing idly beside Stanton.

“Well, I don’t want Mommy and Daddy to keep destroying our drones, believe it or not, they’re not free.” Stanton said, annoyed.

“Well, whatever’s coming out of those eighteen eggs everyone should be ready.” Mark whispered, hoping Maddie wouldn’t hear him. Madison might be as smart as her mother, but she was an obvious lover of nature, so despite the fact that they were Ghidorah’s spawn, it didn’t take Maddie’s idea that everything deserved a chance no matter who their parents were.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Sam said showing up behind both of them. He understood Mark’s concern, they didn’t know if Ghidorah’s offspring would do the same as their parent as they were born.

Chen watched Maddie, her head tilted to her side, trying to take a closer look. Her trembling hands were holding a packet of cookies, she could tell how excited she was for this moment, for a moment Chen saw Emma’s face.

Chen handed her an iPad.

“From here you can see it better, it’s the small camera, though, I think you can modify the range.” The short-haired woman said like it was a secret.

Madison smiled, sitting comfortably, dragging her feet to the spinning chair. She’d have liked to have been there when these little ones were born, just like she was at Mothra’s or when she and Andrew saw their cat give birth to her kittens.

The shell was greenish gold, not the regular size she was used to seeing in other oviparous species, from her point of view the egg mustn’t have been larger than the size of a dog.

It was then that she saw the crack and movement in the first egg that was about to hatch. Emotion and curiosity overtook her. What would come out of it?

◆◆◆◇◇◇◆◆◆◇◇◇◆◆◆

The egg started to crack.

They had nothing to do with it.

The three heads looked at Rodan, the Fire Demon was too concentrated on the first egg, it kept moving from side to side, and more cracks followed the first until a blow shattered them.

A small claw had passed through the shell, moving it impatiently until a second made a presence, and just as lightning struck the earth beneath them, it was surrounded by yellow rays exploding in half, leaving beneath the remaining part a small creature sitting on its hind legs and covered in a strange liquid.

Rodan approached the hatchling, removing with his beak the shell that covered its face and didn’t let it see by the way it moved its head from side to side and shrieked. The little, golden, four-legged creature as soon as it saw the two giant beings in front of it, the first thing it did was move awkwardly, side by side, until it ended up stumbling with what Ghidorah noticed was a wing glued to its legs.

The hatchling squealed when it couldn’t stand up, as the wing was still attached to its body and tangled between its legs, which Rodan responded by helping it up while more creaking sounds were heard behind them.

The others were being born.

Some eggs broke as soon as they were kicked, some others seemed to be biting it from the inside, and very few seemed to be intending to exploit them with the same rays as the first one used.

Rodan walked away from the first born to go see the hatchlings who needed help getting out of the egg, leaving the first to beg for his return, and falling back to the ground trying to get up to follow him.

Ghidorah watched the little one still lying on the ground, Rodan was busier watching the other eggs, waiting for the others to break their shells. But this little one, it was too persistent, even though it couldn’t stand up at all, it was still trying. Motivated to go after its parent.

One of their tails went beneath the little one, taking care of the spikes and lifting their front legs first and then the back parts. They noticed that the wings were still attached to its body because of the liquid it still had covering it.

Ichi approached the little one, moving its wings with his snout, taking them off, noticing that beneath the first part of the belly was covered with a soft green fur. San started licking the little one, cleaning him up. The little one smelled of electricity and fire.

The little one stayed in one place, neither moving nor making the slightest noise, but it seemed to be enjoying this gesture by the way it moved its head to allow more access to the tongue. Once the little one was clean, Ghidorah intended to walk away to see Rodan when they felt something on their claws.

The little one, who could already move better and whose wings it now had dragging (instead of folding them elegantly as they or Rodan did) jumped from claw to claw. Ghidorah put their heads together, watching the little one. As soon as it was in front, it leaped towards Ni, placing its front legs on his snout.

Ni sneezed, abruptly pushing the little one away, causing it to fall around, but instead of shrieking and staying on the volcanic floor, as was when Rodan walked away, it turned around and stood up quickly to get under them.

Ghidorah observed the little one with such strangeness, only to see a second and third clumsily walk behind the first. A strange and light weight landed on one of their tails, there were four of them, two of whom were curiously touching the golden scales and trying to bite the spikes of their tails.

The three-headed Dragon looked at the little creatures, pulling them away with their tails, but to these it seemed more like a game.

Ichi called their mate, hoping that he’d know what to do, only to see him surrounded by the rest of the hatchlings as he approached the lava.

Were the hatchlings lava resistant? If they managed to make their shells explode by summoning the same rays that they did, it was a probability.

Rodan gently approached the golden hatchlings to the lava. As Ghidorah already saw coming, they were curious, but they also showed a certain rejection by approaching and splashing the magma with their small claws. Even after the disgusted gesture, Ghidorah concluded that their hatchlings were perfectly immune to lava, although they didn’t seem to love it in the same way as their parent.

Rodan didn’t seem satisfied with his hatchling’s gesture, but he let it pass, at least this time. By pulling away from them he spread his wings, they were still small to fly and therefore they still couldn’t hunt for themselves and still couldn’t feed on the energy of this planet — That’s if they’d inherited any characteristics from him because apparently they seemed to take after his mate.

Ghidorah watched their mate spread his wings and get away from the island, for a moment they considered doing the same, maybe finally they could fly together again, the alien Titan longed for that — Then he watched Rodan take a couple of laps around the island, dive his beak into the ocean and take flight to return to the nest, landing over the golden edge and calling on the hatchlings, who didn’t for a second hesitated to approach their parent, something Ghidorah appreciated when the little ones left their tails alone.

The hatchlings devoured the fish with such voraciousness that there was no doubt that their fangs, however small, could become lethal.

Ghidorah lay near the nest, watching the little ones eat and Rodan nuzzle them with such devotion, just as he did with them, his mate seemed content, proud even... And them… Well, they were just as pleased that their hatchlings were here.

◆◆◆◇◇◇◆◆◆◇◇◇◆◆◆

Monarch's outpost didn’t know whether they should be happy or worried. They had witnessed a birth of Titans (how many could say they had seen one?) and at the same time, it was the offspring of one of the Titans who could stand up to Godzilla, the King of the Monsters.

“I think we should give them a name.” Coleman thought out loud.

“Titanus — ” Stanton looked at the redhead, but this one shrugged, clearly had no idea. The scientist looked at his other coworkers, most looked at each other, muttering names.

“Rodorah!” Barnes screamed from the back of the room, Griffin facepalmed while Martinez gave thumbs up.

“For the last time, Barnes, we’re not using that.” Chen massaged her temple, she was more concerned about the impact that the hatchlings would have on the world, now that there were young and vulnerable Titans there would be many attempts to reach them... But given who their parents were, it was certain someone would die before they got to them — Although if it was a Titan like Godzilla...

Chen was certain that Godzilla didn’t know that King Ghidorah had offspring or else he’d have left Infant Island by now. It was urgent that she speak to her mother or aunt, one of them must have known something by now.

Madison was fascinated — No, more than fascinated, she was enchanted with the little golden Titans that surrounded Rodan and Ghidorah, both were lying over the volcanic floor while the hatchlings played with each other and even discovering that they had wings and tried to spread them out for themselves, she wanted to see one more closely, see it on video wasn’t enough, she’d no idea how her Father could resist when he saw the wolves and their cubs, and not try to pet them.

It was then that she thought, They aren’t pets, they are Titans, the old and new Gods.

She was so immersed in the hatchlings that she didn’t notice the discussion behind her among the scientists and the Monarch's armed force. These new Titans needed a name. Apparently they couldn’t be called Titanus Rodan because they didn’t seem to take after Rodan, but they did from Ghidorah, despite being born with only one head they could be the spitting image of Monster Zero.

Madison squeezed her cookie packet that her Father had bought for her. They were sugar cookies, she wasn’t much of a sweet tooth like her Father, but her Mother and Andrew loved that kind of dessert and candy. Doraditas, that was the name of the product. —

“Doraditas.” Maddie pronounced it in Spanish, it meant gold or little gold, like these hatchlings... “Doraditas… Dorad… Dorat.”

“Did you say something, Maddie?” Chen looked at her, she hadn’t paid any attention to her since her head was starting to get a migraine from the nascent discussion in the Outpost, so she couldn’t talk to her sister, everyone wanted to baptize these hatchlings, most of them had done so when the Titans were found in their hibernation state. Emma and she had named a few, Monster Zero had been Emma’s idea and favorite. Her grandmother and grand auntie were the ones who give the name Mothra when Monarch found her temple.

“Dorats.” Maddie whispered, hoping only Chen would listen to her. It was a dumb name, but in her head it made sense.

“Dorats?” Chen asked, repeating it. Maddie nodded

“It's like dorado, golden.”

Chen nodded the same way as maddie, understanding what the girl wanted to mean by it. “Titanus Doratto.” She uttered the name a couple more times, starting to make sense. “Titanus Doratto.” She told her colleagues.

“Doratto?” Mark asked, he wasn’t bringing any ideas, though he did seem to disagree with some names.

“Dorats.” Maddie said, feeling more confident, Chen liked the name... And somehow reminded her of her Mother and Andrew.

Monarch’s workers looked at each other again, muttering to each other. Stanton and Coleman didn’t seem entirely convinced.

“I like the name.” Barnes said, supporting Maddie.

“It makes sense to me.” Martínez supported similarly, Griffin said nothing, only rolled his eyes and ended up nodded at Foster’s confused gaze.

It looked like the little ones would be named Titanus Doratto, Dorats.

“Congratulations, Maddie.” Chen smiled at her, “Looks like you named your first Titan.”

Maddie smiled proudly. She named these little ones... She gave names to Ghidorah’s offspring just as her Mother once did with their Father.

