#i don't actually know what accent i have it's like a somewhere london accent

[flustersluts]

all this talk about sitting on your lap who's lap are YOU sitting on (my lap is free) (pleading eyes that are so full of autism)

HHAHA IM JUST PICTURING AUTISM CREATURE RN my little child,,.,,, ofc i can sit on ur lap:)))) but just like 🐝 u will have to hold the weight of everyone who has to sit on MY lap so it might get crowded!! u can do it tho i believe in u

[lucy90712]

English love affair- Fermin Lopez

A/n: yes this is loosely based on the 5sos song I remembered it existed recently and haven't stopped listening to it 

Fermin's POV

It's always fun getting to visit a new country especially to play football but I've never known somewhere to be as rainy as England or London specifically. It's done nothing but rain since we landed but still the boys insisted we go out and explore as we have some free time they quickly regretted it when our umbrellas all turned inside out in the wind so we all decided to just go and get some lunch and watch the busy London streets from somewhere dry. The place we ended up in because it was close was actually rather nice and it was quiet too with just a few other table none of which seemed to pay any mind to us which hopefully means they don't know who we are. 

Once we were sat down one of the other groups caught my eye it was a group of girls who looked around my age. It wasn't just the girls that caught my eye it was one of them in particular I don't know what it was about her but I couldn't take my eyes off her she isn't my usual type but she is just so strikingly beautiful it's hard not to admire her. As soon as I noticed her I didn't stop staring which I know is creepy but the way she smiled and laughed with her friends was just so mesmerising. Out of all places to meet such a beautiful girl a tiny restaurant in the middle of London is not what I expected but I'm not going to complain. 

"Hey are you still with us bro" gavi elbowed me 

"Yeah yeah" I replied not looking at him 

"What have we been talking about for the last 10 minutes then?" Pedri asked 

"The game" I guessed 

"You know it's creepy just to stare at that girl right" Joao said 

"I'm not staring" I lied finally taking my eyes off her 

"You so are" Pedri said 

"Has fermin found love at first sight" Gavi teased 

"Stop it guys she'll hear you" I whisper yelled at them 

"Surely you want her to hear us there's no point just staring at her if you don't say something you'll never see her again" Joao said 

His logic was sound I can't lie. There is no point admiring her from afar if I don't say anything I'll never see her again and if she rejects me well then I don't have to face her again which would hopefully make it easier to take. That makes it sound simple but it's not that straightforward I'm not the best at talking to girls I never know what to say like do I just introduce myself do I compliment them it's all so complicated and I never seen to get it right. Of course in this situation there is the added problem of the language barrier I speak English pretty well but I don't know if I know enough to have a conversation with her and sometimes accents complicate things. It's a lot to think about but there isn't really time to think about it as she could leave at any time and I need to have something to say. 

For the rest of lunch all the boys kept trying to give me pointers on what to say some of which were serious but most were jokes. They also tried to find her Instagram for me but they were entirely unsuccessful which didn't surprise me as we don't even know her name but they tried nonetheless. While they talked among themselves I noticed that she was finally getting up to leave and as if it was meant to be her friends all left her so I had no reason not to take my chance. I was going to get up and talk to her but the boys pushed me out of my seat before I could get up and told me not to come back until I'd spoken to her. I approached her as she turned to leave her table and we locked eyes for the first time and I nearly froze but I didn't I kept walking towards her. 

"Hi I'm Fermin sorry if this is too forward but I thought you were really pretty and wanted to introduce myself" I said 

"Thank you Fermin I'm y/n" she said 

"I know this seems a lot but I'm only here for a few days so would you want to go and get coffee or something as long as you're free" I said 

"That sounds great I have the rest of today off as long as you are available" she said 

"Great you might have to guide me on where to go if you couldn't tell I'm not from here" I joked 

"I have the perfect place to go" she said 

With that we left together and I texted the boys telling them I'll pay them back for my part of the bill later. As we walked wherever she wanted to go we got to know each other a bit more she told me that she was in fact my age and that she's still in university studying psychology but she's on a break which is why she's out with friends during the day. I told her a bit more about myself but I didn't tell her exactly why I was here because I want to get to know her more before I tell her that I play football because that can really change how girls act around me. I'd love to believe that she wouldn't be like that but you never know there's girls I've met before that I thought wouldn't be so obsessed with my career but they were although I do think y/n is different. 

She took us down a few backstreets before we reached this cafe which only had two other people in it which was perfect. As soon as we entered the lady running the place came over to ask y/n how her studying had been going and she offered us our drinks on the house but y/n insisted on paying. If I didn't already like her that interaction only confirmed my thought that she was just truly a lovely person and that's something I find really attractive in a girl. We sat in a quiet corner of the cafe and sipped our drinks but mostly we just didn't stop talking. I've never had such a connection with someone before, it sounds like such a cliche but we really got on like a house on fire instantly. She's really just perfect I've never found someone I love everything about from the moment I met them but that's how I feel with y/n, every good quality you would want she has she's kind, patient and not to mention absolutely beautiful. 

After finishing our drinks and getting to know each other we both had to leave I'm supposed to  eat with the team for dinner and she had to do some studying but luckily her place is on the way to my hotel so we got to walk together. However the walk wasn't very long and before I knew it we had to say goodbye. I didn't want this to be the last time we see each other so I just kind of blurred out that I'm here to play football and invited her to the game. Naturally she had a few questions but I answered them and she agreed to come to the game tomorrow which is how I got her number so I could text her all the details she would need. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Your POV

With my week off from uni I expected to see some friends and just unwind a bit but instead I ended up going out with a guy and not just any guy a Barcelona player who is playing a match in the champions league today and invited me to go. To say I'm nervous would be an understatement, I've never been to a football match before let alone been invited by a player so I have no idea what to expect. All I do know is that I'm really excited to see Fermin again he's such a nice guy and incredibly attractive plus we connected really well so it would've been a shame if we only saw each other once before he had to go back to Barcelona. 

Last night I did so much googling to learn as much about football and Fermin's team as possible I don't know how much I retained but I tried my best. Something I definitely did remember was that this was an important match for the team so they will really want to win and I really hope they do because I'd love to see Fermin happy. I also realised that football was a lot more popular than I thought as Barcelona had over 120 million followers on Instagram and Fermin had over 2 million. Knowing how popular Fermin and the team were did make me anxious because I have less than 50 followers and a private account which I'm fine with because I don't like the attention but I think Fermin is worth the possible complete change in my life. 

Time went by so quickly today before I knew it I was supposed to be getting ready to leave which meant deciding what to wear. The obvious choice would be a Barcelona shirt but I don't own one so I can't do that instead I just put on some blue jeans and a red top so I was close enough to wearing the Barcelona colours. I did some simple makeup and did my hair but that was all I had time for as I had to get to the stadium and find my seat before the start of the match. 

Getting to the stadium actually wasn't too bad but I got so lost trying to find my seat as Fermin didn't get me just any ticket he got me a vip ticket which meant I had a really good seat but it was hard to find the right entrance. Once I found my seat I was offered drinks and all sorts of other things but I just wanted to sit there as I was feeling really nervous all of a sudden. Everyone else in the vip section was very clearly either important people or wives/girlfriends of the players which made me feel a little out of place. Everyone had designer clothes on their hair done all nicely and perfect makeup and there I was in clothes I've owned for years with barely anything done to my appearance. Most of them were also speaking Spanish which I have a basic understanding of but I couldn't make out a word they were saying so I just kept to myself. 

The match was very intense which I think was made worse for me because I didn't really know what was going on but it ended up in a Barcelona win which really made me happy. All of the players celebrated in front of the fans before finally leaving the pitch which was my cue to find my way down to the locker room as Fermin told me to meet him down there after the game. I saw some of the other girls from my section of seats heading a certain way so I just followed them and luckily they were going the right way and I found where I needed to be. I text Fermin to tell him I was there whenever he was ready but seconds after I sent the text he was coming out the door with the biggest smile on his face which made me smile even more. He ran straight over to me and gave me a hug clearly still high on adrenaline but it loved it. As he pulled away he gave me a kiss on the cheek which made me blush so hard I probably looked like a clown. 

"Congrats you guys were so good out there" I said 

"Thank you did you enjoy the game?" He asked 

"Yeah it was a bit confusing but the atmosphere was amazing" I answered honestly 

"That just means I'll have to see you again and explain the rules" he smirked 

"I might need more than one lesson the offside rule seems a bit confusing" I joked 

"I wish I could spend more time with you but we leave tomorrow morning" he said 

"But if it's ok with you I'd love to walk you home so we can spend more time together" he added 

"I'd really like that" I said 

He had to go back to the team for a bit but he gave me a water bottle and an apple incase I was hungry which made me laugh but I appreciated him caring so much about me. He wasn't gone that long but when he came back a few of his teammates followed him so he introduced me to them quickly as they wanted to meet me. They were all so sweet that it actually made me even more sad that they were all leaving and this little fling or whatever it is I have with Fermin will be over. We are lucky to have a bit more time together even if it is just the walk back to my place I will take all the time I can get. 

Fermin took my hand and we walked back to my place together very slowly so we could have more time together. As we walked it became darker and colder outside until it started to rain which is very typically England it always rains at the worst times. I did bring an umbrella but that lasted less than a minute in the wind so we were getting soaked but I didn't care at all I'd stand out here forever if I was with Fermin. He seemed to feel the same as neither of us walked any quicker we just accepted the fact that we were going to get wet and it was worth it. Eventually we made to right outside my apartment building and it was time for us to say our final goodbyes and I can't lie I felt tears in my eyes. It feels somewhat stupid to be so attached to someone I just met but we just had an instant connection and I don't want to let it go just yet. 

"I can't believe how much I don't want to leave you right now" Fermin said 

"I really don't want you to leave either" I said 

"I know we are both busy but promise me that we will try and keep in contact and if it doesn't work then it doesn't work but I can't let you go like this" Fermin said 

