#any other eating/food related questions i’d be v happy to answer

[peaceisadirtyword]

Move On V (Modern!Ivar/Reader)

A/N: Hello! So here it is part 5 of Move On!☺️ a bit long, chaotic, boring, weird... idk, I was a bit angry at myself while writing this, but I hope you like it. Don’t hate me after reading this, there’s no Ivar on this chapter but next one will be intense, I promise. Also sorry because this is way too long, I deleted a entire scene but it’s still long af. Anyway, enjoy!💕 And thanks for reading🥰

Warnings: mentions of alcohol (like a lot), mentions of sex, anxiety, sickness (linked to the previously mentioned alcohol), cheating, the reader is not in a good place, a bit of Hvitserk/Reader and Alfred/Reader. And I think that’s all. 

Words: 5314 (gods I’m really sorry)

Move On Masterlist

gif belongs to @therealcalicali​ (I chose it because it kind of fits this chapter... you’ll see👀)

gif belongs to @ortali​ 

Your phone woke you up. You jumped, startled, and groaned while you considered throwing it out the window. You rolled to your side, ignoring the pair of arms that hugged your waist and took your phone, barely opening your eyes before answering. 

"Hello?" 

"Y/N" Alfred's voice woke you up immediately, you hummed and rubbed your eyes as you yawned. 

"Hi" you sighed "Good morning"

He laughed, and you frowned softly before standing up and opening the curtains, widening your eyes when you saw the sun high in the sky, almost if it was about to go down again. 

"Good afternoon, you mean" he chuckled "It's two pm"

"What? Oh my god, no, I did it again" you moaned.

Alfred's laugh made you laugh too, you could almost see him shaking his head and smiling.

"It's okay, you probably needed it" he said softly "Don't worry" 

"I'm going to fail every single class" you groaned. 

"You won't, I'll give you my notes" he said "Can I go to yours in, let's say, half an hour? I would like to talk to you" 

"Sure" you nodded, yawning again "Come"

"Alright, I'll be there" he cleared his throat "See you"

"Bye" you muttered before hanging up. 

You had forgotten to set the alarm again, you really needed to stop drinking. 

Your eyes went back to the bed, leaving your phone on the bedside table before realizing what you had done and why you had to take someone's arms off of your waist before getting up. 

"Oh God, oh no no please no" you groaned rubbing your face as you grabbed your pillow, hitting his bare chest "Hvitserk!"

"What?" he sighed, not even opening his eyes.

You groaned again, laying down on the bed and closing your eyes. 

"I can't believe this" you muttered "My life is a joke"

"You were much happier to have me here last night" Hvitserk glared at you, hitting you with the same pillow. 

"Hvitserk... Did we have sex?" you turned your head to look at him, biting your lip. 

"You seriously don't remember?" he raised an eyebrow. 

You took a deep breath. You did remember some things, but preferred to forget it. 

"I really need to stop drinking" 

"Come on, Y/N" he chuckled "It's fine, we are both adults, adults can have sex without commitment, you did nothing wrong" 

"Hvitserk, you're my best friend and my boy... My ex boyfriend's brother" you shook your head. 

"And? I'm not going to stop being your friend now, Y/N" he sat on the bed "In fact, we can do this again whenever you want, because I don't remember many things either but the things I do remember are good... I'm joking, don't hit me" he put his hands up with a pout. 

You held back a smile. At least, you were happy to see it wasn't awkward. 

"We're a mess, Hvitty" 

"Maybe" he shrugged "But at least we're having a good time"

"Anyway" you got up, walking around to look for your clothes "Are you hungry?" 

Hvitserk didn't answer, raising an eyebrow, and you rolled your eyes as you entered the bathroom. 

"What a stupid question" you chuckled "Okay, I'm going to have a shower, you can maybe get dressed and cook something?" 

"I would but" he pointed at you, making you look down to realize you were wearing his shirt. You widened your eyes and then closed them, shaking your head slowly "And I ate you out twice last night, I think it's only fair if you cook" he narrowed his eyes. 

You covered your face again, sighing. 

"Okay, I'll cook, you can look in the wardrobe, there's some clothes in there" you muttered before closing the door. 

Leaning down on the sink, you looked at your own reflection on the mirror. Ivar's clothes. He had a lot of clothes in your flat that you didn't really think about after the break up. And now you were giving them to his brother. The brother you slept with. 

Your headache intensified and you made an effort to shut it out, blocking any possible thoughts that might enter your mind. 

You didn't really want to step out of the shower, but you had no other choice. The last thing you wanted was for Alfred to arrive and see a shirtless Hvitserk on your bed as you had a shower. You left your hair wet and dressed comfortably before stepping out of the bathroom. Hvitserk was still in bed, scrolling down his phone with a bored expression. 

"You can have a shower" you cleared your throat, suddenly shy "I'm going to cook something for... Lunch?" 

"Nice" he groaned "I'm starving... Hey, are you okay?" 

You bit your lip, taking a deep breath. 

"I'm just regretting my life decisions" you shrugged "But I do that a lot" 

"Y/N" Hvitserk sounded a bit more serious, and this time you looked at him "Stop thinking about it, okay? You needed to unwind a bit, to relax, and to stop thinking about him, it's just sex, it won't change anything, I'm still the same person and so are you" 

"I know, Hvitty" you muttered, looking down to the floor with a small pout "But this can't happen again" 

"Fine, if you don't want to, we won't do this again, but don't waste your time regretting things you've done and enjoyed" he got up, ruffling your hair before entering the bathroom "It's not worth it"

He had a point. His words replayed on your mind as you went to the kitchen, standing in front of the nearly empty fridge. You were finishing the scrambled eggs and the toasts when the doorbell rang. Quickly, you turned the stove off and walked to the door. 

Alfred looked like a real prince. He had a bouquet of flowers on his hands, and his cheeks were reddened. His green eyes looked at you almost shyly, and your mouth parted in surprise. 

"I... Hello" you chuckled, nervously. 

"Hi" he cleared his throat "I'm sorry if you think this is too much, Torvi nearly forced me to" he glanced at the flowers. White lilies. They matched Alfred's energy so well "But I thought you might like them" 

"Yeah" you snapped out of your trance, shaking your head as you stepped back to let him enter the flat "They're beautiful, thanks, I just... Didn't expect it" 

"I also have the notes" he frowned softly, making you laugh. 

"Okay, thanks, I'll... Put these on water" you took them carefully, admiring them for a moment before leaving them on the table while you looked for a recipient big enough. 

"So... Um..." Alfred cleared his throat "Sorry for waking you up this morning" 

"Oh, that's okay, I think it was about time I woke up" you giggled "You don't need to apologize" 

"And... Did you have any plans for today?" he bit his lip. 

"I intended to be a functional adult during the day, but, as you can see, that is not going to happen" you shrugged "And I have one of Torvi's girls night in a few hours"

"She mentioned that" he whispered "I... Would you like to go out sometime one of these days? I'd like to take you out for dinner or lunch, because I don't think you're eating properly" he eyed the toasts and scrambled eggs you abandoned on the pan, making you laugh.

"You're probably right" you nodded "And yeah, sure, that would be nice" 

Alfred's eyes lightened up, and his bright smile made you feel some butterflies in your stomach. He really was the sweetest boy in the world. 

"Cool" he nodded "Any preference?"

"Not really, I'm fine with a pizza" you shrugged with a smile. It felt good to make plans with someone that wasn't related to your ex boyfriend. 

"I'll stick to Italian, then" 

"Thank you" you repeated "For the flowers, and the notes, and for checking up on me" you giggled again "You're the best"

Alfred blushed again. His heart beat faster and faster as he thought you looked really cute with damp hair an oversized hoodie and a pair of old sweatpants. You always looked cute, but that day he couldn't take his eyes off of you.

"It's nothing, really, I just care about you" he shrugged, looking away in embarrassment. You bit your lip and moved to hug him softly. Alfred froze, not used to close physical contact with women, but then he moved his hands to your waist, hugging you still a bit hesitant. 

"Seriously, thank you, for everything" you muttered against his neck, and he nodded, taking a deep breath. Suddenly, he cupped your face, making you look at him with a confused frown before he leant in, pressing his lips against yours. 

You widened your eyes in surprise, but kissed him back. He kissed you sweetly, softly, almost like he was afraid to hurt you. Closing your eyes, you let yourself hug his neck and deepen the kiss. He barely moved, with his arm around your neck and his other hand on your face, caressing your cheek softly with his thumb. 

Alfred sighed against your lips, and just when you were about to start running your fingers through his hair, the floor of the kitchen creaked, startling the both of you. Hvitserk stood a few meters from you, with a towel on his hands and his eyebrows raised. His lips were starting to curve on a smirk. 

"Hello"

"Oh my god, Hvitserk" you muttered, covering your face. 

"I... Didn't know you weren't alone" Alfred frowned while glaring at Hvitserk, whose attention had been diverted to the food on the counter. 

"Yeah, sorry, Hvitserk spent the night and... I probably should have mentioned that" you sighed. 

"No, it's okay, don't apologize" he cleared his throat and tried to smile, even thought it looked more like a grimace "I should leave, I just wanted to..." he didn't finish the phrase nor looked at you. 

"Okay" you muttered, walking behind him as he approached the door "Thank you again"

"It was nothing" he finally looked at you with a small smile "Take care, Y/N, see you" 

He left before you could even open your mouth, and you sighed again, bumping your head softly against the door. 

"You know, when I said you should move on I didn't mean 'fuck every single person you know in less than 24 hours'" Hvitserk laughed with his mouth full, making you roll your eyes. 

"I don't know what happened" you closed the door, walking back to the kitchen and frowning when you realized Hvitserk was eating all the food. 

"This time you can't blame the alcohol" he laughed "He brought you flowers, at least he worked for it" 

You caressed the lilies absentmindedly, your heart breaking softly at the thought of Alfred thinking you had used him. 

"He kissed me" you muttered.

"I'd be surprised if he didn't" Hvitserk winked at you "The poor boy has been in love with you for years" 

It took you a few seconds to process his words. 

"Excuse me?"

He smiled, yawning as he opened the fridge again. 

"Everyone knows it, Y/N, even my brother" he shrugged "Why do you think Ivar couldn't stand him? He was jealous, it didn't help that you have to be so nice with everyone" 

Ivar. Fuck, you were thinking about him again. You cursed his name a few times and suddenly missed him more than ever. This was his fault. He was the one that kept you sane. His absence made you go crazy. 

"So you're saying Alfred likes me and everyone knew it and no one told me?" 

"I'm sure someone did, but the fact that you're oblivious to absolutely everything doesn't help, it's a bit obvious" he raised an eyebrow "He kissed you, I think that's a pretty good confirmation" 

You sighed, letting yourself fall on the couch covering your face with your arm. You needed some alcohol to cope with this.

_________________________________________________

"So you slept with Hvitserk and then kissed Alfred? I'm proud of you" Thora giggled, laying on your bed as you walked around the room, trying on different clothes after she appeared on your door looking like a model. You felt betrayed, as you had made her promise you both would wear jeans and maybe a cute top when you called to invite her to Torvi's girls' night. You needed moral support. 

"I'm losing my mind, Thora" you sighed, sitting down next to her as you drank the rest of your glass of wine. You were already dizzy. 

"Why? You're single, you should have done this before" she shrugged "I bet Ivar wasn't feeling bad when he fucked Freydis for the first time after leaving you" 

You winced at that. It was a thought that had crossed your mind more than once, did he miss you at all? Did those last four years mean something to him? How much time had taken him to start acting like a couple with Freydis? 

"Sorry, was I too harsh?" Thora bit her lip, looking at you with a worried gaze. 

"It's okay" you shook your head. The sooner you realized Ivar was going on with his life and not paying a single thought to you, the better "It's just... I slept with his brother, my best friend" you groaned "And then I kissed Alfred" 

"Stop thinking about it, Y/N" she rolled her eyes "You did what you did, you enjoyed it, what's the point of overthinking it? Just wear the tight dress and the heels, do your make up and let's go partying, you need more than a glass of wine" 

You looked at the now empty glass, pouting. 

"Actually, it's the third glass of wine" 

She widened her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Okay, then maybe just drink a couple of beers after this" 

You nodded, standing up to put the dress on. 

"I keep saying you and Hvitserk would make a really good couple" you smiled softly. 

"The guy you had sex with?"

Narrowing your eyes, you turned around to glare at her again. 

"It was friendly sex" 

"But was it good, at least?" Thora giggled. 

You laughed, shaking your head. 

"I barely remember but... Yeah, it was good" you shrugged "Hvitserk is probably the most experienced one of his brothers"

"Better than...?"

Your smile faded as you looked at yourself in the mirror. No, no one would ever been better than Ivar. Not to you. 

_______________________________________

Alfred didn't answer your messages. You had sent him five texts, deciding to stop before you crossed the line of the actual harassment. He hadn't replied, which was strange because he always replied almost immediately. He was definitely mad at you, and now you felt like the worst person ever. 

"Stop looking at your phone" Thora rolled her eyes, slightly annoyed "We're here to have a good time, aren't we?" she pointed at the club Torvi had chosen as you stood just next to the door.

"I suppose so..."

"I know that the word fun hasn't been on your vocabulary lately, but tonight just try to forget about your ex, the guy that likes you and about the friend you slept with last night" 

You nodded. She was right. No drama that night, just relax and alcohol. You needed a shot, though. 

"You're right, yeah, I'm going to..." after checking your notifications for the last time, you turned your phone off, burying it inside your purse and smiling proudly at Thora, who sighed and hugged you softly. 

"Torvi said they were arriving" you informed "So they should be here..." you looked around, scanning the street until you saw her, waving at you excitedly as she approached with the rest of the group "Soon" you muttered as you saw her walking next to Torvi and a girl with black hair. Fuck, no. 

Freydis shot you a wide smile. They reached you before you could react and, maybe, run away. 

"Hi!" Torvi hugged you excitedly "How are you? Sorry we're a bit late"

"That's okay" you cleared your throat "Um... This is Thora" you ignored the lump that appeared on your throat. 

"Hello! It's nice to meet you" Torvi smiled "I'm Torvi, these are Gunhild, Blaeja and Freydis... Y/N, you don't know Blaeja, do you?"

Thora did widen her eyes at the mention of Freydis' name, and eyed you worryingly as she greeted everyone. You could barely speak. Your heart raced at the sight of her and it didn't help that she kept staring at you with a smile. 

"It's so good to see you" Freydis linked her arm with yours, making you tense up almost immediately "We never had the chance to catch up!" 

You could feel everyone's eyes on you, nearly waiting for you to start crying. Torvi bit her lip and looked at you worryingly, while Thora just glared at Freydis. You wanted nothing more than push her away and run, feeling as trapped as you had felt when you ran into them at the cafeteria. That last time you could barely speak and ran to the toilet to calm yourself down, but this time... 

"I'm fine" you mimicked her wide smile "Better than I ever was" 

Freydis looked surprised, maybe she thought you'd be intimidated by her. But she looked even happier now. 

"I'm happy to hear that!" she sounded genuine, and this time you were the one surprised "I always tell Ivar we should invite you and Alfred to have dinner or maybe have a drink, but I think he doesn't like your boyfriend very much... He is your boyfriend, right?" she widened her eyes, acting like a girl that just had a reunion with her best friend from high school. 

"Um... Alfred and I are just friends" you raised an eyebrow. 

"Oh" she pouted "A shame, the two of you look perfect together" 

"I know, right?" Torvi joined as she pushed the two of you into the club, winking at the doorman when he lifted the rope so you could pass "I always tell them, they look really cute together" she looked relived that you hadn't cried yet, and she offered you a sympathetic smile "And Y/N deserves a guy like Alfred, he even skips work to see her, and we're talking about a guy that enters the office at six am and leaves at twelve even if he's the boss" she giggled. 

You cleared your throat, finding it awkward to be talking about this with your ex's girlfriend. Excusing yourself, you approached Thora again. She had a frown on her face and narrowed her eyes at Freydis. 

"What's this about?" she whispered as you left your coats on the wardrobe "What is she doing here?" 

"I have no idea" you sighed "I need three drinks and two shots" 

"I'll buy them for you" she patted your shoulder with a sad smile. You were more convinced than ever that your life was a joke, and whoever controlled your fate was having a blast doing so. 

_____________________________________________

Turns out that the drinks and the shots didn't help. Instead, they left you a bit shaky, dizzy and with a headache. The loud music and the blinding lights weren't helping either. You'd give your life to go back home and get into bed again to sleep for days. 

But, if you were going to put up with a beautiful, loud and nice Freydis, you needed another drink. You stumbled to the bar, followed by Torvi, who looked a bit wary when you announced your intentions. Thora had gotten on with Gunnhild pretty well, and Blaeja and Freydis looked like best friends.

"I didn't know she was coming" she reassured you as soon as you were alone "Blaeja invited her and... I'm really sorry"

"It's fine" you shook your head "I'll get over it" 

Torvi nodded slowly. 

"Did Alfred visit you this morning?" her smile faltered when you got your drink and drank half of it at once. 

"Yeah" you looked away, nervously "He brought me his notes and... Lilies" 

Torvi looked delighted.

"And... Are you going to see him soon?" her big eyes scrutinized your face. 

"Maybe" you shrugged. For a moment, you nearly told her what had happened that morning, but you didn't really want to talk about it. Not drunk, when you could accidentally say that you had sex with Hvitserk when you were too drunk and thinking about Ivar, and that then you had kissed Alfred in the kitchen as Hvitserk finished his shower. "I'll call him" 

She looked happy with that answer, and turned around to order her own drink. You looked away, to the crowd of people singing and dancing happily. Not so long ago, you had been one of them. Your eyes found Freydis and you felt like crying again. She looked happy, and stunning, and her eyes were lightened up. Did you look like that when you were with Ivar? Probably. He had his own way of loving, and he made you feel so unique and special even when you weren't in the same room as him. 

For a moment, you understood her. Ivar had that mysterious thing, maybe it was his intense eyes, his stare, his smile or his bad mood, but you knew you were going to fall hard as soon as you met him. He was beautiful, and you knew it was impossible to resist him, you knew it because you indeed fell hard, and continued falling for years, until you were sure you wouldn't be able to get up again. Maybe she had felt that too. Maybe she fell in love with him and just fought harder than you. You couldn't blame her, not even if every single part of your body wanted to demonize her and make her guilty, in the end it was Ivar who chose her.

"Are you coming?" Torvi had gotten her drink, and now was walking back to the dance floor.

"I'm going to stay here for a couple of minutes, I'll go later" you smiled at her. She stared at you for a couple of seconds, but nodded and left. Your throat burned and you felt like crying again. The pressure on your chest intensified and your ears started ringing. Taking a deep breath, you got up from your seat and stumbled, leaning into the dark wall until you reached the toilet. 

Sighing in relief when you realized it was empty, you leant into the sink, trying to control your breath as your entire body shook. It was nearly impossible to breath, and the room was spinning around you. You were regretting every single drop of alcohol you drank that night when you moved to the toilet, closing the stall door behind you before kneeling to throw up. 

Luckily, no one else entered. Your throat burned and you were already sleepy when you finished, sitting down to lean your head onto the wall, regretting every single decision you had taken in the past twenty four hours. 

In fact, you even regretted the moment that you saw Ivar Lothbrok for the first time. 

Your makeup was nearly ruined, and you looked like you just came out of a horror movie. After trying to fix it a bit, you took your small purse and went out of the toilet. Just when you were opening the door, you heard a giggle to your right, which startled and made you frown at the same time. You really didn't want to see anyone in that moment. 

The emergency exit was the only thing to your right, and you got a glimpse of a familiar shade of blonde hair leaving just before the door shut. You frowned, your head hurt and your legs were weak, you wanted nothing more than go home, wash your teeth, have a quick shower and sleep for the entire weekend. But you were curious now. Was that...?

Looking around to see if anyone saw you, you walked to the door slowly, your head pumping at the rhythm of the loud music. You opened it just a bit, enough to poke your head out and look around. It led to an alley, full of trash bins and a single streetlight, but enough to differentiate the two people that were making out passionately a few meters from you. You raised an eyebrow and were about to leave when the guy moved a bit. He was tall, but when he moved, the light hit the girl squeezed between him and the brick wall, and you froze. 

Freydis closed her eyes and tilted his head as he kissed her neck with a smile on her lips. Then he kissed her again. You walked back slowly, closing the door softly to avoid making any noise, but as soon as you were back on the hallway, you nearly ran to the entrance, reaching the dance floor and crossing it as fast as your shaky legs allowed you. 

"Y/N!" 

Thora grabbed your arm, making you jump. She frowned as soon as she saw your face. 

"What happened? Where were you? You look like you've seen a ghost" 

You shook your head, rubbing your face. 

"I was in the toilet, I..." you sighed when the rest of the girls approached you "I'm not feeling well, I should go home" you forced a smile.

"Hey, are you okay?" Torvi looked genuinely worried "We can go with you..."

"No, no, please just stay and... Have fun" you shrugged "Don't mind me"

"I'm going with you" Thora nodded, glaring at you when you tried to argue "I'm not letting you leave all alone while drunk, Y/N, so shut up and go take your coat" 

Sighing in defeat, you followed her to the wardrobe. Torvi kept walking behind you, but she couldn't reach you until you stopped. 

"Hey, Y/N, if this is about Freydis being here, I swear..."

"It's not" you interrupted her, a bit more rudely than you intended "It has nothing to do with her" you lied "I'm just tired, I don't feel well and I think I should go home, that's all" you softened your tone and tried to smile.

She nodded slowly, but kept looking at you as you took your coat, putting it on before walking outside of the club without waiting for Thora. The noise was driving you crazy. 

"Are you sure everything's okay?" Torvi followed you outside. You were starting to lose your patience "I can call Alfred and tell him to go to yours..." 

"I don't think Alfred wants to see me now" you snapped "He won't answer my messages, he doesn't want to see me, I fucked up" you nearly yelled, your eyes filled with tears and you felt Thora's hand on your arm, caressing it softly. 

"What are you talking about?" she looked surprised "I don't..."

"Hvitserk spent the night" you nearly sobbed "Alfred came and he was there, so he left, and now he won't reply to me"

"Hvitserk?" Torvi frowned "What do you mean he spent the night? I thought Alfred and you..."

"We're not dating!" you raised your voice involuntarily. The tears started falling down your cheeks and some of the people that walked down the street looked at you. You must have looked like a mad woman... At least, that's how you felt "Alfred is my friend, and I never knew he intended to be more than that until this morning, when he brought me flowers and kissed me! I was drunk and I slept with Hvitserk, and what about it? I'm single, my boyfriend left me for someone else, I can have sex with whoever I want!"

Torvi glared at you. You felt kind of bad for yelling at her. It wasn't her fault and you were just venting, but it felt so good to say it...

"Yes, you can do whatever you want, but the fact that you're hurt doesn't mean you can hurt someone else too" she pressed her lips together "Alfred really likes you, so please don't break his heart"

You raised an eyebrow. You could feel the anger radiating off of you, and Thora might have felt it too because she gripped your arm more tightly. 

"I didn't know" you were exasperated "I didn't know he liked me, I never wanted to hurt anyone, Torvi, but you can go and think I'm the worst person in the world if you want to" you glared at her "You know?You could have had this same conversation with Ivar, when he literally flirted with someone else in front of me and in front of everyone, but you chose to ignore it, and now I'm the bad one for hurting Alfred when we're just friends" you rolled your eyes. Thora called your name softly, pushing you away from Torvi "Anyway, have fun" you nearly spat before turning around to leave. 

____________________________________

Thora left the warm cup of tea on the table in front of you. You dried the tears with the back of your hand. Dressed on your pajamas and freshly showered you did feel a bit better. At least you weren't dizzy and your head didn't hurt that much anymore. The pressure on your chest was still there, but it was easier to ignore. 

"Hey" your friend caressed your hair softly "Come on, drink it and we'll go to bed, stop thinking" 

You stared at the cup for a couple of minutes, until you finally grabbed it, taking a sip. The warm liquid relaxed you and calmed you down a bit, and you closed your eyes to hold onto that feeling. 

"Y/N, you can't keep doing this to yourself" Thora whispered "You have to move on, but drinking and torturing yourself like this isn't the solution" 

"Hvitserk said the same" you whined "I acted like a real asshole, didn't I?" 

"Well, you were right" she smiled "It's not your fault, you were drunk and nervous and you just exploded. Seeing Freydis was too much, maybe" 

Freydis. Fuck, you had forgotten about her and the guy she was kissing on that alley. Suddenly, you felt like throwing up again. 

