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emcscared-whumps · 4 months

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SHIFTING PHASES - Part 1

[PREVIEW] Chapter 6: What One Desires Most

Shifting Phases Masterpost

Today marks the 7th year that I've worked on Shifting Phases. I never imagined I'd ever get this far, nor that I'd love it so dearly, but here we are. Recently, I finished two chapters whose sum is the content of the chunk I wrote first all those years ago. I'm proud of how far I've come as a writer, so, because it's what I wrote first around this Special Date, I thought it would be nice to give you guys two preview chapters :)

Stay tuned for Chapter 7, No Wish is Without a Price!

A very big thankyou for the lovely @whump-cravings for beta'ing my work once again! You always teach me so much, and I am beyond grateful for your help <3

CONTENT AND WARNINGS: Angst, emeto mentions, minor disordered eating (it's kinda not really but reads like it), this chapter's pretty tame, all characters present are 18 or over wc: ~2.1k

Pete's Perspective

Every night, the sun set earlier.

It hadn’t been long since the academy courses finished for the day, but already the sun had dipped below the mountains, casting the historic island town of Devonhurst into deep shadow. One by one, as the sky above darkened, antique street lamps blinked on, bathing the streets in warm, soft light. In shadowed corners and alleyways between each sandstone building, the first mists crept across footpaths onto cobbled roads. On the horizon, dark storm clouds rolled in, their flickering lights a warning to residents, who took heed; some scurrying down the street with bags filled with groceries and supplies, while others leaned from windowsills to pull shutters in.

Side-by-side, Pete and Liz strolled with steaming pastries in-hand from a bakery a few blocks back, accompanied by the gentle clicking of Pete’s bike. Normally, Timmothey would’ve joined them, but not tonight.

He’d said his boss, Mr. DePetro, would be cross if he failed to show for his shift at the aquarium early that evening, and rushed off with a hasty good-bye to the ferry terminal to Candimor City, despite Pete and Liz’s insistences to take the night off.

“I h—I hope that Mr. DePetro sends—sends that idiot h-home,” Pete grumbled, taking a delicate bite of pie. Pete frowned; the thought of any boss who made their worker endure injury to clock in ruffled him. His breath steamed when he spoke again, “He could have a—have—a-a concussion.”

Liz hummed in agreement, “Aye, he needs ta rest. Every coach I’ve ever had insists on a day’s break after somethin’ like that, just in case.” She paused, sighing. “Not that Timmy ever does as he’s told.”

Pete watched her breath mist in the evening air. “’S boneheaded.”

“You said it.”

“I’m sure he’ll be al-alright, though,” he said and took another bite, “th-the idiot at least—at least knows w-when work’s not worth it.”

The pie was delicious. Its creamy, meaty fillings never disappointed. Rarely did pastries contain egg and an assortment of other ingredients; he stopped by regularly the moment he discovered it. The owner of the small bakery had been going to discontinue it until she saw his disappointment. If that wasn’t evidence enough that she was soft on him, she was always giving him extra nibbles and desserts.

‘Ye’re a growin’ lad,’ the baker would say, ‘take it, please, ye’re so skinny. Does yer mother not feed ye?’

Liz slowed to match Pete’s ambling pace. “Y’know, I’m surprised you haven’t already finished; I don’t think I’ve seen ye eat all day.” She had already wolfed hers down. The baker liked her too. “Did Burton take yer food again? I can walk yer bike fer a bit so ye can eat properly if ye need. We can find a place ta sit.”

“N—no, I just… wasn’t h-hungry today,” he lied. “Would’ve just m—made me s-sicker.”

“Oh,” Liz said.

Well… It was a half-truth. Though he’d been dreadfully hungry, he couldn’t stomach eating before the belunae awareness course; he would’ve just thrown up in front of the class.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and Pete turned, eyes darting around.

Something like clattering came from the other side of the street—or maybe it was erratic footsteps.

An icy shiver crawled down his spine, the sensation of unknown danger setting his skin prickling.

Across the street in a narrow alley, the mist curled in turbulence, but there was no one to be seen save for those rushing to prepare their homes for the coming storm.

Was it just brewing static, and dropping temperature and pressure that he felt…? Surely not. His hand tightened on the handle of his bike.

“Pete…” Liz asked.

He didn’t remember slowing, but he must’ve because Liz’s voice sounded from behind him, a few paces further down the path.

“Everythin’ alright?” Liz was at his side, hand ghosting over his arm.

“Y-yeah, just… Well, I’m n—I’m not—entirely sure,” Pete stammered, eyes scanning every corner, “It’s—I feel like—we’re bein’ followed.”

Liz dutifully followed his gaze, but all signs had vanished save for the ice in his veins.

His mind drifting back to the awful awareness course from earlier, he recalled the uneasy feeling something was amiss, like something had escaped his notice.

Burton had said that Pete would regret his interference.

While Pete wasn’t sure what that meant exactly, nor that that was the only source of this nagging feeling, his mind conjured many horrifically creative ideas, some including the dark object that Colette, Burton’s friend, had snatched.

Powers above, surely he wouldn’t—surely Burton would know what would happen if he shot—

“I’m sure it’s nothin’, Pete. It’ll just be people shutterin’ their windows,” Liz said.

Still, there was nothing.

Even the fog had stilled.

Pete frowned, swallowing the last morsel of pie before pocketing the bag and folding an arm close to himself. “I s-suppose,” he said, but the—the feelin’ w-won’t leave me.”

“Then let’s leave the feelin’ behind.” Liz smiled and trotted toward the nearby gardens. “I’ve still got some time before I have to get back home… we could take a walk through the park, clear our heads.”

He looked around again. “Maybe, I’m n-not sure…”

“Aw, don’t tell me a sweet guy like you doesn’t like a walk in the park?”

Ducking his head, he admitted, “Well, I—I sup-suppose I d-do, but—”

“Of course ye do,” she said, victory tinging her voice.

Pete hesitated before pushing his bike forward to catch up. “The st-storm—”

“We won’t stay long then. Come on, Pete.” She grabbed his arm, pulling him forward.

Pete let her lead him down the path, through the large stone gate and along the cobbled path, though he still cast a furtive glance behind them. Eventually, once they were away from the main street, Liz slowed to a gentle stroll and hooked her arm through his.

Even in darkness, the gardens glimmered. At this time of year, only the hardiest flowers remained, but grass-lined paths and ornate stone gazebos nestled among autumnal foliage and boughs of chestnuts made for a peaceful scene. The moon peaked over the distant skyline of Candimor City, illuminating the fine layer of frost that blanketed every leaf and blade of grass; each tiny crystal caught the light, sending up a delicate glowing aura.

The sight filled Pete with contentedness.

His gaze gradually drifted upward to the evening sky, past the flickering clouds on the horizon, and settled on the moon.

Waxing gibbous… for once, the timing was just right.

Despite the cold and returning exhaustion, he almost felt pleasantly warm. Maybe, they could sit on one of the benches for a short while.

“Ye should take walks in the park more often, I don’t think I’ve ever seen ye this relaxed,” Liz said.

“Mmm…?” Pete hummed, tearing his gaze from the sky, “O-oh, really? N-never?”

“Nope. Did ye want ta throw a coin in the fountain with me?” Her eyes glittered hopefully. “They say the luck from this one helps ye find whatever ye desire most in yer heart.”

Her pull on his arm was subtle, but it was enough to draw a small smile across his pale features, “I—p-perhaps, yes—I—we c-can, if ye want.”

Liz beamed.

Pete couldn’t help but notice the way her freckled, rosy cheeks pinched her delighted eyes, how her smile always seemed so genuine. She was beautiful. It was only when she looked up at him from her coin purse and smiled again that he realised he was staring.

His heart leapt, cheeks colouring. He tried to avert his gaze, putting the kickstand of his bike down and leaving it at the opening of the path into the fountain’s clearing, but when Liz pressed a coin into his palm, their eyes met.

“Ready ta make a wish?” Liz asked, voice as gentle as the light that fell on her dainty features.

Pete nodded.

She was usually so fierce, but in the moment when the coins hit the water with small, twin splashes, her fingers intertwined with his, she could’ve been the most gentle lady in the world.

Together they stood, listening to the steady burble of water from the spouts nestled in the delicate sculptures decorating the architecture.

Liz broke the silence. “Pete…?”

Pete had never heard her sound so nervous before. “Mm…?” he hummed.

“I’ve—we’ve known each other fer a long while now, and…”

Oh. He’d already caught on to her feelings, but for her to even ask, to want to give it a shot with an obvious wreck like him… Was he dreaming?

But she continued, “Ye’re such a kind lad, I was wonderin’… if ye’d ever consider, maybe… goin’ out with me.”

A twinge of dread curled in his stomach. “L-Liz,” he started, heart aching. She didn’t know.

Liz hurried on, “And… If, perhaps, ye’d also felt the same way… Romantically, that is.”

He swallowed, looking down. If she knew, she would be disgusted that she ever thought of him in that way. What kind of person was he for leading her on like this?

“Pete?” Liz searched his face for an answer.

Her soft voice snapped him back to reality. He stammered, “I—wow, uh… I’m flattered, I am, but—but I-I’m not sure ye’d want ta… ta have me as…”

She grasped his hand with a little shake. “Oh don’t be silly, of course I would! Ye’re sweet, polite… handsome,” she said, lowering her lashes.

Instead of bringing delight to his heart, each compliment was like a knife through his chest. “No, I mean, th-thankyou, b-but—I… I c-couldn’t,” he said, withdrawing his chilly hand from her hold, much to her protest.

“But Pete…!” Her eyes were so desperate; she didn’t understand. “Can I still hold yer hands? They’re like ice; please let me warm them.”

He couldn’t bear it, squeezing his eyes shut, and shaking his head. “I—Let me finish wh—what I’m about ta say, and then then, then ye can, if ye want, but, I w-won’t blame ye if—if ye won’t.”

“What could ye possibly be talkin’ about?” she said, reluctantly letting his hands stay free.

“It… I’m sorry, it just—it’ll change h—how ye—how ye—” He paused, taking a slow, deep breath. “See… I—I haven’t been… completely honest with you Liz, and, t—truth—fully, I’ve n-never really known… how—how ta tell ye…”

“Look, Pete, ye can tell me anythin’. Just take yer time; I’m listenin’,” Liz said.

“It’ll… It’ll change how ye see me.”

“I’m not convinced, I don’t think I could see anythin’ other than the shy gentleman in front of me,” she smiled.

Pete took a measured pace back. He told himself it was to give Liz room, but he knew it was for his own conscience. Greedy. Selfish. He dropped his gaze to the side, unable to so much as glance into those clear brown eyes. On their own, his fingers trailed the seams of the leather gloves squeezed in his hands. The words were right there, on the tip of his dry tongue, but his voice locked up.

After a moment of struggling, he could barely get the first few words out, “I’m—I—I’m actually… I’m not… n-not, I’m—”

He shook his head, frustration beading as tears in his eyes. Curse these nerves!

“I’m n-nnot—not—hh—” he tried again, but his voice failed him.

Curse this fuckin’ stutter!

“Hey, hey,” Liz said, hushing him.

He fought to keep tears at bay, refusing to—he couldn’t stand to sound so stupid and useless in front of her, because he did like her—he cherished her—and he had to tell her, before anything else; she had to hear it from him—but he just… couldn’t.

Liz moved forward to take his hands and steady him, but he couldn’t bear to so egregiously take advantage of her ignorance, so he stepped back again, bringing the back of a hand to his lips.

It was stone cold, just as she said.

And that was when he heard it; the brush of footsteps on the edge of the clearing, kneeling and crouching, hiding and approaching.

Pete’s heart stopped.

“Ye—ye should go,” he murmured fearfully.

From the bushes, figures emerged.

Burton, followed closely by his lackeys, sauntered over the grass with crunching footsteps until he stood a scant couple of metres from Liz and Pete.

“Well, well, well,” he drawled, smirking “so you two are in love.”

The hair on the back of Pete’s neck prickled. Frustration and fear warred for their place across his features, but under Burton’s predatory gaze, fear won out. “Dovey, I need to have a little chat with your boyfriend. In private.”

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#Shifting Phases #Shifting Phases Preview #emc's writing #whump series #original writing #original whump #original character whump #oc whump #whump writing #writers on tumblr #whump #Pete Spencer #Liz Millen #Guy 'Burton' Matthews #angst #it reads like a romance at this moment but i assure you it's not actually XD #romance is barely even a C plot lol #everyone's too focused on not dying to worry about actually dating XD #except if you're liz i guess but problems will catch up to her too

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itssolonelyhere · 2 years

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sneak peek??

Hey, anon! Sorry I haven't been on here much. I guess tumblr support finally let me out of the time-out corner since I can see my posts in tags now. Maybe I won't have to use a new account but here it is just in case. Anyway, here's a preview for chapter 19:

“Girl… Come on. Fill us in on the deets. I’m going crazy over here.”

“Okay, okay! Just give me a second to think.” Two pairs of eyes are trained on her and it’s a little nerve-wracking. Would Eddie mind if she talks to them about it? Some things should clearly stay private—like his monster porn collection—but what about the rest? Does he have similar conversations with his friends? Is she brought up? Are they going to know what happened earlier?

‘Uh-oh. I feel like I’m going to burst. Can’t think about that… And it’s too late to back out now on this end. They’re both invested already.’

“I’m not really sure what this is. We’re technically not dating. He hasn’t asked me out or anything… Actually, we haven’t even talked about it. Who knows if he’s even into any of that? Relationship stuff, I mean.” She says pensively, ignoring how Charlotte gasps and clutches her chest.

“So, you’re not going out, haven’t talked about going out, and have no clue if he would even want to go out. Maybe you two are just friends?”

“Nat! She said they’re technically not dating. That’s like dating without putting labels on anything. Read between the lines.”

“No, ‘not dating’ means not dating. If there’s no actual date, then it’s just hanging out with someone.”

“That’s the thing…” Chrissy stares at the two and pulls both knees up to wrap her arms around them. Thankfully the rug is extra fluffy with some cushion to it. That spanking from earlier left her backside a little sore, so moving around gives a not-so-subtle reminder that they’re not just friends. “I just don’t know anymore. It’s confusing sometimes. Like, we’re definitely more than that. I’m really nervous about all of this.”

“Hold up! If you’re more than friends, but not going out, does that mean you’re fun buddies?”

“No!” The captain turns a bright shade of red, waving her hands frantically. Of course this would go in that direction. She’s been pretty vague about what’s going on, so it’s not too hard to see how Charlotte got there. “It’s not like that.”

‘Wait… Are we? I’m not sure what counts.’

“Well, maybe? We’re into each other. That’s obvious. I like him a lot.” There. That little tidbit is finally out in the open. No more dancing around it. Pretending they’re purely platonic friends is silly, especially after today. “I guess you can say we’re just seeing where things go? It’s sort of similar to being in a relationship, minus actual dates or putting a label on it like Charlotte said.”

“And you’re okay with that?” Natalie arches a brow, tilting her head to the side. It’s been pretty clear that she’s not the biggest fan of the recent developments. Particularly because of who it’s with.

‘I can tell she doesn’t like him. This isn’t going to be easy. It’d be nice if everyone could get along, but that’ll take time.’

“For now, I guess? It’s just… when we hangout, I’m happy and we always have a fun time. He makes me feel good. It’s so different from being with Jason. There’s no rules or pressure or having to worry about making him mad. It’s nice. Since this started, Eddie’s been a great friend. But now things are… changing. Stuff happened and I’m all mixed up about it. I don’t think we can go back to the way it was anymore.”

Charlotte’s eyes go wide and dart over toward the junior to confirm if she also heard that. “Chris… Did you… Did you guys get it on? Is that what you’re saying?”

Chrissy grabs onto the strings of her sweatpants to play with. Anything to use as a distraction from the pounding in her chest. She’s overly aware of both girls giving their full attention to this lame attempt at an explanation. “N–No, not yet. It didn’t go that far. I mean, it feels sort of like things could maybe head in that direction? Possibly?”

“It didn’t go that far? Then how far did it go?” The curiosity laced in the redhead's whisper makes this a bit more tantalizing to drag out. They’re dying to know. Did the ‘prude’ do something scandalous for once?

Letting out a shaky breath, she steels any resolve left to bare part of her soul in front of them. This is going to cause a complete meltdown. “Well, we kind of kind of made out earlier… and he… spanked me.” She bites down on her bottom lip and slowly looks up from the strings, almost afraid of their reactions.

Natalie sticks a pinky in her ear and twists it around before yanking it out. “Sorry. Didn’t hear that last part. Now what did you say?”

It's not edited yet, but the full chapter should be out by tomorrow! I'm just finishing up some parts and cleaning it up a bit. Thanks a lot for asking. It makes me super happy to see interest in my writing 😁

#asks #anon #eddie munson #chrissy cunningham #hellcheer #eddisy #stranger things #fanfic

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thebrochtuarachs · 3 years

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Something in the Rain - “A Month Apart, Part 1”

A/N: Hi everyone, thank you for your patience as I whipped out this chapter. I had the initial outline on how this chapter will go but more frequent than none, it changes a lot in the middle while I'm in the writing process. :) I love this story and I hope it just gives you the good feels while reading this. We're two years into this pandemic and the world is still crazy. I hope you're keeping safe and being kind to yourself. :) As always, your comments and suggestions are very much welcome.

A modern day meet cute instance between Jamie and Claire.

AO3 / C1: A Day In June : C2: Definitely, Maybe : C3: So We Meet Again : C4: Friday Lunch : C5: Finding Solid Ground : C6: Situations : C7: Interruptions

XXXXX

After their first date, their schedule for the following two weeks we’re packed - with Jamie settling back in the firm after his 2-week trip from London and Claire’s schedule at the hospital and preparing for her trip to Seattle.

Being a lawyer and a doctor weren’t the most flexible jobs - with patients and clients to attend to, surgeries and hearings to prepare for, plus, with both of them in administrative positions, it is additional work on top of their normal duties. But Claire and Jamie were determined to make it work, so they decided to communicate better, be extra patient and understanding, and really commit whatever available time they had.

The first week, Jamie couldn’t make lunch as he had a court hearing to prepare for and Claire couldn’t make dinner as she was on the night shift. So Jamie, one day, surprised Claire outside the hospital by picking her up, invited her to quick breakfast dates instead, and dropping her off at her house to make sure she got home safe.

The second week was a bit lighter but with Claire going to Seattle on Saturday, she had to do extra administrative work to make sure everything was set for her leave. She offered to have dinner takeaways at her office in the evenings which he happily accepted.

The night before her flight, Claire and Jamie were hanging out in her office, sitting at the sofa, admiring the Edinburgh skyline with a little wine and cheese tray.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t go out” Claire apologized.

“Don’t worry about it, Sassenach.” Jamie turned to Claire and patted her hand. “I honestly would prefer to do anything if it means I get to spend time with you - whether sitting here in your office on a Friday night or sitting in the gallery watching your surgery.”

“You’re too good to me, James” Claire quipped in a feigned dramatic voice.

“Ah, you give me too much credit, Claire. I hope you know that you make an effort too, especially these past two weeks”

“Me? It feels like you’re fitting more to my schedule than I am yours!”

“But you met me during breakfast even though you looked too knackered from yer shift.”

Claire couldn’t deny that and she could just smile with Jamie’s understanding.

“Are you all packed up for tomorrow?” Jamie asked, changing the subject.

“Yes. The weather’s mostly rainy in Seattle so I brought extra items for the wet and cold.”

“And what’s your schedule for the month?”

“Have I not sent you my itinerary? Hold up -” Claire took out her phone and quickly sent an email to Jamie. “There, I sent you my schedule but between teaching and surgery, my time’s the same as here just minus the administrative work, which I tell you not, I’m pretty excited to be free of it for the next month”

Jamie just nodded. The next month.

It’s all rather bad timing if you look at it. The first month, they’ve been rather inseparable with going to lunches almost everyday and weekends at the center. The following month, quick dates and meetings as Jamie was away at London and their crazy schedule at the hospital and the firm. And now, going into the third month since meeting, they’d be completely separated by roughly 4,485 miles.

“Did you hear what I said, Jamie?” Claire asked while waving a hand in front of Jamie’s face.

“I’m sorry, what?” Returning to the present, unaware that his mind has gone away a bit.

Claire gave him a softened look and sat closer to him. “What were you thinking?”

Jamie stayed silent but Claire’s look urged him on.

“Nah, ye’ll think me daft” Jamie said but Claire shook her head.

“Fine” Jamie stretched his arm to pull her closer and she gladly leaned on his shoulder. “I was just thinking about how I’ll not be able to see ye for a month, how much I’ll be missing ye, and how excited I am once ye return here.”

“Oh,” Claire knew the feelings were simple but it’s his words and the way he said it that touched her most.

“I told ye it’s daft.”

“It’s not daft.” Claire tried to mimic Jamie’s accent but they both just have to laugh at her attempt. Turning serious quickly, she took Jamie’s face by the hand and looked deeply into his eyes. “You know that I am going to miss you too.”

Jamie just nodded in agreement, looking at Claire so sweetly and lovingly that she couldn’t help but lean in for a kiss.

