#but Ethan does not know his dinosaurs

[tinderbox210]

Anson Mount, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding and Ethan Peck + the most important question of the Dragon Con weekend (x)

"What is your favorite dinosaur?'

[mis3rabl3m3lody]

Some Jack headcanons!!

ADHD af

Constantly forgets what words are

Sometimes has to look up the definition of a word to make sure he's using it correctly(projecting lmaooo)

You know that one unus annus clip of ethan trying to figure out the word "skillet"? Yeah that's Jack coded to me and also kinda charlie coded as well xbejfjex

Probably has a few squishmallows and various stim toys

Absolutely enjoys the beach, loves going sailing and swimming in the summertime

Special interest in the ocean probably, researches a whole lot about ships, sea creatures and the like

Along with sonic, he also LOVES pokemon and Rayman!!

Definitely has played Pokemon Go(team instinct⚡)

Can also DESTROY anyone in mario kart💥

Probably LOVES space [insert markiplier's "Space is Cool" song]

Had a dinosaur phase and a plane phase when he was a kid

Still has a model airplane that he got when he was like, 12

Doesn't consider himself much of an artist, but he does doodle on the corners of his notebooks when he's bored in class

Sometimes makes doodles of his Buddy and writes their initials together inside a little heart and all that cheesy shit hehehehee💞

Will collect/buy little random things that remind him of his Buddy and give it to them as little gifts😊

[silamander]

hello!!!!1!

This is a free pass for you to talk about anything you want, as much as you want! Exposit! Lore dump! Rant about your interests, or something that irks you! Whatever it is, use this as an excuse! Someone out there is interested in what you have to say (it's us. We're the someone)

...you know what that means gang.

More random Hatchetfield headcanons

- Ted spends a lot of time emailing Pete instead of working because a part of him is paranoid Pete might get hurt at high school.

- Miss Holloway spends a lot of time birdwatching in the mornings.

- Max failed his driver's test twice so he just drives without a license.

- Grace sleeps with a stuffed pink bunny.

- Tom was on the football team with Max’s dad. He was scum and Tom never liked him, he could never explain why but he just rubbed him the wrong way.

- Paul likes iced caramel frappes. He just orders black coffee because it’s easier for Emma.

- Richie is an energy drink junkie.

- Charlotte does yarn crafts (like knitting and crochet and cross stitch and shit) to get her anger out because stabby stabby.

- Barry Swift has ADHD and OCD.

- Gary Goldstein decorates his house like a suburban white mom, those rustic white letters in the kitchen, everything labeled in slightly stretched text, that type of thing.

- Stacy is Becky's niece, and Stacy looks up to her a lot so she became a cheerleader to follow in her aunt's footsteps.

- Ethan actually believes the hat works because he was wearing it the day he met Lex and since then nothing had has happened to him when he wore it

- The people of Hatchetfield hate Clivesdale because Mayor Lauter was born and raised there, and hated it there so much that he convinced the whole town to hate it as well.

- Hailey spends a lot of time watching animal and dinosaur documentaries. She gets attached to the animals quickly and gets really upset when they die. (No this is not me self projecting).

- In human form, Wiggly’s nose scrunches up when he’s angry.

- Ruth as a Sophmore hit on Senior Alice a lot. Alice thought it was funny and she and Deb “adopted” her.

- Hailey and Trevor (Jon’s barbecue monologue’s character from Nerdy Prudes) are cousins. Very random but I think it fits.

- Hailey admires Trevor and his natural talent for performing. In a way, it makes her feel more insecure of herself, seeing her younger cousin be so good at performing, and she sees it as her still not being good enough.

- Wiggly sleeps in sand like a squid. Like literally just buries himself in there, completely submerged.

- Richie can and will ramble about Naruto to some random person on the street if they're willing to listen.

- Grace is secretly a hazbin hotel/helluva boss junkie, she only watches it on library computers though because she wouldn’t be caught dead watching it at home. (Pete caught her watching it once and he had to pinky promise to never tell anyone. They're siblings, your honor).

- No one in Hatchetfield ever said anything about the workin boys being in a gay interracial polycule, not because it was a secret, but because they were football players, and hatred for clivesdale is exponentially more powerful than homophobia.

- Since Lex and Ethan also went to Hatchetfield High, Max would have definitely tried to get it on with Lex, mirroring his thing with Grace but this time the forbidden fruit is that she's a senior and she genuinely doesn't give a flying fuck about him. Imagine a younger, less jacked Max Jägerman in his sophomore year constantly getting his shit rocked by Lex and Ethan every time he tried to shoot his shot.

- Karen Chasity was secretly the most rebellious and incorrigible party girl on the planet. She started dating Mark and her viewpoint changed. She now denies everything she did in highschool.

- Paul and Ted once accidentally kissed at an office party after getting a slight bit too drunk. They have both agreed never to speak of the incident ever again (the one thing they ever agreed on).

- Pete loves horror movies because he’s a special effects geek and Steph lies and says she likes horror movies so she still looks cool but is actually not a fan and the scares almost always get her.

- If the Green-Foster family ever did get to move to California and Lex got to be an actress, her interview attitude would be a lot like Reneé Rapp, in that she barely has a filter. If she ever got asked about why she’ll openly shit talk people in an interview, she’s like “I used to work retail I learned pretty fast that nothing gets done if you keep your mouth shut.”

- No one at CCRP ever knows what to get Paul for work holiday parties so now he owns a bunch of gifted mugs and he's starting to run out of cabinet space because he doesn't want to get rid of anything that was gifted to him.

- Gary unironically refers to Facebook as "the book of faces”

[person4924]

hi !! i’m sam !! and uhhh that’s all u need to know but there’s more under the cut !!

(also im trying to make this aesthetic and cute but idrk how so if u have any tips pls pls pls !!)

yes i’m sad (secretly a dinosaur)

basic info

i’m sapphic of some sort and ace!!

i go pretty much by any pronouns atp but they is usually the best!!

i’m a minor. so please don’t be fucking weird.

i’m american (even worse, the midwest 😨) unfortunately but literally as soon as i fucking can im booting it and moving to norway

i’m neurodivergent of some some sort

i have a sideblog that is currently a confessions blog but it might change cus no one actually does it!! but if u would like to do a (general) confession then it is @just-a-little-lad4924

just general facts about me !

my personality type is INFP-T

i have 3 cats!! one at my dads, her name is graci (after gracie abrams ofc) and she’s about a year and a half, and 2 at my moms: regulus (guess who named him!! 😱) and libby and their siblings and are currently abt 3 months !! i could yap abt them forever i love them sm

my favorite color is dark green, fav season is fall, fav holiday is christmas or halloween, fav animal is cats or sharks or moths or jellyfish

i appreciate tone tags and try to use them as much as possible

im always bored so asks and everything are super duper cool !

i love love love making ananlysis' of basically anythng sooo if theres like a song or ship or something i could totallly write an essay abt it or smth !

uhhh idrk what else !!

fandoms AKA past hyperfixations that i’m still attached to but im not necessarily still in the fandom: harry potter (fuck jkr !!), MCU, KOTLC, marauders, boy meets world, it, osemanverse, paper girls, teen wolf, owl house, shameless, glee, stranger things, andi mack, tlou, riordanverse, brooklyn nine nine, new girl, hamilton, grishaverse, community, dawsons creek, bojack horseman, criminal minds, ted lasso, scooby doo, everything sucks!, the sun bearer trials, atypical, octonauts, dead boy detectives, will and grace, how i met your mother, the maze runner

uhhh can u tell i don’t have many friends.

fav movies (not counting fandoms): tick tick boom, my girl, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, little rascals, empire records, bottoms, nimona, little women, 500 days of summer, benny & joon, beautiful boy, call me by your name, lady bird, stand by me, RWRB, addams family values, the breakfast club, spiderman ITSV/ATSV, the outsiders, luca, the perks of being a wallflower, dead poets society, big daddy, the edge of seventeen

once again. i have very little friends. and very many issues.

fav music people: gracie abrams (if u couldnt tell), taylor swift, noah kahan, mitski, boygenuis, julien baker, phoebe bridgers, lucy dacus, hozier, the head and the heart, conan gray, RKS, queen. harry styles, the fray, olivia rodrigo, coldplay, billie eilish, maya hawke, bo burnham, chappell roan, the smiths, the revivalists, addriane lenker, lorde, fiona apple, alex g, ani defranca, radiohead, montell fish

just general interests: poetry, art, writing, sitcoms, stand up comedy, greek mythology, the sky (like the stars, moon, sun, etc. astronomy metaphors are my everything), moths, jelly fish, ocean animals in general (first special interest 💪💪), pretty much just animals in general, 90's movies, cinematography, bo burnham (i didnt know where eles to put him), annotating, musicals

fav books (also not including fandoms): the perks of being a wallflower, the outsiders, i fell in love with hope, ill give you the sun, and more but i dont remember the names atm !

my fav ships (buckle in! i apologize.): wolfstar, jegulus, jily sometimes, pandalily, dorlene, rosekiller, drarry, jeric (bmw), reddie, charlie/nick, tara/darcy, tao/elle, lister/jimmy, pip/rooney, kajemac, sterek, isaac/stiles, malia/stiles, lumity, gallavich, ronance, solangelo, valdangelo, kinda percico, dianetti, wesper, kanej, trobed, joey/pacey, ralvez, spencer/ethan, kindaaa moreid, painland, newtmas

i might have missed a few but these are My Guys. /gn

links!

spotify!! - my character playlists are my pride and joy and reason for living, i could write essays about how each song could specifically fit the character and situation. anyways!!

discord

airbuds - idk if anyone uses this but if u do add me!!

ao3 - i have 1 fic that is my fav thing ever (a camp halfblood group chat) and the other two... are there

pinterest

tiktok - this is my alt that i blocked all my friends on and i have like my fandom shit but i don’t post that much and im barely on tt to begin with but yeah !!

pronouns page

spotify stats - idk if anyone uses this but also yeah !!

i have a super duper cool discord server that u should totally join too… link

i have a tagging system

sam shut the fuck up - og posts

asks!!! - asks

crazy? i was crazy once - big lists and essay things

sam sings :O - lyric/music posts

it’s so hard to be a lizard… - any jokes i make because im literally bo burnham

and i think thats it!! if anyone has any ideas of things to add then yeah !! or how to make it look prettier cusss uhhhh yeah.

oh yeah and this is an official @i-luv-multiple-ppl fan account so !!

and creds to @cafekitsune for the dividers!!

[cherrygorilla]

Zack's Basic Info

As seems to be a recent theme with me, I really struggled coming up with faceclaims for Zack. I think Chosen Jacobs (first pic) is the one that feels the most right in my head, but I could see the others (Miles Brown, Noah Gray-Cabey and Jaden Smith) all working well in their own ways too. No one else seemed to be able to get that mischievous grin of his right lol.

Name: Zackary Ghalen Davis - his mom named him Ghalen, meaning calm in Ghanaian, because he was such an easy, quiet baby. But then he learned how to speak and she's never had a moment of peace since.

Nicknames: He pretty much solely goes by Zack. He'll occasionally get a (very cringeworthy) 'Zacky boy' from his dad, and, in the very few interactions he's had with Ethan, he's had 'Zack-attack'. But 99.9% of the time it's just Zack. 

Age: 14

Date of Birth: 30th of November

Zodiac: Sagittarius

Birthstone: Topaz

Nationality: American, Ghanaian and Greek

Sexuality: Straight

Birthplace: St Anthony's Hospital, St Petersburg, Florida

Current Residence: Pelican Drive South, St Petersburg, Florida

Occupation: Middle school student and a newspaper delivery boy

Talents/Skills: Karate, basketball, having insanely good aim (not used for many things thus far in life other than crushing at paper football games in class), never failing to make his friends (especially Bentley) laugh, packing away ungodly amounts of food (his portions are HUGE if he has any control over it), and knowing many, many random facts, mostly about dinosaurs

Birth Order: Middle of 3

Siblings: Jordin Nicole Davis (17) and Angelo Cameron Davis (9)

Parents: Jamal Dimitri Davis and Effia Morowa Davis 

Signature:

Height: 5' 10'' when he's fully grown, but 5' 4'' for now.

Race: African American

Eye Colour: Dark brown

Hair Colour: Dark brown

Glasses or Contact Lenses: Neither

Distinguishing Features: He's almost always got some sort of pen ink on his hands where he's scribbled something down he needed to remember, a weird little squishy lump of skin from where his stitches didn't heal properly after he fell off a skate ramp and took a gnarly chunk out of his knee, and a slightly chipped front tooth from that very same incident.

Mannerisms: Compulsively needs to fill silences with senseless ramblings, unbelievably loud snoring, cracks his knuckles at every available opportunity, and almost always stands with his hands in his pockets.

Health: He’s lactose-intolerant but he does not give a fuckkkkkk lmao - if anything, it just encourages him to eat more dairy. But besides that, nothing really, he's pretty healthy. His mom wouldn't hesitate to (lovingly) diagnose him as a lazy-ass though - and she'd probably pull him up on his terrible posture whilst she’s at it. 

Hobbies: Skateboarding, karate, picking arguments with Kona, binge watching horror movies, eating through entire family size bags of chips in one sitting, collecting random stickers (which he covers like 90% of his belongings with), and wasting all his allowance at the arcade.

