#i just had a terrible night and now my emotions are wacky

[thirsty-4-ghouls]

I have three thoughts that pop up every time I see a dusthide. Not all of them each time, but at least one

Most common thought: he have no ears 😭

Second most common: armadillo (armadillos have ears though, so I guess more pangolin? But the way they are segmented… the pangolin thing reminds me of their claws more though. Hmm, overthinks what species of real animals one can compare them to)

And the final one: so, remember those toys from the 2000s that you put on a magnet and they went from a ball to a little guy?

Update, I have gotten sleep and am now confused about why I was so sad every time I saw that they had no ears

[agentnico]

The Greatest Beer Run Ever (2022) Review

I always thought the greatest beer run ever was when five friends led by Gary King came back to their hometown of Newton Haven to retackle a crawl of 12 pubs in one night and reach that final destination stop of “The World’s End”, all whilst surviving an alien invasion. That’s just my humble opinion though.

Plot: In 1967, John "Chickie" Donohue leaves New York to track down his army buddies in Vietnam and share a few beers with them, but instead is confronted with the horrors of the war.

This is the type of true story that is mad in that it happened in real life. Like there is an element of fantasy to how this guy from New York managed to successfully make a ‘there and back again’ journey hobbit-style to Vietnam without getting into any real trouble all just so that he could bring his war-buddies some cans of beer. At one point one of the soldiers even says “Don’t worry about him. Everyone once in a while you run into a guy who’s too dumb to get himself killed.” And that is a pretty accurate sum-up of the character of Chickie, played by Zac Efron, and his miraculous way of surviving things where others wouldn’t. He’s a complete and utter doofus, who’s completely unaware of real dangers of the world, and also is blinded by the propaganda of 60′s America in terms of believing that they are on the right side of the Vietnam war. Efron really delivers on bringing out the stupidity and recklessness of Chickie (at numerous points acting like he’s a member of CIA to much comedic effect), yet still keeping him charming and likeable, especially since even though his motivations are ridiculous, there is an element of endearing innocence to them in that by bringing his war-buds some beer is his way of bringing them a bit of home. Basically yes he’s an imbecile for getting himself into a war torn country where you could die every second step, but he’s a nice imbecile.

This movie is brought to us by Peter Farrely, who used to primarily make crude silly comedies the likes of Dumb & Dumber, however in recent years he turned a a new leaf by tackling more serious subject matters, whilst still keeping that comedic tone making the topics more mainstream approachable. And I’m aware that Farrely and his team got some criticism when they won the Academy Award for Best Picture with their movie Green Book, when a lot of people assumed Spike Lee’s BlackKklansman should have had it instead due to tackling the same subject of racism but in a more powerful, shocking and urgent manner. And yes, an argument can be made that Spike should have gotten the win, however awards scrutiny aside, what I’ve enjoyed about Farrely movie with his last two films is how he approaches difficult subject matters in a light way that makes for an easy watch, yet still delivers the necessary messages and thought provoking questions that one should have when dealing with racism or in this case the war. So nothing that Farrely is saying is ever ground-breaking or new, however it always comes from a good place. The Greatest Beer Run Ever is in no way reinventing the war film genre, nor it ever strives to do so. It’s a wholesome wacky story that eventually turns into a dark and sombre representation of the horrors of war, yet at it’s heart is all about the beauty of friendship and human connection. Again, this is no Apocalypse Now. This is very much seeing war from the outlook of a common bystander, so we only really see snippets of the bad, but again, that works for this movie. 

The cast all do great here. Efron I already mentioned plays up well the silliness of Chickie, yet provides with his expressions the necessary emotion when the daunting times come. All his war buddy pals played by Jack Picking, Kyle Allen and Archie Renaux all show the different types of characters one would find at war, yet all of them share that collective sense of dread in knowing what terrible situation they are stuck in. Russell Crowe and Bill Murray, though both are absolutely great, only appear briefly and as such are quite inconsequential to most of the movie. In fact I am confused why Crowe is receiving top billing on the posters with Efron. Then again, one has to sell a movie and Crowe is always a great sell. 

The Greatest Beer Run Ever is a highly enjoyable war film. It’s funny when it needs to be, eye-opening when it gets into the grittiness of war, wholesome and delightful when beer and friendship are involved. Again, it is in no way innovative. We’ve seen war depicted much more terrifying and horribly on screen before. But this movie is not set out for that. As Chickie puts it - “I’m going to Vietnam, and I’m bringing ‘em beer!!” And that is exactly what he does. 

Overall score: 6/10

[axwalker]

Bad Timing: Only For Tonight

Book: The Royal Romance (AU)

Pairing: Drake Walker x Alexis O’Brien (MC)

Synopsis: Alexis O’Brien is escaping a terrible past. After months of running  she settles  in Cordonia where she meets Drake at the bar where she works and they spend a passionate night together.

What happens when a one-night-stand turns into unexpected parenthood?

This chapter: Drake and Alexis spend the night together. What happens after? 

MASTERLIST HERE

WORDS: 1998

POV: Dual

TRIGGER WARNINGS:  Explicit Sex 🍋🍋🍋. Mentions of domestic violence.

ALL MY FICS ARE +18

A/N: I apologize for any grammatical errors.

I’m participating in the Wacky Drables prompts  

This is Prompt #87: No offense, but I'm not interested (Bold)

@wackydrabbles​

Thank you to @burnsoslow​ for beta reading! I love you ❤️❤️

Please if you want to be added or removed from the tag-list, do not hesitate to ask.

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ALEXIS

"Tell me what you want, and I'll give it to you," Drake whispers in my ear.

"I want you, Drake."

"I should probably warn you," he says to me, placing feather kisses down my jaw, his stubble grazing my skin, "that I can be very bossy."

His baritone voice sends a shiver through my body.

"Don't worry about me, Walker. I can take it."

Drake smirks, and I yelp when he scoops me up into his arms and carries me inside his apartment. He sits me on the couch and suddenly drops to his knees, his hands running up my bare legs and parting them. He looks up at me as his thumbs slide over my inner thighs, brushing over the delicate skin, pushing my dress up higher and higher. His expression is wild with desire. I raise my hips slightly as he pushes the dress up, so it's bunched around my waist, and he slowly runs his finger over the top of my underwear, from the waistband all the way over the mound and down between my legs.

"I've wondered all night what you taste like," he murmurs, sliding his finger back up, pressing in at my clit. His hands firmly grip my hips; He lowers his head, pulls me toward his face, and I feel his wet mouth pressing against me, the thin barrier of my panties muffling the sensation just enough to drive me wild. I suck in my breath, my fingers going into his hair, while he runs his tongue over my clit, the pressure causing me to jerk my hips toward him.

"I've had enough teasing," he says, the vibrations spreading through me.

He pulls his face back for just a moment, long enough to slide my underwear down over my thighs until they're off me, then he's pushing my legs wide again, his mouth going in for the kill. Every worry, every horrible memory inside me gets lost with the wet sweep of his tongue. My mouth falls open. My God. He knows what he's doing. My thighs are already trembling. His mouth is so warm, so strong. He kisses me there like he kisses my lips, soft and gentle, then quick and wild, sliding up around my clit, then down inside me with a grunt. I can't contain my cry. It tears out of me, driven by the need for him to be deeper.

"You have no idea how beautiful you look right now," he whispers into me.

I'm exploding, wet, warm, pure fucking bliss. My hips jerk into his mouth as I spasm, my thighs gripping the side of his face, his stubble so beautifully rough.

He stands up and takes off his shirt; my mouth waters, and he kicks off his shoes, bends down to take off his socks. Takes a step toward me. My eyes follow his hands as they undo his belt and then the zipper of his jeans. And then his jeans and boxer briefs drop to his ankles. Holy fuck, he's hot. Ripped and manly. Huge. I've never been with someone like him.

With trembling fingers, I take off my dress and bra as he inspects every square inch of my body, making me feel incredibly vulnerable.

"Jesus." He steps forward and trails his fingers up and down my bare arms. "You're so fucking gorgeous," he says, kissing my shoulders, my breasts.

He pushes a book off of the couch and then turns me around, placing his hand between my shoulders and shoving me down, so I'm on the couch on my knees.

"Hands up, against the wall," he says from behind me, his voice extra rough, almost feral. I've never been so excited before. I put my hands up so they're pressing against the wall, just as his hand curls around the small of my waist. His touch is electric, especially over my hyper-sensitive skin.

"Spread your legs for me, beautiful," he groans, and I hear his teeth opening the condom wrapper.

"I'll fuck you for hours," he murmurs, mouth now at my ear. His voice is rough with need. "I'll make you come over and over until you can't walk, can't talk, can't see anything but stars. But right now, I need to come inside you. And I'm going to do it fast and hard. Get that, Lexie?"

I nod, trying to swallow.  

"Good girl," he says, straightening up. He caresses my ass and slams himself into me. All the air is pushed from my lungs, and I bend a little more, trying to accommodate his size. His cock is in so deep I'm not sure where I end, and he begins. Then he starts working me, his fingers pressing so hard into my side that I think he's leaving bruises, holding me steady as he fucks me hard. There isn't anything in the world but this. He grinds into me, over and over, his hips jerking against my skin. His frantic thrusting is measured, his hips circling just enough to slide against every part of me—faster, harder, deeper.

"Fuck. Fuck, Lexie. This is ..." He doesn't finish his sentence. His grip tightens around my waist. I feel him everywhere, like he's filling me up in every way.

"So wet … so tight, baby." Just then, his cock hits the right spot until I catch fire and burn inside out. I've never felt this before. This pleasure, this passion.

"Right there. Don't stop!"

"Not even close to stopping," he grunts. He thrusts even deeper, watching my back arch into him with overwhelming pleasure.

It's a curious thing to have a one-night stand with a stranger. You've known each other for only a few hours, and then you decide to share something that leaves you so vulnerable. When I turn my neck and stare into Drake's deliciously wicked deep-brown eyes, there's a sort of freedom I've never enjoyed in bed before. He makes me feel safe and powerful.  

Then as he starts to tense, his breath becoming hoarse, a drop of sweat falling from his face and onto my neck, he slides his hand over the front of my skirt and below, finding my clit. A rub from his thumb is all I need to come, and it's not just the intensity of the orgasm that rips through me, causing my body to spasm and shake. It's the intensity of us. Of Drake, as he groans into my shoulder with one final thrust, his cock twitching.

Several positions and many orgasms later, we fall together into his bed, exhausted. True to his word, Drake took his time with me after the first time. Going slow, kissing every inch of my skin.

He gets up from the bed to throw away our last condom; I contemplate leaving. I don't know how to behave, it's the first time I’ve had a one-night stand, and I don't want to act clingy or emotional.  

"How are you feeling, Lex?" he murmurs when he comes back before he kisses me, long, deep and sweet. And just like that, every worry I have is gone. I melt into his touch, into his arms, and I never want him to let me go.

Which is a fucking problem because I can't stay.

He scoops me against his chest, wrapping his strong arms around me. He peppers kisses all over my shoulders, my neck, my back. I let my eyes drift closed just for a second and fall asleep.  

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warmth engulfs me, every inch of my body is warm, and I nuzzle into the pillow deeper, wanting to stay like this forever. It's been a long time since I've had a decent night's sleep in a comfortable bed. However, as soon as I notice the room's complete darkness, my eyes pop open, and I start to panic, trying to remember where I am and how I got here.

There's a weight over me, and I feel suffocated. I force myself to take a deep breath, and I realize that I'm safe. I'm in Cordonia, thousands of miles away from him. Slowly, yesterday's events come back to my mind, and I realize my head isn't lying on a pillow but a firm, ripped chest. I glance up at the sleeping man I shared last night with and take in his harsh but beautiful features.

Drake's sleeping peacefully. His arm is still around my waist, holding me almost protectively. For a second, my heart flutters, and I allow myself to dream. What if I had met Drake instead of Matt? Even after only one night, I can tell what kind of man Drake is -- manly, confident, protective. I feel safe, cherished. But it can't be. Not now, or ever.

Gently, I untangle myself from Drake's arms. I gather up my dress and shoes and creep toward the living room. I order an Uber, and three minutes later, my phone pings with a notification that the Uber is here just as I reach the front door. I quietly open it, tiptoe out, and glance back at the house.

A deep sorrow overcomes me because I know that I will never be the same again after tonight.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DRAKE

It's been three days since I last saw Alexis. I figured I'd feel differently in a few days. I'd forget the sweet taste of her lips, her delicate cherry scent, the sound of her laugh on my ears. Never did I think I'd still be replaying our conversations, jerking off every night to the vision of her body moving against mine. Fuck. Me.

Finally, I decide to go to the bar where we met. Despite the way she left --in the middle of the night without saying goodbye-- I don't want to ignore the crazy chemistry between us. I'm not an arrogant jerk; I know when a woman comes undone in my arms. And the way Lexie responded to me? It was fucking explosive.

"Why are we here? Li's dinner is tonight," Leo protests. I picked him up at his loft after work so we could go to Li's place together. In hindsight, he wasn't the best person to bring along with me, but I had to come to the bar tonight. I just need to see her. "Do you know how many women will be there? It's going to be a buffet, man." Leo insists as I park in front of the bar. I get out of the Jeep as fast as I can, so he doesn't follow me, but, of course, the fucker comes after me.

We walk into the bar, and it's as deserted as it was on Monday. The woman behind the counter smiles at us when we approach.

"Hi, guys! I'm Daisy. What can I do for you tonight?"

Leo winks at her. "I have a couple of things in mind, sweetheart."

I stare at him, and he shuts up. "I'm looking for someone who works here. Alexis Ortiz, she's a bartender."

She smiles at me. "Alexis quit this morning."

"Did she leave an address or a phone number?"