Since their first kiss after their date, they hadn’t been shy in showing affection to each other. Nonetheless, it’s all been very respectful to the boundaries to whatever stage they are in their relationship. Hand touches, hugs, pecks and kisses here and there but never really beyond that.

But with her impending departure, Claire seemed to be eager for more. Instead of completely pulling away, she kissed him again some more.

Jamie quickly picked up the signal and allowed himself to pull Claire closer and to his lap. A few minutes later, Claire felt Jamie’s tongue on her lips asking for entrance which she happily obliged. The air around them was electric.

Jamie was first to pull away before the moment got away from them. Claire sighed - not from disappointment, but by the fact of how chivalrous Jamie really is. And she doesn’t really mind it one bit. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

The following day, Jamie picked up Claire to drop her off at the airport. They thought they had time for a quick bite but traffic was so horrendous that they got to the gate just in time before boarding began.

With barely any time left, Jamie pulled Claire to a tight hug as the PA system called her flight. “Go, you’ll miss your plane”

Claire reluctantly released Jamie with a grunt. “Let’s go somewhere when I return”

“Sounds like a plan” Jamie tried to hide the longing in his voice but it was too late.

“The month will be over before you know it, okay? Message me everyday, call me every afternoon when you can” Claire encouraged him. With one last kiss, they bade each other goodbye as she started walking to her gate and Jamie was no longer in sight.

As Claire waited for take off, the silence of a constant message ping on her phone slightly unsettled her. It was then she realized the vast distance between Seattle and Edinburgh. A single tear escaped but she quickly pulled it together. She’s not even gone yet but homesickness hit her right away.

So the four-week long distance trial began.

The 8-hour time difference is not too crazy between Seattle and Edinburgh with their available times falling at the start and end of the day. They’ve been coping well with their synced calendars and communication options.

Jamie sends flowers and snacks to Seattle Grace, earning Claire points from the staff for all the treats she’s been giving away.

Claire, on her end, sends late messages to Jamie to wake up to in the morning and asks Mrs. Kim’s Korean Street Food Hub to delivery chicken wings to Jamie every so often.

They’ve also reserved some time on the weekend for extended calls with conversations falling from happenings to their week to what hairstyles and colors they’ve done in the past.

It wasn’t till late in the 3rd week that things started to shake up.

It was a random Thursday evening in rainy Seattle. Between two surgeries and one class, Claire was ready to call it a day. She was settling on her sofa, drinking her tea for a little night cap when her phone pinged. It was 9:30PM Seattle meaning it was 5:30AM Edinburgh, too early for anybody to contact her over there unless it was important.

Grabbing her phone, her notifications show it was from Geillis. It was a link to a tabloid along with a message “HAVE YOU SEEN THIS?”

With the link, she can see the preview of the title “Jamie Fraser is off the market!” Curiosity prevailed Claire and she clicked the article

On the other side of the world, Jamie, as always, promptly arrived at the firm. Just as he was to pass Mrs. Fitz, she called him out.

“Ah, lad”

“Yes, Mrs. Fitz?”

“I dinna ken yet what ye or Claire are yet but have ye spoken to her today?”

“Today? Not yet. Why?”

She motioned for him to come round the reception and take a peek at her monitor.

She showed him the same article Geillis sent Claire and as soon Jamie saw the accompanying photo, he fished out his phone and immediately contacted Claire. It was midnight in Seattle but Jamie didn’t care - he wanted to clear things before things got misinterpreted.

“Erm, hello?” a groggy Claire answered the phone on the other side of the line.

“Hi, were ye asleep?” Jamie asked as he walked the hallway to his office.

“I was but I answered already, what’s up?” she replied, her voice still muffled by sleep. She knew why he was calling though but wanted to hear it from him. “Did you just arrive at the firm?”

“Yes,” he replied, closing the door to his office for privacy. “Well, I don’t want to keep you long but an article came last night about me and well, in case ye’ll see it, it is not true.”

Jamie heard Claire sigh on the other end, “I’ve seen it” she confirmed.

“Ye’ve already seen it?” he repeated in disbelief, looking at his watch, it’s only been posted a few hours ago.

“Geillis sent it to me earlier, I think it just came out then. She’s a bit of a morning person so…”

“Claire, it isn’t true. It was all in a bad angle. The Dunsany’s have been a long-time client of ours and we had an unexpected dinner meeting yesterday. I was just escorting their daughter to her car when the paparazzi got wind of us and ran with whatever story they could think of.” Jamie quickly explained in summary.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah. I mean you say it’s not true and I believe you.”

“You don’t have any questions?” he asked, a little baffled.

“Not really. I mean was there more to it?”

“A bit but something we can talk about later.”

“Okay”

It was both refreshing and confusing as to why Claire seemed nonchalant about all this. On one end, she might be really understanding. On the other end, she might be harboring ill-feelings she didn’t want to discuss.

It was Jamie’s line that turned silent. Claire, guessing he might need more despite her sleepy state, obliged him. “Jamie, I won’t lie. I was surprised at first because of the photo and how the article was written with your family histories. Add to that, that I didn’t see it in the calendar and you didn’t text me about it.��

“Why didn’t you call -?”

“But” she interrupted him, “I also know you, Jamie, and I know about us. If I was really concerned, I’ll call you right away. But I’m not and we’ll be meeting later anyway, so I know we’ll talk about it eventually.” she paused to catch a breath. “Besides, you already explained it, I don’t need to know any more because I trust you, Jamie.”

“Okay” it was Jamie’s turn to give the one-word reply.

“Are we okay now?” she asked.

“Yes, as long as ye are too.” Jamie replied to which Claire mummed in agreement. “Thank ye, Claire.”

“You’re welcome. Now, I’ll go back to sleep and see you later.” With that, Claire ended the call, a small smile crept on her face knowing the relief and joy Jamie probably feels right now.

#outlander #outlander fanfic #outlander fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction #something in the rain #sitr #mia writers #jamie fraser #claire fraser #jamie x claire #geillis duncan #mrs. fitz #geneva dunsany #sam heughan #caitriona balfe #sam x cait #samcait #sam cait

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hotpodsummer · 3 years

Photo

Welcome to the 2021 Hot Pod Summer Exchange! Hot Pod Summer is a fic exchange challenge focused on Crooked Media podcast hosts, contributors to Crooked Media podcasts, real-life partners of pod hosts, and/or Crooked Media employees.

Rules:

You can nominate anyone who is a Crooked Media podcast host, a contributor to a Crooked Media podcast, any real-life partners of pod hosts, or any Crooked Media employees.

You can request between 3 and 6 relationships, and offer between 4 and 10 relationships.

Your assignment must be a complete textual story (no WIPs, please) of at least 1,500 words.

Your work must be archive locked so only registered users can access it.

How do I get in touch with the mods for this exchange? You can email us at [email protected].

Schedule

Nominations: April 30th-May 6th, 2021

Sign-ups open: May 7th, 2021

Sign-ups close: May 16th, 2021 at 11:59PM EDT (what time is that for me?)

Assignments go out: May 17th, 2021

Default deadline: July 11th, 2021 at 11:59PM EDT

Assignments due: July 18th, 2021 at 11:59PM EDT (what time is that for me?)

Staggered reveals: July 25th-30th, 2021

Author reveals: August 5th, 2021

FAQ

Nominations

What can I nominate?

You can nominate relationships that include anyone associated with Crooked Media as a podcast host or contributor, a real-life partner of a pod host, or a Crooked Media employee.

A relationship can include two or more people. Please note that romantic relationships are denoted by / and platonic relationships are denoted by &. Thus, if you’d like to see a romantic story between person A and person B, you’d nominate that relationship as A/B. If you wanted to receive purely platonic fic without any romantic components, you’d nominate them as A&B. You can also combine & and / and nominate, for example, A/B & C, in which case A/B would be romantic and C would be a platonic part of the ship.

How do I nominate relationships for this exchange?

Go to the tag set! You're allowed to nominate up to 5 relationships during the nomination phase.

Sign-ups

How do sign-ups work?

On the collection page, find the button that says ‘Sign up’ and follow the prompts. You can request and offer any of the previously nominated relationships (no matter if you nominated them or not). You can request between 3 and 6 relationships for which you’d like to receive fic, and can offer to write between 4 and 10 relationships.

Do I have to write a letter to my author?

No, you do not have to write a letter to your author, though you are absolutely welcome to write a letter with optional details, prompts, or whatever else strikes your fancy. Leaving your author optional details in the sign-up field is not required either, but strongly encouraged. The details are optional, but some authors find it helpful to know what kind of story you’d like to receive, which tropes or prompts you’d really like to see written, or what your Do Not Wants (DNWs) are.

How does matching work?

The Hot Pod Summer exchange matches on relationships. Your assigned recipient will have requested at least one relationship that you offered to write. If you have entered optional details or DNWs in your AO3 sign-up boxes, these may also be taken into account when matching. Once matching is done, you will receive an email with your recipient’s AO3 username and their requests.

Assignments

What are the requirements for the story I’m writing?

Your story must feature at least one of the relationships requested by your recipient. It must also be a complete story (no “I’m posting chapter 1 now and other chapters later”, please!) of at least 1,500 words.

If I offered more than one ship that my recipient requested, which one do I write? If I want to write a ship they requested that I didn’t offer, am I allowed to do that?

As long as your story features at least one of the ships they requested, you’re good. If you offered more than one of their ships, which one you end up writing is totally up to you.

Is my assignment a secret?

Your assignment is a secret until authors are revealed. Please do not discuss the story you’re writing publicly, we all want to be surprised on reveals day. :) If you need to contact your recipient because you have a question about their sign-up or for whatever other reason, please do not contact them directly, even anonymously! Instead, email us at [email protected] and we will contact your recipient to ensure anonymity is maintained.

What if I can’t complete my assignment before the deadline?

Please reach out to us. We’re here to help, but we have to know if there’s a problem. We have a default deadline set for a week before assignments are due and while we understand that last-minute things can happen, it would really help mods with planning if we got a heads-up from you a week before your assignment is due if you think you won’t be able to turn in a story -- just hit the ‘default’ button on your My Assignments page if you need to. That way, we can send your assignment to a pinch hitter and ensure your recipient doesn’t go gift-less.

Am I guaranteed to receive a gift?

If you signed up for the exchange and turned in a story, you are guaranteed to receive a gift. If you default and your author does not, you will also receive a gift. If you default and your author defaults as well, you may not receive a gift, depending on availability of pinch hitters.

Can I make a fanmix/video/draw fanart instead of writing a story?

This is a writing exchange, so for your assignment, please stick to writing a story of at least 1,500 words. You’re welcome to add art, music, etc. to the story you wrote, but this is primarily a fanfiction exchange.

Can I write more than one story for my recipient?

Oh my god, you overachiever! :) Yes, you totally can. In that case, you’d post the extra gift as a treat, but you’re of course only asked to write one story.

What is a pinch hitter and how do I become one?

A pinch hitter fills in for somebody else who can’t complete their assignment and writes a story for that person’s recipient. A pinch hitter may be somebody who’s already participating in the exchange, but if you aren’t formally participating in the exchange and would like to pinch hit instead, you’re more than welcome to. If you’d like to pinch hit, please fill out the form any time after sign-ups begin (it will be linked here and/or posted on social media) or email us at [email protected].

Can I write treats?

YES. All requests will be made public after assignments go out and if you’re inspired by one (or more!) requests that aren’t your assignment, you’re welcome to write a little bonus story (=a treat) on top of your assignment for anybody else who signed up for the exchange. You may also write treats if you aren’t officially participating in the exchange. Treats do not have to fulfill the minimum word count and may be multimedia.

How do I find a beta reader for my story?

If you’d like another pair of eyes on your story before you publish it, you can email [email protected]. In the email, please tell us: the ship you’re writing, the word count of your story, and what kind of beta you need (for example: SPAG, structure, canon, special knowledge of [certain subject or matter], etc.) and we’ll try our best to connect you with someone to look it over for you, though we can’t guarantee it.

I would like to beta someone else’s story!

Great! Sign up using this form here and if anyone needs a beta, we may contact you with their request.

Posting

How do I post my assignment?

In the top right corner of AO3, where it says “Hi, [your username]”, select “My assignments” from the dropdown menu, find the Hot Pod Summer exchange and click “Fulfill”. You’ll be taken to a form where you can input your story, title, etc. Preview it, make sure it looks how you want it to, and click on Post. Your story will automatically post into the Hod Pod Summer collection as a gift to your recipient. It will remain unrevealed in the collection until an admin reveals it.

Can I edit my story after the deadline?

Yes, you can edit your story until it’s revealed, but please do not upload an unfinished story.

How do I post a treat?

Posting a treat works a little bit differently than posting your assignment. In order to post a treat, you have to visit the Hot Pod Summer collection page (you’re probably on it now if you’re reading this FAQ) and click “Post to collection”. This will take you to a posting form that has the collection name already filled in, so it’ll be posted in the right place. From there, fill in the AO3 name of your treat recipient manually and then input your title, story, etc., preview it to make sure it looks the way you want it to look, and then click on Post.

Story reveals

What are staggered reveals and why are you doing them?

Staggered reveals mean that we’re only publishing a small number of stories at a time every day, thus, you might get your gift on any day during the reveals period. We’re doing this so every story can get the attention it deserves and readers aren’t overwhelmed by a lot of stories dropping at the same time.

How do staggered reveals work?

We will email you the night before the story you wrote will go live (please check your email!). That way, you’ll have the chance to put that day’s date on your story and make sure it appears at the top of the collection once your story is revealed.

Do I have to comment on my gift?

Look, we can’t mandate it, but please comment on your gift. It’s the polite thing to do if somebody else took the time and effort to write a story for you.

Any other questions?

Email us at [email protected] and one of us will get back to you.

#hotpodsummer #crookedmediaficexchange

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phytocondria · 3 years

Text

Secret Note #7

Quick thanks to my friend @coolcoolglasses for the texting idea and help with Maru's nicknames. I really liked all the dialog in my last fics chapter so consider this a preview/extra for my next chapter on Ao3 whenever I get around to it. (Lil-nightmare is my farmer oc for context) p.s. the spelling mistakes are totally on purpose and not just me not knowing how to spell. (Maybe that too ^-^')

Word Count: 889 Summary: There's a mysterious note on the General Store's bulletin board.

Chicken_lord: dude wtf

StarR00-bot: Wait, what is hat?

*that

Lil-nightmare: Looks like it’s torn out of something

Chicken_lord: idk it was hangin on pierre’s

Lil-nightmare: What’s it say anyways?it doesn’t look like pierre’s normal stationary though

(maybe from a notebook)

StarR00-bot: Or a diary, I can’t make out who's handwriting it is though.

You need a new phone, the camera on yours is a potato dude

Chicken_lord: phones fine brains.

i’ll text what it says in a min

morris has been on our ass lately

Lil-nightmare: Sounds like an hr violation ;P

StarR00-bot: 😱

Gross

Chicken_lord: psssh, he wishes

StarR00-bot: fair, even you have standards

Lil-nightmare: Why do you still work there? You knowthe farms big enough I could hire you on permanently ?

Chicken_lord: and give you a excuse to boss me around

Lil-nightmare: Hey, I'm a cool boss.

I only require your eternal fidelity, and you can keep your first born

Chicken_lord is typing….

StarR00-bot: lol

We both know it’s because Charlie would be mad he’s cheating on her

Lil-nightmare: True, true.

Charlie would be heartbroken knowing you’re meeting with other chicks

StarR00-bot: With a hole other hen house? :0

*whole

How could you?!

Lil-nightmare: Probably smell of void essence on your clothes

StarR00-bot: Catching tbe feathers in your hair

*the

Chicken_lord: there are only a few older bachelors in town none of them are perfect harvey is really anxious and weak but he’d make a loyal and devoted husband he likes coffee and pickles

elliott is a bit foppish and melodramatic but he has anice chin he likes crab cakes and pomegranates

shane is messy and anti-social but I think his gruff exterior is a defense mechanism insulating his softness from the world he likes peer pizza and pepper poppers

Lil-nightmare: DA FRICK!?!?!?!?

StarR00-bot: sdhzxvbkj...

I’m wheezing

wtf?

Chicken_lord: thats what i said

like f***

imagine walking past and seeing this on your way towork

Lil-nightmare: HOLY FATHER OF YOBA. WHO WROTE THAT?!!?

StarR00-bot: And it was on pierre’s?

Chicken_lord: yup

Lil-nightmare: WHY THOUGH?

StarR00-bot: I feel like my brother has something to do with this -.-’

Chicken_lord: your bothers got the hots for older dudes?

Lil-nightmare: dskjcjvh, stop!

StarR00-bot: I mean he’s got the dady issues for that, but no

*daddy issues

Lil-nightmare: scxzfvuk

Chicken_lord: fuk...

good one roostar

Lil-nightmare: I hate all of this

Shane I’m blaming you

StarR00-bot: I meant him or Abi probably put it up

Sounds like something they do, yk

Chicken_lord: whatd i do

im the one with some weird secret admirer

StarR00-bot: And Harvey and Elliott

Lil-nightmare: … Harvey’s not weak though

Chicken_lord: nope

stopping you there

StarR00-bot: same

Don’t need to know that bout my boss

Lil-nightmare: ???

Wait

F*** you guys

I meant figuratively

But also, he’s been helping around the farm more :/

Chicken_lord: don’t need to here you simping over the doc either

Lil-nightmare: SEE THIS IS WHY I CAN ONLY BE NICE TO MARU

StarR00-bot: xD

Chicken_lord: yeah yeah im a a**hat

StarR00-bot: Lol, I’m just the favorite

Chicken_lord: do you mind getting back to whoever wants to workshopme and the doc

StarR00-bot: *sent is a gif of courage the cowardly dog villain saying “you’re not perfect”*

I think someone trying to neg you in their diary

*is

Lil-nightmare: Yeah

I mean messy?

Like they know your room is messy or just your whole deal?

Cause I mean…

Chicken_lord: *gif of someone slowly raising a middle finger in frame*

Lil-nightmare: I mean old you

(mostly)

Cause they also sad beer and not sparkling water

StarR00-bot: Oh yeah, plus you and Harv have been dating for how long already?

Chicken_lord: a decade

Lil-nightmare: *sends the same middle finger gif*

But yeah, it has to be kinda old at least

Chicken_lord: or someones a homewrecker

StarR00-bot: I doubt it

Lil-nightmare: …. 🔪

StarR00-bot: …

Lil-nightmare: So at least they’re on point with Elliot, I guess

And foppish is a weird word choice ya know

Chicken_lord: alex and sam are out don’t have the braincells for vocab

Lil-nightmare: Like aside from elliott, who would actually use the word “foppish”

StarR00-bot: I wanna say rude but I might actually keel over in laughter if I heard either one use the word

But yeah, probably not them or anyone in the note

Lil-nightmare: Or us and PROBABLY not any of the married folk unless… 👀

StarR00-bot: unless…. 👀

Chicken_lord: wat

Lil-nightmare: I mean…. Kent was gone for awhile….

StarR00-bot: nah, she might act mad thirsty, but she’s all talk according to mom

Lil-nightmare: Fair, plus turns out caroline maybe

Actually nvm, i don’t actually know know, yk?

StarR00-bot: NO WAY DOSH

*dish

preedy, pweese 🥺👉👈

Chicken_lord: ugh, your promised no more uwu talk brains

StarR00-bot: Lol

Lil-nightmare: I’ll tell you next time, but lips sealed Roo

StarR00-bot: 🙊

Promise

Chicken_lord: you guys can gossip without me

just wanted to show the weird note but my shifts starting

StarR00-bot: Ok bye, have fun feeding the capitalist machine :D

Chicken_lord: *middle finger gif again*

Lil-nightmare: Hey brng the note over later

(Maybe I’ll recognize the handwriting)

StarR00-bot: Ooooh you guys on the case of who done it?

Chicken_lord: eh not that committed nancy drew

Lil-nightmare: Come on, I got some peppers that nee testing

Plus MochI misses you (and Jas, bring Jas. I haven't seen in her in too long T.T)

Chicken_lord: maybe

#sdv oc #sdv maru #sdv shane #stardew valley farmer #stardew valley #stardew valley writing #my writing #sdv writing #stardew maru #stardew shane

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hd-cluefest · 4 years

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Cluefest Submission Guide 2021

Hi folks!

Here’s a handy guide to turning in your case files for H/D Clue Fest. Don’t worry if you’re not there yet — there’s still pretty much a whole month to go until the deadline. (that’s the 15th of February - drop us an email any time if you think you might need an extension)

All fics, art and podfics for Clue Fest will be hosted on AO3, in the Clue Fest 2021 collection, so you’ll need an AO3 account to submit. If you don’t already have one, we have a few available so drop us an email at [email protected] and we can get one sent out to you.

Clue Fest is an anonymous fest (Authors/Artists/Podficcers will be revealed on 15th April after all works have been posted) so we ask that you don’t post your work or anything to indicate which work is yours anywhere else until after the Reveal. We also ask participants not to reply to comments on their works until after the fest has finished too, so that nobody guesses who you are from your comment style. (Artists and Podficcers - although it might be clear which work is yours, we’d ask that you to stick to the same anonymity restrictions as the Fic writers in the interest of fairness)

Instructions under the cut!

