#completely normal behaviour lads

[javelinbk]

John Lennon & Paul McCartney at the ABC Cinema in Huddersfield, 29th November 1963

[mysadblacksoul]

Backslide - 3/13 of the Clancy album

Grab a coffee and let's start this madness

MV

Tyler is wearing the same clothes that he wore in Overcompensate MV to I would assume that this MV takes place right after

Let's break down the signs first

We see the return of Ned Bayou as well as FPA, now standing for Food Petrol Etc.

You can buy 9 buns for $21, love the symbolism

There is a Jim sign omg. Baby is having his own bubblegum business

Of course the Bishops sign with 9 lines marked on it

I could've sworn that the black sign says "Dema Vapes", but looking closely I believe it's "Velma Vapes" lol

What is more, the cones (?) are yellow and I'm pretty sure that the fact that there are 5 of them is not an accident

They sold him bread that went bad lol. Nah for sure it's not the case since he gives the same bread to a child

But I believe that the scene and the lyrics are closely tied with Stressed Out

Now the next scene is interesting

I think that the bad weather is a simple metaphor for feelings of anxiety or fear

We can see that Tyler was contemplating then he was suddenly pulled from his thoughts

This is when the scene changes to normal, right? Exactly on the line It's over my head

Then we move to the scene with the kid

And I really believe that this little lad is personification of Ned

Like he has the same boba eyes lol

No but for real, this is parallel to Chlorine - kid is giving Tyler a cup just like Tyler gave to Ned. Yet he accepts it and drinks whatever is inside and Ned just shudders

Another interesting thing, that could make my point more valid is that the kid literally asks Is that a stain? You should change / Are you doin' good? / Did you solve all of your problems? like he knows Tyler very well and is in a way looking out for him

It's like he's keeping Ned by him - okat I'll stop

It might be a stretch, but the N kinda looks like a mirrored band symbol, do you also see it?

If 0.75c is equivalent to the cost of one bun than Tyler is being ripped off since he paid $21 for the pack instead of $6.75 lmao

Something is really wrong with those buns lmao

Then the mood changes again, but this time is even worse. Like his mental health is declining even more and even faster

The bread is wet, the day is ruined, thanks Mr. Joseph

You killed it Josh, love your creative mind

*funny music stops*

Now let's talk about the way how the MV is looping itself

I would say that it is a demonstration of the twisted circle that is life

Maybe it's a very basic analysis but I think of all the complicated lore-oriented MVs this one is uncomplicated

What is shown here is how our psyche can play tricks on us and how we can complicate a rather simple situation ourselves

If Tyler hadn't had dark thoughts then nothing would have happened to the bread, so he would have just gone and given it to Josh

This shows how our psyche itself can abolish the situation in which we find ourselves

Looping, on the other hand, shows that as long as we don't do anything about it ourselves, we will be stuck in this fishbowl (see what I did there?)

Maybe it's one big AD to check your mental health and a sign to try to get better

Lyrics!

Rat race, place to place, adding weight / Tendencies on repeat, innit? - rat race for sure happened in Dema, and repeat is literaly the loop, innit meand that Clancy is canonicaly British

Benefit from a shoe with no lace - shoe with no lace would make you fall back on the behaviour that you are running from

Take the seat with the crease in it - seat of someone who already tried to change their life, or even who had the same dreams and hopes for better future like Clancy

This could be parallel to When I leave, don’t save my seat/ I’ll be back when it’s all complete from Chlorine

I don't care, you control me / Leading me anywhere - well, all I should say is Dema don't control me and we all know the rest of the story

I don't wanna backslide to where I've started from - he doesn't wanna go back to his back habits as well as doesn't wanna go back to his life before he tried to escape

There's no chance I will shake this again - if he falls back one more time that will be the end of him. His psyche won't take it anymore and his plans will be buried

'Cause I feel the pull, water's over my head - this is parallel to Fall Away And I, I can feel the pull begin. But it also gives me the parallel to Holding On To You MV, the scene with the rope

Strength enough for one more time - like I said, this would be the last attempt to change everything

Reach my hand above the tide - it could indicate that his physical strength is also wearing out

I'll take anything you have / If you could throw me a line - again with the line. But it also can mean that he can endure anything now, he just needs a little helping hand

I should've loved you better - this line can be directed both to himself but also to the person who extends his hand to help. He might not have appreciated both parts before and now regrets it

Do you think that now's the time / You should let go? - This line is like both a request and an apology. As if he wants to say “I'm sorry I treated you badly before but please don't leave me when I need help”

Bad place, on a hundred-dollar bass - this line is also giving me Stressed Out. You can imagine the cheap bass being transported on the bicycle right?

Kinda wishin' that I never did "Saturday" - I think that he doesn't mean the MV irl lol, but the regret of taking part in Bishops' manipulation altogether

Is that a stain? You should change - a play with mentioning Saturday and the lirycs She said that I should change my clothes

Are you doin' good? / Did you solve all of your problems? - like I said before I believe that this is Ned looking out for Clancy, wishing him well

Thanks for asking, in a way, but / Accidentally uncovered a new one yesterday - safe to say that he is not doing better lol

What happened to what I brushed under the rug? - what happened to how well he used to be able to hide his problems and true feelings

I used to be the champion of a world you can't see / Now I'm drowning in logistics - if viewed as a fact that he created this world it now looks like he wants to regain all control over it. Logistics is to take care of the management of planning. And once again we see the mention of drowning

The bridge is acting as an externalization of his myhs and fears that even if he is outside the Dema, the Bishops will still have control over him

The entire song is about both regaining conrol over the world of Dema but also regaining control over himself, his psyche.

The main theme is about not going back to old habits.

The most important thing here is progress and pushing forward.

Because one wrong move can make all the work in vain and we will sink to the very bottom.

Safe to say that I liked it haha

[ukrfeminism]

3 minute read

Teachers have called for action on homophobia and rape threats as a survey suggests more than one in 10 teachers have been physically assaulted by a pupil in the last year.

Nearly half (48%) of teachers surveyed said they do not feel that their school’s behaviour policy is effective and “fit for purpose”, according to a poll by the NASUWT teaching union.

The survey, of 8,466 NASUWT members in the UK in March, suggests that 13% of teachers have been physically assaulted by a pupil in the last year.

At the teaching union’s annual conference in Glasgow on Sunday, teachers told how they had also been subjected to racism, sexual assault and physical assaults including being kicked at, bitten, punched and slapped by pupils.

Meanwhile, the survey said more than one in four (28%) of teachers said they have been subjected to verbal abuse by a parent or carer during the last year.

As delegates debated a motion on Sunday which suggested assaults are seen as a “normal part of teaching” in too many schools, Bristol-based teacher Wendy Exton urged the union to take a stand.

The teacher of 28 years, the last 14 of which have been in alternative provision, said: “The continual abuse directed at myself, and I’m not alone here, takes its toll on your wellbeing.

“It’s simply another stress that we do not need. Not only are we subjected to derogatory language, but racism and homophobic language and more recently threats of rape, sexual assault, being stabbed or even threats to harm family members.”

Ms Exton also said threats of sexual assault are becoming “increasingly common” due to the rise of online pornography, exacerbated by the Covid-19 lockdown.

“We need to gain back control and spread the message that verbal and physical violence will not be tolerated and that as a union we will take action when employers refuse to deal with violence and abuse in their schools.”

Teachers have been subjected to pushing/shoving (22%), threats of physical assault (19%) and verbal abuse (58%) by pupils during the last year, according to the survey.

A teacher who responded to the survey said: “I regularly had a child that would throw chairs at me, threaten to kill me and my family. Say he was going to stab me.”

Another said: “I was upskirted. I have had an unknown substance sprayed in my face. I have been verbally abused and shoved several times.”

Another respondent said: “I’ve been spat at, swore at, pushed, punched, kicked. I’ve been called a hole for the lads to shove their dicks in. I’ve had two Year 11 boys trap me in my room and threaten to go through my things.”

Among the teachers who said they had experienced abuse from a parent or pupil, more than one in three (36%) said they did not feel their school dealt with the issue satisfactorily.

The motion, which was unanimously agreed by delegates, said the union is worried that employers are “failing” in their duties to protect teachers by either not completing risk assessments or seeing them as a paper exercise.

It added that the union is concerned that many school leaders are “not given sufficient guidance in the completion of risk assessments for violent pupils”.

Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: “No teacher should have to go to work expecting to suffer from physical or verbal abuse by pupils.

“Employers have a statutory duty to carry out effective risk assessments – they cannot simply choose to ignore or underestimate the dangers of violent pupils.

“Where employers do fail to protect our members from aggression and violence, we will take them on and act to support and protect our members by any means necessary.”

A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said: “No teacher should feel unsafe or face violence in the workplace and we are taking action to improve pupils’ behaviour to ensure every school has a safe and respectable environment.

“Our ongoing £10 million Behaviour Hubs programme aims to support up to 700 schools between 2021 and 2024 in improving their behaviour by partnering them with selected exemplary lead schools and multi-academy trusts.

“Our updated Behaviour in Schools guidance provides advice on creating whole-school cultures which explicitly sets out what good behaviour looks like. This is so pupils can understand and uphold high expectations of behaviour, which in turn establishes calm and safe environments.”

[policemanofprincesspark]

"Like, Harry bitches at Louis for getting drunk all the time and not getting up til midday or smoking all over the house, and Louis calls Harry a freak for swimming in icy ponds and training so much, or being a pescatarian when Louis likes meat"

First of all - do we know how they really are like when in private/behind closed door? How can one say that Louis´ smoking all over the house when we have literally zero evidence how they behave at home and if he actually smokes indoors like the living room/bedroom etc. Do we even know how much he smokes in private when he doesn´t have to behave like a laddy lad (and his smoking became a part of this image)?

Secondly, how does different lifestyles of partners predict they can´t be together because of how opposite they are? Look, I´m vegan for 6 years now while my bf eats meat so we always have to cook 2 different meals for lunch/dinner. Working out is part of my weekly routine while my partner workout only sometimes and definitely not regularly. My bf loves football and goes regularly to football matches while I couldn´t care less about it (and sometimes I get annoyed when he´s angry yelling and swearing when watching the match in TV and his team isn´t winning). I studied on technical university and he studied psychology. I mean we can´t be any more opposite and sometimes we actually wonder how come we are together but guess what... we´re gonna be together for 16 years this year.

So no, imo it´s not about how opposite HL are but what connects them together, I´m sure just like they complementary tattoos, they complement each other because one has something other doesn´t and vice versa. And don´t let me even started with the evidence of their mirroring behaviour because that´s just something (at least for me) that proofs how much they are the same person or at least connected for years. And we don´t know their real real private personalities (especially not H´s) and behaviour and how their normal days look like when they both don´t have to work and are together nonstop for days.

Louis isn't being forced to act like a "laddy lad" for his image. None of you have been paying any attention if you haven't realized that he's always been that way, even before 1D. It's just where he grew up.

I do agree that two people being opposites in many ways does not prove whether they are or are not in a relationship. I think it's just difficult to imagine what activities Harry and Louis could be sharing together as they seem to have completely different hobbies (if Louis even has any besides drinking and partying).

[sunder-soul]

The Last of Your Rules

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.    

Part 1 ★ Part 2 ★ Part 3 ☆ Part 4         

Summary: Reader figures out a set of rules to survive navigating their FWB relationship with Tom Riddle, which goes great until he starts breaking them one by one. Wordcount: 3.2k Content warning: explicit sex, language.

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.   

You resolve to avoid him for a bit and let whatever he’s clearly going through blow over – but your plan is immediately compromised the following Monday.

“We will be brewing our next project in pairs!” Slughorn says loudly, clapping his hands with a wide grin. “Your partners will be assigned randomly, so please take your seats!”

Everyone falls silent at once, the excitement palpable. You wink at Opal next to you, hoping that she’ll be your partner as Slughorn waves his wand and sends tiny little slips of parchment whizzing across the room onto your desks. You seize yours at once, unrolling it only to see –

Tom Riddle.

You blink. The memory of the kiss immediately comes back to you, and excitement stirs in your chest at the chance to talk to him outside of your meetings, at the hours you’d need to spend together in class for the potion –

You catch your train of thought and horror dawns on you at its implication.

No… have I… did I…

The class is moving around and chattering excitedly to their partners as you quietly slip up to the front of the room.

“Everything alright?” Slughorn asked jovially.

“Yes, sir,” you say quickly, “only – I was wondering if I might change partners, sir.”

“Oh?” Slughorn’s brows raise. “Who are you paired with?”

You hold out the parchment, and Slughorn unrolls it. He looks even more surprised when he sees the name. “You… wish to change partners?” he asks slowly.

You nod.

“Tom’s a capable lad,” Slughorn says seriously, frowning, “a very capable lad. In fact, I couldn’t have picked a better partner for you myself.”

“Please, sir,” you press, trying not to sound desperate. “Is it possible to change?”

Slughorn pauses for a moment longer, and then leans back against his desk. “Yes of course,” he says, waving a hand and nodding. “If you really want.”

“I do,” you say immediately.

“Langley!” Slughorn calls, beckoning the boy forward.

You breathe a sigh of relief as the red-haired boy leaps from his seat and hurries forward. Langley is an idiot, but at that moment he’s a hell of a lot better than Riddle.

“Who’s your partner, Langley?” Slughorn asks him.

“Chester, sir,” Langley replies quickly.

“Tell Chester that he’s with Riddle,” Slughorn says busily, “you’re being reassigned.”

Langley glances at you curiously but with unmistakeable glee. “Yes, sir,” he says with a barely concealed smile.

You resist the urge to roll your eyes and turn back to your seat – only to find Riddle’s piercing gaze fixed on you from the back of the room. You hesitate automatically, and have to physically wrench your eyes off of him as you hurry away, trying to ignore the feeling of his lingering gaze for the rest of the class.

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.  

That evening in the library whilst you’re bent over your Potions notes, Riddle suddenly yanks back the seat opposite you and sits down. “Did you ask Slughorn to change partners?” he demands colourlessly.

You try to hide your surprise – he never sits with you in public. “Yes, of course I did,” you say calmly.

“Why?” he asks sharply.

You quirk a brow. “Are you joking?”

“No, I am not,” he says mechanically, lacing his fingers together and giving you a very cool look.

“Riddle,” you say dryly, leaning towards him. “That assignment would require that we spend hours together working on that potion, I didn’t think that would be a particularly good idea.”

“Why not?” he asks at once, eyes not leaving yours.

You scoff and lean back. “Don’t be obtuse.”

His eyes narrow ever-so-slightly. “Because of our arrangement?”

“Exactly,” you mutter.

Riddle’s expression is unmoved. “What exactly did you expect would happen?” he asks flatly.

You sigh, frustrated. “Listen, I’m not trying to imply that we’d bloody fall in love or anything,” you mutter, seizing your quill again, “but it’s still just a stupid idea.”

Riddle is silent, and after a long moment you glance at him. He’s just as composed as before, but there’s a strange tension to his posture. “Riddle,” you say carefully, “are you… alright?”

It’s as if you had snapped your fingers in front of his face; Riddle stands at once. “Yes,” he says coldly. “See you in class.”

He’s gone before you can even say goodbye. You stare after him, utterly bemused. He’s such a nutcase sometimes…

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.  

Tonight, 9pm.

You stare at the note in shock, your head telling you, screaming at you that the smart thing to do is to crumple it in your hand and ignore him.

But…

You refold the note and nod as you pick up your quill again, knowing without checking that his eyes are on you.

He’s already there when you arrive. Riddle’s fingers curl around the strap of your bag and pull it off your shoulder the second you get the door shut, tugging up your jumper and dropping it carelessly to the ground. His fingers dance across your blouse and the buttons spontaneously spring apart one after the next as he walks you back against the wall, and seconds later he’s unclasping your bra with deft fingers. Riddle’s expression is hungry. It makes you nervous in a very good way.

Riddle picks you up again and you wrap your legs around his hips at once. He presses his mouth to your collarbone, trailing downwards and leaving burning electricity behind, and then his lips gently close around your nipple and you gasp. Riddle’s eyes flash up to yours at the sound, and you watch, hypnotised, as his lips tease you there, staring mesmerised at the dark waves of his hair above his burning eyes, at the fine angles of his brows, his lips, his eyes, his mouth on your skin –

Riddle lifts his head and you pull him into a kiss, hungry for him, too. The intensity is almost comforting, far away from that dangerous slowness.

When you’re done, Riddle doesn’t even hesitate once his uniform is back to its usual immaculate tidiness. “Goodnight,” he nods politely, leaving at once.

Back to normal, then, you think as you wander back to the common room. That’s a relief.

But that night in your bed, the memory of the way he’d kissed you comes back again, that slowness, that softness, that hot, gentle pressure…

Warmth spreads through your chest and you frown deeply, rolling over and punching your pillow into place.

That needs to stop. There’s no way you can catch feelings for Tom Riddle.

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.  

Today, 12:15.

You slide the note into your pocket, thoughts whirring. It’s hardly the first time he’s suggested you meet during the day, but with the past week you’d had, things were decidedly getting weirder.

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.  

