#anyway she's awful for the most part and i wouldn't want her around me at all but she's almost my fave this season lol

[thewritingpossum]

Heartbreaking: the worst person on this show just made a great point

[missmomof3]

Deep Regret (shelby sister fic)

Sorry if this is awful, this is my first time ever trying to write a fanfiction. I'm not sure what this would be classified as but probably too long to be a drabble. Maybe an imagine? If anyone reads this, thank you and I am fine with criticism (I'm sure I did lots of things wrong) but please be kind.

Summary: y/n shelby always tried to make her family happy, but they all believed Grace over her and soon most bonds were disintegrating, especially with Tommy, who she'd always loved and looked up to.

TW:character death, not proofread, possibly missing some so read at your your own discretion.

"Y/N get in here!" Tommy yelled from his office at you where you were sitting in Michael's office doing your homework.

"What did you do this time" Michael asked, irritated but fortunately not at you, he hadn't turned on you.

You had always been Tommy's favorite sibling, him more of a father than a brother to you until Charlie was born. Until recently you'd even lived at Arrowhouse with Grace and him. But after Charlie was born suddenly Grace began complaining to Tommy of how disrespectful you were when no one was around. That you called her names, taunted her and even until they married, had nicknamed little Charlie "the bastard". But just to her, not around anyone else. You hadn't ever done any of that and at first were confused when Tommy began yelling at you frequently and you weren't allowed alone with Charlie anymore.

He held a family meeting without you there to discuss your behavior. By the time that happened you weren't friendly to Grace anymore because what was the point when you'd be in trouble anyways. The family had noticed the tension so for the most part believed Tommy when he told them of your troubling behavior and they began being short with you and before long it felt like all you had left was Ada, Finn and Michael. Polly was no Grace fan but was disappointed in you for supposedly insulting a baby and felt like you should be grateful Grace had agreed to let you live in their house. John, Esme, Arthur and Linda took that line of thinking as well, deeply disappointed in how you went from being one of the sweetest people they knew to being so disrespectful and cruel. They especially were disappointed that you'd be so two-faced and only do this while no one else was around. At least have the backbone to own your behavior was their thoughts.

So now here you were, living with Polly because even though she was disappointed you were still her niece, but living with hostility everywhere. You were still polite when you saw Grace, but now you held yourself back from everyone so their accusations and lack of faith in you didn't hurt so badly.

Responding to Michael's question with a shrug, you got up to walk into Tommy's office ready to be told off again for some imagined offense.

"Sit down y/n," Tommy said coldly, "and explain to me why you felt the need to make my wife cry last night."

Family dinner was held at Arrowhouse last night, and even though you hadn't wanted to go, Ada promised she'd be there and insisted you go with your head held high, knowing you were innocent. She never believed Tommy, remembering how it felt when Grace's betrayal took her Freddy away. Remembering you sneaking to her place to help with Karl, and how alone she felt thinking her brother betrayed her. It baffled her how her family could believe Grace over you, but whenever she brought it up they all asked why Grace would lie when she loved Tommy and she knew how much sending you away and practically severing his bond with you had hurt him. So she, Michael and Finn still staunchly defended you but gave up on getting through to anyone. That's why last night you stuck close to Ada, never being alone with Grace, in the hopes this very incident wouldn't be happening.

"Tell me, oh brother of mine, what did I do to Grace now?" You asked, no longer worried abour his reaction to your attitude since you had already grieved the loss of your relationship.

So he started laying out some imagined conversation that happened in the kitchen when Grace went to ask Mary a question. According to her you'd seen her and started criticizing her hosting skills, telling her what a disaster the upcoming charity gala would be.

You smirked at his tirade, because this time you knew you had proof. "Call Ada, ask her what happened last night" you said, standing up and getting ready to leave.

"I haven't dismissed you yet," Tommy clipped, grabbing your arm. "I am putting you on notice, if you do anything to embarrass Grace tomorrow night at the gala, I will have no choice but to completely cut you from the family the minute you turn 18. That means no help, no using the Shelby name, you'll be on your own."

"Bold of you to assume once I'm 18 I'll be sticking around here" you said, rolling your eyes, "I know my place now, at the bottom. When I'm an adult I'll take care of myself. I'll miss the family I had, but I'll make my own." Then you left.

Tommy sat with his head in his hands. You'd never know how much his heart broke to imagine you completely gone from his life. He didn't know how to reach you anymore. His sister, closer to a daughter. He still loved you so much and had hoped tough love would work, but he missed you deeply and choosing his wife and son had felt like removing a large part of his heart. If only you could have stayed the sweet girl you once were, before jealousy had taken over.

When Grace first went to him with your behavior, he hadn't wanted to believe it. But the more she went to him and the more you denied it the more arguments it caused between him and Grace. Until finally she told him he was putting his true family aside for a girl who wasn't his daughter, who would eventually marry and leave him, while his wife and son suffered in the meantime. It became easier to give in, to be angry at the strife in his house that you were causing. Especially when it stopped as soon as you moved to Polly's.

But he couldn't ignore the voice at the back of his head reminding him Grace was an accomplishhed liar while you had always been awful at it. So he called Ada. 30 minutes later he was more conflicted than ever but knew he needed to get answers from Grace. Ada confirmed you had never been alone with Grace, never even went to the kitchen. Then he spoke to Polly who also had never seen you leave Ada's side. Now Polly was beginning to demand he find out if they had been wrong all along, if her niece had been sacrificed for familiy unity. Michael had been chipping away at her beliefs for awhile now and this seemed to confirm it.

That night, Tommy sat Grace down, determined to find out the truth. After a lot of obfuscation and denial it all came out. She'd been feeling guilty for some time now whenever she saw how heartbroken and torn her husband was, but she was petrified he'd love his son less than his sister, and with her standing in the family being only strong because of Tommy's love for her and Charlie, she panicked and in that panic had thought if she got y/n sent away, Charlie and by extension herself, would always be his top priority.

This saddened him greatly for a multitude of reasons. Her lack of faith in him even though he'd never been the betrayer in their relationship, his poor choices, his cruelty to you, the loss of that bond. It all hurt.

The next day, before heading out on business he demanded a family meeting be held. He made Grace come with him and confess all. She did, because deep down she felt awful that she'd ruined the life of a sweet girl that had never been anything but kind to her. She'd seen the loss of spark in your eyes and couldn't deny any longer how horrible her behavior was. Maybe this could be fixed. At least your relationship with your family, especially Tommy. He missed you deeply and maybe the memories of all the years he'd loved and taken care of you could combat the time he'd spent alienating and breaking your heart.

The family was horrified but not shocked. Deeply disappointed in Tommy and themselves they made a plan to begin making it up to you. Tomorrow, after the gala, they'd all individually apologize and set about making things right. Work was cut short so they could all get ready, but at least tonight they'd be knd to you and start treating you like the beloved little sister you'd always been.

Tommy and Grace rode in silence to the gala. Grace didn't know how to bridge the gap and Tommy was lost in thought. Before they got out he turned to her and said "After you apologize to y/n, we can begin fixing us. You're Charlie's mother and I still love you, but you broke my trust and cost me someone precious. So right now, let's just focus on righting the wrongs we both have done." Grace agreed sadly, knowing it would be a long time before she had her husband back, but accepting this as the consequences for her bad decisions.

For you the night was going great! Everyone was suddenly friendly, and even Tommy had a warmth in his eyes at you that you hadn't seen in a long time. Grace had made a point of complimenting you and suddenly everyone wanted to talk to you. It made the night pleasant, but you weren't getting your hopes up. You'd built walls and they weren't coming down because suddenly people treated you like you were family again. You stuck around Ada and Finn.

While everyone had been having epiphanies and making plans to repair relationships today, you'd been doing some thinking of your own. Mostly thinking about how different your life might have looked had you had parents. They maybe would have loved you unconditionally. Maybe your relationship with your brothers, their wives, your aunt would have been better if they hadn't also had to help raise you. For so long, you hadn't felt you were missing anything because you had brothers, a sister, an aunt, and more recently a cousin and sisters-in-law that loved you ahd made you feel protected and like you belonged. As a child you'd had multiple people to go to for love, advice and help, it never occurred to you that that could all be taken away. Even during the war, the letters you got from your brothers and the presence of Finn, Ada and Aunt Polly had always kept you from feeling lonely. Now you knew that could be taken away and now you knew loneliness. Now you felt like the orphan you were.

Tommy was walking away from some duchess when he caught your eye and motioned you over. You went over hesitantly, hoping you weren't about to be chastised for something. As you walked up to him, he was in conversation with Grace about her necklace. Hoping to slip past them without being seen as everyone was moving into the banquet hall to eat, you suddenly heard someone yell out "For Angel!" with a gun in their hand. At once time slowed down and sped up and all you could think of was little Charlie losing his parents and becoming like you. Not even realizing you were moving, suddenly there was a sharp pain in your stomach and you were falling into another person.

Everything became chaos. Tommy was horror stricken as he held his baby sister's head in his lap while Grace was putting pressure on the wound. He yelled for someone to call an ambulance and kept trying to get your attention, because you were still breathing but staring at the ceiling like you could see someone there.

"Please, y/n, please look at me, stay with me, don't leave me" he begged, running a hand soothingly through your hair as tears streamed down his cheeks, all the while remembering years of time spent together, how you would climb into his bed after the war and just lay beside him when he'd have nightmares, grounding him and reminding him he was home, safe and warm, not in a tunnel, no enemy shovels around.

Grace had one hand putting pressure on your wound, the other holding your hand while she cried as well. She was horrified at what her behavior stole from you, while you had literally saved her life. Thinking back on the sweet little girl back when she was a barmaid, asking her to sing because her voice was "beautiful" Soon she was nudged roughly out of the way by John who took over putting pressure on your wound, tears streaming down his cheeks. His thoughts on the girl he used to throw in the air when she was little, her always trusting he'd catch her.

Arthur was beating the man who had fired the bullet, he couldn't make himself stop. All he could see was you in his arms as a baby, your finger wrapped in his and your eyes looking at him so trusting, and how much he'd let you down by not going against Tommy.

Polly was on the phone getting an ambulance, begging them to hurry, trying to keep herself calm as she remembered all the times when you were little and would hold out your arms, confident you'd get picked up and cuddled, she could almost feel the warmth of your head on her shoulder.

Ada was holding Finn, praying silently for her sister, most recently at an age where she was fun to shop with, try on clothes together, the girl who would confide in her because she trusted Ada's judgement and knew she was safe to be herself with her.

Michael stood at the door waiting for the ambulance, doing his best not to cry, thinking of his cousin who, even feeling alone and rejected by almost everyone, would listen as he spoke about his girlfriend, and who would joke around with him while doing homework.

Esme and Linda stood by Grace, quietly crying, both thinking of how welcoming and sweet you'd been when they were introduced to the family. Esme knowing no one and yet you immediately treated her like a sister, helping with the kids and softening some of Polly's harshness during the London expansion. Linda wishing she'd gotten to know you better, but remembering how you'd hugged her when she and Arthur got married and said how you knew she'd make him happy and help him find peace.

Regret and sorrow ran so powerfully through the large ballroom it felt like they were a physical presence.

[hunnylagoon]

Right Where You Left Me

Pt 2: Jailbird

Ellie Williams x reader

I want to write a poem about you but I’m afraid it won’t be enough. I almost feel ashamed that I want you to fit into a word because we both know that you are beyond anything that can be put on paper.

Premise: You and Ellie were childhood friends before you drifted apart. Funny thing about soulmates is that they tend to find there way back to each other. While you both visit home for winter break, events unfold and it is no longer possible to avoid each other.

Warnings: Angst / homophobia / brief violence / reader has religious issues

Part one here!

Part three here!

Part four here!

I may have been wrong to say that I could never hate Ellie. Fuck she was vicious, in the most passive-aggressive way too. She's so sly about it that I can't even get mad without seeming irrational.

Winter break finally rolled around and I had yet to make any progress with Ellie it was whatever the opposite of progress is. If she wanted to hate me, that was fine, I could do the same, I could be petty. It's now December and all of this bullshit started in September, she could hardly be courteous.

Fuck her.

I had survived mid-terms and finals but the way Ellie was acting had me skipping happily towards the edge. She will wash a whole sink of dishes and leave just my fork, or Venmo request me if I ate one of her grapes. Everything had gotten worse when Dina, Abby, and Cat all left to visit their families for winter break leaving just Ellie and I, without the girls there to hold us to the house rules we were at each other's throats.

She was foaming at the fucking mouth to tear me apart. There was no level-headed Abby or fun-loving Dina, not even Cat who was just mellow. Just me and Ellie verbally abusing each other. "Fuck off, with your wild animal teeth," I spat, slamming the dish cupboard closed with a loud thud.

"Wild animal teeth?" She repeats "Wow, you're getting creative, I'll give you that," Ellie's gaze held a certain bitterness "Heard you were on your knees again last night and I don't mean praying."

My eye almost twitches at her words and it takes everything in me not to throw a ceramic bowl at her. I hated her, I hated her freckled face, and eyes as sharp as knives, just hearing her raspy voice, and seeing her sardonic smile made me want to keel over and let the earth wrap me in her flourishing greenery. I often wanted that to happen. I was trying to refrain from going home as I didn't want to spend the entire break with my family but I was starting to think nothing was better than this, I was set to leave the following day (Christmas Eve) anyway but I was seconds away from grabbing my bag and jumping into my car. "Can you just learn to be fucking civil?"

"Why would-

"Because we were sixteen years old when that stupid shit happened!" I spat "You're holding a grudge from when we were sixteen," I reiterated, searching her features for some sign that I'd gotten through to her.

"It's not like you've changed since any of that happened." She stands, unnervingly calm on the other side of the kitchen island. "You were always awful since we were young, always crying, always emotional, always explosive, my dad said you're like a birch tree, one spark and you burst into flames."

"Fuck off."

"You always had to have the attention," Her eyebrows furrow "Nothing was your fault, blame being fucking erratic and insane on your parents."

"You don't know my parents half as well as you think you do."