You took the purse you had left on the table, grabbing your phone and turning it on. You groaned when seeing the huge amount of messages and missed calls you had. Alfred replied. And he called you too. 

I'm really sorry, I was working and my phone died

I'm not mad at you, I just wasn't expecting Hvitserk to be there again

And the most recent one made you bit your lip. 

Torvi called me and told me what happened, are you okay? Do you need anything? Please call me back, I think we need to talk

Torvi and Gunnhild had also called you. You felt even worse when you read Torvi's texts. She apologized and asked you to call as soon as you could. 

Hvitserk's made you smile. Have fun tonight, but don't do anything I wouldn't do. You definitely fell in love with the wrong Lothbrok. 

And then you saw it. With everything that had happened, you had forgotten about the text you sent to Ivar, and never looked at his reply. Hell, you thought he wouldn't even reply. 

Yeah, thanks.

For some reason, it made you angry. He broke your heart, he left you and showed he didn't care about you in any way. And when you heard he was going through a rough time, you still reached out to him, just to receive that answer, as if you were the one that did things wrong. 

Your finger hesitated just before you pressed the call icon. Thora raised an eyebrow and watched as you locked the phone and left it on the table, sighing in annoyance. 

"I think I'm going to sleep"

_______________________________________

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okay I think I have everyone but if I don’t please tell me :( Tumblr won’t send me notifications💔 

I know Ivar wasn’t on this chapter! but you'll have plenty of Ivar on the next, I swear!🥰

[heauxplesslydevoted]

Three’s Company

Summary: Naomi goes to lunch with the newest member of the diagnostic’s team.

A/N: Listen, I will not rest until Tobias and Ethan are friends again.

~v~

“It’s not going to be as bad as you’re making it out to be, Ethan. Above all else, Tobias Carrick is a doctor and a professional.”

Ethan resists the urge to roll his eyes at his girlfriend. This situation isn’t her fault, and it’s not like Naomi can help the fact that she’s optimistic. He still huffs under his breath though. “Being a doctor isn’t synonymous with being a professional. Trust me, Tobias is nothing of the sort.”

The news of Tobias Carrick not only coming to Edenbrook but also joining the diagnostics team hasn’t been well received. On top of a pretty tense exchange between Bloom and Ethan, Harper also made it known that she wasn’t a fan, thankfully not as outwardly as Ethan had.

Naomi however, has remained neutral. She doesn’t have history with Tobias like Harper and Ethan do, only knowing him through their biased second hand accounts. Ethan grumbled that he’s arrogant–though the same can be said about him as well–and selfish, but Naomi isn’t one to judge someone without knowing them. And besides, he pitched in to help save her last year, so for the time being, Tobias Carrick has a few brownie points with her.

“You’re being dramatic. He’s been a doctor as long as you have, he went to the same prestigious medical school that you did–”

“He graduated at number two,” Ethan interjects.

At that dig, Naomi huffs. “You’re being ridiculous. And petty, for no reason.”

“Bloom went over our heads and hired him, so I’m automatically suspicious. I apologize for not believing this wasn’t done specifically to annoy me.”

Naomi can concede to it being a bit suspicious, but she isn’t going to admit to this conspiracy of all roads leading back to Ethan. She’s not going to needlessly feed into his ego and rile him up.

The two of them continue their trek throughout the halls of Edenbrook in silence, their fingers loosely interlocked the entire way there. Naomi revels in it, because she knows it’s the calm before the storm.

Before they cross the threshold to the office, Naomi stops Ethan in his tracks. She cranes her head back so they can look each other in the eye. “Listen, like it or not, Tobias is here, and until he does something that warrants your hostility, at least be cordial. Our patients don’t deserve us at anything less than our best.”

Ethan pinches the bridge of his nose, and silently counts to three, attempting to steel himself.

“Fine.”

“Thank you.” Raising their joined hands, Naomi brushes a fleeting kiss across his knuckles. “Now stop pouting, Ramsey, we have work to do.”

Ethan untangles their hands only to open the door for Naomi. Once she steps inside she’s greeted with the sight of Tobias fiddling with Ethan’s coffee maker. He looks and flashes them a sly smile. “Mornin’, lovebirds! Ready to get to diagnosing?”

Ethan flashes Naomi a quick look. This is going to be a long day indeed.

~v~

So Tobias’s first day with the team wasn’t smooth sailing like Naomi wanted. Ethan and Harper made it clear that his former friend and roommate wasn’t wanted anywhere near the team, whether it be through passive aggressive eye rolls, thinly-veiled exasperated sighs, or outright aggression via Ethan that spiraled into a tense argument. Naomi remained neutral, corralling all of the attention back to the task at hand: helping their patient.

Naomi isn’t interested in spending another day babysitting these grown adults, so hopefully day 2 is a lot more smooth.

And so far, she seems to be getting her wish. Morning tasks were distributed without a fight, and after their morning huddle, Harper went downstairs to prep for a surgery she has coming up later. The remaining 3 members of the team are all in their own little corners of the office, Ethan typing away on his laptop, Tobias lounging on the couch, and Naomi sitting at their large desk, a pile of books and printed copies of online articles all spread out in front of her.

The words are all starting to blur together, her focus slipping away with each second that ticks on. Being in the office isn’t doing anything for her creativity or brainstorming power. She needs a break.

Naomi closes her textbook and pushes out of her seat, tired of studying. She makes her way over to Ethan’s desk, observing his hunched shoulders and the deep line between his brows. She rounds his desk until she’s standing directly in his line of vision. “You know what? I think it’s time to take a break. How about you and I get out of here and get something to eat?”

Ethan tears his eyes away from his computer screen long enough to look at Naomi. He frowns softly. “I’m sorry, but I’ll have to take a raincheck. On top of the actual work I have to do for this team, Leland is demanding that I put together a presentation for the board meeting at the end of the week.”

“About what?”

“About the team. Cost versus benefit, outcomes, methodology, etc. Basically, he wants me to sell the diagnostics team to him all over again.”

“Sucks to be the boss at times?”

“De facto boss,” Ethan corrects. “Remember, this team is supposed to be a democracy now. Anyway, I want to get this presentation done as quickly as I can so I can stop thinking about it.”

“I could go for some lunch,” the third person in the room speaks up. Naomi and Ethan both turn around and see Tobias staring back at them. “Oh sorry, am I interrupting the private conversation the two of you are trying to have in our communal workspace?”

“What do you want, Carrick?”

Tobias’s eyes bounce back and forth between the couple. “Naomi wants to escape these four walls and get food. You aren’t available, and I am.” He shrugs. “What are you in the mood for, Valentine? I could go for some Italian, and there’s a good place a few blocks from here.”

“She’s not going to lunch with you,” Ethan grits out possessively. 

Naomi’s head whips around faster than she can stop herself. Since when did he get to make decisions on her behalf, especially when it’s not work related?

A small smirk settles on Tobias’s face. Naomi’s physical response to Ethan’s declaration does not go unnoticed by him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know your name was also Naomi Valentine. Whatever the case, I wasn’t speaking to you.”

“Naomi doesn’t–”

“Naomi doesn’t need an advocate to speak on her behalf because she’s an adult,” Naomi interjects sharply.

Whether she wants to accept or decline Tobias’s invitation to lunch, it’s her decision to make, not Ethan’s. His tumultuous relationship with Tobias is not her burden to bear, and he’s not going to force it upon her.

And just to prove it to him, Naomi turns around, her full attention back on Tobias, eyes alight with defiance. “You know what? Italian sounds delicious.”

~v~

20 minutes later, the unlikely duo is nestled into a corner booth of the Italian restaurant Tobias suggested. It’s a nice family owned joint that is currently experiencing a lunch rush. Every inch of the place is bustling with activity, the aromatic smell of sautéed garlic fills the air, soft music playing in the background. And while Naomi has yet to try the food, the restaurant is warm and inviting, and she likes it.

“You know, I’m really shocked you decided to take me up on my offer,” Tobias says, cutting into Naomi’s silent appraisal of their surroundings.

“I wasn’t going to turn down a free meal,” Naomi responds smoothly.

“A free meal?”

“Of course. You invited yourself, so you’re paying, Dr. Carrick. I’m thinking of ordering dessert, too.”

An easygoing smile tugs at the corners of her mouth as she speaks, and Tobias laughs. “I meant it because loverboy wasn’t too happy with it.”

“As much as I respect Ethan’s opinions on things, they don’t dictate my life. His issues with you have nothing to do with me, and if you think you can use me as a pawn to piss him off further, I’d advise you to think again.”

This young woman is brazen and full of sass. Tobias likes it. “It wasn’t my intention, I swear. It’s no secret that I’m not a welcomed member of the team, and you happen to be the only one who doesn’t roll your eyes or sneer whenever I speak. You are the closest thing I have to an...acquaintance, I guess.”

Naomi’s defenses deflate slightly at his shocking display of earnestness. She was expecting some display of bravado from the attending, so this has thrown her for a loop.

Tobias is nervous. She picks up on that energy almost instantly.

“Well like I said, their issues with you have nothing to do with me. I try to give everyone a fair shake.”

“I can respect that.”

“But in the interest of said fair shake, you have to answer a question for me. What are you doing here?”

“Here, in this restaurant?”

“At Edenbrook,” Naomi clarifies. “Kenmore is a level one trauma center, it was saved from getting snuffed out when it merged with Solomon, you guys stole my research candidate which brought in a lot of grant money. You had a decent gig there, so why did you come to Edenbrook? Why did you accept a position on Ethan’s team?”

Tobias shrugs. “I hit my threshold at Kenmore. I was at the top of the food chain, I had seen everything there was to see, done everything there was to do. I was...bored and restless. Edenbrook got injected with new blood, everything is new and exciting. Bloom said he wanted to take the team to new heights, and he offered me more money than I know what to do with to be a part of the vision.”

“Okay so who’s to say you’ll be satisfied just being a member of the team? How do I know you won’t attempt to stage a coup and take Ethan’s position?”

“Relax, sweetheart, I’m not gunning for your boyfriend’s spot.”

“Don’t call me sweetheart. There’s no need to be condescending.”

“I apologize. But Ethan’s spot on the team is safe. I don’t need Leland breathing down my neck and micromanaging me the way he does Ethan.”

Naomi’s eyes roam his face. He doesn’t have any tells, no eye shifting or twitching, no sudden movements with his hands or mouth, he doesn’t fidget in his seat. She has no reason to believe he’s lying, so she takes him at his word. “Okay.”

“Any other burning questions?”

“Why aren’t you and Ethan friends?”

Tobias doesn’t immediately answer, opting to take his sweet time to think on it. He pulls his lip in-between his teeth, before shrugging. “We’re too similar. Too driven, too ambitious, too stubborn. Two people can only go on the same path for so long before a collision happens.”

“It got ugly because you two wanted the same girl?”

Tobias scoffs. The faceless woman that he was adamant that he was in love with is at the bottom of his list of concerns. “She was just the tip of the iceberg.”

That manages to catch her interest. Naomi sits up in her seat and leans forward slightly. “So what happened?”

Naomi can see the exact moment that Tobias withdraws from the conversation. His posture gets stiff again and he averts his gaze.

“Okay, riddle me this, Carrick,” Naomi continues. “Ethan told me he reached out to you after you had your falling out, but you rebuffed him. Is that part true?”

“He called and asked if we could talk, I said no. I didn’t hear from him again until everything happened with Leland last year.”

“You didn’t want to make amends?”

Making amends and having his old friend back did sound nice once upon a time, but being friends with Ethan again means being in his shadow again. And that’s what led them to this whole thing in the first place. Tobias sighs and scrubs his hand across his jaw. He came here to eat a plate of ravioli and maybe annoy Ethan, not pour his heart out. What is it about Naomi Valentine and those big brown eyes of hers that makes him want to twist himself inside out and spill his guts? Is she some sort of siren?

“Making amends means I’d have to own up to my wrongdoings. I’d have to swallow the fact that I torpedoed our friendship,” Tobias confesses before he even realizes the words are out of his mouth. “Admitting fault and being vulnerable isn’t my strong suit.”

She doesn’t mean to, but Naomi giggles. And that giggle turns into a laugh. A loud one that attracts the attention of a few patrons, a hard feat to accomplish in the middle of a bustling restaurant, but she does it with ease.

“I’m sorry,” Naomi says once she finally calms down. She takes a deep breath before continuing. “God, no wonder you two were best friends. You are just as emotionally constipated as Ethan.”

“Emotionally constipated?” Tobias’s eyebrows shoot to his hairline at the blunt statement. And once the shock wears off, he laughs along with. “Touché, Valentine. Touché.”

~v~

Across the way, at the bar on the other side of the dining room, Ethan watches as his girlfriend and his former friend carry on like two bosom buddies. 

Ethan decided to follow them approximately 10 minutes after they left, sheer curiosity getting the better of him. Before he could stop himself, he was in his car and at the restaurant, seated far enough away from them so he’s out of their line of vision, but close enough to see.

Naomi is in the zone, talking excitedly and Tobias sits there, soaking it all up like what she says and does is gospel. Their friendly interaction stirs irritation in the pit of his stomach, but it’s when Naomi lets out a boisterous laugh does he reach his limit. Ethan’s grip on the small tumbler in his hand tightens, and it’s a miracle he doesn’t end up with a million tiny shards of glass in his palm.

What on earth has Tobias said to make Naomi laugh like that? And why is he laughing with her?

Ethan doesn’t like it one bit, for a multitude of reasons. He doesn’t like other men being around Naomi–it’s ridiculous and sexist of him to feel this way, but Ethan is a possessive caveman, and he makes no bones about it. Seeing her actually laughing with Carrick of all people and enjoying his company makes him want to throw the drink ware he’s currently holding.

Deciding enough is enough, Ethan slams the glass down onto the bar and stands up. After dropping a $20 bill on the counter he makes his way over to Naomi and Tobias, unadulterated jealousy and alcohol fueling every step.

Tobias notices him first, and he jerks his head in Ethan’s general direction in order to get Naomi’s attention. She turns around and her eyes go wide at the sight of Ethan.

“Ethan? What are you doing here?”

“I was in the neighborhood.”

Now her eyes are narrowed. “You finished that big presentation you had to work on?”

Ethan sniffs haughtily. Leave it to her to throw that back in his face. “I decided that a break was okay.”

“And you coincidentally ended up at this restaurant?”

“Yup.”

Naomi stands up, muttering a quick “excuse me,” in Tobias’s direction and grabs Ethan’s hand, pulling him away. They nestle into a quiet corner of the restaurant, far away from the table, closer to the kitchen. The door constantly swings open and closed, as the waitstaff goes in and out.

Once they get a moment of quiet, Naomi glares at Ethan, the expression on her face nothing short of annoyed. “Are you spying on me? Because spying on me implies that you don’t trust me.”

“What? Of course I trust you!”

“So what are you doing here, Ethan?”

Ethan bites the inside of his cheek and rocks on the balls of his feet. “Okay, so I was spying.” Naomi opens her mouth to say something, but Ethan beats her to the punch. “It’s not because I don’t trust you! It’s him that I don’t trust.”

“Tobias has been nothing short of a gentleman,” Naomi says and Ethan snorts. “He’s acting a lot of a lot more mature than you are, I can say that much.”

“That’s not fair.”

“No, what’s not fair is you treating him like he’s a criminal when he’s given you no reason to do so.”

“He’s given me plenty of reason, Naomi!”

“The last time we saw Tobias, I was near death and he helped save my life,” Naomi says, and that’s more than enough to get Ethan to shut up.

Ethan’s heart slams against his rib cage with enough force to make him think the organ is trying to leave his body. Months have passed since the assassination attempt, but the mention of it is enough to cause Ethan to go into a panic.

“And the time before that, we stole a patient right out from under him, and before that we got into a fight at a freaking hospital softball game,” Naomi continues. “You haven’t been all good, and he hasn’t been all bad, so stop pretending to have the moral high ground.”

“This past year, you made a lot of strides in your personal life. You battled a lot with your mom, but you came out of it, a more well rounded individual, so do not let Tobias’s presence cause you to backslide. I’m not saying he has to be your best friend, but I refuse to tolerate this type of nonsense past today.”

He takes a moment to digest what she’s saying, begrudgingly of course because he doesn’t really want to admit that he hasn’t been behaving like the mature, adult professional that he usually is.

Ethan nods and places a kiss on Naomi’s forehead, his lips lingering there.

“Are you listening to me?”

Ethan kisses the apples of her cheeks, inwardly smirking as he feels Naomi smile. “I promise you that I’ll keep myself in check from now on.”

“And if you don’t, I will.”

The threat causes Ethan to lose focus. She clearly doesn’t mean it in a seductive way, but he can’t help that his brain instantly goes to the gutter when she’s involved. Now he wants nothing more than to be alone with her, with any flat surface readily available.

“Yes ma’am,” Ethan murmurs before capturing her lips with his own.

Naomi doesn’t allow herself to get swept up in the kiss, because she knows Ethan is using it to distract her. She untangles herself from his grip and pulls away before he’s able to get any more leverage.

“Can we go back to the office now?” Ethan asks.

“Absolutely not. I came here to have lunch, so we’re having lunch.”

Ethan frowns. “You still want to go through with this?”

“I didn’t come here to teach you a lesson, and I’m actually enjoying Tobias’s company, so I’m staying. And you’re staying here too.”

“No.”

“You followed me here, you don’t have a choice.”

Ethan reluctantly follows Naomi back to the table, where Tobias is studying the menu. He doesn’t even look up when he hears footsteps approaching. “I’m debating on if I want the ravioli or the chicken parm, which one–” his voice falters as he sees Ethan.

“Look who’s decided to join us for lunch!” Naomi says brightly, steamrolling over the building tension. She pushes Ethan into an empty chair, not giving him a second to turn away.

Tobias opens his mouth to object, “But–”

“I’m going to head to the restroom,” Naomi says. “And one of you guys is ordering me a limoncello, because Tobias is treating.”

She flounces off, not giving either man a chance to respond or argue with her.

Tobias laughs. “Is she always like this? So bossy?”

“Naomi is unapologetically assertive,” Ethan corrects. “She makes no bones about it.”

“The scary part about it is I’m 100 percent going to order her a limoncello, because she’s not the type of person you say no to.”

This time it’s Ethan’s turn to laugh. It’s nice to know he’s not the only unsuspecting sap that cannot say no when Naomi turns on her charm.

Once the laughter tapers off, the former friends are plunged into silence. Ethan checks the time on his watch, watching the seconds stretch on. He needs Naomi to come back. Seriously, how long does it take to use the restroom? He spares a quick glance at Tobias, who’s pointedly not making eye contact with him either.

Eventually Tobias speaks up, “Look, I didn’t come to Edenbrook to cause any trouble. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that came with more money than I could count.”

“Naveen started this team with the most honorable of intentions,” Ethan says. “This was his life’s work, and he entrusted me with it. You cannot possibly understand the loyalty I have to him, so forgive me if I’m extremely protective over it and skeptical of your motives, which haven’t always been pure.”

“I’m just here to save lives, and work on the most fascinating medical cases of our generation. I know how important this team is, and I’d never intentionally disrespect Naveen like that.”

Ethan nods. That’s all he can really ask of Tobias. “Then I guess we’re good.”

“Good.”

“Great.”

Another beat of silence passes and Tobias awkwardly drums his fingers along the stem of his water glass. “So...you and Valentine?”

The question is out of left field and Ethan’s brows furrow in confusion. “Uh, yeah, me and Valentine.”

“I like her,” Tobias says definitively. When Ethan glares at him, Tobias rolls his eyes. “Not like that. Relax, I get it loud and clear that she’s off limits. Besides, I know you’re head over heels in love with her.”

A scarlet flush creeps up Ethan’s neck at Tobias’s matter of fact declaration. “Love? I’m...we don’t...I don’t–”

Tobias smirks. “Oh man. You’ve got it bad.”

That much, Ethan is willing to share. “Yeah, I do.”

“Naomi did say we’re both emotionally constipated, and that blubbering you just did proves her point,” Tobias teases. “But don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

The L-word has floated around in the back of Ethan’s mind for months, but he’s always been able to squash it down, locking it away in the deepest recesses of his brain. But hearing someone else say it is something entirely different. Ethan can’t run away from the thought.

Tobias has known since last year. He suspected something when Ethan came to defense during the softball game, but it was confirmed as soon as he saw them together after the incident with the senator. He had never seen Ethan so out of sorts, not even when they competed for the affections of the same woman back in school. Naomi is different. She has the power to bring Ethan to his knees.

“I hope you know that you’re punching way above your weight with that one,” Tobias adds teasingly.

It’s something Ethan thinks about constantly. Naomi could do so much better than him, but every day she chooses him. “Absolutely.”

“And for what it’s worth, she’s just as much into you. The woman gives you heart eyes whenever you’re around. It’s disgusting, to be quite frank.”

The sentence warms Ethan from the inside out. He’ll never get over knowing Naomi wants him just as much as he wants her.

Thankfully Naomi chooses that moment to come back to the table, giving the men something else to focus their attention on. She settles into a seat next to Ethan, and he immediately wraps an arm around her, his fingertips stroking her arm. Tobias observes the fleeting moment of intimacy with a private smile.

Naomi’s eyes flicker back and forth between the men. “Everything okay over here?”

Tobias and Ethan both look at each other, a silent moment of understanding passing between them. Ethan nods. “Everything is fine.”

Naomi smiles. Maybe there’s hope for them yet. “Good. Now let’s flag down a waiter and get some food.”

~v~

Tags: @mvalentine @choicesaddict5 @professorkingslay @maurine07 @aka-calliope @bluebellot @whimsicallywayward15 @blossomanarchy @takemyopenheart @jamespotterthefirst @fanmantrashcan @whatchique @ao719 @x-kyne-x @colourmeshy @paulfwesley @the-pale-goddess @writinghereandthere @ramseyandrys @perriewinklenerdie @aworldoffandoms @thatcatlady0716 @drakewalker04 @canknot @hatescapsicum @lapisreviewsstuff @senseofduties @badchoicesposts @ethandaddyramseyx @chasingrobbie @zodiacsign1 @choices-lurker @my-heart-beats-for-ya @adrian-motherfucking-raines @riverrune @edith-eggs1 @thatysn @bellcat2010 @blainehellyes @cecilecontrera @junehiratas @choices-love-affair @openheart12 @caseyvalentineramsey @desmaranj @nazario-sayeed @aestheticartsx @ruinedbypixels @nooruleman @rookie-ramsey

[scarletemeterio-thesecond]

hello!! just finished reading failed expectations and it was so good!! i enjoyed it v much :) i was wondering if it would be possible to request a part 2 to it?? thank you 💕

I'm finally here with a part 2! Thank you so much for requesting, I never thought people would like failed expectations that much lol, hope y'all like it!!

Also, yes, it's reader's birthday because it's my birthday hehe

•••

Falling (Zuko x Fem!Reader)

Warnings: none.

Genre: Fluff, a bit of angst.

Fandom: Avatar, The Last Airbender.

Summary: You're in an arranged marriage with Zuko, but he hasn't been very friendly and now he's trying to be better.

Word Count: 1525

part 1 | part 3

Zuko hated himself. He'd been so focused on being the Fire Lord that he had completely neglected you. He hadn't noticed before, but now it was very obvious that you were acting different towards him. You weren't rude or anything, just very distant; just like he'd been since the start.

It had been a few days since your interaction near the turtle duck pond, but he couldn't stop thinking about it. He could see in your face how hurt you were with the entire situation, and it made him feel horrible that he was the reason you were feeling that way. So he decided he had to do something, he had to be better.

He took some baby steps at the beginning. He would smile briefly at you, or just stand closer to you than he used to. He'd also try to talk to you a lot more, mostly about things related to the Fire Nation since he didn't really know how to approach you, but he wanted to show you that he didn't hate you or anything.

At first, you didn't understand why he was being so nice to you out of nowhere, but clearly, it didn't bother you. It was nice to feel at least a little more welcomed, especially since you missed your family so much. You were allowed to see them, obviously, but you couldn't do it every single day.

After a few weeks, he finally built the courage to ask you to spend the day with him. However, he had a meeting in the afternoon, so the first time, he only asked you to spend the morning with him.

When he asked that, you seriously wondered if somehow, you'd dreamt everything that happened during that whole month. But if it was a dream, you didn't want anyone to wake you up.

When you got out of your room, you both stood there, looking at each other. He licked his lips and scratched his neck before speaking.

"Hey... How did you sleep?" He asked, wondering why he'd said the first thing that came to his mind. He was nervous, and you could definitely tell, but, to be honest, you felt the same.