You bite Riddle’s shoulder hard as pleasure overcomes you, listening to it overcoming him too, your body slick with sweat and your mind blank with nothing but the sound of his breath, tense and sharp through his nose. His hands are against your face, turning you to him and kissing you again, and you’re delirious, kissing him back without even thinking, your arms tightening around his neck and pulling him closer. You’re still hungry for him like your appetite can never be sated, your legs wrapped around his hips where he still has you pinned against the wall. His hands hold you to him firmly, his lips moving against yours in that slow, dangerous way –

You realise what you’re doing very suddenly, pulling back at once. You stare at each other, and you feel a surreal exhilaration like you’re teetering at the edge of a cliff.

“I should go,” you whisper, not moving.  

Riddle nods slightly, not looking away. He doesn’t move either.

You can’t stop yourself. Your eyes drop to his lips again and then back up as quickly as you can – but not fast enough to escape his notice. Riddle’s eyes flicker and he slowly leans in again, stopping right before your lips, watching you like a hawk.

It’s a bad idea.

It’s a very bad idea.

Breaking the rules is already making some very confusing things stir in your chest, but... Riddle’s lips are kiss-swollen and slick, his hair tousled from where you’d been carding your fingers through it, his dark eyes hooded and burning. You’ve never wanted him more.

Fuck it...

You close the final inch and kiss him hungrily, and his hand comes up to your jaw and pulls you closer, slow and hot in that way that made heat curl in you stomach. You sigh, your arms tightening around his neck as he tilts his head to kiss you deeper.

“Riddle,” you murmur after what felt like an eternity, pulling back, “I… really do have to go.”

Riddle’s eyes dart between yours, and then he nods curtly and lets you down.

He leaves without a word and you’re still nearly late to Herbology.

So that’s Rule One and Two just completely in shambles, you think, shaking your head as you speed towards the Greenhouses. What in Merlin’s name is going on?

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.  

The confusion only triples in Potions that very afternoon.

Tonight, 8pm.

You gape at the note.

Riddle wants to meet twice in the same day? This is getting ridiculous. The weird behaviour, the frequent meetings, the dangerous feelings growing tenaciously in your chest… It makes you all the more certain that something very weird is going on, and there is absolutely no way you’re going to meet him.

“Have you been listening?”

You jump, hastily looking around at Langley. “Huh?”

“Are you going to…” he gestures at the ingredients in front of you that you’re supposed to be preparing.

“Oh right,” you mutter, slipping the note into your pocket and seizing your silver knife, slicing the Deadlyius mushrooms into thin slivers at lightning speed.

“Langley,” you say through gritted teeth, “if you add moonstone powder to the potion at this stage, you’ll make the entire cauldron melt.”

“Oh,” he frowns, putting down the moonstone. “But… the instructions say –”

“To mix it fourteen times counter-clockwise, and then add the moonstone.”

“Oh,’ he says again, reaching for the ladle.

You seize his wrist. “Counter-clockwise, Langley.”

“Oh.”

You manage to stop Langley from utterly ruining your potion before the bell rings, and you leave it simmering in the backroom for you to resume on Monday.

“Good God,” you mutter to Opal as you leave, dragging your hands down your face, “Langley is absolutely hopeless.”

“No sympathy,” she scoffs, “you could have been with Tom Riddle, and you chose to give that up.”

You don’t reply, glaring stonily at the floor. She can’t know that being with Riddle would be a hundred times worse for an entirely different reason.

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.  

Saturday morning breaks over the Castle with a light snowfall and an icy chill in the air that puts a spring in your step, but your good mood is threatened half-way through lunch.

“Excuse my interruption.”

You look around from your conversation with Felicia and Opal to find Riddle with an intimidatingly composed expression on his face, his hands clasped tidily behind him. Your friends start giggling again, whispering to each other behind their hands – which both you and Riddle ignore.

“Yes?” you say slowly.

“Could I speak with you a moment, please?” he asks politely, stepping to the side and gesturing to the door. Felicia and Opal erupt into even louder giggles as your brows shoot up.

“Er… sure,” you say slowly, standing and follow him from the Hall, viscerally aware of the many pairs of curious eyes watching you go.

Out in the Entrance Hall, Riddle steps swiftly towards the dungeons and down the stairs, and you follow him down to the broom closet where you usually meet. He wrenches the door open and stands aside, glancing down the corridor with a tense expression.

“Riddle, what –”

“After you,” he interrupts coolly, indicating through the door.

You hesitate, suddenly rather intimidated. Slowly you step past him, and Riddle shuts the door smartly behind him.

“What’s going –” you begin.

“Where were you last night?” Riddle interrupts again, tone sharp.

You stare. “…What?”

“Last night, I asked you to meet me,” he snaps.

“I didn’t want to,” you frown.

Riddle glares at you intensely. “You didn’t want to,” he repeats contemptuously.

“Is there a problem?” you ask, crossing your arms over your chest.

“Why didn’t you want to?” he demands, stepping closer.

“Geez Riddle, I’m not obligated to have sex with you whenever you want,” you snap.

Riddle falters, his brow furrowing at once. “That’s not –”

“I know you rather famously have very little interest in my life, but I do actually have one you know, I can’t be on your goddamn beck and call whenever you want to let off steam,” you continue angrily, gesturing in frustration.

Riddle looks extraordinarily taken aback. “I didn’t mean –”

“You’ve been acting weird for ages, what the hell is going on?” you interrupt, glaring at him.

Riddle blinks, and then his expression becomes impossibly composed. “I don’t know what you mean,” he says coolly, standing up straighter.

“Oh? Don’t you?” you narrow your eyes, stepping closer.

He doesn’t crack, his eyes impervious as they flick between yours.

“I’m going to go back to lunch,” you breathe, “I’ll see you later.”

“Wait,” he says sharply, catching your arm as you try to pass him.

“What?” you snap, turning to him.

Riddle hesitates. Suddenly you realise exactly how close you are, feeling the tension shift, seeing his eyes drop to your lips –

You both lean in at the same time, your hands immediately tangling into his hair as you kiss him hard and he pulls you close. He’s ravenous again, insatiable, the most demanding you’d ever seen him, and all too soon he has you on the brink, pushed up against the wall of the closet with hard thrusts making you dizzy with pleasure, his lips covering yours as you finish like he’s consuming the moans he’s drawing from you – but when the waves of pleasure fade, the kiss does not.

Riddle’s hands slide up your hips, kissing you slowly as you breathe hard, as your eyes finally open and you draw away. Riddle stares at you, and you at him.

Suddenly, it clicks.

“This… isn’t enough for you anymore, is it?” you say quietly.

Riddle freezes. A long, tense silence passes. “What do you mean?” he asks coolly.

“Is that why you’ve been asking me to meet you so much?” you ask carefully, watching him. “Is this not filling your appetite like it used to?”

His expression is taut, his hands unmoving on your body and his eyes slightly wide. After a very long pause, he finally speaks. “No,” he breathes. “It’s not.”

“Maybe this isn’t what you need, then,” you say quietly.

His brow furrows again.

“We should stop this,” you say carefully.

“No,” Riddle repeats sharply, very quickly.

You don’t bother trying to hide your surprise at the intensity of his response. Riddle’s jaw tenses and he leans in again, his lips pressing hard against yours, but you push him away by his shoulders. He exhales in frustration, glaring at you.

“What we’re doing won’t make you feel better, Riddle,” you say slowly. “It’ll always leave you hungry.”

“Why?” he snaps, looking irritated. “It didn’t used to.”

“Maybe it used to be enough.”

“Why do I still want it, then?” he breathes, leaning in aggressively. “Why do I want…” he trails off, something working in his jaw in the way that usually means something’s really frustrating him.

Oh.

Oh I see.

“Riddle,” you begin cautiously, “have you… ever…”

“What?” he demands, eyes narrowing.

You let your head fall back on the wall. “Have you ever been in love?”

Riddle reacts like you’ve electrocuted him, drawing back sharply and staring at you with open hostility.

“I don’t think you’re in love with me, don’t worry,” you say quickly. “I just mean… this is sort of a cheap imitation of that,” you gesture between the two of you. “Maybe you should think about looking for something… real.”

Riddle looks at you suspiciously, but with something undeniably (and reluctantly) curious. “What do you mean?” he asks slowly.

“It’s different when you’re in love.”

“Different how?” he demands at once.

“Have you ever been touched like that?” you cock your head.

Riddle hesitates, looking strangely… nervous? “Like what?” he says quietly, watching you warily.

It’s a bad idea.

It’s a very bad idea.

You reach your hand up to his face as slowly as you dare and very gently let your fingers trace up the curve of his cheek, his warm, soft skin just barely textured with the faintest pull of stubble, before you reach up further. You softly brush his hair to the side of his forehead and let your fingers push through it slightly. He has lovely hair – well, all of him is lovely, but his hair in particular, thick and soft and dark. You’d always liked touching it, though this is different, of course. This isn’t fiery and filled with desire, intense and hungry. This is reverence, feather-light like he’s something precious that would break if you touch too firmly.

Riddle’s eyes are fixed on yours, and as you meet his gaze again something you don’t care to name stirs in your chest. You gently place your palm against his cheek and lean in, hesitating at the last second, wondering exactly how bad an idea it is. Riddle’s expression hasn’t changed, his eyes flicking between yours. You blink slowly, gaze dropping to his lips, and then you push forward and close the last millimetres between you, kissing him very, very softly.

The dangerous feeling immediately swells up inside you, coursing even stronger when Riddle takes a long breath and lifts his hand to your face too, holding you to him as his lips move gently on yours. You wrap your legs tighter around him but the kiss stays slow, warm, gentle, dangerous –

You reluctantly draw away, but only just. It’s very hard to ignore how fast your heart is beating as you met Riddle’s gaze, dark and burning. “Like that,” you whisper, cheeks aflame.

A long silence falls as he stares at you, as you stare back, trapped beneath his gaze.

“Why is it different?” Riddle asks quietly.

You swallow nervously, knowing that you need to get out of this situation as fast as possible before your inconvenient feelings become completely unignorable. “I…” you whisper, unable to answer. “I don’t…”

Riddle blinks, his brows drawing together slightly, and to your horror he slowly starts to lean in again –

“I need to go,” you say hastily, looking down and breaking his gaze. “I – I have to do extra prep for Potions. Bloody Langley screwed ours up so bad.”

There’s a very painful silence.

“I see,” Riddle says mechanically, before letting you down.

You’d never felt awkward whilst tidying up before, but you certainly do then.

“I’ll see you on Monday,” you mutter to him, escaping out the door as fast as you can. Your cheeks are still warm and your heart is still pounding, so you beeline straight for the dorm to hide until your stupid reaction fades. If you come back from seeing Riddle looking like that, Opal and Felicia would never let you hear the last of it.

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.  

Part 1 ★ Part 2 ★ Part 3 ☆ Part 4      

@the-almond-dinger 💕 

[jaeminscoffee]

Hide and seek | J. Jh

Pairing: Jaehyun x Reader

Genre: Smut, Angst

Warning(s): Dubcon, yandere themes, possessiveness, knife play, reader endures all forms of physical abuse, heavy use of the words princess and doll, implied kidnapping/drug usage/pregnancy, lmk if i missed any

type; drabble : 1.01k

A/n: this drabble is a pure work of fiction and does not reflect on the characters' real life personalities. I do not condone to any of the behaviour portrayed in this story neither do i think it's something to lust over in real life. These sort of themes are hot just to read in fictions so they should be kept as fiction itself and never implemented in real life.

You suppress another set of sobs threatening to erupt from your throat as your 'lover' rammed into you for the nth time that night. 

As pleasurable as it might have seemed in another scenario, here all you could feel was pain. 

Open wounds painted your skin. Brown, purple, red scars adorned the tissue as though to colour the artwork made by him. Your insides hurt from the constant tossing and throwing you went through. 

Your abdomen begged to get some sort of soft touch from all the rough whips, kicks, slashes and hits it endured. Your bottom hurts even worse. Having more open wounds than you'd like to think you had. Your body had turned into this pitiful canvas that craved for some sort of rest, love, and alas, some human touch. 

"you know i hate hurting you, doll. You just look so ethereal with my marks on you, I can't help myself" Jaehyun mused. You knew better than to speak up. At the same time you knew better than to stay completely quiet; you let a whimper escape you, earning a groan from the lad behind you. 

"you're enjoying this, right babe? You love this as much as i do, correct? Tell me our feeling's mutual" He growled, his hands finding home atop your ass, fingers applying pressure into the open words that decorated the skin, opening them enough for the crimson liquid to surge out, enough for your cries to finally let loose. 

That seemed to add onto Jaehyun's pleasure all the more, him applying even more pressure due to your ignorance posed to his question. 

"Don't you love this, princess?" he asked, a little more craze added to his tone to make it evident that he wants an answer.

"Y-ye-.. Yes, Jae.." you breathe out nimbly, not having it in you to form a sentence, let alone a word due to exhaustion and the weakness that came with whatever drink he'd offered you that morning. Or the drink he'd offered after breakfast. No, maybe it was the one before lunch. You don't remember. 

All you remember was finally building up the courage to run away from Jaehyun for the first time since he'd brought you to this unknown location. Only for that courage to falter the moment Jaehyun's sing-song voice called out to you from one corner of the house, summoning you and inevitably, getting you into the situation you're in right now. 

It's unknown how Jaehyun found out about your motives. Maybe it was the fact that you'd avoided drinking the liquid he'd usually force down your throat. Maybe it was because you were acting normal. Maybe it's because you failed to showcase that you were lethargic from the drinks. Or it could be the fact that he somehow managed to hear the lowest of rattle produced by the chains on the door that kept the two of you shut, secluded from the monstrous world out there as he'd coin. 

"Atta girl.. I know you love this," His voice dropped ridiculously low, picking up pace once again only moments before he'd reached his high, forcibly pulling you into yours too. 

Nothing about the high had you feeling the slightest of bliss. If anything, you felt destroyed. Weak. Broken, which; you were sure you were after all the hits you've endured. All the cuffs that's pulled on your wrists. All the bats that've made contact with your body. Worst of all, all the kicks and punches Jaehyun had given you. 

Disgusted, knowing how his essence had coated your inside, mixing with yours which you were sure would produce an innocent being which you'd inevitably grow to hate because that thing came from the monster behind you, who'd pulled up his pants and was buckling his belt. 

His fingers found suite inside of you once he was half dressed, earning a blood curdling scream from you and the intense burn the south of your body produced, 

"Just like that baby, scream for me. Scream while I secure myself in you."

"Think of it, our child would look absolutely stunning, don't you think?" he groans at the idea as you thrash around, wanting to be as far as you can from him. This only upset him. Why didn't you want his child? 

And just like that, it all comes to a stop. 

"It's no fun if you just stay quiet and weep around.." he mumbled out loud enough for you to hear, bile collecting itself at your throat as you wonder what other sick idea he'd want to act out in this small span of time. Your muscles cried, cried and cried for all it could. Wanting nothing more than to rest, rest forever even. 

"I know!" 

You jump as Jaehyun suddenly gets up and stands at the foot of the bed, pulling you harshly by the arms before discarding your being onto the floor, "Hide and Seek! Yes, we'll play hide and seek!" he exclaims excitedly.

"If I find you, then well, I fill you up until I'm sure you bear my child. If you manage to hide from me, then I'll let you go, " That made your ears perk, he'll let you go? 

"Y-you will..?" you ask softly, not wanting to pull at any of his strings, failing to look him in the eyes. Jaehyun crouches down to be eye level with you, his hands pursue you to look at him, "If you win, well yes." his grip tightens, 

"Now let's start the game, shall we?-" he gets up, brushing away invisible lint from his pants that hung loosely around his waist, 

"-you have 5 seconds to hide" Jaehyun's face contorts into a psychotic smirk as he watches your eyes widen, scrambling to get onto your feet only to fail and fall back due to the immense muscle pain, you cry out trying once again, knowing he was playing dirty. You watch as his eyebrows twitch with amusement, lips drawn into a wide smile as he leans down to look at you cower away from him, 

"Run."

[deadlymodern]

*taps mic*

Umm, hello. Welcome to my presentation.

Hi! ✨

Since I'm rebranding and starting a new "volume" of my story, I decided to create a master recap for you lads. I think this was also a good moment to post this because I've received some new followers/readers that might be confused on what the fuck is happening.

Honestly, this was the only way I could make it work hfudihhiudf. Hope it was useful.

Obviously this recap doesn't have half the lore or depth you'd get from reading the whole story, but it should be enough to refresh your memory and/or for you to get into Where the Waves Crash without being clueless!

I'll place some links here, anyways, just in case someone is interested:

STORY'S MAIN PAGE | FULL STORY CHRONO | CHARACTER'S PAGE

✨ I'll also place a more complete written version of this recap with links to key chapters under the cut ✨

Thank you all for the support on the "rebrand", it really has made me feel even more inspired and motivated to continue with this hobby 🥺💙 

BETHANY

Beth was born to a family of farmers in Brindleton, a coastal village in rural England.

She’d help around the farm and care for her two younger brothers, Edward and Matthew, while also attending school, by her mother's request. 

At school, she became very close to her friend, Mary.

Her mother passed away during the birth of her youngest brother, Phillip. For that reason, her father, Edgar, pulled her out of school.

Mary would visit and sleep over often to keep her company.

As time passed, Beth realized she had romantic feelings for her friend. Even though they were reciprocated, Mary’d always push her away.

