#hey gabriel fuck you personally you bitch

[marblejack]

Chapter 4-58 spoilers

*inhales*

I'm so done with this chapter

[princess-of-the-corner]

Princess Bee Thoughts

(Gonna be honest, mostly I just didn’t want to deal with the ask’s text limit)

1) I can honestly see, of everyone Chloé “reconnects” with, she gets on best with Luka. And like, part of it is Luka’s whole “Heartsong” thing, he can “hear” Chloé’s sincerity. But the other part is Chloé didn’t really interact much with Luka before it all went to shit, and Luka’s spent the past what, twenty? Thirty?-ish years hearing about her mostly from Sabrina and Adrien. And neither of them are exactly singing her praises, but they talk about her as an actual person, as apposed to “Spoiled Rich Bitch” (Marinette). So Luka sees her a bit more favourably than the others do, and it lets them get to know each other easier. Plus, Chloé’s first act is making sure Luka’s treating Sabrina well, but she’s also clearly “I mean, she MARRIED you, I trust she made the right choice!” Like, she isn’t being controlling, just verifying, and she’s genuinely happy for them. 

2) I feel like reconnecting with Adrien goes … less well. At first. Like, it isn’t necessarily BAD. Just awkward. They aren’t sure what to say to each other. And part of it would be that Adrien can’t really be honest with Chloé right now. Like, I don’t know when in Princess Bee Chloé leaves exactly, but did she know Adrien was Chat Noir? She certainly didn’t know Gabriel was Hawk Moth. And now everyone is wary of Chloé, thinking she might be the new Butterfly. So Adrien has to be suspicious of her, so even if he WANTS to, he can’t tell her any of this … and I could see him wanting to.

Say whatever you will about them, but Adrien might feel Chloé would GET it. She missed Emilie just as much as he did. She was just as hurt by Gabriel retreating into himself. It wasn’t quite the same, because they aren’t her parents, but it still mattered to Chloé in the same ways it mattered to Adrien. When Adrien was dealing with all the reveals, when Hawk Moth turned out to be Gabe, when he died, when his mom came back? Yes, Adrien had plenty of support, but to almost everyone else, the situation was very alien. Yes, it sucked. Yes, they all sympathized. But none of them really GOT IT the way Adrien feels Chloé would. So, when they meet back up again, part of Adrien wants to tell her all of it. Wants to say, “Hey, it wasn’t anyone’s fault my mom disappeared, she and dad were fucking around with a Miraculous, that’s why it all went fucky,” but he can’t right now, until they’re sure she isn’t the new villain.

-

1.) Yeah I can see it! Less baggage overall because they only met like. Once or twice. I will say that like. Chloé doesn’t get discussed a /lot/ during the inbetween years. Like back when everything first happened, there was still comments but over time there’s a lot less. And yeah anything that comes up is just a passign ‘god remember this asshole?’.

2.) oof yeah there’s a lto they don’t know. Chloé doesn’t know about the Gabe being Hawkmoth thing, she believes the thing the public does of ‘Emilie probs killed him after he tried to kill her’. But on the flipside, Adrien doesn’t know that her father kicked her in favor of Zoé, or the full extent of Audrey’s actions.

And yeah Adrien can’t- he doesn’t know if he can trust her or not. Especially with the new Butterfly popping up right as she returns (totally a coincidence actually) He knows that she theoretically has the capacity for good, both back then and even now. But he doesn’t know what choices she’s made in the meantime.

[cassiuspr]

[Video transcript begin.]

[Date recorded: January 25th.]

[Someone is walking along a lush area, full of plants and flowers, a rocky area of a beach is visible through the foliage. There is a faint outline of another person near a bush blooming with flowers. They perk up at the sight of the other, although the first person doesn’t seem to notice. They step onto the rocky area, water splashes upwards as it hits the rocks.] 

?: Day 29 of being stranded. I’ve begun to lose hope that anyone will ever rescue me.

[Voice identified: Alexander.]

A: This island is lonely, my friends are gone, all I can do is stare into the horizon.

?: [Behind Alexander.] Wh– Dude, I’m right here.

[Voice identified: Gabriel.]

[Alexander pays Gabriel no mind, instead continuing to stare off into the distance.]

A: Sometimes I think I can still hear their voices.

G: Alex it’s been like, one day. And I’m right here.

A: Odd wind today.

G: ALEX.

[Alexander is forcibly turned around by Gabriel, who has a very annoyed expression on his face.] 

G: Alex, it’s been a day, and you aren’t alone.

A: I appear to be hallucinating! Oh dear, the isolation has gotten to me!

G: I SWEAR TO GOD. Alexander! Adelia and I are okay! We’ve set up a camp. Come on.

A: These images of my friends haunt me, I– wait, just you and Adelia?

G: [Muttered.] finally. [Regular volume.] Yeah, we… don’t know where Cass is.

A: … That’s not good.

G: Yeah, come on, follow me. Maybe we’ll see him on the way.

[Gabriel begins walking away, Alexander follows, matching his pace as best he can, although he seems to have a limp.]

A: Wait up, man! 

G: Oh, sorry. Do you uh, want any help?

A: [As he catches up.] Yeah, that’d be nice.

[The camera suddenly jolts, and Alexander shouts. Gabriel has seemingly picked the other man up, and has begun walking again.]

A: THAT’S NOT WHAT I THOUGHT YOU MEANT!

G: Get carried, bitch.

[The two walk for a while, until they stumble upon the shoreline. There’s a shape on the sand, likely freshly washed up.]

A: Hey, look at that, looks like a fuckin’ body.

[Gabriel pauses. Turning to look at the shape.]

G: Oh shit.

[A long silence, before Gabriel breaks into a sprint, still carrying Alexander. As they approach, the shape is revealed to be Cassius.]

[Gabriel puts Alexander down and kneels next to Cassius. He appears to be hesitating. Cassius looks very beat up. His shirt is torn, and his blond hair is messy. If you look closely, you can see that he’s…]

G: BREATHING! HE’S–

[Cassius’ eyes open abruptly, and he starts coughing violently.]

A: Woah! Cass! Yo! Hey!

[The man pushes himself to his knees, staring at the other two.]

A: You good?

C: … Where the fuck are we.

G: [Overlapping.] I don’t know.

A: [Overlapping.] I think we’re in 1963.

G: [Staring at Alexander in confusion.] What?

A: Just saying ‘an island’ is boring. 

C: So… the plane…?

G: Crashed? Yeah.

C: Lovely.

[Transcript end.]

[lucky-dyse]

The Nice And Valid Criticisms of Dyson Bradley (bitch)

General warning for Good Omens Season 2 spoilers

Please heed this warning before reading further, thank you.

I just binged the entirety of Good Omens 2 (which I will refer to as GO2 for simplicity from now on) and I had a few thoughts about it.

First of all I want to preface this by saying I loved it. I'm not writing a long hate speech bc I enjoyed every moment of it, there are just some thinky thoughts I need to throw into the void. For example, the writing was superb. Gabriel's "Jim" character was my absolute favourite. I'm a sucker for 'scarecrow' type characters and he was my silly little guy. I wanted to pinch his cheeks. I loved how Aziraphale and Crowley inadvertently adopted him for a solid minute.

The diversity of the show in its entirety was refreshing to see (as a personal complaint, though, I wish we could've seen at least one trans man). Especially the disabled angel. There were only two slight rough spots about the disabled representation that I felt.

1. I did not like how the disabled character kept being forgotten and meant so little to the season that if you removed them nothing would change.

2. I did not like that, despite all of the representation of queer people, people of colour, we only got one visibly disabled character. It felt sort of tokenized, like "hey look at me there's a wheelchair user! Okay onto more of the other minorities that we care more about."

I liked to see the reality that is the fact that queer people can have toxic relationships or be toxic in a relationship. It's not all sunshine and rainbows. Nina having a genuinely difficult relationship with Lindsay was good for the fact that it was very real and kicked all the lesbian fetishism a bit by saying "these are people in a relationship, not sex appeal." Which was fucking amazing. So tired of seeing lesbian relationships be perfect all the time. I also absolutely loved the fact that they didn't end up together and did the mature thing. They communicated and decided it wasn't a good idea to date right after Nina got dumped.

Gabriel was a joy to watch and I loved the mystery of what happened to him. Somehow, despite how sudden it was, the relationship formed between Beelzebub and Gabriel didn't feel sudden or forced. It was actually really sweet and I was happy they got to be together. I didn't like how Gabriel's memories came back in a fly, I wish Beelzebub had taken the time to slowly remind him of who he was and ultimately make him a more optimistic and better person from the transition of Jim's experiences to Gabriel's. Though I understand it was a subplot and limited to 6 episodes of already hectic storylines. You can only do so much, especially with the strikes.

Shax was a pretty flat character, which is fine. She made a good antagonist, I just wish there was more of a sense of danger like in the first season. It felt a lot calmer and more love focused, I'd love to see aro representation here too.

Which brings me to my final criticism.

Aziraphale.

Now I have no degree in literature, I am literally [REDACTED] years old and fresh outta highschool. This is mainly just my opinion. As the rest of it has been.

But it was my interpretation that the entirety of GO season one was to represent Aziraphale finally accepting the fact that he is not on the Angels' side nor the Demons' side, but on Crowley's side. I had thought it was quite clear that he and Crowley officially made their own little corner of nice living outside of the binary.

However, this seems completely erased in GO2. It's not clear until the last episode, but Aziraphale still wants to be on the Angels' side after everything. It's like GO1 never happened. It felt like a soft reset of his personality in its entirety. Same with Crowley and the whole "nice" thing. I had thought that he was accepting his niceness enough to tolerate being called it every once in a while.

But neither of them changed. In fact they got worse. They didn't communicate with eachother about their relationship (which, I understand), and then the show ended on a cliffhanger after Aziraphale seemingly completely reverts back to when he first met Crowley. Maybe I'm not understanding something, but it just didn't feel right. I'm not Neil Gaiman at all but it wasn't in Aziraphale's character in my opinion.

That all being said, if you haven't watched it and for some reason you read this anyway knowing there would be spoilers, please go watch it if you have access to it and if you enjoyed the first season. The characters are still so very well written and they feel like real people with real experiences which you don't see often in queer media. It's good representation of real people. I can't wait to see what happens next ♡

[xxonoiroxx]

Wings

AU: Soulmate!

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: Cursing, Gabriel pfft

Pairing: Gabriel x Reader

Summary: During research In the bunker on a small, but pressing case, you, Sam, Dean, and Gabriel discover something interesting.

A/n: Requested by a lovely anon, it's 5 in the morning I haven't gotten any sleep yet sorry if this is shitty

You and Gabriel had known each other for about a couple of months now. When Dean had first introduced you two he was hesitant, because he's just overprotective like that.

It was to the point where he didn't want to leave you in a room with him, it's only because he didn't want you to get hurt. Of course overtime he calmed down, but, Dean being Dean, he was a bit wary. You it's his way of showing he cares though, no matter how annoying it is at times.

So here you are today, currently researching into a case about a string of disappearances in a small town. "Can you move please?" You said agitated with how Gabriel's wings were in your way while you were trying to read.

Gabriel turned to look at you, his left wing hitting you in the face. "Ouch, god dammit Gabriel." You say rubbing your face.

"Wait you felt that." He says while looking at you in shock, gaining the attention of Sam and Dean.

"Duh, your wings have been in my fucking face for the past three minutes. Why do you think I've been sending you dirty looks?" You state as a matter of factly.

Literally you've been being so obvious how did he not take a hint. You loved him, but sometimes he was a bit slow.

"Wait wait wait what's going on now." Sam says curiously. "They're my soulmate." Gabriel exclaims while smiling at you never break-in eye contact.

"What!?" Sam says doing his signature confused look. Dean is the next to speak, "Yeah please clarify for everyone else in the room."

"The only humans that can see an angel's wings are the mates of that angel." Gabriel replies smirking slightly at Dean and Sam. "Ok first off no, second off hell no, and thirdly ... absolutely not. Ok, there is no way in hell I'm letting this happen." Dean angrily states

"You are not dating her as long as I am still living and breathing you son of a bitch." he continues. "That can be arranged Winchester." Gabriel gets ready to snap his fingers, before you stop him. "Let's not talk about me like I'm not here. Okay? Okay. Good. Now, please explain because I am genuinely confused."

"Uh yeah, I didn't think angels could be mated to humans." Sam interjects. "Well they can't, but I guess we're just special like that, huh sweetheart?" He winks at you.

"Hey, hey stop that okay? No." Dean waves his hands in front of Gabriel's face, but his gaze never wavers as he makes kissy faces at you. "Dean stop, if this is really happening then I definitely wouldn't not not be opposed to possibly exploring a relationship with him." You say wondrously grabbing deans arm softly.

"Why though." "Dean he's not a bad person. Okay sure he does a lot of questionable shit and pisses me off sometimes, at the end of the day he is my soulmate."

"We don't know that yet." Gabriel rolls his eyes at Dean's statement. " Tell pretty boy over there to do some research then."

"Don't call me that." Sam says getting up to find more information on soulmates and angle-human relations." Where are you going?" dean yells after him. "research." Sam replies curtly.

"I need a beer, you two don't do anything until I get back." Dean directs his glare to Gabriel. "You especially." Gabriel shrugs him off and walks off further into the bunker wings fluttering softly with each step.

'I'm going to bed, stay safe okay? and use protection." You say yawning tiredly walking toward your room, all the while wondering where Gabe was going.

Knock Knock Knock

You sat up in bed when you heard three soft knocks on your door. "Can I come in?" You heard Gabriels voice from behind the door. "YeahY" You yelled from your spot on your bed.

"Wow I didn't know you knocked" You said jokingly. He looked up at you with his hazel eyes and smiled. "Wanted to make a nice approach for my lady." He wiggles his eye brows. He let's out a large sigh before plopping down on your bed.

He was nervous, not that he'd ever admit it out loud, but you didn't need him to you could tell by the way his eyes cast down for a moment and the way he tugged at his collar.

"Which is along the lines of what I want to talk to you about." He pauses before turning to look at you. This peaked your interest. "Would you maybe wanna become my girlfriend?" He says almost hesitantly. "Of course you don't have to. I mean I don't want you to feel pressured or anything, but just know I genuinely do like you and have but-." He rambles on.

You cut him off with a kiss. Pulling away slowly looking into his eyes that dart down to your lips again. "I want you." You say softly and tiredly. His face lights up as he returns back to his usual flirty manner. "Of course you do sugar. Who wouldn't?" You roll your eyes not surprised by his antics.

He was going to be a handful, but you wouldn't have it any other way.

"Can I touch them." "Huh?" You clarify by pointing to his wings.

"Of course sugar, you can touch me anywhere." He smirks at you. "Ugghhh I'm so done with you." You say half-heartedly opting to just roll over onto your stomach and check the time. 11:45. It was was pretty late. Though you've been up at 10 in the morning wide awake even after not getting any sleep the previous night this was nothing. Yet somehow you were still tired.

"You like me for it though." He responds smugly "Yeah." You say while yawning.

"You tired sugar plum?"

You hum a yes in response.

"Do you mind if I stay and cuddle with you."

You don't say anything as you turn around and make grabby hands at him. "Your so cute, c'mere cupcake." He says as he settles him self next to you under the covers after kicking his shoes off. "Goodnight honey." He kisses your forehead and wraps his arms around you. "G'night." You mumble tiredly.

You could get used to this.