Step One

Go to the collection (linked above), which should look like this:

Click the button on the top right which says “Post to Collection” — doing it this way means you’re much less likely to accidentally de-anon yourself.

Step Two

Enter your rating, warnings, categories and other tags. For more information on ratings and warning, you can click the little question marks next to each one. There’s also helpful information about tags here and a spreadsheet of common trigger tags made by the lovely @veelawings here.

Please take particular care to tag any potentially sensitive material/themes in your works — for example, the nature of the fest means there may be violent crimes described in the text.

Step Three

Add your title, summary, and any notes. There’s some good advice on writing summaries here. The notes section is for any extra information you might want to give about the fic, and a space where you can thank your alpha/beta readers. (so that you don’t accidentally give away any clues to your identity, please use initials or codenames while the fest is anonymous.)

An important step here is to add the Fest Mod account as a co-author. We won’t make any changes to your work, this just allows us to add a footer note about the fest and to update the posting date when your post. We will remove the mod account after reveals.

You can do this by checking the box that reads “add co-creators” typing “HD_cluefest” and selecting us from the drop-down.

Step Four

In Associations, next to “post to collections/challenges” H/D Cluefest 2021 should have been autofilled by AO3. If this hasn’t happened, please do so. This is the most important step in the process as posting to the collection is what ensures your fic will be anonymous.

This is also the part where you can mark that your fic is a podfic of another work, or gift a work to your prompter. Clue Fest isn’t a gift exchange, so this is completely optional. Please don’t gift the work to your prompter if the work contains anything that the prompter listed as a trigger/squick on the prompting form.

If your work is a multi-chapter fic, ticking the box for this will open up the option to add chapters. (more on this later)

There’s then a couple of privacy settings, which you’re welcome to use if it makes you more comfortable.

Step Five

Paste the text of your fic! Be aware that some strange things can happen when copy/pasting text from some programs into AO3. If you’re using google docs for instance, it may add unnecessary spaces or not copy over italics. There are a few workarounds for this, including the script linked here for converting your formatting to HTML.

For art and podfic, you will need to host your work elsewhere and embed it into AO3. If you need any help with this, get in touch.

Step Five (and a half)

If you’ve ticked the box for a multi-chapter work, there’ll now be a button up at the top right of the page to “add chapter”

Clicking this will take you to a page where you can add the text of the next chapter, add a chapter title and chapter summary, and add further chapters as needed.

Step Six

Click preview and have a look over your work to make sure everything looks ok, then take a deep breath and hit ‘Post’. While it’s anonymous, your work won’t show in your works page on A03 but don’t panic, it hasn’t vanished! You’ll see it if you click “works in collections”, and it will be listed on your statistics page.

Step Seven

Send us an email with the below info about your work, so we can use this as the header when we share your work on Tumblr. Please send the template below to [email protected]

Title:

Author/Artist/Podficcer: (AO3 username)

Tumblr URL: (if you have one, for reveals)

Prompt # or Self-Prompt:

Rating:

Word Count or Medium:

Warnings:

Summary: (or a short description of the artwork)

Link to the work:

Step Eight

Relax! We’ll take it from here.

#hd-cluefest #drarry #drarry fest #submissions #hp fests #casefic #mystery fanfic

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todaydreambelieversfic · 4 years

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Author Spotlight: Honeysucklepink Day 1

Author : @honeysucklepink

How did you get into Glee and Glee fandom?

I was actually an American Idol fan, and I had seen the previews for the show, but I had already been burned on Eli Stone and honestly didn't want to get into a show that would get cancelled after a few episodes. Plus I was watching Lost and it conflicted (I to this day have not invested in a DVR). But the same site that was recapping Idol started recapping Glee, and more annoyingly my sister was watching it (and yet hated Idol). So anyway, fast forward to the end of Lost, and suddenly my Tuesdays were free again, so I decided to tune in to the "Home" episode. This goes to show how influential fandom can be to how a show is perceived. I loved Will, I was charmed by April, I felt bad for Kurt but rolled my eyes at his pursuit of Finn. I think the only thing that has stayed consistent was being WOWED by Mercedes. I watched the rest of the season, and then I'm pretty sure they re-ran it over the summer (I swear I'm sure they did, though even by 2010 most networks had stopped doing summer reruns).

Even through the second season, I kept up with Glee and other shows via sites like MJs Big Blog and Entertainment Weekly. But I never was in FANDOM...not until, honestly, Blaine and Darren. I knew he was coming thanks to an EW news item. I was also watching Californication at the time, and they were using his original music to promote the show (Mia's doing, I later discovered). So my joke for a while was that I kept getting hooked on these singer-songwriters from Fox TV shows (David Cook and Kris Allen from Idol, and now Darren). But also by this time I was liking Kurt more...yes I had thought his pursuit of Finn was inappropriate, but then Laryngitis and Theatricality happened and by the time Never Been Kissed was about to air I was like 'THIS BOY NEEDS SOMETHING HAPPY IN HIS LIFE.' And then Blaine sang, and Kurt smiled, and I was a goner.

But I still wasn't there-there. Not until the following summer. The tour was happening, and of course it was happening NOWHERE NEAR ME, so I followed it on social media. I had a Tumblr, but wasn't using it that much. There was a Glee Forum that I frequented much more (don't even ask what my username was, it's long-forgotten). Also, I was in Seattle for a continuing education thing, and I spent a lot of time on my computer...doing work but also taking a lot of breaks by hanging on the forums. I got sucked in...soon I was doing more fan stuff on Tumblr, drifted from Glee Forum, and well, the rest is history.

In general, what drew you into writing (and/or creating)?

I think like a lot of people it was having stories in my head that I wanted to read and, not seeing anyone else writing them, realizing I had to write them myself. Writing fic for me usually goes much more stream-of-consciousness (thank goodness for betas). Very different from the academic writing that I have to do for my career, which involves a lot of research, structure, deadlines, etc. Being Southern and coming from a storytelling tradition helps. And a little morbid, but I think a little fatalism? Knowing we all die in the end, and the idea of leaving a little something behind, something that's not a kid, but a little part of me, that someone comes across and it means something to them. Even if my actual name isn't attached to it, it's still there.

What was it about Glee that made you decide to write fanfic for it?

It wasn't like my little reader prompts were always going to get the attention of a writer, so sometimes a scene would get stuck in my head and I'd just have to write it to get it out, or a song would get stuck in my head that I wished the show would do. Sometimes it was speculation, or wish-fulfillment...I'd read a spoiler and wonder how it COULD go, or see a song done and go "pfft, not how I would have done it, I'm rewriting this." And um, let's be real, I was at the peak of my sexual health, heck I'm pretty sure the show helped me accept that yep I'm really fucking queer, and there are just some Klaine scenes that the ol' Fox Network ain't gonna show you...

Have you been a part of other fandoms before? Have you written fanfiction pre-glee?

I posted in fan communities... I was on an E! board for The Girls Next Door for a while, I was a frequent poster on college football message boards, and of course I was on some boards for Idol (and regrettably, Vote For the Worst). But those communities didn't always stick to the fandom object...like half the time on the GND boards we didn't talk about GND at all! And re: fanfiction, I never read it until season seven of Idol... there was a David Cook saga I really got into (because there was intrigue and stalking and drama), that in retrospect was very much a self-insert Mary Sue (I know that term is fraught but in this case it was SO deserved), there were quite a few "Mavid" one-shots that were pretty juicy, and oh lord there was a D/s with Clay Aiken that, if you try not to actually picture CLAY FUCKING AIKEN, was hot. I really wasn't reading a lot of LGBTQ fic. My one hand at writing fic was as a joke...there was an off-shoot of the VFTW blog, and I wrote an RPF hetero scene of Kris Allen and his wife. To this day I cringe at that. I didn't touch writing fic again until Glee and Klaine.

Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

I haven't really done a true "enemies to lovers" fic, but I'd like to try it sometime. Or fake dating, that's one I'd need to get inspired by the right set-up.

Is there a trope you wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole?

I can't do incest, not even in a "well technically they're stepbrothers so it's not REALLY..." Yes really it's still a NOPE. And while there have been slave fics I've really liked, like the "Def" verse? Um, I'm from the American South, my ancestors go far back enough, fuck no I'm not writing a slave AU.

How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?

Oh lord, there's maybe two or three...there's one that has the premise written, that I don't know if or when I'll finish it, that has Kurt as a quarterback and Blaine as a center (the guy who is bent over right in front of the QB that passes him the ball), and it's solely inspired by a college football player that waxed poetic at a press conference about what kind of butt a good center should have, and I'll let you fill in the blanks.

***

Check out Honeysucklepink’s Fics

A Place That's Safe and Warm - Writer and blogger Blaine Anderson just wanted to have a few drinks, hook up with his friend Kurt, and pretend for a little while that his adopted city of Boston hadn’t been attacked. He meant to make a quiet exit the morning after, but overbearing parents, a cranky roommate, and the justice system had other plans.

Later On, We'll Conspire - My "naughty" fic for Klaine Advent 2015: Kurt and Blaine get snowed in, with an empty loft and an extra-special gift basket from Santana (takes place in Season Five, pre-5.14).

Somebody Loves You - My "nice" Klaine Advent 2015 fic: missing scenes from Glee Season Six. Chapter titles are the prompts.

#author spotlight #honeysucklepink

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jjkfire · 4 years

Note

hello, do u have an estimate of when the new chapter of sweet saccharine will be published?🥺

haha uhhh i honestly can’t give you a date, sorry! do join the sweet saccharine tag list if you haven’t already so i can tag y’all whenever i post it. but realistically, try me will be updated before sweet saccharine, so.... there’s that haha. if you haven’t seen it, you can go to the bottom of this post to see a preview of the next SS chapter.

i’m gonna put the full reason as to why i am taking so long to write anything... tldr is that i’m just doing a ton of different things atm! but you can read the full story down below

I'll be honest and say that my writing has been sitting on the back burner for some time. i get in a few 100 or so words here and there but I haven't dedicated like a full day to writing in a while. the truth is, I'm really so busy at work!!! and this working from home thing has my work schedule all messed up. it just feels like my work day is stretched because I can't focus so I end up working for a much longer time 😔

also i feel like I have to learn 501 things to keep up with my job but you guys know me haha I love to learn anyway so it's all good but it's just that it eats into my writing time.

and 🤪 I know you guys are tired of hearing me say this but I've really doubled down on learning how to trade and invest. and before you scroll away, no it’s not a scam. warren buffett built his fortune through investing. and i just really want some of you to know that you can generate income with investing so please please please take advantage of it. of course i’m not going to be as rich as warren buffett lmfao but it's a really nice hobby that pays me and writing unfortunately doesn't. like... I love writing! it's amazing!! but it's just the amount of time put in versus the money I get from it is like zero... which is totally fine lol I don't think people want to pay for my writing anyway HAHA and yes, yes, not everything has to be about making money. but i so so so hope at least like one person here followed my advice and invested in that crash in March (my posts were on feb 29 and march 15th respectively and the market hit the lowest point for the year on march 23rd). i literally put my money where my mouth is and bought when i said to buy.

i bought shares of square (ticker: $SQ) at 45 dollars in March and it is 142 dollars today (as of writing, August 13th). meaning I made 97 dollars from one share alone. and if i sell it tomorrow even minus tax it's like give or take 86 dollars profit. all this from just clicking buy. if you can buy one bts concert ticket worth 300 bucks, and considering the concert was cancelled this year, you could’ve bought 6 shares of square with that money and you’ll be 510 dollars richer today. or if you’d rather buy a company you’re more familiar with, had you bought one Apple share at 230 in march and you sold today at 459 dollars, you would have made, minus tax about 201 dollars. (and tesla was 361 dollars in March and it’s 1620 dollars today... yeah that’s NOT a typo). anyway these returns are soooo much more than what your bank is giving you. your bank gives you next to nothing. let me be generous and say right now (since they have severely cut interest rates) they give you 1.8% interest... if you put 300 dollars in the bank, you will accumulate 5.4 dollars in interest at the end of a one-year period....... versus $270 to buy 6 shares of square and then $510 profit if you sold today. do you see what i’m saying???? (you can also do paper trading first if you are scared. meaning use pretend money but it will follow real market prices so you can see how you fare in the market). I'm digressing from your question but!!! financial independence, we want it.

so if I can get just one of you to care about personal finance or investing, my life is made. it’s never too late (unless you are close to retiring then you should think hard about it) and never too early to start. i started in my senior year of college and that’s only because i’m not American and had to get a ssn. if you’re american.... and you have money that you know won’t severely affect you if you lose it, I highly suggest learning about investing. but, make sure you have a solid personal finance foundation too. the tldr is pay off high interest debt, track your expenses in excel or mint or whatever just track it so you can see where you’re wasting money and where you can cut back, take advantage of cash back on credit cards, never pay your credit card bills late, have a 3-6 month emergency fund set up, and then finally learn how to invest. once you do that, if you really want to you can graduate to learning how to trade options. which i do! and this means on top of what i make from investing, i make a few extra bucks every week.

[anything i said is not financial advice. as in don’t go out and buy square right now just because i talked about it. i’m asking you guys to learn about investing. do your due diligence about the companies. do you believe in them? do you think they’ll be here in 10 years? are you planning to invest in the company long term or you have an exit price where you want to cash out quick profit? do you want to do a bogleheads 3 fund portfolio? are you someone who wants to put your money in individual stocks or put your money into an all encompassing etf like VOO or SPY? it’s a tried and true method and investing in an etf on average over a 20 year period gets you more money than stock pickers or some hedge funds and definitely your bank as it returns about 7% on average every year. just learn!!! it’s not as complicated as it seems i swear]

anyway, that is the long winded answer on why i haven’t written in so long.... but please learn about investing please please please please. if you’re american you have so much more at your disposal aka your roth IRA account (you don’t have to pay taxes on your gains if you invest with this account but you can only take out the principal amount. after you are 59 and a half you can take out everything at zero tax cost) and also your 401k (if your company offers it and is doing matching, take the match PLEASE). you might get a second chance at investing at discounted prices again if the fed ever lets the market collapse in some sense lol but i think they will prop it till the election at least. anyway a financial crisis appears every give or take 10 years. also as long as you do dollar cost averaging, you should be fine. think if you bought at all time highs mid feb this year then held your stocks, bought some more when the market went through the shitter in march... then as of writing, right now, you’ll still be making profit if you sold. On August 13th, SPY (an etf that tracks the S&P500) literally closed two dollars shy from the all time high which was in mid to late feb of this year. so uhhh if it isn’t already clear, please learn to invest. whether you wanna enter the market now or wait till post election is completely up to you but PLEASE LEARN. idk if any of you ever read my financial rambles till the end but if you have questions you can message me and i can always direct you to the appropriate resources. i can show you all the videos and articles and posts i’ve read to date. don’t wait to start learning. you can learn and then wait to invest but whatever the case is, if you already have the knowledge you’ll be ready whenever there’s a good chance to invest. okay?????

#sweet saccharine #replies #anon

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rt8815 · 5 years

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Bradbury...and Boogie-Woogie

Two years I’ve agonized over this piece. Two. Years. It’s kinda the reason I started writing this story out of order. Anyway, it’s one of those ‘filler’ chapters, I think they’re called. Not a CM Bingo piece, though I’m working on more of those atm.

Triggers: None, I think.

WC: 2,840

Before diving in, first read Let It Bleed, as it immediately precedes this one.

Bradbury…October 27, 2017

“Hey, New Girl! Welcome-welcome!” Garcia squealed happily, rolling a cart onto the sidewalk.

“Hi, Penelope. It’s great to meet you in person,” replied McKinley, lifting plastic containers off the concrete and placing them on the cart.

“You too, Kinley. Oh my gosh, you’re even cuter in the flesh. Love. Your. Hair.”

“Uh, th-thanks,” she stuttered, unsure how to take the compliment or politely ask the bubbly techie not to play with her amethyst locks. Then Garcia moved in for a hug. McKinley stepped back. “No, sorry. I’m kind of weird about hugs.”

“No need to apologize,” she insisted, pushing the dessert-laden cart through the door. Remembering their lively video chat from the other night, McKinley deduced that verbally and physically affectionate was Penelope’s natural state.

McKinley handed her ID to a grumpy man behind the front desk. “If we get to be friends, I’ll warm up to you,” she told Penelope, throwing her visitor’s badge around her neck.

Penelope’s eyes glinted mischievously. “We’ll definitely become friends. I’ve already decided. You’re a smol bean and you’re my baby now, no arguments,” she concluded as entered the elevator.

McKinley giggled. They chatted while the elevator climbed.

“So, you’ve got the hots for our Boy Genius,” Penelope mused aloud.

“What? No! No, it’s not like that.”

“Oh really, now? Doughnuts, cupcakes, a cake, and Season 10 of Doctor Who on Blu-ray, all to apologize because you accidentally grabbed a handful?”

McKinley’s face burned. “Did Agent Alvez tell you that? Son of a bitch!” she fumed, helping Penelope maneuver the cart into the hall.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” she reassured her. “These things happen.” Her lips pulled into an inquisitive smirk. “Okay, tell me - what’s he packing? We talkin’ Small Flat Rate Box, or Freight?”

McKinley’s eyes bugged behind her sunglasses. “Sweet Lord, why would you wanna know that?”

Penelope shrugged. “Reid’s always so buttoned up; however, I suspect he’s smuggling something impressive under those corduroys.”

“Yeah well, I’m not comfortable discussing that, so keep suspecting.” They rolled through the glass doors of the bullpen. “And to answer your original question: I don’t have the hots for him,” she stated simply as they came to a stop at Spencer’s desk, “and I’m not looking to date.”

“You guys are perfect for each other, though!” Penelope insisted. “You’re a lot alike. You’re both kind, nerd-funny, super smart, reserved…”

“Ha! Remember that last one when you’ve seen me drunk,” McKinley cautioned, opening the containers to check the decorations.

“Hey, it’s Twist ‘n’ Shout!”

She spun, hands on her hips, electricity crackling in her hair. Luke’s grin slipped at the death glare on her face, his coffee mug hovering midway to its destination. After a pregnant pause, McKinley responded.

“Fine, I’ll give you that one…Mocha Latte. Just know that I bite when I have to.” He raised his coffee-free hand in surrender, inching forward to inspect the desserts.

“Get away, you!” Penelope warned. “These are Spencer’s.”

Luke broke into a lopsided smile. “Oh, because of the ‘short and curlies incident’?”

McKinley thumped his arm with a stack of paper plates.

“Ouch,” he chuckled, no hint of pain in his voice.

“That was for telling people about the…awkwardness. Also, yes, it’s part apology, part ‘let’s be friends.’”

Luke raised a brow. “Friends? You got a free preview of the goods and you’re looking to be just friends?”

Her cheeks flushed. “Yes! He’s a lovely person and…I dunno. When we talked, my heart went all squishy and I knew my life would be greatly lacking without him as my friend.”

“Okay, just remember that opportunity gropes but once, Doc.”

“Alvez, why are you casually discussing sexual misconduct in the middle of the office?” McKinley turned to see a tall brunette woman approaching. She appeared formidable but caring.

“Ah, it’s Dr. Durand! That clears things up,” she laughed, extending a hand to McKinley. “I’m Emily Prentiss, welcome to the BAU.”

McKinley offered a small, awkward wave in return. Emily smiled knowingly.

“How beautiful!” she exclaimed, eyeing the sweet treats. “The attention to detail is remarkable!”

McKinley smiled bashfully. “Thank you so mu- wait, how did you know who I am?”

Emily tore her eyes from the cake. “Well, Penny mentioned your video chat, and Luke jumped in and told us about your encounter with Spencer,” she winked, making a fondling motion with her hand. McKinley’s face flushed yet again.

“Penny spilled about your plan to surprise Spencer, and we got curious. I had her run a background check on you.”

McKinley inhaled sharply, feeling exposed.

“Em!” Penelope squeaked in disapproval. “It’s not like that, love, it’s just- ”

“Spence is like a younger brother to us,” interjected another blonde. “We’re very protective of him. He’s been through a lot, so whenever somebody new enters his life, we’re concerned about their intentions. Jennifer Jareau, by the way. Call me JJ,” she said, not forcing a handshake.

“I understand,” McKinley sighed. “Spencer has that effect on people, doesn’t he?”

She hugged the plates to her chest. “One conversation with him and you realize, ‘He’s a precious cinnamon roll and must be protected at all costs!’ I assure you, that’s my only intention, JJ: to be his friend.”

“Well, that’s certainly a good start,” an older gentleman joined the conversation, pointing at one of the containers. “Chocolate frosted doughnuts with sprinkles are his favorite. It’s a bit clichéd, but there’s truth in the adage ‘the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.’ It follows; you’ve already had him by the b-”

“Rossi, stop! We’ve made enough jokes at her expense,” scolded a woman who introduced herself as Dr. Tara Lewis. “This looks exquisite. Do I smell coffee in the cake? Reid loves coffee.”

“Yes, and there’s plenty to share as soon as he’s had some. Where is he, anyway?”