Before leaving to Finishing School, Mary accepted her feelings. The two girls began a romantic relationship.

While the girls were apart, Beth got to know William - a young man she met previously - better. They became good friends. She also developed a smoking habit through him.

Without her father’s approval, Beth attempted to get into the local College for a literature course, but failed her exam.

After a heated argument, Beth made a deal with her father to get married in exchange of permission to retake the exam and get a higher education.

While Mary was in Bridleton for the holidays, Beth officially proposed to her by giving her her later mother’s ring.

Beth kept writing weekly letters, but got confused and hurt when Mary suddenly stopped writing back.

Her father told her the truth about his nervousness in allowing her to pursue higher education, which made her feel even more emotionally trapped.

Adding up to it, her dear friend William asked for her hand in marriage, leaving her  lonely and lost 

Finally, she learnt about Mary’s engagement and reached a breaking point. Not enough to make her cry, but a breaking point nonetheless.

Beth is left unsure of what she will do with her life. She knows she has a choice to make, but she’d rather not have to make any decisions ever again.

MARY

Mary met Beth when they were 6 years old, on their way to school.

She was the one who instigated their first kiss. And their second. But also pushed her away once or twice due to fear.

She came to terms with her feelings before she left to Finishing School in Germany.

And kept in touch with Beth weekly through letters.

During her Winter break, Mary travelled back home. She then promised to leave everything behind and be with Beth once finished.

For that reason, Mary denied her suitor’s proposal. 

Her father, Charles, became suspicious and found her exchanged letters, which led to him blackmailing Mary into becoming engaged.

Mary wrote a last letter to Beth explaining the situation, but it was intercepted by the School’s headmistress, by Charles’ request.

Believing that Beth is informed, Mary goes on with her parent’s preparations for her wedding and gets ready for her School graduation.

TIMOTHY

Tim had been a close acquaintance of Mary for years and was expected to become her husband one day.

He was told to propose to her. She denied him at first, but said yes the second time.

Tim mentioned a family holiday to Normouth in July, and Mary’s father took the opportunity to set a date and location to their wedding.

During his last month in town, Tim went to an exhibit where he saw Will and Beth. He, then, bought a Kodak from William’s father. 

Tim is currently on his way to his family’s estate in Normouth for their holidays. Mary’s family is expected to join them in a couple of weeks.

WILLIAM

William met Beth during Mary’s 16th birthday ball.

He was the one who instigated her to pursue an higher education.

He is currently  in a Business major at Battlemere College as a request from his father, but is truly passionate about film. Here & here.

Started to fall in love with Beth as their friendship grew. Here and here.

Which eventually led to him proposing to Beth. 

William is yet to receive Beth’s answer, but is patiently waiting for it.

EDWARD

In childhood, Ned had a good relationship with his older sister.

They had a fall back once he announced he didn’t want a higher education.

Ned began noticing his sister’s suspicious behaviours, but always failed in an attempt to reconnect/get her to speak to him about it.

And, as time went by, the contrast between his and his siblings’ beliefs became more apparent.

Already suspicious of his sister’s relationship with Mary, Ned attempted to get on her good side by comforting her. Yet, it only pushed her away even more.

SUSANNA

Sue was a good friend of Beth’s, even though they’ve always had different opinions. It was through this friendship that Sue met Ned.

Sue and Ned weren’t very close in childhood. But they developed good communication and, eventually, fell in love.

They got engaged but were told to wait until Beth was wedded to be able to marry.

Even though the wedding was on stand-by, preparations were still being made.

After the Norman family’s horse passed away, Edward’s father decided to reconsider his decision and allowed Ned and Sue to set a date for the wedding so they could use Sue’s dowry to afford a new horse.

Sue is eagerly waiting for her dream Autumn wedding and her life alongside Ned and his family.

MATTHEW

Matt always felt different and distant from his family. He’s an introverted person, which made him very observant. 

He started to notice how his sister was treated differently from their brothers.

Matt backed Beth up in every situation against their father’s conservative views and helped her keep herself educated, in case she’d retake her exam. Here and here

He had a brief relationship with a local girl named Charlotte.

But, a couple of years later, was spotted kissing a man by lake Battlemere - though people couldn’t identify him.

He kept pretending nothing happened, in an attempt to get things to normal, and eventually got accepted into the local College.

Finally, he told Beth the truth about his sexuality.

Matt is very excited to introduce his boyfriend to Beth and to finally move out of their farm.

PHILLIP & DOROTHY

Phillip’s mother died giving birth to him.

He found comfort getting involved with music from an early age. He later learnt it was a shared interest with his late mother. 

In the music group, he met Dorothy, a young girl from Willow Creek, USA.

Beth helped him bake biscuits to Dottie in an attempt to make her feel a bit better after the pub incident. 

Dorothy became friends with Phillip due to their common interest in music.

She Helped Phillip start getting some closure on the guilt he feels for his mothers death.

During a night out, Dottie was harassed by a man. Phillip tried defending her, but things couldn’t be fixed so simply. They talked about it as the encounter scared them both - on different levels. 

At the moment, Flip and Dottie are very good friends. Flip is infatuated by her, but is trying to suppress it because he knows she is still overwhelmed by the pub incident. Dottie is concerned with her reputation around the village.

[stxleslyds]

I saw your rant about the Red Hood Movie lol (I agree DC keeps hurting my boy Jason) and you said something that interested me, you mentioned that you don’t like it when Jason is drawn with a bat symbol on him but why? Personally I feel that him wearing the bat symbol makes sense because he’s always tried to fit in with the family and it’s his way of connecting with them because he’s never had a family before. He gets along with his other siblings sometimes so I don’t think it’s ooc. I consider ‘bat symbol’ Jason an era of the past and am perfectly fine with his new Red Hood logo it looks sweet (but I wouldn’t be angry if he had the bat symbol on or not in the future). I’m curious what you’re thoughts are!

Hey there Anon, I have to be honest with you, your ask has been proven very difficult to answer, this here is my third draft. I have decided that instead of explaining my thoughts as I was trying to do in my previous drafts, I will now just link you to some of my past posts when I bring up certain points that make me think Jason should have never worn the bat-symbol on his chest.

Just a heads up, I am not a fan of Batman, the “Batfamily”, or Jason being dragged to any Bat-related content, I think it makes his character bland.

In order to make the answer clear to me as well as to anyone who reads this post, I will be separating my thoughts on how I think Jason’s relationship with Bruce has led me to think that he shouldn’t wear a bat-symbol or be involved with any Batman related content, and how Jason’s relationship with his brothers has led me to think that he isn’t part of any Batfamily or has ever been written as someone with true reasons to consider the others his brothers/allies/friends. I will separate each of those two groups in four different sections: pre-New 52, New 52, Rebirth and Infinite Frontier.

First though I would like to say that Jason as the Red Hood wearing a bat-symbol doesn’t make sense to me from the most basic of things, Jason’s vigilante name has nothing to do with Bats. Who wears bat-symbols? Batman, Batwoman, Batgirl, Batwing… All people that who have the “Bat” prefix on their names, nobody else wears a bat-symbol, Nightwing, Robin, Red Robin (Robin), none of them wear it, so why would Red Hood do it? It just makes zero sense. But anyway, that’s just me being annoying, I guess.

Jason and Bruce’s relationship.

First let’s go back in time to when Jason hadn’t died yet. You said that Jason wore the bat-symbol so he could connect with his family because Jason had never had that before, well, I see things differently, Jason had a family and that was his mother, the mother that he cared for when she was sick and the mother that he saw die to drugs after his father was put in jail. He had a family with her. And then he had a family with Bruce when he was Robin, but because Bruce started to neglect and not pay enough attention to him after he realized they weren’t seeing eye to eye in various things, Jason was pushed to act the way he did when he found that his birth mother was alive and “being manipulated by Joker”.

Jason’s father was abusive with his mother and didn’t care for Jason, Bruce wasn’t ready to be a father (even after Dick) and when Jason started to not want to follow his every rule Bruce neglected him, later his birth mother betrayed him and was one of the people involved in Jason’s death.

My point here is that Jason had a family with one person who died to drugs and then every other “family” that he found ended up betraying him or neglecting him. So, I don’t really think that Jason has much trust in the whole concept of “family” at least not when it comes to any of his experiences outside of Catherine Todd.

Now let’s move to the events of Under the Red Hood where Jason comes back to comics. Jason doesn’t hate Bruce then but he felt betrayed by him and felt like Batman’s whole crusade was not good anymore. Jason expressed several times in that book the fact that he didn’t believe Batman was good for Gotham and that he became a better version of Batman, the Red Hood.

Red Hood could do things that Batman didn’t dare do, he was better. So, why on earth would Jason wear a bat-symbol then? Well, Jason never wore a bat-symbol pre-New 52 when he was wearing his Red Hood suit. NEVER.

Jason didn’t care for Dick or Tim, he saw Dick as inferior to him because of Nightwing’s no killing ways and he was completely indifferent to Tim, his only interactions with him were when he cut his throat a little bit in Batman: Hush and when he called him “the pretender”.

So, Jason wasn’t looking for family he just wanted Bruce to kill Joker for him, and Bruce didn’t. When things got complicated and Jason realized that Bruce was too much of a coward he improvised, he told Batman that in order to stop him from killing the Joker Batman would have to shoot him (Jason). Batman didn’t use the gun, but he did save the Joker by throwing a batarang at Jason’s throat. When Joker detonated the explosives in the building they were in Bruce once again saved Joker from the rubble and didn’t look much for Jason.

That my dead Anon is the first time Bruce betrays Jason in such a big way that made me think that Jason would have never wanted to interact with Bruce in a good way. I will repeat it now, Bruce SAVED the Joker instead of letting Jason KILL the Joker.

After Under the Red Hood we got to see that Jason was alive and well in Green Arrow #69-72, where he made an appearance, there I can say with a 100% certainty that Jason hated both Batman and Bruce. He actively did things that pissed Bruce off and was searching for conflict with the man.

Jason and Bruce don’t interact much after all that because at some point Bruce “died” and that’s where Battle for the Cowl comes in. There is where we see one of the craziest Jason characterizations, there Jason took on the mantle of Batman because Gotham needed Batman (what? Red Hood was created to replace Batman!). But in that book Jason actually harmed both his brothers and left them for dead. In that book we also see a horrible message that Bruce left for Jason where Bruce told him that “Jason was broken and he tried to fix him” and that “Jason was my (Bruce’s) biggest failure”. I don’t know about you Anon, but if my father saw me that way, I would be packing my bags. And Jason didn’t look like he was looking to connect with his “family”.

After all that we don’t see Jason until Batman and Robin vol.1, where we see the weirdest characterization of Red Hood, this Red Hood hates Batman and would kill anyone just because. Jason had zero need to connect with his family there.

I just want to remind you here that Jason never wore a Batman symbol until here in his Red Hood suits, he only wore the symbol when he “was” Batman and that was OOC.

So now I welcome you to the New 52, where Jason wears a bat-symbol on his Red Hood suit for the first time. I HATE New 52 Jason Anon; you will find zero love for him here. That man wore a bat-symbol on his chest even though he didn’t believe in Batman’s ways and while he had this internal conflict about whether he hated or not Bruce. This Jason gave up a memory from his Robin years with Batman because he didn’t care enough to keep it, then he was seen acting like an ass towards Bruce and Barbara in the “Court of Owls” event.

But this whole shit show was written by Lobdell and one day he decided that Jason cared about what Bruce thought and let us know that maybe Jason secretly admired Bruce (in the post I will link here! I talk about what happened in those issues among other things). That story would be followed by Batman and Robin vol.2 #20, or what I like to call “the second time Bruce betrayed Jason in an even more painful way”. I am not going to explain what happened there, but I will like here! the post where I talked about what happened there and why I think that Jason should have never been on good terms with Bruce again from that moment on.

In that post I also discuss how much of an abusive and manipulative person and father, Bruce has and can be. He is a disgusting human being and Jason called him out about it but DC loves to write Bruce being abusive and then swiping it under the rug, Jason being on good terms with Bruce or wearing a bat-symbol on his chest is just horrifying after witnessing that issue, and it normalized Bruce’s abusive behaviour when issues later the same writer (Tomasi) had Jason interact with Bruce as if nothing had happened.

After that Jason was seen interacting with Bruce when the latter lost his memory, Jason even hugged Bruce there, it was OOC, and like I said it normalized Bruce’s abusive behaviour or at the very least made it look as something of no real importance.

Now, we are entering the Rebirth era of Bruce and Jason’s relationship, Jason was still wearing that fucking bat-symbol on his chest and this time around Jason even made a deal where he wouldn’t kill anyone while in Gotham (RHatO vol.1 #6), Lobdell even wrote them as being all buddy-buddy after the mess that was the New 52, absolutely disgusting.

Jason didn’t interact with Bruce in Rebirth that much, in fact the next time that Batman made a big appearance in the Red Hood book was in Red Hood and the Outlaws vol.2 #25, yeah, the issue where Batman beats the living shit out of Jason twice because he thought that Jason had killed Penguin. Father of the year, Jason wasn’t dying to be part of Bruce’s family, he was just brutally beat to be part of it. Bruce also ripped the vat-symbol off of Jason’s chest and told him that he didn’t “belong” with him or in Gotham any more. The AUDACITY of that bitch, can you believe? Jason belongs in Gotham as much if not more than Bruce.

Later when Red Hood and the Outlaws became Red Hood Outlaw, we saw Bruce and Jason interact again when Bruce informed Jason of Roy’s death, hugged him and also told him that he was still not allowed in Gotham, what a swell guy that Batman lad!

After that Batman went after Jason Todd when Jason came back to Gotham (without King Batman’s permission) and told the world that Jason Todd was alive and well and taking over Penguin’s Casino. Jason actually threatened Batman with revealing too much information about himself to the world (meaning, Jason threatened Bruce with revealing his secret identity) and that was that. Jason and Bruce only saw each other a few times when DC needed to make money with one of their boring ass events like Joker War and Bruce was shown “welcoming” Jason to Gotham in Red Hood Outlaw #51 or #52, I don’t remember but either way, it was absolutely hilarious and made zero sense. I am sorry, but after Bruce being a manipulative, abusive and all around a horrible person, I don’t feel anything except rage when they make them interact as if they cared for one another.

Shit hits the fan in Infinite Frontier with Urban Legends: Cheer, once again instead of explaining what happens there, I will just link you to the six posts I made about that mini. Part one, Part two, Part three, Part four, Part five and Part six.

Here I will only talk about the comeback of the bat-symbol in Jason’s life. Like you said Jason used (still has in some books) his own logo on his chest after Bruce ripped off the bat-symbol and told him to fuck off. That Red Hood logo was still done with the bat-symbol in mind and I just thought that it was ugly, like, there is no need for a logo if you are going to give him an ugly one along an even uglier suit. But that’s not what matter here, what matters is that the bat-symbol IS making a comeback because at the end of UL: Cheer, Bruce gives Jason a brand new (ugly) suit that has the bat-symbol again. That gift comes as a slap to the face after the disaster that was that book, from every point of view that mini should have not come out to the public. But it did because it forced the “Batfamily” down our throats through Bruce deciding to welcome Jason back to the “family” by giving him a suit with HIS logo on the Red Hood suit that kinda looks to me like Bruce saying “glad that I own you too as well”. The whole bat-symbol thing doesn’t sit right with him and sadly I don’t see it like a “Jason era of the past”, I see it like a metaphorical jail for Jason’s character, he is not free to be the character that he is supposed to be (a perfect opposite to Batman that shows that duality MUST exist in Gotham), and instead all we get is another Batman wannabe that is just as boring as the Batman himself.

Jason and his brother’s relationship.

The funny ha-ha thing with this is that we are not supposed to see Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian as four brothers (and to be honest I have never seen them four as brothers, as far as I see it, Jason hasn’t had a brother since before died). DC always makes it clear that Damian is Bruce’s only son so yeah, there is a big misunderstanding there within DC themselves, they have no problem with trying to sell us their absolutely nasty version of a family but at the same time they refuse to acknowledge any one except for Damian as Bruce’s son.

Even though I don’t necessarily believe that Jason sees his brothers as such I still call them that way because they were/are all Bruce’s children.

But this is not about Bruce so let me talk about Jason’s interactions with his brothers in the pre-New 52 era. So, as I said earlier in this post Jason didn’t think Dick was a big deal in UtRH because *just* like Batman Dick never killed and his way didn’t work or whatever (if only Jason knew what Dick did), and with Tim, Jason was mostly indifferent, he only hurt him a little bit in Batman: Hush (for the little bit that he took Clayface’s place) and then he referred to him as “the pretender”. Then we jump to the events of Teen Titans for Tim and Nightwing for Dick. In Teen Titans #29 Jason went to Titans Tower and beat the living hell out of Tim just because, now that thing was OOC and written by Geoff Johns but it existed and it further proves that DC writes this “family” through violence every time they can and then they just hope we forget it happened. With Dick, well, there was the Brothers in Blood arc where Jason dressed up as Nightwing and killed people in his name, he did it because he wanted to “bond” with Dick because he thought that Dick had killed Blockbuster, the whole arc was a mess and I can tell you this about it, Jason wanted to bond for all the wrong reasons and Dick was written as actually preferring Jason to be dead.

