#every day my aunts call and they’re like ‘i can’t afford food anymore it’s so bad’

[rekhma]

genuinely truly asking this bc I still cannot wrap my head around this: why the fuck aren’t Egyptians out in the streets?

[ask-iamnotanalicorn]

Previous: The Flim Flam Timeline

The Wasteland Timeline:

This is the story of when Equestria fell.

And this it the story of when Equestria rose again.

The trials began as they always do: with the return of Nightmare Moon. The celestial sisters clashed, and Celestia fell. Heedless of the struggle it would be to keep the Sun set with its alicorn princess banished inside it, Nightmare Moon did just that, determined that her traitorous sister experience Nightmare’s punishment.

Nightmare’s reign of Equestria was strained, but Equestria could have borne it. But within a year, the capital was attacked by the Changelings, desperate to replenish their stores of pony love that had been stymied by the nation’s state of fear and uncertainty. Nightmare Moon was barely managing to repel the threat when the Crystal Empire returned, and King Sombra began to march on her northern borders. With attacks from within and attacks from without, a distrusted leader on the throne, and economic failure rippling across the country as readily as the shifting front lines, the ponies of Equestria were more torn than ever.

So of course that’s when Discord escaped.

The upside of Discord’s release was that it temporarily stopped the fighting. Even King Sombra was smart enough to withdraw in the face of the mad draconequus on a quest of vengeance against all ponies. Queen Chrysalis and Queen Nightmare Moon (who had absconded herself at first sign of Discord’s escape, using every possible trick to keep him from finding her) formed a temporary peace treaty in order to seek a solution - for a world ruled by Discord was useless to all of them. (Granted, the Changelings could withdraw to their protected realm, but Chrysalis had tasted power and wasn’t about to let Discord have it all. She was quite looking forward to stabbing Nightmare Moon in the back afterwards.)

Their solution: a magical contract with the long-imprisoned centaur, Tirek. Tirek was more than happy to oblige. He single-handedly decimated Sombra’s troops, gorging himself on the magic of Crystal Empire and Equestrian ponies alike. It is possible that, if Discord hadn’t come to see what all the fuss was about himself, Tirek would have kept right on gorging to the very limit of the contract that bound him.

When the two titans clashed, the battle that ensued sundered hundreds of miles of landscape. Canterlot bore the greatest brunt; the castle collapsed completely from its cliffside home, the city little more than ruins. Discord’s attacks spread wildly unpredictable waves of chaos magic across much of Equestria. And when at long last Tirek had defeated him and sucked him dry, the lingering effects of that chaos magic stayed rooted in the ground like weeds.

It seemed, for the briefest moment, as if the worst problem was over. But of course, a power-maddened Tirek is a worse threat - because at least Discord doesn’t go out of his way to destroy everything in sight. Drunk on chaos magic, Tirek easily broke the tenuous contract with the queens and set across the landscape, draining ponies by the thousands and carving swaths through the countryside for the sheer wicked joy of destruction. His power was even mighty enough to destroy the changeling hive, overpowering its magical protections.

There was no choice - the two remaining rulers of any species in the land had to either defeat their own creation or face the loss of all they held dear. Nightmare Moon called upon the power of the Moon itself, drawing it nearer to Equestria in a desperate gambit. Tidal waves rocked Equestria’s coastlines, submerging Manehattan and other coastal cities entirely, and the alicorn of the night shone with deadly moonlit radiance as she bombarded Tirek with the full brunt of her power. But even Nightmare Moon at the height of her power was not strong enough to stop Tirek at the height of his, and he struck her down against the surface of the Moon itself. Some of the dislodged chunks rained down on the world, damaging more of not only Equestria, but many other countries on that side of the planet.

Tirek seemed to have won; all he had left to deal with was one small, angry changeling queen. An assured victory, no doubt.

He could not have known how wrong he was. For a changeling might give its magic willingly to a spell like Tirek’s with no ill effects, but an unwilling changeling queen will not be robbed of her power easily. As Tirek’s powers drain magic, so changeling powers drain love - and no one in all the world had such self-love as Tirek. The cycle of Tirek draining her magic and Chrysalis draining his became a self-consuming spell spiral that ultimately imploded upon itself, taking both creatures with it.

The resulting explosion could be heard across the celestial sea. For a few moments, there was something like an artificial sun on the horizon - a sun that had set directly on Equestria.

Then came the silence. After three years of war, devastation, and disasters unlike any the world had ever seen, there was silence.

And as the silence stretched, the survivors stirred.

Earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, crystal ponies, and zebras; yaks, cows, goats, donkeys, and buffalo; gryphons, dragons, hippogryphs, minotaurs, and changelings: in spite of everything, many had survived. They rose from their hiding places to find an Equestria and Crystal Empire in ruins. No major cities still stood; borders and coastlines were unrecognizable. Large swaths of land once green and lush were barren and blasted, and spots of chaos magic lay in wait for creatures unwise enough to enter them unprotected. The moon hung wrecked in a dark sky, shining in shattered glory down on the devastation that had been the once-rich land of Equestria.

But the great destroyers were gone. None of the titans and tyrants who had brought this destruction down on the country remained. The usual monsters hardly seemed a threat anymore; those who had survived thus far had learned to cope with far worse. They could build new settlements, make new ways of life, come together or fall apart on their own merits.

And the most hopeful sign of all came the next day. The first actual day since Nightmare Moon returned and the Thousand Days of Woe began:

The Sun - weak and red in the dust-filled sky - slowly rose over the horizon.

The Princess of the Sun had not returned yet; perhaps she is still trapped by her sister’s spell. Perhaps another way of escape is being laid. But the light fills the ponies’ hearts with hope.

The Equestria they knew is gone. But the New Equestria has a future.

____

Sunday, Aug.10, 4 A.C.

Dear Journal,

It’s really strange dating things this way; but with everything that’s happened, most folks agree it’ll be easier to date our calendars starting with the fall of Princess Celestia. ‘After Celestia’ sounds so grim, though; kinda hope we change it. Maybe when the Princess returns... we’re praying she does.

Anyway, I still can’t believe we found a whole stock of blank paper in the storerooms! We’re saving most of it for bartering, but Mom thinks it’s smart for one of us to make notes for posterity, so it looks like I get to keep you. I’ll try to be short to save space, but it just feels so good to write again!

The move into the Canterlot ruins ruins is going pretty well. A few other families joined us after our last trip to Apple Fort, and we’ve shored up our defenses in case the air pirates make another flyby. Pop and I negotiated a deal with the Apples - food in exchange for books. A few of the unicorns know replication spells and are using some of the paper to make copies of really important texts so we don’t lose valuable knowledge to an accident. It still blows my mind how much we’ve lost in... was life really normal only a few years ago? It feels like another lifetime that I was in this very city, talking to the Princess, sitting at a normal cafe... eating lunch with Cam and Press...

I don’t want to forget them. Camera Shy and Pressing Matters, my best friends. Maybe they’re still out there somewhere. We run into old friends every now and then - my old traveling salespony gig has come in handy, actually! I’ve found a bunch of people who used to be clients, it really helps with forming trade and peace treaties with other groups. So it could happen. Please, Prince, keep them safe wherever they are.

I’m really blessed, though. I have to remember that. I have Mom and Pop and Black and Per and Chewie - although I’m still not used to Chewie flying and talking now. She’s such a character. Lots of ponies are missing family - so are we, we haven’t been able to find most of the extended family, but Pop got word from Aunt Pitter that she and my cousin Light Drizzle are out west somewhere, and Pitch Apple is down at Apple Fort, thank the King.

And we could be worse! We made friends with a tinkerer named Steam Punk, he made me a new wing that works as good as my old one! (Not a HUGE bar to cross, but it’s still really impressive!) I’m talking him into working with me to start a production house that can make and sell them affordably to other handicapped pegasi. And Mom got her flight back thanks to a gem Black and some other mages crafted. I think she still misses her diving mark, but she’s so brave and optimistic, it really inspires everyone. I wish we could do something for Pop’s horn, but he’s finding other ways to help out. Per is... well, I guess if you’re going to get turned into a pony-dragon, you’d want to be as cheerful about it as Per. Who knows, maybe she’ll still get a cutie mark someday! And Black is fully aware that he looks pretty boss with an eyepatch, the dork. 

There’s rumors that Princess Cadance might be alive and organizing the crystal ponies up North; lots of ponies are heading that way, but I think our group will stay here. There’s a lot of resources in the Canterlot ruins and in the castle, although Black leads the expeditions into the castle because of safety issues. I never knew he was so good at exploration and such; guess there were a few skills he was holding out on us over the years, but turns out he was working for the Princess before! What in Equus, I gave him such an earful for being all secretive about being my bodyguard or whatever. 

I’m running out of page, so I’ll wrap up today. We’re holding a worship service later, Pop and Parson Brown are setting it up. We want to keep focusing on what we have to be thankful for. We are GOING to get through this. The King, the Prince, and the Advocate have not abandoned us, and we have each other. 

~Salespitch

----

Fun Facts About The Wasteland Timeline:

- This was my favorite timeline to draw =D I HAD to get some steampunk stuff in there, although there are definitely Mad Max vibes. The convenient thing about this timeline is that it was a literal blank slate, so I could really get creative with it! I feel like this would make a neat bookmark, what do ya’ll think?

- I tried to reference all the major villains in the picture. Extra shoutout to ReversalMushroom, the patron who sponsored this Alternate Timeline Special, for giving me the ideas for the changeling goo and Tirek’s hoofprints, which were added in during the coloring phase. I think they round it out quite nicely!

- The random bit of Candy Forest over the crevice there is one of the pockets left behind by Discord’s chaos magic going wild. Most ponies avoid it because here’s WEIRD stuff in there, and ponies who go in there usually come out a little weirder themselves. 

- Black lost his eye and half his sunglasses in a fight with some Changelings. He gets on quite well with only one eye, though, and he insists his sunglass-lens eyepatch is going to be the height of eyepatch fashion. (He DOES have a sense of humor in case anyone doubted it. ;) ) Black taught everyone basic survival techniques and does most of the more dangerous tasks.

- Sales lost his wing during Tirek’s rampage; he tried to distract Tirek, but they didn’t have time to make the plan from the Tirek timeline, so he got swatted pretty quickly. On the upside, Tirek lost sight of him and didn’t get his magic. Sales can fly about as well now with his new steampunk wing, which combines technology and magic to mimic low-level pegasus flight (which was where he was at anyway, so he made a great first test subject!) Sales’ main job is  negotiating peaceful trades with other groups.

- Sales Patter (Dad) lost his horn while pushing his wife out of the way of some falling rubble. He insists he was only mediocre at magic anyway, and he doesn’t need a horn to do business! He does miss it, though. He helps their new community with allocating resources.

- Pitch Forward (Mom) lost her magic and cutie mark to Tirek’s onslaught. The gem in her coat simulates flight for her, although not quite at the level she was before. She and Sales joke about how he can almost beat her in a race now. She helps with the kids in their small community and teaches flying techniques to pegasi.

- Pitch Perfect got hit with a random blast of Discord magic that turned her half dragon. It took a little getting used to, but she honestly thinks it is super neat. She’s pretty good at sniffing out gems now, which (when she isn’t eating them) helps with family finances. Her friends Codebreak and Castle Crasher are part of their little community, and the three are constantly getting into trouble (which most everyone silently thinks of as a nice bit of familiarity.)

- Chewie ALSO got Discord’d; she has fairy wings now and she can talk. Chewie still likes Sales the best and hovers around him chattering like Navi half the time. The other half of the time she forgets she has wings and just hops around exploring. At this point she’s become less like a pet and more like another tiny sister, to Per’s delight and everyone else’s raised anxiety levels. She is VERY aware of her surroundings and alerts the group to intruders and strangers. She really misses computer games.

- Princess Celestia will eventually return, although by that time I feel that the various groups gathering together will have formed something like a decent society again. It remains to be seen if they’ll go back to a monarchy, create a government of connected micronations, or turn into something like the United States.

- And yes, Camera Shy, Pressing Matters, and Press’s husband Curler are all alive. They’ll meet up someday!

---

A/N: Thank you all for joining me on this journey through time and space to explore the seven MLP timelines and where Sales & Co might have ended up in them! I hope you enjoyed it; I had a good bit of fun coming up with the different scenarios, it was a great brain exercise. =D Thank you again to all my Patrons, and to ReversalMushroom for sponsoring this particular special! There will be a final post next week of all the pictures together, with links back to their storyline posts.

I also want to thank you for bearing with me as the regular updates continue to be on hiatus. This has been a rough and strange year for all of us, and I hope you all are safe and healthy and know that you are loved. Jesus has really been with me through this year, and even tonight as I write this; there are things I struggle with, but I know that they do not define my value, HE does. =) And I, like Sales, want to count my blessings, the biggest one (aside from my faith in God) being that I have family around me who love me and care for me. I’m very much looking forward to Christmas! =D  

Merry Christmas! May your Christmas and New Year contain joy and peace, and may Christ Jesus rest His hands on you and draw your heart to His. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

~River Babble

[kariachi]

Me: *wakes up**immediately goes ‘when I say Everybody Live I mean Everybody Lives, including Gabby*

Also Me: *proceeds to write out exactly how*

~~

Gabby wasn’t entirely sure what to think as she and Casey made their way up three stories of stairs. A necromancer. His aunt talks them into quitting their jobs and moving out west- them with a baby on the way- and the first thing she does is direct them to a necromancer forty minutes from her home. Gabby hadn’t even known magic and aliens were a thing until a month ago and now here she was putting her trust in both. Specifically, in the rodentlike alien she saw when they opened the door, with long ears, golden eyes, and covered in light brown fur. They turned as the door opened, chattering, and immediately started waving them about.

“Hello, hello, I haven’t seen you around,” they said in a thick accent as they ushered Gabby towards one of three large stations consisting of tables and shelves full of what seemed like random stuff. Casey they urged towards the front wall, lined with stacks of chairs in various sizes. “Grab a chair for the dam and yourself, go on now.”

“Hi,” Gabby replied, pasting on a polite smile to hide her nerves. “We’re new. I’m Gabrielle Jones and this is my husband Casey.” The necromancer turned their appraising gaze, which had been on Gabby since she walked in, to Casey.

“Jones, Jones, kin to Devin’s litter?” Casey, the great lummox, grinned more easily.

“They’re my cousins,” he said, and the necromancer nodded.

“I should’ve guessed, from the size of you. Going to be at least as big by my guess.” And that, it seemed, was enough for them, as they turned back to Gabby.

“Was the climb alright for you?”

“It was fine,” she said with a nod. Her back wasn’t happy, but she’d been working on her feet for too long to call a twinge in her back trouble anymore. The necromancer did not seem convinced. They waited until she was seated, giving a sharp look to the chair that was just a few inches too low for Gabby’s comfort, before coming closer.

“I’m Rilev,” they said, their hands and eyes glowing green as they slowly, methodically even, waved them in front of her, hovering longest around her belly, “and if those stairs start causing you any pain or tiredness you tell me so, so we can meet at ground level, or at your home.” ‘At their home’, as if they weren’t staying with Casey’s aunt and her husband. Gabby opened her mouth to give an instinctual polite reply, only to be cut off with a sharp look. “Any pain or tiredness. A long pregnancy wears on the body enough, it doesn’t need any help at it.” She nodded again.

“Well, my back is a bit sore after it,” she said, and Rilev nodded, turning their magic on Casey.

“Then we’ll use the spare room on the ground floor next time, unless you’d be more comfortable at home?” They frowned at Casey, ears twitching back. “I’m sorry that magic won’t be able to help with your injuries. Brains are finicky and you have to get at them while the wounds are fresh. I will be able to give you something for those headaches though.” Casey tensed at the same moment Gabby did, wide eyed and blinking. Okay, so Rilev probably knew what they were doing, part of them hadn’t actually expected anything. Or, well, part of Gabby hadn’t at least.

“That would be, great,” Casey said hesitantly, squeezing Gabby’s hand, “we’re staying with my aunt though, and don’t exactly have a lot of money…” They’d been barely making ends meet and certainly not covering medical bills before, between Casey’s problems and the baby. Now they were running off their minuscule savings and were unemployed and living in his aunt’s guestroom and- Rilev’s calloused hand landed on Gabby’s arm before she could truly work herself up with stress and worry, the necromancer whirring soothingly.

“No worries,” they said, “a proper necromancer prices to their customers.” What did that even mean? “Now, you.” They waved a finger at Gabby. “Everything seems to be going good and proper, but you aren’t eating enough, and not healthy enough.” Fuck but Gabby had heard that more than her fair share.

“Food costs money,” she said automatically, the same thing she’d said to her doctor back in Denver every time he’d chastised her for not eating right. Given she and Casey had been in that ‘too successful for aid and too poor to live’ category, there hadn’t been much she could do. Rilev tutted, went to one of their tables, and pulled some paper and a pen out of seemingly nowhere.

“This planet,” they muttered, “‘work hard so you can starve productively’, I swear it.” Their writing was slow and deliberate, a reminder that English probably wasn’t their first, maybe even not their third language. “Go to these stores, they’re on Main Street- drive north from here until you see a big, redbrick building and that’ll be it- you’ll find them easily. Armando is human and so is Yelt’s husband, so they’ll know what they have that you can eat. Tell them I sent you and that you need a balanced diet.” They finished the note with a flourish and held it out for them. Casey took it, holding it so they could both look it over. Two businesses were named, along with a basic outside description and some notes for their purchases. Things like ’40 red 60 white’ under the butcher shop and a whole list of suggested fruits and vegetables, several of which they didn’t recognize.

“We can’t afford-”

“No worries,” Rilev interrupted again. “They’ll take care of you. Especially since this is prescribed.” Gabby had her doubts and it looked like Casey did too, but Rilev continued anyway. “Gabrielle, I want you back in for another check in fourteen days, same time. There’s a blue door at the back of the building, it leads to a spare office for just these occasions. If things change or you need to get a hold of me for any reason, my number is there on the bottom of the page. Casey, I’ll need time to prepare your tea, but it should be ready in an hour or so. I’d suggest doing your shopping, then coming back before you head home to pick it up.” And, well, that seemed to be that, shoulders tense like they were waiting for a blow to land Casey got back to his feet and helped Gabby to hers.