Luke pointed outside the Bullpen. “He’s down the hall printing handouts for his seminar next month,” he said, sipping his coffee.

“He doesn’t email them?”

“Reid’s a bit of a technophobe,” explained yet another agent, Matt Simmons.

“He still insists on hard copies of case files,” added Penelope. “It broke his heart when we went totally digital.” She glanced over McKinley’s shoulder and grinned. “Speak of the Luddite devil.”

Everyone watched as Spencer staggered towards them, clutching a thick stack of papers. He stopped short when he saw the crowd milling around his desk.

Spencer smiled, confused. “McKinley? What are you doing here?”

“She comes bearing gifts, Big Brain,” Penelope winked. “Apology gifts.” The others avoided his gaze but couldn’t hide their sniggers. Then Spencer caught Luke’s eye.

“You told!” he grumbled, flinging the papers onto his desk.

“If I give y’all food, will you shut your traps about us touching each other’s fun places?”

“No.”

“Probably not.”

“Nope. Sorry, not sorry.”

“Heh, you’re new here, bean. You’ll learn.”

While they lined up to choose their treats, McKinley leaned closer to Spencer. “When does the hazing end?”

“They’ll get bored soon, but that’s when the pranking starts.” He bent forward to focus on the cake properly. “Ray Bradbury?”

“Yeah, Garcia said Halloween’s your favorite holiday, and I know you’re a voracious reader. I put two and two together and ta-da.”

“Let’s see…the lions are from “The Veldt,” and the flowers are from Dandelion Wine, but what’s this one?” he asked, pointing to a swing set and a sandbox.

“The Playground,” she replied, and they smiled at each other self-consciously.

“McKinley, did you make all of this by hand?” asked JJ, marveling at the miniature sculptures.

“Most of it, except my friend Taylor painted the lions, and the chocolate TARDISes on the cupcakes came from a mold.” She popped open another container, revealing police boxes, each wrapped with a Fourth Doctor’s scarf and set in galaxy frosting. “Oh, and I bought the Jelly Babies online.”

“Would you consider making birthday cakes? My boys would love these.”

“Sure thing,” McKinley agreed, sitting in the chair Spencer brought her.

“Sooo, Reid, what are you gonna do for Kinley?” Garcia interjected.

“She’s right, Spence,” JJ concurred, sneaking an extra cupcake. “You’re not innocent in all this.”

Behind her, Luke held two doughnuts, squeezing them suggestively and mouthing ‘honka-honka.’

McKinley scowled at him. “What’re you, twelve?” Turning to Spencer, she continued. “I’d choose a book or record shop, but you don’t owe me a thing.”

“Oh-oh-oh,” Garcia enthused. “Then after, you could watch Who together at your place. He doesn’t have a TV,” she whisper-yelled.

Shaking her head, McKinley checked her phone. “Sorry, time for me to go.”

“Nooo,” Garcia pouted. “Hang with us!”

“Tempting, but I have to meet friends at some bar named…O’Keeffe’s?”

McKinley swore Garcia’s squeal of delight broke the sound barrier.

“That’s where we’re going! We’re all gonna get smashed on pumpkin-y, fall-themed grownup drinks together! Yes!”

…And Boogie-Woogie

The team kept an eye out for McKinley at O’Keeffe’s and were surprised to hear her shout out to them from the stage. She introduced the team to her bandmates following their final set, which consisted mostly of Tom Petty songs as a memorial of sorts, though McKinley couldn’t resist adding The Rolling Stones’ “Fingerprint File” at the end.

They talked late into the night getting to know each other. McKinley sat transfixed as the team regaled her with stories about their cases, one of which revolved around what they called a Vengeful Cinderella.

“Really? With her stilettos? Yikes!” she grimaced, sipping her drink.

“Yeah, but Spence was able to bring her in quietly by playing into her fantasy, acting as Prince Charming to her Cinderella. Got down on one knee, slipped her shoe back on and everything.”

McKinley threw Spencer an appraising look.

“I can see that working. He fits the bill.”

“He also gave me a new appreciation for the original, unsanitized versions of fairy tales. See, I felt that children ought to be protected from harsh realities, but Spence explained that the tales’ intended purpose was to allow kids to safely confront their fears.”

McKinley cocked her head in thought.

“Actually, the intent of those particular versions was to punish women - through some combination of marriage, rape, bodily mutilation and or death - simply for being women, because the Brothers Grimm were a pair of angry, bitter, he-man woman-hatin’, misogynist prick bastards.”

She took a drink and drew a breath before continuing, waving her hand for emphasis.

“Meanwhile, historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth traveled around Bavaria, transcribing the stories directly from the very people who’d kept them alive in the oral tradition: servants, peasants, laborers - many of them women - rather than reframing them within his own worldview.”

She breathed in again, oblivious to the team’s stares.

“These fairy tales had strong, independent female protagonists in leadership positions. They were the ones having adventures, slaying dragons and rescuing men! Yes, the stories’ purpose was to help children navigate life’s challenges and prepare them for the adult world,” McKinley clarified, “but not at the expense of women’s agency and autonomy.”

Her gaze shifted to Spencer, whose mouth had dropped slightly.

“Unfortunately, Grimms’ Fairy Tales garnered all the attention. Fast-forward and now we have watered down, artificially flavored, saccharine animated films teaching kids that girls are helpless and need saving, and that the boys who rescue the girls are entitled to them. It’s just one more way the film industry has contributed to toxic masculinity and rape culture. Thanks, Disney, I hate it,” she concluded.

McKinley returned to her drink for a few moments before realizing the booth had fallen silent.

“Oh boy, there are two of them now,” Emily snorted.

McKinley scrunched her face in confusion. “Two what?”

“Spence rambles too,” said JJ, in a tone that conveyed mild annoyance and embarrassment at the behavior, almost as though she were apologizing for him.

McKinley frowned at her. She had seemed nice enough in the Bullpen earlier.

“He’s gotten better about it over the years, though,” she added, patting his shoulder.

The misplaced pride grated on McKinley’s nerves.

“Asphinctersayswhat?” She deliberately slurred her words, downing the last of her drink.

“What?” asked JJ.

“Exactly,” McKinley murmured, eyes fixed on her glass.

Before JJ could ask again, Spencer spoke.

“How had I not heard of Schönwerth before?” he wondered aloud, sounding disappointed in himself.

McKinley perked up. “I can lend you my copy of The Turnip Princess if you’d like. It’s a collection of his work.”

“Yeah, definitely!” he said eagerly. “I’m always excited to learn something new.”

Luke leaned around Matt to join the exchange. “I’ll have to buy a copy myself. I read Grimm’s as a kid but I hate to think I only knew biased versions. Schönwerth’s sound much better.”

…

“I appreciate the ride home, Luke,” McKinley called from the backseat.

“Me too. Just don’t get used to hearing those words pass my gorgeous lips, Newbie.”

“No problem, happy to do it,” he answered, laughing at Garcia’s drunken antics.

Under the cranked-up radio, McKinley addressed Spencer.

“Thanks for your text that morning after the park. I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

“Thank you for insisting on the wellness check.” He paused, fiddling with his messenger bag and smiling thoughtfully. “You know what? I’m glad we met.”

“Hey, is this the right place?” asked Luke.

McKinley peered through the window.

“6565, yeah that’s the one,” she confirmed as Luke parked.

Penelope waddled across the driveway.

“I have to see your tiny house - the outside I mean, since I already got a video tour of the inside. Guys, it. is. Adorable,” Penelope gushed.

“I thought you lived with Taylor and Jaimie,” said Spencer, pointing to the porch.

“I’m parked out back,” McKinley explained, unlocking the gate.

Penelope gasped. “I almost forgot! Can we see your baby too?”

“Absolutely! He loves meeting new people.”

Luke closed the gate behind them, carrying McKinley’s guitar. “Wait, what? You have a son?”

“Weeell, sort of…” McKinley twirled around, landing on her knees, arms spread out.

“Boogie, baby! Come to Mamma!” she bellowed.

A multicolored mass of fur burst through the door and made a blurry beeline for her, knocking her fully onto the ground.

“I missed you too, buddy!” she cried as the dog assaulted her face with kisses. Sitting up, McKinley faced him towards the group.

“Look! I brought new friends. Boogie, this is Luke, Penny, and Spencer. Guys, this is Boogie.”

“Boogie?”

“Yes, Mocha Latte, Boogie. Short for Boogie-Woogie, which comes from the Bantu phrase ‘mbuki-mvuki.’ It means ‘to dance wildly, to the point of ecstasy.’ I didn’t have a name picked out when I brought him home, but when I put my music on shuffle, the first song was John Lee Hooker’s “Boogie Chillen’.” He started shaking his butt and tapping his feet. No other name would’ve sufficed.”

He approached Luke, slowly at first, then promptly shoved his snout into the man’s crotch.

“Boogie! Manners! I raised you better than that.”

“That’s okay, I know it’s the dog version of shaking hands.” Luke knelt to give him more attention. “You’re just introducing yourself, aren’t you? Yeah. You probably smell Roxie, huh buddy.”

“You have a furbaby too?”

“Yeah, a Belgian Malinois. What’s Boogie?”

“A Border Aussie. Mom was a working Border Collie and Dad was a show Australian Shepherd. He got Mommy’s smarts and Daddy’s derpiness.”

Penelope bent over to scratch Boogie’s ears, surrendering herself to sniffs and kisses. “If you two don’t have playdates at the park, I’ll dognap them and take them there myself.”

Boogie seemed to wag his assent, shuffling over to Spencer and nosing his hand.

“N-nice doggie,” he stammered, gingerly patting Boogie’s head.

McKinley stood, swaying slightly on her way to the door. “I better grab that book while I’m thinking about it. Keep our guests entertained, buddy.”

They heard her rummaging inside, talking to herself. “You were here just the other - aha!”

She reappeared, waving a tattered paperback. “It’s dog-eared and coffee-stained,” she sighed apologetically, “but it’ll read.”

“Well-worn is high praise for a book. It shows how much it’s been loved,” Spencer reasoned, climbing the stairs to the small porch.

“Take your time with it. Some things aren’t meant for speed-Reiding,” she joked, handing him the book.

A comfortable silence settled between them for a minute.

“The swing set on the cake is an inedible figurine, by the way. That night, sitting on the real swing…I dunno, it seemed to comfort you. Now you have one to keep on your desk.”

McKinley couldn’t decide if ‘impressed’ or ‘perturbed’ better described Spencer’s expression in that moment.

“It’s late, guys. We should head out,” Luke yawned, handing McKinley her guitar.

“Night-night, Lovely! We’re having that knitting bee at my place next weekend, just us.”

“Sounds great, Penny, but I’m nervous about knitting in the round. It’s intimidating.”

They waved their goodbyes as they returned to the gate. “Don’t worry, Auntie Penelope will teach you all she knows.”

McKinley retreated into the warmth of her home. She climbed into bed, beaming to herself.

“A whole new group of friends. Imagine that, Boogie! I’d only dared hope for one…”

—

“There are no faster or firmer friendships than those between people who love the same books.”Irving Stone

@illegalcerebral @dreatine @cynbx

Others let me know if you’d like to be tagged.

#Criminal Minds #criminal minds fanfic #Criminal Minds Fanfiction #spencer reid #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid x oc #oc fics deserve love too

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adrenaline-roulette · 5 years

Text

He’ll save every one of us Chapter 3

Brian May x Reader with side notes of Roger Taylor x Original female character

Preview: “There was a contract type thing. Is it binding if it was written on greasy, fish and chip paper?” “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s still binding.” “You’re killing me Brian! Aren’t boyfriends supposed to be supportive?”

Chapter three: Kick him out!

“I just don’t understand how he can miss so many practises, and yet Bree won’t agree with me, and kick him out of the band?” You mutter, sitting behind Roger’s vacant drum set. Brian had invited you to Queen’s band rehearsal, with the promise of dinner afterwards. He had been raving about a small fish and chip shop, which he had been going to since he was a child. Once you had mentioned you had never been there, he had done everything in his power to ensure you would go, this had meant cancelling Friday night scrabble with the band, much to Freddie’s anger. Freddie was convinced the only reason why Brian had, conveniently, double booked his Friday night was because Brian knew he would never be able to beat his tripple word score for ‘Innuendo’ which had won him the game only last week. You kick the bass drum pedal twice, in an attempt to release your frustrations, though it does little to help. “I hate to be the barer of bad news Y/N, but didn’t Jake create the Midnight Librarians? Maybe Bree is worried about trying to kick him out of his own band?” Brian suggests, strumming a few chords on his guitar, making sure she was perfectly tuned, as always.

“Well, I mean yeah, he did, but, but… Why should that matter?”

“Because technically, if you were to kick him out of the band that he created, any money you get from the gigs you guys do, would go straight to him. If you signed any sort of contract or anything, saying you agree to be in the band with him.”

“Fuck, there was a contract type thing. Is it binding if it was written on greasy, fish and chip paper?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s still binding.”

“You’re killing me Brian! Aren’t boyfriends supposed to be supportive? Not to find flaws in my wonderfully thought out plans!”

Brian rolls his eyes, resting the Red Special down on his guitar stand. “Your wonderful plan was to stop playing in the middle of your next gig, walk up to him with a beer in hand, shout into the microphone, ‘Get the fuck off stage Jake, you’re fired.’, then pour the beer on his head.”

“And I would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn’t been for you meddling kids!” You smirk, as you swivel around in circles on the drum stool. Brian was right, you ran the risk of losing all the extra cash you were making with your gigs this summer. Granted it wasn’t your only income, but the café you worked at had been giving you less and less shifts this past month, and with college about to go back, you had to save as much as you could!

“Plus, if he came up with the name, then he could make it so you were no longer able to use it…”

“Aha! Saved! I came up with the Midnight Librarians!”

Brian makes his way over to you, his tall frame looming over you as you grin up at him, head tilted all the way back just to see him, bloody hell Roger had this stool set low! “Has he really missed that many rehearsals?

You frown, trying to figure out when the last time Jake had shown up for practise had actually been. Granted, he had shown up for the all your other gigs so far, ever since that first night where you had met Brian. So that was better than nothing… “I don’t think we’ve rehearsed with him in close to two months. I mean, he came to rehearsal once, drunk as a skunk. Spent half an hour wondering around my apartment, searching for paracetamol, threw my pack of smokes out of the window, then collapsed in the bath and slept. That was a, productive, afternoon.”

Brian chuckles, resting a hand on your shoulder gently, rubbing soothing circles over your shirt. “Well, it sounds to me like you don’t really have grounds to kick him out, especially not without Bree’s agreement. He’s been coming to the gigs at least, I won’t comment on how well he sounds, but at least he’s been there. That makes it a little bit tricky to kick him out on the grounds of him not showing up…”

The door to the practise room swings open, just as you pout up at Brian, a warm breeze filling the small space. “Afternoon...” Roger smirks, strutting in, glancing over at Brian and your close proximity. “I see you’ve been warming the seat for me, why thank you Y/N.” Brian rolls his eyes at the leering tone in the drummers voice, and you simply shake your head, pressing your lips against Brian’s when he leans down to meet yours.

Freddie bursts through the door next, the door nearly hitting poor Deaky in the face, as he lets it swing shut behind him. “Shit! Deaky I’m sorry, I thought you were further behind me than that!” Freddie yelps, as Deaky opens the door slowly, a dazed look across his face

“My life just flashed before my eyes…” He mumbles, blinking slowly. Roger howls in laughter at Deaky’s melodramatic response, Brian and you grinning from ear to ear.

Once Frddie has checked over John, making sure he hadn’t actually hurt his favourite bassist, you leap up from the stool, gently pushing Brian away from you in your haste. “Thank god, she moved!” Roger smirks, skipping over to the vacated seat, twirling his drumstick in his right hand once seated.

“Deaky help me! Brian is trying to use logic on me again!” You giggle, racing up to the young man, wrapping your arms around him in a tight hug. Over the past month and a bit, not only had you grown exceptionally close with Brian, you had come to know the other band members quite well also, with Deaky well on his way to being one of your closest friends.

“Better be careful there Bri, looks like Deaky is about to run off with your woman.” Freddie grins, brushing his long, dark hair back behind his shoulder, and gliding past the two of you, as you hug.

Deaky chuckles, as you releases his arms from around you, while you do the same, still standing close to each other. “You’re right Fred, Deaky and I are going to run off and elope. Sorry Brian, Deaky has won my heart!”

“Typically people don’t warn others about when they are going to run off and elope, they just sort of, do it…” Brian shrugs, a smile paying across his lips, as he fishes his sixpence coin from his back pocket, holding it carefully between his ling fingers.

“See what I mean! He keeps using logic! I can’t take it any longer!” You cry dramatically, fanning your hand in front of your eyes as if pretending to fight off tears.

“You know, he is right…” Deaky half smirks, and your eyes grow wide in their sockets.

“Are you on his side now? I can’t have both of you using logic against me, that’s just not fair!” You cry, stepping away from Deaky, pressing your back up against the door, in an excellent imitation of a frightened cat.

“If you want someone illogical, Roger may be your best bet.” Brian grins, ducking out of the way of Roger’s expertly aimed drumstick. The wooden stick barely missing Brian’s wild mane of curls as it flies through the air, before landing neatly by your feet.

“I am not illogical! And I don’t want to date Y/N!” Roger grumbles, scowling at the tall guitarist to his left, bitter at his missed shot at his head.

You glare at Roger, before crouching down and picking up the lonely drumstick. “This is mine now.” You declare triumphantly, as you slip it into your front pocket. If Roger didn’t want to date you, then there was no chance in hell he would grab for the drumstick with where it was now. “What do you mean you won’t date me Rog? I’m a catch!” You laugh, sticking your tongue out at the grumbling blonde.

“Wouldn’t Bree complain if you and I started dating? Wouldn’t Brian?” He countered, looking down sadly at his lonely drumstick.

“I doubt Bree would care, and Brian is the one who suggested it!”

“Alright fine, how about I date you, and Brian can date Bree?”

“But that leaves Freddie and Deaky left out! Let’s just swap entirely! Roger, you and I are together. Brian you get Bree, Deaky you and Mary are a couple now, and Freddie you get Veronica!” You can’t help but laugh at the shocked expression on everyone bar Roger’s face. None of the men seem to know how to respond to what you had just decided upon. “Come on lads, it won’t be that bad! Think of all the cute quadruple dates we could go on!”

“I’m suddenly really regretting starting this who conversation.” Brian shudders, lifting an eyebrow at where you had stored Roger’s drumstick.

“Besides, Mary has already told me that if she and I weren’t dating, then she would be all over Brian again. She once said something about missing his freakish tallishness. Though at the time she was attempting to reach something in the top shelf of the pantry.” Freddie chimes in.

“To be fair, I too miss Brian’s freakish tallishness when he isn’t around, and I don’t feel like climbing on a stool to reach what I want.” Deaky smirks, as he makes his way over to where he had left his bass, clicking open the latches on the case.

“Hey, Brian..” Roger half whispers, half shouts, causing the taller man to turn on his heel, heading towards his friend. Roger beckons him closer with a few frantic hand gestures, and Brian leans down, so Roger can whisper in his ear. You watch the two exchange their whispered conversation, eye narrowing into slits as the two occasionally peer over their shoulders to look at you. You’re not sure whether to be nervous or annoyed at the secrecy.

“Thanks Rog, I’ll keep that in mind.” Brian smiles, as he steps away from him, before heading over to you, both hands nestled in front pockets, causing his shoulders to hunch as he walks.

Roger busies himself with ensuring his drum kit is still perfectly set up, while Freddie and Deaky discuss what their new set list should be for their first gig as a new band. “May I help you, May?” You smirk, looking up at Brian as he leans his shoulder against the wall beside you, entwining his fingers between yours.

“Just wanted to finish what we started, before we were so rudely interrupted.” He breaths out, before leaning down and capturing your lips with his. You smile against the kiss, pressing your body closer to his, as he wraps his arms around you waist, yours falling over his shoulders. You allow your eyes to flutter shut, the warm, safe feeling that came from being in Brian’s embrace, wrapping around you like a woollen blanket. That feeling however, came crashing down around you, when you felt Brian’s hand move from where it had been resting on your left hip. Before you have time to process what he’s doing, his fingers have slipped into your left pocket, wrapped around the stolen drumstick, and pulled it free.

You pull away from his lips, playfully glaring up at him, Brian had just accomplished the ultimate betrayal. “Sorry luv, we can’t have a drummer with only one drumstick.” He teases, brushing his lips across yours one last time.

“How about we get him a set of bongos’ instead? That way he won’t need drumsticks at all!” You suggest, grinning wickedly at the idea. You wonder what would happen if Roger were to walk into the rehearsal room one day, and find his drums gone, and bongos’ in their place. You would have to talk to Freddie about orchestrating that little idea.

Brian throws the drumstick towards Roger, the wooden piece being aimed with far less precision than Roger had initially thrown it with/ “Thanks mate, you’re the best!” Brian waves him off, before giving your hand one final squeeze, as Freddie clears his throat.

