#but on the other hand it just keeps feeling like theres this elephant in the room that neither one of us has any idea how to address

[biblicalhorror]

You ever had a friendship where like you kind of faded out of each other's lives for a period of time and then re-bonded without ever really addressing the distance so now every time one of you mentions something you never told the other one during The Dark Time you both just have to be like "yeah, this massive thing that happened to me that we didn't talk about at the time but I totally wanted to tell you about but it felt like I couldn't talk to you but I'm also not gonna say it was your fault because I don't want to drive you away again but I know and you know exactly what it is we're not talking about"

[mrmonkeyandbow]

TW: self harm, a little bit of smut (little to no description)

ROUGH DRAFT!!! NO EDITS YET!!!!!

Solitaire-after the books ends

Once we get to the hospital I am holding Michaels hand tight. I don't let go. He even comes to my hospital room with me when they do all the tests. Once we are alone he starts to talk.

“Tori?”

“Yeah?”

“Are we going to talk about it or just let it be an elephant in the room?”

“Oh..” i say in a tone i can't quite recognize “yeah”

“Ive been wanting to do that for a while, but i didnt know if you felt the same way. I really do love you and if your okay with it…” he pauses, witch makes me nervous. “I was…” “I want…” “could we…” he is deliberating between what to say, it takes him five minutes to spit it out. No joke. “If its okay with you, would you be my girlfriend. I know this isnt the best timeing, but i really care about you and love you and I really do want to be more than friends.”

I look at him, not knowing what to say. Thats a lie, i want to say yes. I want to say yes one thousand times. But instead i just tell him to come on my bed (hospital bed) and start to kiss him. We kiss even more passionately after a minute or two. My hands holding his face, and running them through his curly, short hair. And him, wrapping his legs arround me. I remember that we are in a hospital, and why we are there. But i dont care. All i care about is the boy i love. Grasping me tight. Feeling like for once i want to keep living. I want this to never end. Charlie comes in and we both jump back. This is not how i wanted to tell my brother that i had a boyfriend. It felt good to even think that i had a boyfriend.

“Charlie!” i say with a bit of anger in my voice. Charlie had just come in the room, and i heard the door open. “You could at least knock!”

“Well im sorry but i didnt think that you would be here canoodling with your…” he pauses for a second.

“Boyfriend” i say with a stern tone in my voice. I look over at Michael and he’s bright red. “Now go”

He turns and leaves. Michael still holding me tight

{~*at home that night*~}

Michael didnt leave me throughout the entire trip at the hospital, or the ride home. Mom and dad decided it was best if he slept over, just to keep a eye on me. Just like nick did with charlie that one time. Its a little bit weird because they dont know what we are dating. Michael and I get a bed ready for him together, even though we know we arent going to use it. Just to trick my parents, they are super strict about this stuff. I get into my pjs and so does Michael. We start talking in bed. Not for long but once we start to get ready to actually go to bed, i turn the other way. Suddenly i feel a arm around me, hugging me close. I start to blush, and i hold his hand. We start to sleep around 3, a usual time for me, so im okay with it. The next thing i know im awake, next to Michael. For once when i wake up, im glad i woke up. Im happy seing his face. I think if he where awake then i wouldnt of started to play with his hair, but i do. Its so curly and theres no gell in it, for understandable reasons. I like it like this. Free. Michael looks at me, when he opens his eyes. I pull my hand back, embarrassed. We both chuckle.

“Whatcha doing?” he chuckles

“You already know!” i say while my face turns pink

“I dont mind, i like it.” he says while he starts to play with my hair.

Suddenly i feel the urge to kiss him. I dont know why. i learned my leson yesterday with people walking in. so i get up and lock the door. I think he can tell where this is going. I get back in bed, looking at him while he is looking at me. I start to blush. Blush so hard, i start to get embarrassed.

“I hate you” i wisper under my breath while slightly chuckling

“I love you too tori spring.” he whispers through his breath as he leans in for a kiss.

We start to kiss, more and more. He is rubbing his hand up and down my back, as im doing the same to him. I notice he starts to rub a little lower, over my hips and i start to chuckle. The next hour or two is not PG. after im lying my head on his chest, moving my finger ever so slightly up and down. Someone knocks on the door, i know its charlie because he starts talking. “Tori? Are you in there?”

“Shit, shit, shit, shit” i say under my breath, as MIchael looks at me.

He quickly goes into the bathroom as im putting my dressing gown on. I unlock my door and he comes in.

“Can you drive me round nicks? I would walk but its raining”

“Can’t.”

Charlie looks arround “dosnt look like your doing much.”

“You can walk, use a umbrella.”

He walks out, visibly annoyed. I tell Michael its safe to come out of the bathroom.

[bby-bo]

“failed” attempts

I got this beautiful request from @comettheasteroid and I thought it fit so well with the situation they requested. Hope this is what you were looking for love! 💕also i know i said i wouldn’t start this for a few days but i totally lied and got super invested in your request so !*surprise*! ✨

Pairing: Itadori x Fem!Reader

Warnings: big time fluff, kissing

Summary: Your relationship with Yuuji does a spaztic 180°. But like, in a good way.

Your brain was at it again. It just wouldn't let you sleep until you had run through every possible outcome three hundred times. Being best friends with Yuuji since grade school was awesome; he was the most loyal friend and was even close with your family since you had practically grown up together.

Moving to Japan had been really hard on you, particularly since you had moved from an entirely different country. You were the only kid in class who didn't know the language, and it didn't help that you were a shy child. But none of that had ever mattered to Yuuji.

He was the very first kid to try and talk to you, and the only kid who repeatedly tried to be your friend even through the language barrier when you were still learning Japanese. Through the years, Yuuji even made it his personal mission to learn as much as possible about your own family and traditions.

So really, how could you not totally fall for the guy? He was caring, dedicated, and also intensely good looking. A total triple threat. And though you loved all these things about Yuuji, it made the prospect of wrecking your friendship with him truly scary to you.

He had never shown any real sign of liking you in a romantic way, and even though you knew this hard truth, your own feelings were growing way too strong to ignore. The worst case scenario played out in your head every night-

You would finally buck up the courage to somehow confess to him, and he would shoot you down. Not only that, but Yuuji would be so uncomfortable knowing that you felt differently about one another that he wouldn't want to keep hanging out with you. He wouldn't want to be your loveable, loyal friend that you had grown so close to.

How much longer could you go on like this? You had recognized your crush on Yuuji years ago, but you also recognized that at this point you weren't being fair to yourself or your heart. You at least owed it to yourself to just tell Yuuji right? It wasn't like anything had to happen or like he had to accept your feelings.

You shook your head clear of those thoughts, and rolled over to where your phone was charging on your bedside table. Taking a look at the time, you groaned realizing it was already one in the morning. Friday had come too soon, and your weekly Friday night sleepover with Yuuji was now your most dreaded test of courage.

-

Some people get butterflies in their stomach when they're nervous. Some people have to pee a lot. Others feel physically sick to their stomachs. You had all those symptoms but magnified tenfold as you sat on a stool in Yuuji's bathroom.

Weekly hair care was a key part of every Friday night sleepover, and Yuuji took it very seriously. He looked up all the proper oils, creams, conditioners and protective styles that worked best with your hair's particular curl pattern.

Now, as Yuuji stood behind you with oil in hand, he was close enough that you could smell him. Those butterflied became elephants stamping around in your stomach, and your nerves felt frayed like the end of a roughly abused phone charger. The electricity was licking up and down your back where Yuuji's chest was practically up against you.

"Ya know, I've been getting kinda worried about you lately. Is there something you wanted to talk about?" Shit he was good. He always knew your every mood by just looking at you.

"HUh! I'm good- I-I mean theres nothing in particular going on?"

"Well don't state it like a question, that only makes me worry more silly"

"Don't make fun of me! I just wasn't expecting you to ask me something like that out of the blue is all!"

Watching him through the mirror, Yuuji promptly rolled his eyes but gave a warm laugh, just like always, in response to your odd reaction. Gently placing his hands on either side of your jaw, his rough fingertips curled to the underside of your chin. Tilting your head back, he looked directly into your eyes now, his face perfectly aligned above yours.

For an intense moment, your eyes locked and everything out of focus faded away. The quiet in your mind was louder than you had ever heard it before, and above all the noise, you could hear Yuuji’s gentle, bated breath that had caught in his throat. 

Your own hands reached out with a mind of their own and held Yuuji’s handsome face still as your body moved upwards to softly plant your lips on his. 

It was brief, but the warmth of his mouth against yours had you snapping back into reality. Pulling your hands and head away from him, your palm came up to cover your mouth in slight shock over what you had just done ever so impulsively. 

What the fuck?? That was SO not the plan. You were just supposed to tell him that you desperately wanted him to love you back, not show him and blindside your best friend like that! 

Panic rose up from your chest to your throat, and your eyes widened as you took in Yuuji’s own shocked face. Suddenly your fingers were being ripped away from your mouth as Yuuji’s right hand came up to your jaw once again. It was like he was in a rush to keep you in your previous position, head tilted up, mouth waiting for him to reconnect the two of you again. And he did.

He pressed his mouth firmly against yours, and when he felt you kiss him back, it was as if he sighed in relief and contentment. He slowly opened his mouth, lips coercing yours to do the same as he titled his head to deepen the kiss. It was slow, and deliberate, like he was really trying to take his time. 

He stole your heart all over again.

Finally pulling his mouth off of yours, he seemed genuinely concerned in an adorably earnest way.

“Why did you run away?”

“Well... I guess I just didn’t think you’d want to kiss me back, I don’t really know” You answered softly, as if saying it out loud would somehow erase the memory from your mind.

“You really are an idiot sometimes” Then, Yuuji broke into one of his famous, million watt smiles, as he stood straight up and gave out a loud laugh of pure glee. Picking up the bottle of hair oil again, Yuuji got right back to applying and gently massaging the product into your scalp.

You couldn’t help the smile that broke across your cheeks, and a blush spread across your nose with a burning passion. Then your head was lifted once again as Yuuji stole yet another kiss.

“Thank God you never got around to dating anyone else. I don’t think I could’ve handled that kind of heartbreak” He confessed, still smiling as he kissed you a third time.

[thinking1bee]

When it Reigns Part 5

Requested by Anonymous

Pairings: Kara Danvers x Reader

Tags: Angst, Kryptonian!Reader, Parent!Reader, Parent!Kara, Estranged Parent, Graphic Depictions of Injuries, Blood, Humor, Bad Dreams, Memory Loss

Everything Taglist: @sammy90682 @nobody13 @owloftheshadows @captain-josslett @camslightstories @worldovart @finleyfray @acertainredhead @sammm9068 @reginassecretlover

It took some more investigative journalism, but you and Kara found out that it was Edge who was behind poisoning the kids. He orchestrated the plan to have chemicals dumped into the pool, and then to frame Lena further by dumping the same chemicals into National City’s water supply. Luckily with some saving from Supergirl, Edge was thrown behind bars and a cure was made for the families afflicted. You sighed for a day well done and you were in the process of saying good night to Angel.

“Will Luke be okay?” she asked you and you smiled.

“Yes. He should be getting better as we speak.”

You leaned down and kissed her forehead when Angel froze.

“Hey what’s wrong?”

She blinked. “You have a hole in your shirt.”

You looked down to see what she was talking about. Sure enough, there was a tear in the fabric of your blouse, and you held it in confusion, wondering how it got there.

“Oh, weird,” you said, shrugging it off. “Sweet dreams, okay?”

Angel nodded before she closed her eyes and you left quietly, smiling fondly as your daughter drifted off to sleep. As you walked down the hall, you felt at the tear in your shirt, and as you kept playing with it, something cold and metallic fell from the torn threads and landed on the floor with a sharp clang. You paused, bending over to pick up the object, and when you inspected it, you saw that it was a bullet.

You were…shot.

And you didn’t feel it.

Your hands went to your stomach, feeling around for anything unusual. You even lifted your shirt to see if there was anything wrong. There was nothing. Just the expanse of smooth and unharmed flesh. You swallowed hard as you looked up, seeing nothing but the emptiness of the hallway in front of you. You couldn’t ignore any of this anymore. You needed answers, so you went into your room and packed a small travel bag. You’d be gone for a day tops and hopefully, you would find what you needed. As you packed, you dialed for Kara, and she answered in the first ring.

“Y/n is everything okay?” she asked, and you smiled. Your darling wife, ever the worrier.