◆◆◆◇◇◇◆◆◆◇◇◇◆◆◆

So... This was done, right? The hatchlings are here, found their wings, and even were fed, so this ends here, doesn’t it? Doesn’t it? Because Rodan doesn’t seem to have the same idea as them.

King Ghidorah was getting impatient with Rodan’s slowness.

The Fire Demon watched their hatchlings with such attention, watching over them, not wanting to lose one out of sight and taking care that they didn’t fall into the lava, while they were immune to the magma it was likely that none of the hatchlings knew how to dive or surface as he did.

Taking them carefully with his beak to leave them back in the nest, he was sure his hatchlings needed warmth, the thunderstorm was over when he felt a bite on his right wing. Ni tried to draw him away from the nest, the other heads pointing towards the ocean, away from Isla De Mara.

Was Ghidorah thinking of leaving again? Rodan couldn’t hide his anger and sadness, but if Ghidorah needed it, it was fine, he knew they always came back after all.

The Golden Demise saw their mate walk away from them, and enter the nest, guarding the hatchlings, though there were one or two who tried to get out until Rodan take them by their beak.

Ghidorah was confused, why did Rodan keep insisting on taking care of the hatchlings? They were no longer fragile shells, they’d be safe as long as they stayed on Isla de Mara, they’d know how to fly and feed with time.

Rodan was about to rest when he heard his mate’s persistent call, the three-headed Dragon kept pointing away from Mara, only this time he understood that Ghidorah meant him, that he should accompany them this time.

The fire Titan denied, he couldn’t leave their hatchlings now that they were just born, they were small and still weak.

Ghidorah apparently didn’t like their mate’s refusal, this time the three heads called Rodan, and he didn’t move from his place in the nest. They could use their Alpha call, and their mate would have no choice but to follow them... However, for some strange reason, they didn’t want to hypnotize Rodan, because the moment their mate realized their hatchlings had stayed in the nest he wouldn’t hesitate to turn around and leave them.

Maybe if the hatchlings hadn’t existed in the first place... 

The hatchlings, beneath Rodan’s warm body, looked at Ghidorah, curious and frightened by the position in which their three-headed Father spread their wings and thunder resonated over them. Rodan rose from the nest, worried about leaving his hatchlings, but he wasn’t going to let Ghidorah get close to them to hurt them.

Rodan felt the lava heat inside him. This emotion… He hadn’t felt it in thousands of years, not when he fought Manda, not when he fought the Queen in the human nest, for a while he thought he’d lost it forever. But if The Death Song of Three Storms provoked his rage, he wouldn’t hesitate to use it to protect his hatchlings.

The three-headed Dragon watched their mate staring at them. Rodan wouldn’t let them near the hatchlings and that he hadn’t thought of wanting to leave them either.

San asked that maybe Rodan was right, maybe they should wait a while before flying back with him, maybe if they reasoned with him — Ni didn’t think so, they had grown tired of waiting, of feeling tied to this piece of volcanic land surrounded by detestable water. Ichi had no intention of fighting their mate, they knew who would win, even more so, they didn’t want to hurt him, they didn’t want to lose Rodan’s warm, his affection… But now they’ve lost it, and it’s all because of those hatchlings.

Mara’s night sky broke in a chorus of thunder and lightning when the three heads roared towards the hatchlings, the golden wings flew away from the volcano, lost in the dark clouds, and the sound of lightning and thunder followed it, until it was only a hum in the distance.

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Danny Phantom Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Dash Baxter/Danny Fenton, Jack Fenton/Maddie Fenton Characters: Dash Baxter, Wesley Weston, OC - Character, Danny Fenton, Tucker Foley, Sam Manson, Ghost Writer (Danny Phantom), Andrew Riter Additional Tags: Soulmates, Reluctant Soulmates, countless headcanons, Not Phantom Planet Compliant, my canon now, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Identity Reveal, will tag with progress, No Betas we die like fools Summary:

Casper High is a school that has several clubs, including the Occult Club, which Dash should've stayed very far away from no matter what Wes said. Now thanks to the conspiracy theorist, Phantom was pissed at him and the jock and hero were soulbound by a spell that Wes had fudged and Dash had mispronounced. How's he gonna make it up to his hero?

Or

The soulmates fic that only my best bro really wanted out of me, which my brain was forced to provide.

Ao3 / Fanfiction.net

In hindsight, Dash should've stayed away from the occult club altogether.  Sure, Wes had said they were gonna use some magick ritual they'd figured out to summon phantom, but people generally wanted to think they could do that and a club at school was the least likely to succeed.   But Weston had been confident and Dash wasn't gonna pass on an opportunity to meet his hero without an attack happening.

So he'd gone along with it, even demanded to be the one to do it when they started.  There was a chalk circle on the floor, candles, and one of em had a fuckin needle to prick themself with for it.  Whatever, Dash wasn't unused to a little pain - he busted his knuckles on nerd's faces sometimes. So he got a drop on the circle, and he said the chant, and the candles turned green instead of reddish-yellow.  But while the room went dark and cold and started looking like the night sky had come down to grab them, Dash may have fucked up a word in the book.  

There he appeared, in a flash of light so bright Dash had to squint.  Sky blue skin, a halo of white hair, freckles that glowed green and that ghost hunting hazmat suit of his.  While Phantom was looking around like he was dizzy, Dash felt something. He Saw it, even, a line of bright silver that came out of his chest and turned toxic green before ending at the DP on Phantom's chest.  Frowning, Dash looked over at the head of the club. "The fuck is this? A cord?"

"Oh no… oh no no no."  The head nerd, a brunette with glasses and a mint green shirt, grabbed the book in Dash's hand and read what he'd said.  Then his head whipped over to Wes and the basketballer backed up, his camera flashing the recording light. "You fucked up the summoning ritual!"

"Austin, I swear I was just-"

"This is a binding ritual, Wes, it binds the spirit to the target object - the circle, it looks like?"

"Pretty shitty binding," Phantom said, turning everyone's attention back to him.  The blue-faced ghost was floating all around the room, soft green inner light casting weird shadows everywhere.   "I'm nowhere near it. What is this thing between me and Dash though?"

"… Fuck."  Wes quickly played back his recording on his camera to listen to what Dash had chanted.  Dash could hear the moment he fumbled the words and Wes paled when he heard it. "That was the wrong subject word-"

"So you've bound Phantom's soul to Dash's soul now, is what I'm translating here.   Cause that, wait lemme.” Austin grabbed the camera and replayed the video a few times while Dash dealt with a sea of complicated emotions.  Confusion, shock, anger, resentment, anxiety. Those last three weren’t new per se but they felt… off. Not his. “Wes this is a permanent binding what the fuck?!”

“It wouldn’t’ve been permanent!  We coulda scuffed the circle and the thing he’s bound to would be gone!”

Phantom reached down and grabbed the ginger by his shirt, lifting him two feet off the ground.   His eyes were blue and gold and red, that dim green aura was now white and yellow and flaring up in arcs.  “So lemme get this straight, Wesley. In your insane attempts to prove me as the still-living son of ghost hunters, you decided you'd bind me to a chalk circle.  Which might bind me to the chalk itself, tearing me apart to keep myself connected to since you're a fucking hack."

"I-I-I hadn't uh thought of that, b-"

"And instead of that you let Dash, a jo- no THE Jock, read off the spell and so now you've bound me, irreversibly, to another person's soul.  Did I get that right?"

Wes nodded the slightest bit, his entire frame shaking and Dash couldn't blame him.   Dash was entirely up for pummeling Wes for fucking up his hairbrained scheme, but Phantom looked like he was about to rip Wes apart.  He had fangs and his hair was turning into a cloud of fire that sucked all the heat out of the room instead of pushing it out into everything.  Wes' shirt was frosting over and Austin and his band of merry freaks were shivering.

"When you get to the afterlife, Wes, I promise you a world of pain.  And if you do something so fucking stupid and dangerous that it risks my safety and the safety of everyone else around you again, I'm tossing you to the police by your Fucking underwear!"  Wes was dropped on his ass and Phantom growled, fading from sight. There was a Pop, all the pressure in the room shifting, and Dash rubbed his head with a groan.

"Wes you fucking idiot!  Now Phantom is pissed at me and it's your fault!"  Phantom may have decided not to give Wes what he had coming to him, Dash didn't have superpowers to worry about getting out of hand.

And so Dash had detention that day for wailing on a fellow school athlete.

“I swear I’m going to shatter his camera into a million tiny pieces and make him eat them,”  Danny growled and struggled with not breaking his locker when he slammed it shut. The lights overhead buzzed louder and shone brighter from the energy pouring out of him, and Danny took several deep breaths.  “Not only was what he wanted to do stupid and dangerous, now I’m fucking - what, Soulmates? With him?”

“Chill, Danny, I’m sure we can fix this.”  Tucker pulled his sash from around his shirt and with a flick, it became a scepter once more.  Holding out the golden rod over Danny, a look of concentration passed over the geek’s face while azure light bathed Danny’s body.  The green thread leading off toward Dash was highlighted, though the silver threads leading to Tucker, Sam and Jazz were also visible and even the blue ones trailing off to his Mom and Dad.  Tucker’s magick wrapped around his green thread and for a moment, Danny was sure that it’d be cut and all of this would be over and dealt with.

Tucker’s scepter was knocked out of his hand and clattered loudly on the tile floor of the school and the green thread shone brighter than before, seeming to have simply soaked up the magick.  Danny’s growl was deep in his chest this time, and one of the lights blew a fuse. “That’s fucking ridiculous! He just read off the spell without even knowing what it did, why would that be stronger than the Pharoah’s command?”

“The language might not be from this world, Danny.  We’ll have to ask Andrew if he knows how to undo it.”  Sam patted Danny on his shoulder and he leaned onto her, embracing the calm of her aura.  The bell rang and Danny pulled his hood over his head, pulling it shut over his face with the drawstrings.  “C’ mon, let’s get you home and we can head over to see him right now.”