“Deaky and I have come up with a basic outline for our new set list, let’s see how far we can get through it this afternoon…” Freddie begins, before Brian raises his hand, something all the band had begun doing when they wanted to speak. It caused less arguments, and made it so everyone could actually hear what was going on. Freddie doesn’t allow for Brian to speak this time however. “Yes, Brian dear, I know that you and Y/N will be leaving at five o’clock. Don’t worry, we haven’t created a four hour set list.” Brian lowers his hand, a sheepish grin on his face.

You laugh softly, before heading towards the old sofa pushed against the far wall, there was a knitted blanket draped over the back, which you had discovered was mostly there to conceal the rather large tear that had formed in the fabric. Beside the sofa was a bar fridge, which played host to what beer had been on sale recently, and a couple of bottles of water. From what Brian had told you, he couldn’t quite recall how long the water had been I there. Knowing you would be here for a while, you make yourself comfortable on the sofa, laying on your side with your head propped up on your hand, watching the four men take their positions. “We’re starting with Keep yourself alive. Y/N, tell us what you think won’t you dear?” Freddie grins, as Roger counts the band in, music filling the small practise room in a crescendo.

The music seeps into your very being, and you can’t keep the smile off your face, this must have been the song Brian had been raving about these last few weeks. He refused to give you any details, other than it was a brand-new song, and he thought it sounded incredible! He was right! “Keep you satisfied…” Freddie sings quietly, as Brian and Deaky play the last few chords to the song, Roger twirling his drumstick once, just for show.

“Holy shit…” You whisper, staring wide eyed at the band before you. Four sets of eyes stare back at you, all unblinking, as if daring you to speak first. “You guys, that was incredible! Do you have any idea how far you guys are going to go? You will make it big with this type of music, everyone will know the name Queen!”

Freddie laughs gleefully giving Deaky a sturdy hi-five, as Roger throws one stick in the air, his bright blue eyes sparkling a the knowledge of people loving their song. Brian steps over to you, reaching his hand out to you, your own hand moving to clasp his, allowing him to help you to stand. “You really liked the song?”

“Of course I did, it was amazing. I never knew you could compose like that, you’ve been keeping secrets from me.” You tease, swinging your hands gently back and forth, between the two of you, your fingers locked tightly together. “Queen will be big, no, bigger than big! You guys are going to be stars! And you, Brian May, will shine the brightest.”

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thezodiaczone · 6 years

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July Forecast for Aquarius

Mind: blown? July is one of those turning-point months for you, Aquarius: a time when things come together with a huge flourish—or go in a radically new direction. An energy that’s been percolating since February 2017 reaches its apex at the end of the month as a total lunar eclipse blasts into YOUR sign on July 27. Eclipses arrive four to six times a year, pushing us out of limbo and instigating bold changes. With two of summer’s three eclipses arriving this July, you’ll want to sit up straight, stay woke and be ready to greet whatever comes your way.

We almost want to write your horoscope backward this month, but in truth, there’s plenty of cosmic action all the way through July. And with fiery Mars, the planet of energy and drive, retrograde in Aquarius until August 12, you could be a bit of a dormant volcano until the lunar eclipse. Check yourself: Are you being overly intense and stressing out everyone around you? Mars has been in Aquarius since May 16, which gave you confidence and charisma by the boatload. But when the red planet reversed gears on June 26, all that fierce life-force energy got bottled up. Perhaps you’ve had to curb your enthusiasm or suppress other feelings, and the frustration of stuffing them down is palpable. Find an outlet (we recommend moving your body!) so that intensity has somewhere to go. Otherwise, you’re liable to just pick fights or rage internally—neither of which is a healthy option!

Four other planets will be retrograde throughout the month: Expansive Jupiter is backward in Scorpio and your career house until July 10; communicator Mercury goes retrograde July 26 in Leo and your partnership zone; and all month long there are slowdowns from structured Saturn and transformational Pluto in your healing twelfth house and foggy Neptune in your money and work sector. Translation: There’s some unfinished business related to your career or relationships, which is all the more reason to tie up loose ends in time for the July 27 lunar eclipse—your cosmic-coming out party!

A proposed solution, should the retrogrades keep you in a holding pattern: Clean up the clutter in your life. The Sun is in Cancer and your sixth house of health, fitness and organization until July 22. Ramp up the self-care by loading up on the bounty of summer produce and getting regular exercise. Go full-frontal Marie Kondo on your home and office, getting rid of stuff that “doesn’t spark joy.” Call in some helping hands to finish up those tasks and projects that have been hanging over your head, like building bookshelves, steam-cleaning the couches, painting. Don’t wait—delegate!

By mid-month, you’ll be one busy Water Bearer, because on July 10, abundant Jupiter ends a four-month retrograde in Scorpio and your tenth house of career and ambition. Take your summer vacation days before this if you can! Lucky Jupiter only visits Scorpio every 12 years, bringing massive growth to your professional life and loftiest goals. Jupiter is here from October 10, 2017, until November 8, 2018. Many Aquarians have already experienced a surge of ambition or new career opportunities. Jupiter’s evolution isn’t always comfortable—this planet pushes you OUT of your comfort zone, in fact—and since March, you may have scrambled to adapt to changes. Perhaps you left (or pondered leaving) a long-running role or parted ways with a steady client. With Jupiter powering forward now, it’s all systems go until November 8. Make those bold moves, leaps of faith, and big asks! A leadership role or a position with prestige and great responsibility awaits. While it might come with longer or more structured hours, travel or other demands, this cycle won’t occur again for more than a decade, so grab that brass ring while it’s there. The tenth house rules men and fathers—and an important guy in your life could play a pivotal role in the coming weeks.

Two days after Jupiter goes direct, the heavens serve up a partial solar (new moon) eclipse in Cancer and your orderly, wellness-minded sixth house. Solar eclipses mark bold beginnings and can set us on a whole new (and unexpected) path. This one is the inaugural eclipse in a series that will fall on the Cancer/Capricorn axis between now and July 2020, initiating a wave of changes around health and healing, spirituality and creativity, and work and service. Over the next two years, you’ll play with the balance between control and surrender, left and right brain, logic and magic. You could dramatically shift your lifestyle to adopt sustainable health-conscious habits.

This is the only eclipse from this group in 2018, and it’s just a preview of changes that will really take flight in 2019. Still, it will be an intense start! On July 12, the Sun and new moon are exactly opposite power-tripping Pluto in Capricorn and your twelfth house of illusions, closure and forgiveness. Pluto rules the unconscious, and in this hazy zone, an intense personality could show up, perhaps acting as a mirror or a messenger. Rather than rage at them, look at how they might be revealing some part of YOU that needs to shift. It’s also possible that you’ll have to stand up to a bully for once and for all. Stay alert for people who gaslight you or make you second-guess yourself. This eclipse could be the first indication of who no longer deserves a place on Team Aquarius.

Save your energy for folks who truly know what mutual give-and-take is all about. On July 22, the Sun starts a four-week visit to Leo and your partnership zone, putting the spotlight on your closest relationships. You might decide to make things official in a romantic or business relationship.

But take your time before locking in any binding commitments. From July 26 until August 19, communication planet Mercury will be retrograde in Leo and this dynamic-duo zone, scrambling signals with your closest crew. You could have second thoughts about moving ahead, so if you catch a case of cold feet, step back and see if it’s your own fear or a legit red flag. Because couples could misunderstand each other and have heated arguments during Mercury retrograde, make a conscious effort to practice patience. Instead of jumping down someone’s throat, make sure you’ve heard them correctly!

July’s crown jewel—or big shakeup—arrives the next day, when the July 27 Aquarius total lunar eclipse sweeps through your first house of self and solo endeavors. This is the final Aquarius eclipse in a series that’s been touching down on the Leo/Aquarius axis since February 2017, bringing radical transformation to your personal identity and your closest relationships. Look back to the prior two Aquarius eclipses on August 7, 2017, and February 15, 2018, for clues of what might fully come together now.

There will be one last Leo eclipse on January 21, 2019, and then this cycle will be complete. Over the next six months, start speaking up more instead of stuffing things down. You can’t expect people to read your mind, which is why you need to express and assert yourself. And with fiery Mars traveling close to the full moon eclipse, there might be a lot more brewing than you imagined. Let it out, Aquarius—then let it go. You’re ready for a major new chapter, and you don’t need any old baggage weighing you down. Keep your sights set on what’s ahead, and leave the past behind.

Love & Romance

Feeling hot, hot, hot…or not, not, not? With passionate Mars powered down in retrograde in your sign all month, your mojo could be muted. Like summer fireworks that don’t fully go off, there could be a few duds in the lineup, so don’t get impatient or angsty about it. This month, put the focus back on yourself instead of getting all worked up about someone else’s nonsense.

When Mars is powering forward in direct motion, the red planet blesses you with an extra blast of confidence and charisma, but when it’s in low-power mode, you might be feeling tired, off your game, or just “blah.” Luckily, you’ll get a do-over from September 10 to November 15, when Mars will return to Aquarius for a second retrograde-free trip—and your sex appeal will be off the charts once more. Not that your sexy lights are completely shut off, Aquarius; just on dimmers. Retrogrades can bring back the past, so don’t be surprised if exes reappear, especially those “bad boy/girl” types that are oh-so tempting for you—if not necessarily your smartest menu selection. You might be more argumentative, or, if you’ve been biting your tongue, unable to suppress that anger, which could lead you to lash out…and then wind up regretting your rashness.

Lean in to the action on the other side of your chart to keep the peace and work through any fights. Diplomatic Venus is traipsing through Leo and your partnership zone until July 9. This can help you resolve sticky issues and find a way to get BOTH of your needs met. (It can also shine a light on a worthy prospect if you’re single.) It’s worth the effort now, before communicator Mercury goes retrograde in Leo and your partnership house from July 26 to August 19 and heaps on more confusion and tension. Things could really come to a head on July 27 at the Aquarius total lunar eclipse, when you’re not likely to hold ANYTHING back!

When Venus enters Virgo and your super-intense eighth house on July 9, you could radar in on one special person or deepen your bonds all around. In spite of Mars acting up, this is a wonderful time for intimacy and sensuality—even to share some top-secret fantasies!

Throughout the month, Venus will form flowing trines to innovative Uranus (July 11), structured Saturn (July 14) and transformational Pluto (July 27), all in the most sensitive and emotional houses of your chart. These three golden angles strengthen your mind-body-soul connection with a partner and support being vulnerable enough to talk about your needs. The takeaways: You don’t always have to be tough and together, Water Bearer. All that’s required is being human.

Key Dates

July 14: Venus-Saturn Trine Has a relationship been running on autopilot so long that you haven’t checked in with yourself lately to make sure you feel emotionally safe? Today’s supportive alignment of loving Venus and structured Saturn can give you clarity about your needs and desires. Broaching this subject may feel awkward, but it can help you reach a new level of commitment, like moving in together, getting engaged or talking babies.

Money & Career

This is a giant month for your career, Aquarius! The Sun is making its fastidious trek through Cancer and your orderly sixth house until July 22, backed by a game-changing solar eclipse on July 12. This is a perfect time to hire helpful underlings, delegate and outsource, and get all your systems in smooth working order.

But the second week of the month really delivers! When expansive Jupiter powers forward (direct) in Scorpio and your career sector on July 10, big changes could be afoot on your professional path. Between now and November 8, you might leave one role, take on a whole new set of responsibilities or part ways with a client. Don’t cling to the familiar, Aquarius. Adventurous Jupiter can bring in people and projects that totally exceed your expectations. A long-distance job offer could arrive, or you might surprise yourself by considering a relocation. Work that involves management, an executive role or public appearances could take off. In transition? Consider working with a mentor or tapping a seasoned colleague to take you under their wing.

Although Jupiter pushes you to leap without looking, other cosmic forces might step on the brakes. While go-getter Mars is powered down in retrograde from June 26 until August 27, rushing can yield second-rate results. On top of that, Mars is retrograde in Aquarius until August 12, which could throw off your timing or ramp up the tension on a passion project. You might come across as overly pushy if you’re not careful—or you could second-guess your ideas and lose confidence (and steam). Making matters worse, communication planet Mercury is retrograde in Leo from July 26 to August 19 in your partnership and contracts house, which could muddle deals and negotiations. Argh!

If a successful resolution doesn’t feel imminent, use July and August to revise and tweak before presenting your plans or making a life-changing decision. A good target time frame is between September 10 and November 15, when Mars will make a second (retrograde-free) trip to Aquarius, blessing you with a bonus round of magnetism and appeal. Who knows? With some extra prep time, you can unleash something bigger and better. And you’ll feel confident enough to go forward with a big change without having a complete freak-out after committing.

The one exception to this might come at the July 27 Aquarius total lunar eclipse, a day that could put your name in lights. If you do have something to pitch, promote or perform this month, you’ll have some extra oomph, as this “momager” of an eclipse pushes you onto center stage, ready or not! You’ve been building up to this moment for almost two years, Aquarius. If you’ve dreamed of flying solo or putting your unique stamp on something, now’s your chance. Don’t hold back!

Key Dates

July 9: Mercury-Jupiter Square You can’t always be in sync with everyone. Under today’s starry face-off, you might butt heads with a colleague, or a client may have a totally different idea about the specifics of a project. If you can’t come to a meeting of the minds, take a step back and rethink your position.

Love Days: 10, 14 Money Days: 19, 30 Luck Days: 18, 27 Off Days: 12, 16, 25

#aquarius #monthly forecast #horoscope #horoscopes #astrology #aquarius monthly

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lilacflamesss · 7 years

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Shattered (Chapter 4)

Smutty Ayahina College AU

Summary: Hinami tries to deal with her sorrows through seeking Ayato out. Ayato can never turn away the girl he loves far more than he should. Two people with unrequited feelings, dealing with them in very different ways. Human AU. (7.6k words)

Warning: This fic contains unhealthy copic mechanisms, heavy sexual content, and plenty of problematic/ dubious things which I absolutely do not condone at all. This is a work of fiction that takes on a more mature, physical take on Ayahina’s relationship as opposed to the typical conventional one. Please feel free not to read this fic if it’s not your cup of tea! In addition, this chapter contains a character (baby) death so, trigger warning for stillbirth.

A/N: There’s no smut this chapter so I’m sorry for that! There’s also no Ayato in it lmao. But it’s a pretty heavy Touken chapter! There’s also a slight time skip between the Ken and Hinami bit in this chapter. About a couple of weeks, enough to at least let Touka recover from giving birth.

I’m really insecure about this fic right now. I lowkey had a breakdown before I posted this. I kept re-reading it over and over again but I still have so many worries about this... I’ve honestly never felt this way about a fic before. I’m sorry this took so long and even then I don’t know if it’s as good as it can be. I did try my best though, so I hope you guys continue to read and support this! Please do reblog this and feel free to leave some comments!

Preview:

Touka and Kaneki come out of the kitchen with a couple of plates. They place them on the table and Kaneki takes a seat, while Touka walks away to the corridor. Hinami panics for a moment, wondering if Touka might have gotten annoyed, but she calms down the moment she notices an extra plate, a kiddish and smaller one.

“Is she going to get your daughter?” Hinami asks.

“Yeah. Ichika gets too distracted when she’s playing. She forgets she’s hungry and her stomach starts acting up,” Kaneki explains with a slight chuckle. “I hope you like omurice. Touka forced me to cook it today. It’s her father’s own recipe.”

“I don’t mind it,” she replies. Kaneki cooked. She’s going to eat Kaneki’s cooking. Her heart races at this thought. She’s watched dramas where girls ate the food guys they liked specially cooked for them. In the end, no matter how bad the food is, they always taste good because of love, right? She wants to squeal-- to think she gets to live through such a corny experience. Ayato will never cook for her. That guy would probably burn the apartment down in the process. But Kaneki can cook and he did. Really, he’s the perfect guy.

A silent voice in her head coughs at her. She’s supposed to be getting over Kaneki. He’s married. He didn’t cook this because he loves her; he cooked this because the woman he loves asked him to. But even as logic is being flung at her, Hinami turns away. She fixes her eyes on the plate of omurice. It looks like a normal plate but even then, she’s never been this excited to dig in.

“Touka thought Ayato might suddenly show up as well so she insisted on this,” Kaneki continues. “Apparently, it’s his favorite back when he was a kid. Their father always cooked it for him whenever he was down… We made some extra for him as well.”

“For Ayato? But he isn’t here…”

“Touka insisted that we packed it and get you to deliver it to him if you happen to be dropping by his place or something.”

“I could do that.” If she has some time to kill, she’d probably go back to her dorm to study a little more, but dropping by Ayato’s place isn’t a detour. It’s still on the way to school.

“I’m not too fond of it though…” Kaneki admits with a sigh.

“It’s really no problem, Big Brother! His apartment is on the way to school. Besides, I think it’ll be better if he has some proper lunch… Otherwise he’d just eat convenience store food again. I don’t have time to go over and cook some lunch for him.”

Kaneki remains silent for a while, before he glances at where Touka had disappeared to. He inches closer to Hinami and lowers his voice. “It’s not that Hinami… Personally, I’m just not a big fan of you hanging out too much with Ayato.”

He’s jealous… Hinami slams the thought down the moment it surfaces in her mind. God, it sounded so stupid.

“Ayato is a good friend,” she says. “He’s always there for me.”

“Are you sure he’s just a friend? It didn’t seem that way to me that day,” Kaneki grumbles.

“We’re not together.”

“Touka was very confident about Ayato’s feelings towards you,” Kaneki says. “And even I… I saw the way you were looking at him when you waited for him.”

Kaneki thinks she’s in love with Ayato. Hinami feels her throat go dry.

“Even if… that’s the case, Big Brother… why does this bother you?” she murmurs. He shouldn’t care, right? He’s in love with Touka. It’s not like Kaneki has feelings for her. He shouldn’t care about who she’s dating or seeing.

“Hinami…” Kaneki sighs. “Look… I care about you and I love you--”

Ken finds himself pacing to and fro. He wishes he can calm down and relax, but he knows he can’t. It’s not happening-- it can’t be-- especially not when his wife went into labour a whole month before the expected due date. He already knows that this isn’t going to be the easiest pregnancy for Touka. On the contrary, the doctors had warned them to prepare themselves for the worst. They had gone to multiple clinics for different opinions and every one of them had said the same thing. There’s too many complications. The baby might not survive. The had predicted that the mother’s life would be in danger as well and they had recommended an abortion. But Touka had been adamant to see the pregnancy to its end. Even if it’s hard, she wants to try her best to bring their child into the world, even if she had to risk her own life. Ken had wanted to argue, but he simply couldn’t when she was looking at him with that determined expression-- the very expression he fell in love with. At least, he’s glad she saved him the dilemma of having to choose between his unborn child and his wife. He wonders some time who’d he’d choose. Touka, perhaps… They could always try again, right?

Right?

Sometimes, it’s easier thinking about things like that. He’s sure he wouldn’t have been able to choose if he had been in that position. In times like this, he’s glad he has Touka by his side.

Ken continues to pace until he hears a throat being cleared. He looks at the other man who’s standing by along with him. Yomo is leaning against a wall, his expression as solemn as ever, while he holds Ichika’s hand. The small girl’s head continues to nod as she yawns and rub her eyes with her other hand. She looks at Ken, sulking visibly.

Sometimes, when Ichika looks at him like this, Ken recalls Touka’s brother-- the asshole who isn’t answering or even bothering about his calls and messages despite the fact that his sister is in labour right now.

“Papa…” Ichika whines. “I wanna go home.”

Yomo picks the child up and carries her in his arm, fixing Ken with a hard glare. Calm down, it seems to say and Ken nods. Yomo cradles Ichika, rocking her lightly as the kid nestles her head into his granduncle’s neck. He walks a distance away from Ken, probably to keep Ichika from whining even more in the middle of a hospital. Ken’s glad that Yomo’s around. He’s probably just as worried about Touka. She’s his niece and he’d been by her side and watched her for so much longer than Ken had. But Yomo’s staying strong and Ken knows he has to as well.

If the worst happens, he has to be there for her as well. She might be as strong as-- or even stronger than-- him. But he wasn’t the one who carried the child in his womb for eight months. He wasn’t the one who had to struggle with all the challenges of pregnancy just to bring a child into the world. No matter how strong his wife is, no matter how much she tries to prepare herself, if things don’t go well, he will have to be there for her.

It feels like an eternity before the light goes off, indicating that things within the room had ended. By then, Ken already knows what awaits him.

There wasn’t a cry after all…

He’s only allowed to see her much later, despite his chagrined protests, but that also gave him some time to get ahold of himself. A look of complete despair had passed through Yomo’s eyes as the doctor relayed the news to the both of them. He didn’t comment on the situation at all. All he said was that he was going home to tuck Ichika into bed. Maybe he wanted some time alone, or maybe he wanted to give Ken some time alone. Either way, Ken realises he feels relieved.

He takes some time to walk around the hospital, mind completely blank, heart completely empty. He doesn’t know what to feel about the whole situation. They had asked him if he wanted to see the kid. He had said no, because he can’t bring himself to see her, especially not without Touka by his side.

They already knew that it isn’t going to work out. They were already told that this is what awaited them. Even then, why does he feel so empty?