“And, how much do we owe you then?” Chittering, Rilev’s eyes flicked about for a moment before they nodded.

“For the tea, little Kevin keeps raving about your mutton ribs, so a rack of those should cover the next few months. We’ll see if I like them and how well the tea works before deciding on any recurring payments. For pregnancy consultation and birthing aid-” they took another moment “-bring me a chair poor Gabrielle can sit comfortably in. I won’t have a patient of mine being uncomfortable, especially not when they’re carrying.”

Gabby didn’t know what the opposite of sticker shock was called, but she was sure feeling it. From the way Casey mirrored her dropped jaw and bugged eyes, he was too. Rilev just chuckled and waved dismissively, like she hadn’t just promised the rest of Gabby’s baby-related healthcare and several months of medication for Casey for a fraction of what one obstetrician appointment had cost them- without tests- back in Denver.

“I wasn’t reared on a mud fence,” they said, “there’s no reason you should have to struggle just for being hurt and having children.” There just, there were no words. There wasn’t air.

“Thank you,” Gabby breathed, relief and hormones threatening to ruin her composure even as Casey damn near vibrated next to her. Rilev shook their head with a smile, waving them back towards the door.

“Nothing to thank me for, child, I’m just doing my duty. Now you two go enjoy your day, come back later for your tea, and eat right. You’ll suffer more than the kitten without, I promise you.”

Three hours later found them heading back to Bellwood with a week’s worth of produce (put on a tab that Yelt was happy to set up, trusting that of course Eva’s nephew could be trusted to pay it off when he could), plenty of fresh meat (put on the tab of a man neither of them knew, but who supposedly was a friend of the family and would be happy to have helped if he even noticed the addition at all), and a jar of a pungent, silvery powder that should last Casey a month if the instructions were followed. They’d also received two truly massive lunches to-go for about ten dollars, a list of people to talk to about empty apartments and buildings in progress, another list of people around the town who were hiring at the moment, and some not so subtle advice that someone who could get a hunting license and use it well could probably make some good income selling hides, carcasses, and other bits and pieces around town.

Amidst all this Casey had wrecked on alley (‘No damage done, just spooked the kids, that composter is sturdier than that’) and somewhere along the line Gabby had started crying and not been able to stop no matter what she did.

This might actually have been a good idea after all.

[atinytokki]

My Way

ii. Enemies at Jangwon 

Hongjoong stayed buried underneath the blankets and hidden away in his temporary bedroom as long as he could until someone came to fetch him.

He didn’t want to face the fact that he was alone now in this strange maze of hallways filled with strangers, and everyone was whispering about him and his parents and no one told them off for it.

The knock at the door was soft, and Hongjoong poked his head out from the covers, squinting his eyes at it in suspicion. Whoever it was didn’t sound like they were here to drag him out of his sanctuary.

“Who’s there?” He finally ventured, cringing at the crack in his voice.

The door cracked open and a familiar head poked through. “Just me, Yujung.”

Cousin Seyong’s wife.

She was a quiet and gentle woman, and she always saved extra fruit from the refreshment trays for him when he visited the manor with his parents, so Hongjoong liked her.

He liked Seyong too, even if he had trouble understanding him. The man was even quieter than Yujung, and always frowning at some troublesome burden of his. But he meant well, and when he smiled at him, Hongjoong knew he meant it.

Yujung opened the door enough for him to see the tray she had brought him. 

A wave of relief washed over the boy. He had still expected to be brought to breakfast and paraded around to receive the condolences of every great uncle and third cousin that didn’t even know his name. A quiet meal with only Yujung as company was much more appealing, so he silently accepted the food, ready to scarf it down and make up for picking at his plate yesterday.

“How are you doing?”

Hongjoong let the egg flop back into his bowl and met Yujung’s eyes. He knew she wasn’t talking about his head injury but his reaction to... the accident. Yujung wouldn’t use his answer against him, but it was a difficult question anyway. “I-I don’t really know. I’d much rather be at home instead of bracing myself every time I turn the corner.”

Yujung nodded soberly. She was of humble stock, which Hongjoong knew meant she had to prove herself to the pompous family she had married into. Especially when it came to producing an heir. Bracing herself every time she turned the corner was routine for her. The woman had enough on her mind, and taking care of Hongjoong was not in that job description, so he appreciated it that much more.

“Would being at home make things any better?” She asked carefully, wiping his face for him when a blob of jam got stuck to his cheek. “Reminders of your parents everywhere would probably be distressing, wouldn’t they?”

“So is Aunt Minkyung sobbing into her handkerchief all night.”

Yujung tilted her head in acknowledgment. “I know everything here seems like it’s just for show...” she said carefully. “But we love you. And we loved your parents. So we really do want what’s best.”

Hongjoong’s grip tightened on his glass of water. It was emptied already in an attempt to ease his headache, probably one borne of all his crying last night. 

“If we can agree what’s best,” Yujung mumbled to herself as she collected the empty dishes and prepared to bring them to the kitchens.

“What do you mean?” Hongjoong asked suddenly, climbing out from under the blankets to stop her before she left.

Yujung sighed and turned to face him, tray perched on her hip. “There’s a meeting in Ryeowook’s study later to discuss everything.”

Hongjoong’s eyes widened. “Why didn’t anyone tell m—“

“It’s not about what’s happening to you. For now, you stay here with Ryeowook and Minkyung. They’re discussing your house and the funeral first.”

Hongjoong blinked at the floor in confusion until he realised— it was a money issue. They probably wanted to sell it to afford a funeral.

As he looked back up at Yujung, paralysed, his eyes shone with pleas. “Don’t let them sell it, they can’t sell it, Yujung. It doesn’t belong to them.”

Yujung bit her lip and glanced away. This situation was much bigger than Hongjoong, but his voice couldn’t go unheard when it concerned him this much. There was no way she would allow that, Hongjoong was sure of it. 

“I’ll talk to Seyong,” she finally said. “He may be able to get through.”

With that she was gone, although Hongjoong left only a moment or two after. He needed a spot to hide in so that he could hear the proceedings.

Eventually he decided on the hallway between the parlour and the servants’ staircase and crouched there patiently through the sounds of his relatives settling in.

Hongjoong almost fell asleep again as they discussed financials and budget at length, but his attention was captured again when the topic of his house came up.

Hongjoong’s father Hohyun had been the sixth and youngest child of Grandfather Kiduk, current master of Jangwon despite his failing health. Uncle Ryeowook was the eldest and acted as master of the household, perhaps preemptively, and ever since he had taken up that mantle the fun and softhearted Uncle that Hongjoong remembered had been replaced by this man. A cold, distant relative weighed down by the pressure of managing the largest estate in the northeast and aristocratic center of the coastline.

Comparatively as youngest son of the youngest son, Hongjoong was at the bottom of the totem pole. Not that he and his parents had ever cared. Their small cottage and fishing business were their pride and joy, but now it seemed that humble reality was being dashed to pieces in the argument Hongjoong was currently listening in on.

“There are plenty of other fish stalls, Ryeowook, selling the place isn’t going to bring down the economy,” Aunt Ajung sighed in exasperation. She was the second oldest of Grandfather Kiduk and had prematurely transformed into an old maid. Snobby, sarcastic, and snide with a special contempt for young children. In this situation, or probably any situation, she was not Hongjoong’s ally.

“I can’t imagine pawning off dear Hohyun’s beloved home like that,” another voice interjected. Aunt Sohee, the third child and complete opposite of Ajung. Chattery, exuberant, and married with a teenage son. The sisters were often at war with each other, and even the death of their youngest brother wasn’t enough to call a truce. “I mean, after all that work he put in. It should be repurposed as a Jangwon property, maybe an extra stable or guest house or something.”

Perhaps she wasn’t Hongjoong’s ally either. If only someone would suggest keeping his house and letting him stay there, maybe his heartbeat would slow down. It was going so fast he was afraid it might give him away.

“It’s not even a decision we need to make now without everyone present,” Sohee’s husband Raewon pointed out. Surely he was referring to Hongjoong— and still he tried not to get his hopes up. “The twins aren’t here.”

And just like that, his hopes came crashing down again.

Donghyun and Dongwon. Twin bachelors, and Kiduk’s fourth and fifth children respectively. They were like one person in two bodies, always focused on one-upping each other and proving to be the better of the two. But they were lazy and arrogant, and Hongjoong knew he’d get no help from them either. Never mind the fact that they’d gone off doing who knows what and hadn’t been back to even hear news of the tragedy. 

But no, the twins weren’t here, and without them the family couldn’t possibly discuss the fate of a house that never belonged to any of them. 

Listening to all this was frustrating and Hongjoong was tempted to give up and leave. But Cousin Seyong hadn’t spoken yet, and if Yujung had kept her word, there was a chance he would stand up for Hongjoong’s wishes.

He clasped his hands in front of him, pressing them to his lips and letting his eyes fall shut as he begged with all his might for Seyong to speak up.

“Seyong, you’ve been quiet as usual,” Aunt Ajung noticed, making Hongjoong perk up with anticipation. “Ryeowook sent you to the place, did you find anything?”

“Nothing resembling a will,” Seyong’s quiet voice replied. There was a small sound like he was shifting around in his seat. “But...”

Please say you think I should stay there, Hongjoong repeated to himself. Please.

“But they were both young. I’m sure they never expected to die so soon,” he finally said.

Hongjoong resisted the urge to slam his head into the door. So much talking in circles when his fate was up in the air.

“Well,” Aunt Minkyung laughed mirthlessly. “If they weren’t expecting to die young, they shouldn’t have gone out recklessly in a storm.”

That was it.

Hongjoong tore the door open and barged in, ignoring the shocked gasps and marching into full view. 

“Stop talking about them like that!” He yelled, angry tears winding their way down his cheeks.

His aunts and uncles just looked appalled, but Yujung was already on her feet to try and calm him.

“Hongjoong—“

“You’re no better!” He accused, scrubbing at his face. “Why are you letting them disrespect my parents? I trusted you!”

With that he stormed out the door and through the hallways, ignoring the voices that echoed behind him until he was outside, salty air familiar on his face, and then he kept running.

He ran until he couldn’t anymore, and he ended up there. By the sea.

The wind stole the tears from his cheeks and the sobs from his lungs. Even as his legs gave out and he fell on the sand, he cursed the waves for taking everything from him and still drawing him back.

He always came back to the sea.

...

A/N: Another sombre update from me :) Don’t worry, a main series chapter will be out this weekend. Until then, let me know what you thought of this and have a nice day!

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[heyyyharry]

Olivia

(from the Flatmate!Harry Series)

...in which Y/N’s dealing with her family issues, and Harry’s past comes knocking on his door.

I know you guys have been waiting so long for this so I can only hope this doesn’t disappoint you. 

Harry cannot explain his unusual hatred of surprises. He hates surprise parties, he hates unexpected phone calls, he hates London’s unpredictable weather, he hates movies plot twists, he hates changing plans at the last minute, and most of all, he hates uninvited visitors. But somehow ever since moving in with Y/N, he’s been facing all of the above on a daily basis. And today is one of those days when a surprise just casually shows up at his front door.

Y/N has a presentation for her business club this morning, so when Harry wakes up she is already gone. As Harry’s making himself a sandwich for breakfast, the first and probably only guest of the day rings on his doorbell. He knows it’s not Y/N because whenever she forgets the keys she would just stand outside and shout out his name, the same thing happens when Niall comes to visit and the door’s locked. 

Harry rolls his eyes and leaves the sandwich on the kitchen counter to go see who it is, hoping that this person won’t ruin his entire day.

“It is you!”

Before Harry can react, the blonde haired stranger pulls him into a hug and tells him how thrilled she is to finally see him again. Shocked and confused, he grabs her by the arms and slightly pushes her away.

“Wait, do I know you?!”

“Haz, you don’t remember me?!”

There is only one person in this entire world who calls him by that nickname, and now that he has a better look at her face, he just doesn’t believe in his own eyes that she’s actually here in person.

“Ollie!” Harry almost tackles his childhood best friend to the ground with that hug, causing Olivia to squeal but starts laughing anyway.

“What are you doing here? How did you find me?” Harry doesn’t even realize how big his smile is, he’s just overjoyed that she came back to him after all those many years.

“I just arrived here two days ago. Last week I visited your mum and she gave me your address!”

Olivia finally breaks the hug. With both hands on his shoulders, she takes a step back to admire how much he’s grown.

“And look how tall you are! When I left we were the same height! Now you’re a head taller than me! What is this?! And your voice! Oh my God!”

“It’s called puberty!” Harry rolls his eyes. “And thank you, you look great, too!”

Olivia puts her hands on her hips and squints her eyes at him in doubt. “Really? Because I think my boobs are still a bit small.”

To his surprise, she actually places both hands on her breasts and squeezes them right in front of him. Harry immediately clears his throat and turns away. If this had happened before he began dating Y/N, he would’ve found it completely normal for the nature of their friendship. But he’s in a relationship now, it’s uncomfortable to see another girl do something like that.

“Boobs scare you now?” Olivia covers her mouth and gasps. “Haz, are you gay?!”

“No!”

“It’s fine if you are though.”

“What? No, love!” He shakes his head and chuckles at her funny reaction. “I’ve got a girlfriend now so…yeah…”

“It’d be more believable if you said you were gay.”

“Nope. My girlfriend lives here with me.” 

Olivia looks at her friend with bug eyes and slack-jawed, arms crossed in front of her chest. Of course she’s aware that it’s been years since they last saw each other, and he’s definitely not the same sixteen year old boy she knew anymore, but she didn’t expect Harry to turn into someone who would move in with his first serious girlfriend!

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Harry laughs.

“I think I’ve got the wrong address. Sorry!” Olivia jokes and turns to walk away but Harry grabs her by the wrist and smoothly spins her around to face him again.

“You haven’t changed much, Ollie,” he says, winning a smile from her.

“Is it a good or a bad thing?”

“Good. But you should’ve just called me before coming here.”

“What’s the fun in that?” Ollie reaches up to stroke Harry’s curls, looking happier than ever. “Besides, I knew how much you hated surprises!”

...

“And that’s the end of my presentation. Thank you for listening!”

With a smile on her face, Y/N walks back to her seat in the applause of her peers. As the next person comes to the front to deliver his presentation, which Y/N doubts will be nearly as good as hers, she receives a call from an unknown ID. 

At first she doesn’t want to pick it up, thinking it’s either a telesales employee or an estate agent, as always, but her phone has been vibrating for a while now it makes her think this one call could be important. So she excuses herself and leaves the room to answer it.

“Y/N, it’s me, Maisie!”

For a second, all Y/N can see is herself falling head first into a dark black pit. She wants to think it’s just a prank and that someone’s pretending to be Maisie, her sister. However, she cannot lie to herself and say she doesn’t recognize the voice on the other line. How can she not? She grew up hearing that voice every single day. 

“Y/N, are you there?”

She should just hang up. She should just pretend she’s never picked up that phone call, but deep down inside she knows that’s not what she wants. In this very moment, Y/N can finally relate to her boyfriend's unusual hatred of surprises.

So that is how Y/N ends up meeting her sister in the park near her campus. When she sees Maisie, she still thinks this is a bad idea, because when somebody leaves you and later comes back, they’re never the same person. Her sister could be a dangerous criminal and she still wouldn’t know because it’s been years since she last heard from Maisie. 

Before the incident, the two of them used to be so close. They shared a bedroom and Maisie read Y/N at least one bedtime story every single night. Maisie got her first boyfriend and the girls grew apart, and the night Maisie left in her boyfriend’s car she didn’t even say goodbye to her little sister. 

“How did you find me?” Y/N asks, arms crossed defensively in front of her chest and she’s not even looking at her sister as they’re having this conversation on the park bench.

“I ran into Violet...”

“Violet? Did you blackmail my best friend to get my number?”

“No! I just told her about my situation and she was so understanding.”

It does sound like Violet, Y/N’s no stranger to her high school best friend’s good nature. No one’s more easy to be manipulated than Violet.

“And what situation is that?” Y/N lets out a sarcastic chuckle. She still cannot believe Maisie’s never contacted her once ever since she left but suddenly when she needs something from her she just casually shows up like nothing had never happened. 

It doesn’t sound like Y/N to blame every unfortunate event in her life on her older sister whom she hasn’t seen in years, but she’s more than sure that had it not been for Maisie’s incident, her parents wouldn’t be pressuring her to become her perfect oldest brother, Darren, knowing she cannot. All because of how much she reminds them of the daughter they’ve lost.

“I didn’t know anyone else to turn to,” Maisie says while her fingers start fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, same thing Y/N would do whenever she’s nervous. “I couldn’t come back home to see mum and dad. If I knew where Darren was, I still couldn’t come to him, he’s always hated me. You’re my only family, Y/N.”

“You should’ve thought about that when you left me.” Y/N’s voice breaks at the last three words. 

“If it’d been you, I doubt you would’ve stayed with our problematic parents Y/N.” Maisie’s response leaves Y/N at a loss for words. “All mum and dad wanted was a perfect child. They didn’t care how horrible it was for me to find out I was pregnant with my first boyfriend! I know my pregnancy wasn’t planned, but I didn’t want my child to grow up thinking she’s unwanted.”

“She...?” 

“Yes.” Maisie smiles at how the look in her sister eyes softens. “Her name’s Eleanor, she’s five now. You’re an aunt.”

Wow, Y/N thinks to herself. When she woke up this morning, she never would’ve thought she would receive an unexpected phone call from her sister, and she would end up having a five-year-old niece that she’d never known of. Though the title makes her feel a bit old, she cannot hide the fact that she’s over the moon.

“Where’s she now?” she asks Maisie, whose smile disappears once receives that question. 

“At home, my neighbor’s babysitting her while I’m at work.”

“Where’s her dad?”

"Last week he left us.” Y/N feels her heart ache when she finally gets the answer. “He met a rich woman, who was willing to give him everything she had only if he’d give up his poor family, and that’s what he did...”

“I’m sorry...” Y/N reaches out to hold her sister’s hand and brings it to her lap. 

Maisie presses her lips into a smile. “I know we haven’t talked in years, and it’s not right to come here and ask for your help but I don’t know what to do. He left me with nothing, so I took El here to start over, but my waitress salary can only afford her clothes and food. I can’t pay the rent and if I don’t have the money this weekend, the landlord will kick us out.”

