#i started this before the new trailer dropped but it gave me the energy to finish

[yellowvixen]

i want that blue hog to sacrifice himself ‼️

[messedupfan]

Chapter 7

Summary: Wanda receives a notice from the Homeowners Association. Y/n goes on a first date with Daisy. And Rachel has her first secret from her parents.

A/N: Yay! Another chapter!! So happy to be writing for this series again. Ugh it was a rough few months but I'm finally getting back on track! Hope y'all enjoy this chapter! Please lemme know in the comments! Enjoy!

Masterlist | All Stories Taglist | All Chapters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you fucking kidding me,” Wanda mutters to herself as she reads the letter that was taped to her front door. With everything going on, this has to be the cherry on top. She hates living under a homeowners association. She submitted a thorough request for the expansion that she thought was going to get the approval from them. But instead, she was given a rejection with a notice that someone from the association was going to drop by to review the damage and give her a deadline to have it fixed with the original blueprints. She can't even add windows. 

She calls Pietro as she angrily gets into her car to update him in the bad news. “I fucking hate that place,” Pietro says. “Alright well, you tried. I will let Y/n know and cancel a few orders for materials. I'm sorry they rejected you,” Pietro sighs on his end. 

“Thank you for all of your help,” she ends the call and continues driving to pick up her boys from their sleepover.

Pietro calls you through the radio to meet him at his office whenever you have a chance. You let him know that you will and when your lunch break comes around, you head to his trailer. You're curious as to why he would need to talk to you. The construction team is ahead of schedule and as far as you know, way under budget. Then you think that maybe Wanda told him about your sleepover and worry that he might've misunderstood his sister. 

You knock on the door to his onsite office and he shouts that the door is unlocked. You open the door and climb in. “You wanted to see me?”

“Yeah,” he shuts his laptop to focus on you and you begin to worry that he's going to tell you to stay away or something. “Wanda's request for the expansion wasn't approved. We have to undo all of the work we started and put it back the way it was.” 

You're relieved that the chat isn't about your night but you're upset by the news. “She can't fight back on this?” You ask as you think of the ways that Wanda could get what she wants. 

“She could, but it didn't sound like she had the energy to. And since we don't own the home there's nothing we can do about it.” Pietro explains. You nod with a deep breath and tell him that it sucks before leaving the office promising that you'll see him tomorrow. 

After work you send Wanda a quick text letting her know what you think about the situation. When she doesn't respond, you assume it's because she's busy with the boys. Instead of checking your phone every five seconds, you get ready for your date. You shower and put on the nicest clothes that you own. You spend time making sure your hair looks perfect and smelling good. 

You drive to the address that Daisy gave you, it isn't Phil's house and you're curious why she's staying somewhere else but when she gets in the car she explains that she doesn't want her dad to know anything about her dating life unless it's someone worth mentioning. “That's pretty much what any single parent does,” you say with a small laugh. 

“I know, my friend comes from a broken home. I just thought after a few bad attempts of bringing people to meet my parents it would be best to have my own place when I was in the position to do so.” Daisy says as she fixes her makeup in the sun visor mirror. “You look amazing by the way. I had no idea that you cleaned up so well.” 

You smile as you take a moment to look at her during the stop light. “Thank you, I try. You are stunning, Daisy. I think I might lose you at some point tonight. I don't know how anyone will be able to look at anything else.” 

Daisy tries to hide her blush as she holds a seriousness in her eyes, “I don't care about anyone else. I only want your attention.” You start to lean in to kiss her but the car behind you honks the horn and you realize that the light is green. “Keep your eyes on the road. Wouldn't want to end up in the hospital on our first date.” She places her hand on your thigh, startling you, and squeezes. 

“Woah,” you say as you take her wrist and pull her hand off of you. Instead you hold it in your hand and drive with the other. “How was your day?” you ask in order to start some sort of conversation. The two of you find something to talk about the entire way to the restaurant, easing the nerves that had been eating at the both of you. 

When you're seated you notice a couple of guys looking over at your table but you don't think much of it. “Oh this pasta sounds good but so does this one,” Daisy says as she points them out on the menu in front of you.

“They do sound pretty appetizing. How about I order one and you order the other and we split it, so we can try both?” You suggest.

Daisy scrunches her face and denies the idea. “Actually, I think I'm going to get the steak,” she says as she browses the menu more. You nod and start to look for something else on the menu. 

After the both of you have ordered you're left staring at each other, sipping your drinks. “Can I ask why you wanted to go out with a single parent?” You finally pose the question that has been haunting you since last night. 

“I have always kind of wanted to date you,” she shrugs. “You’re good looking, kind, funny, wise, and have a good heart. What more could a girl ask for?” 

You fail at hiding the affect her words have on you and grin as you shake your head. “That is a really sweet answer but I'm trying to figure out what you want from dating me. I mean, I have a daughter and she will always be my number one priority. I know that many people aren't okay with that and-” 

“I’m not one of them,” she interrupts as she lays her hand on the table top for you to take. You place your hand on her wrist and the two of you hold each other like this from across the table. “I’ve met Rachel. You've had me babysit her in the past. She's a great kid and I love her. I don't blame you for putting her first. In fact, I respect you for it.” 

You fill with relief at her words and nod, “Thank you, I just wasn't sure. I mean, you're in your early twenties. You should be young and free and not dating someone like me.” 

Daisy shakes her head, “You're not some decrepit person that can't leave the nursing home. You're still young and free and in your twenties. I don’t know what you think people my age do but I've dated plenty of them. None of them want a real connection outside of physical. Honestly, I'm ready to start thinking about settling down with someone. Build a life, y'know?”

You nod and bite your tongue to keep from pointing out how young she is to start thinking about that stuff. You're in no position to say anything because you don't regret the decisions you've made and you know that at eighteen you wouldn't hear that kind of advice. By twenty-two you probably still wouldn't have listened. 

Halfway through what turns out to be a quiet meal, you excuse yourself to the restroom to give yourself some space and a pep talk to stop being so awkward. While you're exiting, your phone starts ringing and you answer when you see that it's Wanda. “Hey you,” you greet as you lean on the wall near the door. “How's your night going?”

“It’s going alright,” Wanda says as she puts the clean dishes away. “Did Pietro already tell you?” 

“Yeah,” you say sadly. Someone asks if there’s a line and you shake your head and point to the phone. You move a little further away from the door. “How bummed are you about it?” 

Wanda sighs, “Pretty bummed but the boys are home tonight so I can’t drink about it. Which is for the best. Don’t want to start that bad habit.” She starts to wipe down her counters. “What are you up to?” 

“Nothing much, just having dinner with an old friend,” you say as you glance around the wall to see if Daisy is okay. She looks bored and picks up her phone. 

“Oh my goodness! I’m so sorry for interrupting,” Wanda says. 

“Don’t be,” you assure her, “I could have not answered, you know? It’s not your fault.”

“That’s true,” she drags out the word in confusion. “Do you need me to come up with an excuse for you? I can have you out of there so fast, no questions asked.” 