[we-are-inevitable]

Bestie, could we possibly get some influencer Jack headcanons? Can be for anything! Art, YouTube, steaming, singing, etc!!

oh my god okay i feel like this is everything

okay so first of all: jack doesn't mean to become an 'influencer'. technically, he doesn't even think he qualifies as one; he's not influencing anything, not backing any products or doing any ads. literally all he is is Some Guy that decided "hey, maybe instagram is a good place to keep a catalog of all of my artwork."

so, he invests in a decent camera, learns how to take photos that aren't shaky from his phone, and starts taking professional photos of traditional pieces. he eventually learns how to do timelapses too, which he really enjoys. he doesn't really get a lot of traction at first, but then he posts some joke fanart of a popular fictional character he likes and suddenly he's getting so many fans following him.

he still posts more "serious" artwork, but after the attention, he just,, starts letting himself be free. he posts doodle sheets from his sketchbooks. weird sticky notes he can’t bear to part with. he posts fanart, for a lot of different things he likes, and he’s not like,, into fandom but he inadvertently caters to that crowd.

its a mix of traditional paintings, sketches, doodles, digital paintings, pose studies, abstract work, charcoals and oil pastels and colored pencils. it’s like,, yknow how ikimaru and viria are huge in fandom spaces? or loisvb on instagram? gabriel picolo? he basically does that in terms of growing a fan base. after things start catching on, he’s sitting at 250k, 500k, 900k followers- fucking crazy if you ask him, because he’s genuinely just trying to have fun, and people like it.

it definitely started as an outlet, too; if you scroll far enough on his account, you’ll see vent art, more personal pieces, and it’s so wild to see how much he’s 1) grown as an artist and 2) grown happier, all by what’s represented in those artworks.

he opens an online shop. sells prints, stickers, certain pieces on things like mugs and hoodies, and it basically becomes his full time job. sure, sometimes it’s hard, and he gets a lot of attention and a lot of pressure and artblock is a bitch but this is all he’s ever wanted so !! hell yeah !!

also, wouldnt it be cute if davey and jack met because davey needed an illustrator to make a graphic copy of his novel? that’s definitely something that jack has always wanted to do, and he works fairly closely to davey to make sure his interpretation matches davey’s original ideas, and they just ,, get closer and closer. their agents handle Professional stuff but they regularly meet for coffee and coffee turns into dates and eventually, jack’s name on later books in davey’s graphic novel collection is Jack Kelly-Jacobs.

[waynedunlaptheorgandonor]

watched s11ep1

i will provide you with a quick review before i disappear back into the ether of twd avoidance

lots of spoilers under the cut. also i wrote way too much and i worked all night and haven’t slept so i didn’t bother to reread literally any of it, so it might be completely nonsensical, tho if you don’t expect that from me by this point idk whose blog you’ve been reading

enjoy:

hokay, first off, i’ll start by saying that i enjoyed it more than i expected to. i’ve been avoiding any sort of discussion about stuff, but my google algorithm is so fucked at this point that i still get recommended articles and stuff every now and then, so i was already pretty aware of what i was walking into, and was expecting it to be eh, but actually i prob enjoyed it more than i enjoyed the finale

(don’t get too excited tho, the finale was rly boring lmfao)

anyway

episode starts off with a tense scouting mission

it takes .005 seconds into the episode for caryl to exchange a look of longing, establishing that they are still having weird conflict and are both too fucking stubborn to do anything about it even tho they hate it desperately

i imagine that will continue for a while

rosita, kelly, carol, maggie, what’s her face with the bad hair, and lydia (i think that’s everyone?) lower down to some army bunker or something, where a bunch of walkers are taking a snooze, and the girls are very respectful of walker naptime, and do their best not to wake them up

obviously they eventually wake up, but i’ll get to that in a sec

as they’re tiptoeing through the walker tulips, there’s this split second where carol spots a machine gun, and looks at maggie with a face like, “can i plzzzz, i am mad horny for that machine gun,” but maggie tells her no. (i 110% expected her to defy orders and accidentally wake up all the walkers, but she actually behaved herself for once. well. mostly)

never fear, tho, after the girl gang collects a bunch of MREs they go back to wait for the dudes waiting up top to pull them up, and bc men ruin everything, one of the ropes break, and daryl catches it before it falls, but then a slow motion drop of blood falls on a walker’s face, and just like that, walker naptime is over, and carol uses her bow and arrow for two seconds before she is like “fuck this” and whips out the machine gun

yes, she is super hot using it

yes, daryl watches her do it

anyway, all the other girls get rescued, and carol is about to be pulled up, but bc she is a #girlboss, she first makes a beeline for one more crate full of MREs. daryl covers her while she gets the loot, and when she gets back up top they have another charged moment as carol hands him back his knife

just fuck already, jfc

titles!

cut to alexandria where everything is still not smilestimes

BUT, we do get to see uncle daryl run and hug rj and judith (and dog), and FUCKING HERSHEL JR, LIGHT OF MY LIFE is also there

istg, they could not have casted a better child, i a d o r e him

oh, and some friends of maggie’s show up too, idk

cut to a staff meeting where everyone is like, whomp whomp, we’re all gonna starve to death unless we figure out something quick

cue maggie going, “oh, i know where food is, but it requires me to tell you my tragic backstory, in case anyone didn’t watch my bottle episode”

she tells her dramatic backstory about all her friends getting slaughtered by the reapers for no apparent reason, and then she’s like “anyway, let’s go back there!”

no one thinks it’s a great idea, but a group of people decide to go anyway, including daryl and gabriel. rosita is super pissed that gabriel is going, and carol doesn’t go, probably partly bc it’s a shitty fucking idea, and also bc they have to keep caryl apart bc otherwise they’ll fix their problems ahead of schedule and they won’t be able to drag out the needless angst

daryl looks kind of annoyed that carol doesn’t volunteer to go 

bitch, i thought you wanted her to stop putting herself in the line of fire! make up your damn mind!

moving on

cut to a thunderstorm, where, if you look closely, you’ll notice daryl is wearing the STUPIDEST hat i’ve ever seen. just get an umbrella, jfc

for some reason negan is with them, bc ig he knows his way around washington dc, and no one in six years has bothered to figure out how to get around the city and/or get a map, and he is like “hey guys, maybe we shouldn’t try to walk in this fucking hurricane,” and everyone is like “FUCK YOU NEGAN, YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF US!!!” 

this will be a common occurrence 

but eventually daryl is even like “actually, it’s rly unpleasant out here, and my hat is mad stupid, can we go inside plz?”

so they go inside an old metro station, which is actually a rly cool cinematic choice. i rly like the idea, and they executed it rly well

speaking of executions

there are some fucking RULL CREEPY walkers. idk why they bothered me so badly, but they were what they at first assumed were corpses wrapped up in tarps, but turns out none of them had been properly put down, so they go through killing these rotted bodies that had supposedly been there since The Fall, and it’s very gross and cool

this entire time, btw, negan is like “hey, i know i’m a shitty person, but i have some rational arguments about why we shouldn’t be doing this right now,” and everyone is like, “FUCK YOU NEGAN, YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF US!!!” and he’s just like “god fucking damnit”

(i forgot to mention that at one point, when they’re headed into the metro station, negan is trying to warn ppl of the potential danger, and everyone is ignoring him, and he tries to talk to daryl, and daryl is like “fuck you, you think we’re BUDDIES?” and negan is like “oh, ok, so you’re gonna be like that too? fanfreakingtastic” and it’s very funny)

anyway. a fat monster zombie escapes its tarp at one point, and tries to eat some npc, and negan saves him, again is like “hey, anyone else realize that this is a FUCKING BAD PLAN?”, and everyone is like “we don’t care, you’re still shitty and we’re not listening to you, and you don’t actually care about random npc i would literally not be able to pick out in a lineup bc his face is so generic, you’re not the boss of us!!!”

it’s at this point that negan finally is like, “why am i even here? bc i know how to get around washington dc? do none of you have a map?” and i was like, “right?! that’s what i said!” 

it’s then revealed that maggie only brought negan along to murder him under the guise of “oops, he got hurt in the line of duty, it wasn’t my fault,” and daryl has this look on his face that says, “i seriously need to stop hanging out with lethal women bent on revenge bc it’s gonna give me high blood pressure,” and maggie has a badass moment where she points a gun she has for some reason at negan and is like “i have like, one shred of human compassion left inside of me, and if you keep pushing me i will fucking kill you without a second thought, so shut the hell up”

(in her defense, negan had just dropped glenn’s name to purposely antagonize her, which was rude as hell)

(for the record, i’m completely on maggie’s side here, but negan still is right that trapping themselves in a metro station is a bad call)

anyway, moving away from that briefly

i think this jump cut happens sooner, i don’t actually remember, but whatever who cares, point is, we get to the part of the show that actually matters, and that’s anything involving my love, juanita “princess” sanchez

and also eugene, yumiko, and ezekiel

they are being asked increasingly invasive questions by commonwealth ppl, some of which i wish they actually would of answered (what do they use to wipe their asses with?? surely toilet paper has long since become extinct)

zeke, who is so much more tolerable as a character now that he’s not larping as a king, has this incredibly weird and sort of sexually charged moment with a dude in an orange stormtrooper costume, where he’s like, “i bet you were an asshole cop back before The Fall, you stupid fascist, #fuckthepolice, mb literally? idk, this moment has a lot of pent up aggression that could easily translate to hate sex, it might just be the intense eye contact, but w/e, let’s just move along,” and then he has a coughing fit to remind the audience that he’s currently dying of cancer, and orange stormtrooper is like “lolz, loser, drink some water you dumb piece of shit”

cut to the wholesome foursome sitting at a picnic table in a guarded courtyard eating gruel, and yumkio, who finally has a personality, and princess are like “hey, this place fucking sucks, can we leave?” and zeke is like, “yeah, i met this orange stormtrooper who i think might be dtf and/or murder, so we should probably bounce”

but eugene is like, “but i want some hot stephanie ass, and also some bullshit excuse about how mb commonewealth will save alexandria” which, they left before things went super downhill, right? idr. it was after hilltop fell, but they don’t know alexandria got fucked either, if i recall? w/e, not important

two seconds after he says this, they talk to some people who are like “we’ve been here for four months, or maybe it’s been nine, i don’t actually remember, i’ve stopped processing the passage of time,” and the wholesome foursome takes this as a bad sign, tho that’s just the life i’ve lived as a night worker during a pandemic, so i was like #mood

but then they watch some guy get dragged away screaming to get “reprocessed” and eugene is like “ok, nvm, let’s bounce”

(my theory on what “reprocessing” is, is that they’re stuck in a room and have to watch hours and hours of customer service training videos on vhs from the 90s)

i definitely got my jump cut scenes mixed up bc i think the negan accusing maggie of a murder plot thing happened in between this scene and then the next commonwealth scene, but w/e, i’ll just finish what happens in the commonwealth arch

the wholesome foursome are trying to hatch a plan to escape, except princess, my love, is distracted watching some stormtroopers flirt, and the other three are like “wtf, dude, how can you even tell any of them apart?” and princess then tells them every stormtroopers backstory bc she is brilliant and pays rly close attention to shit, and the other three are like, “this is useful information, thank you for being an insane person”

their plan involves yumiko and eugene dressing up as stormtroopers and leading princess and zeke out of the place, which works fine actually, except on their way out they come across the Depressing Wall of Probably Mostly Dead Missing Loved Ones

they’re about to leave, when princess is like, “wait, yumiko, you’re on here, that’s weird huh?”

sure enough, yumiko  is on the wall, with a note from ig her sister 

the scene ends with yumiko going, “guys...i can’t leave...i have tragic backstory to unveil”

tragic backstory to be continued ig

back in murder metro town, npc and some other npc have stolen all the supplies, there’s a train blocking the track, and a horde of walkers are coming towards them, so things are not going fantastic

they horde is too big to take down, so they start to climb on top of the train car to get away

but dog runs away!

and daryl, being every pet owner ever, is like “gotta go get my dog, guys, try not to get killed while i’m gone, c u soon!” and he ducks under the train and disappears

#priorities

the episode ends with maggie climbing up the train car but getting grabbed by a walker and dangling off the edge, and negan is there and they have a lion king moment where maggie is like, “scar! help me!” and negan is like “long live the king, bitch” and walks away into the shadows, leaving maggie to a potential death

which, while i know isn’t actually going to happen, would be a really fucking funny move on the writers’ part

like, “look, lauren’s back! and now she’s dead, bet you didn’t expect that!”

anyway

my assumption is negan will actually end up helping her up or something, continuing his ambiguous morality bullshit that actually isn’t ambiguous bc he BEAT GLENN TO DEATH WITH A FUCKING BAT WRAPPED IN BARBED WIRE IN FRONT OF HIS PREGNANT WIFE

the maggie/negan arch is kind of dumb, but whatevs, i’ll tolerate it, as long as my boy glenn gets justice in the end

anyway, cue credits!

final assessment: good episode. i’m much more interested in commonwealth than the reapers, tho i am hoping that daryl’s personality-less ex turns out to be a monster killing machine with no conscience, that’ll be fun. princess is a gift from god. hershel jr needs his own tv show. needs more carol (and caryl)

the end! going back into my walking dead free chamber! see you next episode!

-diz

[kawaiichibiart]

Okay, so, Wishmaker.

Man, was that episode hard to watch. Not because it was bad, far from it, I loved it. It was so fucking random to me. What's bad is, I have to watch YouTube videos on 144p. Because we're changing our internet provider and recently got rid of our WiFi box. I can use mobile data, it's how I can watch Miraculous content and post here, but I also exceeded my mobile data limit last month, and am currently on reduced data. So, things are either: slow, lagging/buffering, not showing up, or a combination of the three.

To give y'all an idea, it was 3am when I looked up the episode and clicked on a video. It was 4am by the time I finished the episode. All because I had to constantly pause each part, because a full upload was taking a bit too long to actually start. But I still managed to watch it.

And, again, it's such a fucking random episode??? Seeing what everyone wanted to do/be as a kid. Like, the first guy who wanted to become Santa? I wheezed.

Cucumber person made me all sorts of wtf, because I now headcanon that Rick and Morty is a show in the Miraculous universe, and someone saw Pickle Rick and was like, I wanted to be something like that when I was kid, only I wanted to be a cucumber, not a pickle.

Jaggedile was fun. And can I just say, kid Jagged was really really cute in his crocodile onesie/costume. Also, can I just, I need to ask:

Far as we know, Jagged never had a cat. That is a cat kid!Jagged is chasing. So...did he chase random stray cats as a kid whilst dressed as a crocodile??? (Also, yes, I did rewatch the clip of him revealing his childhood dream in 1080p just to get a good screenshot. Even if it was kinda a bitch to do so.)

Marinette being a knitting fairy is very funny but also kinda cute, not gonna lie. Like, can you imagine, little baby Marinette Dupain Cheng going up to her parents and telling them she wants to be the Knitting Fairy. Hey, at the very least, knitting needles make for good weapons (??? me thinks????). Stab someone's eyes out.

Adrien. Oh, Adrien. Honey, sweetie, cariño, if your childhood dreams were to be what your parents wanted, and so far, everything they're making you do, is something you don't want do, especially in the long run, Adrien, mijo, calling you a puppet would be wrong. You're a doll. Something to be dressed up, modeled, made to look pretty and looked at. Puppets at least have the aspect of being entertaining and making people laugh. But a doll? A doll is usually just, kept pretty. Something to look at. And you, my dear sunshine boy, are that porcelain china doll that is kept on display. And Gabriel, and maybe even Emily who knows, are the ones keeping you behind a glass door, only taking you out to change your clothes so you can continue to be pretty.

Honestly, the one firefighter who was like, I wanted to be a firefighter and a cowboy resonated with me. Because I too wanted to be many, many things as a kid. My mom told me my brother always had his eyes set on one goal, changing his career in mind once, but me? I was constantly changing. So, fuck, I would be a MESS.

And, Alec. Man, did I feel bad for him. We know now that he shaves, so, do you think we might see him with his afro again? Because I think he looks good with big hair. Also, congrats on having one of the better akuma looks.