Y/N has no idea what’s gotten into her, but she doesn’t regret saying what she says next, “what can I do to help?”

...

Harry feels something’s off when his girlfriend returns to their shared flat. She seems worried and irritated and the first thing she does when she enters the living room isn’t to kiss him on the cheek, but to go straight into the kitchen for a glass of water. He asks her what’s wrong but she says she just had a bad day, that’s all. 

“Hey, guess who came to see me today?” Harry asks when Y/N’s texting on her phone and doesn’t even bother to look at him. “Olivia. I’ve told you about her once.”

“Sure, that’s great, baby.”

That answer, to Harry, is no different from a slap across the face.

“You’re not listening.” It’s not even a question, it’s a statement.

Y/N looks up, and the questioning look she’s giving Harry immediately confirms that he was right.

“I said-”

“Wait! I have to make this call! We’ll talk later okay?” Y/N quickly tells Harry and walks right past him to her room.

When her door’s closed, Harry still has no idea what just happened. He wants to follow her and interfere with that phone call then demand her to talk to him, but he thinks that’s probably too much, and maybe he’s overreacting. So he sits on the couch and wait for her to come back. Little does he know, he’ll have to wait until morning.

...

Y/N’s behaviors in the next few days are just incomprehensible to Harry. They live in the same flat but they don’t speak more than two sentences to each other a day and she’s always coming home late then making excuses like she’s too tired to talk or she just wants to be alone. At first Harry thought he was being delusional, but gradually, he feels like she’s drifting further away from him. 

“What’s on your mind?” 

Olivia’s voice breaks Harry’s train of thought and he blinks a couple of times to adjust to reality, which makes her giggle. They just went to the bookstore together, which was originally a date with Y/N but she blew him off at the last minute.

“Come on, your ice cream’s melting, Haz.”

“I can’t understand your craze for ice cream.” He laughs when notices Olivia’s finished half of her cone as they’re walking down the street back to her hotel. 

“I don’t need a reason to like something.”

That’s obviously a lie, but Harry doesn’t need to know. Even if he already did, Olivia wouldn’t tell him either. She’d like to think about it as her own little secret.

Olivia became Harry’s friend when they were in middle school, but their history went all the way back to first grade. She was really sad that day, sitting on her doorsteps alone while her parents were arguing in the kitchen, and he was riding his bike around the neighborhood when he found her. It was none of Harry’s business, he didn’t even know who she was, he just knew his mum had taught him to never walk away from a sad girl. 

“This is for you,” he said, handing her the chocolate ice-cream he bought with his own pocket money.

Olivia looked at him, eyes wide, then shyly mumbled a soft “Thank you.”

They hadn’t spoken another word to each other until middle school when they got paired as partners for a class project and later on became close friends. Olivia still doesn’t know if Harry remembers how they first met, but every time they meet, Olivia would ask Harry to buy her a chocolate ice cream and Harry would always do it without question. The truth is, she doesn’t even like ice cream that much, only for him that she does.

“Are you still in university?”

“Of course, Harold! You know how important education is to me!” Olivia playfully slaps Harry’s chest. “Just kidding, but yeah I’m still in uni. I just decided to take a gap year and travel the world. Before I came here, I was in Bali. Holy shit, it was the best time I’ve ever had!”

“Fuck, that sounds awesome.”

“It really is! My next destination is Korea! You can come with me! I mean...if you want.”

They’ve talked about traveling far away together before. When they were younger, all they ever dreamed of was to get to eighteen so they could go anywhere. She used to be his partner in crime, “used to”, sad, but also true. A lot have changed since the day she left, and despite how she feels about him remains unchanged after all those years, she’s no longer his first and foremost. 

“I don’t want to leave Y/N behind, and I’m not so sure she would like to come with me.” 

“Right. Harold’s got a girlfriend now,” Olivia teases as she pokes his dimple with her forefinger, wishing she could be as cool about this as how she appears to be.

The rest of the way back to Olivia’s hotel is silence. Something has dawned on the pair of friends since the moment Y/N was brought up, something they have always known but for the sakes of their friendship, pretended like they didn’t.

When they arrive, Harry thanks Olivia for joining him today, after that they share a hug, which is too formal for their liking.

“Haz,” calls Olivia when her friend turns to leave. “Do you...uh...do you want to come to my place tonight?”

“What for, love?”

“Uh, i don’t know. I can cook for you if you’d like. I’ve been eating alone these days, it’s pretty sad.”

“Okay. Can Y/N come?”

“S-Sure!” Olivia nods. “Of course!”

“Great! Thanks, Ollie! We’ll see you tonight!” With that, he walks away, however, with an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Harry heads back to his shared flat, thinking about Y/N constantly. Even though he’s still a bit mad at her for ignoring him, he still wants to believe his girlfriend has a good reason for it. He knows she loves him so she wouldn’t hide things from him. Harry really wants to believe so. 

But how can he convince himself she has nothing to hide when he comes home, once again, to a dark empty flat, with just a single note on the fridge: Working late to prepare for a business club’s event. Don’t wait up for me! Love you. :)

Harry rereads the first sentence over and over again in his head, not wanting to believe that is Y/N’s actual handwriting. Because it’s a lie. There’s no event preparation because there’s no event to begin with. 

Harry ran into the president of her business club this morning, and that girl told him Y/N hasn’t shown up at club meetings for days, let alone be this devoted to stay late preparing for an event which she will definitely miss. Now Harry just doesn’t know if he’s more hurt or more disappointed. And what confuses him more is the fact that he still believes that she has a decent reason for lying to him.

Letting out a sigh, Harry pulls out his phone and types down a quick text to Olivia, not sure if it’s the right thing to do, but it’s better to get drunk with someone else than just yourself when you’re desperate.

Hey, I guess it’s just me and you tonight. H. 

...

“More?”

Harry shakes his head slightly to refuse another bottle of beer Olivia offers. He’s a bit tipsy right now, and sure he will probably book an Uber to get home, but he knows Y/N hates it when he’s one over the eight.

“Are you seriously still thinking about your girlfriend?” Olivia laughs, which lets Harry know she’s now on the same level of tipsiness as he is. 

Just less than an hour ago, Harry was eating with her on the sofa but somehow they ended up lying side by side on the floor between empty glass bottles. 

“Are you happy with her, Haz?”

“Of course I am,” Harry responses without a second though. Even when he’s drunk, Y/N’s still the only thing he thinks about. For someone who’s never been in love before, he thinks he’s never been more sure of his feelings.

The pair drowns in silence for a brief moment as Olivia finishes the beer in her hand, only to change the subject soon afterwards.

“Do you remember our first time? That was some fun shit.”

This would be a weird subject to discuss with one of your old flings when you’re already in a relationship. However, Harry’s not in his right mind to decide what he should and shouldn’t say.

“Yeah, that was wild. I was terrible though.”

“What? You were great.” Olivia flips herself over on her stomach and scoots closer to rest her chin on his shoulder. “Couldn’t have asked for a better first time.”

“Ollie...”

“Haz, I miss us...” Olivia lazily drags herself on top of Harry, sighing contently. Harry laughs but immediately sits up, forcing his disappointed friend to do the same.

“We’re here now.”

“You know what I mean,” she whispers, fingers reaching out to fist Harry’s shirt. Harry may not be sober, but he knows her intention. Instantly, he grabs both of her hands to stop her before she goes too far. He knows she’s now too hammered to control her own actions, so he doesn’t blame her for doing this.

“Ollie, I’m sorry...I can’t,” he says with sincere in his eyes, which she’s too wasted to see. 

“Of course you can. Remember what you said? About how good I tasted? About how good I felt...”

“Ollie, no. I’ve got a girlfriend.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

Harry’s whole body stiffens all at once. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Harry, if you meant that much to her, she wouldn’t lie. And if she meant that much to you, you wouldn’t turn to me for comfort.”

Olivia struggles to keep her eyes open, but for these drunken words of hers, Harry has to eat his heart out. 

He wastes no time to gather his stuff and leaves his friend’s hotel room, despite the heartbroken look she gives him when he heads to the door. He’ll talk to her tomorrow when she’s sober. Harry’s not sure if they can still be friends after tonight, maybe not, but that he can deal with later, if he loses Y/N tonight, he doesn’t know if he’s able to cope. As a result, he risks his own life driving back to their shared flat, hoping his girlfriend will be there when he arrives.

“Y/N, I’m-” Harry’s sentence is cut short when he opens the door and sees Y/N standing in the middle of their flat with tears in her eyes, his phone in her hand. It’s completely slipped from his mind that he left his phone at home when he walked out.

“Baby, why’re you crying?”

“Don’t tell me you were just with her...” she says bitterly while holding up Harry’s phone. “Olivia, huh? Did you enjoy fucking her?”

“I-What? No! Nothing happened. Did you really go through my texts?”

“No, her messages popped up on the screen, asshole! You fucking went to see another girl at a hotel!”

“Because this girl is my friend and that’s where she’s staying?”

“Why didn’t you tell me that you’d been seeing her again?”

“I did, but you weren’t listening!” Harry wants to shout but he remembers why he came back. Still, she’s clearly in no position to tell him he’s the one at fault. “Why are you here accusing me of lying when you haven’t been honest yourself? Don’t fucking tell me you were busy with your stupid club because I know it’s bullshit.”

“You want to know the truth?” Y/N tosses the phone onto the sofa as breathes out a laugh, which is anything but humor. “When you were out having fun with your Olivia, I was busy taking care of my sister’s baby so she could finish her late night shift. Yes I haven’t come to one club meeting lately, because I’ve been spending most of my time trying to convince my oldest brother to financially support my sister.”

Harry’s tongue-tied for almost three seconds, utterly shocked at the news. “Your sister?”

“Yes...” Y/N squeezes her eyes shut and exhales deeply. “She came back a few days ago.” 

“Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“I promised her not to tell anyone, even you, but I guess I cannot hide any longer...” Y/N shakes her head as the lump in her throat becomes too hard to handle. 

This is the second time Harry sees her cry. The first time being on his birthday when she threw him a surprise party and invited all of his friends over, only to hear him accidentally talk shit about her to another girl. This time, she’s also crying because of him, and a different girl. This gets Harry thinking twice about the kind of person he really is.

“I didn’t know, Y/N...You shut me out.”

“That was my fault. I apologize...But...but you could’ve just interrupt me any time and told me how you felt, Harry. You didn’t even try to communicate.”

“You weren’t even listening when I told you about Olivia!”

“So you went to see your ex to get back at me, is that it?”

“She’s not my ex.”

“She took your first kiss, and virginity! You knew how your relationship with her made me feel, but you went to see her anyway! If you wanted to hurt me, congratulations! It worked!”

Harry’s head hangs low. He hates to admit it because he doesn’t want to accept he’s a terrible person for wanting to make Y/N jealous at first. However, he genuinely didn’t know about Olivia’s intentions or even consider cheating on Y/N. The last thing he wanted was to put her in any kind of pain, yet somehow ended up doing it still.

“Hurting me just because I hurt you is not how a relationship works, Harry.”

Harry feels his heart stop completely when he hears her saying those words.

“A-Are you breaking up with me?”

“I don’t know...”

He doesn’t know what it’s like for her, but for him, that answer is no different from a ‘yes’.

“Can we...” Y/N swallows while her eyes are glued to her feet, unable to hold his eye contact, not even for just a second. “Can we talk in the morning when we’re both thinking straight?”

“Of course, baby...Take all the time you need, just..” Harry knows he sounds desperate, but he doesn’t care.

“Just please don’t leave me.”

Y/N doesn’t reply. Just like that, she turns her heels and walks back to her room. Harry’s once again left alone in the living room, feeling empty, not knowing what to expect when he wakes up, or if she’s still here then. 

He has always hated surprises, and maybe, this, will be the worst.

[insanusnavicularis]

Beauty and the Beast platonic AU

Tony Stark- playboy, genius, billionaire-

Lives life going from party to party

Getting drunk

Hooking up

Without a care in the world and wasting his brains

One night, a young woman visited him, claiming he was pregnant with his child

Only for him to tell her off, he didn’t want the child

The woman suddenly became an enchantress, cursing him and everyone in his tower

“If you ever learn to take care of someone, and that someone accepts your care, you’d be free”

Peter has been living and was raised all his life in the small town of Queens

His aunt May, who raised him, is a visionary scientist, who’s experimenting in the medical field

Peter though, is more inclined to engineering

He’s the best at not only engineering, but almost everything related to physics and maths and chemistry

And that’s why Flash’s jealous of him, making his life impossible with the help of his father

One day, May has to go outside the city for a meeting

When she asks what Peter wants her to bring him, he tells her the same thing he always asks for “A hexagonal nut”

But she doesn’t return, only her loyal horse, Ben, finds his way back to Queens.

Peter, being the worried and self risking teenager he is, decides to go on a quest to find her

He finally gets to an old and wrecked tower, plants were everywhere as well as old pieces of technology and equipment, a big ‘A’ was thrown on the side, as if someone threw it from far above

He really didn’t want to step inside, but it was snowing and cold, and he had always had problems with extreme temperatures

“Uh- Hello?” he shouts “May?”

“Peter?” he isn’t waiting for a reply, but when it came, he doesn’t hesitate to grab a candelabra and run upstairs, where the voice came from

He felt terrified when he found his aunt in a cold cell and with a fearful look

She pleads him to get out of there, saying the tower is cursed

But he isn’t abandoning her there

He is working on something to get her out

When suddenly he hears a loud roar “Who’s in my tower?!”

An enormous and hairy beast appears in front of him, raging

He tries to show courage, he isn’t backing down when his aunt is in danger and so, he exchanges his aunt’s liberty for his

Peter jumps when the candelabra he was using speaks, presenting himself as Thor, and then a clock appears and presents himself as Steve. He thought nothing could surprise him anymore.

He’s just a bit surprised when the beast leads him to a room- bed, drawer, wardrobe, everything, even a window- instead of a cold and lonely cell

“You’re a kid, I’m not that evil...” the beast just grumbles “And forever is a long time”

Inside he finds a harpsichord whose name’s Bruce, a teacup named Clint, and Natasha, a teapot.

Peter tries to escape

“You know, he’s not that bad when you get to know him” Natasha tells him, somehow figuring out his plan

One day he drifts off to somewhere he shouldn’t be, a basement

There he finds plenty of things

Newspaper articles thrown away, lots of old blueprints, and, what was the most strange

A blue circle floating under a glass case and rusting, its light, which Peter can tell once was bright, was now dull and seeming like it would give up at any moment

Peter runs away after that, because when the beast finds him there he is mad. He shouted and roared at Peter, making him escape in fear

As Peter runs and runs through the woods, he hears something in the distance...

And then, a horse is jumping from behind a big bush, scaring him

Peter rolls down the hill, as he missed a step

He lands over an iced lake

Which breaks under his weight

And he’s pulled under the freezing water

Just when he was about to pass out, Peter sees a big and brown figure jumping in the water and getting him out

The beast.

They go back to the tower and, grumbling, the beast gives Peter a fluffy towel, a new and warm set of clothes, and pushes him inside the bathroom

Thor lights a fire and Steve is telling Clint and Natasha to help with warm food. Bruce plays Peter’s favorite tune

When Peter’s out the beast patches him and the kid thanks the beast for saving his life

“You’re my prisoner, I’m responsible for you” it’s all the beast responds

As the days pass, Peter finds himself more and more eager to see the beast and learn more about him and this castle

And to learn in general

Tony, he learns the beast is called

You see, he learned the beast had a lot of knowledge, from physics to chemistry to astrology to math

Tony is kind of a genius, in Peter’s opinion

And it wasn’t a secret that Peter loved learning

So, one day when Tony asked where he studied and Peter replied somewhat sheepishly “I don’t, we can’t afford it”

The beast started to teach him everything he knew, amazed at how much this kid already knew without going to school

Amazed at how brilliant Peter truly was

And Peter loves it

He always dreamed of going to a school and learning new things everyday

“You’re a genius, kid!” the beast says

“I just like reading” he responds

The beast brings Peter to a room he has never seen before, not even when he was exploring the tower

But Peter jumps when he enters, feeling like he is on a dream

Blueprints and every kind of material you could ever dream of where inside the lab in that tower

Desks and boards decorating it

“You like it?” the beast asks

Peter nods, he looks amazed around, trying to take in everything at once

He loves engineering! This was his dream!

“It’s yours” Tony tells him and Peter looks at him with stars in his eyes and confusion in his face

“What?”

“You like engineering, right? It’s yours”

And Peter jumps to hug him

The next days pass in a blur of Peter and Tony in the lab, the beast teaches him whatever he wants to learn and Peter shows him everything and anything he makes

It almost doesn’t feel like he’s trapped there anymore

He befriends the objects of the castle and manage to make his way to the heart of everyone in the abandoned and cursed tower

One night, when Clint suggests to have a movie night- ‘like the old times’ goes unspoken-

Someone mentions a magic mirror

And Peter being the curious kid he is, wants to see it by himself

“Show me my aunt” he wishes softly, with hope

But what he sees is not what he expects

Flash and his dad are there, and they’re sending May to a mental hospital

He cries for his aunt and curses Flash and his family. That Flash has a problem with him doesn’t mean he has to take it out on his aunt!

Tony looks down, feeling horrible for his selfish desire to keep the kid he loves as a son there

“You can go” Tony tells him, barley thinking about the curse at the moment

“What?”