You laugh at the offer, “No, it’s uh, it’s going.” You notice Daisy checking her watch and looking around the restaurant. You sigh as you figure that you’ve been away for too long. Are you avoiding her? You don’t know. “Which I probably should too. I think I’ve been gone too long, I don’t want her to think I’ve ditched her.” 

“Oh my goodness! You’re on a date!” Wanda gasps loudly. “You’re an idiot, go back to her. Don’t tell her you took a phone call either. Just say it was an embarrassing bathroom issue or something just… shit, hang up already!” 

You can’t help but laugh at Wanda as she rambles on, “Arlight, I’ll tell her all about my explosive bathroom episode.” Wanda makes a noise but tells you that it's perfect. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” you say as you end the call and walk back to the table. You feel guilty when Daisy’s eyes shine with relief and so you start rubbing your stomach. “I don’t want to be gross but that food went right through me!” You joke and Daisy laughs telling you that it’s fine. “So, are you thinking about having dessert here or should we go somewhere else?” 

Daisy hums in thought and reaches across the table for your hand which you allow her to take, “Depends, do you have any dessert at your place?” she asks flirtatiously, almost causing you to have a coughing fit. 

You clear your throat a couple of times as you start to avoid her gaze a bit in order to come up with a proper response. An easy let down that will have her laughing instead of feeling rejected. “Well, I don’t know whatever lies Steve might have told you, but I don’t put out on the first date.” Daisy is confused for a second before she bursts out laughing. You join her a little as you’re able to look at her again. 

“Ok, I have to admit. I was kind of testing you with that question and you passed with flying colors,” she says once she has settled down, you let her know that it’s a relief. “I’ve heard of this twenty-for seven cupcake ATM machine and I’ve been dying to try it but haven’t had the chance. Do you think we could do that?”

“Absolutely! Rachel loves that thing,” you say as you start to flag down the waiter to get some to-go boxes for the rest of the food on yours and hers plates. When the bill is settled, you and Daisy head over to the nearest cupcake ATM and you help her learn how to use the machine. She takes videos to share on her social media and even a few pictures with you to keep for herself. You don’t ask why she doesn’t post them because you’re happy to not have that conversation right now. The two of you walk and talk while you eat your cupcakes. She is a bit more relaxed and you have to admit that so are you. 

When the date has come to an end, you walk her to her door and wish her a goodnight. “Wait,” she stops you from leaving. “I know you don’t put out on a first date, except for Steve Rogers apparently,” you laugh a little at her statement. “But um, gosh I’ve never had to ask this before.” Daisy blinks a few times before gathering up the courage to ask, “Will you kiss me before you leave?” 

You are surprised by the request but it is a date after all. “Yeah, sorry,” you say as you step closer to her. This was weird, you’ve never been asked to kiss someone unless there was tension and right now there wasn’t any. You close your eyes as you lean in and kiss her on the lips. It turns out to be a decent kiss but it doesn’t have you craving more. It’s been a long time since you’ve craved someone. At this point you’re convinced it’s just you because Daisy goes in for more when you try to break away. You kiss her once more to try and clear your head but it still doesn't feel right, so you really take a step back. “I have an early day tomorrow, I’m sorry. I’ll let you know when I’m available next.” 

“Okay, yeah,” Daisy nods as she wipes her lips. “I’ll see you then. Or maybe you could stop by the Hub. We don't always have to see each other for dates, you know.” You agree and say that you'll try to stop by without promising too much. “Have a good week with Rachel.” She says with a sweet smile. 

“Thank you, I will,” you smile back and walk away. 

The next morning you go to Jean’s house to pick up Rachel. While you're waiting, you chat with Jean for a bit about nothing important until you notice her acting a little funny. You ask her what's up. “Nothing, nothing, I don't know anything about anything.”

You shake your head and ask in a low tone to keep Rachel from hearing, “Great, who told you about my date?” 

“No one,” she says as she fails to hold back her grin and you ask again. “Okay, it was Anna,” she confesses. You drop your head as you shake it again. “In her defense, it's your fault that you chose my favorite restaurant to take her to.” 

“Excuse you, I believe I won that restaurant in the divorce,” you say back lightly instead of reminding her that it was your favorite restaurant first. 

“Whatever, I was craving it last night and so we got a pick up order and she saw you when she was picking it up,” Jean finished the story. “She’s cute,” she says next and you take a slow breath. 

“She took a picture?” you rub your face, upset by the lack of privacy in your life lately. You never signed up to be a celebrity. 

“What? You think I was just going to believe her when she said that? I needed proof!” Jean exclaims, causing you to tell her to quiet down. “Sorry,” she grimaces. The both of you wait to hear any sign of Rachel before continuing. “So, how'd it go?”

“It went,” you reply. 

Jean rolls her eyes, “Come on, you can do better than that!” 

You sigh and sit up as you think about how to describe the date to your ex-wife. “It was good. A little bit awkward. She’s had a crush on me since she was seventeen, so it's-” 

“Hold on what,” Jean stops you with concern and fear in her eyes. 

“Oh! Sorry, she's twenty-two, completely legal. Um, remember Phil's daughter? She used to babysit Rach before she went off to college?” You try to jog Jean’s memory and it takes her a second to process. She pulls her phone out to look at the picture again and she starts to finally recognize her. 

“Oh?” she says as she straightens up and scowls at the picture. “She looks… grown up,” she says slowly. 

“Yeah well, she asked me out and Kate kind of encouraged me to say yes. Then I talked to Phil about it and he seemed to be somewhat okay about it,” you clear your throat as you shift uncomfortably from the lack of playfulness from Jean. “It’s not weird… is it?” 

Jean shakes her head, “Just, please tell me that you didn't find her attractive when we had her babysit for us when we were doing couples therapy.” 

You pinch your eyebrows together and frown, a little offended by the accusation. “I didn't know her when we were married,” you state first as you try to remember that first year that you worked at the bar. You know that you started there at twenty-one but you don't remember hiring Daisy then or even meeting her. Did you?  

“Well, that's kind of a relief, ” Jean mutters. “You got the job working for her dad to help us pay the therapy bills remember? And he offered for Daisy to watch Rachel when we needed,” now she is trying to jog your memory but as you've pointed out before, you don't really like to think back on that year. You shake your head as you come up blank. Is Daisy a year younger than you originally thought she was when you met her? The math isn't really holding up here. 

“That doesn't make sense, she said that she had a crush on me when she was seventeen. When we met,” you say. “She would be twenty-one now if we met when I was twenty-one.” You try to understand what Jean is saying. 

“Honey, her birthday is July second, she turned twenty-two only weeks ago. And you’ll be turning…” she draws out the end to let you catch up. 

“Twenty-eight this year,” you conclude as it all starts to make sense now. “Huh, I really should have paid more attention in school.” Jean laughs because she tried every year to get you to focus more on school instead of her or the next get rich fast scheme you always had cooking up. “Anyway, I wasn’t paying attention to her in that way back then, I promise. It’s still kind of hard for me to think of her in that way. Except it’s not like I still see her as a kid I just think I see her as more of a friend,” you explain. 