"I promise I'm not going to give up on this" I said 

"Can I kiss you?" he asked 

All I did was nod which was enough for Fermin as he leant in and pressed his lips to mine. We were both freezing from the rain but I felt so much warmer when his lips met mine which told me that our connection as new as it is is very real. I've never felt like this when kissing anyone before let alone a first kiss which I think is the universes way of telling me that I've met someone special and to not give up on this without a fight. We kissed for a bit longer before we both pulled away and just stared at each other with our foreheads connected until we couldn't just stand there anymore. Fermin gave me one last kiss and promised he'd text me tomorrow before leaving to head back to his hotel leaving me to go inside and come to terms with all of the millions of feelings I had running through me.

~~~~~~~~~~

2 years later 

Just last week I submitted my dissertation and finished my degree it has been a hard few years but I'm proud of myself for doing it. The big changes in my life don't end there though as not only have I put a big part of my life behind me but I'm moving to a completely new country. Fermin and I have been together for nearly 2 years now and today is the day I finally move in with him in his place in Barcelona. The road to get here has been long but it all feels worth it Nke that I'm going to get to see him in person everyday not over the phone. 

Our relationship hasn't been normal in any way in fact our first date was over FaceTime and we started dating before we even had our first kiss as he asked me to be his girlfriend over FaceTime too. There has been lots of ups and downs and there has been times we have nearly broken up as we were so stressed with other things which affected our relationship but we made it. It feels like the hard part of our relationship is over and from now on I feel like it will be plain sailing. We have always had a special connection from the second we met but that really comes alive when we get to be together in person so getting to live together and be there for each other everyday is going to be so amazing. 

As much as I love Fermin with my whole heart deciding to move to Barcelona wasn't an easy decision. My whole life has always been in England like my friends and my family and I wasn't sure if I was ready to let go of all that and completely start my new life. Fermin was so supportive as well as I made my decision he told me if I needed to move back home for a bit longer to find myself outside of education then he would support that. Ultimately I decided that it was time for me to take the leap and discover who I am with him as I want him to always be part of my life so we decided we'd move in together which it some might seem risky but we know each other so well that neither of us thought it would be a problem. 

Preparing to move has been quite stressful as I've been shipping my things to Fermin so that I only have to bring some things with me on the plane but now I'm ready to go all I feel is excitement. Sitting on the plane sending my last text to Fermin before I land and we get to be together forever felt amazing but strange at the same time the long distance chapter of our relationship is finally coming to an end. The entirety of the flight all I thought about was all the things we can finally do now that we get to spend more time together like we can go on weekend trips if he has time off or spontaneous midweek dates and even just the things regular couples do together. 

Coming through the doors into the arrivals area Fermin was waiting there for me, he spotted me in seconds and we just ran towards each other. His arms wrapped around my waist as he engulfed me in the tightest hug I've ever experienced he held me so tight that he lifted my feet off the floor which he took to his advantage and spun me round. Once he finally put me down his lips were attached to mine almost instantly and we shared what I think was the best kiss we've ever had. 

"I'm so glad you're finally here and our lives together can finally begin" he said 

"I can't wait to see what the future holds" I said  

[wanderingblindly]

PLEASE give me the directors cut of Til The End Of The Line bc that fix haunts me in an ethereal manner and I have simply not moved on 🫶🏻

oh my god where do I even start with 'Till the End of the Line, it was such an odd one to write. I started in back in August and literally forgot it existed until November when I was just flipping through my files.

I stopped writing it because it just felt like pretentious, surface level, uninteresting emo drivel. But when I picked it back up, I felt myself really connecting to the emotions I channeled at the time.

Plus, I had been writing a lot of comedy at the time (see: Landoscar) and wanted to flex a different creative muscle. So really, the entire thing was incredibly self serving. But anyways, let's get into some content!

The Origins

I actually received a comment on Ao3 a very long time ago with someone talking about crying on a train while reading a fic, and that idea always sort of stuck with me.

The next thing was, as it always goes, a random line popping into my head one day while going about my Tasks:

But so much life can grow in a place where no one stays

This sort of ended up being the thesis for the entire narrative: the beauty in a passing moment between two people that, maybe, won't ever see each other again despite the mark they've left on each other's lives.

The Writing Process

So I bounced around a lot with how I wanted this to read. Initially I wrote it as a traditional narrative (I have about half of the fic written in an entirely different style), but then I realized that didn't fit the vibe. I wanted it to have more of a liminal, 'what parts of this are real' energy to it, which is why I decided to not use traditional quotation marks.

The italics, something people often use for thoughts, made it feel more like the entire thing could have been made up in Charles's head. I hope that came across haha.

Here's two snippets of parts from the other style that got cut:

And so Charles gets like this sometimes, cause and timing unknown. It hits him suddenly, the overwhelming and inescapable need to just cry. One small inkling, a fragment of an idea, buries itself into every corner of his mind; spreading like a wildfire until every other thought, any distraction, just reminds him of the ache. Deep in his bones. An unsettling mix of nostalgia, loneliness, and something unnamed. Something heavy. It hangs around his neck like a lead weight.

And:

Charles looks up at the stranger, eyes following him down as he sits beside him.  “Rough day?” He tries again, voice just as soft and accent just as distinct.  “I don’t know.” Charles says numbly as he takes the tissue, blotting his eyes uselessly as the tears continue to flow down with reckless abandon. He hums contemplatively in response, adjusting the hood of his sweatshirt around his neck and leaning back against the vibrating walls of the train.

Idk if the difference is entirely apparent, but I wanted Charles's narrative to feel very... sensory. What he's seeing, what he's feeling, not so much the traditional way of writing where you're guiding the reader through a true plot.

The Setting

At first, I put serious time into deciding what country they were in, what train they were on, what neighborhood it started and ended in, etc.. However, the more I poked around and considered different ideas (Berlin, New York, London), the more I realized that the story would be hindered by having it in a specific place.

The overall impact of this fic wasn't meant to the plot. It wasn't meant to be a character arc that compelled you, it wasn't meant to even really be about something as fickle as attraction. At it's core, I wanted this to be a story about the very human feeling of wanting to be somewhere else, about missing something that you can't get back and struggling with to accept that time will continue to move on even if you don't want it to.

Tying that to a place almost removed the universality of it, I think. That's why I never alluded to a specific starting station, ending station, route duration, or season. I wanted it to sort of... transcend those things, I guess.

Trains as a Metaphor

I've always really been fond of trains and modes of transport as a metaphor for things like death, purgatory, change, sleep, etc..

In this, I really wanted the train to represented that sort of liminal, purgatory-esque space. I wanted Charles to feel like he was stuck in between something, that he wasn't entirely here or there. In my head, Sebastian was almost a guiding light out of it, directing him away from the place so removed from real life and into somewhere in the present.

I don't want to beat a dead horse, the heavy handed religious imagery did that for me, but I just love the idea of the train being something transformative. Somewhere you go that isn't quite real life, where you can emerge with something you wouldn't have found elsewhere.

What Didn't Fit In

Ok originally, when I still didn't know what I actually wanted this story to BE beside Charles being distraught on a train, I made up entire backstories for him and Sebastian.

Sebastian was meant to be a youngish teacher coming home from a late night at Lewis's house -- they throw grading parties together during finals season, just to make it suck a little bit less :)

Charles owns the bookstore where he saw the little boy. He moved to the city he's in fairly recently, and hasn't really made his own community yet -- he drank alone at the bar that night because he didn't have anyone to call.

Music

FINALLY, in common me fashion, I listened to music on repeat while writing this. Brand New is a band that captures the sort of... empty, aimless feeling that Charles is going through in this story, and I think that the soundtrack really adds a lot!

[hatari-translations]

Refuge (official English production of Griðastaður) - review

A while back, Matthías's play Griðastaður was staged in English at the New Nordics festival in London, in a professional translation by Philip Roughton. Being that I had previously translated the play myself, I was always interested in the proper professional translation, but I never got around to watching it until today (a friend recorded the stream when it happened). Various thoughts and rambling below!

First, let's talk about the title for a moment! Refuge and Sanctuary are both valid translations of Griðastaður; Philip Roughton went with the former and I went with the latter, which is handy for distinguishing the two translations. When I wrote my translation I don't think the word refuge actually came to mind for the title - but I did find sanctuary and its connotations of sacredness metaphorically appropriate to how it's used in the play, where IKEA isn't simply an arbitrary place to escape to but somewhere that feels very personally important to Lárus (he doesn't literally consider it sacred, of course, but sanctuary is often used in senses where it's not literally sacred). I definitely won't claim it's a better translation than Refuge, particularly since Matthías presumably gave his personal blessing to Refuge as the English title, but I think I do stand by why I went with Sanctuary myself.

Overall it's, of course, just a different translation of the same play. I was amused to hear some turns of phrase that Roughton had translated identically or more or less identically to what I'd come up with, and noted various places where he came up with something I really liked that's definitely better than what I did (the prisoners of war in the POW camps who keep taking care of themselves were "happy campers", which is amazing; "quite absolutely stone-cold dead" was good; loved "I'd look like a twat" about going back against the traffic through IKEA), and a couple spots where I still kind of prefer mine. I noticed there were lots of general inconsequential script changes, compared to the filmed Icelandic version on the Academy of the Arts website that I translated - the order of some sentences changed, little bits that got removed, references to things swapped out for references to other things. I don't know if these were tweaks Matthías made before the public Icelandic run, or after, or if some might be liberties taken by the translator, or if either Jörundur Ragnarsson or Martin Donaghy slightly mixed up lines somewhere - it doesn't really matter at all, but worth noting! I suspect Matthías made at least a lot of these tweaks, though.

Somewhat unusually, the character names are all localized - Lárus is Laurence, Guðrún is Loreen, his mom Stefanía is Stephanie - but the setting is not. They're still talking about the IKEA in Garðabær and about the Griljera stove that costs 160,000 krónur. I think that's a bit of an odd combination - if we're still set in Iceland, why do we have a Laurence and a Loreen? The Q&A afterwards indicated they'd gone back and forth a bit on whether the setting should be localized or not, which gives me the impression perhaps the translator originally fully localized it and then in the end the director made a call on swapping the setting back to Iceland while still keeping Philip Roughton's character names.

The one more noteworthy actual script change is that instead of talking about a Chinese guy, Laurence just talks about the Deodorant Man. He's not from any particular country, just vaguely from the opposite side of the planet, and Laurence doesn't try to imitate any kind of accent or dialect even for two sentences. I think that's definitely a good call, as a cultural translation and in general - Lárus being a little bit racist wasn't really contributing anything that mattered to the narrative, and I like the choice to make him Deodorant Man a lot; it identifies him better as the guy from that story and makes the identifying reason Laurence made him up into the important thing, which just fits. Deodorant Man unfortunately wouldn't exactly have flowed off the tongue in Icelandic where svitalyktareyðismaðurinn is nine whole syllables (maðurinn með svitalyktareyðinn sounds a bit better but is ten syllables), but in English that's absolutely the best thing to call him, A+ on that.

The direction is definitely a bit different from how Matthías directed it himself, and Martin Donaghy plays Laurence a bit differently from Jörundur Ragnarsson's Lárus. Lárus is more neatly dressed and has a more repressed, nervous, intensely awkward nerd vibe, where Martin's performance is more energetic and he feels like a more folksy, average sort of guy (apart from the bits where he's being a total weirdo, of course). It doesn't totally change how his character comes across like in the early draft version, but it does make the overall vibe feel a bit different - not in a bad way, mind! This will always be the case to some extent when different actors interpret the same character.

Refuge definitely plays the bit about the spiders like in the draft version, where the imaginary spiders attack as he's talking to Deodorant Man, and he acts out the whole action scene of trying to escape from the spiders (there's a silly James Bond reference in the staging), where Jörundur Ragnarsson played it completely differently, just standing and not really acting it out, more like a kid playing with action figures or an adult playing along with one. That bit is weird and comes across weirdly in the Icelandic version, and is probably more coherent and works better as it's staged here (but still a bit weird). Given here it's more similar to the draft version, I'm curious if it was largely down to Jörundur wanting to play it the way he did.

On the other hand, in other bits I feel like the Icelandic version and Jörundur Ragnarsson's performance were more effective. I kind of miss the fake PowerPoint, which added a bit of humour to that contemplation. And I liked how he played the employee who approaches Lárus in the staged bathroom, how much like a genuine employee he sounds in his polite prodding about whether there's anything he can help him with and how subtly awkward he is about Lárus throwing the bit about his mom at him, compared to the kind of flat speaker-voice in Refuge.

Perhaps most significantly, my favorite sequence of the play is the bit where Lárus gets the message about his mom's death, curls up on the shelves until after closing, then imagines the encounter with the security guard, then suddenly feels really hungry and goes on this manic little trip to the cafeteria where he gets worked up about food waste before he finally goes to the bathroom and calms down. In Matthías's original direction, and Jörundur's performance, I thought this whole sequence worked really well and was emotionally effective. We actually see him curl up inside a shelf, looking small and vulnerable as the lights dim. We hear him sniffle quietly for a few dark minutes as slow, mournful music plays, getting a sense of the six hours he spends there like that. Then he gets up slowly and talks about how quiet it is, that he's all alone in IKEA, flatly repeats the message about his mom (showing it/his impression of it is burned into his mind and he's still thinking about it), and then starts imagining the security guard coming to throw him out - where at first he's pleading and trying to explain himself but then takes it all out in a desperate violent power fantasy where he beats up the security guard, manically threatens him into calling him the king of IKEA, and then continues to beat him half to death... before having a silent, abrupt 'what the fuck' moment and immediately redirecting all that tortured energy into going down to the cafeteria and getting viciously angry about that instead before he finally manages to actually cool off in the bathroom. It's an intense emotional progression of grief redirected into helpless anger and rage and I love it a lot.

So, in part this is definitely just me disliking that they took the thing I liked and changed it, I know, I know. But in Refuge, he simply climbs behind a bit of the set and only pauses for maybe a second after saying he was there for six hours. There's no moment of broken vulnerability, no curling up like a child, no dimmed lights or music, just him standing there, moving on from saying he was up on the shelf for six hours to talking about the silence. Martin does a good job on the security guard bit, and I particularly like how well he does the body language of having his hands wrestled behind his back without anyone there, but during the assault he plays the security guard in a very exaggeratedly pathetic, squeaky-voiced kind of way which I feel like makes it all cartoonier and detracts from the fantasy brutality of it a bit - it is fair and absolutely a valid acting choice that makes sense when Laurence is imagining this power fantasy, but it's just not quite as effective to me.

And instead of proceeding straight from there to him abruptly realizing he's hungry and going down to the cafeteria, this production inserts a sequence where Laurence grabs a curtain, puts it on like a cape, takes a paper crown on a pillow, and crowns himself king of IKEA while Sigur Rós plays, before he declares he's hungry and goes to the cafeteria. Which is amusing and all, but it completely breaks the continuity there! Suddenly it isn't that he's still in that manic worked-up state where he imagined that security guard encounter; he's just mad about the food waste, I guess. Similarly, where Jörundur was clearly cooling down in the bathroom, catching his breath, going, "Okay. Okay," at himself, in this version he more just seems to go there to pee, takes one deep breath and appears more just relieved to empty his bladder than anything else.

And... when Lárus is in the bathtub, eating his chicken salad, he says, "What was that. What was that." In context, the way he delivers it, he's asking what that was - that whole bonkers emotional outburst about the imaginary security guard and the food. It's clearly that, because he repeats it a couple times to himself with blank exhaustion but no surprise. He's still cooling down from a breakdown, a little freaked out at himself. He goes on from there to remind himself that there's nobody there, that the security guard was imaginary.

Laurence, on the other hand, goes "What was that?!" in a startled way, like he's just heard something that freaked him out. Which is a valid reading of the script, you could even read his subsequent comment about there not being a soul around in relation to that, but I feel like it's just a bit of a less interesting, less nuanced reading of the script.