And I'm finishing this post off with just, how much I loved Luka this episode. He was just...wow. ( ´ᵕ`* )‪‪❤︎‬( ´ᵕ`* )‪‪❤︎‬( ´ᵕ`* )‪‪❤︎‬( ´ᵕ`* )‪‪❤︎‬

[fific7]

Dangerous and Divine - Part 6

Billy Russo x Reader

Summary: Billy Russo is an itch you don’t want to scratch. But he’s all over you like a rash.

A/N: This does not follow canon, it’s mainly fluff & lemon zest 🍋 with a side of angst. The GIF is from Exposed, unreleased pilot show in case you’re wondering 😌... Billy vibes.

Warnings: Some drinking & swearing.

(My GIF)

He made it out onto the street, looking around him in all directions, heart sinking as he couldn’t see her anywhere.

Running his fingers through his hair, Billy continued scanning the crowded streets. No.... nothing. He grabbed his phone and dialled her number. She didn’t pick up. So he texted her.

“Angel, just saw you in the restaurant. I was there for a business lunch, really hope you don’t think there was anything else to it cos there wasn’t. Please - call me back or pick up when I call.”

He tried another couple of times including FaceTime but no, she definitely wasn’t picking up. Trying once more, he let it ring through to voicemail, and left basically the same message on there. He had no intention of returning to Madani and continuing lunch - too many awkward questions to face there apart from anything else - so he went back to his car, got in, slamming his hands down onto the steering wheel a few times before starting the engine, and driving back to Anvil.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

You and your friend had only gone a few doors down to another restaurant, and luckily they had a table available. Once you’d ordered and had glasses of wine in your hands, your friend Karen had fixed you with a steely gaze and said, “Okay, give.”

She worked as a reporter at one of the big newspapers, and you hadn’t had the chance to catch up with her for a good few months. And you knew she wouldn’t let this go until she’d wrung all the juicy details out of you, so you took a big sip of wine and sighed.

Catching her up from the whole ex-boyfriend situation to the cocktail party and meeting your new love interest, through to becoming lovers and maybe thinking it could go somewhere, you finally got to today’s fiasco.

“So, literally as soon as we sat down, I look up and that big fucker’s walking in with some pretty girl and looking extremely comfortable with her!” You gave what could only be described as an angry growl, “I mean I’d sussed out from the get-go that he was a player, but ... uhhh!!!... how could I be so damn stupid to fall for his shit talk?!!! Telling me I was his girlfriend!!!” You blew out a big breath.

“And then...“ you switched to your fake “man” voice, “‘Oh, I got a job I’ll be on for the next couple of days, angel.’” Another angry huff from you. “Yeah, right, on a ‘job’...he was obviously gonna be ON her! For about 48 hours by the sound of it. Bitch! And he’s a fucking jerk.”

Once Karen could get a word in edgeways when your rant drew to a close, she said in a calming voice, “Honey, it sounds like you had a lucky escape. There’s a lot of them in New York, you know... fucking jerks, I mean.”

You felt your eyes welling up, but blinked the tears back fiercely, you weren’t going to cry over that stupid big douchebag. You pulled your phone out of your bag, “I mean, look! Look at what he literally put in my phone yesterday evening...” and, ignoring your notifications for the moment, you scrolled to Contacts and turned the phone towards her.

Karen rolled her eyes, “Urrrghh, how lame is that? ‘Your Boyfriend’?” shaking her head. Even though you were furious at him, you felt a twinge of annoyance at her comment. You’d thought it was quite cute. Well, you had before that little shitshow. Then she put her face closer to the screen, “Hey, wait a minute!.. lemme see his photo?”

You handed the phone to her, and she peered at the image. “Oh my god,” she breathed, looking up at you, “...what’s your guy’s name?” “Billy Russo,” you spat back, loath to even voice it. She handed you the phone back. “Well, that’s just damn spooky,” she said, looking amazed. She leant in to you, “I’ve been seeing a guy for a couple of months, his name’s Frank,” and your mouth dropped. “Billy’s got a friend called Frank!” you said, staring at her. She nodded, “Yep, works at Anvil which is owned by the one and only Billy Russo!”

She sat back, taking a long sip of her wine. “What a freaking coincidence this is,” she shook her head. “Frank’s told me a little about him, you know and I’m afraid you’re right - he sounds like a total player.” She looked at you sympathetically, “Sorry.” You waved a hand in the air, “Nothing I hadn’t guessed for myself, Karen. But... he seemed so sincere.” You laughed self-depracatingly, “I was gonna be the one who tamed the bad boy. Huh!!”

You scrolled through the notifications, realising they were all from Billy. “I think he must’ve seen me! He’s called and texted.” You read the text, huffing and showing it to Karen, who raised her eyebrows and commented, “Nice recovery, Russo.” “The voicemail’s the same,” you said, as you listened to it. “What a load of bullshit. I mean, c’mon, who walks a business lunch date to the table with his hand on her back?”

Karen nodded, “No-one, unless they wanna get slapped with a lawsuit.”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Billy slammed his office door behind him, and threw himself into his chair, tapping out a staccato rhythm on his desktop with a long finger. He reached down, opening his bottom desk drawer and taking out a bottle of whisky and a glass. A moment later, the door opened and Frank came in, looking concerned. He took in Billy’s less-than-immaculate hair, bouncing knee and tense demeanour.

Billy waggled the whisky bottle and quirked an eyebrow at him, but Frank shook his head.

“Okay, Bill, what’s up? Something go wrong?” Billy looked up at him, scowling ferociously, “Fuck yes!” he bit out, “Frankie... everything’s gone wrong.”

Before he could say anything else, Frank’s phone rang and he held a finger up to Billy to say he was going to take the call.

“Hi, sweetheart,” he answered it, “how’re you?” Billy heard a big outburst of indecipherable speech from the phone, and then saw Frank’s eyes flick over to him. “Oh, uhhh okay.. umm right, yeah he’s here. Yeah... yep, I’ll let him know. Will I see you later?” He smiled fondly as he went on, “Okay! That’s great, see you then.” He hung up, hand going to his jaw and running over his stubbled chin, looking worried.

“Bill...” he started, just staring at him and Billy stared right back, “What?”

Frank said a name to him, his angel’s name, and continued, “You know her?” Billy nodded, “Yeah, that’s my girl.” Frank plopped down into the chair across from him, “Not sure that’s the case now.” Billy nodded, “I know. That’s what I was about to tell you. I took Madani out to lunch and my girl was in the fuckin’ restaurant.” He shook his head, “She ran right outta there and I followed but couldn’t find her. So I headed back here. Left Madani sitting there in the restaurant.”

He poured a generous slug of whisky into the glass and knocked back most of it. “Now my girl’s mad at me and Dinah’s mad at me, and this operation could be down the tube.”

Frank sighed, rubbing his big paw over his face. “And Karen’s her friend, can you believe that? So she’s mad at you too. Fuckin’ hell, Russo.”

“Yeah,” said Billy, also sighing. “How the fuck am I gonna fix this?”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Dinah Madani was not a happy bunny. She stomped into her office, yelling out “Sam!!!” as she went. He hurried in behind her. “Something wrong, Dinah?” She gave him a contemptuous look, “I see you’ve been working on your powers of observation. Well done! Yes, something’s wrong!” Sitting down behind her desk, she glared up at him, “Russo!!! That’s what wrong. That piece of shit.”

Inwardly, Sam laughed to himself. Despite Madani’s sarcastic gibe at his perceptiveness, he’d quickly realised as soon as Russo had popped up in this case that Madani had the serious hots for him. She thought she’d been getting somewhere with him, both on the case and personally, but now something must’ve put a spanner in the works on either one or both of those.

“What’s pretty boy done now?” he asked, trying and failing to completely hide his smirk. She scowled at him, “We’d gone out for lunch - to discuss the case,” she hastily added, and Sam thought to himself ‘yeah, right, and what were you hoping dessert was gonna be?’

“He spotted someone leaving the restaurant and off he goes, saying he’s got to catch up with them.” She viciously powered up her laptop. “Think it was a woman,” she mumbled. “Sorry, what?” said Sam innocently. “I said, I think it was a woman!” spat out Madani, “are you deaf or something?”

Sam smirked again, “Oh. Dear. Someone to do with the case, you think?” She stared at her screen, “How should I know? But that bastard’s got some explaining to do.”

Well this afternoon was gonna be a complete blast, thought Sam.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

You’d returned to Chelsea, and spent the whole afternoon getting under your team’s feet in the café. Not wanting to sit and brood in your office, you’d busied yourself ‘helping them out’, when in fact they didn’t actually need any assistance. And you could sense you were vaguely irritating them. But you didn’t feel up to telling them what the problem was.

Eventually, you’d asked if one of them wanted the rest of the day off as paid leave, and Gabrielle had jumped at the chance. Her older sister had just recently popped out another baby, and she was keen to visit and fulfill her role as doting aunt.

The two guys had watched you warily for the rest of the day, in case all your nervous energy ended up causing some kind of coffee-shop catastrophe. You sent them off at the end of the day, saying you’d close up yourself. Which turned out to be a mistake. Looking vacantly out at the street, you closed and locked the door when they left, and that’s when you spotted the Wraith, parked diagonally opposite the café.

Resting your forehead against the cool glass of the door for a moment, knowing you should really have anticipated that this would be Billy’s next move when you didn’t respond to his attempts at contacting you. Either turn up here or at your apartment. Not difficult to work out. You got the fright of your life as the doorway suddenly darkened, and long legs clad in suit trousers and a pair of shiny black shoes appeared in your line of vision. You’d jumped back in surprise and Billy leant one one arm on the door, staring in at you and mouthing “Please?” at you, followed by (you thought), “I just wanna explain.”

You’d looked away from his pleading eyes, contemplating what you were going to do. Let him in, don’t let him in. You couldn’t deny you wanted to hear his explanation. In all its no-doubt manufactured glory. So, heaving a big sigh, you unlocked the door and immediately walked away to the counter, leaving him to actually open the door and walk in. A small victory, you thought. You hadn’t actually let him in after all. Sort of.

“Coffee?” you asked over your shoulder. “Please.” You made an Americano for him, and a caffé corretto for yourself. You weren’t too fond of grappa, so topped up the espresso with some brandy. Billy, who was leaning on the counter watching you, raised an eyebrow at you. “Ooh, that bad, huh? Can I get some too?” You just stared at him, and he added, “Please?” so you added a shot to his coffee and handed it to him.

Sipping your own strong and bracing beverage, you leaned back against the unit behind you, face neutral, waiting. He took a long drink of his fortified coffee, eyes never leaving yours. He carefully placed the cup back into the saucer, leaning his arms on the counter and looking back up at you, the tip of his tongue swiftly moving over his bottom lip.

“I know you’ll probably think this is total bullshit, but I promise you it’s not,” he said into the silence. You nodded, “Mmhmm.” His eyes drilled into yours, sincerity shining out of them, “That was purely a business lunch. She’s a Homeland agent, and Frankie and I are... in the middle of something with that agency. I can’t tell you any of the details... yet. I’m sorry.”

You huffed out a long breath. “Firstly, Billy, since when does a business lunch entail walking the woman to a table with a hand on her back?” He winced, but you weren’t finished, “And right now, to me, the only thing you looked like getting into the middle of was her.” This time he flinched back from the venom in your voice, but he maintained eye contact with you.

“Angel, I swear to you... On. My. Life. There is nothing and will never be anything between me and Agent Madani.” So.... Agent Madani, your brain rolled the words around your mind. “We’re in a joint operation with them, and I need to make sure she doesn’t drop us out of the loop, they’re good at doing that.”

“And how’re you doing that, Billy? With ‘business lunches’, with lots of flirting? She got the hots for you, hmmm Billy? Yeah? So, ultimately with sex? Keep her really sweet?”

Damn, you knew you’d hit the nail right on the head. His face had flushed, guilt written all over him and he’d slid back on the counter slightly. You’d like to bet that If he hadn’t met you, that’s exactly what would’ve happened. Maybe he’d just not got that far down his timetable with her yet.

You stared intently into his eyes, “Slept with her yet, Billy?” He straightened up to his full height, looking down at you, a strange distant expression in his eyes. “No, angel, I haven’t. And I can’t deny what you’ve just said. That was the plan. Me and Frankie need to know what information and leads she’s got. Yeah, she’d like to fuck me, she’s made that pretty obvious. But we hadn’t quite got to that stage yet.” He took a deep breath, and said in a rush, “We had a drink after work one night, and I kissed her.”

“Uhuh. Did you.” Statement, not question, folding your arms over your chest.

“Before we met!” he hastily added, emphasising the ‘before’, “...it happened days before we met. And it was purely business to me. Nothing more.” “Really? She’s pretty hot.” You could tell he spent a split second thinking how best to reply and keep his balls intact at the same time. “Well, yeah she is... but the spark’s not there for me. She doesn’t float my boat. Not like you do.” You smirked, good answer Russo!

“So what would your schedule have been?” He looked at you, puzzled, “What d’you mean?”

“Flirt, tick. Kiss, tick,” you made little air ticking motions with your finger. “Fuck...? Now, just when would that’ve been on the table, Billy?” He looked away from you, shaking his head, “I dunno. Whenever it would’ve been necessary.” Glancing back at you, “Look, I know this sounds really...” “Shitty?” you supplied. He allowed himself a small grin, “Yeah, shitty,” then the grin dropped. “But this is life and death, angel, and it means finally clearing our names as long as it all goes down okay.” You decided to spare Billy the verbal barb which had popped effortlessly into your head, along the lines of ‘would it depend on who went down on who?’

But you didn’t, instead saying. “Oh right, that’d be clearing your name from when you and Frank got arrested by Homeland, yes?” Billy gave you a hint of a smile, “So, you have been digging after all.”

You nodded, “Yes, I have. Not that I found out much. The dead CIA guy, him having funded you, you guys getting arrested. That was pretty much it.” He nodded, “That’s the bare bones of it, the important parts though. I promise you that as soon as I can, I’ll tell you the whole sorry story. We’re still right in the... it’s all still goin’ on right now.”

You smirked to yourself, you knew he’d changed what he’d been about to say as he was saying it, in case you took another dig at him about exactly what he was in the middle of.

He moved round the counter, and stood next to you. His dark eyes looked huge as they stared into yours, “I promise you, angel, you’re the only woman I’m interested in. The only one I want to be with. Please say you believe me.” The annoying thing was, you did. You didn’t like what he’d told you - that basically if you hadn’t been on the scene he’d have slept with Madani to keep her ‘on side’ - but you did believe that he hadn’t had sex with her. You thought that the small snippet of her body language you’d observed had screamed ‘I want him’ but not the casual touching and languid looks of ‘I’ve had him’.

You gave a big sigh. “Okay, Russo, I believe you.” A look of pure relief crossed his face, and he immediately grabbed both of your hands, pulling you close and kissing you hungrily. You pulled away after a few moments, just as he was trying to deepen the kiss. “But you’re on parole for a while.” He groaned, which became a laugh, “Okay, yeah... whatever you want, angel. For however long you want. I guess I deserve some punishment.”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

After closing up, you and Billy crossed the road and headed towards his car. He beeped his car remote at it as he approached and then opened the passenger door for you. As you folded yourself into the seat, he put one arm on the door frame and leant in to kiss you again. “Sneaky,” you said as you moved your lips away from his. “Always,” he replied and smiled widely at you. He seemed very happy to have been granted ‘parole’, you thought.

As Billy drove off in the direction of his place - realising this produced a part-exasperated smirk on your face - you contemplated what a fucking awful, emotional, but ultimately good day you’d had.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Someone else was stewing about precisely the same thing. Only without the good ending.

Dinah Madani had a furious scowl on her face as she put her SUV into Drive and pulled out into the traffic flow, following Billy’s car.

She’d just watched that whole little pantomime as he’d opened the car door for that woman, then leant in and obviously kissed her, although she hadn’t been able to actually see that from her vantage point a couple of cars behind his.