Jean nods, “So it didn’t go well.” 

“I wouldn’t,” before you can say anything else, Rachel is running towards you with the things she wanted to bring with her. “Hey, munchkin!” You rise and greet her with a tight hug. She hugs you back just as tight and it warms your heart knowing that your daughter loves you. “Are you ready? Because we have to get to Ms. Wanda’s a little earlier today.” 

“Yup, all ready! I have something I really want to show Billy and Tommy,” she says as she moves her bag around. “That’s what took me so long. Sorry, I needed to get it done before we left. I’ve been working on it all week.” You smile, impressed that she worked all week on something to show her friends. 

“It’s okay, I got to catch up with mommy,” you say as you tug one of the shoulder straps on her bag. “Do I get to see what you made?” 

“No,” she shakes her head before she turns around and opens the front door. “Let’s go!” She hops to your work truck and climbs in. 

You laugh and look at Jean, “Have you seen it?” 

She shakes her head, “Nope, she wouldn’t let me or Anna in her room because of it.” 

“Wow,” you look at her from the entryway of the home and she is sticking her head out of the window calling for you to hurry up. “I can’t believe it, ten-years-old and she already has secrets from us.” 

Jean shrugs, “It was bound to happen sooner or later.” 

“I know but I was hoping for later. Much, much later,” you say as you wipe fake tears. Jean pushes your arm as she calls you ridiculous, you smile as you pull her in for a half hug. “I better go. I’ll see you next week.” She rubs your back and pats you a couple of times. 

“You better update me on your whole cradle robbing situation,” she teases you. 

“I should have seen that coming,” you walk away as she calls you a few more names, making you laugh all the way to the truck. Rachel asks what’s so funny. “Your mom is a weirdo,” you say. Rachel agrees and then says that momma Anna is even weirder and you have to refrain from laughing by telling her that’s not nice. She says it’s true and you cut the conversation by playing her music on the car stereo. 

You and Pietro work fast in rebuilding the wall so that Wanda doesn't get into too much trouble with the representative from the homeowners association. It was turning out to be easier putting it back together than it was tearing it down. Of course though, now you don't have to worry about removing the wrong thing and causing the entire house to collapse. Everyone lucked out that you and Pietro hadn't started on expanding the floor yet. That would have been a little more difficult to fix up in the short window of time that Wanda was given. 

When lunch comes you and Pietro scarf the food down in order to keep working. Especially since the new siding for the house got delivered to the job site across town and the two of you had to go pick it up. The original siding for the house was destroyed the previous weekend when the two of you finally made it that far. Pietro thought it would be best to order new material at the time anyway since they would need it to cover the new extension of the house. 

All day you and Pietro are working inside and outside of the house to get the wall repaired with the material that you have available at the moment. Unfortunately, the beams that are needed in order to continue won't arrive until tomorrow. Which means that you are heading home earlier than expected. You slowly walk up the stairs to warn Rachel that you're packing up to leave but when you get close to the boy's room, you overhear them talking about some sort of plan. 

You take a small peek into the room through the crack in the door that should have been wide open. Rachel was holding up a notebook as if she was presenting to the boys sitting in front of her. That's possibly what she was working on. You try to get a better look by opening the door a little more but it knocks over a noisy toy and causes the four kids to scatter and pretend to look normal. You give Rachel a weird look as she asks you if you're done working. You confirm and then leave her to collect her things so that you can do the same. 

“Hey,” Wanda calls as you pass her office on the way back to the stairs.  “Do you have a second?” You look around to be certain that she's talking to you before you approach. She isn't on the phone and no one else is in the hall, so it could only be you.

“Uh, sure,” you say as you step closer. You didn't get to interact much with Wanda today and you couldn't tell if it was you avoiding her or her avoiding you. Last night after the awkward kiss with Daisy, you couldn't help but compare how you wanted to kiss Wanda the night before. Then you started to think that maybe if you got to kiss her, maybe it would feel right. But you couldn't test that theory out yet. Not when you're in too deep with Daisy. 

“Just for some peace of mind,” Wanda closes her laptop and focuses her attention on you. “And I don't want to make things awkward between us by saying this but, I feel like it kind of needs to be addressed.” Her rambling has you a little concerned but you let her continue. “I know we've said it to other people but I don't think we've really said it to each other. Um, we are just friends, right?” 

There is a slight pain in your chest when she says that but it's the truth. “Of course,” you say confidently. “Yeah, we're just friends,” you state again, this time with an unintentional undertone of disappointment. You clear your throat and look back before stepping in the office a little more. “Why did you feel like that needed clarification?” You ask, against your better judgment.

Wanda looks around her desk as if she wrote the answer somewhere but not a single blueprint can help her. “No reason it's just, I don't know… well, so many people assume things and I just want to make sure we're on the same page. Yeah, that's it. Just, I don't know. Forget I asked,” you don't press for more because you can tell that part of her might feel the way that part of you feels but you aren't quite sure what to do with that feeling. 

“Okay, well, we're done for the day, I was about to-” 

“How was your date?” she interrupts and your eyebrows shoot up as your mouth shuts. 

“Uh it was okay,” you say. You're not used to so many people knowing about your dating life. “I don't see a wedding anytime soon but it was good. We'll probably try to go out again when I don't have Rachel.” 

Wanda nods, “That’s fun, that's fun. How um, how long have you been seeing her?” 

“Yesterday was our first date, actually you met her. She was the waitress at the, ehem, the bar we met up at,” you say awkwardly. It feels like the two of you are trying to be friends. This conversation doesn't feel as natural as any other conversation. 

“I remember her,” she is a little disappointed that you chose someone younger but it's not her life. She might only be feeling this way because her ex-husband cheated on her with a college student. 

“Yeah, um,” you start to explain yourself once again but Rachel runs to your side and grabs your hand asking if you're ready to go. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” you tell Wanda who stands from her desk and walks over to you and Rachel to give proper goodbyes. She hugs both of you separately and thanks you for all of your help. You finally make your way downstairs and decide to leave the tools since Pietro already put away the dangerous ones. 

You leave the home conflicted by the conversation with Wanda but by the time you get home, you decide to not read into it too much. The two of you are friends and that's all you will ever be. 

On Wednesday, the representative from the homeowners association arrives in the early afternoon to inspect the house. On Sunday you and Pietro were so close to finishing the wall but it was going to take another day or two. Wanda was fine with explaining to whoever she had to that it was going to be fine. 

She was starting to get fired up again about it being her house so she should be allowed to do as she pleased. Especially when she received an email explaining that the appointment was rescheduled due to them wanting the entire house inspected. Which meant that she had to make sure the house was spotless. Especially the former man cave which she hasn't seen since Pietro destroyed everything. She hadn't known that you and him already cleaned up the mess until she made her way down there. 

The space needed some dusting and vacuuming but beyond that, it was clean. Luckily Pietro only trashed the stuff in the boxes that didn't include the furniture or the television. So the room still looked pretty decent, better even without all of the junk on the walls. 