My heart sinks when the blond shakes her head. "She was kind of weird. She kept to herself." She looks at me and smiles again. "I'm free in an hour, though."

I don't want to be rude, but there's only one woman I want. "No offense, but I'm not interested."

I'm cut short by Leo, who grins at her. "You're embarrassing me, Walker." He gives her the same smile I've seen him give to a hundred women before her. "I'm Leo, sweetheart, and we're not free tonight, but I'll be happy to come by any other night."

She's grinning at Leo now, a flirty expression on her face. She sure moved on fast. I clear my throat. "Here's my card; if Alexis comes back, can you give it to her?"

She takes it. "Sure, no problem, but I don't think she will. She told Daniel she was leaving Cordonia and she wasn't coming back."

[ranma-rewatch]

Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!

Good morning, good evening, and goodnight everybody. Today I’ll be covering the ninth episode of Ranma 1/2, which is also the third episode in Ryoga Hibiki’s introductory arc. I don’t really know what to expect from this one, most of my memories of this arc are from the front half, but I’m interested to see where it went next. Oh, and with this episode I’ll be halfway through the first season! So that’s neat. Well, next paragraph I’ll have rewatched the episodes, so I’ll see you then.

That was a pretty interesting experience. It really feels like this episode was adapting two different chapters, each with a radically different tone, and together they kind of add up into a good summating of the Ranma 1/2 experience, only missing the acting scenes and love dodecahedron elements to tie it all together.

As you might have expected, this episode begins right where the last one left off, just as one of Ryoga’s weapons chopped off a chunk of Akane’s long hair. At first, she doesn’t react at all, leaving Ranma to feel really bad about it, talking with one of the school girls there about how getting a bad haircut out of nowhere like that would feel terrible for any young woman. This is also when the students realize they don’t know who this red-headed ‘girl’ is, but Ranma tries to change the subject.

Ryoga steps up, not to continue the fight with Ranma, but to point out that at least Akane wasn’t actually injured. Still, Ranma brings up that it still hurts Akane emotionally. They both ask Akane to punch them, to let out any anger she might be feeling. She ends up doing just that before walking away, and it looked to be some damn good punches too. That doesn’t seem to be enough though, as she also shatters a metal telephone pole on her walk home, and in the process realizes she twisted her ankle earlier. Her first instinct is to go and see Dr. Tofu, but she doesn’t want him to see her like this.

Instead, we cut to Akane in her room, remembering why she grew her hair out in the first place. We flash back to Akane as a young kid, fresh from a fight at school, going to see Dr. Tofu. Back then, she had short hair, and it’s clear even then she was fond of the doctor. But the high school age Kasumi shows up, turning Tofu’s brains to mush, and causing him to refer to Akane as a ‘he’. As they walk home together, Kasumi tells her little sister that if she tried to dress less like a boy, maybe people wouldn’t mistake her for one. This leads Akane to think that maybe if she grows her hair as long as Kasumi’s, maybe Dr. Tofu would like her the same way he likes Kasumi.

Coming out of that flashback, Ranma is at Akane’s window, but she doesn’t want to talk to him. Instead, she goes to see Kasumi, who is shocked by what’s happened to her hair. Instead of telling her the truth, Akane just says she messed up cutting it herself, and asks for Kasumi’s assistance in making it even. There’s a brief cutaway of Ryoga trying to head to the Tendo household to fight Ranma, only to be waylaid by an old lady asking for his help.

Sometime later, Ranma is back in his uncursed form, and he learns from Kasumi that Akane is going to Dr. Tofu’s. It’s then that he, and the audience, see Akane with short hair for the first time. Ranma apologizes as hard as he can, but tells him that she’s over it, and that him being nice to her feels weird.

At the clinic, Dr. Tofu is surprised by her short hair as well, but tells her it’s cute, and suits her a lot better than long hair did. As he’s tending to her injury, she starts crying, which turns into sobbing into the doctor’s shoulder as he offers comfort. Afterwards, Akane is heading back home with Ranma, apparently feeling better after crying, and he points out that she got what she wanted: Dr. Tofu said she was cute, right? But Akane says she’s over all of that now.

For reasons that are clearly mysterious and not due to jealousy about some other guy telling Akane her hair was cute first, Ranma makes it clear he likes her shorter hair as well. When she reacts with confusion, wondering if he’s okay if he’s complimenting her like that, Ranma starts to backpedal, before instead doubling down, really telling her it’s cute. She smiles at that, and thanks Ranma even if she might still suspect he doesn’t really mean it. To which, we can hear Ranma’s thoughts, as he is amazed to realize she does genuinely look cute. But while he’s distracted, Akane tips him over into the water.

That’s the end of that part of the story. Next part begins with Ryoga finally reaching the Tendo estate, a week after the previous events happened, in the night, in the rain, using an umbrella to protect himself. When he gets inside the house, he finds Ranma asleep, and tries to wake him up so they can properly fight. Ranma dodges attempts by Ryoga to hit him awake, and when Ryoga tries using shouting to get him up, all he succeeds in doing is instead waking up Ranma’s father in his cursed form, who knocks Ryoga and Ranma outside in annoyance, where the rain triggers Ranma’s curse, and Ryoga is still able to use his umbrella to keep himself dry.

As they prepare to fight, Ryoga finally decides to give Ranma a clue as to why he’s so freaking angry at him: after Ranma missed their duel, Ryoga followed him and his father to China. Ranma quickly puts two and two together, asking Ryoga if he too went to Jusenkyo, if he also has a curse. Meanwhile, Akane and her sisters wake up from the noise, and they assume there’s a prowler around. The other two hide behind Akane, and she throws a dumbbell at who she thinks is an intruder, nailing Ryoga hard enough to make him drop his umbrella. This finally activates his curse, but he scampers before anyone can see what it does to him. All Ranma can find afterwards are his clothes...and a mangy dog not far away.

Back with Akane, she finds an adorable black piglet in her room wearing a yellow and black bandanna that’s soaking wet with cold rain, and takes it downstairs to take care of it. Ranma has assumed the dog he found is Ryoga, but doesn’t want Akane to know that, trying to protect Ryoga’s secret. However, Akane quickly realizes that it’s one of their neighbor’s dogs, and Ranma confirms with hot water that it isn’t Ryoga. Then, as he goes off for a hot bath, Akane passes him the pig, since the animal needs a bath too. Ranma does it, even if he doesn’t like it, but as he finally pushes the resisting animal into the water, Ryoga emerges. Cliffhanger! Again!

Alright, like I said before, this episode is functionally two separate stories glued together, so let’s handle one and then the other. First thing I noted about this episode was that there’s a quick shot of Nabiki looking concerned for Akane after her hair accident. I only point it out because she’s known in the fandom for being fairly ruthless and sociopathic, and this is a moment that kind of goes against that. Nabiki obviously loves money, and can be quite selfish, but she does have some empathy for her baby sister.

I can’t remember if this is exactly the first time in the series thus far attention has been called to Ranma’s curse kind of giving him a weird secret identity issue with his schoolmates in general, but it is at least the first time it’s been given as much focus as it was at the start of this episode.

This is also where Ryoga starts getting some more shades to his character. From what we’ve seen of him thus far, it wouldn’t be unexpected if he’d just kept trying to fight Ranma, but even without knowing Akane at all, he still accepted the fight was at least paused, and once it was made clear to him how devastating this was to her, he offered to be punched if it would help. I also think the way he phrases that offer gives some insight into him: he talks about how letting the anger out by hitting him would make her feel better. Is that what his vendetta with Ranma is, a way to unleash all the anger roiling inside of him?

There is a neat bit of imagery around there too, how for a second Akane’s facial expression makes you think she won’t hit them, then we see construction equipment in motion that feels like it symbolizes violence, then we cut to her just walking away. It isn’t until we see their swollen faces that we know she did follow through on their offer.

Aside from those sorts of details, I just really like the mood of this entire first half. There are very few attempts at jokes, instead just focusing on Akane’s mental state. I feel like, while her situation is pretty strange and specific, it’s easy to relate to. I think we’ve all, at some time or another, been hurt by someone else without them realizing it, over something that only mattered to you so much because of some odd, ineffable thing that just you understand.

Throughout the segment, Akane waffles between shock, anger, trying to make the best of it, sobbing, and moving on with her life. I particularly enjoy the bounceback of her trying to take control, getting that haircut with Kasumi, getting compliments for it...only for it to stab into an emotional vulnerability, causing her to break down with the doctor. That all really worked for me.

The same is true for Ranma’s reaction. I don’t know if we’ve ever seen him this hung up on hurting someone else before. He’s clearly bothering her at some points by not leaving her alone like she clearly wants him to do, but he gives a genuine apology, which is clearly really something from him, and his compliment at the end was so cute. It was adorable shippy nonsense, and I adored it. This segment of the larger episode also had a lot more to do with our previous arc, about Akane and Dr. Tofu, than the Ryoga plot, effectively serving as the capstone to that tale.

I feel there was nearly as much to like in the second half. This part was definitely more jokey, with lots of Ryoga being bad at directions, silly background music (which I honestly can’t stand, it’s just a weird personal thing for me), and wacky hijinks with Ryoga as a pig.

But there was still meat to be found with the funnies. Once again, they took the time to establish Ryoga a little better with how he acted towards Ranma. For someone always shouting about how he wants Ranma to die and go to tell, whose vengeance drives him, he had a perfect opportunity to just kill him in his sleep. But it didn’t look like he even considered that. Instead, he just kept trying to wake Ranma up so they could fight. You could argue Ryoga is too dumb to have thought of that, which feels like the kind of thing Ranma would say, but I’d counter that maybe it’s a sign that Ryoga is more about talking about killing than actually doing it. In a kind of equal and opposite event, I liked how Ranma was just immediately all about helping Ryoga once he learned about the curse, trying to assist the dog he thought was Ryoga while keeping it a secret from Akane.

This is also when we finally learn why Ryoga is so angry at Ranma, or at least begin to get the larger picture. It wasn’t just bread, or a missed duel, but that Ryoga kept on Ranma after that, leading to him being cursed to become an adorable little piglet when exposed to cold water. He definitely manages the curse well thanks to his umbrella (I don’t know why Ranma never thinks to try just covering his head), and the care he’s taken to use it to avoid getting wet in the last episode and in this one was some foreshadowing as to what his deal was.

On the whole, this part of the episode was more like set-up for the next one, but it wasn’t bad at all. Together, the two pieces actually meshed together pretty well, at least to me. I got my emotional feels, I got my shippy moments, and I got my boi Ryoga. What else could I want?

Like I said last week, there are other characters I could be doing spotlights for who’ve already been introduced, but they haven’t really done enough yet to be worth covering, at least in my opinion. Thus, we’re going back to Akane.

Since the second episode, we’ve gotten a lot more of who she is, especially between this arc and the one before it. They’ve kind of toned down the whole ‘hates boys’ aspect of her character, and instead refocused on her feelings towards Dr. Tofu, towards Ranma, and towards herself.

I think it’s clear, even to Akane herself, that her crush on the doctor is childish. She likes him because he’s an adult who’s always treated her seriously, appreciated her for who she is, and given her his time. At least in my experience, a lot of people have had some kind of affection similar to hers, towards someone older than us when we were too young to do anything about it. Even as we get older, and we know there will never be anything with that person, we still have a hard time letting go of it.

With Ranma, I think a firm pattern is developing. Aside from occasional moments when she takes her frustrations out on Ranma, Akane is generally becoming more fond of him. Between this episode and episode 6, one could argue she’s starting to actually like him. The problem is that Ranma is kind of a jerk. He regularly does stuff to make her upset, at which point he either makes it worse or starts acting nice. She clearly appreciates when Ranma is trying to help her and cheer her up, but it doesn’t stop the fact that his default setting is ‘abrasive’.

Most importantly with the first half of this episode, we’ve gotten a good look at how Akane sees herself. It’s pretty obvious that the long hair/short hair issue isn’t just about how long her locks are. The issue represents her struggle between being herself, a tomboy who enjoys fighting and martial arts and being more free-spirited, versus being who other people want her to be, more traditionally feminine. It’s honestly kind of weird in the first half of this season, watching her with the long hair. Short haired Akane is cuter, I think it’s hard to deny that, but it’s also her being happier with who she is, and that’s the cutest thing in the world. I’m still not 100% happy with how they handle her violence towards other people, but I talked about that last time, and it doesn't feel like that’s something the show will ever really address.

If it wasn’t clear before, I quite enjoyed this episode. The only particularly weak parts for me were with Ryoga escorting the old lady around, but they were short and didn’t do too much to mess up the pacing. I won’t lie, I’d say this is actually the second best episode so far, only falling behind episode 7. That makes the current rankings:

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

Next time, we’ll have into the back half of the season and the last episode of this storyline with episode 10, “P-P-P-Chan! He's Good For Nothin'”. See you all then!

[mcustorm]

JATP is like a 5-hour DCOM

As I’ve expressed previously, when I initially saw the gif-sets for this series I basically said “I’ll pass, thanks.” I don’t know what changed (probably the treachery that is the reality tv I’m currently watching), but I decided to go ahead and check it out, if only for some much needed levity.

And at first, I was not feeling this, like at all. The dialogue was cringey, the songs were *meh*, I couldn’t keep up with the show’s own internal logic.

By episode 5 however, the show was cooking with gas. We had stakes, drama (family drama! relationship drama! band drama!), villains, and yes, humor to round out the whole thing. And that’s when it hit me: this show is basically a 5-hour Disney Channel Original Movie. This shouldn’t have been so surprising, seeing as to how it’s the work of the legendary Kenny Ortega [among others].