“Go. Help your aunt, kid. You’re free”

Peter looks awestruck for some seconds before standing up and throwing his arms around him

He then runs outside, getting on a horse and going to help his aunt

In the city, he tells everyone about the beast and the tower, in hopes they realease his aunt

“It seems the madness runs in the family, Penis” Flash comments before shoving him inside the truck with May

“God. Are you okay? Baby? Peter? What did he do to you?” May asks concerned for her boy

He just shooks his head “No... he, he taught me and kept me safe. He’s good once you get to know him”

He hears shouting from outside

Lot of people are together, with pitchforks and torches, chanting about how they have to kill that beast

Flash and his dad are in the front, with shotguns and knives

He has to get out and help the ones in the tower! They’re good people- objects, beast-

Peter manages to get himself and his aunt out with the help of Clint, who snuck inside his pocket before he left

“What can I say? Tony wanted someone to keep you safe”

Together they go back to the castle, helping the others objects in there to fight against Flash and his people

But it isn’t enough for Flash, he wants to kill that beast Peter was talking so highly about

No beast can be more brilliant than his dad, Flahs thinks, or more brave. His dad always will be the best, no beast will get in their way

Peter finds Flash standing in front of Tony with a sword raised and pointing at his chest

“No!” Peter shouts before jumping at Flash’s back

They fight, and just when Flash was about to kill Peter, Tony steps in front of him and takes the blow

Tony is dying on the floor, blood is everywhere, and Peter is raging

He never got to meet his parents, and his uncle died when he was little, he wasn’t letting Tony die

So, with one last surge of adrenaline, Peter pushes Flash outside the room

And the objects of that tower restric Flash

Peter kneels down besides Tony

And mourns him

It took him time and Tony dying to realize it

But that beast was his teacher, his friend, his protector and his mentor

Tony couldn’t die

And that’s when the beast started floating with blue light around him

Peter doesn’t know what is happening

He just knows that now instead of the beast there’s a man

A man in a ragged suit and a goatee, with the blue circle he saw earlier under the glass case in his chest

Where one time Peter saw objects now stood different persons

In the end Peter becomes Tony’s apprentice and they all live happily ever after

So, this is much longer than I intended, but I love Beauty and the Beast and Irondad so I couldn’t not do it

I know that this sucks, I just had to get it out of my head or else this would have been the only thing I’d have been able to think about in the next days

[spiderneds]

I Wanna Fall In Love (Peter Parker [TH] x Reader x Dad!Stephen Strange)

for @melonpanbread bc she’s been the best at dealing with me on this crappy week :’ ) y’all she’s the best.

thank you all for praying. every prayer, message, and ask sent to me means the world. but i’m feeling happy bc my aunt that lives in another state gets to fly here last minute for the funeral. we didn’t think she’d be able to bc she recently beat stage 3 cancer and can’t get around easily anymore or afford a plane ticket, but God made a way and i am just so thankful. 

It was Monday night, and you were sitting at the small dining room table with your dad, eating dinner ordered from your favorite restaurant. As he scraped the bottom of his plate with his fork, he said, “Oh, you’ll never guess who called me today.”

“Christine?” you guessed.

“How did you know?” he asked. 

“Who else would call you, Dad?” 

He raised his eyebrows. “Okay, ouch.” He laughed and you smiled. “Anyway, she invited me to a banquet on Friday. One thrown by the other doctors at the hospital.”

“Oh, yeah? Are you going to go?” you asked. 

“I told her I would,” he said, nodding. “And then she said she’d like it if you would come, too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Would you want to come?” he asked.

You tried to suppress your excitement. “I mean... I guess it would be fun. Is there, like, dinner and dancing and stuff?” you asked. 

“Yes, there’s like dinner and dancing and stuff.” He grinned. “But you have to bring a date or you can’t get in. I’m going to be Christine’s, so I can’t be yours.”

“Well, who am I going to take?” you asked. “It’s not like I have a boyfriend or anything-”

“No, and thank goodness you don’t,” he said. You rolled your eyes. “Look, you don’t have to be dating this person to get in. Just... ask one of your friends. Ask Peter. Or Ned, if you want.”

“Ned probably wouldn’t going...” You bit your lip. “Alright. I’ll ask Peter. He should think it’s fun.” You put your fork down and stood up. Before you left the kitchen, you said, “But don’t you dare eat my food, Dad!”

Later that night, after several hours of homework and projects, you were laying in your bed, hair wet from the shower you’d taken a few minutes before. Your laptop was propped up on a stack of textbooks. You were video chatting with Peter, since he was on a field trip with the decathlon team until Friday. He was currently sitting in his bed. 

“How’s D.C.?” you asked.

“Same as last year, pretty much.” He looked over to the bed next to him. “Jeez - I’m gonna have to turn the volume up to hear you,” he said. “Ned is snoring like a lawn mower over there.”

You laughed. “Yikes. I bet that’s fun.” 

“So fun,” he said sarcastically. 

You sat back against your pile of pillows. “Hey, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Shoot,” he said. 

“So my dad got invited to this banquet with all of the doctors he used to work with-”

“Fancy,” he interrupted.

“Yes, very. Anyway - I’m invited too, but I have to have a date. I was wondering if you wanted to be my date. Not, like, my date-date, but just go with me so I can go.” You shook your head. “I am making this awkward for literally no reason. Ugh. Okay. Do you want to go to the banquet with me, Pete?”

He laughed, showing all of his teeth. “When is it?”

“Friday.”

“Okay, we’ll be back in Queens by then. Yeah, I’ll go with you. They’re gonna have fancy dinner, right?”

“I’d assume so.”

“Sweet,” he said. “I’ll definitely be there, then.”

On the day of the banquet, you dressed in a dark blue dress. You did your hair for the first time in a while, even taking the time to do your makeup the way girls did in the YouTube tutorials. You walked out of the bathroom - your dad was waiting outside - and smiled up at him, pulling at your sleeves.

“You look great,” he said. “So beautiful.”

“Thanks,” you said.

“Is Peter ready?” he asked.

“I told him to be ready by seven, so I hope so,” you said. 

“Come on, Christine is waiting outside,” he said. He held out his arm to you. You took it, beaming up at him as he left the house with you. 

Christine was standing by her car, wrapped up in a glittering shawl that covered her black dress. “Oh, you look so pretty!” she gushed, looking over you. “And look at you, Stephen. Finally in something other than a levitating cloak.”

“It breaks my heart to leave my cult uniform behind,” he joked. He opened the door for you and let you inside of the backseat. He took the passenger seat, leaving Christine to drive. “I sent Peter’s address to your phone.”

“Okay,” she said, shutting the door. “Is this Peter guy your boyfriend?”

“No, he’s just my best friend.” You sent him a text. 

On our way! Be ready.

“He’s been her friend since they were freshman,” your dad said.

“Ah. Well, I’m happy that I get to meet him today.” She met your eye in the mirror and smiled.

She pulled up in front of Peter’s apartment. Peter was standing outside, dressed in the same tuxedo he wore during homecoming last year. He smiled when he saw the car, waved, and jogged up to the curb. You leaned over from your seat and opened the door for him, peeking your head out to smile. 

“Hey,” you said. “Don’t you look fancy.”

He grinned. “And look at you - you finally look presentable.”

You scoffed, leaning back in your seat so he could get in. “Rude.”

“Hey, Doctor Strange-”

“Peter,” your dad replied, shaking his head. “You’re allowed to call me Stephen.”

“Right. I-I know.” He swallowed. “Sorry.”

Stephen rolled his eyes. “This is Christine, Peter.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said, shaking her hand. 

“Nice to meet you, too. Alright, everyone buckled up?”

“Uh-huh.” You felt your phone vibrate on your lap. You looked down at it, checking your two new text messages.

They were from Peter.

You look really pretty tonight.

I’m texting you this because if I say it out loud your dad might use magic to kill me.

You grinned, cheeks burning and heart fluttering. You looked up at him. In the blue-darkness of the car, he smiled at you. 

“Thank you,” you breathed.

The banquet was in a hotel ballroom, and it was decorated with lights that flickered like candles. In the yellow glow stood dozens of doctors and nurses all dressed in fancy gowns and expensive jewelry. You felt nervous as you stood in the middle of it all, Peter next to you. Your dad and Christine were getting champagne from the bar - and you and Peter didn’t know what to do.

“How do people usually act in fancy ballroom parties?” you asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I mean, the fanciest place I’ve been is... a three star hotel.” He looked around. “Should we act like we’re doctors? I feel like we should act like we’re doctors.”

“Peter, we are very clearly high school students.” You looked around. No one was looking at you, and yet... it was like everyone was looking at you. 

“Right,” he muttered, rocking on his heels. “We probably look worse just by standing here.”

You took in a deep breath. “Okay, well... are you hungry?”

“Not... really?” he said.

“You said you were only coming because of the food.”

“I wasn’t serious! And I am way too awkward to eat. And what if they’re serving just snails?”

“What kind of doctors do you think these are?” you asked. “I am sure the food is catered-”

“Okay, I know. It’s just... I am kind of nervous.” He pulled on his collar. “Can you tell I’m sweating?”

You giggled. “Why are you so nervous? Because of the doctors?”

“No,” he admitted. He looked at his shoes. “Because... of you.”

Your eyebrows furrowed. “Because of me?” you asked. 

“It’s not like that, I-” He stopped and sighed. 

At the same moment, the lighting lowered and the music got louder. You looked around, watching a few couples pull one another to the center of the room. They wrapped their arms around one another and swayed slowly, not really dancing, but not standing still. 

“Do you wanna dance?” he asked. 

“Me and you?” you asked. 

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m... really nervous, so if you could just answer...”

“Yeah, we can dance,” you answered. You laughed and took his hand.

He walked beside you to the center of the ballroom. He turned towards you, slowly raising up your hand. He held it carefully. The look in his eyes made your heart skip several beats. Another hand touched your waist and pushed you closer to him.

And slowly, you both were swaying.

You were incredibly aware of how close your face was to his. You were alert to the fact that Peter was holding your hand and touching your waist and guiding you around in a slow moving circle. Wicked Game played from the speakers loudly, but if felt like it was no more than a whisper around you.

“This is the song that played in Friends,” you whispered. “On Ross and Rachel’s first date-”

“Is that really what you want to talk about right now?” he asked. He laughed softly. 

“No, but... I don’t know... what to say right now.” You blinked slowly.

“Me neither,” he said. “But I’m not nervous anymore.”

“You’re not?” you asked. 

“No,” he said. “Not at all. What about you?”

“I... don’t know,” you said. “I can’t tell.”

He drew you even closer and you moved your arm so that it went around his shoulder. You dropped your head and shut your eyes. This moment was so perfect, so right, so unexpected... and you didn’t want to miss it. It had to be over soon, because this moment of pure bliss couldn’t last forever. Moments like these never did.

Suddenly, the swaying stopped. You felt disappointment because you didn’t expect it to be over that soon.

You opened your eyes and looked up at him.

“I... have to go,” he said. He pulled back. “I’m sorry. I really am. You have no idea how badly I want to stay.”

“You don’t need to explain it to me, Peter,” you said. You smiled at him. “I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah.” He gave you a serious look and took both of your hands. “Yeah, I’ll see you later.” He leaned in and pressed his lips to your cheek quickly. Then he was off, running out the doors, pulling his tie off of his neck. 

You watched him go. 

When the doors shut behind him, you sighed and walked to the corner of the room. You grabbed a plate and went through the food line. You snorted when you saw a tray of snails sitting right in front of you. 

Your phone buzzed and you checked it. Your heart fluttered at what it said.

Stay there, because I’ll be coming back for another dance.

You bit your lip and clutched your phone to your chest for half a moment. Your heart was swelling with pure happiness.

“Just friends, huh?” Christine asked from behind you. She winked when you turned around, scooping some food onto her plate.

“That’s how it used to be,” you said. “Where’s Dad?”

“He had to go,” she said. “Cult emergency.”

“Cult emergency?” you asked.

“I notice your Peter is gone, too. Funny, huh?” she teased. 

“Oh. Yeah, he just... had an... an...”

“Avengers emergency?” she asked. “It’s alright, I won’t say anything. I kind of figured. And I don’t know which one he is, but... he’s the Spider-Man, isn’t he?”

“You’re really good at this,” you whispered.

“I know, right?” She grinned and nodded. “So you wanna shove a bunch of chocolate cakes in our mouths now that the boys are gone?”

“Definitely,” you said. 

“Great. So let’s skip the snails-” She gently nudged you away from the food table and towards the counter full of fancy cakes.

[breathinginthevapor]

A chance to make it right again

Summary: It’s been a year since you last saw Luke Hemmings, rockstar and your former best friend, but when invited to celebrate Christmas with the Hemmings family, you might get a chance to make everything right again.

A/N: I know that I haven’t been in any way active on here, but in celebration of Christmas I thought I’d post a small one shot which includes a little bit of Christmas spirit (not very much though), I hope you enjoy x

“How are you, darling? Feels like I haven’t seen you in forever.” Liz greets you with a loving hug and you can’t help but melt into it. Perhaps there’s just a gene for great hugging skills in the Hemmings family because it’s the exact same case with Luke.

“Yeah, it’s been way too long,” you agree, sending her a big smile while pulling away. “I’m doing great, thank you, what about you? Has Andrew’s back gotten any better?” She leads you into the dining room while assuring you that Luke’s dad is doing way better than last you talked with a member of the Hemmings household and that her only worry is that he’ll be eating too much Christmas food because he always has a hard time losing the extra pounds afterwards.

“But enough about us! We are so happy you’re coming; the children haven’t talked about anything else the whole day.”

You laugh, easily imaging the small kids that have always loved you jumping up at the thought of you celebrating Christmas with them this year. “Thank you again for letting my join you for Christmas, Liz. It really means a lot,” you say and smile.

“Nonsense! I’ve known you for 15 years, Y/N, you’re a part of the family, you know you’re always welcome,” she argues and warms your heart with her kind words. It’s true you’ve been a friend of the family for many years and even lived here for short periods of time when your parents were on business trips or something like that, but you’ve never been here for the holidays and not many people would open their homes on Christmas for their child’s former best friend. But that’s just the way Andrew and Liz are, and you’re extremely grateful for it. Otherwise you would be forced to celebrate Christmas alone in your small apartment without any of the things that usually defines your favourite holiday, such as a Christmas tree, tasty food and good company. Originally it was the plan that you should celebrate the holidays with your best friend, but her mum got sick two days before Christmas and had to go to the hospital, your parents and the rest of your family was in Spain (or was it Italy? You weren’t entirely sure) and you couldn’t afford a plane ticket so when you coincidently ran into Celeste and Jack yesterday and they offered that you could join the celebrations at the Hemmings House instead of sitting alone, you accepted the offer even though it would result in a meeting with the boy you had tried your best to avoid for the last year.

As soon as you step into the room where all of Luke’s family gathered, his small cousins run towards you, yelling your name. “Y/N! Y/N! You’re finally here!” Their excitement isn’t exactly quiet and soon the whole family has their focus on you, but the only thing you see is a certain pair of blue eyes. You swallow the lump in your throat and then step forward, hug the kids and listen to their stories about the candy they’ve eaten and their guesses revolving their Christmas presents. However, your focus is elsewhere and you keep on loosing track of what they’re trying to tell you. They thankfully don’t seem to notice that you’re not exactly present and when you make your way around the table to greet all Luke’s uncles, aunts and grandparents you make a bigger effort to answer rightfully to their questions about your studies, how long it’s been since the last time you saw them and thanking them when they tell you that you look more beautiful than ever, that they like your dress or that your new hair style suits you. But just as you’ve almost made your way to the tall blonde you used to call your best friend, dinner is served and you sit down between Jack and one of Luke’s uncles which’s name you don’t recall.

At first you’re tense, embarrassingly aware of his presence so near you but then you get caught up in all the interesting, funny and friendly conversations around you that you manage to forget. You laugh harder than what you’ve done in a long time and you haven’t felt this at home and safe since you were friends Luke and it feels good. Finally, you allow yourself to let go and stop worrying about if your laugh is too loud or if you’re being too much. So when the plates are being taken out and dessert prepared, you’re in a happy and calm state of mind, at least until a certain blond rockstar appears beside you and pats your shoulder.

“Hey,” he whispers.

You turn around, meeting his pale face. His blue eyes have a gentle glow with small pecks of worry and hesitance, like he’s afraid he’ll scare you away. “Hi.” You send him a small smile, and he takes a deep breath and bites his lip, an old habit of his when he’s nervous.

“It’s been a while.” His voice is low, almost gentle and his eyes keeps you trapped. Even if you wanted to, you’re not sure if you’d be able to move from your spot, not when he’s looking at you like this.

You nod. “Yeah, it has.” Flashes of the last time you were together appears in your brain but you show them away, knowing they will upset you and the last thing you want to do after all the kindness this family has shown you is cause a scene.

“Do you- Do you perhaps wanna go for a walk? Get some air, you know? If you don’t want to that’s fine as well, but uh, yeah, I just thought it would be nice,” he proposes, nervously scratching his neck and stuttering more than you’ve ever heard him do before. If this had been old times, you would have laughed and pulled him in a tight hug, but it isn’t. So instead you settle on nodding and shooting him another small smile.

You walk out in silence, the warmth and light of Sydney seeming so out of place when set up against the cold between you and the guy you used to call your best friend.

You haven’t noticed it until now but he’s wearing a ridiculously ugly Christmas sweater you bought for him two years ago and you don’t know if you feel a bigger urge to cry or laugh. You settle for neither of them.

He’s walking in front of you, of course the fastest of the two of you with his long legs. Usually though, he makes an effort to slow down his steps so you can walk together but right now he seems too lost in thought. Suddenly, he stops, standing a few metres in front of you and looking at you like you’ve just placed a knife in his chest. “Why? Why did you just leave? I- I needed you, I needed you so much, but you just left. Why?” He’s standing right there, in the middle of the road and telling you how bad you broke his heart. And your own heart breaks into smaller and smaller pieces for every word he says.

“I just- It sounds so stupid now, but I just couldn’t handle watching you leave me every time I had just gotten you back.” The street is silent besides your low voices. You breathe in, holding back tears and mentally preparing yourself to continue. He deserves answers. “I couldn’t bear saying goodbye in another airport, couldn’t bear only getting to see you five times a year and otherwise only through a screen. And I couldn’t handle that despite you almost never being here with me, I still loved you so much. And I tried to get over you, tried to go out with boys with regular jobs but they just weren’t you. I didn’t know what to do, I’m sorry, but I never meant to hurt you. I’m so sorry.” He looks surprised, which honestly wasn’t what you expected. You thought he would have figured out by now that you had been in love with him but apparently, he hadn’t.

“You- you were in love with me?” he asks, as if processing the fact that you, his best friend through almost 15 years had viewed him as more than a friend without him knowing.

You shrug and answer, voice fragile and almost breaking: “I thought you knew.” You can’t get yourself to look at him, can’t meet his eyes. If you do, you’re afraid you’re gonna cry.