As Wanda guided the woman around the house after she assessed the wall, she noticed that the woman was being a little bit flirty towards her. She wasn't sure if she was making it up or if she was misreading some of the woman's remarks. But Wanda was kind of into it. She hadn't been with a woman since her sophomore year of college. Raven Darkholme lived a couple doors down from hers and the two found themselves being left in the common area and locked out of their rooms often. One thing led to another and they dated for a solid six months before Wanda met Vision while taking his class. 

“I don't see any issues here, Mrs. St-” 

“Actually it's Ms. Maximoff,” Wanda corrects. “I’m not married anymore,” she adds although she wasn't sure if that was necessary information. 

“My apologies, Ms. Maximoff,” the woman smiles and looks her up and down before continuing. “As I was saying, other than the obvious incident with the wall which you said you're having repaired, I don't see why my visit was necessary. But I can't deny that I'm not happy to be here.” 

Wanda is starting to realize that it isn't in her head at all. “I must admit, I wasn't too thrilled about today, Ms. Romanoff. But it's been a relief knowing that my house is up to the HOA’s standards.”  

“Look, I know that this is totally inappropriate and unprofessional but um…” the inspector grabs one of her business cards and scribbles down her personal phone number. “Call me, if you're interested in letting me inspect you.” She says flirtatiously as she hands Wanda the card. The brunette blushes as she tries to hide her grin. That was quite a line. 

“I will keep that in mind, but you should know. I'm a mo-” 

“Mother of two boys? Yeah, we covered that when we walked around upstairs,” she finishes Wanda’s sentence. 

Wanda laughs as she is flustered, “Right, sorry, I'm just. Sorry, this hasn't happened to me in um years.” 

“I find that hard to believe,” Natasha says. The two stand in the living room space staring at each other until the blonde's watch goes off, reminding her of her next appointment. “I better get going. I have another inspection in fifteen minutes. I'll let the board know that you're clear and that they don't need to send anything else. Call the business number on there when you have the wall finished and I'll send the paperwork to the board so that they'll leave you alone.” 

“Thank you, I really appreciate that,” Wanda says carefully. 

“It's my pleasure,” Natasha says as they walk to the front door together. “I hope to hear from you soon.” The woman walks away and this is one time that Wanda is relieved that her boys aren't here with her to witness that interaction. She shuts her front door and bites her bottom lip as she looks at the phone number on the card. Natasha even drew a little heart above the number. Maybe she is ready to start putting herself out there. This just wasn't what she ever imagined.

Chapter 8

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[sherifftillman]

Existing Together

AO3: Here!

Genre: Hurt/Comfort

Word count: 3785

Summary: Life is tough when you're in middle school. A strange boy who lives in the same trailer park as you knows just how you feel, and just how to make it all feel better. Based on this amazing artwork! Please give it some love :)

You’re cycling away from your family’s trailer when you hear a bang against the one you’re passing. You let out a shriek, and stop to see a boy your age, with short dark hair that’s just starting to curl in places, sitting on the roof, one leg dangling down. He looks up from over the top of his book, wide eyes blinking hard. “Why did you scream?” Embarrassed, you mumble a reply, but he lets out a loud, “Huh?” to show he wanted to hear an answer.

“I think you kicked the wall there with that foot,” you shout back. “It gave me a fright, is all.”

He shakes his head and scoffs, “Scaredy-cat,” and returns to his book. You hurriedly get back onto your bike and rush out of the lot. You don’t have time for strange boys and their clumsy feet.

You’ve been excitedly waiting for this. The first birthday party of the year that you’ve actually been invited to. Months of crying about why you were always the only one left out have been leading up to this moment. When someone would finally extend a friendly hand. Sarah has a lot of friends, and even if they won’t speak to you, she makes the effort to. She says everyone else likes you too, really, that’s why they’re always smiling and laughing whenever she talks about you to them. She really insisted on you showing up today.

Her house is so big, though every house is big when you live in a tin can. You park your bike, take the homemade frame you made out of old popsicle sticks, cardboard you’ve scrapped from cereal boxes, and other things absolutely slathered in all the paint, glue and glitter you could use in art class without the teacher realising you weren’t doing your actual assignment. She had said that her dad was going to buy her a fancy new camera for her birthday, so you thought maybe she would like something nice for her first photo. Maybe it could even be of the two of you.

You knock on the door three times, and she answers with a sharp gasp. “You’re here! Okay, give me a minute.” She shuts the door in front of you, which you find a little strange, but your excitement to finally be here far excels that. You eventually hear, from the side of the house, Sarah’s voice pipes up again. “Okay, just come through the gate here into the yard!”

Confused, you walk over to the tall fencing, turn the handle of the gate and push it open to be met with a very strange sight. Your friend Sarah doesn’t have her usual happy smile. This one’s dripping with evil, as she holds a hosepipe up in front of her, surrounded by kids holding bottles of various soaps - dish, body, it didn’t seem to matter. Sarah looks you dead in the eye and says, “Time for a much-needed bath, trailer trash,” and holds down the trigger.

You watch the stream of water approach and then hit you in slow-motion, and yet you still do nothing to get away from it. Again, as if in slow motion, the other children jeer as they run rings around you, squeezing their bottles to cover you in slime. You can’t do anything but stand there and cry and watch the one person at school you thought you could trust laugh harshly in your face.

You finally muster up the energy to drop the frame in your hands and start running back out to the front yard to climb back onto your bike, to the tune of the chorus of mean-kid laughter. You’re pedalling as hard as you can, blinking back the tears as best as you can until the stinging becomes a result of the soap dripping into your eyes. Wiping only does so much, and it gets you into the trailer park again at least before you give up, dismounting your bike and, in a fit of anger and pain, throwing it far ahead of you and screaming.

“Hey.” You try to ignore whoever is calling you - why would anybody be calling after you? - but you hear a familiar ‘bang’. Looking over, you see the boy from earlier shuffling to lift his leg back up to join the rest of him on his roof, and lay on his stomach so his head is poking out to look down at you. “You wanna come up?”

You shake your head. “I don’t want to talk to anyone ever again.”

“Hey, me neither. That’s why I sit here. Thought you’d want the same, too. Hang on.” For the second time today, you’re standing stranded, waiting for someone. You don’t think you’ve got the patience to find out what this strange boy has in store for you as you watch him jum down and disappear into the trailer, but he throws something back up onto the roof before climbing up again, and then throwing his makeshift rope made from bedsheets over to you. “Come up!”

You figure it can’t get much worse from here, so you obey. He helps to pull you up safely, shaking his now-soapy hand and grabbing a towel - that must have been what he had thrown - to dry it before handing it to you. He nods to you and then sits back down to read his book some more. You notice it’s The Lord of the Rings. You wrap the towel around your shoulders and sit on the other side of the trailer. 

You look out at the setting sun, and see the light bounce off your parents’ trailer. If anyone could even hold a candle to the energy you had this morning about making friends, it was them. They both worked so hard, you barely saw them, and although you could hear them shouting all of the time they were in the trailer together, they always pulled through for you. 