When she’d followed Billy from Anvil out to Chelsea earlier on, for the life of her she couldn’t figure out why he’d headed into a coffee shop, of all places. She’d discovered that she couldn’t see into the café from where she was parked, and didn’t want to break cover and walk over to the window in case Billy spotted her.

Then out he’d trotted, hand in hand with whoever this woman was - a waitress in a coffee shop? “Classy, Russo, very classy,” she said out loud, in a bitchy voice. She could ask him about it, she thought, but knowing him he’d more than likely tell her it was none of her business.

Well, she was going to make it her business to find out whatever she could about this apparent liaison of his. She pulled over and watched as his car disappeared into the underground carpark of his apartment block.

It could have some bearing on the case, she thought, trying to justify this course of action to herself.

She ignored that other little voice in her head which said to her that she was just plain jealous.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

@blackbirddaredevil23 @galaxyjane

[princess-of-the-corner]

"Who was used to save Nathalie then??? What other person died???"

Marinette. Gabriel's wish retro-actively caused her "Character Assassination" /sarcasm

Ha!

Honestly though everyone got fucking assassinated the last few seasons let's ressurect a few more bitches. Hey Fei do you want your dad back?

[thatasianstereotype]

Shit. I Got To Deal With This Bitch (Again). 

The third installment of my Adrien x Damian AU. 

First: Fuck. I’m Gay. 

Second: Damn, You’re Looking Fine. 

Well, would you look at that? I’m not dead after all. And this took a while to put together understatement of the fucking century. The reason is because life is a busy little shit the English language will not cooperate. I’m thinking of a scene I want to write and somehow words are lost in translating that into the computer and I end up with a white blank screen in the end. 

But moving on to the fic. At first, I was going to have the whole Gabriel-being-put-in-jail and former-friends-thing put as an aftermath because I really wanted to write Marinette and Adrien meeting the Waynes. But I decided to make the aftermath a full-blown fic from @michaelshadow7779′s ideas and extend the trilogy into a four-part series. 

This part will be focused on what happened to Liar-la, Ms. Bustier’s class trying to gain back their friendship with Marinette and Adrien, and Gabriel getting a special visit from both Robin and Ladybug. 

Again, this is a crack writing where creative liberties were definitely taken. 

.

.

.

Lila Rossi is a fucking bitch and everyone —Like everyone this time— knew it. 

Her reputation was now in shambles (she’s now known as that pathological liar or that lying bitch) and Ms. Bustier’s class could only stare at her with hatred and anger —feelings that were once directed at Marinette. 

No one entertained her lies anymore. No one really hung out with her anymore. She sat at the back of the class, staring daggers at both Adrien and Marinette all day (just wishing for an akuma that will never appear).

Unfortunately for her, Lila couldn’t transfer out of class and with only 2 more months of the school year left, she couldn’t transfer out of school so she was stuck dealing with the consequences of her actions: being a fucking social outcast.

Because the class was not at all happy with their supposed friend. Tensions ran high during school. Things took a turn for the worse when Ms. Bustier tried to “fix” things in her own way, mentioning how the only reason Lila lied was because of her “disease” and the girl simply wanted to make friends. 

Needless to say, the class did not appreciate their teacher making them out to be fools all this time. 

It was Alya who ripped her a new one. Césaire definitely has a set of lungs on her. And Adrien would be lying if he didn’t say how utterly satisfying it was to watch.

Karma was a bitch. 

Payback was a bitch. 

And Adrien was fucking living in the aftermath. He wondered if it was mean (probably but he didn’t care) that he wished he had popcorn right now. 

All in all, life returned back to normal. 

Well, kind of. 

.

Unfortunately, with the 2 months left in the school year, Ms. Bustier couldn’t exactly be let go because apparently Mr. Damocles didn’t want to deal with the whole paperwork, trying to find a new teacher to replace her, and dealing with the so-called Akuma class. 

That fucker. 

So essentially, he left her at the mercy of her unhappy class, saying she will be let go at the end of the school year. 

Ms. Bustier was unhappy with the arrangement. The class was unhappy with it too. Probably even more so. Since they still got to deal with Rossi’s bitch ass on a daily basis. 

The remaining 2 months of school were spent in a passive-aggressive war. Teacher vs. Students. Where technically the teacher should be respected and they should learn from her but the class was unleashing their collective pettiness. 

And Caline Bustier was fucking done with this job. She wanted to go back in time to when she thought being a teacher was a good idea and shake her past self silly. At this point, she was just counting the days until she can leave for good. 

“Kim. That’s the third time you slept in class this week. If you don’t pay attention, you won’t pass the test next week.” 

“Hold up. I got to ask the certified pathological liar where I put all the fucks I give.” 

“Ok. Don’t forget to ask Marinette if you can actually trust her answer.” 

It was glorious. 

Adrien and Marinette were definitely enjoying the show. 

.

Marinette put down her sketchbook and stared at Damian for a minute. “You’ve been here for a month and a half already. Are you still doing business for your dad?” 

Damian Wayne became a common sight around Françoise Dupont High School and can usually be seen around Adrien and Marinette. After a week of constantly seeing him hang around lunch or in after school activities/clubs, seeing a Wayne soon lost its novelty and people accepted it as the new norm.

“I’m already done with what I need to do at WE’s Paris branch.” He casually plucked flowers from the ground to make a crown for his mon amour who was happily chatting with Luka and Kagami.

“So why are you still here? Don’t you have your own education to finish?”

“My schooling is of no concern. I already earned my diploma a few months ago. It was not at all difficult when I’m already light years ahead of my peers in regards to the dismal educational system my Father forced me to attend."

She raised an unamused eyebrow. “Uh huh. And your family isn’t worried at all about you, a minor, being in a foreign country all by yourself?” 

“They know I’m here. I already informed Father that I will be extending my stay here.”

“And he just accepted it? Just like that?”

"I’m responsible enough to handle myself. I surely do not need Batman watching over me. And you don’t need to worry at all. I’ve been away from home for far longer.”

“You’re completely missing the point.”

“On the contrary, I thought I answered the question perfectly.”

.

When they weren’t playing a petty war with Bustier, the class was trying to get back into Marinette and Adrien’s good graces by inviting them to everything and trying to include the pair in their lives again. They wanted to be friends with their Everyday Ladybug and Sunshine Child again. 

“Want to do homework together?”

“How about a study session?” 

“We’re having a sleepover at Juleka’s place, Marinette. We can talk about each other’s love lives like the good old times.” 

“Wanna see the new movie that came out, Adrien? I’ll even pay for your favorite snacks.”

“Come on you two. Let’s hang out in the park. We can get Andre’s ice cream too. It’ll be fun.” 

Spoiler alert: It don’t work. At all. 

.

“Hey Marinette, Adrien! Why don’t you sit with us today?” Alya eagerly waved at them from where she was sitting with Nino. 

It was a part of a long list of efforts that the class is trying to include the pair in. And it would be nice if it was just to be nice and friendly, you know. Adrien wasn’t going to be outright mean to them even though they fucking deserve it after how they treated the beautiful and kind goddess that was Marinette because Mari asked him to “Play nice, kitty”. 

But the class kept trying to slide the whole Liar-la thing under the rug as if it was nothing. As if they didn’t shit all over their good name for a two-faced bitch. As if they had no part in making them feel like outcasts just weeks before. As if they didn’t called them hateful names or gave them scornful glares. 

And that’s just fucking wrong. Because it wasn’t nothing. And they weren’t good pals anymore. So stop fucking acting like it. 

Adrien was so done with his former friends/classmates. Marinette even more so. 

Because apparently, saying “Yeah, We want nothing to do with you anymore.” is not fucking clear enough that the pair wanted nothing to do with their former friends. 

Like what the actual fuck. 

Luckily, Mari can sense her kitty’s bad mood and quickly laid a hand on his arm and led them to their seats in the middle row since Liar-la took the back and they will be damned if they sit next to her. 

Alya was utterly aghast. She and the others were trying their best to have things be back to where they were before. Doesn’t Marinette and Adrien want things to be like they were before? When everyone was friends and they were making happy memories together? 

Why won’t they accept their olive branch? They’ll be friends again and everything will be okay just like it was before Lila came. 

Let it be known that Alya Césaire was not a patient person. Like at all. 

She was fuming (like you could see the smoke coming out of her ears) as she walked up to Marinette’s desk, just bursting at the seams with frustration. “I don’t get it. Why are you so cosy with Adrien instead of us? Did you forget he supported Lila too? 

“That was—” Marinette spoke up in defense of her everything-that-actually-matters brother. 

But Alya ignored her and bulldozed right over, slamming her hands down on her desk. “Yeah. He changed his mind later on but the point still stands that he was on Lila’s side just like us so why are you willing to be friends with him but not me and Nino? We were best buds.” 

“Adrien was friends with Lila unwillingly, unlike you guys. His douchebag of a father wanted him to play nice with that harlot for some reason and he had to go along with it or risk being pulled out of school.” 

Alya rolled her eyes (She literally rolled her eyes at that) before crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Please. That’s probably a pretty little excuse he gave you be on your good side again. We all know Gabriel will never actually do it.”  

“Are you perhaps referring to the man who rejected the idea of a birthday part for his own son or makes Adrien attend constant photo shoots and a crazy schedule to follow that makes it hard for him to hang out with his friends regularly. That Gabriel?” 

At that, Alya faltered a bit as she uncrossed her arms. 

“Look, Alya. I’m fine with being friendly classmates but I’m not going to be your friend again.” 

And Alya —who wanted things to just be okay again and wanted to go back to being Marinette’s best friend, who was tired of days trying to put so much effort into being Marinette’s best gal again only to be rejected every single time— just let whatever came into her mind to slip out of her mouth. She didn’t watch what she said next and in doing so burnt the last bridge she ever had to Marinette. 

“Maybe Lila was actually right for once when she said the only reason you’re close to Adrien was to use him to get ahead in the fashion industry.” 

Oh shit. 

She really done did it now. 

It was at this point that Marinette’s infinite patience and kindness snapped. Adrien scooted his chair back a bit to get out of the crossfire. He’s a dumbass kitty but he still has self-preservation. 

The grip on her pencil tightened as her eyes narrowed and grew darker, her voice ice cold.  

“You were the one who decided we were done being friends, Césaire.” 

Alya was taken aback, frozen at the biting harshness Marinette directed at her. Whatever comeback she had died in her throat. 

Mari let out a deep breath and her voice was back to neutral. “Look. Maybe someday in the future we can be friends again. But not right now. Please respect my decision.”

And that was the end of that. 

Well kind of. 

Because the ice queen treatment didn’t deter her at all. Alya still persistently tried to get Marinette to be friends with her again until Nino pulled her away and forced her to stop it with her ridiculous antics which aren’t working. 

The rest of their former friends now classmates got the message and left the pair alone. They were friendly and cordial with each other as common courtesy dictate but they had no interaction beyond that. They were nowhere near as close as they once were before Liar-la happened. 

Anyway, school went back to normal. Well as normal as it could be with all the recent changes.

Nothing was as it was before. 

And Marinette and Adrien were fine with that. 

.

Mari was hanging out with Aurore and Mireille for the afternoon so Damian and Adrien had Mari’s room all to themselves. They were currently playing video games. 

And although the Wayne boy was the perfect gentleman who doesn’t let his hormones rule over common courtesy and a proper courtship, Plagg was there to supervise the lovebirds (with a boatload of cheese to keep him company of course). 

He likes to think of himself as laid back and chill who cares deeply about his kittens. And Adrien is a pure innocent little bean. 

Don’t get him wrong. He does like Wayne as a person. The kid’s attitude and personality is a fun riot to witness. But the major plus is how it is beyond obvious Wayne adores and cares greatly about Adrien. He is a good boyfriend to his chaotic gay sunshine baby. 

But after all the shit and drama that went down with his scumbag of a dad, Plagg was just feeling a tad protective of his kitty. 

Just a tad. 

.

They have been dating for close to a month now. He wonders if they are going to do a one-month anniversary. Is that excessive? Or was that normal? But Adrien still can’t get over how he landed such a hot and amazing guy as a beau. 

If only he could go back in time to visit his insecure and confused little self and reassure him that they had game all along. 

“Fuck. I lost.” 

Dami smirked. “That makes it 7 to 5 in my favor.” 

“I don’t care if you’re drop dead gorgeous. I’ll beat your pretty face in the next round.” 

Hot-And-Sexy had an amused grin on his face. “I love you too, babe.” 

.

Marinete and Damian are finally making a plan to get Hawk Moth to answer for his crimes. Needless to say, they have their differences on how to handle Gabriel Agreste.

“I vote to have Hawk Moth taste my blade.”

“We’re not killing Adrien’s dad no matter how much he deserves it.”

“I can get away with it.”

“So can I. But murder is still illegal.”

Naturally, discussing how to confront Gabriel and coming with a good solid plan that satisfies both teenagers took some time.

.

Adrien entered Mari’s room, humming a bit as he carried a tray filled with homemade snacks. He perked up seeing his two favorite people in the world getting along so well.

“Hey guys! What are you up to?”

Damian and Marinette glanced at each other for a split second. They didn’t want their Chaton to worry about Hawk Moth so they didn’t share any specifics.

It was Dami who spoke up. “We are discussing the legalities of assassination.”

Mari facepalmed.

Luckily, Adrien was a pure oblivious child. “That’s nice, babe.”

.

With all the strange things he’s seen (namely, the Miraculous and getting powers from tiny little talking animals), Gabriel will like to say he shouldn’t be surprised. 

But he was. 

Luckily, he had enough self-control to not show his surprise in an obvious way, just a raised eyebrow towards the two superheroes standing in the middle of his office. 

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Mademoiselle Ladybug and Monsieur Robin?” Pleasant and neutral. 

Ladybug he can kind of understand her presence. He is a supervillain after all. Wait. Maybe ex-supervillain now. Because he hasn’t been doing villain things for a while now since he misplaced Nooroo’s brooch and couldn’t find it no matter how many boxes of unsold Miraculous replicas he went through. And he went through a lot (that is not an understatement). Amazing how much free time he has when he isn’t stalking on the watch for negative feelings. 

But what was Robin doing here? He wasn’t aware the Gotham sidekick was in Paris in the first place. 

“We are aware of your alter ego, Hawk Moth.” 

He sighed internally. This wasn’t going to end well. But he hasn’t gotten this far by bowing down easily. 

“Just because I am a genius recluse does not mean I have supervillain tendencies.” 

Ladybug was unimpressed as she crossed her arms and stare at him with a deadpan look. “But you do have supervillain tendencies. I have yours and Nathalie’s miraculous who told us all about your plans.” 

Huh, no wonder he couldn’t find them. 

But anyway, the gig was up. Nooroo and Duusu were very emotional blabbermouths. The main reason why he couldn’t let them out of his sight —besides needing them to transform into bad guys of course. 

“Then you know I had a good reason why I became Hawk Moth.” 

“To bring your wife back. Yes, I am aware of your ‘master’ plan.” 

Maybe he can appeal to their sympathy. After all, heroes got to have empathy, right? “It was for Adrien’s sake to have his family back together.”

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. 

Because next thing he knew he had a razor sharp sword against his neck. He didn’t even see Robin move. 

“Do not speak of his name, you traitor scum.” The Gotham hero growled. “How dare you preach about your son’s happiness when you are the one who have been neglecting him for the past years. Do not say you care for the boy when you never once showed an ounce of love towards him.” 

Why is Robin so protective towards Adrien? Do they know each other well? 

But Gabriel’s questions were immediately banished to the back of his mind. Because right now, he was righteously fearing for his life. Prison sounded better than death. He glanced towards Ladybug. He knew she, at least, wouldn’t let him die. She was the picture perfect hero after all. 

Who was facepalming at the situation. “For the last time, we are not killing Agreste.” 