Greatest Flaw (in their opinion): How argumentative he is. He has very strong opinions and is super strong-willed, which can be a good thing, but can also make things really difficult when he runs into someone who disagrees with him. He can take it really personally and get really fired up, even if it's not that big of a deal, just because it's hard to process other people's views. Sometimes he doesn't even care what it is he's arguing about; sometimes he just likes playing devil's advocate because he likes to debate with people. His mom always pulls him up on it though, because sometimes his enthusiasm for challenging others can come across as rude, which is never usually his intention. 

Best Quality (in their opinion): His passion. Even though it can land him in trouble sometimes, and brings out his biggest flaw, he is proud of how much he dedicates himself to the things he believes in. He never half-asses things he cares about, he'll put his all into it no matter what. And that extends to his relationships too - he'll stick by his friends through anything, and will defend them until he's blue in the face if he has to. He can be perceived as lazy because of how laidback he seems, and can be lazy when he wants to, but if he wants to do something, whether that's for himself, or for someone he cares about, he won't be able to focus on anything else until it's done.

Biggest Fear: Dying. One of his cousins died in their teens and the shockwave of grief it sent through his whole family really freaked him out. He wasn't necessarily super close with the guy, but he'd spent a fair amount of time with him at family gatherings growing up, so the abruptness of his death really shook him up and changed his whole perspective on life. He very much adopted that 'needs to live life to the fullest' mindset, which is probably why he can come across as a little overbearing and intense sometimes. And he can act rather impulsively, but he'd rather that be the case than living with regrets if that looming cloud of grief were to come and swallow him whole again. 

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor

Favourite Ice Cream Flavour: Rocky Road

Favourite Colour: Red

Favourite Number: 3 - one of the many reasons as to why the triceratops is his favourite dinosaur

Favourite Movies: Nightmare on Elm Street, The Karate Kid, or The War of The Worlds (yes, he and August geek out over it together, and yes, it's adorable)

Favourite Songs: You Should Be Dancing by the Bee Gees, School's Out by Alice Cooper, It's My Life by Bon Jovi, and One Love by Bob Marley

A place they want to visit: Egypt, he's got a real fascination with the Great Pyramids so he'd love to be able to see them in real life.

[regaliasonata]

Conner McKnight + 2, 5, 20, 21, and 22.

Character/Headcanon Ask: Conner McKnight

#2) Emotional/Moral Weak Spots

-Conner's need to flirt with girls mainly boils down to a deep feeling of having to show off some sort of assertiveness or masculinity that he feels insecure about. It actually made him ask a few fearful questions that he's been dreading whenever they appear in his mind, does he like guys? The thought of it honestly scares him to death because of all the outcomes that can occur like his parents kicking him out but talking to Kira helps, now Conner's pretty alright with his preferences.

-His parents tend to disapprove about his soccer hobbies and constantly compare him to his twin brother Eric. Even though Eric doesn't try much he's always preferred instead of Conner, at five years old Conner broke his ankle and had to work really hard to get it back in mint condition for soccer, one of the worst periods of his early years so when someone insults his skills or interests it can really cause him to shut down or lash out. Is he good enough? Can he actually live up to his dreams? Why can't his own parents actually find some ounce of love for what he does?

-He really hates having to talk about his feelings with his friends because he becomes a tearful mess and it takes a few hours to really unpack everything, can't let anyone see him as such. Even in college he struggles with opening up like this unless he's with the other rangers, he's the red ranger but the others remind him that letting your pain out is not a weakness

#5) Guilty Pleasures

-Leather jacket collecting is a big hobby for Conner overall, his closet is mostly filled with antique pieces from the 80s.

-He really loves to give and receive hugs, being the tallest amongst his teammates really gives him the advantage but in secret Conner wishes to be a bit shorter just to be on the receiving end. Whether they like each other or not Conner might hold Ethan and Trent from behind while they are doing stuff like drawing or coding, when the red rangers met up he tried doing the same but only Andros, Leo, Wes and Cole obliged. Tommy pulled Jason out the window before it happened, TJ isn't that casual, Ryan wouldn't let him go near Carter and Eric doesn't do physical contact.

-He loves boyband songs and has Devin going out of his way to find rare tapes and CDs to listen to.

-Conner really loves reading dictionaries, it's a weird hobby but just going over any type of word on a daily basis really gets his mind running. Sometimes to keep calm through the day theres an audio book installed on his phone just for this specific moment.

-Conner watches Supernatural religiously, he thinks Sam is kinds hot because they both got good looks, Hayley took him to meet the actors and he nearly fainted in Jared's presence.

#20) What-If/Alternate Timelines

-Mesogog was created via Tommy being his other half instead of Anton within this timeline, Anton is the mentor but to combat a threat that has access to ranger knowledge he augmented the Dino Gems bringing out their latent potential. However Anton doesn't know how to keep stability in the team and during a huge conflict with Mesogog the rangers powers went off causing another asteroid like impact to strike the world, it didn't cause much casualties but the energy brought back the dinosaurs. Mesogog being destroyed led to the team taking free reign of the new world, Conner being a ruler with a kingdom of meat eating dinosaurs.

-Semi medieval verse where he started off as a gymnast but became a wandering jester with his flexibility to entertain and make a hefty profit. Slowly getting shafted alongside a small band, Ethan the sorcerer, a Kira the bard, a Trent the Renaissance artist and Tommy the sellsword as they all journey the land for adventure.

-in a powerless universe he's a director after high school, he retired soccer after college despite people wanting to scout him out. Conner, Trent, Kira and Ethan live together, working on a crazy popular series of heroes. Conner being the full on director, Ethan handles animation and tech stuff, Kira does the score and soundtrack and Trent is the mangaka/comic artist who likes to take hiatuses and delay the series for laughs.

#21) Turning points in their life

-Becoming a ranger really opened Conner's eyes to a whole new world. Sure power rangers are common knowledge within his world but being a part of the adventures, supernatural and magical situation, fighting monsters and doing things that a normal human can't just makes him feel like a kid again.

#22) People who've influenced them greatly

-Hayley is like the mother Conner wishes he had, considering she's very caring and actually willing to listen to his concerns.

-Eric might get all the attention but Conner couldn't imagine his life without him, from age one to five Eric had some heart troubles and there wasn't a guarantee that he'd survive. Conner never left his side and even refused to go to school, got to the point where he had to repeat a grade or two but luckily Eric made it and the twins were able to stick together without hardships.

[psych---ologically-deranged]

psych commentary 2x02

SF KK JRr DH, but I swear I'm hearing another voice that is too high for SF, not a big enough chest, & it doesn't have the same timbre/fry as JRr, & not even close to the tight yet smooth quality of DH, & the speech patterns/habits/accents are different. This person is not mentioned on the DVD. I don't think it's Andy Berman. The other likely one would be Chris Henze I think.

finally did a dinosaur

Every year we should do a feature film movie. This is jurassic park on our budget

1/1000th more scruff, he's at his wit's end

You can see why he's head detective.

Obscure lines from obscure movies. I love them

they upped the special effects for This One Episode

"how hard can it be to solve these things if the clues are lit up"

the shooting is in vancouver, the writer's room is in LA

"the pen is drawing for me, what's even going on"

there are minimum four things happening here

*getting caught watching* *laughing at their own show, good*

[gus] is so disappointed in his man...

they did like fifty different sketches of the dinosaur

Gus has a regular full-time job

"we are going to do a mini version of every one of my favourite 80s movies"

My man did so much research for this, & he knew the bite marks bc he'd taken a picture of himself in the jaws

"Hows the cast?" 'James will literally make up lines to entertain YOU'

hear them laughing when they see shawn "looking for the room"

City of talent

Doug DeVette, named after [his] friend, Dough DouVet

DH: I wasn't enjoying that cupcake

The wet bar is from the next episode bc psy vs psy was aired out of order

Smartest person ever, but has hoels in his knowledge

A wacked wombat

idc abt the controversy! I want Gus! He is smart!

four minute Dule scene they sadly sadly had to cut it down

Supposed to be almost pitch black & then the light in his eyes JRr: I played it for you man! Post: We'll colour correct this for you man!

SF: Steal his whole thing & you're expecting to give it to you just right there

SF: Any time you have to open something, it's always the most impossible thing to open. You have the bone density of a 90 year old grandmother

This was supposed to be the opposite of the university, all high tech, but it looks like someone's garden shed with spider webs, bones, & armadillos. (& ojai peaches)

KK: The giant lettering on the side that we had to light up just in case you missed it Me: How stupid do you think we are? (I'm very stupid, actually)

Great transition

THE NETWORK WANTED TO SUBTITLE THIS GUY!? I mean, as a hard of hearing person who also has adhd (audio processing issues), I do struggle to understand ppl with accents I'm unfamiliar with sometimes, (makes me feel so racist,) but I just have the captions on for everything.

This man gave them handmade greeting cards & SF a beaded bracelet? That is so nice!

Wrecked the car this episode : (

Once again, heaviest gate in the history of gates Network: Why so heavy?

*can't think of the movie* Dule Hill was in that one!

DH legit fell down that hill *everyone laughing* DH That hurt when I got up

Stunt driver, sound stage, stunt driver, hitting a tree, spin around (Gus doesn't do that later seasons, he does a nine point turn.)

Ernest Jackson

Arguing physics while being shot at

"this is what happens when you have a one year old while you're writing your script"

I like all the cops watching him on his streak

JRr: There was one take where Tim came in & got both Ethan AND Robinson wrong. He created a completely new nam, first & last. SF: Efirmsimolinus Junior was the name, oddly enough. I hate being hoh without captions

Exposition. "We're fooling you right here!"

SF: Who decided that if Corbin was going to sit in the purple chair & have the purple curtains, that he should be wearing the purple shirt, next to the purple painting? He's having a purple moment right there. He should be reading a Prince magazine.

HS: I know feelings Commenters: *cracking up*

Visual Effects! JRr's fave. Great job Tim.

*metal hitting metal sound effect* KK: What is it hitting? JRr: Watch & belt buckle? SF: Bone

The trex skull was paper maché, they had to NOT break it with the shovels & brushes

obviously fake smoke

SF: I guarantee if you watch csi, law & order, you're never going to see "I just discovered a dinosaur" *cut to the floor with clothing & tools scattered on it, panning up the bodies of Shawn & Gus* KK: This was another... controversy, a little bit, the Of Mice & Men run JRr: Well so was the post-coital positioning

Shawn has been carrying his Lenny forever. Finally! The opportunity to get it out!

Almonds too. SF: You actually learn something on this show every once in a while

SF: James, when I sent you the script, I remember this very clearly, you sent me an email back that simply said "Stop analyzing my threat" & I'm like "Thank you" [sweet voice]. & the thing that I do truly, truly love about you is you always pick out my favourite line from a script that I'm most proud of

keeps opening it like something different is going to be out there

SF: The rule is, Henry always has to call at the most inopportune moment CH: He's just down for a pleasant walk on the docks (thinking about an unsolved murder) SF: He thought he'd take the purple shirt out &... KK: give it a spin "He always calls to get something back or have Shawn pick something up" "We should have given him a fishing pole"

They just had so much rain that they wanted to film outside apparently SF: They called me like "Hey we want to film this on the pier" & I'm like "I don't care I'm fine"

KK: I think the girls are excited about going on this adventure

where WERE they hiding when Sullivan walked them out here!? "Clearly comes from the woods. Henry found it too"

First time someone interrupts the breakdown

One was Taupe & one was Grey

Roger Deacon btw is not the guy from queen buried here

JRr: After seventy four takes of this, I did one where I was a velociraptor, & that's the only thing that got printed SF: Matheson put it in his cut KK: I'm still trying to wrap my head around that JRr: & I touch Dulé & [Gus] becomes a velociraptor SF: It was six minutes of *velociraptor noises: Grauughgh, eaign, eaign!* & then he touched Dule & it's like *velociraptor noises: wroAGHghhhhh* *everyone laughing* JRr: & that was when we learned that we need to be more careful about what was being printed

DH: Between the locks, & the fence, & the raptors "this was our most controversial episode of the season"

*aren't sure if it's forcing the other to dig or etting credit*

Zippy the dinosaur Gus: His name would be Jerome

SF: There SHOULD be a reason for each episode to happen, somebody learns something, something changes in their life, & this is the moment where Lassiter can accept a hug from Juliet.

Lassiter: Oh what do I look like! (one of the commenters): ... Mr Bean

Undercut it with the walk away quickly

JRr, in a funny "sexy" voice: Oah! I must have ridden my ~motorcycle~ to the house

you didn't do a very good job of it because I didn't know for AGES that shawn had a motorcycle! Then again, I was only watching the occasional episode with my mom if I had time when she had it on.

JRr: & they never have a jacket filming, so it's always this mad dash & in this particular case I believe I ended up with something,,, suede

"You could take the motorcycle lessons we've been offering for years now" JRr: Oh yeah "I feel like the authenticity could be..."

Another controversy on the Shawn intervention

GET OUT!

The freak out dance at the end!