Granted, I haven’t seen a new DCOM since 2013 apparently, so at the very least the show harkens back to the movies of yesteryear. Even so, I have to imagine movies [that I haven’t seen] like Descendants or Zombies have some of these tropes:

The Surreal, Fantasical Situation - The Thirteenth Year, The Luck of the Irish, The Other Me

The Grand Musical Numbers - High School Musical, Teen Beach Movie

The Popular Girl Who Hates Me - High School Musical, Read it and Weep, Cadet Kelly

The Band’s Interpersonal Drama - The Cheetah Girls, Lemonade Mouth

The Missing Mother - Jump In!, Smart House, Dadnapped!

The Affable Trio - Minutemen, Camp Rock

The Wacky Sidekick - Stuck In the Suburbs, Read it and Weep, KP: STD

The Forgettable Rock Songs - Camp Rock, Lemonade Mouth

The Villain Who We Don’t Know is Evil, But Has a Sympathetic Sidekick - Up, Up, and Away!, The Proud Family Movie, High School Musical (2), The Cheetah Girls (2)

The Insecure Protagonist Who’s Just Gotta Find The Strength Inside Of Them - Like every single DCOM ever

And let’s not forget Pixel Perfect, the 2004 movie that’s about a guy who has to create a holographically projected character to help his band succeed. Sound familiar? 

--sn: I haven’t seen that movie in ~15 years, when I was kindergarten-aged. Still, I went to rewatch it last night and it’s amazing how you can hear a song from that long ago and go “Yea, I remember this!” Music is a wonderful thing.--

Ortega knows DCOM’s like the back of his hand. When The Cheetah Girls 2 (which Ortega choreographed and directed) premiered, it was the highest rated DCOM in history; High School Musical 2 topped that record a year later, and by the way, that record still hasn’t--nor will it ever be, I’d venture to say--topped.

He knows what makes us, the young, impressionable audience, tick and get invested with the worlds that he builds. He even understands that now, in 2020 and on Netflix, all of that gay subtext that we’ve been talking about in HSM for years can actually be a real thing. So yea, it’s no wonder that people took to this quickly.

We love tacky villains, we love good vs. evil, we love sappy love stories/love triangles, and we of course love an emotional attachment to our characters in a relatable way. 

None of that is really revolutionary tv. You can get all that stuff from any of the aformentioned movies. Where the show does push the boundary is translating that to a streaming platform. It has diversity which is always a plus. It also allows Ortega to thankfully be just as gay as he wants to be. Not just with the style, because some of these dance scenes were exceptionally campy, but with the characters.

Is there a ship name for Alex and Willie? I haven’t checked the tag, I have no idea. What I do know is that the entirety of Alex’s character and storyline is for the most part lighthearted and carefree. These are the stories and character dynamics that I wish any DCOM of my childhood would have broached, the stories Ortega has gone on the record for having wanted to do previously.

The show is not trying to make a statement with that relationship -- it just is. It’s two guys who find each other and discover they have chemistry, as was done with Julie/Luke and the countless other het-ships that we’ve seen on Disney before. The drama that eventually comes between them isn’t derived from their sexuality, but the plot itself. It makes you think, “With the way HSM/DCOM’s were ingrained into our minds, how beneficial to a generation would it have been to have a couple like that in those movies?”

Well we’ll never know the answer to that question, because it never happened (thanks homophobia!). All we had was subtext, because Cadet Kelly totally had a thing for Stone. That is, until now. It took a couple of decades and a totally separate platform from Disney, but the kids of today finally [sorta] have a DCOM that dares to have openly gay characters. Ortega even in 2020 is revolutionizing the genre. And that gives me a smidgen of hope.

Random thoughts on the episodes:

Flynn is not a character. Now for all I’ve been nostalgic about above, we can do part with the 2-D sidekick. One day we’ll talk about how HSM 3 is a terrible movie and how Taylor got *0* character content for 3 movies while being billed as a main character, likely for diversity purposes. Today is not that day I suppose.

It was so weird that they were going there with Julie/Luke, because the actors are clearly a few years apart. Usually to play 16 year olds, a given tv show will hire 16 year olds or they’ll hire 20 year olds. This show did...both, so it’s weird to watch the grown man playing Reggie going after these girls.

The exact moment I was like, “Alright this show is okay”, is when Nick got on the stage and introduced Julie just seconds after comforting her. Mans was WYLIN.

Nick supposedly did everything right. Sucks to suck. And now he’s possessed by Kilgrave. Tuff.

Julie’s whole family dynamic was cute.

Most of the songs were catchy, but by nature of this show they all kind of had the same structure. They were nice, but I won’t be downloading a soundtrack. 

So I liked it. Again, as I can’t fully keep up with the show’s logic: are the guys real humans now? That seems like one of the only plausible ways to keep the show going. But if so, should Caleb still be obsessed with them?

The million dollar question for this show as well: Where do we go from here?

[aggresivelyfriendly]

Hi guys!

Um-come talk to me(or whatever)!!

Reblogs are love!

I love @dirtystyles, my tag list, @the-well-rested-one and all of my readers, lol!

Tag list: @awomanindeniall @mrsfstyles @fullstopsteph @emulateharry​

Day Eight: The One With The Fort

Elise woke up with a hangover, just not the type when you at least have the wild night you may not remember to show for it. She was certainly not in bed naked, with another nude person, surreptitiously checking to see if they used protection.

This was an emotional hangover.

She'd got feelings, for a boy. Man, did she hate those. The last time she had them, it wreaked all kinds of havoc, and that was just her sister's boyfriend not a world famous object of obsession. She should have known how to read the signs, that mistake had gone a similar way. Time spent together in a house, some things in common, a little tension, fear of rejection, a move, sex, secret relationship, discovery, a broken hearted sister, disappointed parents, and a transcontinental move to escape.

Ok, so this one was in a much safer place than that. Harry was a bad choice as a man to have feelings for, but for totally different reasons than Bryce. Her quarantine buddy was a bad idea because of the rejection and/or future rejection.

Did it count as rejection?

Elise felt rejected, but feelings aren't facts, as her dad liked to remind her. She supposed it was a near miss. She had gone the last 10% just like the movie Hitch had taught her. Maybe he would have finished the gap, closed the circuit, and such, and she could have felt those beautiful pink lips on hers.

But he was saved by the bell.

Instead they ate, and sat on opposites ends of the table just like she had set it. Elise liked that it wasn't a ridiculously long ostentatious piece of dead wood before yesterday. She'd even complimented Harry on it. Last night it was unsatisfactory, definitely not as close as she would have liked to be sitting.

And during cake time, which had turned out stellar, he had touched her elbow and the bones in her feet had rattled. His hand hadn't coasted to her palm, nor had he spun her into him and pressed his lips to hers. He'd just told her it looked great and handed her the knife to cut.

Elise couldn't even think about the couch.

He'd insisted that they cuddle, and had lain behind her in the unexpected big spoon position. She'd been very excited when he suggested it, thinking it was a typical boy ploy to feel her up and get to the kissing they'd almost started.

She figured she'd at least get to feel a boner.

That was an atrocious word. But everything else sounded even worse in her head.

She'd felt no erection, just the warm shape and had wanted with all her might to press back against it, but if there was such a thing as a platonic spoon, she'd just experienced it. Then Harry had fallen asleep, his head bookended by hers until his neck relaxed onto the pillow.

Elise threw in the towel then.

The little voice in her head, that sounded suspiciously like her sister, told her that good guys didn't want her, though they'd be bad long enough to take what she was offering.

She was pretty sure she'd called Jessica a jealous bitch over that. The words had stuck in her head though, and not that she was hoping to make a go of things with her sister's ex, but the idea that he was just playing on her dark side to explore his own, it just poisoned their relationship. It certainly contaminated her already fragile relationship with her sister.

Elise had wanted to go away then, needed an escape, if she left it would be better, her parents didn't have to feel disappointed everyday when they looked at her, and Jessica didn't have to feel betrayed. Hence, England, quarantine, Harry Styles.

The first several days she could not figure out how it was karmic in any way that she got to be so close to Harry Styles. Now that he had become just Harry, the lovely rich weirdo with the bad taste in books and great taste in music, she was temporarily living with, she had figured out the catch.

The universe had given her her adolescent fantasy, shown her reality was better, and then snatched it away, like ice cream falling off the cone into sand within the first ten minutes on a boardwalk. Much as she hated it, Elise also felt it was right. She'd snuck around with her sister's boyfriend, it was only right someone she'd fallen for, who was way out of her league anyway, wouldn't want her even if she was literally the only option around.

Why was self loathing so attractive in moments of reflection?

She was going to have to go downstairs soon. She could hear music, a sure sign Harry was up and waiting for company. Maybe she could heat a thermometer under a light bulb and claim sick. Little water on her face to fake clammy skin.

Then he could baby her and she could take the tenderness and not expect the kisses, or boners. Because nobody liked kissing snotty people. Could you fake snottiness? Not without props, Elise decided. Also, faking sick when in quarantine during a pandemic seemed particularly heinous.

Despite her misgivings, she hauled her sad skeleton out of bed and got dressed. When Elise found herself searching for a specific pair of underwear, she realized she was literally planning on wearing her big girl panties. That at least made her chuckle. Whatever got you there she supposed.

Most of her fretting would be for naught. He was just Harry, and he'd acted like nothing happened. She could follow his lead, right? They were forced friends, at least for the next 6 days. May as well make the best of it and not lean in to the awkward.

The stairs made the echoey sound around the bend and she avoided the creaky part and only got a low groan. She'd relaxed a bit by the time she made it downstairs.

What the fuck was his problem? Why was he shirtless? Again! At least he had on more than a towel. Fuck her life, man. Or fuck her man, that'd be the life.

She stood at the end of the stairs and gave herself a moment until he realized she was there. His back was, woah! He was very broad for someone so slim. And his chest was, ugh, and his face. She often felt like she should congratulate him on his visage, especially the way it had leaned out and squared up. He was so manly now.

Dammit, she should have found that thermometer!

"Morning." She heard him say before she had gotten out of her head.

"Good Morning." She smiled back at him. His smile was like the call for a response in songs. You had to answer it.

"Are you hungry? There's leftover food, we could throw eggs over the last couple puddings. Or coffee?" There was a weird current under their conversation. Like he was walking on the shells of the eggs he was planning to cook her.

"Coffee?" She shrugged. "I can't really think about food yet." Elise's nerves were churning her stomach. All she could think of was the near kiss and the heat of his body behind her.

"Done." He headed to the kitchen and she followed, of course. He'd pulled out the French press, something she would purchase for herself after this. And asked, "what do you want to do today?"

Honestly, she wanted to hide out. Was there a book she could fake wanting to read? Elise was sure he had some book of semi terrible prose he would recommend to her. She need but ask. Then she could hold up in her room. The downside was she'd have to see his little sad puppy face when she told him she didn't like what he did. That was one of the downsides. Elise also wanted to be around him, maybe be able to smell him, and to avoid him noticing her avoiding him. But they needed to have something that discouraged talking, or she was gonna wind up asking him what the fuck his problem was. Because, they'd had a couple moments, she was sure of it, when they worked out, when he touched her thigh, and the near KISS, for fuck's sake. There was chemistry.

Or she was going a bit crazy, and it was totally one sided, which, seemed the way it should be.

In any case, she couldn't just ask him. She wasn't usually an asker, she was a guesser. Elise's best friend Niki was direct and wonderful, she asked for what she wanted or asked people what they wanted. When they were teenagers, she'd thought it was so embarrassing sometimes, now she wished she had some of her boldness. If she could just ask it would really simplify things. Harry, do you like me? Are you having any pesky feelings? Do I make your dick hard? Any flavor of honesty would taste better than the uncertainty she was chewing on.

Instead Elise said, "marathon Friends?" She shrugged.

His eyes opened big and she looked down to dodge the power of his pleased crinkles. "Marathon Friends!"

So there they were, three quarters of the way through a series with popcorn between them when Elise said, "I think I need to stand up. My butt is numb."

"I could rub it for you? No, not an option then?" He giggled. "We could make an obstacle course?" Harry suggested gleefully, and she wondered how long he'd been sitting on that one.

"That sounds athletic. As you've seen, I'm no athlete."

"Built like one." He said and before she could really respond he'd launched into a plea. "It'll be fun, then we can build a fort and watch more Friends."

"Are you 7 at heart?" She giggled. His glee was contagious, like Phoebe's wackiness.

"Nine!" He danced his eyebrows. "But to adult this party up, let's add alcohol. I feel like I have not given you a proper look at British life and quarantine, as we've not been pissed much at all. We can play a Friends drinking game, bet there are loads on the internet!"

Oh, this was a bad idea. But maybe she'd find some liquid courage.

The obstacle course, well it went better than she anticipated, and he let her win. She cartwheeled, the one thing she had learned in gymnastics, across the finish line. He was way ahead of her when they got to the pillow sack race at the end. The idea had struck her like a lightening bolt. She could not bound like him, all that thigh strength, but she could cover ground quick another way! She managed to keep the high thread count fabric on through her revolutions. She was a little terrified of destroying his nice linen. Harry let her cross ahead of him, and he hoisted her into the air when she exclaimed "YES!"

She expected him to complain about her tactics, instead he jogged her around on a victory lap. "Well done!" He danced in a circle and put her down, his arms wrapped around her, squishing her face into his clavicle.

"But I cheated." She muffled into his body.

"We didn't make rules. You saw an opportunity and took a chance." He shimmied his shoulders, all his bottled up energy from a day on the couch coming out in exuberance. "You gotta take chances in life."

They were close, though he'd let her go. Was she supposed to take the chance now? Was that an invitation? Why did she have to do it? "Yeah, yeah, you're right." She said but didn't act.

A beat passed and he sighed and turned around, moving around exercise equipment. "Let's build this fort, yeah?" His smile wasn't forced, but she noticed he only had two eye crinkles, not the full powered four.