“I’m fine babe,” you replied with the smile playing at your lips. “I was wondering if you would be okay with watching Angel. I need to take a trip.”

You could practically hear Kara fix her glasses while shifting her weight from one foot to the other. “Is everything okay?” she asked again.

“I think so. I just need to pay a visit to my mother.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

The question was justified. The relationship between you and your adopted parental figure was less than stable. You’d soon go to hell voluntarily before stepping foot in her house again, but this was important. Something was going on with you and you needed answers. You had to start somewhere.

“I’ll be fine, I promise.”

Kara accepted your promise, trusting that you would be fine like you said. “Okay, just come back soon.”

You smiled. “I love you.”

“I love you more,” you replied, and you disconnected the call.

***

Kara nibbled her lips, staring at the screen when you disconnected the call. She couldn’t help but think that something wears wrong and that you wanted her to think that everything was okay. Whatever it was, she knew that she would have to wrap this up soon. Angel was already home, and judging by the clock on Kara’s phone, was also in bed.

“…Kara?”

Kara looked up to see everyone in the DEO staring at her and she hastily put her phone back in her pocket.

“Sorry.”

“Is everything okay?” Alex asked and Kara shrugged. That was all she could do.

She was so worried about you. Ever since Angel told her about your selective memory loss, she had been so preoccupied with you that it was evoking distracting. She knew she should have followed up with that. She trusted you, as she did, but something was telling her to dive deeper into it and she ignored it. What could be going on that you felt the need to reach out to a woman that you had spoken to in years? Was everything that bad? And what about when Angel got hurt. Angel told her that it was a city light pole that fell on top of her, but she had been less than forthcoming with the details as to how she got free from under it. Things weren’t making any sense.

“Kara?”

Kara blinked and focused on everyone again. Alex had asked her a question and she went on a mental spiral.

“I’m fine,” she said quickly, but everyone looked at each other with skepticism. If Kara was truly okay, she wasn’t very convincing about it.

“Are you sure?” Alex asked, mirroring Kara’s early question to you. She nodded.

“Yes. Let’s focus on what caused the earthquake.”

Alex gave her once last look, her eyes searching. Kara nodded, her eyes focused on hers, knowing that she would know what it meant. We’ll talk later. Alex nodded before turning her attention back to the giant screens in front of her.

“Go ahead, Winn.”

Winn typed on his tablet before he dragged his finger across the screen, his wrist flicking, before what was on his tablet appeared on screens for everyone to see. On them was a map, with a single dot highlighted on a specific location. From the dot came virtual shockwaves that pulsed from the single location and spread outwards.

“I was able to pinpoint the exact location of the earthquake,” he explained. “But theres nothing out there.”

Beside him, J’onn nodded and crossed his arms. “I flew from the center and covered the entire area of coverage. There’s nothing there except cracked earth and debris.”

“So, if there’s nothing there, where did the earthquake come from?” Kara asked.

“That’s the mystery,” Winn said as he turned his attention back to the pulsating dot on the screen. Kara watched as the shockwaves emanated from the point over and over, the feeling of foreboding sending a chill down her spine.

***

You pulled up to your mother’s house and put the car in park. She still lived all the way out in Metropolis and was still in the same house and everything. It was like nothing changed. Well almost nothing. She may have stayed the same, but you changed entirely. No matter what happened, you promised to keep your cool. There was a reason why you never so much as sent her a Christmas card. So, you took a deep breath and squared your shoulders, before getting out of the car and knocking on the door. It took a bit of knocking but she finally answered, and she looked at you like she had seen a ghost.

“Y/n?”

“Hello, Elizabeth,” you greeted. “May I come in?”

After some small talk and a glass of water that you still hadn’t drank from, it was finally time to address the elephant in the room. Though if it were up to you, the elephant wouldn’t need to be pointed out anyway. Just acknowledge it and move on.

“I haven’t seen you since…” Elizabeth swallowed thickly, a nervous chuckle escaping her. “Well, you know.

“I couldn’t imagine why you’d expect me to keep in touch after you kicked me out.”

“I did that to teach you a lesson!”

She still believed that? Even after all these years?

“That’s odd because that wasn’t what it felt like.”

She looked away from you, her eyebrows furrowed in hurt, and you had to resist the urge to scoff. Her little act wasn’t going to work on you. You decided that you had enough with strolling down memory lane.

“Do you know where I can find my birth parents?” you asked. At that, her head snapped up and she met your eyes.

“Why?”

“That doesn’t matter. Do you know or not?”

She didn’t answer, she only stared at you, and you could feel your irritation grow. You never asked her of anything, not since she kicked you out, and now that you were asking about your real parents, after all these years, now she wanted to give you a hard time???

“I’m sorry,” was all she said. You smirked and she looked at you.

“You have got to be kidding me. Then at least tell me which adoption agency you adopted me from.”

Elizabeth shook her head, and you actually snapped your fingers, pointing at her as your irritation morphed into rage.

“I’ve never asked you for anything once you threw me out, and this is how you want to play this?!”

“That was to teach you a lesson,” she repeated, like the explanation would make everything okay.

“That what?” you demanded. “That it was never okay for me to like who I liked?”

“You know that I didn’t approve of your homosexual escapades.”

“Oh yeah, and then I dated a guy to make you happy. Good thing for me that he knocked me up and left the moment he found out I was pregnant. I was 19! I needed someone there for me! I needed my mom!”

“Y-you were pregnant?” she whispered, horrified that she hadn’t known until now.

“Yes! And you would have known that if you had just listened to me!”

Elizabeth had thrown you to the side after finding out that you had sex with him. She wanted a good Christian daughter, one that followed every rule in the Bible. That wasn’t you, and no matter how much she tried to force you to learn, or how much she forced you to go to church, it would never be you. Even now. You were happily married and trying your damnedest with your daughter. The relationship with her sperm donor may have been a huge mistake, but Angel never will be that. She was so much more. She was the reason you never gave up, and the woman that was in front of you, was the reason why you never learned to be a good mom. You spent your whole life being what she wanted for her sake.

“Did you keep it?” Elizabeth whispered.

“Her name is Angel,” you said sternly, and you had the satisfaction of watching her flinch. “And I guess by technicality you do have a granddaughter.”

“How is she?”

You stared at her, really stared at her, incredulous that she thought that she had the right to ask about Angel.

“If you think that I would let you, with your religious, Bible thumping poison and rhetoric around her, then I must be on crack.”

Elizabeth sighed. “I’m sorry.”

It was way too late for sorry. That wouldn’t work on you either.

“Do you know anything about my birth parents or the adoption agency that you got me from?” you asked again.

“Why do you want to know so bad?”

You had to stop yourself from screaming in from frustration. Instead, you took a deep breath and looked down.

“Things have been happening to me, Elizabeth,” you started as you looked at her intensely. I keep blacking out to do only God knows what and then I have no recollection of going anywhere or saying anything. Earlier this week, a pole fell on my daughter, and I lifted it clear above my head and threw it away as though it weighed nothing. Yesterday I was at a press conference when someone open fired into the crowd. I was shot, Elizabeth, and I didn’t feel anything. I pulled the crushed bullet from my clothes but there were no marks, no cuts, no anything. The past few weeks have been weird, and I swallowed the anger I have with you to ask you for your help. Now if you know anything, now would be the time to tell me.”

Elizabeth looked at you and was quiet. It seemed like she wasn’t going to say anything until she nodded her head, deciding something internally, before she looked at you.

“Follow me. I want to show you something.”

Part 6

[purpletyrant]

reimagined costumes for kako and meiyui. another pair of girls i have no particularly strong feelings for, but i wanted to take a crack at them. 

thoughts behind their designs (mostly meiyui) below:

for kako i have little to say. i think her costume is generally fine. it has a decent color scheme, i like her jacket, and her weapon is fine. (i thought about giving her a “page turner” as a new weapon, but designs are so varied and generic that itd be hard to tell what it even was.) the “problem” i wanted to fix was mostly her asymmetry and the busyness of her design. definitely less busy than akira, but still. i also just have a vendetta against leg asymmetry, like with ren and to a lesser extent the amane sisters. so i gave kako ribbons on BOTH her legs, then went the extra mile and gave her geta sandals.

her colors are muted because i was playing around with hues and just found that they suited her better as a meek, kinda oldschool kid. i gave her a flower crown because of my aforementioned penchant for symmetry, and i thought it would be cute and fitting. in retrospect i shouldve just made them different flowers. as they are now, i think they are just okay.

in general kakos reimagination serves a couple specific purposes, and not much else. im not in love with it, but i think it suits her.

OKAY. MEIYUI. lets address the elephant in the room. she is almost unrecognizable. and to that i say, “fair.” a more faithful and modest meiyui redesign wouldve been much easier. here, ill tell you what id do: eliminate the dumb slit skirt and replace with leggings or pants. keep the top. trash the FUCKING miku sleeves to show off her genuinely pretty cool hand armor, which is designed well and matches akira. there, the costume is already better without much work. but its still uninspired. 

heres the issues i have with meiyui. lazy, unimaginative qipao thats just a stereotype of chinese dress. her colors are ALL the same, she is so uninteresting to look at, the eye is drawn nowhere. her silhouette is bland. too many frills. her weapon is honestly okay, but it doesnt really suit her, and it suits this reimagination even less. so i gave her a new one. “you also changed her hair,” you say. yes. no particular reason. i DID draw the longer braids, but found they looked stupid and erased them. i needed to keep the buns as one of two features that tell you this is still meiyui.

when i was looking up references for inspiration, my mind went a million places. traditional chinese dress, ancient chinese armor, pirate costumes, etc. eventually i struck gold when i rediscovered ching shih, a legendary chinese pirate queen who terrorized the seas. heres where i realized, “oh, i can play off of the ‘blue seas’ part of her family/wish.” so meiyui is modeled very heavily off of ching shih as a result. she wears the coat and armor heavily influenced by her and other chinese pirates of the time. for decorative flair, i gave her the belt portion of a shenyi. 

because she is now pirate/sea themed, i gave her a harpoon as a weapon. a rapier or other pirate sword couldve also worked. she still has belled sleeves, so the manner in which her doppel emerges still works. actually, i think delanna would look very nice paired with this version of meiyui. they are both made up of a dark patchwork of colors.

overall, i think this gives a good portrayal of a girl who is serious, pragmatic, slow to trust, but is still seen as a reliable, trustworthy, and honest member of her community. pirates can be either robin hood figures or full on menaces to society, which i think fits well with the evolution of the blue seas family over time. theres a bit of lawlessness in her design, but also the formality and dignity of a soldier.

thats all this round folks! team nanaka has received a full makeover except for nanaka herself.... who honestly i have no issues with lol, besides maybe an overabundance in magenta. ;P

[mxtantrights]

˚ · . · ✵PART THIRTY-ONE

HAWKINS, INDIANA

MARCH 1985

"Alright you and I are going to get slurpies, and we're gonna talk." Steve says by my side.

It would be very hard to deny that something was bothering me. It's been a few days since I saw her and it's like she's still here. Like she's still got a hold on me. A part of me wants to blame it on my monthly duty but I know there is no running from it.

I told my dad. And he did listen. And he did understand. Two people know that I've killed someone. Somehow telling people doesn't make living with the guilt easier though. Or seeing the looks on their faces easier to forget.

"Steve I'm not sure if I can tell you." I answer him.

He stops walking by my side for an off second. But then he's by my side again like nothing even happened.

"Do you want to tell me?" He asks me as we head out the double doors.

I do. I really want to tell him. He has been nothing but an amazing friend to me. It was like we were fast forwarding through the weird and awkward stuff and getting to the comfortable part. Where he knows what faces I make and what they mean. And I know to trust him.

"I do but I feel like it's- it might change us. It might change everything." I didn't know my voice would sound so small or I wouldn't have said anything.

I wait for his answer but instead I get his hand. I get his hand grabbing mine, squeezing. I stop walking in response and look down at our hands. So he stops too.

"Remember you said it was both of us. Steve and Jessie."

"Steve and Jessie."

-

I watch over Steve as he sits there. Completely still, not moving. I'm not even sure he's breathing. I knew I shouldn't have said anything. It was better without him knowing. Now he's gonna give me that look. He's gonna tell me it's not my fault.

He nods his head slowly to himself. He's still not saying anything. All I can hear between the two of us is the wind hitting the trees. He drove us up here on this sort of look-out spot. The slurpies were inside the car, probably watered down.