He wants to get a drink, but he decides not to. His stomach can’t hold anything in right now. If he eats or drinks, he might just throw up. Instead, he finds a spot with a vacant seat and sits down. People walk past him, but everything’s a flash and a blur. The only thing that really stood out was a little boy, running past him screaming and giggling. He held the hand of a little girl-- probably his younger sister-- pulling her along excitedly.

Ichika will never get to pull her younger sister along. She probably won’t even know about her until much later, and by then, it’ll be too distant a memory for her to really feel anything about it. Ken wonder what he’ll give up to be able to see both his children happy and together. Siblings are a precious kind of relationship-- the best in its own way. Ken himself doesn’t know what it feels like to have a sister or a brother. Perhaps the closest he has to a sister is the little orphan girl he’d bonded with a long time ago, right after her parents had died in a brutal car crash. But she grew older and they’ve gotten distant. He still can contact her if he wants to, but he doesn’t really keep in touch. He saw her some time back and it feels like she had grown and changed a lot as well. Yet there had been warmth that filled him when he laid his eyes on her back then, a certain indescribably pride at seeing how far she’s come. Maybe he should put more effort into trying to keep in contact with her. He did feel a little guilty about keeping his marriage from her.

It’s Touka who told him the joys of being a sister. It was her who said that she wanted a second child so Ichika won’t be lonely, just like how she believes she would have been lonelier if she hadn’t had her brother around. Ken wonders how she can continue feeling this way, especially since it had been ages since she had last talked to her brother.

He checks his phone again. He’d texted Ayato and called him a couple of times, but he’d gotten nothing from him. Ken had thought that Ayato would at least answer one of his calls. The other time he did, he had sounded apologetic and regretful. Ken had thought that it’ll have changed things within him, but he hadn’t visited even though he promised to so Ken really shouldn’t be too surprised about his absence now.

It would be nice if he did show up though, especially after all that happened. Perhaps Ken might have gotten a better outcome if he had mentioned the whole complication with the baby. He was in the midst of doing so, but he ended up deleting the text. He probably should leave it to Touka to decide if she wanted her brother to know.

Personally, Ken is still not too fond of that guy. If anything, he questions every single thing Ayato has done. He’s sure he hasn’t been given the full story yet. Touka doesn’t really like to talk about her brother, unless she’s talking about happier times when her entire family was still around. There’s nothing that Ayato had done subsequently that gets him on Ken’s good side at all. All he’s ever done is hurt Touka more and more. Perhaps, if they hadn’t already known about the problems with the baby, Ken might end up blaming the whole thing on Ayato. He did push his pregnant sister after all and he’d never bothered to check up on her. It was Ken who called to inform him, that too after Touka had mentioned how he probably was upset.

That jerk doesn’t deserve a sister like her, honestly.

His phone vibrates in his pocket and he sees that he has a call from the reception desk of the hospital. He knows what that means-- he can go and see Touka now. He doesn’t feel like talking to anyone, but he knows that he has to take this. The conversation is quick and he doesn’t talk much, just thanking the receptionist after she gives him Touka’s room number. He’s up on his feet seconds after the call, heading towards her in long strides.

It seemed like some time had passed since he sat down. Apparently wallowing in his hatred for his brother-in-law had distracted him a little and helped to kill time. Perhaps Ayato isn’t as useless as he used to think he is after all.

Touka’s a shell of her former self. Maybe that expression might be a little bit of an exaggeration. She doesn’t look that lost. She looked much more lost when they first met all those years ago, crumbling under the weight of their family’s financial burdens and her father and brother’s never-ending arguments. But she’s surely not herself right now either. Just twenty four hours ago, she was smiling at him with the usual twinkle in her eyes as she pulled out a new watch she had bought for him. It had caught her eye randomly and she had gotten it for him as an early anniversary gift. He had left it at home in the rush to get Touka into the hospital when she went into labor, but now he wishes he has something to hold onto to keep himself together.

When he enters the room, she doesn’t respond. She continues to stare out of the window, eyes clouded and downcast.

“Touka.”

She jolts a little at the sound of her name and she turns to look at him, offering him a wide, but weak, smile. “Ken…”

“You did well.” He crosses over to her and sits at the edge of her bed. Touka bites her lip and she shakes her head.

“I couldn’t… I didn’t manage to…” She chokes, stopping herself with a deep breath. He sees the water in her eyes and he sees her trying to hold them back. There’s absolutely no reason for her to hold back her tears, not now, not then, but she continues to do so as she has always done. Ken reaches for her hand, taking one in both of his, clasping it tightly.

“You did your best. I’m sure she knows and I’m sure she appreciates whatever you’ve done. In another life, I’m sure she’ll want you to be her mother as well.”

That isn’t lip service. They’re not empty words. He’s sure of it. Touka is a great mother to Ichika and he’s sure she’d have been one to their daughter as well-- their little girl who left them even before she could come to them. He wishes they at least named her, but they hadn’t chosen a name yet. They were supposed to have another month.

“I’m sure she’ll want you to be her father as well,” Touka says. Her voice is weak, but he sees in her eyes her belief in him, clearly mirroring his in her. “Where’s Ichika?”

“She’s at home. Yomo took her back so she could sleep. I think Yomo wants to give us space as well,” Ken admits. He rubs the back of Touka’s hand and Touka responds by tightly lacing her fingers with his, locking their hands into a secured grip.

“Did you… say anything to Ayato?”

“No… He didn’t answer my calls and messages.”

Her eyes widen at his words and he senses panic in them, though Ken doesn’t seem to understand why. “So you tried to contact him! What did you say?”

“You went into labour…”

“That’s all?”

“That’s all.”

The panic vanishes and she sighs a little. She’s smiling now, but again, it’s weak and melancholic. “That’s good… I don’t want him to know about what happened.”

“Why not?”

“He’ll blame himself…”

That really shouldn’t be Touka’s concern right now. Ken really doesn’t want her bothering about Ayato at a time like this. But it’s always been in Touka’s nature to worry about others before herself.

“Touka, your brother--”

“It’s not his fault,” she cuts in. “He did something wrong… I know that but… this has nothing to do with that…”

“Touka--”

“I want to see him… Ken, please, I really want to see him…”

“Touka, come on, you know that’s not going to happen,” Ken sighs. “He didn’t care one bit when he hurt you. He doesn’t care now that you gave birth as well.”

“No, he cares. I know he does…”

“So why isn’t he here?” Ken challenges. His bitterness goes unnoticed by Touka, who clamps up as his words, shivering lightly. Ken wonders if he’s too harsh. Maybe now isn’t the best time to be honest with her about that asshole. He reaches over for Touka and takes her by her shoulders, pulling her against him, arms wrapped tightly around her.

“Look, I’ll see what I can do, okay? If Ayato doesn’t respond, I’ll call Hinami instead. Will that be okay?” he asks.

“Hinami…?”

“You know, the girl who was with your brother the other day?”

Touka relaxes in his arms and he looks down to see a small smile spreading on her face. “Ahh… That strange girl who somehow saw something in my useless brother to fall for?” The cheeky, joking tone in Touka’s voice is enough to make Ken relax a little.

Despite his complete aversion to Hinami being in a relationship with Ayato, he’s glad it at least brings some joy to Touka with her now being able to rest easy that her brother isn’t alone like she feared. Though Ken still believes he’s better off talking to Hinami about and giving her a warning here and there. It’s not like Hinami has anyone else to do that for her as well. It must be why she managed to get along with Ayato in the first place-- they’re both alone, after all. Just like Touka was at one point in time. Ken wonders how that feels like. He’s been lonely before but he’s never been alone. He’s had Hide with him since he was young.

“I’ll call Hinami and see what we can work out, okay? Maybe she can convince your brother about coming along,” Ken says. He really doesn’t want to, but he guess he’ll have to give in if it makes Touka feel better. From the expression she makes, he knows she feels better.

“It’ll be nice… If we called them over for a celebration instead…” Touka murmurs absentmindedly. She looks at Ken, forcing her smile to remain on her face. But she’s a terrible liar, especially to him, who knows her so well. Her watery eyes are telling him that she’s anything but smiling on the inside. She’s weeping and falling apart and that all that’s holding her together right now is the slight hope that she might be able to see her remaining family as a whole again-- that same hope, wish and desire that she has always clung onto in the darkest moments.

Her child is gone, just like her mother and just like her father. She doesn’t want anyone else to go. And like it or not, Ken wants to make her wish come true for her. Even if her brother is the most detestable person on earth, even if he’s the person who’s made her silently cry to herself countless times over and over again, he wants to bring him back for her.

Hinami thinks her heart is going to leap out of her chest. It might be an exaggeration, but she’s quite certain it’s not an impossibility. Her heart is beating so hard. Her ribs might not be able to stand it. She wonders how much it would hurt if her ribs do snap. Ayato had mentioned breaking a couple of bones before and he had said it had hurt like a bitch, to quote his words that is. Well, Ayato being Ayato would have broken a whole bunch of bones at one go. Hinami’s always wondered what he did to even have that happen. He hadn’t said anything much about that incident, except scowl whenever he talks about it and admit that it had hurt far too much and that it wasn’t him, but someone else who broke his bones. Hinami had wondered who even would break Ayato’s bones, but considering his high school escapades, she’s not too surprised someone would.

But back to the point. It had hurt for Ayato. A broken rib would make her break down and cry.

She ignores the heart and her ridiculous thoughts and presses the doorbell. She’s staring at a normal door of a normal house, but she’s immediately taken in by what she sees. This is where he stays. This is the place he lives, where he eats his dinner, where he relaxes, where he sleeps, where he bathes, where he reads his books and where he can be himself. This is the place she has long to step into for years. She gets to see how she lives; she gets to know him even better, to see things no other person would.

Hinami hears footsteps from the other side of the door and she stiffens, hands running through her hair before smoothening out her dress as she takes one look at her outfit. She’s wearing a simple light green dress with a black cardigan-- nothing too fancy, but it’s still a cute outfit. She had asked Ayato for his opinion when she bought it, but she learnt from the experience how bad of an advisor he is when it comes to these kinds of things.

“That’s nice. It looks easy to take off,” he had said with the usual smirk on his face. Of course, that earned him an elbow to the rib. She does, also, vaguely remember him grumbling about how she looked good in anything so she didn’t really need a second opinion on it, but her mother used to say that about her as well.

The door opens and Hinami puts on the biggest smile she can manage. She doesn’t have to force it out. It comes naturally the moment she sees the face of the person who answered the door. Kaneki Ken looks as gorgeous as always, his charming smile and gentle eyes welcoming her and making her feel at home almost instantly. He’s beautiful, she thinks the moment he says her name in greeting and steps aside to let her in. She doesn’t need him to say anything else before she’s practically running into the house.

So this is where he stays.

“Thank you for coming, Hinami! I hope you’re not too busy today,” he says.

“No, today’s a good day.” She only has classes in the evening and it’s still just morning. She has all the time in the world before she has to leave.

The call from Kaneki had been sudden and out of the blue yesterday, inviting her over for lunch. Kaneki had asked her to bring Ayato along but Hinami knew that there was no chance he would accept coming over with her. She had been honest with Kaneki about that and hadn’t bothered to ask Ayato at all. Kaneki sounded conflicted by her words over the phone; on one hand he sounded a little upset, but on another, he accepted it a little too easily that Hinami felt he didn’t really want Ayato around as well.

“Touka is getting ready so give her some time,” Kaneki says.

“Is she with the baby now?” Hinami asks. Some time back, Ayato had told her that the baby was born already. She hadn’t asked for much details but she had doubted he knew anything much either.

“Yeah… about that…” Kaneki grimaces as he speaks, glancing deeper into the house before he takes Hinami’s arm and pulls her closer to him. Hinami stiffens. She didn’t think her heart can race even more than it had been doing so, but she was instantly proven wrong. She’s close to him-- so so close. Just a little more and she’d be pressed against his chest, maybe with his strong arms around her. That very thought itself is enough to make Hinami tremble.

“The baby… isn’t here,” Kaneki says, his voice dropping quite a bit.

“Oh-oh?” she gasps out, trying to focus on anything else but their proximity, even when her voice sounds faked and uncaring. “Where is it?”

“Hinami…” Kaneki sighs. His hand releases her arm before it moves to the back of his neck, rubbing lightly. “The baby… didn’t make it.”

She’s silent as the words sink in. Kaneki gives her the time to as well, eyes fixed completely on her. Normally, she’d probably be happy; he’s staring at her and only her right now. But right now, Kaneki is the last thing on her mind. The baby is gone. The baby died. But how? She wants to ask him, yet she holds back. An image flashes through her mind. Kaneki’s wife, on the floor, eyes wide in horror as her brother watches her a small distance in front of her. Touka had fallen when she was pregnant and that’s dangerous, right?

In that case, was the baby’s death all Ayato’s fault?

“I-I’m so sorry!” she cries out immediately. She feels obligated to apologize, even though she isn’t the one who had pushed Touka down. Maybe if she hadn’t stood out there that day, maybe if she had gone in the store with Ayato and waited with him, she wouldn’t have met Kaneki and Touka-- Ayato wouldn’t have met Kaneki and Touka. The baby could still have lived. Maybe if she had cut the conversation shorter. Maybe if she had taken his hand and run off with him before Touka could talk to him. Maybe. Maybe.

“It’s nothing to be sorry about, Hinami… We were already prepared for this,” Kaneki laughs flatly. He had laughed, but his sorrow poured out of his eyes. Hinami feels herself choking. Something feels like it’s rising in her throat. She hadn’t eaten anything but it feels like she’s going to throw up.

He was prepared, he said. The knew about it apparently… So was that phone call a lie? He had told Ayato that the baby was fine the other day, hadn’t he? Had he lied back then? Maybe he did it to calm Ayato down and to stop him from worrying. That would be a total Kaneki-like thing, lying and putting people before him so that others didn’t get hurt.

“I… I really am sorry, Big Brother! I’m sorry, this is all Ayato’s fault and--”

“It’s not,” he cuts in and Hinami looks up at him blankly. It’s… not? A lie. That had to be a lie. Kaneki is lying again to help with the guilt and not to worry them too much. Of course he’d be like this. It’s in his character. Kaneki is nice and kind.

“Big Brother, please. I know this is because he pushed her the other day so… Please let me apologize properly… to you and your wife…” She chokes as she speaks and as she blinks her eyes, she feels tears falling out. Hinami immediately wipes them away. She doesn’t want him to see her cry, especially not when it’s over his own kid’s death. Kaneki isn’t crying. Even if he looks like he’s about to cry, she doesn’t want to cry in front of him when he’s trying his best not to.

Kaneki takes a deep breath and sighs. He places his hands on her shoulders, turning her to face him completely. “Listen. I’m not going to pretend Ayato is the best person out there. He brought Touka a lot of stress and that could have let to some problems… but Touka’s pregnancy was problematic from the very beginning. We both knew this was going to happen. Ayato might have hurt Touka… but he didn’t kill our child.”

“That’s a lie…”

“It’s not a lie, Hinami… Why would I lie about this?” Kaneki sighs. “The baby was unlikely to survive in the first place… But Touka still wanted to pull through with the pregnancy for that slim possibility. It didn’t work out. The baby died. We were both pretty much prepared for it, though I’d appreciate if you don’t bring this topic up when Touka’s around later.”

She considers the words and nods with a sigh. “So… Ayato… He really didn’t do anything wrong?”

Kaneki’s eye twitches at her words and he forces out a smile, which honestly looked more like a grimace to Hinami. “Well… I wouldn’t say that… but… don’t worry. Your boyfriend didn’t kill his niece.”

Kaneki must really hate Ayato. Hinami had noticed that it usually was easy for Kaneki to pretend around people. She’d seen him interact with people she knew he disliked. He generally was nice to them and could easily hold a calm, composed face. One wouldn’t have been able to tell Kaneki hated them from merely looking at his conversation with them. On the other hand, Kaneki’s distaste for Ayato was practically scrawled all over his face. She wonders what must have happened between the two of them. Ayato hates Kaneki a lot as well. She’d all along assumed it was because of her feelings for Kaneki--

Wait.

“B-Boy...friend?”

Kaneki nods. “Yeah, Ayato. Your boyfriend.”

“He’s… not my boyfriend…”

“Oh? He’s not? Is he more? A fiancé? A husband?”

“B-Big Brother! It’s not… We’re not--”

“Don’t tell me… He’s the father of your future kid…”

Hinami chokes and she swears her cheeks must be red right now. There’s no way she wants Kaneki to know that she’s sleeping with Ayato. Definitely no way. Kaneki doesn’t have to know that she’s sleeping with anyone in the first place-- he shouldn’t. It’s hard to tell if Kaneki is joking sometimes and this is one of those times. His face shows clear interest and he seems genuinely curious about the situation. But for Hinami, this is terrible. Kaneki is getting the wrong idea. Kaneki, out of all people, is getting the wrong idea. He thinks she’s in a relationship with Ayato. Well, she is in some kind of a weird arrangement with him which she supposes can be called a relationship, but it’s definitely not what Kaneki has in mind.

“I-I! I don’t like Ayato at all!” she cries out. “We’re nothing. There’s nothing. Big Brother, the only one for me is--”

“Oh, that’s sad…” A voice cuts into Hinami’s words and it hits her how she was so close to admitting the truth to Kaneki. Hinami clamps up immediately, putting some distance between her and Kaneki before she turns to the source of the voice. Kaneki retracts his hands and even though she’s thankful for it, she can still feel his hands on her shoulders.

“I think Ayato will be pretty sad to hear that.” The words accompany the emerging figure of Kaneki’s wife. She runs her hand through her hair, before she smiles at Hinami, walking up to her slowly. “I think my brother seemed really taken by you…”

“Ms… Kirishima…” Hinami murmurs. Wait, is that right? Hinami wonders if she should have called Touka something else instead. Mrs Kaneki? Ms Touka?

Touka smiles and wraps her arms around Hinami, holding her tightly for a moment before pulling away. “Just Touka is fine. Are you here alone?”

“Yeah.”

“Ayato’s not with you?”

“He wouldn’t come even if I asked him to… I’m sorry,” Hinami admits. Touka’s face falls at these words and Hinami honestly feels bad for her. She doesn’t know what happened between the two of them, but she finds herself a little annoyed that Ayato would even think of making his own sister upset. He’s honestly lucky. Even if his parents are dead, he has a sister. Unlike him, Hinami has no one.

“It’s not your fault… He’s always been like that,” Touka sighs. “He’s a good person at heart, but he can be a little difficult at times.”

“Don’t you think you’re a little too optimistic about your brother, Touka?” Kaneki sighs. A look of slight annoyance crosses Touka’s face, but she says nothing except to turn around and walk towards the table a slight distance off.

“Don’t just stand there, Hinami. Come and have a seat. We have lunch prepared for you. I hope it’s not too early.” The sudden change in topic takes Hinami by surprise, but from Kaneki’s expression, it felt like it’s something they’ve talked about too many times before. He seems annoyed, but more so exhausted. Hinami wonders what really happened with between Ayato and these two, especially with how Touka and Kaneki seem to think very differently of Ayato.

Hinami takes a seat as Kaneki and Touka enter the kitchen. There’s a slightly awkward atmosphere around them right now and even though she can’t hear the exact words, she hears a soft discussion happening between the two of them in the kitchen. Hinami’s confused. They seemed to have a good relationship when she saw them previously. Kaneki looked so happy and proud to introduce her to Hinami. She also remembered how protective he was over her when she fell and how he had spammed Ayato with calls to try and get him to visit Touka as well. Kaneki and Touka had looked like they were so in love.

She wants to know what’s going on and the temptation to sneak over and eavesdrop was too much to resist. She quietly gets up and tiptoes over to the kitchen, pressing her body against the wall as she tries to listen. She doesn’t have to try too hard; she’s always had sharp ears.

“This is getting ridiculous, Touka,” Kaneki grumbles. “You need to stop.”

“You need to stop pretending that everything is Ayato’s fault and that we’re not responsible at all,” Touka grumbles back. There’s the clacking of what Hinami assumes are plates. They probably are preparing some food for her.

“He’s hurt you so much. Why aren’t you seeing that? He left you alone, Touka.” Kaneki sounds exasperated and Hinami grimaces. Why is Touka having a hard time accepting this? Ayato did leave her after all. He’s ignored her all these time and even when they finally met, he went back to pushing her away. Hinami knows that if she is to be in Touka’s shoes, she’d have given up by now.

“And whose fault was it he decided to leave, huh?” Touka challenges. “Kaneki, I know you didn’t mean to and I know it’s not your fault entirely… but you hurt him too, you know!”

That’s ridiculous, right? Someone like Kaneki hurting someone like Ayato? It doesn’t make sense to Hinami at all. Kaneki is kind and gentle. She doesn’t think he’s capable of hurting anyone at all. Ayato would never hurt her, but she knows that’s not the case for everyone. He’s always hurting Touka and Hinami knows about his old notorious reputation from back when they were in high school. He’d picked fights and broken hearts. To think that he’d get hurt by someone like Kaneki-- it’s absurd to the point she almost laughs.