“How could I know? You never told me, never showed me any kind of signs you felt anymore for me than strictly friendship.” He sounds frustrated, but you still don’t have the strength to turn your head and look at him. “How could I know, Y/N?” his voice is barely a whisper, but you hear him loud and clear. You’ve always had a way of following every small thing he does and hearing everything he says. Perhaps it just is like that when you’ve spent so many years having feelings for someone.

You don’t answer him; don’t know what to say, really, because you can’t think of anything that wouldn’t make this awful situation even worse. How can you ever face him again after this?

You can hear him walking closer to you and eventually feel his breath on your neck when he whispers once again: “Look at me, Y/N.”

You shake your head, still not willing to face the shame that’ll surely appear in your body if you ever look at him again. “Please just look at me,” he begs, and you can’t refuse when he asks you like that. You turn your head, meeting his eyes and feeling the wetness in your own. He’s close, so close and you can sense it in every cell of your body. Even after all this time apart, all it wants is to be close to him. “I- I know there’s been happening a lot of shit between us, but do you think that maybe, just maybe, you’ll ever be able to fall in love with me again?” He pauses, swallowing a lump in his throat before continuing: “Because, fairly, I have loved you since forever, but I never in a million years thought you would reciprocate my feelings. And I’m aware that it might be too late, but I needed to tell you and now I need to know; do I still stand a chance?”

You look at him, look at the ugly sweater that’s way too hot for the warm weather, the freckles that adorn his rosy cheeks, the blond curls that’s completely out of place and lastly the sky-blue eyes that’s been your only comfort on lonely nights. And when you nod, it doesn’t matter that it’s a thousand degrees, that there’s not a single sign of snow in this desert-like climate or no mistletoe is in sight: you’ve never felt the Christmas spirit deeper. And when he kisses you, it feels like coming home. It feels like finally being where you belong. It feels perfect, despite the sweat in your armpits, the hands that you don’t know where to put and your teeth that accidently collide.

He smiles against your lips before pulling away, looking all over your face like he’s searching for something. ”Your hair has gotten shorter. I like it; it suits you,” he says. “But your eyes are still the same as they’ve always been, pulling me in and making me wish I never have to let go of you again.” He breathes against your lips, waiting for you to say something.

“Then don’t. Ever. Take me with you, show me the world. I just wanna be by your side.” And then you kiss him again, and all the wrongs turn into rights. “But for now, let’s get back to the party. I’m really in the mood for one of your mother’s desserts.” 

[hellagaymccree]

Mistletoe

day three - mistletoe

takes place a year after day two

[more works by me]

-----

They arrive at Los Angeles almost at night in the 23. Gabriel could still have gone to quickly visit his family, but he gave Jesse the excuse that he was tired, but Jesse knew better. He didn’t want to leave his agent alone so quickly, in a town unknown to him. They watched movies and ordered pizza to relax before bed, though Jesse had trouble falling asleep. He kept wondering about the next day, when they will go to Gabriel’s old home and spend the 24 together. They would return on the 25 to spend more time and open presents. Gabriel had brought two bags full of them that rested on a corner.

He turns on his other side, to have a look at Gabe, and his heart flutters when he sees him asleep, facing Jesse on the bed beside his. The cowboy’s gaze traces the curve of his commander’s body, from his shoulder down to his narrowed waits and up his thigh. He focuses on his face, on the little details he can see in the low light. His eyelids look softly closed, and his mouth parted. He breathes with his commander, focuses on how soothing he looks. He can feel his brain relaxing, letting go of the anxiety and his body going numb with every breath until his eyelids feel too heavy to keep open and he drifts asleep.

Jesse regrets coming when they walk around the house, open the fence and Gabriel shouts ‘I’m home!’ Next thing he knows, a stampede of people come over to hug him. First comes an older woman with dark gray hair, wearing a colorful blouse and skirt. Then come a trio of girls, two twins and an older one, Gabriel’s sisters. Suddenly, Jesse feels small and like a burden, someone who’s only there to carry one bag of presents for all these people. He looks back, they won’t even notice if he slips out. He could afford a nice motel for the holidays—

“This must be Jesse!” The older woman says and places her hands on his shoulders. She’s smaller than him, and her eyes hold wisdom, along with a lot of joy that the years brought to her. “Gabriel has talked a lot about you. I’m Clarisa, his mother.”

“Oh, hi,” Jesse responds, a little taken back. “Yes, I’m Jesse McCree. Nice to finally meet ya. Gabriel speaks a lot about you as well.”

“He better,” Clarisa laughs as he kisses Jesse on the cheek. “Girls, this is Gabe’s friend, Jesse!” The three sisters have turned their attention to him and Jesse feels his breath escaping. They’re beautiful, same brown eyes—the oldest has them lighter—and curly dark hair. The twins are wearing long sweaters, one red wine and another aqua blue, and black leggings. The oldest has jeans and an ugly Christmas sweater.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Delilah,” the oldest says.

“Liliana,” the twin with the red sweater says.

“Mariana,” says the other. They’re younger than Gabriel and it shows on their faces. “You must see Gabe’s baby pictures!”

“Forget his baby pictures, we have his teen pictures!” Liliana adds.

“Wasn’t plannin’ on leavin’ without seeing those gems,” Jesse says and looks over at Gabriel, who’s too busy picking up a child to listen. “Is there always this many of ya?”

The girls laugh before Delilah says, “it’s only two; wait until our older cousin comes gets off work. I heard his bringing his husband and ex-wife.”

Jesse raises an eyebrow, “Isn’t that bad?”

“Nah, she’s great! And their son’s adorable! Speaking off—Jordan! Leo!” A man looks over, he’s wearing a matching ugly sweater, and a boy about fifteen years follows, also wearing an ugly sweater. “This is my husband, Jordan, and my son, Leonardo.”

Jesse tips his hat before extending his free hand, “Nice to meet ya. I’m Jesse.”

“Likewise,” the man responds and the nods while he chews on something. “I was about to grab more coquito, would you like some?”

“If it’s not too much trouble,” Jesse answers.

“Not at all, with alcohol?”

Jesse scoffs, “Is there any other way to drink coquito?”

The man sends him a light laugh before leaving, Leo follows and Delilah takes the bag of presents so she can place them under the tree inside the house. Liliana and Mariana grab each of his arms and take him away to meet people. Jesse looks over his shoulder and Gabriel laughs at him as he finger guns him. The twins introduce him to Leliana’s boyfriend and Mariana’s girlfriend, along with their parents. They introduce him to cousins, uncles, aunts and close friends, always as Gabriel’s friend. It’s only when they introduce him to their partners and close friends that they add the ‘special friend’ with a tone that stirs Jesse’s insides.

Halfway, Jordan hands him his cup of coquito and do a quick toast before he’s dragged again when the twins take him to the new people that arrive. He thought he would get to spend this time by Gabriel’s side, but so far they always seem to be at opposite sides of the big backyard, which takes him a while to actually notice every decoration. The trees and bushes are adorned with lights and a few ornaments and ribbons. There are colorful paper lanterns hanging across that will look beautiful in the night, no doubt. Music is always blasting through the speakers and someone always seems to be dancing, as well as eating. There's always food on the tables set out and drinks ready to grab. When he finally can be with Gabriel, the man looks younger, more alive than he has ever seen. He’s always smiling and his eyes twinkling. His laugh reaches Jesse’s ears as loud and clear as the songs playing, and if he could save it in a bottle and drink it later until he was delirious enough, he would ask for nothing more for the rest of his life.

At first, Jesse worries about taking too much food, until Clarisa comes after noticing his shyness and fills a plate for him, he loses the worry and feels comfortable enough to grab something every time he passes by. The twins ask him to dance and he follows gladly, not afraid to show up his moves. After that, he spots Clarisa picking up the empty plates and he hurries to help.

“You don’t have to, cariño,” she says.

“Please, I like to help.”

She smiles, “well, would you mind following me inside? There’s more to bring out.”

“More? Isn’t everyone full yet?”

She laughs and pats his shoulder, “wait until we pull out the pork. These people will look like they haven’t eaten a day in their life.”

Once in the kitchen, she asks him to clean up the plates while she grabs more food to refill them. Once that’s done, he can see more clearly what they’re having: small sandwiches, meatballs, gingerbread cookies, chicken and beef quesadillas, chicken flautas, guacamole with pita chips, chips with spinach dip, chicken wings and blue cheese, mozzarella sticks and bread rolls. Even if he didn’t want to get too full for dinner, his mouth was watering and his hands twitched to grab something.

Clarissa’s laugh brings him back, “See? Go ahead! Call first dibs!” She hands him a plate and he believes denying it will be rude, so he grabs a bit of almost everything and keeps it on a corner of the kitchen island. “Why the cowboy get-up?” She asks while refilling the guacamole bowl and handing him a bag of chips, “Put a few around, please.”

“Will do,” he answers as he pours the chips on plate around the guacamole. “My ma and I used to watch western movies late at night, when she came off work. They were always on at that hour and it stuck with me.”

“She was a doctor, right?” She looks at him and Jesse’s a little surprise. Just how much has Gabe talked about him?

“Y-yeah! One of the best. I use to go to seminars she gave, she was wonderful up on stage.”

“Did you ever wanted to follow in her footsteps?” Clarisa asks as she looks for the quesadillas she kept warm in the oven.

“At some point in my life, then…” He trails off, not really knowing how to follow. Clarisa finishes up placing the quesadillas neatly in a plate and then look at him. Her face changes to worry.

“Perdón, mijo [Sorry, boy], if I asked anything too personal.” She, and her daughters, must also know Jesse speaks Spanish. They’ve said a few lines in the language without worry Jesse might not understand, as if he was someone they talk to everyday.

“Nah, nah, it’s just that after what happened, after the doctors told me they couldn’t save her, I didn’t believe in them anymore.” Her gentle hand touches his arm, and even through the long sleeve shirt, he can feel her energy, almost as if it was his own mother’s touch.

“You let me know if ever ask about a touchy subject, besides, no sad faces today, alright?” She lifts his chin so he can look at her and he can’t help the genuine laugh that escapes him. “Also, you look handsome, never forget the hat!”

“Thanks, ma’am. Yer son helps me keep it, ya know?” He steps away from the counter and lifts one pant leg to show her the beautiful boots he only wears on special occasion so their color remains. “Got me these boots last year.”

“Oh, they’re beautiful!” She leans down to have a better look. “He has good taste in many things.” Jesse raises his leg when she’s about to touch to feel the leather and the carver design before she straightens up. “Including men.” Her smile is wicked before she turns to get the chicken flautas and Jesse’s there with a blank expression before he continues helping out.

“Already got him a slave for you, mamá?” Gabriel’s voice almost startles him, as if he had known they had been talking about him and sneaked past their senses. He approaches his mother and kisses the top of her head.

“It was about time you talked to your mamá,” she says as she rolls her eyes.

“You know how it is. I miss a year of pictures and stories, everyone wants to tell it first.” He looks over at Jesse, “you should be out there, having a good time.”

“What’d ya mean? The real party’s here,” Jesse says.

“He knows who matters in this place, who works hard to make this happen,” Clarisa says in strict voice, but it covers a lot of years of teasing.

Gabriel sighs playfully, “¿Quieres estar afuera y disfrutarte la fiesta? Yo me puedo encargar de esto. [You want to be outside and enjoy the party? I can take care of this.]”

“¡Ay, mi hijo tan bueno! Ya tú sabes como a mí me gusta acomodar todo. ¡Estaré afuera si me necesitan! [Oh, my good son! You already know how I like to prepare everything. I’ll be outside if you need me!]” She pets Jesse’s cheek before she leaves. Jesse watches her leave and laughs before Gabriel joins in and starts preparing the other dishes.

“She loves attending people, but she also deserves the time off.”

“Agree. She’s wonderful, sir.”

Gabriel elbows him, “You know you can call me Gabriel here.”

Jesse nods because he knows, and he has called Gabriel in other moments, moments he shouldn’t because he’s surrounded by other agents or Jack or Ana. Hell, even ‘Gabe’ has escaped his mouth and the older man hasn’t corrected him yet. But here, it feels too intimate, too private even to call him by those names, at least not naturally. It all feels official to something they haven’t even had yet.

“She knew about my ma,” Jesse says after a few seconds of bags, plates and soft noises. “Does she know about my pa, too?”

“Yeah, and she would send a chancla flying to his face if she ever met him,” Gabriel says, either not realizing what Jesse means by pointing it out, or brushing it off.

Jesse decides to act directly, “does she know about other agents’ parents?”

Gabriel remains quiet as he places gingerbread cookies on a plate, but didn’t even flinch when Jesse asked. Maybe he knew what Jesse was implying. ”You’ve grown so much since you joined, Jesse. In many way. You’ve become an important asset to Blackwatch, so yeah, I talk about you to her. About how good you are at taking care of your teammates, how you’ve saved my ass in the last six years even after I yell at you for it.” There’s a glint of gratitude in Gabriel’s eyes and Jesse chuckles. “How you didn’t let your past determine your future and you chose the right side—even if the other was prison—you accepted Blackwatch after you joined. And you let us accept you. You grew from that and became someone you can be proud of in the future, someone I’m happy to bring here.”

“Chucks, Gabe,” Jesse looks down, hiding his blush. “Didn’t expect that.”

“Hey,” Gabriel says and lifts Jesse’s chin, like his mother did, but this touch makes Jesse shiver, makes him follow every moment like a puppet under Gabriel’s control. “It’s time you start expecting good things, Jesse.”

Jesse smiles, and tries to control the warmth running through his body. He looks at Gabriel and thinks it’s the best thing in the world to be on the edge of his fingertips, and by his side on such special occasions that means a lot to him.

“Seems like you guys need help,” Jordan steps into the kitchen, and Gabriel’s hand falls from Jesse’s chin.

“I can take these ahead,” Gabriel says, grabbing one plate on each hand. “Can you help with the rest?”

“Sure,” the man says before Gabriel walks away. When he passes behind Jesse, he teases the cowboy’s hat and laughs before taking two plates. Jesse follows with two more and Gabriel returns until the tables are full again.

That’s when things change. When Jesse places the last plate on the table, and turns around, the twins are there, giggling. He’s about to ask what’s funny when both kiss him at the same time on his cheeks and Liliana asks him to dance again. When the song ends, Mariana’s girlfriend, Mariela, asks to take the next one, but not before also kissing him in the cheek. When they’re done, he retreats to get some water, where a little girl is trying to grab a cookie.

“Let me get that for you, lil lady,” Jesse says and grabs the treat for her. The quiet girl smiles at him before her eyes focus on his hat, which is not new to Jesse, but then she curls her little finger so he leans down. He follows and he thin lips press quickly to his cheek before she hurries off. He takes it as a thank you, before grabbing his cup and continuing mingling with the rest. He’s about to walk towards Gabe when he’s stopped by Clarisa, who wants him to meet the neighbors that just arrive. They’re daughter, who seems to be about Jesse’s age isn’t shy about giving him flirty eyes and he’s sure her lips linger too much on his cheek.

It goes on like this. Two other twins, who he can’t remember who they belong to, kiss his cheeks too. As well as a few other women and younger girls. Even Clarisa does it, one for each cheek. He doesn’t get much time to think it over since they usually dive into conversation after that, or it happens when he doesn’t expect it. If Gabe’s family was this affectionate, why hasn’t it shown through Gabriel? At least in kisses, because they have hugged and grabbed each other’s wrists, along with miscellaneous touches like the one Gabe did earlier, or when he brushed Jesse’s hair after the cowboy got hit in the head—though that happened again one time when Gabriel thought his hair was too long. Yet his hand brushed it with longing, as if he never wanted to let go.

When he sees two plates of food become empty again, he decides to go place them in the kitchen and see if there’s more food to put out. He finds Gabriel in the kitchen, who had the same idea and was filling up the flautas plate again. Though eating them was more like it.

“Don’t let yer ma catch ya,” Jesse jokes as he looks for the guacamole. “Man, yer family is great. They’re like black holes.”

“You’d fit right in,” Gabriel comments and Jesse turns to him. His sees his eyes briefly shift to his hat then back to his eyes.

“When’s dinner?”

“In about an hour, tio’s coming with the pork. We always let him cook it there since there’s less hassle.”

“Need any help?”

“I could use it. I’m usually in charge of setting up the table and getting the sides and the rest of the meal ready.” Gabriel steps closer to him, steady, as if Jesse will run.

“I’m yer guy,” Jesse comments, shifting on his feet when Gabriel steps closer. “It’ll be like last year.”

Gabriel scoffs, and he’s close enough for his breath to brush Jesse’s face. For their chest to almost touch if Jesse breathes too hard, which he’s trying not to do as he keeps his breathing steady, even if he’s lungs are gasping for air and his brain’s spiraling as it starts feeling light. Jesse steps back, knowing the kitchen counter is right there, just to feel trap, just to have an excuse as to why he didn’t stepped away. And he’s glad Gabriel steps closer, his smile growing to something wicked.

Gabriel’s hand goes to Jesse’s hat and pulls something off. When Jesse looks up, he’s holding a mistletoe with a strip of tape. “Do you remember that story I told you about last year?”

Jesse laughs, almost chokes with the knot in his throat. “There was so much happening, but I was stupid not to realize why everyone’s kissin’ me all of a sudden.”

Gabriel chuckles, “Like you need a mistletoe for people to kiss you.”

Jesse’s cocky smile drops, his heart thumps against his bones and his blood runs hot. He swallows hard, and notices clearly how Gabe’s eyes follow the motion, and go up to his lips. Jesse can’t help it, there’s still a devil in him that tells him to lick his lips, and he sees how Gabriel licks his own, before he gazes up at Jesse’s eyes. Jesse takes the dive and wraps his hands around Gabriel’s neck, pulling him to meet him in a kiss. Gabriel breathes deep before he responds and wraps his strong arms around Jesse’s middle. He still pushes Jesse closer to the counter, keeping him there for himself, to devour and drink his breath.

“Seems like you needed it,” Jesse says, almost breathless against Gabe’s mouth.

“Just waiting for the right moment,” Gabriel responds, one of his thumbs drawing circles over Jesse’ shirt. “I think this one’s pretty perfect.”