I start pacing, unintentionally. He wasn't saying anything. He wasn't saying anything at all but I knew what was coming. The look. That stupid look was coming and I didn't want to see it from him. I didn't want to see it ever again.

He's still not saying anything.

I keep pacing in front of him. Except this time it's different.

What if he doesn't want to be friends with me? What if he can't be friends with a killer? I was already enough with the experiment thing. And then the mother thing. And now I've told him that I killed someone.

Way to put your boot in your mouth Jessie! Just had to say something! Couldn't bite it down or fake being okay. I can't believe myself! I'm such an idiot. Life gives me good things and I ruin it. I bulldoze right over it!

What if he just leaves me here? Gets in his car and reverses out of here? Stops talking to me at school, stops talking to me. Stops hanging around-

I feel my arm being pulled, and I stop to look at him. Steve pulls me by my arm closer to him on the hood of his car with no words. It happens slowly, so slow I feel like my heart is about to jump out of my chest.

He pulls me close enough to wrap his arms around me. Then even closer. He's got his arms around me and one of his hands is rubbing circles into my back. The other is holding the back of my head. I can feel his chin resting on top of my head.

I'm struck with confusion and fear.

He didn't have that look on his face.

And he's not telling me it's not my fault.

"This doesn't change anything, Jessie." He says to me, and I can hear him very well because I've got my face on his jacket.

I put my hands around him now, letting go of the breath I know I was holding in. I can feel him breathing against me too. I wanna thank him. For being different with me. But I also don't know how to do that.

And I also can't because my face is smushed into his jacket.

I don't think I need to.

HAWKINS, INDIANA

MARCH 22, 1985

Why am I hiding out in the Byers bathroom? Nothing happened to me, everything fine. There's no opened gate, no demogorgon, no evil lab. Everything is okay and everyone I love is fine. So why is there this pain in my chest?

Like I'm hurting?

Why would I be hurting?

It's Will's birthday! All the kids are here. Me, Jon, Nancy and Steve are here. I'm pretty sure my dad and Hopper are going to drop in later.

Why am I hurting?

This is so stupid! I thought I was making progress here! Talking about my feelings with people, with my therapist. I thought I was finally letting go of everything! I can't believe I'm still in this place!

Why can't I get out of this hurt place?

-

I look behind me at my dad and his boss.

He and Hopper were cooking up something and I knew it. I could smell it. The last time my dad cooked up something for me I was singing at the valentines dance. As much fun as that was I don't feel in the mood to preform again.

It was fun, yeah.

That was when I thought I was getting over things. The realization hit me hard. I had thought that getting better meant going back to normal and letting go of everything. I mean that's what you see in the movies don't you?

Conflict resolution?

But after all the epic action scenes, after the movie credits roll, what happens then? Is a happy ending really that easy? And is it for everyone?

I walk though the front door and sit on the steps to the house.

I thought I would get sick and tired of hearing the emptiness and the crickets of Hawkins Indiana. All the stars that I could look up at and wish upon. The long roads, the two story houses. Past me is wishing that it would all just go back to the way it was.

And I'm doing the same.

I look up at the sky, the stars of the night.

Sure I could see stars in Texas. Not the same stars I see here, but they're stars. It was different back then, because I didn't have to wish on any stars. I didn't need them. Once I got here it was like I lumped them up together for myself.

So I could wish on one every night.

After that day in class where we learned about how many stars were in the sky I did.

"Hey Jessie."

I stop looking at the stars to see Will. The birthday boy. I watch him come towards me and take a seat right by my side. He was growing every single day. When I first got here and met him and he had that bowl but, he was still small.

They were all still small.

Now it's like he's- becoming a little man. Just like Mickey.

"You trying to escape for a little bit too?" I ask him with a knowing smile on my face.

He nods his head and looks up at the sky. "I love everyone but sometimes I just need a minute."

"Yeah I understand, kid. We all need a minute sometimes." I agree with him, looking up at the stars too.

Then theres a silence. Neither of us say nothing. Me and Will aren't alike. He went through something complete different than me. In no way can I compare the two situations. But it still left us with that feeling inside.

"I know how hard it must be to celebrate today." He cuts the silence.

He was really smart. I was hoping that it didn't show too much. Or that no one would say anything. It's like the elephant in the room. Or- the me at the birthday party. I really hope everyone doesn't see me as some precious piece of glass.

I look at him now, "I will celebrate everyone one of your guys birthday every single year. Just because I have a bad relationship with mine doesn't mean I can't do this with you guys."

He looks at me now, eyes right into mine.

"Are you sure?" The boy asks.

I can feel a tear threatening to fall from my eye. I really don't want to cry but I know if I keep on denying it it's not gonna do me any good. I also can't talk because I could literally fall apart like said piece of glass.

So I nod.

Will suddenly wraps an arm around my shoulder and leans his head against me. It's like- he knows that we're not that different from each other. Even though we are. It's weird and sweet. He's only a kid and he's so understanding.

"Hey did you hear that new song? It's by tears for fears?" I ask.

[lollytea]

What are your opinions about Jungle cubs? I loved that show as a kid!

hi hello!! thank u for humoring me!! i love getting asks about the stuff im currently obsessed with that nobody really cares about, it makes me feel valid! also i dont have well constructed opinions, i just have a very messy, manic head so i just babble all my thoughts. for that i am sorry 

im not gonna say jungle cubs is the best damn cartoon to hit the tv and maybe its just my own biased love speaking when i call it a good show but it means a lot to me personally. it brought me comfort as a little kid, i came back to it as a teen when i was feeling very alone and came back to it again as an adult just cuz of my recent love of baloo and talespin and needing something to keep me upbeat during the quarantine. 

and ive watched quite a few cartoons i loved as a kid that i dont really vibe with anymore. i tried rewatching gummi bears. its not my thing. but jungle cubs is?? really good?? its just so charming to watch. i love the expressive animation, i love the smooth flowing dialogue, i love the playful and naive tone it has of just a bunch of kids being kids, i love the depiction of these characters, i love the performance of the voice actors, i love the layers it adds to the original film. layers that were never intended to be in there in the first place but isnt that just the beauty of interpretation and ones own imagination. 

its such a formulaic concept isnt it. to take a classic show/movie and make its protagonists babies for a spinoff. but i dunno, i always got the feeling that whoever was the backbone of this story actually cared about the characters they were writing and took a sincere approach to it. 

they thought in-depth about how to devolve them from their current personalities in a realistic way and what aspects of themselves are so core to their being that they would have been ingrained since childhood. the cubs feel pretty three-dimensional and considering theyre cash grab spinoff babies, that is an amazing feat.

but also, i love it for the very very very simple reason of its really adorable. bagheera especially. to see such a stoic and levelheaded character in his earliest stage as a child just Hits for me. cub bagheera is clever, hes cautious, hes a little stuck-up, all traits he has in the movie. hes also not the best hunter, doesnt know how to roar yet, is a little cowardly, sorta awkward at times and is often trying to prove that hes the best even though hes aware that he is nowhere near the best.

like its easy to believe the kind of person he grows up to be but at the same time, its really interesting to see the more childish aspects of himself that he eventually matured past. and hes adorable dude! baby bagheera voiced by EG Daily is the sweetest goddamn thing, i love him so much 

also shere khan who is a fuckin doozy. hes very interesting in this too. everything about his attitude is reminiscent of a preteen who says mean things to you on voice chat while playing overwatch but if you tell him you’re gonna call the police on him, he starts panicking. thats shere khan’s vibe, a real edgy little tiger who thinks hes hot shit cuz he probably caught something bigger than a mouse like one time and its gone to his head. 

hes constantly stalking around, subtly bragging about what a natural predator he is. but at the same time, he’s still around?? hes still hanging around with the other cubs cuz hes ALSO a cub and likes to play around with other kids his age. and he fucking loves his friends. the amount of times he’s scared off bigger animals who were about to harm them. and its really sweet cuz they like him too. while his attitude is definitely annoying sometimes, they still consider him their friend and enjoy his company. its just wholesome. 

plus hes also pretty vulnerable as hes a cub. he doesnt stand a chance when they come across a grown animal as a threat. he gets scared just like the rest of them, hes just so arrogant that he never admits it. 

in fact the appeal of the show in general to me, is the vulnerabilities of all the characters that comes with being in their most immature state. they dont know any better when it comes to stuff. this show is real dumbass hours 

EVERYTHING about baloo is just great. he does not change even slightly. he is exactly the same except hes little and his voice hasnt broke yet. his child voice is amazingly fitting also.

i mean i guess one thing that differentiates him is adult baloo had some semblance of a philosophy. he was wise....in a way. baby baloo does not know shit about shit. he does not think. he just vibes, okay?? i love him mwah

i dont have much to say about the others but i DO like this interpretation of them more than their adult selves. it also just feels bittersweet that they grew up to be such dicks. Haithi is lovely, i love that hes just out here TRYING to be a colonel but he lacks the authority that comes with being a grown elephant and he doesnt have the self confidence to command anybody yet. he is simply babey.

 louie is a very cute little dude, i love him and baloo as just an idiot squad. he also has a very good voice

kaa.....i dont trust. on one hand, hes very sweet as a child but on the OTHER HAND he grows up to be the creepiest fucking creation disney has ever put in a movie so that snake will always rub me the wrong way even when im trying to like him. 

also ONE THING thats driving me crazy about this show is like. it has the best depiction of pre-adolescent boys that i have ever seen in a cartoon ever. just the way they behave. theyre sweethearts one minute, extremely mean the next minute, going from building eachother up to lightly bullying eachother, lots of unprovoked play fighting, laughing over dumb shit, rude to strangers for no goddamn reason, theres just a lot. 

it fuckin knocked me back like 15 years cuz it reminded me so much of kids i used to play with. and these arent even human children whose brain development is documented, these are animals, this show had no business being this spot-on.

i dont like season 2. it has a few gems here and there that i get a kick out of. but as a whole, its really disappointing. since the show swapped production companies, they seemed to uproot it completely and start from scratch. and its kinda sad cuz i think they were TRYING to do something poignant when it came to a future narrative but it just didnt land. firstly there was a huge animation downgrade and looking at the two season in comparison is kinda depressing. 

also they redesigned the characters, some looked worse than others. baloo looked fine but i still preferred his og look. bagheera....was the worst. rip bagheera. 

they all underwent a huge personality change. and not in the way that showed subtle maturity, i mean a vapid exaggeration of their original personality. the only characters who were left relatively alone in this regard were baloo and kaa. and i dont mind gradually changing a character since there IS an adult version of them that they should be growing into. but the season 2 depictions are literally the furthest things from their adult selves that its unbelievable.

 another pet peeve is they changed a few of the voice actors and.....i love these season 2 voice actors in other work theyve done. dee bradley baker and cree summer specifically who are both very talented people. but they did not fit these roles in the slightest. (not to mention having cree summer play an APE and suddenly having her do a LOT of monkey noises that the previous va never had to do. im not gonna get into all that BUT hmm.) and if youre gonna recast the characters to make them sound “older” as least make them sound somewhat similar to the jungle book actors, so you can picture them eventually growing into those voices. 

also the tone shifted so much between seasons. the way they tried to make this jungle more of a “society” with shit like talent shows and sports games and celebrities and like fuckin. STOP. theyre animals. just let them be animals. along with that the writing just feels really off and its just. not fun. i dont like it 

and as i mentioned, they WERE trying to do something here. the fact that the cubs didnt hang out with eachother as much and were starting to drift apart is kinda sad and wouldve liked it see it handled a little better. but instead i got season 2, which was stupid. and im 21 and im petty. 

anyway i am very sorry that ended so negatively and im very sorry that rant was completely all over the place i have no sense of proper organization i just wanted to gush about what i love. but on a positive note i love jungle cubs!! its very dear to my heart and makes me very happy and i wish it had gotten more episodes

[seduceme-lovestruck-thearcana]

Can you do a short story where Diego MC wakes up one morning completely blind despite her being able to see perfectly fine the day before and finds out its permanent? Put as much angst as possible please

Definitely!! I hope you enjoy it! If not, tell me and I’ll try again. Also, I’m not sure how blinded works. I looked it up and it said they see nothing...so I’m assuming darkness. Sorry it wrong anyone-

She went to bed that night like normal. She’d change into her night time clothes, take her glasses off, cuddle up next to Diego, and would fall asleep while Diego runs his fingers through her hair. She would always be happy when she woke up, but this time...she wasn’t happy at all.