Then we jump right into Battle for the Cowl and even though (once again) this Jason was extremely OOC he did try to kill both Damian and Tim and fought Dick too, so, so far, I am not seeing Jason wanting to connect with his brothers, it was more like him going “be robin to my weird ass version of Batman or suffer!”. It was just weird.

Then there was Batman and Robin vol.1, where Jason’s Red Hood was just a blood thirsty and crazy and he didn’t want to be part of any family. I might not like Jason being written as part of the family but what this book had going on was not it.

Now, get ready because it is New 52 time again and this is messier than his relationship with Bruce in this timeline. The most recognizable relationship (or lack of thereof) was Jason and Dick. Lobdell just let us know one thing about what Jason thought of Dick and that was HATE. Jason HATED Dick, why, you ask? Oh, um, no one really knows, the only panel we were shown as “proof” of why Jason hated Dick was when Jason was acting like a little bitch when Dick was teaching him stuff during patrol (RHatO vol.1 #6). But, yes, Jason “had” (apparently) a good relationship with Tim. Yeah, no gracias, listen, Jason and Tim having brunch for two pages (RHatO vol.1 #8) isn’t making me believe that Jason cares or sees Tim in a good light, just throwing a brunch between them isn’t proof of them being the best of brothers but then again Lobdell loved giving Jason every character trait and relationship that Dick once had (examples: Tim, Roy and Kory). That brunch didn’t mean much because later on during the Death of the Family event Jason almost killed Tim (Teen Titans #16) to “save” his father from Joker (talk about bad writing). Jason and Damian had a very weird and forced “bonding” moment in that same event (you can include Damian to the relationships that Lobdell borrowed from Dick), all of the sudden Jason cared for Damian and he was acting all brotherly, because “they worked together” as different people in Batman Incorporated #4, this weird interaction between Jason and Damian (it can only be called weird because it looked out of place and you cannot change my mind, even Jason thinks it is weird in those panels) happened in RHatO vol.1 #17. In that same issue is where Jason tells Dick that he was trash because he didn’t want to say hi to Kory and kinda tells him that Dick “underestimates” Kory, listen, New Teen Titans isn’t a book that I enjoy reading most of the time but Lobdell needs to do some re-reading himself, Dick isn’t trash to Kory, Lobdell was trash to Kory. Anyway, at that point in time, Jason had a bad relationship with Dick, a secret admiration for Bruce, and a weird ass relationship with Tim and Damian.

Before we go on let me tell you what I think about the whole New 52 dynamic. Jason was used as a replacement of Dick Grayson. Dick was the one that had good relationships with his brothers and father, Jason up until the start of New 52 didn’t care for Tim or Damian, hated Bruce and kinda had a soft spot for Dick. In the New 52 the tables were turned. Jason’s relationship with Tim was never developed in paper, they for some reason were friends only when they stood together like they did in Robin War and Batman and Robin Eternal, there was never development or a reason as to why they “were in good terms”, they just *were*. The whole Jason and Damian thing didn’t last long because Damian died and then the whole mess of Batman and Robin #20 happened with Bruce.

Ahh, Grayson #12, the time when Jason and Tim’s last braincell died, they threw so much shit Dick’s way and for nothing. I will forever be mad at this, they really thought that Dick of all people faked his death, and because Bruce was conveniently amnesiac nobody dared say “hey, wasn’t it Bruce the one that told us that Dick was dead?”, seems to me like New 52 Jason and Tim can go be friends with that one braincell all by themselves. This is not family; this is people teaming up with whoever so DC can sell another weird comic event. Also at that time Damian was alive and Jason couldn’t have cared less about him being there (maybe it was because Jason was there when Damian was resurrected? Who knows?).

And now we jump to Rebirth because I hate the New 52. Tim was nowhere to be seen. Jason just forgot Tim existed and it wasn’t until the Red Hood Outlaw era in which we saw Jason interact with Damian again. What we did see, was a reconciliation between Jason and Dick, Jason was written as acting completely different in RHatO Annual #1, Jason respected Dick and his work and also said that Dick “had been a better brother than he had given him credit for”. Then Jason appeared once in Nightwing and they talked about Dick’s new girlfriend. And that was that for a long while.

As I said, during the RHO era Jason and Damian shared a couple of issues in the Teen Titans run, I have talked about these issues before in two posts (Post 1 and Post 2) but I will summarize what happened there here quickly.

Apparently, Jason and Damian had been working together in secret (never shown in actual comics), Jason gave Damian targets and intel of people for Damian to put in his secret prison for villains. When Damian and the Titans go after a target something goes wrong and the Titans end up hurt. Damian goes after Jason without a second thought and accuses him of betraying him, a physical and emotional fight ensues and it ends with Jason promising that if he sees Damian again, he will kill him. That’s all for Jason and Damian being on good terms in Rebirth.

But it all changes in Infinite Frontier, in August of 2021 we see the *real* comeback of the “Batfamily” in Robin #5. Dick, Damian, Jason, Tim and Stephanie appear in this issue but the only things of essence happen between Jason and Damian and Dick and Damian. Only one of them made sense, and it wasn’t Jason and Damian.

Jason was there to bring Damian back to Bruce. Listen, the last time Jason and Damian were seen together they were actively hiding their work from Batman and then they ended promising to kill each other, and now Jason came fresh out of Urban Legends: Cheer #6 wanting Damian to go back to Bruce. Damian tricks Jason into a hug, but surprise! it wasn’t a hug, Damian electrocuted Jason to get him of his back.

And that’s all.

-

I understand that there have been moments where Jason has been written as wanting to connect to one or two people from the “family” but its never developed or based on something of true essence. You might consider it actually strong family connections but I just don’t see it that way.

Jason wearing a bat-symbol after the abuse and manipulation that Bruce put him through in new 52 onwards is just dumb to me. And given Red Hood’s origin, Jason wearing a bat-symbol in the first place is absurd and goes against everything that he once was.

Jason officially started wearing the bat-symbol again in Detective Comic's back up story written by Rosenberg and will continue to use it in the ongoing book Task Force Z.

The bat-symbol is annoying but Rosenberg writes Jason beautifully so yeah, I am biased there...

We just have different opinions on the matter Anon, but don't take this post as an attack towards you and what you think, it is just that I just don't like Jason being involved with anything Batman.

I hope you have a fantastic week Anon!

[whumpthisway]

Huck and Stephen - Provoked

OC Nonhuman Whumpee and OC Master fic

This is a series - link to 01. Masterpost here <3

A/N: This came from @newbornwhumperfly’s really good prompt: ‘excellent!!! i love daydreaming about poor huck 😩😩😩 so, we all know that huck has very low self-esteem & thinks they’ve conned stephen into a good impression of them, yeah? so does the sense of shame at their “undeserving” status ever overwhelm the pleasure huck gets from being treated kindly? like, have they “let” a situation happen where stephen would have to yell at or punish them for being the bad pet they know they are? if they did, would that plan work? 😈😈😈 - newbornwhumperfly’ Thank you for this!!! <3 <3 rly hope you like it, it ran away a bit with me and idk if it’s the tone you were looking for but yh >.< <3 This one is set to fit in sometime after Nighttime and Huck’s been living with Stephen for around a couple months. Again, please ask me for specific tags or warnings if you need them or I miss something :) Also, this one is dark in a mental way, as Huck’s in a pretty bad place, so pls read the warnings.

Content warnings: past abuse, self-harm, very very low self-esteem, panic, self-destructive behaviour

*

(Huck POV)

With a belly comfortably full of pasta, Stephen’s gentle hand rubbing between their ears, and a blanket nestled over their back as they curled up on the sofa, Huck should’ve felt content. They shifted restlessly at Stephen’s side as he watched the same archaeology programme he watched every week, and almost always with Huck’s head resting against him. They’d become part of Stephen’s carefully maintained routines, and Huck was beginning to feel permanent.

“Getting bored?” Stephen muted his show as he turned to look down at them kindly and Huck looked back at him.

“No, Master.” The restless discomfort itching under their fur didn’t feel like boredom at all.

Stephen sighed a little, and Huck didn’t even flinch. “You don’t have to call me that, Hucky.”

Huck dropped their head and shrugged. They knew. But they’d forget their place completely if they stopped.

Stephen offered them a slight smile and rubbed a finger under their chin before he turned the sound back on for his show.

Huck settled for a while, before they couldn’t help but fidget again.

“You know you don’t have to stay, lad. Go do something else if you want, hm?”

Huck hummed back. They didn’t know what they wanted and just huffed and tried to stay still. But the blanket was too warm and they kicked it off, looking down at where it landed on the floor. They ought to pick it up and fold it; Stephen liked things neat, but they didn’t move, for reasons they couldn’t explain.

Stephen glanced over too, and Huck felt his slight tension in how his hand paused in Huck’s fur. For the first time in a long while, Huck’s heart up-ticked as they waited warily for Stephen’s reaction. But Stephen just turned back to his show after a moment, listened to a man with a trimmed, white beard talk about ancient pottery.

Huck didn’t know exactly why they’d done that with the blanket, but when they deliberately pulled away from Stephen’s fingers rubbing the back of their neck, they knew what they were looking for.

Stephen’s hand hovered in the air a second after Huck moved away from him, but he only looked over at Huck once before settling his hand on his thigh.

It was stupid. Completely stupid, but anger swelled up inside Huck and they found themself growling like Stephen had deliberately stepped on their tail, not just politely respected their space.

This time, Stephen fetched the remote and switched the tele off and Huck went stiff, their growl falling silent as their throat felt like it closed up.

“What’s the matter, lad?” Stephen looked more puzzled than angry. “You don’t want me to pet you anymore?”

The thought of Stephen never running his short-nailed fingers through their fur again made Huck want to cry. But they still felt so painfully restless and irritated and frustrated and it was all directed at Stephen, though he’d done nothing to deserve it.

They couldn’t answer, so stayed sullenly silent. The light crows’ feet at the corners of Stephen’s eyes deepened as he frowned.

“Talk to me,” he coaxed. When Huck kept their jaw clamped shut, their ears pressed back, Stephen reached out slowly as if to put a hand on Huck’s back, but giving them plenty of time to pull away.

Their hackles went up and they growled again, low and upset. “Stop it!” Huck’s exclamation startled both of them and Stephen quickly took his hand back.

“I’m sorry.” Stephen pressed his lips together, but there wasn’t a hint of anger in his face. “I won’t- didn’t realise it was upsetting you.”

Huck ground their teeth together and flexed their claws, which caught on the sofa fabric. Normally, they’d very carefully extract them so as not to pull any fibres out, but this time they didn’t care. If Stephen didn’t like their behaviour maybe he should actually do something about it.

Stephen startled at the sound of Huck’s claws digging and tearing the sofa cover. They were sharper and longer these days, without Master Parry clipping them right down to the bed on a regular basis.

“Huck!”

Huck couldn’t meet Stephen’s eyes but they didn’t stop, digging their claws in further, a growl vibrating through them. Do something, they thought viciously, do something, Master.

“What’re you-” Stephen was agitated and his hands hovered uncertainly in the air. “Huck, enough, we can talk-”

Huck ripped their claws free with an awful tearing noise. “NO!” They didn’t want to talk.

Their eyes welled up with a mix of fury and fear, and they kicked off the back of the sofa, springing off the cushions to land on the tiled floor, already scrambling for purchase to run away.

They’d never have run from Master Parry, nor damaged his possessions, nor talked back, nor talked at all, once he’d ordered them not to. But Master Parry had known what they were, had known how disloyal and awful they were deep inside and he’d known how to deal with them. Stephen thought they were too good to deserve punishment, but he didn’t know, he didn’t know Huck at all.

Sobbing uncontrollably between gasps, Huck’s frantic legs carried them up the stairs, down the corridor and into the bedroom, where they skidded under the bed. They hit their back painfully against the ridge of the bed frame when they didn’t duck down quick enough, but the sting was almost a relief.

Crawling further under, the dust making them cough, they pressed themself up against the wall and cried in great, choking heaves. They didn’t deserve Stephen even a little, but they still wanted to stay so badly it made them feel sick sometimes.

Stephen left them alone for a little while, even though Huck couldn’t stop their crying, which was definitely loud enough for Stephen to find them easily. Huck tortured themself with thoughts of Stephen making phone calls to Mariann, demanding she take Huck away, that’s he’d had enough of Huck’s stupid behaviour. It’d been more than two months, Huck thought, and Stephen had made it clear when Huck arrived that he didn’t want a long-term pet. He’d been horrified by the thought.

Huck’s breathless crying had finally petered off by the time Stephen’s slow tread climbed the stairs. Huck’s breathing hitched at the familiar sound and they hunkered down further, hiding their face in their paws, ears pressed down and tail curled up close to their legs.

“Huck?” Stephen sounded tired and Huck felt guilt surge in them, amongst the mess of their feelings. Stephen had had a long day working and he’d just wanted to relax, but Huck had messed that up for him. “Lad, where’re you?”

Huck couldn’t bear to let Stephen waste time looking for their useless hide, so they whined softly, and then again louder when Stephen didn’t seem to hear.

Stephen’s footsteps approached, scuffing a little in his tartan slippers, which appeared first in Huck’s line of sight from under the bed. Stephen crouched down slowly, and Huck could picture perfectly the grimace on his face at the strain to his knees, and Huck started crying again, silently now. They were so, so bad.

“Huck?” Stephen stuck his head under the edge of the bed and Huck couldn’t help but cringe away. Stephen’s eyes couldn’t see as well in the dim light as Huck’s could, Huck knew, but he’d seen Huck’s flinch, because his face turned briefly hurt. And why wouldn’t he be? What had he ever done to hurt or threaten Huck? Nothing. He was the kindest owner, and he deserved a creature that was as good as Stephen was, not a disobedient, sullen, damaged one.

“I’m a bit lost about what that was all about,” Stephen said quietly, in that soothing tone he’d used right after Huck had first arrived, “but let’s talk about it, okay?”

Huck sniffled and pressed their forehead to the floor, hiding. They were beginning to shiver as the rush of emotion and adrenaline burnt off and left them cold and exhausted.

“Huck, please come out.” Stephen sniffed, the dust clearly getting to him. “I’d rather cut off my own thumb than hurt you, and it’ll take more than a torn sofa to change that, love.”

Huck swallowed thickly. “You should, Master,” they whispered.

Stephen was silent for a long pause. “I should what? Cut off my own-”

“No!” Huck yelped. The thought was awful and they didn’t know why Stephen had brought it up. “Hurt me, you should hurt me, Master.”

Stephen eased into a more comfortable position on the hard floor. “Why should I?” Huck squeezed their eyes shut. Wasn’t it obvious? “Huck? Why’d you think I should-”

Huck interrupted him again, just like the shitty pet they were. “I’m bad.”

“Huck,” Stephen said softly, “you’re not bad.”

“Yes I am!” Huck yelled, loud and sudden enough to make Stephen blink and lean marginally backwards. Huck gulped and ducked their head.

“What’s bad about you?”

Huck cried harder. “Everything,” they gasped. “You should- get a- a better pet, Master.”

They thought of another creature living in Stephen’s house, a sweet, pretty one that smiled a lot and never cringed from Stephen or woke him up with nightmares or cried all over his jumper. And where would Huck be? They deserved to go to a Master that’d discipline them, but they felt so sick at the thought they choked.

“I don’t want a different… companion. I like you.”

“You- you- you,” Huck couldn’t get their words out and swallowed thickly.

“Take your time, lad.”

Huck rubbed their paw over their eyes. “You only say that because you’ve, you’ve never had a good pet, Master.”

Stephen paused and Huck tensed, expecting Stephen to finally realise that Huck wasn’t worth his time or his care.

“Huck, I care for you very much, lad. I wouldn’t trade you for any other creature or human, not now and not when we’re both old and creaky.” Stephen tried weakly to smile.

Huck’s heart squeezed. “You should have a better pet, Master.”

“Who says I should? Can’t I choose who I want to spend my time with myself?”

Huck tensed. Stephen was right; Huck’d been telling their master that his choices were wrong. They’d been trying to do what was best for him, but that was no excuse for trying to give their master orders.

“I’m sorry, Master,” they whimpered.

Stephen shifted a little on the hard floor where he was still crouched down, frowning gently at Huck.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

Huck heaved a sob.

“I argued with you,” they choked out, trying so hard to make Stephen understand. “I told you what to do! I tore up the sofa! I wouldn’t let you pet me and I ran away and I cried like a weak, stupid-” They banged their forehead hard against the floor, “awful-” Their head thumped the floor again.

“Huck!” Stephen barked, before his hand shot out and reached under the bed, stretching out towards Huck’s shoulder. “Stop it!”

Huck didn’t. Stephen wouldn’t make them be a better pet, so they’d do it themself.

“Huck!” Stephen sounded sharp and desperate. “Stop right now!”

Before Huck could do it again, Stephen’s hand found their arm and he pulled them, hard, out from under the bed.

Huck yelped, more shock than pain, though Stephen’s grip was rough. They were tugged out into the brighter light of the bedroom and then Stephen wrapped both arms around them and held them tight, one hand cradling the back of their head.