He's also got the curtain cape and paper crown on all the way until Loreen leads him out of IKEA, which makes the interpretation of Laurence feel more distinctly childlike, not in a vulnerable way but a naïve, simplistic way, perhaps. I do think that's sort of a fair interpretation; a bit different, but definitely a reflection of real qualities he has in the script (the spider sequence definitely feels like something a child would make up). I'm not sure I'd personally associate the king of IKEA bit, which was part of a violent grief-induced rage power fantasy, with those qualities in him, though.

Finally - the bit where he rants to his mom about how everyone dies has a pause before he tells her he loves her, which is an interesting change to me because in the Icelandic version it just sort of slips out finally at the tail end of this rant about how everyone dies so fuck it, while this version makes it seem more conscious and considered on his part (which also makes it a little weirder that he then goes on to say "No, of course I didn't say that").

All in all, though, it was a lot of fun to see a different interpretation of the play and an actual professional translation of it! Despite all the niggles above, I thought Martin Donaghy's performance was great overall - different, but not worse. Similarly, I take issue with some of the direction, but other direction choices were great! Matthías talked in the Q&A about how seeing things in a different context is always revealing, and I think he's right - different interpretations of works always reveal different facets of them to explore.

[loki-hargreeves]

It's late when they finally make it through the front door; shrieks and blood-stained frames still dancing around in their minds, relentless, torturing them. Marc, Steven and Jake never talk about how it affects them to still be the fist of Khonshu, the protectors of the travellers of the night; but they don't have the need to, either. They all know what it feels to take a life, and they try not to, but it's not always possible.

Jake's the one in charge of the body tonight. He knows Marc and Steven better than he knows himself, and he also knows that with the number of people involved in the mission they just succeeded in, his other alters aren't quite right to make it home. So he fronts, allowing them to rest in the headspace like Steven or vanish somewhere in the subconscious like Marc.

Either way, it's their choice. The same way that it's Jake's choice to get them home safe and take care of the body once he gets there: washing the remaining blood from his hair; eating, drinking water, getting under the covers and cuddling you after a long week of not seeing his best girl, too. All those things that Jake doubts the others can do without breaking.

Because he hates it when they break and you have to reassure them; because Jake thinks that when you signed up to be their girlfriend, you didn't sign up to mother them, to fix the wounds their actual mother left. He says nothing because he knows the others need it, but he will never let you worry for him the way you worry for the others.

Jake is expecting to find you awake, maybe have dinner together if you haven't yet. You always wait for them to come back, even when they tell you not to. And that's why it's so weird, and all his alarms go off, when he opens the door to find the flat in complete darkness.

He squints in the darkness, trying to get his eyes used to it; and locks the door behind him.

"Where is Eli?"

Steven's distinctive accent almost makes him jump. The flat is so silent and dark that Jake is starting to think you've gone out somewhere. He finishes with the five —yes, five— locks they have on their front door and then turns around to see Steven's faded reflection on the glass of a picture frame.

For a second, all he sees is the actual photo it holds. It's the first picture you have with him, with Jake, after the first date you both had. He loves that picture. Then, he looks at the reflection.

"How do you expect me to know?" he asks. "You are seeing the same thing I do."

Steven frowns.

"It was a rhetorical question."

"Seguro que sí..." (Sure it is...)

Looking for you, Jake gets into the bedroom space. He doesn't even switch on the lights, not a single one of them; he doesn't want to risk waking you up in case you are sleeping. So the moonlight is the only thing guiding him through the maze of books that it's their flat. And it isn't until he is standing next to you, that he actually can get an image of you curled up under the covers. 

Jake crouches down to look at you, a gentle smile showing up on his now calm features. He never looks and feels as content and calm as he is when he's next to you, especially when you fall asleep in his arms and he gets to admire you without you arguing that he's looking at you too much.

But even if you look somewhat peaceful while sleeping, he feels a knot in his stomach, a gut feeling. Something is wrong, something feels very wrong even if he doesn't know what it is. And he is one to follow his instincts, they have never failed him.

That's why he turns on the bedside table light. You don't look bad now that he can see you properly, but you don't look completely peaceful either. Your lips are pursed, your fist is clenched around the duvet, and you're wrapped up to your neck when normally you complain that it's too hot in London. This is normal for you when spring is just beginning, Jake thinks, especially coming from a Finnish woman. Even though he doubts any other Finnish complains about the weather in London as much as you do.

Slowly and gently, not entirely meaning to wake you up, he tucks a couple of strands of hair behind your ear. Your skin is warm under his calloused fingers and cold hand, and once he touches you Jake knows it's very hard to make himself stop. But then, you frown and gasp under his touch.

Jake frowns too, mirroring you. Something is definitely not right.

"Eli... mi amor," he caresses your cheek gently, with the back of his fingers. "Are you having a nightmare, baby?"

That's directed more at himself than at you, but he still whispers.

"Elisa," he gets closer, his hand cupping your cheek and hoping to wake you up in the gentlest way possible. He doesn't want to scare you if you are having a nightmare. "Eli, wake up. Venga, mi amor. Ya estoy en casa."

He expects you to jump awake. He's ready to catch you in his arms, actually. But you don't. With a long exhale, your eyes open. They are not frightened, Jake notices, there are no tears in the corner of your eyes or restlessness in your pupils. He smiles, relieved, and for a second, you smile too.

Then your features change. You jump back away from him, as far as the bed goes, and for a second he's worried that you might fall from it.

Jake frowns, panicking for a second, wondering if he still has blood on his face despite washing it as best he could in the restrooms of a bus station on his way back.

"Mi amor, it's me," he smiles, but it doesn't reach his eyes. He's worried and confused, two feelings that he hates to have because it means he's not in actual control of the situation.

"I know it's you," you respond.

He feels his fingers beginning to shake. He hates it.

In a desperate attempt to get closer to you, one of his knees rests on the edge of the mattress, his whole body stretching forward before you reach out your hands and tell him.

"Don't get closer, Jake," you say. "I'm being serious."

His heart shatters, and it shows on his whole face; the way a muscle in his jaw ticks when he clenches it, the way he looks as if he was in pain. Well, because he is.

"Wha- what?" he asks, he sounds like a lost soul. "Why?"

Bringing a hand to your face, two fingers pinching the bridge of your nose, you sigh.

"I'm sorry, Jake, baby. I have covid," you tell him. "I just don't want you to catch it, okay? I just got a positive test earlier."

But if you thought that would make him turn away, you were very wrong.

"How are you feeling?" he asks, trying to get even closer. "Are you alright? Is there anything you need?"

"Could you just... back off, please?"

He chuckles, because he just has to.

"Elisa, come here and let me take care of you," he says. "We are immune to diseases too, not just knives and bullets. Come on, get here."

At first, you hesitate. Jake is very capable of lying to get what he wants, especially when that includes your well-being. But you need him right now, more than you need anything else. And you slowly crawl back to him, to his warm body and gentle hands and the loving non-sense that comes out of his mouth. Your boys have been gone for a week, and you missed them.

"How was the mission?"

"Forget about the mission," he says, now holding you in his arms. He lowers his head and brushes his nose against yours. "How are you feeling?"

His own heart breaks again when he sees you trying to get closer, even if he has you already firmly pressed against his heart, your thighs over his lap.

His pulse quickens.

"Do you need to go to the hospital?" he asks.

"No, it's not that," you respond. "I think I'm losing my taste and smell. Everything smells like smoke. And I'm... well, terrified."

"Uhm..." he says. He strokes your arm, up and down. Not only because you need it, but because he needs it too. Then, he tries to light up the mood, as best he can. "Well, Marc will be very happy that someone finally will eat his food, I guess."

You chuckle, lightly. Then scold him for making fun of Marc. Jake silently ravishes in how you seem to look a bit less concerned about the whole covid situation.

Then, a comfortable silence settles in. You have half of your face pressed against his chest, and the sound of his heart is lulling you back to sleep. Even the cotton of his t-shirt feels nice against your fingers. Jake keeps caressing all the flesh he can reach: your arms, your naked shoulders, the outer side of your thighs, your knees...

You're almost falling back to sleep when you ask him.

"I'm scared it will be permanent," you say, wrinkling your nose as you try to smell the scent on his clothes, and, although you can make out something underneath the smell of smoke, it's not enough to satisfy you. "I don't wanna be sick."

"Don't worry about that, mi amor," he says. "I won't let anything happen to you. You know I will do anything. If I have to threaten Khonshu into healing you, I will."

You smile.

"Would you do that?"

"For you, Eli? Anything, mi amor," he says, his warm hand still making its path on your arm. "We love you so much. The others would be lost without you, I wouldn't be able to make it home each time we go away if it wasn't for you. You're our light, baby."

"I love you too, Jake," you chuckle, even if it comes out sad because of your own tears drowning your words.

"Go back to sleep, nena," he says. "I'll be here in the morning."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

THERE AREN'T ENOUGH WORDS IN THE ENGLISH DICTIONARY FOR ME TO EXPRESS HOW HAPPY THIS MADE ME!! I can try to express that with reaction pics and by screaming, but it won't do the joy any justice.

You're literally an angel, I've thought so before this too but now??? I'm convinced you're a bunch of angels, rainbows and sunshine in a trench coat trying to pass as one person.

My crops? Watered. Skin? Cleared. Soul? Healed!! This made me so damn happy that I don't even care about being sick 🥺

When I read my own name, I almost screamed because I could picture it in his voice 😭❤️

You know me so well and you know I love angst and hurt/comfort. The parts about Marc's cooking and complaining about London weather were absolutely brilliant as well, I'm obsessed. Your writing is among my favourite things this world has to offer so reading this felt like the nicest gift ever. I love this.

THANK YOU!!! What have I done to deserve you and this?

[rogeriswater]

Don't Leave Me Now

xxxiii

This work contains fictionalized versions of real events and people. Most details won’t be accurate to real life.

tags for this chapter: none

March, 1969

~m.r~

It was an early morning. Billy was already at work. I was eating breakfast in the dining room. I didn't realize how lonely you could feel in a big house like this. As I was eating, I heard the phone ringing. I stood up and went to go answer the phone. "Hello?" I spoke.

"Maggie?" It was Linda. "Thank goodness I have the right number"

"Linda! What a surprise!"

"Are you busy today?"

"Not really. Why?"

"Well Paul and I are getting married today and I was wondering if you'd like to be a witness" Linda asked. I felt a pang in my heart when she mentioned that she was getting married today. It made me think of Roger and Judy. "Maggie?"

"Sorry" I muttered. "Yeah, of course"

I could hear Linda's smile. "Oh, thank you, Maggie! It'll be at Marylebone Town Hall. Be there in five hours"

"Alright. I'll see you then, Linda" I said to her. I hung up the phone and was about to get back to my meal when I heard a knock on the door. I groaned in annoyance. When I answered the door, there was a girl, probably no older than eighteen. "Can I help you miss?"

"This is the Robinson residence, yeah?" Huh, she was American. I noticed she was holding a newspaper clipping in her hand.

"It is. Why don't you come on inside?" I offered her. The girl smiled at me and stepped inside the house.

"Wow!" She gasped when she saw the inside. "This place is beautiful!"

"Thank you, Miss...?"

"Oh! My name is Olivia"

"Nice to meet you, Olivia. Can I get you some tea or anything?"

"That would be lovely, ma'am" Her accent had a bit of a southern twang to it. Olivia followed me into the kitchen. She sat at the table while I got started on making the tea. "Did I interrupt your breakfast?"

"Oh no, it's fine" I told her. "Anyways, what brings you to my house?"

"I saw this ad in the newspaper that y'all were looking for a full time nanny?" I couldn't help but start chuckling. "What's so funny, miss?"

"Oh, it's just that ads been in the paper for over a month and you're the first to respond to it"

"Oh" Olivia giggled. "I suppose that is kind of funny" Once the tea was ready and made, I set a cup in front of Olivia and then joined her at the table.

"How old are you, Olivia?" I asked her.

"I recently turned eighteen" She admitted, taking a sip of her drink. Olivia was a very pretty young girl, I had to admit. She had blonde hair with the faintest eyebrows. Her eyes were big and brown. Her lips were full and she had a cute little button nose.

"That's so young. Why do you want to be a full time nanny at eighteen?" I questioned her.

Olivia frowned and shrugged. "Because I can't do much of anything else. I left home the very minute it was my eighteenth birthday. I didn't really get along with my parents and I just couldn't take it anymore. So took all the money I saved up and got on the first flight I could to London"

I felt sympathy for the poor girl. "Where have you been staying?"

"I found this motel that's been renting to me cheap for now, but I'm running out of money and that's why I need a job"

Was I actually considering letting this poor girl have the position and move in with us? "Do you have any experience watching children?"

Olivia perked up. "Oh yeah! I was the town's go to babysitter!"

"Just so you know, the baby isn't even born yet"

Olivia's smile disappeared. "Oh" I could tell she was really in need of a job, and more importantly, somewhere else to stay.

"But, considering no one else has applied for the position and you seem to be like a nice girl, I don't see the harm in offering you the position and the spare bedroom"

Olivia's eyes widened. "Spare bedroom?"

"Well yeah. You're going to be a live-in nanny"

"And when could I move in?"

"Right now if you want to"

Olivia smiled widely. She got up from her chair and walked around to my side of the table to hug me. "Oh thank you, ma'am! This means a lot to me!"

I chuckled. "Why don't I take you to that motel so you can get your stuff and then you can get settled in?"

 "Thank you, Miss... I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name"

 "Maggie"

"Maggie!" Olivia repeated. I hope I didn't make a mistake with taking this girl in. But I suppose I had several months to get to know her before the baby came. I couldn't help but wonder though how Billy was gonna react when he found out I hired the nanny without discussing with him first.

~

Olivia didn't have much to bring over. I promised her one day I would take her shopping so that we could fill up her closet. I was giving her a tour of the house. I was showing her my music room. "You're a musician?" Olivia asked me.

"Yeah. That's why Billy wanted to hire a nanny. So someone can help out with the baby whenever I go on tour" I said, putting my hands over my stomach. I could feel the smallest hint of a bump.

Olivia rubbed at her arm. "So it was him who wanted the nanny and not you?"

"I just...didn't want some other woman raising my baby"

"I promise Maggie, you're gonna be the baby's momma. I'm just lending an extra hand" Olivia reassured me. I looked up at the clock on the wall and noticed it's been 3 hours since Linda called me. Which means I only have two hours to get ready to be at Marylebone.

"Oh shit" I muttered. "Do you think you'll be okay on you're own until Billy gets home from work?"

"I should be. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just have a wedding to get to" I explained. I quickly ran to my room and picked out a dress. I picked out something pretty but nothing that would take attention away from Linda. I changed into it and stepped out of my room into the hall where Olivia was waiting. "How do I look?"

"Very pretty!" Olivia smiled. "Who's wedding is it?"

"Just a friend of mine. She needs me as a witness"

"Have fun then, Maggie" Olivia bid me as I made my leave.

~

I got to Marylebone with an hour to spare. Paul and Linda were sitting in the waiting room, holding hands. Paul looked dapper in the suit he was wearing while Linda wore a beige coat with some white peeking out from underneath it. Heather was sitting beside Linda, leaning against her. I also couldn't help but notice that George Harrison and Pattie Boyd were also there.

Linda spotted me and she waved me over to them. "Thank you so much for coming today, Maggie"

I smiled at her. "It was my pleasure, Linda"

"Great to see you again, Maggie" Paul beamed at me. He motioned towards George and Pattie. "Maggie, this is—"

"George and Pattie, I know" I said. If I'm being honest, George was always my favourite Beatle so it was kind of a shock for me to be standing in the same room as him. And Pattie, my god she was gorgeous. The pictures of her in the magazines don't do her justice. "Great to meet you both!"

"How wonderful to meet you, Maggie!" Pattie said to me.

"I can't believe we're meeting Maggie Fox of Pink Floyd" George gushed. That made me blush. George Harrison, my favourite Beatle, was a fan of Pink Floyd? A fan of me?

"Thank you, George, but I feel like I should be saying that to you. You're my favourite Beatle, y'know?"

"Hey!" I heard Paul gasp dramatically. "I'm right here, y'know!" Everyone broke out in laughter at him.

Just then, a lady holding a clipboard stepped into the wedding room. "Paul McCartney? Linda Eastman?" She called to the couple. Paul and Linda stood up as the woman smiled at them. "It's time"

Paul and Linda looked at each other and smiled. They followed the woman into the room where the ceremony would take place. The rest of us followed after them.

~

It was a short yet sweet ceremony. George, Pattie and I all sat together in the front row of chairs while Heather was in my lap. As Paul and Linda recited their vows to each other, my mind couldn't help but wander to Roger and Judy. Is this what their wedding was like? Mine wasn't even as nice as this. Though is any wedding really nice when you're only eighteen?

I suppose part of me was relieved I wasn't at Roger and Judy's wedding. It would have pained me to see them say their vows to each other and then seal their union with a kiss. Still, it hurt. And I don't know which hurt more. The fact that Roger went ahead and married her in the first place, or the fact he waited until I was away to do it.

Before I knew it, Paul and Linda were kissing and rice was being tossed at the newlywed couple. George, Pattie and I clapped and cheered for them. When we all stepped out of the hall, there were already photographers waiting outside to snap photos of the happy couple. Heather stayed with her mom and her new dad, while George, Pattie and I managed to sneak away.

"Such a lovely ceremony!" Pattie sighed dreamily. "Don't you think, Maggie?"

"It was" I said.

"Something tells me those two will be together for a long time" George said.

"I sure hope so. They seem to be really happy together" I felt like I should be getting home. Billy would probably be home soon and Olivia was still there on her own. "I should be going"