She was devastated. Heartbroken. Angry. Confused. Emotions were all in her head when she woke up. Mainly because...she couldn’t see anything.

She knew she opened her eyes, but all she saw was darkness and nothing else. She thought she was having some weird fevor or just something going wrong with her (since she wasn’t the most healthy eater or anything), but no. It turns out she was completely blind.

When she did wake up and realized all this, she let out a gasp and sat up in the bed. She was scared to move but turned her head to where Diego would be. She couldn’t see him, but she heard him say, “MC? Is something wrong?” It’s like he knew something was wrong. Maybe he could see panic in her eyes even if she couldn’t see anything. She nodded and her breath quickened. She heard the bed creak and felt a hand on her shoulder. She couldn’t help but jump a bit at the feeling.

“I can’t see anything, Diego. I can’t see!” She almost screamed the words out, panicking and feeling scared. She closed her eyes multiple times, but the darkness never cleared. She couldn’t see Diego in front of her, his eyes turning to worry, his face holding a frown, and him reaching to put a hand on her cheek.

“Can you see absolutely nothing?” She nodded quickly and her breaths stayed fast paced. She felt him take her hands in his and rub his thumbs on her knuckles. “This doesn’t make sense.” It didn’t make sense to her either.

Because she couldn’t see, he helped her get changed into her normal clothes so he could take her to an eye doctor. He was patient with her being scared and confused. Never yelling or having annoyance in his voice. He was calm and helped her walk to the truck and helped her feel a bit safe and comfortable. If he felt like she was panicking, he’d kiss her on her forehead and take one of her hands, squeezing it to remind her that he’s there. Knowing he was there and not gonna leave her comforted her.

Once they did get to the doctor, he walked her in patiently, always keeping an eye out for anything. He’d make sure she didn’t trip, run into a wall, and would help her when she needed to do anything. Once they got into the room and the doctor came in, he gave her the news that yes. She was completely blind.

It broke her heart when she heard the news. She kept hope that maybe should get something to help her, but there wasn’t treatment for this. She was blind now and she didn’t know how to adjust to it. However, Diego assured her that he would always be there for her. She knew that he would, but hearing it come from Diego really helped her.

After she got home, she had to talk to Havenfalls Finest and break the news. Razi was the one she was a little afraid to tell. Her whole job needed her to see. She had to help the few people that came in, serve them drinks if they wanted any, and needed to see to clean up. Now that she couldn’t do that, she felt so much guilt and sadness. He reassured her it was okay and that she couldn’t feel guilt at all, but it still hurt a lot. She couldn’t see any of them, but she could hear in their voice that they felt so much sympathy and was always there for her if she needed anything. They talked about how instead of typing in their number, she could set it up so she could say “call Razi” or call any of the other crew in the Havenfalls Finest.

And when Grace heard the news, she felt so sad. She had to come and see her sister to help her and comfort her as best as she could. She felt guilt even if it wasn’t her fault. She loved her sister and was so sad because something she needed was taken away from her and there was no explanation. However, they always tried to keep the subject away from the elephant in the room. They talked about university and how Gwen and her are doing. She may not be able to see her sisters face, but she knew she was blushing when she mentioned Gwen. It made her feel really happy.

But the one thing that really ruined her, was the way she couldn’t see Diego anymore. One thing she loved so much was looking at Diego. Seeing the way he had love clear on his face, the way he watched her work and looked so in awe, the way he would stroke her cheek and have so much happiness in his gaze, and the way he just looked at her. She knew he was probably still looking at her with love and was Lovestruck, but the fact she couldn’t see it anymore hurt her so bad. One night, she was crying because it hit her. She was sitting on the bed and was having a breakdown.

Diego obviously heard her and asked her what was wrong. He turned her towards him and wiped her tears off of her face, kissing her cheeks. She hiccuped in between her cries, but eventually told him, “It’s just...it hurts so much because I can’t see you anymore.” His heart broke a little at that response. He never really noticed how she always looked back at him. Mainly because she was a little shy to let him see it, but she always did it. He kissed her forehead in response and laid his forehead against hers. “MC. I will always look at you with the same love I did before. Just because you can’t see me and that I have to help you, it doesn’t mean I don’t love you like I did before.”

His words helped her a little bit and made her not feel as sad, but it was still there. She still felt the sadness at never being able to see Diego again, but she would learn to deal with it.

After awhile, she decided that she wanted to learn Braille. She knew it was something that many people who couldn’t see well would use to read. She was always interested in it, but now she could learn it and had to learn it. MC felt a little anxious to learn, but Diego actually learned with her. He wanted to help her if he ever had to write a note to talk to her or wanted to let her read something. They both enjoyed the class and MC felt a little more confident at dealing with her blindness.

When he left to go to work, he would wale her up in the morning and tell her where some microwaveable food was. He’d make a note in Braille and, since she knew the layout of the house, she could use the microwave with ease. Obviously, it would be a little difficult to see what she was actually heating up, but she usually knew and it made things easy for her.

Every day she got better and better dealing with this. And every morning she woke up, she felt blessed to be in the arms of her love. She knew he was always smiling at her and looked at her with love and it really helped her a lot. She knew she would get through this.

Okay! I hope you like it! I think it’s pretty good, so I hope you like it!! If not, tell me and I’ll try again with something else. Thanks for coming to my ask box🥺❤️❤️. Also, theres no proofreading, sorry. It’s late and I wanna post it now, so sorry-

[jj-stein]

anti used jamesons body to torture henrik, and used henriks body to hurt and interact with jamie, but neither of them ever got to meet the people that anti was using. anti never told hen or jamie each other’s names or really explained who they were, partly because he just didnt care, and partly because he wanted to give the illusion that it was his body, and not him possessing someone.

henrik had no clue who anti was using, he had never seen jamie before and didnt know who this lost ego was, but he also never blamed him for what happened to him because henrik knew that he wasnt here with anti voluntarily. anti did tell him a little bit about jamie, just because he doesnt have many people who he can gush about his puppet to, and learns that the poor guy cant speak (which explains why antis ‘voice’ is super scratchy and why he keeps spitting blood), that hes been with anti his entire life, that hes this objectified and completely isolated person who henrik doubts has ever had any freedom or choice in his life. anti considers him a ‘birthday gift from jack’ or his ‘roommate’ and has referred to him as his pretty doll or his personal little whore or his darling baby boy, but never letting his name slip.

but henrik couldnt help but think about him, and to distract himself from the crippling despair and pain he’d wonder about who that poor man was, what his name was, where he came from, what his personality was like, what he did all day while anti was gone, what his relationship with anti was, if he loved anti, if anti was kind to him. sometimes he heard footsteps over his head that sounded almost lighter than antis, but was too afraid to call up to him for help because anti would pin his mouth shut with safety pins if he heard him crying or yelling too loudly. he still daydreamed about calling up to the mystery man who lived upstairs, calling ‘hello! hello! my names henrik, my friends call me schneep, whats your name? are you lonely up there? are you happy? are you safe? i dont know you but i forgive you anyways for anything anti does to me and im sorry that you have to live like this’

and jamie never knew who anti was torturing and wearing all those months, but he knew that he was in pain and didnt want anti to hurt people or jamie with his hands and just wanted to go home, and jamie never held any of it against him no matter what anti did. of course jameson loved it when anti wore him, even if anti hurt him, because hes never really been held or touched or talked to by another person, but it was absolutely exciting to him to think about the fact that there was another person! in his house!! a real live breathing person like him!! he so very badly wanted to meet him, just to talk with another human being because he was just so lonely, but anti told him that he wouldnt want to meet the other man because he was a failure and was a doctor who killed people and was a miserable excuse for a human that wouldnt be worth the time to talk to. he wouldnt want to talk to jameson anyways, he’d hate him because he was just a body for anti and hes weird and mute and socially impaired and uninteresting.

but that didnt stop jamie from wanting to meet him, wanting to take care of him after anti hurt him, wanting to bring him food or blankets. or talk to him, or touch him, or be his friend. he wanted to be with another person so badly that he would press up against the locked basement door just so he could listen out for the man downstairs, closing his eyes and resting his head against the wood and pretending he was with him. hes fallen asleep on the floor, pressing his ear to the ground while he listened to him weep or cry out or sometimes even sing quietly to himself. he wanted to knock on the floor to get his attention, or whistle down the vents so he knew that he wasnt alone, that there was someone upstairs thinking about him and wanting to be kind to him and wanting him to know how sorry jamie was that this was happening to him and that if he could help him he would in a heartbeat.

when henrik escaped, jameson was devastated that anti wouldnt be able to touch and talk to him anymore, and that there wasnt a person in his cold, lonely house anymore. he wasnt even friends with henrik, and he wanted to be happy that he managed to get away so he didnt have to suffer anymore, but it still broke his heart in a way that he couldnt really describe. and when henrik was safe back with his family, his mind free of antis grasp and his body free to heal, he couldnt help but feel a crippling sense of what he considered to be survivors guilt. he feels as if he should’ve found a way to take jameson back home with him, he was suffering just as much as henrik was, it wasnt fair that he had to stay with anti while henrik got to go home. he would stay awake at night crying to chase or jackie about the poor man that anti had been using for so long, about all the different ways henrik couldve done things differently to take him back home with him to safety, where he deserved to be after so long.

but when they both finally came home, when they learned each others names and could see each other as who they really are, they could scarcely look each other in the eye. besides anti, they were the only two people who really knew what happened to each other, and being faced with the biggest connection to their past was something they werent ready to face. they did not speak to each other, or look at each other, or want to be in the same room together because they were afraid for the longest time.

it took some time, and it took some courage, and eventually they were finally able to stand in front of each other and exchange a simple hello without bolting out of the room. and it was scary at first, of course, because they couldnt really ignore the elephant in the room forever, but once they got to talking, once they were able to open up a little, once they could finally learn who they really are, they found it was worth it. 

it was a catharsis that they didnt realize they needed, and finally relieved some of the painful weight that constantly hangs from their heads. theres no other feeling like when henrik can hold jameson close to his chest and say from the bottom of his heart im so, so happy that you’re here. theres no other feeling than when jameson can wrap a blanket around henriks shoulders while he falls asleep and say im so, so happy you’re here. among all the shit they have to deal with, at least they can have a little peace between themselves.

im so grateful that you’re here. im so happy you’re safe. im so thankful i get to finally know you.

[onceuponanaromantic]

SWAN LAKE BUT QUEER

Featuring: powerful badass gay sorceress, very Bi swan queen, bby swans who ship them to hell and back, and an entitled prince who gets smacked in the face at the climax by a horde of swans

(a ramble of an idea that started as messages from me to @a-blue-hoodie. not very coherent)

- the events of the ballet still start the same Prince is still an asshole Odette is looking for a way to break the curse put on her by von rothbart

- But here we also see Odile in the background

- Odile is of course.... a powerful sorceress and daughter of evil sorcerer dude

- But of course being daughter of evil sorcerer dude means that... the sorcerer only sees u as a tool to use to seduce whoever Odette manages to get to fall in love

- And to do household chores and like lesser basically

- Odile’s basically surrounded by ladies all the time and her dad doesn’t even entertain the possibility of like her not being straight so.

- I mean the only thing women are useful for is seduction and caregiving obviously

- And for being unfaithful to men apparently so that’s why they’ve been turned into swans

- Odile is very gay for the swan queen Odette

- She’s also very ignored by her dad and has become a pretty powerful sorceress but she’s a girl right so obv she can’t be like smart or anything acc to her dad

- So Odette is tryna get a dude to fall in love with her like the average girl cursed by an evil wizard do.

- Well average straight girl except Odette is kind of Bi for goth swan sorceress Odile

- But she’s a girl so obv that can’t be used to break the spell (/s)

- Actually she also hasn’t figured out that her feelings for Odile are not. Very straight feelings but hey. Girls gotta have her sexuality crisis

- So odette still meets the Prince who falls in love with her and she’s like okay cool! I can break the spell I have a Dude here this is True Love

- And odile who has never really expected odette to love her back is like ‘........I’m sad but good for u I guess’ with a healthy (not) dose of pining and bittersweet

- So the other swans are like... on one hand this might break the curse on the other hand, odile! And on the third and heretofore unnoticed hand, the Prince is kind of an entitled asshole to odette

- But odette needs to get to the palace right for the prince’s wife-picking ceremony so obviously the person she asks for help is like. Odile.