"Uh, fine. What are we gonna do today?"

"I arranged everything for us to have breakfast near the turtle duck pond, I know you like spending time there," as he said that he spread out his arm, inviting you to start walking.

"That sounds really nice, Fire Lord Zuko," you didn't realize it, but he cringed a bit when he heard how you called him. He didn't say anything, but it made him feel a bit bad that you always called him like that.

When you got there, you saw that a very nice picnic had been organized, and once again you wondered if you were asleep. The both of you sat on the ground and started eating in silence.

"Wait, save some bread for the turtle ducks!" You said to him. He couldn't help but smile as he put some bread to one side.

"You know, when I was little my mother and I used to feed them too," he commented. You looked at him with a questioning expression on your face since you couldn't believe he was talking to you about his childhood, but you quickly smiled at him, waiting for him to continue. "You remind me of her," he admitted.

"Well, I'm flattered, Fire Lord Zuko."

"You know you can just call me Zuko, right?" He asked.

"I, uh, I just didn't know if it was okay for me to call you by your name."

"Of course it's okay, there's no need for formalities between us," you looked at him in the eye and smiled at his words. He was about to keep talking, but the two of you were interrupted.

"Fire Lord Zuko, your guests are here."

"Already?" He asked to himself. He didn't want to go, he wanted to stay there with you, listening to your sweet voice. You looked at him and decided to grab one of his arms.

"It's okay, I understand." He let out a sigh and started getting up.

"We'll feed the turtle ducks later. I promise." You nodded and watched him walk away.

It had been almost five months since the two of you got married, and it had been three months since the last time you saw your family, but even though you missed them, with every passing day you felt a little more at home in the palace. Your relationship with Zuko was still a little weird, but it definitely was a lot better than before. At least now you could say that you were friends, not best friends, but it was a step in the right direction.

However, you were a bit worried since your birthday was coming. You thought Zuko didn't know, and the thought of spending your special day away from the people you loved made you feel sad.  But what you didn't know was that your husband was aware of the upcoming day, and he'd been preparing everything for your family to visit you.

You'd noticed that he was acting different, he was avoiding you again and whenever you talked to him, his responses were short and cold. You thought that maybe you'd finally woken up from that beautiful dream, and that everything was over. For a while, you felt sad, but then that sadness was replaced by anger. You just didn't understand Zuko, one day he was your friend and the next one he barely talked to you. You stayed in your room for the next few days, hardly leaving your chambers, which actually ended up making things a lot easier for Zuko.

It was your birthday, and when you were woken up by one of the maids, you thought that it was your mother for a second. However, as soon as you opened your eyes, you remembered where you were, and that your mom wasn't there with you.

"Lady (Y/N), here is your breakfast," she informed you.

"Wait, I didn't ask for breakfast," you told her, thinking that she was confused.

"Oh, Fire Lord Zuko told us to bring it to you." You looked at her, completely perplexed. She didn't give you any time for you to ask questions since she quickly started to walk away. "Happy birthday, Lady (Y/N)," she said before closing the doors.

You wondered how she'd know that it was your birthday, and then you realized that the answer was your own husband. You looked at the food and you recognized that it was your typical birthday breakfast from home. A brief smile was planted on your face at the thought of your family, and even though you were mad at Zuko for all the mixed signals, you enjoyed the dish. Nonetheless, when you were done, you got changed and got out of your room to go look for him.

You ran into him since he was heading to your bedroom, and when you realized it was him, you got even angrier.

"What's going on with you?" You asked. "I truly don't understand, Zuko. One day we're friends and then you don't even look at me for a whole week," he tried to grab your hand but you didn't let him. "And now you pretend that nothing happened and bring me breakfast for my birthday? Like I want to know-."

"Just come with me," he interrupted you. He grabbed your arm and made you follow him. You still didn't understand what was happening and wanted to argue with him. When you got to the throne room, he let you go and turned around to look at you. "Happy birthday, (Y/N)."

"Zuko, what-?" And then you saw them. Your parents and your sister were just a few meters away from you. You looked at Zuko with some tears already threatening to fall from your eyes. "You did this?" He nodded while smiling at you.

"We've been preparing this surprise for a while now, and that's why I've been acting so weird around you. I didn't want you to find out, and I was a bit scared that I'd end up telling you, so... Yeah." As soon as he said that you wrapped your arms around his neck and he wrapped his around your waist.

"Thank you so much, Zuko," you whispered in his ear.

"You're welcome, (Y/N), I'm glad you're happy."

You two pulled away and you got rid of the tears from your face. You went to your family and hugged each of them with the biggest smile on your face. You were so happy that your thoughts about Zuko were wrong, and you realized that maybe spending your days by his side wouldn't be as bad as you thought it would.

Zuko looked at the four of you with a smile on his face. He loved how much you loved your family, and he loved seeing you smile. Right there in that moment, he realized he was looking forward to the rest of his life with you, with the girl he was falling in love with.

[wiypt-writes]

Riding High

Ch18: Sugar

 Chapter Summary: It’s July, and Fliss’ birthday…

 Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words.!!!

 Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

 A/N: Ok, so I know you’ve all been on edge since He-who-shall-not-be-named was released on parole and I hope this chapter doesn’t disappoint. We’ll be gearing up for a bit of a rough time over the next few chapters for Friss so buckle up…  

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding High Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 17

July 2018

 “So now what?” Mary looked at Fliss as the two of them sat side by side at the table, both looking at the laptop in front of them.

“See these spaces here…” Fliss said, pointing to two empty squares dotted in the unpublished Internet Page and then to the larger space at the top “Now we need to add the photos…”

 They were working on a project of sorts for Sandybrook’s website. They’d decided to give Monty his own little weekly blog for the summer called “The Life of Monty” which Mary had eagerly said she wanted to write, something for her to do over the break. “Ooh, ok!” Mary nodded “I already know which ones I want to use!” “Yeah?” Fliss looked at her.

“I want that one that has me, you and Monty in…you know the one that Frank likes where we are both laughing.” Fliss smiled “Ok, we can use that one.” “And then the other one is the one where Monty had the Party Hat on because it was his birthday.” “Good choice.” Fliss smiled “And what about the one across the top.” “The one of him in the pasture.” Mary said after a moment “Where he is looking up and pulling the funny face, you know with all his teeth out?” 

Fliss grinned “Yeah, it looks like he is smiling.” Mary nodded eagerly “Yup.” With a move of the mouse, Fliss set to work selecting the photos, ensuring that they were positioned and sized right for the frames. She couldn’t help but smile at the one of her and Mary. Mary was looking at the camera, laughing a lot whilst Fliss was, in turn, watching her and laughing too. Frank had been trying to take the photo of the 2 of them but Bill had been stood behind him, pulling stupid faces which had reduced Mary to tears, and her giggles had then set Fliss off. Frank said he adored the photo, that much in-fact it was now the screen-saver on his phone.

 Fliss clicked save and then looked at Mary. “Wanna give it a final read over, check if you want to add anything else?”

Mary nodded.

“Ok, you do that I’m gonna start dinner.” “What are we having?” Mary looked at her.

“Carbonara. That ok?”

Mary grinned her approval as Fliss stood up, dropped a kiss to Mary’s head and walked into the kitchen.

It wasn’t long before Frank came home and greeted Mary before he headed into the kitchen area. He wrapped his arms round Fliss from behind, dropping a kiss to her neck.

“Good day?” he asked and she hmmed in agreement.

 “Not bad…are you filthy, as usual?”

 He chuckled as he let her go and moved to the fridge. She stopped what she was doing and turned to face him as he reached in for the water jug. He was, as always, covered in grime from his work and Fliss bit her lip. There was definitely something about seeing him in his dirty work jeans and grubby T-shirts that got her blood pumping.

 “Stop it.” he said, giving her a look, knowing full well what she was thinking. She shrugged and with a grin turned back to the food.

 “Oh, erm, wanted to check…are you if we use photos of Mary for her blog on the website?” Fliss asked, turning back to him.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” “It’s a public sight.” Fliss shrugged “Just wanted to check that’s all.” “It’s fine.” Frank said, placing a kiss to her cheek “I think it’s a really good idea anyway, give her something to do and practice her writing. Like Bonnie said, she’s sharp on the numbers but could do with honing up her English a little bit. She’s too logical, this should give her something to be creative with and keep her occupied over the break.”

 And you…he refrained from adding. In the week following the notification that parole had been granted, John had been released. And this had set Fliss on edge. One night after she had snapped at Frank, causing a full scale argument over the fact he had bought the wrong type of salad dressing, she’d broken down and confessed that she wasn’t sleeping properly and this was causing stupid things, like Ranch v French dressing, to tip her over the edge.

 The day after her spectacular salad dressing related melt down, Greg, who had already requested details of the terms of his release, came over and the 3 of them gone through, in detail what it meant realistically for Fliss.

 “Basically it’s as good as you could hope for.” Greg explained “He is forbidden from contacting you or any of your family in any way, via any means. He is State-bound to Massachusetts, specifically the Boston area. He’s tagged, and on a curfew between the hours of 7pm and 7am. And moreover the authorities here are following the UK’s lead as well and trialling these new GPS tracking tags, which they’ve deemed him eligible for. So at any time, any place, they’ll be able to lock onto his whereabouts…” 

“So if he does breach his conditions…” Fliss started and Greg nodded “They’ll be on him like a shot.” he said, with a gentle smile “Look, I know this is shit…but you really do have nothing to worry about. One breach and he’s back inside. And when he reaches the end of his parole, we’ll file for an injunction with the same conditions. Keep him away from you.”

 Since the conversation with Greg, Fliss had calmed down somewhat but still, in week following her confession she didn’t spend a night away from Frank, seemingly coping better with the fact that she was around him, and even when he wasn’t there, the fact she was in his apartment gave her some safety and comfort.

 So he’d asked her to move in permanently 3 days ago. Which he was still waiting for an answer on. 

“What you thinking?” her voice broke through his thoughts.

“Honestly?”

 “Always.” she nodded.

 “When you’re gonna give me an answer to that question I asked you a few days back.” She took a deep breath and looked down at the floor before she looked up at him, a soft smile on her face.

 “Are you sure you want me here, full time, and you’re not just asking because-“

 “Lissy…” he cut her off, shaking his head “I’d have asked you move in here the day I did if I’d thought you’d have said yes. I’d love you to come live with us. And I know Mary would too…” “Ok, that’s blackmail.” she narrowed his eyes at the fact he’d dropped Mary into the equation and he grinned. “Is it working?”

 She bit her lip and nodded “Yeah, ok, I’d love to…” “Yeah?” he said, a huge smile spreading across his face, warmth flooding his chest.

 “Yeah…” she nodded, and grinned as he wrapped his arms around her, pressing a kiss to her lips.

 “Gross…” Mary mumbled as she walked past the pair of them to the fridge, retrieving a juice box. . Frank broke away to look at her as she stabbed the straw into the hole at the top.

“Better get over it Stack.” he smirked. “Fliss just agreed to come live with us.” “Really?” her eyes widened and she grinned as Fliss nodded. Mary moved over to the pair of them and wrapped her arms around them both, Frank’s hand falling to the back of her head as she looked up at him. “Does that mean I don’t need to eat any more of your cooking, like ever again?”

 Frank rolled his eyes and glanced at Fliss who was chuckling slightly “Trust me Mary…” she said, grinning “I’ve no intention of eating his cooking either.”

***** Of course Verity and Bill were over the moon when Fliss told them she was moving into Frank’s, and the next week or so they all spent doing various runs with the things she decided she needed to take. Everything else she would be leaving in the annex to either throw or store at a later date. 

Considering the amount of time they spent together, it wasn’t a huge change for them, it just meant that the comfortable routine they adopted when they were together became a daily one, and it suited the pair of them just fine. Frank also surprised Fliss by getting her a vanity unit which she had made a passing comment about, making space for it in their room.

After 3 weeks it had become the new normal for them. They shared chores, shared Activity Club runs, grocery shopping,  bills…Frank had tried to object to that one but Fliss had put her foot down insisting that if she was living there she was paying her way so he’d caved in the end and agreed. Fliss felt happy, safe, secure, loved...and Frank was over the moon simply knowing he had her to come home to every night.

 One particular evening, a few days before her Birthday they were due to meet Evelyn for dinner as she was in town again to visit Mary, but Fliss was running ridiculously late, and as a consequence was in a total flap

 “Fuck, fuck…” she groaned, jumping out of the jeep and calling Thor to her. “Come on buddy…”

She hurried across the lawns and threw the door to the apartment open, Thor shooting in before her. 

“I’m so sorry I’m late…” she instantly began apologising  as she walked into the living area and groaned loudly “The last lesson overran and then one of the waterers broke in the livery barn, flooded Horatio’s stable…” “It’s ok, calm down…” Frank chuckled, dropping a kiss to her cheek. “How did it break?”

“He’s been scratching his arse on it.” she said, rubbing at her temple “He broke it off the wall. We turned the supply off but I had to sort his bed before I left, then call his owner to tell her…” she groaned “Fucking nightmare.” “Want me to take a look at it?”

Fliss shook her head “Dad’s gonna do it tomorrow, keep him busy. He always moans at me for asking you and not…” she trailed off as she spotted Evelyn who was sat on one of the chairs in the living room. “Oh, Evelyn…hi. Sorry, I didn’t realise you were coming here…I thought…”

“We were…” Frank explained “But Mary wasn’t feeling too good so I suggested to Mother she come here instead.” “Oh, no, is she ok?” Fliss asked.

 “Too much sun I think, she’s been running around at the Activities Camp all day and hardly drunk anything, despite the lecture you gave her. She’s had some water and gone for a nap. She’ll be fine when it’s time for dinner.”

 “I thought seeing as we can’t go out I’d treat you to take out.” Evelyn spoke, standing up. Fliss eyed her for a moment before she shrugged.

 “I can make something.” she offered, and Frank shook his head. “No, Lissy…” “I can do chicken with that pear and blue cheese salad you and Mary liked.” Fliss said, “Surely that’s gonna be better for her than a take out if she’s feeling shitty?”

 Frank looked at her and then to his mother “That ok with you?” “Sure, that sounds good.” Evelyn nodded “but only if it’s no trouble.” “It’s fine.” Fliss nodded “Let me go take a shower and then I’ll get started ok?” Frank nodded and dropped a kiss to her cheek before she headed off to the bathroom. Thor made his way into the living room and took his usual place on the rug, flopping down as he looked up at Evelyn as she followed Frank over to the kitchen area. He pulled a bottle of white wine out of the fridge and held it up.

 “Sancerre?” Evelyn arched an eyebrow. “And a pretty good one too…” “Fliss’ choice, not mine. I assume that means you’d like a glass.” “I don’t want to put you out Frank.” she said, and he shook his head.

 “You’re here now so…” he said “Oh, we normally eat outside but I’m not sure if Mary’s-”

 “What, in open view of everyone?” Evelyn asked, horrified “It’s hardly-“ She stopped dead as Frank shot her a look, and held her hands up. “Point taken…”

 Frank poured her a glass then got a beer for himself and leaned back against the counter as his Mother nodded appreciatively at the wine.

 “So, pear and blue cheese…” she said and Frank looked at her “You hated cheese as a child.” “Well, I like it now.” he shrugged “And Mary loves that salad so…” “It’s not a dish I would normally associate with a child to be honest.” Evelyn mused.

“Well, I think we can both agree Mary isn’t a particularly standard child so…”

 At that point Fred sauntered into the kitchen, straight to his food bowl. Evelyn eyed him, before she turned to Frank and smiled “I already took a Benadryl…” He snorted and a few seconds later Mary appeared.

“Hi Grandmother. Fliss said you were here.” “You feeling ok?” Frank asked as she walked over to him. He swung her up and she rest her head on his shoulder, nodding. “Want some more water?” “Fliss told me to ask for the elec…erm…the electo-” “Electrolytes” he said, nodding. “Not a bad shout…”

He set her on the counter and then reached into the cabinet to the right of the sink where they kept the medical supplies and pulled a sachet from the box. Grabbing a glass he pulled the Filter jug out of the fridge and made her the drink before he handed it to her. “Take it slow ok?” She nodded and took it from him with a thanks, sipping at it carefully, pulling a face. “What flavour is that?” “It says orange.” he answered, looking at the packet.

“Well it’s wrong. That’s disgusting.” “It’s good for you, so stop complaining.”  Frank tossed the empty sachet into the trash.

 To his surprise he heard his mother chuckling and he turned to look at her.  “I remember giving you something similar when you came home with sunstroke from playing Baseball all afternoon. You spat it out and told me you’d rather die than drink it.” Frank gave a huff and then turned to Mary who was grinning ear to ear “Don’t even think about it.” he pointed at her.

 She shrugged and then took another mouthful, grimacing as she drank. “Please can I get down?” Frank obliged and watched as she headed off to the sofa, Thor jumping up besides her, settling his head in her lap.

 “Go and talk to her.” Frank looked at his mother “That’s why you’re here, to spend time with her. Not me.”

Evelyn nodded, and for a moment Frank thought he saw a flicker of emotion in the woman’s eyes, but as quick as it had flashed across her face it was gone and she turned and made her way into the sofa. Frank leaned on the edge of the archway which led into the living area and watched as she sat down in the chair she had occupied previously before he heard the door to the bathroom open again, signalling Fliss was out of the shower. He moved to start taking the different things they needed to make dinner out of the fridge and turned on the oven before he seasoned the chicken breasts just as she had shown him with salt, pepper, chilli and a squeeze of lime. He dropped it onto a tray, placed it in the oven and was washing his hands when Fliss walked dressed casually in a pair of shorts and a fading Guns N Roses tank top. She was barefoot and her damp hair was piled up on her head in a haphazard bun. This was Frank’s favourite way to see her. Completely relaxed and at home.

 “Chicken’s in.” he said as he turned to the fridge and then poured her a glass of wine.

 “Thank you.” she smiled, taking a sip.

 “Can I show Evelyn around?” Mary asked, and Frank turned to her.

 “Finished your drink?” “Yeah.” “Ok then yes, of course you can.” She stood up and Evelyn followed, giving the pair of them a smile as she passed by the kitchen area of the open plan living space

 “Oh, Felicity.” “Fliss, please.” Fliss nodded to her as she turned back to what she was doing.

 “Fliss, sorry, but could I be awkward?” Evelyn asked.

“No doubt you can.” Fliss mumbled between gritted teeth and Frank smirked to himself before she tuned to look at Evelyn.

 “Could I ask for my salad dressing on the side?”

“That’s fine.” Fliss nodded “I’ll make you a separate bowl.” “Thank you, that’s very kind.” Evelyn smiled before she headed out after Mary.

 “If she doesn’t eat this, then she’s gonna be wearing it.” Fliss looked at Frank who let out a laugh as he chopped up the slices of cucumber.

 “Now that I would pay to see.” “I’ll do it for free.” Fliss narrowed her eyes.

Frank chuckled again as they continued to make their food. After about 10 minutes or so, just as they were dropping the salad bowls onto the table, Evelyn and Mary re-appeared.

 “You’ve made a nice home, certainly considering the area anyway.” Evelyn said, as Frank invited her to sit at the table before he headed back to grab the bottle of wine, a beer for himself and more water for Mary.

 Fliss rolled her eyes” The area is fine, and Frank did it all, not me. Well, him and my dad. I only moved in a few weeks ago.”

“Yes, he does speak very highly of your parents.” “Well they love him.” Fliss shrugged “But then again what’s not to love.”

Evelyn looked at Fliss for a moment as Frank made his way back to the table, and they all settled down and began to eat. As she had been at Mary’s birthday, his mother was polite, nodding appreciatively at the food, joining in the conversation and she sat with Mary once they’d finished so Mary could show he the latest installation of Monty’s blog. After another bottle of wine and a few more beers, Frank realised it was getting quite late and then told Mary she needed to be getting ready for bed. Evelyn took this as her queue to call for her driver, which Frank was pleased about as it saved him having to ask her to leave.

 Mary headed for a shower and the three adults made small talk until she reappeared in her pyjamas just as Evelyn’s driver called to announce his arrival. She bid Mary goodnight and then Frank made to walk her down to her car when the woman surprised him and looked at Fliss. 

“Could you…I’d like to speak to you.” Fliss looked at Frank before she shrugged “Yeah, sure…” Frank frowned, but didn’t object. He looked at his mother and nodded “Let me know when you want to see her again.”

 “I was actually wondering if she could come to Boston for a few days.” Evelyn said and Frank took a deep breath. “Obviously, when it’s convenient.” “Maybe.” He nodded “Goodbye Evelyn.” “Yes, I’ll call you.” she nodded and then the two women headed out of the apartment. Fliss stuck her hands in her pockets as they walked.

 “I’m glad he took my advice.” Evelyn broke the silence “Regarding you, I mean…”

“Yeah he told me what you said to him.” Fliss gave a snort “Gotta say I was surprised after I’d unleashed quite a nasty verbal tirade on you…” “Well I think all things considered at the time I deserved it.”  Evelyn shrugged “And I’m not surprised you hate me so-“

 “I don’t hate you Evelyn.” Fliss cut her off, shaking her head “I hate what you did to Frank and Mary, and honestly? I still don’t understand it.”

 “I thought I was doing the right thing.” “But how?” Fliss pressed “How was tearing a girl away from the only father figure she has ever known, the man that has cared for her and loved her since she was six months old the right thing?”

 Evelyn shook her head “I know Frank and I made an assumption-” “No, you knew Frank.” Fliss looked at her, “It was, what? Almost 8 years since you saw him last when you turned up…and how long was it before he left Boston since you actually had a conversation with him? I just…” Fliss trailed off and looked down at her feet before she glanced back at Frank’s mother “it baffles me how someone can be so callous towards their own child, that’s all.”

 Fliss watched as Evelyn stopped and looked at her “What do you want me to say?” “An apology might not go amiss…” “I did that with his birthday card, paying the fees…” “Money doesn’t make it ok Evelyn.” Fliss sighed, “And a card isn’t the same as saying it to his face…” she scratched at her head “If you want to try and salvage something from this mess, have some form of relationship with your son…” “What makes you think-“ “Because I saw you this evening, at various points, watching him…you might be able to keep your face straight but the eyes don’t lie” Fliss said gently. Evelyn looked down at the ground as Fliss continued. “I suggest you start with a verbal apology, a very open and honest discussion, because that’s when you get the best out of Frank. On a face-to-face level, when he isn’t being lied or talked down to”

 “You really do know him exceptionally well don’t you?” Evelyn smiled.

“Well, we’ve had enough of our own discussions recently with everything that’s been going on so…” “Right, your ex-husband.” “How do you-“ Fliss sighed, “Mary?” “No, actually, she never said a word. I looked you up.”

 “Course you did.” Fliss groaned.

 “I was curious about your family.” Evelyn shrugged “You have quite the back story.” “Yeah well, its history.” she said “And long may it stay that way.”

 “Well I hope for all your sakes it does.” Evelyn shook her head “Nothing I can’t stand less than a man that deems it acceptable to do that. Lord knows I pushed Preston the extremes at times but he never once raised a hand to me…or his voice now that I think about it. He preferred to argue on a cerebral level...”

 “Very like Frank.” Fliss smiled.

 “Yes, the two are exceptionally similar.” Evelyn said as they reached the car. “Thank you for dinner Fliss, it was a very enjoyable evening.” Fliss smiled and then as Evelyn opened the car door the woman turned back to her “Just think about what I said Evelyn. You can’t turn the clock back but it’s how you go forward from here that matters.”

 Evelyn nodded, and with that she climbed in the car and shut the door. Fliss watched them drive off before she turned and headed back towards the apartment. “You ok?” Frank asked, turning to look over the back of the sofa as she walked into the living area.

“Yeah, fine.” Fliss smiled. “Mary in bed?”

“She’s reading” Frank nodded “Told her you’d pop in and say goodnight.” Fliss yawned as she slid her arms round his shoulders from behind “I’ll go now, then I think I’ll get in bed myself. I’m whacked.” Frank smiled and turned his head to give her a kiss “I’m just gonna finish watching this and then I’ll be with you.” “What is it?” Fliss asked, turning her attention to the TV.

“A documentary on whales, funnily enough. You’d enjoy it…” “You’re such an old man” she teased and he scoffed.

 “Not what you were saying last night.”

Fliss laughed “Well you keep yourself in good shape, what can I say.” With that she kissed his cheek and headed down the hall.

After bidding goodnight to Mary and Thor, who seemed very happy to remain in Mary’s room with Fred, she changed for bed and slipped into the sheets, stretching out before she got herself comfortable. She was dozing, drifting in and out of a light sleep when she felt Frank climb into bed behind her, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her to his chest.