SF: gjiblin KK: *gkiblin SF: No he likes when I call him dgiblin

[ilikepipecleanerswitheyes]

euphoria endings: ryan murphy version

rue manages to stay clean and rekindles with jules. they fall in love again, healthily, and get married. despite her tumultuous teen years, she ends up with the most normal adult life out of everyone.

jules is happy with rue again. she has a relatively calm life, just like rue, however she was arrested for disorderly concert for crashing a concert of her former classmate, elliot, in the halfway mark of his 45 minute song when she yelled, “your song is too long and i can eat p*ssy better than you bitch.” she doesn’t get charged and rue approved of her actions so all is well.

maddy marries an old rich ass man, entertains him for a few years. she kills him by sneaking cobra venom into his food that she bought on ebay for $1000 and gets his inheritance. she uses this money to hire a hit on nate. the hitman’s style is unconventional, but it gets the job done. she lives in a mansion for the rest of her life and is never caught.

lexi goes famous on broadway but it’s only because she did a deal with the devil, or someone who claimed to be the devil, in exchange for 10 years of fame before she gets cancelled. she takes the deal and 10 years pass and nothing happens, so she thinks she’s in the clear, but eventually she gets the lea michele treatment and all her broadway costars say they hated her. but the REAL downfall is the master twitter thread made my an anonymous user. she takes a break from social media and uses feet pics as a means to make income. through that venture, she crosses paths with an old flame…

cassie surprisingly finds a job at the white house, working under the administration of president sue sylvester. sue found cassie crying behind a dumpster and said she would really be good at foreign relations and said she reminded her of a past student. sue heard about cassie’s life story and sympathizes with her, so sue funnels bots to a twitter thread made by cassie and helps it go viral. she becomes the catalyst for 100s of celeb cancellings, mostly conducted by sue. one time, sue said, “i don’t like abby lee miller, do something about it” and so, cassie did, which spiraled into abby lee miller going to jail for the 5th time.

fez gets out of prison after 20 years and pursues his dreams of becoming a farmer. he left the dealing lifestyle and pursued a career of becoming a feet pics site owner, which was wildly successful. he’s really rich now and he and maddy meet up at rich people functions like ones that involve eating really old cheese. one day, during his feet pic day job, he comes across some familiar feet. he finds out later they are indeed lexi’s feet and they reconnect. however, fez is disturbed to find out lexi made a deal with the devil. they argue on a couch about religion morals and lexi says she only did it because she thought he was the pretend devil.

kat and ethan reconnect after she sees him at one of lexi’s broadway shows. she actually works as a high fashion model in ny and used her savings allocated from her camming so she could move. on a popular woman’s podcast, she talks about how she knew she wanted her bf back when he did an outrageous performer during a school play which she frankly found attractive. internet sleuths find footage of ethan’s ‘i need a hero’ dance and he is hired by dance agencies. he climbs this ladder and eventually takes over abby lee miller’s dance studio while she’s in jail.

nate becomes head of east highland for some time, but he does a poor job managing the town and is loathed by its citizens. one time, he got an ashtray thrown in his face while giving a speech as the thrower yelled, “that’s for killing my plug bitch do you know mid laurie’s weed is??” he is later found dead after being strangled by a dinosaur floatie.

[nerdzzone]

Once Bitten - Twice Shy

Summary: Raising a child is hard. Raising a child with one of Hollywood’s biggest stars is even harder. And raising a child with one of Hollywood’s biggest stars who you’re not actually in a relationship with is even harder still.

One of the challenges of sharing custody is sharing holidays which is something that Whitney Taylor found herself struggling with in the December of 2019. The prospect of spending Christmas without her son was dismaying, but the complications that come with the alternative might be even harder to face.

Chris Evans x OFC

Part One

----

Part Two

25.12.19

When I woke up in the morning, it took me a moment to figure out where I was and why the pillow my head was resting on was so hard and warm. Once I'd figured it out - that my head was not actually on a pillow, but on Chris' chest - I almost had to roll my eyes. Of course it was. Of course we'd ended up all cuddled together. Because life was just one big romantic comedy, right?

I sighed quietly, silently praying that Chris wasn't awake yet as I slowly slid myself away from him. He didn't stir until I was sitting on the edge of the bed so I was hopeful that he hadn't been aware of the position we were in.

"G'morning," he greeted me, rubbing his eyes as the sound of excited children echoed down the hallway. "What time is it?"

I quickly checked my phone on the nightstand before answering.

"Only seven o'clock," I told him before yawning. "But it sounds like everyone is up and bouncing off the walls already."

"I'm not surprised," Chris smiled. "They've probably torn into all the presents by now."

I laughed and nodded my head, knowing it was a good possibility.

"It probably wasn't super smart to leave Scott out there guarding them by himself," I pointed out. "Not after he spent half the night shaking his own presents trying to guess what was inside."

"Oh, it definitely wasn't," Chris agreed. "He was always the one who ruined things by finding his presents early and getting us all in trouble."

"Well, I should go see what they're up to or if anything can be salvaged," I smiled as I pulled a sweater on over my pyjamas. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be out in a minute," he assured me. I headed to the door, but stopped when I heard his voice again. "Hey, Whitney? Merry Christmas."

I smiled even wider as that happy, familiar Christmas morning feeling washed over me.

"Merry Christmas, Chris."

With that, I hurried out the door, trying not to focus too much on how content I felt and how right it seemed to wake up in his arms on Christmas morning.

-

When I got to the kitchen, I was surprised to see that everyone else was already awake, despite how early it was.

"Good morning," Lisa greeted me as I wandered into the kitchen where all the adults were congregating. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas, everyone," I smiled before they all repeated it back to me. "Did I miss all the fun?"

"No, of course not," Carly assured me. "We've managed to keep them away from the presents so far, but I'm not sure how much longer we can hold them off."

"We're still waiting for Chris though," Scott pointed out as I grabbed a clean mug and headed to the fresh pot of coffee on the counter. "Have you seen him? He disappeared not long after we went to bed and never came back."

"Oh, yeah, he's in his room," I answered mindlessly as I filled my mug. "We ended up sleeping together last night."

I heard Scott almost choke on his coffee and noticed the sudden silence in the room, but it wasn't until Lisa spoke that I realized what I'd said.

"Whitney, honey," she said, speaking softly. "What do you mean?"

"Oh my god, no! Not like that!" I rushed to explain as my cheeks grew hot. "We literally slept together, like as in slept next to each other. Chris came into his room looking for a sweater because he was cold and had given away all his spare blankets so I offered for him to share the bed with me. That's all, I swear."

There were knowing smiles amongst the group and I wasn't entirely sure that they all believed me which made things even more embarrassing as I wouldn't want them to think I'd talk so candidly about things like that with Chris' mother of all people. Before I had a chance to continue desperately defending myself though, a voice from the doorway interrupted.

"What are you swearing about?" He asked, leaning against the doorway. "Why do I feel like I missed something good?"

Again, I was ready to explain, but someone beat me to it.

"Whitney was just giving us the update," Scott informed his older brother as he matched his smirk. "She was telling us how you two slept together."

Chris' eyebrows knitted together in confusion for a moment before he relaxed and let out a chuckle.

"Well, that's not exactly how I would have phrased it," he informed the group with a shrug. "But I suppose it is accurate. We slept and we were together."

"I just misspoke," I groaned. "I haven't had any coffee yet, I wasn't thinking clearly."

"A little Freudian slip?" Carly suggested as she joined in on the teasing, but I simply rolled my eyes.

"Chris probably wishes that was a peak into my subconscious desires, but I'm afraid not. Just a clear sign that I am not a morning person."

"I think we'll all need plenty of coffee to deal with the energy in that living room," Lisa interjected, putting an end to the discussion despite Chris' protests of my claim. "But we should probably go and join them before they open all the presents, whether they belong to them or not."

We all murmured in agreement and everyone topped up whatever beverage they were drinking before we headed to the living room to start the Christmas fun.

-

"Mama!" Grayson shouted as we entered the room. "Look! Santa came!"

"Of course he did," I smiled at the children. "You've all been good this year so it's no surprise."

They all nodded and agreed enthusiastically except Ethan who, now that he was almost ten, had figured out the truth. He was a good kid though and a loving older brother so he kept the secret, quietly watching them with a knowing smile now that he was finally in on the joke with the adults.

"Can we open them?" Stella asked, bouncing up and down from holding in her excitement. "We've been waiting for so long!"

"I wouldn't say so long," Scott chuckled. "Since it's not even eight o'clock in the morning yet!"

"But, yes, you can open them," Carly informed her children. "Just be careful and don't rush."

There was a flurry of activity as the kids dove into the presents, organizing whose was whose before settling down next to their little piles. I took a step back and sat on the couch next to Lisa, letting Chris sit on the floor behind Grayson. It was his Christmas after all and it felt right that he should be the one helping him open presents. Plus, this way I got a perfect view of the joyful grin that was plastered on his face. A grin that was perfectly replicated by his father behind him making my heart clench at the sight of them together like this.

I watched from my spot on the couch as the gifts were opened one by one and soaked in every giggle and shriek of glee from the children. Grayson was on top of the world and so grateful for each and every gift, it was delightful to see. Given our financial security, especially for Chris, it would have been easy to spoil him, but it made me incredibly proud to see how gracious he was.

However, one of the last gifts he wasn't so grateful to receive. It was from me and I knew there was a chance it wouldn't be his favourite, but his response was far worse than I could have imagined.

It was a decent sized box and he tore off the wrapping paper eagerly, intrigued by what could be inside. When he revealed that it was a foot and a half tall electronic T-Rex, his first reaction was one of amazement.

"Wow! A dinosaur!"

"Yeah," I smiled. "Take him out and see what he can do."

Chris set to work helping Grayson open the box before glancing up at me.

"Does he need batteries?"

"I put some in already," I assured him. "I knew he'd want to see it right away so I thought it would be easier."

He nodded as Grayson placed the giant T-Rex on the floor and looked at me expectantly.

"There's a button on his back, press it."

Everyone watched as he poked around until he got the right spot and the dinosaur came to life. He roared and his head moved around, but as the older kids cheered and clapped, Grayson burst into tears.

"Oh, dear..." Lisa smiled as she watched her grandson leap into his father's arms.

Everyone was chuckling at his dramatic reaction as Grayson buried his face in Chris' neck.

"Awe, buddy, I'm sorry!" I apologized. "Did it scare you?"

"Yes! He's scary!" Grayson's response was muffled by Chris' body and hard to understand through his sobs. "I don't wike it, Mama!"

I smiled at the little speech impediment that he inherited from his father - much like the one his cousin, Miles, had - but I did feel bad for how genuinely afraid he was.

"I'm sorry, baby. We can take the batteries out, okay? Then he won't be able to move."

The dinosaur had stopped moving on his own before I spoke and Grayson moved his head from where he was hiding his face, nodding as he did so.

"Yes, please."

"I bought it a while ago, thinking it was the perfect gift and then last week, he suddenly decided that T-Rexes were mean and I thought it might not go down so well," I admitted to the adults as I stretched forward to pick up the dinosaur and take the batteries out. "It's such a shame though, I think he's adorable. If you press the button on his tail, a little song plays and he does a little wiggle dance."

Chris smirked at me as he rubbed our still sniffling son's back.

"Why don't you take him home? Sounds like you might enjoy playing with him when Grayson isn't around."

He was making fun of me, I knew he was, but I didn't take the bait.

"You know what? I might just do that."

Chris opened his mouth to most likely make another teasing comment, but Ethan interrupted him.

"If Grayson doesn't want the T-Rex, can I have it?"

"I think you got enough new toys this morning," Ethan's dad warned him. "Don't be greedy."

"We'll let Grayson keep him for now," Chris agreed. "He might get used to him after a while if he plays with him without the batteries."

I passed the toy in question back to Chris and Grayson cowered away, whimpering against his dad's chest.

"Just leave it for now," I suggested. "We can try it again later when the initial shock has worn off."

Chris nodded and put the dinosaur behind his back and out of sight.

-

The rest of the gift opening went by smoothly and no more children were traumatized. Once every gift that was under the tree had been opened, we left the kids to test out their new things while the adults headed to the kitchen to start making breakfast. It was quickly decided that pancakes would be the easiest thing to mass produce for our large group of hungry people and while Lisa, Carly and I started mixing up a few bowls of batter, Chris and Scott whipped out the orange juice and champagne for mimosas.

An hour later everyone was very full and we were two bottles of champagne down.

"So, Whitney," Scott started as he loaded up the dishwasher. "Are you staying here tonight too or are you planning on making us spend half the day shovelling the driveway for you?"

His tone was teasing, but as I looked out the window at the deep blanket of snow that covered the ground outside, I was torn. I didn't want to outstay my welcome by staying another night, but I also didn't want to make the Evans family spend their entire Christmas day shovelling snow and there was no way that I'd be able to do it by myself.

"I'm not sure," I admitted. "I wasn't planning on staying another night, but it does look like there's a lot of snow out there..."

"Just stay," Chris shrugged. "Even if we can get your car down the driveway, the roads are probably terrible."

"There's no need for you to rush off," Lisa agreed. "Stay another night and then you can just relax and enjoy the day."

"And you can drink if you're not driving home," Scott pointed out with a grin. "Chris and I stocked up on wine, beer, whiskey and gin, these mimosas were just the start of the party."

I couldn't help, but laugh at Scott's reasoning as I nodded my head.

"Alright, I'll stay. If you really don't mind, Chris?"

"Of course not," Chris assured me. "We're happy to have you."

"Great!" Scott grinned. "I'm glad that's settled, I think this calls for another round of drinks!"

Chris cheered and jumped up to help him while the rest of us smiled and shook our heads at their antics.

-

The day was spent soaking in quality family time, watching the kids enjoy their new toys and indulging in lots of food and drink. We called Chris' dad and my parents and even had an unexpected phone call from my Uncle Rob. He spent more time talking to Chris than me, his own niece, but it was nice to hear his voice even if he made sure to get a dig in about me confessing my supposedly obvious feelings to Chris.

Sitting around the table, eating a delicious meal with Chris' loving and welcoming family was quite a contrast to how I expected to spend the day and I was very grateful that Chris had included me. Grayson seemed to appreciate it too and he made his enjoyment clear as we tucked him into bed once all the fun and feasting was done.