"Is everything okay?" Pattie asked me.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine!" I waved my hand around. "I just hired a new nanny and she's at home by herself"

"I didn't know you had children"

"Well, not yet but there is one on the way" I said, patting my stomach.

George smiled at me. "Congratulations! I do hope we can meet up again sometime"

"Why don't we exchange numbers?" Pattie suggested. So that's what we did. We exchanged our phone numbers with each other before I left and made my way home.

~

When I got home, Olivia was watching television in the living room. I joined her, sitting beside her on the couch. "Did Billy come home yet?" I asked.

"Not yet" Olivia shook her head. "Someone did call while you were away though. I think his name was Roger"

"What did he say?" I asked.

"He just wanted to know if you were still on for hosting a party" Olivia explained. Oh right, it had completely slipped my mind that I offered to throw him and Judy a party celebrating their marriage.

"Alright, thank you Olivia" I said as I got up to go to the phone. Might as well call him back. I dialed the number and waited for an answer.

"Hello?" Roger answered.

"Hey Rog" I greeted him.

"Sunshine!" He happily said. "Who's Olivia? She answered the phone when I tried calling earlier"

"Oh, she's our new nanny"

"New nanny?" Roger repeated and I just knew he was furrowing his brows. "But sunshine, the baby hasn't even been born yet"

"I know, but Billy insisted on getting a nanny early"

"Of course he did"

"Anyways, she said you had called and were asking about the party?"

"Yeah. Did you still want to do that for us? I'd understand if you didn't want to"

"Why wouldn't I want to?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

"Well, y'know..."

"Of course I want do this for you guys" I assured him. "I didn't get to be at the wedding so I feel like I should do this for two"

"Well thank you. I appreciate it and I know Jude does too" I could hear Judy calling Roger's name. "I have to go now. Let me know when you can throw that party, yeah?"

"Will do, Rog" I said. He hung up the phone first. I put the phone back on the receiver and put my head against the wall. I wanted to scream but I didn't want to with Olivia right in the other room.

"Honey?" I nearly jumped at the sound of Billy's voice. I looked to him. "Who's the kid watching tv in our living room?"

"Her name is Olivia" I explained to Billy. "She's our new nanny"

"You hired her without discussing it with me first?"

I gave him a look. "Says the one who put an ad in the paper without discussing it with me first"

"You're right, you're right. How old is she?"

"Eighteen"

"She's a bit young to be our nanny, don't you think?"

"Look, she has nowhere else to go, alright? She's been living at a motel since she moved here. She has experience babysitting. I think we can give her a chance"

"Alright, I'm trusting you on this" Billy walked over to me. He took one of my hands and kissed it. "Why don't I take you both out to dinner?"

"Is there a special occasion?" I asked him.

"What? I can't treat my lovely wife to dinner? Besides, this is my chance to get to know our new nanny and ask her some questions"

"Dinner it is then" Billy and I walked out into the living room. "Olivia, we're going out for dinner!"

"Okay, have fun you two!" She smiled at us.

"No, sweetie, you're joining us"

Olivia's eyes widened. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Of course, kid" Billy said to her. "Think of it as a welcome to our home dinner on us"

"How could I possibly pass that up?" And with that, the three of us made our way to dinner.

~

Billy picked one of the nicest and most expensive places in town. Olivia seemed stunned as we were sat at our table. We got our menus and she gasped when she saw the prices of the food. "How can y'all even afford this?" She wondered.

"Well, I'm a manager at a very successful manufacturing company and Maggie is in a band" Billy explained. "Between the two of us, we can definitely afford it"

"I take it you've never eaten at a place like this before have you?" I asked her.

"No, ma'am" Olivia shook her head.

"Well get whatever you want" I encouraged her. The waiter came around and took our orders. As we waited for our food, Billy and I decided to ask Olivia some more questions. "So, Olivia, any plans for school?"

"Not currently, ma'am. I don't even know what I want to do with my life yet. Besides, even if I wanted to, I can't afford it" Olivia explained.

Billy leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and clasping his hands together. "Well, if you stick with us for a few years, I'm sure you'll have enough money"

"And how much are you guys going to be paying me exactly?"

"The thing is, we can't start paying you until the baby is born" I informed her. "But how would, let's say, £100 a week sound?"

Olivia's mouth fell open. "You'd be willing to pay me that much just for helping you look after a baby?"

"Absolutely"

Olivia nervously played with her fingers. "Would I have to pay any of that back to you in rent?"

Billy chuckled. "Kid, we're practically paying you to live with us. Which brings me to my next question? You got a boyfriend?"

Olivia blushed. "No, sir. Why are you asking?"

"I just want to make sure you won't be bringing anyone around, at least not without asking us first"

"You won't have to worry about that from me. Boys don't seem to be very interested in me"

I scoffed. "I find that hard to believe. You're a very pretty girl. I'm sure boys would be knocking on our door just to come see you"

"If boys come knocking on our door, I'm sure they're there to see you, my love" Billy said to me. "There's already plenty of them that have a crush on you"

"What band are you in, ma'am?" Olivia asked me.

"Pink Floyd" I answered.

"Can't say I've heard of y'all. Roger, the one who called earlier, is he in the band too?"

Billy's eyebrow raised. "Roger called today, did he?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, in fact, he did. He was asking me if I still wanted to host that party for him and Judy"

"What party?"

"To celebrate their marriage"

"They got married?" Billy seemed surprised. "Huh, good for them" The minute our food arrived and my plate was set in front me, Billy eyed my food. "Maggie, you sure you're going to be able to eat all of that?" I can't tell if he was judging me or if he was concerned for me.

"Shut up!" I hissed at him. "I'm eating for two now, remember?" I pat my stomach. I began digging into my food. Olivia stared at her food, almost like she was too scared to eat it. "Is something wrong, Olivia?"

"I just....y'all only met me today and you've already given me a place to stay and are treating me to an expensive dinner" Her voice was a bit strained.

"You're one of us now, kid" Billy reached over to pat her hand. Olivia grinned at Billy. I observed her. I saw that glint in her eye. It's that look a teenager gets when she sees a boy she likes. I couldn't help but find it amusing.

~

When we got home, we all decided that we were ready for bed. Billy went straight for our room while I helped Olivia settle into hers. I picked out a pillow and some blankets for her. As I made the bad, Olivia sat at the vanity brushing through her hair. She looked at me through the mirror. "That Billy is a swell fella, isn't he?" She said.

I nodded. "That's why I married him"

Olivia sighed as she put her brush down. "I wish I had a fella like him"

"I'm sure you'll find someone some day"

"Is there something wrong, Maggie?"

"I don't think I should tell you"

Olivia got up and walked over to me. She grabbed my hands and she pulled me down so we were both sitting on the bed. "You can tell me! I'm very good at keeping secrets!"

"Well, things have just been so tense between Billy and I lately. We've recently started attending marriage counselling"

"Really? Could've fooled me. You two seemed so sweet on each other at dinner"

"Things have been getting better between us lately" I looked down at my stomach and touched it. "And I think it's all thanks to this little one right here"

"Y'all aren't one of those couples who's marriage was in the gutter so y'all decided a baby was the only way to fix it right?" Olivia cringed as soon as the question was asked. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that.."

The way she said that, made me think there was a reason she was asking that question. "Is that what your parents did?"

Olivia nodded. "They resented me for it because I didn't fix a damn thing between them. I couldn't take it anymore. So when I was finally old enough, I left"

I rubbed Olivia's back. "That wasn't fair of them to put you through that"

"I think we both should get some sleep" Olivia pulled herself further up on the bed. She got under the blankets. "Night, Maggie. Mind turning the light off on your way out?"

I got up and left Olivia's room, making sure to turn the light off like she asked me to. I then went into mine and Billy's room. However, I didn't go to the bed. I went out to the balcony that was connected to our room that overlooked our spacious backyard. Billy joined me. He stood beside me, placing his hand over mine. "Everything alright, my love?"

"I just needed some fresh air" I told him. "The yard needs some livening up, don't you think? I should start a garden"

"I can hire some gardeners so they can do it for you" Billy offered. I didn't have the energy in me tonight to tell him I wanted to do it myself. "Maggie, there's something I gotta tell you"

"Mhm?"

"Judy and I...well, we kissed a few times" Billy admitted to me. My jaw clenched and I looked at him. Judy already has Roger. Why does she feel like she has to have my husband too?

"So that night while I was on tour and I called home, and Judy answered—"

"It never went any further than kissing, I promise you" Funnily enough, I believed him, though I wasn't sure I should. "I stopped meeting up with her after she and Roger got engaged"

"Thank you for telling me, Billy"

"Going forward, there shouldn't be any secrets between us. And if you ever cheated on me, you would tell me about it" I bit my tongue as Billy said that. There was a difference between what he and I did. He just kissed Judy. I fucked Roger. Countless times. And possibly got pregnant by him. I can't just tell him that. "But I know you wouldn't do that to me. You're not that type of person"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Anything"

"Who initiated the kiss?"

"Judy did the first time, then times after that, I did" Billy looked at me with a puzzled look. "I thought you'd be more angry about this"

"Like you said, all you two did was kiss" Perhaps the reason I wasn't as angry as I should be about it is because it would make me incredibly hypocritical.

Billy sighed with relief. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder as he pulled me against him. "I'm glad there's no more secrets between us" There was that punch in the gut feeling again.

"Changing the subject, I think Olivia may have a bit of a crush on you" I teased. "I don't have to worry about you and the nanny kissing right?"

Billy chuckled. "She's only a kid, Maggie. I'm sure she'll find someone her own age and quickly forget about me"

~

The next day I went to the store with Clea, picking out some things for Roger and Judy's party. I used this time to catch her up on everything. "I can't believe Roger would do that to you!" Clea spat angrily. "And to think I actually liked him. I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe you are better off with Billy"

"Clea, it was just never meant to be with Roger and I, and that's okay" I told her, though I was sure I was more so telling myself.

"And this baby? What are you going to tell Billy when it comes out looking like Roger?"

"That's not going to happen because this is Billy's baby"

"Whatever you say, girlie. Tell me about this new nanny"

"Her name is Olivia. She's a sweet girl"

"Don't think you have to worry about her and Billy...y'know?"

"Clea, he calls her kid. I don't think I have to worry about that"

"You say that now but the minute that chick turns twenty—"

"Clea, I love you, but shut up"

We pulled up to the register and started putting our items on the belt. Clea eyed a magazine. "Whoa look who's on the cover!" She picked it up and showed it to me. "Why it's you!" And she was right. Pink Floyd was on the cover.

"It's still surreal seeing my face in magazines or hearing my voice on the radio" I admitted.

Clea smirked. "But you love it"

I smiled. "Just a little bit"

~

Once Clea and I got done at the store, we made our way to a little café for something to drink. Clea had her coffee while I ordered a ginger tea. "How are things going with David?" I asked. Ever since the New Years party, the two of them have been seeing each other.

Clea smiled. "Things are going really good. I might actually like him"

"Didn't you say that about Elliott?" I asked. Oh yeah, did I mention that Clea and Elliott are still living together?

"And I told you, Elliott and I have an open relationship" Clea explained. "We encourage each other to see other people"

"Does David know that?"

Clea nodded. "He's aware of it" Someone walked into the café. Of course it was Judy. This was my first time seeing her since before she and Roger got married. I sighed and tapped my cup. "What? What is it?" Clea turned to see who I was looking at. When she looked at me again, she was wearing a scowl. "It's her. The bitch who stole your man!"

I narrowed my eyes at Clea. "First of all, she had Roger before I did. If anything, I borrowed her man without telling or asking first"

"She better not come sit with us" Clea said. Just after she said that, Judy noticed us and made her way over to us. "Ah shit"

"Maggie! Hi!" Judy smiled at me. She hugged me and air kissed my cheek. "And Clea, right? I think we've only met twice"

Clea forced herself to smile at Judy. "Judy, hi!" She then looked at me with a look that said 'don't you dare invite her to sit with us'. Well too bad, Clea.

"Would you like to sit with us Jude?" I asked.

"Of course, thanks!" Judy pulled up a chair and sat with us. "How's the pregnancy been treating you, Mags?"

"I still get morning sickness, my hormones are out of whack, I crave the weirdest shit, y'know, the regular shit that happens when you're pregnant" I explained. "I heard about the marriage! Congratulations!"

Judy smiled but it seemed to be a sad smile. She flexed her hand and looked down at her ring. "Thank you"

"Where did Roger take you for the honeymoon?" Clea asked, attempting to be polite with conversation.

"We went to Paris" Judy didn't seem as enthusiastic about it as I thought she would be. This is what she's always wanted, right? For Roger to marry her?

"That must've been lovely!" I said.

Judy nodded. "It was" She was now running her fingers along her cup. "How's Billy doing? Everything getting better between you two?"

I genuinely smiled when Judy brought Billy up. "Things have been getting really good between us lately. It's been feeling like when we first got married again. When we were just so in love"

I saw Judy's jaw clench when she smiled. Was she okay? "That's wonderful to hear. Oh, Roger said you were going to throw a party for us? That's really sweet of you"

"It's my pleasure"

Judy sighed. "I should get going. It was lovely talking to you both. Let me know when you're having the party, okay Mags?" And with that, Judy left us.

"You know, for a woman who just got married, you'd think she'd be in a state of euphoria" Clea noted.

"Yeah, it's weird" I added. Clea looked at me, crossing her arms over chest and leaning back in her chair. "What?"

"That's weird? No, no, what's weird is that you may actually be falling back in love with Billy" Clea said. She almost sounded disappointed in me.

I shrugged. "So what if I am?"

Clea reached over and grabbed my hand. "Girlie, you can't be falling in love with that idiot again. Not when you're supposed to be with Roger"

"Well he's married now so that's not gonna happen. Speaking of marriage, I'm going to need a maid-of-honor for our vow renewal ceremony—"

"You're really going through with that?"

"Of course I am. Now back to the maid-of-honour thing.."

"Do you still love Roger?" Clea interrupted me yet again.

"Clea, please don't"

"You do, don't you?"

I gritted my teeth. "I have moved on from him. He and Judy are happy together now, and like you said, I'm falling back in love with Billy"

"Judy doesn't seem so happy" Clea kept on pushing.

"Clea, I'm warning you! Quit it!" I snapped at her.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry for pushing"

"It's okay"

"So maid-of-honor, huh?" Clea changed the subject. "I thought you would've asked Ronnie"

"Well I did, but she insisted that she can't take pictures at the same time" I explained.

"Of course I'll be your maid-of-honor" Clea said.

I grinned, grabbing her hands and squeezing them affectionately. "Thank you" Even if was never going to be fond of Billy, I knew I could always count on Clea's support.

~

As we were making the drive back to my house, we happened to drive by a home that Clea recognized. She insisted that we stop there. Turned out, it was her psychic's house. "You have to see her. Penelope has never once had a false prediction" Clea tried to convince me as she was pulling me towards the house.

I groaned. "Clea, you know I don't believe in that stuff"

"She was right about you becoming pregnant, wasn't she?" Clea said. Fine, she got me there, but that was most likely just a lucky guess.

"Fine, if it'll please you" I gave in. Clea knocked on the door. In mere seconds, it was answered by a woman who was younger than I was expecting her to be.

"Miss Hutton, I knew you'd be coming by today" Penelope said. She then looked at me. "And this must be the close friend who is with child. Maggie Robinson. I knew you would become pregnant, my dear. The great Penelope knows everything"

"Penelope, we were wondering if you could do a reading for Maggie" Clea asked.

Penelope smiled at me, grabbing my hands and pulling me inside the house. "But of course" She led us into a dimly lit room with a small round table. Penelope sat me down at the table while she sat across from me. Clea stood in a corner of the room. Penelope grabbed my hands and ran her thumbs over my palms. She looked me right in the eyes. "There are people in your life who just got married, yes?"

I blinked. Clea must've told her. "Yes"

Penelope hummed and nodded. "The girl is unhappy with this marriage. She wants what you have. And the man, well, he desires you. He may love his wife, yes, but he loves you more. I don't see their marriage lasting very long. You two will be together very soon"

I heard Clea gasping. "You hear that, Maggie! You and Roger are going to be together!"

"Okay, but maybe not" I said.

"You love your husband, but does he really love you? He will betray you. Three times" Penelope continued. I should stop her but yet I had hear what she was going to say. "The first time, will be with the unhappy woman. The second time, will be the one you trust with your child, and the third time, he will be reunited a someone from his past"

I quickly let go of Penelope's hands. "Okay, I think I've heard enough" I got up from the table. "Let's go Clea" I didn't even give her the chance to respond before I stormed out of the house. I waited several minutes outside for Clea. She finally came outside.

"I know what you're going to say" Clea started to speak. "And it's up to you whether or not you want to believe her. No, I haven't told her a thing about you"

I scoffed. "I'm not gonna let some alleged psychic tell me how my marriage is gonna be. Billy is not going to do that to me"

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this" Clea apologized.

"It's okay. You were just trying to do a nice thing for me"

Clea smiled at me. "Though, if I were you, I would keep a close eye on that nanny of yours, and Judy whenever she and Billy are in the same room, just to be safe"

I know Clea believed heavily in this stuff but I didn't. There's no possible way a stranger could know that my husband may possibly cheat on me, not once, not twice, but three times in the future? That seems a little far fetched. And how could Penelope possibly know that Roger and Judy are already unhappy with their marriage? She's never met them before. I stand by what I said about psychics. All of them are bullshit that you pay for them to tell you exactly what you want to hear. For all I know, Clea could've told her to say all that stuff. No matter, I wasn't going to let it bother me.

[geeoharee]

Theatre again tonight! Nearly thwarted by the 41 bus, should have known better, that is a terrible route.