“Don’t do that, don’t ever do that.” Huck was shaking badly enough that it took a moment for them to realise that Stephen was trembling too. He was holding them close, like they might try to run away again. “Why’d you do that?” Stephen had his forehead pressed to Huck’s shoulder and Huck felt his tears seeping into their fur. They were too shocked to feel properly guilty, but it’d come.

“I don’t deserve a good Master,” Huck whispered. Their head was throbbing badly and they closed their eyes, going limp against Stephen.

“Yes you do.” Stephen rocked them gently. “You deserve every good thing. You’ve been through hell and- and those asshole owners of yours,” Huck tensed, “they told you it was your fault that they treated you like shit. But Huck, it was their fault, okay? No-one should treat anyone like you were treated, y’understand? You’re a good lad, a good person. You’ve always been good.”

Huck curled their tail around Stephen’s foot and couldn’t help but melt into the comfort Stephen offered so freely, even though they shouldn’t. They weren’t a person.

“Sometimes,” Huck whispered, “I watched Master Parry get into his car, out of the window. And- and- I wished that he’d die. I wished that another car would hit his car and he’d just-” They were crying again, waiting for Stephen’s disgust. They were always just waiting for it, for the moment he’d turn away from them, but it never happened. No matter what happened, Stephen never did. And he didn’t now either.

“He beat and abused you, lad, from what Mariann’s said. You wishing him to go away… there’s nothing wrong with that. You’re allowed to be angry at him.”

Huck shook their head. “I’m just a bad pet, Master. A good pet would never, ever think like that.”

Stephen eased away from them, but only far enough that he could meet their eyes. He rubbed their back for a long moment, looking thoughtful.

“Huck… can you, can you accept that I don’t think you’re bad? That I think you’re good just as you are? Maybe you don’t believe it, but just, believe me when I say you make my life better?”

A better pet would make you even happier, Huck thought.

But they knew what Stephen meant, and they did believe that Stephen thought that. He was too just too kind.

So they nodded silently and Stephen smiled a little.

“Alright. We’ll talk about this more in the future, okay? And just, promise me if you feel like- hitting yourself again, tell me, lad, please?”

Huck chewed their lip, before nodding again. They deserved punishment, but Stephen was right; he got to decide whether or not Huck got punished, not Huck. And if Stephen wanted to spoil them, then Huck should let him, however uneasy it made them feel. Their feelings didn’t matter after all, only what made Stephen happy.

*

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[fuckingthefictional]

Secret Shelby.

Finn Shelby x Reader

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays or happy-whatever-you-may-celebrate.

Here’s a crap fic that’s way too long, and half of it is probably gibberish- but hey enjoy!

“Where the fuck is Finn?”

The clock ticked teasingly- it made Arthur more annoyed. By waiting around they were losing time that could be spent working. Or more importantly, getting drunk.

The air was thick with tension. And all of the Shelby’s and the rest of the Blinders were growing increasingly impatient with the youngest brother. He had yet to make an appearance and it frustrated the eldest Shelby to no end.

If there was one thing that the Shelby family expected with the business they owned, it was to be on time- everyone knew that the Shelby’s hated tardiness and the fact that Finn hadn’t shown up was pushing them all into a state of annoyance.

“I said where the fuck is Finn?” Arthur asked again, not particularly asking anyone directly.

“I’ve not seen ‘im.” Isaiah replied from the column he was leant on.

Tommy took an inhale of his cigarette and swilled the whiskey around the glass it was contained in.

“If Isaiah doesn’t know Arthur, then I have no fuckin’ clue. If you’re that bothered about the lad then go and find him.” Smoke blew from his mouth, “Until then, we’re going to talk business like real businessmen.”

—

That same morning on the other side of Small Heath, Finn Shelby was tucked up in bed. His arms wrapped around his loves small frame.

You were still fast asleep-you were tired what from being up most of the night in discomfort.

Finn, however, found himself marveling at his girl’s belly, the skin was stretched taut over the swollen bump. It cradled the baby that had yet to be born.

The young Shelby rubbed a circle into the skin with a rough hand across the top of the bump. The movement obviously had caught the attention of his unborn child because soon after he could feel the small jolts and jabs against his palm.

The action brought a smile to his face but subsequently caused you to groan and hiss in pain.

He’d forgotten how sensitive your belly had become in the weeks leading up to delivery. The doctors had said, that because of your small, adolescent frame- it gave the baby less room to move around comfortably.

Finn knew you’d do anything for your baby to be comfy and safe within your body though, so you had proclaimed that if it meant a few days of discomfort and pain then so be it.

“You okay?” Finn mumbled into your messy hair, “do you need anything love?”

You had to smile at his offer. Ever since you’d become pregnant, Finn had been home a lot more. You hadn’t expected it (not that you weren’t thankful and grateful for it), you knew how much family meant to him- how much the business meant to him. How much proving himself to his brothers meant to him.

When you brought it up with him though, he just claimed that “You’re my family now. You and our little bean.”

“Love?”

You were brought out of your thoughts to see Finn looking worried.

You caressed his cheek, “just hold us.”

He slowly pressed a long kiss to your hairline and then proceeded to wrap his arms around as much of your waist as he could reach.

“What do you think they’ll look like?”

The thought caused you to smile softly, “I hope he looks just like you. With your curly red hair and freckles.”

Finn chuckled into the crook between your shoulder and neck, “so it’s a he huh?” I stroked the bump lovingly, “I think it’s going to be a little girl- a spitting image of her mother.”

The idea of the baby being here made you both sick with nerves but also full of joy and excitement.

Pregnancy was a new concept for both of you, especially considering you were both only 17.

But you were so glad that Finn had stuck with you for the duration of your pregnancy.

He never missed an appointment and constantly talked to the small baby that grew inside of you. He’d even tried to take up knitting, Finn had managed to make a scruffy looking bobble hat for when the baby arrived. It looked crap- but you appreciated it all the same.

Children, however, were a different story. Finn had obviously been in charge of looking after his nieces and nephews in the time when his brothers were abroad fighting.

And he still occasionally did it whenever Esme or John needed a spare hand.

And you were known to babysit and tutor children around Small Heath. You were one of the few genuinely liked people in town.

You weren’t judgemental and were willing to help others- and as much as the Small Heath inhabitants didn’t want to admit they were thankful.

The idea of your own bundle of joy was different. You’d both held and cared for babies that belonged to someone else- and the idea that this child growing inside of you was your responsibility made you anxious.

But you and Finn and soon the baby had each other and that was all that mattered.

//

“Mum?” The soft knock from the entryway of the office caused Polly to look up from the books she had been poured over minutes previously.

Micheal walked in and took a seat in front of his mother.

“What’s the matter, sweetheart?”

Micheal frowned slightly, he didn’t know whether he was reading too much into this.

“I’m worried about Finn.” His face conveyed serious stature though as his mother looked up at him from behind thick lashes.

“And why is that?”

“Because I haven’t seen him in days.” He licked his lips, “He hasn’t been at the betting den, or the garrison, his apartment is empty every time I check. For fuck's sake he hasn’t even shown his face at the family meetings.”

Micheal shifted in his seat, “Him not showing up to family meetings is not normal. When has Finn ever missed out on a chance to prove himself?”

Polly stubbed out her cigarette into the ashtray, she looked as if she were thinking hard for a solution.

“I’ll bring it up with Tommy, truth be told I’m worried too. Finn has never been gone this long without calling, writing or even just visiting.” Her hand brushed some stray hairs out of her face, “I agree, it’s not like him.”

//

You didn’t understand how you had grown so big in the last week. You knew you were entering your 38th week and that you were coming into the area of potential delivery dates.

Finn had put you in bed rest and was adamant that it would stay that way until the baby arrived.

Some of the ladies from around town had been keeping you company, their children presenting you with hand-me-downs from when they themselves had been babes.

Staying in bed was nice for the first day or so- but then your pregnancy hormones kicked in and you couldn’t help but feel smothered and miss the absence of using your muscles.

You hated bed rest- but you knew it soothed Finn knowing that his two loves were tucked up and safe in bed.

You knew Finn had been avoiding his family like the plague, he still did jobs that paid the bills and kept money coming in. But whenever he saw his brothers- he’d only speak a few sentences around them.

He’d gotten a right bollocking from Tommy, saying that he needed to prioritize his family over whatever he had been so occupied with.

So that’s what he did, he focused on his new family. He still spoke to his Aunt Poll and occasionally Micheal and Isaiah.

But you were beginning to get frustrated with your boyfriend. You knew that his absence in the Shelby family was hurting them, and doing more harm than good.

It hurt Finn as well as much as he didn’t want to admit. These were the brothers that practically raised him. The boys that taught him everything he knew. The boys that shaped him into the person he was now.

And that had been why you’d persuaded him to go out to the Garrison for the evening- just him and his family (plus Isaiah).

At the time you’d thought it was a great idea, you just forgot one detail. You were heavily pregnant and due anytime soon.

And of course, the baby chose the only time that their father was out to try and make an appearance.

—

Finn walked into the pub, the smoky air and rowdiness of the patrons made Finn feel at home.

Considering he had been coming to the Garrison since he was a young lad, he had become used to the behaviour from the drinkers that spent their time in the pub.

He shouldered the door to the private room, and there sat his brothers, cousin, and Isaiah.

“Oi, Oi who’s this?” John’s cocky voice chirped from the corner of the booth.

“I don’t know mate,” Arthur shot back, “looks like a stranger to me.”

“Shut up.” Finn grumbled back, rolling his eyes.

Finn sat down next to Isaiah, who in turn passed over a cigarette.

The next hour was spent playing cards, they were all completely aware of how uncomfortable the youngest Shelby was. Finn kept looking towards the door, tapping his foot anxiously.

Tommy finally spoke up, “Where’ve you been then, aye Finn?”

“Y’know out and about.”

Tommy and Arthur shared a look, “You know that’s not what I meant Finn.”

Finn was glaring at his older brothers now, he knew that they wouldn’t give up until they had every piece of information.

That was until Harry knocked on the hatch and claimed that there was a phone call for Finn

He abruptly rose from his seat and slammed the door upon exiting.

He picked up the receiver that the barman was holding for him.

“Hello?”

“Finn!”

“Y/N- what’s wrong?”

There was a pause and he could hear your harsh pants through the line.

“Y/N/N?”

“The baby-“ there was more wincing from your end, “The baby is coming.”

“Shit.”

“Just get fucking home now! For fuck sake.”

With a last few reassurances, he put the phone back onto the holder. Finn turned only to see a small crowd comprised of his older brothers.

Finn started to push past them but was stopped by hands on his shoulders.

“I need to go.”

“Not until you tell us where you’re going.”

He was starting to get angry, “For fuck's sake Tommy- let me go!” He broke free and started to break into a sprint.

His lungs were on fire and his legs burnt but Finn continued the pace all the way back to where his girl was waiting.

What he failed to notice was his brothers tailing him in the family car.

—

You were hunched over panting harshly, grasping onto the mattress with white knuckles.

You knew labour was bad- but you didn’t expect it to be this bad. The rippling pain was intense and you hadn’t expected the process to be this quick.

The ladies at the hospital had said that a first-time labour would be a slow process- evidently, that wasn’t the case.

“Come on baby, work with me- at least wait for yer father, yeah?” You mumbled to the empty room.

Another contraction struck your body causing you to yell out in pain.

“Y/N/N?”

It was Finn.

“Bedroom!” Was the only reply you could muster.

A few seconds later your boyfriend rushed into the room, he immediately knelt down to your level and slowly kneaded the bottom of you back.

You let out a few more groans- your belly felt tight. It was almost as if the contractions were seizing your entire body and you could feel a harsh pressure urging you to push.

You found yourself grasping Finn’s shoulder, “I need you to check...I can feel something.”

Finn just gawked at you, speechless. However seeing you in pain, he did as he was told.

And low and behold there was what looked like the top of a head.

“Baby’s coming now, love.”

You grunted in response, as he helped you up onto the stripped mattress.

And then the door flew off of its hinges, and in strolled the Shelby brothers.

Finn seemed to be in as much shock as you were.

His shouts of anger rang out, as you groaned again and again.

At this point you were in a lot of pain and all you wanted was privacy and rest. And to have this fucking child out of your body.

“Did you invite the entirety of fucking Birmingham to witness this!” You screamed, hands finding their way to the metal bed frame which was situated behind you. The men just stared on- seemingly speechless.

“GET OUT!”

They scarpered from the room, saying something about “fetching Aunt Pol”

You didn’t care anymore, you’d given up trying to be rational and following the instructions that had been given at the hospital to you months prior.

If your body wanted to push, then you’d bloody well listen.

Finn had placed warm water, towels and a blanket on the bedside table. He then proceeded to climb behind you and press soft kisses to your sweaty brow.

“Finn I need to push.” You announced, “this baby isn’t waiting for anyone else.”

You could feel him nod behind you, “what can I do to help?”

The words would have been sweet if you weren’t too busy pushing a human out of you.

“Hold my knees back.”

He complied, and you felt your knees raise up to your chest.

And then- you began to push.

It felt like an eternity, but then you felt a release and heard it. You heard a high pitched scream, and a kick to your thighs.

The baby was here.

You looked up at Finn, who was teary-eyed and slowly reached down where your hands met the small body of your daughter.

By the time you sat back up with the baby cradled in your arms, Finn had a pair of scissors in his hand, he cut the cord and then began to clean the baby with the towel that was previously laid out.

You reached for the soft blanket that had belonged to Finn as a baby and wrapped the newborn up carefully.

“She’s perfect.”

You nodded in agreement, “she has your nose.” You smiled widely and stroked the small baby’s nose gently. The action caused the baby’s face to scrunch up- which in turn caused the young parents to laugh and smile in awe.

Finn softly kissed your temple and whispered sweet nothings to you, as you just leant back into his embrace.

The birth was finally catching up with you. You were so tired, and you soon felt yourself drift off into a deep slumber.

Finn took the baby into his arms and gently lifted her down into the bassinet, she mewled in protest to being put down.

The thought made him smile, the fact that his baby was already attached to his parents.

He proceeded to lift the sheets and blankets over your body, giving you warmth while you slept.

Finn then once again enveloped his baby girl into his arms, as he held her up against his chest.

He didn’t know he could be so capable of loving someone like this.

The quiet bliss was soon broken as Polly and Ada burst into the room each of their arms held bags.

“Aunt Pol?”

“What’s the bloody hell is going on?” Polly ranted on, “Your brothers said-“ The older woman stopped mid-sentence as the baby let out a little squeak. Almost as if she were announcing her presence.

“Aunt Pol, Ada- I’d like you to meet the newest member of the Shelby family. this is Theiadora Elizabeth Shelby. Theia for short.”

Polly looked close to tears and the younger of the two women gasped.

“You named ‘er after mum?”

Finn nodded in response.

“And this,” he motioned to your sleeping figure, “is my girl, Y/N.”

Finn just looked towards the two most important people in the world. He softly stroked his child’s face as he bent down to kiss her face.

“Welcome to the Shelby family, Theia.”

—

It was a few days later, both you and the baby were doing good. Finn barely put Theia down, it was evident that even at a few days old- she was a complete daddy’s girl.

Which you found completely unfair considering what your body had put up with for her to even be here.

But you soon got over the minor bitterness that you had felt ,when you woke up to the sight of your boyfriend cradling Theia’s small body and vowing to always protect her.

You’d gotten close to the Shelby ladies in the past few days too. Polly brought fresh food round every few mornings and usually stayed for a cup of tea if Finn was around.

And then there was the Shelby sister, though you had only known Ada for a few days, she’d become your biggest supports next to Finn.

She’d try and come over everyday, bringing her son, Karl with her.

You were thankful for her presence and she made you feel reassured, like you actually knew what you were doing.

Finn had told you that it was because Ada had been in the same boat as you, that she too had been a young mum.

But you knew it was only a matter of time until you were officially introduced to the Shelby family. So when Ada turned up to you and Finns home, you were understandably taken by surprise.

“Ada, is this really necessary?” You asked as you cradled the small baby in your arms. Theia was snoozing and even at a few days old she produced little snores like her father did.

Ada just continued to pin back your hair, “Yes, you have to meet my brothers. So does little Theia.” She paused, sensing your uneasiness, “It’ll go smoothly Y/N, Finn would never put you or Thee into harms way.”

Her words soothed your queries about this introduction. She was right. Finn had promised to protect you both from harm.

And you knew he wasn’t one to break a promise.

—

Finn had already gone to Polly’s house to help set up for dinner- as he knew that the others wouldn’t.

It also gave him time to explain to Polly about why he had kept his girls a secret (Which she had been quite furious about.)

“Why didn’t you tell me? This family does not keep secrets.”

Finn didn’t have an answer to that, he just shrugged.

“How long have you been together”

“Nearly two years.”

The questions kept coming

“Where did you meet?”

“She was tutoring Katie with Maths, I walked into the kitchen and found ‘em doin’ algebra.”

This went on for some time, until Polly finally asked.

“Do you love her?”

“More than anything.”

The sweet conversation was interrupted by the boisterous banter between his older brothers.

John grinned at him, seemingly proud that he finally knew the secret that his younger brother had been keeping to himself.

“How’s fatherhood treating you, Aye Finn?”

Polly smacked her nephew around the head, “Mother and baby are healthy- If you must know.”

“And what are their names?” Tommy’s cool, calculating voice queried from the stairwell.