Chris sat on the floor leaning against Grayson's nightstand, reading him his favourite bedtime story while I laid on the bed next to him and rubbed his back. He was drifting off by the time the story was finished, but he was fighting it desperately as he spoke again.

"I'm happy, Mama," he told us, his words muffled as he nuzzled into his pillow.

Chris put his hand over his heart as he mouthed an 'awe' at me and I smiled.

"You're happy?" I clarified quietly, my smile growing as he nodded. "I'm glad to hear that, baby."

"I like that you're here," he mumbled. "Daddy should come home with us too."

My heart clenched at that request as my smile faltered. I knew it was only a matter of time until Grayson paid more attention to the fact that his time was divided between two homes, but I wasn't ready to deal with it just yet.

"Maybe Daddy could come for a sleepover sometime," I suggested, stroking his hair back out of his face, but that wasn't all he wanted.

"He should come all the time."

I was never great at hiding my emotions and from the way Chris was watching me, I assumed my distress at Grayson's comments was written all over my face and I was grateful when he jumped into the conversation.

"But what about Dodger?"

Dodger's ears perked up from his spot at the end of the bed, but he settled again when he realized that Chris wasn't calling for him.

"He can come too," was Grayson's answer to that dilemma, but Chris had a response at the ready.

"C'mon, you think Dodger would have enough space in your Ma's apartment?" He asked. "He needs a big house like this to run around in!"

So then we could all just stay here would be the logical comeback to that, but it seemed our sleepy little guy was too tuckered out from the excitement to argue. He let out a little sigh of defeat, but said no more. We stayed quiet for a few minutes until his breathing shifted and he was soundly asleep.

Chris offered me his hand to help me climb over Grayson without waking him up and, after whispering a quiet request to Dodger to keep our boy safe, he led me out of the room.

"You okay?"

The question came as soon as Grayson's door was pulled to and we were in the hallway.

"Yeah, of course," I nodded, forcing a smile. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Chris shot me a look that clearly showed his disbelief.

"You looked pretty downhearted in there."

"I just worry," I shrugged. "I don't want our situation to upset him and I know he's going to notice it more as he gets older."

"He'll be fine," Chris assured me, reaching out to squeeze my shoulder comfortingly. "He's got so much love in his life, he won't even notice that his family is a little different."

I wasn't convinced. He was obviously already noticing or he wouldn't have questioned it only moments before. I didn't want to start such a delicate, potentially tense conversation at the end of such a happy day though so I forced a more convincing smile onto my face.

"You're right," I agreed. "But I wouldn't be a mom if I didn't worry."

"Well, there's no time for worryin' on Christmas!" Chris claimed, followed by a grin as he dragged me off towards the kitchen. "What can I get you? Another wine? Maybe some gin? I might have some tequila kickin' around here somewhere..."

"No! No tequila!" I laughed. "Gin would be great, thanks."

Chris nodded and set to work mixing our beverages for the evening before we went to the living room to rejoin his family and I did my best to push any worries about letting Grayson down out of my mind.

-

After the kids were all in bed, the rest of the evening was spent playing games and sharing drinks. It was heartwarming, wholesome family fun and I was so glad that Scott had encouraged me to stay as the thought of rushing home to my cold, empty apartment wasn't at all appealing.

The only strange thing about the evening was Chris. We were teamed up for most of the games and it was quite amazing how in tune with each other we were as we won everything by a landslide. We'd been friends for a long time and knew each other very well so it was unsurprising to me that we had so much success, but the teasing comments that came from a rather drunk Scott implied other reasons than friendship for our harmony. I scoffed and rolled my eyes every time he cracked a joke about us, but Chris seemed to love it. He was a few drinks in and probably just feeling a little goofy, but the grin on his face after every suggestive comment sparked an odd feeling in my stomach.

It was around ten o'clock when everyone except Chris, Scott and I decided to go to bed. We bid them goodnight and Chris went to top up our drinks before settling back onto the couch beside me. By this time, I was definitely feeling it. I wasn't drunk, but I knew this drink would have to be my last as the flush of my cheeks and the happy, fuzzy feeling in my brain was telling me that it was time to wind it down for the night.

However, as Chris handed me another gin and soda, settled on the couch next to me, placed his drink on the end table beside him and pulled my feet into his lap, my mind suddenly felt surprisingly sharp.

"What are you doing?" I asked, a giggle slipping from my lips.

"Releasing some tension."

As he answered, he began a slow massage of my left foot and I couldn't help, but smile at how wonderful it felt.

"Releasing?" Scott snorted a laugh. "Sure, a foot rub is known for getting rid of tension, not making it worse."

Chris smirked at what Scott was insinuating, but seemed unbothered by it.

"Don't be jealous," he teased, but now it was my turn to smirk.

"Of what?" I questioned. "This foot rub? It's not that great, Scott."

Scott laughed as Chris gasped a tad over dramatically.

"Not that great? I offer you a free foot rub and you can't even be fuckin' grateful?"

Chris shook his head, but the smile on his face told me that he wasn't really offended. He did stop massaging my feet though and I whined in protest as he picked up his drink.

"A mediocre foot rub is better than nothing," I pouted. "Keep going."

Chris sipped his whiskey, the smile on his face morphing back into a smirk as he shook his head again, but he did let his hand rest over my ankles and I was happy for even that tiny bit of contact.

Scott changed the subject to some viral video he saw the other day and Chris laughed and chatted along as he absentmindedly let his hand drift up my shin, underneath the loose pyjama pants that I'd changed into shortly after we put Grayson to bed.

My mind was instantly taken back to another time when we'd shared such gentle touches. A time when his lips followed his fingers as they traced kisses up from my ankle all the way to the lacy edge of my underwear. A time when he'd then proceeded to pull that underwear off with his teeth before returning his face back to a very sensitive area.

"Whitney, have you seen it?"

Scott's question snapped me out of my racy daydream. I felt my cheeks flush with colour as I forced my gaze away from Chris' hand over to Scott, reminding myself that even though the look on Chris' face would make it seem otherwise, he couldn't possibly know what I was just thinking of.

"Uh, no, I haven't," I admitted, sipping my drink to try to cool myself down even though it was becoming apparent to me that I needed to slow down my alcohol consumption. "All I seem to watch these days is Paw Patrol."

Chris barked out a laugh and nodded.

"So much Paw Patrol," he agreed. "The kid's obsessed."

"Chase is on the case!" I giggled before changing my voice slightly. "Rubble on the double!"

"Oh my god," Scott laughed, a horrified look on his face. "We need to get you out more."

I shrugged as Chris continued to trace patterns on my shins.

"That's the life of a mom."

"Yeah, but what about when he's with Chris? You must have some sort of life then."

"Scott."

Chris' voice was harsh and warning as what Scott was implying could be taken as offensive, but I wasn't bothered.

"It's fine," I assured him. "I know I'm lame. I don't have much of my own life, I don't really know anyone around here."

"You have Allison," Chris pointed out. "You've mentioned her a lot. She's your friend, right?"

He was referring to my one and only friend in Massachusetts. She was also a photographer and we'd met at a camera store when I first moved here. She'd asked me a question about a new brand of film and we'd ended up having coffee to exchange tips. She realized quickly that I didn't know many people in town and had taken me under her wing.

"She is," I nodded. "But she has three kids of her own and she's married so she doesn't have weeks where she's child free like I do. We hang out when we can, but usually it's with all the kids, not like quality 'girl time'."

"I didn't know that," Chris frowned. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't feel bad for me." I nudged him with my foot. "I have plenty of friends, they're just in LA. I'm happy here."

"I'll take you out for drinks one day," Scott promised. "Even if you're happy, everyone needs to let their hair down a little bit sometimes."

"That would be fun," I smiled, tossing back the last of my drink. "But for now, I think I've let my hair down enough for today. It's time for me to get to bed before all these drinks go to my head."

I slid my feet off of Chris' lap and slowly stood up as he looked up at me.

"Are you cool if I bunk with you again tonight?"

"Of course," I nodded. "Just sneak in quietly if you two stay up too late."

"I'm ready to crash already," Scott informed us. "So, we won't be up much later."

"Okay. Well, goodnight boys," I waved as I headed towards the door. "Thank you for a lovely day."

They chorused a goodnight back to me before I walked down the hall.

-

I was just coming out of the en suite in Chris' bedroom after brushing my teeth when Chris strolled into the room.

"Hey," I smiled. "Ready for bed already?"

"Scott wasn't lying," he returned my smile. "He was half asleep by the time you made it down the hall."

I laughed as I crawled into bed and settled against the pillows.

"Well, it has been a busy day."

Chris agreed as he grabbed his pyjama pants and headed to the bathroom. I picked up my phone from where I left it on the nightstand, turned off the lamp on my side of the bed and answered a few text messages from my family, figuring I may as well wait the few minutes it would take Chris to get ready for bed before I attempted to get any sleep. When Chris reappeared, I locked my phone again, put it back on the nightstand and snuggled down under the blankets, trying not to stare too much at his chiselled torso. He wasted no time turning off the lamp on his side as well before slipping in next to me, shivering dramatically as he pulled the blankets up over his chest.

"It's so freakin' cold tonight."

I snorted a laugh, shaking my head even though I knew he wouldn't be able to see me until our eyes adjusted to the dark.

"Maybe if you put on a shirt you wouldn't feel it so much."

"Honestly," Chris started, the smirk evident in his tone despite his face still being hidden in shadow. "Usually, I just sleep naked so these pants are for your benefit."

I felt my cheeks flush as the words 'then by all means, take them off' were on the tip of my tongue. I forced them out of my mind as a long forgotten tingle rolled through my body and I focused on answering him.

"My point was that a t-shirt would provide you with extra warmth," I explained. "So, your point that you usually wear less clothing makes no sense."

The bed shifted slightly as Chris chuckled.

"Well, I can think of another thing that could provide some extra warmth."

"What?"

I felt my heart rate pick up, the blood rushing through my ears so fast that I hardly heard myself answer him as I wondered if he could possibly be implying what it seemed like he was implying.

"You." His voice was low, the same seductive tone he'd used all those years ago, and I felt my mouth go dry. "Come give me a cuddle."

For a moment, I thought I was a lot drunker than I'd realized and that I was hallucinating or in some kind of lucid dream, but that thought brought me to a different realization.

"Chris!" I whispered, my tone scolding and accusatory. "You're drunk!"

A burst of laughter came from the other side of the bed and I quickly shushed him, knowing Grayson was asleep in the room above us.

"I'm not drunk, I promise," Chris assured me as his raucous laughter came under control. "I just thought it was worth a shot. It's nice to have a little cuddle with a beautiful woman sometimes."

I felt another flush of heat run through me, but I rolled my eyes and, as I had the night before, I took a pillow and placed it between us, drawing a clear line in the sand even if that hadn't worked out so well the last time.

"Goodnight, Chris."

"Goodnight, Whitney."

I rolled over, closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

I did try. I really, really did.

But after almost ten minutes of thoughts whirring through my head, I knew it was hopeless and I turned back to face Chris. Now that my eyes had adjusted to the dark, I could see well enough to know that he was laying on his back so I carefully moved the pillow that I'd placed between us and slowly slid over towards him. I felt him tense so I knew he was awake, but he didn't question what I was doing so I continued until my head was on his chest and my arm was draped over his stomach. He stayed perfectly still, just long enough for me to start second guessing myself before he shifted slightly to put his arm around me.

We stayed like that, holding each other in silence, and I had to admit that Chris was right. It was nice to have someone to cuddle with. The physical contact was filling a hole in my touch-starved heart and I tried not to think about how fleeting of a moment it was or how things would be back to normal in the light of day. There was a strange ache in my heart at that thought and I knew I needed to get out of my head.

"Chris?" My voice was soft, just in case he'd drifted off in the last few minutes, but when he tightened his grip on me, I knew he was still awake. "Thank you for inviting me today."

"Of course." He squeezed a little tighter. "I'm sorry I didn't do it sooner."

"It's fine," I assured him, letting my hand lazily trace patterns on his skin. "You're under no obligation, you're allowed your time with Grayson without me."

"It's not about obligation. I'd never want you to spend Christmas alone even if Grayson wasn't in the picture."

"I was really dreading it."

My admission made me feel vulnerable as I'd spent so long trying to pretend that I wasn't bothered by the idea of a lonely holiday, but Chris didn't seem surprised.

"Really?" He questioned, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "The crying onto your steering wheel didn't give that away at all."

"Shut up," I mumbled, turning my face into his chest to hide my smile at his teasing. "I'm just trying to express my gratitude for your kindness."

"No gratitude is needed. It's been my pleasure having you here today and Grayson loved it."

He kissed the top of my head after he'd finished speaking and almost reflexively, I found myself stretching up and placing a soft kiss of my own against his collarbone. It felt intimate and the moment hung heavy between us. It felt right to me, but I knew instantly that I'd crossed a line. A comforting kiss on the top of my head was one thing, but what I'd done, kissing his bare chest, was inappropriate. My cheeks burned as I tilted my head up to look at him, meeting his eyes as they looked down at me. His expression was unreadable so I opened my mouth to apologize only to be completely shocked when he pressed his head forward and his lips against mine.

The shock quickly morphed into a feeling that could only be described as euphoria. There was something distantly familiar about the way his mouth moved on mine, but it felt strange and new as it wasn't exactly as I'd remembered - and I had spent more time than I'd want to admit reliving the last time we'd shared a kiss like this.