 “Finish whale watching?” she asked as he dropped a kiss to her shoulder.

 “Yeah.” he said gently. “So you gonna tell me what my mother wanted?” “Nothing much…” Fliss turned in his arms so she was facing him. “She was actually quite contrite.”

 “Course she was…” “No, I mean it, I think she’s genuinely sorry.” Her hand gently traced shapes on his bicep “Maybe you should give her a chance to apologise properly.”

“That must have been one hell of a talk.” Frank snorted “You were all for dumping salad on her head before!”

 “We had a very honest discussion, I got a few things off my chest.” Fliss shrugged “And, well, like it or not she’s still your mum Frank.” “No, she’s my mother.” he corrected her “Your mom is a mom.”

 “Was your dad a dad or a father?” “He was a dad.” Frank said, “Most definitely.”

 “Do you remember much about him?” she asked.

“Little bits.” Frank’s hand tucked her hair behind her ear. “Mostly about stuff we did. Baseball, football, when he taught me how to ride a bike. All the fun stuff you do with kids really.” he took a deep breath.

 “What did he do?” “He was a Surgeon” Frank said “Neurology.” “Really?” Fliss looked up at Frank as he nodded “Well that’s pretty cool!”

 “Yeah.” Frank nodded “I wanted to be just like him when I was a kid. I sometimes wonder if I idolise him a bit more because he’s dead you know but…” “Have you ever asked your mother what he was like? You know, since he died?” “Once or twice.” Frank replied “For all of Evelyn’s faults she did love Dad. She gave up her own career and research partnership she had with Cambridge in London to move to Boston when she met him. Then they had me. I think she resented me a little bit at first because me and dad were so close, and then when Diane came along that was it, Daddy’s girl...”

 “No longer his main woman.” Fliss smiled.

 “Something like that. You know, I do wonder at times why on Earth she had us.” Frank snorted “if we were such inconveniences…” “It can’t all have been bad.” “Well we wanted for nothing. In fact, we were both very spoilt. And yeah, we had Birthday parties, fun, vacations, trips…but when dad died…I dunno, it kinda went to rat-shit.” “It must have been hard for Evelyn you know, losing him when you were both so young.”

 “Yeah.” Frank sighed “I’ve no doubt it was. I remember the police coming round and breaking the news about the accident…only time I’ve ever seen her break down.”

“You know before, she said that you remind her of your dad.” Fliss looked at him.

“Yeah she’s told me the same, last time I saw her in fact. Probably why she doesn’t particularly enjoy being around me that much.” “I think she enjoys it a lot more than she lets on.”  Fliss shrugged “And besides, I enjoy being around you. And so do my parents…so…”

 Frank gave her a soft smile before she leaned up and gave him a kiss. “I know…” he said, as she snuggled into his chest “And that’s all I care about.” ******

 Friday rolled around and with it came Fliss’ birthday. Frank was pretty sure Mary was more excited than Fliss to give her the gifts they had bought, and with good reason. Fliss beamed as she opened her various packages from them both, which included a bottle of her favourite perfume, a pale blue and white striped sleeveless button down which Frank had thought was quite nautical so very apt and a box of British chocolate. Bonnie had also stopped round the night before to give her a bottle of her favourite gin and a huge bag of sweets which she declared she was hiding from Frank as she didn’t trust him not to eat them.

Frank then handed her the envelope with her main present in and she opened it, her mouth dropping open as she looked at the Broadway Tickets.

“Lion King?” she said, looking up at him. “We’re going to see the Lion King?” He nodded, smiling “I know you wanted to go so…” “Oh my God…thank you!” she practically squealed throwing her arms round his neck, kissing his cheek.

 “You’re welcome.” he smiled, winking at Mary over his shoulder. She gave him the thumbs up. Fliss turned back to look at the pile of presents arranged on the coffee table before Mary handed her another smaller wrapped one.

“This is from me…and Fred…and Thor.” she added and Fliss smiled, unwrapping the small black box. She opened it, and a small card fell out which she picked up and read out loud.

 “We hope you enjoy your “Precious Paws” hand-made resin beads…” she trailed off, and glanced down at the charms in more detail. One was green speckled with gold and the other was blue speckled with silver.

 “The green one has some of Heidi’s tail hair in it…” Mary pointed as Fliss gently took it from the box to examine it in more detail, clearly seeing where the hair was wound through the resin of the bead “And the Blue one has Thor’s in.”

 “I…” Fliss felt herself choke up “Mary these are beautiful, where did you…” “Joanne told me about them.” Mary said, and Frank smiled at her “And then Frank helped me order them…” “They’re not officially Pandora but the woman said when we emailed her they’d fit the standard bracelet.” He said as she turned her head to look at him, her eyes shining.

 “Thank you both, so much…” she turned to Mary and wrapped her up in a hug before she did the same to Frank, giving him a soft kiss “Love you.” “Happy birthday Sweetheart.” he smiled, hugging her again.

As Fliss had booked the day off, so had Frank so the three of them along with Thor and Fred spent the afternoon after visiting Fliss’ mum and dad on one of the boats belonging to Paul, the owner of the shop Frank worked in. Frank had deliberately chosen one of the smaller ones so they could access the small stretch of sand just off St Pete’s beach that they all loved. It was quieter than the main beach as it wasn’t reachable unless you waded or sailed over and they spent the afternoon on the beach with a few beers and a picnic, before they headed home. Mary crashed out on the way back, her head lolling on Fliss’s lap as she sat at the front of the boat, her bare feet resting on the bar in front of her, simply watching the dolphins. Thor was barking at them like mad, wagging his tail and then suddenly he shot to the bow of the boat, placing both his paws up on the metal, threatening to throw himself overboard. Frank’s hand shot out to grab his collar.

“Dumbass…” he yanked him back, and turned to Fliss “Does this mutt have a brain in his head?”

 “Don’t’ talk about my baby like that…” she narrowed her eyes at Frank as she covered Thor’s ears with her hands as he sat by her feet, tail thumping on the floor. “Fred does his share of stupid shit too, like getting his head stuck in cereal boxes.”

 Frank rolled his eyes “At least Fred knows not to jump in the ocean.”

 “That’s because he has no sense of adventure.” Fliss shot back, causing Frank to snort. Standing up, Fliss gently moved Mary, so that she was led flat down before she stretched and moved next to Frank who tossed his arm over her shoulder.

“Had a good day?” he asked and she grinned, nodding.

 “The best.” she smiled “I love it when you bring me out sailing.” “I’m driving.” he turned to face her, grinning. “You’re sailing.”

 “Whatever” he mumbled as his lips pressed to hers. She snaked her arms around his neck as his slid round her back, pulling her closer to him as he kissed her deeply his tongue sliding against hers.

 “You can unwrap your last present when we get home…” he said, grinning like a school boy as he rest his forehead head against hers.

 “Yeah?” she asked, arching an eyebrow

 “I’d let you unwrap it now but…” he nodded to Mary and she snorted.

“You know we’ve not actually done that.” she mused. “Sex on a boat I mean…” Frank let out a laugh “You harbouring a bit of a sailing kink?” “More of a sailor kink” she shot back and he shook his head, giving her another quick kiss before he turned his attention back to the boat as he guided it back into the Marina.

 He made good on his promise once they got back, loved on his girl. Once in the shower and then again later on when he woke up as Fliss had done the same to use the bathroom. Frank knew he would never get tired of hearing the soft cries of his names and the various encouragements she gave him when she begged him not to stop or told him how good he was making her feel. As he tumbled right over that edge, behind her 3rd, or was it 4th orgasm, he’d lost count, his fingers tightened slightly on her hips as his head tipped back in ecstasy. He lay still, panting as she collapsed onto his chest, his hands stroking up and down her spine as she lifted her head, grinning as she caught his lips in a soft kiss before falling down onto the mattress next to him. She looked at him, her eyes flashing in the soft light that was sneaking into the room through the crack in the curtains, a look of pure love on her face, as if he had hung the moon and the stars in the sky, and it was enough to choke him up slightly. He still wasn’t sure he was worthy of her unadulterated adoration, but damned it, he’d try constantly to be the best version of himself if it kept her by his side.

 He didn’t wake the next morning when Fliss’ alarm went off. Instead he woke to a gentle kiss to his cheek and as he roused himself the smell of freshly brewed coffee hit his senses. Blinking he smiled softly as Fliss placed a mug on his night stand.

 “What time is it?” Frank asked.

 “Just gone seven. I’ve got an early appointment with the Ariat rep at the stables, remember?” “Oh, yeah…” he yawned, rubbing his eyes.

 “You told me to wake you before I left.”

 “Yeah, I don’t know why I did that…” he moaned and she chuckled.

 “You gonna bring Mary up later?”

 “Yeah, I’ll leave he with you for the afternoon if that’s ok? Need to clean the boat and get it back.” “Course it is.” she smiled. With that she bent over to kiss him again and in a shot Frank’s arms were round her waist and she was flat on her back on the bed, laughing as he caged her with his arms.

 “Frank…” she whined, as he kissed her softly “I can’t, I’m gonna be late as it is…” “One more kiss, come one…” he pleaded, and she relented as he pressed his lips to hers before she eventually pulled away and shoved on his chest. With a pout he moved allowing her to stand and she shook her head at him.

 “You’ll be the death of me Frank Adler.” she said, straightening her top and he eyed her figure up as she did so and gave a shrug.

 “What a way to go…” he smirked and with that she reached down, grabbed one of the various scatter cushions that lived on the bed during the day, and smacked him straight on the face with it.

 He and Mary shared a lazy morning before they both dressed and headed out going via the bakery at the end of the high street to pick up a coffee and some Danishes for a late breakfast for Fliss as he knew she’d have left without eating any, she always did when she was out earlier than them. As he pulled up, Mary was out of the truck before he had stopped, something which he was fed up of telling her off for.

Frank walked into Fliss’ office where he placed the bag of food on the desk, along with the cardboard carrier which contained their coffee and gave her cheek a kiss. Mary shot into the tack room, grabbed her little box of brushes and shot off to go and see Monty.

“Bye then…” he said sarcastically, and she completely ignored him. He snorted, shaking his head as Fliss laughed.

 “Busy morning?” he asked and Fliss nodded.

 “I’ll say.” she nodded to the bag “Saturday’s always are…aww, you bring me breakfast?”

 “If 11 am counts as breakfast” he snorted and Fliss laughed as she continued sifting through the pile of envelopes on her desk. There was one that contained a few clearly hand delivered cards, he could tell by the shape and the fact they had no post marks, and then another small pile that had arrived in the post. “Bill, bill…oh…” She stopped at a bigger envelope. “A card?”

 Frank shrugged. She turned it over, ripped open the envelope and pulled out a white card with simple block writing on the front in multi-colours. With a frown she opened it and scanned the greeting, before her eyes grew wide and she threw it down onto the desk.

“Lissy?” Frank frowned, and he looked at her as she shook her head, taking a deep breath, before she swallowed and turned to face him. “Honey, what is it?” “It’s…” she swallowed, her eyes wide “That card…it’s…it’s from John.”

Frank’s face grew harsh as he grabbed the card and read the greeting. It was 3 words long. 3 simple words, but even he knew from what she’d told him about the name John used to call her, that it was from him. Happy Birthday Sugar. “Fucker.” Frank growled, tossing the card back onto the desk as Fliss turned to him and he wrapped her in his arms, letting her simply press her face into his chest. He rubbed his hand gently up and down her back as her breathing evened out and she stepped back. “You ok?” “Yeah…” she said, “Do me a favour and get rid of it.” “Don’t you wanna call the police?” he frowned.

 “They’re not going to do anything about a card.” she shook her head

 “He’s broken his parole…” “And they can’t prove its him.” she sighed “They’re not gonna DNA test or whatever on that…” “Fliss…”

“No, Frank…just…” she shook her head. “Please, do what I ask and rip it up, burn it, whatever, I just…get rid of it”

 “Ok, ok…” he appeased and she nodded, before she looked to the doorway and hastily her face rearranged into a smile.

 “Hi Steph!” she greeted. Frank turned to see a dark haired woman dressed in riding gear, Fliss’ next client. “DJ is ready, get Jo to get you on and I’ll be out in a moment.” The woman smiled and headed off down the yard. Fliss looked at Frank.

 “I didn’t think about the fact this place was so easy to find.” she shook her head “The webpage…” Frank sighed, it was something if truth be told he hadn’t considered either “Look, the worst he can do is send you shit.” he said, almost trying to convince himself as well “He can’t set foot out of Mass…he’s clearly doing this to try and upset you so…” “Well he can fuck off and die.” Fliss said venomously, “Ass hole…a fucking birthday card? He’s clearly losing his touch.” With that she gave his cheek a peck and grabbed a Danish out of the bag before she picked up her coffee. “This lesson is only half an hour so as soon as I’m done Mary can ride Monty and then she can do her jobs and stuff. You go and clear the boat from yesterday or whatever it is you were planning on doing and I’ll give you a call later ok?”

 “Sure.” he nodded.

“Love you.” she smiled at him, before she left the room.

 Frank watched her go before he looked at the card. She’d asked him to get rid of it…but something was telling him not to. He pondered it for a moment before he tucked the offending item back into the envelope and then curled it up so it would fit in his back pocket, before he headed out to the jeep, pulling his phone free as he walked. 

“S’up Man?” Greg greeted him as he opened his truck door threw the envelope onto the passenger seat.

“I need some advice.” Frank spoke quietly, glancing over to where Fliss was now stood in the middle of the paddock, the women on the large grey horse was walking around her in a circle. “Can we meet?”

**** Chapter 19

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Riding High Ch 18: Sugar

Chapter Summary: It’s July, and Fliss’ birthday…

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words.!!!

Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

A/N: Ok, so I know you’ve all been on edge since He-who-shall-not-be-named was released on parole and I hope this chapter doesn’t disappoint. We’ll be gearing up for a bit of a rough time over the next few chapters for Friss so buckle up…

Also, I noticed yesterday that Tumblr seems to be swallowing huge chunks of my work on SSB…so I’m going to try and publish this in one, but if it doesn’t work I’ll split it over 2 parts.

Chapter Song:   Shogun by George Ezra

Series Masterlist // Main Masterlist

“And we got two in the front, two in the back, sailing along and we don’t look back”

July 2018

“So now what?” Mary looked at Fliss as the two of them sat side by side at the table, both looking at the laptop in front of them.

“Ok, so see these spaces here…” Fliss said, pointing to 2 empty squares dotted in the unpublished Internet Page and then to the larger space at the top “Now we need to add the photos…”

They were working on a project of sorts for Sandybrook’s website. They’d decided to give Monty his own little weekly blog for the summer called “The Life of Monty” which Mary had eagerly said she wanted to write, something for her to do over the break. “Ooh, ok!” Mary nodded “I already know which ones I want to use!” “Yeah?” Fliss looked at her.

“Yeah…ok so I want that one that has me, you and Monty in…you know the one that Frank likes where we are both laughing.” Fliss smiled “Ok, we can use that one.” “And then the other one is the one where Monty had the Party Hat on because it was his birthday.” “Good choice.” Fliss smiled “And what about the one across the top.” “The one of him in the pasture.” Mary said after a moment “Where he is looking up and pulling the funny face, you know with all his teeth out?”

Fliss grinned “Yeah, it looks like he is smiling.” Mary nodded eagerly “Yup.” “Ok…” Fliss said, and with a move of the mouse she set to work selecting the photos, ensuring that they were positioned and sized right for the frames. She couldn’t help but smile at the one of her and Mary. Mary was looking at the camera, laughing a lot whilst Fliss was, in turn, watching her and laughing too. Frank had been trying to take the photo of the 2 of them but Bill had been stood behind him, pulling stupid faces which had reduced Mary to tears, and her giggles had then set Fliss off. Frank said he adored the photo, that much in-fact it was now the screen-saver on his phone.

Fliss clicked save and then looked at Mary. “Wanna give it a final read over, check if you want to add anything else?”

Mary nodded.

“Ok, you do that I’m gonna start dinner.” “What are we having?” Mary looked at her.

“Carbonara. That ok?”

Mary grinned her approval as Fliss stood up, dropped a kiss to Mary’s head and walked into the kitchen.

It wasn’t long before Frank came home and greeted Mary before he headed into the kitchen area. He wrapped his arms round Fliss from behind, dropping a kiss to her neck.

“Good day?” he asked and she hmmed in agreement.

“Not bad…are you filthy, as usual?”

He chuckled as he let her go and moved to the fridge. She stopped what she was doing and turned to face him as he reached in for the water jug. He was, as always, covered in grime from his work and Fliss bit her lip. There was definitely something about seeing him in his dirty work jeans and grubby T-shirts that got her blood pumping.

“Stop it.” he said, giving her a look, knowing full well what she was thinking. She shrugged and with a grin turned back to the food.

“Oh, erm, wanted to check…are you if we use photos of Mary for her blog on the website?” Fliss asked, turning back to him.

“Of course I am.” he said, frowning “Why wouldn’t I be?” “It’s a public sight.” Fliss shrugged “Just wanted to check that’s all.” “It’s fine.” Frank said, placing a kiss to her cheek “I think it’s a really good idea anyway, give her something to do and practice her writing. Like Bonnie said, she’s sharp on the numbers but could do with honing up her English a little bit. She’s too logical, this should give her something to be creative with and keep her occupied over the break.”

And you…he refrained from adding. In the week following the notification that parole had been granted, John had been released. And this had set Fliss on edge. One night after she had snapped at Frank, causing a full scale argument over the fact he had bought the wrong type of salad dressing, she’d broken down and confessed that she wasn’t sleeping properly and this was causing stupid things, like Ranch v French dressing, to tip her over the edge.

The day after her spectacular salad dressing related melt down, Greg, who had already requested details of the terms of his release, came over and the 3 of them gone through, in detail what it meant realistically for Fliss.

“Basically it’s as good as you could hope for.” Greg explained “He is forbidden from contacting you or any of your family in any way, via any means. He is State-bound to Massachusetts, specifically the Boston area. He’s tagged, and on a curfew between the hours of 7pm and 7am. And moreover the authorities here are following the UK’s lead as well and trialling these new GPS tracking tags, which they’ve deemed him eligible for. So at any time, any place, they’ll be able to lock onto his whereabouts…”

“So if he does breach his conditions…” Fliss started and Greg nodded “They’ll be on him like a shot.” he said, with a gentle smile “Look, I know this is shit…but you really do have nothing to worry about. One breach and he’s back inside. And when he reaches the end of his parole, we’ll file for an injunction with the same conditions. Keep him away from you.”

Since the conversation with Greg, Fliss had calmed down somewhat but still, in week following her confession she didn’t spend a night away from Frank, seemingly coping better with the fact that she was around him, and even when he wasn’t there, the fact she was in his apartment gave her some safety and comfort.

So he’d asked her to move in permanently 3 days ago. Which he was still waiting for an answer on.

“What you thinking?” her voice broke through his thoughts.

“Honestly?”

“Always.” she nodded.

“When you’re gonna give me an answer to that question I asked you a few days back.” She took a deep breath and looked down at the floor before she looked up at him, a soft smile on her face.

“Are you sure you want me here, full time, and you’re not just asking because-“

“Lissy…” he cut her off, shaking his head “I’d have asked you move in here the day I did if I’d thought you’d have said yes. I’d love you to come live with us. And I know Mary would too…” “Ok, that’s blackmail.” she narrowed his eyes at the fact he’d dropped Mary into the equation and he grinned. “Is it working?”

She bit her lip and nodded “Yeah, ok, I’d love to…” “Yeah?” he said, a huge smile spreading across his face, warmth flooding his chest.

“Yeah…” she nodded, and grinned as he wrapped his arms around her, pressing a kiss to her lips.

“Gross…” Mary mumbled as she walked past the pair of them to the fridge, retrieving a juice box. . Frank broke away to look at her as she stabbed the straw into the hole at the top.

“Better get over it Stack.” he smirked. “Fliss just agreed to come live with us.” “Really?” her eyes widened and she grinned as Fliss nodded. Mary moved over to the pair of them and wrapped her arms around them both, Frank’s hand falling to the back of her head as she looked up at him. “Does that mean I don’t need to eat any more of your cooking, like ever again?”

Frank rolled his eyes and glanced at Fliss who was chuckling slightly “Trust me Mary…” she said, grinning “I’ve no intention of eating his cooking either.”

***** Of course Verity and Bill were over the moon when Fliss told them she was moving into Frank’s, and the next week or so they all spent doing various runs with the things she decided she needed to take. Everything else she would be leaving in the annex to either throw or store at a later date.  

Considering the amount of time they spent together, it wasn’t a huge change for them, it just meant that the comfortable routine they adopted when they were together became a daily one, and it suited the pair of them just fine. Frank also surprised Fliss by getting her a vanity unit which she had made a passing comment about, making space for it in their room.

After 3 weeks it had become the new normal for them. They shared chores, shared Activity Club runs, grocery shopping,  bills…Frank had tried to object to that one but Fliss had put her foot down insisting that if she was living there she was paying her way so he’d caved in the end and agreed. Fliss felt happy, safe, secure, loved...and Frank was over the moon simply knowing he had her to come home to every night.

One particular evening, a few days before her Birthday they were due to meet Evelyn for dinner as she was in town again to visit Mary, but Fliss was running ridiculously late, and as a consequence was in a total flap

“Fuck, fuck…” she groaned, jumping out of the jeep and calling Thor to her. “Come on buddy…”

She hurried across the lawns and threw the door to the apartment open, Thor shooting in before her.  

“I’m so sorry I’m late…” she instantly began apologising  as she walked into the living area and groaned loudly “The last lesson overran and then one of the waterers broke in the livery barn, flooded Horatio’s stable…” “It’s ok, calm down…” Frank chuckled, dropping a kiss to her cheek. “How did it break?”

“He’s been scratching his arse on it.” she said, rubbing at her temple “He broke it off the wall. We turned the supply off but I had to sort his bed before I left, then call his owner to tell her…” she groaned “Fucking nightmare.” “Want me to take a look at it?”

Fliss shook her head “Dad’s gonna do it tomorrow, keep him busy. He always moans at me for asking you and not…” she trailed off as she spotted Evelyn who was sat on one of the chairs in the living room. “Oh, Evelyn…hi. Sorry, I didn’t realise you were coming here…I thought…”

“We were…” Frank explained “But Mary wasn’t feeling too good so I suggested to Mother she come here instead.” “Oh, no, is she ok?” Fliss asked.

“Too much sun I think, she’s been running around at the Activities Camp all day and hardly drunk anything, despite the lecture you gave her. She’s had some water and gone for a nap. She’ll be fine when it’s time for dinner.”

“I thought seeing as we can’t go out I’d treat you to take out.” Evelyn spoke, standing up. Fliss eyed her for a moment before she shrugged.

“I can make something.” she said, and Frank shook his head.

“No, Lissy…” “I can do chicken with that pear and blue cheese salad you and Mary liked.” Fliss said, “Surely that’s gonna be better for her than a take out if she’s feeling shitty?”

Frank looked at her and then to his mother “That ok with you?” “Sure, that sounds good.” Evelyn nodded “but only if it’s no trouble.” “It’s fine.” Fliss nodded “Let me go take a shower and then I’ll get started ok?” Frank nodded and dropped a kiss to her cheek before she headed off to the bathroom. Thor made his way into the living room and took his usual place on the rug, flopping down as he looked up at Evelyn as she followed Frank over to the kitchen area. He pulled a bottle of white wine out of the fridge and held it up.

“Sancerre?” Evelyn arched an eyebrow. “And a pretty good one too…” “Fliss’ choice, not mine.” he said, “I assume that means you’d like a glass.” “I don’t want to put you out Frank.” she said, and he shook his head.

“You’re here now so…” he said “Oh, we normally eat outside but I’m not sure if Mary’s-”

“What, in open view of everyone?” Evelyn asked, horrified “It’s hardly-“ She stopped dead as Frank shot her a look, and held her hands up. “Point taken…”

Frank poured her a glass then got a beer for himself and leaned back against the counter as his Mother nodded appreciatively at the wine.

“So, pear and blue cheese…” she said and Frank looked at her “You hated cheese as a child.” “Well, I like it now.” he shrugged “And Mary loves that salad so…” “It’s not a dish I would normally associate with a child to be honest.” Evelyn mused.

“Well, I think we can both agree Mary isn’t a particularly standard child so…”

At that point Fred sauntered into the kitchen, straight to his food bowl. Evelyn eyed him, before she turned to Frank and smiled “I already took a Benadryl…” He snorted and a few seconds later Mary appeared.