They couldn’t see you like this. And so you sit here, high above them, and you cry silent tears. Your body shakes, a mixture of sobs and shivers. The boy sat nearby says nothing of comfort; and yet, his mere presence is comfort enough. You don’t have the right words to explain how you feel, and you don’t want to have to explain yourself. You don’t want to echo the exact events of the worst day of your life. But you know that, if you were here alone, you’d be doing exactly that, telling yourself exactly that over and over again. Here on this roof, you’re alone enough to not upset anybody else, and not-alone enough to not upset yourself further, too.

When you return home eventually, you recall the fake events of a water fight with all your new friends. Your parents look thrilled, and they don’t even argue once that night. You start telling them that you’re going out with your new friends more, but really all you’re doing is sitting on the strange boy’s roof. Sometimes you bring something to distract yourself, since you still never talk to him. Sometimes you just need to be with your own thoughts.

Even at school, whenever you’re faced with anything that reminds you of that day - which, considering all of your classmates were in attendance, happens a lot - you seek comfort in small spaces. Somehow, the strange boy has almost always either beaten you to it, or finds it when you’re already there. Either way, your silent contract remains. The two of you sit in comfortable silence, going about your lives separately and yet together.

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

You think back to your middle school days, and how you thought that day at Sarah's house was the worst day of your life. How you couldn’t even rub it in people’s faces when your family finally moved out of that rust bucket and into an actual house, because you’d spent so long telling your family they were your friends to keep them happy. Besides, you’d finally found friends amongst your neighbours, meeting up before, during and after school. You were barely in the house anymore to hear the arguments that still persisted, but at least even when you were home for them, they were muted behind actual walls.

You’re just reminiscing on how different your life is now as you walk the block to your house. You and your friends had spent all of Halloween night together, watching scary movies, telling conspiracy theories as you made s'mores over the fire, and spooking trick-or-treaters. It’s been your favourite tradition for a couple of years now, as it’s the closest your parents would let you get to a Halloween party since you started high school. 

In the excitement of it all, you had forgotten to bring your school stuff with you like the others had so that you could all walk straight to the bus stop together. You tell your friends that it’s fine, your mom’s out on a business trip and your dad’s probably still asleep, it’ll be a simple in-and-out recon mission, you promise you’ll run and catch up to them.

You unlock your front door slowly, so as not to potentially wake your dad up. As you pull the strap of your bag over your arm, you hear a clatter from the kitchen. You frown. Your dad isn’t exactly the most accident-prone. You quickly step over to look through the gap in the ajar doorway to investigate, and history repeats itself. Your feet cement in place as you witness the events happening in front of you at half speed. Your father is in the kitchen. Wrapped around someone who’s certainly far too young to be your mother. She’s wearing one of your dad’s button-downs. One your mom had ironed for him at the start of the week, before she left. 

Feeling absolutely sick to your stomach, you grab your keys and make a beeline for the garage, making sure to slam the door behind you. You grab your bike, turn the opposite direction to where your friends would be waiting, and pedal hard and fast. Through sheer dumb luck, skipping every stop sign and traffic light doesn’t affect you. The crisp fall air dries the tears as they form in your eyes. Once you get to school, you throw your bike somewhere amongst the others, march up the school steps and start walking the halls aimlessly. Trying desperately to find any kind of safe space for you to seek solace. You head to the music department, where it’s soundproof enough to not be too loud, and the halls are empty enough that nobody should be this far down yet to notice.

You wait until you hear the door clasp shut behind you before you finally let loose. All the chairs are still neatly stacked around the edges, and you’re not in the business of vandalism, so instead you throw your bag around, stomping laps of the room and screaming our heart out. You even go so far as to kick some of the walls with the sole of your foot. You throw yourself around the room until eventually all you can do is curl up in a heap in the middle of the floor and cry.

You hear the door latch open and look up in horror at who may have witnessed that monstrosity to see an all-too familiar face. You and the strange trailer boy had grown apart since you moved, but you’d been watching him grow up alongside you. He’s been growing his curly hair down to his shoulders, and his style grows more… “punk-rock” every year. He’s been making friends, too. They call themselves the Hellfire Club. You’re pretty sure they play that Dungeons and Dragons game. He has a band, too. Judging by the guitar slung across his back, you assume that’s why he came down here. Of course it had to be to catch you out, too.

After perching his guitar against the wall, and sliding his book bag off his shoulder and onto the floor, he shuffles out of both his denim vest and leather jacket and drapes them over you. You go to say something but he presses a finger to his lips. You do the same and he smiles gently at you, pulling his jacket around you a little more as he goes back to where his book bag landed and sits down, somehow landing cross-legged as he pulls a book out and starts to read. For the first time all day, you feel a burst of happiness when you see he’s reading The Hobbit.

The bell rings, and he pulls a face as he gestures towards the door with his head, as though silently asking whether you want to leave or not. Resigned, you slowly pull back his jacket and stand yourself up. He reaches over to grab your bag for you, and holds it up to you. You take it from him with the most grateful expression you can muster, and he smiles understandingly.

Your friends crowd you in homeroom, but you simply ask for space, for now. They comply, clearly sensing some tension, and dutifully keep prying people away from asking you what’s so clearly got you down.

You buckle down and focus on your work all morning. You hide in the bathroom during breaks. You start to lose your focus as the day goes on, which you eventually put down to not having anything to eat or drink all day, on top of losing a lot of energy with that breakdown. You head into the cafeteria and are met with a most unpleasant sight.

Most people see the basketball team squaring up against the D&D nerds. You see the captain standing menacingly in front of the strange trailer boy. Except he’s the small, scrawny thing that sits on the roof. And you don't know who he might be scared to face. But the basketball captain becomes Sarah. And then your father.

And then you scream. All eyes are on you as you march towards the captain himself. He laughs, “Do I know you?”

“No, but I know you,” you growl. “I know what you are. You’re the kind of person that has it all, and still has to shit on everything beneath him, and for what, huh? Little man needs to feel big?! It’s pathetic!” The cafeteria is silent. Hundreds of pairs of eyes are on you. One pair in particular is madly in love. Oblivious, you continue, “You know, one of these days, none of this school popularity shit is going to matter. You’re just going to be a lonely old man, who married his high school girlfriend hoping to live out his glory days forever, except they aren’t. But then you’re stuck, aren’t you? Got her knocked up, so you’ve got to stay with her. Now you’re in a loveless marriage with a kid you don’t want, but you can’t let the world know you’re anything other than the perfect childhood sweethearts, so you spend all your time at work to avoid having to come home to, heaven forbid, spend some time with the wife that didn’t stay her high school shape forever! And as you make more money, you start attracting the attention of some… Floozy who makes you feel young again, and you fucking fall for it, you put your whole lifestyle on the line until you get caught out, and thrown out. And your floozy sure isn’t going to take you into her house, so now you’re just old! And alone! And every! Body! Hates! You!” You lash out and punch his chest with every exclamation until your friends wrestle you away. 