"What don't I know about them? They've been in my life as long as you have."

"Ellie, stop," I say, suddenly I'm taken away from the mood to fight, I just want to scream into my pillow.

"What?" She asks "You're going to say some shit like 'they aren't loving'  or 'you wouldn't get it' Please, enlighten me, what wouldn't I get?" She moves closer just an inch or so "Wow, your life sounds so hard, you have two parents who love each other and a huge fucking house, oh shit," Sarcasm drips from her tone "Maybe it's that trust fund that's taking a toll on you."

"Please, stop."

"You could commit every crime known to man and you would still be their pride and joy, there is nothing you could say or do that would make them hate you-

"Here we go with your 'life is so fucking hard and I'm edgy and indie and I have a sad backstory that I'll bring up every second sentence even though I was seven when it happened' " I mock her.

She bites the inside of her cheek and I can tell that I've struck a nerve "You know when my lease-

"Don't even worry about it," I move out from the kitchen and begin towards my room, Ellie's eyes are trailing me "The minute my lease is up, I'm packing my shit and moving into student housing so I won't have to look at your fucking face while I'm eating!" I slam my bedroom door behind me.

I left that night, I couldn't bear the sound of her guitar strums, so repetitive it made me want to slam my head through the drywall.

You better believe that I cried my entire way home while blasting Julien Baker. My mother was pleasantly surprised to see me at her doorstep a day early, I knew Ellie would be coming down sometime tomorrow to spend the Holidays with her family, I didn't know when, I just knew that I didn't want to see her.

I never even told my parents that Ellie was my roommate and they hadn't heard it from Joel as they drifted when Ellie and I were fifteen.

My bedroom was exactly how I left, I cuddled into my twin bed that night sinking into the absolute silence of the the snowfall, with my dog Dusty curled at my side. I always loved the snow, the way it acted as soundproofing for the earth, when I was little I would just sit in the backyard so I could hear the birds sing in their purest and truest form.

Christmas Eve was dull to begin with, to say the least; my mom made Christmas tree-shaped waffles as she did every year, I was then dragged to an excruciatingly long church sermon. When we returned home I was sent to shovel the driveway, turns out visiting home from college doesn't excuse you from chores. I knew Ellie had arrived when I saw her grey sedan in Joel's driveway as well as Tommy's Range Rover. Bundled up in mittens and a hand-knitted scarf that Naomi gave to me I felt really tough giving the middle finger to Ellie wherever she was in Joel's house.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Elijah was cackling in the doorway. Dusty I happily bounding through the snow, paying to mind to my brother.

I immediately dropped my arm, trying to play nonchalantly "Uh, shoveling the driveway?"

His laughter only grew "You look so stupid," He huffed between cackles "You're standing in a foot of snow in the driveway giving Mr. Miller's house the middle finger in your cute little mitts."

"Say that louder, no one could hear you," I say, sarcastically.

"Hear ye, hear ye-

My eyes go wide and I drop the shovel to form a snowball and deck it at my brother "Shut up!"

"Ow!" He flinches, and his track and field hoodie from high school is now covered in powdered sleet. "Whatever," He yanks his hoodie off to shake the snow off of it "Just finish the driveway so we can watch a movie or something, I haven't seen you in months, Naomi and Aaron haven't shut up about you all holiday break."

I give him a mitted thumbs up before I try to speed run the shovelling, albeit slipping on black ice more than a few times. When I came back inside, I needed to change, my parka was dripping with snow that had melted into water.

I bundle up into sweatpants and an old soccer t-shirt. Being in my old room digs up memories pinned on my wall with bright thumbtacks year after year of photos of my soccer team, in every single one Ellie and I have our arms slung over each other. We're smiling wide and not focusing on the camera but on one another. I tear the picture away from the thumbtacks and throw them into a random shoe box that sits at the bottom of my closet. After that, I take down every artifact I have of Ellie, the drawings she made me, drafts of songs we wrote together, and t-shirts she left in my drawers, I throw it all into a Rubbermaid storage bin.

Though I leave the little wood carvings that Joel made for me alone.

My family's famous Christmas Eve dinner rolled around and I couldn't believe how excited I was, I'm not the best cook and despite me and my mother going through spats every other day, she was one hell of a good chef and I had spent months craving her honey roasted carrots and creamy mashed potatoes.

Please don't judge me when I say this, but we are the family that dresses up for dinners at home. Nothing black tie, just something a little dapper, one time I wore jeans to our family dinner and I was grounded for a week.

I finished zipping up my white sundress and I let my little sister tie a matching bow into my hair, when she saw what I was wearing she changed into her white dress which was ankle length while mine fell right above my knees.

"Oh, my sweet girls are matching again," My mom fawns over us "Let me get a picture of this cute little moment," I smile for the picture, and Naomi does the same, hooking an arm around my midriff. "Adorable," Mom looks at the picture before tucking her phone into her pocket "Now girls, please set the table."

Even though I hadn't been at home for months, setting the table was like muscle memory to me, Naomi put the placemats down, and then I did the dinner plate and salad plate, Naomi would place the napkins and cutlery then I would set glasses and pour everyone water from the pitcher. By the time we finished setting the table everyone aside from my mother and Elijah were at the table, early awaiting what was sure to be a filling dinner.

Slowly but surely my mom brought the dishes with Elijah, placing them all through the center of the dining table. After everything was placed my father, who sits at the head of the table cleared his throat, that was his signal for everyone to join hands. "Dear God, We gather today with grateful hearts to thank you for this food before us. We appreciate the effort and resources that have provided us with this nourishment. May this meal sustain our bodies and remind us of the many blessings in our lives. We are thankful for the love of family and friends who surround us and for the abundance we enjoy. Bless this food, our time together, and those who prepared it. May it strengthen us physically and spiritually. This is your body, this is your love. We thank you for feeding us with your gracious hands. In Jesus' name, we give thanks and pray. Amen."

"Amen," My family repeats before we all ravishingly fill our plates with chicken, maple-roasted mushrooms, buttered green beans, bread rolls, and mashed potatoes. I was eating so fast, I was shocked that I didn't spill anything on myself.

"So, have you met any cute boys at college?" My mother asks me, she is the only one eating politely "I'm sure you could get a real smart guy with those looks of yours."

My father nods "Just make sure he's Christian."

"Or catholic," My mother adds.

I laugh awkwardly in response, I take a sip of my water, the condensation making it slippery in my hands. Elijah gives me an odd look that goes unnoticed by my parents.

"I think we should drop off some bread or cookies or something to the Miller's, just something to say hi while Tommy and Maria are still there." My mom tells us, she isn't speaking to anyone in particular.

"Is Ellie there right now?" Aaron asks.

Elijah shrugs "Probably, her car is in the driveway."

Now Naomi is looking at me "We should invite her over for New Year's or something if she's staying for the rest of break."

My dad shakes his head "I don't know if that's a good idea," All eyes fall on him "It's just- I think she's a bit of a bad influence." He takes a swig of his wine and attempts to suppress a burp but fails. I press my lips into a thin line and look down at my plate to hold in my laughter, Elijah does the same beside me.

"I don't remember Ellie being a bad influence," Aaaron furrows his eyebrows, racking his brain to think of a time that she had done their family wrong.

"It's just that there were rumours of her having-" My father searches for the words "Unnatural tendencies I suppose, and I tried to talk to Joel about it but he got defensive and said that she didn't need fixing, that's how I lost my best fishing buddy."

My mom looks at the discomfort on all of her children's faces "I mean, we all need a bit of fixing."

Dad is quick to catch on "Oh, yeah, of course, I mean it's not just Ellie," He fumbles over his words "And it's not her fault that she's that way, I think It's because she lost her mother when she was young so she got confused about the parental roles, Joel never remarried and he didn't date around much so Ellie didn't have a proper mother figure, it's not her fault she's a dyke and there's still time to fix it if she wants to choose the right path."

Stillness falls over the table, I had never heard silence quite this loud. Even my mother is at a loss for words. All of my siblings are darting our eyes at one another, we don't utter a single word but we understand each other clearly 'Dad actually said it'.

He noticed this and tried to backtrack on his words "I'm not a bad guy, I mean we've all read the bible cover to cover, we know it's a sin. I'll wrap this up, you all know that we love you no matter what and all I'm saying is I'm glad we could distance ourselves away from it."

"Hey Dad, did you watch the Canucks game last week?" Elijah swoops in to change the topic. It's too late, a wave of sickness has already overtaken me.

While my family discusses nothing in particular, trying to ignore what Dad said, I am sick to my stomach, I push my plate away and prop my elbow the the table for my hand to support my head. I am nearly shaking. My dull eyes peer across the table and meet my father's drowsy gaze.

"Honey, are you feeling alright?" My mom pauses whatever conversation she is enwrapped in.

I don't respond, I don't know how.

My family's eyes find a resting place on my figure. Mom pushes herself away from her chair and walks over to me, she places one hand between my shoulder blades, the other takes my cold hand and she slowly rubs a circle on my back to comfort me. "Sweetness, whatever is repressed inside, say it, let it out, we're all family."

Naomi nods in agreement, her wide eyes full of concern. "I don't know how to say it," I tell them.

"Air it out," My dad says, finishing off his glass of wine and pouring himself another "Today is the perfect day, tomorrow is the birth of Jesus, a fresh start."

My heart is racing faster than it ever has before, faster than when I broke my wrist in Ellie's backyard or when I had been on a rollercoaster for the first time. "I like girls," I say, my voice is quiet, and my three words take my family with silence. My mother freezes and takes a step back, her comforting hands leaving me.

"You're joking," My dad scoffs "Tell me this is a joke and you're normal."

"I can't," My voice cracks and I can already tell that the tears are oncoming. I think briefly back to Ellie's words 'There is nothing you could say or do that would make them hate you' if only she could see what was about to happen.

"All of those sleepovers with Ellie?" He is disgusted, his face contorting with horror "Were you dating her?"

"no-

"How can I believe anything you say, you lied to us for nineteen years when you knew you were sick."

"Dad, I'm not sick-

"How many sinful acts have you done under this roof?"

"None, I swear," I shake my head, it took less than a minute for me to be filled with regret at my words. I shouldn't have even come home for the holidays, actually, I never should've found Dina's listing and jumped at the deal.

"Get out," Any light tone in my dad's voice is gone, replaced by pure resentment.

"What?"

"You heard me, get out."

"Dad, it's Christmas Eve-

"Get out!" His voice rumbles through the dining room like thunder "I thought we fixed this phase when we sent you to boarding school."

"Please, dad-

"Get up and get out or I'm going to make you,"

"Fine- make me," Tears prick in my eyes but I cross my arms trying to muster up that false coolness Ellie is so good at feigning.

My dad slams his glass down so hard that it shakes the table, and the partially empty wine bottle my parents had been nursing all night is knocked over by the abruption, tipping over the deep red liquor to travel down the tablecloth and drip onto what was once my pure white dress. "Get up!" He grabs a fistful of my hair and I scream from the shock of pain. He yanks me off my chair and my face slams against the hardwood when his arm slumps, impact heavy from the sudden drop, it doesn't take long for my nose to start bleeding. He drags me to the door pushing it open; my siblings don't do anything they're petrified in horror and my mother begins to cry, covering her eyes from the scene before her.

My dad doesn't stop at the door, I thrash on the ground and he pulls me over both of my hands trying to pry his away from the roots of my hair, he drags me into the snow, finally releasing me. I shake as my hand gently finds the way to my burning scalp where I fully believe he has pulled out clumps of my hair with his harsh and unforgiving grasp.

From the doorway the rest of my family watches, Naomi has a hand covering her mouth her doe eyes brimming with tears of her own. My father disappeared into the house, it didn't take long to see what he was doing he slammed the window to make the bedroom open and began to throw all of my belongings out of the window. My pictures, my old soccer uniform, armfuls of clothes from my old beaten dresser, candles, books, paints, and shredded posters were torn straight off my wall.

"Dad, stop, I'm sorry, I'll get better!" I am on my knees, hands clasped together pleading with him. My skin is burning from the contact with the snow, I know that it must be a horrific sight to behold. White sundress, stained with wine, tangled hair, red-tinged skin, puffy eyes and incoherent sobs.

The snow makes everything so quiet the only sound travelling through the night are my sobs. I can no longer see my father in my bedroom, he is coming back down and somehow that is worse, he pushes past my family and throws the presents I was supposed to receive on Christmas morning beside me, I flinch at the movement.

"I'm sorry!" I plead like I'm bargaining with the Grimm Reaper for my life "Give me a job and I'll do it, just tell me what to do to get better!" The screaming carries through the night, alerting the neighbours in what was supposed to be a calm and quiet neighbourhood. Across the street, Joel turns on his porch light, squinting his eyes at the scene on the opposing lawn and trying to make sense of it. "I want to get better!" I shake with every sob. I could hear my dogs barking from the loud noises.

My dad shakes his head "You're too far gone, I didn't raise a fucking dyke," He is almost crying himself, he doesn't mourn for the daughter that he has but the daughter that could've been. The daughter who donned white every Sunday for church and settled down with a nice family man, a daughter who was holy but in this moment I am the purest form of holiness, born again from the violence of my father.

"Dad, I was created in God's image, why would he create his child to be this way if it was so wrong?"

"You're a fucking mistake is what you are," He seethes "Get off my property or I'm calling the cops."

"You still have my bags!" I scream and I watch him retreat to get them "Are you going to do anything at all?" I search my family for any sign of life but they all avert their eyes from mine. My father comes back out, and he throws my purse and suitcase on the lawn, this time both of them hit me, talking about kicking someone when they're down.

My dad begins to usher the family inside "I never want to see you again, get your ass up and start working, I'm not paying for you to fuck around with women instead of getting an education."

"That's it?" I cry "You won't come to my wedding or meet my kids? What about my funeral?"

"Not as long as you're with a woman." With that, he slams the door behind him and locks it. I let out another guttural sob, I've already cried so much that it's beginning to hurt within my stomach. I take a deep and shaky breath in, wiping the tears away from my eyes with my freezing hands, I'm sure to catch hypothermia if I don't warm up. I look up to see my neighbours all around either watching from their window or in the Miller family's case, the front porch. I'm sure that someone has already called the police.