Danny grumbled as he was pulled along by Sam and Tucker outside to the parking lot, where all three of them pulled out their hoverboards.  Danny mounted his star and nebulae covered creation and slipped on his helmet. The one he’d made for Tucker was gold and chrome-colored, a techno styled F on the bottom of it, while Sam’s was black with creeping vines appearing to weave all around it.  It had been fun building these boards with Tucker and personalizing them since they made flying to school easier on them all. Magnetic boots locked in place, Danny slipped on the remote control glove and took off, followed closely by his friends into the even sky to the envious stares of their schoolmates.

The only ghosts that got in their way home were Skulker and the Box Ghost, and while Boxy was easy to take down with a few well-placed shots, Danny had to split off a Phantom copy while still in human form to take down Skulker, which sucked because he didn’t have the energy to make one as strong as he normally was in ghost form.  With a kick to Skulker’s head that removed his helmet, and a swift click of the button on the Thermos, Skulker was dealt with and they headed to Fenton works.

Descending the stairs of the Fenton home to the basement lab and finding it empty was a blessing, mostly available due to Sam and her meddling in the business affairs of Fenton Works.  Getting to the Ghost Writer’s library from there was a cakewalk, and soon they were knocking on his doors.

“Andy, I have a problem and I need your help fixing it!”  Getting no reply for a moment, Danny took a deep superfluous breath and whined loudly against the door.  “Aaandyyyyy!” The door opened inward fast enough that Danny hit the floor, and grumbled something rude about Vidya playing cruel pranks on him.

“Don’t pretend that Vidya doesn’t love you about as much as she does me, Danny, you’ll never get away with a lie that flimsy.”  The baritone laughter of the Ghost Writer, otherwise known to a few as Andrew Riter, met Danny’s ears and a shark-toothed smile greeted Sam and Tucker.  The librarian in grey and purple invited them deeper in to sit on couches and cushions scattered about the shelves of the library and cups of coffee and tea set themselves down on the table before them.  “Alright, what trouble have you gotten yourselves into this time?”

“This time it wasn’t one of us, actually.”  Sam nudged Danny with her boot and he slumped against Tucker, taking a long sip of his tea.  “An idiot, Wes, tried to bind him to a circle during an event that the Occult Club was performing to summon Danny, but they let Dash Baxter read it and when Danny appeared, apparently Dash stuttered the wrong words and now he and Danny are bound by the soul.  As far as we know.”

Andrew adjusted his glasses, eyes narrowed at Danny as a trio of books flew to him and Danny repeated the spell for Andrew to decipher.  “Give me a couple of days to look this one up. Artificially created Soul Bonds like that typically break with the right spell and if both parties agree to sever the link.”  Tucker groaned while Danny buried his face in his hands.

“I have to convince Dash to unlink himself with me?  Wonderful. Fuck me, I guess.”

Tucker patted the ghost boy on his shoulder and Danny whined.

Ao3 / Fanfiction.net

[shirtlesssammy]

9x20: Bloodlines

Here we go with this episode. I’ve watched this a total of one (1) time over the years. I feel the only important scene is the one that word for word copies Dean and Cas but that’s been giffed to death so I feel like I’ve seen it all.

A couple at a swanky restaurant are enjoying each other’s company when “Ross” steps away briefly. He meets with someone and asks that he place an engagement ring in a glass of champagne. (“How unique” —ha, my thoughts exactly.) The other dude is greeted by more people —one of which has a funny face in the mirror.

The other dude and the other other dudes go to a secret nightclub room where monsters clearly hang out. (Vibes of John Wick here.) Julien, a werewolf, tells the shapeshifter to leave. They start to fight but others hold them off. Just then the lights go out and a hooded assassin starts taking out every monster in the room.

Ross and Tamara leave the restaurant. He takes her to a ferry —where they first met— and starts to propose. The shapeshifter comes running to them and the assailant is right behind him. The assailant knocks Tamara against the wall and she falls to the ground. He then finishes off the shapeshifter and runs away. And Tamara is dead (oof, I have no time for this fridging nonsense. Andrew Dabb wrote this but was this his show? Was this his idea? I should probably head over the the Superwiki someday and read about the history of this episode.)

A professor at North Chicago University runs into a student. She wasn’t expecting him. He takes some files from his computer and shifts into David Lassiter, math final cheater.

Margo tells David to come home. Sal is dead.

Ross meanwhile is getting interrogated by the police. He tells them the truth but they don’t believe him. Ah, Ross is his last name and Nate Ross, his father, was a great cop. The cop continues to give him crap until the FBI arrive. The agents want to talk about what happened but Ennis is wary. These are special agents though so he spills his story. They tell the kid that there’s no such thing as monsters (sticking with the Prime Directive this time, Dean? You break it every other episode it seems, lol)

Margo wants to know if the ghouls are with them. Now that her brother is dead, maybe not so much. OH! Sal was the shifter that died at the beginning of the episode (LISTEN, this recap is going to make little sense in the first half, but will improve mightily in the second.) And I guess the unknown assassin was a werewolf.

Margo wants revenge and she’s ready to go to war. She’s in charge now that Sal is dead and their father is dying. David is the wayward son that’s now home. And he wants confirmation that the werewolves did it. She then tells him that Violet, David’s ex, is getting married. She tells him to stay out of the monster business.

Julien, the werewolf, is meeting with a djinn, when Violet interrupts them. She’s broken up over Sal’s death. Julien didn’t do it but he’s not going to let Margo know that.

Ennis comes home from the police station and looks up his dad’s old stuff --including his gun. He heads out to the now empty nightclub. In the dark, he finds goo on the ground. The lights suddenly turn on and he quickly hides behind the bar. The dude from the night before comes in with a mop bucket. He sniffs the air and knows that Ennis is behind the bar. Ennis jumps out and starts shooting, but the gun does nothing. Before the monster can take care of Ennis, he loses his head courtesy of one Dean Winchester. Dean tells him that he can run now —he should run now, but Ennis isn’t going anywhere. 

Sam steps in and gives him “the talk”. They then really try to push the idea of staying out of their line of business. Ennis is in it now though and wants to go along to see Sal’s body.

Later, Ennis is researching Sal Lassiter, when there’s a knock at the door. The detective from last night is there. He wants to know more about what Ennis saw. Ennis tells the detective to stick around. His dad will be back soon. When the detective doesn’t confirm that his dad is really dead, Ennis knows he’s a fake. Ennis “texts” his dad but uses the camera to see the detective’s eyes glow (how would he know to look for laser beam eyes??) Ennis lures him into his bedroom and pulls a gun with silver bullets in it on the not-detective. It’s David Lassiter!

David explains that he’s just investigating his brother’s death. He also explains (in a very condescending manner) that Chicago is divided into five monster families. There’s a fragile peace that, if interrupted, would result in lots of dead humans and monsters. (It was at this point in my original watch where I said OH I get it, Chicago = mobsters = monster mobsters. How...inspired.) Ennis offers to slow clap his little speech if he weren’t training a gun on David instead. Don’t worry, Ennis. I’ll slow clap for you. While I’m slow clapping, David gives Ennis the slip and escapes. 

Meanwhile, Sam’s saying “So get this” to Dean while they lurk by the Impala. They’re still investigating the monster bar. (Jared and Jensen high five. This episode is a walk in the park.)

Violet slips outside her mansion, all wide-eyed and distraught, and passes a member of the house staff. She tells David to stop pretending to be the help. He shifts back - once again without shedding disgusting skin. Pffffft. 

David asks Violet to make her brother chill out on his vengeance quest so the monster families don’t erupt into war. They get upset at each other and we learn that they have a Romeo and Juliet past...except she never showed up for their romantic escape. He single man tears her.

The hooded attacker from earlier drops from the roof and jumps on David, wielding sharp claws. Ennis shoots at the hooded figure, scaring them off, and in the distance Violet screams. Dean and Sam arrive just in time to ask, “What the Hell?” They all scamper off together as security comes pouring out of the house. 

From a safe distance away, Dean recaps the “mobster monster” storyline wearily and, yes, Dean is all of us here. 

They realize that Violet (the werewolf) can be tracked by her cell. 

Violet is tied up and unconscious (and also...standing delicately in stiletto heels with one knee bent prettily? Right). She wakes up to find what looks like a murder wall nearby, covered with photos of kids (or maybe the same kid? I’m bad with faces). The board is also covered with news headlines about terrible maulings. 

Hooded dude speaks up. He’s not a “freak,” he’s a human! With goggles! And knives! 

On the plus side, look at this shot: 

At least the setting’s nice.

The hunting group finds the hooded dude’s lair. David and Ennis forge a fragile peace over their shared loss. Dean breaks up the chick flick moment. It’s time to catch themselves...a human. 

Inside, Mr. Hood is lovingly describing his custom knife gloves. He burns Violet and then tells her that his son (the kid on the murder wall) was killed when Sal Lassiter and her brother Julien ripped him apart. He’s going to kill her rather graphically to incite a war between the families. He thinks the monsters will just eradicate each other and...problem solved! Violet promises a ton of collateral human children deaths if there’s a war. Um. Great. Mr. Hood visibly struggles with the plan’s potential outcome. 

Dean and Sam split up, each taking one of their new friends as partners. David spots a creepy shadow and runs off on his own, only to get jumped by Mr. Hood. 

Cut to Violet and David looking at each other soulfully, both tied up now. Mr. Hood starts to torture David, causing Violet to wolf out. She hulks out of her chains and jumps across the room, pouncing on Mr. Hood. David pulls her back and gets her to de-wolf before she kills Mr. Hood. 

Mr. Hood notices Sam, Dean, and Ennis arrive and “apologizes” to Ennis. By apologize, I mean that he tells Ennis that Tamara was “in the way.” Gross. Ennis surveys the scene, then delivers one perfect shot into Mr. Hood, killing him. (Insert commentary about who is the REAL monster - deranged humans or monsters.) 