His hand was on her shoulder. The opportunity was still there, but yesterday's rejection still clouded up her head like an unkept pool. "Yeah." She turned around and opened the ornamental blanket storage box he had in his media room.

They worked together with ease, and had a fort that would stay up for days on its own with no roughhousing to show for it. IKEA would be proud, they didn't even need pictorial directions.

"It looks cozy!" She smiled at it.

"It's nearly perfect." He said, before jetting off. "One second." He came back with led lights and used some stylish magic to arrange them high."Now we got it. Just missing one thing."

She couldn't imagine anything missing with the attractive light on his face. This was dreamy, she'd almost forgotten that he seemed to have decided that she had to make the move. Leaving them at an impasse. "What?"

"Tequila!" He danced his eyebrows. "One sec." He jackrabbited off.

Should she tell him tequila made her way too honest, or let him figure it out for himself?

"Alright." He skidded into the tent by her side and she applauded because he managed not to shatter the tequila bottle and glasses. "This is the best tequila." He assured her. "Find a drinking game! Unless you fancy strip scrabble."

That sent her diving for the phone. That was an even worse idea than getting drunk together. It was a quick google search later and they had their marching orders.

Phoebe seemed the most reliable. They both were licking salt and swallowing top shelf shots whenever she appeared. Monica and Joey were making a good showing too.

Her stomach hurt and she was bent sideways making a right angle at his hips from laughing so hard. Elsie had forgotten! This show was so funny, and god! They were both drunk.

Rachel was having a sappy moment and it was bringing out the sap in Elise. Man, tequila also made her emotional, she'd swung like a desktop pendulum from laughing so hard she cried to introspective sadness. It didn't exactly make sense, she was definitely more the Ross in this situation. Though her pining had started much later, precisely 7 days ago.

She giggled, nothing was precise after that much tequila. Call her Tarzan with all that swinging.

"What are you laughing about?" He turned on his side to look at her, his face full of mirth, his eyes at half mast and a little red. Bedroom eyes popped into her head and she had to suck in a breath. This felt very coupley, lying side-by-side in a fort. She would say cuddling, but they weren't touching. They hadn't been, but while she was assessing their postures, she realized he'd tangled their ankles together.

Everything they did felt coupley. Because they wanted to couple up or because they were just a couple in number?

"Um" she croaked. "I was just thinking of something, but then, tequila brain you know!" She flicked her temple lightly.

"Oh, I know!" He was jolly and she thought for a minute of other times she'd seen pictures of him drunk. His arm was around her waist now. He liked drunken cuddles, when he was younger, which was knowledge she maybe had no business possessing but knew nonetheless. His face in her neck a moment later had her closing her eyes and sighing. He smelled good, a little like a bar, but also like cologne, and his hair was so soft. She wanted to touch it.

Maybe she had more in common with Ross than she realized. A seemingly unattainable old crush suddenly in her life, maybe attainable, available.

Her drunken hands had a mind of their own, and she ran them through the silk of his hair. It felt wonderful between her fingers. Elise twirled some curls around her pointers and was rewarded by a groan from her cuddle buddy.

"Mmmmm, feels good!" His ankle tangle had become his calf and at that moment his whole thigh had inserted itself between her legs. She'd been ignoring the dull throb there for most of today, for days. The barest pressure was on her crux and she couldn't take this. She tensed and pulled, he moaned. Her hand dropped.

She felt his breath on her neck and then his head roll back to her shoulder. "Hey! Why'd you stop."

If she turned her head their boozy breaths would mingle and it would be their second almost kiss in as many days, and she couldn't take this.

Elise turned her head.

He blinked at her slow and the tequila sunset of his eyes was intoxicating. She let her eyes come down to his lips, and when his tongue peeped out to wet his mouth, hers moved on its own, "Harry?"

It needed to be asked right? She couldn't just let it happen.

"Elise." He breathed back and moved closer.

Tequila, and mint somewhere underneath, was all she tasted. Teeth and tongue, plump lips moving between and surrounding hers was what she felt, until his larger frame pressed her back onto the floor. She felt the one thigh almost against her center become his pelvis, flush. He pulled back, looked in her eyes and gave her a soft buss, resumed the eye contact. Elise leaned up like he had water and she was thirsty. The way his tongue played along the sides of hers, sliding over the top and out before he changed angles slightly and reinitiated had her lightheaded. Her skin was tight, especially where his hands were. Her clothes were heavy and hot, at her hips, around her rips, the sides of her breasts tingled, her shoulders were his palms held her open beneath him. Elise needed water. Was panting. She wasn't even sure how much the kiss had escalated, until his lips were moving over her neck and onto her collarbone, the thick strap of her top coming down, cold air and warm kisses on the swell of her cleavage. Pressure revolving between her thighs. The well was just ahead and if they kept at it, she'd dive in. Water water everywhere, so much to drink. To drown. She stilled.

"Elise?" Harry asked from where his hands and mouth had almost reached her nipples?

"I think we should stop."

[kagelama-tobiyolo]

Can i request a y/n×kunimi where y/n is this really physically and emotionally strong on the outside but theres actually something that happened in her past that to this day she still remembers(her father's death) then one day while y/n and kunimi are at y/n's house then kunimi leaves y/n for a while, but then y/n remembers what happened then she suddenly breaks down and kunimi tries to comfort her because she tries really hard to not let ppl see her crying and weak This actually happened to me

Oh no! I really hope you’re feeling better! I’m so sorry, this request has been sitting in my inbox for over a month and I feel so bad.

And a quick note, I wrote this from 3 to 4 am last night? morning? and I guess I was... having thoughts???

I don’t know, it’s kinda a wack drabble but I still hope you enjoy it! Ahaha...

People

Pairing: Kunimi x reader

Warnings: None really? a little depressing and quite wacky

***

It’s such a hard thing to be a human. That’s what I think at least. This world is filled with people and to get through life, you have to interact with them. People are rude. They’re terrible. They’re cunning. They pretend to be nice on the outside, but deep inside, no one cares for anyone other than themselves. A sad, sad, species we are.  

And since no one cares about anyone but themselves, you can only play one role. You can’t be your full you. No one will remember that much, no one will bother to try to grasp all of you. You play a character, one character, per set of people you meet. You can’t change it up halfway through, you can’t show that you were more than that.

If the character you decide to play at the beginning is strong and outgoing, you’re kind of stuck with it. It doesn’t quite matter if someone else enters your life or leaves. You have to stay the one character you are, or else people will think that you’re strange.

Because that’s what people are like.

That’s why being a human is so much easier when you’re younger. You don’t have many life-experiences yet, so you don’t have multiple characters. You can be your full self and it’ll be perfectly fine because you’re only one character. As you grow older, you find more, different parts of you. More things you like, more things you dislike, things you cherish and things that put a frown on your face.

Your father had passed away almost a year ago but you could remember it like yesterday. It was such a vivid memory of yours that won’t leave your head anytime soon. Time to time, you felt like breaking down. You felt like everything you ate wanted to come right back up.

You just wanted to cry.

But that wouldn’t do, because that’s not the character you’re playing. You play the strong, happy (Y/n), you weren’t allowed to cry.

Or so you thought.

You were in the middle of watching a movie with Kunimi but he had to step out to the washroom. You paused the movie and sat on the couch, staring blankly at the screen. You tried to sort your emotions and make sure you don’t break down, but it was hard.

And before you knew it, you were crying. A few seconds later, you felt two strong arms around you.

“I knew it. You wouldn’t cry if anyone was around you, would you? Is it your dad?”

Your eyes widened and you simply nodded. 

“Why do you pretend you’re fine?” he said as he pulled you off of the couch and hugged you as the two of you sat on the floor. 

“B-because, that’s not who I’m supposed to be--”

“Supposed to be? (Y/n) I think you’re stupid. No matter who you are, you cry when you’re sad and you smile when you’re happy.”

“But that doesn’t fit my character--”

“Character? One that doesn’t cry? Now that’s hella boring. Even fictional characters are more interesting than that.”

“But people won’t care! They’d just think I’m weird!”

He sighed tiredly and you stopped to listen to him. “I guess some people are like that, but not all. You need to trust more people, (Y/n)”

“But how do I know who to trust?”

“Hmm… I guess you can never be too sure about that…” he said. “But you could start with me.”

A few more tears slipped down your cheeks and you smiled a genuine smile. “Alright.”

[pamelalillian-isley]

Old Wounds

I feel like I need to get things off of my chest. Things that have been bothering me for some time now. Things I thought I have overcome. 

 I have been told by friends, that I am strong and powerful and that I take no shit. And when it comes to their wellbeing- I am most definitely the protector and the healer.  But when it comes to myself...all those words of hope and wisdom seem to just sit on the surface. 

I haven’t been in a serious relationship since 2017. And it’s not for lack of trying. I had one “boyfriend” and it lasted a month. Before that, I was in a relationship for 7 years with an emotionally and mentally abusive man. I won’t get into describing him or who he was- as I don’t have anything positive to say about him. But I will tell you about his actions, and how they weakened me. 

I had to beg for things that should be standard. I had to beg to be touched, beg to be treated like a girlfriend. He would sit in his computer chair playing video games all the time. When I’d come over, and we wanted to watch a movie together- he never say next to me on the bed or couch or even cuddled. He was always in the chair. Needless to say our sex life was garbage because it was hard to initiate things with someone who’s head is always in a video game. I am a casual gamer myself, and tried to get him to play games with me- but he always made up some excuse as to why he couldn’t. 

Whenever a holiday came around where gifts are given (birthday, xmas, valentines, and our anniversary)- the effort was always subpar. Excuses I heard for why I received no gift, frequently were “the package is delayed” “its on backorder” and “it arrived broken so i had to send it back.” As far as the rest of the effort to make something special...it didn’t exist. Flowers? Happened ONCE, and it was because I told my best friend to suggest to him that he get me flowers for my birthday. Making plans always landed on me. He always asked “what do you want to do for valentines day/our anniversary/ your birthday” I had to provide the plans. Meaning whatever the activity was, and whatever the restaurant was - I had to pick. Whenever it was something for him (his birthday) I planned surprise parties, a dinner at a fancy expensive steak house he always wanted to try, I planned bbq’s and parties. I cooked his favorite dinners. I did what any normal woman would do for someone she loves. The energy I gave, was not returned.

I started to think, maybe I’m asking too much. Maybe I am being unreasonable? Maybe guys aren’t like they are in movies. Maybe I am being too hard on him and he’s trying his best. What guy actually tells his girlfriend she’s beautiful? That only happens in movies... 

He wasn’t trying his best. He would manipulate me into feeling bad for asking for things that should be standard. He made me feel guilty for wanting affection. He made me feel like I was needy. He would accuse me of flirting or cheating, or he would get weirdly aggressive (not physically) if another man was being nice to me. He hated that I had male friends from college and from my days of playing xbox live. He called my friends sluts and cheaters (they aren’t). He would gaslight me into thinking I was nuts. One day I came over, and when I went to kiss him...his mouth...smelled like pussy. But what did I do? I was beaten down into thinking I was nuts...I denied it. I chalked it up to me jumping to conclusions and I never even mentioned it to him. Come to find out years later- he was cheating on me...with a very close friend OF MINE. And he was doing it on and off the entirety of our relationship. 

I never looked through his phone or asked for passwords. I respected his privacy...but my gut started to tell me something was wrong. After years of crying to my best friends about how unhappy I was, I started to become suspicious of things. After I’d leave his house for the night, I would drive about 10 minutes away, and then drive pass his house to see if *her* car was there. (I was suspicious about them for a while...but i NEVER had solid proof or evidence. And i never even tried to bring it up, because he would gaslight me and say things like ‘are you sure YOU aren’t cheating and you have a guilty conscience so you’re accusing me?’) 

So my anxiety got worse, as did my depression. I have tons of other stories and examples of him being a piece of shit- but we’d be here all day, and this is already long af.

 Until one day I just couldn’t do it anymore. I woke up from a nightmare. In my dream I had basically faded away into someone I didn’t recognize. I basically turned into his mother. Not his mother like I babied him and mothered him. But I mean, I was in the same position as his mother. In real life, his mother was miserable. She hated her husband (his father). She was financially dependent on him and couldn’t work due to health issues. She dealt with a verbally, emotionally and physically abusive man. She let herself go. She gained weight, stopped doing her hair and makeup. She stopped dressing nice. She became a shell of who she was. And she would come into the room when I was over, and she’d talk to me and say shit like “I wish I had money. I’d take my kids and gtfo” (my ex had a younger brother). In hindsight, I think she was trying to warn me. I think whenever she came in to vent and to talk and say things like “i wish I could leave him”- i think she saw what was happening...and I think she was dropping hints.  Anyway, in my dream....my life ended up just like hers. 

I woke up in a panic and sweaty. I called him and told him I couldn’t do it anymore. I told him it was over. That I wasn’t happy, and I didn’t want to beg him for attention. I didn’t want to beg him to treat me like a girlfriend. Afterword he went on facebook and posted “7 years down the drain with a phone call” as his status. THE FUCKING AUDACIDTY. A few days later he wanted to meet up to talk. I thought he was going to come clean, or apologize for being a shit head and try to get me back. No. Instead he took that opportunity to shit on me. All those things he told me he loved about me, he used against me. He said I emasculated him. He said I was too aggressive, too needy, too much. He then accused me of infidelity and yelled “you can go back to whoever you’re fucking now" as we walked away to our separate cars. 

A week after I broke up with him, I had found out that he was indeed cheating on me with that girl, the entire time. I found out, that because I was out of the picture, they were openly together. To my surprise I wasn’t pissed. I laughed. I actually laughed for a solid 5 minutes. I felt....vindicated. Because what my gut had told me the entire time WAS true. I WASN’T crazy. I knew it the whole fucking time. 