Unfortunately, Robin did not remove the sword. “And as I keep saying, no one will have to know.” 

“I will. I am literally standing right here as a witness.” 

“You may look away if you are squeamish.”

“...That’s not the problem.” It was time for Ladybug to pull out the big guns. “And if you go through with this, you will make your boyfriend cry and he will no longer want to date you.” 

It took a few seconds but Robin eventually lowered the sword and addressed Gabriel. “Do not presume that because you have no received death today that you do not deserve it. The only reason why your guts have not decorated this room is because I do not wish to make my mon amour shed tears for such a despicable man.” 

Ladybug spoke up next. “We are going to report you to the authorities. Robin and I have enough evidence to put you away for life.” 

To live for another day, Gabriel makes the smart choice of quickly surrendering right then and there. 

.

“Mon amour, I come bearing both good and bad news.” 

Adrien looked at Dami confused. “Okay? What’s the bad news?”

“Your sister have unfortunately stopped my attempt to slay your wicked father.” 

Aww. 

Adrien’s squishy little heart filled with endearing fondness at how much Hot-And-Sexy cared about him. 

“Killing my father isn’t worth going to jail, Dami. I’m sure you can pull off orange but Mari will probably bar me from ever visiting you to teach you a lesson.”  

He considered that for a moment. “That is true. Marinette is a frightening terror.” 

“She’s the greatest thing to happen to me.”Adrien swooned at his goddess before remembering his boyfriend was with him. “You’re a very close second.” 

But Dami was smiling fondly. “I know. I knew what I was getting into when I asked you out. I will never get in the way between your sibling bond.” 

Aww. 

He could feel his squishy little heart almost explode from all this sugary cuteness from his vain and egotistical Adonis.  

“You’re adorable. So what’s the good news you have for me?” 

“Marinette and I have finally dealt with your father. He will answer for his crimes in front of the Parisian authorities and you will not deal with the repercussions of being related to someone as vile as he.” 

“Does this mean I don’t have to legally change my name to Dupain-Cheng after all?” 

“You’re already one. Not sharing their name does not make you any less of one.” 

Adrien beamed, smiling brighter than any sun. He loved being part of the Dupain-Cheng family and it was nice to be acknowledged as one of them. 

“Of course. Being a Wayne is an honor too.” Damian said casually as if he was simply talking about the weather. Only the twitch of his fingers belied his nervousness. 

Adrien interlocked their fingers together. “You have to buy me a pretty ring first, Mr. Hot-And-Sexy.” 

.

The next week was kind of crazy to say the least. 

Gabriel Agreste was outed as Hawk Moth and Natalie as Mayura to the public. They were promptly put in jail. 

For all their contingency plans, Marinette and Damian had nothing to worry about after all. Adrien being a literal sunshine and Paris’ darling model was what saved him from being a pariah and outcast. The public knew that Adrien was the victim here and not part of Hawk Moth’s plans at all (Be serious. Can you imagine Sunshine child actually having an evil streak in him? No? That’s right. Because it is impossible). People were more sympathetic about Adrien having such a douchebag as a father than the possibility that he was evil like said douchebag. 

After that whole drama mess, Ladybug and Chat Noir announced their retirement to Paris’ dismay. But eh. Without akumas running around, they can leave Paris’ future to the police (since it’s you know, their job to keep the peace and not teenagers who is still winging it as they kick ass). 

Marinette and Adrien just wanted to focus on their future without any other crazy shenanigans.

He already said it before. But it still bears repeating.

Lila Rossi is a bitch.

The only thing Gabriel did right was throw her under the bus when he was caught. He told the police and superheroes how Lila helped him cause akumas with her lies and manipulation. Who knew her destroyed reputation could plummet even further? Understandably, her mother was not at all pleased with her daughter’s antics.

For being a terrorist and an indecent person, Lila was immediately arrested and deported to Italy (and that’s the last they ever heard of her thank everything Mari thinks is holy). 

.

With the whole Hawkmoth thing out of the way and he didn’t have to worry about his shitty dad ever again, Adrien can now focus on his biggest challenge yet. 

School will be over in a few days and summer will be here. Which means: It’s time to finally meet the Waynes. 

Oh fuck. He was going to meet the Batfam. 

And even though Dami assured him that his family will like him, he was still nervous. 

Fuck that. He was absolutely 100% freaking out!

Thank goodness Mari was coming along for the ride. 

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Unbroken (32)

Unbroken Masterlist

Read on Wattpad 

*

THIS CHAPTER IS 16+! If you are under 16, read with caution!

Trigger Warning: Talk of Addiction, drug use, remembrance of abuse and suicidal thoughts

This whole chapter is about Leighton hitting one year sober, keep that in mind for your own personal triggers with recovery!

There is A LOT of drug talk in these! Please use your own judgment when reading!

*Leighton's POV*

Waking up and seeing the date on my phone that read July 13th 2020, felt surreal.

I was officially one year sober.

God that feels weird.

The first thing I did this morning was take a screenshot of my 12 steps app showing that I was one year, and then I clicked the text from Aaliyah that read

HAPPY ONE YEAR BITCH! YOU FUCKING DID IT! I'M SO PROUD!

Causing me to smile.

I did it.

I accomplished something that felt so out of reach.

I got out of bed, and I was hit with a huge wave of Deja Vu.

I walked to my bathroom, memories of me this very morning a year earlier playing around in my psyche.

I was high.

I was higher than high.

I remember inhaling the weed and whatever else was mixed in it that night, walking out the door to head towards my job.

Stephen told me to have a good day and to be safe...

I walked into work and went through the motions, before it was time to check out and I was going to head over to my friend Haden's house.

When I arrived at Haden's house, there were a bunch of people there doing all sorts of drugs. Shooting, snorting, crushing...

"Hey Leigh! What can I get you?" Amber asked, holding a bong in her hand.

"Um... whatever"

"We got coke? Want some?" She asked and I felt myself hesitate for a moment, until I remembered everything happening at home.

They kicked me out.

They don't care about me, or what I'm doing.

"Um, sure" I followed her over towards the table and they had a few lines of coke ready.

I watched one of my friends snort it before it was my turn.

I felt nervous.

Nervous, because I have never done anything like this.

I always inhaled it.

You earned this.

You deserve this.

It's worth it.

Worth the high, worth the feeling of being numb.

Do it.

I leaned down and I snorted the cocaine

I stepped into the shower, the warm water washing away the horrible memories.

That was until I closed my eyes...

"It's just a little wine Leigh, c'mon!" Haden egged on, but I shook my head, feeling my phone buzz.

xxx-xxx-xxx Meet me behind the trailer park at 2

Ok

"Fine, at least do another hit with us!" He encouraged me and I agreed, taking the rolled up concoction between my fingertips, taking a deep inhale.

The second I opened my eyes, I felt my hands shaking, my body was almost itching...

I missed it.

More and more flashbacks played in my head of my friends and I doing drugs, and drinking.. Gabriel getting mad at me, my dad getting mad at me..

Before I knew it, I was screaming and crying in the shower, hitting my fist on the wall as his words echoed throughout my head "IT WAS ALWAYS JUST ONE LAST TIME WITH YOU!", "I DON'T KNOW WHO MY LITTLE GIRL HAS BECAME!" "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO YOUR MOTHER! TO ME! TO YOURSELF!"

"I'M TIRED OF THIS LEIGHTON! YOU SAID YOU'D QUIT, THEN WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!? SNEAKING IT? REALLY?! FUCKING REALLY LEIGH?!" Gabriel screamed, holding the small little baggy between his fingertips as I stuttered.

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! I NEED IT!" I screamed, trying to snatch the bag back, and he shook his head, tightening his grasp on the bag.

"YOU SAID YOU'D STOP! YOU'D GET HELP! THE ONLY FUCKING REASON I'M STILL HERE IS BECAUSE YOU TOLD ME YOU'D CHANGE!"

"I AM CHANGING! I JUST.. I NEED IT, OKAY?! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

"YOU'RE RIGHT! I DON'T UNDERSTAND! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!"

"FUCK OFF AND GIVE ME MY FUCKING BAG!"

"NO!" He yelled, and he quickly rushed towards the bathroom, myself hot on his heels.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE! I PAID FOR THAT! IT'S MINE!" I yelled, watching him walk over towards the toilet.

"WELL NOW WE'RE BOTH FUCKING PAYING FOR IT, GET HELP!" He screamed at me and the second he poured it into the toilet and flushed, something inside of me snapped.

The next thing I knew, my hand was wrapped around his throat as I shoved him up against the wall.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO! THAT WAS MINE!" I growled and he shoved me off of him, gasping for air.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU! GET THE FUCK OUT!"

Everything else was a blur...

The bathroom door sprung open, Colby running into the room in a sheer panic.

"What's wrong?! Are you okay? Is the baby okay?! Why are you yelling! Why are you crying?" He quickly asked, myself sat on the shower floor as I was curled in a ball, rocking.

"Leighton, what's wrong? Talk to me, please!" He begged and I just stayed silent, picturing the fear in my boyfriends eyes as I pressed against his airway.

I remember the feeling of rage, hurt, and disbelief... I wanted to kill him.

I wanted the satisfaction of seeing him slip beneath my fingertips and crumble against the wall, his head falling to the side as he fell unconscious...

I wanted him to physically feel how I emotionally felt...

"I'M FUCKING SORRY!" I cried, screaming as another memory popped into my head.

I looked up, my vision completely blurred from my tears, but all I saw was this black mass coming closer.

All of a sudden I felt arms wrap around my frame, holding me tight against their chest.

"Shh" He soothed, and I just cried against his soaking wet t-shirt, clinging onto him like my life depended on it.

"I'm so sorry!" I cried, feeling his palms rub against my back, after moving my hair out of the way.

I  don't know how long I sat there crying and shaking, but I slowly backed away from him, our eyes connecting for the first time and then it hit me..

I was naked.

I quickly shoved him off of me, pushing myself back against the shower wall, covering myself up the best I could.

"OUT! GET OUT! NOW! OUT!" I screamed, Colby's stunned face speaking volumes as he got out of my shower, turning his back to me before asking "What just happened?"

"OUT OF THE BATHROOM!" I yelled, ignoring his words until he left.

I got out of the shower, staring at myself in the mirror.

My face was bright red, my throat was sore and my chest was rapidly moving as I tried to breathe.

I quickly got on my work uniform, walking past Colby in the hallway, heading towards the stairs, when I felt him grab my arm.

"We need to talk! What the hell just happened?" He asked and I shook him off of me, quickly walking down the stairs.

"Morning Leigh!" Jake called out and I just waved, walking towards the door so I wouldn't be late.

My shift today was from 9:30 to 3pm and then I had the rest of the day free.

I had never wanted to get further away from Colby than I had this very second.

I took the car ride to work to calm down, drinking some water and taking my iron medication.

I rested my hands on my bump, a strange feeling of dread and regret washing over me.

"I'm sorry baby" I spoke softly, rubbing my bump.

I hated that I was pregnant today, because there was no way in hell I was going to be able to stay calm all day. Especially with all the flashbacks my brain decided it was going to show me.

All day throughout work, I would get these horrible reelections.

I remember waking up in my cell, and making the bed, getting it inspected before going to breakfast.

I remember standing in the cold hallways, lined up as we headed towards the chow hall.

It was like every hour that passed, I was reminded of what I was doing every moment of every second a year ago.

From trying coke for the first time, to my parents finding out, to Gabriel and I fighting... I was reliving my worst memories on what was supposed to be my best day.

It didn't make any sense.

After work, I head straight over to my sponsor's house to get my one year chip before going to an NA meeting, wanting to sit in on one just like I had a couple days after I had gotten to Aaliyah's.

I wanted a memory of sitting in one, clean, sober and a whole year later.

I didn't want the sob story. I didn't want the memories of me struggling to be the last ones this place held.

I wanted redemption.

I walked in and the host of the meeting hugged me, thanking me for coming before I took a seat by myself.

I glanced around the room, seeing all sorts of unfamiliar faces.

I crossed one leg over the other, bouncing my foot a little as I waited for the meeting to begin, when I heard "is this seat taken?" causing me to quickly turn to my right.

Colby Brock.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed in a low tone, not sure how I felt about having him be somewhere so personal to me.

"Aaliyah told me you'd be here. She wanted to come, but she got held up at work, and River needed her after.. so here I am" He grinned. "So.. is this seat taken?" He tried again and I just shook my head, letting him sit down next to me.

"So are we going to talk about what happened this morning?" He asked and I glared at him.

"Not here. Not now."

"Okay" He said slowly, glancing away from me.

I listened to the man in front of us start his welcome speech. Welcoming the new comers, and the returners.

"Hello, I am an addict and my name is Mark. Welcome to the Narcotics Anonymous meeting. I would like to open this meeting with a moment of silence for the addicts who are still suffering" He spoke, the room was dead silent. He went through the motions that I knew like the back of my hand. "I'd just like to give a friendly reminder that applies to everyone who has walked through these doors. Drugs and paraphernalia are not allowed on these premises during these meetings. If you are carrying anything, please leave it outside, and you can come back in. No one will judge you, or stare. We have all been there. That's why we are all here. Now that I have that done with, Is there anyone here attending their first NA meeting?" He asked a few people to raise their hands. "Welcome! I'm glad you could make it! It's very exciting to be at your first meeting. It is something you will remember forever, and I'm happy to be a part of your journey! Attending NA meetings are completely free, and you're a member when you decide you want to be. You don't need to be a week sober, a month sober or even a year... just being here, and wanting to take this step means a lot. If you've used today, please listen to what we talk about, and maybe consider talking to the members beside you today. Is anyone willing to read the "Who is an addict" reading?" He asked and a few of us raised our hands.

He picked some girl in the front and handed her a piece of paper.

"Who is an addict? Most of us do not have to think twice about this question. We know! Our whole life and thinking was centered in drugs in one form or another, the getting and using and finding ways and means to get more. We lived to use and used to live. Very simply, an addict is a man or woman whose life is controlled by drugs. We are people in the grip of a continuing and progressive illness whose ends are always the same: jails, institutions, and death." She read off and he nodded.

"I am going to hand out a questionnaire and some pens. No one will see this paper but you. Fill it out as honestly as you can" he said, handing out a sheet of paper, giving us each a pen.

I looked at the paper and it read "Are you an addict?" with a bunch of checkboxes filling it.

He gave one to Colby who shook his head. "I'm not an addict-" he said, but Mark wasn't having it.

"You're welcome to fill it out as well" He nodded at Colby, myself taking the piece of paper.

"This is weird" Colby whispered and I glared at him.

"Shut up or get out"

"I didn't mean it in a bad way. I mean it like.. it's unfamiliar.. I've never been in anything like this"

"Answer the questions Colby"

"But I'm not a drug addict" He muttered and I rolled my eyes.

"Answer them for alcohol then"

1: Do you ever use alone?

I used to, check.

2: Have you ever substituted one drug for another, thinking one certain drug was the issue?

No

3: Have you ever manipulated or lied to a doctor to obtain prescription drugs?

No

4: Have you ever stolen drugs?

Yes

5: Do you regularly use a drug when you wake up or when you go to bed?

Not anymore

I slowly went through the list, checking certain boxes and leaving others unmarked.

I couldn't help but glance over at Colby, curious to see how his was going, and to my surprise, he had some boxes checked.

I finished filling it out, putting the cap on my pen and flipping my paper over, glancing down at the floor as I waited.

After a few minutes, Mark started talking again about how most of us were finished, and that if we wanted to, we could keep the papers, or throw them away in the bin.

None of the papers had our names on it, and from my memories of these meetings, most people threw them away, but some kept them.

Colby was quiet the rest of the meeting, just listening to everyone read their papers, and talk about their life stories.

I talked a little bit about how I was a year sober, and what that journey had been like.