- Odile, who is a Good Friend, helps her and so as swans they all make their way to the palace even tho like obviously odile’s heart is like

- Dying inside

- Disaster gay odile is really sad just saying

- Anyway on the journey like odette realised that odile is a Very Good Friend who she thinks about kissing sometimes and has not-very-straight thoughts about

- But of course that’s Normal right everyone thinks their friends are very clever and very interesting and fun and also very strong and kind and maybe kissing her would be nice and

- Ok I’m imagining one of the younger swans odette confides to is like ‘... sounds like u have a crush on odile to me’

- And like just before they get to the palace like st one point lime odile falls asleep in odette’s lap and odette is like ‘.....WAIT SHIT IM BI’

- IM VERY BI FOR ODILE

- WHAT DO

- And then by then the journey ends right and they reach the palace only for odile’s dad to be an Asshole as he do

- So odile tells him ‘no I’m not doing that to odette’ and he gets all pissed and uses magic to force her

- odette comes in and sees the prince staring at odile and believing that odile is odette and she’s like. Oh.

- But it turns out that she’s more jealous of the Prince which causes a bi crisis along with yknow the other thing with the fact that obviously the Prince isn’t faithful

- the curse strikes and the Prince is all like ‘oshit’ and odile rips herself away as soon as she can break the enchantment that she’s been picking at the entire time

- And odette is like flying away and so they arrive at the lake and odile flies after her in black swan form

- And the other swans fly aft them of course like ey. EH WAIT MUMS COME BACK

- Becos obviously the other swans figured out that odile loves odette back and lime oh come on seriously. THERES A SOLUTION U DISASTER QUEERS

- and then they come in in time to see odile cradling odette and admitting that she’s in love with odette as she dies and that she’s been in love with odette for like years.

- while trying to break the spell using that loophole that technically it didn’t have to be a guy who loved odette

- And guess what

- The other swans help and

- Odile succeeds just as the Prince comes running and all aggressive galloping and loud declarations of love

- And Gallantry*

- So like the Prince comes in just in time to see odette in odile’s arms

- And obviously he’s like EVIL SORCERESS MUST KILL

- And the swans get in between them as he draws his sword and charges at her

- And he can’t get at odile becos the swans keep smacking his head and arms and legs

- So that there’s a lot of chaos

- See when a horde of swans descend on u it’s not fun

- And then to make things worse the sorcerer comes like ‘I TRACKED U HERE LET ME REJOICE IN UR SORROW’

- And odile is just like so tired at this point that she goes like ‘fuck off dad’

- And then like banished him becos

- She’s too tired to remember that she’s not allowed and can’t do that

- Becos actually the only thing really preventing her was she thought she couldn’t and her dad made her so hurt

- So she like thought she cldnt cos she cldnt when she was younger like

- Yknow that thing with like the elephants like if u tie them up Becos they’re young they don’t realise they can like actually do shit to break the ropes later

- But anyway so she banishes her dad and the Prince is being set upon by like a horde of angry swans who’s like ‘DONT FUCK UP OUR SHIP GETTING TO THIS STAGE TOOK EFFORT’

- Becos seriously odette and odile are like the mums of the swans the mums are FINALLY getting together come ON ASSHOLE UR NOT STOPPING THIS SHIT

- but anyway so it’s at this point that odette wakes up and she’s confused of course Becos she’s like

- Wait I thought I got cheated on last minute with my crush?

- And then she sees odile crying and she’s like

- Wait. What?

- And odile is like looking at her like she can’t believe it and is like ‘wait it worked? It worked!’

- And odette is just ‘wait. I just remember u saying u loved me or sth??’ And odile’s. ‘Yes I love u?? I love u for like years already??’ And odette’s like

- ‘WAIT HANG ON WHATS THIS CHANGE WHAT DO U MEAN MY CRUSH LIKES ME BACK’

- But obviously she’s just apparently been revived from the dead and she’s not just gonna question after like getting over shock so she just kisses odile

- Who’s so surprised that she falls over in a flailing black skirt and all

- And at this point the swans all leave off the Prince by being transformed back to human and are all cheering and catcalling

- and the Prince is like what the fuck and odile is like ‘MY CRUSH LIKES ME BACK IM TOO HAPPY TO DEAL WITH YOU NOW GET OUT’ and the Prince is just

- Pushed out of the area by her magic

- Helped of course by several swan maidens who think that he shld be really gotten rid off

- Also the Prince is really entitled like ‘I’m ur one true love! How dare u! She must have enchanted u!’ And the swans are like ‘yeah fuck off shoo’

- So the Prince is shoved back to his castle by force

- And the swans get their swan queen mum who’s happy to feed them and like mum and deal with estate issues and all and like powerful goth sorceress mum who’s powerful as shit and smart and also a hell of a nerd

- And who occasionally gets requested by like various groups of people who are honestly happier to deal with her than her dad

[caps-clever-girl]

jaime brienne actors au

jaime’s been an excellent actor on many tv shows. he’s practically world renowned.

his favourite and most frequent roles are in historical films - basically anything that requires a sword, and he does all his own stunts because he loves the training so much.

he’s recently taken a year and a half break from acting due to an on-set accident filming for his last role, where he lost his sword-hand.

he seems to be back on form to the public eye, but those he’s worked with before can tell that he’s different.

his next few roles all stay well away from anything that involves a sword - aside from a cameo for the sequel of one of his older films. they have to use a stunt double for one of the big fights and it burns him.

however someone finally makes him an offer he cant refuse. its a wonderful prom a director/producer team he’s worked with before and absolutely adores - not that he would ever tell them that, because its his brother and their best friend bronn.

they tell him that he wont be taking the leading role for once - they’ve already found someone that they’ve been wanting to work with for ages and they assure him that most of the big fighting scenes will be focused on her. his role will be more of a reluctant mentor.

when he meets her, he finds that he can take on this role perfectly since he hates her.

well, hate isn’t the right word. shes annoying, and not the prettiest, but she’s smart and stubborn and fun to mess with. but she hates his ‘mildly flamboyant star ways’ and he hates the fact that she’s so good at sword-fighting. she’s relentless about it. she has a drive and passion for it that jaime hasn’t seen on anyone except his reflection. she reminds him of himself before the accident, and thats just a remind her of what he lost.

most of all he hates her because she’s a reminder that he’s given up. not metaphorically - no, she literally doesn’t shut the fuck up about hit, telling him to get off his ass and do something about it instead of wallowing. it infuriates him because shes right, he has given up and he is wallowing, but its NOT that easy. it isn’t. and she’ll never understand what he’s lost.

but he gets pissed off seeing her obliterate everyone on the practice runs and is convinced that if he was back to his old self he could have destroyed her.

so he finds bronn - who’s background mostly consists of stunts and swordplay - and pretty much demands him to teach him left-handed sword-fighting so he can finally one up that prideful bitch. bronn agrees because he’s glad jaime’s finally trying to get out of his funk - and also because his and tyrion’s plan is working ;)

so jaime works and works and works. he gains a begrudging respect for brienne, but mostly he’s more interested about getting a rise from her than say, learning lines or basically doing anything she thinks he should be. by the time he’s confident enough that he can at least hold his own against her though, production wraps. he doesn’t get to fight her - most of the remaining scenes are dialogue based and filmed back to back - theres no time and no reason, since there are no more fighting scenes and no need to practice. and judging by the stilted goodbye she gives him, he’s pretty sure brienne never wants to see him again.

it irks him, that he didn’t get to fight her - didn’t get to properly say goodbye - and continues to do so even after the film comes out.

they see each other for the first time again at the premiere, having done promo stuff and interviews separately because of their differing schedules, and wow, isn’t that a shock. jaime’s never been a big fusser when comes to makeup - girls with, girls without he doesn’t really care. but he admits that brienne looks completely different all dressed up for events and it makes him look at her differently. to be honest, in sweats or grimed up for battle scenes, sweating and messy from training with swords and constant re-takes for hours on end every day, he probably didn’t look his best while they were shooting anyway. but he cant mention any of this, because whatever they attend, she mostly avoids him. he hates it.

finally, avoidance isn’t possible. the film does excellently - so much so that they are both invited to a charity event on live tv where they will participate in a skit. jaime agrees because it will be good for his career, the charity is actually a decent one, and because brienne will be there. she goes because its charity - who says no to that?

they get given a script, and thats when they discover that it’s a skit. the acting is meant to be bad, they don’t have to try too hard, they have to have fun, so the audience has fun. jaime thinks its a great idea. he loves his job, but it will be nice to relax while filming and not have to be so serious all the time, and purposefully acting bad will actually be a challenge.

the problem comes with brienne. she hates the script for their little group; hates that shes the damsel, hates the stupid dress and hates that she got stuck with the smaller part. most of all she hates the fact that she has to kiss jaime at the end.

shes miserable. and for once, jaime actually tries to do something about it - brienne style, not his own. he cracks jokes, but ones he knows brienne will find funny and not offensive. (well. not too much.) he brings her coffee and tea whenever he gets his own. he actually compliments her - which doesn’t go down well for some reason, so he takes to subtly giving her advice and direction and (genuinely) constructive criticism, which she takes much better to.

eventually things thaw, and they end up having a blast halfway through their rehearsal time, they actually start laughing, joking together like they’re friends. jaime loves it. he starts to wonder if brienne does too.

but she always shut’s down towards the end, like she remembers herself. he gets cold goodbyes and she doesn’t stick around once he gathers her stuff.

so like any good friend/crush/work-buddy/enemy, he follows her home one night. he knows the apartment number from her keyring and he stops off at a nearby store once he finds out the building. once he’s well supplied with coffee, hot chocolate and snacks, and enough stationary to fill his car, he turns up outside.

he doesn’t get a warm welcome, instead she demands to know what kind of creep thinks its alright to follow her home.

he admits that it wasn’t the best thought out plan, but he shows her his offering and tells her his intention: they are going to take their weekend and re-write the script into something that is still fun, but isn’t some well-recycled misogynistic fairy tail princess and knight story that everyone and their great grandma has seen a million and one times.

she agrees. and doesn’t waste any time telling him that it would be much easier to use a laptop than write it out by hand.

he feels like an idiot. (especially when he remembers how god awful his left handed handwriting is and that he’d’ve probably had to make her do the writing anyway.) but it makes her laugh so thats alright.

things are frosty at first - but brienne has clearly been thinking about this pretty much since they got the original script handed to them, so she immediately launches into her idea and starts writing.

they agree to mostly keep everybody else’s parts the same, since its not fair to them to get a script change halfway through.

the stationary does get used - mostly for planning and idea scrapping. brienne is impressed by the collection of highlighters he amassed for going through the old script, and he lets her keep them. shes genuinely really happy about that.

and THATS the moment that he realises he’s in love with this sword nerd geeking out over four different 5 pack of highlighters.

eventually they call it a night. they’re both tired, and they have most of the script outlined and some parts already re-written. they can probably finish it completely by tomorrow.

brienne offers jaime the use of her couch for the night, since its early-late enough that theres no use in him going home if he’s just going to come back tomorrow.

it takes him by surprise, and he says. “such a kind offer m’lady. and here i thought you didn’t like me.”

and just like that, the easy atmosphere vanishes - as does brienne’s smile.

jaime realises he’s fucked up by finally talking about the elephant in the room. but they’ve had fun today, and even if she doesn’t like him like That, he wants to be friends. at least, he wants to know why she hates him. so he asks.

she hates that he talked down to her for most of the shoot. she thinks he doesn’t respect her. he hates that he can just wander about, doing what he wants - if she did that, she’s be blasted as unprofessional. she says that the women she knows had to work twice as hard as the men to get taken seriously in their line of work, and she’s had to work twice as hard as them - she’s not as pretty, she’s too tall and too brutish. shes lucky that she actually wanted to be in the kind of roles she does, they’re the only thing shes really suited for. and even then, she had to work so hard just to prove that she knew what she was doing, that she could fight. her earlier job quizzed her on all parts of the armour she would have to wear - and she knows for a fact that her co-workers hadn’t been asked that.

she says that all those things he said to her - about her height and her hair, the constant reminders that he was better than her, that he could take her even though they never actually fought, made her hate him. she was disappointed because she had heard so many good things about him - his passion, his drive, his devotion to the role - and had been disappointed by the arrogant prick who took everything for granted and avoided his responsibilities.

jaime responds that he was always like that - at least the last part. if she wanted the first part too then she should have done a film with him before he lost his hand. theres a lot of bitterness there, more than brienne expected, and she doesn’t know what to say.

so jaime speaks instead. he says how much of his role depended on his hand and how no one understood how fucking awful it was losing it because it was practically his identity. it was all well and good people telling him to go for other roles, but he enjoyed the ones he had - thats why he took them. thats why he hated having stunt doubles. in the past he just really wanted to do it himself. now it just reminds him that he cant do that shit any more. he tells her that a lot of that was why he was so difficult with her; he was jealous. jealous of her skill, and that she could still do what he couldn’t.

he acknowledges that he was a prick. he explains that most of it was just teasing, trying to get a rise out of her. he didn’t know how much it was actually getting to her since she never showed it and always gave as good as she got. he admits that he is self-absorbed; but he does try to look out for the women on the set. his sister used to be treated like shit on the sets she worked until she quit, but she had never shown or said anything about it, he hadn’t noticed because she seemed fine enough that he didn’t look for it.

she says thats because she was lucky in that set; the only problem was him. he’s fucking mortified and apologises profusely. he tells her that he does respect her - very much in fact. he admires her skill greatly and he admits that he knows that his brother bronn want to do more with her. he tells her he likes her, he’s seen her as a friend for most of the time even though she hated him, and she admits that she has had fun with him. when he’s not being an ass he’s fun to be around, and when he’s not being a cock he does seem to understand her. they get along well when they aren’t at each other’s throats.

they resolve to be friends, now that they’ve aired so much stuff. the air is still heavy, but jaime finds it more like the air after a long rain. thick and heavy but with the sun already starting to come through the clouds.

she lends him some sweatpants and a shirt to sleep in. they’re both too big and he plans on stealing them the next morning.