Later, David and Violet stroll through a palatial estate and mull over Sal’s last words. Violet flashes back to the train station where she was supposed to meet Romeo David. She encountered Sal, standing like a mega-dick RIGHT in her way. Sal tells her that David’s on his way, but she’d better skedaddle. They have to keep the (hold please while I VOMIT in my mouth) “bloodline pure.” 

Violet scoffs at this. Sal explains his worldview: that Violet running off with his brother will generate a thirst for vengeance and HER family will pursue his family in retribution - for ruining her, I guess. I’m so glad this episode relies on the woman-as-asset idea. SO FUN. Violet can either leave the station or be brutally murdered. 

Violet flashes back to the present again where David is STILL talking about that one time he left his organized crime family behind to be a college-student-thief instead of a monster-criminal. Violet declines to explain Sal’s last words but DOES manage to pull David in for a passionate kiss. 

Then she walks off dramatically without another word. As one does. 

David’s father wakes. He’s on death’s door but he warns David about his sister, Margo.

David explains to Margo that some vengeful yahoo killed Sal and their war is finished. Margo is NOT HAVING IT. Oh, and did he mention that he’s also back in the family? She smiles at David and welcomes him home. I look forward to the horse head in your bed, David. Her nostrils flare as they hug - she’s no doubt smelling Violet. I’m guessing this show would have involved a LOT of dramatic nostril flaring.

Sam and Dean drop Ennis off back at home. We learn that Ennis is all alone - sister and mom aren’t a big part of his life and his dad is dead. (His mom is “out of the picture” so my money’s on: mom got turned into a monster which spurred dad to head off and hunt.)

Dean gets a phone call. It’s Cas! He has a lead on Metatron and they have to act on it. They skip town on the city full of monsters. Sam warns Ennis away from the hunting life. They’ll call in some other hunters to take down the monster mobs instead. 

And away they drive with nary another word! Sorry, Ennis, but when the love of your life calls you have to go to him. 

Skip to a voiceover: Ennis is going to go to war against the families. He breaks into Mr. Hood’s lair, his almost-fiance’s diamond ring on a chain, and starts learning about monsters. An unknown caller rings...it’s his dad! He warns him away from hunting, then hangs up. 

Natasha: I first watched this episode live as a casual viewer and was utterly confused by it. Watching it now, I like the general concept of Ennis on his underdog revenge quest. (I DO watch Supernatural, after all.) But CHUCK SAVE ME from a story about feuding, wealthy families where nobody makes ANY jokes and everybody seems to hate each other. 

Ennis, happy hunting! Enjoy your father-issues, I guess.

______________________________

Quotelines

I could go into detail, but I’m not going to.

We shift our shape. It’s all in the name.

What is this, Godfather with fangs?

______________________________

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive! 

[creampuffqueen]

chase the sky into the ocean

Hello ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back to the newest episode of ‘what cream is doing instead of sleeping’!

Anyway, I am here now with some little short stories about my Gen 2 characters from ToG and ACOTAR. This little one features a teenage Lyria and Folas.

The title lyrics are from the song Something Wild by Lindsey Sterling and Andrew McMahon, and the chapter lyrics are from the song Kids Again by Artist vs Poet.