Saw a version of Valley Of Fear in a tiny tiny theatre in my old home town. The room's more like a school hall than anything and I went through my usual half-an-act of not being able to look directly at the actors' faces because I was sat too close. But that has nothing to do with whether it was good or not.

It was, I think! At first I thought Watson was being mis-used - he had the most painful-looking limp I've ever seen on a Watson and was doing mainly comic relief stuff, so I was worried they weren't going to fully use him. But then they got into the case (executed by interleaving scenes of the American flashback with scenes of the investigation at Birlstone Manor - everyone playing several characters and moving around the chairs and suitcases that they had for props) and yeah that was just my usual 'Oh No Is Watson Being Wrong Done By' nerves, he was fine.

-- Oh, I just remembered the thing they got horribly wrong here! I don't want it to sound like I was just being horrible about his leg. Yeah, it's the scene where Holmes and Watson and the cop are all in a carriage going to the Manor and Watson has got a bag of sweets from somewhere and is eating them, then Holmes starts maliciously describing the effects of blowing someone's head off with a shotgun and Watson puts his sweet back in the bag. Watson was a med student and then he was a soldier. I would be amazed if it's possible to gross him out at ALL, and a bit of blood and brains certainly isn't going to do it. Anyway, back to the review --

Actually they made some really interesting points about VALL being 'the other Moriarty case'. They stated it was 1895 but also it was 'three years since Watson got married' (What are dates! We just don't know) which allowed for some sneaky "Several times in the last three years, I thought about telling you..." that Moriarty existed. Watson is somewhat put out that Holmes has been fighting a criminal mastermind who explicitly threatened John and Mary and has not, like, mentioned it. Watson threatens to quit, actually. Which means Holmes says '...well if it's our final adventure', with stifled laughter from some quadrants of the audience. And then you get a wonderfully tense 'you can get the train back to London if you want' moment except he even says 'back to Mary'. I like this writer, I really do.

Oh yeah the threat. This was a new bit (Moriarty doesn't have lines in VALL. Okay, he has one.) which I felt was SUPER effective. Holmes says, actually, I did meet this mysterious reclusive murderer once.

Watson: Where was I?! Holmes: [pointed] On your honeymoon.

And then we get the flashback, which is Holmes at an art exhibition (Watson scoffs at this! someone did their reading!), when he's joined in front of a painting (both of them staring out into the audience - Holmes does a lot of that when he's thinking, too, which I really liked) by a softly spoken gentleman with an Irish accent. They make idle conversation for a bit about the painter, who was unhappy. Drank too much. Lived on a clifftop and liked to paint the sea. Like this painting of the sea, which is beautiful, isn't it? The critics thought it was a mistake. The light's coming from two angles. The sun's over there. But he only painted what he saw, the bright stars in the sea, the reflected sparkles of the other light.

"It was his house burning down. And his best friend was killed, and his best friend's wife, too. If only he had looked the other way."

I would NEVER encourage people to give Moriarty more lines, god knows he takes up enough space in the public image of Sherlock Holmes, he turns up in stories he isn't bloody in, but I thought that was marvellous given that it's not really clear why he's in VALL in the first place and if he HAS to be, he might as well be goddamn scary.

Anyway, everyone knows the rest. "I am Birdy Edwards!" was done very well, I thought. The actor who plays Holmes had to be Baldwin because if you make him Edwards it poses logistical problems. And it really got me thinking, I almost want to re-read VALL and see if the parallels they drew are actually there, because Douglas's "death" - Holmes taking one look at his wife and realising she isn't grieving - I mean, that's suggestive. That might give a certain kind of mind an idea about the pre-requisites for successfully faking one's death.

(For god's sake, they have Holmes complaining that Watson snores, and set up a thing about him dozing off on stake-outs to get away with it. I really, really like this writer. And the actor playing Holmes flitted and spun and flung himself on the floor with the best of them. I really want that frock-coat he had on.)

[anis-book-club]

the screaming staircase: chapter 2

honestly i think i'm hilarious really love sharing my annotations, so here's what i marked in chapter 2 of the screaming staircase by jonathan stroud.

annotations (usually snarky comments)

"but they do provide something just as vital. they help to keep you sane." (page 15)

obsessed with their relationship to tea, truly.

"but all of us like our tea and biscuits, and that night in the hopes' house was no exception." (page 16)

as you should.

"before that they were down in kent somewhere; she gives a lot of irrelevant detail about how happy they were." (page 18)

lol i love you lockwood

"then he fell downstairs and died." (page 18)

you know, all of a sudden.

"i grunted noncommittally. 'ri-i-ight.'/lockwood flashed me a glance. 'you think she pushed him?'" (page 18)

i think lucy would be into true crime (or maybe i'm just projecting)

"'did i ever tell you about the time i met the notorious harry crisp? sweet-faced man, he was, soft-voiced and twinkly-eyed. good company and very plausible; he actually got me to lend him a tenner. yet it turned out in the end that he was the most appalling murderer who liked nothing better than to—'" (page 19)

wait, i wanna know!!!

"'yeah, maybe. so the disturbances began soon after his death?'" (page 19)

i can only ever hear ruby stokes saying this in like, episode 7 when her accent comes out really strong.

"'lucy, look!' lockwood's voice hissed. 'there's mr hope!'/my heart jolted. i spun around, rapier half drawn...only to find lockwood stooped and casual, peering at a photo on a side-table." (page 22)

he does have a flair for the dramatic, doesn't he? god forbid he clarify that it's a photo.

"it opened into a large back bedroom, which had been converted into possibly the messiest study in london." (page 25)

vibes me in 10 years

"the desk was almost invisible under stacks of papers, and further teetering piles were placed, higgledy-piggledy, all across the room." (page 26)

i'm sorry, w h a t

"a row of dark bookshelves, chaotically filled, ran down three quarters of the far side-wall." (page 26)

mmm perfect

"i tasted aftershave, whiskey, even tobacco." (page 26)

where's that tumblr post about if taste was a talent?

"george took them out to oil them and i didn't check he'd put them back. so it's george's fault, really." (page 27)

clearly /s

"we don't need [the chains] for a job like this, do we?" (page 27)

y e s, you definitely do.

tabs

lucy

"i do a bit of drawing..." (page 16) additional annotation: i love that for us

lockwood

"...lockwood himself reads the gossip magazines." (page 16) additional annotation: he w o u l d

george

"...george has his comics..." (page 16) additional annotation: explains wardrobe choices

funny

"lockwood tossed the folder aside. 'well, that was useful.'/'really?'/'no. i'm being ironic. or is it sarcastic? i can never remember.'/'irony's cleverer, so you're probably being sarcastic.'" (page 17)

"'well, i've got [george's] notes with me, if you want to hear them.'/'go on, then.' lockwood sat back expectantly. 'what's she been seeing?'/...i scanned [the notes] briefly, cleared my throat. 'are you ready?'/'yes.'/'"a moving shape".' with great ceremony, i refolded the papers and put them away." (page 19–20) additional annotation: incredible. peak comedy. honestly that's so funny. very descriptive and in-depth of her /s

"'i forgot to bring the chains. don't stare at me like that. you do weird things with your eyes.'" (page 27) additional annotation: that's sure to win her over, lockwood

"'well, don't get into trouble,' i said. 'last time you went wandering off during a case, you got yourself locked in the toilet.'/'a ghost shut me in, i keep telling you.'/'so you claim, but there was not a shred of evidence that—'" (page 27)

worldbuilding

"but tea bags, brown and fresh and plenty of them, and made (for preference) by pitkin brothers of bond street, are perhaps the simplest and best of all." (page 15) additional annotation: is this a real brand? update: no :(

"by its light we took off our rapiers and work-belts and laid them out before us. our belts have seven separate clips and pouches, and we went through these in silence, systematically checking the contents while the kettle wheezed and huffed away." (page 16)

"'kent's had one of the biggest outbreaks of anywhere outside london according to george.'/i sipped my tea. 'it's where the problem began, i thought.'/'so they say.'" (page 18)

"'husbands don't normally haunt wives, except when there's reasons.'" (page 18–19)

"'oh. well, the point is, mr hope could be coming back for a host of other reasons that aren't to do with vengeance. something left undone, for instance: a will he hasn't told his wife about, or some stash of money, hidden under the bed...'" (page 19) additional annotation: so there are lots of reasons why spirits may come back as manifestations hmmmmm

"its a good rule to keep a well-lit place to retreat to if the need arises, and having different forms of light is always advisable, in case the visitor has the ability to disrupt them." (page 21)

"i nodded dubiously. 'got to be a reason for at type two, though. george says type two always means someone's done something to somebody.'" (page 23)

"a piece of embroidery in a heavy frame: faded colours, childish letters, home sweet home. done years ago, when homes were sweet and safe, and no one hung iron charms above their children's beds." (page 24)

"'are you sure? it's not even nine o'clock, and its power's already strong.'" (page 27)

highlights (usually words, phrases, and lines that i found really beautiful for some reason or another)

"glimmered darkly" (page 17)

[deardiary17]

This isnt a request or anything, just imagine an AU where Bad Wolf Bay is where Rose and the Doctor first meet instead of where they say goodbye. 🤔

Hello, friend! I saw this message when I woke up but I made myself work before answering it extensively in a form of a ficlet (I woke up inspired). Hope you'll like it! AO3 or below the cut.

It's a windy day and Rose closes the lapels of her jacket tighter around her neck, regretting not taking a scarf before going on an impromptu walk. Mum and dad are still sleeping, enjoying the short vacation her dad was granted. Rose tip-toed to the exit of the small cottage her family rented for reasonable money.

Norway. Why in the world did dad decide to take them there? It's bloody cold and there are barely any tourist destinations where the family is staying, and it's been three days since they came here, and Rose is half-crazy from boredom already.

On the other hand, she realises that her parents need some peace and quiet after all that happened to them in the last year. Rose dropped out of school, ran away with a slimy excuse of a boy and landed in a puddle of 800 pound debt. She's just left her work at the fancy shop, actually, having paid the debt to the bank. Her parents are still watching her like hawks, half expecting Rose to abandon her studying classes for A-levels in hopes of entering college but she is determined to make a future for herself no matter how long it takes. It's just...

Boring.

Life for Rose, as it is, is uneventful. Mind-numbing. She can't help it and she believes that her mother knows that something's up with Rose but Jackie is yet to say something. Rose studies all days (she's got half a year before taking her exams), she sometimes goes out with Shareen and Mickey (the two of them are dating, Rose can't quite believe that, honestly, for Mickey is hardly Shareen's type), she does chores and creeps out at night to the roof and watches the stars, wishing for a miracle to happen.

The last time she watched the night London sky, a blue star has fallen somewhere behind the horizon. Rose squeezed her eyes and prayed that the life as she knows it would change, would transform into something exciting, adventurous, thrilling.

Rose has been walking for about fifteen minutes when she notices that she's on a beach now. It's hardly the tropical vacation but Rose is grateful for the crisp wind and the empowering smell of salt in the atmosphere. She stands there, eyes closed, inhaling and exhaling in patterns like they suggest on the telly, hands hidden in the pockets of her jacket.

She doesn't hear the screeching, moaning sound behind the roaring of the waves. Rose jumps a foot into the air when a heavy hand lands on her shoulder and screams loudly. The man in a leather jacket stands beside her, eyes wide at her reaction. Rose glances behind him and sees a blue box, a 1950s police box of all things, and she can swear on a Bible that there was no box there when she stepped onto the rocky beach.

"What? How?" she stutters, gaping at the strange man.

"Wouldn't let me land anywhere else, the blasted ship," the man answers irritably. "Bloody females and their quirks!" suddenly, something on his wrist (must be a watch, Rose's mind supplies in a daze) pings shrilly and the man's eyebrows skyrocket to his hair.

"Don't suppose you want to be swept away by an icy tide?" the blue-eyed bloke asks nonchalantly.

Rose blinks stupidly.

The man rolls his eyes and extends his palm for a handshake.

"I'm the Doctor, and you are?"

"Rose," she answers, mesmerised, hand slack in his hold.

"Well then, Rose," he enunciates her name and it sounds pleasant with the weight of his accent, "time we run away before the beach is attacked by the giant pearlescent crabs from the planet Slodenia."

Rose shakes her head, she wants to protest, she wants to stop and comprehend the world she has found herself in, the world of tides and crabs, blue boxes and police phones, frosty-eyed men and buzzing pens with glowing tips.

The Doctor tsks, understanding that the culture shock phase is only just beginning, and tugs Rose Tyler into the bigger-on-the-inside Tardis.

He has found the human the Tardis was so adamant "adopting" about, he has taken said human aboard the Tardis and he only hopes he can thwart the crab alien takeover without any casualties.

"Are you...alien?" the Rose girl queries, eyes gleaming feverishly in the dim lights of the console room.

"Yes," he states simply. "That okay?"

Rose answers a shaky "yes" and the Doctor cherishes the hope of finding a new friend when she says no more while obeying his instructions in saving the world.

It's a hope that grows into a warm feeling of belonging when Rose Tyler agrees to travel with him from there on.

The end.

[eunoiaflow3r]

when worlds collide - h.p. x gn!avenger!reader

a/n: bahahahahaha no one reads harry x reader lmaoo you don’t have to tell me - i know. but still, i thought this was a cute idea and i went with it. hope you enjoy :)

not edited.

also: timelines don’t match up bc i don’t want to do the math so harry is like 20 - 21 and your like 19 - 20 in 2020. Civil War and everything on didn’t happen. Fred didn’t die.

gn = gender neutral

warning(s): “language!” - captain america.

word count: 3.1k

request(ed): no.

summary: stephen sends y/n to a strange new place with...wizards?

————————————-&—————————————

Never doubt Stephen Strange. That's something that pretty much everyone has accepted. Never second guess the wizard man. Usually you'd agree. Usually you'd just let the man babble about whatever he needed to and then go about your day.

Not now.

The fuckery.

Now you were here (wherever here was) after some flashes of orange and a "be careful." Did he even do the spell right? Is this really where you were supposed to be?

It was dark, and dirty and you just wanted to go home and not talk to anyone so you turned yourself invisible.

You were born with your powers - you think. You were adopted so you wouldn't know where your powers came from. All you know is that one day your parents couldn't find you, even though you were right there. Instead of thinking you were some kind of alien and throwing you out to labs, they helped you control it the best you could.

It was difficult at first, all things considered, but you got through. You discovered you had another power as well. Force fields. Those came in handy during the battles. (You helped where you could), and Tony Stark took you in afterwards as his own. He helped you create your suit, and your name, and discover more about your powers, he was basically a dad to you.

Your parents were a little hesitant letting you join the Avengers, but once they realized this is what you were meant to do, and you had people just like you protecting you, they couldn't keep you from that. They just couldn't.

So here you were, invisible, in some dark and creepy alley. There were doors either side of you, so you got out of the way considering they could open and smack you in the face at any given moment. You heard loud voices and laughing and cheering from both ends of the alley so you walked towards the one in front of you.

The voices were so loud and echoey that you really couldn't focus on anything else. Maybe that's why you didn't hear a boy behind you trip and fall into you from behind.

"I'm so sorry." he said helping you up.

You turned around to help him, he got awfully dirty, and searched for his glasses that fell off his face.

Once standing, he took out a stick, waved it over him, and all of a sudden the dirt and gravel was gone.

"How did you do that?" You were no stranger to magic, but this was something you've never seen before. And why would he do it in front of you? For all he knew, you were an unknowing human.

"What?" He asked eyebrows furrowed together, accent strong.

"With the stick."

He chuckled shoving the stick back in his cloak.

"The stick." He smiled and looked you up and down. "It's a wand. You must not be from around here."

"Yeah, what tipped you off?" You noticed the lightning bolt scar on his head. You wondered how he got it.

"The accent, the clothes, the inability to recognize a simple wand, the ability to be here, not recognizing me, and wait - where is your cloak?"

"Cloak?"

"You were just invisible a moment earlier but I don't see your cloak anywhere."

"I don't have one. I can make myself invisible without a piece of fabric or your fancy stick." You say sarcastically. Were you flirting?

"Handy." He grins. "The name's Harry Potter."

He holds his hand out for you to shake. "Y/N L/N."

He asks you if you want to talk somewhere besides a dark dirty alley. You agreed. It took some convincing though to let him use his stick to clean the clothes you had on, but to change your outfit to something less, standout-ish.

When you felt the witch hat on your head you immediately snatched it off your head and glared at him.

He just laughed.

Once out of the alley, you breathed in the now clean air, and was mesmerized. People were bustling in and out of small shops, animals were flying and chirping around their owners, children were running around with their friends and siblings, and people were waving sticks, or wands, just like Harry used.

"C'mon, this way." He smiled at your awestruck face. It reminded him of when he first arrived with Hagrid all those years ago.

He brought you inside a coffee shop, and sat you at a booth near the window knowing you'd probably want to still look outside at the new scenes.

After ordering, and a few moments of silence as you looked around, you decided to ask some questions.

"Where am I?"

"We're in Diagon Alley. It's like an outside mall."

"I mean like, planet? I guess?"

"Earth."

"Earth?"

"Well, more specifically London. Diagon Alley."

"London?! I'm in London?!"

"You've never been? To Earth? Or London?"

You rolled your eyes silently cursing Strange. "I'm from Earth. The United States, actually. I just wish he'd put me on a fucking plane or something instead of making it seem like I was going to Mars."

"He?" Harry was very curious.

You looked into his green eyes, your mind wandering. The guy in front of you was very attractive. His dark hair complimented his eyes, and his glasses made him even more attractive.

"You guys are wizards right?"

"Really? What gave you that impression?" He asks sarcastically. "The sticks, the pointy hats, or the big bowl with green liquid sitting outside?”