“The-“

“Theia Elizabeth Shelby.” A female voice beat Finn to the answer. Looking up he saw you holding the baby in your arms, Ada and Karl next to you. “And I’m Y/N Y/L/N.”

You walked over to where Finn was situated and he wrapped his arms around your middle. The tiny baby in your arms was snoozing, and like her father when asleep, had no intention of waking up for a while.

The other Shelby’s looked on as Finn doted on his girls, making sure that they had made the trip safely and asking about other minor details that Tommy, John and Arthur would never have thought to ask their ladies.

“You look familiar.”

You looked over to see who had spoken, John sat on one of the rickety kitchen chairs, starring inquisitively at you.

“Where’ve I seen you before?”

Ada smacked her brother across the back of his head, this caused a yelp to arise from the man.

“‘the fuck was that for?”

Ada just rolled her eyes, “She’s not from a whorehouse if that’s what you’re thinking John.”

The comment didn’t go unnoticed by Finn, who’s face had flushed in anger at the idea of John possibly trying to call the mother of his child a whore.

You laid a hand on his shoulder, “I used to tutor some of your children. Help ‘em with school work or any stuff they may have missed out on.”

Tommy spoke up from his spot in the kitchen, “so you’re a teacher, aye?”

You blinked, “No, I just tutor and occasionally look after children from around the area.”

“Is it good pay?”

You were once again taken aback, “Pardon?”

Tommy repeated himself, “I said is it good pay?”

You couldn’t quite see what the outcome of this conversation was, but you could see the cogs moving in his head.

You cleared your throat, “I don’t get paid Mr Shelby, I do it all voluntarily.” You stared at him blankly, “A lot of the families around Small Heath don’t have the money to pay me for what I do. Besides I’ve always said that support from others shouldn’t come at a price.”

Polly and Ada nodded approvingly, while Finn just looked at you with adoration.

“‘ow old are you then.” John popped up this time.

“I’m-“

“She’s 17, seven months younger than me.” Finn quipped, curling a few strands of your hair around his fingers.

“And how long ‘ave you been with our Finn?”

“Just over two years.” You answered the questions.

“Where’d you grow up, I don’t recall seeing you around Small Heath?”

“I-“

“Bloody Hell boys,” Ada huffed as she set Karl down on the small armchair in the corner of the room, “What is this? An interrogation?”

You shot Ada a thankful look, the questions were beginning to make you feel slightly overwhelmed and out of your depth.

The slumbering babe in your arms began to squirm around, as she started to awaken. Theia let out a small series of yawns, before her face scrunched up and her eyes slowly opened.

The whole room fell into a hushed silence as they watched in awe.

“She has your eyes Finn, lad.” Arthur spoke from his position by the mantle.

“Yeah, she’s pretty perfect.” He replied.

Tommy stepped forwards glass of gin in his grasp, “Aye well let’s say a toast to the newest Shelby!”

They all raised a glass and together chanted in tandem, “to the newest Shelby.”

You looked up to the Shelby you had fallen in love with all those years ago- he pressed a kiss to your lips.

Life felt good- life was good.

[talesofealdancynedom]

Electra, grown, with her selkie furs.

Tale 31: If We Lost The Sea Wives (chapter 3 - Electra’s coat  3/5 ) part 7. Stories of Magic Forests

no warings

              Fey are made by The Beast Kings, and thus magic itself. They know no time, feel no hate, take no side, and cannot form judgement. They are unable to age, and are stuck in an immature state. But that’s their charm. Fey are both very human, but distinctly not. Neither animal, nor person. Their humanness is why people love them, and requite fey affection on occasion. This is the only way a fey can have parents; Instead of being formed by magic itself, fey can breed if they know true love. The child will always be the same fey as it’s fey parent, but will also always be raised like a human.

              Saturn Firepot and his selkie wife, Iearda were expecting a baby. She did not comprehend the array of emotional human responses, or even notice she was with child. But Saturn of coarse, was excitemed. The cabin freshly finished, and in the fire of love, his life felt like it couldn’t get any better. He had graduated with his specialist degree, and had begun his own research. Saturn felt like he was in his prime. In fact, his glasses were a little too rosy. Due seeing fey as human, Saturn forgot his one and only was a fish fey; And thus if the baby was a girl, she too would be a selkie. A daughter would need to be fully submerged to turn into a seal, in order to survive. A son would just be a regular human boy. Nowhere in the other ten lands, was not knowing the gender of your baby, been so stressful. Worse yet, the home birthing culture was intense, due to the commonality of men marrying and reproducing with sea wives. Selkies were known to bite in such stressful times, and partially still had their seal teeth. A blood wound was nothing, compared to the fact Saturn was too ashamed of his predicament to do it all properly. He bought a tub to fill with sea water at their beach, and relied on the fact that fey don’t get birth complications; Because their made of magic, not biology.

              Once the drama was over, and Firepot’s sea wife sat by the tide; Recovering without a clue what just happened. Meanwhile, Saturn bathed his daughter in the tub. Only Northland Sea water was good enough for his child. The adorable ross seal pup, starred up at him, barely able to swim. The baby just turned into a seal upon touching the water. While Saturn was distracted,  someone entered the beach house. As grey mist suddenly settled, it felt like it was going to rain. Saturn took the pup out of the water to cradle her, as unease set in. When he looked at his new daughter, she was now a baby swaddled in a little white fur coat.

“She needs a name. Don’t worry, I’m used to it.” An ethereal woman’s voice chimed. Saturn looked up to see a large woman of his people, with long wavy ginger hair, eyes of the sea, and a large spiked crown; the Fish King, in all her beauty. Men however, become entranced upon seeing her land form, and Saturn was reduced into a catatonic state while the Fish King named the girl.

“Her name is Electrid. As her father, you get to know that. It’s ok if I tell you. I trust as a seer, you know the importance of a fey’s name.” The Fish King said, leaving through the glass sliding doors. The thin curtains blew, as a light salty breeze waved in. When Saturn came out of his trance, his daughter was crying, and the beach was empty. His selkie love had gone back to the sea. Saturn was left clutching his fey daughter, completely alone. He began rocking and sobbing with her, on his knees on the cabin floor. He had no local family, or friends. It was just him in a cabin, by a magic ocean, on an abandoned beach, looking into the infinite misty ocean. Heartbroken.

              Saturn was destroyed that his one true love would put on her skin, and leave. She seemed so content the year and a half. It made Saturn feel secure. He wasn’t forcing her to stay however. Ierna’s coat always hung on the hat stand, by the porch. Fey often have no logical reason for their actions. As a seer of fey, he knew this. It is possible, that she may forget about him with time. Ierna had been away from the sea for so long, perhaps she missed it and wanted an extended vacation. Either way, Saturn decided he would never have it happen again. He took off his daughter’s snowy Selkie coat, and stuffed it in a trunk at the foot of his bed. Then he the girl in human baby clothes.

Without her skin, she was a normal baby girl; Normal enough to convince the local hospital to give her a birth certificate, and his last name. Human bottles, human food, human clothes, human language, and human books. He went the extra mile, to make sure no one knew Electra was anything but a regular daughter. He told lie after lie, to affirm he was a single parent. Any time Electra gazed into the sea, or couldn’t relate to the other children, Saturn would say everyone is different, and distract her with affection. Anything to prevent the most precious thing to him, form returning to the ocean forever. It had been years, and Ierna was still gone. Saturn had now become the cooky village wizard, living alone on a beach.

               It is fair to say, that Saturn was so good at hiding Electra’s feyness, that everyone was fooled, including her. His apt knowledge of fey behaviour, from his job, meant he knew how to raise and teach her to be more like a person. The teeth were a little hard to explain sometimes; As mentioned, selkies have slightly seal like teeth, even in human form. All things considered, fey or not, both father and daughter got joy and fulfillment with only each other to love. Exclusive cuddle rights, fish pie, and Welsh cakes. Listening to radio shows, while playing on the beach with the other fey. Saturn had told all of them long ago, not to tell Electra or any other human, that she was a selkie. They loved him so much by then, they obliged without question. Each dragon, fairy, and fish, did not understand why a human would desire such a simple favour, but it was no problem as they have little to say to most common men.

Saturn became so lost in raising Electra, and keeping up the lie, that he forgot she would grow up. Without understanding human emotions. Electra often made assumptions about life stages, and appropriate social etiquette. Electra, shortly after graduating secondary school, came home with a young lad one afternoon. She had just gone out for cabbage, but also decided to pick up a boy she thought was cute as well.

“Daddy! Can he join us for dinner? I offered to show him our beach house and quiet bay. He said yes! He is so charming, and he dyed his hair orchid to match his kilt. It looks gleaming in traditional knots; and brings out his grey eyes! Oh, and he makes me smile, as everything he says is so sweet!” Electra ranted, starring at the man, like she was consumed by his essence. The boy seemed a bit rattled, and Saturn, as an overprotective father, was livid.

“Excuse me; Who are you? What are you doing with my daughter?” he said firmly.

“I’m Jasper of house Nix. She... She’s the local girl who wears the flowy dresses, and stares at me often; Oh, and she brings me daisies.” He responded. “I approached her, to ask why she was acting all odd; Then she asked if I wanted to go to the beach, and I said yes! She is by far, the most adorable maiden in town, and she looks just like you, I do say! Down to the grey eyes and ginger hair, she does!  You must be her father?”

“Aye…” Saturn said. It was worse than he thought. Electra had become infatuated with an idiot. As the village of Isfisceard was used to magic, and mundane ladies of beauty swooning, it could blur together. The lad had no clue, Electra was a selkie. He assumed she was just charismatic and flirty.

“You built this beach house? It’s homey. I love the yellow and white cabin aesthetic, on the amber wood. This place smells of the ocean and my favourite black tea. Oh, and just look at the enchanting view!” Jasper said, looking into the sea. For once, Electra wasn’t looking into the ocean; She was looking at Jasper. Saturn shrugged, and offered him a beach-side picnic. He was indeed a very sweet boy. Jasper helped clean up, danced with Electra, spouted nothing but positivity, and may have been too stupid to know malice. He reminded Saturn of himself. It made him continue the lie, and preserve their innocent love. He could tell by the look on Electra’s face, she was more then just fond of him. Electra wouldn’t love again in his lifetime; Fey can’t become infatuated again, until their previous obsession dies, or they succumb to grief with the passing of the one who loved them back. This made Saturn invested in the pair. He wanted his little girl to be happy, and see their happily ever after, as his was so brief.

              After almost a year of regular dating, Jasper requited her love, and moved into the beach house. They all shared black coffee, that mixed with the salty temperate breeze. They listened to the hum of the storms, gulls, and the sea shell wind chimes. Jasper and Saturn would sing together, for the sea fey, making Electra’s day. For all sea daughters love song. Everything seemed perfect again. Then Saturn got a job offer, in The Grand West. As a fey expert, and professor at an academy; He was being promoted. Assured his cabin, beach, and darling daughter was safe with Jasper, he accepted the offer. Like the call of a second chance, he was eager to take. Saturn took Electra’s coat with him, and continued to tell everyone his beautiful little girl, with a sort of inhuman beauty, was one hundred percent human. Anything to keep her happy, safe, and on land. Anything to make sure that when he returned, his baby girl would be there.

NEXT--->

<---PREVIOUS

[vangoddamn]

Confessions

Requested: Hi, could you write one with Benji or Bob, very fluffy and sweet, something like falling in love and trying to confess their love. 

Warnings: None, but Bob is so cute why he be like that....

Being Benji's best mate definitely had it’s perks when he started a band. You were always stuck to him, on the sidelines of gigs and consequently, if he wasn't there you'd be with his mates. It was as if they were your family and it would be weird to imagine life without them.

It was a regular evening in the beer garden and Benji and Van had coaxed you out of your reading nook in the flat you shared together for chips on him. He usually paid for you anyway but you still needed the incentive, dragging you away from your lazy afternoon. Still, it was very laid back none the less.

You had remained in your cosy trackies and oversized hoodie despite the unusual heat. Benji and Van had managed to bag the bench in the corner of the garden, and so you sat yourself down on the grass with the book you had brought. Bob and Bondy were supposed to be coming as well and you patiently awaited them.

You had a sweet spot for Bob, always feeling that you got along better with him than anyone you'd ever really known. He was always on the same page as you and you shared the same energy. Slightly shy and always mulling over what everyone was saying.

No one batted an eyelid to your connection or mutual understanding, but sometimes maybe you wished they had. You'd spoken to Benji about it too many times to count and he probably knew there was a part of you that wanted to be with Bob.

Not too long after you started reading, were you interrupted by voices, noticing that the rest of the lads had arrived. Reluctant to put your book down, you jumped up shuffling over to the boys to greet them with big hugs. Bondy greeted you with a cheery grin and side hug offering you a cigarette, which you turned down for a hug with Bob.

His arms wrapped around your waist as you balanced on your tiptoes, arms slung around his neck. Although it was quite warm already you relished in his heat.

"Hey, little one" he whispered in your hair.

"Hiya, could you get me a beer?" You asked him, knowing he'd probably be going to order something soon.

"of course" he smiled, pulling away, making your stomach drop slightly.

You returned to your corner, cross-legged and checking in with the lads, before ignoring the conversation and entering your own little world once more. You liked it when it was like this. They all understood your behaviour and never even questioned it.

You were so deep in your imagination that you only noticed Bob sit next to you when his arms slid around your waist in your jumper. His hands were cool against your skin, maybe due to the thick loungewear combo in peak summer weather. It shocked you at first, closing your eyes for a second, but his hand was soft and cooling on your body.

"y/n, your boiling" he whispered into you, making you want to shuffle closer to him just to feel his breath against your neck again.

Out of character that's what you did, meaning his hand could reach completely around your waist under the fabric. "I'm comfy" you smile up at him before going back to your book, resting your head on his shoulder.

You weren't completely sure why you liked him so much or when your feeling towards him started to grow into something serious. Maybe it was when Benji was in London with Van and Larry, and you had been dumped by your boyfriend. He drove to pick you up, driving you back to his where you spent the whole day in his arms crying to 'Notting hill'. Or maybe it was the fact that whenever you were together, you both just seemed to gravitate towards each other, a nice little secret language you shared.

You carried on reading after that until it got too dark to do so. Looking up occasionally for a sip of beer and a couple of chips, or maybe to giggle sheepishly at something the boys had said or Bob had whispered. He never left your side and when you put your book down giving up your squint you realised you had ended up lying down between him. His arms wrapped around your waist and your legs stretched out between his as you lay down on his chest, hair probably tickling his face.

If anyone didn't know you both they'd think you were a couple and well you didn't think anyone would correct them. Benji was always teasing you about how you were both madly in love with each other and you knew he was rooting for you. By guys weren't your forte and you didn't want to ruin the relationship you had already.

Occasionally you were passed a cigarette to take a drag of, accepting gladly before snuggling back into bob’s chest. The heat from the day had now cooled off, instead, bobs hands that sneaked under your hoodie again, this time making you squirm with the temperature.

“Nooo, Bobbb..” You moaned, turning the attention to you both, the lads laughing away at you.

“ay ay ay, I’m freezing here you can’t hog the warmth” he whispered in your ear.

You just huffed, feeling your cheeks burning from the attention but warm and fuzzy despite his freezing hands. They were now wrapped around your body tightly, his fingers tapping little rhythms on your rib cage. Weirdly you had an urge to turn and place a soft kiss on his lips. Just to let him know you were happy and you liked his company, especially him being so close.

You’d like for you to be able to do that and it be normal. No one to point it out or him be confused, you wanted it to be simple. You wanted to skip past the part of confessing your attraction to him and to jump to the good bit. Of course, this was nice, but he didn’t get to come home with you without asking and you knew he’d never do that. You’d thought it over in your head too many times before, but tonight you felt like the time was right. You were done waiting and if he turned you down you’d just get over it. It couldn’t be that hard, could it?

“Walk me home?” You whispered in his ear, turning your body so your cheek brushed his. The slight layer of stubble tickling you sending more tingles through your skin.

“Of course.” His arms loosened their grip around your body, allowing yourself to jump up to bid goodnight to the lads. Giving hugs to each of them, even if Larry refused, making him give in anyway. You knew they’d probably be there a while, giving you time to try talking to Bob.

“You walkin' on yer own little’n?” Bondy slurred, most definitely tipsy, smelling the aroma of Guinness and whisky on his breath, a questionable mix.

“Nah, am dragging Bob with me.” You smiled back, shying away from the wolf whistle and snide jokes that hit you in the face like the subtle breeze that shadowed the night. 

Thankfully Bob stole you away from the boys, lifting your hand up to his mouth where a feathered kiss was placed. He sent you a smile before taking it in his hand and walking you out of the beer garden and across the bay. The tide had come in now and any sign of the hot summer day vanished. All that was left was the whites of each wave that came in and out, the sparkle in the deep blue water when it caught the eye of the moons glance.

It was serene and a perfect evening, reminding you of the pictures Bob had taken in LA or wherever it was in America they were. The picture still blue tacked to the fridge. You both liked to send letters when he’s away. A text to foreign and far away. There was something nice about the way you could hold his words on the paper and feel the emotion in everything he wrote.

“Bobby....” You sighed knowing you had to get your feeling out in the air.

“Y/n/n....” He dragged your little nickname out like you had, smiling sweetly down at you.