It wasn't until he pressed his tongue against my lips, in an attempt to deepen the kiss, that I snapped out of my daze.

"Chris, wait," I breathed out as I pulled away and stared up at him, my cheeks now flushed much more from excitement than embarrassment. "We shouldn't do this."

"Says who?"

The little voice in my head telling me that I'm about to ruin everything that we've worked hard to create. The words were on the tip of my tongue, but as he smirked down at me and licked his lips as if he was preparing for what was to come, I found myself incapable of logic and reason.

"Doesn't matter."

Chris hardly had time to acknowledge my answer before I dove back in for another kiss, moving to a more comfortable position as I straddled his waist.

He completely overwhelmed my senses. The inescapable scent of him surrounding me, the feel of his strong body between my thighs and the soft little sighs of enjoyment that he kept making every time our lips parted for us to take a breath. None of it was doing anything to ease the ache that was growing between my legs and my hands gripped into the sheets where they rested just above his shoulders as I pulled back to look down at him. I needed to see his face to remind myself this was really happening and who it was really happening with as it still felt so unreal.

Chris smiled up at me, his lips looking plumper already, and let his hands settle on my hips to keep me steady.

"You okay?"

I nodded and leaned down to peck his lips again before answering.

"I've never been better."

Chris' smile only widened at that confirmation and he moved his hands down to cup my bum, pressing my hips forward and giving me a moment of friction that I'd been desperately craving. I pressed myself up, pulling my upper body away from him as a gasp fell from my lips and my eyes squeezed shut. I was embarrassingly aroused from a few mere minutes of kisses, but it had been a very long time since I'd had any physical contact with a man and my body was already on fire.

I rocked my hips against the toned muscles of his abdomen, soaking in the pleasure that was radiating through me and I was debating whether it would be rude of me to continue until I reached the release that was quickly building inside me. Clearly, Chris was just as intuitive as I remembered as he let out a groan and effortlessly flipped us over so he was on top.

"Not like that," he smirked. "I've been thinking about this for too long, it's not happening like that."

I felt another flush of embarrassment as he could obviously tell what I'd been thinking about doing, but I nodded in agreement.

"But if this is really happening, we need to be quiet," I reminded him. "Everyone's sleeping."

"They're all upstairs, they won't hear," he assured me. "And Scott's on the other side of the house."

He was right, we'd be fine as long as we kept ourselves under control, but it didn't matter anyway as all my doubts disappeared when his lips pressed against my neck. I let my hands slide around his waist, resting on his toned back while his lips continued their trail down my neck and stretched the neck line of my shirt to expose my shoulder. His lips locked onto one spot just above my collarbone, sucking and nipping until I was sure there would be a bruise there in the morning.

"Chris," I gasped out, digging my fingernails into his back. "Don't leave a mark."

He backed off a bit, kissing gently against the now sensitive skin.

"It'll be easy to hide," he assured me. "And if I remember correctly, you enjoyed a few bites here and there..."

He opened his mouth to dig his teeth into my shoulder and an image flashed into my mind. A memory of me, bent over with Chris' thumb on my clit as the two fingers he had inside me stroked a particularly delicate spot. He'd placed a soft kiss on the cheek of my bum before sinking his teeth into my skin, sending me over the edge.

I couldn't help, but moan from the combination of the memory and the sensation of his teeth in my shoulder as my hips pressed up against his. Chris seemed to be spurred on by that action as he ground his hips against mine and quickly let his hands slide down to the bottom of my shirt. He lifted it up and for a moment I was lost in the bliss of the sensations he was providing, but as my shirt was raised just past my belly button, I froze.

"Wait!"

My voice firm and demanding and he immediately responded, stopping his actions and looking up to meet my eyes.

"What's wrong?"

I bit my bottom lip as I pondered how to voice my concerns. If I didn't say anything, there was a chance that we could get through this without drawing any attention to it, but I couldn't help but think it was better to point it out than have Chris notice on his own.

"I just..." I breathed out, trying to figure out how to articulate my thoughts. "I just look different now."

"What?"

Chris pulled back even further, looking down at me with genuine confusion in his eyes and my cheeks burned as I tried to puzzle out how to explain my feelings in a way that didn't make me look shockingly insecure.

"Since I had Grayson, since the last time we did this," I clarified, my cheeks burning as I brought my flaws to his attention. "I look different. Like, I have stretch marks and my boobs aren't as perky as they used to be."

Even in the dark shadows of the room, I could see Chris' jaw clench as it did when he was annoyed and trying to bite his tongue. Panic flooded through me as I wished I'd kept my mouth shut, but his next words astounded me.

"Get outta here," he huffed. "You think I care about that?"

I dropped my gaze to the tattoos on his chest as I regretted ever opening my mouth.

"I don't know," I admitted. "Lots of men probably would."

Chris moved back, slowly sliding his body down, away from mine and I wanted to scream, I wanted to stop him and hold him against me as long as I could, but I was powerless to do anything, but watch. My heart sank, thinking he was going to roll off of me any minute now, but then he stopped. His face was level with my lower stomach and turned his eyes back towards my face.

"This body," he started, placing a kiss on my stomach. "This stomach, these stretch marks." He kissed the faint lines that were now barely visible on my skin despite how vibrant they were in my mind. Then he continued up, lifting my shirt as he went until it was resting above my breasts, my nipples hard from the chill in the air and the anticipation I was feeling. "These boobs." He kissed and nipped at the delicate skin, tracing all the way along until he captured a nipple in his mouth, teasing it briefly with his tongue. "They changed because you gave me my son, the greatest gift you could have given me. I have nothing, but gratitude for that and you're still the most fuckin' beautiful woman I've ever seen."

He was exaggerating. I knew he was exaggerating. He saw and worked with Hollywood's most elite actresses and models, there was no chance that I was even close to the most beautiful woman that he'd ever seen. But he managed, again, to push all doubts from my mind as his lips set to work, this time focusing on my left nipple while he shifted his weight and freed a hand to stroke and pinch the right.

They were sensitive, they always had been, and the way that Chris was working them right now was almost too much. My head fell back and my hands dropped to the sheets as I tried to focus on enjoying the sensations and not immediately demanding for Chris to move lower, to give me more, to touch me where I wanted to be touched with increasing need. He was always paying attention though and before I even needed to voice my request, he let his mouth slip from my nipple and trail back down my stomach.

He nipped at the skin just above my pyjama pants before hooking his fingers in the waistband and pulling them down. I tugged my shirt over my head at the same time before laying back against the pillow, completely naked underneath him.

"Beautiful."

He'd muttered the word, almost more to himself than to me, but the sincerity in his voice flooded a new kind of warmth through my body. I tried to push it down, focusing on what we were doing, what this was and all it could be. Because yes, I loved Chris, but this wasn't that. This wasn't making love, this was a simple release of sexual tension. I didn't need my feelings getting in the way and making this complicated or I was going to get myself hurt.

I'd been so lost in my head that I hadn't noticed how my legs had fallen apart for Chris to settle between them or how he'd spread me with his fingers, opening me up for him to enjoy. It wasn't until I felt a slow, gentle lick right over my clit that I snapped back into the moment. With a gasp, my hips pressed up to meet his mouth, trying frantically to keep the friction now that it was finally there.

"Easy," Chris warned me, chuckling as he pulled back slightly, earning a whine from me. "We'll get you there, don't worry."

A feeling of desperation was building up inside of me and as he blew gently on the very sensitive parts of me that were in front of him, I was about ready to start begging.

"Please," I whimpered, moving my hand to his hair in case he got any bright ideas about pulling back any further, but I was relieved when he let out a groan and finally gave up on his teasing.

Suddenly I was aware of nothing, but Chris' mouth on me. My back arched as he licked up from the bottom of my core to the top, swirling his tongue around, exploring every little nook and cranny before settling his focus back on my clit. It was like he'd studied me, like he'd committed our previous brief encounter to memory and remembered exactly what I responded to as he licked and sucked with just the right amount of pressure and speed to have me panting as my grip tightened in his hair.

It had only been moments, but I could already feel the pressure building inside me, bubbling closer towards the surface. Chris, as if sensing this, eased off just slightly to slide his tongue a bit lower, pressing it against my entrance, dipping just barely inside, before replacing it with one of his fingers. I felt myself clench at the sensation, my body desperate for relief, desperate for something more inside me and Chris obliged, adding a second finger almost immediately.

"So wet, baby," he hummed, placing a kiss on the inside of my upper thigh.

I was too wrapped up in my own pleasure to formulate any kind of response, but Chris didn't bother waiting for one anyway before putting his lips back on my clit. The combination of his fingers and his mouth had me seeing stars and another whimpered plea slipped from my lips as he flicked his tongue against me. He was focused and determined, groaning against me after a particularly sharp tug on his hair when he angled his fingers inside me to find that one particular spot that made me see stars.

He stroked it once. Then twice. And on the third that coil that had been tightening inside me snapped. I covered my mouth with my free hand just in time to bite down and muffle the scream that Chris pulled from me as my hips thrust up towards him and I spasmed around his fingers as I fell over the edge.

Chris coaxed me through it, easing his attentions as I came down from the high I was feeling. He slid his fingers out of me, looking up to meet my eyes before licking them clean. I groaned, feeling myself twitch with arousal at the sight despite my heart still racing from the orgasm I had just had. He flashed me a smirk before crawling up my body and pressing his lips against mine again.

I sighed happily into the kiss, letting my hands slide down his back, just teasing the top of his pants as I reluctantly separated our mouths.

"Take these off."

My tone left little room for argument and Chris looked down at me with a smirk.

"Yes, ma'am."

He lifted his body off of mine just long enough for me to shiver from the loss of the warmth he was providing, but he quickly returned once his pants were discarded. He stayed slightly lower when he returned, turning his attention back to my chest, taking my left nipple in his mouth this time and using his hand to tease the other. My eyes fluttered shut at the sensation, but I fought the urge to simply lie back and let him do what he wanted with me. I wanted more, I needed more and I didn't want to wait any longer.

"Chris," I whined. "Please, fuck me."

Looking down, I could see his eyes widen in surprise at my blunt demand. He let his mouth slip off my nipple before giving it one last little nip, just hard enough to make me gasp from the slight twinge of pain.

"As you wish."

He reached down between us, taking a moment to slip his two fingers back inside me. He spread them out, gently stretching me and I was grateful. From my memory, Chris was thick and it had been approximately three years and five months since I last had sex (not that I was counting).

Once Chris was satisfied that I was adequately prepared, he pulled his fingers back and guided the tip of his cock towards my entrance. I tried to relax as he slowly stretched me open, but even as my mind revelled in the bliss I was feeling, a thought hit me that made my eyes widen and body stiffen.

"Chris!" I gasped out, gripping his shoulders to push him away slightly. "Condom!"

His head dropped down and he grunted as if he was using the last of his restraint to pull out of me.

"Shit," he cursed. "How could we forget that again?"

"I guess we don't learn from our mistakes," I smiled, despite the pang in my heart as the voice in my head chimed in again to say 'clearly not or you wouldn't be about to fuck him and break your own heart again'. "Do you have one?"

Chris nodded, rolling off me for just long enough to reach over to the bedside table. He pulled one out of the drawer, ripped it open and slid it on with impressive speed before crawling back over me.

"Now," he smirked. "Where were we?"

He looked down as he guided himself inside me again. The initial stretch wasn't as intense the second time around, but it grew as he pushed deeper and my breath hitched once he was fully inside. Chris stilled, sensing my discomfort as he dropped his head to kiss along my jaw until his lips rested just below my ear.

"You good?"

"Mhmm," I nodded, breathing out and shifting my hips as I started to adjust. We stayed like that, connected but still, for a few moments until I felt the tension ease a bit. "You can move."

"You sure?" Chris looked at me with concern on his face, but I nodded.

That was all the reassurance he needed as he began slowly moving his hips. He pulled his lips back from where they rested near my ear and pressed them against mine.

He kissed me deeply, passionately, as he created a steady rhythm, sliding in and out with his hips pressing hard against mine with each thrust. His biceps bulged and strained to support his weight through the movement and he eventually let his mouth fall away from mine as he could no longer hold back a groan. That noise, and the grunts that followed, made me twitch around him as if my body was doing everything it could to keep him inside me, to keep the pleasure that it had been craving for so long.

I could feel him dragging against every inch inside me, brushing against every nerve and stretching me just enough to keep me constantly impressed by how big he was. It was somehow too much, but not enough all at the same time and I hitched my leg higher up on his waist to help him get closer, deeper, if at all possible.

"Good girl..."

Chris' words hummed encouragingly against my collarbone where he placed another soft kiss before pulling back. He placed his hand on the back of my knee and lifted it even higher, opening me up for him even more.

My head dropped back against the pillow on the next stroke as his cock slid against that delicious spot inside me where his fingers had been only minutes before. He was watching, looking down between us to see me wrapped around him, see me taking him all the way every time he pushed in. I could hear him mumbling praises, compliments about how well I was doing, but I was too far gone, too wrapped up in the pleasure emanating from between my legs to do anything, but moan in response.

He slowed for a moment, leaning down, my leg catching on his shoulder and pressing it even higher as he reminded me to be quiet. He nipped my ear lobe, pulling a whimper from my lips before moving back and picking his pace up again. I knew he was right, but it was hard, next to impossible even, to hold back the noises that were bubbling in my throat.