And now I was free. To be honest I ended up spiraling out a bit. Got into cocaine and alcohol to numb the feeling that I wasted 7 years with someone like that. I was so angry at myself for not leaving sooner, for ignoring those red flags, for losing myself and who I was. I stayed in that spiral of doom for about a year.

 Things started to get better and I thought “lets try some casual dating.” What a terrible idea. Not only had I just gotten over the trauma, but I hadn’t fully healed. My worth felt....worthless. The bar was SO FUCKING LOW, that I attracted total idiot fuck boys. “Oh my god he called me beautiful”  *insert eyeroll here*

Its been 4 years now. I do want to be in a relationship. I have tried. But it always comes up short. They either don’t want to commit, or they’re alcoholics, or they’re misogynists'. Mostly its been men who don’t want to commit. Everyone just wants to fuck and run. I tried the fun, no strings attached thing. It got old really fast. Either I caught feelings, OR the sex ended up being boring because I prefer sex with emotions. I prefer being really into someone romantically when having sex. So FWB isn’t for me. 

But I am slowly accepting that maybe I won’t ever meet anyone. That maybe I’ll be that cool wacky aunt to my friends kids. A majority of my friends are married and some already have kids. I am already their crazy auntie. And maybe that’s my roll in life. Maybe I will be that woman who never marries, but travels the world and experiences life and has amazing stories and wisdom. 

But deep down inside....I’d really like to know what it feels like to be loved. I am loved by friends and family. But I have never experienced what its like to be loved romantically. I have never been kissed by someone who loves me. 

[bebepac]

Apple Crisps

This week’s #wacky drabble is using the prompt by @emceesynonymroll prompt of “How many (food item) have you eaten?”

I actually got a chromebook yesterday! Holla back! So no more typing on my smartphone, which consequently is the only way i could figure out how to make my masterlist upload.   Yeah i don’t know either.  I’m tech dumb.

As always, I tagged people who have either liked or shared my work or people i hope to get to know in the future I hope you don’t mind, and of course if you like my storytelling please like and share!!

@dcbbw  @janezillow @kacie-0156 @queenjilian @kingliam2019 @loveellamae @annekebbphotography @hopefulmoonobject @waytooattuned @queencordonia @emceesynonymroll @lodberg @kimmiedoo5 @bbrandy2002

@burnsoslow  @texaskitten30 @kaitycole @glaimtruelovealways @custaroonie

@mrsdrakewalkerblog

All characters belong to pixelberry.  Oh and just in case since i’m a newbie here, Riley’s food item is Doritos, and of course i’m not the owner of Doritos.  

Summary: TRH land with Riley pregnant.  Liam goes to the store to get her pregnancy craving food.

Warnings: the usual profanity. I just love me some F-bomb guys, i need to do better.

”What the Frick are Apple Crisps Liam?!?!?!?”

But.... she didn’t say frick.  She dropped the F bomb in the middle of court angered after her adorable husband tried to get a food for her that she was craving and failed miserably at it.  We’re getting ahead of ourselves.  We’ll circle back to that.

Riley and Liam sit on the Dais on their matching thrones overseeing the event.   Liam reaches over touching her stomach, with a sweet smile of pride on his face.  Riley puts her hand on top of his smiling back.  It was the perfect time in that moment for the baby to kick, which little one did.   They were a little more than 4 months along now, and Riley was beginning to finally have a decent sized baby bump.

“Love you.”

“Love you more,” he responds back.  

Riley puts a hand up to her mouth to politely hide her yawn. She gently rubbed her stomach for a while glancing around the room.  

“Oh my god…”

“What is it Hana? Drake started to panic looking around.

“Look at Riley!”

“Is she…..”  

“She can’t be… “ Maxwell looked shocked.

“She’s asleep.” Drake says laughing.  Olivia joins in.  

They watch Riley; her arm that was resting on her stomach slides down limply beside her. Her head rolling to the side.

Someone screams.  Riley doesn’t even flinch.

“Queen Riley has fainted!!!!”

Liam hears jumping up in horror to glance into Riley’s face.  Her eyes are closed, head resting on the side of the throne.  

“Riley?  Oh god Riley!!”

He shakes her.

Riley startled awake screams, “DORITOS!!!”

“Oh my god tell me you got that.?!?!?!”

“Yep, this is better than Maxwell’s lady screams when Riley drove home that day.”  

“How could you fall asleep Riley?!?!?!?!?!?”  Liam said in a forced whisper pulling Riley up from the throne.

Liam turns to quiet the crowd that is in a panic thinking that something terrible has happened to Queen Riley.

“I assure you all Queen Riley is just fine.  She needs a little break from the festivities because of her condition.  We will return shortly.”  Liam smiled apologetically as he addressed the crowd.

He pulls Riley into one of the back rooms.

Their friends meet them in the back room away from everyone else.

“Did she fall asleep?” They laughed.

Riley’s eyes welled with tears.  “It’s the baby.  The baby is a night owl like me.  Moves all night, and I can’t sleep.  I’m so exhausted.”

She sits down in a chair.  “All I want is a bag of Doritos and a root beer is that too much to ask?”  Riley is now sobbing.  “Can I just have some Doritos please?”

“Wow, they aren’t kidding about pregnant women being emotional.”

“I will get your Doritos,” Liam sounds unsure. “Just what is a Dorito?”

“How do you not know what Doritos are?  They’re great.” Drake said.

“Right!!! See Drake gets me.”

Drake winked at Riley.

“I’ll go get them,” Liam said heading out the door.  

Liam returns shortly with a bag, looking like the hero.

“Here you go.”

She squealed in delight, giving Liam a kiss to his lips which he quickly returned.    She reached into the paper bag, pulling out the snack bag.  The huge smile on her face fades.

She looks at the bag and rolls her eyes.

“What the fuck are Apple Crisps Liam?!?!?!?  Why the hell is your face on the bag eating one?”

“Salty, sweet treats that bring out the King in you.” Drake, Oliva, Maxwell say in unison.

“We don’t have Doritos; the clerk swore they were the next best thing.  My father loved Apple Crisps, hence why the King is the spokesperson for them.”

“You people and your damn apples, I’m so over it!!!!”

They all collectively gasp.

“YOU TAKE THAT BACK!!!!!!!” Maxwell screams.

“NO.”

The next afternoon Drake comes over with a delivery box.

“Got you a present Brooks, are you ok?”

“I can’t keep anything down, breakfast and lunch snacks nothing.”

“Maybe these will help.”

She opens the box.  There are about 10 bags of Doritos inside.

She gives Drake a huge hug.  “Thanks Drake, I love you!!!!” She immediately regretted saying those words.

“I love you too.” He whispers softly his eyes lingering on hers. She quickly broke his gaze.

“Drake don’t…”

“I knew that he’d mess it up.”

“Drake!”

“I had already ordered them online on my phone before he left.”

Drake, he’s your best friend.”

“Is he though?”  

“Anyway, I’m going to head out.  I hope these make you happy, because that’s all I ever want to do you know, is make you happy.  Eat one.”

She opens the bag inhaling the cheesy scent.

She eats one, moaning in delight.  Drake couldn’t help but watch as she licked her lips.  ”Yassssssss!!!! So good!”

She proceeds to eat nothing but Doritos and drink caffeine free root beer for the rest of the day.  

Riley wakes up the next morning expecting morning sickness but she doesn’t have any.

“Whaaaaat?????”

“How many Doritos did you eat today, Love?”

“Millions of billions…. Drake’s ordering another case.”

“Riley are you going to eat real food today?”

“Depends, if I get any morning sickness eating these? So far I haven’t.”

The whole day she eats Doritos and Root beer with no signs of morning sickness.

****Dinner Time****

Liam is reeling in anger as Riley brings a bag of Doritos to the table with her. “NO, you WILL eat actual food. That’s my baby in there too Riley.”

Dinner looked wonderful.  Grilled chicken, asparagus and potatoes, and did taste good.  Not even 15 minutes later she was in the bathroom vomiting.  

Liam waited patiently outside the bathroom door.  

“What’s that look?”

“Other than I told you so?”

“This baby is a girl Liam.”  

“How do you know?”

“She’s a mini-me. She likes staying up late, and loves junk food, just like her mama.”

“I always wanted a little princess that is just like her mama.” He kisses her cheek rubbing her stomach affectionately.

#wacky drabbles #trr #trrfanfic #cordonia #queenriley #riley #thelifeofriley #trh #kingliam #love #pregnancycravings #whatthefrick #applecrisps

[magnumdays]

Magnum PI 2x20 - A Leopard on the Prowl review-ish

So I watched 2x20 after 2x19 both times and maybe that colored my view of it a little. In a both good and bad way. I enjoyed 19 so thoroughly I kind of just had a good feel going into this ep, since we started with some Miggy with the lads (always a good time) I had high hopes for this episode as well. At the same time I wasn’t sure how it was going to beat 19. Which it solved by not doing.

Yeah, as far as a season finale I’d say this one was pretty weak. Where was Ivan? Where was the personal stakes and involvement? Icepick is not a important enough character for us to care about and while there was some worry for Rick it all felt a tad bit lack luster - for a season finale. If not for the whole Higgins is leaving (which to be honest I was kind of figuring wouldn’t happen even with the way they’d been building it up) this wouldn’t have felt like a finale at all.

So yeah, this should have just been a normal episode. We could have skipped the Vigilant or Love tour ep. and used the Icepick plot for one of those instead and had a totally different season finale...maybe with Ivan? This seasons big bad? Or are they setting Ivan up as the whole series big bad? Because that would suck (as some of you know I found Ivan to be like the lamest bad guy ever.)

Yeah. That’s how I’d have done it but...

On the plus side we did get some nice moments, starting out we got Magnum worrying Higgins will go back to London and decide she wants to stay...maybe she’ll meet someone... (I swear, some lines make me think Lenkov is co-captain of the Miggy ship with me...)

And later when he’s out paddling he admits to himself he’s really going to miss her. We also have Miggy having a little bit of a thing with the “You’re bailing on our partnership - I’m NOT! Turing into a I’m sad you’re leaving but you know I’m still going to bother you all the time while you’re in England...” 

I feel like if Rick hadn’t shown up we might have gotten some more emotion here. But he does walk in and I guess that’s a symptom of this whole episode.

There are a lot of things that could have leveled it up but failed to, emotion vise. Like how about Icepick doing the robbery to keep Rick safe because someone was using him as leverage? Instantly I care more about him and there for would care more about everything.

Or actually having Magnum work to “fix” the visa problem rather than just randomly handing it off to Robin. I mean I already winged about this in the 2x19 review a bit but having Magnum actually have to trade some favors or make some promises would have been nice. Maybe having him reach out to some dangerous contact he had at the CIA from back in the days or something that could come back to bite him. 

Or radical thought HAVE HIGGINS ACTUALLY HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE UK. I didn’t think this was really a possibility even before watching the episode and while I don’t mind the whole “Higgy now owns Robin’s Nest” (in fact I really enjoy it) it did feel like a bit of a cop out. Like what was the point of the whole visa expiring and fake wedding fake outs? Nothing changed other than that she is now officially Magnum’s boss and own’s Robin’s Nest. Was that what it was all about? Then why not go there straight away and skip the whole fake wedding bit?

We had all this angsty build up with her deciding not to marry Mangum and then no one at all and time running out. It could have been a bit bittersweet and almost fixed the rest of the episode if it had just ended on Magnum and Higgins hugging at the airport or before she gets in the cab after everyone throw her a party. He could have gone “see you in six months”  and she’d be all “Count on it“.

I’m not sure if they didn’t go that route because they were worried about not getting renewed and thought this would be their last episode ever and they wanted to wrap it up neatly with a bow on top or what? 

It’s not like having a six month time skip would have been that big of a problem, or having the first episode of season 3 be Magnum constantly calling Higgins while she’s in London. 

With the time difference this could have been hilarious he’d be phoning her in the middle of the night because it’s day time in Hawaii and/ or the other way around. Maybe there could even be some totally implausible snow. Miggy could also both have matching calendars with the days counting down until she can return... Then we could have had 3x02 in England when Magnum and Gordon (and maybe his son) come for a visit. (I may or may not also already ranted about this and how great it could be.)

So yeah, this was a fine random episode and I’d have probably really enjoyed it a lot as one - but because for this I had “season finale expectations” it didn’t really do it for me. I did try to not even think of it like that on my second watch and that actually made it work a lot better.

I it does have stuff going for it; there are no unrelated off-theme subplots to get annoyed by, Rick gets some actual good reason for being in the story, the investigation is fairly tight if in true Magnum fashion rather unbelievable, the word “laptop-ing” is used, a crazy fight on top of a moving truck, the Ferrari for some reason being able to drive in reverse but not normally (is this a thing? that just seemed overly stupid to me but I know nothing about cars.)  

Plus we have Higgins saying goodbye to the lads, which is honestly like in my top ten Higgy moments of this season.

Verdict: My mother enjoyed it.

 In end we do get our faves looking adorable (I really love Higgy in red)

Look at my babies being all happy 

Seriously I kind of almost like this scene better as gifs because they look really-really happy when you just look at them, even if the conversation was somewhat...not what I’d been hoping for. In fact I actually want to talk about the weirdness of it; 

Magnum: “So you’re not going?”

Higgins: “Um, you want me to?”

Magnum: “No!”

Why would she ask that? She actually manged to sound like she’s genuinely worried he is unhappy about her staying - when she knows he is the one that set it all in motion. When he’s been working so hard to make sure she gets to stay. This is either terrible writing or brilliant writing because either they forgot Higgy knows Magnum did this for her OR they’re revealing just how important Magnum’s opinions are to her (and how she’s still unsure he really wants her around). I don’t know, maybe I’m reading too much into it but it seems a rather strange thing to ask otherwise.

Now onto  the next part of the conversation which is equally baffling.