“Hi Grandmother. Fliss said you were here.” “You feeling ok?” Frank asked as she walked over to him. He swung her up and she rest her head on his shoulder, nodding. “Want some more water?” “Fliss told me to ask for the elec…erm…the electo-” “Electrolytes” he said, nodding. “Not a bad shout…”

He set her on the counter and then reached into the cabinet to the right of the sink where they kept the medical supplies and pulled a sachet from the box. Grabbing a glass he pulled the Filter jug out of the fridge and made her the drink before he handed it to her. “Take it slow ok?” She nodded and took it from him with a thanks, sipping at it carefully, pulling a face. “What flavour is that?” “It says orange.” he answered, looking at the packet.

“Well it’s wrong. That’s disgusting.” “It’s good for you, so stop complaining.”  he said, tossing the empty sachet into the trash.

To his surprise he heard his mother chuckling and he turned to look at her.  “I remember giving you something similar when you came home with sunstroke from playing Baseball all afternoon. You spat it out and told me you’d rather die than drink it.” Frank gave a huff and then turned to Mary who was grinning ear to ear “Don’t even think about it.” he pointed at her.

She shrugged and then took another mouthful, grimacing as she drank. “Please can I get down?” Frank obliged and watched as she headed off to the sofa, Thor jumping up besides her, settling his head in her lap.

“Go and talk to her.” Frank looked at his mother “That’s why you’re here, to spend time with her. Not me.”

Evelyn nodded, and for a moment Frank thought he saw a flicker of emotion in the woman’s eyes, but as quick as it had flashed across her face it was gone and she turned and made her way into the sofa. Frank leaned on the edge of the archway which led into the living area and watched as she sat down in the chair she had occupied previously before he heard the door to the bathroom open again, signalling Fliss was out of the shower. He moved to start taking the different things they needed to make dinner out of the fridge and turned on the oven before he seasoned the chicken breasts just as she had shown him with salt, pepper, chilli and a squeeze of lime. He dropped it onto a tray, placed it in the oven and was washing his hands when Fliss walked dressed casually in a pair of shorts and a fading Guns N Roses tank top. She was barefoot and her damp hair was piled up on her head in a haphazard bun. This was Frank’s favourite way to see her. Completely relaxed and at home.

“Chicken’s in.” he said as he turned to the fridge and then poured her a glass of wine.

“Thank you.” she smiled, taking a sip.

“Can I show Evelyn around?” Mary asked, and Frank turned to her.

“Finished your drink?” “Yeah.” “Ok then yes, of course you can.” She stood up and Evelyn followed, giving the pair of them a smile as she passed by the kitchen area of the open plan living space

“Oh, Felicity.” “Fliss, please.” Fliss nodded to her as she turned back to what she was doing.

“Fliss, sorry, but could I be awkward?” Evelyn asked.

“No doubt you can.” Fliss mumbled between gritted teeth and Frank smirked to himself before she tuned to look at Evelyn.

“Could I ask for my salad dressing on the side?”

“That’s fine.” Fliss nodded “I’ll make you a separate bowl.” “Thank you, that’s very kind.” Evelyn smiled before she headed out after Mary.

“If she doesn’t eat this, then she’s gonna be wearing it.” Fliss looked at Frank who let out a laugh as he chopped up the slices of cucumber.

“Now that I would pay to see.” “I’ll do it for free.” Fliss narrowed her eyes.

Frank chuckled again as they continued to make their food. After about 10 minutes or so, just as they were dropping the salad bowls onto the table, Evelyn and Mary re-appeared.

“You’ve made a nice home, certainly considering the area anyway.” Evelyn said, as Frank invited her to sit at the table before he headed back to grab the bottle of wine, a beer for himself and more water for Mary.

Fliss rolled her eyes” The area is fine, and Frank did it all, not me. Well, him and my dad. I only moved in a few weeks ago.”

“Yes, he does speak very highly of your parents.” “Well they love him.” Fliss shrugged “But then again what’s not to love.”

Evelyn looked at Fliss for a moment as Frank made his way back to the table, and they all settled down and began to eat. As she had been at Mary’s birthday, his mother was polite, nodding appreciatively at the food, joining in the conversation and she sat with Mary once they’d finished so Mary could show he the latest installation of Monty’s blog. After another bottle of wine and a few more beers, Frank realised it was getting quite late and then told Mary she needed to be getting ready for bed. Evelyn took this as her queue to call for her driver, which Frank was pleased about as it saved him having to ask her to leave.

Mary headed for a shower and the three adults made small talk until she reappeared in her pyjamas just as Evelyn’s driver called to announce his arrival. She bid Mary goodnight and then Frank made to walk her down to her car when the woman surprised him and looked at Fliss.

“Could you…I’d like to speak to you.” Fliss looked at Frank before she shrugged “Yeah, sure…” Frank frowned, but didn’t object. He looked at his mother and nodded “Let me know when you want to see her again.”

“I was actually wondering if she could come to Boston for a few days.” Evelyn said and Frank took a deep breath. “Obviously, when it’s convenient.” “Maybe.” He nodded “Goodbye Evelyn.” “Yes, I’ll call you.” she nodded and then the two women headed out of the apartment. Fliss stuck her hands in her pockets as they walked.

“I’m glad he took my advice.” Evelyn broke the silence “Regarding you, I mean…”

“Yeah he told me what you said to him.” Fliss gave a snort “Gotta say I was surprised after I’d unleashed quite a nasty verbal tirade on you…” “Well I think all things considered at the time I deserved it.”  Evelyn shrugged “And I’m not surprised you hate me so-“

“I don’t hate you Evelyn.” Fliss cut her off, shaking her head “I hate what you did to Frank and Mary, and honestly? I still don’t understand it.”

“I thought I was doing the right thing.” “But how?” Fliss pressed “How was tearing a girl away from the only father figure she has ever known, the man that has cared for her and loved her since she was 6 months old the right thing?”

Evelyn shook her head “I know Frank and I made an assumption-” “No, you knew Frank.” Fliss looked at her, “It was, what? Almost 8 years since you saw him last when you turned up…and how long was it before he left Boston since you actually had a conversation with him? I just…” Fliss trailed off and looked down at her feet before she glanced back at Frank’s mother “it baffles me how someone can be so callous towards their own child, that’s all.”

Fliss watched as Evelyn stopped and looked at her “What do you want me to say?” “An apology might not go amiss…” “I did that with his birthday card, paying the fees…” “Money doesn’t make it ok Evelyn.” Fliss sighed, “And a card isn’t the same as saying it to his face…” she scratched at her head “If you want to try and salvage something from this mess, have some form of relationship with your son…” “What makes you think-“ “Because I saw you this evening, at various points, watching him…you might be able to keep your face straight but they eyes don’t lie” Fliss said gently. Evelyn looked down at the ground as Fliss continued. “I suggest you start with a verbal apology, a very open and honest discussion, because that’s when you get the best out of Frank. On a face-to-face level, when he isn’t being lied or talked down to”

“You really do know him exceptionally well don’t you?” Evelyn smiled.

“Well, we’ve had enough of our own discussions recently with everything that’s been going on so…” “Right, your ex-husband.” “How do you-“ Fliss sighed, “Mary?” “No, actually, she never said a word. I looked you up.”

“Course you did.” Fliss groaned.

“I was curious about your family.” Evelyn shrugged “You have quite the back story.” “Yeah well, its history.” she said “And long may it stay that way.”

“Well I hope for all your sakes it does.” Evelyn shook her head “Nothing I can’t stand less than a man that deems it acceptable to do that. Lord knows I pushed Preston the extremes at times but he never once raised a hand to me…or his voice now that I think about it. He preferred to argue on a cerebral level...”

“Very like Frank.” Fliss smiled.

“Yes, the two are exceptionally similar.” Evelyn said as they reached the car. “Thank you for dinner Fliss, it was a very enjoyable evening.” Fliss smiled and then as Evelyn opened the car door the woman turned back to her “Just think about what I said Evelyn. You can’t turn the clock back but it’s how you go forward from here that matters.”

Evelyn nodded, and with that she climbed in the car and shut the door. Fliss watched them drive off before she turned and headed back towards the apartment. “You ok?” Frank asked, turning to look over the back of the sofa as she walked into the living area.

“Yeah, fine.” Fliss smiled. “Mary in bed?”

“She’s reading” Frank nodded “Told her you’d pop in and say goodnight.” Fliss yawned as she slid her arms round his shoulders from behind “I’ll go now, then I think I’ll get in bed myself. I’m whacked.” Frank smiled and turned his head to give her a kiss “I’m just gonna finish watching this and then I’ll be with you.” “What is it?” Fliss asked, turning her attention to the TV.

“A documentary on whales, funnily enough.” Frank said, “You’d enjoy it…” “You’re such an old man” she teased and he scoffed.

“Not what you were saying last night.”

Fliss laughed “Well you keep yourself in good shape, what can I say.” With that she kissed his cheek and headed down the hall.

After bidding goodnight to Mary and Thor, who seemed very happy to remain in Mary’s room with Fred, she changed for bed and slipped into the sheets, stretching out before she got herself comfortable. She was dozing, drifting in and out of a light sleep when she felt Frank climb into bed behind her, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her to his chest.

“Finish whale watching?” she asked as he dropped a kiss to her shoulder.

“Yeah.” he said gently. “So you gonna tell me what my mother wanted?” “Nothing much…” Fliss said, and she turned in his arms so she was facing him. “She was actually quite contrite.”

“Course she was…” “No, I mean it, I think she’s genuinely sorry.” Fliss said, her hand gently tracing shapes on his bicep “Maybe you should give her a chance to apologise properly.”

“That must have been one hell of a talk.” Frank snorted “You were all for dumping salad on her head before!”

“We had a very honest discussion, I got a few things off my chest.” Fliss shrugged “And, well, like it or not she’s still your mum Frank.” “No, she’s my mother.” he corrected her “Your mom is a mom.”

“Was your dad a dad or a father?” “He was a dad.” Frank said, “Most definitely.”

“Do you remember much about him?” she asked.

“Little bits.” he said, his hand tucking her hair behind her ear. “Mostly about stuff we did. Baseball, football, when he taught me how to ride a bike. All the fun stuff you do with kids really.” he took a deep breath.

“What did he do?” “He was a Surgeon” Frank said “Neurology.” “Really?” Fliss looked up at Frank as he nodded “Well that’s pretty cool!”

“Yeah.” Frank nodded “I wanted to be just like him when I was a kid. I sometimes wonder if I idolise him a bit more because he’s dead you know but…” “Have you ever asked your mother what he was like? You know, since he died?” “Once or twice.” Frank replied “For all of Evelyn’s faults she did love Dad. She gave up her own career and research partnership she had with Cambridge in London to move to Boston when she met him. Then they had me. I think she resented me a little bit at first because me and dad were so close, and then when Diane came along that was it, Daddy’s girl...”

“No longer his main woman.” Fliss smiled.

“Something like that. You know, I do wonder at times why on Earth she had us.” Frank snorted “if we were such inconveniences…” “It can’t all have been bad.” “Well we wanted for nothing. In fact, we were both very spoilt. And yeah, we had Birthday parties, fun, vacations, trips…but when dad died…I dunno, it kinda went to rat-shit.” “It must have been hard for Evelyn you know, losing him when you were both so young.”

“Yeah.” Frank sighed “I’ve no doubt it was. I remember the police coming round and breaking the news about the accident…only time I’ve ever seen her break down.”

“You know before, she said that you remind her of your dad.” Fliss looked at him.

“Yeah she’s told me the same, last time I saw her in fact. Probably why she doesn’t particularly enjoy being around me that much.” “I think she enjoys it a lot more than she lets on.”  Fliss shrugged “And besides, I enjoy being around you. And so do my parents…so…”

Frank gave her a soft smile before she leaned up and gave him a kiss.

“I know…” he said, as she snuggled into his chest “And that’s all I care about.” ******

Friday rolled around and with it came Fliss’ birthday. Frank was pretty sure Mary was more excited than Fliss to give her the gifts they had bought, and with good reason. Fliss beamed as she opened her various packages from them both, which included a bottle of her favourite perfume, a pale blue and white striped sleeveless button down which Frank had thought was quite nautical so very apt and a box of British chocolate. Bonnie had also stopped round the night before to give her a bottle of her favourite gin and a huge bag of sweets which she declared she was hiding from Frank as she didn’t trust him not to eat them.

Frank then handed her the envelope with her main present in and she opened it, her mouth dropping open as she looked at the Broadway Tickets.

“Lion King?” she said, looking up at him. “We’re going to see the Lion King?” He nodded, smiling “I know you wanted to go so…” “Oh my God…thank you!” she practically squealed throwing her arms round his neck, kissing his cheek.

“You’re welcome.” he smiled, winking at Mary over his shoulder. She gave him the thumbs up. Fliss turned back to look at the pile of presents arranged on the coffee table before Mary handed her another smaller wrapped one.

“This is from me…and Fred…and Thor.” she added and Fliss smiled, unwrapping the small black box. She opened it, and a small card fell out which she picked up and read out loud.

“We hope you enjoy your “Precious Paws” hand-made resin beads…” she trailed off, and glanced down at the charms in more detail. One was green speckled with gold and the other was blue speckled with silver.

“The green one has some of Heidi’s tail hair in it…” Mary pointed as Fliss gently took it from the box to examine it in more detail, clearly seeing where the hair was wound through the resin of the bead “And the Blue one has Thor’s in.”

“I…” Fliss felt herself choke up “Mary these are beautiful, where did you…” “Joanne told me about them.” Mary said, and Frank smiled at her “And then Frank helped me order them…” “They’re not officially Pandora but the woman said when we emailed her they’d fit the standard bracelet.” He said as she turned her head to look at him, her eyes shining.

“Thank you both, so much…” she turned to Mary and wrapped her up in a hug before she did the same to Frank, giving him a soft kiss “Love you.” “Happy birthday Sweetheart.” he smiled, hugging her again.

As Fliss had booked the day off, so had Frank so the three of them along with Thor and Fred spent the afternoon after visiting Fliss’ mum and dad on one of the boats belonging to Paul, the owner of the shop Frank worked in. Frank had deliberately chosen one of the smaller ones so they could access the small stretch of sand just off St Pete’s beach that they all loved. It was quieter than the main beach as it wasn’t reachable unless you waded or sailed over and they spent the afternoon on the beach with a few beers and a picnic, before they headed home. Mary crashed out on the way back, her head lolling on Fliss’s lap as she sat at the front of the boat, her bare feet resting on the bar in front of her, simply watching the dolphins. Thor was barking at them like mad, wagging his tail and then suddenly he shot to the bow of the boat, placing both his paws up on the metal, threatening to throw himself overboard. Frank’s hand shot out to grab his collar.

“Dumbass…” he yanked him back, and turned to Fliss “Does this mutt have a brain in his head?”

“Don’t’ talk about my baby like that…” she narrowed her eyes at Frank as she covered Thor’s ears with her hands as he sat by her feet, tail thumping on the floor. “Fred does his share of stupid shit too, like getting his head stuck in cereal boxes.”

Frank rolled his eyes “At least Fred knows not to jump in the ocean.”

“That’s because he has no sense of adventure.” Fliss shot back, causing Frank to snort. Standing up, Fliss gently moved Mary, so that she was led flat down before she stretched and moved next to Frank who tossed his arm over her shoulder.

“Had a good day?” he asked and she grinned, nodding.

“The best.” she smiled “I love it when you bring me out sailing.” “I’m driving.” he turned to face her, grinning. “You’re sailing.”

“Whatever” he mumbled as his lips pressed to hers. She snaked her arms around his neck as his slid round her back, pulling her closer to him as he kissed her deeply his tongue sliding against hers.

“You can unwrap your last present when we get home…” he said, grinning like a school boy as he rest his forehead head against hers.

“Yeah?” she asked, arching an eyebrow

“I’d let you unwrap it now but…” he nodded to Mary and she snorted.

“You know we’ve not actually done that.” she mused. “Sex on a boat I mean…” Frank let out a laugh “You harbouring a bit of a sailing kink?” “More of a sailor kink” she shot back and he shook his head, giving her another quick kiss before he turned his attention back to the boat as he guided it back into the Marina.

He made good on his promise once they got back, loved on his girl. Once in the shower and then again later on when he woke up as Fliss had done the same to use the bathroom. Frank knew he would never get tired of hearing the soft cries of his names and the various encouragements she gave him when she begged him not to stop or told him how good he was making her feel. As he tumbled right over that edge, behind her 3rd, or was it 4th orgasm, he’d lost count, his fingers tightened slightly on her hips as his head tipped back in ecstasy. He lay still, panting as she collapsed onto his chest, his hands stroking up and down her spine as she lifted her head, grinning as she caught his lips in a soft kiss before falling down onto the mattress next to him. She looked at him, her eyes flashing in the soft light that was sneaking into the room through the crack in the curtains, a look of pure love on her face, as if he had hung the moon and the stars in the sky, and it was enough to choke him up slightly. He still wasn’t sure he was worthy of her unadulterated adoration, but damned it, he’d try constantly to be the best version of himself if it kept her by his side.

He didn’t wake the next morning when Fliss’ alarm went off. Instead he woke to a gentle kiss to his cheek and as he roused himself the smell of freshly brewed coffee hit his senses. Blinking he smiled softly as Fliss placed a mug on his night stand.

“What time is it?” Frank asked.

“Just gone 7. I’ve got an early appointment with the Ariat rep at the stables, remember?” “Oh, yeah…” he said, rubbing his eyes.

“You told me to wake you before I left.”

“Yeah, I don’t know why I did that…” he moaned and she chuckled.

“You gonna bring Mary up later?”

“Yeah, I’ll leave he with you for the afternoon if that’s ok? Need to clean the boat and get it back.” “Course it is.” she smiled. With that she bent over to kiss him again and in a shot Frank’s arms were round her waist and she was flat on her back on the bed, laughing as he caged her with his arms.

“Frank…” she whined, as he kissed her softly “I can’t, I’m gonna be late as it is…” “One more kiss, come one…” he pleaded, and she relented as he pressed his lips to hers before she eventually pulled away and shoved on his chest. With a pout he moved allowing her to stand and she shook her head at him.

“You’ll be the death of me Frank Adler.” she said, straightening her top and he eyed her figure up as she did so and gave a shrug.

“What a way to go…” he smirked and with that she reached down, grabbed one of the various scatter cushions that lived on the bed during the day, and smacked him straight on the face with it.

He and Mary shared a lazy morning before they both dressed and headed out going via the bakery at the end of the high street to pick up a coffee and some Danishes for a late breakfast for Fliss as he knew she’d have left without eating any, she always did when she was out earlier than them. As he pulled up, Mary was out of the truck before he had stopped, something which he was fed up of telling her off for.

Frank walked into Fliss’ office where he placed the bag of food on the desk, along with the cardboard carrier which contained their coffee and gave her cheek a kiss. Mary shot into the tack room, grabbed her little box of brushes and shot off to go and see Monty.

“Bye then…” he said sarcastically, and she completely ignored him. He snorted, shaking his head as Fliss laughed.

“Busy morning?” he asked and Fliss nodded.

“I’ll say.” she nodded to the bag “Saturday’s always are…aww, you bring me breakfast?”

“If 11 am counts as breakfast” he snorted and Fliss laughed as she continued sifting through the pile of envelopes on her desk. There was one that contained a few clearly hand delivered cards, he could tell by the shape and the fact they had no post marks, and then another small pile that had arrived in the post. “Bill, bill…oh…” She stopped at a bigger envelope. “A card?”

Frank shrugged. She turned it over, ripped open the envelope and pulled out a white card with simple block writing on the front in multi-colours. With a frown she opened it and scanned the greeting, before her eyes grew wide and she threw it down onto the desk.

“Lissy?” Frank frowned, and he looked at her as she shook her head, taking a deep breath, before she swallowed and turned to face him. “Honey, what is it?” “It’s…” she swallowed, her eyes wide “That card…it’s…it’s from John.”

Frank’s face grew harsh as he grabbed the card and read the greeting. It was 3 words long. 3 simple words, but even he knew from what she’d told him about the name John used to call her, that it was from him. Happy Birthday Sugar. “Fucker.” Frank growled, tossing the card back onto the desk as Fliss turned to him and he wrapped her in his arms, letting her simply press her face into his chest. He rubbed his hand gently up and down her back as her breathing evened out and she stepped back. “You ok?” “Yeah…” she said, “Do me a favour and get rid of it.” “Don’t you wanna call the police?” he frowned.

“They’re not going to do anything about a card.” she shook her head

“He’s broken his parole…” “And they can’t prove its him.” she sighed “They’re not gonna DNA test or whatever on that…” “Fliss…”

“No, Frank…just…” she shook her head. “Please, do what I ask and rip it up, burn it, whatever, I just…get rid of it”

“Ok, ok…” he appeased and she nodded, before she looked to the doorway and hastily her face rearranged into a smile.

“Hi Steph!” she greeted. Frank turned to see a dark haired woman dressed in riding gear, Fliss’ next client. “DJ is ready, get Jo to get you on and I’ll be out in a moment.” The woman smiled and headed off down the yard. Fliss looked at Frank.

“I didn’t think about the fact this place was so easy to find.” she shook her head “The webpage…” Frank sighed, it was something if truth be told he hadn’t considered either “Look, the worst he can do is send you shit.” he said, almost trying to convince himself as well “He can’t set foot out of Mass…he’s clearly doing this to try and upset you so…” “Well he can fuck off and die.” Fliss said venomously, “Ass hole…a fucking birthday card? He’s clearly losing his touch.” With that she gave his cheek a peck and grabbed a Danish out of the bag before she picked up her coffee. “This lesson is only half an hour so as soon as I’m done Mary can ride Monty and then she can do her jobs and stuff. You go and clear the boat from yesterday or whatever it is you were planning on doing and I’ll give you a call later ok?”

“Sure.” he nodded.

“Love you.” she smiled at him, before she left the room.

Frank watched her go before he looked at the card. She’d asked him to get rid of it…but something was telling him not to. He pondered it for a moment before he tucked the offending item back into the envelope and then curled it up so it would fit in his back pocket, before he headed out to the jeep, pulling his phone free as he walked.

“S’up Man?” Greg greeted him as he opened his truck door threw the envelope onto the passenger seat.

“I need some advice.” Frank spoke quietly, glancing over to where Fliss was now stood in the middle of the paddock, the women on the large grey horse was walking around her in a circle. “Can we meet?”

[riverdale-is-just-okay]

An English Rose

Jughead x OC

Word Count: 2278

Summary: There’s a new student at Riverdale High. She’s from a wealthy background as she’s the daughter of a big shot, British businessman. Jughead’s not happy, given his history and past dealings with people like Lodges. So he’s not very trusting of the new girl, but Lottie is determined to prove that she’s more than just her privileged background.

Warnings: Nope, don’t think so

A/N: So I’m English and I thought this might an interesting idea to explore and why not show Jughead some love. This story might just be a one off, I’m not sure if I can develop it further, it might be crap, I don’t know. Let me know what you think. Anyway, hope you like it!

Tag List: @lolabean1998 (just let me know if you wanted to be added to the tag list for any of my stories).

"Another Veronica, great," Jughead mumbles from his position on the couch in the student lounge.

"Who is?" Kevin asks.

"That girl, the one stood with Betty." He directs the boy's attention to the pair, stood talking by the door. The blonde was stood with a tall, dark haired girl dressed in a light blue skater dress and pristine white heels.

"Oh, heard she's related to royalty," Kevin says with a big smile.

"Not every British person is connected to royalty." Cheryl rolls her eyes.

"What we talking about?" Veronica sits down on the spare couch, Archie by her side.

"The new girl." Toni says with her eyes on the door.

"Stop staring." Cheryl playfully bats her girlfriends arm.

"So have we heard?"

"Kev, thinks she's a princess," Toni mocks.

"What?"

Jughead scoffs. "She's a princess all right."

"Please explain."

"Jug thinks she's another y-" Kevin's words are silenced by a dramatic cough from Jughead.

"So," Toni starts. "As far as we know she's from England, a daughter of some rich businessman."

"So what is she doing in Riverdale then?"

"That's where our trail of information runs cold."

"Well let's find out. As much fun as this speculation of the mystery girl is, I'd much prefer some actual facts." She stands up. "Betty?” she calls. The girl walks over, followed by the topic of the group’s conversation.

"Hi, guys," she says. "This Charlotte, she come all the way from England." She smiles excitedly.

"You can just call me Lottie."