I bit my lip and dug my nails into his skin as I attempted to control my volume and silently cursed Chris when he shifted his weight just enough to put the pressure of each thrust back on just the right spot. He moved his thumb down to brush over my clit, but it barely took a few strokes for me to fly over the edge.

It felt like my whole world exploded as I clenched around him, a low moan slipping past the lip between my teeth. The tingle ripped through every part of my body, every muscle quivering with pleasure, as Chris picked up the pace even more, with one final burst of speed until he stilled, letting out a deep, rumbling groan of his own before pumping in and out a few final times.

Once he'd stopped his movements completely, he let my leg lower to the bed, collapsing against my chest as he fought to catch his breath. I drifted my hand up to stroke the damp hairs on the back of his neck and soaked in the blissful feeling, a feeling I'd dreamt about since the last time I had the pleasure of enjoying it.

We stayed like that for a few moments until Chris reluctantly pulled back, letting out a soft groan as he slid out of me.

"I'll be right back."

I admired Chris' ability to walk already as all I had the strength to do was nod and shift back to my side of the bed. When Chris reappeared a few minutes later after disposing of the condom in the bathroom, I could barely keep my eyes open. He climbed back under the blankets and shifted over towards me until he could pull me right against his chest with our legs intertwined.

"That was nice," I sighed happily, enjoying the feeling of being in his arms as I nuzzled my nose into his toned pecs.

They shook as he chuckled and a giggle slipped from my lips as well.

"It was," he agreed, kissing the top of my head the same way he had at the start of this little rendezvous.

There was a heaviness in the air, the underlying unspoken words and the conversation that needed to be had hung between us, but I couldn't bring myself to ruin the moment. I'd spent so much time thinking about this, what it would be like to be in his arms again, I couldn't bare to say anything that might make him pull away and snap out of the moment of insanity we'd slipped into.

So, I didn't and neither did he. With one final, gentle kiss goodnight, we stayed tightly in our embrace until we drifted off into a contented sleep.

-

Part Three

[rookie-ramsey]

Forty (Ethan x MC)

Description: Ethan hates surprise parties. That much, he knows for certain. But she has a way of making anything special, even something as mundane as his fortieth birthday.

Rating: 17+ due to suggestive dialogue at the end, but nothing graphic. 

Ethan hates surprise parties.

That much, he knows for certain. He’ll attend events when it’s for the greater good, but there’s nothing about surprise parties that Ethan thinks serves any real purpose.

If he’s honest, birthday celebrations on their own don’t have much of a point. They’re entirely for socialization with people he normally makes a point of avoiding. He hasn’t made a point of celebrating his birthday since high school, and he can’t remember having a surprise party since he was six.

The jovial tune Olivia’s humming doesn’t go unnoticed. She’s hiding something, and everything about her demeanor suggests that he’s going to walk into a surprise party by the end of the day.

Ethan arches a brow, peering over the rim of his coffee mug at her. He knows by the smirk she’s trying to hide that she has something up her sleeve.

She catches his eye and lets the smile widen. “You’re staring at me like you think committed a felony.”

“You’ve been incredibly suspicious all morning.”

Olivia rolls her eyes and leans across the desk. Her lips touch his in a quick kiss that he wants to sink into, but she pulls back with a teasing grin.  “It’s only eight in the morning. How could I have been suspicious that long?”

“It’s something about the way you’ve been smirking and whistling since the exact moment I asked if you’re planning a surprise party.”

Her mouth curls downwards in mock offense. “I said I wasn’t planning a party. I’d never plan a party without your awareness.”

“That sounds… unconvincing. Very much so.”

The glass doors to the office slide open and Olivia smiles across the room. “Tobias, am I throwing Ethan a surprise party?”

The smirk Tobias gives in response does nothing to ease Ethan’s suspicions. “If you are, I’d like to know why I didn’t get invited sooner.”

“See?”

Instinctually, Ethan pinches the bridge of his nose. If this were absolutely anybody else planning a surprise party, he’d insist on sulking and explaining why he refused to partake in such tomfoolery.

“No party.” Still, she winks and grins in the way that never fails to make his heart stutter, even when she’s absolutely up to something.

There had better be whiskey at this surprise party.

XXXXXX

Ethan doesn’t see much of her the rest of the morning.

In fact, he doesn’t see her again until lunch time, in the cafeteria. She’s already seated, huddled close to Sienna and grinning at something Sienna is showing her on her phone. The glance she throws in his direction tells him that it absolutely has something to do with whatever she has planned.

A friendly clap on his shoulder distracts him. He turns to see Bryce standing in line, grinning ear to ear.

“I hear someone hit the big Four-Oh today. Should I bring tequila?”

Next to him, Rafael tries not to laugh. “Come on, Bryce. Don’t tease him so much.”

Ridiculous as it is, hearing his age out loud makes Ethan cringe, not for the first time today. “Tell me what you know about this party.”

“No can do. I’m sworn to secrecy.” Bryce makes a performance of pretending to zip his lips, chucking an invisible key basketball-style into the nearest trash can. The amused smirk never leaves his face as he picks up a tray and walks away with it.

Ethan turns his attention to Rafael, thinking that maybe he’ll show an ounce of mercy. “Well?”

“I’m… going to go make sure Bryce didn’t take the last pudding cup.” With that, he follows his friend, and Ethan’s suspicions are no less than they were before.

XXXXXX

“Ethan!”

At the sound of Naveen’s voice, Ethan looks up from his patient’s charts. Naveen strides into the room, smiling warmly and holding an envelope in his hand.

“Happy birthday, Ethan,” Naveen greets, pulling his former protege in for a hug before handing him the envelope.

Ethan opens the envelope and reads the greeting on the front of the card. “Welcome to your forties, where a night of heavy drinking requires more recovery time than minor surgery.”

Naveen rolls his eyes at the mildly amused snort that follows. “Hey now, if you laugh any harder, you may get hurt!”

Olivia snorts and smiles at Naveen. “Speaking of heavy drinking, and since Ethan doesn’t want a party, we thought we’d reserve a big table at a restaurant tonight. One with a bar.”

“I don’t think I can make it, but who knows? I always did love crashing parties.” Naveen winks, confirming Ethan’s suspicions that apparently the entirety of Edenbrook’s staff is going to be in his living room when he gets home tonight.

Once they’re alone, Olivia catches his stare and sighs. “Ethan, we’re messing with you. I promise, no surprise party.”

“Mm hmm. You’re fortunate that you are the only person I’d go along with this for.”

“I’m touched.” She pretends to dab at her eyes, then steals another tauntingly quick kiss before her pager interrupts. “Gotta go. But I promise… no party.”

She can deny it all she wants, but Ethan knows better. He’ll go to this party, but he wasn’t lying-- there is absolutely nobody else he would do this for.

XXXXXX

It’s the end of his shift and Ethan knows he only has a few minutes of peace and quiet before he goes home to find co-workers he barely knows occupying his home.

Olivia’s fingers lace through his as they make their way to the top floor. Ethan half-expects to already hear music pulsing through the door, but the hall is eerily quiet.

Suspiciously so.

With the number of people she recruited to tease him today, Ethan expects no less than ten people, and that’s assuming she only invited their closest co-workers.

She steps ahead of him, reaching the door first. Her eyes sparkle with a teasing glint as she inserts the key--- her key--- into the doorknob and unlocks it. She tentatively pushes the door open and emits a low whistle.

“Wow, it’s dark in here. I mean, it’s always dark because we’re responsible people who turn the lights off when we leave, but… you know.”

Not subtle at all.

With a flourish, she swipes at the light switch. Light floods the room and Ethan expects an onslaught of people to jump out yelling some pre-rehearsed birthday greeting, but he’s met only with a living room devoid of partygoers.

“Huh. I told everyone to meet in the living room. They must be in the kitchen. Close your eyes.”  When he relents, she bites back a smirk and ushers him into the dining area. “Okay, open them.”

Ethan opens his eyes, blinking in mild surprise when he isn’t greeted with people jumping from behind every piece of furniture. Instead, there’s a table set for two, a bottle of fancy scotch at the centerpiece.

“I… you didn’t…”

“I didn’t plan a surprise party after all?” she finishes, smirking as she leans up to silence him with a kiss. “Told you so.”

“Then why did you go so far with the act today?”

“Because you’re almost impossible to surprise and I thought if I tricked you into thinking you’d walk into a surprise party, you’d actually be surprised by a nice, quiet dinner.”

At that, he lets out a low chuckle. “Well… I suppose I can say I am very nicely surprised to not have people in my house on my birthday of all days.”

The teasing glint returns to her eyes as she wraps her arms around his neck. “Besides, you’re really getting up there in years now. I couldn’t risk startling you like that.”

Ethan rolls his eyes. “Such a comedian. If my aging memory is correct, your thirtieth is not far away at all.”

“Shh.” Olivia shakes her head and steers him toward the table. She lifts the lid from the serving to reveal their dinner, the warm spices wafting into the air. “Steak, paired with the best potatoes you’ll ever eat, and expensive alcohol. Three things that I know you like more than parties.”

“Four, if your presence counts.”

Her grin widens, making his features soften in response. “That was cheesy, but I’ll take it since you’re the birthday boy.”

Ethan laughs as he picks up a knife to cut into his steak. “I’d like to know how you managed to do all of this.”

“I have my ways of finding help so I can sneak off to cook fancy dinners using your recipes.” She pours two glasses of scotch and sits across from him. “And there’s chocolate cake for dessert, courtesy of Sienna.”

“So that’s what you two were conspiring about in the cafeteria.”

“Got it in one,” she confirms. She clinks her glass to his. “How does it feel to be forty?”

“No different than it felt to be thirty-nine.”

“You would say that. But I’m curious, how old were you the last time you had a birthday party?”

“Sixteen.”

“Did you have to share your birthday cake with dinosaurs?”

Ethan’s eyes roll again. “Enjoying yourself?”

“Absolutely.” An amused laugh shakes her shoulders and she doesn’t miss the way Ethan’s lips lift into a soft smile.

Companionable quiet falls between them as they enjoy their dinner, followed by slices of chocolate cake. As soon as Ethan takes his last bite, Olivia hands him a long wrapped box.

“Open it.”

“Impatient.” Ethan removes the gift wrap to reveal a framed photo. They’re sitting on his couch, her head resting on his shoulder as she snaps the picture. He’s not looking at the camera, but the side view of his face catches the softness of his smile.

The smile he’s pretty sure he’s making right now.

“There’s more under the tissue paper.”

Ethan moves aside the tissue, his fingers brushing against the plush fabric of a soft bathrobe. “I think someone is enjoying her first year of an attending’s salary.”

“Maybe a little. I know I didn’t go all out and the gifts are pretty small, and-“

He closes the distance between them, cutting her off with a tender kiss. Olivia doesn’t hesitate before she melts into it. Her fingers reach up to graze his stubbled jaw.

“I love it,” Ethan assures her when their lips part. “The dinner, the gifts… I’d rather have quality time with you than extravagant parties and presents.”

Warmth fills her eyes as she takes a seat on his knee and touches her forehead to his. A smirk forms on her mouth. “I got a matching robe for myself, too. But I’m sure you’d rather see what I’m going to wear under it.”

The words send a shiver down Ethan’s spine. He’s half tempted to swipe the dishes off the table and let her have her way with him right here, right now, but he does have self-control.

Her smile widens, tantalizing him. It’s enough to make his heart skip with affection and longing.

For a moment, she pauses, her face inches from his. She steals another kiss before she gently grips his shoulders and urges him out of his chair. “Follow me for the rest of your birthday surprises.”

He doesn’t have to be told twice.

XXXXXX

Moonlight and glow from the city lights bathe the room, spilling through the window. Raindrops drip down the glass, the sound of their pattering lulling him toward sleep.

Sleep tugs at his eyelids. Ethan stifles a content yawn. His hand cradles Olivia’s head to his bare chest, his fingers combing softly through her hair.  She’s already asleep-- she always falls asleep first-- and Ethan wants to cherish the moment before he surrenders to sleep, too.

His arm tightens around her waist, drawing her closer. Her breaths escape in soft snores, almost inaudible and warm against his skin. Ethan’s not sure what he did to deserve this, deserve her, but he made a decision two years ago to never take a moment for granted.

He couldn’t be happier if he tried.

author’s note: So I definitely cringed at some of my own dialogue, especially since I don’t use present tense often. But I liked the way this turned out! It was originally going to be a headcanon, but... this happened instead.

Tags, part 1

@princess-geek / @lapisreviewsstuff / @silverlitskies / @paulfwesley / @dr-brianna-casey-valentine / @junehiratas / @choicesstanblog / @trappedinfandoms / @justanotherrookie / @bellcat2010 / @desmaranj / @lion-ess24 / @nooruleman / @caseyvalentineramsey / @xee-na / @edith-eggs1 / @oofchoices / @schnitzelbutterfingers​ / @tefigranger​ / @jlynn12273​ / @laceandlula​ / @crazy-loca-blog​ / @somegdchoices​ / @briefdreamlanddream / @forthebrokenheartedthings​ / @lilyvalentine​ / @parkerattano​ / @drramseysownsme​ / @misswhit12​ / @drethanfreakingramsey​ / @juneiswriting​ / @macy-ray85​ / @swimmingauthordreamerbonk​ / @myusualnerdyself​ / @siaramsey​ / @takemyopenheart​ / @queencarb​

[genevievemd]

It has always annoyed me that PB made Ethan look like he is dumb about technology. He is brilliant and would need to utilise tech within his career. I think he just had no use for the foolishness that is social media, which makes him even smarter if I am to be honest. I'm curious about your thoughts on this.