(spoiler alert: he doesn’t even change out of them the next day. when the script is done and he has to leave, she doesn’t even ask for them back and he leaves in them, a very very happy man.)

they take the script’s out to the show’s producers the next day and are impressed, particularly since the only major changes are to their own lines. any prop changes are small and require no additional cost, and there are no additional backgrounds or anything like that. everything gets the green light.

rehearsal goes so much better after that; their acting improves as it worsens and the two of them love it. brienne has a blast - finally able to loosen up properly and stay that way, no longer running out the door to avoid jaime. instead, they hang around while they pack up and hat. sometimes they go get dinner or a coffee afterwards, or go back to hang at brienne’s - since it’s nearer. jaime still hasn’t returned the clothing he stole. in fact, he steals more.

(thats fine though, because his favourite fleece plaid jacket and mustard yellow hoodie have been nabbed in return)

by the time the live production roles around the two of them are practically joined at the hip.

everything goes wonderfully. jaime, the dashing knight, manages to get to the princesses tower by ‘fighting’ anything in his way - aka being saved by multiple unrelated but coincidental things like falling branches and dragon’s being afraid of mice while jaime trips over his own sword - and when he gets there and shouts for the princess; gets told “MOVE.”

brienne, having ‘shorn off’ her massive plaid of hair before jaime got there, throws it down and uses it to rappel to the ground. jaime says hes come to rescue her, to which brienne replies that she ‘can to that myself, thanks.’ and reveals shes only been in the tower for a day. she rips off the tear-away bottom of her dress, picks up a sword, and proceeds to kick the ass of everything that comes their way after - including, of course, a bear - as she basically becomes jaime’s escort to the city and keeps him from getting killed.

then comes the big issue. the kiss scene, which they’ve never practiced because they both avoided so well that they hadn’t realised they hadn’t practiced until the moment they have to do it live on air.

it makes the final scene EXTREMELY awkward - which is Very Obvious and the audience finds absolutely hilarious - as they both realise and both Panic...

until brienne says in a very loud voice: “oh screw this” and grabs jaime by the fake leather doublet and essentially snogs the shit out of him - to the point where jaime has to scrabble to get hold of her and keep his balance and spends most of the kiss severely off balance on his tiptoes trying not to fall over.

the show gets the most donations ever recorded for that particular programme.

jaime and brienne’s newest film - which is brienne’s first production credit, since bronn and tyrion insisted she help write the script after finding out about her work on the last one - is a spy comedy that has brienne playing the lead role of the spy, and jaime has the wonderful role of the villain that falls very obviously head over heels in love with her and leave his evil ways behind - but not without bringing some tips and tricks to defeat the True villain of the film.

principal filming takes place the day they get back from their honeymoon, where they wrote a script for a knight movie that features jaime as the best knight getting his ass handed to him by brienne, and spending the rest of the movie trying to marry her. turns out that being a very lovestruck idiot is a role jaime suits rather well.

[laurens-lil-fics]

Hallucinate - Matt Murdock x Powered! Reader Part 4

Series Summary: When members of a criminal organization start flooding precincts all over New York, turning themselves in, Daredevil must investigate to see what new player has them running for the hills.

Chapter Summary: A couple days of radio silence makes Matt worry his new partner may do something rash. His solution? A sushi dinner downtown. But an uninvited guest could turn the whole night around.

Word Count: 2597

Warnings: Major angst, cursing, kidnapping

Author’s note: I thought this chapter would be hella short but it is, in fact, hella long. Dont worry, yall will get some answers soon. 

The third time was, in fact, not the charm. Neither was the fifth, or the seventh.

By the eighth call, (Y/n) finally answered, mumbling a simple command to leave her alone before hanging up.

Matt sighed deeply, repressing the urge to throw the burner phone out the window and start scouring the city for her heart beat.

It had been two days since the incident at the docks. She had refused to let him try to get her to ‘her place,’ insisting she didn’t trust him with that information.

When he tried convincing her to let him treat her wound she only pushed him away, eventually using what little energy she had left to fly off and leave him in the shipping container where they had taken refuge.

Both Daredevil and Matt Murdock hadn’t heard from (Y/n), which understandably put him on edge. 

Karen insisted it was because he had taken the charade too far and let himself get close to her.

He insisted it was because someone powerful enough to rip a yacht in half was on the loose in Hell’s Kitchen, unsupervised and seething. 

She had the addresses of the warehouses Mr. Mackie tipped Matt off to, she could have easily gone on her own to find Blum and kill him. Shit, he was probably dead already.

Groaning to himself, Matt ran his fingers over the case file he was supposed to be reading for a fourth time. He was too distracted to focus on anything that didn’t have to do with (Y/n) or Blum or anyone else involved with the two of them.

By the time he had forced himself to finish the case file, it was already noon.

He reached for his personal phone this time, deciding a call from Matt Murdock was the better approach. On the third ring she answered.

“Hello...?” Her voice was raspy, worn, like she had been crying or screaming, maybe a mixture of both.

“Hey stranger...” he smiled to himself, hearing her chuckle over the line, “haven’t heard from you in a while... everything okay?”

He could’ve sworn he heard her mumble something about him being mindreader before she responded. “Yeah... I’ve just had a lot on my mind and I haven’t felt like talking to anyone...”

“Well if it’ll help, I’m free tonight... Maybe venting about it will help you feel better?” He offered, his fingers tapping anxiously against his desk as he awaited her response.

“I dunno...” she sighed, “It’s a lot... and I don’t wanna bore you with the details. I’m not one to dump my problems onto other people.”

That would explain her reluctance to work with him.

“It’s not ‘dumping your problems’ if I’m offering to let you vent to me... plus as a lawyer, any and all ability to get bored was beaten out of me at law school.”

(Y/n) chuckled again, then the line went quiet. Matt didn’t break the silence, hoping she was taking that time to consider his offer.

“Where did you wanna meet...?”

Matt smiled softly, leaning back into his chair. “Theres this sushi place downtown, it’s small but the foods good... you eat sushi?”

“When it’s in my budget, yeah.” she responded.

Matt assured her he would cover it, though it took some convincing on her part to allow it. Once he gave her the address, he hung up. Now he just had to come up with a line of questioning that would be the most inconspicuous. 

Matt arrived just a couple minutes before (Y/n), worried if he showed up late even by a minute it would rub her the wrong way.

Why was he so worried? He told himself she’d open up to him more if she was in a good mood; that she’d be less likely to kill someone if he put her in a good head space.

From his moist palms he knew he was lying to himself.

He heard her walking up the block towards the restaurant, but still acted surprised when she lightly bumped him before telling him hello.

He could hear the fabric of a skirt brushing over her knees, the light click of her kitten heels, and he could smell just a hint of sweet perfume lingering on her skin.

“It’s a little more casual than I expected...” she trailed off, leaning a bit more into Matt as they entered the restaurant. 

“I’m sure you look beautiful... no one’s really going to mind if you come in a bit overdressed.” he assured her. He realized he had called her beautiful once he felt the heat rise to her cheeks. Matt Murdock sucked at playing it cool.

The two sat down in the corner of the restaurant, neither really knowing how to start the conversation once they had ordered their drinks.

“Okay... then I’ll start...” Matt cleared his throat, leaning in closer to her, “I haven’t known you very long... but you’re very sweet... I enjoy spending time with you. I just want to do what I can to make sure you’re alright... and I can’t do that if I don’t know what’s going on with you...”

The waitress interrupted them, bringing them their drinks and jotting down their orders, (Y/n)’s heart hammering in her chest the whole time.

Once she had left, (Y/n) sighed softly began fiddling with the wrapper from her straw.

“You know how I told you I went to school for photo journalism?” the nod from Matt prompted her to continue. “I never graduated... When I was working on my degree one of my professors told me I’d have to go out and take pictures for a big story if I wanted a real job... so I did...”

Matt cocked an eyebrow at this, “And what did you find?” he pressed.

“Nothing good...” She mumbled, glancing around the room, “I found out this company that had branched into the city my college was in... it was doing a lot of really shady stuff... But once they found out what I had they made my life hell.”

She stopped there, why she refused to say more, Matt didn’t know.

“And that made it harder for you to attend classes?”

(Y/n) hummed in agreement, her voice wavering for a moment.

“Part of me knows I did the right think trying to find the truth... but I also know if I hadn’t seen what I did my life would be so much easier... I wanna go back to school, I wanna finish my degree, but no one will hire me without it and I can’t pay for school without money... I ruined my own life...”

“That’s not true... Hey, it’s not true.” He reached forward, searching for her hand for a moment before gently holding it in his. 

“You did what you thought was right... you didn’t make that company do whatever it is they did, you didn’t force their hands. You only tried to expose it so people wouldn’t get hurt.”

(Y/n) was silent, save for a couple soft sniffles here and there. Matt could tell she was trying to fight back tears, had he known this was under the hard exterior he had seen during his nights with her as Daredevil, he would have opted to talk with her somewhere more private.

“You’re a lawyer... What do you do when the bad people don’t get what they deserve...? What do you do when you know they’ve hurt people, that they deserve to be punished, but they just... they’re not?”

Matt would be a hypocrite to tell her it was best to turn the other cheek. Shit, he spent his nights in a devil costume beating up people who got away with whatever crimes they had committed. People who the justice system just couldn’t stop.

But he also couldn’t tell her to keep fighting them, that could set something off inside her head, something that would give her that good old Frank Castle mentality.

“I may not look it, but I’m a praying man... sometimes you just have to pray that someone else will step in and give those people what they deserve.” That was a happy middle, right...?

(Y/n) slowly pulled her hand away, the sound of her wiping at her eyes not lost on him. “Sometimes prayers aren’t enough...”

Matt shrugged his shoulders, a soft sigh escaping his parted lips. “You’re right... but it’s still important to have hope... otherwise what they did to you will eat you up for the rest of your life and you’ll never move on.”

She seemed to be pondering what he said, all while refusing to look at him. All that pain, all that anger, Matt knew as well as anyone it wouldn’t go away in one night. But maybe this was a step in the right direction.

This time, she reached over, taking hold of his and giving it a gentle squeeze. She murmured a small thank you, to which Matt returned the intimate gesture and brushed his thumb over her knuckles.

The two frantically adjusted themselves once their food arrived, Matt was a bit ashamed that he had lost him composure the way he did.

The conversation became more lighthearted as the meal progressed, a great weight having been lifted off the two of them once they finally addressed the elephant in the room, or at least the elephant that only Matt seemed to be aware about.

This whole time Matt had been trying to figure out why (Y/n) had been after this Blum character, trying to find a way to ease her out of feeling like she had to kill him. Now he had a vague sense of what had happened, and was comfortable knowing his words had some sort of impact on her.