They stay huddled around you, protecting you as the basketball team disperse. Your friends help you pick out your meal and sit with you, again warding off anyone who tries to pry. Including a strange, silent, smitten trailer boy.

At the end of the day, you tell your friends that you cycled here, so you’ll cycle home, and that you planned on a detour to avoid going home as much as possible. They coordinate between them who will host sleepovers throughout the entire week, and you hug each one of them gratefully. You throw your leg over your bike and start making your way to the one place you know you need to visit.

Just as expected, as you pull into the trailer park you can see him. He’s much easier to spot now that he’s older and taller, and his hair could be recognised a mile off. You head over to his trailer, but he doesn’t seem to notice you. You kick the side of it, and he looks over curiously, beaming widely once he sees you. “Uh, the rope won’t hold now, but you can hop in through the window and then pull up through the roof window.” 

You follow suit, not even questioning breaking and entering into a trailer that may not even be his. You’re able to pull yourself up to perch yourself on the edge of the window, and he moves to give you enough room to sit next to him. “I know it’s not… Us to talk stuff out, but what you did in the cafeteria was badass.”

You sigh, “You mean when I basically aired my family’s dirty laundry in front of the entire school?”

“I mean, when someone else gave enough of a shit about me to stick up for me,” he reaches out and puts a hand on your shoulder. “Name’s Eddie, by the way. I’m sure you’ve caught onto that by now, but I’ve never told you that myself.”

You laugh and tell him your name, “but I’m sure you knew that, too. It’s been long enough,” you both chuckle. "Hey, uh... Was it always just super weird coincidence that we always ended up in the same places?"

"In most instances, I think it was just great minds thinking alike," Eddie muses. "But, being honest," he holds his hand to his heart, "this morning I heard your friends worry about you. And usually the music room is where I go to get my shit together before the day starts. So I went on a little investigation in the hopes fate would shine on me, and sure enough," he tucks some of your hair back, "the one consistency in my life remained true."

Hearing how much he genuinely cares for you makes your heart soar. “Speaking of consistency, I know they’re long and all, but I think you’ve been reading those books of yours in the wrong order for an awful long time.”

Eddie throws his head back with laughter. “No, no, that - God, I was on my first read-through when we first met, huh? No, now I’m on my third.”

You let out a low whistle. “You must really love them.”

“Yeah, well. Using fantasy as escapism is kinda my thing,” he waves his hands around, making you laugh again. “You know, if you ever wanted, I think you could make a pretty great D&D character. I can save you a spot in Hellfire.”

You shrug, “I don’t know. All that… Acting, you have to do,” you waggle your fingers, “I have no idea how to do any of that.”

“That acting,” Eddie mirrors your gesture, “is role-playing, and it’s scarier in theory than it is in reality. Even if you wanted to sit in and watch some sessions, as something to do, we’d love to have you there.”

“We?” you ask, and Eddie rolls his eyes.

“Fine, I’d love to have you there. Happy?” His head doesn’t move, but he looks at you from the side of his eyes.

“Very,” you grin. For someone you’ve barely spoken to, you feel as though this is your best friend of years and years. Taking a chance, you crawl your hand over to meet his and try to hold it. He instantly takes yours too, weaving your fingers together. “Thank you. For… Always having my back.”

“And the same to you,” Eddie tilts his head to lightly bump against yours. “Like I always said, I know what it’s like, to just want to be… Away from all the shit in the world, and just exist in your own tiny paradise.” He squeezes your hand. “I’m glad you’re in mine.”

The sentiment is so sweet, it overwhelms you to the point where you let go of his hand to throw both your arms around his waist. He hugs you back tightly, burying his face in your hair. “I am, too,” you smile into his chest.

“You know, if you need somewhere to get away from… Whatever it is you’ve got going on, you’re always welcome here, my uncle’s basically never here, and even when he is, he’s quiet enough,” Eddie suggests.

“That’s very sweet of you, but my friends have already basically assigned me their couches, it works out as one per weeknight,” you reply with amusement before tilting your head up to look at him. “But maybe I could come over this weekend?”

He looks down at you, his tongue darting out to wet his lips that are suddenly so very close to yours. “That sounds… Perfect.” He bends his head, and once again life plays in slow motion but for once, it’s for the right reason. You tilt your head up to meet his lips with your own. Rough, chapped lips press hard against you as he squeezes his eyes shut and holds you tightly, as though this moment could possibly be fleeting enough to escape you both forevermore. 

You break away for half a second to sit yourself up more before pulling him closer by his jacket, which he seems to respond very well to. You feel the tip of his tongue poke out once again, this time tracing your own lips. You again stop, keeping your face close to his as you giggle, “Easy there, you’ve gotta have something to look forward to on Saturday, right?”

He grins against you, drawling slowly, “You… Are… Perfect.” He pulls you close for yet another kiss, this time taking the lead in holding onto your jacket to pull you down so he’s laying on his back and you’re hovering just over him, but he soon breaks it to pull you into a close embrace as the sun sets around you. With half your face buried in Eddie's chest, you watch the glowing horizon sink, remembering again the first worst day of your life. Except it can’t have been the worst. Because it was the first day you’d ever experienced the true love of simply existing together.

[fleurcareil]

East Quebec: Côte Nord

Due to the 24-hour boat delay from Blanc-Sablon, I end up doing a beautiful hike along the Pioneer Footpath, a coastal trail between the villages, by walking around 4k from L'Anse au Clair towards Forteau and then back again (one-way between the villages is 15k which is too much for me). The sun ☀️ was finally shining so the cliffs, sea and icebergs 😍 looked even more magnificent! The iceberg that I had taken a picture of the day before (see previous post) had been shattered though into pieces, presumably because of the higher solar radiance. It shows how quickly nature can change!

In the afternoon, I dropped off my car at the ferry terminal so that I didn't need to be there at 3am to get the car loaded into the container, and instead could show up at 6.30 - a much more reasonable time! 🙃 I got a lift back to the hotel from two Welsh friends who recommended a cute café for dinner, so ended up having great conversations with them over tomato soup & a glass of wine 😃.

Next morning, we can finally walk onto the Bella, the Relais Nordik cargo ship that also functions as a cruise for tourists who want to see the villages that it stops at. I can't see my own car, but presume it's stacked somewhere in the containers! 🤞 There was as usual fog to start with, so we were treated on a slide presentation on the underwater life of the Fleuve Saint Laurent (we have here the 2nd largest shark in the world - the basking shark which only eats plankton), until a pod of 10 humpback whales was spotted so everyone rushed out to watch them. It wasn't very warm to sit outside for a long time, but the lounge area had big windows to spot icebergs, birds & two porpoises. 😊

In the afternoon, there was a brief stop at the village of La Tabatière, where, fully covered to defeat the black flies, I had a pretty view of the coastline. Thereafter, there was another presentation on local flora, including a tasting of labrador tea and local jams. And in the evening, I joined the Welsh for an elaborate lobster dinner... not too shabby this boat crossing! 😊

Although the chair in which I was huddled in my sleeping bag was very comfortable, I didn't sleep much, and when at 4:30am a new group of people boarded over a magnificent sunrise that was the end of it... after a refreshing shower and with a calm sea, it was however not a chore 😉 to sit for a few more hours in the lounge taking in the scenery until the boat would arrive at Kegashka, where the road starts again.