Read on Ao3 Here! (Idk why you’d want to, it’s just one chapter lol)

~~~~

just like we were kids-

But still we laugh, we cry, we fall, we get high

Just like we were kids, just like we were kids

And when I, I'm feeling small you get me through it all

Just like we were kids, just like we were kids again

“Folas. Psst. Folas.”

Folas Lochan, fifteen years old, heir to the city of Perranth, shot straight up in his bed, dark hair a mess.

The boy glanced around frantically for a moment, before his ears picked up on the soft giggles from the foot of his bed.

Princess Lyria Galathynius stood before him, in all of her golden glory. She was wearing a simple tunic and leggings, and her hair was unadorned, instead braided simply down her back.

“Lyria,” He hissed, “What in the gods’ name are you doing in my room? It’s- it’s not even light outside yet.” Because the only light that illuminated the suite was candlelight, fires summoned by the princess herself.

“It’s nearly dawn, for your information. Hurry up and get dressed; I have a surprise for you.” Her smirk was big and slightly devious, yet Folas trusted her completely. He wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.

Lyria politely turned around while he rooted around for some clothes, idily flicking her braid back and forth while she waited. Folas tugged on a tunic and pants of his own, and had hardly finished buckling his belt when Lyria turned back and grabbed his arm.

“Where are we going?” He asked cautiously. Lyria creaked the door open slightly, looked back and forth, then dragged him out of his room and into a small alcove down the hall.

“Don’t worry about that.” She murmured. “Right now, mind getting out of here unnoticed. If we’re careful, the guards won’t even know we’re gone.”

He muttered, “Curiouser and curiouser,” before she roughly grabbed him again and dashed down the hall, her trained Fae feet making almost no noise. 

They made it to the end of the hall with no incident, and kept going. In all his fifteen years frequenting the Orynth palace, he’d never known so many places to hide. He’d be wonderful at hide-and-seek, when his brothers inevitably wanted to play it.

Lyria managed to sneak them through the entire palace without being discovered, making Folas wonder how long she’d been planning this. 

They made their way out back, and were finally able to walk freely. There were guards outside, yes, but significantly less than inside the castle itself. So few, that the pair was able to walk side by side again.

Lyria led him to the stables, where it was pitch black inside. The princess lit a small flame in the palm of her hand, the fire illuminating her smile.

“I promise it’s not going to burn. I won’t risk the poor horses like that.” She walked confidently down the rows of stalls, the flickering flame in her hand the only indication of where she was.

She stopped in front of one stall, where, from Folas’s limited perspective, a lovely brown mare stood.

Lyria glanced around for a moment, before she found a torch in a socket in the wall. She flicked her hand, and fire roared to life on it. The princess used the light to see as she opened the stall and let the horse out.

Folas watched on in silence as Lyria saddled the mare, like she’d done it a million times before. She was mesmerizing, the way she moved to confidently, so sure of herself. She could have been doing everything wrong and yet Folas would have been convinced she knew exactly what she was doing.

“This is Whiskey. She’s my favorite. You can choose any horse in here, they’re all docile.” Lyria stroked the mare’s nose as she talked, then lifted her hand and pointed to a stall a few over.

“But if I were you, I’d choose Miah. He’s gentle, he won’t throw you off.”

Folas heeded her advice, choosing a light gray stallion. He saddled him up, slightly less confidently than Lyria had, then led the horse over.

“Care to explain why we’re taking off in the middle of the night on horseback, Princess?” He queried. Lyria rolled her eyes.

“Calm yourself. You’ll find out in due course. Just know, I think you’ll love it.”

They led the horses outside and mounted them. Sure enough, the stallion was as gentle as could be. Lyria stroked Whiskey’s dark mane, then shot him a devilish grin, and took off at a gallop. Folas wasted no time in following.

The darkness of the sky was fading slowly, the sky lightening from a deep purple-blue to a pale periwinkle. The horses’ hooves thundered, even on the ground that was still wet with dew.

The Oakwald forest rose up to meet them, gnarled trees, centuries old, blocking out the light all around them. He would have been lost if it wasn’t for Lyria, and the way she seemed to be a living flame. Embers trailed after her, and fire seemed to dance in her golden hair.

The horses appeared to know the route well, and had no problem following a worn deer-trail. They leaped over fallen logs with ease and dodged young saplings that sprouted in the way, and didn’t once slow to nibble at the tantalizing green grass.

The rising sun pierced through the branches of the forest, and Lyria beamed at the light. Her smile was contagious, and even in his confusion, Folas’s lips twitched in the beginning of a grin.

After a few more minutes of silence, Lyria suddenly pulled her mount to a stop. Miah stopped behind her, dipping his gray head to some leaves on the sides of the path.

“We’re going off trail.” Lyria declared. Before Folas could say anything, the princess had spurred Whiskey forward, into the thick underbrush. There was a small, hardly noticeable path, as if a deer or another creature had only recently been through.

Folas’s horse followed with no complaint, walking through the forest at a leisurely pace. Fresh sun spilled down between the branches, illuminating the once-dark woods. 

“I know where we’re going.” Lyria chattered. “And you’re going to love it.”

“I’m sure I will.” He assured her. The princess looked over her shoulder and beamed at him, flushed cheeks crinkling. 

The scents of the forest seemed to awake with the sun, the pungent odor of the woods and animals and flowers combining in a dizzying swirl as Folas breathed in. Ahead of him, Lyria took a deep breath, and smiled broadly.

The small, hardly worn path soon led to what Folas knew was their destination: a large clearing full of flowers. The floral scent was nearly overwhelming, but Lyria seemed to take it all in her stride.

Both horses made their way into the grove, and the princess dismounted easily. Folas gave Miah’s mane a stroke before slipping off himself. Lyria glanced back at him, then gently took Whiskey’s reins and led her into the clearing.

Folas did the same, and kept following the princess. They arrived upon a small pond, not very wide in diameter, but deep enough he couldn’t see the bottom. The water was fairly clear, and the sun reflected off it in a shimmering array of colors.

The horses moved to drink from the pond, and Lyria took Folas’s elbow. She led them to the edge of the clearing, and she sat and leaned against a tree. Folas did the same, taking in the lovely landscape as he did so.

“It’s beautiful.” He whispered. It felt almost taboo to speak, to disturb the serenity of the place. So he whispered instead. 

“I’m not able to go here often.” Lyria murmured. Like she felt the same way about the loud noises. “I’m so busy, you know. Sam and I discovered the place when we were younger, and we got lost while exploring the forest. Our father found us, but we decided we didn’t want anyone to know about this place. Except, Sam doesn’t come here often, either. So I wanted a person to share it with.”

She wouldn’t meet his eyes, like she was afraid that he’d say something bad. But… he wouldn’t. Lyria never seemed like anything but confident in herself, and was odd seeing her so vulnerable.

“Thank you.” He said. “I mean it. Thank you for sharing this with me.” The sun rose further overhead, though it was still early morning. It seemed like a lifetime ago that he’d woken up in his bed at dawn, though it couldn’t have been more than a couple of hours.

Lyria’s smile returned, and she stood, dragging him up as she did so. She strode towards the pond, to where the horses had stopped drinking and were now grazing at the plants on its banks.

“I’m swimming.” Lyria declared. Folas cocked his head curiously, and she smirked. The princess shucked off her shirt, and he nearly choked. Folas turned around, feeling heat rise in his face. Lyria giggled behind him.

“You can turn around now.” He did so, and the princess, only in her undergarments, took a running leap, and landed with a massive splash in the pond.

Folas sputtered as freezing cold water washed over him. When he opened his eyes again, Lyria was bobbing in the pond, her golden hair sodden. 

He playfully growled, “I’ll get you for that.” Then he ripped off his own clothes and jumped into the water. Lyria squealed, swimming away with large strokes.

The water was frigid, despite the fact it was early summer in Terrasen. The cold sucked all the air out his lungs, but he was determined. He paddled after the princess, making sure the water splashed her as he did so. 

Lyria laughed and swam away, green eyes sparkling. Folas reached out for her, managing to grab one of her ankles and pull her towards him. The princess shrieked playfully and tried to get away, but he held tight and dragged her over. 

When she was close enough, he let go for a split second, declared, “Hold your breath!” and shoved her under the water.

Lyria came up again a few seconds later, gasping in fake horror. “You bastard!” She shouted, pushing down his shoulders so he went under, too.

Folas swam to the surface, and shook his dark hair out like a wet dog, earning more squeals from the princess. She splashed him back, and soon the pair were in an all-out water battle.

They swam after each other and pushed them under for a few seconds, being careful enough that no one was injured. They splashed and splattered water on each other, and at one point they had a competition to see who could hold their breath the longest. Lyria won, though Folas insisted she cheated. (He had no proof, of course).

When they finally flopped down onto the banks, breathing hard yet unable to contain their smiles, the sun was well up.

“We should head back.” Folas suggested. Lyria groaned, but pulled herself up and went to fetch her clothes. The horses, startled by the splashing, had moved their grazing to the edge of the clearing. 

Folas stood up as well, and was headed to his discarded pants, when a flash of white caught his attention.

His breath caught in his throat. No- it couldn’t be. “Lyria.” He hissed.

The princess turned around, opening her mouth to speak, but her words seemed to freeze in her mouth.

A pure white stag stood right outside the clearing, its snowy fur nearly obscured by the thick trees. However, it was still completely visible to the two teenagers. As was the lick of flame that burned between its antlers.

Lyria came to her senses first, going into a deep curtsy, despite the fact she was only in her soaking wet undergarments. Folas quickly followed suit, bowing deeply. 

He took a small glance up at the stag. It seemed to dip its head back at him, a twinkling in its dark eyes. It held his gaze for a moment, before turning away and bounding off.

“I’ve never seen one before.” Lyria said softly, after the stag was no longer visible. Folas nodded absently, finishing his task of getting dressed again.

He turned back to the princess, who was dressed as well, and was heading for the horses. He followed her, as he always did, though his mind was elsewhere.

The stag- it had seemed to bow back to him. Yet it did nothing to Lyria, who was a proper princess and heir to the throne of Terrasen. He wondered if he’d imagined it.

The princess in question tutted impatiently at him, snapping him out of his stupor. He smiled at her, at her green eyes and golden hair that stuck to her back. 

“Let’s go home.”

[rockandrollstorytime]

Rock and Roll Storytime #8: The Rolling Stones at Altamont (AKA One of the Worst Concert Disasters of All Time)

The year 1969 had been a hectic one, both for the world in general (with the continuing Vietnam War, the Chappaquiddick incident, and the moon landings) and especially for rock and roll (with the death of Brian Jones, Woodstock, and the Beatles starting to head full-steam down the road that led them to their break-up in April 1970). Capping off this year full of highs and lows, there was Altamont, which has been labelled by many as the death of the 60′s. At the very least, it certainly brought a premature end to the idealism that the youths of that generation held dear.

Lord knows, I will always say that Brian Jones should have had a chance to get back on his feet and I’m super salty that he’s dead, but honestly, I’m glad he missed out on this one. 

Before I tell the story of Altamont though, I must ask… Whose bright idea was it to hire the Hell’s Angels as security for a Rolling Stones concert and pay them with $500 of beer?

Well, to answer that question, I’m going to have to begin this story with the ending of another. Truly, the roots of this ill-thought-out decision lies within events that had happened that summer. 