Tea.

He's incredibly smart, he absolutely knows how to use the latest technology. And I'd argue that he keeps up with it because it has such a huge place in medicine nowadays.

And as much as I joke in Saraland that he's a dinosaur and old and tech challenged, thats all it is. Jokes. He's smart, Gen knows that - obviously, she just likes to tease him.

He definitely never got the hype about social media, and rarely uses the one he has (that mc sets up for him in book 2) because he finds it useless. Although when he does, it's usually of my mc cause he's a certified simp.

I definitely don't give as eloquent an answer as others have, but I do agree with you nonny.

And a side note, I don't think PB made him look dumb with technology, I think that scene of him trying to figure out Pictagram was just a moment of him trying to use a platform/app/website he's never used before - so there's going to be a learning curve. But once he knows something he knows it and strives to only get better at it.

[irisofpurple]

Hi Dina!

Here are this week's questions for the lovebirds <3

Note: Once again, this week’s round focuses on photos! Dialogue is entirely optional, though for some of these, it’d be fun to know the story behind the pictures ;) Tumblr mobile only allows 10 picture uploads (there are 10 questions), so collages are highly encouraged! Otherwise, the non-beta version of Tumblr desktop will allow more than ten.

Have fun!

For MC

Favorite childhood photo of Ethan

What’s your phone wallpaper image?

Contact name and photo for Ethan

Top three photo results when you Google Ethan

First picture of or with him that you uploaded to social media

For Ethan

Favorite childhood photo of your spouse

What’s your phone wallpaper image?

Contact name and photo for your spouse

Top three photo results when you Google your spouse

First picture you ever took of or with your spouse

*Credit to the anon who sent me the first three questions!

Alright, here we go again!

For Lana

Favorite childhood photo of Ethan

Lana: He loved reading books, especially those with pictures of dinosaurs and beautiful places, and eventually anything related to the human body. Alan said he’d always steal his glasses so he got him powerless ones so they wouldn’t damage his eyes.

Ethan: *blushes* You don’t like me with glasses.

Lana: You’re actually pretty hot with glasses but I love seeing your eyes more.

Ethan: *blushes even more* Good thing I need them only for reading!

What’s your phone wallpaper image?

Lana: This one’s from the weekend he proposed and it forever holds a very special place in my heart! Just him, me and the nature. I could’ve stayed forever!

Ethan: I already promised to take you again soon, didn’t I?

Lana: *pouts* Doesn’t mean I can’t still gush over how much I loved it, does it?

Ethan: *kisses the back of her hand* Sure love. Anything you want.

Contact name and photo for Ethan

Lana: *whispers* It’s also what I call him in bed. *winks*

Ethan: *looks horrified* You didn’t changed that! I thought we agreed-

Lana: *giggles* Don’t be such a killjoy, chief.

Ethan: *looks at her sternly* We’ll settle this once we get back home.

Lana: *smirks* I’ll hold you to it.

Top three photo results when you Google Ethan

Ethan: I can’t believe that beach photo is still in the top result after all these years!

Lana: *laughs* I don’t know what else you were expecting.

First picture of or with him that you uploaded to social media

Lana: We were still dating secretly back then, before Dr. Subtlety here, gave us away, making quite a spectacle of it too.

Ethan: *smirks* Don’t act like you didn’t love it.

Lana: *rolls her eyes* I did. The secret dating phase was definitely more thrilling though. This was our third date I think and I’d gotten quite bold by that time. Bold enough to post on social media.

Ethan: Drunk enough to post on social media.

Lana: *waves it off* Ethan was so mad about it when he found out. I think that was our first fight as a couple. *smiles devilishly at him* Totally worth it though.

Ethan: *blushes* Cannot disagree there.

For Ethan

Favorite childhood photo of your spouse

Ethan: She was clearly always a fun-loving girl who liked to get into trouble.

Lana: How did you gather the latter from this picture?

Ethan: That smile, my love, as beautiful as it is, is not one of innocence.

Lana: *fake gasps* What do you mean?

Ethan: It is the same smile you give now when you’ve thought of some mischief. But then that’s what I love the most about this picture. About you. *smiles affectionately*

Lana: *kisses him on the cheek*

What’s your phone wallpaper image?

Ethan: That smile adorning her lips is everything and instantly lifts my mood. She’s the happiest when amongst nature. 

Lana: And in your arms.

Ethan: Lucky for me! *entwines fingers together*

Contact name and photo for your spouse

Ethan: She dragged me into playing truth and dare with her friends once. The next mistake was choosing dare in my turn.

Lana: *cackling* He refused to do the first dare he was given, this was a compromise offered by Bryce.

Ethan: I wasn’t about to take off my shirt and kiss a stranger!

Lana: *still laughing uncontrollably* We knew! We simply bait-and-switched you honey.

Ethan: *shakes his head*

Lana: Come on! I know you love it now!

Ethan: *fails to conceal a smile* Absolutely not!

Top three photo results when you Google your spouse

Ethan: She looks radiant in every picture and I am so proud of her accomplishments.

Lana: Aww. Thanks babe.

Ethan: We agreed you won’t be calling me that in public!

Lana: No we didn’t.

First picture you ever took of or with your spouse

Lana: Wow! I forgot about this picture!

Ethan: This is from the first time we went to Miami. She had very politely asked me to take her photos in front of that mirror. I had no idea she was going to pose like that.

Lana: Oh! Now I remember! You took one picture and then took off abruptly. I never got the pic either.

Ethan: *looking slightly guilty* I am sorry. You can have it now.

Lana: *laughs* It’s okay. I have you now. What else can I ever need?

Ethan: I love you.

Lana: I love you too. *kisses him*

Hope you enjoyed going through this as much as I did putting it together! 

Thanks for the ask Beautiful Bree.❤ These are so much fun! 💕

[terrm9]

Cieli di Toscana

Words count: 1 600

Author’s note: I love Italy and Italian language, I miss hearing it, I miss eating gelato and the sea and I like Bocelli. That’s it, that’s all you need to know to understand this fluffy useless piece. Also, I tried to translate that one line the best I can, but my Italian is mediocre at best, so if someone from Italy sees it - please, feel free to correct my translation and don’t hate me if I got it absolutely wrong.

Takes place some weeks after the OHSY Finale.

It was raining heavily as Chiara stepped into Ethan’s car, making her sigh. 

“This is absolutely terrible weather for a road trip,” she rolled her eyes dramatically, earning an honest chuckle from Ethan.

They weren’t going on a road trip. They were invited to attend a conference in New York and as much as Ethan hated those, the vision of three whole days with Chiara, out of reach of the chaos that’s been erupting in Boston ever since Edenbrook’s closing and its subsequent grand re-opening, was enough for him to make a decision to go.

The excruciating rate of their lives in those past few months has also been reason why Ethan decided to drive for four hours to New York. Four hours on their way back and another four on their way back, eight full hours of the two of them being next to each other without anyone else’s presence, with nothing better to do than to simply be together. Hell, even if Chiara decided to just sleep the whole time, those eight hours of her peaceful sleep would be worth the time spent in a car.

“Okay, if you don’t want to start with my playlist,” Chiara waved indefinitely with her phone in the hand, “you better have something else than an audio book to listen to.”

To be absolutely honest, Ethan wouldn’t mind listening to her playlist if that would serve her best, however he gestured towards the dashboard on Chiara’s side of a car.

“There should be some old CD’s in there.”

Opening a storage space of the dashboard, Chiara raised her eyebrow at him and exclaimed: “Some old what? Have you ever heard of the possibility of connecting your phone to the radio?”

Ethan resisted his urge to pinch the bridge of his nose as he was in the middle of overtaking a truck. He knew what was coming and that he didn’t dispose of any power that could stop it.

“I remember the times when the only way to listen to something of your choice in a car was to use a CD. I said they were old.”

Chiara rolled her eyes, not even trying to hide the smirk that found its way onto her face. Of course he would remember that.

“Remind me again, which dinosaur was your favorite? You know, since you were lucky enough to live among them.”

“This joke is getting old.”

He regretted the words the moment they left his mouth, knowing that they would backfire terribly.

“Yes, and so are you,” Chiara replied without missing a beat, her triumphant grin so wide Ethan was sure her cheeks hurt.

She grabbed the first CD, disapprovingly muttering under her breath.

“Vivaldi, Sinatra, Schoenberg, another Sinatra, Bocelli? I know this one,” she turned to him with Italian tenor’s album in her hand.

Ethan glanced at her quickly and nodded, encouraging her to develop her statement.

“My mom loves Bocelli, like really loves, loves. I remember when this particular album came out, I was maybe eight or nine at the time and my mom would listen to it on repeat, all day for two solid weeks,” she chuckled to herself at the memory and decided to put the CD into the radio, letting herself get lost in the memories of her childhood. “My dad was going crazy, always shutting himself in his study to listen to Queen or David Bowie. I would usually follow him and when I asked him why he didn’t tell her to turn it off, he’d just smile, shrug and say something about the music making my mom happy.”

Chiara listened to the first track, the melody all too familiar despite not hearing it for at least fifteen years. It sounded like her parents and home and love. The unconditional love her father always held for her mother, the one that grossed her out when she was a kid and caused her to have unfulfillable expectations from boys when she was a teenager.

She always dreamt of meeting a man that would love her that way, the man that would listen to the music he hated and she loved just because it would make her happy.

Shaking her head slightly to get herself out of the dangerous waters of her mind, the waters of nostalgy, the waters of infinite sadness she felt when thinking about her dad and her brother and how they would never get to decide if Ethan deserved their precious Chia, their light, she cleared her throat and read the title written on the plastic cover of the CD.

“Cieli di Toscana. Do you know what that means?” she turned to Ethan, thankful that the traffic kept him from noticing how lost she’s been for the last few minutes.  

"Skies of Tuscany," Ethan replied, not tearing his gaze of the road.

Chiara smiled to herself, her mind taking her back to all those documentaries she's seen about that part of Italy.

"They must be bewitching. Skies of Tuscany, I mean," she leaned further into her seat, the soft melody of second song making it easier to just imagine being there, far away from struggles Boston had in store for her. "Have you ever been to Tuscany?"

Ethan nodded, his sharp gaze melting slightly as his focus has been divided between driving and reminiscing his time in Europe.

"Once. I've been attending a conference with Naveen in Florence. I hardly had any spare time for sightseeing and yet the city managed to render me speechless as I walked its narrow streets."

Despite his efforts to find a better word for the city, all he could think about, back then in Florence, was how romantic its streets were. He could still remember how his whole body both loved and hated the atmosphere and how, when he surly muttered that it was city made for couples, Naveen would laugh and say: „If you are clever enough not to repeat my mistakes, you will come back with a woman of your life one day and belong to those scandalous couples.“

Another memory flashed in his mind, too bright and fresh for his liking. The one where, laying on the thick fabric of hazmat suit that protected his chest, tears streaming down her cheeks slowly, Chiara admitted that she regretted not travelling more while she could.

„I’ll take you there, when this chaos settles down and we’re allowed to take some time off. I’ll take you to Tuscany then,“ he said softly, quietly, pretending to concentrate on the road, which must have looked absolutely ridiculous as the highway was currently deserted. He hoped Chiara didn’t notice how flushed the back of his neck suddenly became.

She didn’t.

Chiara was biting her cheek, staring back and forth at Ethan and the road. Her own cheeks were colored in a bright pink color, the sincerity of Ethan’s words making her weak.

It wasn’t only the fact that he remembered about her dream of visiting Italy. It wasn’t even about the way he told her, that he would take her. It was the fact that planning his future with her came so naturally to him at this point, he didn’t even need to think about it.

Lost in her thoughts once again, Chiara didn’t notice how Ethan’s eyes widened few seconds into fourth song when the recognition hit him.

It was the song he liked the most, the song that he would listen quite often to back in the days when this album kept him company on the roads.

It was the song that, just like the city of Florence, used to make that small, almost negligible part of him wish that he had someone to share it with.

With the rain falling heavily on the windshield, Chiara couldn’t hear Ethan’s almost unaudible singing. She could’ve easily miss it, if she didn’t notice his lips moving.

„Are you singing?“ she asked, absoltutely shocked. She caught him humming various melodies sometimes, but never in her whole life would she believe to see Ethan Ramsey sing.

‚Scusi se mi innamorai in un istante di lei per

l'aria serena che ha.‘

„Absolutely not,“ he shook his head, the wave of heat on his neck becoming almost unbearable. „I am reciting the lyrics, at best.“

How cute, Chiara thought.

However, she didn’t want to ruin the moment and so instead of teasing him mercilessly, she asked: „What does it say? The part that you absolutely weren‘t singing.“

„Excuse me if I, in an instant, fall in love with her for the air of serenity she has. Very freely translated.“

„How do you know the lyrics so well?“

„I like the song.“

„Sure, liking the song is one thing, but knowing – and singing – the lyrics is another. Especially when the lyrics is as soft as this one. Is the song special to you?“

She tried to ask it as casually as she could, as if she was simply curious, when really, there was a hint of jealousy blooming in her chest.

Was the song special to him? Did he use to recite it to his first girlfriend trying to impress her?

The car stopped at the red light, giving Ethan a chance to finally look at the woman next to him fully.

„It is now,“ he nodded, smiling softly as he caressed her cheek with his thumb.

The expecting and so vulnerable green eyes staring back at him made his heart flutter. At this point, it was useless to pretened that he wasn’t utterly and terribly sappy when it came to her. Taking a deep breath, just before the red light turned to green, he whispered.