Magnum: “I’m just... surprised. What did they do?“

I mean I guess he could be suprised if didn’t check in with Robin but wouldn’t he have called Robin to see how things were going on the visa thing? Shouldn’t he be saying “I knew Robin would come through for us you! What he/they do?” because he basically just trusted that Robin would fix it for him. 

By just having this conversation go maybe a little different 

“So you get to stay?”

“I do.“

(I’d love for her to say I do at some point because of the whole wedding that wasn’t...Maybe we could get a hug here... like come on guys! If there was anything that could have redeemed the whole thing a Miggy hug is pretty high on my list)

Slightly awkward stepping back moment.

“I knew Robin would come through for us you! What he/they do?”

It would just have read a lot better and given us a tad bit more payoff for the visa wedding wackiness that was the past few episodes. Which I’m still not sure why they did that because they sure as heck didn’t use it for maximum drama. I’d almost be able to believe they did randomly go to AO3 and check the popular fics and decided since Marriage of Inconvenience was kinda popular they should do something like that...and then failed utterly to execute it any kind of satisfying way. (I know I know, I’m giving myself way too much credit...)

Still, over all I’m not sure what I feel about this episode. There was nothing super wrong with it but it really wasn’t a finale. Higgins departure/ visa plot turned out to not really mean or change anything. No one but Icepick seemed to have more than like a second of feels during the whole thing. Some stuff just needed more.

So yeah, that’s my thoughts on the matter. I meant for this to be short because I didn’t think I had that much to say about this episode. As it turns out, I kind of sort of did. I guess that’s to be expected as it was the finale! What did you guys think? Love it or hate it? Somewhere in that even more dangerous “whatever zone”?

[just-my-fandom]

Lost (Jim Hopper x Reader x Steve Harrington)

Summary; Reader finds Jim’s letter he wrote for her and Steve. Extra, Reader adopts Eleven and stays in Hawkins, becoming the new chief of Hawkins

This includes a lot of angsty fluff with Steve, you’re welcome. This also went totally off topic but oh well

Hey guess what it’s my bIRTHDAY, in like, three hours lmao

I had to write this again and it’s pissing me off

______________________________________________

The sirens knock you from your trance. The paramedics finally let you go after patching your bloody nose, and now your eyes searched for the Chief of Hawkins

You find Joyce, holding Will tight in tears that already answer your question

Just like Billy, Jim Hopper is dead.

You don’t want to believe it. You can’t. You had hoped maybe, just maybe, Jim would come out from behind an ambulance, looking for you, or Eleven

Your knees can no longer support your body. You collapse in front of paramedics and friends, and Steve barely pushes by the crowds in time to catch you,

“Hey, hey,” Steve slowly kneels at the parking lot beneath him, hand shoving sweat damped hair from your forehead, “What’s wrong?”

Joyce looks over at Steve’s voice, releasing Will to inch towards you and sink down in front of you,

“Y/N,” She breathes, “I’m so sorry,”

“No,” You gasp in a deep breath, burning eyes leaving hers as your hand clutched at Steve’s Scoops Ahoy shirt, “No, he has to be here,”

Steve looks up at Joyce with realization, your sob bringing his gaze back down to you when your head leans into his chest,

Steve’s hand curls into your hair, lowering his body fully to the ground to get a better grip around your trembling figure,

“It’s okay,” Steve slowly speaks, voice low so only you could hear, “Dont worry, I got you,”

People look away. Pained to watch the daughter of the Chief so hurt. Even Eleven can’t feel your pain.

. . .

The room is now empty. Joyce had volunteered to clean Jim’s room in case you couldn’t contain any emotions, but your face had Joyce suggesting you take the job,

So here you sat, filling up the last box of Jim’s shirts and papers,

But one catches your eye

It’s sticking out of Jim’s wacky Hawaiian shirt, and when you pull it out, is crumbled from being folded too many time,

Held tilting in confusion, you sit back off your legs to get more comfortable, opening the letter and instantly recognizing your fathers terrible handwriting

"Feelings. Jesus. The truth is, for so long, I'd forgotten what those even were. I'd been stuck in one place; in a cave, you might say. A deep, dark cave. And then your mother gave me custody of you, and I was brought from that cave. For the first time in a long time, I started to feel things again. I started to feel happy. Lately, I guess I've been feeling distant from you. Like you're pulling away from me, or something. I miss playing board games every night with Eleven , making Triple Decker Eggo Extravaganzas at sunrise, watching Westerns together before we doze off. But I know you're getting older - older than you already are. I guess, if I'm being really honest, that's what scares me. I don't want things to change. So I think that's maybe why I came in here, to stop that change. To turn back the clock. To make things go back to how they were. You’re graduated, you’re in love. But I know that's naive; that's just now how life works. It's moving, always moving, whether you like it or not. And yeah, sometimes that's painful. Sometimes it's sad. And sometimes, it's surprising, happy. So, you know what? Keep on growing up, kid. Don't let me stop you. Make mistakes. Learn from them. When life hurts you, because it will, remember the hurt. The hurt is good. It means you're out of that cave. But please - if you don't mind, for the sake of your poor, old dad - keep the door open three inches.”

A cracked laugh escapes your lips. It’s watery, and it’s the first laugh in almost a week, but it’s there,

Your father always was terrible with emotions, no matter who it was. You weren’t sure if it was because of loosing Sara and your mom leaving, or if he was just that kind of man

You’re afraid to let the note go. It’s the last visible piece you have of him left, and you feared it would disappear like he had done,

So you don’t. You tuck the note into the back pocket of your jeans, lift the box, and walk out with a smile knowing how Jim really felt.

. . .

“So, what are you gonna do?”

You look up from the box in your arms, staring at Joyce has she slides her hands in her pockets

“I think El and I are gonna stay here,” You finally breathe, setting down the box near the door of the small cabin for Eleven to grab, “Eleven needs Mike and the others, I’m not quite ready to leave Steve yet,” You glance to the side, then around the destroyed home

“Are you going to be okay here alone?” Joyce asks calmly, your eyes looking back at her,

“I’m not alone,” You crack a smile, Joyce smiling back and opening her arms for a hug, squeezing your shoulders lightly,

“You want to stay here while I grab the papers?” Joyce leans back, accepting your nod and second smile,

“So?” Mike and Eleven look over when you enter her now empty room, your figure leaning against the doorframe,

You pause, before a large smile tugs at your lips and Mike is glancing at Eleven,

“We’re staying,”

“Really?” Mike gasps, turning to Eleven and hugging her, “But doesn’t Joyce want you guys leaving with them?”

“I’m a grown woman,” You lift a shoulder, “And I’m at the age to adopt, so Elevens technically my daughter now,” You grin, Eleven grimacing,

“And please,” You point a finger two them, “Keep the door three inches,”

You move into the hallway, Eleven gasping at the familiar sentence,

“That’s dads line!”

. . .

“I’m glad you could make it, Y/N,”

You enter the back area of the police station, smiling at Florence,

“You needed to see me?” You tilt your head, Florence nodding and standing up, moving to a shelf with a familiar brown hat- Jim’s Chief hat,

“I figured Jim would want you to have this,” Florence hands you the hat, watching you run your fingers across the front, “Besides, you’ll need it during work hours,”

“Work hours?” You pinch your eyebrows together, turning as she moves back to her seat, “What does that mean?”

“You’re the new Chief, of course,” Florence leans back in her seat, “Unless you don’t want it, but I would’ve thought you’d like to keep your family name going,”

“I-,” Your brows furrow again, staring down at the hat, “Yeah. Yeah, of course I want it,”

“Great,” Florence holds up a uniform already in your size, “You start Monday. Gives you the weekend to settle back in with that other kid of Jim’s,”

“Thank you,” You take the uniform, “I’ll see you on Monday,”

“You got it Chief,”

. Another time skip oof .

“I think I like this place,”

Your hands settle on your hips, eyes scanning the living room of the small home you bought near Dustin’s,

“Me too,” Eleven moves next to you, scanning the house herself for approval,

You look down at her, throwing an arm around her shoulder, “Dad would be proud of you,” You tell her, Eleven sliding her arm to your lower back,

“He would be proud of you too,” Eleven moves to the table in the corner, picking up Jim’s hat and walking up to you, standing on her toes to place it on your head, “Chief Hopper,”

“I’m definitely gonna have to get used to that,” Your smile widens, tugging Eleven against you and holding her in a hug,

“Want me to drop you off at Mikes on my way to Steve’s?” You pull of the hat, grabbing your keys and moving towards the door,

Eleven grins, nodding and following you out of the house, slamming the door shut behind her,

“But remember,” You warn, turning to her, “Keep the door three inches,”

[dirt-cup-draco]

Loki X Reader

Requested by the lovely @starofthedawn <3 It’s spooky season y’all! 30 "No?? Of course I'm not scared... who gets scared of... floating objects or... um weird sounds? Not me, that's for sure." 53 "There will be a lot of screaming tonight." 84 "Oh, this isn't a costume, this is my natural state of being." 

Loki watched as you fidgeted in your seat uncomfortably. Tony had just had the bright idea that spending a night in a supposedly haunted house would be a relief from the daily work load of “tracking down baddies and kicking ass” as the billionaire had so eloquently put it. His lips twitched up. The god had seen you go into battle with an iron stomach and steel heart, cutting down people like it was nothing. Yet, it seemed as if you were spooked by Tony’s proposal. 

“My lady Y/N, might you be frightened?” He challenged, eyebrow raising. You flushed and looked away. Steve glared from a distance and Sam looked amused. 

"No?? Of course I'm not scared... who gets scared of... floating objects or... um weird sounds? Not me, that's for sure." You scoffed, extending your legs so you could kick at the plush carpet beneath you. Nat stuck an elbow in your side and you jumped, eyes narrowing at her quickly before shooting back to Loki. 

“C’mon Reindeer games, our brave Y/N is coming, and she is delighted to,” Tony put the words in your mouth and your shoulders sagged. Loki nearly felt bad but it was almost delightful seeing you act in such a way. It was good seeing you had fears, that you weren’t a perfectly graceful, wonderfully brave, sickeningly good hero. The fact that you were fearful of possible spirits in an old creaky house made his heart swell that much more. 

He wouldn’t admit it but you had a piece of his heart that you had obtained, not willingly on his part might he add. He would never purposefully fall for a human. Pitiful meat sacks. 

---

“I need to go see my grandma!” You battled, struggling against Sam who had you over his shoulder, your fists pounding against his back. 

“She’s been dead for seventeen years,” Sam shot back. 

“I can’t forget to feed my pet fish!” You tried again.

“You don’t have one, come on stop being a wuss this will be fun!” Your friend encouraged, smacking the back of your thigh as you wacked his back particularly hard. 

“I left my stove on?” You mentioned in a last ditch effort. 

“You know Stark has some wacky tech that turns everything off to preserve energy,” 

You groaned as Sam set you down and you glared more, your arms folding across your chest as he tossed your bags into the trunk. You stomped around for a second and tried to run past but Loki was suddenly materializing, his arm going around your shoulders. You tensed but your fight was suddenly gone at the god’s touch. 

“You look as pale as a ghost darling, getting prepared for Halloween ahead of schedule?” He teased, his hand dragging lazily from your shoulder down to your elbow and back up leaving you warmer than you should be in the last week of October. 

"Oh, this isn't a costume, this is my natural state of being." You shot back as he set his hand on your lower back, guiding you into the car. You took note of how he stood behind you so you couldn’t try and book it back to the tower. 

Sam was behind the wheel, Bucky next to him in the passenger seat. Bruce and Scott took the two middle seats and Thor sat in the back. That left you sitting next to Loki. At least the trip wouldn’t be a huge bust, you could at least admire your crush. It was childish but he had captured your heart with a single look and you found yourself at his mercy, whether he knew it or not. 

You however, were grumpy that he had stopped your retreat so you took the other window seat, leaving the middle seat for him, his eyes narrowed because he now had to sit next to his talkative brother. 

The first hour and a half was in fact filled with Thor’s booming voice and you nearly felt bad but the blonde god eventually tired and he let his head slump against the window, nodding off. Bucky and Sam murmured to songs and Bruce read while Scott drummed his fingers against his legs, earphones in place, a to a song no one else could hear. 

You let your gaze fall on Loki and found he was already looking at you, suddenly the beauty of the colorful trees and country fell away and you could only think of how his eyes were the most beautiful thing you’d ever seen. It had taken you by surprise. You gulped. 

“Are you that worried about the little get away?” He asked, misguided by your sudden intake of breath.

“I think it’s a great idea, really, I just feel like we are asking for trouble like in those movies where the dumb college kids go and get murdered because they thought it’d be cool to camp out, ya know? Like the dumb blonde showers and gets shanked, and the horny couple fucks and gets shanked, everyone gets shanked is my point.” You stated.

Loki was clearly amused and you were sure you hadn’t said anything funny. He was just thinking that you were something else, you could gut a man but you were fearful of becoming a horror cliche. A wicked grin pulled at his features and he leaned in, breath fanning hot against your neck, lips brushing against your earlobe causing you to shiver. “Can we be the horny couple?” 

You blushed deep red and your mouth gaped, you turned to face him and squeaked when you saw the short vicinity. You struggled to find words. Finally you settled on, “Fuck off Loki,” Your eyes darting back out the window. You know he liked messing with you but sometimes you wish he wasn’t. Your flirty exchanges had been going on for a while, him being bold and all but you know it was just to get to you and there was no meaning behind it. It was just how Loki was, sensual yet deceitful. You tried to not let the words get to you.

--

When you arrived, you were the first to undo your seat belt, climbing over Loki and exiting the car, still embarrassed from what he had said earlier. He however fought the urge to pull you into his lap and kiss you breathless, your sweet blush making his heart stir around in his chest. But he let you pass and you went to Tony and Steve who were waiting outside the decrepit house, a scowl on your face. Loki exited the vehicle and hovered around you and the two other men. 