“Right, ok, so..uhm,” you thought how you’d say it, dancing between the lines you had written in your head. But the ink was smudging and it was hard to read.

“What’s up?” He chuckled, giving your hand a squeeze and stopping.

“For fucks sakeee!” You moaned annoyed that this could be so hard.

“Should I possibly be worried?” He grazed his free hand down the side of your cheek, resulting in a soft frown from your face.

“It depends...” If he felt the same way then no, but a friendship could possibly be ruined in the next five minutes so you were undoubtedly worried with a side of nervous apprehension.

“y/n, I promise whatever you say I’m sure we can talk it through and figure it out, I won’t abandon you here..” He tried to reassure you.

“Hmm, you don’t know what it is..” You sarcastically quipped.

“Y/n”

“Fine, so..” You sighed feeling those uneasy nerves rush through your body again. “I’m not sure when it started or why the hell it happened but it did and well everyone has been telling me I should go for it, and I’ll be surprised but like, I dunno. I feel like I’ve been supressin it for so long I don’t know if I’m just used to the feeling of loving someone from the sidelines you know? Or if this is real” You rambled on forgetting to breath having to stop when you noticed his face.

He looked a mix between sad and confused, and worried and amused. Y/n Whoever this person is, they’d be stupid to turn you down. Who is it, love?” His voice was comforting and for a second it was just enough to let you express your feelings.

“Well err... It’s you” You said it so quietly you weren’t sure if you had said it at all. The only way of knowing was that Bob's concerned face had changed in a matter of seconds. His cheeks had flushed red, a similar shade to yours and a smile was bringing out the dimple in his cheeks. 

He didn’t say anything for a few seconds, but when his mind had fully processed the information he had just received, he lifted you up spinning you around. You wrapped your legs around his waist to stable yourself, truly shocked by his reaction. And before you could get over the shock he had firmly attached his lips to yours, a kiss so long-awaited you sunk into it right away.

It felt like the cherry on top of the cake. You were in his arms like usual but now, he was kissing you. It wasn’t a kiss you’d had before though, it was warm and familiar yet so new and exciting. Filled with passion and envy and want, years of pent emotion spilling out into this one gesture

“I love you too, for God sakes” He sighed but with a smile on his face. 

A/n: Helloooo, This is my first ever Bob fic and I’m Obsessed with his dimples tehe! I’ve had alot of requests for Bob and Benji, i’m really feeling the love aha. So hopefully there should be more of that content coming your way. Hope your all doing well my lovelies and will see ya soon xx Em

[eatsleepandsupernatural]

Saved - Chapter Two

Pairings: Alpha!Dean x Omega!Reader,

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1570ish

A/N: Hello my ladies, lads and potatoes! I’m sorry this took so long to get up. I was having trouble writing it because I’m still new to abo dynamics. I don’t feel too confident with this, but I will keep it going one of two more chapters depending on the response this gets! Hope you all like it more than I do! Keep Safe, Stay Healthy and Be Smart! 

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

   You rub the sleep away from your eyes as you sit up in bed, unsure of the time and of what to do. You have never been in this sort of situation before, and you could feel your heart racing inside your chest as you wipe your sweaty palms against your pants. Despite your instincts to hide, you are driven by an unknown need to open the door, to fill an emptiness that as appeared inside your chest. You follow the sound of a coffee machine down a narrow hallway and find yourself peering into an industrial-like kitchen. To your right, is a small dining table that has been bolted to the ground, six-round stools surrounding it. What really grabs your attention though, is the sight of Dean leaning his hip against the bench mug in hand, impatiently waiting for the coffee machine to finish brewing. He is freshly showered, dressed in a black t-shirt and old jeans, water droplets clinging to the tips of his hair. 

   ‘(Y/N), you're awake.’ Dean's deep voice jolts you back to reality, and you feel a warmth spreading across your cheeks from having been caught staring. ‘Do you drink coffee?’ 

   You smile shyly and shake your head, ‘It's too bitter, I prefer tea.’ 

   The Alpha looks somewhat taken aback, and you can't hold back the laughter at his look of genuine distress. He cracks a smile at you and makes his way over to one of the cupboards. ‘I think Sammy might have some Herbal shit in here, but I'll add normal stuff to the shopping list.’ He rifles through the cupboard before pulling out a box of green tea bags and opens it. 

   ‘Empty, sorry.’ He grimaces and throws the box over his shoulder. All you can do is watch in amusement as Dean starts to get flustered. 

   ‘Juice! I think we have some juice.’ His eyes widen, and he runs to the fridge and releases a frustrated groan when he comes up empty.

   ‘I guess we'll add that to the list too,’  he mutters before closing the fridge and turning to face you. ‘I'm really sorry, all we ever really drink is coffee and alcohol.’ He admits, rubbing the back of his neck. 

   You laugh at his sudden shy behaviour, ‘It's fine, really, I'm not that thirsty.’ It has been so long since you have experienced a typical morning, that you don't really understand Dean's need to give you something to drink. 

   ‘Well then, how about breakfast? I can fix you something. Why don't you have a seat.’ Dean gestures towards the table and turns to start cooking before you can protest. You sit down on one of the stools and watch as your Alpha pulls some things out of the fridge and turns on the stove, your eyes never leaving his back as his muscles move beneath his shirt. You feel a strange, but welcome calm as you sit and observe the Alpha fry up some eggs, and you realise that this is your life now. Dean didn't kick you out this morning, so he probably isn't planning to after breakfast, and you certainly have no reason to leave. 

   Dean places a plate loaded with hot, fatty food in front of you, a proud smile resting on his face. ‘Eat up,’ he orders, before turning around and piling two more plates with food. He sits down opposite you and starts shovelling food into his mouth. You are trying to think of something funny to say to embarrass him when Sam enters the kitchen, pushing his long hair out of his face. 

   ‘Mornin'’, Sam mutters, and you watch as he stumbles over to the coffee machine. These boys clearly love their coffee, you think to yourself. 

   ‘Breakfast over here for you sleeping beauty,’ Dean says through a mouthful of bacon gesturing at the plate he has placed on the table. Your eyes follow the movement, and you frown at the plate, noticing for the first time the two small lonely pieces of bacon sitting there.

   ‘Ah, thanks,’ Sam responds, a little clearer this time as he approaches the table with his coffee. ‘What... Dean? What the hell is this?’ He stops short at the sight of the plate on the table, turning to glare at Dean who is trying very hard to look innocent and keep a straight face. 

   ‘What's the matter, Sam?’ Dean questions indifferently, continuing to chew on a piece of bacon. 

   ‘What's the matter? You know what's the matter, Dean! I don't eat bacon.’ Sam rolls his eyes at his brother and turns his back on us. 

   Dean finally snaps and chuckles loudly to which you raised your eyebrows with a smirk. ‘Do you do that often?’  

   ‘Only on Tuesday's’. 

   You bite your lips together to keep from laughing, ‘It's Thursday.’ 

   ‘Whoops,’ He replies with no remorse, winking at you as he clears off the rest of his plate. 

   ‘Yo Sam, bring me some more bacon.’  You reign in a scoff at Dean's demand and turn your focus back to your food. Sam sits down next to him a few minutes later with a freshly made omelette and more bacon for Dean. 

   The three of you sit quietly at the table while you and Sam ate, Dean occupying his time with something on a laptop. It is incredibly peaceful, and you feel completely at home.

   ‘Didn't you say two other people lived here with you? Do they not eat breakfast with you?’ You ask, recalling the Alpha and Beta Sam had mentioned yesterday. 

   ‘The answer to that question is more complicated than you would think. Jack tends to sleep in a bit, I'm sure he will be around soon. Cas is a little trickier to explain.’ Dean says, leaning forward on the table.

   ‘Cas?’ You raise your eyebrows at the unfamiliar name, hoping for an explanation.

   ‘Do you believe in ghosts?’ Sam questions, intervening. 

    ‘I'm sorry, what?’ You blanch at the same time that Dean cries out in protest. 

   ‘Sam, what the hell?’

   ‘I was just trying to move the conversation along.’ 

   ‘I'm sorry, what is happening?’ You feel your anxiety grow as the men across from you stare at each other. 

   Dean inhales deeply before meeting your gaze. ‘What Sam is trying to say, is that this world is full of monsters; ghosts, vampires, werewolves, demons you name it. Sam and I kill these monsters to keep people safe. You following?’ 

   You nod your head in response, although you aren't sure if you believe him.

   ‘Now Angels are a thing too, most of them are dicks, but every now and then we come across one who's decent. Our friend, Castiel, is an Angel. He's probably in the library, researching, he doesn't need to eat or sleep.’

   ‘Right, so you're telling me that all the things that I had nightmares about as a kid are real? And you're friends with an Angel?’

   ‘Yes.’  Sam pushed his hair back, looking at you with the same cautious expression he used the previous night. 

   ‘Okay.’ You shrug your shoulders, accepting that your Alpha wouldn't make up a lie like that. ‘Will you teach me? How to fight the monsters?’ 

   The growl that erupts through the room is like no other you have heard before, and you quickly regret asking, despite your curiosity. Dean looks livid, and his whole body has tensed. 

   ‘Sam, Dean? What's wrong?’ You turn your eyes from Dean long enough to identify the owner of the new voice. Two men stand in the doorway to the kitchen, confusion and wariness emanating off them in waves. One of the men, the owner of the voice, you assume, was much taller than the other, oddly dressed in formal attire and a trenchcoat. The second man is most definitely the smallest of the three that occupy the bunker. You realise that these two men are Jack and Cas. 

   ‘Everything is fine, (Y/N) just told a funny joke is all, isn't' that right (Y/N),’ Sam speaks up. 

   You glance at Sam, narrowing your eyes in question. You hadn't made a joke at all, but Sam is giving you a look that says play along. 

   ‘That's right, yeah.’ 

   ‘So funny that you made Dean angrier than I have ever seen him, and that's saying something.’ The young kid pipes up. 

   ‘Jack, not now.’ Sam chastises, his eyes on Dean who still hasn't calmed down. 

   You realise that the idea of killing these monsters is clearly off the table, and had upset your Alpha dramatically. 

   ‘You know what, I don't think I want to learn how to do what you do after all, much rather stay here, read some books. Oh! Maybe I can catch up on some of the TV that I have missed while living on the streets. You guys do have a TV, right? And I could do some cooking if that's okay? I'm not sure if I'm any good, I'd have to learn. Do you like chicken? I could try cooking chicken? Or baking? Who doesn’t love cake? Ooh I had a really good pie once. I might try making pie.’ You ramble calmly, letting Dean know that you understand, your eyes never leaving the slowly calming Alpha. 

   ‘That all sounds great (Y/N), don't you think, Dean?’ Sam jumps in, relieved that the conversation is changing direction. 

    ‘What just happened, and who is she?’ Jack asks, still frozen in the doorway. 

   Dean breaks eye contact with you and turns towards Cas and Jack. ‘This is (Y/N), my true mate.’

Chapter 3

[coffeesandfilm]

Skins, the Ultimate Teen Drama: why Generation 1 is the best

Now if you recognise my avatar you have probably realised that I am a big fan of Skins, the quintessential UK teen drama. But what makes it so special, and why is it so relatable? But most importantly why is Gen 1 (aka the first two series of Skins) infinitely the most superior?

Skins first premiered in January 2007, I must confess I did not watch it until 2013 when I was 16 myself, but I do remember the controversy it caused in its initial run. Parents and papers alike were shocked at the explicit depiction of teenage life: drugs, sex, abortion, expletive language, but one of the main writers, Bryan Elsley, insisted that “Skins [was] a very simple and in fact rather old fashioned television series... about the lives and loves of teenagers, how they [got] through high school, how they deal with their friends, and also how they circumnavigate[d] some of the complications of sex, relationships, educations, parents, drugs and alcohol.” To be honest I could not really relate to the hedonistic social lives of the Skins teens too much, my teenage years were far more mundane and involved more sitting alone watching TV in my bedroom rather than underage partying. But at the heart of the show we saw real, volatile young life, the vulnerabilities, the friendships, the heartbreak, and the silly jokes. These kids were not presented as either particularly cool or uncool (more like Inbetweeners if you will), they liked to hang out with each other in the park, chatting, smoking, bitching, and laughing. There was no real macho, ‘lad-ish’ behaviour, Chris, Maxxie, Anwar and Sid were sweethearts at heart, and whilst you could not describe Tony in that way (being a full on sociopath in Series 1), he was not exactly a lad either, more of a calculating academic. None of the girls were portrayed as Primadonnas or uber-bitchy either, Cassie was your manic pixie dream girl, Jal was the fair, rational one, and Michelle was your slightly spoilt, but very caring girly girl. I apologise for holding the characters to such stereotyped gender ideologies, but teen dramas typically have a tendency for doing this.

In each episode we saw life from the perspective of a different character, a very smart tactic by creators Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain, as we got to watch very well-rounded and developed people, not just one dimensional stereotypes. For example hard-partier and fan-favourite Chris was shown to have a very broken home life, his dad had left him when he was young and thought he was a waste of space, his mother was mentally unstable and used to disappear when things got too difficult, and his older brother, who was his idol and secondary father figure, died too young. It is shown that despite his carefree attitude and being a shoulder to cry on for others, Chris ultimately had nothing and no-one apart from his friends. Now the Skins characters home lives were just as dramatic as there social ones, Sid’s dad died, Michelle had a multitude of step-fathers, Cassie’s parents were completely self-involved and were these weird ‘natural Earthy types’, Jal’s father was a famous musician who did not take too much interest in his daughter’s life. Maxxie and Anwar’s parents were a bit more relatable, the former’s father loved his son but wanted him to embark on a more stable career path rather than pursue his own dreams, and the latter had well-intentioned but somewhat Conservative Muslim parents. If the home lives of everyone in your friendship group was as manic as this then I would be surprised, but I do not think that was the whole point of the show. Skins was very extreme in all elements, but was intentionally trippy and surreal, their college musical was named ‘Osama: The Musical’ for God’s sake, I think it was self-aware in its exaggerated portrayal of teenage life. It is still an entertainment show at the end of the day, and everyone will be able to relate to a part of someone’s life in the show, they covered all bases after all. The theatrics on top were entertaining, but underneath it all there was real heart and real juvenile teen behaviour (such as Maxxie and Anwar wearing devil and angel headbands when Sid was contemplating whether to skip class), and that is what made Skins Gen 1 so special and so great.

Generation 2 (Series 3 and 4) of Skins is still very lauded by fans, with Cook (Jack O’Connell) largely viewed as an iconic Skins character, but for me this Generation falls short. Gen 2 applies a darker, colder tone, perhaps influenced by Effy’s ‘ice-queen’ mystique. I am not claiming there were no heartwarming moments (I loved the depiction of Emily and Naomi’s relationship), but overall these characters did not seem to posses the same fundamental care for each other as they did in Gen 1, and that is what made the first Gen so great, they really did all love each other. We saw just how toxic friendships and relationships could get in the second Generation, the nastiness between Freddie and Cook, with JJ receiving the brunt of the fallout, the hatefulness between twins Katie and Emily, although Katie was definitely more to blame for this one, and even Effy and Pandora were shown to have a very fragmented relationship throughout. The characters without any major problems between them never seemed that close either, for example there always seemed to be an iciness between Effy and Naomi, not that they were explicitly mean to one another, but they never seemed to share the same warmth as, say, Cassie and Jal. In Gen 1 the only friendship that was majorly put to a test was Sid and Tony’s, the rest had normal fickle teenage bust-ups, like Jal and Michelle, but there was no real darkness underneath it all. I suppose you could argue that Maxxie and Anwar’s friendship was severely put to the test, but I think that was more of a commentary on his confusing relationship with religion, as even when they were not speaking, the two still clearly loved each other. I also did not get the hype around Cook and Effie either, maybe by todays standards the whole ‘not like other girls’ and ‘#damaged bad boy who does the bare minimum’ schtick are tired tropes, but they did not treat their friends and people around them very well a lot of the time, and just because they were battling their own demons, does not mean their behaviour could be excused.  

In fairness, the darkness of Gen 2 was perhaps what writers Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain were aiming for, to mix things up a bit from from the previous Series, and expose a new perspective of teenage life. Maybe it is just the cheesy romantic in me, but the wholesome friendships, bad fashion, and teenage naivety as what drew me to Gen 1 so much. Generation 2 was still very effective as an entertainment show, but for me, the first Generation portrayed what it was really like being a teenager.

[sharkmobster]

spider verse coffee shop au??

Anon im sorry i wanted to draw the coffeeshop au but ive been so tired lately so imma just overshare about what goes down bc this au is just (thick tombstone voice) : “everybody’s traumatized bitch lets get you a latte”

 • this au is incredibly villain centric bc uhhhhh all i do is think about villains

 • its also very aaron davis centric bc time to project my anxiety onto a grown ass man babey!!

 • anyway this takes place in a normal world where there’s no superheros or avengers or what have you, everyone’s super average 

• like i said this is more or less aaron centric and focuses on him readjusting to society and making connections with other people, and just healing in general. Aaron’s whole deal is that he was wrongfully arrested for defending himself against an off duty cop who was harassing him and ended up with a 10 year sentence  (but was let off a year earlier for good behaviour). He’s got a lot of guilt bc of this if only for the fact that he feels like he let down his brother and Miles (who was a small lad at the time).