But as she listens in to the conversation, she realises something once again. She’s nothing to these people. She knows nothing about them; she knows nothing about Kaneki. It feels like it’s always the case, with everyone. Everyone knows about her problems, but she knows no one’s. She doesn’t know what happened between Ayato and his family. He’s never told her, even though he sits by her side and listens to her every time she cries about her own. She doesn’t know about Kaneki as well, not even back when she was younger. She knew he was an orphan like her. She knew he was lonely like she was. But she doesn’t know what happened to his family, even as he always consoled her over the accident that stole her parents from her.

It’s been ten years, or perhaps even more. But even after all this time has passed, things hadn't changed after all. She’s still the same clueless little victim that no one will ever confide it. She wants to tell them that she’s not weak. But will they even listen? She’d spent so much time with Ayato, but he still doesn’t feel comfortable enough to open up to her.

This isn’t fair…

She returns back to her seat feeling more miserable than ever. She hasn’t found out what happened between them, but she doesn’t feel like finding out right now. Maybe ignorance was better. It’s certainly better than knowing all those things happened to people she thought are close and dear to her, yet being kept in the dark about it.

Touka said that Kaneki had hurt Ayato. Yet he kept silent about it even when Hinami spoke about how great of a person Kaneki is. Did that hurt him? Did she hurt him? She wouldn’t have done that if she knew what happened.

“Is she going to get your daughter?” Hinami asks.

“For Ayato? But he isn’t here…”

“Touka insisted that we packed it and get you to deliver it to him if you happen to be dropping by his place or something.”

“I could do that.” If she has some time to kill, she’d probably go back to her dorm to study a little more, but dropping by Ayato’s place isn’t a detour. It’s still on the way to school.

“I’m not too fond of it though…” Kaneki admits with a sigh.

He’s jealous… Hinami slams the thought down the moment it surfaces in her mind. God, it sounded so stupid.

“Ayato is a good friend,” she says. “He’s always there for me.”

“Are you sure he’s just a friend? It didn’t seem that way to me that day,” Kaneki grumbles.

“We’re not together.”

“Touka was very confident about Ayato’s feelings towards you,” Kaneki says. “And even I… I saw the way you were looking at him when you waited for him.”

Kaneki thinks she’s in love with Ayato. Hinami feels her throat go dry.

“Hinami…” Kaneki sighs. “Look… I care about you and I love you--”

Her eyes go wide and it feels like her body freezes, as does the time around her. He said it. He said he loves her. This feels too surreal. Kaneki loves her? But why? Why would he love her? What’s so special about her? She’s not nearly as pretty as Kaneki’s wife. She doesn’t know a thing about that woman, but even then she already knows she’s amazing. She has to be a strong person after all she’s been through. Hinami isn’t a strong person. She’s weak. She’s a crybaby. There’s no reason he should love her; there’s no reason anyone should love her when there are others around.

Now that she’s thinking about it, she’s never asked Ayato why he was so in love with her as well? She had hurt him a lot but he’s still by her side. She’s never thought anything about her was attractive and lovable in the first place.

Big Brother… I… She doesn’t know what to say. Should she accept it? Should she turn him down? She and Ayato are not officially dating, even if they hang out too much for normal friends. But Kaneki isn’t just together with another woman; he’s married and he has a family. She doesn’t want to ruin that.

“--You’re like a little sister to me,” Kaneki continues and Hinami feels like she’s on a roller coaster. Never once had her hopes risen so high up only to come crashing down in the matter of seconds. Of course, that’s what he means. She feels so dumb for taking it another way— so dumb that she feels like crying right there and then. But Kaneki continues to talk and she’s thankful that she’s able to look down at her food and not keep eye contact with him. He seems oblivious to her emotions, or even if he did notice, he must have taken it as her response to what he’s saying. What’s he saying, again? She realizes she hadn’t been paying attention.

“I don’t get it,” she grumbles instead.

“God, are you listening to me?” he sighs. “I’m telling you that the only thing Ayato’s good at is hurting the people who loves and cares about him. I don’t want you to get hurt, Hinami. You’re the closest I have to a family outside of my wife and kid.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She’s annoyed. She’s so so annoyed. She can’t believe the situation. She wants to slam her head against a wall and black out permanently. The embarrassment is killing her.

“Fine then. I’m telling you straight right now. End things with Ayato and stay away from him.”

That snaps her out of her thoughts and she looks at Kaneki, eyes wide in disbelief. “What? But why?”

“How many times are you going to make me repeat myself?” Kaneki groans. “He will hurt you, Hinami. You might think the both of you are in love now but it won’t stop him from hurting you. He hurt his own sister, for god’s sake.”

“He won’t hurt me…” Hinami murmurs.

“I’m telling you, he will. You think you’re in love but—”

“I’m not in love with him, Big Brother,” she cuts in. “You got it all wrong. It’s Ayato who loves me.”

Kaneki’s brows furrow at her words, but he stays silent as Touka shows up, carrying a sulking little boy in her arms. “I’m sorry for the delay. Ichika wouldn’t stop her game,” she laughs. She takes her seat in front of Hinami and places Ichika on the seat beside her.

“It’s fine,” Kaneki says, eyeing his daughter. “You have to listen to Mama more or I’m going to take all your games from you.”

Arata looks horrified by this statement, but Touka only sighs and pats her daughter’s head. “Don’t listen to Papa. Don’t worry, he won’t do that,” she says. Hinami watches as Touka takes a spoon and scoops up some food for Ichika before holding it out to her. The girl takes the spoon and slowly puts it into her mouth before she starts chewing on in. Touka smiles, ruffling her hair. “That’s my girl.”

“They grow up so fast,” Kaneki sighs. “Look at my girl, Hinami. She’s feeding herself now.”

Hinami chuckles. Watching Kaneki and Touka with Ichika makes her feel really warm and soft. This must be what it’s like to be a part of a family, she supposes. It’s been far too long since she had one. She doesn’t really remember what it felt like to be doted on and loved. Touka and Kaneki must be extra protective of Ichika right now, especially since they had lost their other child. She can see it in both their eyes; they’re looking at her with a different look than they did the other day she saw them.

Everyone is going through their own things. And again, she feels like an outsider. She doesn’t know how things are going for them now and even if she asks, they will probably tell her not to worry and that everything is fine.

“Are you thinking about your parents?” Hinami’s head snaps up at Touka’s voice and she looks up at her in surprise. The older woman’s eyes soften and she reaches out to Hinami, placing her hand over Hinami’s. “You had a distant, nostalgic look in your eyes when you’re looking at us with Ichika. Kaneki told me you lost them some time back and you’ve been alone since then.”

“No… I… I just realise… it’s been so long. I forgot what it’s like… to be a part of a family.” It’s hard to speak about it. She’s choking as she does. But she forces herself to keep in her tears. She doesn’t want to cry now. She shouldn't. It’s not her who should be sad. She lost her parents years ago. Touka and Kaneki are the ones who are grieving now.

“Kaneki says you’re like a sister to him. I hope you can see me like that as well. You’re welcomed to be a part of this family, Hina, you really are,” Touka continues. She called her ‘Hina’. No one’s ever called her that aside from her parents and Ayato.

“You saved me once from the loneliness I felt when my own parents died. I know we’re not as close now, but I hope you realise you’re not alone in this world,” Kaneki murmurs.

“Nobody ever is alone, Hinami. Even if you can’t come to us, I’m sure you can rely on Ayato at least,” Touka continues. She pulls her hands away and picks up her spoon. “Now, eat. The food’s going to get cold.”

She doesn’t think she can eat. Her stomach is churning and the lump in her throat hasn’t faded. She wants to cry, but it’s not because she’s sad. She feels something else right now. She wants to say something but she doesn’t know what. Instead, she picks up her spoon begins eating as well. The food is delicious. She’s not too surprised it is, considering Kaneki cooked it. She’s never eaten Kaneki’s cooking before but it’s rare that Kaneki is ever bad in something. But she wishes she can enjoy it as much as she wants to, but her mind is reeling from everything.

A family sounds nice. It’s something she has along dreamed of-- herself, back with her mother and father. They’ve always been there for her back then and it felt empty when they were gone. She knew she only managed to pull through and survive because Kaneki was there by her side. They drifted the moment Hinami was old enough to stand on her own two feet. She hadn’t forgotten him back then. Her longing for him only grew. Perhaps it was the security that Kaneki gave her that made her fall for him and to continue longing for him to be by her side again.

I love you. You’re like a little sister to me.

She still feels really sick. Maybe dropping by Ayato’s place after this will be a good idea after all.

A/N: I really wanted to proofread, but I feel like if I do, I might stop myself from posting. I was supposed to post this last night but I fell asleep while typing lol. I hope you guys like this fic. I also knew I promised the sub Ayato smut scene in Chapter 4 and it’s still happening soon, but the word count got too long so it got pushed into Chapter 5. :’) I hope everyone looks forward to that because it really was fun writing it!

Also, word of advice, I won’t trust Kaneki’s narrations about Ayato if I were you. They’re about as biased as Hinami’s narrations about Kaneki. In this story, I’d say the Kirishimas are probably the most reliable of narrators. :D

Once again, please please do reblog if you like this! It’ll really help me out. Feel free to leave comments in the tags/ reblogs/ replies or through asks!

#tg #tokyo ghoul #ayahina #touken #fueguchi hinami #kirishima ayato #kirishima touka #kaneki ken #far writes stuff #my fic: shattered

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guardmesherlock-rowan · 7 years

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Hello! I'm a little new to playing GMS - I've been following it before but was disappointed to hear that it was getting canceled, but apparently not anymore. I just heard that Sebastian is getting a route which made me download the game. For someone who's just starting, do you have any tips? I typically don't spend money in these games so I was wondering if it will still be playable in that case... Thank you!

Hello and welcome!

Okay so I’ve actually been considering putting this information out there so I guess this is a perfect opportunity!

😳That or you were reading my mind.😳

First things first:I get you not spending money on the game, it took over a month before I gave in to it myself. But I must remind all players that the reason (that we know of) that the game was discontinued in the first place was due to it not making enough money. So I really must promote the idea of those who can afford it and really love the game to spend a little to show their support.

That said? You don’t have to spend money to enjoy the game. At least not the main story lines. What it does take is patience and a schedule to get the most out of the game.

So you’re most likely going to have a little stumble near the end of the route as a new player. It’s going to require you to have a lot of Sweetie Points to pass the checkpoint, and it might take a day or so to get it. But then you’re good.

Sure you’re not going to get the premium scenes, but honestly the non-premium are good too! They can be hilarious watching the guys play off each other, or cheesy, or cute, but still a delight in their own ways.

Now for the beginners and people just plain new to “Guard Me Sherlock!”

[undercut link for mobile users]

So you’ve found your way here; either by being a fan of Sherlock Holmes, being a fan of other games done by @shallwedateapps, or by being a fan of dating games in general, but you’re here.

You may be sharing the same thought I did when I first read the game’s title: “that’s a silly name”, and yeah maybe, but the game is more than that.

The Story!

Okay so we have MC and she is:

clever

kind

strangely accepting

naive at the most inopportune times

an actress

and a bit snarky sometimes

So the prologue is her meeting the guys, the male characters in the story:

Sherlock Holmes

John Watson

George Lestrade

Mikah Hudson (child)

Mycroft Holmes

Hercule Poirot

Jeremy Cassel

James Moriarty

Sebastian Moran (his route is up next!)

and Jack Stillman

Though not in that order per say. From there MC works her way to the point of asking Sherlock for help, and the problem is determined by the story you’re starting.

During which there are quizzes throughout the season one stories and getting them correct can result in winning small prizes like extra energy points for Hide & Kiss.

The Characters/Main storylines!

So once you finish the prologue you have to decide which route you’re going to play. Just talking about the season ones we have:

Sherlock Holmes

It’s a sweet story of Sherlock coming to terms with these strange new emotions he’s feeling all the while assisting MC in dealing with threats and sudden attempts at harming her person. All which seems to circle over the fact that she took her current role over after a passing of a dear friend.

John Watson

Sweet and funny story as MC has John’s help in trying to figure out what happened to her uncle. He seems to have gone missing but has left a small trial for his niece to follow. Course being worried for her safety John seems like the best candidate as a bodyguard, though to not arose suspicion they need a reason for him to be with her everywhere… fake engagement anyone?

James Moriarty

While there is not a lot of diversity in scenes, there are some breath taking background drops. MC wanted Sherlock’s help in finding out if everything is on the up and up for the next play she is in. He told her to go through with it unless she heard otherwise from him. Day comes and she is goes to get ready for the play, which will take place in a few days, on a train. With Moriarty as the benefactor. It’s a whirlwind of flirtation and ‘what ifs’.

Mycroft Holmes

Not really one for fake engagements? How about a fake marriage? Mycroft is subtle throughout his story, and there are times MC can be… *flashbacks and kill bill sirens* but this is thought to be one of the most romantic stories within Guard Me Sherlock though the mystery doesn’t come into play until the later act.

Mikah Hudson

~let’s do the time warp again~ Jumping into the future, MC has been living at 221B and seems to have missed the point where Mikah became a man. While helping Mikah’s friend they open up their feelings towards each other.

My schedule to get the most out of my game:

I wake up and use 2 tickets before 7 am

Clear my energy points, and then go to work

At lunch I clear the hide & kiss points out (you get 1 point per 3 minutes, 20 points per hour)

This is also usually when I use my one free slot spin a day

When I get home I decompress and either wait till after the game updates (7pm cst) or before it is there is a biscuit boost, and I spend all the tickets I have (which is either 3 - 4)

This way I keep my tickets at specific intervals throughout the day to make sure I get 6 tickets a day as there is 4 hour wait in between each and it stops counting once you hit 5.

So I asked @cinnamonteaandbiscuits what she would give as advice to a new player:

“You can exit out of the story if you think you’ve picked the wrong choice.” (you just hit on the arrow in the upper right corner, and select home, that will let you do that chapter from the beginning as long as you don’t go all the way to the end)

“Don’t skip the previews. They’re hilarious!” (So true. Also areas where you can learn more about the other guys in between or during times they’re picking on each other.)

Be aware of your room situation when it comes to points.

Hide & Kiss

When it comes to hide and kiss there are a few things to be aware of.

When you start a session and pick a guy your style in your room should reflect their taste.

Sherlock & Mycroft: elegant

John & Mikah: Sexy

James: Cute

The more points you have in that style the more sweetie points you can earn. Up to a point. If you’re hitting 58 - 70 points per magnifying glass in the last room you’ve hit max.

In biscuit collections each tap in Hide & Kiss is one point. So if you’re trying to earn those biscuits you’re better off using the room that takes the least amount of energy points.

Alright so I hope that was helpful!

If you’re looking for a brief history as to what’s going on with the game I did a brief little catch up with releasing routes back on January 5th before we found who out it would be.

And if you’re interested in my headcanons and/or fanfictions please feel free to check out my Masterlist

#guard me sherlock #for beginners #tips #talk to me #anon

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sexxmacfarlane-blog · 7 years

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Hungry Eyes, Starving Heart

A Seth MacFarlane Fan Fiction

Warnings: Cursing

A/N: Hey everyone! I decided to make a fan account because my personal was not meant for writing. Its just random posts that I reblog. I honestly had no idea Seth had this many fans on tumblr. I used to write Teen Wolf fan fiction about a year ago so I’m a bit rusty but please leave feedback and if you want more chapters. Right now its PG but smut is to come in later!

What do most students do their senior year of high school? Party and have fun. They stay busy planning their prom dates, saving for senior trip and enjoying their last year as a child. But me? I am busy trying to make sure I get into my dream college, University of California-San Diego. I want to major in biology and spend my life studying various diseases then ultimately finding a cure for them. In order to achieve this sort of feat I am literally pushing myself to limit. Obtaining every possible credit I can get my hands on and perfecting my only extra curricular activity, choir. I am up to my eyeballs in things I have to get completed and if it weren’t for my best friend I wouldn’t know what to do.

“Top of the morning love!” Nora’s voice chimed into my ear. I shook my head out of my day dream.

“Morning you. Did you bring me one of those?” I asked while eyeing the large coffee she had in her hand.

“This one is yours, I already downed mine. Wow you look like shit El. What’s wrong?” She sounded like a total mom.

“Thanks and I appreciate the compliment too. I didn’t sleep much last night. Was up late finishing my summer projects. I had so much I couldn’t finish everything in time. My dad made me go on vacation for 2 weeks and that took up a lot of valuable time.” I finished with a shrug.

“Elise you have always been the smartest girl in school. Your grades are fine. Why so much worry? Its our senior year! Let’s relax before we both go off to big bad college.” Nora said sweetly. She honestly means well but simply doesn’t understand.

“Nora you know I have to get into San Diego. Its my dream. I have to earn my keep, I just can’t waltz in! Now please quiz me.”

I handed her a deck of flash cards for English and had her quiz me on the definitions. She showed me each word and I stated the definitions with ease. We were almost done with the deck when something, or someone I should say caught my eye. Entering the cafeteria was a man I had never seen before. He carried a brief case and was wearing a teacher I.D. badge. I couldn’t stop myself from watching him as he went through the line and grabbed a quick meal. He thanked the cafeteria clerk with a bright warm smile. My lips automatically twitched into barely noticeable a grin. He was contagious.

“Earth to Elise, hello? You mean to tell me you can’t tell me the definition of personification after acing the college level vocabulary in the first half of the deck?” I could hear Nora but I wasn’t able to speak. The mysterious man had me completely entranced. Finally she noticed what I was staring at.

“Oh okay, I bet that’s the new English teacher, you know Mrs. Holloway is on maternity leave for the rest of the year right?” Nora asked.

“Yeah he must be, I have never seen that man before in my life. Wow I had no idea she wouldn’t be coming back?” I replied.

“Oh yeah she said 6 weeks wasn’t long enough and she wasn’t ready to leave her baby just yet. I doubt she will ever come back! So I guess you did most of this summer work for nothing.” Her tone was playful now, she found this funny.

“Well hopefully he will pick up where she left off. I want to stay above the game regardless. Was it just me or was he kinda cute ?” I asked. Nora snorted and almost choked on her spit.

“What? That old guy? He’s was like what 40? No way El. What’s wrong with you? He is old enough to be our dad for christ’s sake!” My face instantly turned red. Yeah she’s right I thought to myself, too old and I was crazy for thinking he was cute. Get a grip Elise.

“Never mind I mean from a distance he looked cute.” Nora nodded and just like that brushed the whole situation off. She was too busy scrolling through her phone to continue caring. I nibbled at the rest of my breakfast while reading a book. After what felt like an eternity the bell rang out to dismiss us to 1st period. I had AP physics and had no idea who my classmates were going to be. Nora was my only real friend and no offense she didn’t care about school as much as I did. And all of my classes were AP besides choir of course which was the only class I had with her. The first 4 classes went by slowly. They were spent handing out books and going over the syllabus. I was starving by the time lunch came around. Unfortunately Nora and I didn’t share the same lunch period either so here I was stuck defending for myself while trying to find a seat. The indoor cafeteria was absolutely full, the tables outside were also. I wandered the grounds until I found an empty picnic table by a tree. It was vacant thanks to its distance from the school. I didn’t mind though, I always left lunch early anyways to ensure I wouldn’t be tardy. I sat down with my tray and continued reading in my book since I was alone. I popped earbuds in to better concentrate on the words in front of me. Mindlessly munching down on a cheese burger I was startled by a tray dropping on the table. I quickly jumped up while yanking my headphones out.

“Oh my apologies, I didn’t mean to startle you. I was just looking for a spot to eat, apparently this is the most crowded lunch period and I noticed you had this whole table to yourself. Mind if I join you?” I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was the new teacher that I spotted from this morning. He was even more breath taking up close. His dark brown eyes that resembled coal earlier were now like honey in the sunlight, his smile was beautiful thanks to his spotless white teeth. His jet black hair was styled very casual in a sort of messy quiff. I noted then he was very tall too, especially compared to my short stature. I must have looked like an ant through his eyes. I struggled to find my words but eventually did.

“Oh of course pl…please sit. I was just really into my book and didn’t see you. No one ever bothers me when they see I have headphones in.” I replied with a small smile.

“Thank you miss. I’m new here so I’m not too keen with all the rules. I’m Mr. MacFarlane by the way. You are?” He said while extending his hand out. I softly grabbed it as he shook softly.

“I’m Elise Goodman. You are the new English teacher correct?” I said curiously. I tried not to sound nervous. He was so gorgeous that it was becoming intimidating.

“Pleasure meeting you Ms. Goodman. And yes I’m Mrs. Holloways replacement. I must say I’m pretty nervous. I have been subbing at the college for quite sometime. High schoolers? That’s a whole new world.” His voice was beyond beautiful, it was deep and elegant. He sounded like someone who should talk on the radio or voice the previews in movie theaters. I was hanging onto every word that fell from his lips. He spoke about moving here from a neighboring town, he said most of the teachers here weren’t very welcoming. He claims because of his previous position but I think it’s because of his physical appearance. He looked like a model in comparison to the rest of the staff. Most of the teachers here were either old or super nerdy. His profession didn’t fit his appearance at all.

“Richard Dawkins? Really?” He asked while pointing down to my book.

“Uh yeah I am kind of a biology freak. Mr. Dawkins is my hero.” I said with a blush. He noticed and smiled at me.