You rolled your eyes. "Very funny. It's not my fault you live into the stereotype of brewing potions in your cauldrons -"

"Oh well I can only assume you're one of those Avengers from the States, yeah?" He grins. "You guys are all over the news."

"Yes, sure -"

"And don't one of you wear capes and another shoot lasers or lightning or whatnot? Sounds very stereotypical to me."

You laugh as the waitress brings over your drinks and muffins. You thank her. "No, well yes, that's Strange and Thor, but that's besides the point -"

"Well of course it's strange." He grins and winks and you over his mug. He was purposely annoying you and found great joy in it.

"Anyway," you sigh getting back to the point. "Do you guys have a Wizard here, like a powerful, trusting, all-knowing kind of guy?"

His eyes dropped slowly and his smile dimmed for a moment before slowly widening once again.

"Had. His name was Dumbledore."

"Our guy is Stephen Strange. Or Dr. Strange. He sent me here, and I'm not sure why."

"Hmmm." He hums setting down his mug. "Are the states in danger? Were you sent here on a secret quest that would put you through tough trials that would risk your life but would ultimately save everyone you've ever loved so you just have to do it?"

You were in a silent shock. "Uhm. No, not that I'm aware of, no."

"Well then perhaps your Wizard Strange is playing matchmaker."

"Matchmaker?"

"Well you were sent here weren't you?" You nod. "Arrived outside the exact place where I was and I just happened to bump into you? Sounds like a set-up to me."

"Or a coincidence."

"I'd like to think it was fate that I bump into the most attractive person I've ever seen and they don't know who I am and won't judge me 'cause of my past." He took a bite of his muffin.

"Should I be worried?"

"I guess you'll have to figure that out yourself." He winks.

You decide to eat your muffin as well. It was a comfortable silence until you looked out of the window and noticed a guy crouching down behind a cauldron...with a camera.

"Harry?"

"Hm?"

"Why is there a man outside taking pictures of you?"

His eyes widened. "Oh shit." He whispered. "Here." He took out a baseball cap and put it over your head, hiding your face from the camera.

He gets out of his seat quickly pulling you along with him to the back of the shop but before you could say anything he had his wand pulled out.

Next thing you saw was a couch and living room.

"Wow." You panted. "What a way to bring a girl home."

"I apologise Y/N, I block them out so much I forget they're even there and now they've seen you, and have a story and -"

"Wait, wait, wait, are you wanted for murder or something?"

Harry walks over to his bookshelf and pulls out a rather large book. After opening up on the table, he waved his wand over it and beckons you over to read it.

'Boy who lived.'

'Golden boy defeats Voldemort'

'winner of Triwizard tournament'

And there was so much more… 'Harry Potter' in bold just strewn across the pages. His whole life story.

Your eyes widen at everything. "So both and neither. War hero. How come I've never heard of you? Or any of this?"

He smiles at the pages fondly, running his fingers across the letters and reminiscing on his times at Hogwarts.

"Unlike you Avengers, we like to keep our business private and quiet. We don't like prying eyes."

You scoff. "Not our fault we have alien invasions every year."

Harry agreed and for the rest of the night you sat on his couch talking and sometimes arguing, over every little thing. It felt like you two had known each other forever.

You're not sure when, but you fell asleep there and woke with your head on his chest and his arm wrapped around your waist. You're not sure how the two of you ended up this way, and you realized you were practically strangers, but you didn't want to move. You just wanted to tangle your fingers through his dark hair.

But you didn't. Instead you stared at his closed eyes, and focused on his long, dark, eyelashes that fluttered a little from time to time. You thought about how you could get used to this. Waking up with his arm wrapped around you.

You told him last night that if he was actually a serial killer, and wanted to kill you that you had a whole team of people who would rip him limb from limb. He had no doubts and looked actually scared of your threat.

You thought about what it'd be like to live here among people like you.

Stomach grumbling, you decided to get up and see if he had anything you could make for him. It's the least you could do. His face turned when you left his arms, but you quickly pulled the blanket over him so he would be able to sleep a little longer.

You found his bathroom, and washed your face. In your backpack was a toothbrush and some toothpaste so you brushed your teeth, fixed your hair, and got dressed.

By the time you got out of the bathroom, you noticed Harry was still sleeping so you went into the kitchen and tried to find anything remotely close to breakfast foods. By the look of his inventory, you could tell he was very good at cooking but hadn’t been to the store in a while. He did have some eggs and toast though so you decided to make that.

In the middle of it, you got a phone call from Strange.

“Strange?”

“Harry Potter.” he says.

“What?” you were so confused as to how Stephen knew ANYTHING.

“You’re in his place, we've been tracking you.”

“So I guess we should probably have a talk about privacy? I don’t know, it just seems like something we should discuss you know? Cause usually people can respect that - especially people who just DUMP you here in the first place -“

“Calm down that’s what the mission was. While you were sleeping, we searched the place with a camera we put on you and he’s not who we thought he was. You completed the mission L/N. Great job.”

“Is he a danger?”

“Not necessarily. Just making sure your fine is all.”

“What -?”

He hung up.

Why wouldn’t Strange tell you his intentions? Why would he let you stay here if he thought Harry might have been a bad guy? Why would he risk that?

Right as you hung up Harry Potter walked into the kitchen with his lenses in between his shirt - he was cleaning his glasses.

His dark hair hung over his eyes but his eyebrows were raised.

“You made breakfast?”

“It was the least I could do. I didn’t mean to fall asleep but thank you for letting me stay.”

He smiled and put his glasses back on. In doing so his gray shirt lifted and you could see his abs. You turned away a blushed.

“It was no big deal. Thank you for making breakfast, love. You didn’t have to.”

You didn’t say anything and instead placed both of your finished plates on the dining room table. He followed you and sat down immediately digging in.

“These are the best eggs i’ve ever eaten Y/N thank you.”

You smiled in response but then frowned remembering your conversation with Strange. You should probably tell Harry.

“So,” you cleared your throat. “You were wrong.”

He gave you a look that meant “about?”

“Dr. Strange - the wizard I work with - he likes to check out potential threats and make sure that ya’know - the earth stays safe and everything. Je can kind of see the future and its propabilities. He did the same thing with Thor and his brother Loki.”

“Okay, go on.”

You cringed. “And so he called me and told me that he sent me here so he could see you? I don’t know I guess he saw you as a threat and wanted to make sure you weren’t.”

You looked at Harry but his face was clear of any and every emotion. He just continued to eat his eggs. It was silent.

You ate a bit at your eggs too until he spoke up which made you look up.

“I can’t say I’m very surprised honestly. With everything you guys manage to fuck up there I’d wanna know if someone else was about to create shit problems too.”

You sighed with relief. He wasn’t mad.

“I’m sorry really Harry, I didn’t even know.”

“No yeah it’s fine. I get it. I still think he sent you specifically for a reason though. There’s just no way we aren’t soul mates or something.”

“Oh shut up Potter.”

He smiled. “I’ve been thinking.”

“Gee your head must hurt.”

He squints at you jokingly. “You should let me take you out. I can show you around today. Y’know, so you can see what wizards are like.”

“Is this a date?”

His face flushes red and he looks down at his plate. “Yeah, yeah it’s a date.”

And a date it was.

“What the fuck is wrong with you Harry! Again?!” You practically screamed. Harry called it aparation but you call it hell. You let it go the first time but damn. He barely even warned you, just took your hand, held it tight, pulled you close, and waved his wand.

It was teleportation. Something you’ve never ever done before.

“Fucking hell Potter I’m going to murder you.”

“And Strange was worried about your safety? This is like your 4th time threatening to end my life and besides, it wasn’t even that bad.”

You rolled your eyes.

Throughout the day Harry showed you all sorts of things you’d never ever seen before. This consisted of every flavor jelly beans (and by every flavor they really meant every flavor), a chocolate frog, and never ending bubble gum. And that was just on the candy side.

He took you inside this joke shop ran by two of his friends from his old school he called hogwarts. They were twins that went by the names of Fred and George. The only twins you had ever met was Wanda and Pietro but telling the story of Pietro’s death seemed to sour Harry’s mood but excite the twins. The fact that he sacrificed himself for a little boy made him a hero in their eyes. They begged you to tell them more stories.

By the end of the day you went back to Harry’s place and you were exhausted. You can’t believe all that you’ve seen and eaten. How was this stuff even possible? How was it all hidden? You were amazed.

Harry was glad to see you had a good day and glad that he had met you. When you got back, he told you that you could stay another night...and perhaps in the bed instead of the couch. He hadn’t meant it in a dirty way but that didn’t stop you from laughing until tears came out of your eyes. He was so awkward at times. Once he had to ask if it was okay to take your hand while you were in the street and it was so cute how he couldn’t really find the words even for something as simple as hand holding.

“Harry?”

“Hm?”

You both were laying in his bed facing the other.

“I had a lot of fun today. I feel like i’ve known you forever.”

He grinned from ear to ear and was glad that you couldn’t see him. He would have been beyond embarrassed if you’d seen how unmistakably happy that made him.

“I had fun with you Y/N. You’re great company.”

You were silent for a moment.

And another.

“Harry?”

“Yes?”

“Can I kiss you?”

You were scared of his response and your heart was practically beating out of your chest. What if he was just being friendly? What if he just wanted to be friends? You would have made a huge fool of yourself. You were going to turn away embarrassed until his hand came up to your face and slipped onto your cheek. He was so warm. His lips pressed against yours for a moment and then he pulled away.

After a moment he reconnected and moved his lips against yours slowly. Your hand went to the back of his neck and toyed with his hair. He groaned into your mouth. You smiled and scooted even closer to him. All you could hear was the sound of your breathing and kissing. You didn’t want to pull away but you had to.

“Harry.” you said practically breathless.

“Yeah.” he was breathless too.

“I want to show you my world. You should come see New York.”

“Yeah? You wanna show me those alien invasions and robot attacks?”

You laughed and snuggled into Harry. He wrapped his arm around you and kissed your neck.

“Mhmm.”

“I’d love to see it.”

Tags:

@romance-geek @gooseyhouse

[lotsoffandomstoimagine]

Wait actually I have many thoughts on Sebastian Moran and nothing is stopping me from dumping them here!!! Wow!! I'm gonna. Do that.

Fair warning this is gonna be a mess and I don't expect this to blow up sjdjrkdkf it's mostly just me projecting, also it’s not going to be entirely historically accurate </3 sorry history nerds

Anyway here’s why Sebastian Moran is Spanish, actually

Warnings: Mentions of death (Not major), Mentions of an affair, Mentions of pregnancy, Like one or 2 curse words

Sebastian,,,, my beloved.... where do I start

I totally haven’t made up a family tree for him,,, totally haven’t ahhah

Okay I wholeheartedly believe that Sebastian’s last name was changed from Morán (a Spanish surname) to Moran (a modern Irish surname) because of 1800s reasons (*cough* racism *cough*)

So anyway *pulls out a map of Spain* I’m gonna start with his maternal grandfather and go down from there

Grandpa was a merchant/pirate from [nowadays] Santander, he was born to a middle-class family so he ended up working at Port San Sebastian, which is where he learned to sail and haggle

Grandma was born in the Caribbean and moved to South America when she was a young girl

Grandpa and Grandma Morán met while he was selling something and he took one look at her and went “I’m gonna wife her.” and he did!

I say Grandpa Morán was a pirate because when Ms Morán (Sebastian’s mom) was a teenager, he started pirating other merchant ships... which ended up with him dying in his 30s, but he left a will for his family, which sent his daughter to a school in North America

Grandma Morán was a feisty little lady who taught her daughter to do no harm and take no shit, since they travelled a lot, this was definitely a skill she’d need

Ms Morán eventually grew up to be a teacher, spending most of her time going between Europe and South America

She was on a trip to London, where she met Sebastian’s father, a married nobleman, and they were both very attracted to each other, so he had an affair with Ms Morán (she didn’t know he was married 😔)

Oh no! She’s porgentano (pregnant)! But she’s already left London :/

So she has Sebastian and names him after San Sebastian, the place her father used to work

She raises Sebastian for about two and a half years, eventually returning to London and finding his father, who was very surprised to see the woman he had an affair with show up at his door with a child that looks suspiciously like him

She proceeds to ask him to take in Sebastian, to give him a better life, which he begrudgingly obeys under the guise of adopting an orphan for charity (like how the Moriartys adopted ‘Liam and Louis)

Sebastian is white passing even though he’s slightly tanner than the rest of the main cast, for example, so his father simply changes Seb’s last name to Moran so he doesn’t get hate crimed <3

Sebastian ends up living his life relatively well, he’s treated like he was born into the family, he doesn’t get along too well with his father because he has this feeling that he’s hiding something... but he can’t quite place a finger on it

He has vague memories of a woman from his very early years, but he doesn’t question it, he knows he was adopted but he was told he was rescued from two commoners who almost killed him, and was shut down every time he asked for more

His father was pretty aloof with him, which often led to arguments as Sebastian got older

During an argument, his father accidentally lets it slip that he knew Sebastian’s birth mother... intimately... which leads Sebastian to connect the dots... 

Sebastian: “😀 huh 😀”

His father then explains that he made “poor choices” when he was younger and Sebastian’s like “what do you mean ‘poor choices’ bitch”

His dad lets him know the little he knew about his mother, how she had hair as dark as night, how she spoke with the most wonderful Spanish accent, how she was too smart for her own good, and whatever else he could remember about the short time they spent together

Obviously, Sebastian has a lot of thinking material after that, and he’s very curious about his mother and wants to learn more about her, but he doesn’t even know what flavor of Spanish she is 😔

He ends up joining the military for 3 reasons, 1) To get out of the house; 2) To get away from his father; 3) Hope that he gets assigned somewhere and miraculously finds his birth mother

Taglist: @lirinstaalem​

[misskittysmagicportal]

Tupelo Honey

Word Count: 1082

Film: Moonwalkers

Warnings: Swearing and minor drug use, sexual references

a/n: None of us know anything about the affable, simple-minded, downright hysterical stoner Leon from Moonwalkers. It's fun to have a tabula rasa with such a great character.

Chapter One: Kult of Dionysus

Leon wasn't always a junkie. Until he started orbiting inside Renatis’s gravitational pull, he was a rather promising young actor. There's always that centuries old cliche of doing what you can to get ahead. An upper to get you through. Downers to finally sleep after rehearsals and auditions and shifts at the day job. Sleep with someone’s wife, never the daughter. But a foreign film, even if it sounds a bit dubious, would definitely benefit someone trying to leap from the stage to the screen.

Honey wasn’t always called Honey, but she was destined to be a radical. She, her siblings and parents were smuggled out of Florence before Mussolini was taken out. Papa was on Gestapo radar for anti-fascist teachings. So owning an underground comedy club in Manhattan made sense. Lenny Bruce was Honey’s godfather, and she knew Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsburg before she knew Cinderella and Snow White. It was Uncle Lenny who told her she needed to be a bit more bitter and not so sweet. Honey caught the flies. That sweetness is how she ended up on the run. Now strapped for cash, Honey figured a bit part in some weird foreign film would get her to India.

The young man and woman stood only feet apart in the parlor of the most insane manor either of them had seen. Like someone ruined Marie Antoinette's summer home with a psychedelic woman begging you to crawl inside her vagina. Which they did to reach a fat, Dionysian Frenchman laid across a chaise lounge. Flanked by nude women and men and a cloud of sweet smelling opium.

“Oh look at what Hermes has for us children! Johnny you ginger haired messenger of the Gods, who have you brought me?!” He slid in and out of French as he labored to get up. Yet seemingly floated on air towards the trio.

Honey stood apart from two Englishmen. One flaming red hair and short, broad shouldered and decked out in a checkered green and yellow suit. A silver chain around his neck. Fidgeting, he swiped at his nose a few times while a cigarette burned low in a free hand. Johnny, Honey heard, was an entertainment manager from London.

The other was much taller than his companion. His body willowy under a large peasant shirt and bell bottom jeans. A mass of dark, messy curls framed his expressive bushy eyebrows. Meadow green eyes wide with shock as the director caressed his angular jaw affectionately. Honey couldn't quite place him, but somewhere in her brain it tried to reconcile that she knew him. He was, in her eyes, breathtakingly beautiful.

“Oh yes, my little pixie, you will do so well. Don't be afraid of Renatis! Come how old are you?”

“23?" he stuttered.

“You don't know?” Renatis walked around him slowly. From behind, his hands moved over shoulders and over the clavicle peeking out through the shirt. Then he slapped the actor roughly on the ass and attempted to reach around the front.

"RENATIS!” Johnny interjected. “How about we don't molest the fucking talent?!” He had the fat man by the thick of his wrist. “You told Derick attractive and eager to work. Leon here is all of those things.”

"Thank you, Johnny” his gratuity coming out similar to a whine.

His accent forced Honey to bite her knuckle to stifle a gigglewhich she choked on as a snort. No one had turned Eliza Doolittle into a lady yet with that voice. Leon turned his nervous gaze on her; she blushed immediately.

With a wave of his hand, Renatis swatted at Johnny as if he were a fly. Then, clapping his hands, a toppless woman wearing the bottom half of a lion costume appeared. A tray with several pipes and bottles in her hand.

“Tell me Leon, do you need to relax? How would you like to chase the dragon before we get down to business? Maybe the green fairy?” He shoved opium pipe in Leon's mouth and lit it. “Suck hard pixie.”

All Leon could do was comply with a large inhale. Johnny rubbed his palm furiously into his forehead before downing all of the shots of absinthe.

This time Honey laughed so loud it echoed off the walls. She had gone largely ignored once Renatis had discovered his handsome muse. Her black hair was braided in a nest on top of her head and woven with bits of lavender. Her tanned legs bare under a red plaid romper. And she quickly realized what kind of film they were going to make the moment the Frenchman started filling Leon with drugs.