He made a show of letting his eyes roam around the place, taking note of the lake just a short distance from the house, the rest was forest. 

“This is stupid we are all going to get aids or rabies or something,” You grumbled, foot digging at the gravel. 

“We are not,” Steve cut in.

“I promise it’s mostly sanitary, just a little run down,” Tony reassured. “But there is the matter of rooms, there are more of us than rooms and well, everyone else already called dibs, so you and you know who are sharing the upstairs bedroom to the left. 

Loki turned around and looked at Tony. He nearly cheered when he found the man’s eyes were already pointed in his direction. He got to share a bedroom with you. And your cheeks were that delicious shade of scarlet he was becoming so accustomed to. 

You stalked over to Loki, a pout on your full lips as you shared the news. 

"I guess there will indeed be a lot of screaming tonight." Loki teased. 

You rolled your eyes. “Stop being gross, Loki,” His smile fell. Usually you shot right back but all today you had shut down everything he’d said. He honestly wasn’t used to it. Was he being gross? He thought you had liked the flirting. He thought you had some feelings for him, even. Maybe he was wrong. 

Disheartened he got his bags and followed you into the building, the wind chilling his nose. He was glad to be inside. Your comment and the weather had left him feeling quite chilled. 

--

Sam made dinner and a fire was lit inside, tony brought a broom and swept around, making the dust rise. You wrinkled your nose and said you were going to bed early. Loki decided he wouldn’t follow immediately. 

“Jesus, if I thought the kid would be this miserable I wouldn’t have forced her to come,” Tony said regretfully, had rubbing the back of his neck. 

Loki sighed, “It might have actually been something I said...” Everyone’s eyes were immediately on him and he felt small. A chorus of “what did you do this time?” and “what’d you say?” rang out. He didn’t like it but maybe your friends understood why you were suddenly being so cold to him. 

“It was just harmless teasing!” He defended. Wanda was the first one to show some understanding.

“I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I don’t want you to piss her off more,” The woman’s voice lowered. “She really likes you you idiot, ‘harmless’ isn’t so harmless when you actually care about the person,” 

Loki looked around. Everyone was nodding in understanding. “You mean to tell me Y/N has feelings for me?” 

Sam groaned. “I thought you picked up on desires and all that shit,” 

“Not when he is blinded by his own!” Thor chuckled loudly, delighted that his brother’s emotions were being discussed. 

The dark haired god elbowed his brother and sent him a chilling glare before standing. “I am going to retire for the night I think,” 

He was nudged and bumped and a couple people whistled while Steve reminded him to be mindful of your feelings. It nearly made him gag. The stairs creaked and he had to fight the urge to look behind him. He wasn’t scared but he could understand your discomfort with the place. 

When Loki opened the door you were sitting at the edge of the bed, staring at your unopened suit case. “Thinking about leaving?” He said, simply to make you aware of his presence. 

You whipped around and shrugged. “No, everyone wants me to be here, I wont ditch even if this is probably the worst thing I’ve had to do all year.” 

“Ouch, didn’t think sharing a room with me was so terrible,” He tried but worried he had crossed another line. 

“Thats not it Loki, I dont care about that, I just dont like spooky shit, even movies bug me. I haven’t gone to a haunted house since I was fourteen.” 

“You know me,” He said, sitting next to you, “What other monsters are there left for you to be frightened of?” 

You frowned deeply, eyes connecting with his. “You aren’t a monster Loki,” 

He shrugged indifferently. 

“Clowns though, clowns are fucked up. And demons, and ghosts, and-” you sighed. “I’m being silly aren’t I?” 

Loki shook his head. “Everyone has something they fear,” He stated. 

“And what is it that you fear oh mighty Loki?” You asked earnestly but with a jesting tone, leaving him an out. This conversation was nearing dangerous waters and you didn’t want to pressure him into sharing. 

 Loki took a steadying breath. He didn’t mind being honest with you. “That I am damned to be unloved all my life, that I will only be seen as the defective son of Odin, that there is no place for me in this world, nor in Asgard.” 

Your gaze softened and your hand crawled to his. You intertwined your fingers and squeezed gently. “That isn’t true,” you muttered, “You are loved whether you recognize it or not, you have made up for any wrongs committed and you have a place here with m- us, with us....” 

He looked at your intertwined fingers and thought about how yours fit perfectly in his. “Who do you think loves me?” His heart stuttered in his chest. The obvious answer being Thor but he couldn’t be sure that there was any other being outside of his forgiving brother who truly had love for him. The look in your eye made him hopeful though and he suddenly decided that he could push his luck. 

“I am positive you at least have an idea,” You whispered, you pressed your leg against his and looked up at him from your eyelashes. You hadn’t withdrawn your hand yet. 

He could practically hear your heart bursting from your chest and he watched your pulse quicken. Loki’s own heart was working quicker than it had in a long time and he was melting in your warm bubble. The air between you two was charged. 

It didn’t take much and he wasn’t sure who leaned in first but his lip was barely brushing against yours. Your breath hitched and you were nearly afraid to move. Loki gulped and let his hand fall from yours to fall at the nape of your neck as he pulled you against him. You automatically stretched, pressing your chest against his. His other hand went to your hip. 

He experimented and pressed his lips more firmly against yours, his heart thumping when you reacted, your hot breath coming out in a gasp when you chased his mouth with yours. By the time you were sated your chest was heaving and you were in his lap. 

“I’m thinking” Loki spoke, his voice not sounding like his own,”That you might have to tell me one more time who loves me,” 

You rolled your eyes and went to go grab your pajamas but he saw a smile at the corner of you swollen lips. 

“I’m thinking this trip might turn out okay,” You said before walking into the bathroom to change. 

Loki could only grin. 

[mynameisdreartblog]

Structural Isomers 2

Leo: 2,3-Dimethylheptane. It’s just… my life is so average that I gotta force myself into others’ situations; how else am I gonna get a thrill? Do you feel me, Viz? <The amusement park ride begins to take off, revealing the mildly broad view of the Guatemalan cityscape. The smell of barbeque holds back the tears Oro was ready to shed because ferris wheels strike a particular emotional nerve for him.> «Uh… my advice is that what you’re doing isn’t necessarily a bad thing. To be philosophical, nothing anyone does is bad.» Even murder and like, murdering children? «Yeah, not even that can constitute you as a bad person. And that’s true ‘cause everyone alive now has come here with a purpose, and those purposes can manifest in many ways in our lives.» <The carriage buckles a bit, enough to make noticeable the snot on Oro’s hand> ...You sound like you’re heading into some wacky territory, but I’ll bite. <Viz takes another bite into the corndog that seemingly materialized from his pocket> «So, because of this highly encoded model of fate, that means that even the worst shit that happens to you happens for a reason.» Even cancer and like, terminal cancer? «Redundant, but yes.» Hmm… <Oro takes a small bite of Viz’s corn dog while he’s distracted> I think there’s some moral holes in that, Viz. «It’s funny ‘cause that isn’t real either!» Okay, you’re just fucking with me now; may Jesus find your lost soul. «Sounds like you can’t see past yourself!» <The carriage buckles again but harder, knocking the corn dog out of Viz’s hand and revealing the loogie Oro was hiding.> So you’re saying that it’s commendable for me to put myself where I don’t belong? «Hold on, I never said that, but… actually, you should just be proud for who you are. Take yourself as you are, and you can then begin to do the same to others. Forget about the idea of souls and deeper selves entirely.» Whatever you say, homie.

Taurus: 3,3-Diethylpentane. «Gresham.» <He peeks his head from washing the dishes to divert attention to the voice that called him> What is it, Sanjay? «Hmm, I was gonna ask you questions about how nonsensical this world is, but my mind immediately shifted to asking you how you got to this point.» This point? Like, the quality of life I possess currently? «What else?» I would’ve preferred to point out the ridiculousness of this whole ordeal, but I understand your shift. Shoot! «Do you think the ways you’ve gotten to where you are now were… unethical?» There’s a lot you’re holding in your mouth when you ask a question like that. As a lover of difficult questions, I won’t answer that until the day’s done. «Uh-» No complaining, or I’ll cut your pay by 30%. <Sanjay thinks to himself> That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to him about: He has to be aware, right? There’s no way his skull is that dense, and his jokes are too clever! <Gresham finishes washing the last remaining plate and slides it atop the rack. Afterwards, he walks back to his usual position in the restaurant and waits for any new service.> [...] <Sanjay flicks his used cigarette from his mouth and onto the elaborate ashtray outdoors. In impatience, he goes back inside and demands the accountability he thinks he deserves> «It’s been three hours and nobody has shown up; you want to start removing that answer’s date back?» <Gresham breaks his inhuman concentration to make a firm statement> Clean up your ashtray first. «Are you teaching me an ecological lesson? Is this some lesson of your Tantra?» No, I’m just conscious about any numbers of fires that could emerge from cigarettes. «Fine.» <As Sanjay begins to go back outside, Gresham speaks again> Trust me, I wish I could escape the clutches of this cast we thrive and suffer under. However, no matter where I go, the world still refers back to where I came from. Is there value in not persisting forwards but backwards? <Sanjay looks back with hesitation, thinks briefly “the Manusmriti?” but scoffs at his datedness> Also, If you walk out, I’ll assume you’re doing terrible things, so don’t. «What about the-» The ashes will know where to go. «Why do you put on this faux mystic attitude? You’re a restaurant owner!»

Aquarius: 2,6-Dimethylheptane. <Aukai finds herself awake in her unsheeted bed, further disorganized beyond possibility. She forcefully motions her lips and breathes words of lucid wisdom through her dry chords.> There’s an anxiety that grips me sometimes, and it’s that every passing second I don’t recognize the artistic potential of something, it gets lost to time. What I fear the most is my head getting cracked wide open, losing consciousness, and awakening to a future that robbed me of beautiful scenes for new pieces. «This anxiety seems… unlike you.» <Aukai is surprised by the fact that her client is awake. Fear would gain control of her if it weren’t for him snoring afterwards, indicating it’s sleep-talking> Men are more beneficially judgmental when they’re asleep, huh? Whelp, I can leave while the night’s still middle-age. <Aukai gets dressed, particularly struggling to get her galoshes back on to weather the incoming rain. Once outside, she dashes through the rain almost oafishly, betraying the expectation of feminine grace. She thinks to herself> Even beyond how ridiculous it sounds, the life of an artist is a religious one: One where we’re conflicting our reality with the one produced on canvas. Well, that’d make the process more like the foundations of a religion than the application of it. The completeness isn’t there yet, but hopefully I can figure it out by the time I’m home. <The moonlight becomes secondary as the artificial lights create new scenes at every corner, torturing Aukai’s poor, traumatized eyes. She simply looks into her hands to avoid all these temptations.> [,] <There’s now tears mixing in with the raindrops, and on the way home, Aukai is stopped by an obstacle she couldn’t see coming. Facedown in the asphalt, she looks up to see a beautiful scene, etching itself into her eyes to haunt her next gig.> G-goddamn you <Aukai pounds her fist into the ground.>

Pisces: 2,2,4,4,-Tetramethylpentane. <Maghazi is walking down the crowded afternoon streets of Dakar, gleefully filling his lungs with the smell of pollution and fried fish. Here, he feels at one with the natural world, leaving no space for false misconceptions of the monism he lives and, well, breathes. Here, there’s people he can both condescend and praise, leaving ample room to leave a web of both shrinkage and growth. His baggy pants are scruffed from the leftover paint of the bricks he vaulted and leapt over for the style of the action: Something to move the body he believes serves no purpose other than preserving the valuable brain.> Hmm, my ears are pointing me somewhere ambiguous: 20 meters away. <It appears he’s detecting something his senses designated as important to him. Despite this, he was never really the opportunistic personality, at least never one that took what was in front of them. Maghazi takes more determined steps, inching closer to the source> If I had to guess, it’s likely a drone chip. They don’t exactly make their existence a secret <He rubs a special knob on his glasses, enabling a process we can’t witness or understand> …Found them. <Maghazi stumbles upon the source, which is a group of teenage boys in an alleyway kicking around a hacky sack, which he believes to be the source of the signal. Wondering how to approach, Maghazi comes to only the most optimal method> Oh, it looks like I’m substituting today. «Man, who are you talking to?» You guys: Who else? ²«Nobody agreed on that.» I never said it was democratic. All I need now is to be in this space and access to that hacky sack. «Get your own.» What if I told you it was an explosive device ready to go off and I was the only one who knew how to disarm it? «We’d die happy then.» <Maghazi is irked as there’s no other plans of approach left. In defeat, he walks away with a hunched demeanor. He thinks to himself how humorous it’d be if the hacky sack blew up like in his absurd hypothetical, but he’s quickly disappointed by the unpoetic reality> Nothing’s gonna happen.

[wackygoofball]

Heads up, Tumblr Peeps!

We got TBTWP and it was epic and I am still in tears. He tippy-toed to kiss her, omg.

But the point is: This is my blog and my blog is my happy place. As such, I won’t reblog or engage in angst talk and throwing myself into the abyss of all the terrible what-ifs one can come up with. My Tumblr is not the place for that, so if that forces me into inactivity until the majority has calmed dem tiddies, so be it. I will patiently wait for you and instead only sprinkle in my positivity that was only ever heightened after what we were just allowed to witness onscreen.

I found the episode bloody well terriffic.

We have wonderful misdirection with regards to the fates of Jaime and Brienne.

We are canon. We were anyway, but now with the official bang certificate.

It was confirmed in the Making Of that Jaime indeed loves Brienne.

Jaime just has to *say* the magic word yet.

We are currently in the fourth act of a six act drama, which means this was the place for fuckin’ drama.