"Let me in, I'm sorry!" I scramble off the ground and begin to bang on the door. Shaking the handle "Let me in!" This goes on for longer than I would've liked, I hammer on the door and scream as loud as I can but they all ignore me. Eventually, I stand by the window and slam my hands on it "Let me in or give me my fucking dog, you can't take care of him!"

I knew I was fucked when I heard sirens. It only made sense for the neighbours to call the cops at this disturbance.

I'm going to do you all a favour and tell you some useful information; when the police arrive and you don't wanna seem guilty, don't try to drive away from the scene because you might just end up getting handcuffed and shoved into the back of a police car for your childhood bestfriends family to watch from their front row seats.

"Prison life isn't for me," I wallow as I press myself against the bars of the holding cell. There are two other women in the cell with me and they both snigger. One of their names is Lucia, and she has bronze skin and brown hair so dark that it almost looks black with gold hoop earrings the size of my head, I don't know the other woman's name but she looks significantly older and has stringy blonde hair, the wrinkles of her face drooping.

"Honey, this isn't prison, you'll live another hour," Lucia sits on the uncomfortable bench, her arms crossed, she's kind of hot to be blunt.

"You reek of liquor though," Blondie cackles and I catch a glimpse of her rotting yellow teeth, what's the opposite of pearly whites? Golden nuggets? Something like that.

"Because I got wine spilled on me," I retort. I had been crying before they even placed me in the cell, wailing so loud that I was annoying the officers. I was so upset and starved for affection that I hugged the officer who detained me, babbling incoherently about how my life was ruined, I don’t even blame them for arresting me, I looked like a crackhead trying to break into a nice suburban home. “I'm not drunk."

"Could've fooled me," Lucia smirks, she's wearing a black tank top and skinny jeans. I wasn't a fan of skinny jeans but she was converting me.

I fell asleep hugging myself on one of the uncomfortable metal benches with chipped blue paint, when I woke up, it was Christmas, even though it didn't feel like it. I saw the snowfall outside of the windows on the other side of the cells. Lucia had told me just before she was released that they had the right to hold you longer over holidays, I wanted to weep all over again.

Blondie got removed from the cell too and I was all alone. The only thing that kept me sane was pretending I was Katniss or Lucy Gray, if they had survived the Hunger Games, I could survive this. I genuinely thought my life was over and I was getting sent to prison for hammering on my dad's door and screaming.

With each hour that ticked by, my profound sense of loneliness only grew. The sounds of distant laughter flitted through the hall and I am reminded of the world that lies beyond the metal bars. I wonder what my family is doing at this moment, every voice that I hear acts as a reminder of the love I had jeopardized. I lost Ellie, I lost Conner, and now I had lost my family.

I think about praying to god for a moment though I discard the thought. If he was real why did he let that happen to me? Maybe forgiveness and redemption were not necessary.

"Crybaby, call someone to pick you up," Officer Reid who initially arrested me and interrogated me began to unlock the cell, "Charges are dismissed." He had been calling me Crybaby since I was stuffed in the back of the police car and wailing uncontrollably.

"Like for real?"

He was in fact, for real. I was brought to a landline phone and my hands acted faster than my head, dialling the number of someone I would trust with my life, I just prayed that the number hadn't changed.

After making my call I was told to go to a weird booth thing to collect my effects, where an old and very judgmental woman dumped my few belongings out of an envelope. I wish I knew the technical names for this stuff but it's not like I've been arrested before this one off occasion. She looked at each of the items, stating what it was while she took inventory of it. "Smartphone, lipgloss, a single gold earring, and a cross necklace," She marks something down and then turns the paper around and holds out a blue pen for me to take "Sign here."

My phone had died already, I was missing an earring, and the cross had failed me, all I had left to rely on was my cover girl lipgloss. I sat in that stark grey room for what seemed like hours, everyone seemed miserable as I am, at least I wasn't the only person having a not-so-merry Christmas.

Holy shit, I was still disgusting. I was sticky and freezing, still in the wine-ruined white dress, there was still dried blood on my face despite my pestering Lucia to help me get it off. My hair is tangled, the bow that my sister had tied in lost somewhere in the snow. I haven't looked in a mirror but I know I look rough from the side glances that everyone is casting me. I can't imagine the dark bags beneath my red, puffy eyes to be any sort of appealing.

The sterile waiting room is beginning to get on my nerves, I flinch at every movement and hold onto hope that every person walking through the door is the person I'm waiting on. I try my best to avert my eyes from the clock so time doesn't drag on any longer than it already is.

By the time Joel gets here, the sun is beginning to set, his eyes frantically search the room until they land on me, I'm already standing up and walking toward him. "Kiddo, are you okay?"

My lip quivers and it feels like every awful thing I've ever felt is going to seep through my teeth. My head falls onto his chest but this time I don't cry, I think I've run out of tears "I have nothing ahead of me."

Joel doesn't ask questions, he just hugs me in return, resting his chin on the top of my head, there is the comfort I had been so desperately searching for.

He signs release papers and he guides me to his red Ford Explorer. When I called him I asked him to bring me shoes as I was barefoot when I was detained, being the number one dad that he was, he brought a reusable grocery store tote bag, containing a hoodie, sneakers, fuzzy socks, sweatpants and a bag of my favourite chips. I slip the sweats on underneath my dress while the hoodie goes overtop, I awkwardly unzip it and shimmy it off, stuffing it into the tote bag.

The drive back to his house begins and he turns on the radio, trying to make lighthearted chatter "Thanks for coming to get me," I say, my voice is quiet and I pull my knees to my chest like as I tend to do when I get nervous "You can just drop me off at my car and I'll be out of your way."

"Sorry, kiddo," He says, eyes focused on the road "You're staying with me tonight, I don't want you driving these roads in the dark and it'll be good for you to have a hot shower and a warm meal, get some sleep somewhere that's not a holding cell."

"It's just that-

"If you still want to leave in the morning that's up to you but you shouldn't end your Christmas alone," Each word seems so genuine "And you know I would gladly have you stay with me three hundred and sixty-five days a year."

I look at him, a soft melancholic smile on my face, "Thank you," I say.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

A sigh falls from my lips "What happened to all of my stuff that was left on the lawn?"

"Tommy and Ellie brought it all inside."

Ellie brought it back inside? Did she actually give a shit or was this something her dad ordered her to do? "Did my dad say anything to you?"

Joel shakes his head "Maria went barging on his door, those two were in a screaming match for a good two minutes before he locked the door on her. Hasn't been outside since, everyone in the neighbourhood has been coming by to ask what happened."

"Even Sharron?" I ask Joel, wrinkling my nose in distaste.

"Even Sharron," He solidifies. Sharron was the grouchy crone of the street, shutting down every party, cussing out teenagers from her porch, and yelling at barking dogs "She said she was worried about you." The windshield wipers painted rhythmic patterns across the glass, clearing a path through the soft snow that continued to fall.

"She's not worried about me, she's worried I'm on drugs and I'll break into her musty home to steal all of her hummels."

Joel huffs a laugh "I can't believe that I used to let her babysit you and Ellie."

"Me neither, you should be paying for my therapy." I tease.

He chuckles at my words, "So you're majoring in wildlife biology?"

"You remembered what I wanted to major in?"

"Of course I did."

"Hey, Mookie!" Tommy wraps his arms around me the moment I set foot in the door. He's called me Mookie since I was a little girl, it started when I couldn't pronounce monkey and thus Mookie was born. "Let me get a good look at you," He pushes me back just the slightest hands clasped on my shoulders "Look at that bruise you've got on your cheek, looking awful tough, like those greasers you used to read about."

"Look at that, Mookie grew up," Maria greets me with a warm smile, pushing Tommy away to hug me "Good to see you made it through prison alive," She jests.

Joel's house is exactly how it was when I left.

The air carried the familiar scent of firewood and lavender incense. In the living room, an inviting fireplace stood as the heart of the home. Its gentle crackle and the dancing flames provided a soothing backdrop to the overstuffed couches adorned with cozy blankets and throw pillows, worn from years of shared family movie nights. A well-loved rug covered the wooden floor, its pattern a mosaic of memories and spills easily forgiven and of course, a coffee table hand-crafted by Joel and intricately carved.

The shelves lining the walls were a treasure trove of family history. Photographs in mismatched frames captured smiling faces frozen in time, chronicling the evolution of Ellie through the years. A collection of well-read books, their spines creased and pages worn, stood proudly, offering a glimpse into the literary adventures that had unfolded within those walls.

The kitchen, the heart of many childhood homes, held the lingering aroma of Christmas dinner. The countertops, scarred from countless meals prepared and shared, were a testament to the love that had gone into creating family dinners. A worn wooden table in the center of the room bore witness to the countless conversations, celebrations, and moments of solace shared over shared meals.

"You know what, when I was around your age, I spent my fair share of time in the cooler, good to see you're taking after me," Tommy winks and gives me a hard pat on the back. Neither of them acknowledges the reason behind last night's events and somehow it feels worse than talking about it.

"We've just finished up making dinner, I'm sure you're hungry," Maria smiles softly, taking my hand into her calloused one.

"Yeah, I'm starving," I smile in return and trail behind the blonde woman to the dining table.

All of the plates are laid out with portions of food on each one, Ellie is sitting alone, spooning mashed potato into her mouth while she texts someone, she glances up at me and offers nothing more than a tight-lipped smile and awkward wave before going back to her phone. Tommy comes by with a tray of garlic butter rolls and uses tongs to add more onto my plate "Don't think I've forgotten how much you love these."

I grin up at him, I'm sitting in the same chair I sat in all those years ago when I Ellie and I would settle down after spending all day in the sun, Joel would ask us what we wanted for dinner and almost every time we would shout hotdogs.

"Good to have you back," Joel nods to me "House always felt a little empty without you."

I always felt a little empty without this house "Good to be back," I smear some mashed potato onto Tommy's famous garlic butter bread rolls.

I feel almost sick with nostalgia as I look around the dining room, Joel still had Ellie's crafts from elementary school hung up and if you look closely, you find little clues that I've left behind; proof that I once existed as a girl beneath this roof. There's a dent in the wall from the time I stood on my chair to catch a spider and accidentally fell over, my head hitting right into the wall, Ellie was laughing too hard to help me.

"So what school do you go to?" Maria asks me, washing down her pot roast with some ice water.

"Northridge actually," At my words, Ellie's head perks up, she's looking dead at me with a look of fear in her eyes.

"Oh, Ellie goes there!" Tommy smiles "She never mentioned that you do too."

Ellie is silently pleading with me, I know she doesn't want me to tell her family that she's been borderline tormenting me as my roommate and sending me to bed with tears in my eyes. I didn't plan on telling them anyway "That's funny, I guess we just keep missing each other."

Joel set up an air mattress in Ellie's room, that's when it became clear to me that he had no idea just how bad the fallout was between us. I hate to say that I missed her room and all of the memories we shared in it.

Ellie's bedroom resembled something of a teen guy who'd never gotten laid before. She had a navy comforter, her shelves were lined with comics and novels, I know for a fact that she'd read every single one of them. Her desk was always a mess, covered in pages of poetry and sketches that she had torn out from her journal. Almost every inch of her walls is covered in posters of bands, movies and her nerdy video games.

I was fresh out of the shower, finally in my clean clothes that I had dug out of my suitcase. I got to charge my phone too, there was an overwhelming number of messages.

D-Manz: HAPPY CHRISTMAS BITCH!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU AND CAN'T WAIT TO PARTY WHEN WE GET BACK

Jesse: Merry Christmas, hope your day isn’t shit! 😁😁😁

Riley: Merry Christmas! Hope you're having fun at your new school!

Abs: Merry Christmas and stay safe!

Kayla: Missing you girl ☹️ so excited for that staff party!

Kit-Cat: Merry Christmas, don't have too much fun without me

Yara: Merry Christmas ❤️ this probably isn't the time but I was hoping you could send over your notes from the last conservation lecture, just wanna text you before I forget!

566-460-4374: I got your number from Kyle, this is Roderick, I saw you last night and wanted to check up on you, hope everything is okay and merry Christmas.

Lindsey: Hey, haven't talked to you in a while but my parents said some stuff went down, just wanna make sure you're okay.

Ellie: Lmk if you need a ride back to our place

Ellie: Don't know if you can even see this but I got all of your stuff off the lawn, I promise it's safe 👍

Naomi: I'm so sorry

Naomi: I didn't think that would happen

Naomi: I didn't know what to do

Naomi: I love you

Aaron: U good?

Naomi: Please don't hate me, I'm sorry I didn't do anything

Elijah: Sorry but I wish you didn't tell Dad that

Naomi: I'll try to talk to Dad

Elijah: Hope you're safe

Elijah: Call me when you can

Still, there wasn't any word from either of my parents. I replied returning well wishes and assuring everyone that I was okay, I turned my phone onto Do Not Disturb and began to watch the Hunger Games on my phone. The room would've been pitch black if it wasn't for the blue light from my screen and the gentle beams of moonlight gliding through the window.

Ellie walks into the room after she finishes with her shower, she's in sweatpants and an old hoodie that she got from a rodeo, I had the same one, and we bought them together. I glance up at her before looking back at my movie and pulling the quilt further up my body. "You still like the Hunger Games?"

"Yeah," I say, being as brief as possible.

"You should take my bed and I'll sleep on the air mattress," Ellie says while she ties her hair into a low ponytail.

"I'm fine here, thanks."

"Seriously," Ellie is standing awkwardly at the foot of her bed, waiting for me to do something.

I shut my phone off and turned on my other side to face away from her "Just go to bed."

Ellie runs her hands down her face in frustration, she's starting to feel like an asshole "Please take the bed, it's the least I can do." I ignore her so she speaks again "I am begging you," She tells me bluntly "I feel like a dick and it would make me feel better if you just took the bed."

"You are a dick," I answer, she should've seen this response coming from a mile away.

"Please take the bed."