“And what of this succubi, Johnny?” Now he turned his sights on the young woman. Tugging gently on her braid before attempting to cop a feel of her breast.

Honey’s turned to grab a wrist, but this time she twisted it slightly. “Don't fucking touch me. I'll get high but not on that shit.” She gestured at the opium pipe. “I'm not with them. I'm here for the cash. I don't do threesomes, anal or animals.”

Leon choked on the pipe, “ANAL?! Johnny you didn't say anything about sex.”

“What the fuck kind of movie did you think was being made here?”

“Derrick told me it was avante garde like that Jean Goddard guy”

“It's a porno, Leon” Honey informed. “I'm Honey Comb, and shockingly this is my first dirty film. Mostly I've had to do some.. favors and pictures.”

Leon turned to leave but Johnny caught his shoulders. That didn't seem to stop him as the opium took over and his body sort of walked in place. Totally unaware he was not actually moving as Johnny held him back.

“Leon! We are already fucking here. Now do heroin. Snort coke. Get high or trip balls. You’re gonna fuck that chick so my cousin knows I can do this job. You don't do this, I don't get paid. And you are stuck as a choirboy on the West End forever.”

“I'm not a slag, Johnny. I don't think I can make my willy work after smoking that dope.” That whining sound again.

“SWEET CHARITY!” Honey snapped her fingers. “I SAW YOU IN SWEET CHARITY! See, you know all about whoring yourself out.” She broke out in more laughter.

Johnny's eyes pleaded with Leon whose mouth hung open in confusion. Soon his body folded in defeat and he sighed. Then looking over at Honey he smiled and waved, “I guess so then. But I've gotta sleep this off first ok?”

[colour-outside-the-liness]

Hey, I'm doing good too. Just normal amounts of stressful stuff right now. Just moved to a country I've never been to before but can't complain, things are not as hard as the last time I did this so. Thanks for asking! Yeah, I saw you posting about some pretty scary health issues before, I'm glad you came out of that alive and hope you're healthier now!

The nerve some people have! Haha I know I would be pissed if people were questioning my intelligence like that especially after a couple of drinks in haha. Though I do like taunting people when I play group games, I'll be like "don't need to try that hard guys, you're gonna lose anyway" just to mess with them or just call people sore losers if they accuse me of cheating haha (they're probably right on the accusations tho). People get real mad sometimes it's kinda funny. 😂

Omg literally laughed out loud reading this! Hahaha, how did you manage to fall over a road sign then end up in a ditch? lol omg hope you didn't get hurt too bad 😂 I was trying to downplay my drunken escapades but since you shared yours I should tell you my worst one:

I was at this summer street party at night and got drunk on something made out of tropical herbs and cachaça (which is about 48% alcohol), drank 3 and a half bottles of that like it was apple juice, made friends with a bunch of strangers in a bathroom queue (who tried to talk to me weeks later but I had no idea who they were), had to be held by my best friend while I peed (mostly missing the toilet), fell in the middle of the street and scraped my knee, threatened this boy who was helping me walk and told him not to try anything funny or I would beat him up, then dragged my friends to the beach and left them shortly after to go make out with my ex, came back with lipstick all over my mouth and chin and when my friends asked what I was doing I said I was just talking to my ex and they were like NO YOU WERE NOT, hahaha then I kissed all my girl friends on a dare and we danced under the full moon, then I told my best friend I had to puke so she took me to the ocean but I changed my mind and happened to step on a dead turtle on the way back and started crying bc of it, but last month my best friend told me it was a rock I had stepped on (I believed it was a dead turtle for 7 years!). Had the worst hangover of my life the next day. ✌️✨

Ah I'm happy you liked it! I've never listened to Six musical before but it sounds fun! I can see why you like it haha made me want to dance around my apartment 💃. And hey if liking musicals is your thing then it's great, I'm sure Hozier will understand if he's not your top artist of the year. 😋 Here's my "damie" Pinterest board if you or anyone else wants to check it out, totally recommend making one if you're a visual person like me!

https://pin.it/UcHVlkq

Oh I could talk about Dani and Jamie forever I think. I love the beast in the jungle speech too and it's so painful to watch, VP delivered that beautifully, but I have to admit I'm always a crying mess from episode 1 when older Jamie starts reciting that song about being sad while waiting for her lover to return, this show is fucking cruel I hate it and love it at the same time hahaha. Omg your mom 😂 but I mean it's truly an honor to be compared to someone like Dani, no? She's really great even if she needs a little help haha (don't we all).

Aaah you're amazing! Thank you so much, I'll read this pirate AU soon!

I used to draw a lot, really loved doing it when I was a kid as I said before, and all throughout adulthood too but I haven't done that in almost a year now bc I've got a bit of a case of burnout I guess, it just takes a lot of effort to do it when it shouldn't be like that at all. I used to do fanart too, for other fandoms. Even made one for Dani x Jamie but ended up not liking how it turned out haha. I've got a lot of respect for writers and fanfic writers also! Yall can make words make sense in really interesting and beautiful ways, build worlds so enthralling I can see them vividly in my head. Writing is such an incredibly fascinating skill to have! And I guess the most important thing is that we enjoy doing these things right? Even if we think we're not particularly good at it.

Anyway, have a lovely weekend! 👋✨

Good I'm glad you're doing great but sorry you're dealing with stressful stuff!! Hope living in a new country goes well for you I'm so jealous that you've lived in different countries I'd love to live somewhere else even if just for s few years!! Awwh thank you so much I definitely came out of it alive and am feeling so much better now thank you I mean I do some pretty ditzy things so when people say it to me it's pretty deserved sometimes, I'm secretly smart and people just don't expect it so I never mind too much haha I might have to start saying the things that you do and just taunting them over it I mean, I usually do win even when they make me answer different questions so I will definitely have to start saying things like that to them Haha I love that you're just like "yeah they're probably right in their accusations" I agree seeing how mad some people get over games and stuff is funny (it's me I'm people I hate loosing games depending on what it is and I am very competitive) So it was very dark and all we had for light was my roommates flashlight on her phone but while we were walking home a friend of ours that lived else where kept texting her to make sure we were still safe (my phone as dead at this point) so while she was texting him her flashlight was facing down and someone had moved this road sign to the footpath and it was on that sits on the floor so while I couldn't see it I walked into it and fell over it but while I feel I grabbed hold of it and flipped with it and fell in a ditch with it on top of me... I was fine and was just laid laughing while my friend looked down at me and in the most northern accent ever just said "get up you dickhead." and helped me off of the floor and then asked if I was okay... and I was so it was all good!! Haha 😂 I love this drunken story that sounds like one hell of a night and is a roller coaster from start to finish!! I'm sorry you thought you had stood on a dead turtle for 7 years though, someone really should've told you that it was just a rock!! But that sounds like my kind of night!! I love nights like that... stories that will last a life time... the only down side is the hangover... luckily I have only ever had one hang over in my life and it wasn't the morning after the road sign fiasco... I felt surprisingly good the morning after that haha 😂 It's such a good musical it's about Henry VIII wives and I just love everything to do with his wives and that musical is so much fun and actually gives a little insight to the lives the six Tudor queens had away from Henry and with him because at school we're mainly just taught about him which sucks!! I loved the Hozier song and am definitely gonna have to listen to more of his stuff!! I love musicals so much I mainly listen to musical soundtracks at the minute- usually, Legally Blonde and Six on repeat haha 😂 Ooo thank you I will definitely check out this Pinterest board thanks for sending it to me!! I could talk about them forever too... since watching Bly Manor my niece has been asking me so many questions about it and I am more than happy to talk to her about it haha!! The beast in the jungle speech just breaks my heart every time I relate to it so much and VP just delivers it so beautifully!! Oh yeah now I know at the beginning that it's older Jamie I am just a wreck the whole show is just so beautiful and heart breaking at the same time I LOVE IT!! Even though it makes me sob- I keep putting myself through it!! I mean, yeah I was happy that she said it Dani is great but it was the way she said it... my mum can be something else sometimes... she said she thought Dani was like me the first time she does the accent when she says "I've fallen quite in love with London" because I just randomly do accents a lot too but it was the way she was like "She needs help... but I like her she reminds me of you" I was just like... "Should I go get help?" I still don't know the answer to my question about if I need help or not but I mean I probably do need it You're welcome I really hope you like it!! It's a

great fic I love it!! Yeah I get that if stuff starts taking too much effort and burns you out you're not gonna wanna keep doing it so it's understandable that you stopped!! I think fan art is great and I really would love to be able to do it myself but I just don't have the skill it takes!! Awwh it's a shame you didn't like the Dani x Jamie one you did I would've loved to have seen it!! Honestly there are so many talented writers out there and when I read their fics I am just in awe of the worlds they have built and the stories they have created we are so blessed in this fandom to have so many amazing writers and so many amazing fics out there Oh yeah definitely its important to enjoy what you do!! I know I love writing and love writing fics for Dani and Jamie so I think I'll be doing it for a while even if I'm not great at it haha Awwh thank you very much I hope you have a great weekend too!! ☺️

[arthemis-forge]

Chapter 3 Body and Soul (Crimson)

Warnings: None (future nsfw)

A/N: Hello guys! Sorry for the delay, what happens is that I was a little busy with some personal things but I'm back.

I will try to update twice a week and each time as we progress through the story, make the chapters longer. Another thing is I didn't notice that the previous chapter i published the draft instead of the final version. Which had many otorgraphic and writing errors. But it's already corrected. If you find something let me know so I can fix it. Also I am very happy for all the support, thank you for your lovely comments. Another thing, Do you want me to create a tag list?. Please tell me in the comments. That's all I wanted to say. Enjoy your reading! 🖤

Chapter 3(Crimson)

Lost in my thoughts, I walked towards the exit of the building while i was looking at the sky with some concern. It wouldn't be long before the sun rise.

And honestly, I was very scared. I did'nt know anyone in this city and didn't know what time it was in the area. My life was in danger and although I was sure that I still had time based on what the sky looked like.

I was still very worried about not knowing what time it was exactly. Looking at my watch was in vain. It was scheduled for London time not New York.

I was very nervous but I had to calm down. So i calculated that there were 2 hours left until the sun rise. And although it sounds like it's a lot of time, I don't know how much traffic there is in this city. And I needed to be in the nearest hotel as soon as posible.

Again I was so lost in my thoughts that I did not notice that a taxi parked in front of me, it was not until I heard the drivers voice that I noticed it.

—Good night miss, are you waiting for someone else? Or do you need me to take you somewhere? —

Hearing that question made me feel more relaxed again.

—Sure, I actually have nowhere to go. Could you recommend a hotel near here. One with good facilities. The price point doesn’t matter but I really need to get a good place to relax, preferably the closest hotel to the airport.—

I told him as I opened the door and carried my suitcase.

—Of course ma'am, in fact we are close to many good hotels. They are a few streets away. Would you like me to take you to see the exteriors and based on how they look you choose one?. I assure you that they are all very good, some more than others but none are bad. —

The man smiled while he waited for my answer.

I sighed feeling realised.

—Yes please, I would like it very much. —

The man laughed as he drived the car.

—You are not from here are you? I can tell by your accent. —

I nodded as i looked out the window. Analyzing the area I was in.

—That's right, I'm from London. I was transferred from my job. —

—That's so interesting. Sounds like fun to have a job where you travel a lot. —

—Well yeah you're not wrong. But I also needed to start a new life. —

I confessed while we entered to a large avenue with many buildings with hotels and apartments. Some were prettier than others.But nothing look bad about them.

—Is one of you liking? Or do you want me to go further so you can see more options?. —

The truth is that I could already choose one of the many hotels that were on the street. And I couldn't be so demanding, since i needed a safe place away from natural light as soon as possible. But a hunch told me to accept the man's proposal.

—Sure, I think we can see a few more options.—

No matter how much the car moved forward, nothing interested me. It wasn't until we reached the corner of the avenue that a large black building with Victorian architecture caught my attention. On the outside it had an ad with red calligraphy that said "Crimson".

—Stop here, I like this one. —

I pointed to the old building.

—I’m sorry to tell you this, but that hotel is very strict. They do not allow the entry to anyone who doesn't have a membership. It has already happened several times that I leave people here and they end up removing them from the place.—

—Don't worry I will try to enter. If i can´t then I’ll choose one of the hotels that are on this street. How much do I owe you? —

—If you insists, it’s $30 dollars.—

I nodded as I handed over his money.

—Thank you very much, also keep the change. —

I took my suitcase and closed the car's door as I approached the entrance of the building. However I was stopped at the door by a very tall man with brown hair and grey eyes.

— Good night, Miss. Could you give me your membership please. —

Embarrassed, I bit my lower lip and then proceeded to do something I didn't wanted.

—You're going to let me in no matter the rules of the place or what your bosses say. —

I smiled already knowing the results of my action. The man nodded and then open the door for me.

Once inside I noticed that a tall girl with black hair and violet eyes smiled at me as she applauded me.

—That was so wesome, Alice. Just as I expected, James didn't cause you any trouble. —

The girl approached very excited.

—Who are you and why do you know my name?—

I asked very confused and feeling insecure. Since she was aware of what I had just done and the worst thing was that she knew my name. This was getting very strange and I was not liking it.

—I am Grace Crimson. Owner of the hotel and great friend of your Boss Nat. —

—Do you know Nat? —

I said in a very incredulous voice.

—Of course Alice. But hey that is the least important thing right now, let me show you your room and I give you Nats phone number so you can call her.—

While I was trying to process the information, one of the attendants took my suitcase.

—Did Nat tell you in any way that I will come here? —

She just laughed at my question.

— I knew you'd say that. Don't be silly, honey. You are acting like a newborn vampire in the clan. Look dear, I'll explain. I can see the future. Today I had a vision of you in which I saw you giving orders to my guard right outside my hotel. It should be noted that I was concerned, because I didn't knew who you were, so I called all the offices until I found some information about you. To at least make sure that you weren't dangerous to us and to be able to take the necessary measures. By the way, I don't want you to feel bad about what I told you. But these are difficult times and we must take care of each other. —

Of course she was right, what a fool I was. I have been so involved in my personal feelings and problems that I overlook the fact that many in our community have that ability.

—Don't worry, it's okay Grace. I understand. I know how the security protocol works. And I also understand perfectly that you investigated me and that you needed to know who I was. —

I confessed.

—I already knew you were going to say that tho. Hey you are more friendly and understanding than I expected from someone who can control people's minds with their voice. No ofence but your kind is usually a very pretentious. —

I couldn't help laughing at that comment.

—I was like that many years ago, but someone changed me. I try not to abuse my powers too much, only when it’s necessary. —

I lowered my gaze to caress a silver ring with a red diamond that I had on my ring finger.

When she saw how my mood changed, she immediately hug me.

—Don't torment yourself over the past. —

She took me by the hand to walk me through those long corridors of the building. I must admit that I felt a little emotional. The place reminded me a lot of my grandmother's house.

—Here is your room, as you can see it is very spacious, it has a king size bed, living room, bathroom with a bathtub and a beautiful balcony. Also here is Nat's phone number. And don't forget to close all the curtains including the ones on the bed. —

She handed me the keys, a red card and a pos it with Nat’s new number.

—James leave the suitcase on her bed. —

The man obeyed her order and put the suitcase on my bed.

—Sure Grace. Thank you very much for all the hospitality. It has been a long time since I felt welcomed in a place. —

She smiled

—I know we are going to be very good friends. —

After that she closed the door behind me.

It's amazing how someone's life could change in an instant.

One day you are in London crying for your ex and the next day you are in New York and you're dreaming with a man who doesn’t even exist.

Thinking about that, I began to close all the curtains in the room and then i took the phone from the bureau next to the bed.

With some fear I called her, I knew that she would be very upset with me. But i had to do it.

—Hey nat it's me, Alice. —

—You are an idiot, I was so worried! Never do that to me ever again! I thought you wanted to kill yourself or something like that...

You sounded so sad. God you have take some therapy you can't continue living like this...—

I sigh very annoyed.

— Anyway, I already spoke with Bruce and he already gave you permission to work in New York. And before I forget to tell you this. Tomorrow you have a job to do. I need you in a bar, we think we found someone who can serve us for the clan. You will have to go to a concert near a local bar in the town. Grace will leave you the papers with the man's information.—

—Perfect. By the way, thank you very much for the favor. You don't know how grateful I am with you. Anyways, I will leave you, I am very tired and I would like to sleep as much as possible to be in the best possible conditions tomorrow—

—Of course dear. Have a good night. —

Grateful to Nat, I hung up the call and then closed my eyes. But not without first remembering Peter's beautiful green eyes.

[halfasleepoetry]

I'd LOVE to read more Archer x Rogerina!!❤ Don't have any specific requests so maybe just something from one of the prompts you have? And I agree, I don't care what Joe's in as long as I get to see more from him!!!