I’ve mentioned Brian Jones already, but to give those of you who are new to this the rundown, Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones was the Stones’ first guitarist, and at the start, he was the brains of the band. Seven years, a bunch of internal conflict with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Andrew Loog Oldham, a messy relationship with Anita Pallenberg, drug abuse and alcoholism, two drug trials, and a fuck-ton of stress later, Brian was in a state we’d call “mental exhaustion” (didn’t help that his physical health was shit too). Where in 1966 he was contributing some of the best parts of the Stones’ early music, such as the sitar on “Paint It Black”, in 1969, he’d rarely show up to the studio, and if he did, he would usually be too intoxicated to properly contribute. In fact, on Let It Bleed, he only contributed to two songs: “Midnight Rambler” (congas) and “You’ve Got the Silver” (autoharp).

In June 1969, the Stones decided they wanted to go on tour again, but then, they found out that due to the fact that Brian had twice been convicted of drug possession, it’d be unlikely that he could receive a visa to perform in the U.S.A., if at all. Ultimately, Mick and Keith decided that their best option would be to fire Brian, and so, on June 8, 1969, they went down to Brian’s home, Cotchford Farm, to tell him that he would no longer be with the group. According to those present, Brian had been expecting this, and in the various press releases, it was made to appear as if Brian had left the band on his own terms. His statement read, in part, “I no longer see eye to eye with the others over the discs we are cutting. We no longer communicate musically. The Stones’ music is not to my taste any more. The work of Mick and Keith has progressed at a tangent, at least to my way of thinking. I have a desire to play my own brand of music rather than that of others, no matter how much I appreciate their musical concepts.”

At this point in time, whether Brian was accepting of this turn of events or not is up to conjecture. 

In either case, the Stones brought in 20-year-old Mick Taylor (previously of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers) to replace Brian, and at a press conference on June 13, the Stones announced that they would be holding a free concert on July 5 in order to properly introduce their new guitarist. 

And then, just three days before the concert was set to take place, Brian drowned in his backyard swimming pool, being just twenty-seven years old. Although the coroner ruled it death by misadventure (which personal research seems to support), theories have long persisted that Brian was, in fact, murdered, but that is, of course, a story for another day. 

The Stones in the Park concert quickly became a tribute to Brian Jones, and at the start, Mick read two verses of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Adonais, and as the band launched into “I’m Yours and I’m Hers” by Johnny Winters (one of Brian’s favourite songs), thousands of butterflies were released, though this was against park stipulation, as they were voracious Cabbage White butterflies, and many had died due to the boxes not being properly ventilated. 

What’s important to this story about the concert at Hyde Park is that the London chapter of the Hell’s Angels was there providing security that day. It is also important to note that the Grateful Dead (who, incidentally, also had a member of the 27 Club in their line-up) had also hired the Hell’s Angels as security numerous times. 

Several months later, the Stones had been having a pretty good run with their American tour, which was able to slightly mitigate some of the shady business practices Allen Klein had subjected them to, but throughout, fans and journalists kept complaining about high ticket prices. If you ask me though, those bitches were lucky. I’d rather be paying three to eight dollars (equivalent to $21.21 to $56.57 in 2019) as opposed to a minimum of $159 that tickets to a Rolling Stones concert now sell for. Not to mention, Woodstock had happened in August that year, and that was a big success, so in Mick Jagger’s 26-year-old, immature, unwise brain, that obviously meant that they should have another free concert like the one at Hyde Park. Really, in his mind, the peace and love movement was only just beginning, so what could go wrong?

As Murphy’s Law will tell you, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong” 

Oh, and go wrong it did. 

The first major problem was that they couldn’t get a venue. 

The concert was set for December 6, and their tour manager, Sam Cutler, struggled to get them a venue. He tried San Jose’s State University, but there had been a three-day festival recently, and the city wasn’t exactly in the mood for another batch of hippies storming the city so soon afterward, so that was out of bounds. He then tried gunning for San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, but there was a football game between the Chicago Bears and the San Francisco 49-ers taking place in the same general location, which made use of the venue impractical. He then tried getting Sears Point Raceway on board, but disputes quickly arose over filming distribution rights and an up-front fee of $300,000.

Finally, just two days before the concert was set to take place, the Stones’ management managed to get a hold of Altamont Speedway (it helped that the owner, Dick Carter, apparently offered the venue for free). 

As you can imagine, there was a whole shit-ton of problems that arose from that, and Rolling Stone magazine, in its piece on the tragedy, listed the following logistical problems: 

“1) Promise a free concert by a popular rock group which rarely appears in this country. Announce the site only four days in advance.

2) Change the location 20 hours before the concert.

3) The new concert site should be as close as possible to a giant freeway.

4) Make sure the grounds are barren, treeless, desolate.

5) Don’t warn neighboring landowners that hundreds of thousands of people are expected. Be unaware of their out-front hostility toward long hair and rock music.

6) Provide one-sixtieth the required toilet facilities to insure that people will use nearby fields, the sides of cars, etc.

7) The stage should be located in an area likely to be completely surrounded by people and their vehicles.

8) Build the stage low enough to be easily hurdled. Don’t secure a clear area between stage and audience.

9) Provide an unreliable barely audible low fidelity sound system.

10) Ask the Hell’s Angels to act as ‘security’ guards.”

Most sane people would have quit while they were ahead, but this is the Rolling Stones we’re talking about. Between Brian Jones having five kids by the age of twenty-three, Mick Jagger allegedly sleeping with over 4,000 women (and don’t get me started on him and David Bowie), Keith Richards’ drug habits and his snorting his dad’s ashes, Bill Wyman dating a teenager while he was in his forties, and Charlie Watts punching Mick Jagger in the face, we are absolutely not dealing with the most sane bunch of individuals on the planet. 

And let’s not forget that some idiot decided it’d be a great idea to pay the Hell’s Angels in $500 of beer (the equivalent of $3,535.43 in 2019).

Yeah, if you listened closely to the sounds of the earth in 1969, I can guarantee you, you probably would have heard a barely-cold-in-the-ground Brian Jones spinning in his grave over this stupidity (because he was acting as the band’s manager for a time in their early days before Andrew Oldham came on board). 

Let’s also not forget that they hired a particularly notorious batch of Hell’s Angels from Oakland, California, whereas the Grateful Dead found their “security bikers” in Sacramento. Apparently, Grateful Dead manager Rock Scully even tried to warn the Stones about the “real” Hell’s Angels after seeing the footage from Hyde Park, but obviously, they didn’t take whatever warning he tried to give them to heart. The hippies in general had a romanticized image of the Hell’s Angels in their heads, seeing them as “outlaw brothers of the counterculture.”

No points for guessing how that worked out, but let’s continue regardless. 

Set to perform that night were Santana, Jefferson Airplane, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, the Grateful Dead, and of course, the Rolling Stones. 

They would all be performing on a stage that was just thirty-nine inches off the ground and surrounded on all sides by over 300,000 attendees. Apparently, this had been planned to create a more “intimate” experience. 

From what I could tell, waivers were not involved. 

For the sake of time, I can’t give you a minute-by-minute analysis of the event, but I can still provide a basic timeline of all that happened. 

So, everything went relatively smoothly as Santana performed their set, but it was only downhill from there. As the day progressed, the crowd started fighting each other, and the “security” sure as hell didn’t help matters. At some point, someone knocked over one of the Angel’s motorcycles, which was likely an accident. However, the Angels were already pretty pissy, and plus, rule number one when it comes to the Angels is “Don’t mess with the motorcycles.” So, the Angels, already high thanks to someone spiking the beer with acid, started indiscriminately assaulting audience members they didn’t like with sawed-off pool cues and motorcycle chains, including a guy who was running around naked and someone else who was trying to take pictures of the stage. One woman who called in to a radio station the next day reported that she saw five fistfights, and the Angels were involved in every last one. She tried to intervene, but the people around her warned her not to, fearing for both their safety and hers. 

During Jefferson Airplane’s set, Marty Balin was knocked unconscious when he tried to intervene in a fight between the audience members and Hell’s Angels. When Paul Kantner grabbed a mic and sarcastically thanked the Angels, Bill Fritsch grabbed the mic from him and started arguing with him about it. In addition, Denise Jewkes, lead singer of Ace of Cups, was hit in the head with a beer bottle and suffered a skull fracture. Her husband, Noel, had to lead his six-month pregnant wife through the sea of people so she could get medical attention. The Stones later paid her medical expenses. By this point, news of what was going on out front was beginning to seep into the backstage areas and even back to the Stones at their hotel room, but most of the acts decided to press on regardless. However, after hearing about what happened to Marty from Michael Shrieve, the guys from the Grateful Dead decided to book it. 

Yeah. Thanks a bunch, assholes.

The crowd did calm down a bit for the Flying Burrito Brothers’ set, because really, who can say no to Gram Parsons? However, that calm was only temporary. When the Stones arrived by helicopter, it wasn’t even ten seconds before someone punched Mick Jagger in the face. Also, Bill Wyman missed the first helicopter out, so the Stones were already going to be late.

And then Mick Jagger decided he wanted to be all dramatic and shit, so the crowds were forced to wait until nightfall for the Stones’ set.

Meanwhile, during Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young’s set, a “stoned out” Angel reportedly stabbed Stephen Stills in the leg whenever he stepped forward to sing, leaving trails of blood running down his leg.

By the time the Stones were anywhere near ready to take the stage, things started to degenerate even further, to the point where the Angels (who already despised Mick’s scrawny, English arse) pretty much forced the Stones to go out on stage regardless of whether they were ready or not, just to prevent a full-scale riot.

It was in that moment Mick knew… he fucked up royally.

As Mick observed the constant fighting between the audience members and Hell’s Angels during the show as he sang “Sympathy for the Devil”, he desperately, defeatedly, pleaded for calm, his usual bravado completely absent for once in his adult life. However, it was clear that the Angels already weren’t going to listen to the flamboyant musician they clearly hated, and tensions had been simmering too long throughout the day, so Mick’s pleas for peace practically went completely unheard. 

Mick Taylor later said, “The Hell’s Angels had a lot to do with it. The people that were working with us getting the concert together thought it would be a good idea to have them as a security force. But I got the impression that because they were a security force they were using it as an excuse. They’re just very, very violent people. I think we expected probably something like the Hell’s Angels that were our security force at Hyde Park, but of course they’re not the real Hell’s Angels, they’re completely phony. These guys in California are the real thing — they’re very violent. I had expected a nice sort of peaceful concert. I didn’t expect anything like that in San Francisco because they are so used to having nice things there. That’s where free concerts started, and I thought a society like San Francisco could have done much better. We were on the road when it was being organized, we weren’t involved at all. We would have liked to have been. Perhaps the only thing we needed security for was the Hell’s Angels. I really don’t know what caused it but it just depressed me because it could have been so beautiful that day”