"Well, Lottie, it is a pleasure to meet you." Veronica offer her hand. "I'm Veronica Lodge."

She accepts. "It's lovely to meet you too, Veronica."

"This is Archie Andrews." She points to the redhead still seated.

"Hi."

"Hello."

"And Kevin Keller, Toni Topaz, Cher-"

"I'm Cheryl Blossom." The girl stands.

"Since we're using full names - I'm Charlotte James." She laughs nervously.

"Oh and that's Jughead," Veronica says pointing to the pouting boy in the corner.

"Jughead?” Lottie questions unsure whether she's being tricked or not.

"Yeah, problem?"

"Not at all. It's lovely to meet you." She looks back to the bulk of the group. "All of you."

"Sit, please, we have questions." Veronica takes her seat by her boyfriend. Betty takes the spare seat next to Kevin.

"You do?" Lottie sits besides Jughead, the only open seat. She smiles to the boy, but his head remains down as his attention goes back to his laptop.

"Yes-"

"They think you're a princess," Jug spits not looking up.

Veronica rolls her eyes at the boy.

"Not a princess, sorry to disappoint. But I have met the Queen."

"Really?" Kevin perks up.

"No." Lottie giggles.

"Oh,” he says defeated.

"So you're from England?"

"I am. Manchester to be exact.  My father's name is Robert James, the notorious businessman and CEO and founder of James Industries. The company has expanded and my dad wanted to follow it over to keep an eye on it. And as I am a minor I came along too. And I think that is everything." She smiles. "Oh, wait, the company is fairly run with no criminal or under the table dealings. I am not a mob daughter," she laughs nervously.

They stare blankly at the girl. Then they all look to Veronica.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"Let's just say, my family has a shady history when it comes to business."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Not at all. It's over now. And I'm sure Riverdale will happily welcome a wholesome family business with open arms."

"Thank you. Actually, my father's throwing a party this evening. A business thing to smoosh associates. But if you're free, it would be nice if you all could came. Keep me from being bored to death."

"We would love to!" Veronica beams. "We'll be there."

"Sounds great," Betty says.

"Perfect."

Jughead just rolls his eyes.

"I'm not going," Jughead says between chews of his burger. He sits in the cafeteria with Archie and Veronica opposite him and Betty by his side.

"And why not?" Veronica sighs.

"Come on, Jug.” Archie nudges his friend. "Could be fun."

"Fun? How is being in stuck in a room with a load of stuffy suits gonna be fun?"

"We can dress up..." Betty offers.

"More reason to stay home.”

“Do you always have to suck the fun out of everything, Jughead?” Veronica rolls her eyes. “We are all going and that is that.”

“Just think of the food,” Betty whispers. Now that’s how you persuade him to do something.

“Wow,” Betty whispers as the group steps into the oversized lounge. “This place-”

“Puts the Pembroke to shame?” Jughead finishes.

“Excuse me?” Veronica eyes widen.

“He’s got a point, V.” Archie shrugs. “This place-”

“Is incredible,” Betty says, sticking her tongue out at Jughead, finally able to finish her statement.

“Whatever, let’s find Lottie.” Veronica steps forward. “She must be here someone.”

“Amongst all the middle aged men and trophy wives,” Jughead spits.

“I’m suddenly feeling under dressed.” V smooths her black fitted dress.

“You’re feeling under dressed?” Toni tugs out short plaid skirt, pulling it further down her fish net wrapped legs.

“You look beautiful, Cha Cha.” Cheryl wraps her arm around the girl’s waist.

“And we’re still not over that nickname?”

“Never.” Cheryl winks.

“Well, you look sensational as always.” She looks the girl, dressed in a classic red dress, up and down.

“Maybe we should go?” Betty says nervously.

“We got Jug in a tie, we’re not wasting this.” Archie shakes his head.

“Hiya,” Lottie calls walking up to the others. She seems to just have appeared from nowhere. The pale pink, strapless bodice hugs her upper body and the full skirt swishes as she walks, the longer train trails behind as she crosses the room. “You guys came,” she smiles.

“Of course.”

“You look beautiful,” Betty says.

“I’ve already tripped over this three times,” she laughs. “You all look amazing.” Her eyes fall to Toni. “I love your jacket.” She tilts her head. “Is the snake symbolic?”

“She’s a Serpent,” Cheryl says proudly.

“A Serpent?”

“That’s for another day.” Veronica steps forward taking hold of Lottie’s arm. “Your apartment is gorgeous.”

“Thank you, drinks everyone?”

"Jughead?" The boy looks up to see Lottie smiling down at him. "May I?" She points to space on the couch beside him. He shrugs. "Okay." She sits. "Are you all right?"

"Fine."

She nods. "Why are you sat here on your own?"

"I'm eating."

"I can see that." She's silent for a minute. She stares forward fiddling with her fingers. "You don't like me very much do you?"

"I don't not like you."

"Well, something is wrong. You've been sitting here with a face like a smacked arse all night."

"You been watching me all night?"

"I took a few breaks, but you're pretty hard to miss."

"I didn't want to come."

"Then why did you?"

"My friends made me."

"Right. You don’t have your own mind?” He’s quiet. “Well, I'll leave you to sulk, shall I? Because I am getting the feeling I am the problem." She smiles, then stands.

"Sorry," he mumbles. "I've not had great experiences with people like you."

"People like me?"

"Rich-"

"You think I'm a rich bitch?" she laughs. "There's no need to answer that. People always assume. I'm from money so I must be a selfish, narcissistic, ignorant cow. I've been surrounded by people like that my whole life. And I don't like them either, that's why I try my very best not be that. But clearly I have failed if you think that little of me. Have a nice evening, Jughead." She shakes her head and walks away.

"I'm from the Southside of town," Jughead says standing behind Lottie's shoulder. She turns to face him, excusing herslef from the conversation in was in with two of her father’s associates. "My whole family have been dumped on by well to do people. My home, my dad's job, my life even have been stolen by wealthy business people."

"Your life?"

"I almost lost it because of a power crazed mobster."

“Maybe you can tell me about it, your life, one day and I can tell you about mine. I’m more than just money, be nice you show you that.”

"I've just had bad experiences with people who have money."

"I understand. But maybe give me a chance to prove I'm different. Despite this-" She gestures to the ostentatious surroundings of the party. "Maybe I can stop you pouting in the corner and putting a dampen on the party."

"It really did seem to be swinging until I turned up."

"Exactly, it needs all the help it can get." She looks over her shoulder, then back to Jughead. "So are you gonna give me that chance?" she asks.

"I don't think I need to," he smiles. "I've been kinda shit and you're still being nice."

"I'd still like that chance." She offers her hand. He accepts and he's pulled through a door. The music and chatter slowly grows quiet as they walk through a long hallway. "In here." She gestures him into a large room with a cream carpet and walls, a large bed positioned in the centre and mahogany side tables and dresser and a over-sized chandelier hangs from the ceiling.

"This is your room?"

"Yes, why?"

"It's bigger than my whole trailer."

"Oh. I could find a smaller room..."

"Got a closet?"

She laughs nervously.

"Joking."

"Of course. Sit, please." She points to the bed, then walks to the dresser pulling off her heels. "Thank God, my feet are killing," she smiles to the boy, who just watches her. "Truthfully I'm not a big fan of parties either.  That's why I invited you all, thought it would be a little bit less hellish if I had some friendly faces. They seem to be enjoying themselves."

"It's more their scene, than mine. But you didn't really invite me."

"I did." She walks over to him. "I invited all of you. I wanted you all to come."

"Really?"

"Yes. Why?" She sits beside him. "Why wouldn't I want you to come?"

"I'm more of an after thought, an addition to them."

"Want to know a secret?" she whispers. "I wanted you to come the most."

"You did?"

"Yeah. What can I say, the odd, loner boy absorbed in his laptop, who clearly did not like me, intrigued me." She shrugs.

"I could get offended by that."

"Is any of it untrue? Exactly." She laughs. “Although, I shouldn't assume, seeing as I told you off for doing that.” She dramatically flops flat down to the bed, her top half hanging off the edge. She fusses about, sits back up holding onto a bottle of champagne with a grin on her face..

"Most teenagers hide Vodka..."

"Drink?"

"I'm good."

"Most teenagers accept."

"I don't drink. My father's an alcoholic."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"He's sober now. He's doing well, almost six months. He's really turning it all around."

"I'm glad to hear that." She puts the bottle to the floor. "My mother was killed by a drunk driver," she says. "You don't have to say anything. It's okay. I just... you shared something difficult with me. I thought I'd do the same. I meant what I said, I’d like to know about your life. Maybe I can explain my family wasn’t always this way. My dad worked hard to get where he is, he did it on his own. And he didn't do it by tearing down or destroying others.”

“Tell me,” he says.

She nods, then takes a deep breath. “My father is the... greatest man I know. He’s so strong and brave and resilient. I was quite young when my mother died. But I could still see how much it broke him. How much he wanted to just fall apart, to give in to it all. But he didn’t. He managed to pull himself out of bed each day and keep going. Because he knew I needed him. He was strong for me. He took care of me.  He did everything to make me happy, feel safe and loved. He worked hard to repair our life, to get all of this. He kept the business going so he could give me a good life. And our life now is the result of nothing, but hard work, commitment, determination and love. Now I’m old enough, we keep each other from collapsing even when it feels like the only option, we manage to hold each other up.”

Jughead stares at her in silence. He didn’t take her eyes of her for the entirety of her speech. He doesn’t want to speak, he wants to hug her, feel her close to him. So he does. He pulls her into a hug and she accepts wrapping her arms around him tightly.

Then there's a knock at the door. “Lottie?” She pulls herself out of Jughead’s arms and hops off the bed, quickly makes her way to open the door. Her new friends greet her on the other side.

"Hello?"

“Finally,” Kevin sighs.

“We’ve already tried six rooms already.” Betty smiles.

"Room for a few more." Veronica raises her eyebrow to Jughead sat nervously on the bed.

"Of course. Bored already?"

"Only so many times you can hear old men talk about... what were they talking about again?" She turns to Archie.

“Data something...” He shrugs.

She laughs. "Come in." She gestures and the group piles in, all giving the eye to Jughead. Lottie pauses by the door. She smiles to him. He smiles back. Maybe this English Rose isn't as bad as he once thought.

A/T: Thank you for reading, hope you liked it, thought I’d expand and try writing with a different character. It means the world that you take time to read my work.

A/A/T: Also, if you’ve got any ideas for future stories or characters you want to just let me know.

Thanks again, all my love,

Oli x

*main blog: a-girl-stuck-in-a-fantasy-world

[purplesurveys]

1211

A

Art: When was the last time you painted something? I don’t remember; maybe about a few weeks before the breakup. I haven’t really been into painting since, but now that I’m over it I should probably dabble in it again soon.

Adventure: When was the last time you really felt alive, and what were you doing? Last Sunday! Watched the Sowoozoo show with Angela and Hans. We set up a huge tent at the rooftop and had fairy lights all around and so much beer and soju and so. much. food. She and Hans ended up bringing most of the food we got home. It really felt like throwing a party with a million other people and it was SO so ridiculously fucking fun.

Allergies: What is one thing that you are allergic to? Slightly allergic to grass.

Answers: What is one question you would like an answer to? If I’ll ever have a family of my own.

Age: What has been your favorite age so far? Hmm, maybe 16. 23 has also been a blast so far; I hope it stays the same.

B

What month is your birthday? April.

Have you ever played house inside a big box? Possibly as a kid. It doesn’t stick out in my memory though.

Are you boisterous? I can, especially if I feel enthusiastic about the situation.

Have you ever dated a bad boy? Nope.

Name one thing you like that is blue: The ocean. Not being in it, but being near it at the beach. < Ooh same.

C

Cinnamon--yay or nay? Yay, I guess. As long as it’s not excessive.

Chocolate: do you love it? I like chocolate-flavored things. Chocolate bars themselves not so much.

Name one favorite type of candy. Gummy bears or worms.

Children: Name one favorite thing to do with kids while babysitting. I only ever ‘babysat’ my much younger cousins; and when I did that more than a decade ago I just enjoyed playing games and toys with them since I too had been a kid who just had to babysit them.

Carefree: Are you carefree? I know how to let go when I want to, but I think most of the time I prefer to be careful and cautious about most things.

D

When was the last time you danced like no one was watching? LOL last Sunday when I drank too much and danced to Boy With Luv, and apparently Angela got it on tape as well. I haven’t checked the video yet and probably never will.

Do you daydream? Quite a lot, yeah.

Dreams: What is one of your dreams? To learn how to cook is one, hahahaha.

What is one thing you are currently dreading? We have an event tomorrow and my team is going to have to host it, so I’ll have to go over my script tonight so that I don’t end up sputtering and stuttering.

Name something delicious. Brownies!

E

Would you ride an elephant if given the opportunity? I have before. I’d do it again but make sure it’s done in an ethical environment.

Do you live life on the edge? Nah. I mean I’m bad at saving and VERY GOOD at spending my money, but that’s probably the most reckless I’ll ever get. Playing safe might as well be my middle name.

Name something you like to eat: French fries.

Do you believe in everlasting life? No.

Name something that comes easy to you. Continued from sometime this week, idek when. Anything that has to do with my reflexes. I can respond pretty quickly.

F

Name a fragrance you like. I like fruity, summery scents, for one.

Are you a free spirit? Eh, not so much.

Are you fickle? I wouldn’t say so.

Are you hiding your feelings from someone? Nope.

Name one flavor you like. Cookies and cream.

G

Are you gentle? This is too vague for me to answer.

Are you generous? I feel like I can say that, yeah.

Name something green. Eyes can be green.

Name a famous giant. My mom was watching something recently about a wrestler named Andre the Giant. He really was. < That’s a good answer :D I’ll just borrow it lol.

Are you a girl? Yessss.

H

Are you generally a happy person? I think more so these days, yeah!

Do you honor the holiness of the day? Idk what this means but if it’s supposed to be related to religion, I don’t really practice.

Do you believe in Heaven? Not the way the Bible describes it but the idea of reuniting with my loved ones when I die is pretty comforting, if that’s what ‘heaven’ is supposed to be, if it exists.

Name one thing you are hoping for. I’d like to be able to go to concerts again soon.

Name one thing you hate. That weekends are only two days long.

I

Imagination: Write the name of one of your imaginary friends from when you were younger. Katrina. Issues: Name one magazine you subscribe to, if there is any. I never did that.

Internet: Name one website you visit often. These days, Facebook.

Itinerary: List one place you would like to visit. Malta.

Interest: Name one thing that interests you. Cooking.

J

Are you joyful? Again, I think I am generally happier these days so yeah.

When was the last time you were filled with joy? Last Thursday when I finally got the BTS Meal from McDonald’s, lollllll.

Can you jump high? As a kid, yeah. We had a childhood garter game that kind of made it a requirement for you to be good at jumping, so that served as practice for me. Idk if I’m still as good, though.

Name one girl's name that starts with a J that you like. Julia.

Name one boy's name that starts with a J that you like. Jacob.

K

Have you ever been kissed? Sure.

Have you ever feared that you would be killed? Yup.

Are you kind? I wanna think so, but idk. This is a question you’ll have to ask other people about, not for me to answer for myself.

Who is your kindred spirit? Angela.

Name one thing you liked as a kid. Chewing gum.

L

Do you love someone? My close friends.

Do you live out loud? I try to make the most out of everything life hands me and enjoy life as long as I can, if that’s what you’re asking.

Do you read food labels? Only when I’m bored and have nothing to do at the dining table. I never read it to actually know the nutritional value of what I’m eating.

Name something local that you like. Balut.

List one thing you like to do at the lake. I don’t think I’ve even been at a lake before...I’ve seen ones, but haven’t been up close.

M

Do you like...

monkeys: Sure.

music: More so these days.

musicals: I never liked them.

mansions: I mean...I guess? I love house tours so if I can get to go around a big ass mansion I feel like I’d have a good time.

miracles: Not so sure I believe in those.

N

Do you want something....

new: I’m well aware that I can be quite materialistic, so yeah I’m always wanting something new.

nice: Too vague.

neat: Vague again.

never-before-seen: As long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, sure.

nature-inspired: Idk.

O

How old are you? 23.

What is the last great opportunity you missed? Erm...my 20s? Because of Covid? if it counts lol.

Name one thing you like that's orange (besides oranges). I don’t like oranges, but I do like Hayley Williams’ Riot! era orange hair.

Are you open? In surveys I definitely am. < Agreed.

Name something odd. Can’t really think of any at the moment.

P

Are you...

patient: Too much for my own good.

perky: With the right people, yeah.

pale: Far from it. I live in a place with sunny weather all year round.

peaceful: For the most part but I can provoke people if the need be.

passionate: Not always, but sure it shows up occasionally.

Q

Do you own a...

quilt

quail

queen-size bed

quill pen

book of questions ^ I don’t have any of those things.

R

Do you like to...

run

rave

riddle

rhyme

rap: If I memorize a verse/song, then yes.

S

Are you ever...

shy

sensitive

secretive

sure

stable

T

Are you...

ticklish

trouble

tall

thankful

tactful

U

Have you ever...

ridden a unicyle

used an umbrella

visited an uncle

been undecided

played a ukelele

V

Do you own a...

violin

vehicle

violet dress

vampire cape

veil for a wedding dress

W

What is something you wish for? Longer weekends.

Wonder: When was the last time you opened your eyes in wonder? I guess this morning? When I realized it was finally the weekend and I could stay in bed and relax and sleep in if I wanted.

Name five words you like. Let’s just go with poignant, which is what I always answer. I don’t feel like thinking of four other words.

What is something you wonder? What my own place would look like.

Name someone who thinks you are worthless. I hope there isn’t anyone; but my mom did make me feel like this for a long time. Either she’s stopped it or I’ve grown completely immune to it – I can’t really tell the difference.

X

Have you ever...

played a xylophone

had an x-ray

enjoyed exercise

had excision surgery

been excluded

Y

Are you young? I think 23 is still quite young, yeah.

Are you youthful? Idk lol my stress level these days makes me feel like I’m 35.

Did you have a big yard growing up? No.

What did you do yesterday? Had what was probably my busiest day at work yet.

Do you like yams? I mean I like ube cheesecake, but that’s as far as I’ll go when it comes to yam.

Z

Zeal: What are you passionate about? My work, to an extent.

Zing: Do you like raspberry lemonade? I’ve never tried it. I think.

What's your favorite zoo animal? I don’t go to zoos.

Do you own anything from Zales? No and idk what that is.

List a name that starts with a Z. Zia.

[kurhanik]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Alphabet Questions Tagged by the amazing @firefly-kid <3 thank you!!

(A)ge: 22

(B)irthplace: Poland

(C)urrent Time: 8:44 pm (WHEN I STARTED THIS) 00:39 now

(D)rink you last had: Mint tea

(E)asiest person to talk to: Such questions always stress me out because, hey, I LOVE ALL OF MY FRIENDS SO MUCH (for real, i'm just going to stick to the literal "easiest" part of the question, because heck, i love you guys), but anyway, my friend Ferron is someone I can talk with about anything, saved me so many times and aaaah, I just can't believe we know each other for like...idk, 12 years??? Wild. Harshai's someone I can't imagine my life without. Lajn legit saved my life a few times and...honestly I could trust her with anything too. And I can't believe that Cycha's still so patient with me, after so many years!!! And I love joking with you and everything, aaa. But then, finally, the obvious answer's Cyrulik and Bejdak, I just jffkfjkfj can't believe how easy, how /right/ it feels to talk with you. And to overshare...I honestly can't believe all the acceptance and love i recieved from you, i just. brb crying

(F)avourite Song: Waaay too many, but the ones that feel very special to me right now would be Percival's "Karanfile", "Farewell old friend" from TW3 OST, Gintrowski's  "Tren Fortynbrasa" and Bregovic's "Marushka", as for general ones,  maybee "Dilaudid" by The Mountain Goats, Grechuta's "Chodźmy", "So Long Ago, So Clear" by Vangelis, "Start wearing purple" by Gogol Bordello, "Nim Wstanie Dzień" in Fetting's interpretation, "This is a film" by Iggy Pop and Bregovic...and heck, so many more

(G)rossest Memory: I can't think of any atm and....well i think i don't want to

Mmaybe just the time when I was @ university plein air and that one girl really...........overshared...many things about her life.....when she was drunk......and didn't really understand the concept of No Touch and Personal Space, yehhhhhh i think i'm gonna remember that forever, just honestly can't stand being touched by anyone i'm not comfortable with and this situation was vERY not ok

(H)ogwarts House: I'm the kind of Hufflepuff who's obsessed with their house, so well, that. Houses were always my fav part of the series. (I suppose I'm Huffleslyth too)

(I)n Love: With my incredible wife, my amazing friends, and way too many fictional characters, some of which this blog is dedicated to.

(J)ealous Of People: Who control their emotions better and aren't as obsessive as me, I guess. Also, welp, many artists that are better at doing bussiness than me... but hey. Tryin to control it

(K)illed Someone: I've killed too many people in The Witcher 3 because of my bad decisions and I sure regret that. Wait......what?

(L)ove At First Sight or Walk By Again: .....well listen i really thought that the love at first sight thing is fake but....you see......stuff..happened...it sure happened

(M)iddle Name: Eve

(N)umber Of Siblings: 0

(O)ne Wish: For my friends and wife to be happy and find peace On the more egoistic side.........well as childish as it is I'd like to work in That One Studio someday. One day

(P)erson You Called Last: My dad i suppose, I use my phone once a month

(Q)uestion You’re Asked Most: ,,How are you’’ even tho my answer is "depressed" 90% of the time kfjfjkfjkjkf

(R)easons To Smile: my wiFE, Cyrulik and KACS in general, all of my incredible friends, my job and having nice/succesful days @ job, anything Nilfgaard related, CDProjekt's terrible (amazing) jokes, Supergiant Games, good art, birds, plants, my city, my dog and my birds, Spring, warmth, love, eeeeeh honestly just. all of sudden i have so many reasons to smile. depression who (k it's still very much there but at least i remember how to smile now)

(S)ong You Last Sang: Ederlezi by Bregovic

(T)ime You Woke Up: ...whICH TIME because i wake up like 3 times today? Let's say it was about 8

(U)nderwear Colour: Idk blue i think

(V)acation Destination: Anywhere @ Ukraine or Kaunas or Trakai

(W)orst Habits: being obsessed with my work and loosing opportunities (and hEALTH) (and social life) because of it, hhhhhhhhh.

(X)-Rays: Teeth

(Y)our Favourite Foods: BORSCHT. Kutia. Too many things i can't eat anymore. Most things with spinach, pumpkin, eggplant.

(Z)odiac Sign: Aries

Not tagging anyone bc i always feel awkward about it but I’d be HONOURED if any of you would do it and tag me <3 i love reading about my friends and followers, ok

[mortythesp00k]

Review: Tokyo Ghoul Movie

I had mixed feelings when I first heard that Tokyo Ghoul was getting a live-action adaptation. I find most cinematic recreations of both books and manga usually fall short of their source material (I’m looking at you Death Note). However, I was pleasantly surprised by Tokyo Ghoul. I do not think it was a flawless film, but it did not leave me feeling disappointed like many adaptations of stories I greatly enjoy. I will be splitting my discussion of this movie into four parts that are labeled below. Before I begin, I would like to state a quick disclaimer: I have not seen many live-action adaptations of anime/manga. As a result, I will not be able to make too many comparisons between Tokyo Ghoul and its fellow adaptations. I am also from the west, so my idea for what makes a movie good is probably out of touch with the standards of cinema in Japan. All of that being said, I am happy to be discussing and sharing my opinions on the 2017 film adaptation of our beloved Tokyo Ghoul.

Plot:

In this section I am going to giving some general thoughts about the story of the movie and how much its deviations from the story presented in the manga affected its quality. First, there is something important that I need to get out of the way early in this review: the manga is always better. I am going to do my best to judge this movie on its own merits, but I cannot ignore the superiority of the source material.

Speaking of source material, I want to begin by talking about how much of the original Tokyo Ghoul manga that this movie actually covered. Basically, it adapted the beginning of the story and the Dove arc. I think this was the right choice. Trying to jam the Gourmet arc in would have made the movie feel bloated, sped the pacing of the movie up way too much, and created an odd sense of anticlimax after Mado’s death. I cannot even imagine what kind of disaster this movie would have been if they tried to adapt as far as the Aogiri arc. My only criticism of the choice of material to adapt is that Nishiki’s role in the story feels a bit more random (although it is far from irrelevant). We also do not get to see any of his redemption arc.  