I sit up to look at her, frustration now boiling up inside of me "You're going to be nice now because you feel bad for me?"

"That's not why-

"It is actually," I tell her "This will last for a few days and then we'll go home and you'll be a cunt all over again, fucking keeping a list of everything I lay a finger on so you can say it's my fault if it breaks." She bites the inside of her cheek, that's her tell. Every time she does that I can tell that I've gotten under her skin. "You'll still act like you don't know me and I'm just some weird girl who thinks the world of you, I know what you say to those girls you have over, the walls aren't that thick." My insides ache from all of the screaming and crying of the past couple of days "And I know that I hurt you and I've told you a million times over that I'm sorry, you don't get to start having empathy for me now."

Ellie's silent again, she can't seem to find the words, so instead she slips under the covers of her bed, giving up. Minutes pass us, we've slept in this room together a thousand times but this time it's different, we don't share her queen bed and stay up all night watching the walking dead and talking shit about people at our school, we lay in the uncomfortable silence. We're grown but in this moment I still feel like a child searching for her mother's hand to guide her, I feel like my teeth still need to fall out so brighter, stronger ones can take their place, that the baby fat has yet to shed from my bones.

"I didn't know that you liked girls," Ellie said, breaking the silence "And I shouldn't have assumed that stuff about your parents." I don't respond to her, though she knows that I heard her. "I lied that night when you moved in."

"What?"

"I got all bitchy and said that you don't even cross my mind, I was lying," She's confessing to me as if I'm a priest "There wasn't a day that went by where I didn't think about you."

I'm not doing well.

I want nothing more than to crawl into bed next to Ellie and just hug her until I fall asleep but the resentment I've garnered for her these past months refrains me.

"I don't know if you ever knew this, but back in high school I had a bit of a crush on you," She says and my break hitches in my throat "Hey, you there?"

'I don't know if you ever knew this but I turned myself inside out trying not to be in love with you.' I don't say that, instead, I say "Goodnight, Ellie, Merry Christmas."

"Goodnight," She mutters, and like me, she turns her body to face away from me.

I don't feel mature in the slightest, I'm kept awake, haunted by shame and embarrassment. Ellie had seen me only one night prior, on my knees begging for love. We may be cold and calculated to one another now but I remember when she was a little girl who overwatered her plants because she didn't know how to stop giving.

TAG LIST I just tagged whoever wanted a part two: @elliesaesp @yalaysbee @laundrybag29 @readbydayana @elliesaturnsoftdrink @mikellie @melanie-watermelon @skylerwhitwyo

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Carpe Noctem 27

Warnings: dark elements, noncon, age gap, gaslighting, manipulation, violence, blood, other dark elements. Proceed with caution. (short!reader)

Note: Please let me know what you think as it helps me a lot with ideas and I love interacting with you all.

Part of The Club AU

Pain puts you to sleep despite your piquing anxiety. You doze until your alarm wakes you. The pin in your neck has dulled enough to move, carefully. You dress in the dark, a turtleneck and your most broken-in jeans. You sit for a while and contemplate the day ahead of you, bracing your mind and body.

You get up and toss your things in your purse, keys, phone, whathaveyou. You'll have coffee at work, may as well get it while you're there. You creep through the large house without turning on any lights, stopping by the door to wiggle into your boots and lifting your jacket from the hook. Lloyd likes to sleep in but you won't chance an early morning encounter.

You go out into the brisk autumn air and toss your purse and coat into the passenger seat as you drop into the driver's side. You adjust the backrest and see the shuddered lights from the second floor. You don't notice any movement or shadows on the other side.

You reverse out and drive without urgency. You'll be well on time, you would just rather be out of that house. You roll the steering wheel with your thumb as you yawn. A glare of headlights flashes in the rearview but don't make the light behind you. They fade as you cruise along, street by street, until you get to the cafe. You park by a meter and use the app to pay for the day.

Cole greets you, approaching at the same time as you. You stand back and wait for him to unlock the door. He holds it for you and follows you inside.

"You okay?" He asks as he turns the latch back into place, "you're quiet."

"Late night," you resist shrugging, not wanting to trigger that tedious nerve.

"Tell me about it," he scoffs as you take out the till to balance and he goes about checking the machines. "Ma has this mouse that won't leave her pantry alone. I spent hours trying to catch the thing. She doesn't wanna kill it so..."

"Aw, that's kinda cute, and so nice of you."

"Yeah, dad won't go along with it. He says if he sees the thing, he'll be sure to stomp it," he clucks his tongue, "I don't even know what to do with it if I do catch it."

"Hmm, yeah, I wouldn't know," you hum as you break a roll of dimes.

"Anyways, work, I got everything expensed out. Do you want reimbursement on your first pay or I can cut you a check today?" He offers as he comes to stand beside you.

"Oh, well, it's whatever. I can wait until payday if it's easier."

He nods and smiles at you, fingers tapping on the counter as he watches you. He's close. Very close. You can smell his pine cologne and vague scent of sawdust. "You say I'm nice? I don't think I've met someone like you in... well, ever. You make everything so easy."

"Uh, really?" You utter skeptically. You'd argue the opposite, everything in your life seems too complicated.

"Yeah, you're so giving. You know, I can tell you take care of everyone else before yourself. It's amazing but not good for you. If you need a day off..."

"No, no, don't worry about me," you open the drawer on the register and shove the till inside, "really, I can manage. I'm used to twenty kids running circles around me."

"Ah, yeah, how was that? You must like kids. Or... did you quit? Was it too much?"

His curiosity bristles on your scalp. He's just being nice and yet, it's a bit too much. Or maybe you're just overwhelmed by everything else. He might be right, you might need a day. But time off means more time in Lloyd's domain.

"No, I loved it. Every day was so fun and you see the kids learning and growing and they just, there's never a problem bigger than a toy they don't want to share, you know?" You can't help but smile, "they called me mimi..." the word dangles, slightly tainted as you hear Lloyd in your head, "and they always wanted hugs."

"Wow, sure beats steaming milk 'til you're red in the face," he drawls, "I wanna be selfish and beg you not to leave us but seems like you loved it."

"Yeah, well, I'll see if I get any calls," you swallow and turn to check the opening list laminated and hung behind the baked goods display.

A knock hammers at the door and startles you both. You look at Cole as he furrows his brow back at you. He tilts his head.

"Peter's closing today..." he utters.

You glance at the door and see a man you don't recognise on the other side. Cole shows his palm, gesturing you to stay as he squeezes past you and goes around the other side of the counter. He crosses to the door and taps his watch at the man.

"We're closed, got half an hour--"

The impatient customer keeps his jaw set and reaches under his dark jacket. He pulls something out and slaps it against the glass. Cole growls and puts his head back. He turns his hands out helplessly and unlocks the door. You spy the man's golden badge as he steps in without a word.

"What's going on?" Cole steps back, hooking his thumbs in his jeans.

"Break-in up the street," the man says, "we're just checking things out..."

"Oh? A break-in?" Cole gulps.

"Really?" You murmur.

The man looks at you, his blue eyes glinting. He nods and faces Cole again, "Detective Fowler."

Cole juts out his chin in thought before he replies, "a detective? Isn't that a bit much for a break-in?"

"Some details can't be divulged," Fowler insists.

"Of course," Cole agrees, "we only just got here like ten minutes ago and we haven't seen anything."

The detective nods as he paces around, considering every inch, soles scuffing across the floor. He nears the counter across from you and looks you up and down. His cheek dimples just slightly.

"Do I know you?" He asks. Your brows pop up and you sputter. No, you don't.

He hums and pokes his tongue inside his cheek, "wait," he snaps his finger, "you know Johnny Storm. Young guy on the beat."

"Um," you look away, "yeah, he's my ex."

"Ah shit, sorry, I didn't know. Don't know the kid much but run into him time to time," he slides his hand into his pocket, "well, guess you two wouldn't know much. If you do see anything..." He slips a card out of his pocket and holds it out to you, "you can call me."

He backs up and turns on his heel. He nods to Cole as he struts back to the door, opening it himself as he leaves you both in nervous silence. Cole grumbles and crosses his arms. You look at him as he scowls.

"Seemed real interested in you," he intones, "I didn't know your ex was a cop."

You wet your dry lips with the tip of your tongue and exhale, "yeah, well, he's my ex for a reason. I've moved on." You return your attention to the list, "so let's do the same and get back to work.”

[shaunamilfman]

Witch!Lottie Drabble

Summary: "Witch!Lottie keeps stopping by your bookstore to buy shitty occult books as an excuse to talk to you."

Lottie Matthews was, hands down, your favorite customer. Not just because she was liable to spend a couple hundred any time she set foot in there, but you felt a strange connection to her that you'd never felt before. 

Your employee Jeff hated her with a passion, however. He claimed she was "Fucking weird." and that she often walked in, saw he was working, and left. It didn't sound much like the Lottie you knew, so you didn't pay much attention to him. You didn't care much for Jeff anyway, but he unfortunately was a model employee.

Sure, Lottie was a little strange. A little unusual. You think she might be a part of a cult, but that's not a crime. Hopefully. You had checked to make sure there weren't any unexplained missing persons in the area, just in case. So definitely not a crime. 

If that wasn't enough, all she buys are books on the occult. Honestly, you only order them for her. You heard her murmur about "Getting rid of revisionist history," more than once when she bought books on the Salem witch trials. 

You honestly didn't care what she did with them once she left the shop. You wondered if she realized she was creating her own problem by buying up the books she disliked so much. You wouldn't have stocked them otherwise; They really didn’t sell that well.

Still, the highlight of her visits came when she'd stand by the register afterwards and talk with you for hours and hours about everything and nothing. She'd always seemed disappointed in herself when you'd gently remind her that the store was closing soon, like there was something she wanted to say but didn't.  You had hopes that she'd ask you out, but you were admittedly too nervous to ask her instead. Lottie Matthews had always made an intimidating figure, even in school.

She brings you gifts sometimes, little trinkets. She brought you a flower from her garden a few weeks ago. You look at it in awe every time you see it. Not necessarily because it's the most beautiful flower you've ever seen, which it is, but because it still hasn't started to wilt in the slightest. It's like magic.

…

She came in on Halloween one day and actually stops in her tracks to look at your witch's hat. She gives you an immeasurably fond look as she shakes her head slightly in amusement. "That's cultural appropriation," She said. You laugh quietly at her as you lean across the counter to look at her.

"To who, witches?" You ask teasingly. She hums in acknowledgement with a smile just smug enough that you wonder if she knows something you don’t. “Well,” You say slowly, “If a witch would like to come and complain she could file it in the complaint box.” Her face lights up as she looks around and says excitedly, “There’s a complaint box?” 

You grin softly as her and glance towards the trash can. “Oh,” She says, deflating noticeably. You fake an offended gasp as you give her an affronted look.

“You were going to file a complaint about me?” You ask. Her eyes widen and she looks slightly panicked, like she just realized she put her foot in it.

“No, no.” She insists. “I was going to file a complaint about Jeff.” You can’t help the way you snort with laughter, head falling down on your arms as you muffle your laughter into the counter. You look up to see Lottie looking a mixture of surprised and pleased as she looks down at you. 

“Sorry,” You say, “It’s just that Jeff doesn’t like you either.” She smirks.

“Good.” She says. You shake your head fondly.

…

You remember the day you found out extremely well. You were standing on a ladder stocking books on the top overflow shelf when she stormed in the shop, obviously trying to get out of the heavy rain outside. You understandably were not expecting customers when it was raining that hard and startled so hard you fell back off the ladder.

You had your eyes closed waiting for the inevitable landing when you realized it had been an oddly long fall. You peaked one eye open to realize that you were floating in mid air. You looked around to find Lottie staring wide eyed at you with one hand out, soaked with rain and so cold she was shaking. 

You remember it so well mostly because she forgot to put you back on the ground as she confesses. You look fearfully at her before she suddenly realizes she hasn't set you down. "Oh!" She says, failing to hide her blush as she helped you down.

You weren't all that surprised honestly once you got over your initial shock. It seemed ironically on brand for what you knew about her. Once she sets you on the ground you give her a concerned look. You walk behind the counter as you search for the blanket you keep for when it gets cold. She’s watching you curiously as you walk back over to her and wrap the blanket around her, holding tightly around her shoulders. 

“You’re going to get sick being so wet and cold.” You chide. She smiles so wide it practically splits her face in two. “You need to go home and change into dry clothes.” You say.

“I will,” She promises. “If…”

“If what?” You ask.

“If you say you’ll go on a date with me.” She says, touched with a tinge of anxiety.

You sigh dramatically, as if it was a really hard ask. “If I must,” You say, but can’t help the way you smile widely back at her.

As she left the store you shouted at her to ask “Should I be looking for your car or your broom?” She turns back so that you can see the way she rolls her eyes. She says something about “Reductionist stereotypes,” but you were laughing too hard at your own joke to be sure. 

…

She never seems to be very showy with her magic. It's the small things really: you notice that her plants never die, her dishes are always clean, and her food never burns. You teased her for weeks after you realized that her popcorn always perfectly popped as well. 

She uses her magic most often as a sign of affection. Just a way to make your day easier and to remind you how much she loves you.  She'll pick up lunch or bring you coffee sometimes and it makes you think of her fondly all day as it stays perfectly at the right temperature. As if you could ever forget about Lottie, witch or not. 

Eventually you happily fired Jeff as Lottie spent so much time hanging out in the bookstore now that you just put her to work instead. She was overjoyed for weeks about it. She'd never worked a day in her life, you could tell, but she cheated so much with magic that it didn't matter all that much. You couldn't help but watch fondly as the books she 'unpacked' flew across the room into their proper spots. She grins ear to ear as she walks over and asks if she did a good job. You know she’s just fishing for a reward, but you give it to her anyway.

As you watch her fret over recipes as she brewed potions you couldn't help but to think that she really wasn't all that different from anyone else: She just had magic. Your life together was surprisingly more domestic than you had thought it would be, but you wouldn't change it for the world. 