“So you really took Greek to impress a girl...? Guys really do that?”

Matt laughed and scratched at the back of his head, feeling bashful at the mention of Elektra and the lengths he had gone to so he could win her over.

“Yes, guys do that, Ms. (L/n). You’d be surprised just how many guys do, I bet you dated a guy back in the day who did the same thing.”

(Y/n) snorted at his assumption and washed down her last bite of fish with a gulp of her water. “God, now that you mention it I actually-”

“(L/n)? (Y/n) (L/n)?”

A voice from across the room caught their attention, and curiously sent (Y/n)’s heart beat skyrocketing. Matt didn’t have a good feeling about this.

“Little (Y/n)!” The person exclaimed with glee. He approached (Y/n), something Matt imagined would have had her up and shoving this stranger away. Instead she sat there, petrified.

“Never expected to see you in New York, why didn’t you give your old uncle a call?” 

(Y/n) remained silent as this man put his hands on her, giving her an awkward side hug before glancing Matt’s way.

“Is this your new boyfriend?”

“No, he’s not-”

“I’m Marcus, Marcus Blum, (Y/n)’s uncle.” The man introduced himself. Matt felt his blood run cold.

“Matthew Murdock.” His response was curt and to the point. He knew he should have put on a facade, pretended to not sense (Y/n)’s discomfort and played the role of the oblivious date.

But right now (Y/n) was a time bomb, and Matt would do anything to avoid lighting that fuse.

“Mr. Murdock, would you mind if I borrowed my niece for a moment? We need to catch up on family matters.”

Before Matt could even respond, Blum had his hold on (Y/n) and was leading her towards an empty corner of the restaurant.

The worst part was, she willingly stood from her chair, staring at Matt the whole way there like a fish out of water, pulled from the ocean.

“Don’t try anything,” Blum began, all traces of his cheery tone thrown to the wind, “one wrong move and you’ll be pumped full of lead in seconds.”

That meant there were people in the restaurant who worked for him, who had been watching them, probably listening in. They must had been very efficient, Matt hadn’t heard anything suspicious since their arrival.

“They’d never pull the triggers fast enough... not fast enough to save you, at least...” She murmured, pulling her arm from his grasp.

“I thought we’d agree you’d never come back to New York, (Y/n)... That your snooping days were over.”

“I don’t know what your talking about-”

“Don’t play dumb with me!” he snapped, checking his tone once the few people in the restaurant who weren’t on his payroll looked in their direction. “Who else could rip a yacht in half like that...? Who else would send my people scrambling into jail cells?”

“Maybe you pissed off the wrong person... and they’ve come for revenge... Maybe all the people I found years ago have returned as spirits... come to settle their scores.” She grumbled. Though her voice was level and her chest puffed, her heart beat was drowning everything out for Matt.

Blum leaned in close, whispering in her ear. “If you have any sense... you’ll leave New York tonight. Otherwise your boyfriend is going to learn first hand about everything you’ve lied to him about.”

(Y/n) states silent, her strong stature faltering as she looked away from him and towards Matt.

“I’m glad we could have this talk...”

With that, Blum brushed past her and sat at the table he had been occupying. It suddenly felt like all eyes in the restaurant were on Matt and (Y/n) once she returned to their table. 

To (Y/n)’s insistence, they payed the bill and hastily left the restaurant.

Roughly 30 minutes after (Y/n) left Matt at his apartment, having said their goodbyes, he received a call from her on the burner phone. The second he answered, she was rambling a mile a minute in his ear.

“If we’re going to make a move it has to be tonight, can you meet me at the warehouse on the east side?”

Her voice had lost its steely edge, it was clear she had cried during the walk to wherever she was staying since she wasn’t bothering to mask her voice at this point.

“Slow down, we need to make a proper plan of attack before we go in there-”

“There’s no time for a plan!” she interrupted, “They’re threatening innocent people, people who know me! We need to find Blum and take him out before it’s too late!”

Matt could hear keys rustling in the background, as if she was struggling with a door before bursting into her room. 

“(Y/n), let’s just think about this. If we slow down we have a better chance of catching Blum.” Matt, who was preoccupied with going to his closet for his suit, hadn’t even noticed his slip up.

The line was dead silent for a moment, Matt almost called out to her, nervous the call had dropped.

“...How do you know my name...?”

Fuck.

“A-are you with them? How the fuck do you know my name?!” 

Matt began to panic, trying to think up an excuse on the fly, something convincing.

“Answer me, asshole! How do you know my-!” 

The sound of the phone clattering to the floor had Matt wincing away from the speaker pressed to his ear. What followed was the sound of something heavy thumping right beside the device. His knuckles turned white from how hard he gripped the flip phone, realization dawning on him once he realized what had happened.

All he heard next was the sound of heavy footsteps approaching the phone before the line went dead.

Tag List:

@sisterwinchesterwriter

[tatticstudio55]

Daenerys as an anti-Cinderella?

Another asoiaf/fairy tales meta

It’s always fun to wonder which fairy tales goes best with which asoiaf characters (especially the girls, for some reason). For Sansa and Arya, the references are overflowing. With Dany it’s… trickier. Only two – or maybe three – classic tales really fit. Two of those I’ve already talked about in previous posts (Thumbelina and The Fire Bird). There are some general “clues” pointing to Cinderella…

-Viserys, the Anastasia & Drizella duo to Daenerys’s Cinderella

-In ADWD, Cleon the “butcher king” of Astapor make a marriage offer to Daenerys and gift her with a pair of slippers, but

Irri slid the slippers onto Dany’s feet. They were gilded leather, decorated with green freshwater pearls. Does the butcher king believe a pair of pretty slippers will win my hand? “King Cleon is most generous. You may thank him for his lovely gift.” Lovely, but made for a child. Dany had small feet, yet the pointed slippers mashed her toes together.

-Cinderella is named as such for her habit of retreating close to the ashes-filled hearth once her work is done (from “cendres”, the French word for “ashes”). Bettelheim view Cinderella’s behavior as a product of sorrow and grief for her dead mother. For Dany, ash is also linked with sorrow and, first inverted trope, with the mother mourning her dead child:

She could feel the heat inside her, a terrible burning in her womb. Her son was tall and proud, with Drogo’s copper skin and her own silver-gold hair, violet eyes shaped like almonds. And he smiled for her and began to lift his hand toward hers, but when he opened his mouth the fire poured out. She saw his heart burning through his chest, and in an instant he was gone, consumed like a moth by a candle, turned to ash. She wept for her child, the promise of a sweet mouth on her breast, but her tears turned to steam as they touched her skin. – Daenerys, AGOT

There’s also the “Queen of ashes” nickname Dany is sometime dubbed with (more so in the show) and the fact that Cinderella herself is a “queen” of the ashes, somewhat (hence why she’s called “Cinderella”).

-Mirri Maz Duur is an inverted fairy godmother to Dany.

But these are details. Overall, Dany comes off as the anti-Cinderella of asoiaf. This becomes especially apparent in ADWD, where she’s, essentially, a glorified slave to her duties who dreams of escapes with her “prince charming”, i.e. Daario. This all reach a culmination point when she goes to the “ball”, i.e., the grand reopening of the Daznak’s pit. Unlike Cinderella, who’d give anything to attend the ball, Dany would give anything to skip it:

“Even if the pits must open, must Your Grace go yourself?” asked Missandei as she was washing the queen’s hair.

[…]

She would rather have drifted in the fragrant pool all day, eating iced fruit off silver trays and dreaming of a house with a red door, but a queen belongs to her people, not to herself. – Daenerys, ADWD

Whereas the ball meant dreams and freedom for Cinderella, for Dany, it’s the perpetuation of a nightmare. They both present themselves at the event under a veil: a literal one for Dany,

“And over it, the long red veils.” The veils would keep the wind from blowing sand into her mouth. And the red will hide any blood spatters. – Daenerys, ADWD

A metaphorical one for Cinderella, garbed so elegantly that her step mother and half sisters don’t recognize her. This idea of disguise is interesting. For a start, it contrasts with Dany’s refusal to put a veil between herself and Astapor in ASOS. To borrow Clapton’s words on Dany’s white garments in the show, the purpose of the veil is to “remove herself (Dany)” from the situation. Dany’s choice of clothes is a mean of non-attendance, while Cinderella’s costume allows her to go incognito and enjoy the moment. There is the contrasts of colors: Cinderella wears an immaculate, pure white dress (at least in the Disney version), whereas Dany wears yellow silk and a blood-colored veil. Finally, in some versions, the ball attended by Cinderella is a masked ball. This could be significant, since the reopening of the pits prove to be its own kind of masked “ball” (and even more so in the show, where the sons of the Harpy creep inside the pits wearing literal masks):

At the base of the Great Pyramid, Ser Barristan awaited them beside an ornate open palanquin, surrounded by Brazen Beasts. Ser Grandfather, Dany thought. Despite his age, he looked tall and handsome in the armor that she’d given him. “I would be happier if you had Unsullied guards about you today, Your Grace,” the old knight said, as Hizdahr went to greet his cousin. “Half of these Brazen Beasts are untried freedmen.” And the other half are Meereenese of doubtful loyalty, he left unsaid. Selmy mistrusted all the Meereenese, even shavepates.

“And untried they shall remain unless we try them.”

“A mask can hide many things, Your Grace. Is the man behind the owl mask the same owl who guarded you yesterday and the day before?

How can we know?”

“How should Meereen ever come to trust the Brazen Beasts if I do not? There are good brave men beneath those masks. I put my life into their hands.” - Daenerys, ADWD

Behind the drum marched Brazen Beasts four abreast. Some carried cudgels, others staves; all wore pleated skirts, leathern sandals, and patchwork cloaks sewn from squares of many colors to echo the many-colored bricks of Meereen. Their masks gleamed in the sun: boars and bulls, hawks and herons, lions and tigers and bears, fork-tongued serpents and hideous basilisks. – Daenerys, ADWD

In fact, some descriptions of the event, when taken by themselves, almost make it sound like there’s an actual ball happening inside the pit:

Across the pit the Graces sat in flowing robes of many colors, clustered around the austere figure of Galazza Galare, who alone amongst them wore the green. – Daenerys, ADWD

We could even dig further: dancing, in asoiaf, is often used as a euphemism for dying, or is used in scenes going heavy on the death-related subtext. What do people do in a ball? They dance. What do people do in the pits? They die.

“Barsena is very quick,” Reznak said. “She will dance with the boar, Magnificence, and slice him when he passes near her. He will be awash in blood before he falls, you shall see.” – Daenerys, ADWD

Cinderella’s ball is a dream and Dany’s “ball” is a nightmare, but both are woken from it, for the twelfth stroke of midnight will lift the charm. Fun fact, if I’m not mistaken, there were twelve fights planned that day: Khrazz, the Spotted Cat, a “Lysene youth with long blond hair”, an elephant, a bull, a mock battle, a folly with dwarfs, Barsena, a folly with old women and “three more matches”, according to Hzdahr… yup, that makes twelve. Each fight is a “stroke of midnight” for Dany, pulling her from the nightmare, urging her to wake up. At Barsena, she snaps. The charm falls, her carriage turns into a pumpkin and her gown into rags:

She lifted her veil and let it flutter away. She took her tokar off as well. The pearls rattled softly against one another as she unwound the silk.

“Khaleesi? ” Irri asked. “What are you doing?”

“Taking off my floppy ears.” – Daenerys, ADWD

In her haste to flee, she loses a shoe:

“Let me go!” Dany twisted from his grasp. The world seemed to slow as she cleared the parapet. When she landed in the pit she lost a sandal. Running, she could feel the sand between her toes, hot and rough. Ser Barristan was calling after her. – Daenerys, ADWD

The aftermath finds her alone in the grass sea, wearing literal rags (again, not unlike Cinderella), in a dream-like state and wondering what just happened. Unlike Cinderella, Dany has no desire to relive the ball and would much rather stay where she is, with her rags and her animal companion. Both girls experience an unpleasant return to reality. Cinderella must go back to being a slave to her step-mother and half-sister, while Dany knows she must go back to Meereen (which doesn’t quite work out, but).  

Yet for everything nightmarish about it, the reopening of the fighting pits meant something Dany deeply dreamed for and desired: peace. No more bloodshed in the streets of Meereen. The safety of her people. She wanted it and she got it, until the whole farce blew up in her face and the pit of Daznak turned into a pumpkin. I think that’s when she realized it: that the peace was never real, that Hizdahr’s “peace” was an illusion (as many before me have pointed out), a veil that got lifted with the twelve death blows of the pit.