The offloading of cars, trailers, ATVs, kayaks, lawnmowers etc etc took ages so I waited 2 hours to finally see my car being craned down, but the time was spent chatting with the other passengers... it's funny that even after only a day it seems like the entire boat knows each other and people take selfies, exchange numbers and hug; Quebecois are very friendly!

This is the eastern terminus of route 138 which starts in Quebec City over a 1,000km away and which I'll need to drive in its entirety, so I better get going!😜 It was hot & humid though and I had trouble focusing on the (first 40k unpaved) road, so ended up laying down in the car for a bit at a pretty rest stop to recover some energy. In the evening, I walked along the promenade at Havre-Saint-Pierre, watching seals, terns and harbour porpoises go after their food (it was so quiet I could hear the porpoises breaching) until I got hungry myself and had a delicious fish dinner overlooking the sea... when I saw the Bella arrive... Walking back to the hotel I ran into the Welsh couple again, a small world!

Next morning, I'm up & ready at 7:45 with a cup of tea and lots of warm clothes for a 6-hour boat excursion to the eastern islands of the Mingan Archipelo national park. The islands are known for their rock monoliths that border their shores, and the first one, Île du Fantôme, didn't disappoint! The interpreter explained how they're formed and gave names to the various formations (like "the Sphynx" or "horse drinking water") but that often needed a healthy dose of imagination. 😉

The second island, Île Niapiskau, has a few impressive, larger monoliths that stand stark on the shore but also has some inland in between the trees, indicating that the sea level (responsible for the tidal erosion) used to be much higher when the land had not rebounded yet from the glacial retreat.

We stayed 2 hours on the final island, Île Quarry, where I walked via a detour along the coast to the monoliths rather than cutting directly through to the other side. The sun had come through and suddenly it was warm again! Beautiful cliffs & rock formations, the smell & sound of the sea... what else is there to say? 😊

This was a great trip and I recommend anyone to make the trek sometime to this remote part of the country (PS I believe all tours are in French so having a basic understanding is essential)!

Once back on shore, I made my way to Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan half an hour west, which acts as the base for exploring the western islands. Enroute, I visit the Maison de la Culture Innu, which has high-quality, interactive exhibits about the Innu who inhabited these lands first. I learned that they have actually a strained relationship with Parks Canada who manages the islands, as they're now no longer allowed to go there to hunt ducks and seals or collect eggs & berries, something they've done for centuries... as an Innu woman put it; "we're suddenly tourists in our own home". It shows how important (and difficult) it is to try to understand all sides of a story.

Having checked into the motel, I realized the village is even tinier than I thought; the one restaurant was closed (Havre-Saint-Pierre had 2 restaurants that were both open), but luckily the gas bar which ran out of gas 😂, did also have a grocery store so I got a Ceasar salad, chicken & cheese to eat on my room while the laundry was running.

I ran out of my picture allowance for this post, too much pretty nature to show 😎, so will continue in the next one.

Icebergs: 5 (on the boat)

Wildlife: 10 humpback whales, 2 harbour porpoises (on the boat), 6 seals (1 grey), 3 porpoises, 6 terns & 2 loons (at Havre-Saint-Pierre), 2 harbour seals, 1 grey seal, 1 porpoise (at the east Mingan archipelo)

SUPs: none

Hikes: one at L'Anse au Clair, one at La Tabatière, one at Île Quarry

[throbbin-bobbies]

AN: It’s just something rando I did. I might make more chapters lemme know what y’all think 😊

Walking through the final gate at the airport, I can finally see Sasha, one of the farmhands at Horseland waiting for me. I made the decision to move across the country to start anew. At least as anew as I can.

“Hey squirt! Ready to get going and meet everyone at Horseland!?” Sasha greets me with a big hug and a bigger smile. He was one of my parents friends, along with the owners and the other workers at the barn.

“I suppose, haha! Hey, does anyone else know there’s a new girl coming to the barn or-?”

“Well, not exactly. You see, the Handler’s told everyone that there was a ‘special guest’ but left all the other details to their imaginations” Sasha chucked as we got everything and ourselves into the ranch truck.

“I see” I chuckle, “how mischievous! Now I see why mom and dad liked them so much!” We laughed as we headed to the ranch.

By the time we reached the ranch, it was just turning 10:30 in the morning. ‘Today’s gonna drag’ I thought to myself. Flying Michigan to California will have me up 24 hours when I go to bed at 9pm. My flight departed at 6 pm and I got here at 10 am!

“Do you think I have to participate in a bunch of meet and greets today? I kind of want to hermit in my room and consume as little energy as possible.”

“Well, the Handler’s sorta figured as such. So they offered to let you just rest all day if you’d like. What do ya think?”

“Hmmmm” I began to think. If I do the meet and greets now I can stay awake easier AND get the hellos out of the way. Resting in bed all day on my laptop sounds good too, but then I’d probably fall asleep as soon as I hit the bed. “I think I’ll actually just meet everyone today. That way I won’t fall asleep and ruin my sleep schedule on the first day, ya know?”

“I hear ya loud and clear, squirt” Sasha said, pulling in to the driveway to Horseland. It was big, and beautiful! The barns look amazing too. Looking out the window I can see a bunch of horses and people lined up. There was six people and six horses. Not going to lie, it’s a bit nerve-racking to meet all these people at once

Once we were parked, I got out of the passenger seat and walked back to the trailer. ‘Thankfully everyone is on the other side. Else it’d be a bit awkward, hehe’ I thought. Dropping the trailer I could see some of the riders though, so I gave them a smile and a wave. “Howdy, y’all! Let me get Little Miss out and greet ya properly!” As I finish the gate is finally open all the way.

“Little Miss? Oh, how cute! What breed is she?!” The blonde girl smiles.

“You’ll see soon enough” I chuckle. The reaction they’ll have ought to be good. You see, Little Miss is a 19.5 hand horse. A Percheron to be specific. “Come on girl! Let’s go say hi to everyone!”

{19.5 hands is 78 inches to withers, or 6.5 feet}

With a whinny she started moving her big hooves. I exited the trailer first, lead in hand, and watched everyone’s faces as I brought Little Miss out. It was a mix of awe, shock, and excitement.

“I don’t know if you know this already, but that’s no ‘little’ Miss nothing!” One redhead said.

“No kidding! Do you really expect to jump a horse like that?” The other lighter redhead followed.

“No, but what I do expect you to be nice or shut your mouth” I laughed. Typical mean girls. Gross.

“Hey! You can’t say that!” The first one said.

“Well don’t say rude things, and you won’t get rude things said back” I shrugged, matter of factly. “But please everyone, I’m really a nice person. I just sort of give back what ya give me. Otherwise I’m pretty tame!” I laugh with a smile.