[lemonxlimee]

So I got bored and did some digging around earlier today (read as: I read the wiki page for evil leafy and took pictures of what I found interesting)

Likes: spreading terror and killing people - yes, indeed. Quite fun.

Dislikes: "being called 'evil leafy isn't real'" - hmm, when was that shown? Either way, yes, probably, anyone would get upset at that

Neative relationships: everyone

Positive relationships:

Pan flute (one sided)

Leafy (possibly)

Honestly, this image is what pulled me through the day.

And yes,

ELeafy is on the positive relationships list on Leafy's page as well. (Possibly.)

Hobbies: mass-terrorizing (presumably) - I disagree. I think she just likes her space, and attacks anyone who comes into her area. That being the evil forest, of course.

Status: neutralized (for now) - I like the ominous implications

"Book has encountered Evil Leafy the most times at four." - damn she just attracts awful women doesn't she

"She is seen instantly closing doors and trapdoors in one frame when teleporting." - Though I can assume when this was shown, I'd like to see it again, just in case. Just like I went through BFDIA 12 to find the instances in which she presumably smiled (19:22, 19:57 and 20:24 in case you were curious), I want to see it for myself to believe it. Though I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest.

And, of course —

"At the end of [BFDIA 13], when Firey recovers Leafy, Leafy asks: 'Who?'. Evil Leafy, still taped in the Concert Auditorium, hears this and burns the tapes, frees herself and teleports as the episode ends."

Seeing as how this is the first and only interaction between the two characters in which they're separate entities (not counting the deleted scene from BFDIA 1), it can be assumed this is where the "positive relationships" part comes from. Though it can also be assumed that that part comes from the scenes in which they aren't separate entities, i.e. in BFDI 25, where Leafy becomes EL. I like to think "Evil Leafy" and "Leafy's red version" are two different creatures, LRV being of course part of Leafy and EL being non-connected to them. However of course this brings implications and questions that I'm not quite prepared to answer; that being the tape-melting voice and the fact that they've never interacted aside from this.

Maybe, because EL was trapped in a different area when Leafy was recovered, what once was whole (i.e. both of them being part of Leafy) was split into two? I.e. EL used to be part of Leafy, but because they were so far apart when "Leafy" was recovered, now they're different? It doesn't make much sense to me either, now that I'm typing this out. Honestly, who can really say until BFDIA 15 or whatever is released? :)

Anyway, that's all from me for today. I've got more research to do.

[dreamofbecoming]

part two, this one is still mostly stobin and pre-steddie. the first part does provide some context, although i imagine you could figure most of it out yourself, but i'd recommend reading it first anyway!

ao3

part 1

platonic stobin, mentions of steddie

rating: t

wc: 3k

---

The conversation dies down and Steve goes back to filling bottles to hand off to Robin, eyes on Dustin where he's still goofing off with Munson. Good, he should get to have as much fun as he can. This is what he should be doing. What they should all be doing. Steve hates that these kids have to be fucking…soldiers so much of the time. He hates that he can't do anything to shield them from it. Not that they'd let him if he could.

Maybe Robbie has a point, about regular teenage life stuff being pointless right now, but god, what the fuck? Why should it have to be? He's 19! He can't even buy a drink yet! Robin is still in high school!

Fuck it. They should get to be kids and think about stupid pointless stuff, too.

"So I know you said you didn't want to talk about your love life, which is fair, but if I keep thinking about dying I'm gonna lose my shit, so you wanna talk about mine?"

She raises an eyebrow at him. "Oh, are we talking about how fucking weird shit has been between you and Nancy?"

Ah, fuck, that backfired almost immediately.

"What? No. Definitely not. Ok, it's been weird, but it's not a thing, ok?" She looks even more skeptical than before. "It's not! I mean, ok, maybe it is," she snorts at him, which. Rude. "But it's just like. Regular weirdness, ok?"

"What the fuck is regular weirdness?"

"You know, like, exes who haven't talked in a while in a high-pressure situation weirdness. The kind of weirdness anyone would be having in our shoes. Normal weirdness!" He throws his hands in the air, agitated.

Munson looks over at the sound of his raised voice, lifting an eyebrow and smirking. What is it with everyone raising their eyebrows at him today? He's being normal! Normal and regular! It's not his fault everything around them is weird and that makes his normal look weird by comparison. He's not doing anything wrong, so get off his nuts already! Geez!

Steve isn't sure how much of that very normal and regular monologue shows on his face, but it must be some because he can see Munson laughing at him as he goes back to playing keepaway with Dustin's hat. Bastard.

"Ugh! No, I don't want to talk about Nance. Like I really super don't. There's nothing there, it's done, it's over, there's nothing to say."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to talk about that debacle in the bus either. Six kids, Steve? Really?" Oh Jesus. He was really hoping no one had heard that.

"Bobbie, please, why are you torturing me?" He rarely deploys the Sad Eyes on Robin, mostly because they don't work especially well on her, which is insane, because they work like an atom bomb on literally everyone else. He may have left King Steve behind him, but he has plenty of skills left over from those days, not to mention he looks as good as he always has. He knows what he's working with, ok?

Anyways, this is a moment to pull out the big guns, which means Sad Eyes are a go.

As usual, they aren't as effective on Robbie as they are on other people, but she does know him well enough to realize that if he's pulling them out, it's out of desperation, so she takes pity on him anyway. Whatever. He'll take the win.

She sighs, and rolls her eyes indulgently, but she's smiling just a little. He can tell. God, he loves her. He'd burn the world down for her, is maybe going to have to. He doesn't know what he'd do without her.

"Alright, bubba, I'll bite. You want to talk about your love life, but you don't want to talk about Nancy. Whatcha got for me?"

And, oh. Shit. This is the part where he's going to have to say it out loud. He hadn't planned this far, mostly was just anxious to get the swirling feeling in his chest out into Robbie's hands because he knows she can keep it safe, mostly just trying to wipe that awful, scared, defeated look off her face, but now he has to actually do the thing. He has to say it out loud, on purpose, the way he hasn't since that day in her bedroom when his whole world shifted a little to the left, and she was the only thing holding him steady.

Fuck. Ok. He can do this. It's just Rob. No one else is close enough to hear them, and Robin will always keep him safe. She'll never let him be alone.

"So, uh. You know the, uh, the thing? That we talked about that one time?"

"Yeah, we talk every day, I'm gonna need a bit more than that, bubs."

"The, uh. The thing we decided we didn't have to talk about right away? Because it wasn't important? Or, no, it was important, but it wasn't, um. What did you say? Relevant. It wasn't relevant to my everyday life?"

"Relevant to your…oh! Oh shit! The thing! The thing we talked about! That thing!" Her eyes are wide and so so blue and her hands are flailing a little, like she wants to pat him down for injury even though that's not remotely helpful. He carefully takes the bottle out of her hand and stuffs the rag into it himself, setting it on the ground where she can't dump gasoline on herself. She smiles a little sheepishly.

"So what about the, uh, the thing?" She lowers her voice like she's in a goddamn spy movie, leaning close and waggling her eyebrows. She's so ridiculous. He loves her so much.

He gives her a pointed look. She shakes her head in response, looking confused. Jesus fuck, she's gonna make him say it.

He tries one more time, bobbing his head at her to try and make his facial expression more forceful. He doesn't miss his old crowd, really, he doesn't. He does, however, occasionally miss being around people who were constantly alert for even the smallest social shifts, who he could have a whole conversation with using nothing but subtle changes to the shape of his mouth or the width of his eyes. He loves Robin and Dustin more than life, would kill or die for them, has proven it several times over, but Christ on a cracker they wouldn't know a social cue if it whacked them in the head with a hammer.

She's still furrowing her brow at him, so he sighs, and gives in. "I think it's maybe become…relevant. I promised to tell you right away, remember?"

Her eyes go even wider than before, and she thwaps him in the chest with the back of her hand. Hard. Ow.

"Dingus!" She's whisper-shouting, but he still doesn't think anyone is close enough to hear. "What the hell!"

"Ow, Robbie, Jesus, watch the open wounds!"

She flutters her hands around his middle, like she can fix his bandages through his jacket. She does look apologetic, so that's something.

"Sorry, sorry, fuck, sorry! Are you ok? Sorry. Just, what the hell! What? Who? When?!"

He smirks at her. "What, no why or how?"

"I'm going to set you on fire with one of these cocktails if you don't start talking, Dingus, I swear to god!"

He's laughing, she's so much fun to rile up. God, he hopes he doesn't have to miss this. He hopes he gets to keep this much, at least, when they're done. He'll probably go crazy otherwise.

"Ok, ok, I won't tease, I'm sorry. So I guess, to answer your questions, uh…I found a boy to crush on, who the hell do you think, and I promised to tell you right away, didn't I?" He counts them down on his fingers while he answers them, because if he can't act like a little shit to her then honestly, what is even the point?

"Right away…holy shit. Holy shit! Steve!" She looks frantically out at the field, where Munson has now knocked Henderson over and is sitting on him, wearing his hat and crowing victory, while Dustin flails wildly on the ground. Thank fuck neither of them are looking this way, because holy hell she isn't subtle.

"Robbie, don't look, what the hell! Do you want him to know we're talking about him?"

"Oh, so we are talking about him? Eddie "The Freak" Munson?"

He cringes a little at the reminder of his earlier dismissal. "Alright, ok, so I maybe didn't give him much of a chance at first, but the Upside Down changes things, you know that! It did for us, right?"

She looks thoughtful. "I guess, yeah. So go on, loverboy, what do you like about him?" She's grinning and waggling her eyebrows again. Ugh, this may have been a mistake. She does owe him for the Tammy Thompson thing. Still, there's no one alive he'd rather talk about this with, and he has to talk to someone, or he's going to explode, and they have a…wizard…demon…thing…guy to kill. Whatever. They have killing to do, so he needs to get this off his chest so it's not clogging up his brain.

"He has…really nice eyes. And really nice hands." Robin lets out a soft "Oh, ew," before he glares at her and she motions for him to go on. "He's funny, and weird but in like, a charming way? Kind of like you, but different. The way Dustin is weird and charming like you, but different, you know?"

"You have a thing for nerds, Dingus."

"Ugh, maybe, yeah." His mind drifts back to Eddi- Munson. Gotta keep calling him Munson, at least until they get out of this. Can't afford to be distracted. "He's scared out of his mind, but he's coming along anyway, which is the kind of brave and stupid this whole group kind of runs on. He thinks he's a coward but he's not. Going back to school instead of dropping out is brave. Trusting us is brave. Acting like he does even when everyone hates him for it is brave. I wish I had been brave enough to do that, you know? Maybe I would have dropped the King shit earlier. And he's good with the kids, which you know I'm weak for. I don't know, Robs, I just…I want him to like me, you know? I want him to be impressed by me. Is that stupid?"

When he looks up, Robin's eyes are wide and shiny. She looks surprised, and a little scared. That's not good, probably, but he can't take back anything he said. He meant all of it.

"It's not stupid, bubba, it's not stupid at all. I guess I was thinking…I don't know. That it was like an adrenaline thing? Like a 'you're hot, we're in danger, I'd rather think about making out with you than dying' kind of thing? Like what Nancy was clearly doing with you earlier, you know?"

"Ugh, Robbie, I so don't want to talk about Nancy right now, please," he groans.

"Yeah yeah, I know, whatever. I just mean, it doesn't really sound like that's what's going on with you, for Eddie, right now. It kinda sounds like you, you know, like like him."

"Like like him? What are we, 12?"

"You know what I mean, Dingus, it just sounds like there are actual feelings here, not just sexy thoughts."

He shifts a little on his stool, feeling kind of exposed, but it's ok. It's just Robin. "I mean, yeah, I guess I kinda do? Have feelings. Or maybe I will? I'm kind of trying to hold them off, I guess, until we get out of here, you know? I barely know the guy, honestly, but also every time this happens I end up bonded for life to someone new, so why not him this time? I mean, the first time with the demogorgon even got me and Nancy back together, and we were like, donezo, for real, after that thing Tommy did to The Hawk. This shit is better than superglue, you know?"

Robin barks out a laugh. She squares her shoulders and puts on her best announcer voice. "Do you have trouble making friends? Looking to join a new crowd, but can't find a way in? Try Hell Beasts! Our near-death experience package will create lasting trauma that will bind you together forever! There's no escape now!"

The two of them collapse into giggles, drawing the eyes of several their friends scattered around the field.

When she composes herself, Robin gives him a soft smile. It's one of his favorites. Almost no one ever sees it but him, and not very often. "Well, I guess we had better all make it out of this in one piece, then, huh? So we can do all our sad gay pining together."

"I dunno, I think maybe I have a shot," he says thoughtfully, eyeing Edd- no, stop it, Munson, where he's flopped on the grass next to Dustin, chatting happily.

Robin boggles at him. "What the fuck do you mean, a shot? Are you- oh god, are you just gonna tell him? Steve!"

"Wh- Not right away or anything! And not for sure! I have to figure out if he's flagging on purpose first!"

"If he's whatting on what?"

"Oh come on, you remember that one zine that talked about the, uh. The whats it. The code! The hanky code, that was it!" He snaps his fingers in victory, triumphant.

She's still looking at him like he's grown a second head though, so maybe not.

"I don't know, maybe you skipped that one? From what I could tell it was more about men anyway. I think they mentioned that ladies use, uh, caribou. The clip things, you know?"

"Caribeeners? Dingus what the hell are you talking about?"

"It's this thing, right? That like, gay people, gay men, I guess, use to like, signal each other, kind of. It's basically like, you wear a hanky in your pocket, and what color it is and what pattern is printed on it and which pocket you wear it in tells people what kind of sex you like."

Robin looks even more shocked, if that's possible. "What does that even mean, what kind of sex you like?"

Oh, right. Lesbian virgin. Fair enough. "Like, do you like to uh. Give, if you know what I mean. Or receive. Do you like blowjobs, or handjobs, or like. I dunno, weird stuff. Like spit or whatever."

She's waving her hands frantically, her face screwed up. "Ahhhh lalalala that's enough! That's plenty of information, thank you!" He holds up his hands in surrender. She asked.