The theme of choice was played up for all characters. We are approaching endgame, and now it is about singular fates. Jaime likely didn’t even consider he’d have a future past the Long Night, but they survived and they hooked up, and now he knows he has to take responsibility for his past, he can’t run from it, he has to face it. The only critical mistake he currently makes is to think that he has to do it without Brienne to protect her.

This is, too, an act of love.

Brienne was given a roller-coaster of emotion and Gwen KILLED IT. And that is amazing! She is by no means a one-dimensional secondary character who is only defined by being a lady knight. She is a knight and a lady. And she is as much as a badass as a shy and vulnerable young woman.

We are so deep into the Beauty and the Beast trope and its reversal that I cannot help but continue to weep in joy. This is the part where Belle leaves to see her family, you guys. And then they reunite, after some angst, but it’ll be all good. I promise you that this is not how the story ends.

Jaime rubbed his thumb against her wrist when she cupped his cheek and I won’t ever be over that.

JB had a month of sexy bliss.

I remain certain that Jaime put a bun in that oven by now, despite his insistence that he doesn’t want to grow on anything.

The drunken game scene gave me ten years of my life back.

Pod either told Jaime all by himself or Jaime prodded for info about Brienne because he ships his m’lady ser with happiness, and she will only ever find it with the man she fell in love and bed with - Ser Jaime Lannister.

Bronn’s first reaction was to affirm his shipper heart.

The first time was tender and fast and HOT, so HOT.

We are blessed with drama and I am loving every second of it!

That’s it for now because I did not sleep and I have to go. Suffice to say that my blog will remain positive, and I can only advise anyone who feels down to do the same. It makes you feel GREAT. Let me tell you. At the same time, I hope you, my precious Tumblr Peeps, will recognize that I will not engage in angst talk or ranting, wasn’t ever my thing, won’t ever be.

Your Wacky is here for JB hype and randomness.

And as such, I part now, feeling ALL THE HYPE.

[sweetgubler-blog]

Reassurance - Spencer x Reader

A/N - omgggg the amount of msgs and love i’m getting from postings my fics are incredible! thank you all so much for the kind words and the requests that have been sent in! since i’m studying three days a week, my writing schedule will be thursday & fridays. i hope you like this imagine, i'm absolutely in love with the idea of spence as a dad / soon to be dad GOD make it happen already pls

Anon asked: I’m a sucker for soon to be Dad!Spence so could you write a fic where his girlfriend or wife is just having a rough day and is uncomfortable and panicking about being a Mom, so he tries to cheer her up and he ends up laying down with her saying how proud he is of her, but while they're talking about the future and he panics thinking he's going to be a bad Dad. And he just gives her, and her belly, a bunch of kisses and feels their daughter kick. :’

Words - 1218

Warnings - None

Y/N - Your name

E/C - Eye colour

H/C - Hair colour

GIF made by - @sweetg (for some odd reason tumblr won’t let me tag ur acc so for the mean time i’m just putting ur @ here until i fix it)

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Pregnancy was always tiring, stressful and just plain exhausting. Your emotions have been a mess and you haven’t felt the most elegant these past weeks. You were twelve weeks pregnant, entering your second trimester you seemed that it all felt too real and too fast. Your longterm boyfriend, Spencer, was over the moon with joy when you told him the news of your pregnancy. He always dreamed of becoming a dad, and you always knew he’d turn out to be a perfect one. He had that charisma and happiness which would light anyone’s day up, and knowing that your soon to be child would have that presence made you feel proud.

Bundled up in bed with the sheets covering your body, you try to ease the pain of your tender breasts, usual cramps and unsettling nausea. You loved every part of motherhood so far, but the pain which was caused highly effected your efforts most of the time. Spencer, being the good boyfriend that he is, would always know exactly what to do to make you feel better. Whether it was just a cup of tea to a huge bouquet filled with your favourite flowers, he always managed to make the day worthy. Although he spent lots of time working at the BAU with his late nights and early shifts, he would come home to you sound asleep in bed, curling up next to you as he fell asleep against the rhythm of your breathing.

By this time it was 8 pm. Spencer had just arrived home from work, managing to open the door quietly as he dug his keys into the lock. Closing the door behind him, he hung up his satchel onto the hook before he took his arms out of his sweater. Placing it on the hook, he tiptoed upstairs, trying not to make the stairs creak, making his way to the room you two shared. The door was left open slightly, a small gap making him push the door open as he walked into the comfort of your room, his sight blinded by the beauty of you. Carefully making his way to the bathroom, he took off his clothes and jumped into the shower. By the time he shut the door, you shifted in your sleep fluttering your eyes open once again. The pain was gone for the meantime and you felt bliss and relaxation shoot through your body. Sitting up against the bed frame, you look over at the door, Spencer emerging from it in a white bathrobe. His hair was in curls from the water and he looked terribly tired.

“Y/N, d-did I wake you?” Spencer asked sincerely, walking out of the bathroom and turning the light off. Shaking your head, you move over so he could hop into the cozy bed. Lying down next to you, he smile creates small dimples in his cheeks as he gazed into your E/C eyes. Leaning down, he places his soft lips onto yours, gently kissing you as he stroked your cheek. Pulling away, he held his hand against your face as he placed his forehead against yours.

“How was your day?” He asked once again, this time in a soft whisper. You simply sighed in response before yawning slowly. A chuckle escaped his lips.

“You know, the usual. Just sitting around all day trying to not think about the endless pain that loves to surprise me every couple of hours.” You say sarcastically, earning another laugh to escape Spencer’s lips. “What about you?”

“We just worked on another case, not a big deal. I thought about you all day.” Spencer mumbled, staring deeply into your eyes as he stroked your soft H/C hair. A smile dancing on your lips, you lean in and kiss him again, before you pulled away this time, moving his hand from your hair to hold onto.

“Well, Emily will give you time off soon. She understands, you know that, Spence.” You reassured him. “And then you’ll have more time dealing with me!”

Giggling with you, Spencer couldn’t take his eyes away from you. Your beauty radiated through his mind, making him feel eternally loved and grateful to have you. Silence filled the room for a couple more moments, as you just sat in each others company.

“Spence? Do you think I’ll make a good mom?”  Your voice was soft, just below a whisper as you rested your face in the crook of his warm neck. He looked down at you, before shifting onto his side as he now looked up at you, a slow and steady hand tracing the outline of your growing belly.

“Y/N, you know I think you’re incredible. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted in someone. We’re merely months away from greeting our child and showing them the world we live in. There are 43.5 million mothers in the world, and you truly are the most amazing one of them all.” He said, his hazel eyes melting into yours. Sniffling, you look down and wipe a tear painted onto your skin away. You knew Spencer was the love of your life. You knew since the moment you met him that he would be the one to hold you and comfort you in your darkest days. You were truly thankful for the impact he has made on you, as well as the impact on your baby.  Suddenly his eyes turned gloomy, soon realising that he was storming something up in that smart brain of his.

“D-Do you think I’ll be okay? As a dad, I mean,” Spencer clarified. You look at him, really looking at him. You take in everything about him that made you fall in love with him in the first place. He was beautiful. He was a gentleman. He was what you needed, and it’s safe to say that he was yours.

“Hey, I know you’ll be great. You’re already so natural with kids already. Just think about you and Henry, from the moment I saw you do your wacky, little magic tricks and seeing the happiness light up in their eyes, I knew straight away that you would make the perfect father. And I’m even more confident to know that you are special. And I’d never want to take that away from you”  You reassure him this time. The light comes back to his eyes, a smile once again found on his lips as he placed a soft peck against your lips.

“I love you,” He whispered against your lips, before running a hand over your stomach once again, leaning down to gently kiss your baby. Smiles from ear to ear from each one of you, you gasped as you felt a kicking sensation hit the roof of your stomach. Spencer looking up straight away, a shocked expression on his face before he burst into laughter and smiles. Matching his, you take the time to catch your breath from the excitement of feeling your baby kick for the first time. He moves his way up to lay against the pillow next to you, as he turned onto your side to stare at him. Closing the gap in between you two, you kiss him with passion before pulling away slowly, looking up into his eyes.

“I love you, too.”

[pilferingapples]

For the ask meme poetry smash for ship and Bahorel for character if they have not been asked?

Aaaah this one will definitely have to be under the cut XD

Bahorel!!

How I feel about this character:

TARGETED, ATTACKED, SINGLED OUT. :P

I love the way he’s introduced right up in the context of state violence and civil unrest and then his intro just saunters on cheerfully into Wacky Fun but then veers back into Social Uprisings-I have a Lot Of Feelings about that kind of Chaotic Joy combo  and this post is already so long but AUGH, MY FEELINGS. 

And aside from All My Emotions about him as a character in the story, he and Prouvaire were what really got me to look into French Romanticism in particular and now I’ve got a major Life Interest and all this metacanon overlaying the fictional character and the whole dang novel  so it’s a  whole This Character Changed My Life thing now?!? 

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character:

more Romantically than romantically, really, but you know it’s Prouvaire XD  ..and also I’m open to being sold on about any pairing for him, really, depending on how it’s written-- he’s not a very picket-fence-domestic character to me so there’s no big contradiction there :P

(This also includes the Laughing Mistress- I like a lot of versions of her, but not every one, and she’s a character fans pretty much have to make their own, so! it’s not a thing I can say I *always* enjoy reading)

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character:

his instant Avatars of Paris Unite!! bond with Gavroche, of course :D 

My unpopular opinion about this character:

He’s not replaceable or graftable onto the other Amis in any way that works with any sort of detailed adaptation!  He’s got a specific character and a specific role and it’s important,  dang it, there’s a whole dialogue about the role of street violence in the ideal of the revolution in there and  how it gets cyclical and put him in your adaptations and give him his scenes, you cowards  **shakes fist**

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

Wow it’s great that after the uprising he took on Gavroche as his Apprentice Hellraiser and went on to long weird successful career as a civil activist /organizer, what a good story ;__; 

Favorite friendship for this character:

Leaving aside the two people Already Named, I’ve got So Many Feelings and Ideas about his friendship with Enjolras? They’re so wildly different (and Bahorel knows it!)  and so intense in ways that are actively contradictory but they obviously work well together and love each other and that is fascinating to me! 

My crossover ship:

Well now that Fixa’s mentioned it I’m never going to be able to not  think of him with Porthos, being Terrible Carousing Combat Nightmares together XD

002 Shipping  Questions

Poetry Smash

When I started shipping them:

agh geez, I don’t even remember Not?  When I first read the book, maybe?!? I know they’re in some of my very earliest fanart (and if anyone reblogs it I will DELETE IT oh gad the Shame but still...it’s a Record...)  Even before I knew The Backstory, I recognized them as having , potentially, one of my Favorite Ship Dynamics, so I was sunk early on XDAnd then I found out about the Metacanon and My Life Was Changed Forever.

My thoughts:

I don’t see this pair as ever fitting into the “ settle down”  pattern ever, at all. Not just in the sense that I don’t think they’re a Permanent Lifebonded Monogamy kind of pairing (though I very very much don’t; I can see them going through phases of being intensely Together and phases where they don’t see each other for weeks outside of gatherings with other friends and they’re always open to New/ Other Grand Romances, it’s all good, they Follow Their Passions) , but  in the sense that I don’t think they’re a  calming  force on each other at all. There is no Reasonable One in this relationship--they run on a “ Yes, and”  basis. Like:“ We should go to the top of Notre Dame in the night, so we can see the city under the stars.” “ Yes! And we can recite some of the grand combat from Hugo’s novel when we do!” “ Yes and! we should take a great banner proclaiming the endurance of the Republic and hang it for all to see!” “ Yes! and--”  

At no point will either of them even consider saying “ wait, but--”, it’s just constant amplification until they wake up three days later going “what omnibus hit me and where did I get a llama”  and that’s essential to how they Work as a pair, romantically or otherwise 

What makes me happy about them:

Hijinks! Emotional soul-baring! Cheerful but serious fascinations with Death (the Ultimate Betrothal!) !  

What makes me sad about them:

DO YOU REMEMBER OUR SWEET LIFE **sobs forever**(does this question even need to be answered in this fandom, really)

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

Nuh-uh-uh, listen, SOME fancy people might be so very buried in fanfic for their pairing that they can be all picky, but me? this? there are like five people who write anything for it EVER and I Love Them For It, maybe we have some different interpretations!  maybe they do settings or stories I wouldn’t write if I could write! But they’re singing a version of My Song even if it’s in a different key and I just vastly appreciate it *__*

Things I look for in fanfic:

...ex...istence... A Lot Of Feelings , displayed very openlyAlso both of them being coequal Partners in Havoc, action and emotion-wise , in their own way.

My wishlist:

i always love Magical Realism or Fantasy-tinted AUs with these two?  And i love it when someone can write into their heads a bit and it feels Real And Right--that’s too subjective for me to name Specific Things but I know it when I see it and I am always Elated. 

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

Oh, I don’t think of them as “ ending up with”  each other, or anyone? Neither of them is a very...Ending Up With kind of person. I never think of them as a permanent, exclusive kind of thing, and I have zero problem with people writing them having other lovers or even spouses; it’s easy for me to imagine them still wandering happily into and out of each others’ paths forever regardless of whatever else is going on. 

...Anyone who’s gonna be with either of them long-term needs to be totally onboard with The Romanticist Soul, though,or their life will be hellllllll, gad, imagine trying to live with that kind of Energy when you don’t share it?!? 

My happily ever after for them:

 a young but thriving Republic , where there’s room for Weirdo Artists and their movements to develop without censors and arrests , and a large house somewhere in Paris with friends and people wanting to argue with them going in and out all the time. Everyone’s Fine and all the duels end in comedic misadventure, IT’S FINE EVERYONE IS FINE.