It was weird to be in this setting with Colby. To have him listen to me be openly vulnerable around these strangers, when just this morning I was screaming at him to get out of the bathroom.

I walked out of that meeting feeling strange, but what was really throwing me off was how Colby kept staring at his paper.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked, and he stayed quiet. "We don't want to. Why didn't you just throw it away?" I asked and he sighed.

"I checked more boxes than I wanted to... am I an addict?" he asked me, surprising me.

"You're the only one who can say if you are or not. Do you think you are?" I asked and he shook his head, still staring at the paper.

"Can I see your paper?" I asked and he nodded, handing it over.

"I marked them when it came to drinking" he told me and I nodded.

Do you ever use alone?

Check

Have you ever stolen or stolen to obtain prescription drugs?

Check

Have you ever taken one drug to overcome the effects of another?

Check

Have you ever used a drug without knowing what it was or what it would do to you?

Check

Have you lied about how much you've used?

Check

Do you put the purchase of drugs ahead of your finances?

Check?

Have you ever thought you couldn't fit in or have a good time without drugs?

Check

Have you ever used drugs because of emotional pain or stress?

Check

Do you continue to use despite negative consequences?

Check

Colby marked 9 out of 29 questions.

"Why do you think you have an alcohol problem? Did you think this before attending the meeting?" I asked and he shrugged.

"Colby, my personal opinion is that you are not an addict. You drink to have fun, not to feel numb"

"But... I checked 9 of the boxes Leigh.."

"If you're really concerned about it, take a break. Try saying no. Drinking something else instead, during a party. If there is anything I learned, you don't need things to make it better" I told him truthfully and he nodded.

"I think I'm going to try, because checking even one box was scary, let alone nine"

"Do you want to know why I don't think you're an addict?" I asked him and he nodded.

I handed him my paper and his eyes widened.

"Because our papers don't match. I didn't use drugs to have fun with friends at parties. I used them to numb the feelings I felt of my mom having cancer, of dealing with High School bullshit and everything that came along with being a teenager. You drink sometimes for videos and to have fun. We aren't the same"

"Can I ask you a personal question?" He asked and I nodded.

"Why didn't you ever drink?"

I sighed, looking the other way, biting my lower lip.

"You don't have to tell me. I shouldn't have asked"

"No, it's okay. I knew alcoholics ran in the family. Especially being Italian, and Irish... my family started drinking early... so if you had it.. you had it young, it always scared me. The thought of being addicted to something. Dependent on something. Hold your snicker, I get it. J know. I just... I thought drugs would be different. I don't know why... I just... I wanted a momentary release... and weed did that. It made me relaxed, and it honestly did help me focus on my studies and calm me down when my mom had chemo.. it wasn't really weed I'm addicted to.. it's when I pushed the boundaries, that I fucked up"

"Why were you screaming in the bathroom?" He asked quietly and I sighed, leaning my head against the headrest of my seat.

"Some things hurt Colby. Being a recovering addict isn't easy. I always thought my first year sober would be exciting... but all I'm getting is horrendous flashbacks of my mistakes. I hurt him, Colby. I should've never put my hands on him like that... but I was just so mad.. and desperate. He flushed my lifeline. Addiction isn't a simple snap of the finger fix.. I will forever be a recovering drug addict.. and it sucks" I admitted, breathing shakily.

"Hurt who?" He pressed and I shook my head.

"I understand you want to piece the puzzle together... but I'm not your jigsaw to solve"

"You said you expected today to be different.... different how?" Colby asked and I smiled softly.

"I wanted it to be filled with happy memories..."

"Meet me back at the house?" He asked and I gave him a weird look, but nodded and he climbed out of my car, walking towards his own.

~ "What are we doing?" I laughed and he smiled, opening my car door.

"Turning your day around! Is there anything else you really wanted to do today besides your NA meeting? It's already 7" he said and I shrugged.

"I need to at some point this week pick up my sobriety chip, but other than that, no"

"Okay, well, after you, m'lady" he opened the door for me and I smiled, thanking him.

We walked into a pretty pastel bakery.

"What are we doing here?" I asked and he just grinned, ignoring me.

"Hello, what can I get you guys?" A younger looking woman asked and Colby glanced over at me.

"Anything you want Leigh?" He asked me and I took a moment to scan the options, and then I heard "I'm here to pick up an order under Colby Brock?"

"What did you buy?" I asked him and he motioned that his lips were sealed, causing me to roll my eyes.

The women came back with a white box that was sealed, the bakery logo on the side.

I ended up getting some fudge and Colby got a piece of their cheesecake before we sat down at a table.

"My bump isn't allowed to get bigger" I grumbled, feeling it rest against the table.

"Your bump isn't even that big" he laughed and I groaned.

"That's my point! Anyway, what's in the box?" I asked, but he refused to tell me.

"Can I try your cheesecake?"  Asked and he nodded, sliding the plate over.

He got a maple cheesecake, and it was mouth watering good.

"Mmm" I moaned, a smile finding its way on my rosier cheeks. "I'll always be a cheesecake girl" I chuckled and he laughed. "Want to try my fudge?" I asked and Colby shook his head.

We talked a little bit about my experience with recovery. The good and the bad days, and we even compared our jail experiences which made me laugh.

"So why didn't you take today off from work?" He asked and I shrugged, digging back into his cheesecake.

"One, I need the money, and two, and I wanted to treat today like any other day"

"But it isn't any other day Leighton"

"Trust me Colby, I know that now" I laughed, remembering this morning's flashbacks.

We finished back up at the bakery and Colby and I listened to the radio for a little while before we arrived at the beach closest to our house.

"Come on slowpoke!" He called out as he climbed out of the car.

"Shut up, I have a bump in my way" I muttered, using the car door to help me get out of his low car.

"What are we doing at the beach anyway?" I asked, Colby holding the same box from the bakery in his hands.

"You ask a lot of questions" he chuckled and I glared

"I'm tired and pregnant"

"So I've heard" he laughed again, and if it wasn't for him holding the bakery goodies, I would've smacked him.

We stopped at the ocean, taking a seat far enough away so we wouldn't get wet.

I got flashbacks to the fourth of July, and being with Silas.

I shook away the memory and Colby cleared his throat, catching my attention.

"So I uh.. I didn't exactly have a lot of time to prepare.. but I uh.. had this made" he told me, opening the cardboard box.

My eyes widened as I looked down at the cupcake.

There was a sobriety symbol on it, and laid next to it was a number one candle.

"Oh my god" I whispered. "Colby... you didn't have to do this" I spoke softly, blinking away some tears.

"You deserve to be celebrated, Leighton. Even if it's something small... it's still a big accomplishment" he told me and I couldn't help the tears that rolled down my face as I leapt over to hug him.

"Thank you" I whispered, holding him tight.

"Well... I say we light the candle so we can try their cupcakes" he smiled and I nodded, Colby pulling out a lighter.

He placed the number one candle on the cupcake before lighting it. "Here, hold it real quick" he told me, handing me the cupcake as he pulled out his phone.

It was a minute before he said "Happy one year Leignton Rae", myself blowing out the candle as he had his phone pointed at me.

"What did you wish for?" He asked and I shook my head, grinning.

"That's between me and the 11:11 Gods" I teased, Colby shaking his head, grinning.

We split the cupcake in two, and my eyes widened when I saw the filling.

"How did you know?!" I spoke loudly, the vanilla bean filling falling out of the center.

"I had Aaliyah on speed dial" he laughed and I grinned, taking a bite of my favorite cupcake.

It was nice to just sit on the beach for a while, listening to the waves and watching some people swim and run.

Colby and I took a couple photos together and separately. He ended up posting one of the sunset photos I took of him to his Instagram story before we sat back down, working on building a sandcastle.

"Thank you for today" I said out of nowhere, molding more of the castle walls with my fingers.

"It was no problem. I'm glad I got to spend today with you. I actually have one more thing, let me go wash my hands real quick" he said, standing up and walking towards the ocean to wipe the sand off.

When Colby sat down in front of me again, he pulled something out of his pocket and my eyes followed his hands with wonder.

"It was short notice... but I was able to get this made... I hope you like it" he said, handing me the small jewelry box.

"You're not proposing right?" I asked and he smirked, shaking his head.

I opened the jewelry box and gasped.

Immediately my eyes filled with tears yet again, staring at the perfection in front of me.

It was the sobriety symbol. A circle with a triangle in the middle. The necklace was small and dainty, which I loved. It was silver, another thing I loved, and the triangle in the middle had small little dainty diamonds along it.

"Turn it over" Colby said, and I followed his directions and felt the tears roll down my cheeks.

"Colby" I whispered, wiping at my cheeks as I read the words' "progression not perfection" engraved on the back of the circle.

I carefully placed it back down in the back, reaching over to hug him again.

"Thank you" I whispered, turning awkwardly so my bump wasn't crushed.

"You're welcome" He told me and I awkwardly sat back down, making him laugh.

"Just because I'm pregnant, doesn't mean I'm your comedic relief for the day" He muttered, picking up the necklace again. "Can you put it on?" I asked and he nodded.

I let the necklace fall under my shirt, smiling to myself as I felt it rest against my skin.

"How do you do that?" I asked, Colby giving me a funny look.

"Do what?"

"Know just what to do all of the time"

"What do you mean?"

"Like.. with my panic attack.. you calmed me down. You bought me the ring for my anxiety... which I wear daily now... and now this necklace..."

"I don't. I guess it comes easy when it comes to you" He shrugged and I felt my cheeks redden.

"I just want you to know that this means a lot. A year ago today, I walked out of a police station with just the clothes on my back, wondering if I'd ever talk to my dad again... and now I have a necklace hanging around my neck from someone I met only a few months ago... makes me feel grateful. Things really do work out in their own funky ways" I giggled, letting my fingertips play with the anxiety ring Colby had given me from my birthday.

"I really like the quote" I announced quietly, the words progression not perfect repeating in my head.

"I liked it to" Is all he said, looking out towards the ocean that was washing up on the shore.

We sat on the beach for a while, talking about their upcoming paranormal trip, my pregnancy and how I'm handling Logan being gone.

"Do you know when he comes back?" Colby questioned, drawing in the now wet sand.

"Um.. I think the training is 10 weeks? So sometime in August? Unless he gets sent out right away? I'm not sure, cause like.. he's never gone back, ya know? Like... he's gone to training, came home, gone on a mission, came back.. he's never returned. It sucks knowing he missed my twenty first birthday, and my one year sobriety. Like even if he didn't know.. it would've been nice to at least see him"

"Where was Logan when your dad kicked you out?" Colby asked, catching me off guard.

"Um.. he was freshly married to Cynthia. I don't know. I don't remember. Some things are foggy... He's never yelled at me.. but everyone hated it. I hid it for about a year.. and he was the first one who found out. By then I had already experimented with some stuff..."

"Why did you do it?" Colby asked and I scrunched my face up.

"What do you mean?"

"What made you turn to drugs?"

"Um.. well that's a tough question. I hate saying my mom, cause I don't want to put the blame on her, ya know? But... I was scared. I was stressed... There were a lot of emotions when my mom was diagnosed with cancer. I also had some relationship problems.. and job issues.. There was just a lot going on. My friend... ex-friend, Haden.. gave me weed for the first time. Telling me how it would take that stress feeling away. How I'd be back to who I used to be.. and he was right. He was right that it would make me feel numb and just kinda like I'm existing.. not living. So I kept doing it. But things got scarier, and harder, and the feeling got worse... and I uh.. got it laced once.. and that was kinda it.. really" I spoke slowly, memories flashing in my head as I spoke.

"Why did you get it laced?"

"I wanted something more. Something different."

"So you chose to get it laced?" He asked and I nodded slowly.

"I got it laced with Ketamine... don't do it. I shouldn't have done it. He just.. he said it would make me happy.. ya know? I just.. I wanted to forget, and feel fine again..."

"What is that?" he asked and I sighed, playing with the sand in front of me, feeling it slip between my fingers.

"It's kinda known as a date rape drug? Cause they slip it into drinks, and it sedates people... it's a white powder like cocaine..." I explained and he nodded slowly.

"What were you caught with?" He asked and I frowned, remembering getting stopped by the police, and being questioned...

I still remember the panic, and the fear that I felt.

"Um, I know I had Ketamine. I had something else, but I don't remember. It was for a friend" I told him truthfully.

It felt weird to be honest. To sit here, and tell someone who at one point hated me.. to tell him facts and information no one else knows...

"You said you tried cocaine?" He asked and I nodded, my head hung low.

"I rather not talk about it, but I'm willing to answer questions I guess"

"I guess I just don't get it.. sorry" He apologized and I shrugged.

"No one does, to be honest. You don't understand it, unless you've done it. Unless you've been through the motions, and know the reasons. I do wish I didn't do it, and just went to therapy instead. I ended up going to therapy instead in the long run anyway so" I shrugged again.

"Why don't you still go?" He asked and I pursed my lips, molding some of the clay in my hands.

"Money" I told him truthfully and he nodded slowly.

"That isn't me asking for it by the way!" I reminded him and he nodded, understanding.

It was weird to see him be so quiet today. So in his head, and playing with his own thoughts.

"Is there a reason you're being quiet? Did I say something wrong?" I asked, afraid of the silence.

Colby shook his head, almost looking like he was trying to figure out how he was going to piece his words together.

"I guess I'm just... never mind"

"No, tell me. I just told you a hell of a lot about me, spill" I chuckled, spinning the ring as I waited.

"I feel bad" He confessed, confusing and surprising me.

"Why?"

"I just.. I judged you so hard. You walked into our house.. and I decided you were the villain" He shrugged, almost seeming to be beating himself up over the past.

"Maybe I am the villain" I joked and he rolled his eyes.

"You're not the villain, and I'm sorry. I truly mean that. I'm sorry for the issues I caused you.. and the things I put you through. I guess.. I don't know. I just can't shake how bad I feel about it" I grumbled, appearing more upset at himself.

"Good, you should feel bad" I joked and he yet again, rolled his eyes at me.

"You're really good at these talks" He mocked and I grinned.

"Thank you. I try. In all seriousness, we said we were going to let the past go, remember?"

"I know. I'm annoyed that you're turning out to be a good person. It was a lot easier to blame you for my problems" He smirked and I shook my head, letting out a small laugh.

"It's always easier to play the victim or the villain and be blind to the equality brought to the table" I gave him a small smile and he nodded, staring out into the beach.

"We should start heading back, I have work in the morning, and you have a video meeting with Sam" I mumbled, seeing the sun had now set. "Can you help me up please?" I asked and he nodded, grabbing my hands to pull me up.

The drive home was quiet, and before we went to our rooms I quickly said "Don't tell anyone about today" before closing my bedroom door and finding my baby journal.

* * * *

Written on: April 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th 2022

Word Count: 5.4k

Part Thirty Three

[malfoysmaybank]

I Love You, Darling. - Draco Malfoy x She/Her!Reader

request by @bittersweetthoughts--ofinsanity : heyyy i saw you’re taking requests, i’d love one with draco and a golden trio friend (maybe a ravenclaw cause i’m a ravenclaw but it doesn’t matter really) set in the GoF, where instead of ron being put under water for Harry to save its the reader, cause her and Harry are close, and once he gets her out draco gets really concerned and worried about her, but also furious at Harry for allowing them to put the reader in danger.

warnings: ANGSTY ANGST ANGST, FLUFFY FLUFF FLUFF, wounding, merpeople, sleeping spell stuff, fear of drowning type beat

wc: 1k

a/n: sooooo i had a lottt of fun with this request haha. this is one of my favorite requests ever, i love writing angst so so much, especially angsty fluffy stuff dhdixjzfshifksadhmvewikd anyways tysm for this request!!!! just a heads up that i changed a little bit of the plot shown in the books and movies to fit this imagine! also this really is any house reader, though one indicator that they’re a ravenclaw reader late in the imagine. Enjoy!