"Anyway, what does all of...that...have to do with you having a shot with," she switches back to her not-at-all-subtle stage whisper, "Eddie?"

"Haven't you noticed he's had that bandana in his pocket the whole time?" She whips her head around so fast he's surprised he doesn't hear her neck crack. Jesus, Robin.

"Would you chill out? You're going to make him look over here and then I'll have to let Vecna eat me because there's no way I'll survive the humiliation if he hears us, Robin!"

She glares at him. "Don't even joke about that, Dingus. You're making it out alive or I'll kill you myself."

He knows he's smiling adoringly at her, and if Henderson is looking he's never, ever beating those "in love with Robin" allegations, but whatever. "Noted, Buckley."

"So, what, you think he might be...like us? 'Cause of the bandana?"

"I mean, maybe, yeah? I might be crazy, but I also feel like he was definitely flirting with me earlier. Like in the Upside Down, and also at the trailer, you know?"

"Now that I think about it, that "Big Boy" thing was super weird. I figured it was just Eddie being Eddie, they call him The Freak for a reason, right? But I guess that could have been called flirting."

"Right? That's what I thought! And when we were down there, he was like, all up in my space, and he gave me his vest, and he seemed annoyed when I talked to Nance, even though he was trying to push me back to her. Which was insane, I didn't tell you this part Robs, oh my god. I was fully staring at his lips, just laser focused, like I would be on a girl I want to kiss, right? And he won't stop telling me how Nancy is definitely still in love with me and I should get her back! What the hell! Who does that? So I don't know," he sighs, feeling a little lost. "Maybe he isn't into me after all. But I have to at least check, right?"

"I mean, I don't think I'm the right person to ask about that, bubba, but if it goes sideways, I'll burn his house down if you want." She wiggles a molotov cocktail at him, grinning.

"Jesus, Bobbin, alright. Let's, uh. Let's call that Plan B, yeah?"

"Roger that, captain!" She gives him a stupid little salute, and for a moment he's back at Scoops, before everything went shit-shaped, but she's still his Robin, and they're safe and alive and nothing hurts.

And then he blinks again and he's sitting on an overturned bucket in front of a stolen RV, making molotov cocktails with his soulmate, watching his baby brother and the guy he might maybe sort of have a crush on tussle in the grass, hoping against hope they all live to see morning.

He picks up another bottle.

part 3

[robininthelabyrinth]

Hello it's last anon thank you for letting me give a prompt

So I really liked your pairing of LQR/WRH/Lao Nie and after seeing wwx's parents in the last episode of the donghua it got me thinking, How about WRH/WCZ/CSSR? WRH maybe saves them in yiling and they end up hitting it off (WRH might do it in the beginning just spite jfm by stealing his former best friend and crush) and the Wei family settles in nightless city, wwx grows up with the Wen heirs and wen Qing and wen Ning and that affects the events of Canon

(I wouldn't mind smut tbh if you want to include it, they're all hotties lol)

Thank you so much for letting me send a prompt 🙏😭❤️

ao3

“I don’t suppose you can help with this,” Wen Ruohan said to Lan Qiren, who had the unmitigated gall to look amused at him, as if he’d brought this disaster down on his own head or something like that. “Aren’t you supposed to be friends with that awful -”

“Cangse Sanren and I are indeed good friends,” Lan Qiren said peaceably and tonelessly, possibly just because he was trying to annoy Wen Ruohan to death. “I am therefore very familiar with the fact that there is absolutely nothing I can do to stop her from proceeding precisely as she wishes.”

That was not what Wen Ruohan wanted to hear.

“You’re her friend,” he said, deciding to focus on the important part. “Take her away.”

“You’re the sect leader of the Nightless City,” Lan Qiren rebutted. “Order her to leave.”

Wen Ruohan couldn’t do that.

Well, he could. By all rights, he ought to have done it a month ago, when Cangse Sanren had first marched into the Fire Palace and said, “Oh, this will work perfectly! I love it, you’re so thoughtful!” and started rearranging the entire place into some sort of workshop for herself, possibly involving grain storage. He’d meant to, but he’d been a bit distracted at the time – Wei Changze had wanted to know what all the machines did, and he’d had an endless number of clever ideas on how some of them could be repurposed for things other than torture, some of which had been really very intriguing.

Anyway, it wasn’t as if Wen Ruohan had time to attend torture sessions any more, not with three loudly yelling children running around all the time. Wei Wuxian might be the youngest of the lot, with both Wen Xu and Wen Chao as his elders, but he’d managed in a very short amount of time to make himself the undoubted leader of the pack and spoiled beloved youngest all at the same time. There had even been avid discussions about how they would need to bring other children over to visit in order to better socialize the children. He’d already summoned some cousins over, Wen Qing and Wen Ning, which meant that soon there would be even more children…

It was a headache, really.

Absolutely.

Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren were driving him up the wall.

They were also regular visitors in his bed, something that would very likely rapidly stop being the case if he actually kicked them out of the Nightless City.

“This one’s on you, Hanhan,” Lao Nie put in, grinning wildly at him. Now there was one that was completely unmoved by the news of Wen Ruohan’s new relationship – everyone else had reacted, whether by Jiang Fengmian’s profound embarrassment, raging jealousy, and quiet fury, Jin Guangshan very obviously trying to calculate some way of using this to his advantage, and Lan Qiren immediately going over to question his friends’ sanity – and that was pretty annoying in its own way. After all, Wen Ruohan had really only invited the two rogue cultivators into his bed in the first place as a matter of spite, a way of excising his rage when he’d heard the rumors about Lao Nie potentially taking on a third wife.

He hadn’t expected them to stay.

He hadn’t expected to want them to stay.

Which he didn’t! They were a mess, each one worse than the next – Cangse Sanren was barely human most days, like some sort of feral demonic beast that had accidentally achieved human form and continuously forgot (thanks to her prodigiously bad memory) that she was supposed to be pretending to be normal, and Wei Changze was remarkably similar to Lao Nie in the sense that he’d never taken anything seriously in his life, except for the fact that his humor was lighthearted and unleavened by the hints of trauma and tragedy that lurked behind Lao Nie’s unbridled hedonism. There wasn’t anything that he wouldn’t let slide off his shoulders, forgetting a beating as soon as it was over…Wei Changze might be a lot less vicious than Lao Nie was, but he was reckless to the extreme, in a way that made absolutely no sense. Wasn’t he supposed to be a servant? What was he doing rushing out into the field with a sword and smile and absolutely no advance planning whatsoever? Even Lao Nie wouldn’t do that!

Anyway, they were a handful.

They were maddening.

They were the most interesting thing that had happened to Wen Ruohan in years.

“Your input is not required,” Wen Ruohan informed Lao Nie, who shrugged expansively. “Unless you have something constructive to add.”

“No, no, nothing constructive, you know me, I’m not built for that…but I’m glad that you’re happy.”

Wen Ruohan stopped where he was.

“I’m not right for you,” Lao Nie said, and even though he was still smiling, same as always, there was something sharp in his eyes – the same sharpness that had caught Wen Ruohan’s interest in the first place, like a beautiful dagger that you longed to touch even though you knew its biting edge might cut. “You know, I know, even Qiren knows it…you’re happy now, and that’s good. That’s all I wanted to say.”

Wen Ruohan wanted to say something.

Preferably something cutting, something about how it was too late for Lao Nie to regret – except he didn’t think Lao Nie did regret, because Lao Nie did not live a life of regret. Lao Nie had enjoyed their time together, had been as sincere and true as he was made to be and no further. But, and maybe it was because he’d never expected to keep Wen Ruohan for very long in the first place, he’d felt little sorrow at it ending, instead feeling nothing but joy on Wen Ruohan’s behalf at seeing him happy, even if it was with another.

Wen Ruohan didn’t understand that. He’d always loved too fiercely, too well; he’d always yearned to keep that which he cared for close to him, nearby, somewhere he could protect them and keep them.

Even Lao Nie…Wen Ruohan had been enticed by Lao Nie’s ruthlessness, his bloodthirstiness, his Nie sect temper tempered with a nasty sort of cunning that had made him remarkably successful at expanding his sect’s reach in the north, and he’d been flattered at how persistent the other man was in pursuing him. It was only later, when he’d gotten used to having him around, that he had started to feel jealous…

“They’ll be good for you,” Lao Nie said. His eye twinkled. “You could use a bit of chaos in your life.”

Wen Ruohan shook his head. “I’m trying to get rid of them,” he protested, but even he didn’t believe what he was saying. “They’re a menace. Especially Cangse Sanren – do you know that she’s literally doomed? I swear, I spend all my trying keeping her from getting herself killed…”

“Don’t you enjoy defying the heavens?” Lan Qiren asked, rolling his eyes as if Wen Ruohan were missing something obvious. “I would have thought that someone carting around a heaven-sent calamity would be a perk for someone like you.”

…it rather was, wasn’t it?

“Whatever. Fine. Leave it, I’ll figure it out myself,” Wen Ruohan grumbled, then turned his narrowed eyes on the two of them. “Now for something you can help with: My children need more socialization or else they’ll genuinely think Wei Wuxian is a good example of other children. Sect Leader Lan – you’re a teacher, aren’t you…?”

“Well, yes. But –”

“What a wonderful idea!” Lao Nie clapped his hands together. “I can send my two boys to Qiren to teach, too! And we can definitely bully Fengmian and Guangshan into sending theirs. It’ll be…oh, I don’t know. A regular summer excursion!”

“In my sect?” Lan Qiren asked, arching his eyebrows. “Why me?”

“Because you’re a teacher, of course. Anyway, are you saying you don’t want Cangse Sanren to crash at your place for a few months..?”

“She’s not going anywhere,” Wen Ruohan said at once. When both of them smirked at him, he scowled. “Even if I wanted her too, she’s not. It was a statement of fact, nothing more.”

“Then perhaps we should all come visit the Nightless City instead,” Lao Nie said. “It could be like a miniature discussion conference, except limited to the Great Sects – we could go night-hunting and such while Qiren teaches the children.”

Was Lao Nie proposing an orgy? He’d better not be proposing an orgy, not if he genuinely intended to invite Jiang Fengmian and his wife or Jin Guangshan and his to attend…

“Of course, if it’s focused on the children, maybe the adults aren’t entirely necessary to invite – well, except for you, as the host, Qiren as the teacher, and me as the person who came up with the idea…”

Lao Nie was definitely proposing an orgy.

“…I’ll see what Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze have to say about it,” Wen Ruohan allowed. But only because he thought that it was something they would very much like, and he’d been completely out of ideas on what he could get a couple as notoriously disinterested in material goods as a courting gift – he hated not being capable, that’s all it was. There was no other reason than that! “We’ll see.”

“Did I agree to this?” Lan Qiren asked, frowning. “When did I agree to this –”

“You can’t say no,” Wen Ruohan said. “I’ll set Cangse Sanren on you if you do.”

“…I see that I’ve agreed to this.”

Lao Nie laughed, Lan Qiren sighed, and Wen Ruohan…

Wen Ruohan resigned himself to keeping Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze around a little longer.

Just a little.

[hi-i-love-u-bitch]

I have a kind of funny/kind of tragic AU idea bubbling in my head for the past few weeks.

So like in this AU Alastor isn't under a contract/deal, he's still insane and wants to cause chaos BUT ALSO he's lonely and wants to make friends. He's still very much AroAce in this AU so no romance or sex but that doesn't mean he doesn't want an honest connection with people. But he's also a psychotic serial killer with a very warped sense of morality which most people tend to find very creepy, so it's very difficult for him to actually get to know people when they don't want to approach you. Mimzy he's known since he was alive while Rosie and Zestiel have been in hell much longer and have seen and done shit much worse so its easy for Alastor to make friends with them.

Like he genuinely had a very close friendship with Vox up until Vox confessed his feelings and asked Alastor to join the Vees. Alastor of course said no but since he still wanted to be friends with Vox he tried to reject him as nicely as possible. Vox of course DID NOT take that well and a fight ensues between them. He considered Vox his best friend and was absolutely devastating when it all went down. That of course did not help with his already waning sanity.

When Alastor met Niffty he was overall charmed by her eccentric and chaotic nature. They got along like a house on fire, sometimes literally. She wasn't even offended when Alastor rejected her romantic advances, cheerfully stating that it was fine as long as she could stay by his side. "You wouldn't be able to get rid of me anyways!" A statement that would strike fear onto even the bravest of men but instead brought Alastor immense amounts of comfort and relief. Even so, he needed to assure that Niffty would never leave him, so he offered a contract. Alastor didn't even need to do all that much convincing to get her to sign, just say that as long as her soul was his they'd be together forever. Niffty was lonely too, an outsider even amongst the dammed of hell itself. Kindred spirits now forever intertwined by soul and contract.

Alastor didn't think much of Husk when they first met, just another pompous overlord drunk off power. In some ways he was right but also Husk was witty and charming and liked jazz and wasn't at all startled by Alastor's creepy demeanor and "unique" hobbies. He laughed at Alastor's jokes even if he said they were god awful, was probably the only other person living or dead that could drink Alastor under a table, and he didn't at all mind Alastor's distaste for technology passed the 1930s. Niffty liked him too which was a pretty good sign in Alastor's book and they got along swimmingly. The void that Vox left when they had inevitably parted ways was beginning to fill itself with whiskey, smoke, and card games. Alastor was determined NOT to lose it this time.

Alastor cheated of course, there was no way in hell he'd beat the gambling overlord fairly. He disguised his plan with a few stiff drinks and a seemingly playfully bet not ment to mean anything more than a joke. Husk was furious, if Alastor hadn't had him chained down he was sure the cat man would have shreded him to ribbons. He let Husk have a bit of space after that, let him cool down a bit, and it nearly made Alastor regret the whole thing because Husk refused to talk to him for MONTHS. Alastor did feel a bit guilty, not for tricking Husk into a contract but for cheating. Because Husk cheated all the time with anything and everything, from the most innocent card game between acquaintances to soul deals and contracts, but he never once cheated Alastor ever.