“Not. Yet,” Jesse says, in a dreamy, almost delirious voice, before he leans forward and kisses Gabriel again. This time, he pushes Gabriel, until the older man’s waits hits the other counter, pushing a plate close at the edge against bottles of species and making them knock against each other. He laughs in the kiss while Gabriel smiles and bites the cowboy’s bottom lip lightly. The action causes a soft moan from Jesse and makes him pull Gabriel towards him, as a sign to do it again, but Gabriel doesn’t, and Jesse knows he does it because he wants to hear Jesse say it, but this isn’t the place to beg.

--

When everyone’s fed and tired, when everyone but Gabe, Jesse, his mother and the twins leave, and the dishes are cleaned by Gabriel and Jesse, the five of them sit on the couch, after some delicate steps between all the presents pile and littered around the three. It isn’t big, which makes the amount of gifts underneath it look massive. Jesse bets he could build a wall and cover the whole three. The little kid in him wants to read all the names, find how many are for who. He’s sure he can expect one from Gabe since he hadn’t given anything so far. His stomach flips when he thinks about sitting by himself the next day, with one present on his lap while the others keep opening and create an ocean of wrapping paper on the floor. He looks at Gabriel, highlighted by the Christmas lights and colors, and he thinks it’ll be best to worry about that when the time comes.

Jesse was close to Gabriel’s side, hoping it would be enough for the ladies to not notice something was different. He tried to keep everything normal after the kiss, hoping no one could tell they almost made a mess in the kitchen after Gabriel got carried away and lifted him on the counter for a minute or two.

“I never saw you bring up your bags, Gabe,” Clarisa points out, while the twins look almost asleep by her side.

“They’re in a motel close by,” Gabriel responds and his mother gives him a stern look. “I wasn’t going to leave Jesse there by himself.”

“Of course not! Both of you can stay here. The bed in your old room is big enough for both of you.”

Jesse’s eyes widen and he eyes Gabriel quickly, but the man doesn’t look bothered.

“Oh, no! One bed!” Mariana says.

Liliana laughs and adds, “whatever shall they do?!”

[sunnysidewrites]

Zombie Apocalypse Survivor!Hwiyoung

i feel very proud of the outcome of this scenario! I wrote this for my friend who will remain anonymous but you know who you are :))) i love writing in this style it’s my personal writing style that I am very proud of and I like how it distinguishes me from other writers. please take the time to read this and pretend it’s your bias if you have another preference other than hwiyoung. please please reblog and get your friends to read this i hold this scenario close to me even though hwi is not my bias it’s that special!!! remember that requests are open but read faq & rules first!!! happy reading from your favorite mom!! ITS GONNA BE A WILD RIDE!!! i would greatly appreciate any feedback!!!

warnings: includes a lot of fluff + angst incorporated together, angst part will rip out your heart and stomp on it to pieces, fluff will try to mend those pieces together, you might cry -- i certainly felt emotional while writing that part :’))

The whole country has been affected by zombies

It only started with one or two in a couple of states

Hours later it spread to the coast

Next thing you know it has reached your town

Almost everyone has been infected and you’re one of the lucky few who still have your humanity

And sanity

You and the other survivors have been in a hideout for weeks and you’re not sure how long it’s gonna last

Your crew went from 50 people to 20 people in a matter of 2 days

Now it’s down to 10

It’s been a rough month since all your family is gone as far as you know in just the blink of an eye

You’ve gotten super close with your now population of 10

You’re the one who gets to fetch food along with Hwiyoung, a fellow survivor

Prob one of the most dangerous tasks y’all have to do but everyone picked you two bc you’re the strongest and most capable

Hwiyoung is pretty soft but his aim of a gun is no joke and he can shield you while you quickly get the necessities

Not to mention he looks hAWT shooting the zombies but anyways

And i also don’t know how you kill off zombies but just roll with it

Imagine hwi with a gun!! a gUN THIS BABY WITH A GUN

Side note: I also imagine him in a headband or like a tied bandana

He wears some black ripped jeans with black combat boots

When going out he wears a v neck sweater with a black motorcycle jACKET YAS

But when he’s inside the hideout he either wears a fitted thermal shirt holy jesus or he is wearing a muSCLE TEE OH MYGODGHLDG ARE THE ZOMBIES KILLING US OR IS HWIYOUNG

Everyone is always terrified you both won’t make it alive but you always manage to bc you’re boss af

You both grow super close since you have to go on those dangerous missions every day

You know he tries to act tough despite the situation but he’s just as terrified as you

“I can protect you y/n”

“You cried when i ate your cookie”

“They’re running low!! :(((“

But you know underneath his joking exterior he’s trembling with fear

The fear of losing you, losing everything he’s ever known in just this month

But you guys treat each other with a lot of care and even more so since you don’t know what would happen to the other in just a minute

Lots of insults and jokes but only bc it’s the only way to lighten up the heavy atmosphere even if only temporarily

You actually have developed super strong feelings for him in such a short amount of time i mean who wouldn’t when he’s literally all you talk to

But you can’t afford to pursue anything in the midst of this

Hwiyoung also began to take a liking to you and is a Flustered Mess™ around you

There’s an unspoken pledge between you that you will not ever leave each other no matter what

His family has also left without a trace and that’s another reason why you were able to bond with him so quickly

You heavily lean on your small circle for support, especially between the both of you

He’s always looking out for you

When you sleep, he brings you a blanket and puts your head on his arm since there aren’t any pillows :’))

He always double checks your weapons to see if you have enough

“You have enough ammo right???”

“yOU JUST CHECKED MY SUPPLY LIKE 5 TIMES”

“YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO CAREFUL Y/N”

A lovestruck look on his face every time you’re not glancing his way

He always says a silent prayer before he sleeps to thank the heavens he is alive and you’re alive with him and that he was able to meet you even though it had to be under these circumstances

There have been some scary close calls

One day the zombies advance on you when you’re coming back from getting food

Like i’m not talking about you escaping from them i’m talking about thEY HAVE REACHED YOUR HIDEOUT AND YOU AND HWI ARE THE ONLY ONES IN SIGHT

“hWIYOUNG WATCH OUT!!!!” you scream as you’re trying to fend off the zombies

Both of his hands are occupied with guns and the only sound in the air is the ringing of gunshots

He manages to stall for just enough time for the both of you to escape

You enter a deserted building while being careful to stay in the shadows

Once you’ve scouted the place thoroughly you and hwi huddle in a corner and start talking about your game plan

Ok so by now just pause reading and play a really sad ost song just do it

Do it

Play that sad song

Maybe with rain in the background

Maybe “still loving you” by sophia pae or secret garden’s ost bgm “guardian angel” or “tear stains” by oscar

Ok let’s continue

“Look y/n I don’t want you to be put in danger so what I’m about to say is only for your safety”

You do not like the sound of those words

“You’re gonna leave”

Hold on boi “what????”

“You heard me. You’re gonna escape from this place and not turn back. The state next to us is still in good shape compared to ours and you still have the west coast that’s barely infected. I have family in California, and they should be fine right now, hopefully anyway. They’re nice, so don’t worry about them. I’m sure they’ll accept you–”

“HWIYOUNG I’M NOT LEAVING YOU IF ANYTHING YOU SHOULD GO SINCE THEY’RE YOUR FAMILY and we can’t!!!! We can’t leave each other when we promised not to” tears start welling up in your eyes and your voice cracks you can’t even look him in the eyes anymore by the time your sentence ends

“Hwiyoung, you’re the only thing I have. You really expect me to leave you like our families did?”

Here come the waterworks

“Look y/n we’re running out of time” he quickly steals a glance outside of a window and sees them advancing super rapidly

You’re interrupted when there’s a loud bang on the closed door

He quietly curses and grabs your shoulders firmly

“y/n,,,,, I didn’t want to confess like this and this is probably the worst time ever to do it but I,,, have to let you know now” he’s running on adrenaline this would never happen in normal situations but when you’re on the brink of death this doesn’t really matter

“I’m really glad that we were able to meet and bond it’s been truly a wild ride with you and i’m really gonna miss you snoring loudly and making my arm numb and,,,, what I’m trying to say is that,,,, I’m in love with you” his cheeks flush a light pink and this would be pretty romantic if you didn’t hear the groans outside

His lips press on yours and it’s a very bittersweet taste with your tears mixed in the kiss

You look at him with tears continuously rolling down your cheeks

The moment you say “i love you too” bAM THE DOOR BREAKS OPEN AND YOU’RE ABOUT TO BE SURROUNDED BY ZOMBIES

WHEN HWI PULLS OUT HIS GUNS THE RINGING OF GUNSHOTS FILL YOUR EARS AGAIN

“Y/N!!! GO OUT THE WINDOW IT’S NOW OR NEVER”

“I’M NOT GONNA FREAKING LEAVE YOU BEHIND WTF HWIYOUNG”

He pauses shooting for a split second to give you the most resolute and melancholic look ever and hastily gives you a forehead kiss that lasts for just as long

Since his arms are holding the guns, he uses his body to shove you out the window and thank god the height is not that high

“hWIYOUNG NO!!!”

“RUN Y/N!!!! DON’T LOOK BACK” you can hear him from above as he sounds like he’s struggling

Zombies outside have noticed you and you’re just like oHHohhoH this IS NOT GOOD

You scramble to your feet and run down a few blocks when you suddenly don’t hear gunshots anymore

“Don’t look back” his words echo in your ears

But you can’t help yourself and throw your head back to see the zombies mainly where the building is

You tear your eyes away and try to stifle a cry and tears blur your vision

Miraculously you’re able to fend off the zombies and pick up some last minute food on the way

You even managed to scoop up an abandoned car with sufficient gas

And you blast tf out of there

Your new destination is California and it takes you a week and a half to get there

You remember him mentioning his family in California and he once said they were in San Francisco but how tf are you gonna know where

You walk to a police station and just hope to god they understand

They’re a lil reluctant to hear you out and kick you out bc they have “better things to worry about” well jeez ok thx

You just aimlessly roam around the area and you stop by a beach

And you just SCREAM

You literally scream and bawl to make up for the time you couldn’t in the middle of your escape

“HWIYOUNG DIDN’T DESERVE THIS”

A few minutes later you’re approached by someone and you’re like um can i help you

“Did you… just say Hwiyoung?”

You’re just

:O no way

“Are you a family member by chance?”

He shakes his head however he is a family friend and he can connect you with his family!!!! And he even shares you a family photo as proof bc i mean you have every right to doubt him and further proves himself when he facetimes Hwiyoung’s aunt and uncle

You soon meet up with his family and burst into tears again from their hospitality and the thought of Hwiyoung haunts you and spill the entire story about how your family left and hwiyoung’s family left and he forced you to leave him

Several weeks pass and you’re slowly transitioning into this new life

It still pains you every time you think about hwiyoung or anything you associate him with

One day you get a text from hwi’s aunt “can you pick up some flowers for me?? And dress a little nice too ;) meet me at the local cafe”

Wtf why would you wanna dress nice at a cafe

But you think there’s a good reason so you just follow her orders and meet her there

She begins walking along the street and talking to you so you’re distracted by whatever you’re talking about and you eventually end up at the nearest hospital

You’re just like the????? Why are we here

She stops in front of a room and you’re still really lost like

“So are you gonna go in or are we just gonna stand out here”

She laughs looking amused “I should be asking you that. I’ll be waiting out here” and she gestures to the chair outside

You’re just like ????? um ok

You can’t help but feel a little anxious as you quietly slide open the door

You turn around and start closing it when someone’s all-too-familiar voice fills the room

“I see you didn’t look back”

[prairiesongserial]

7.2

The truck they had brought from Texas Waters puttered and bounced along the roads, which became more dirt and less asphalt the closer they got to Old Problem. Inside, it was quiet except for the sound of the engine. Marc and Sailor sat up front, and John and Cody sat in the back, separated by Young - who, as the smallest, had begrudgingly accepted the position. John had been mostly looking out the window, watching the scenery go by, and Cody had been mostly watching John, worrying the fabric of his poncho between his fingers and picking at loose threads until his fingers were sore.

“This plan sucks,” Cody said, finally, because he felt like he was going to explode if he didn’t. He’d tried to object to the plan before, back at the mansion, but Marc had plowed right past him every time. Now, though, they were stuck in the truck, with no way to change the subject or force him off on someone else.

Still, Marc didn’t respond. He’d been whistling to himself while he drove, but even that quieted down, and Cody got the impression that everyone else in the car was holding back, waiting to see what would happen next. Fine. That was fine. He would just keep cutting the silence until someone replied.

“I said -” he began again.

“I heard you,” Marc said, with the tone of someone who was just barely tolerating the topic of discussion at hand. “And I heard you when you raised the same objections back at the house. With all due respect, Mr. Allison, only one of us has planned operations like this dozens of times before, all of which have gone off without a hitch.”

“So you almost getting us all killed in Mexico, that was the plan ‘going off without a hitch’?” Cody asked, a little acerbically.

Sailor snorted with a barely restrained laugh. Marc huffed, unamused.

“The plan still worked, didn’t it?”

“Barely,” Cody said. “Look, I know the Dead-Eyes. You’re underestimating them.”

“Mr. Allison, I’ve been dealing with gangs in and out of Hemisphere for years, and I think I know what to estimate from them,” Marc said. From the tone of his voice, Cody could tell he was getting even testier. Maybe not the best thing to happen before a hostage exchange, but at least they were fighting it out now, rather than in front of Ethan.

“No, you don’t,” Cody said firmly. “They’re not gonna play by the rules.”

“The Dead-Eyes are about as low on Hemisphere’s food chain as you can get,” Young said, from Cody’s shoulder. Cody looked to them, and they stared coolly back at him over the frames of their glasses. “They’re a small time gang, operating out of one town and one town only. In the grand scheme of things, they can’t afford not to play by the rules, here.”

“Look, I know that, but Ethan’s not the kind of guy who thinks the rules apply to him,” Cody snapped. He looked to John, fishing for any kind of backup at all, and found John silently staring back at him, eyebrows furrowed with concern. Cody held his gaze for just a moment before breaking away, looking out the window again.

“None of you know,” he said. The closer they got to Old Problem, the less he felt like he could breathe, as though the air was somehow becoming thinner. He’d felt the same way hearing Ethan’s voice again, seeing Ethan standing on Marc’s doorstep. “You don’t know what he’d do to get me back. Ethan’s like a dog hunting a rabbit, when he thinks he’s owed something. He runs after it and runs after it and doesn’t think of anything else ‘til he gets what he wants. And then he tears it apart.”

Cody had seen it enough times to know. Ethan running the Dead-Eyes ragged day and night to keep a rival gang out of their territory. Ethan getting beaten at poker, once, then playing another ten, twenty rounds until he’d taken everything his opponent was worth. Ethan killing his own aunt Edie to take her place as leader of the Dead-Eyes. It took a relentless person to do all the things Ethan had done just to chase John and Cody to Texas, and Cody doubted Ethan was finished. Ethan wanted a win, sure, but he also wanted to crush everyone else underfoot.

The car was quiet again. Cody watched the cacti whip by on the side of the road, and picked at his poncho. He couldn’t think of anything else to say that might change Marc’s mind. He could still feel John’s eyes on him, but he couldn’t look. His eyes stung.

“Cody sounds like he knows what he’s talking about,” Sailor said at last, reaching across the center console to pinch Marc’s arm. “You better be careful.”

“Ow!” Marc said, his voice breaking in a whine. “Sailor -”

“I mean it,” she said, her voice suddenly much more stern and gruff than it had been before. “If you get cocky, the Dead-Eyes are gonna walk all over you. And if word gets out that you let a tiny gang from Oregon kick your ass, your bounty is gonna go down, and you won’t be worth my time anymore. Are we clear?”

Marc sighed. “I told you, I’m not underestimating -”

“Are. We. Clear.”

“Yes, yes, fine,” Marc said, waving a hand in dismissal, but there was something in his voice that sounded genuinely disquieted by the way Sailor was scolding him. “I’ll be on the lookout for tricks and charlatanism. I’m sure Cole or one of them would have radioed in if they were planning something outrageous, you know.”

Unless Cole and the others you sent to their camp are dead, Cody thought. The option felt like more of a worst case scenario than anything, so he didn’t voice it. Young was right next to him, tense as a guitar string about to snap. Cody had already heard them pestering Marc about Stills, Nash, and Cole’s safety all day.

Soon enough, Marc pulled the truck off the road and under a steep overhang of rock, parking it neatly in the shade. He pocketed the key and hopped out, sliding on a pair of sunglasses he’d had clipped to the lapel of his pale blue suit jacket. The sunglasses were gold-framed and tinted pink, and Cody thought they were the worst things he’d ever seen.

“Well, this is where we part ways,” Marc said, clasping his hands together. “Sailor, you and John should have plenty of time to sneak around to the other side of the clearing, but I’ll do my best to stall and give you a few extra seconds here and there. Young, you’ll be with me and Cody to facilitate the exchange. Official Hemisphere rules dictate that we go in unarmed.”

Cody looked at Marc incredulously, as he climbed out of the car. Marc arched an eyebrow back at him.

“Do you have a question, Mr. Allison?”

“You’re not bringing a gun?” Cody asked.

Marc looked at him like he had suddenly grown an extra head. “Of course not.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Come again?” Marc asked, blinking.

“You’re not even gonna sneak one in?” Cody’s voice cracked, and he became conscious that he had been raising it inadvertently. He took a deep breath, and tried again. “I thought double-crosses were your thing.”

“They are my ‘thing’, as you so ineloquently put it, but there are certain rules a crime lord must follow to stay in Hemisphere’s good graces,” Marc said, a little icily. “Unfortunately, refraining from bringing a gun along to a hostage exchange is one of them. One of the benefits of Hemisphere is that the, eh, the interactions between gangs go smoothly. We are two arms on the same body.”

Cody very much doubted that Ethan felt the same way, but he wasn’t about to rehash the whole conversation they’d had in the truck. John and Sailor would have rifles, and those rifles would be trained on Ethan, and that would have to be enough.

“Okay,” he said, with a sigh. “I guess.”

He turned his back on Marc to help John and Sailor unload the back of the truck before the two of them headed off into the rock formations and debris that surrounded where the hostage exchange would be held. Sailor had already started walking, but John lingered behind, looking to Cody.

“You -” he began, but Cody preempted him, putting a hand on his wrist to stop him from saying whatever he’d wanted to say. He couldn’t let John treat him like he was about to die. He couldn’t.