„The name of the song is Chiara.“

[michals]

I like the idea of Luther as a himbo but with this vast array of knowledge and he knows how to do all kinds of things because he’s had so much goddamn time on his hands.

It’s the same reason I think the reason Ethan Hunt knows fucking 25 languages because he’s a spy and how many ‘impossible’ missions happen in a year? Like 5? At most? That’s 3/4 weeks of his year if he’s not undercover. So he’s got nothing but downtime to do what the hell ever.

So Luther knows everything about space and space travel and can rattle off every person who’s ever gone up there but he also knows like the entire history of Bulgaria and how to rebuild a car engine and knows every bone and muscle in the human body. He’s probably read every single book Reginald has in the house. He probably knows more about dinosaurs than any normal person needs to. He’s played 8000 games of chess with Pogo and Grace has taught him to sew and knit and cross stitch. (Except for some reason he never learned to cook.)

But on the other hand he’s had such little interaction with the rest of the world that he has no real idea what he’s doing out there. He’s a himbo because outside of random knowledge his common sense meter dips to questionable levels, often. He is not great at putting his very selective smarts to use in the real world. 

I’d love a scene where he just throws out a bunch of really detailed knowledge about some random subject in front of everyone and he does it so seriously and everyone’s confused and they’re like, “how do you know that?” and he's like, “I didn’t have friends ok!”

[reversemoon255]

(From September 2020 to February 2021, I worked on a Pokémon themed Dungeons and Dragons campaign for a few friends. We didn’t get very far, but I put a significant amount of work into the world, story, and several Pokémon that would appear throughout, including an original set of starters. I want to to leave some record of my work, so I thought I’d write a few summary posts. And while I designed these Pokémon, their fantastic art was done by @extyrannomon on Twitter. I highly recommend you check them out.)

Dungeons 'n' Dragonites - Phase 1: Hello Stelopy City

Our story starts in Stelopy City, located in the Wellou Region. We get a brief introduction from DJ Tomomitsu, a radio host, before each player got their own brief story segments. Our first player was Ethan, as aspiring chef, who lived on campus at his high school. Ethan was approached by one of his dorm mates with a favor (to get him out of the building), as well as having an attractive girl meandering around the kitchen (if he wished to try flaunting his culinary skills). He would then get to choose to either finish up his side-quest or go to the local fisher's market, with him transitioning between those locations taking him to the area where he would meet his starter Pokémon:

"As you enter the alleyway, the walls are covered floor-to-ceiling in moss that seem to appear as soon as the shadows overtake the sunlight. The farther you walk, the more weeds you see popping through the cracks. Once you reach the half-way point, you come to a small open space. With the sunlight now flickering down through the plants brave enough to venture off the verdant walls, the entire area shines a bright, emerald green. In the center of this area is a decently sized fountain. It's no longer flowing, but there's a decent amount of rain water filling it up close to the brim. As you approach it, even through the murky iridescent waters, you can see a thick, fuzzy amount of lichen growing all throughout the inside of the basin. As you pass by the fountain, you hear an audible sploosh. Do you turn around? (Y/N)"

There he would meet the first of our new Starter, the Grass-Type Flymph. I kept it secret that I was doing original Starters. Part of my personal excitement in planning everything was the eventual reveal of these designs I had created. Kept me going when things started feeling like a grind.

Our second player, Johnny, started off at home, woken by his father asking him to run an errand. After being able to talk to his family a bit, he proceeded to a somewhat beaten-up house on the edge of the Pokémon-overrun abandoned district where he would receive some boat parts before leaving and the sidewalk underneath him collapses. Stumbling around the abandoned subway tunnels for a bit, he would run into our second Starter, the Fire-Type Calfyre.

Johnny's player wanted to become an entertainer, which didn't give me a lot to work session one, so a lot of his opener was focused on expanding the world and giving everyone an idea of areas they would be exploring later.

Third was Orion who had a quiet morning at home before being provoked via text messages from his siblings to chase down a mysterious "Wailord in a Top Hat." This pursuit would also lead him to the fisher's market and the nearby docks, where, after just catching sight of his quarry, he would encounter the Water-Starter Squisque.

Orion's player wanted a lot of his story to be based on his relationship with his father, so most of his opening was based on reinforcing his family dynamic. Not home, everyone’s busy, focus on work. This particular Saturday was strange in that Orion didn’t have anything going on.

Our last player was Arthur, who also lived on campus. While our other three players started their segments in bed, Arthur was playing lacrosse. After having an opportunity to show off (or fail), he would be told by a friend that he had upset his girlfriend that morning (kitchen girl from Ethan's story), and needed Arthur to pick up her favorite dessert while he attempted to woo her for the rest of the day. After doing so (while being given a chance to explore some of the local stores) he encountered a hungry Houndoom who proceeds to chase him up a fire escape. Once up there he encountered our final Starter, the Fairy-Type Utaw.

After each player met their Starters, they would have a brief tutorial battle against three Pokémon they were advantageous against before running into each other, and were subsequently arrested for "stealing" Pokémon, which would cap session one.

=====

Let's talk design. Stelopy City is loosely based on Chicago, is a portmanteau of "Steel Canopy," and Wellou is a joke on Illinois. The vast majority of the campaign was to take place in this location. Most of my players had very busy schedules (so busy it took us three sessions to get through the above opener), so DJ Tomomitsu was a way for me to easily start each session with a list of things to do (side-quests), and they as a group could decide which they were the most interested in based on time. Tomomitsu himself was based on DJ Sagara from Kamen Rider Gaim, with Tomomitsu being the name of the actor who played him.

As for the starters, I tried to stick to the reoccurring themes we’ve seen over the past 8 Generations. Flymph's name is a portmanteau of Dragonfly, Errol Flynn, and Nymph (the larval form of a Dragonfly). He's meant to be a special attacker, but, like an early DND Wizard, doesn't have access to a lot of them so he brandishes his sword-like arms to intimidate his foes instead. His diet consists entirely of lichens, algae, and similar flora, storing them in his transparent stomach pouches, and can be seen sunbathing in the water, belly up, feeding the plant matter the sunlight they need to grow. He also does not like Bug-Types, and isn’t Bug himself because of Grass/Bug’s myriad of weaknesses (for balancing), plus he changes Types after his first evolution. The theme of Grass Starters is extinction, which won’t become clear until his final evolution, but you may be able to guess how he relates.

Fire Starters are themed after the Chinese Zodiac, and of the remaining four yet to be used (including Snake, Ram, and Horse), I went with Ox. Calfyre's name is a play on Calf and Fire, and is meant to play like a Barbarian. When it comes to personality he's very timid and unsure of himself like a first-time DND player might be acting in a group. Unlike most Fire-Types, Calfyre lacks a Flame Sac. Instead, his spiral horns are filled with a freon-like liquid that, when swirled, rapidly absorbs energy from the air, which he uses for attacks. This chills the air around him, and makes him one of the few Fire-Types that are cold to the touch. Which sucks, because he’s a snugly sleeper.

Water Starters are usually themed after a weapon or character class. This usually shows in the later evolutions, but it's pretty obvious Squisque (a portmanteau of Squirt, Squire, and Bisque) is themed off a lance and shield. He's a paladin in both role and personality, charging in at the slightest sign of trouble, even if there isn't any real danger. It's the typical non-nuanced idea of what people think when they hear "Paladin." He was to a degree supposed to play a catalyst role, charging into situations the players may not want to in order to force them into helping people or combat if need be. He was also the first design I settled on, being based on an old Kaijin idea I had of a lobster-knight using its asymmetrical claws as different medieval weapons.

Utaw is unique, not just in that he was a fourth or Fairy Starter, but in conception. I was only supposed to have three players, but ended up with four. As such, his design is responsive to the others. Why a dinosaur? Because I had a mammal, crustacean, and bug, was unsure if I wanted a bird or reptile, and decided to meet half-way. Why is he Fairy? Because it has very little interaction with Fire, Water, and Grass, while still having defined weaknesses and resistances to certain types. (Also, this player wanted a Dragon-Type.) He’s based on a Utahraptor, hence the name, and is misspelled to include “Claw” or “Caw.” He’s meant to play team Bard, and uses sound moves. As for personality, he's a bit of a birdbrain who enjoys fighting. Not maliciously; it’s just fun, again acting like a new DND player who’s more interested in combat than role playing.

The idea with the personalities was that each Pokémon was supposed to start out like a rookie DND player on their first campaign. Not knowing how to play their class, being uncomfortable acting in front of a group, leaning too hard into your role without bending, or just fighting everything you see without diplomacy. It felt like a fun extra layer to each of these Pokémon that tied them just as much into the DND side of things as the Pokémon.

=====

Back to our story, after being briefly detained (mostly as an excuse to give the players time to introduce themselves to each other, something my DMs have struggled with), they meet Professor(-in-training) Bianca. The four Pokémon had been found by Silph Co., and had decided to donate them to the Unovan Pokémon Research Lab. However, after seeing the Pokémon interacting with these people, Bianca decides to give them up instead. "Pokémon should be with people," after all.

I had three side quests set up following this (after they all go to the DMV to get their Trainer's licenses). The first was a general "there's wild Pokémon here" quest where they could train and catch things. There was a sale at the mall where they could get some cheap held items and have their first trainer battle, and an event at the fisher's market where they could win some free items and would lead into their first dungeon.

The dungeon was what I was hoping they would pick, and would have them chase a group of Poipole through a warehouse, with them having different battles if they chose to enter from the front or the back. After defeating them, the Poipole would be sucked through a spontaneously generating Ultra Wormhole, with a high enough perception check revealing a strange laugh, or on a 20 have them catch a glimpse of a grey Charizard O_O

From there it was a matter of coming up with (or possibly recycling unused) side-quests until we reached the point where the Starters were about to evolve. I had a few things planned; introductions to a few reoccurring NPCs, a field trip to the local museum where they would be able to catch a Yamask (and possibly learn something about the origins of their Starters), and a raid battle against a group of Onix who would recur through the campaign.

The end of Phase 1 would come about with another dungeon. In the middle of the night, Ethan and Arthur would be awoken by their Pokémon to a group of Durant having busted through the floor of the dorm and raiding their kitchen. Easily driving them off, their Pokémon would encourage them to pursue. Later, full party in toe, the four of them would explore the Duranthill. There would be a number of possible encounters, but only one mandatory fight before reaching the depths. In said encounter, while being surrounded by a group of Durant, they would receive unexpected help from this Pokémon:

With some interpretation, they would discover that this Princess Durant was afraid for the sake of her colony. A new queen had taken up residence there, and was commanding the Durant to attack the surface and steal food for her. With additional party member in toe, they would descend further with better direction, eventually discovering the lair of the Queen Durant...

[vveridtime]

ethan cutkosky, cis man + he/him  | you know arin roque, right? they’re twenty-one, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, fifteen years? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to do you want me (dead?) by all time low like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole broken skateboards, idly flipping a zippo lighter & toy dinosaurs left in strange places thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is november 3rd, so they’re a scorpio, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( axel, 24, est, they/them  )

henlo, meet my idiot son who’s nothing more than a mishmash of like 4 different indie muses of mine <3

spent the first few years of his life living in his mom cadence’s hometown of albany, new york; where the two of them lived with her cousin. he’d been an unexpected baby, and his dad took off before he was even born. her parents were/are supportive, but had just had their last child leave home so they’d downsized to a smaller house and didn’t quite have the room to take them in. but living with his uncle derek had it’s perks, and arin got to spend a lot of time hanging out with him playing video games and sports in the yard and going to hockey games on the weekends.

they spent 5 years there, his mom working and saving up money to go after a dream of hers. as a kid she’d spent summers in irving and the place had kept a special place in her heart all those years. they moved the year before he started kindergarten, into a little two-story shop near the pier with an apartment taking up the upstairs that his mom would slowly turn into a bakery. (i’ve been watching bob’s burgers again, leave me alone.)

his mom is a good baker. it’s no surprise that the place turned into one of those hidden gem places that any good town has.

when he was 10, one customer started coming around pretty much every day. always asking for the same thing until eventually getting up the courage to ask the owner out on a date. one thing led to another, and a year later she married one carson roque in a tiny ceremony. until then, arin had his mother’s maiden name for a last name, but when she had hers changed he asked if he could change his too so they would all match. his parents went on to have two more kids: nolan, who’s 6, and wren, who’s just shy of a year old now.

right now, he’s working in the bakery. taking a “gap year” that’s currently on it’s 4th year. still living at home. no intention to enroll in even community college any time soon. but he’s helping the family and working at the family business, so nobody’s too upset. if he’s not at the bakery, he’s probably off ignoring the “no skateboards” signs on the boardwalk or otherwise causing trouble. sometimes with nolan in tow, occasionally with baby wren. 

misc. fun facts:

a textbook chaos bi

peaked in elementary school when everyone wanted to be his friend for the free cookies and cupcakes kjsbfdkjdsfb

babysits his siblings a lot despite maybe not being the best influence ? his siblings are his soft spot, but say anything about it and you get punched

his mom is also a soft spot, he’s just a big momma’s boy. you know the gag where the guy is yelling and telling his friends he’s gonna kick their asses then answers his ringing phone like “hi momma :)” ? that’s him.

has 2 guinea pigs who are technically family pets, but he takes care of them most. their names are beef and ravioli. nolan named beef, so he thought ravioli would be a complimentary name to go with it.

owns more hi my name is mark octopus tshirts than he probably should, mark hoppus does not need his money