Husk did come around eventually, reluctantly, in that way people usually do when they finally give up and find they're in a situation they can't get out of. He was bitter, grumpy, and still incredibly pissed off about everything but at least he as talking to Alastor again. Albeit if only just to tell him off, but Alastor took it as a win anyway. He's lucky that he's Alastor's best friend (again, not by choice) because if anyone else were to speak to him like that they'd be dinner.

When Alastor hears about the hotel he thinks its the stupidest idea anybody has ever come up with. When he heard that it came from the princess of hell herself it made it that much funnier to him. Alastor loved messing around with people, his favorite kind being powerful people that were too much of a doormat to realize how powerful they actually are. That's what Charlie was to Alastor: a powerful being reduced to a meek and naive girl. At least, at first. Charlie was...kind. Far too kind for someone born and raised in hell. She genuinely cared and worried for the dirty filth of this wretched land as if there was actually something to save. That is to say: she was kind to him. She was still slightly creeped out by his overall demeanor but she was still kind and sweet and caring. She liked to talk to him even though Alastor would sometimes say some disturbing shit, she thanked him for his help even though he told her to her face that he thought her dreams where foolish, and she overall seemed to actually enjoy his company.

She reminded him of his mother.

That's it! That's all I'm giving you guys because if I keep going I'm gunna end up writing a whole fic about it 😅

[coeluvr]

I would like to begin by saying that I absolutely love your if. Adore it to bits. Would pay to give MC their much needed hug and pat Helios and Fadiya. Especially Fadiya, I love the others but Fadiya is just so absolutely bbg like I wanna pat her, hug her, cry on her shoulder and examine her under a microscope to try and understand how someone can be so absolutely lovable and make me go ":D" just by thinking about her like she's so amazing adorable gorgeous perfect and every synonym for all the words that I just listed but she's also so stupidly oblivious and I'm crying because Fadiya, bbg, I WANT TO MARRY YOU CAN YOU NOT TELL-

Anyway we don't get enough Fadiya appreciation, like this blog could become only about Fadiya and it still wouldn't be what she deserves.

Fadiya's greatness aside I do actually have a question, one that has been nagging at me since I read your post about Luceris and Farah's love story..

Why is Luceris such a manhwa ml.

Like, Oml, bro literally checks all the boxes.

White or black hair? Check.

Blue or red eyes? Check.

Daddy issues and a dead mom? Check.

Laments how miserable he is because of the scheming people around him while sitting in his luxurious bed in his bedroom that's like the size of 3 living rooms while somebody fans him with a palm leaf very slowly and a maid feeds him grapes that probably got harvested from a plant that was watered using the tears or a starving medieval peasant? The vibes are saying check.

And most important of all... He falls in love with a blonde person. Oh and who's also nice and nothing like the scheming nobles??? AND THEN HE GOES PSYCHO MURDER MODE WHEN SHE DIES???

Coe, with all due respect, Lancelot is just waiting to fall down a flight of stairs, hit his head without dying, and regain the memories of his past life as a broke 17 year old with parental issues who got hit by a truck while saving a kid.

Aw I'm glad you like this story! 💗 Thank you for your kind words.

I completely understand your love for Fadiya, anon. She's truly amazing beautiful everything good in this world. 🥺 She's a bit oblivious but that's just part of her charm okay. She's a cutie!

Lol I get a lot of "Farah and Luceris sound like a fairytale romance" and I get it because it is supposed to be that way. 🤭 I love them and their silly little love story. 🥺

Lancelot didn't get hit by a truck and didn't transmigrate so I guess I'm safe from the manhwa allegations? 🫣 There is time travel but that's just for our lovely MC so...

[joka13]

FANFICTION: Weasley Twins x Reader (Slytherin Girl) - Part 23

WARNINGS: none

You walk back to your dormitory in a daze. You are half convinced that what just happened minutes ago back up in the twins' dormitory was a dream (you've had many dreams about the Weasley twins, so another one wouldn't be uncommon). But... no. It was all too real to be a dream. You recall the glorious feeling of being held by George, his arms around you, his lips on yours...

You begin to smile at the memory, but quickly stop yourself. You want to be happy about your wonderful time spent with George, and yet, some part of you can't help but feel that it's all wrong.

"What about Fred?" you had said, and George had appeared completely unbothered by your expression of feeling torn between him and his brother. Wouldn't a man naturally become jealous if he found out that the woman he admired — even if she had the same feelings for him — had feelings for another man, let alone his brother? When it was revealed to you that Fred had been a witness of yours and George's moment, Fred had acted the same. He had even congratulated his twin brother, as if having absolutely no romantic feelings towards you. And then Fred proceeded to flirt with you in the most simple, yet effective way possible right in front of George. Neither of the twins were even a little bit jealous of or upset over the other, and you find it utterly puzzling. Was it possible that (as devilish as the thought was in your wondering mind) the twins had made some sort of agreement, whether it be unspoken or written down on a piece of parchment, to... share you?

For a moment you are so distracted that you're almost caught by a prefect who marches up and down the next hallway. You dash into the shelter of a nearby doorway until it is safe for you to continue.

Fred and George are identical twins, so they tend share a lot of things: clothes, school supplies, good looks... but girlfriends? (Is it even safe to say that you are at the "girlfriend level" with either of the twins, even after pushing past your original limits with George tonight? You've certainly been spending a lot of time with Fred and George over the past few months, and you feel this kind of specialness with them that you've never felt before...) You try to remember if you ever saw or heard about Fred or George with a girlfriend before you officially met them. You know they each had their own individual dates to the Yule Ball last year, but you haven't seen those girls with the twins since.

You sigh as you finally reach the Slytherin common room entrance. You're tired and overwhelmed by everything that has happened, so you push it all to the back of your mind for now. You don't particularly enjoy imagining the twins being with other girls anyway.

You open the door to your dorm to find Maddy in the middle of changing into her pajamas. She makes brief eye contact with you before you politely look away.

You go to pull your trunk out from under your bed and take out your own night clothes to change into. You face your bed and, as you begin to undress, Maddy's low voice interrupts the quiet of the night.

"He talks about you."

You freeze momentarily, wondering at first who in the world she could be referring to, until it dawns on you. Malfoy. The only guy she would ever give a second thought to now. Of course he talks about you. He hates you for wounding his ego, and Malfoy talks an awful lot about the things that he hates. You continue changing.

Maddy goes on as you unbutton your shirt. "Draco doesn't really like me. I wish he did, but he likes you."

The silence that follows is uncomfortable. Maddy has caught you off guard. You expected her to say, if anything, something rude or haughty. But her words are sad, with a touch of envy.

"I'm sure he'd still have you," Maddy sighs. "I'll step out of your way without a fight if you change your mind." It sounds strangely like an offer.

What? Even after all these months you've seen Malfoy and Maddy together, you still can't wrap your head around it. The long time during which you and Maddy were good friends, you'd both easily agreed that Malfoy was, in a nutshell, a rotten person whom neither of you would want anything to do with ever. Now, Maddy talks like he's a good opportunity in the dating field!

You surprise yourself by laughing harshly. "I wouldn't even consider going out with Malfoy if we were the last two people on earth!"

Maddy doesn't respond immediately. You step into your pants, close your trunk, slide it back under the bed, and crawl into bed under the covers.

"You don't understand," Maddy eventually says quietly. "I'm trying to help you, giving you a second chance because he's too scared or whatever to do it himself—"

"Well, I don't want a second chance!" you interrupt, rolling over on your side to finally look at Maddy. She's already facing you. "I don't like Malfoy."

Maddy's expression is an impatient grimace. "Yes, I am very aware of that," she says quickly. "But..." She desperately searches for the right words to say. "I've been hearing things... Something is coming." Your face softens with confusion. Maddy also seems to relax now that she really has your attention. "I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I think there are going to be two sides to it, and at the end of the day..." She takes in a deep breath, then exhales, "I want you to be on my side."

You take a long moment to let her words sink in. Two sides? To what? Maddy makes whatever it is sound big. A knot forms in the pit of your stomach as you realizes that she may be referring to what the Ministry has been fearing since last school year. If He-Who-Must-Not-Be- Named really is back... no doubt, there would be a war at some point. A war between You-Know- Who's army and... everyone else. You sit up on the edge of your bed, chewing on the inside of your cheek nervously. "And what side is that?" you ask.

"The one that is going to win," Maddy replies firmly without hesitation. The way she says it makes your heart beat faster with anxiety. "And I know that the Malfoy family will be on that side," Maddy continues, growing excited. "I believe that, if you build a good relationship with the Malfoy family through Draco, you can redeem yourself and be saved!" You shake your head, struggling to make sense of what she's telling you. She must've seen the gesture as a protest because the excitement on her face dies away suddenly. "People are going to die, y/n," she says morbidly. "And I don't want you to be one of them." You're speechless. It's been so long since you've heard Maddy say your name.

Then you begin to wonder if Malfoy put her up to this, if he truly does fancy you that is. She's basically become another one of his cronies and may not care for you as much as she says she does. Maybe she's only following orders. You consider accusing her of it, but decide it wouldn't be a smart move. She seems so genuine, you could be wrong. Maybe you really can get your friend back! But, then again, she's a Slytherin. She could just as well be lying to you.

"What about doing what's right?" you say, staring her in the eye. "What if I'd rather die fighting for what's right than live on ashamed and regretful for the rest of my life?"

Maddy's face contorts into an angry scowl, and she gets to her feet. She walks to the middle of the room and starts pacing, her fists clenching and unclenching at her sides. It's like she wants to argue with you, but there's also a quarrel within herself. She doesn't know what she wants. Either that, or she does and something is keeping her from having it. When Maddy turns to face you once more, she has tears in her eyes.

Maddy's voice shakes, and it breaks your heart. "Please, y/n. Come with me," she begs, but she seems to already know how you'll answer.

"I'm sorry," you whisper as you, too, start to tear up. "I can't." You lay back down on your side facing the wall. It's your way of saying that the conversation is over, but, as the tears roll down your face and onto your pillow, you know that you'll be thinking about it for a very, very long time.

[taggedmemes]

SENTENCE MEME THE GOLDEN GIRLS / SEASON 01 EPISODE 02

you're not getting married on an island by a priest wearing clam diggers.

your wedding day should be the most beautiful day of your life.

if you want to invite him, i'm willing to keep the peace.

now call him and tell the dirtbag he can come.

i just want to get it all out of my system.

i never understand why people throw rice at weddings anyway.

she's been pilfering cheese balls.

he used to bring me tulips every time we had a fight.

approximately how many feet do you see in a week?

there aren't too many people around who could swallow their pride after what went down between us.

i want you to take a deep breath and think pleasant thoughts.

i know i'll do something crazy and just ruin the whole thing.

if anything awful happens, it's on your head.

we better stick to her like a tight shirt on a sweaty farmhand.

it's always a pleasure to get a drink for an attractive woman.

have you ever met a man who knows how to push all your buttons?

whenever you feel you're about to lose control, just take my hand and give it a little squeeze.

you know i can't cut loose with a priest around.

do you want to spend the rest of your life rotting away in some disgusting jail cell, bribing screws for cigarettes and toilet paper?

i wouldn't stab him here. too many witnesses.

you're acting like a jerk.

if you're angry at him, tell him.

you don't have to kill him.

anger is a lot like a piece of shredded wheat caught in your teeth.

you think i got this old by being stupid?

you walked out on me and didn't have the decency to tell me you were leaving.

a total stranger told me that my marriage was over.

you had a choice and you took the easy way out.

now you're here in front of me and you can't run away.

i finally get to have what you tried to cheat me out of.

there will always be a little part of him that stays with me.

[wh0refornikolailantsov]

Prompt: “I feel like I can breathe better with you around.”

Song: I’ll Keep You Safe – Sleeping At Last

For Reader x Tolya please?

So, I'm a /little/ obsessed with TMA, and honestly that might show a little in this one because I just had THOUGHTS and I went okay let's apply that to Tolya for bestie.

If It's You Or The World, I Am Still Choosing You - Tolya Yul Bataar

Content Warnings: Canon Compliant Threat And Violence. Discussions Of Sacrifice, Death, Bereavement And Loss. Not Beta/Proof Read.

The look on Alina's face says more than you ever wanted to know. To Alina, Mal is the only consistent, the only thing that kept her moving when she felt she could not go on, they were each other's home, each others compass, the place the other was only ever trying to come back to. And now Alina was faced with the most awful choice, the place she had sworn to protect, the people she had sworn to protect, the fight she has been fighting day and night, the justice and the revenge she sought, it came at a price. She knew it would. Baghra had always said it would. But this price, this price was steeper than she thought it would ever be. She was willing to die for her cause, but Mal's life being held as the cost of winning, the cost of survival against the evil she wanted gone, that had her doing something she hadn't thought she was still able to do until now: she is hesitating.

The words that everyone is saying aren't passing into your mind, you're overwhelmed, and if you feel like this you can only imagine how Alina is feeling, and that dread wraps its way around your throat and you feel like the life is being choked right out of you. Tolya's hand gently taps against your arm and you don't even look at him to nod, and he is walking beside you gently, as you both exist the room.

The air is cold, and the brisk nature of it all starts a reset. "Can I help?" Tolya asks.

“I feel like I can breathe better with you around.” It's not a new admission, you're sure you've told him this a million times, and you will tell him a million more, more than likely. For everything in your life can be chaos, and Tolya he is always your north star. Has been from the day you met.

You sink into the stone floor and lean your back against the outer wall, and Tolya leans down and sits beside you, not saying a word, but those golden eyes watching you reminds you of what knocked you breathless to begin with. That price.

Any other price, you would pay it. The only cost that would be too much, is him. If you could never see him again, but you knew he was alive and well, you could live with that, you could make peace with that. But to know the only way to save everyone, was for him to die. That's too much for most, and it would be too much for you. So no, not any small part of you envied Alina and the bargain she has to strike with the Saints. If you still believed it was between her and the Saints. The amplifiers makes things muddy, they're creations from true magic, not the Small Science and true magic... it's wild, and the price is always too high. This price feels too high.