“I’ll be fine,” Cody said. “I trust you.”

John nodded, and lingered only half a second longer before he turned his back on Cody, speeding up to keep pace with Sailor.

“Let’s not keep that Ethan of yours waiting, Mr. Allison,” Marc said, snapping his fingers to get Cody’s attention, or maybe to call him like a dog. Cody made a face, and stayed where he was.

“Don’t piss Ethan off,” he said, warningly. “I don’t know what he’ll do if you do, but it ain’t gonna be good.”

“Duly noted,” Marc said. “Now, are we ready to go?”

“Ready,” Young said, from his elbow. They turned their head just slightly to look at Cody, who sighed, and trudged over.

“Ready,” he said.

“Excellent.” Marc beamed. “Your wrists, please, Mr. Allison.”

Cody presented his wrists to Marc, and only just barely managed to stop from wincing as Young slapped a pair of handcuffs on him. He understood the need to look like a hostage, but he didn’t like not having the use of his hands, in case something went wrong. Another reason he would have to trust John and Sailor to do their jobs.

Marc gestured for Cody and Young to follow him, and led them carefully around the border of the clearing, circling around to what Cody assumed was the western entrance. It was a narrow passage, so much so that they nearly had to walk single-file through it, though Marc and Young just barely managed to fit shoulder-to-shoulder.

Cody felt blocked in on all sides. His vision swam with a curious blurriness at its edges, and something felt stuck in his throat, a solid lump he couldn’t swallow past. He looked at the ground, watching his feet move in smaller and smaller steps, and wondered if this was what people felt like when they knew they were walking towards certain death. The stumps of his missing fingers throbbed, and he realized he’d been clenching his hands tightly enough that his knuckles had turned white. He tried to relax them, peeling his nails away from the crescents they’d made in his palms.

“Son of a bitch,” he heard Young say, from somewhere up ahead, and raised his eyes.

Sunlight filtered into the passage, then filled Cody’s vision all at once as he emerged on the other side of the passage, in the western edge of the clearing. He squinted in the bright light, shading his eyes with a hand until his vision cleared. It was hard to make sense of what he was seeing at first, what Young had meant - and then his stomach clenched as he understood all at once.

On the eastern side of the clearing, some hundred yards away from them, was Ethan. But Ethan hadn’t come alone. He’d brought every single one of the Dead-Eyes, and they filled their side of the clearing like a black-eyed swarm of insects.

“I fucking told you,” Cody said under his breath, though he couldn’t find it in him to enjoy the look on Marc’s face.

7.1 || 7.3

[whoinwhoville]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Doctor Who (2005) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Lee McAvoy/Donna Noble, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler Characters: Donna Noble, Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Sylvia Noble Additional Tags: Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Fluff, it's so fluffy I'm gonna die, Crack, maybe? - Freeform, Wedding, wedding florist and photographer au, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, mean sylvia, rude sylvia, over-the-top sylvia, pre-romance ten x rose Series: Part 14 of I love AUs Summary:

Sylvia Noble: Mother-of-the-Bridezilla. But Donna, Rose, and Jonathan Smith are quite adept at standing up for themselves.

Response to this fic prompt: I’m the caterer and you’re the florist on a huge expensive wedding and we bond over what an awful person the mother of the bride is AU (with a few adjustments to the prompt).

“That dress does nothing for your figure. You look like a wedding cake topper. What do you need pockets for, anyway? Frosted coral lipstick? I don’t know why you even need a new dress. The one you wore to your first wedding was gorgeous.”

 *

“Purple and lavender? You know I don’t wear purple. I simply won’t. It is the colour of mourning. But then again, I am in mourning over this marriage.” (sniff sniff)

 *

“Cupcakes? Really Donna. I know money is tight, but that’s going too far.”

 *

“This reception hall is in a very rough part of town. No one is going to dare to go to the reception! Afraid their cars will get nicked. Pick someplace else.”

 *

“You can afford an open bar, but you are serving frozen starters from Tesco. You haven’t even hired a proper caterer.”

 *

“You are going to need more fairy lights to brighten up this dismal reception hall. At least you found a location in a safe part of town. But I can’t see my hand in front of my—“

“I. Have. Had. ENOUGH! I don’t want your help. And I certainly don’t need it!“

“But darling, it’s only three months away! And I have so much to do!”

“I am taking care of everything, and am doing a bloody good job of it, too.”

oOo

“Donna Noble, you will not sign that contract. She has no experience! The flowers will be a disgrace. I will not have my garden club friends gossiping because you carried a bouquet of food-colouring-dyed pink carnations! If you choose Rosie’s Posie’s, I’m withdrawing my support of your marriage.”

“Your support? What do you mean by support? You’re not the one shelling out the money for my wedding! Lee and I are paying for it! And as for support, you supported Lance. Even after you found out that he was a two-timing, cheating arse! You got angry with me after he left me at the altar! Support my third foot.”

“Lance has ambition! He’s going places! I saw him at the market the other day. No ring on his finger, Donna. There’s still a chance. Call him. Apologise.”

“Apologise for what? For not inviting him to the reception?”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic. You’re making the mistake of your life. Lee owns a fishing tackle shop. No one goes fishing anymore. Do you really think there is a future in tying flies?”

“Lee is a good man and we love each other, and I’m getting married whether you support me or not!”

Donna squinted at her mother, and with a toss of her glorious ginger hair, signed the florist’s contract, even adding a smiley-face at the end of her name.

Sylvia stood slowly. “Goodbye Donna.” She sniffed. “Come and see me sometime, maybe when you’ve decided to stop being so hurtful.” The blonde woman gathered her things, wiped an imaginary tear from her eye, and quietly left her daughter’s flat.

Rose Tyler, the forgotten third person in the room, cleared her throat. “Right. Um, thanks. We can go over the details when you’re ready. Why don’t you call me—“

“No. We’ll do it now, Rose. Your designs are exquisite. First thing I want to order: a food-colouring-dyed Carnation corsage for my mother-of-the-bridezilla.”

Rose’s eyes went wide, and then she snorted a laugh.

oOo

“I forbid you to hire that person, Donna Noble. That man is a farce! He isn’t even a professional photographer! He’s a professor! You’ll regret it every time you open your wedding album and all you see are 1970’s starbursts on the candle flames and out of focus pictures with half of your face cut off. And his idea of creativity is probably photoshopping you with angel wings in a field of stars, being he’s an astronomy teacher. What a useless degree that is. If you hire Professor Smyth, I’m withdrawing my support of your marriage.”

“Again with the support. Jonathan is brilliant. He’s a genius. He’s photographed the weddings of royalty!”

“Ha! Queen Victoria’s great-great grandniece twice removed doesn’t count as royalty. You’ve only chosen him because he’s your employer. He’s told you he’ll fire you if you don’t hire him, hasn’t he?”

“No! And I’m not hiring him. It’s his wedding gift.”

“Well, you’d be better off if he bought you towels.”

oOo

“So, what do you think, then?” Rose asked. “Is this what you were thinking of?”

“Rose, these designs are perfect! It’s like you can read my mind. And you’re sure you can do this for the contracted price?”

“Yeah. I have a great supplier. Now, it’s possible that I won’t be able to get the Lily of the Valley. Sometimes it’s scarce, but I have a backup plan. I’m going to force Paperwhite Narcissus. They’ll be gorgeous with the purple crocus and lavender hyacinth. But the purple and white tulips will be the centerpiece of your bouquet. Would you like any iris?”

“Whatever you come up with will be perfect.”

Rose blushed and bit her lip. “Thanks for giving me a chance, Donna, this being my first wedding job and all. Who recommended me?”

“My boss bought me an arrangement a while back. I remembered it.”

“What did it look like?”

“Yellow roses, daisies, and chrysanthemums in a yellow smiley-face mug.”

“I remember that order. The mug was delivered to my shop with instructions to make an arrangement that matched. That he had a friend that needed a cheer-up.”

Donna smiled wistfully. “That was right after the Lance… thing. And yeah, it did cheer me up. It’s my favourite mug.”

Rose gently squeezed Donna’s arm. “From what you’ve said, good riddance, yeah? Lee is just about perfect.”

“He is, isn’t he?”

oOo

“Anything special you’d like? Any particular shots?”

“I have a list of all of the standard group shots, but mainly we want to remember our day in a more casual way. Candids.”

“Good. That’s what I like to shoot best. Well, stars are my favourite thing to photograph, of course. How about a few pictures outside? There’s going to be a full moon that night.”

“Sounds perfect.”

oOo

Rose parked as close to the church as she could manage, but it was still several hundred feet away. Her boot, the back seat, and the front of her red VW Beetle were jam-packed with flowers. She wasn’t wearing her usual work clothes — jeans, trainers, and a t-shirt. She and Donna had struck up a friendship, and Donna had invited her to the wedding. Rose almost lost her balance as the heels of her precarious stilettos dug into the gravel of the church yard. “Shoulda brought trainers,” she grumbled as she picked up the first flat of arrangements — the boutonnieres and corsages.

“Oh! Let me help!” called a friendly voice.

“Thanks. I’m running a bit late. Got stuck behind a crash on the way and traffic was backed up for miles. How do you know Donna?”

“She’s my assistant. You know, I ordered flowers from you for Donna a while back.”

“Thanks for that. Donna hired me because of you. What’s your name again?”

“Jonathan Smyth.”

“Hello Jonathan. I’m Rose Tyler. Since you offered, I’m going to put you to work.”

oOo

“Donna, I take back everything I said about Rosie’s Posies. She did a lovely job. Now where’s my corsage.”

She presented her mother with a white box.

“Why’s this box so big?” Sylvia asked as she lifted the lid. “What in blazes is this abomination?”

“You did say you were expecting dyed carnations. Rose’s assistant left the flowers in the purple dye too long and they’re almost black. We’ll call it aubergine.”

“I refuse to wear this hideous thing! It’s six inches across! It’ll block my face!”

“No no no! You don’t pin it to your dress. It’s a wristlet! See?”

“It looks like a ruffled Frisbee. Ridiculous.” Sylvia sneered as she pinched the enormous corsage with her fingertips as if it were a dirty nappy.

“Go on then, put it on. I want to see how it looks. I designed it myself.” Donna grinned.

“No. I refuse.” Sylvia tipped her nose into the air.

“It’s my wedding, and you’ll wear the bloody wristlet.”

“I’m withdrawing my support.”

“Support or no support, it’s my wedding. Put the thing on.”

Sylvia hissed as she slipped the enormous floral accessory onto her wrist.

oOo

Jonathan hid outside of the doorway, trying to contain his laughter as he set the camera to slow burst, taking shot after shot. He heard someone else laughing behind him.

“Did Donna really ask for that flower thing for her mother?”

“Donna’s takin’ the mick. I have the real one. She’s gonna give it to her mum right before Sylvia’s ushered to her seat. Isn’t it hideous?”

He grinned at her. “I think it’s absolutely brilliant.” He made a funny little happy noise. “Has Sylvia been difficult to work with?”

“Difficult? There’s no word that describes how difficult. She’s the mother-of-the-bride version of a bridezilla.”

“She gave me a list of about 500 formal family photo configurations. Mother with daughter, mother in chair. Mother with bride and bride in chair. Father and mother with bride, bride in chair holding her flowers in her lap. And then without flowers in her lap. Mother with bride’s flowers. Bride sitting on the steps with bridesmaid’s flowers ‘pillowed’ around her feet. Pillowed. How do you pillow flowers. Wouldn’t be very comfortable to sleep on,” he whinged. “And don’t get me started on the cousins, aunts, uncles, step uncles, step aunts, half cousins, and then Lee’s family and all of those iterations.” He pinched the bridge his nose.

Rose picked at her already-chipped pink nail polish. “I’m done with the flowers. I could, I don’t know, help round up and arrange the people? You did help me set up the flowers, after all.”

“I’d love that. Thank you, Rose Tyler.”

oOo

Jonathan’s pointer finger was sore. It was ten pm, and the dancing was still going in full force, thanks to the unlimited drinks being pouring liberally by the bartender.

“Jonathan, I think you’ve taken enough photos,” Donna said kindly.

“Can never be too thorough. I don’t want you to miss a single moment.”

“Oh, believe me, I won’t forget one thing about this wedding.” She snorted a laugh. “Don’t know that my mum is ever going to forgive me for that corsage. It was pretty awful, wasn’t it?”

“Donna, it was perfect.”

“Ha! Serves her right, saying all of those awful things about you and Rose.” She took a sip of champagne. “She did like the real one though. Doubt she’ll ever forgive me.” Donna took another sip of champagne. “So, what do you think of Rose?”

“She’s very talented.”

“Bloody right, she is. Started that florist business all on her own. You know how much I loved those flowers you gave me. How’d you find her, anyway?”

“Yelp. Read the reviews. One review stood out, though. Can’t go wrong with the username Old-Man-With-a-Telescope.”

“Hold on. That’s Grandad’s email address. I set it up for him so he could email those star pictures he takes through his telescope. What a coincidence.”

“There are no coincidences, Donna Noble.”

“Come to think of it, he brought me a bouquet of flowers after Lance,” she mused. “Must’ve bought ‘em from Rose.”

Jonathan squinted and looked off in the distance. “His name is Wilf, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I knew I recognized him from somewhere. It’s been niggling at me all night. He’s been coming to my planetarium shows for years! Always asks the best questions! Emails me his pictures from that email address.”

“That seals it. You were destined to meet Rose. Now why don’t you go and ask her for a dance.”

“I think that is a brilliant idea.”

She yawned. “Oh, Lee is back from saying goodbye to his family. Time to head out. Please. No pictures. I want to sneak away. Would rather avoid another confrontation with Sylvia.” She snorted.

“That won’t do, Donna! You want to remember your clandestine getaway, don’t you?”

Donna pulled her friend into a hug. “Jonathan, thank you. For everything. For putting up with my mother, for the gift. For being a great friend. And for being a great boss.”

“Donna Noble. You are brilliant. Now go. I’ll create a diversion. See you in two weeks.”

“Two? I only scheduled help for one week.”

“I’ve already arranged a temp. And the break is paid.”

oOo

It was the last dance, and Jonathan and Rose were the only couple left. Her shoes were off, she was leaning on his shoulder, almost asleep. They weren’t really dancing so much as swaying in place to a slow song — Frank Sinatra singing The Way You Look Tonight. It wasn’t really a romantic moment — more a mutual sigh of relief.

“You really do have a way with flowers,” Jonathan complimented.

“I suppose I was destined to work with flowers, given my name and all.”

“You could do anything and be fantastic at it, I think. And speaking of destiny, how’s this… Donna’s grandfather, Wilf, bought Donna flowers from your shop after her fortuitous breakup with that wholly unacceptable Lance bloke. I wanted to buy her flowers, too, so I Yelped, and found your shop. I read a frankly glorious review — and it turns out it was written by Donna’s Grandad. So I sent Donna flowers, and she was so impressed that she hired you to do her wedding. And here I am. And here you are.”

“Mmmm hmmm. Here we are,” she said contentedly. Beginning of a beautiful friendship, I think. I think we should collaborate again.”

“Oh, I do believe that’ll happen sooner than you think.”

oOo

“Donna Noble-McAvoy! These pictures are completely unacceptable! How in the world did that amateur photographer think it was even remotely appropriate to include that florist in almost every single picture! And look at this album! It’s absolutely hideous! It’s for a five year old! My Little Pony…” She slammed the album shut. “I demand that you ask for your money back!”

Donna snorted a laugh. “Mother, you are just too easy. You really need to learn how to take a joke. Here.” She handed an elegant white leather album to her mother. “Here’s the real one.”

Sylvia opened the book with a disdainful sniff. But then her face softened. “Donna… You’re beautiful. Oh, my baby girl.” She pulled her daughter in a hug, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. “I’m so proud of you.”

[newstanmarshblog]

The Average and Unusual Couple: Chapter Four

   Stan gets near to Lydia as he graces to how very beautiful she was. From her dark raven hair that’s in a half ponytail hairstyle, to her gorgeous eye makeup, black upper lip and red lower lip, a long dark purple top, a pair of black leggings, and a light purple and pink sash tied around her waist. He’s never seen a girl with such spooky beauty before. Probably the most beautiful person that he has ever met in his entire life.

   Stan sits next to Lydia at the table, and there was no one else but the two of them.

   Stan: So, Lydia, how are you liking this town so far?

   Lydia: I haven’t seen much of it yet. I’ve only been out once between after moving here and before coming into this school.

   Stan: What did you do while you were out?

   Lydia: It was shopping for my much needed school supplies at Target. And then I ate at Panera Bread on the way back.

   Stan: Do you see anything cool while you were out?

   Lydia: I saw a sign that leads to a trail park.

   Stan: Oh, you mean the Beaver Creek Trail?

   Lydia: Yeah, that one! I definitely want to plan a visit there someday in hope to see a wild Elk. From where I came from, we only had one trail park, and it’s pretty smell. Only takes about an hour to walk around the whole place.

   Stan: It doesn’t sound pretty exciting if you’re looking to do a much longer walk.

   Lydia: True, but it does at least have some decent nature sightings. I’ve seen some deer, skunks, hawks, and a shit load of Canadian geese.

   Stan: Oh yeah, those guys. They’re only common around here during winter.

   Lydia: I usually see them like everyday. Even whenever I’m in my room, I’ll alway hear them flying by.

   Stan: Do you hate them?

   Lydia: Nope. I actually like them. Yeah, they can be annoying at times, but whenever I see them in a skein, it’s a really nice sighting to behold. I’m pretty much an animal lover in a nutshell.

   Stan getting excited: Really? I love animals a lot too! Do you have a favorite animal?

   Lydia: Bats. Especially since I love old Vampire movies and not the newer ones, I mostly love them for their creepy appearance. But I also love how they socialize with each other, and the way they sleep.

   Stan: My favorite type of Bat might have to be the Little Red Flying-Fox. I just love their dog like face.

   Lydia: They are very cute looking Bats for sure. What about your favorite animal, Stan? 

   Stan: Dolphins and Whales for me. I find them to be some of the most fascinating creatures on the planet. I’ve seen some of them in the wild one time during my vacation on the east coast.

   Lydia: Nice! Sometime ago, I actually did a telethon on helping the whales where we raised about over $10,000.