 • Fun Fact! Jefferson was the one that picked up Aaron at the jail when he served out his sentence! The ride back to brooklyn was awkward! but also jefferson loves his brother and even tho they’ve had their falling outs he never once stopped believing that his brother was innocent. Jefferson also made sure to pull some strings and ended up getting an apartment set up for Aaron (even though jefferson and rio were 100% down to open their home to him for as long as it took him to get back onto his feet but of course aaron denied them bc he didnt want to be a burden) Aaron’s grateful but he tends to avoid his own family…a lot….

• it’s ridiculously hard to find a job bc nobody wants to hire an ex convict no matter the circumstances and Aaron’s legitimately about to lose hope when he spots an expensive looking shop nestled in between an old arcade and a knick knack shop

 • ‘Vanessa’s Cafe’ is neatly printed above the door in fancy gold lettering. it’s obvious that the owner has serious cash bc the shop looks too damn good and too well maintained to be a regular mom and pop shop. there’s a help wanted sign hastily scribbled on a piece of notebook paper in the middle of the window which is odd since it off sets the professional vibe of the place. But hey it’s worth a shot so Aaron walks in ready to be denied another job only to find the weirdest looking group of people he’s ever seen.

 • The first guy that catches his attention is the very large albino man who looks way too stressed out and manic to be working in a coffeeshop, but the job must pay well because he’s very well dressed.

 • “Liv, for fuck’s sake! Clean your goddamn station!” he’s whisper shouting? Is that even a thing? oh look at that he’s got a full set of razor sharp teeth. huh. that’s a hell of an aesthetic he’s going for.

 • The lady in question isn’t even giving him the time of day, just enthralled by her phone with a smile that looks too peaceful given what’s happening around her. She’s got wild hair tied up messily in a knitted bandana, weird glasses (custom made??) and when she glances up at aaron, her eyes widen in interest like he’s some anomaly to be cracked open. aaron looks anywhere that isnt the wild eyed lady at the counter.

• Theres another big guy that’s hanging around the back, heavily tattooed and lifting stacks of heavy boxes. Aaron takes notice of his prosthetic hand and the tattoo guy takes notice of Aaron. 

• “Lonnie. Customer.” The Tattoo guy seems nonplussed about Aaron and walks into the back. aaron assumes that he’s offended him by staring at his prosthetic for longer than necessary which yeah….yeah he’s probably not happy about the staring. 

 • lonnie’s got a bad case of resting bitch face so he’s glaring at aaron without actually glaring and he’s just rough around ALL the edges so his tones got that nice bite to it as he shouts from across the counter (which is not something you do to a customer but it’s lonnie…..)  "Hey! Ya looking for a job, skinny jeans?!“

 • Aaron blanches at the idea of working with these people but he is absolutely desperate for a job at this point.

 •"Yeah. I just got out of-”

 •"Great, you’re hired! We’re speed running this whole introduction thing, string bean.“

 •and that’s all i got other than like small details like:

 •Peter B Parker owns a ”“’'cafe”“” across from Vanessa’s and its literally just a burger joint that h a p p e n s to sell coffee and Parker will fight you if you call his place a deli ahdhdj

 •Liv and May are dating (big shock) and peter b has to constantly deal with seeing his competition over at his place all the time and it’s yikes

 • Tombstone and Noir will 100% throw hands on contact. They don’t hate each other tho??? Its weird they just like to fight. gives them a chance to work on their banter i guess. Noir works the coffee machine at Peter’s “'cafe”’ so i guess he’s the “”barista”” of the joint but he drinks the coffee more than the customers do

 • Miles and the rest of the spider kids “”“”“"intern”“”“” at the cafe which basically translates to free labor

 •  spider ham works there but he isnt a pig he’s just john mulaney. i know its weird. nobody actually sees him tho so he’s a complete mystery as to what he looks like so he could be john mulaney you never know. the only person who’s seen him is noir and that’s only bc they’re  a thing???

 •oh speaking of everyone being gay:  everyone’s gay

 • Lonnie and Gargan (tombstone and scorpion) are 100% dating but everyone legitimately thinks that the both of them are straight old men despite the fact that they live together, go to work together, hang out afterwards together, and they’re just always together

 • lonnie’s  daughter (janice)  visits every other week (def the product of a divorce he went through years ago) she’s alright with gargan but she’s very distant towards her dad and def has that teen angst phase that she’s going through

 • (lonnie can and will talk to you for hours about how much he loves and supports his daughter despite the fact that their relationship is very estranged)

 • you can find janice hanging out with the cute blond punk girl at that weird burger/coffee place across the street

 • oh gargan’s big and strong despite the fact that he’s missing three limbs, liv works in robotics on the side and constantly tweaks and repairs his prosthetics when they start acting up which leads to them having this weird friendship where they both borrow each other when they need something and dont really expect anything in return (like gargan’s good for getting her supplies and doing heavy lifting when she needs it and liv’s always down to run check ups on gargan)

 • oh yeah liv used to be a scientist but immediately lost her license and phd when she started going above some board members heads to buy less than legal things through super illegal sources

.• that’s another thing, kingpin tends to just hire ex cons and criminals to work in his cafe just bc he believes that a person willing to work hard to better themselves deserves a chance to re enter society again.

 • like they’ve all done bad things but still ended up with a job at the cafe. aaron fought a cop, liv did some shady deals for an illegal experiment, gargan used to run a drug ring years ago due to personal reasons but once he was free from jail he never dealt with the stuff again, and lonnie killed a dude (allegedly. he never went to jail bc they couldn’t prove anything but hey word spread around quick and everyone knew not to go anywhere near this guy)

 • kingpin is in this au btw he’s just……a very depressed man who’s still grieving over his wife and son dying in a car accident

.• he rarely shows up to run the cafe bc its too much for him being in the place that his wife loved and built up from the ground. he used to be the manager after she died but couldn’t handle it and mostly left lonnie to take care of it

• which holy fuck lonnie is trying his best to keep this cafe alive and well and there’s only two other people working there so like its enough to have him scrambling all over the place trying to find more help (thanks aaron)

 •miles doesn’t know aaron’s working at the cafe across the street and aaron def wants it that way bc even tho he’s out of jail he hasn’t actually……visited miles yet….. it’s the shame that’s keeping aaron from reaching out to him which is….sad bc miles doesn’t care what happened he just wants his uncle back.

 • oh oh one more thing RIPeter used to run the deli across the street but had to leave brooklyn to go volunteer at homeless shelters across the states indefinitely so theres no telling when he’ll be back, so he left the cafe under the guidance of pb parker (peter b parker voice: my cafe now)

 •and uhhh thats all i got, like i said this au is just found family trope + the healing we all want + bad people getting redemption which is all the tropes that i love all compacted together in the most cliche au you can imagine!

[reddeadmort]

Hmm dunno if you do modern Arthur ones but I'd love a modern or time-travelling Arthur reacting to snapchat filters. Can includes other gang members too, whomever you feel like writing.

Thank you for being so patient @nordic-breeze ! This started as just a general Arthur and social media, but then kind of accidentally evolved into a slight commentary of issues that women sometimes face. Not too sure on this one, but I hope it’s along the lines of what you were hoping for :) 

If anyone wants a bit of background reading/scene setting, I wrote some HC’s for my take on Modern Arthur - they can be found here. 

Btw, the catcalls/comments are real ones, taken from videos on youtube. And, tbh, they are some of the milder ones that feature.

Modern Arthur x f! reader | “Surely that’s enough photos now….”

Guidance: Minor fluff, protective Arthur, catcalling/sexual comments/threats

Words: 2.1k

“I just….. I don’t understand? Why do I need to be in the picture, surely it’s the skyline they want to see?”

Arthur was standing in the doorway of your balcony, facing away from you, looking out over the city. He was topless, leaning against the door frame with his arms and ankles crossed.

“Arthur, they’re following you to see YOU, not some boring modern buildings” you chuckled, as you took yet another photo.

You’d waited a while before introducing Arthur to the concept of social media; you didn’t really use it all that much yourself. You quite enjoyed using Snapchat, it was an easy way to keep up to date with your friends back home. Arthur had asked what you were doing during one of your selfie sessions sat next to him on the sofa; you’d shown him some of filters, but they completely befuddled him. 

When you’d flicked on the flower crown, he’d looked frantically between your head and the face on the screen, muttering “but there’s nothing there…” to himself. He’d practically jumped over the back of the couch when you’d done a face swap with him; it was all a bit too much. He’d spent the rest of the evening in a bit of a confused grump, occasionally pausing Netflix to ask a question -  “why do people want to take so many pictures of their own face”, “why do they change how you look so much” “why would you want to look like a dog”. You tried explaining that it was just a bit of fun, but knew when a concept was a lost cause.

Arthur was much happier to help you out with your Instagram. You didn’t post that often, mostly nice photos you’d taken on your treks. But Arthur enjoyed helping you with pictures, and the man did have an artistic flair; he’d gotten pretty good at framing the photos. He’d even started taking some pictures of his work building treehouses, mostly just to show you. Eventually, you managed to persuade him that posting these to Instagram might help promote his business; he’d agreed, but only under the proviso that you dealt with the actual posts/timings/hashtags etc. You had got a few good leads for his work through Instagram, but those jobs were mostly for rich families that had more money than sense. Arthur didn’t love doing these projects, they always ended being more 4 bedroom houses on stilts than rustic treehouses, but they did mean that he could afford to do builds for local charities at less than cost price.

But you knew that the main reason people followed Arthur was for Arthur, no matter how beautiful his work was. And so here you were, once again making him reluctantly pose for yet another picture.

“There we go, plenty to choose from now. You’re free to go now Arthur.” He let out an audible sigh of relief as he walked over to you to have a look at what you’d taken.

“I really don’t see why this is a good picture. All you can see is me pretty much.” Arthur shook his head. “Those ones that fella took of animals back in my time were much better”.

“Arthur, I’ve got 4 words for you: shoulder to waist ratio.”

“I’ll pretend I know what that means” he grunted as he pulled his t-shirt back on over his head. It had a Thor design on it; Arthur had become quite keen on Marvel. That photo you’d posted on your Instagram of him messing around, pretending to pull something out of the ground (copying the first Thor film), had got thousands of likes, despite you only having a few hundred followers. It was at that point you’d decided to set up his own account.

“Anyway Y/N, we best be goin’ to the gym if we want to eat before bed.”

“Yeh, good point, I’ll go grab my stuff.” You went to grab your workout bag with your clothes in from your bedroom as Arthur went and got changed into his, then started the short walk to the gym. As you walked, you chatted, then Arthur asked you a question.

“Here, Y/N, how come you don’t wear your gym clothes? Why’d ya always get changed there? We only live a few streets away.”

“Because, Arthur, I don’t like the attention I get. It’s not so bad when we walk together, but if I’m by myself…. It makes me uncomfortable. It can be pretty bad even if I’m not wearing my workout stuff.”

“I don’t understand? What attention?” 

Sighing, you came to a stop, looking around.

“Look, Arthur, see that group of lads sat outside that shop?” you pointed up the street. “I see them a lot. I hear them a lot. Just walk behind me a bit, close enough to hear what they say, not so close that they think we’re together.”

“Alright, but I don’t really know why. They usually don’t say anything to me.”

“Arthur, that’s because you’re not a… never mind, just follow and listen, okay? And only listen. Whatever you hear, DON’T do anything, promise?”

Arthur grunted as you walked off, then followed behind as instructed. As you suspected, even though you weren’t wearing your gym leggings and sports top, the lads quickly took notice of you.

“Hey what’s up girl, how you doin’!”

“Smile baby!”

“That’s a gorgeous ass, I’d like to hold you down while I slap it”

“Hey bitch, we’re complimenting you, you should thank us!”

You controlled your breathing and continued to walk at a steady pace, stopping in a doorway further up the street so Arthur could catch up. When he did, he looked furious.

“I’m gonna kill ‘em.” He muttered through clenched teeth.

“Arthur, you can’t. And anyway, there’s like 6 of them and one of you. Let’s not get you arrested or killed, alright?”

“But…. they shouldn’t be sayin’ those things (Y/N)! It ain’t right.” You could see him clenching and unclenching his fists.

“No Arthur, it isn’t. And I hate that because of men like them I’ve changed my behaviour and changed what I wear. But I do it to try and make myself feel safer, cause one day, someone may do more than just say things.”

Arthur wrapped his large arms around you and hugged you tight. “I’m sorry (Y/N), sorry that I didn’t understand.”

“It’s alright Arthur, now come on, we want to get to the gym while it’s not too busy.”

Arthur was quieter than normal as you walked the rest of the way – you could tell he was mulling things over. Being yanked from his time into the modern world had made him a bit naïve; it baffled him that 100 or so years later, some of the same issues still existed. 

——-

Arthur was indeed thinking about what he’d heard, but he was also thinking about what he himself had said in the past. Some of those off-hand comments to prostitutes in the saloons, things he’d said to Karen when she’d been drunk…….

You thought he was a good man, and here and now he’d done nothing to prove you wrong, but every so often a memory of his past would float up, reminding him of the things he used to do. But he’d been given a second chance - this time, he was determined to do better.

—–

You had a good workout; you always did with Arthur. You would chat and laugh together, and he was always great at motivating and encouraging you. You helped out each other’s routines where you could, but one thing you could not do was spot him. For god’s sake, the man benched way more than you even weighed. When it came time for this part of his workout, you left him with some of the other gym guys he’d grown friendly with and went to do your cardio. You didn’t love running on a treadmill, but in the city it was really the only option.

You were in your own little world when you noticed a man stood to your side talking to you. He was smiling at you; you took your headphones out, assuming he wanted to ask how much longer you’d be.

“Hello gorgeous.” Those words, from someone you didn’t know, gave you chills. “I’d love to give you some tips.”

“I’m alright thanks” you said as you gave a slight smile. It was one that you’d carefully crafted over the years; not quite big enough to encourage someone, not too small as to risk being called rude.

“No, sweetcheeks, you realllllly need my help. Here…..” As the man said it, he stepped even closer and put his hand on your back, while you were still jogging.

You slammed the stop on the machine and turned as quickly as you could away from him.

“I said I’m fine, please don’t touch me.” You were forceful, but not loud – you really didn’t want to cause a scene in the middle of the gym.

“Bitch, you need my help. You need teaching a thing or two.” The man grabbed at you again, this time managing to get your wrist. He was big, strong, you tried to pull away but you couldn’t. Sod not causing a scene, you thought, I’m getting this fucker banned.

You were about to scream at the man when suddenly he let you go. This had something to do with the fact that an enraged, sweating Arthur had grabbed him by the front of his shirt and was practically lifting him off the ground. Arthur wasn’t much larger than him, but much stronger; Arthur wasn’t a poser, he worked out for strength, relaxation, not definition.

“I think the lady said she’s fine without you goddammit” he snarled into the man’s face.

“What the fuck do you care buddy” the man retorted back, pushing Arthur away. “Me and this bitch need to do some more talking.” This man either had balls of steel or was a complete moron. You suspected the latter; a case of more muscles than brain cells.

“No, mister, me and you need to do some talkin’. And I think my friends might want to help with that.“ The man paled as he finally looked past Arthur.

Turning, you saw what he’d just seen; 3 of Arthur’s gym friends, each of them the same size or even larger than Arthur. You knew these guys, they were always polite, always happy to help you when some other arsehole had left some massive weights on a stand you wanted to use. And, as an added bonus, one of them was the gym’s manager.

“I’ll finish this with you another time girly” the man hissed at you, before quickly turning and walking away as Arthur took a step forwards.

“No he bloody won’t. Y/N, I’m so sorry about this, I’ll go and get him revoked right away” said the manager. “I’ll also make sure that the office send round his picture to all the local gyms, try and stop him doing it elsewhere. If you want me to ring someone, just say.” You nodded and smiled, as the others went back to what they were doing. Arthur stayed with you, checking your wrist.

“You alright (Y/N)? I’m sorry for intervenin’, I know ya could’ve handled him, I just saw red. Especially after what you showed me earlier.”

“Yeh, I’m fine, thanks Arthur” you smiled at him as he rubbed your bruised wrist. “I just wish it wasn’t something I had to deal with, you know?”

“Yeh, I know. I just don’t understand why nothin’ much has really changed. At least back with the gang I could deal with someone that did stuff like this properly.” As you looked into his eyes, you could see that glimmer of animalistic rage that appeared occasionally. Arthur had done well to adjust to modern life, but you knew that sometimes he struggled with not being able to fight his way out of situations. It had worked well for him for years back in his time - to a point anyway.

“Come on Arthur, why don’t we go and do a little bit on the punching bags to cool off. We can take a few more pictures.”

Arthur groaned. “Surely we’ve got enough pictures already?”

“Stop your whining, I know you secretly love the attention.” You jokingly stuck your tongue out out him. “Tell you what, I’ll treat you to dinner on the way back after, to say thanks for being my big burly cowboy.” You knew Arthur liked it when you called him a cowboy, it always made him laugh and think of some of those ridiculous films.

“Sound’s like a plan, Y/N. As long as I getta choose.”

“So, Five Guys again then.” Arthur grinned as you sighed, smiling, and went to finish your workout.