"Nothing is fair," you say, just above the sounds of your heavy breathing, "not even in love and war. Especially in love and war."

"Your empathy," he says, offering a hand, "that's what's caused this?"

"I couldn't," you tell him honestly, "I could not do what is needed of Alina, to part with the person who means the most to me, for the sake of everything, I know that is selfish, but I couldn't do it."

"It's a tall ask," Tolya admits, you do not ask him where he stands, you shy away from too much analysis of faith when it comes to the Saints. Not because you're scared of the answers Tolya might give you, but because you're scared to put him on the spot, and to see what answers he might give himself.

"I would choose you," you admit, knowing he probably already knows it, but knowing you need to tell him anyway. "I would choose you and I wouldn't even allow myself a moments doubt in the matter. How could I? Because this war, this fight, it's for freedom, it's for love and life and what is right, and my life is better for you being in it. This place is better for the moments you spend in it, and I could not take you out of this world in the name of saving it, that would not be saving this place, it would be worse for the loss of you."

"And you are willing to die for it," Tolya states.

"Aren't you?"

"I am," he says. "We all are."

"But death and sacrifice are not the same," you say, "I would not choose to die, but to die I am willing, and yet to lose you is to lose something bigger than the war."

"You may value me too highly," Tolya says, wrapping an arm around you. "But I guess that makes us both fools. For if I lose you to win the war, the war would not have been won for me."

[thestrangestthing89]

Inversion of Tropes - Part 2

The mercy kill trope/trauma porn trope This typically happens just as a character heals from trauma or when they aren't in a romantic relationship because they can't seem to figure out what to do with a character who is single. There will probably be more to say about this next season with regard to El's arc. I suspect she will be going on an independent journey and worrying more about reclaiming her childhood than any adult or teenager appropriate things. She missed a huge part of her life and her recovery from this is an important part of her story. So I don't expect them to suddenly kill her off just as she's getting to the point where she can have the life she wants. It's honestly so awful and frustrating when shows do this. I will probably write more about this post S5. This show has also never been unnecessarily violent. Any of the violence actually serves the plot and none of the characters have ignored any of the trauma they've gone through and pretended it didn't happen. Shows like Walking Dead and Game of Thrones like to do this. Everything is brutal and excessively violent in the name of "realism" but they never show the aftermath of what it does to the characters. It's trauma porn. It's for people who have become so desensitized to violence that they can't recognize that this isn't actually realistic or sophisticated storytelling. Stranger Things hasn't gone to an extreme with this and they have started to show ways that all of this trauma have impacted everyone - bad grades, attitude problems, etc. They don't unnecessarily torture their characters in the name of entertainment.

Unnecessary exploitative shots This isn't exactly a trope but it's so prevalent in tv and movies that I thought I'd add it here. Often, with male directors especially, there are so many creepy, lingering shots on the female characters in particular that end up being exploitative. We don't see that here. Even with Nancy in S1 who takes her shirt off. We don't get lingering shots of her in a bra that feel violating. The camera focuses on Steve most of the time and through most of the scene she is shot from the shoulders up. In the hands of a lot of male directors, there would have been more shots of El floating in her bath that could have easily been exploitative and many wouldn't have hesitated even though she's young. The scene that sticks out the most to me is the scene in S4 when she's in the freezer. She is fully covered and even though she's in white it's not see through or cringy in anyway. I am so relieved to see things like this because most directors wouldn't have hesitated to take advantage of her here. It's not just with the female characters either. Steve takes his shirt off and the focus isn't on him or lingering. It's on Nancy, Max, Lucas, and Dustins reactions. And Steve is an adult so it wouldn't have felt as creepy but it still would have been unnecessary. Same with Billy. We mainly see the reactions of the moms at the pool and the camera doesn't stay on him.

1d villain/villian who gets a redemption arch trope Billy, Henry, and Brenner could fit this and none of them are one dimensional. I don't think we are going to see a redemption arc for Henry. We saw one for Billy in S3. He's an abusive, bully but he "redeemed" himself by sacrificing himself for everyone. However S4 flips this around. We see Max's side of things and she doesn't forgive him. That one good act doesn't erase what he did to her. This is where she starts to get closure and heal. Forgiving him isn't forced on her in the name of healing. It's done in a realistic way where she has complex feeling about her relationship with him. We see her re-write their relationship into a more sibling dynamic that wasn't true. But she acknowledges that it wasn't and that it was just the grief talking. El goes through a similar thing with Brenner. She doesn't give him her forgiveness but she gets closure. She is ready to move on from this part of her life. But what he did to her was unforgivable and even though he called it love and called himself her father she knows better now.

The ugly girl turned beauty queen trope Makeovers on this show have been done for character development, particularly with El. But she never gets turned into the "hot girl". The closest they come to this is in S1 when she is wearing the pink dress with the blonde wig. The boys pick this out for her so she can look "normal". She is referred to as "pretty" and this is clearly something she wants - to be like everyone else. But she finds throughout the season that this isn't her. Her dress gets dirty and she loses her wig but she is still reassured the she is "pretty" (I'm pretty sure they use this here to mean normal and not attractive). El also goes through other makeovers to find herself and never once does she get dressed up to be "hot". None of the other female characters do either.

The antagonistic siblings trope For whatever reason this trope is prevalent in a lot of 80s movies. But we see the opposite happening with Will and Jonathan. Jonathan loves Will and takes care of him and supports him. He's never resentful of the role he plays in his life. We do see this trope play out a bit with Mike and Nancy. They have a typical sibling dynamic. The younger brother is annoying and bugs the older sister. Which is why I think they are going to invert this next season. They gave us what's familiar and now they will twist it.

The manic pixie dream girl trope This person is quirky and not like other girls. She is usually one dimensional and there for male character development and doesn't get a story of her own. Robin seems like she will fit this when she's first introduced. But then we see she isn't there for Steve's development and wasn't introduced to be his girlfriend. Instead we see them develop a friendship and she has her own storyline that isn't dependent on Steve - with Vicky and Nancy - and she helps the group out with the supernatural stuff and the Russians. She is smart and useful to the group.

The girls hate each other and are enemies for no reason trope This is usually done because the (usually) male writers can't figure out that girls actually get along IRL. So when we were first presented with this trope in S2, it seems like El and Max will hate each other. But El's jealousy is related to her trauma and isn't random. It was a realistic way to show that this girl was isolated and clingy with Mike. But she gets to know Max and they are BFFs now. They have such a great relationship that is beneficial for both of them. I am so glad they inverted this.

The cool guy gets the girl and wins trope I'm obviously talking about Steve. He isn't getting the girl at the end of this. I think this makes people angry because they don't know what to do with his character. I see a lot of criticisms directed at the writers for sidelining him or treating him badly but they aren't. He just simply isn't the star of the show. And that's ok. It's not his story. But people are so used to the straight, white, conventionally attractive male being the center of the narrative that they often place him here when he doesn't belong. (I wrote about his here). His role is as a secondary character. He is there for support and this doesn't mean that he's being sidelined. The audience gets resentful about it because they've never seen someone like him not be the center of attention so they fixate on him and complain he's being mistreated when he isn't. It's not his role to play the hero here. But it's not surprising that the part of the audience that doesn't relate to the nerds ends up fixating on him. They are used to being the lead and they think that's where someone like him/them belongs. So they overinflated his relationships and role within the group (he is not a mentor or a goddamn babysitter). It's hard for people to see something different. So they lash out at the writing and make HC's "correcting" things. But the actual narrative isn't going to change here. He's not the hero of this story.

I honestly wasn't expecting this to be so long. My point is this - this show has always, always done the unexpected thing. They give you what you what's familiar and then flip it upside down. So when I see people saying things like "they'll never break up Mike and El" it's entirely based on those people being so used to that narrative they don't know what other story to expect. It's the one that we are "supposed" to get. But they won't give this trope for the same reason they haven't given any of the others. This isn't a superficial story. It's not meant as casual, escapist tv. They are calling out storytelling as we've seen it. They are flipping the script and giving us something new.

[whoreforsplatasha]

Jealousy (Jinx x Female r)

Part 3

series contains- *smut, violence, obscene language*

at silco's hideout

"You did WHAT!?" he stood up and slammed his hands on his desk. "She has potential sir; you always trust my judgement and I have never failed you or let you down, haven't I?" Silco slowly sat down and his eyes switched from Sevika to me then back to sevika again. He stood up again, walked towards me and stared at sevika sternly. "Don't disappoint" "I won't sir, I will take full responsibility of her" "Good" he replied.

"Oh and maybe try to control that psychopath, she almost tried to kill y/n here." "She's an upsider correct?" "Yes but Jinx could've started a wa-" "But she didn't, it's your responsibility to make sure things run smoothly down here, you better be right about her...don't fail me again." I stared in awe.

hm silco has a soft spot for his daughter. jinx. to get close to him i'd have to get closer to her.

"Yes sir" I snapped back out of my thoughts when silco stepped towards me. "name?" "y/n" I said firmly. He hmed and sat back down. "dismissed" he finally said. Sevika motioned for me to follow her out. I closed his office door and trailed behind her, but something told me to look back and I did.

Then I saw her, her back was facing the door and she was sitting on Silco's desk with a needle in her hand, her blue braids droped behind her back.

wow. her figure it's kinda ho- no what is wrong with me i'm straight and i'm already in love with someone else.

She froze up and quickly spun around to see me staring at her, she smirked and winked at me before injecting something in Silco's eye, shimmer.

I blushed a bit and quickly turned away following Sevika. "Here is where you'll stay" I looked at the fairly clean mattress and the cold metallic floor.

is she fucking serious.

I kept my dissatisfaction to myself and said "Thank you" she seemed pleased with that response and informed, "You start tomorrow at 4"

FOUR?! IS SHE FUCKING SERIOUS

That won't be a problem" I shrugged. she seemed shocked but nodded her head and shut the door. "UGH", I screamed and flipped the already broken table over. "Careful there sugar we don't want any accidents happening, now do we?" a voice said.

jinx

I looked behind me and saw her drop from the ceiling smiling. "How long have you been uh" I pointed at the ceiling where she was just hanging from. "Not long, maybe a few seconds maybe minutes, who knows" "uh huh" I said. She got serious and furrowed her eyebrows, "What's your business here anyway? Why do you want to work for SILCO" she imitated his voice. I giggled, "Who wouldn't want to work with the most powerful man down here?" she looked at me and smiled, "We're gonna be great friends toots"

friends? hah crazy bitch almost killed me today

"Good one Jinx" she looked deeply offended. She took her hand gun out and trailed it down my back. "you don't wanna be my friend?" she looked at me evily.

i know better than to test this bitch.

"fine" she smiled and jumped up clapping.

this is how i get closer to her

"yay we're gonna be the best of friends! see ya tomorrow sugar" she waved at me and walked through the door.

her body... snap out of it y/n! you're here to kill her you can't fall for jinx...

[happyk44]

Thinking about that long form feral!Jason fic I wanna write but probably never will get around to doing so, and like. It would be such a disappoint to just keep my meandering thoughts in my head, right?

As far as plot goes, it'll probably end up being more character driven introspective than plot important. Like yeah there's a plot they're following because it wouldn't be PJO without a stupid quest but that's really just an excuse to bustle everyone together. Thought process is Thanatos goes missing ala SoN and Nico, flocked by Hazel and Jason, drags Percy and Thalia along to help find him because - idk, he just does. Cousin outing lmao.

Hazel is alive for no other reason than I want her to be. She was a "gift" from Zagreus as thanks for Nico helping out in the war, because he was annoyed Nico got snubbed in all the congratulations. Naturally Bianca was Nico's first thought but she was like "Nico, fuck off with that shit" and directed him to their lonely sister sitting beneath a tree and poof. Hazel.

Leo was in the Kronos army and ran away at the end of the war, because he didn't trust the gods or CHB not to kill him. He wasn't really a fighter - he just made their armor and weapons, so he wasn't technically even in the actual battle, which made it a lot easier to escape detection.

He also lives with Piper now - idk if I want to include my mute!Piper thoughts, and I'm murky on how Piper and Leo will get brought into the mix. I do know it will be a "Nico knows a guy" situation. But anyway Piper and Leo live together. Idk how they met - probably crashed into each other or caught one another stealing shit or Piper saw Leo and thought "opportunity to make my dad pay attention to me" and took him with her or whatever. Obviously it doesn't work, but Leo sticks around because Piper enjoys having a friend, and he's the one who pieces together that Piper is a daughter of Aphrodite, and warns her from ever going to CHB. Up in the air if she knows his background regarding the war and shit by this point, but they're the people they have so they're tight.

Frank's backstory is more or less the same, except after training in Camp Jupiter for a couple weeks, he's like "no. I can't do this. This is awful. How do I get back to Canada and the snow?" And then Nico pops up doing his ambassador to Pluto thing (bc while both camps know about each other now, they haven't yet started mingling and Nico is aware that Octavian has... issues).

Anyway Nico is trying to get the scope of the place, wondering it would be a good place for Hazel to live so she doesn't have to hang out in the Underworld all the time, which she doesn't mind for the most part - but she does want to socialize and make friends with living people. And Nico thinks that she'll probably have a better time with the Romans than the Greeks, because they'll associate her more with wealth.

He and Frank bump into each other and Nico realizes Frank is trying to escape camp. Offers to help him and gets Hazel and Jason who help him leave in the middle of the night, while Nico socializes publicly with the other cohorts, so that like. No one gets suspicious that Frank disappeared right after Nico showed up. On their journey back to Canada, Frank discovers his shapeshifting powers.

Currently the POVs are probably gonna be a switch between Thalia and Percy. But maybe others will join in as the story flows.

Also Jason really likes Frank's shaping shifting powers, and every time they visit him and his grandma, Frank turns into a wolf (or bear or other large predator animal) and lets Jason wrestle him. Frank does not enjoy this as much as Jason does. Jason also has to wear a muzzle inside the house as per Grandma Zhang's rules, because he "does not know to keep his teeth behind his lips". Despite this, he is a decent-ish wolf pup with her, and will grumble loudly but let her click the muzzle on with only a few pitiful whines.