[mxtantrights]

˚ · · . · ✵ ✷PART TWENTY-EIGHT

word count: 2.7k!

Warnings: jessie gets high but it’s not detailed, just the after part. ALSO FLUFF 

HAWKINS, INDIANA

DECEMBER 26, 1984

I watched as all the kids sat around the game table and exchanged gifts. It was the day after Christmas- friendsmas as I'm dubbing it- and we were all held up in Mike's basement. I know they wanted to see each other all on actual Christmas day but their schedules and families wouldn't allow it. So I called everyone up this morning and arranged this.

They all thanked me with a hug when I got here with Mickey and Dayton.

Speaking of which,

I find Dayton sitting on the couch fiddling with his hands. He's been back for about two weeks now and we haven't talked much about the elephant in the room.

I take a seat next to him and smooth down my skirt. "Why are you fiddling with your hands so awkwardly?"

He stops and looks to me. "I feel like I left you here and I let you down."

"You didn't. You did the best you could do for someone who was in a different time zone. Trust me." I clap his shoulder hard- like really hard, he hates it when I do that. And he winces. "You raised me right."

"Ha-ha."

Theres footsteps coming down the steps and quickly at the bottom is Steve. He waves to the both of us before saying his greetings to the kids. Dustin and him are up to some new handshake and I think if they don't find one soon we'll all be in trouble.

After that he finds his way on the couch next to me and my brother.

"I think we met last year at the fourth of July party. Steve right?" My brother asks Steve so un-smoothly. Did he really think I didn't know that he had Steve look over me while he was gone? He even holds his hand out for Steve to shake.

Steve awkwardly laughs. "Yeah Dayton she knows."

"What? She knows?!"

I try to stifle my laughter at his outburst.

"She used her abilities on me to make me tell the truth! What was I gonna do?" Steve argues his point.

It's true he couldn't have done anything about it.

Dayton only shakes his head in annoyance.

Lucas and Dustin come up to us on the couch with two bags in their hands. I looking between the two of them and their shit eating grins.

"If this has anything to do with milk I'm giving y'all both wedgies."

Dustin passes me a red bag. "It has nothing to do with you being milk girl."

Lucas gives Steve his bag as well.

I move around the fancy tissue paper and see jeans? I pull it out with my hands and I see that it's not pants but a jean jacket. And the back is painted on with some eye popping colors but the patches on the sleeves are what gets me.

One of them is the state of Texas. And next to it is a Hawkins patch. There are a few notable patches besides those. A lasso. One says Cherry bomb. And one with a brain on it.

I look up and it's not just Dustin and Lucas anymore. The rest of the gang is behind them now watching me.

I pull the jacket on and it fits loosely. It's the best kind of fit.

Looking over at Steve I see his gift. It's another jean jacket but his is different from mine. His has got no patches on it just the paint on the back. And I can't miss the big 'MOM' on the back.

"We wanted to thank you guys for everything you did for us." Mike- the kind asshole- Wheeler speaks up.

I get up from my seat and hod my arms out. "Hugs right now or so help me I will cry on every single one of you."

Max and Mickey are first in almost making me fall over. Then Dustin and Lucas, lastly Mike. I quickly place a kiss on the top of their heads, almost missing Mike because he pulls away slightly but I pull him back.

"Okay Jessie, give me my kids now."

HAWKINS, INDIANA

JANUARY 1985

My stomach grumbling was getting annoying. I needed to put food into my system before I combust. I just didn't feel like leaving Mike's couch. After sitting here while the boys play their precious D&D after a whole year, I'm growing attached.

I'm laid on the couch like a mad woman. My legs are leaning off the side arm, only one of my arms is slanged over the back of the couch. The other one is holding me up properly.

Steve comes down the steps. Hair flopping around like usual.

"Steve! Good you're here!" I say as he descends down the last steps.

"Hey!" He waves to me.

Then he's saying hi to the kids. I watch as he makes his rounds and then walks over to me and the couch. NO if he sits down then we're not leaving here. And I need food.

I bolt out of my seat. "I'm revolting I need food."

"Why don't you ask my mom for something?" Mike asks me.

I didn't want to trouble his mom. I also didn't want to have to interact with any adults. My mouth is a little crazy as Mickey and Dayton keep saying. I'm not good at holding back my opinions.

I shush Mike and look at Steve. "Please can I get food? Please? Pretty please? The D&D is making me want to eat the floor."

"Hey!" All the boys and Max say at once.

Steve chuckles and puts his hands on his hips. Oh no what does he want. He only does that when he wants something. What could he want from me? Wasn't being friends with me enough?

"I need your skilled handwriting for some envelopes." He puts rather simply.

Okay I can do that.

"Alright I'll do it," I grab his arm and start dragging him the way he came. "I just need food. Food. Steve my stomach is like boiling. I need food."

"Alright alright. I got you." Instead of letting me drag him up the steps he falls in line with me.

Always the gentleman, he opens the door and lets me out. I let go of his arm, and let him lead the way. He takes the both of us out the back and I see his red BMW. With a spur of energy I run to the passenger side and dive into the seat.

"Come on, faster pretty boy. I'm trying not to die of starvation here."

-

"Have you been getting any memories lately?"

I turn to look at Steve in the drivers seat. I had just finished a whole meal and now he wants me to talk? I need my post-meal nap pretty soon.

I guess I could just talk to him and wait until we get back.

"Not really, no. It's been radio silent up here." I knock on my head twice.

He can't help but laugh when I do. Maybe that will ease this conversation back to a more friendly topic. I don't want to think about all the bad things today. I was trying to just have a nice day. I could think about it tomorrow. Or the next day.

"I'm serious though. You'd tell me if you did?"

"Yeah." I shoot back.

We continue on the drive in a comfortable silence. It feels like it should be awkward but its not. We have some weird upside down bond now. We haven't seen it all but we've seen enough together.

It doesn't take long before I see Mike's house appear outside my window. Steve's quick to get out of the car but I'm not, I just ate! I need to take it slow don't wanna pull a stomach muscle or something.

I've got the itis.

Slowly I open my door and roll myself out of the car. As I do I know Steve is watching me struggle. He loves to do that sometimes I swear if he wasn't my friend I would yell at him, I swear it.

He's back at my side in an instant holding his arm out for me to lock with mine.

"Ah Steve, such a gentleman."

-

HAWKINS, INDIANA

JANUARY 1985

I try to smoothly make it to my desk in one piece without raising suspicion. I don't trip, or look anyone in the eye as I make it to the back where Steve is sitting. However I do see his floppy hair and I have to clamp my mouth shut to not giggle.

His hair!

How does he do it everyday?

How?

I sit down and put my notebook on the desk.

"Are you okay?" Steve asks.

I turn slowly to nod at him, I don't wanna do it to fast or he's gonna think something is up with me. I can't alert the troops. I can't alert anyone!

He studies my face, and then his face changes. Did he just figure it out? Did he just find out that quickly? Maybe he won't say anything.

"Are you high right now?" He whispers to me.

My head is nodding again even though I wanna deny it. I was about to deny it. But my head is faster than my mouth.

Ha!

I watch closely as Steve pulls my chair and then my desk close to his. My fingers start playing with the loose ends of my knitted sweater. I wonder how those little dangling threads happen. Why did they happen? I didn't cut my sweater.

I hear our english teacher clear her throat to get the class to settle. It's then that I roll my shoulders back and face the board with the straightest face I can make.

The class settles after a few moments pass and our teacher begins to write names on the board. I watch with confusion. Why was she writing down our names? Did she forget them?

Then she writes down my name. And Steve's.

I look at Steve.

"She was picking random students to read their essays today- Jess we are fucked." He whispers to me and the way he sounds is so funny I start laughing under my breath.

I pull my sweater over my mouth to try and hide it. My eyes are watering before I know it and I have to put my head down on the desk to hide my laughter.

"Ms.Glendall whats the matter?"

Then that makes me laugh even more. Holy shit I'm about to get caught! I'm about to get caught and I don't even have an excuse to give! I'm gonna get detention! Holy shit have I ever gotten detention since I've been here?

No I haven't. I would remember.

"Jessie's not feeling to well, can she read her essay another day?" Steve asks for me.

I can feel his hand come to pat my head like I'm some sort of dog- I'm laughing even harder now. My stomach is starting to hurt with how much I'm dying from this.

"Sure Mr. Harrington."

Steve peers in close to me, close enough to whisper in my ear. When I can feel his hot ass breath on my ear I stop laughing. "You owe me big time Jess."

Oh god how am I gonna make it to Lunch. Hopefully Jon doesn't mind skipping with me to get some food. I am not eating slop while under the influence.

-

I can't believe I'm this much a wuss. I mean I tasered a demo-dog for crying out loud. You'd think I've grown some macho in me.

But no.

Here I am with my envelopes for colleges. Ready to send.

And I'm holding them in my hands like they're about to fly away.

"Step away from the applications."

I swiftly turn around.

Steve's leaning against his car.

"You know I can just go right back upstairs and cancel our plans to hang out." I quip, already turning away.

It's not long, what with his long ass legs, before he has my arm in his grasp and he's stopping me. I turn around slowly to face him, ready for that stupid look on his face. He's gonna make fun of me. I know he is.

He sent out his early applications and I'm standing here, fiddling with my regular applications.

But he doesn't have a look on his face. He looks serious.

"Alright so do you want me to do them for you or do you want a pep talk so you can do it yourself?"

I look between him and my mailbox. A few times. Maybe it's actually more than a few because he snatches the envelopes from my hands and does it himself.

Instead of letting him get the final touch I do it myself. I raise the red flag on the box.

"Well ladies and gentlemen I think Jessica Glendall has finally finished with her applications! How about a round of applause for the girl!" He starts yelling. I try to cover his mouth but he's too tall. And he's fighting me off a bit.

"Cut it out you weirdo! I have neighbors!"

"Is that what the other houses are for? I thought it was decoration."

HAWKINS, INDIANA

JANUARY 1985

"Did you actually have a lasso back home?"

I stop eating and look at Jonathan. He's got a big smile on his face because he knows he's being a little shit. But he wouldn't come up with this on his own. I know this is Steve's doing.

"Steve put you up to this?" I ask him back.

He shakes his head but can't hide his laughter.

"Nah. I just heard it from Will, who heard it from Dustin, who was told by Steve." He explains to me.

"I don't care that we're the same age I will give you a wedgie you do know that right?" It's rhetorical as he puts his hands up in surrender.

"I'd love to see you give Steve a wedgie. Or put him in a lasso."

"Yeah I'd love to see it too."

-

I was cheering Steve on in the gym not too long ago. He's playing really hard right now so that the scouts can see him. I know that he feels like he has to overcompensate with sport because his grades are too hot.

But neither are mine. We're in the same boat here.

His car chirps and I look around for him. I was waiting for him on his car after all. I find him walking my way with his sport bag slung over his shoulder. They didn't win today but he did carry his team the whole way through. That's gotta count for something.

He doesn't say anything to me- no snide remark, no sass, not even a hello. All he does is get into his car and slam the door. Maybe he wants to be alone right now?

I hop off the hood of his car and he turns the engine on.

Maybe I should take the hint and leave.

I put my bag over both of my shoulders and start to turn my body away when I hear the horn honk. So I turn back.

The window is rolled down on my side.

"Aren't you coming?"

I open the door swiftly and get in. "You sure you don't want to be alone right now? I mean I can understand-"

"No I'll be fine. I just need to drive around for a little bit." He says to me and starts pulling out of the parking lot.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" I offer

I remember the forth of July party and what he said. About College and parents. This was definitely a topic that he dreaded.

He pumps the breaks on the car when I say it. I almost jolt forward but he holds his arm out to brace me. It makes me let out a breath that's all I know. His arm retracts back to his side as he keeps his eyes on the wheel.

"My dad sucks. And my grades kind of suck. And he's riding my ass about college."

I carefully put my hand on his shoulder. "Look all you can do is your best Steve. At the end of the day it's all anyone can do. Your dad might not see it but it's you who needs to start seeing it. It's your life."

"Y-yeah."

"Plus all of the shit you did with those monsters from hell is pretty badass. You'd probably get a metal for it if it wasn't top secret."

He laughs. "Thanks Jessie."

"Of course Stevie."

"Jessica!"

"Stephen!"