Even with such a small amount of the Tokyo Ghoul narrative to work with, the movie still had to condense or remove some scenes to keep the runtime reasonable. Some of this I thought was well thought out and did not harm the story at all. Some examples include this scene:

Having Ryoko and Hinami already in Anteiku when Kaneki arrives seemed like a good way to introduce their characters earlier on without badly disrupting their or Kaneki’s story. Another example was the second appearance of Nishiki:

This scene fit with the narrative well and gives us the background information to Kaneki’s and Hide’s relationship. This method prevented the exposition from being completely forced in a much more awkward way or just completely absent. Having Hide attempt to answer for Kaneki was also a clever way to show more of the relationship between them.

Unfortunately, some scenes seemed to be stretched out for unclear reasons. The best example of this is Kaneki’s alleyway encounter with Nishiki and Touka. Instead of ending like this:

Kaneki runs away from Touka only to encounter her shortly afterwards taking the trash out at Anteiku:

This is where they have a tamer version of the infamous cake conversation before Yoshimura arrives and invties Kaneki inside. I am not sure why one of the most iconic scences from the early parts of Tokyo Ghoul was split like that, but I do not think it adds much to the film.

Overall, I think that the Tokyo Ghoul movie picked a good amount of the manga story to adapt and did not, for the most part, reduce its quality in adapting it.

Characters/Casting:

First up is our boy. Masataka Kubota nailed Kaneki’s personality and effectively used mannerisms and behavior to convey ideas that were expressed using internal monologue in the manga. I think he also succeeded in making Kaneki’s revulsion to human food (something I was worried would be super cringe-worthy if poorly acted) seem genuine and disturbing. His portrayals of Kaneki’s turbulent emotions were also spot on. 

Maybe I am just used to the more serious Hide we have been seeing in recent chapters of re, but Kai Ogasawara’s performance felt a bit too goofy. I did not get the feeling of a caring and intelligent mind that lurks beneath the jovial exterior, and I think that is a quintessential part of Hide’s character. However, Hide played a fairly small part in this film. I can’t fairly expect a ton of characterization given how little screen time he has.

Fumika Shimizu did a good job bringing Touka to the big screen. I do not have too much to say about her performance and the character played a fairly similar role to what she did in the manga. I think some facets of her personality (like eating Yoriko’s food) are not fleshed out enough in the film to make her as compelling a character as she is in the manga, but like I said for Hide, that was hard to do in a movie format.

Mado was probably the second best portrayed character (next to Kaneki). Yô Ôizumi did a great job with Mado’s focused, but unhinged, personality. Additionally, his dialogue did a great job of characterizing his dehumanizing view of ghouls. I also really appreciate the fact that they made an effort to give him a cockeyed appearance similar to his manga counterpart.

This was probably my least favorite of all the major characters. Maybe my memory of early Tokyo Ghoul is clouded, but it seems like Amon came across as much more of a general jerk in this film. His treatment of his subordinate and his incredible willingness to commit terrible acts seemed different from his manga counterpart. He just seemed too angry and one-sided. I did not get the feeling that he would be a character who would end up questioning much of what the CCG stood for later on.

Honorable Mentions:

Despite his incredibly minor role, I thought Kenta Hamano did a great portraying Enji. The Devil Ape’s unique sense of humor definitely came through. I would also like to give a shoutout to Shôko Aida. I think she did a good job bringing Ryoko’s character to life and not letting her admittedly odd role affect her performance.

Dishonorable Mentions:

Yomo was looking a little bit too fresh. I do not know how canonically old Yomo is, but Shuntarô Yanagi felt way too young. It was hard to see him as the serious character that he was in the manga and, to a lesser extent, this film as well. Also, where are the flowing silver locks? I’d also like to mention Hinami. I might just not like child actors, but I thought her performance was not compelling even with the emotionally loaded scenes she featured in.

Cinematic Elements:

I know that special effects are usually the most obvious point of criticism for anime/manga live-action adaptations, but I feel the need to mention it. Generally, the movies effects are not noticeably bad, but the kagune really stand out. I will admit that Kaneki’s kagune looks okay (although its motion is often jerky and awkward), but the other ones really suffer. I’m especially looking at Nishiki and Touka:

I missed Nishiki’s elegant dolphin tail and Touka’s gorgeous, kinetic wing. On a somewhat related note, I did not care for the CCG coats. This might be minor, but they looked too much like a costume instead of the relatively simple garment they are in the manga.

While the cinematography was generally quite good, there were some moments were more reliance on the manga might have helped. A good example is this scene:

Working in some of the most famous visuals from the manga might have made shots likes this a little more dramatic and would have been a nice way to pay homage to the source material (not that I can really fault the movie for not doing this).

I’d also like to draw some attention to some setting changes that bothered me. I think the change in location for both the Kaneki v. Nishiki fight and the Kaneki v. Amon somewhat detracted from those scenes. This problem was especially evident for me in Ryoko’s death scene:

I never realized how much I liked this scene being in a long, narrow alley until it wasn’t. I understand the limitation of shooting on location, but I thought this particular choice took away from the quality of a key dramatic moment in Tokyo Ghoul.

Unjustified Nitpicking:

I know you are probably thinking that my whole review belongs under this category, but I aim to prove you wrong. For these next few points I am throwing any attempt at objectivity to the wind and just listing some personal gripes that, while not objective flaws, still stuck in my craw while I was watching this movie.

First, the mask:

This is a prime example of “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” I really liked the mask design from the manga and am not sure why they chose this new look. I thought the flat human teeth were better visual imagery than the series of sharp, metallic teeth on the film version of the mask.

Next, I would like to point out some odd examples of foreshadowing (I guess these are more of references since they have no payoff in the film). In no particular order:

Eye-lick scene:

Centipede in the shadows:

Hajime is here:

I guess these were nothing more than references for the hardcore fans, but it seemed odd to include them for only that purpose. 

Finally, I would like to register a formal complaint that the song BANKA by illion was only used as an end credit song. It is a great track that reminded me a bit of Kisetsu wa Tsugitsugi Shindeiku (the Root A ending theme, a track that might even rival Unravel in quality).

That will be all from me. I know I spent a lot of time harping on this movie (I tend to do that), but it was really not that bad. I think that long time fans will have a fun time watching this take on the opening to TG. This movie is also a nice gateway into the series for people who have never experienced any part of TG. I think it’s worth checking out either way. 

I plan to be writing about a new chapter tomorrow (fingers crossed). I am also happy to wish you all a productive and enjoyable week. Hope it’s a good one!

[nanabeats]

Stealing a thing!

Stealing this from @a-kitsuneet-and-a-cybele, but instead just answering things down the list that I can or feel comfortable enough answering

1:Full name Alice Armstrong.

2:Age 22, last I checked

3: Fears? Mostly anxiety-related things, but something you might not expect is a fear of silence. Better dead than deaf, imo

4: 3 things I love I’mma be a dork and list @daxreythaak here. Also, music and good  food

5: 4 turns on Nope! Try again later.

6: 4 turns off Bad grammar, low intelligence, persistent clinginess,  and big egos.

7:My best friend Not answering this because it’s not a competition

8:Sexual orientation Yes.

9:My best first date Uhm. Dates? Right, people do those...

10:How tall am I 6′3

11:What do I miss Headshots. Every time. 

12:What time were I born Grammar o’clock. 3:44 AM, I think?

13:Favourite color Purple

14:Do I have a crush No, though I might go get one from the gas station. Orange sounds tasty right about now

15:Favourite quote This changes based on the day. Give me a topic, I’ll come up with something quotable for it

16:Favourite place My bed

17:Favourite food Knowing that Dax is reading this right now, General Tso’s chicken is fucking delicious

18:Do I use sarcasm? Never. Is there any other answer to this?

19:What am I listening to right now: Ga1ahad and the Scientific Witchery by Mili. @grexion just put it on in Plug. https://plug.dj/makais-shipyard

20:First thing I notice in new person: Hair

21:Shoe size Big

22:Eye color Blue with hazel flecks, or hazel with a blue ring around it. Depends on who you ask

23:Hair color? Very very brown

24:Favourite style of clothing? Simple.

25:Kiss someone that starts with the letter “R”? No/

27:Meaning behind my URL I wanted Foxy-thoughts but it was taken. Also foxes. And thoughts. And personal blog. Pretty self explanitory

28:Kiss someone that starts with the letter “M”? Teeeeeeeeeechnically?

29:Favourite song: At the moment, Zenmajikake no Kami wa Kaku Katakiri by Automata Girl. If I haven’t posted it yet, I will tomorrow

30:Favourite band: Depends on the day, but Alstroemeria, Shibayan, and RD-Sounds are my top three

31:How I feel right now? On a scale of 1-10? Ask Ana mains how they feel about onetrick Genjis stuck in low Silver, and convert that to a number. 

32:Someone I love: Already tagged @daxreythaak

33:My current relationship status Taken by ^

34:My relationship with my parents? FUCK NO

35:Favourite holiday: yule/Winter Solstice 

36:Tattoos and piercing i have: None

37:Tattoos and piercing i want: None

38:The reason I joined Tumblr: Long story short, @the-cursed-swordsman is a fucking cool blog.

39:Do I and my last ex hate each other? Normally? No. Presently? Fucking pissed at him for something that happened an hour ago

40:Do I ever get “good morning” or “good night ” texts? The latter, occasionally

41:Have I ever kissed the last person you texted? EW NO! She has 44 years on me and I could go on for ages ranting about why that’s a bad idea

42:When did I last hold hands? Either this morning, 8:30 AM or last night, 8:00 PM

43:How long does it take me to get ready in the morning? Depends on how long I’m given. On a day where I have nothing to do? Three to five hours. Emergency? Three to five seconds, depending on how quickly I can get my legs over the edge of the bed 

44:Have You shaved your legs in the past three days? No

45:Where am I right now? Work

46:If I were drunk &; can’t stand, who’s taking care of me? The morgue. I don’t drink.

47:Do I like my music loud or at a reasonable level? Reasonable. Normally.

48:Do I live with my Mom and Dad? I’d murder the former and the latter hasn’t been in my life for twelve years now. Thank god. No.

49:Am I excited for anything? POP|CULTURE 6, Alstroemeria Records

50:Do I have someone of the opposite sex I can tell everything to?

51:How often do I wear a fake smile? Nope!

52:When was the last time I hugged someone? Today, 9-ish AM

53:What if the last person I kissed was kissing someone else right in front of me? I’d be confused as hell...

54:Is there anyone I trust even though I should not? Probably

55:What is something I disliked about today? Everything but Plug and so far, this list

56:If I could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be? Nah, I’m content as I am

57:What do I think about most? Anxiety things!

58:What’s my strangest talent? I guess I can kick myself in the face if I want to? Don’t ask how I learned that or where I got a prize for it?

59:Do I have any strange phobias? Silence

60:Do I prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it? Behind.

61:What was the last lie I told? “Fine, I won’t drag you into this discussion”.

62:Do I perfer talking on the phone or video chatting online? Chatting online. I hate phone calls.

63:Do I believe in ghosts? How about aliens? If they exist, they exist. If they eventually matter, they eventually matter.  However, they do not matter to me at this moment, therefore they are not something I am concerned with

64:Do I believe in magic? To an extent

65:Do I believe in luck? Aye

66:What’s the weather like right now? Cloudy

67:What was the last book I’ve read? The Iron Druid Chronicles book two, Hexed, I think?

68:Do I like the smell of gasoline? No?

69:Do I have any nicknames? Plenty

70:What was the worst injury I’ve ever had? Rolled my ankle once. Hurt worse than the road rash from ditching my bike when a car cut me off, so probably more severe. I don’t get injured. I get sick.

71:Do I spend money or save it? Spend...

72:Can I touch my nose with a tounge? With someone else’s, yes

73:Is there anything pink in 10 feets from me? Grammar. And no.

74:Favourite animal? DO YOU HAVE TO ASK?

75:What was I doing last night at 12 AM? Getting ready for bed. The night before that? Talking to people

76:What do I think is Satan’s last name is? Zhou.

77:What’s a song that always makes me happy when I hear it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7xai5u_tnk

78:How can you win my heart? Nope!

79:What would I want to be written on my tombstone? Something that other people will see as fitting

80:What is my favorite word?

81:My top 5 blogs on tumblr

82:If the whole world were listening to me right now, what would I say?

83:Do I have any relatives in jail?

84:I accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow me with the super-power of my choice! What is that power?

85:What would be a question I’d be afraid to tell the truth on?

86:What is my current desktop picture? I have entire folder of these that I could share sometime if anyone wants me to.

87:Had sex? Yes

88:Bought condoms? Yes

89:Gotten pregnant? No

90:Failed a class? Only once, when sabotaged by my mother. I was still one of the best students in that class

91:Kissed a boy? Aye

92:Kissed a girl? Yup

93:Have I ever kissed somebody in the rain? I think so?

94:Had job? Kinda

95:Left the house without my wallet? Who needs a wallet when you’re broke?

96:Bullied someone on the internet? Yes

97:Had sex in public? Kinda

98:Played on a sports team? No

99:Smoked weed? Not actively, though my stepdad was a dealer and the house always smelled of it

100:Did drugs? HELL no

101:Smoked cigarettes? Nope

102:Drank alcohol? Kinda, leaning no.

103:Am I a vegetarian/vegan? No.

104:Been overweight? Aye

105:Been underweight? No

106:Been to a wedding? Once

107:Been on the computer for 5 hours straight? Frequently

108:Watched TV for 5 hours straight? When younger

109:Been outside my home country? Yes

110:Gotten my heart broken? Kinda?

111:Been to a professional sports game? Twice

112:Broken a bone? No

113:Cut myself? Never intentionally. I’ve cut myself ON things, but I’ve never self-harmed

114:Been to prom? And hated the picture from it

115:Been in airplane? No

116:Fly by helicopter? No

117:What concerts have I been to? I’d rather not...

118:Had a crush on someone of the same sex? What part of “Sexuality? Yes.” do you not get? Yes.

119:Learned another language? Partially

120:Wore make up? Yes

121:Lost my virginity before I was 18? No, actually

122:Had oral sex? Yes

123:Dyed my hair? It would kill me

124:Voted in a presidential election? No, the only one that I’ve been old enough to vote in was the most recent one, and at that point I was stuck in legal limbo between two counties and couldn’t get to where I was registered

125:Rode in an ambulance? No

126:Had a surgery? Not yet

127:Met someone famous? Kinda?

128:Stalked someone on a social network? Kinda

129:Peed outside? Yes

130:Been fishing? Yes

131:Helped with charity? Yes

132:Been rejected by a crush? Kinda? But not really.

133:Broken a mirror? Yes

134:What do I want for birthday? A “my” in this question. Also for people not to pay attention to it. Or maybe a new laptop would be nice

135:How many kids do I want and what will be their names? Five. Nope. Nuh-uh. Not gonna happen. Never. And Fat Chance. Really though, please no kids

136:Was I named after anyone? No

137:Do I like my handwriting? No

138:What was my favourite toy as a child? I don’t remember

139:Favourite Tv Show? Presently? Rick and Morty, though I watch it online.

140:Where do I want to live when older? Somewhere peaceful

141:Play any musical instrument? No

142:One of my scars, how did I get it? Set my hand on a broken mirror.

143:Favourite pizza toping? Topping. Bacon?

144:Am I afraid of the dark? No

145:Am I afraid of heights? Kinda?

146:Have I ever got caught sneaking out or doing anything bad? Gotten caught? Almost. Once. Though it wasn’t “bad”, per-se. My mother walked into my room unannounced during my first ever orgasm. That was... Interesting. She still doesn’t know about this.

147:Have I ever tried my hardest and then gotten disappointed in the end? Aye

148:What I’m really bad at: Lots of things

149:What my greatest achievments are

150:The meanest thing somebody has ever said to me: I don’t really hold on to things like that

151:What I’d do if I won in a lottery Invest

152:What do I like about myself: Well, I’m a fairly influential person when I choose to be, and I’m fairly good at pulling through tough spots

153:My closest Tumblr friend Not a contest, so not answering

154:Something I fantasise about: [REDACTED]

[paintedrecs]

Rules - copy and paste this into a new text post, delete my answers and put in yours. when you’re done, tag up to 10 people!

I was tagged by @mad-madam-m

A - Age: Literally just asked my mom a couple days ago because I forgot. That’s what happens when you get to your 30s! My birthday’s next month, and I probably won’t do anything about it this year. B - Biggest fear: Never doing anything worthwhile with my life. More specifically, never getting all those books I want to write down on paper. When I Have Fears, by John Keats, has been my favorite poem since I was a teenager. I just...want to write things that matter to me, and to other people.  C - Current time: 1 PM D - Drink you had last: Tea and orange juice; I tapped away at this list while eating breakfast, then stopped for a while to read fic. I should probably rummage around for lunch soon... E - Every day starts with: Me lying in bed wondering if I really truly have to get up and if this day will be any better than the last. Then I drag myself out so I can drink a cup of tea. F - Favorite song: Hallelujah. I don’t really have a preferred version, but my first encounter was the Jeff Buckley one. I was a freshman in college; one of my suitemates brought in a boombox and wandered off as I listened to the song. It’s a sweet, melancholy memory that hasn’t faded one bit in all the years that’ve passed since. (In other words, once I truly love a thing, I pretty much love it forever.)  G - Ghosts, are they real: No. I don’t know what the afterlife is like, but I don’t believe in spirits hanging around after death, even if my apartment does make weirdly unidentifiable noises sometimes. H - Hometown: Born in Northern California, grew up in Central California, moved back to my birth area a few years after college. But I prefer the Steinbeck quote: I have lost all sense of home, having moved about so much. It means to me now - only that place where the books are kept. I - In love with: Books. Writing. A handful of fictional characters.  J - Jealous of: Published authors. Everyone who was able to go to AX this weekend. I was originally planning to go - until I quit my job and haven’t been able to find a new one and thus can’t afford anything. K - Killed someone: Uh. No. I still feel overwhelming guilt about the time ~20 years ago when I accidentally killed a lizard.  L - Last time you cried: A few days ago, while panicking about not having the money to pay rent this month. Although honestly, I’m feeling kinda down today. M - Middle name: Very weird, with too many vowels.  N - Number of siblings: Three older brothers. O - One wish: For the short term - to get a job that pays enough for me to keep paying my bills. For the long term - to have at least one book published. P - Person you last called/texted: Called - my mom? I don’t like talking on the phone, so it’s usually only her or job- or bill-related stuff. Texted - a friend of mine who lives in Canada, who sent a happy ‘merica day message. Q - Question you’re always asked: People very frequently stop me to ask for directions. I’m very approachable but very, very bad at giving directions.  R - Reason to smile: Dogs. Sterek fics. Books. Sheith merch. Chocolate. Jack Zimmermann. More books. S - Song last sang: I think something I made up when I was cleaning. I am a zillion and one percent not a singer, but I absently sing my thoughts out loud a lot of the time. Usually when I’m alone. Unless I forget I’m in public. T - Time you woke up: 5:30 AM, but I went back to sleep and woke up for reals around 9:30.  U - Underwear color: Currently green, but I need to take a shower, after which point, who knows?? Could be anything. Maybe foxes. V - Vacation destination: Favorite past one or one I wish I could do? I can’t afford anything for a while, so I’ll go with my three favorite trips that I’ve made as an adult. Cornwall (aka the setting of tide pulls), Montreal, Kaua’i. I loved all of them, but I’d go back to Hawaii first if I could. I just want to lounge by a pool with a pile of books and a mai tai or five. Although my birthday trip a couple years ago involved renting a house by the ocean and writing for a week, which was...amazing... W - Worst habit: I could call it procrastination, but it’s actually avoidance. I put things off for no good reason and end up getting mad at myself because of it way too often. Right now I’m avoiding: dishes, sending an email about my renter’s insurance, reading a script my brother sent me a month ago, cleaning the bathroom, getting groceries, making a dental appointment, putting away the laundry I washed yesterday, writing... X - Xrays you’ve had: Teeth (dental checkups, wisdom teeth), arm (broken - bicycle), foot (broken - ballet), chest (apparently fine but I was having worrying pains a few months ago). I think that’s it? Y - Your favorite food: My mom’s fajitas. But if you’re going with a generic category of food, probably pizza. I grew up thinking pizza was a choice between Dominos and Pizza Hut (Little Caesar’s sometimes, if you were in the right mood), and then I discovered that it can be so much more. I’d probably eat it every day of the week if I could. My very favorite pizza topping is asparagus and snap peas, although I like lots of different ones. Z - Zodiac sign: Leo. I fit aspects of it but not others. 

If you see this and wanna do it, consider yourself tagged!

[i-amusemyself]

All 100 Questions.

Bloody hell okay thank you!!! 😄😄😄

1. Is a kiss considered cheating?Yeah, Id say so.

2. Have you ever faked orgasm?Aint never had anyone to fake it with 😂 Ngl tho its the sort of thing id do (which is terrible i know)

3. If you could have one super power, what would it be?Mind reading.

4. Do you think youre gonna be rich in 7-8-9 years?I’d be worried if I didnt have more money than I have now, but idk.

5. Tell us some funny drunk story?Oh jeez erm, I don’t really have any 😂 My friends occasionally remind me of the time at the school christmas ball one of the business teachers turned up and I quickly ran away while aggressively whispering “oh no he knows im a lesbian, aimee told him”.

6. Why are you no longer together with your ex?We work better as friends, its less stressful.

7. If you had to choose one way to die what would it be?See I’m really torn with this question. Part of me thinks itd be nice just to go in my sleep, with a heart attack or something. Its quick and painless you know.But equally I wonder if it would be better to maybe, like, have something where I knew I was gonna die. Because then I’d have time to try and do everything on my bucket list and say goodbye to everyone. Also maybe at that point I’d welcome death lmao.

8. What are your current goals?Idk? Im waiting on A level results which I really hope I’ve done well in.I hope to make lots of new friends at uni and learn how to look after myself quickly I guess. I dont know.

9. Do you like someone?I like a lot of people 😆

10. Who was the last person to disappoint you?Im really not sure??? There arent many people I expect anything from and even then my standards are pretty low. So like, I dont really get disappointed by people, only occasionally by situations.

11. Do you like your body?I could hate it a lot more, but I wouldnt say I’m happy with my body or general appearance. I struggle a lot with my features and my weight and the scars I have (which is ridiculous but thats what mental illness is)

12. Can you keep a diet?I mean if I wasnt on the diet im on rn (with lots of restrictions) id probs be in hospital 😂

13. If the whole world was listening to you right now, what would you say?Honestly id pass out under the pressure of it 😂 idk, id tell them all to take a chill pill but no one would listen.

14. Do you work?Nah, i had 3 jobs at once last yeah but now I’ve ended up with none.

15. If you could choose only one food to eat for the rest of your life what would it be?Either garlic bread or chocolate I cant decide!

16. Would you get a tattoo?I’m v much planning on getting one in the near future so yh!!

17. Something you dont mind spending all your money on?Plane tickets.

18. Can you drive?Yeah! I havent driven since I passed my test, but hopefully I havent forgotten how to that quickly!

19. When was the last time someone told you youre beautiful?…I cant remember. Thats depressing (not that I blame them).

20. What was the last thing you cried for?Argh I have no idea why I was crying, my brain just wasnt doing its job so everything made me stressed and sad.

21. Do you keep a journal?I keep a blog for diary posts but besides that nah

22. Is life fun?If you allow it to be, yeah

23. Is farting in front of people irrelevant?Tf is that supposed to mean? I guess if you know the person well it is.

24. Whats your dream car?I dont know about Dream Car, id have to research it loads to decide what my absolute fave it. Although rn I’d really love a ‘67 VW beetle bc theyre small and cheap on insurance 😂

25. Are grades in school important?My own grades are super important to me, (to the point its probably unhealthy) but in terms of how the people around me do, it doesnt really matter to me. I mean, I want everyone to do well, but I dont judge people based on it.

26. Describe your crush.She’s funny and all around awesome and interesting and good at deep convos and beautiful and way out of my league.

27. What was the last book/movie that really impressed you?The last one I read called The Bell Jar. It was unlike anything I’ve ever read and made me think about a lot of things. Also I related a lot with the main character.

28. What was your last lie?Eh, probably “im fine”.

29. Dumbest lie you ever told?Idk?? I only keep track of the good lies 😉

30. Is crying in front of people embarrasing?It shouldnt be but yeah, I try my best not to.

31. Something you did and are proud of?Umm, idk im p proud of playing basketball and representing my region/training with england. But i quit that so 👏 dicks out for my regrettable decisions 👏

32. Whats your favourite cocktail?Never had one

33. Something you are good at?Annoying people and being clingy 😂 also maths ig

34. Do you like small kids?It depends on the child, the day of the week, the lunar cycle, my menstrual cycle, how hungry I am…Yh legit sometimes I hate them sometimes I love them.