(I feel so sorry for Mick Taylor. The kid was just twenty years old when he saw all this bullshit going down.)

Now, what I’m going to do with this go-around, before I describe what happened next, is tell you a little bit about Meredith Hunter. He was just eighteen when he went to Altamont with his girlfriend, Patti Bredehoft. The only reason he had a gun that day, according to his family, was for self-protection, given that he was basically a young black man with a white girlfriend in a sea of white people, at a time and place where racism was still very much prevalent. Allegedly, the gun didn’t even have any bullets in it; it would just be a last resort to deter anyone giving him trouble. Like most 18-year-olds, he was also a bit naive, and though his girlfriend wanted to leave, he convinced her to stay for the Rolling Stones’ set. At one point, he was already set upon by Hell’s Angels, but that time, it was only a scuffle. What is known is that he was high on methamphetamines, but what isn’t known for sure is his general demeanour. Some said he had a crazy look in his eye, while others said that he seemed calm, though he was upset at the violence. 

And then, all hell broke loose. 

As “Under My Thumb” was ending, cameras found an opening into the crowd, into which stumbled Meredith Hunter. He grabbed his gun, a .22 calibre revolver, which was visible to cameras against Patti’s dress. When Alan Passaro saw this, he immediately assumed that Hunter was trying to shoot somebody, and started stabbing him (this was, again, in plain view of a bunch of cameras). Subsequently, he was repeatedly kicked in the head, trying to tell his attackers that he wasn’t trying to kill anybody. However, the Angels were convinced that he was attempting to shoot somebody, and that’s essentially what the narrative became- that a crazed black kid high on meth tried to shoot Mick or one of the other Rolling Stones (which, believe me, I’d be salty about even if I hadn’t read a Rolling Stone article about him).

It was little Mick Taylor who managed to keep things rolling (a bit) by suggesting they play “Brown Sugar”, which had only been recorded the previous Tuesday. 

Somehow, after the vicious beating he’d suffered, Meredith was still alive, and a doctor at the scene looked at him and recommended that he get immediate medical attention, or else he’d die. However, the only helicopter at the scene was reserved for the Rolling Stones, and the pilot made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that no one else was allowed on board. Hunter ended up dying of his injuries while they waited for emergency responders. 

I don’t quite know how well the situation was explained, but still, dick move on the part of the helicopter pilots. 

In addition to Hunter, three other people died, one after falling into a fast-moving irrigation duct while tripping on LSD, and two others were killed in their sleeping bags during a hit-and-run accident. There were also four reported births, one of which occurred during Jefferson Airplane’s set. 

The day after the concert, the Stones flew back to London, as the news slowly disseminated throughout the world. 

In 1971, a documentary about the tragedy, Gimme Shelter, was released to the public. However, in the years since, many have argued that is meant to excuse the Stones’ actions and is an apologist piece of media. Still, the footage itself does show a chilling account of what happened that day, if you can ignore that overall narrative (though you really shoudn’t ignore that). 

Alan Passaro was later charged with Meredith’s murder, but was acquitted by an all-white jury, who likely either excused the crime due to racism, or just didn’t have the full story.

After Altamont, just about everybody turned on each other. The audience members, many of whom undoubtedly still live with the scars of that fateful night blamed the Hell’s Angels, whereas the Angels laid some of the blame on the audience members, and most of it on the people who hired them, whilst the Stones said they’d never work with the Hell’s Angels again (which, allegedly, almost resulted in some of them trying to assassinate Mick Jagger). 

In my honest, humble, not-so-professional opinion, I say the blame should be laid with the Stones’ management, Mick Jagger, the Grateful Dead, and the Hell’s Angels. The concert should have been planned over a matter of months instead of weeks, held in a proper venue, and above all else, not had fucking Hell’s Angels as security guards. 

While the Grateful Dead came out of it rather unscathed (mostly because they didn’t play), it’s been said that the Stones lost quite a bit of their edge. It’s easy to say that they grew up a lot because of this event, becoming a lot humbler, and a lot less greedy and risky as a direct result of this. It’s even to a point where people haven’t liked much of what they’ve put out since the 1980’s. Santana and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young declined to have their performances shown in Gimme Shelter, and have since spoken very little about the event. Meanwhile, Alan Passaro drowned in 1985, though the circumstances of his death are suspicious, to say the least. Meanwhile, Meredith Hunter’s family still deals with the trauma of his death, and aside from a $10,000 ($70,708.59) settlement, the Stones never even approached the family to offer their condolences, or even a half-assed explanation (I don’t recommend the latter approach). The Hell’s Angels also had their reputations as dangerous outsiders cemented by this event, given that they’d caused at least 75-90% of the violence that took place that day. 

Keith Richards has maintained his “fuck-all” attitude about this through the years, even writing in his 2010 autobiography “In actual fact, if it hadn’t been for the murder, we’d have thought it a very smooth gig by the skin of its fucking teeth.”

There is a reason that many of the dreams of the 60′s died at Altamont, and all the evidence you really need is the footage that was shot that night and the words of the people who saw the fiasco first hand. 

Sources: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/remembering-meredith-hunter-the-fan-killed-at-altamont-630260/ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-rolling-stones-disaster-at-altamont-let-it-bleed-71299/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidchiu/2019/12/03/altamont-at-50-the-disastrous-concert-that-brought-the-60s-to-a-crashing-halt/#535871c31941 https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-chaos-of-altamont-and-the-murder-of-meredith-hunter https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-altamont-festival-brings-the-1960s-to-a-violent-end https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/music/altamont-wasnt-the-end-of-the-60s-it-was-the-start-of-rock-n-roll-disasters https://worldhistoryproject.org/1969/12/6/altamont-free-concert Altamont by Joel Selvin Life by Keith Richards https://allthatsinteresting.com/altamont-speedway-free-concert https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/lifestyle/altamont-rolling-stones-50th-anniversary/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Free_Concert https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Meredith_Hunter http://timeisonourside.com/chron1969.html https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/02/01/altamont-free-concert-in-1969/ https://www.ranker.com/list/altamont-free-concert-facts/jen-jeffers http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/On-This-Day–Deaths-at-Rolling-Stones–Altamont-Concert-Shocks-the-Nation.html https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-aow/altamont.php https://westegg.com/inflation/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUlyVSfhgaM https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-rolling-stones/1969/altamont-speedway-tracy-ca-43d6fbb3.html https://slate.com/culture/2018/07/just-a-shot-away-a-history-of-altamont-by-saul-austerlitz-reviewed.html

[dukereviewsmovies]

Duke Reviews: Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer

Hi Everyone, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews Where We Are Continuing Duke's Yultide Reviews...

Well, With Christmas Movies Behind Us For The Year, It's Time To Move Into Christmas Specials And What Better Way To Start Then To Look At The Original Christmas Special, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer...

Now, Unlike Some Of The Movies I Went Over In November, I Feel That I Really Don't Have To Go Over The Plot Of This Special As Everyone Knows It By Now And Anyone Who Doesn't Probably Lives Under A Rock...

So, Without Further Ado, This Is Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer...

The Special Starts With Newspaper Pages And Snowflakes Before We're Introduced To Our Narrator, Sam The Snowman, Played By Burl Ives...

Who Talks With Us About Christmas Town...

No, It's Not That Christmas Town...

But The Christmas Town That Sam Is Talking About Is At The North Pole Where The #1 Citizens Are The Clauses Who Live On The First Castle On The Left, Matter Of Fact The Only Castle On The Left..,

Cutting To Inside The Castle We See Mrs Claus Telling Santa To Eat Up As The Kids Expect A Fat Santa For Christmas Eve....

Some People Might See This As Skinny Shaming But Me I See This As Sending A Good Message Saying That Says After The Holidays, Santa Loses Weight In An Effort To Not Get Diabetes...

Telling Us About How Much He Loves Christmas, Sam Tells Us About The Year Of The Big Snowstorm And How They Couldn't Have Done It Without Rudolph, Which Leads Sam To Tell Us Our Story But Not Before Giving Us An Intro And A Title Card...

Starting A Few Years Before The Big Snowstorm, In Spring No Less, We See The Donners Give Birth To A Little Buck Named Rudolph Who Is Born With A Red Glowing Nose...

However, In The Movie Rudolph And Frosty's Christmas In July, It Was Revealed That Rudolph Wasn't Born With The Nose But Was Given It By The Spirit Of The North Pole Known As Lady Boreal In An Effort To Protect Santa From The Evil Wizard Winterbolt Who Had Just Woken Up When Lady Boreal's Powers Started To Wane And Weaken After Being In Her Human Form For Too Long...

But Getting Back To Our Story, Santa Arrives To Meet Rudolph Only To Discover His Powers For Himself...

Coming Up With An Idea To Hide Rudolph's Nose, Donner Teaches Rudolph How To Be A Reindeer, While Teaching His Son To Beware Of The Abominable Snowmonster Of The North Who's Mean, Nasty And Doesn't Like Christmas..

But Aside From The Abominable, We Cut To Santa's Workshop Where We Meet Hermey, Who's An Elf Who Wants To Be A Dentist Which Catches The Ire Of The Foreman...

(Start At 1:42, End At 1:56)

Growing Up Over The Years, Rudolph Has Gotten Tired Of Hiding His Nose As The Mud His Parents Place On It Isn't Very Comfortable, But Donner Believes That Self Respect Is More Important Than Comfort...

I Would Play The Other Part Of The Song But I Couldn't Find It On YouTube, Sorry...

With Christmas Coming And Going As Always, Soon It Is April Which Is When All The Fawns Come Out To Be Inspected By Santa And When The Elf Choir Practices In Front Of Santa...

Whoa!, Whoa!, Whoa!, What Happened To The Elf Foreman?

His Voice Just Went From Gruff To Squeaky In 10 Seconds, Why?, Was The Actor Unavailable? Did They Have Another Actor Originally Do The Voice? Somebody Give Me Answers!

(Start At 0:14, End At 1:49)

With Santa Leaving, The Foreman (Whose Voice Is Gruff Again) Tells Them That The Performance Was Terrible As The Tenor Section Was Weak...

I Don't Know, Foreman Defiantly Sounded Good To Me...

But One Of The Elves Tell The Foreman That Hermey Didn't Show Up...

Working On Dolls Teeth, The Foreman Marches In To Tell Hermey That Despite Trying To Find A Way To Fit In He'll Never Fit In And To Come To Elf Practice Before Slamming The Door Shut...

Believing The Foreman To Be Right, Hermey Runs Away...

Back At The Reindeer Fields, Rudolph Makes A Friend Named Fireball, Who Introduces Rudolph To A Doe Named Clarice...

Walking Over To Her As The Coach Comet, Won't Get To Rudolph And Fireball For A While, Rudolph Talks With Clarice...

(Imitating Hannibal Lecter) Hello, Clarice...

Asking Her To Walk Home With Him, Clarice Tells Rudolph Yes, As She Tells Him That She Thinks That He's Cute...

Leaping Into The Sky 2 Times, Rudolph Butts Heads With Fireball Which Causes Rudolph's Nose To Fall Off...

With His Secret Revealed, The Reindeer Not Only Make Fun Of Rudolph But Santa Gets Mad At Donner As Comet Tells Everyone To Not Let Rudolph Join In Any Reindeer Games...

Followed By Clarice As Rudolph Promised To Take Her Home, She Doesn't Care What Everyone Else Thinks And Says That His Nose Is Better Than That False One He Was Wearing...

(Start At 0:19, End At 2:14)

But When Clarice's Father, ? Enters To Tell Rudolph To Stay Away From Her, Rudolph Finds Himself All Alone Again, That Is Until He Runs Into Hermey Who Tells Rudolph That He Doesn't Need Anyone Because He's Independent Which Leads Rudolph To Declare The Same...