“Why are you embarrassed? That is something to be proud of. You seek education. Do you know how rare that is these days?” He sounded like an angel speaking to me. Once again my cheeks told on me.

“Well I…I’m a dork. That’s not something to be proud of. I am literally teased for being myself which just so happens to be a huge nerd. I love science more than most 18 year old girls.” He laughed at my reply. I felt hurt, that wasn’t meant to be funny at all it was the truth.

“You shouldn’t care what your peers think. In 10 years you will be successful and they will be assistant managers in a super market down town. You will go places while they are stuck with minimum wage.” Wow he was blunt. Not really in a rude way but in a literal manner. He wasn’t afraid to speak his mind and I envied that. I was always too scared to say anything in fear of making someone mad.

“I have never really thought of it that way before?” I bit my lip and looked down at my watch. I gasped and gathered my things up.

“I am so sorry but I have to leave now, I can’t be late for 5th period. I’m always early for class and this one is on the other side of the building. It was great talking with you Professor MacFarlane! Thank you for sitting with me.” I pushed my glasses up onto my nose and threw my bag over my shoulder. I dropped my book on the ground and quickly bent over to pick it up when I realized my skirt had climbed further up my waist. Damn uniforms were always messing up. I grabbed the book up quickly and threw it into my bag. I shimmed my skirt down hoping he hadn’t seen my underwear and half my ass. He cleared his throat loudly, I spotted a grin and I knew at that moment he had seen everything. How embarrassing! Great, I flashed the hot new English teacher after just meeting him. My face was now the color of a ripe tomato. I wanted to turn around and apologize but I couldn’t face him after that. I scurried away and bolted through the side door. Nora just so happened to be at her locker as I ran to her she laughed seeing me in my current state.

“Elise what the hell are you running from? The first bell hasn’t even rang yet.” She asked while I tried to catch my breath.

“Okay so the new English teacher his name is Mr. MacFarlane by the way, he joined me for lunch outside. And uh well I accidentally flashed him my whole ass! I bent over to pick up my book that fell and my skirt had slid up over my hips and bam. It was just on display. I could have died Nora! I was so embarrassed! He was way cool and now I ruined it.” Her eyes grew wide then she burst out into laughter.

“Only you El, only you. I swear that’s the best thing I’ve heard all day. Now every time he sees you in class he is going to think about your ass! Wait you had underwear on right? Or was it a thong?” She asked in a serious tone.

“Fuck Nora I have regular underwear on! Thongs are very uncomfortable.” She rolled her eyes at my response.

“No they’re not, virgins don’t wear thongs. I forgot you have yet to be deflowered my little friend.” She patted my shoulder.

“Oh hush. I just haven’t found a guy I’m attracted to in that way yet.” I grumbled while digging around in my locker.

“I think you have. You’re hot for teacher aren’t you! No need to confess, I know you are, after your little statement this morning. You want the English teacher! God that’s so gross. He is ancient Elise. I mean at least settle for a college guy.” Nora went on ragging me into the next century.

“I am not hot for teacher! I mean he is insanely attractive, nice, intelligent and…fuck it. I am. Kill me now Nora!” I admitted defeat.

Nora and I parted ways, I had 2 more classes before AP English. It was my last class of the day and I am not going to be able to look Mr. Macfarlane in the face. The next 2 periods went by too fast for my liking. I was biting my nails in AP European History just knowing when the bell chimed I would have to enter his classroom. I gathered my books for 7th period and made my way inside. Of course I was early, but thankfully he wasn’t in the room yet. I took a seat in the back of the class near the window. Within minutes the room started filling up. I watched the door anticipating him to be next. Then finally he stepped in. He had an large coffee in hand and a stack of papers.

“Afternoon everyone. My name is Mr. Macfarlane. I am the new English teacher. I was working at the college but took this exciting new offer. High school is a whole new ball park but I look forward to this opportunity. Especially the fact that this is an AP class so that means you all actually give a shit. Pardon my French but I am simply being truthful.” We all laughed as his comment. We knew exactly what he meant. He passed out the syllabus and went over it. He was picking up where right around where Mrs. Holloway left off and I was relieved. He told us the summer projects needed to be left on his desk at the end of the week. Thankfully he was easy on us since it was the first day and we spent the rest of the class talking amongst ourselves. I didn’t really like anyone else in this class so I went straight to reading. I was alone in the back corner and that’s how I liked it. Everyone else chattered in groups and my ears picked up on a nearby conversation. It was Laura Compton and her friends. They were the class bitches. No one liked them but every guy wanted to sleep with them. And they were known for getting around town. Okay now I sound like a 70 year old man. To put it bluntly they were just a bunch of whores. Laura was going on about how hot Mr. Macfarlane was. So I wasn’t the only one…Nora just has bad taste. Anyways the way they were talking about him was making my blood boil. Like he was an animal up on the auctioning block. They were only interested in a fuck. I actually wanted to get to know him better, he was so sweet and interesting. I ground my teeth at their words. I couldn’t focus on my book anymore. I looked up at the clock and it was almost time for the dismissal bell. When I looked up Mr. Macfarlane’s eyes were glued to me. I quickly looked back down. Then he stood up and made an announcement.

“I need to see Elise Goodman after class.” Hearing him say my name made my heart skip a beat. Laura and her clique casted their glares at me. I could feel their eyes burning into my skin. Minutes then passed like seconds and the bell rang out. I stayed seated while everyone else filed out of the room. I couldn’t help but squirm when I heard his footsteps. I looked up to see him smiling as he sat on top of the desk in front of me.

“Look about earlier, I’m so sorry. I am beyond embarrassed and ashamed. I swear it wasn’t intentional sir. I’m not like that at all!” I spat out before he had a chance to even say anything. He chuckled at my distressed state.

“Elise please, you don’t have to apologize. Accidents happen. I know you aren’t “like that” And I’m not mad at you, far from it actually.” He said with a sweet smile.

“Really? I was worried all day about the whole situation. These old skirts are not easy to work with sometimes. And I didn’t want to make a bad first impression. “ I replied quickly stammering on before realizing the last part of his reply. He said he wasn’t mad, far from it…was he hinting to something else? He had liked what he had seen? No way I’m overthinking it. I was now silent. I looked up to see him grinning. My face flushed bright red. That is when I felt something between us. Almost like a magnetic force. With every fiber of my being I wanted to jump at him and just kiss those perfect lips. How I kept myself restrained I’ll never know. That’s when I could feel my underwear soaking by the second. Never before in my life had I felt this way towards someone. Of course I’ve have had crushes before but that was the extent of it. I never pictured myself pouncing one of them. If I were being honest, I wanted to do more than just kiss the man in front of me. I remained silent though, I was afraid to speak.

“I look forward to reading your summer projects. You can tell a lot about a person from the way they interpret classic works of literature. The way a book speaks to a person is a reflection of their mind and some say even their soul.” He spoke like a true poet.

“I couldn’t agree more sir.” I replied in almost a whisper. I was completely drawn to this man whom I just met. Could he possibly feel the same way? No….stop it Elise.

“See you tomorrow Ms. Goodman.” He said while gathering my books up for me. He held them while I stood up and threw my bag over my shoulder.

“Uhm thank you, see you tomorrow Professor Macfarlane.” I walked out of the room holding my breath. I skipped to my locker to put my books away. The hallways were almost empty. Aside from Nora who stood by our lockers with her arms folded.

“What took you so long El? I’ve been waiting on you forever!” She said in an annoyed tone.

“Sorry I had to stay after class. Mr. Macfarlane needed to ask me something about the summer project. I hope he goes easy on the grading.” I tried to act casual.

“Oh. Well I bet you liked that. One on one time with your crush.” She winked at me. I had to be inconspicuous about this. I didn’t want to start anything that could cause trouble.

“It was okay. I mean he’s cute but you’re right. Definitely too old. I do need to get out in the dating game, we just have slim pickings in our class though so it won’t be easy.” Nora slammed her locker and stared at me.

“Are you serious? Little miss book worm is wanting to try dating?” Oh no Nora was going to take this too far.

“Well not exactly. But if a guy asked me on a date I wouldn’t be so quick to say no. I mean it is about time I gave in.” She was literally jumping up and down. I could already tell she was going to make this a big deal.

“Say no more! If I find you a date you have to go on it okay?” She asked while tugging on my arm.

“I guess. I mean it depends on who it is. I have high standards you know!” She nodded and squealed. We left the building and made our way to the parking lot, Nora always had her brother pick her up after school, he went to college on the other side of town and I walked home. I only lived a few minutes from the school and I enjoyed the scenery.

“Want a ride El?” Nora’s brother Jake asked. I politely declined. I had to work this afternoon at the local book store. It was on down in town which was a 10 minute walk past my house. I didn’t want to make them go out of the way. The siblings pulled out of the lot and I began my journey towards the book store.

#seth macfarlane #seth macfarlane fanfiction #seth macfarlane imagine #seth macfarlane smut

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thatshankcallednewt · 7 years

Text

The Maze Runner: High School AU - Gally: Together - Part One

A/N: Okay, so this is the official part one of Together. For some reason it took me a lot longer to title this series! Most of this chapter was posted in the preview, sorry, but I will get another chapter out soon. But if you did read the preview, there is still a chunk of this part that hasn’t been posted so make sure you still read that!

Thanks to everyone who left notes + replies :-)

“So…” Your teacher starts, his glasses sitting on the edge of his nose; his hands rifling through papers of a folder that seems to have been taped up at the binding to keep it from splitting right through. “You requested extra credit, is that right?” How could anyone acquire a folder that… size?

You nod your head slowly, but continue to stare at the bulging folder of however many detentions, changed schools or broken rules that could be filled with. Impossible, you think to yourself. Mr Francis takes a sip from his coffee, pulls out a single sheet of paper, and places it on top of the desk in front of him. You look around his office, crammed with books mostly of education, a few photos of his family, drawings from little kids, and few knick-knacks here and there. And the smell of dust and coffee, almost budding onto an old people smell, fills your nostrils. You know he isn’t that old but you do spot a few greying hairs on his head.

His eyes avert to another piece of paper lying next to it, “I see you have tutored before…” He starts, pushing the glasses up the bridge of his nose. He has a kind of tiredness to his voice, like an extension – it’s there but he could choose to get rid of it if he wanted to. “But you stopped quite abruptly with this student, how come?”

You clear your throat a little before talking, “The student was… he was troubled. And I’m putting that lightly.”

Mr Francis nods his head, “You do know that most kids who need tutoring are troubled in some way?”

You laugh, not loudly, just lightly; it sort of floats from your mouth and hangs in the air inappropriately. “Everyone is troubled, Mr Francis. Tutoring that student, however, put me in danger and at risk, I was pulled from it without question. I had no choice.”

Mr Francis looks up at you for a moment, neither amusement or understanding reflecting back in his eyes. “Galileo.”

You frown, “Excuse me?”

Mr Francis sighs, and removes the glasses from his nose. “Galileo, he is in the grade above you. A senior.”

You look from Mr Francis to the overflowing folder, “You mean… Gally, right? On the football team?”

His eyes narrow, and you suddenly find yourself feeling a little bit uncomfortable under his glare. “Yes, Gally. Whatever his name is nowadays.” He takes another sip from his coffee, the smell beginning to overwhelm you. Not that you do not like coffee, in fact, you live off of it most days. But you can smell instant coffee at the drop of the hat, and on the worst days it can make you feel so much as nausea. “You will be tutoring Gally, starting after school today.”

“Already?” You dare to question, and as your sentence of defiance leaves your lips you already regret speaking. “I mean, I’m just not quite sure if I’m prepared yet. Sometimes I like to bring materials with me to the session that I think might help—

“You will be starting the first session after your classes today, Miss Y/L/N, this is his address,” he slides you a smaller piece of paper with an address scribbled onto it, barely readable, and a phone number underneath. “The phone number is a direct number to my office, in case you have any problems.” He sits back into his chair, and it creaks with age. “Any questions, Y/N?”

“Well… yeah, actually. Do you really think it’s a good idea for me to tutor Gally?”

He only looks back at you, confused and irritated from the assumption that you have some sort of bad attitude to his proposal.

“I don’t think a Senior would want a Junior to tutor him… How is that even possible anyway?”

Mr Francis sighs, “Look, all I know is he needs the help and you’re willing to do it. Yes, he is in the grade above you but you are smart enough to handle that. And if he doesn’t agree with you then that is his own problem, we are providing him the help; he just needs to take it.” He takes this moment now to cough a, unfortunately, phlegmy kind of cough which leads into an almost fit. After he finishes, he takes another sip from his coffee, “No more questions?”

You shake your head, and then collect your bag; picking the piece of paper off of his desk as you walk out. You stare down at the address for the second time, the pace of your heartbeat growing faster. Unfortunately, like all cities, there is always that one neighbourhood, or that one side of town, where things are a bit sketchy. Unfortunately for you, that is where Gally lives. Now, you are not one for discrimination and judgment on others, but it is what it is, and what worries you most is getting to his house. You shake the worry from your head and walk down the school’s corridor, shoving the slip of paper into your jacket pocket.

“Y/N!” A familiar face calls out along the lockers, it’s Thomas. You smile, slinging your bag over your shoulder as you walk over to him. “Coming to watch me play lacrosse tonight?” A cute little grin spreads across his lips, and you swear you see a twinkle in his eye.

However, the giddiness you feel from him stops short as you remember your tutoring session. “I’m not so sure at the moment…”

Thomas frowns, “What? You never skip a game!” He shakes his head, “What will I tell Newt? Teresa? The gang!?” He continues to cry in an over-dramatic tone, as usual when he wants to be funny or entertaining.

You laugh and slap his shoulder playfully, “You know I wouldn’t skip a game if I didn’t absolutely have to.” You feel the slip of paper in your pocket again, the corner of it jutting into the skin of your side. “Besides, it’s not a definite no, it’s just not a definite yes.”

Thomas looks at you suspiciously as he reaches into his locker, pulling out a textbook for his homework, “You’re not… going on a date, are you? Because, as delightful as that would be, I could not give my blessings and approval if he’s taking you away from my lacrosse game.” He chuckles at himself, zipping the backpack up.

“No, there’s no date or hang out even… It’s just school stuff.” You lean your back against the locker beside his, “Hopefully it won’t drag on for too long though. Wouldn’t want to miss seeing you smash those losers from Oak High, now would I?”

“No, you wouldn’t!” He smiles, and slings his backpack up onto one of his shoulders, “I got to run, but I hope you can make it tonight! Bye!” He says, jogging off in a hurry down the opposite way you were heading.

“Bye!” You call after him. You then find your way to your own locker, pack the necessary items, and then leave. Once you reach the doors of the school you take out your mobile phone and send a text to Teresa, explaining that you can’t go for milkshakes with her, Brenda and Newt this afternoon… and like with Thomas, you do not go into much detail as of why.

You take out the piece of paper again, some of the ink has been smudged off –probably because you had sweaty hands or something— and you try and think about which bus would take the fastest route there. You then conclude that the train might actually be the better way to go, so you tuck the paper away again and head down the path towards the train station.

You tug at your jumper, pulling the sleeves over your fingers to keep them from going numb. You really underestimated the weather today, and now you’ll have to suffer those consequences. You keep walking, passing by other students and strangers along the way until you spot a group of seniors up ahead. They block most of the path so you are going to have to push through them or go around. You consider back-tracking completely but as you think of it you realise you are just about to walk through the group, so you keep your head down and hope no one notices your existence.

You make it through without a scratch, relief flooding your anxious mind. However, you spot the train pulling up to the station ahead, and you mumble a curse word as you begin to walk faster. But then, a low grumble of a voice calls out to you, “Hey! You!”

You turn around, wide-eyed, and look towards the person who called for you. He has quite short dark hair, piercing green eyes; and he’s massive. Okay, maybe not massive, but he’s very tall. Very intimidating. Very—

“Are you Y/N?”

You blink, and take in his facial features one more time. Soon you realise this is the boy you are supposed to be tutoring today. Gally. You hadn’t seen him a whole lot before, you could only remember that he was tall and on the football team; but he does not wear the famous jacket like his teammates, instead he wears a leather jacket that reflects strips of sunlight at different angles. “Uh, yeah, yeah that’s me.”

He blinks back too, and looks unsure of what to say. His eyes slowly travel over your face, and your height, as if to size you up or something. “Mr… Mr Francis said—Suddenly he stops talking altogether and looks over his shoulder, glancing back at his classmates who do not seem to be that interested in the conversation you two are having, but even so, he pulls you aside anyway. “You’re tutoring me today, right?” His voice is still rather gruff and raspy, but at a hushed tone.

You nod, barely making eye contact. Then you gesture towards the train that is now leaving its stop, “I was going to take the train…”

He looks towards the train station and then back to you, “Are you crazy? You should never take the train to my house, that stop is known for drug deals and all sorts.” He looks away for a moment, as if contemplating something, “Besides, I was going to give you a lift in my car anyway; safer that way.” He then grabs his bag up from the hood of another car and nods over at his friends, “I’ll see you guys later.” He grabs onto your arm and pulls you along with him further down the pathway, you become so intimidated that your feet stumble over one another and almost trip you up. He glances down at you, “Can you walk like a normal person please? People are going to think I’m forcing you to come with me or something.” You turn back for a moment and see his friends and their friends staring after you, some even wolf-whistling or hooting.

You laugh nervously, “You kind of are,” you gesture to his hand still wrapped around your arm. He lets go of your arm, especially as he hears his friends making suggestive noises.

He stops at a nicely-sized car, unlocks it, and hops in. You follow, sliding into shot-gun, your heart pounding. You’ve never really gotten into a car with some guy you don’t know too well… Isn’t this the exact situation your parents teach you to not do?

“Sorry about them, they don’t know about the tutoring so of course they think of the only other possibility.” He laughs a little bit, but it dies down when he realises you don’t laugh with him. “Oh, and, them not knowing, I would like to keep it that way.”

You continue to look out the window, “Yeah, sure. No problem.”

Gally backs out of the car park, quite swiftly and with ease, and then drives out of the school onto the main road. Stores, houses and wandering people pass by, and you try to keep your focus on them but the thought of Gally sitting right next to you doesn’t leave your mind. And that he’s the one controlling the vehicle. What if he’s one of those crazy drivers that gets off on putting themselves in danger? You hope not.

“I didn’t know that… well,” he starts, his voice a little crackly and uncertain. “You’re a Junior, right?”

You gulp, daring not to look at him in the eyes, “Y-yeah, a Junior.”

He pauses for a moment, and it’s like the silence between you stretches for minutes. “Okay.”

Your phone vibrates in your pocket, so you take it out cautiously. The text is from Teresa, and reads:

that’s ok, hope to see u tonight!

You chew your bottom lip, realising that it might not be as easy to get away as you thought. A part of you wants to help Gally, and to respect the chance of extra credit that you’ve been given by the school, but a part of you just wishes you could take advantage of his probable disinterest in being tutored and leave early. You turn the display screen off and put the phone away, hoping that you’ll come up with a decision later.

You slow down to a stop at a red light, and Gally takes this moment to flick through a few radio stations. Another car pulls up beside you, their music blaring, windows down and laughter filling through your own barely open window. Your eyes wander over to the car and the head in the opposite window that bops to the music causes you to shriek and duck down so your no longer in view.

Gally jumps slightly and the sound you make and glances down over at you, his eyebrows creased in concern, “What?” He looks out the windscreen and notices nothing, then he looks out your window. His eyebrows slowly become undone from the furrow they were in, and then he turns back to face forward. Minutes go by, and neither of you move or speak. You finally hear the music fade out into the distance as the car turns its corner, a sigh of relief escapes your lips as you sit up.

Gally’s foot presses onto the gas pedal and the car takes off, continuing its path straight down the road. “Didn’t tell your friends either?”

You straighten up a little bit more, and glance over at him. Hardened jaw, eyes straight, and hands stiff against the wheel. “I just thought… because you’re a Senior…”

He blinks once and then swallows before answering, “Yeah. Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Time passes by as a throaty and hoarse voice talks through the radio and streets go past in a blur of colours. A younger woman mentions the weather, and then it goes back to him as he announces the next song. A new song from Y/F/B. As the intro plays, Gally’s fingers find themselves over the volume dial; spinning it to turn the volume up.

You smile, “You like this song?”

He taps his fingers on the wheel to the beat of the song, “Yeah… yeah I do, actually. They’re my favourite band, since forever ago.”

“Same! Have you heard all of their newest album?” You say excitedly.

“Only a few songs, just whatever’s been played on the radio. I haven’t… haven’t had the time to go out and get the CD.”

You smile to yourself, thankful that you two have something in common and that he’s someone to buy a hard copy version of music still. You know iTunes music is relevantly easier, but the CD makes it so you have something physical. “Well, if you like, I can play you the CD when we get to your house, I have it in my bag.”

He seems to smile at this, or at least the colour in his eyes goes lighter. You’re not sure, but something about his mood definitely changes. “That would be great.”

You sit back into the car seat after turning up the song just a little bit more, since it’s your favourite part, and quietly sing the lyrics until the song is over.

Part Two

#thatshankcallednewtimagine #tmr imagines #tmr gally #will poulter #tmr #tst #tdc #tfc #tmr fanfiction #reader x gally

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