35. How are you feeling right now?Great omg I just got my best friend to watch mamma mia and now shes high on life next to me.

36. What would you name your daughter/son?🤐 there are a couple of names for girls I like and like 2 boys names? But i dont wanna say bc theyre embarrasing.

37. What do you need to be happy?Good company, good food and possibly music.

38. Is there someone you want to punch in the face right now?Theres always at least 3 people I would love to punch 😂

39. What was the last gift you recieved?My best friend got me a necklace and I almost cried its so beautiful

40. What was the last gift you gave?The gift of my company @only-slightly-dangerous 😉😉😉

41. What was the last concert you went to?I went to to see Amber Run in february

42. Favourite place to shop at?Um, as in shop? A place called blue banana probs (england’s hot topic smh)

43. Who inspires you?Kaitlyn Alexander bc they helped me to understand who I am and how I feel and to be loud and proud about it.And Luke Cutforth bc he’s so open about his mental health and struggles with self harm but hes so happy now.

44. How old were you when you first got drunk?18 lmao

45. How old were you when you first got high?It aint happened yet (and i dont really want it to)

46. How old were you when you first had sex?It aint happened yet smh

47. When was your first kiss?As far as im concerned never

48. Something you want to do until the end this year?What….does this mean….? Idk???

49. Is there something in the past you wish you hadnt done?It’s more stuff I wish I had done tbh. I suppose I said things I shouldnt have or got too involved in drama, but you kinda need all that secondary school shit to learn from it

50. Post a selfie.Lmao nah fam

51. Who are you most comfortable around?My best friend by a mile. Privacy who?

52. Name one thing that terrifies you.Abandonment without explanation.

53. What kind of books do you read?Anything non fiction about medicine/being a doctor/disease/psycopaths.Besides that whatever has been recommended.

54. What would you tell your 12 y/o self?1. Youre gay2. You and I both know you arent joking about being “a dude trapped in a girls body” stop laughing it off and confront it.3. Stand up for yourself.4. Chill out.5. Laugh a lot more omg

55. What is your favourite flower?It’s between petunias and roses

56. Any bad habits you have?Not answering peoples messages unless theyre Certain Person A or Certain Person B.

57. What kind of people are you attracted to?Ones that are out of my league and could kick my ass apparently. Also ones that are kind, listen and think a lot I guess

58. What was the last thing you cried for?Already answered

59. Is there something you dont eat? A food that truly disgusts you?I dont eat loads of stuff bc my guts hate me 😂 but besides all that I’m actually the worlds least picky eater. The only thing I dont like is raw tomato. Thats it.

60. Are you in love?I wish

61. Something you find romantic?All the clichés ngl 😂 just anything that says “i love you” or “i was thinking about you” really

62. How long was your longest relationship?Like 4 months? Barely long term.

63. What are 3 things that irritate you about the same sex?Oh jeez i hate these theyre so stereotype-y1. Bitching2. Not supporting each other3. ….?

64. What are 3 things that irritate you about the opposite sex?1. Not supporting each other2. Massive egos3. Yelling

65. What are you saving money for?Uni so I dont starve to death!

66. How would you describe your bad side?Hmm, idk, it depends what someone did to get on my bad side. I’d say stubborn, bitter and angry tho usually.

67. Are you actually a good person? Why?I could be wrong but I think so long as someone has morally good intentions they are usually a good person, whether they always succeed or not. So yeah, I like to think I am.

68. What are you living for?My friends and the hope I have for my future.

69. Have you ever done anything illegal?Piracy? Thats it.

70. Do you like your money?….did I type this question wrong or??

71. Have you ever made someone feel bad about themselves intentionally?Okay, the honest answer? Yeah. When I was a lot younger and less mature and someone said something that hurt me, I tried to retaliate with equally hurtful comments. I like to think I wouldnt do that now.

72. Ever sent nudes?Lol no

73. Have you ever cheated on someone?Hell no

74. Favourite candy?All candy hates me 😂

75. Is there a blog you visit everyday or almost every day? Tag them.Yeah @oneshappyplace knows I regularly spam her with notes in search or Quality Memes (im so sorry)

76. Do you play any computer games? Whats ur fave?Nah, as if I have time 😂

77. Favourite TV series?Argh I canny choose? I love the IT Crowd, I love supernatural, I love Sherlock, I love in the flesh…

78. Are you religious? Does God exist?I’m not religious and personally I don’t believe there’s a god or higher power but I could be wrong.

79. What was the last book you read? Did it impress you and why?The Bell Jar. See 27.

80. What do you think about vegetarians and veganism?I respect it I guess? At one point I was p much a vegetarian until I had to restrict my diet sooo. Tho I could never be one now, let alone a vegan.

81. How long have you been on tumblr?Too long 😂😂😂 Like 3 or 4 years?

82. Do you like chinese food?Love it!

83. McDonalds or Subway?(Never been to subway so) McDonalds.

84. Vodka or Whisky?(Never had whisky so) Vodka.

85. Alcohol or Drugs?(Never had drugs so) Alcohol.

86. Ever been out of your country?I’m currently in the USA so yeah 😂

87. Meaning behind your blog name?It’s p self explanatory and also v true

88. What are you scared of?Abandonment, deep water, knives, toys with battery packs.

89. Last time you were insulted?Ugh, probs like when I met up with a load of school friends for our leaver’s ball.

90. Most traumatic experience?I’d rather not answer that lmao (plus itd take a long time to type)

91. Perfect date idea?Chilling and listening to each other’s favourite songs while coexisting and eating fast food 😂 that or ikea ngl

92. Favourite app on your phone?Tumblr. Even though I hate it, it also keeps me sane.

93. What colour are the walls in your room?White and blue.

94. Do you watch youtube? Who is your favourite youtuber?I love so many youtubers omg. Lukeisnotsexy, mileschronicles, realisticallysaying and filthy frank are faves

95. Share your favourite quote.Pick your fights.

96. What is the meaning of life?To live life to the fullest so youre happy and have minimal regrets. Also to be kind and helpful so even if you dont change the world you might help someone else to.

97. Do you like horror movies?I think….? But I’m not good at watching them alone 😂

98. Have you ever made your mum cry? What happened?Eh…again, would rather not answer (we got some nice supressed memories here)

99. Do you feel lucky or special in any way?I’m still totally in awe of how lucky I am to have met my best friend from 3000 miles away. Like, the probability of it was so so slim and yet here we are.

100. Can you keep a secret?I think so yh! It’s something that I consider super important.

[hotokeiki]

Week 125: J-pop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCOmPW-8FW8

Ladies and Gentlemen! The time has come for the coming of the time. And even though that time has been greatly delayed, that time is nigh. Nay, that time is now!

I decided that I HAD to post in January, at least in my time zone. A lot of you then don’t get a post in January, but it’s only off by a day, so it’s basically still January, right? Right?

It’s kind of poetic to post on the last day of the first month to bring in the new year.

Editor’s note: I’m not gonna bullshit it. That wasn’t the plan.

I was hoping to bring in the new year earlier, but I’ve been through some shit, OK!? And don’t worry, I will explain the happenings thus far of 2017 in GRATUITOUS detail. Here we go.

Linda: Oh great, now he’s going to write an epic.

Me: Y’know, this is hard for me to, Linda! I’m just gonna write until it’s ALL out there.

Linda: Please don’t.

Me: You can’t stop me!

Editor’s note: This might take a while, so you can skip to this icon if you want { >> }

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So, I got my wisdom teeth removed on January 5th. I was required to have a guardian (my mom) drive me home, because I wasn’t legally allowed to drive. I was going to be put under, so I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink anything 8 hours before the surgery. I had a weird dream the night before that I was in front of a table with a bunch of food on it, and I was being tempted to eat and drink. I was freaked out about not eating or drinking for 8 hours, so my brain was stressed. Anyway, I was put under, and the surgery went off without a hitch. I had an intravenous anesthetic to put under and a local anesthetic to numb my whole mouth. When I came to, I was kind of groggy, but I couldn’t feel any pain. I was also very aware, and the nurse helped walk me to the car. I had gauze in my mouth that I wasn’t supposed to remove for an hour and thirty minutes, if I remember correctly.

What was surprising was that my mom could make out almost everything I said through the gauze. For the first day, I was only supposed to eat soft foods, so we needed to make a trip to the store. I decided to go the store with my mom instead of just resting at home. I leaned on a cart at while we were at Wal Mart and used it to walk myself around. We got cream of wheat, chocolate pudding, and Häagen-Dazs ice cream (which I’d never had before). When we got home, I brought my computer chair out from my room to the kitchen table, and just sat there mostly. I had to alternate icing each side of my face, and I could hardly feel it. The parts of my face that were numb were from my bottom lip down to the base of the chin, a little bit more of my cheeks, the front parts of my ears, and part of the inside of my left ear. The inside of my mouth was numb, including my tongue, except for my palate. I could eat ice cream and drink cold water without any temperature sensitivity. The weirdest thing is trying to drink something when you can’t feel you’re bottom lip or tongue. You don’t know where the glass is, and it feels like your bottom lip is pushing up the glass, and your mouth is closed. That’s why you want the glass to rest on your bottom teeth. Still spilled a bit XD

As soon as I had out the gauze, I started trying to talk. My older brother said that somebody should record it, because it would be hilarious. (It was. We didn’t record it, though. *sadface*) The anesthetic started wearing off, and I had a HUGE temperature sensitivity. The water had to be tepid, like a cat’s tongue, for me to drink it. I also made sure to take my meds on time. Around 5pm that day, the anesthetic had completely worn off, and I could talk like normal. So, what do I do? Talk in a Discord chat. Yeah. That was a great idea. (Linda: Sarcasm, Me: Czar chasm, Linda: what?, Me: I win.)

There were some rough times where I had a lot of pain, and one almost sleepless night. I couldn’t take the pain meds unless I ate something. That was really rough. I may have had a dry socket, because I had a LOT of pain. But overall, I felt pretty good. The first week of school was a little rough, and I kept taking the meds when I could. Eventually, I went down to a lower strength pain killer, and now I don’t need it. I still get food caught in the removal sites, and need to swish around some water to get it out, but that’s too bad. The other thing is that I kind of have some bone that sticks out further from my gums on the left top side that mine to get filed down. It’s kind of weird. Other than that, I’m healing up nicely. I do heal really fast. I say my body makes up for my stupidity XD

And while I was recovering from the surgery, my immune system was probably recovering, which is why I got sick. Although, my parents were both sick, so that could be the reason. (It also could’ve been because I talked too much.) The back of my throat was inflamed and swallowing was uncomfortable, and that lasted roughly three days. And then I got sick with something else. My mom and I could’ve gotten sick on the day that we spent 5+ hours in Fleet Farm. We were having some work done on the car, which ended up taking a while. The head guy there was sick with the “Minnesota Crud” (it’s just a bunch of congestion really). Anyway, I basically got over that, and then last week, I got what I would qualify as food poisoning. I didn’t vomit, but I had intestinal cramps and indigestion, and occasional dizzy spells. I was pretty good on Monday, but Tuesday was BAD.

Editor’s note: Seriously, you probably want to skip this. You’ve been warned.

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I only had two classes, but I barely made it through the first class (Communication Systems) before having to go the bathroom. And then I was trying to get my reaction paper finished before my Psyc class, so I made my way from the bathroom to the ACC (computer lab. It has a different name now, but I don’t care) to finish typing my paper and print it before class. I didn’t make it that far. I had to stop at the bathroom. I thought I was good, so I went into the ACC, booted up a computer, copied the draft of my paper onto my flash drive, plugged the flash drive into my computer, THEN immediately pulled it out, put all my stuff away, and went back to live forever on the toilet. (why did I leave in the first place?) I was actually kind of worried. I had finished both of my waters (I had started carrying two bottles in my backpack), and emailed my Psyc professor that I was going to for sure be late and maybe not show up at all. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to make it through a 2-hour and 40-minute lecture. Well, I was late, and hadn’t been able to finish my paper, so I finished and went to class late. My instructor was very understanding and emailed me the notes that I missed out on. I’m stilling having some problems, and I might have the flu, but I’m basically healthy (Linda: Except you’re not)

So many people I know are sick. We should quarantine Minnesota, maybe XD

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Classes have gone pretty well. Since I wasn’t feeling well, I got kind of behind on homework. I actually did some homework on the toilet. I turned in the Communications assignment late for a small deduction, but otherwise I’ve turned in all of my assignments on time. My Psyc class is Psychology of Women, and it is quite interesting. We only meet on Tuesdays. Our assignment for this week was to find a magazine targeted toward girls or women, and answer some questions about it relating to media bias towards white slender women, etc. It was also preferable for me to bring it to class. After work, I asked my friend which magazine she recommended, and she said I would hate it but it was exactly what I was looking for: Cosmopolitan. I bought this month’s issue of the Cosmopolitan, and told my friend that I didn’t think I’d hate it as much as she thought I would. She told me to get back to her. From what I’ve read, there are some useful articles and good advice, but the ads and trendy stuff don’t mean anything to me. I do plan to finish reading it. It’s really not that bad, but I’m not going to buy more.

And the last thing, My Japanese 101 lessons. I’m teaching Japanese lessons during the second half of Otaku Club, which only meets Mondays. I have only had one so far, and that was yesterday. The first attempt: canceled because the instructor’s kid was sick. The second attempt: all afterschool activities were canceled due to inclement weather. The third attempt: the instructor was sick, and they were unable to find a sub because all of the faculty were in meetings that were supposed to happen the week before. But this week, I was able to give my first lecture, and it went off without a hitch! Everyone was so attentive and hanging off of everything I said. The lectures are set up with the main lesson only being Romaji, and after questions, I have a Bonus lesson that goes into kana and Kanji, and talks about more in-depth topics. They unanimously decided to have the lesson earlier, and they all stayed and paid attention during the bonus lesson. And there was even some discussion that happened. It was great!! Now, I just have to make more lessons. XD

Here’s a link to the folder on my Google drive that holds all of the Japanese 101 material

(https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzJ6ikuPRgCLY04xTm5EdVE1WXM)

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>> 

Well, it’s time to bring in the new year. I was trying to figure out what song would really be uplifting and motivating as we continue through 2017. I had a song picked, but then I changed my mind!

Saa, ikimashou!!

PUNCH☆MIND☆HAPPINESS by Happy Clover is the opening to Anne Happy (Unhappy Go Lucky! or Unhappy).

I have not seen Anne Happy, but I’ve seen the opening, and I definitely will watch the show at some point.

 Here’s the plot. It looks fun!

 Tennomifune Academy (天之御船学園 Tennomifune Gakuen) is an elite school where students train in various subjects such as arts and sports. That is, except for the students of Class 1-7, a.k.a. the "Happiness Class", who have been deemed "unfortunate" and must try to overcome their own misfortune and achieve happiness. The series follows Anne "Hanako" Hanakoizumi, who has terrible luck, and her classmates Ruri, Botan, Hibiki, and Ren, who each have their own misfortunes, as they try to find their own happiness.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Happy

 So, as mentioned before, I was planning to post a different song, but then I decided to do this song instead.

 Well, funny story.

 So, Rae brought a bot into the Discord chat that she named Ai-chan. Rae was showing us the different functions that Ai-chan has, one of which is +anime ( ). I used this to look up Charlotte and found out there was an OVA for Charlotte! So, I thanked Ai-chan. She’s kind of fun to talk, but she can be very random, and we argue. (I accidentally married her by saying “I do” XD)

 Anyway, I watched the Charlotte OVA, which brought back so many memories, and was really fun. But it’s also Charlotte and Jun Maeda likes to see what he can do to your emotions. It was great, and I ended up crying a bit. I also had a hollowness, and just didn’t feel happy.

 So, I tried playing some anime openings I know. I watched the opening to GochiUsa, which didn’t do it. Then Soul Eater Not!, because I forgot how boring that song is. And then I decided to do the fourth opening to One Piece, because Bon Voyage! Is really fun, but the opening is a feels-fest. And then I tried the second ending to Soul Eater. None of it was “happy” enough.

 I decided to search for “happy anime openings”, and clicked on a video labeled “Top 50 Kawaii Anime Openings of ALL TIME [HD]”

Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAFwFJ9gJnk&t=321s

 And during the disclaimer before #50, I heard a song that sounded really happy. I saw in the description that it was PUNCH☆MIND☆HAPPINESS by Happy CLOVER (Anne Happy Op).

 So, like I do, I watched the opening, and a huge smile spread across my face, and all of the bitter sweet feelings I had from the Charlotte OVE dissipated. It was such a fun upbeat song, and the opening was colorful and fun! I am absolutely watching this show!

 The song is really cool. It has a jazz feel and instrumentation, and some cool rhythmic parts. There is a part that reminds me of Kouchou Kouchou (Suzumiya Haruhi OST) and a part that reminds me of Calendar Girl (Aikatsu). It’s just a beautifully crafted song. The harmonies are great. The variety of voices is fantastic, and it’s JUST SO HAPPY!

 Here’s the full version:

https://soundcloud.com/ada7me/punchmindhappiness

 Album: PUNCH☆MIND☆HAPPINESS - Single - Track: 01 Lyricist: Aki Hata Composer: Hidekazu Tanaka Arranger: N/A Artist: Happy Clover

 (The only name I recognize below is Hibiku Yamamura, because she voiced Kirara Amanogawa from Go! Princess Pretty Cure)

 Happy Clover:

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

Anna Hanakoizumi (CV: Yumiri Hanamori)

Ruri Hibarigaoka (CV. Haruka Shiraishi)

Botan Kumegawa (CV.  Kiyono Yasuno)

Hibiki Hagyū (CV. Hibiku Yamamura)

Ren Ekoda (CV. Mayu Yoshioka)

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

 And there you have it. I hope this helps make your 2017 better!

 I also wanted to mention that I binge read an amazing Korean web comic called 4 Cut Hero. It’s fantastic. I’d definitely recommend looking that up. (when you don’t have homework that you should do instead *whistles suspiciously*) I may or may not have read the entire series up to date in one day instead of reading short stories for Psyc.

I also participated in Souly’s stream on Friday with Raela and Hamza. It was fun, and Rae read my Week 124 post in her stereotypical ditzy female anime character voice.

Alright guys, that’ll do it for this week.

 It feels so good to be back!!

 I promise that I’ll do a better job of staying on top of my work.. and hopefully, stop being sick.

 Well, we’ve still got 11 months to make 2017 the best year it can be.

 Talk to you later, guys.

 Ja ne!

 “Unhappy wo Bye Bye”

 - Chris  ——————————————————————————- Minna, gokitai kudasai!!

[ficsforfangirls]

A Carry On Dictionary: Letter K

Letter A     |     Letter B     |      Letter C     |      Letter D     |     Letter E

Letter F (Rated: M)     |     Letter G     |     Letter H     |     Letter I     |     Letter J

Letter K     |      Letter L     |     Letter M     |     Letter N     |     Letter O

Letter P     |     Letter Q     |     Letter R     |     Letter S     |     Letter T    

Letter U     |      Letter V     |     Letter W (Trigger Warnings)     |      Letter X

Letter Y     |     Letter Z

AO3 with the whole collection <3

Summary: Sometimes, Simon is more aware than Baz realizes.

Knowledge, {nol-ij};

Awareness, as a fact or circumstance

When Simon sat me down, I guess I don’t know what I was expecting. I’ve watched enough romantic comedies to know that when someone wants to talk and they sit down next to each other on a couch – it’s going to be bad. So, I guess I was kind of expecting an ultimatum of some sort. I secretly have nightmares about Simon asking me to turn him, and I don’t know how we’ve made it so long without us discussing his being bit so that we have forever together. I mean, of course I’d put my foot down on the matter absolutely, but that fact that he hasn’t tried is surprising to me.

The other thing I was expecting was that maybe Simon was going to ‘let me go,’ and that I was going to have to let him do it because I want him to be happy no matter the cost to me. I didn’t have much of a warning; honestly, it was kind of a text he sent to me. “Be home in ten. Can we talk?”

Simon came running in and he kissed me the way he usually does when he’s been gone all day doing something with work friends. He missed me and he missed my lips; that’s what he always says. It was no different that day and then he dragged me to the couch. I thought it was going to be maybe some exciting news for a brief moment but Simon placed a hand on my thigh and let out a grave breath. The feeling it gave me hurt.

“Can we talk about your magic?” he smiles, as if it wasn’t a completely traumatizing and agonizing thing to be talking about. Like? He lost his magic. Never having confronted that aspect of his life, it just seemed like maybe Simon forgot that it happened. I convinced myself, apparently, that Simon erased everything related to magic from his mind. Since I thought that he didn't want anything to do with magic, I didn't ever use it in front of it. As far as I was aware, my husband didn't even know I used, or still used, magic.

I was relieved but not really. My body relaxed but I was obtusely aware that I could be walking on eggshells. “I-I – uh – I guess?” His question really had me dumbfounded. I’m not even sure it was my voice that gave him the green light.

Simon smiled in that stupid way he does when he’s really excited about something. That redheaded sod even bounced in his seat in order to teeter himself closer to me. Everything was so confusing. His voice and his body language were incredibly deceiving to the setting he’d created by asking if we could talk. The movies didn’t really prepare me for this scenario. “So, how often do you work with it?”

“Enough to keep up, I suppose,” I offered lamely. Simon continued to ask me questions about what I worked on and whether I was showing improvement in any areas. The conversation felt familiar, like the ones I had with my father or the ones when parents were invited to come meet with the professors in the middle of each term. His investigation had morphed more into this strange sort of interview.

I answered each question that came up. Mostly, my skills and knowledge were about the same, only more modern if anything. I had begun to take an interest in practical uses for magic – a very domestic study, really. It was there that I admitted how often I was using magic. Though I would have never had admitted it before this conversation, I’d been using magic to make Simon’s food healthier…

“Fantastic! I’m glad!” Blank. I was completely blank. I mean, it is pretty fantastic that I was doing that for him. Honestly, he doesn’t eat very well or work out nearly enough. My handiwork is really the only reason he doesn’t have a rounded belly. Simon does get a little chubbier in the winter months, as many do, but I don’t push the work outs quite as hard. If he gets too skinny, I have flashbacks to the beginning of the year during our time at Watford. He always looked so sick and underfed. So I don’t mind him putting on a little weight a couple months of the year.

Simon then leaned away from me and twisted his whole body around so that he was facing me. His face, his chest, his legs, knees, feet – everything! With his body squared to face me, it seemed unnatural for me to remain sitting with my feet flat on the floor. Hesitation affected my movements and so I surely looked uncomfortable as I contorted myself to sit in the same position as my lover, husband, and best friend.

And I wondered if he would be that way for long. Though, the conversation left me really worried about what any of it meant…

“Soon people are going to mistake me for your father. The age difference is really starting to show,” Simon said. It was a simple statement and it didn’t even come out in such a way that I freaked out. Had my brain thought for even a second that he was going to ask to be bitten, I think I would have had a melt down. I’d seen protests and I would have shamed those events if I even suspected as much was going to be said. When he continued, though, I was proven right. He wanted no such thing. “I was thinking a bit about your magic and how alchemy is an incredibly powerful practice.”

Well, not quite the nightmare I’d imagined but a nightmare of a different sort. Simon asked me to start studying alchemy to see if there was a way to deter the aging process significantly. It would require a regular brew should I find anything of the sort. It would easier to magic his appearance every morning if he was that worried about it, and I’d declared as much to Simon on the spot. He had his reasons, though, and they were bloody good ones. “I want to deter my body’s rate of decay. I couldn’t care less what they think when they see us.”

“Liar,” I snarled. He cared. He cared a fucking lot.

Simon shrugged, “Fair,” and then continued to share that slowing the process would give him a longer life. “Maybe it isn’t forever but it is time. More – time.”

As much as I wanted to be mad that he was asking so much of me; as much as I wanted to ask him why we’ve never talked about magic; as much as I wanted to tell him not to worry about it… I agreed. More time? It sounded fabulous. Any amount of time extra I could share with Simon was worth my time.

And I promised him I would see what I could find. “Thank you,” I said when the conversation was clearly over. It should’ve been Simon expressing his gratitude, right? I knew it should have been but I had something to be thankful for too.

As I expected, Simon asked what I was saying it for. Part of him must’ve known before I said it. “For not asking me to turn you.”

“As if, Pitch.” I think it made me happier to hear him say it with such disgust than anything else ever has done.