______________________________________________________________________

As all the students saw Krum come up with Hermione, they cheered once more. Well, all the students except for Draco. He hadn’t seen you all day and he wondered if you had gotten sick, but as he watched the competitors of the Triwizard Tournament come up from the lake with their companions and friends, he started to wonder who Harry must have gotten. Ginny and Ron were watching, as well as Fred and George. Diggory came up with Cho, and Hermione had just come up. There weren’t many people it could’ve been and the majority of them had already come up or were cheering him on.

Except...

You.

The realization hit Draco like a truck. He started freaking out (internally of course, he had a reputation, after all.) “Hurry, Potter!” He said to himself. The clock was ticking and there was no way you could hold your breath for that long. Maybe it wasn’t you, maybe you were safe in your dorm with a minor fever, maybe he didn’t have to freak out after all. But then again, who else would it be? He had never pestered you about being friends with the golden trio but he felt it would do more harm than good. Nonetheless, he supported you and didn’t nitpick your friends, you were your own person.

As he wallowed in his thoughts, he heard thrashing from the water. Potter and Fleur came up without their counterparts. “I can’t find her!” they shouted in unison between breaths. You know what? Fuck his reputation. “Who? Who Potter?!” Draco shouted frantically. “Y/N!” Harry shouted. “And my little sister, Gabrielle! They’re somewhere at the bottom of the lake!” Fleur added. Draco wasted no time in taking off his shirt, socks, and shoes and jumping in after you (and hopefully Gabrielle). He swam for a while when he saw you and Gabrielle being held down under some sleeping spell by merpeople. He harshly kicked the merpeople away from both of you and they didn’t take that well. But before they could react, Draco was already swimming to the top with you and Gabrielle tucked under his arms. 

Fleur thanked Draco profusely as she swam to retrieve her little sister from him. He nodded as he swam back to shore with you. As Draco got out, some other students helped you, Fleur, and Gabrielle out of the water. By this time you were awake, luckily, but you had a large gash on your leg. Draco picked you up bridal style to take you to Madam Pomfrey’s. “I’ll speak with you later, Potter.” Draco spat out bitterly towards the boy as he walked towards the castle with you in his arms. You whimpered when you accidentally bumped the wound on your leg with your hand. “Merlin, that hurt like a BITCH!” You yelled into his chest. “Shhh Darling, it’s alright. We’re gonna get you healed up, okay?” You nodded and nuzzled further into his chest. He pressed a kiss to the crown of your head as you neared the front of the castle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Draco, dear, could you pass that bandage over here?” Madam Pomfrey asked politely. Draco grabbed the bandage and handed it to her as she started to wrap up your leg. “While we did close the wound, it will still be weak for about 14 days.” Madam Pomfrey said to you. “For the time being, you are to wear this bandage and use these crutches.” You groaned but agreed. As soon as she was out of the room, Draco used the soles of his shoes on the wall to get his rolling chair to end up right at the side of your bed. 

“Hey there, sweetheart, how are you feeling?” He grabbed your hand and kissed the back of it gently. “Very sore. And tired.” You pressed a finger to your chin, pretending to think. “And in need of cuddles.” You giggled and Draco smiled at the sound of it. “Are you sure? I don’t want to hurt you further.” He said cautiously. “Yes, I am indeed very sure Draco. Come here.” You held out grabby hands and made puppy eyes. How could he resist?! “Fine, but tell me if I’m hurting you in any way.” He said. He hated seeing you in pain except seeing you fight Pansy that one time was kinda hot and he wanted to make sure you were comfortable.

He climbed in the small cot and situated you both so he was on his back with your hand on his chest and your head in the crook of his neck he loved holding you literally so much. You felt comforted at his scent: green apples with a hint of dark chocolate and some cologne you had gotten him for his birthday. “You scared me so bad earlier, darling.” Draco said quietly. “I’m so sorry, Dray. The good thing is that I’m safe and okay and nothing can hurt me anymore.” You said and looked up at him. “How can you always find the positive side in things?” You both laughed quietly. “I just love you so much and I couldn’t bear losing you. You mean so much to me, doll.” A single tear dropped down his cheek as he held you closer. You reached up and wiped the tear. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m okay. I love you.” You said gently.

“How about we get some sleep? You’ve obviously had a pretty long day.” Draco joked and you nodded while giggling. You pulled the blue blanket Draco had gotten you from the Ravenclaw common room over the two of you. “You desperately need to tell Flitwick to create an actual passcode. It took me forever to figure out that riddle!” Draco complained. “What was the riddle?” you ask curiously. “How can you take 2 from 5 and leave 4?” He said. You thought for about 20 seconds. “Remove the 2 letters F and E from the word “five” and you have IV, which is 4 in roman numerals.” You said confidently. He groaned. “Seriously?! That took me like 15 minutes!” You both laughed and you let out a big yawn. “Goodnight, my love.” He kissed your hair and turned off the lamp beside you two. “Goodnight, Dray. Sweet dreams.” You kissed his neck. Before you fell asleep, you heard him say one last thing. “I love you, darling.”

[cheshiremadd]

Uprooting Bindweed

Ao3

I'd had the idea of Rena and Chat talking about Marinette and Adrien in my WIP folder, and then @galahadwilder posted the perfect prompt on discord to go with it: what if Chat Noir fired Rena Rouge.

Thank you SO much to @alexseanchai and @sweetmeatdale for your feedback! 💜

Speaking of Alex, they came up with the title, because they're amazing like that. Bindweeds are used as "food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including the convolvulus hawk moth". With that information and the Bindweed tarot card, I knew a more perfect title would not be found.

-

The Akuma of the Week was searching for Marinette. The fourth time this month, and he was really hoping there was nothing to that. So many targeting the same person not Chloé or Lila seemed strange to him. But that was a worry for another time.

Chat Noir and Rena Rouge had been sent ahead to the bakery (he was very glad that he’d stashed Marinette somewhere else). Rena was to Mirage herself into the designer and play bait, but they had to wait until Ladybug could lure the akuma closer. Five minute timer, and all.

Rena reached her balcony first, and went to the trapdoor without hesitation. Chat figured he’d have to be the one to open it, and had been planning how to go about it without giving away how familiar he was, but Rena had no qualms. His stomach soured at the thought that he wasn’t the only superhero to visit Marinette.

She’d redecorated some since he last was in her room. He wasn’t able to come as often as he wanted, and they typically preferred the open air and view of her balcony when the weather was warm.

Adrien’s modeling photos were still present, but they’d been updated to more recent shoots. On another wall were more candid pictures. Their friends and classmates. People he assumed were Marinette’s family (only some of whom he’d met). Several of Kitty Section. Her and Jagged Stone and Penny Rolling (it still blew his mind that she’s on a first name basis with them). Lots of her and Alya and Nino. Fewer of Adrien.

He knew she had more of Chat than of Adrien. But she kept those on her phone, locked away in a secret folder. Too much chance that someone would see her walls.

One caught his eye, placed directly in the center, the spot of honor. A high res of Chat-him and Ladybug. They’d thrown their arms over each other’s shoulders and snapped half a dozen selfies. It’d been Ladybug’s idea to submit the best of them to the Ladyblog, giving civilian them plausible deniability.

The last wall, above her sewing supplies, held her inspiration boards. One for general inspiration, holding her favorite pieces from her favorite lines (only one of which was a Gabriel piece, he noted with some interest), some fabric squares of different colors and patterns, and scenic pictures from around Paris. The other, he knew, was more specific to whatever she was currently working on. Pinned to it was a handful of dried flowers, a fabric swatch to match each flower, and several sketches.

Chat glanced at Rena, realizing she’d been quiet this whole time. She was staring at Adrien’s modeling photos, the look on her face unreadable. He looked with her. He wondered if there was a specific shoot Marinette favored.

“This must look so strange to you.”

Chat looked back at her, but said nothing. He wasn’t sure what he could say that wouldn’t give away exactly how close he was to Marinette.

“I promise she’s not some weird stalker in love with a celebrity. Well. He is a celebrity and she does have the biggest crush on him.” Um. What? “But they’re actually friends. She didn’t even like him when she first met him. The—the Wall actually started because he wasn’t allowed to hang out very often, and no one could get any candids of him.”

What?!

His shock must have shown on his face. He turned back to ‘the Wall’ in an effort to hide at least some of it.

“You seriously didn’t know?” Rena said. “You’ve got to be, like, one of two people in Paris that doesn’t. I keep flopping on whether Adrien knows or not. One minute it’s like he’s encouraging her feelings, the next he’s going on about how glad he is to have such a good friend.”

Chat tried not to sputter. “How—how does ‘no candids’ turn into—” He gestured at the collage of Adriens.

“None of them were perfect.” Rena said it like she’d heard it a million times. “This photo shows his sincere eyes, but the rest of the face is photoshopped too much to be his real smile. ‘That advertisement had most of his real smile!’ ” She pitched her voice higher in mimicry. “ ‘But they shaved several centimeters off of his waist! Several! He’s skinny but he’s not that skinny can you believe they felt like they needed to change that, Rena?’ Well, she didn’t say Rena, she said my civilian name. I mean—you get it. And, oh, that outfit looks really good on him, it looks like something he’d choose to wear himself, but he looks so tired in that one. I bet that was at the end of that all-day shoot.”

(They didn’t actually shave inches off his waist. They did shave a little, but that wasn’t the point because—) He never realized that Marinette paid so much attention to him. He wanted to deny it. She’d specifically told him that she didn’t have a crush on him. And Marinette hates liars.

But. But she’d been embarrassed, that day. And she was embarrassed around him a lot. Especially when Alya was involved. It’d taken him a long time to notice that, but once he had, he saw it everywhere. And with this new piece of information…it shone a whole different light on many of their interactions.

Chat swallowed. He wasn’t sure what to do with this knowledge. He’d been in love with Ladybug for…for a long time. And Marinette. Marinette was special. Rejecting her was hard enough the first time, but at least he’d known that it’d never work between a superhero and a civilian.

Oh, Kwamis. She had a crush on Chat, too! Adding that event with this new understanding, he realized she never meant to confess to him. She’d probably been about to backtrack, but then her parents interrupted, and it was out of control from there.

What better evidence that someone truly liked you for who you were than falling for you twice and not realizing it?

Rena shuffled a bit, finding other things to poke her nose in, and Chat realized that he’d never responded.

“So, you don’t think it’s creepy that this girl has like twenty pictures of her crush on her walls?” He didn’t think it was creepy. He thought it was endearing. But he was curious what she would say. She’d been interestingly defensive of Marinette.

She snorted. “Hey, if it’s crazy, Adrien’s her same kind of crazy. He’s got more photos of Ladybug on his phone than I do, and that’s saying something.”

His brain came to a complete stop. And then worked overdrive. How the fuck did Rena Rouge know that.

She sighed, picked at her flute, and continued. “I’ve been wondering if she shouldn’t give him up, though. It’s starting to get unhealthy. Ruining her friendships in class.”

His chest tightened and it became hard to breath. Loving him was bad for her. The thought rattled around, but what she said next wiped it all away.

“There’s this girl in class, Lila. She’s an amazing person, done all these things, and has a real chance with Adrien. Marinette can’t let it go. She swore that Lila was lying, then dropped it and now just gives her the cold shoulder. Won’t go to group outings if Lila’s involved. Keeps flaking out. Avoids her completely. Lila’s trying, so hard, to keep the peace, mend bridges, and Marinette just refuses to listen.”

Rena dropped her hands, hitting her thighs, and paced. Agitated.

“It’s jealousy, pure and simple. And if she’s going to be like that, then I just don’t know if I can approve her being in a relationship. Especially with him.”

Chat felt something inside him harden. Gritted his teeth. Considered biting his tongue. He knew who this was. It’s plain as day now, and he’s mildly surprised he didn’t see it before. She’s supposed to be Marinette’s best. friend. And this was how she thought of her?

To be fair, Rena looked torn over this. Chat could see the hurt in her eyes, the worry in her bitten lower lip. The frustration in the creases of her brow. And she was telling all this to Chat, whom she only passingly knew.

But he couldn’t keep the distaste from his face. “Marinette’s right. Lila Rossi is a fucking liar. You think she’s got a real chance with Adrien Agreste? He wouldn’t touch her with my extendable baton. He only does photoshoots with her because clearly no one at Françoise Dupont knows what proper procedures for expulsion are, and that stunt Rossi pulled almost turned into Heroes Day 2.0.” He tugged down one of Adrien’s glamour shots. Marinette’s handwritten and detailed critiques ran along the edges. “From what it sounds like, Agreste would be lucky to date a girl like Marinette.”

Rena stared at Chat, stunned. “What do you know about Lila?”

He let out a short and hard laugh. “Enough. That little interview on the Ladyblog? I doubt there’s a true word in it. I mean, Ladybug’s best friend? I’m Ladybug’s best friend!”

Some of the tension released from her shoulders and she rolled her eyes. “Right. I forgot how jealous you can be, too.”

Chat growled at her. His ears flicked back, low on his head, and his tail whipped through the air agitatedly. “If you’re going to sit here and defend that manipulative bitch then you might as well take that miraculous off right now.”

Rena stepped back into a defensive stance. She was a decent fighter, but he was better. If she refused to give it over peaceably—

Something thumped on the roof. Ladybug. There was still an akuma, and that took priority. They needed to be where Ladybug expected them.

“Mirage, now.” His words were short and clipped. He pounced past her and opened up the window opposite of where the akuma would be coming from. “Follow the plan. We can talk about this later.”

The plan worked out like most of Ladybug’s plans do: perfectly. Chat’d tied the villain up in Marinette’s tarp-roof, presented with a string-of-lights bow and a flourished bow to his Lady to his Lady. She did her thing, tossed the spotted paperclip into the air, and Marinette’s balcony and room put themselves back together. The glamour shot even taped itself back on the wall.

Chat sent Ladybug a look. She gestured in a direction and he nodded. He was pretty sure he knew the roof she meant.

Rena passed by him with wariness, but he paid her no visible attention. She took off with Ladybug in the agreed direction while he turned to the akuma victim. He had a princess to protect.

“Here, let me get you down to street level,” he said. The deakumatized girl seemed hesitant to step into his arms, but relented after seeing no other way down. “Do you remember anything?”

Tears shone in her eyes for a moment, but she swiped at them and tried a smile. It didn’t work. “I—I think I’ll be okay. It’s stupid, I just…let my stress get the better of me.”

He opened his mouth, but she cut him off with a gasp. “Oh, no, Marinette! I didn’t do anything to hurt her, did I?”

“Mlle Dupain-Cheng is fine,” he hurried to reassure her, “but…do you remember why you were after her? Did she do something wrong?”

“No! No. Marinette is lovely; she’s always helping us out in the Garden Club!” The girl paused, ashamed. “I was just feeling overwhelmed and she always seems so put together, she juggles all these responsibilities…I was jealous. Like I said. Stupid.”

“Hey, hey, your feelings are not stupid. Everyone gets stressed and feels like they’re drowning at times. I bet if you asked Marinette about it, she’d say that she always feels like that.”

He remembered himself and what he had to do, and glanced upwards.

“I’m very sorry. I’d usually stay longer and make sure you’re really okay, but I have an urgent something.” He handed her one of the business cards he’d made up. It had information on a number of Akuma support groups. “I can be back in about 30 minutes if you want to wait?”

Her smile turned a little more real. She took a deep, calming breath and let it out slowly. “I think I’ll be okay,” she said again. “I’ll—that’s good advice. Talking to Marinette. Thank you, Chat Noir. For caring.”

He smiled and saluted her, then bounded off. His baton confirmed that Ladybug and Rena were still active a few rooftops over. But then he watched Rena’s signal go out and put on a burst of speed to get there in time. They weren’t on the roof, it turned out, but in the alleyway adjacent to the building.

Ladybug’s eyebrows raised in silent question when she saw him. “Sorry, Bug. This is something that needs to be done.”