   Stan: Awesome! I’ve donated some money to a whale charity myself, and even took a stand against the whaling industry.

   Lydia: Good for you. I just can’t imagine in living a world without them.

   Stan: I couldn’t agree with you more.

   After on having their lunch, it was now time for recess. Outside, Stan and Lydia head over to an empty picnic table to continue on with their conversation.

   Clyde: Yo, Stan, are you up for a good game of football?

   Stan: Not today, Clyde. I want to keep on having my conversation with Lydia here.

   Clyde: Are you sure? This is literally our very game in over a year.

   Stan: Maybe another time. 

   Clyde: Alright, but promise that you’ll play with us again sooner than later.

   Stan: Will do.

   As Clyde leaves, Stan and Lydia were once again alone together.

   Lydia: You play football?

   Stan: Yep. I’m actually one of the quarterbacks for this school’s football team. We’re the South Park Cows.

   Lydia: Huh? Why are you guys call the cows?

   Stan: This town has a huge history when it comes to the cow industry. We’ve produced the most cow beef in all of Colorado for over a hundred years now, and the founder of South Park was a butcher on cows.

   Lydia: Uhh…ok?

   Stan: Yeah, I know. Kinda fucked up on having a cow as a mascot that’s based on slaughtering them for a living, but our school and town still love our cows regardless. We even hold a special event every summer call Cow Days in their honor.

   Lydia: This town surely does have such a weird obsession with cows even more so than my Aunt May and Uncle Clyde ever could. Moving onto a different topic, what is like to live in South Park?

   Stan: Well, in some days, it’s really nice and quiet. But there’s also other days when this town can go batshit crazy. 

   Lydia: Really, how so?

   Stan: There was this one event that happened on Thanksgiving years ago when one of our local scientist tried to clone turkeys in order to give those in need that can’t afford on buying one, but the turkey got out of control that they were killing people. Our town had to fight them off, and we won.

   Lydia: Wow! And here I thought Thanksgiving 12: The Killer Turkey was already crazy enough.

   Stan: What’s that?

   Lydia: It’s a horror movie that I like to watch every Thanksgiving.

   Stan: Oh. Anyway, there’s also this one time where all our seniors citizens took over our town for a short period until we took it back by locking Country Kitchen Buffet from the inside as it was their main source of food.

   Lydia: Damn.

   Stan: And this town even got some visits from Aliens on several occasions.

   Lydia excited: Deadly Vu! Actual Aliens?! What were they like?

   Stan: Some look as genetic as you expect, and others are just very hard to describe that you have to see them for yourself to believe.

   Lydia: I hope to have an Alien encounter myself someday. 

   Stan: Just be careful when you come across them. Some may be friendly, but others can be very dangerous that you’ll have to run like hell to get away from them.

   Lydia: Thanks for the warning. *sighs* So, living in this town must be like going through a crazy adventure. Even the most craziest events from where I used to live at doesn’t compare to what you guys have been through. Living in this town must be very special for you.

   Stan: Actually, for the first ten years of my life, I used to live within South Park. I lived very close to where my friends still currently live at around the suburb area. But shortly after I became ten, my dad decided that he had enough of this town and we now live in a place call Tegridy Farms that’s about an hour drive from here.

   Lydia: Tegridy Farms? My parents said something about trying out some type of weed that South Park is well known for as we were on the road. Your family runs a weed business?

   Stan: Yes, but we were forced into it by my dad against our wills. He’s seriously passionate about it, but me and the rest of my family hate living there.

   Lydia: What’s it like?

   Stan: It’s like living through hell. It takes me much longer to get to school, I don’t often see my friends as much as I used too, and yet despite of me and my family feeling unhappy living there, my dad doesn’t care about our feelings at all. He really loves his weed products and all the money that he’s been making.

  Lydia: Has your mother tried to do something about?

   Stan: She can’t. And believe me, she tried as hard as she could to get us move back to South Park. My dad doesn’t want to move back to South Park no matter how hard she tried to plea him. Plus, my mom doesn’t have enough money on her own to either get us move back here or filing a divorce against my dad.

   Lydia: Such a terrible hardship. I’m very sorry for hearing the things that you and your family are going through. I only wish that you and your family can someday return here in anyway possible.

   Stan: About that, I don’t think that’s gonna be possible anymore.

   Lydia: Why not?

   Stan: Before I tell you why, promise me that you won’t get mad about it.

   Lydia: Go on and express your feelings for whatever it is. I’ll be as honest on what you have to say about it as I can.

   Stan *takes a huge breath* The house that I used to live at, is now yours.

   Lydia: You mean the house that I just recently moved into?

   Stan: Yes. Last Saturday while I was on my bike, I saw the moving truck parked right next to what used to be my front yard, and even saw your parents talking with each other outside. I’ve been dreaming for so long for that very day that I can finally return to my old house. I have so many wonderful memories there, and it was my most favorite place in the entire world. But now that can’t happen, and I’m honestly heartbroken because of it. But that doesn’t mean that I’m at all angry at you or your parents. I welcome you all with open arms to South Park. And even though we already just met, you’re such a wonderful person to be around with and I really would like to hang out with you a bit more. I only hope that you’ll make yourself incredible memories to your new home with it just as much as I did. *he begins to tear up a bit*

   Lydia begins to feel a lot of sympathy for Stan. Hearing on what he has been through and missing his old house with strong breaking heart makes her own heart feel very blue. But also at the same it, she has a lot of appreciation in how Stan expressed his feelings towards her. Aside from Beetlejuice, no one else has ever said such strong honesty words in front of her.

   Lydia: Stan, in all the years that I’ve known people personally, none of them had ever said such honestly words to me in the way that you just did. Not only do I love your honestly, but you’re also very sweet, nice, and so wonderful to talk with. For those reasons, I seriously would love to hang out with you more, and now see you as my new friend.

   Stan: Really?

   Lydia: Absolutely. And it also hurts me a lot to hear on how much suffering you’ve been through living in that farm and missing your old home. If you’re completely free this weekend, then I’ll be more than happy to invite you back to your old house for a sleepover. We can even make plans on what we can do around in this town.

   Stan smiling: I’ll be more than happy to do those things with you, Lydia. Also, thank you so much for inviting me to your home.

   Lydia smiling: And thank you in becoming a new friend for me. I didn’t have a lot of friends back from the school that I used to go too. It really means a lot to me.

   Stan smiling: I can’t wait to show you so much of this town during next weekend, new friend.

   Lydia smiling: Me too.

   The school bell rang as it was time to head back to class. As Stan and Lydia walked back into the building together, their special relationship had only just begun.

   In the next chapter, Stan shows off Lydia and her ghostly friend on what South Park has to offer.

[dreamless-sleeps]

My chest feels tight tonight so here’s what caused it

My mom and I don’t get along, she’s emotionally abusive and has ignored me when I was suicidal and self harming (when I was younger). She taught me the only person I could ever depend on is myself, her exact wording. She taught me it so well that it’s physically impossible to depend on others? Haven’t ate for the past week because you don’t have enough money in college? Bank overdrafted? Don’t drive and college is a two hour drive from your nearest relative and you need to get the fuck out the dorm? Oh well, your problem, you can’t expect anyone to drop what they’re doing. Don’t ask for help and figure it out.

While having panic attacks over the last two weeks, at some point I called my dad. He calmed me down and all but begged me to come to his house this summer which is three states away from where I live currently. My current plan was to stay with my Aunt until the summer session started in two and a half weeks but after crying through my last paper for a class I realized all my summer classes were online. I’d have to pay for housing, a meal plan, etc, if I lived on campus. More money I’d owe. Where could I stay instead ???

My Mom wants me to stay with her. If I stay with her I’d be expected to work, pay bills, complete most the housework, do my online classes and be the babysitter to my younger siblings- ALL WHILE TAKING IN A FULL SUMMER COURSELOAD. I don’t have a room, a bed, or anything in her husband’s house because that is not my home. I’m not entirely welcome because I don’t get along with him and have gotten into physical altercations with him most of my early teen years.

My Dad would pressure me into getting a job but wouldn’t force me, my step mom would insist upon it for the full two months of me being there. I don’t have a room because they just moved houses and downgraded a room or two. I would probably be in charge of my younger siblings and a portion of the housework but nothing to the extent that my mother would push me towards. If I end up sleeping on the couch, which I will. I will have to wake up before ten, and have the same rules applied to me as the eight year old even though I’m nineteen. I can’t even stand up while eating. That’s an actual rule.

My Aunt is who I stay with when I come ‘home’ from school. I have never truly asked her for anything and she’s had to offer. She gets upset when I politely ask for food or a drink before taking them. She doesn’t understand that with dad I have to ask if I can have a snack or anything because he wants me to lose weight or that there’s whole sections of the cabinets and fridge that’s off limits at my mom’s. She wants me to spend the summer with her and the girls, her daughters and my honorary nieces, and my mother is campaigning for me to not go back to my dad to whom I had to run away to my senior year.

Background: My mother had moved into her husband’s house my senior year because I made him feel unwelcome and he wanted to live where he was the boss. She took all my siblings. All four of my brothers, actually three because she sent one to my dad because he was unwelcome at her husband’s house and was causing problems. And my two stepsisters, to whom I don’t actually have an emotional attachment to. She stated she would continue to pay rent but wouldn’t provide for me because I had just turned eighteen (Nov). She wouldn’t even buy me pads. She also expected me to pitch in on bills since I wouldn’t camp out on her husband’s couch because I honestly wouldn’t have room anyplace for a bed.No place in our town was hiring. I asked every business. I ended up getting a job the town over. I mapped out bus routes to get to my interview and shifts but my Aunt insisted on taking me so she did the first week of shifts. After that I got paid and ubered to and from work on a daily basis because my mom didn’t want to take me. I worked 35+ hours a week not including overtime/picked up shifts. I spent school nights at work until one in the morning with only a fifteen minute break to cushion the almost eight hour shift. I was also a dual credit, class president, student council vp, along other things. I was stretched thin and suicidal. When it neared the end of my senior year my mom moved in a family, they were a family I had grown up with but it was odd. It wasn’t my house anymore. I had to clean out my brother’s rooms, my room, and the rest of the house so they could move in. They expected to know when I would leave and come back and the children wouldn’t stay out of my things. When I bought food/toilet paper it wasn’t just mine and they expected for me to share. They also didn’t want me drinking, to which I had picked up on as a way that finally let me sleep. I had spent upwards of 72 hours awake at a time and my mom would buy it for me so there was never a problem before. I wasn’t a sloppy drunk, just a cup of straight grey goose before bed, in my room with the door locked, before bed so I could sleep for work and school the next day. I was on the edge of ending my life because I realized I had to move out before summer started, I couldn’t afford college, I couldn’t afford to live on my own, and I just couldn’t go on on this bitch ass of an earth. My Dad called and asked me my plans and I cried to him everything that had been happening. He had me apply for a school near his house. I could stay with him and go to school. He’d teach me to drive. It sounded like a saving grace, I could finally calm down. I narrowed my belongings down to three boxes and two duffle bags. Mostly clothing and books. I moved down there and all the house rules were thrown at me. I wasn’t expect to pay bills but I was expected to work. It became a daily interrogation. Who did you apply for? Have you called? Why haven’t you got an interview yet? What’s wrong with your resume? I ended up getting a partime job, worked 50 hours a week. Got up before the sun rises, worked until my stepsisters we’re out of school and went home and completed the chores written out on the chore chart for me. I ended up not going to that college and took the semester off to get settled. They came to me with a dilemma, they needed to move and would have to downsize because they couldn’t afford a new house with just as many rooms. I panicked again. I would have to live on my own. I couldn’t drive, my dad drove me to work daily. I could probably barely afford rent if I were to get an apartment. I was going nowhere and it was going way too fast. I called my best friend in tears, this being the third time in our eight year friendship that he’d ever seen me upset let alone crying. He suggested moving back home and going to college here. Live on campus year round, there’s summer classes and it’d be like visiting during the breaks so I wouldn’t have to depend on my family. My best option. My next was being homeless. My first semester was met with nothing but worse obstacles.

My mental health worsened. My grades were suffering, me? The straight A student? The person who had gotten the absolute highest score in the grade when we had state testing? I couldn’t sleep. I spent the nights waking every three hours and struggling to fall back asleep. I couldn’t get to class and I just wanted to die. I feel like now, at the end of the semester, I’m doing okay. I fixed one of my grades and probably failed one (very close to being two depending on my final paper). I aced at least three. And now I’ve been faced with this dilemma. Who would I stay with? My mom? Never, over my dead body. My dad? That’s honestly the plan but I’m having second thoughts. I think my grandma already bought the ticket though so I’d have to go. My Aunt? She’d be the best option and is planning trips for us. I’ve never been on a vacation. She and my uncle offer me money every time I come home- I refuse every time. I’m living at their house for a short while and they provide all the necessities I could ever dream of, I don’t even have to pay for my food at the restaurant. Why would I take the money from them? They don’t want me to work and to enjoy my summer. They don’t think I should be taking summer classes and that I’ve worked hard enough. They’re finishing their basement and offered it to me as a room. They’re being so nice and generous that it hurts my chest. I can’t help but to think of the catch? How many loads of laundry would this entail on a daily? What responsibilities would I have to assume? Taking the kids to the park? Babysitting? Playing maid? No. I know they don’t even let me wash my own clothes while I’m here during the odd week(end) that I appear. I know they don’t want anything and it truly hurts. It physically makes my chest tighten and my lungs ache. I don’t know what’s wrong with me and it’s killing me. How do I get it to stop.

[samanthashin]

2017

I will be the first person to say that I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions. Why make promises you can’t keep? And why write rules that you will eventually break? That might sound a little negative for the beginning of a new year but I have experience so I can afford to be harsh. 

Instead of making resolutions this year, I’ve decided to create a “life hacks” sort of thing. If you’re not in the mood to have another list of promises and rules, try this: a few little things that will make you happier and healthier. And no- this is not something that has to be all about you. In fact, it shouldn’t be. Include others and account for their happiness and health as well. But it is more than okay to focus on yourself a little more if that is what is necessary for this year. Everyone’s “hacks” are going to be different, but the goal is universal. 

Samantha’s Life Hacks for 2017:

-Sleep earlier and wake up earlier.  I don’t sleep as much as I should, and when I do, I wake up at noon and waste the day away. Go to bed at a reasonable hour and wake up feeling rested and ready for the day. -Workout + eat healthy- BUT don’t obsess. This has been a lifelong struggle. Every year I say I will be better, and I do get better, but not where I want to be. Beating an eating disorder is a never-ending process, but I think I’ve gotten to a good place of balance. I used to go through phases- eat 5 grapes or one handful of a low-calorie cereal a day, stare in the mirror until you aren’t craving food anymore, starve until the scale reads less than 90 lbs, keep trying on those jeans until they are too big, go to the gym and grind until you’re about to pass out, if you’re with family and need to eat run to the bathroom and turn on the faucet so they can’t hear you throw up, ignore friends to make sure they don’t find out you’re sick- It’s hard to believe that this was my "normal” for so long. When if got to the point where I couldn't even stand up long enough to take a shower without blacking out, I finally started to change. Relapse happens, but I’m still in this fight. I’m okay with, even happy about being over 100 lbs. I have energy and muscle. I feel strong and I can eat without hating myself for it. This year, I don’t expect to be cured. I just want to continue my journey of recovery. -Drink more water! Pretty self explanatory. -Read. This definitely includes the Bible, but is not limited to it. I’ve always been in love with books. They took me to places and helped me escape reality so often when I was younger. I don’t know where I lost that thirst to read 5 books at once or speed through series every week, but I want to find it again. -Don’t apologize for who you are. I think this should be on everyone’s life hacks forever. Unless you're a ruthless serial killer, stop saying sorry to people who expect you to be someone you’re not. I don’t know how many times I’ve said “sorry I suck at chemistry” or “I don’t like Doritos, my bad.” Like, who cares? I’ve gone my whole life trying to live up to my parents. I’ve spent so much time researching medical schools and wasted so much energy arguing over my path in life with them, but that’s the thing- it’s MY life. I’m not cut out to be a surgeon, and that was my biggest fear. Not being good enough. I tried to force myself to like the idea of being in school for the next 19 years and replacing my father in the operating room, but that was never for me. This year, I let it go. I declared my music major, which I’ve wanted to do all along, and I stopped feeling sorry for myself because I wasn’t going to be the next Shin cardio god. God has bigger plans for me, and it’s about time I and my parents accepted that.  -Say thank you more. One thing I’ve learned about my time being home is that my incredible Aunt Soomin doesn’t talk much, but when she does, “thank you” is usually what comes out of her mouth. (That and “nevermind.”) After her stroke or hematoma burst or whatever you wanna call it, her speech suffered, as well as the entire left side of her body. I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be for a genius like her to still have her sarcastic brain working, but physically not be able to form the words. Yet, she never fails to say thank you. If she can do it, why can’t I?  -Stop being to stubborn on trying to do it all alone. I’m independent and I love it, but that doesn’t mean I don't need to have friends. I am an expert and pushing people away and not wanting help from anyone. Ditch the pride and let people help you. And even though everything in your head tells you that you don’t need others, you do. So stop being so mean and start being appreciative that people want to be your friend. -Spend wisely. I’m not saying save every penny until you’re 30, but is that second Starbucks skinny caramel macchiato of the day really worth it? -Know your worth. You are amazing and should be treated that way. Don’t expect any less. Don’t take crap. Be forgiving but don’t be a doormat.  -Pray. We’re human and we screw up a lot but the big guy up there loves us and wants us to talk to Him about it. And don’t just pray when you want something. He’s not a genie. Yes, you can always ask God for help, but you should be in constant conversation with Him. Tell him about your day. Let him celebrate your wins with you! Or cry about your losses with you. When you feel alone, remember that you’re never alone.

-From selfish to selfless. This just means think about yourself a little less and others a little more. Sounds easy, but it isn’t. I’ve been working on this one for years. It doesn’t mean think less of yourself- just think of yourself less. You still need to look out for your well being, but giving season shouldn’t just be during the holidays. We should be that caring and loving all year. 

These are just a few of my 2017 life hacks. They’re really just reminders and tips to keep me going this year because I know there are going to be days where I need a little push. Last year was not easy, but it wasn’t the worst. Here’s to another 365 days to grow and be great.