Okay, I Realize Rudolph Is Not A Girl But Since He's Voiced By One I'm Playing This...

Originally This Wasn't The Song For This Scene, Originally It Was This...

Walking For A While, Rudolph And Hermey Hear The Roar Of The Abominable Snowmonster Which Causes Hermey To Have Rudolph Douse His Nose For Now...

Continually Walking Till Morning,They End Up Meeting Yukon Cornelius, Who Is Searching These Areas For Silver And Gold Which Leads Us To Our Next Song...

(Start At 0:08)

With The Abominable Catching Up With Our 3 Friends, Yukon Creates An Iceberg So They Can Get Away From The Abominable But With No Land In Sight Our Friends Have No Idea Where They're Headed...

Eventually Hitting Land, Yukon, Hermey And Rudolph Find Themselves On An Island With Flying Lions And Talking Jack In The Boxes...

Correction Charlie In The Boxes...

(Start At 0:40)

With Rudolph Asking If They Can Stay On The Island With Them, Charlie Takes Them To King Moonracer (Who Is The Flying Lion In Question) Who Unfortunately Tells Them No But Asks Them That Once They Return To Christmas Town To Tell Santa About Their Island Which Rudolph Promises He Will...

For This, King Moonracer Allows Them To Spend The Night...

Oh, How Generous...

With His Friends Deciding To Return To Christmas Town, Rudolph Decides To Strike Out On His Own To Save His Friends From The Abominable Snowmonster...

But As The Years Pass, Rudolph Grows Older And Realizes That You Can't Run Away From Your Troubles Which Leads Him To Decide To Head Home...

But In Returning Home, He Discovers An Empty Cave Which Leads Santa To Point Out That Them And Clarice Have Been Gone For Months Out Looking For Him...

But While Going Out To Find His Parents The Storm Of The Century Hits...

But Again, In Rudolph And Frosty's Christmas In July, It Was Revealed That The Storm Was Created By Winterbolt In An Attempt To Get Rid Of Santa Forever As There Could Only Be One King Of The North....

Searching For His Parents, Rudolph Realized That They Could Only Be One Place, The Cave Of The Abominable Snowmonster...

Oops, Wrong Cave And Wrong Abominable Snowman...

Anyway, Entering The Cave, Rudolph Attacks The Snowmonster Only To Get Whapped By A Piece Of The Cave...

Well, Not Exactly As Hermey And Yukon Cornelius Arrive To Rescue Their Friend And His Family With Hermey Distracting The Abominable While Yukon Drops A Big Rock On Him...

Getting Rudolph And His Family Out, They Find Themselves Confronted By The Bumble Again Only To Discover That Hermey Took Out All Of His Teeth...

Pushing The Bumble Back With His Dogs, Yukon Goes Over The Edge Of A Cliff Along With His Dogs And The Bumble...

And This Is Supposed To Be A Kids Special!

With Everyone Going Back To Christmas Town, Santa Apologizes To Rudolph And Tells Him That He'll Find Homes For All Of The Misfit Toys On The Island Of Misfit Toys While The Foreman Apologizes To Hermey Telling Him That He Can Open Up A Office Next Week After Christmas...

Hearing A Knock On The Door, We Discover That Yukon Survived...

And So Did The Bumble Who Only Did What He Did Because He Wanted A Job...

Wow, I Didn't Know Unemployment Was A Problem At The North Pole...

Asking How They Survived, Yukon Kind Of Gives A Dumb Yet Funny Answer...

While Everyone Gets Ready For Christmas, Santa Gets News From His Eye In The Sky Weather Reporter, Who Tells Him That The Storm Won't Let Up And Christmas Will Have To Be Cancelled, But As Rudolph's Light Shines Santa Decides That Rudolph Is Their Answer...

With Rudolph On-Board For Helping Santa, We Get Our Next Song...

(Start At 0:11)

With Santa Fattened Up And The Sleigh Filled They Take Off With An Up Up And Away...

Okay, Is Santa Superman?

Meanwhile On The Island Of Misfit Toys, Charlie, The Spotted Elephant And The Doll Have All But Given Up This Year But When They See Rudolph's Nose, Everyone Gathers Up So They Can Board The Sleigh...

(End At 1:46)

Fun Fact: When I Was A Kid, I Had A Hard Time With VHS Remotes And Accidentally Taped Over A Little Bit Of The Ending With The End Credits Of A Care Bears Nutcracker And My Mom Still Bugs Me About It To This Day...

But That's Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer And It's A Good Special...

Sure, It Has A Few Things That Show What Time It Came From But It's Still A Good Christmas Special, I Love The Characters, I Love The Story, The Sets Are Well Made And I Just Say See It...

Till Next Time, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

[ainstgirl]

THE SOLDIER AND HIS CAPTAIN  (6/6)

Summary: It’s your first day at the academy where you’ll become a soldier.  The academy is already difficult but even more so when you are a woman and you have Sergeant Hanks as Captain, luckily another captain will help you overcome the challenges. I’m very bad with  summaries, just give it a try.  English is my third language so im sorry if there’s any misspelling.

Pairing(s): Steve Rogers x Reader

PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 PART 4 PART 5

"You are very happy today, aren't you?" Lily asks while practicing her blows. "and your very hangover Lily" you say smiling, you couldn't help it, after last night you couldn't hide your smile. "i know... I will never drink again" she says. "sure..." You were sure that as soon as the hangover was over, she will forget about that promise. "enough practice with mannequins, today you will fight against each others" Captain Hanks says catching your attention. "we'll start with Chris and Robert" they all continue training while they hit each other until one gets unconscious "Next Andrew against Lily" he announces. "hit his legs, make him fall to the ground and hit him on the head, do not give him time to hit you" you say to her and she nods. Lily manages to hit him in the stomach before he throws her to the ground. Your body screams at you to help her but you can't do that, she tries to get up but he hits her again, you knew Andrew, he's a decent guy, he is kind to you and doesn't treat you like you were fresh meat. After a few blows Lily falls unconscious and Andrew walks away, everyone smiles at his victory but he doesn't. "where do you think you are going? you are not finished" Captain Hanks says. "she's unconscious" Andrew says confused. "This doesn't end until I say it, she may be faking it, a couple of broken ribs would confirm it" he says almost smiling. Andrew approaches an unconscious Lily when you stand in front of her. "the rules are to fight until one is unconscious" you say. "i make the rules Y/L/N, move away or you will be the one who receives the punishment" He threatens you. "the punishment for what?" you yell this time "When Robert lost you didn't had any problems, do you have a problem with women captain?" "Everybody out" he says without looking away from you "take her to her room" he says pointing to lily. Andrew grabs Lily, you were sure he would take care of her. When everyone was gone, Hanks approaches you "this is not a place for women, you are only burdens for us" "I have to remind you that I got the flag when none of your men got it? I capture the nonhuman, I have overcome all your damn tests" You say tired of how she treats you. He grabs your arm hurting you, when you push him to let you go, you see something that surprises you, a tattoo, but not any tatoo....the symbol of hydra, when he realizes that you have seen it he smiles at you, a smile that doesn't reach his eyes, and then he hits you in the head, leaving you unconscious.

when you recover consciousness you are in a punishment cell, you had read about them. This cell hasn't been used for a long time, there were leaks in the roof and the floors were full of dirt. Your head hurts and when you touch your head you see that there are traces of blood. "Welcome back" Captain Hanks was sitting in a chair in front of the cell. "damn bastard....I knew you were hiding something, but I never thought you were a traitor" you hit the cell bars. "traitor? the only traitor here is Captain America" he smiles "You almost did me a favor when you discover me, not only I will get rid of you, but also I'll kill Captain America's girlfriend" "what... no we are not..." you try to lie. "I've been spying him for months, I know everything, now i only have to decide how i'm going to kill you" He says with a smile that freezes your blood.

Meanwhile.....

"wait Nat, what do you mean you haven't found anything?" Steve says disappointed. "nothing, there's only information about him from 5 years ago" Nat says through the phone. "i don't like this Nat..." "yeah...me neither I'll speak with Fury, maybe he knows something" she says. "let me know if you find anything" Steve says before hanging up "what's wrong?" he says when he sees Sam  worried face. "Lily just call..." he says. "Is everything okay?" "please, tell me we have something against Hanks because right now I want to hit his ass" Sam says hitting the table. "what happened?" Steve was already worried. "Lily call me from the infirmary, apparently Hanks wanted the soldiers to keep hitting Lily after she was unconscious after a fight exercise" he says angrily. "son of..." Steve starts to say. "there's more" he looks at Steve before continuing "Someone told her that Y/N stopped them, Hanks ....apparently he was alone with Y/N and since then nobody has seen her, Hanks says that she decided to leave the academy" "that's impossible, she would never do that" Steve says worried. "that's what Lily says, she worried" Sam adds. "we need to go back, now" Needless to say anything else, both take their weapons and leave in the direction of the military base.

"so ... what do you prefer?" Hanks pull out a gun and a knife "which one?" "Why not a hand-to-hand combat? are you scare to loose?" that way you could have a chance to survive or at least give him a good blow before you die. "do you really thing that you can win, you? i was going to give you a quick death but a beating doesn't sound bad" He opens the cell letting you out. "if you kill me everyone would know that something happend when i don't return" You say looking around for something to defend yourself. "everyone thinks that you left the academy" he says. "no one would believe you, not my friends, not Steve" They know you, you would never leave the academy and less without saying goodbye, you are sure that they're already looking for you. "i'll be happy to take care of him" "You're no match for him" Steve would kill him. "well, you won't live to find out" Hanks says before hitting you on your face, the blow takes you by surprise but you react in time to block the next blow. You use the tactics that Steve had taught you, you hit him in the neck and then you break his nose, for a moment you thought you could run away but he throws you to the ground, he kicks you in the stomach. You can feel a few ribs brake. He was going to kill you. You had given up when you heard Steve's voice.

"Son of a bitch" Steve says pulling him away from you. "he works for Hydra" you say to prevent him. "I've been waiting fir this moment for a long time, finally we'll know who is the best Captain" Hanks says. "let's find out then" Steve says taking off his helmet. Both begin to fight, the blows don't stop and you just stare without knowing what to do. You stand up carefully, your ribs hurt, but you try to forget about the pain, how can you help Steve? You look around when you see it, a gun, the same gun that Hanks was going to use to kill you. You take the gun and aim to Hanks. "Stop now!" you yell. Steve stops when he sees you. "I've seen you shoot, you have no aim, so go ahead, lets see who you shoot at" Hanks says and you only smile before shooting at his leg "you stupid bitch" 

"what were you saying?" You say before Steve knocks him unconscious. "good shoot" he runs to you "are you okay?" "yeah... you got here just in time, what are we going to do with him?" "hopefully he will tell us what he knows, who else is with hydra" he explains "are you sure you are okay?" "just my ribs but i'm okay dont worry about me" you say before kissing him "next time just take me to the mission okay?" you say making him laugh. "Of course, look what happens when I leave you alone" he jokes "Come on, you have to go to the infirmary, Sam is already on his way to take him with Fury" "What's going to happen now?" you ask. "I suppose I will be the official captain" he says. "and... what about us?"   "We can be together once this year is over" he kisses your forehead. "If you are going to be my captain you have to treat me like the others, okay?" you insist. "I know you can take care of yourself, i promise" he kisses you. "i love you" you say before kissing him again. "i love you too" he says caressing your face. "lovebirds, get a room" Sam says when he enters the room. "you are the one with a bird costume Sam" you joke before leaving the room with Steve. Now that Hanks wasn't going to be a problem, you could finally enjoy the academy and with Steve, you will surely become the best soldier.  This is the life you wanted, to save people and who better to live with than Steve.

This is not the end I wanted but since nobody is reading it I dont want to waste my time, even though I wanted to give it an end.

MASTERLIST