Omg thank you for asking for Archer x Rogerina because I do have something to share that I couldn’t quite fit into the ongoing narrative! So this is not based on a prompt, but since Trip The Light Fantastic is told in Ben’s POV, as I was working on Joe’s character, I wrote his version of that night. And here it is:

I catch you looking back at me, looking through a cloud of steam

Archer x Rogerina AU, Joe’s POV

Right before senior year began, Joe had just broken up with his then-girlfriend who was cheating on him with a mutual friend for almost as long as they were together. That was enough to put him off any kind of relationships for a while. Besides, he thought he’d give being completely and truly single, a try. He kind of miss the sex and occasional cuddling, not that he’s particularly the cuddling type, but it’s nice to have a warm someone in bed and not wake up cold and alone sometimes. But to compare that with the kind of serenity and peace he has now and the headaches he saved, he’d rather keep being single, thank you. He has more time than ever now to read and write and drive by himself, and he has even started dancing regularly again.

And then there’s the Halloween party at the Maleks’. It’s the kind of party that all seniors go to, many juniors get invited to, and selected few sophomores could get in by miracle, and freshman could only dream of going. Maybe next year, or the year after. The host of such a party is always that one kid in the senior year who is filthy rich and you’re lucky if he isn’t an asshole who also buys his way through college. Well Joe sure is lucky. That kid, or those kids, because there are two of them, are his childhood best friends, Rami and Sami, whose father is a rich Egyptian-American business tycoon who moved to New York and built himself a business empire working closely with the Arabs and their oil in the 80s. 

It was last year that Rami told him he has his eyes on a certain London girl who is majoring in arts together with Joe, who is in her sophomore year. Her name is Lucy. Of course Joe knows her. Joe knows everyone. It comes with being occasionally recognized as that kid from Jurassic Park, and every time one of his professors brought up the fact we have someone in the class who is here on the personal recommendation of Steven Spielberg, he would slowly slide down his seat a little, hoping the remark would remain just a remark, and it would be forgotten by the end of the class. Sometimes it works exactly like how he wants it to be, sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, it earns him a reputation that he plays down and many friends, no, a large group of people he socializes with regularly. So he is some kind of a popular kid too, although a somewhat reluctant one. 

The Maleks’ mansion is pretty much his second home, and he was in his element that night, having accepted Lucy’s dare to show up in a girl’s character costume, and she even volunteered to do his make up, on one condition; no glitter involved. She did manage to put on something metallic-hued on his eyelids though, because he looked in the mirror and his eyes sparkled subtly whenever he blinks. Lucy had shrugged it off and told him, it wouldn’t be too noticeable, the house would be dim and there would be light strobes instead of actual lighting.

Lucy smiled up at him as she gave his make up, her handiwork, its last touch. “My goodness, you’re beautiful,” she marvelled. “Don’t make me change my mind, Luce,” he warned her. “No, don’t!” Lucy protested hurriedly. “No, no, no. Now let’s go.” But not before she stopped one last time to take a selfie with Joe, no, the Archer.

His Archer costume was a hit, apparently. But he made it very clear that he’s there just to enjoy the company of himself. And dance like mad, which was great because he had gotten back at it and been practicing for a while now. And that’s when he saw Rogerina. One sulky Rogerina who was drinking beer alone and trying not to look like he’s staring when he pretty obviously was doing exactly that. Joe thought that they look kind of wildly different, him and Rogerina who has a more muscular build and moody-boyish look. He even stood with his legs apart, chugging his beer with one hand on his hip, not even trying to appear feminine. But even across the room, Joe could feel his eyes on him, and they’re crazy-intense. He didn’t even know how to describe it, but he had never been stared at like that since he was five and sitting in an audition for Stanley Kubrick. 

He thought about it, but Rogerina obviously isn’t one of the people he knows, because he knows everyone here. Almost. Let’s find out who you are, Rogerina, he thought as one of his favourite songs came on, and he danced to it with an added flair, his moves all smooth and pronounced. Rogerina kept staring even as he made his way to Rami and Lucy. Lucy asked him if he’s murdering people on the dancefloor, and he just laughed it off. He headed to the kitchen to retrieve some rum he knew is kept somewhere safe and away from casual partygoers, half-hoping Rogerina would follow him there. And he wasn’t disappointed. Well he had to talk with Chace first, and the first thing Chace said to him was, “Hey there gorgeous.” 

“Asshole.” He laughed him off, because he knew Chace well. He’s always trying to get into someone’s pants, gorgeous girls or boys alike. They’ve fooled around before, but decided it’s better to remain friends as they are now. They talked shop and laughed, but from the corner of his eyes he could see Rogerina approaching the kitchen. He had never wanted a friend to disappear so fast before. And he’s glad when Chace decided to go looking for pretty girls at the pool.

The masked hesitation he could sense in Rogerina’s voice as he said hi to him was cute, to say the least. When was the last time he had been chased after like this? He was so determined too. He told him he came looking for a light for his cigarette. Classic excuse. He has a deep voice, British accent, and a very boyish smile. Definitely not a senior, maybe not even from the same department. He’d have remembered someone like him. Joe found himself looking into green eyes as Rogerina stepped closer to him to light up his cigarette from the mini kitchen lighter he was holding. He smelled nice, with a faint hint of aftershave. He wondered if he’d taste like beer and cigarette and something entirely different or surprising.

Mint, Joe thought later as they began kissing and he’s savouring the blonde’s lips. The cigarette he lit up earlier must be his first, as the taste was very faint, and it soon disappeared. The bitterness of malt and mint on his tongue fits right in with the Coke and rum sweetness on his own. 

Rogerina kissed him like he meant it, like the persistence by which he went after him to the kitchen, which found him pressing the sides of his knees on Rogerina’s hips, and that’s when he found the lighter innocently tucked in the side pocket of his skirt. He wasn’t even surprised, but he was absolutely delighted at the thought of this green-eyed British boy going after him and cooking up a lie to flirt with him. Makes him want to give him exactly what he wanted, and set him on fire while doing so. So he kissed him deeper, tongue all the way in, a hand in hair and another on his back, gripping him through the white shirt. He pushed himself forward and closer, so Rogerina could touch more of his exposed thigh. There’s growing heat at the base of his guts, and he slid even closer to give friction to it, and that’s when he realized they’re both hard.

Holy shit, he thought, and almost immediately wanted, no, needed more of this delicious friction. They’re separated by layers of fabrics, but fuck if this doesn’t feel so good, kissing a boy indecently in an open space, pushing and rubbing against each other fully clothed while the sound of the party droned on in the near distance. There’s no way this would not look exactly like what it was, and the thought of anyone potentially walking in on them is an incredible turn-on.

But Joe did pull away from Rogerina, mainly because he did not actually want anyone to walk in on them, and he needed to at least get a name. “Ben,” he told him in between breaths, eyes still transfixed on his lips. He looked like he was dazed and drunk, or somewhere in between. They were kissing again in no time, and when Joe deliberately pushed himself against Ben as he slid down the kitchen counter, they both moaned loudly into the kiss, and he almost lost his mind a little. They’re fast becoming like magnets, one gravitating to the other as soon as they pull away. He wanted to get his hands everywhere on Ben, wanted to touch him, kiss him, make him moan his name. They were strangers barely ten minutes ago, it’s so fucking insane, but there’s nothing else he’d want more right now than this green-eyed Brit in Rogerina costume. But not just yet.

So he smiled sweetly to him when he asked him nicely if he’d want to get out of the party with him, and he thought there’s no way he’d say no to that. They were kissing slower now, heartbeat calmer, desire kept in check. He held his hand close, making sure he wouldn’t change his mind. Something’s telling him he needed to do this right. This isn’t just a party hook-up, a fooling around kind of fun.

That same something’s also telling him he’s hooked, and it felt headier and sweeter than anything he’d drank tonight.

So when they did get out of the party, not before he caught Rami for the barest seconds to say goodbye, surprisingly without Lucy by his side, he decided they’re not going immediately to his place. He still has Ben’s hand in his, and he’s looking at him and smiling with his lucid green eyes and Joe wondered if it felt a little bit more than just infatuation or hormones. He thought about how ridiculous it was to think of it as anything more than what it was, but it lingered on long after.

[punkscowardschampions]

Ava & Grace

Ava: Please tell me you're free this weekend and if not please tell me you can make yourself available Grace: I obvs can be, why though?? Ava: Because Buster and Rio have imposed themselves on me Ava: or been imposed by my mum, anyway Ava: I was planning a party and they'll be way more chill if you come 'cos it's evidently not a rager Ava: but then we can still have a party and I don't have to kms/them 🙄 Grace: excuse you I can hang! but duh I will come cos you so wanna see your 💍👰 man, I see you babes Ava: You know what I mean though Ava: there's an assumption if fam is invited there's not also dealers and roadmen on the guestlist Ava: My brother is in an annoying mood and I cannot with that Ava: He won't be there, obviously 💍👰 Grace: 🙄 yeah Grace: UM tbh when is Buster not Grace: but I'll do the babysitting so you don't have to 👌👌 get you time to be 😍💖😘 Ava: Obvs it'll be good to see you too Ava: even if it clearly seems that shameless Grace: idc I'm that shameless at the prospect of hot london boys sooo Ava: 😂 Ava: I'll make sure there's plenty Grace: I'm not sorry that the accent is like !!! Ava: 😏 It's a fine line Grace: I'm walking a fine line here babes Grace: we don't even need to get into it Grace: get me on a ✈ literally Ava: Fair enough Ava: We can get into it when we've got into enough bottles Ava: They're coming over Friday at some point, ask 'em for the deets Grace: mhmm can't 🤐😶 me after the 🍾🍾 pops Grace: ugh Grace: texting Ri rn though Ava: Your accent is pretty !!! too so it's chill Ava: 🙌🙏 You're a lifesaver Grace: oh honey, you know boys love to hook up with me cos of my mouth but it's also what sends them running like Ava: Good thing it's just a weekend Ava: no time for running Grace: it's my turn ⏲🏃 Ava: Just not too soon, eh Grace: I got you, girl 💜 Grace: but we literally do need to get into what's going on with you & 👰💍 Grace: I'm so not waiting for you to make a 🍾 toast about him before I get any goss! Ava: I'm not planning on getting that wasted Ava: I don't even know where to start Ava: it's really gone 0-100 since we last spoke Grace: 😱😱😱 OMG! 👌 did you hit him up or did he hit you up?? Ava: Well Ava: Speaking of shameless Ava: I did legitimately lose a bracelet that night but I didn't really need to ask him if he'd seen it/could check for me Grace: your [expensive brand 1 that idk] or the [expensive bracelet 2]? Ava: My [expensive brand 3 plot twist] Ava: I got it for my birthday, actually Ava: Anyway, he rang everywhere up but obviously it was long gone, who isn't taking that if they can but I didn't even care 'cos it got us talking again and it was Ava: he wanted to see me the next day, so we arranged to meet at lunch Ava: but before I went to school, I got a delivery and he'd replaced the bracelet Ava: I was like...what Grace: OMG AVA! Grace: that's so cute Grace: he's so Grace: LITERALLY OMG Ava: He really is Ava: and he says the most amazing things and it doesn't just feel like talk but Ava: obviously, it's always going to be complicated, there's no way it can't be, he's said that too and I know it Grace: I'm totally shook Grace: like I thought this would be a one off, obvs no shade Grace: I'm definitely babysitting for you now! Ava: Me too Ava: it's ridiculous but somehow not Ava: not when we're talking like we've always known each other or when he's here Grace: how are you even living a 💖📽🎞 rn like ???!! Ava: I know like fully someone is gonna yell cut or jump out on me and tell me it's just a prank Grace: you literally have to get him over at yours before your parents come back Ava: Hopefully Ava: He can definitely do Monday, so I need Buster and Rio fully distracted then Ava: Friday is up in the air so I'll just let you know when it's safe for you to all head over, yeah? Grace: 💜🤞 Grace: I'll have the freakout that's SO overdue about my own love life Grace: once I start 😭😭😭💔 I can go for hours duh Ava: 🏆 to Miss Grace Cavante Grace: like it's not a lie 💜🙏 there IS a boy & I AM freaking out, I just don't need their advice about any of it 🙄🙄 Ava: Hint taken, no advice but I'm all ears 😶👂 Grace: it's fine you're not really old & 💖😍 smug & just GROSS Ava: Cheers, babe 😏 Ava: Lay it on me then Grace: ugh I can't even Grace: he's just not Grace: he's not any kind of boy I know how to deal with Ava: What's he like then? Grace: like he wants to talk to me?? but actually not just 😏😘!? Ava: Like you're a human? Ava: Where'd you meet him? Grace: at the gym so I was LITERALLY blindsided cos every lad in there is so 💪🤳🏻 Ava: + 1 for not being that kinda douche Grace: but if he was I wouldn't have to leave every 🗨 like ✔ Ava: You don't know what to say Grace: duh what can I even Ava: Well, if you have nothing in common, not a lot Ava: but you gotta do some talking before you can find out if it's worth doing any more, like Grace: ive gotta run away so thanks for the party invite, babes Grace: v well timed tbh Ava: You can do that too Grace: yeah Ava: Why not give it a shot though Ava: you clearly wanna, even with the freaking out Grace: UM hello?? do you not remember the cringefest that was my life not that long ago?! Ava: We've all made questionable choices Grace: & now I'm doing this thing™ where I like don't make a total fool of myself 24 7 Ava: Can't relate, clearly 😂 Grace: well you're in a rom com sooo Ava: Yeah and we could be about to see me 💔💀 eating my weight in ice cream Grace: that would barely be a 🍦🍨 binge 👌👌👌 Grace: & boys don't just buy bracelets cos they're lost Grace: this bitch can't get a boy to do the clasp on her necklace Ava: They do regret in almost instantly though Ava: maybe he thought I was guilting him or some shit Grace: if he thought that he wouldn't still be 😍😍😍 Grace: which he obvs is Ava: It's a headfuck but hey Ava: what ain't Grace: mhmmm Grace: you're about it though Ava: He's a really good guy Ava: I'm aware how naive that sounds given but still Grace: he can be a good guy & bad for his 👰💍 Grace: or she's bad for him Grace: some couples don't work, can't even Ava: She's Ava: a whole other story Grace: how well do you know her? Ava: Her reputation preceeds her in a lot of ways Ava: and I know some of it as fact, basically so Grace: Ew Grace: she sounds so #goals honestly 🙄 Ava: You have no idea Ava: but there's nothing I can do about it Grace: it's the worst Ava: yeah Grace: anything else I can do I totally will Ava: Thanks, babe 💙 Ava: all you need to do is distract, and we'll have a good time to celebrate Grace: 💜 Grace: seriously looking forward to it Ava: Me too Ava: I'll invite every hot boy I know Grace: ILY you know Ava: Duh 😏 Ava: ily too but save it for the 🥂 Grace: 🙏 that's all I say Grace: I don't 💕 gym boy Ava: Just chatting about your 😍 Ava: stop me mentioning mine, please 🙄 Grace: shh no Grace: I wanna hear everything about yours Grace: & your lunch date, thanks Ava: Okay, that was pretty cute Ava: so he picked me up from school in an uber so we got to make the most of the limited time we had Ava: then we went to get coffee and tried like everything on the menu Ava: and we watched a kinda dumb kinda everything film and you know Grace: it's SO rude that he's already married & you can't 💍 him cos that's such a MOOD Grace: like okay never tell Jimmy about the whole menu cos he'll khs but whatever Ava: I know, had to tip the baristas and the uber driver so handsomely Ava: but it was worth it Grace: I can relate, mine have definitely 👀 some shit 😂😂 Grace: less worth it though & obvs not as recently 🙏😇 Ava: I'm sure they found it entertaining Ava: miss it, if anything Grace: 🤷💅 Grace: but for real, I don't Grace: not my reputation & everything Grace: though if your bf's wife can get a 💍 there's obvs hope still Ava: Good Ava: for real Ava: you don't need any of that bullshit Ava: oh girl please 🙄 Ava: you ain't about to force a marriage Ava: or even more shaming, have your parents come together to force a marriage Grace: declaring myself a no fuckboy zone has been good Grace: even if that does mean staying single cos duh Ava: There's far worse things in life to be 🤷 Grace: yeah like I thought it would be the WORST but Ava: Can't be worse than fuckboys Grace: true Ava: even the ones that ain't Ava: or seem like more Ava: total headfuck Grace: preach! literally living my BEST life until gym boy got on my radar and got me like !!?? Grace: 🙄🙄 Ava: yeah Ava: tell me about it Grace: gonna have to put my phone under 🔐 somewhere when we're 🥂💃 Ava: Confiscated at the door, naturally Grace: yours too so you don't call up a divorce lawyer for your boyfriend 😂 Ava: not even funny Ava: 😏 Grace: sorry babes Ava: it would be funny if it weren't true Ava: not for my sake though Grace: I know Grace: I can't even imagine how tragic he's living Grace: ugh Ava: It's genuinely fucked Ava: and like, not in a 'he's told me to get in my pants' vibe Ava: you can tell, even without the full story Grace: & like there's little kids involved it's so 💔 Ava: I don't even know how to feel about them Ava: or if I should think about them Grace: I don't know if you'll be able to not Grace: think about them Grace: & not just cos like he has to Grace: cos you're you Ava: They'll never know Ava: so I don't have to feel bad Grace: 💜🤞 Ava: It sounds like their mum's whole vibe Ava: and their relationship Ava: is like, Ava: enough trouble Ava: I'm not gonna bring anything else to the table for any of them Grace: well yeah she sounds like an evil 👑!!! Ava: She is Ava: was Ava: Ugh, idk Grace: you're not gonna tell me who they are like EVER, are you?! Ava: I can't Grace: it's okay Grace: like it's soo not but I'm not gonna be that bitch about it Grace: or any of your secrets Ava: You can fill in the blanks Ava: it's not as if anyone is gonna know so put whatever hot face suits Grace: I'm here, just like tell me what you wanna tell me, yeah? Grace: no drama Ava: 😘 Ava: I know its so frustrating though, I'd feel it too no doubt Grace: it's this fam & our track record with secrets getting me worried Ava: I know Ava: it's Ava: nothing to worry about Ava: I've got it Grace: just keep hitting me up whenever you need to 👌👌 cos that's something else none of us obvs ever do Grace: & everything's such a mess literally always Ava: I know Ava: I bet Edie would have some advice Ava: super dubious Grace: 🙄🙄 Grace: she'd have taken the bracelet & ✌ out Ava: Honestly Ava: is that not the right thing to do tbh Grace: duh depends how hot he is Ava: I doubt he'd be much her type Grace: I'd totally have to hook up with him though Grace: sorry not sorry Ava: 🙄 Grace: 😂 Ava: Ugh, I need to start drinking now Grace: what's he doing? invite him out Ava: He's with his family Grace: then he'll definitely wanna come Ava: Stop Grace: okay sorry 🤐😶 Ava: It's fine Ava: I am gonna go though, gotta get ready Grace: I should totally pick & pack a party outfit or I'll never be able to decide on a make up look Ava: Get busy, babe Grace: mhmmm Grace: you too hun Ava: 💙