Alya looked between the two. Suspicion bloomed and, with it, fear.

Pernicious cat gods, this was going to be awful.

“Alya Césaire.” Chat held his hand out. “The Miraculous. Please.”

She grasped it so hard her knuckles turned white. She took a big gulp of air and said shakily, “This feels final.”

He stared at one of his closest friends, and didn’t let himself waver.

“Your recklessness has put many in danger, including Ladybug and myself. You gave Lila Rossi a platform to speak, to spread her lies. You, who had held a miraculous before, and likely would again. Whom Ladybug had shown a partiality to in interviews and questions. You had every opportunity to check Rossi’s story.”

And, oh, he sounded exactly like his father. That grated.

“In giving her credibility, you opened several of your classmates up to her manipulations. Your best friend warned you about her lies, and you wrote it off as petty jealousy. You tried to write off what I told you as petty jealousy.”

He could kind of see how she’d come to that conclusion, assuming Marinette never told her about that cringe-worthy ice skating date and knowing that she was in love with him. (Alya said ‘crush’. Having this new option to attribute to Mari’s behavior, he knew it was more than that.)

“Furthermore, I can guarantee that at least one terrorist watches your blog. A civilian claimed to be a superhero’s best friend and you broadcast that to the world. What happens when said terrorist decides to use that?”

It was harsh, and damning. But it had to be said. She needed to understand.

Alya looked from him to Ladybug and back, then repeated the motion. “You—you can’t…” Alya’s voice broke. Her eyes settled on Ladybug, who appeared to have turned to stone, she held herself so rigidly. “He can’t do this. Right? You hand out the Miraculous; it’s your decision. Not his!”

Ladybug’s stormy eyes turned to ice. The Ladyblogger realized her mistake and opened her mouth to salvage something, anything, but Ladybug cut her off. “You, of all people, should know that Chat is my equal. He’s right. I should've…but I didn’t…” She shook her head, once. “I stand by his decisions.”

Chat released a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. Alya’s eyes grew bright with tears and she clutched the Fox Miraculous harder. She stared at them, and they stared at her, and she finally dropped it into Chat’s claws.

Ladybug’s hands fluttered in Alya’s direction. She pulled up short, though, unsure if her touch would be welcome.

“This doesn’t make you a bad person, Alya,” she said gently. “You’ve been lied to and manipulated. That’s not your fault. But, as a reporter, it’s important to consider the consequences of distributing information. Just as it is to produce evidence to back your stories.”

Alya’s hand pressed against her mouth, muffled a sob.

Ladybug hesitated, considering, and then spoke again. “You can still be a hero, Alya. Magic, the miraculous, it doesn’t make you into what you aren’t. You make you a hero. And, like I told Chloé, being a hero starts with your everyday life.”

Silence. The only sounds were the girl’s sniffling and the pounding of Chat’s heart. Even the sounds of the city muted. He had to force himself to stay still. Fidgeting felt disrespectful somehow. It was broken by Alya.

“So—so Lila was never your friend?” she asked thickly.

Ladybug’s voice was so gentle, yet cut through what the Ladyblogger had known like a knife. “No.”

Alya nodded. Wiped her eyes and tried to pull herself together. Her short gasps of breath betrayed how upset she was. “I. I think I’ve—” She swallowed. “Got some thinking to do.”

She turned to face the street, straightened her spine, and walked out. Her walk looked a little robotic to Chat, a little too forced to be her normal. She barely made it ten meters before Chat heard Nino call out to her.

Good, he thought, deflating a little. Nino will protect her.

His priority was his Lady.

“Well, it looks like you finally joined me in getting past the time limitation.” His attempt at lightening the mood fell flat even to him.

Ladybug didn’t respond at all. She took a big, shuddering breath.

“Oh, Bug…” Chat was quick to wrap his arms around her, and gently pull her head to rest on his shoulder. He coaxed her into a shuffle-walk until his back met the dirty alley wall, the heel of the hand that still held the Fox necklace rubbing up and down and across her back. “I’m so sorry.”

She shook her head back and forth; his claws tangled further in her hair. He tried not to listen to her quiet tears. He drowned out the sound of Nino and Alya moving on. The cars on the street. Instead he looked for the delicate and distinct sound of an akuma’s wings. She deserved a moment to mourn without worry.

Ladybug took a deep breath.

“You were right.” Her voice sounded wet. “Her blog affects many, and we were probably the only ones she was going to listen to.

“Actions…actions have to have consequences. Alya wasn’t seeing them, and—and maybe we shouldn’t be judge, jury, and executioner, but—the longer this goes on the worse they’ll become.”

Neither of them moved. He continued to find no evil bugs. Or feathers, but they usually went weeks in between Mayura sightings.

A gentle wind blew. They were having a round of good weather. Sunny days that were just warm enough to make the breeze feel perfect. He was hoping it’d hold through the weekend.

Ladybug pulled away to wipe her eyes. He fumbled a folded black handkerchief with green embroidery into her hands and she shot him a grateful, if watery, smile. “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Oh, that just warmed him down to his toes. And emboldened him to push a little more. “Hey, I was wondering, would you mind saying that bit about me being right again? Because I could listen to that all day—”

He internally cheered as his partner huffed out a laugh and rolled her eyes. “Careful, kitty. I can see your head getting bigger by the second.”

She returned fire!

Mission accomplished.

.

That meant it was time to go, he guessed.

.

Chat stood there a moment longer. Contemplative.

“What are you thinking about, minou?”

He turned to her with a small smile, trying to hold it back and mostly failing. She crinkled a smile in return and raised an eyebrow.

“I’m going to get me a girlfriend.”

He said it so resolutely, so surely, so smugly, that she couldn’t help but laugh. “You are, are you?”

He nodded. His smile spread to full blown glee. “If she’ll have me. Rena said something while we waited, and it just made me think. There’s this girl, LB, and fuck is she amazing. She’s been waiting for me for the better part of two years, and I just realized that I’m crushing on her. Hard. I don’t even know when it started.”

He sighed, happy. “I’m going to ask her out. Tomorrow. And pray to the kwamis that she gives me one last chance.”

(Adrien didn’t ask Marinette out the next day, because Alya looked awful and he figured she needed the support. He’d count himself lucky if she didn’t get akumatized over this, and would attribute the entirety of that luck to his princess. He did invite her to lunch the day after that—he’d thought it’d be more difficult than it was, but Alya was already leading Rose off to a quiet corner—where he managed a stuttered and stilted confession. He honestly had no idea how Marinette managed to understand it, but she must have because she gave an enthusiastic “Yes!” and the next thing he knew they were making plans to explore the city together on Saturday.)

-

It's the job of the Black Cat to recognize when something’s not working, and to get rid of it. Destruction is necessary for Creation to truly thrive. And, sometimes, that means destroying what Creation loves. But, sometimes, the thing Creation loves is the vine that's choking her.

(Or enables the vine that’s choking her.)

[nightacquainted]

Fun with the Incorrect Quotes Generator

Tagging some people who might find some or all of these funny: @ancientsflowergirl, @kettuskinchanger, @flawed---by---design, @illbringthechaosmagic

(Mild trigger warnings for language and nsfw themes.)

Father: We need a plan to beat them. Vincent: Okay, listen up. First, we fill their shoes with wet cat food. Father: Vincent: Judge me all you want, I get results. ----- Vincent: Are you ready to commit? Catherine: Like, a crime or a relationship? ----- Diana: Why would you think any of this was a good idea? Gabriel: Probably because I’m a dangerous sociopath with a long history of violence. Diana: Gabriel: I don’t know how you keep forgetting this. ----- Joe: Catherine, you're testifying in an aggravated assault case tomorrow, and the D.A. is worried about how you'll present yourself on the stand. Catherine: Why? I'm fine on the stand! *flashback to Testimony #1* Catherine: Look, I'll make this real simple so even these dumdums can understand. Catherine, to the jury: MAN DID CRIME. *flashback to Testimony #2* Catherine: I'm sorry, could you make her stop doing that weird thing with her face? Defense Attorney, next to the crying defendant: ...Crying? *flashback to Testimony #3* Catherine: And when this is over, I'm gonna find you and I'm gonna break those little fingers. Judge: Could the witness please stop threatening the stenographer? ----- Father: You spent all our money on THIS?? Vincent, putting tiny raincoats on ducklings: They live outside. They need this. ----- Vincent: *running towards Person A with open arms* Catherine: *moves out of the way* Vincent: Hey, why'd you move?! Catherine: I thought you were going to attack me. Vincent: I was going to hug you! Catherine: Why would you hug me? Vincent: WHY WOULD I ATTACK YOU!? ----- Vincent: Catherine, I screwed up, big time. Catherine: Vincent, given your daily life experiences, you’re gonna have to be more specific. ----- Father: Alright, listen up you little shits. Father: Not you Mouse. You’re an angel and we’re thrilled you’re here. ----- Vincent: FIGHT ME, YOU NERD ASS SLUT! Gabriel: At least try to sound slightly more sophisticated when you threaten someone. Vincent: Oh, I'm sorry. I should ask; dost thou want to engage in a duel, my good bitch? Gabriel: Somehow that's worse. ----- Catherine: I'm a nice person, but I'm about to start throwing rocks at people. ----- Jaime: If I say I love you, will you say it back? Mouse: Yes. Jaime: I love you. Mouse: It back. *Later* Father: Why is Jaime crying face-down on the floor? ----- Vincent: Arson? Oh, you mean "crime brûlée". ----- Vincent: A sprite is anything not static. Mouse: A sprite is a variable object, be it 2d or 3d. Jaime: A sprite is a fucking soda. Father: You god damn geekass bastards. ----- Jaime: I have a bad feeling about this... Mouse: What do you mean? Jaime: Don't you ever get that little voice in your head that tells you if you're going to get into trouble? Mouse: No? Father: That actually explains so much. ----- Vincent: I’m not ugly, just aesthetically challenged. ----- Father: Who do we know that has handcuffs? Vincent: Well Catherine and I- Catherine: *elbows Vincent* Vincent: ...wouldn't know. ----- Vincent: How do you tell someone that you wanna have sex with them in a polite way? Mary: Excuse me Miss. Would you give me the honors of indulging in sexual activities with you? Father: What the fuck is wrong with you two? ----- Vincent: I only have two emotions: exhaustion and stress. And I’m somehow always feeling both simultaneously. ----- Catherine: What’s it like being tall? Catherine: Is it nice? Catherine: Can you reach comfortably for the cupboards? Vincent: We live in constant fear of the short ones who, in my experience, will climb 4 chairs, 2 boxes, a small coffee table and 6 oddly placed stools to get what they want. Father: It was one time! ----- Vincent: There was a motor close to where I am right now. Diana: A motor- a motorcycle? Vincent: Oh sorry, a murder. Diana: That escalated quickly. ----- Father: My expectations are low, but they can always go lower. ----- Catherine: You... you saved me. You're not a beast at all. YOU'RE A HERO, AN UGLY UGLY UGLY HERO! Vincent: Call me ugly again, and maybe I will eat you.

[gabrielcasagrande13]

THE ILLUSTRATIONS OF “SPILL THE TEA: DIARY OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN”

Hello, darlings! My name is Gabriel Casagrande and I am the author of “SPILL THE TEA: DIARY OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN”, the first book of the “DIARY OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN” trilogy. Starting today, it is available on Amazon Kindle for only 5 dollars or, if you loan it on Kindle Unlimited, it is free.

In this post, I will show you some of the illustrations of the book because they represent really well my characters’ personalities. They are being published on my Instagram, @gabrielcasagrande.pdf. You should follow it to be updated on news about the second book, “BAD REPUTATION: DIARY OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN”, which will be released soon.

The narrative is based on the point of view of Ronan, the protagonist, who tells us the story of his high school senior year through his diary. Even though romance is not the main theme of the book, one of the first plots is the crush Ronan harbors for Carlos José, the new kid in school. Ronan describes the boy as “a prince”, despite the fact that Carlos made friends with James Matthew, “the most insufferable boy on Earth”.

He’s new in our school and he’s beautiful. He just arrived, and honestly, I don’t even know what to think. Jessica doesn’t think he’s pretty, but she also doesn’t think our teacher, Richard, is handsome, so she’s clearly insane (and has bad taste in men).

The new boy is called Carlos José, but he already said we can call him CJ. Unfortunately, he’s already made friends with James Matthew, the most insufferable boy on Earth. James is the biggest jerk, and he loves to make my life hell, he’s been doing it ever since we met.

James Matthew and Ronan never got along: James is the typical high school bad boy and always picked on Ronan. They have some conflict during the year but end up growing closer as the narrative progresses.

"What do you want? Don’t you have to go to the woods smoke weed with your little friends?"

His brown eyes stared at me with some anger, it was a deep look. Eye to eye. He hated when I gave him sassy answers. I knew that and I loved to provoke him.

"I do, but first I’m gonna buy a Coke," he replied and stood up to go buy it. I exhaled heavily and he simply threw my backpack on the ground because he clearly had nothing better to do.

TOTAL JERK!

James is the former boyfriend of Hanna, one of the three Queen Bees of the school. Ronan may not like any of them, but it’s senior year now, and he believes it’s no longer time to worry about having stupid arguments with people that don’t matter. This, of course, does nothing to prevent the multiple messes he and his best friend Jessica get in involving the three girls.

After class ended, Jessica and I left the school and were going to the mall when that bitch Denise walked by us and threw Jessica’s bag on the floor.

"Hey, there’s no need to pretend to be insane, we all know you actually are," I commented, very ticked off by her attitude.

"Insane? I thought you had decided I was a hag," she replied, trying to be funny but failing miserably.

"You’re an insane hag, is that better?!" Jessica was very mad.

And her comment did nothing to calm Denise down.

"Bitch!" Denise screamed.

"Whore!" Jess replied and I decided to intervene before I had to separate them by force.

Jessica and Ronan are best friends and spend most of their time together, whether it be gossiping on the school hallways or skipping the afternoon writing classes to go to the movies. However, when Jessica makes a big mistake, their friendship does not prevent them from growing apart.

She said she’d have lunch with me, and she’d pay me there. Then we were leaving the school to go to the mall, and she goes "I’m just gonna use the bathroom real quick", I kept waiting at the door until Rachel comes out to say Jessica asked her to tell me to wait for her at the mall because she had to give her younger brother some money but she’d meet me there. I waited for her at the mall. NOTHING. When I confronted Jessica and asked her why the fuck had she done that, she said that actually she’d asked Rachel to tell me to go and eat by myself at the mall because she was going to have lunch with her baby brother, but that Rachel misunderstood her and told me to wait at the mall. Then Jessica said she’d wait for her older brother to bring the money to school today and that she would message me, so I’d come get it (in the morning she told me she had the money in her bag).

Barbara is a classmate of Ronan’s, and he finds out she’s in love with him. His first reaction is to be surprised that someone in the whole school thinks he’s straight, since everyone knows he’s SUPER GAY. But as time goes on, Ronan realizes she’s not the crazy and clingy girl he thought she was, and they become great friends.

"Dear Ronan, your eyes are as blue as the sky and your lips make me want to kiss you every time I see you. Could you meet me at the foot of the front stairs?

Signed, your secret admirer."

That had to be a joke.

Who in the hell thought I was straight? God, I’m gay!

G-A-Y. Like, super gay... how...? That made no sense. See? This party was just insane.

I decided to ignore it for the moment. It could just be one of the snakes trying to prank me which, no thanks. Also, a minute after I read the note from my secret admirer, my phone dinged in my pocket.

These are the main characters of “Diary of a Teenage Drama Queen”. So, stop wasting time and get your digital copy of the book right now, exclusive on Amazon’s Kindle. You should also follow the Instagram @gabrielcasagrande.pdf to get news about the trilogy!

XOXO, Gabriel Casagrande.