“Hey squirt! Here’s your bags, I gotta split and get a project done before days out. See ya on the flip side!” Sasha came up with my suitcase and backpack. I placed my backpack next to my suitcase. ‘I’ll get Missy situated first before I deal with those’ I thought while petting her nose. “Okay Sasha, take care of yourself!” And he was off.

“So! My name is Misty! And this is my Percheron, Little Miss, but I usually just call her Missy.”

And one by one everyone introduced themselves and their horses. All of them seem nice! With the exception of the redhead sisters, of course.

“So what brings you out here to Horseland?” Sarah asks as let Missy out in the paddock to stretch her legs.

“Oh, family. In fact, I don’t know if you two know this,” I say insinuating towards Will and Bailey. “I’ll actually be staying with y’all for a while!”

“Oh really! Wow! Wait, what about school? Which one are you going to?” Molly asked, hopping on the fence.

“I’m doing online! I’m actually almost done with school all together.”

“Wait, really? How old are you? I thought you were the same age as us?” Alma piped in.

“I am! I’m just turning 16 this year. I did all my other schooling online and I just finish my classes early.”

“Must be nice” Chloe remarked.

“Yeah. We get stuck going to our school every year.”

“Every day!”

“Well, not all things are as great as they seem” I replied, watching Missy trot around.

“What do you mean, you get to practically do whatever you want” Chloe remarked again.

“Eh, maybe you’ll understand eventually, but for now let’s just worry about getting familiar with each other. I haven’t met anyone here before! What if one of you is like the boogeyman or something!” I laughed.

“The only boogeymen here are Chloe and Zoey” Bailey joked, causing the two to scoff and walk out of the barn.

“Well, we ought to go wait for our rides, it’s time to leave. It was nice meeting you Misty!” Sarah started the goodbyes. Then Molly, and Alma. Leaving me with Bailey and Will.

“So!” Will clapped his hands together, “Ready to go see your new room!?”

“Yeah! It’ll be nice to have a goooooood sleep” we all laugh, “I can’t say I’ve never been up this long before. But boy it’s been a long 24 hours with the time difference between here and Michigan!”

“Yeah, I bet all those introductions wore you out even more, huh?” Will asked, as I swung my backpack on my back. I went to grab the luggage handle but he quickly brushed my hand away and took it instead. “Let me, you’ve had a long day! You said it yourself!”

“O-oh…um. Thank you! That’s really sweet of you! And yeah, it was a bit tiring. I’ll probably sleep in a little in the morning, unless my body says otherwise of course.”

“An early bird huh?” Bailey chirped in, as we made it to the porch of the Handler’s house.

“Not quite, I’m more of a night owl, unfortunately with an early bird schedule”

“Ah, that must suck”

“Yeaaaah, but it’s okay for the most part.” I say as we walk inside, and there’s two middlish aged adults waiting for us. It’s Mr and Mrs. Handler, of course. I’ve met them once when they came out for a visit to see my parents a few years back. They didn’t take Bailey because of school so that’s why I’ve never seen him in person before.

“Hello sweet pea! We’re so glad to have you here with us.” Mrs. Handler said calmly walking in to give me a hug.

“It’s nice to see you guys again” I said as I pulled from our hug. “Even though I’ll be awkward for a while, I’m grateful you are having me here, really”

Then Mr. Handler came up and gave me a hug too. “Your parents would’ve done the same for us. They’re the best as they come after all” he smiled.

“That’s true, they are” I smiled.

“Now, come on honey, let’s let her get to bed, she’s been up long enough.” Mrs. Handler ushered her husband. “Will, can you show her her room please? And Bailey, come with us we need your help in the kitchen.”

“Follow me” Will smiled and lead the way. Going up the stairs and down the hallway lines with doors. He pointed out that the first on the left was the bathroom. First on the right was a closet. Second on the left was my room, and second on the right was his room. Baileys was down on the other side of the stairwell.

Walking into my new room everything was all cleaned up and smelled nice. It smelled like apple pie and vanilla. “Mmm. It smells nice in here, did y’all bake a pie in here!?” I giggled.

“No, not exactly,” Will chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. “My aunt had me burn some apple pie candles and vanilla scented dust..or something like that- the furniture. She said it would help you relax, so I didn’t mind at all.” He finished with a tint of pink on his cheeks.

“Well thank you for doing that, I really appreciate it. Really. I absolutely love vanilla apple pie. It’s the yummiest. In fact I’ll make you one of my special ingredient pies so you can try it yourself! If you like pie that is” I chuckled.

“Oh no! Yeah! I love myself an apple pie! I’d-I’d love to try one of your apple pies.” His pink tinted cheeks spread and darkened to red.

“Okay, it’s a date then” I winked with small laugh. ‘He’s cuter when he’s flustered’ I thought, smiling.

“W-what?”

“You know, like a date to remember. For the pie!”

“Oh—okay, haha”

“Well… it’s off to bed for me, so goodnight and thank you for everything” I smiled, “if anyone asks I’m going to try to sleep until 9 am. Ish.”

“Okay, 9am-ish it is. Goodnight, Misty!” Will said and closed the door behind him.

[far-an-away]

Lorry jousting

Lorry jousting is not for the faint-hearted. A long drive from Lviv to Mykolaiv gave me some time to contemplate.

This is about two vehicles travelling together with aid, one with a trailer. The roads vary from terrible to pretty good. The really potholed roads broke the springs on the trailer. Fortunately, we stopped at a garage and then asked everyone who stopped at the garage for help. The kindness of strangers always melts my heart;

At one time we had a group of twelve trying to help, and this was soon whittled down to the two who could see the solution. The solution was a new spring. Leaving us with one wheel on our wagon for about four hours, we drank coffee and tried to sleep. We had been driving all night.

The new spring from a Russian truck looked strong and was quickly fitted. We were on our way.

I mentioned that it would be nice to get to Mykolaiv before dark. Andy decided this was his mission, even though it was possibly impossible.

The lorry jousting began. I followed Andy. The road from Odessa to Mykolaiv was busy and the 200 bhp 2.5 litre Volvo XC70 together with the trailer and the new spring was the wheeled equivalent of fleet of foot.

Andy, younger and fuelled by coffee, monster energy and pro-plus was a serious contender. Olly, older and fuelled only by caffeine and fear, was in an overladen 140 bhp Ford S Max.

Is it safe to overtake? The calculations are complex.

Guestimated speed of approaching lorry (GSOAL).

Distance to approaching lorry (DAL).

Speed of overtaking vehicle (SOV).

We are interested in speed, time and distance. Time = distance / speed.

All three variables are not known at this point of time.

A right-hand drive vehicle is at a distinct disadvantage as you have to be further back to see if it is safe.

The Volvo overtakes and disappears in the distance. Eventually, I follow. The process is repeated many times. As it gets darker my inability to discern which side of the road an approaching vehicle is limits my overtaking prowess.

It is pitch black now. I don’t have the location of our destination on my phone. I call Andy, Andy calls me. The network doesn’t connect us.

Andy waits aside the road, and we greet each other as all the lorries pass us. We meet our contact by the roadside, and he takes us to our drop location.

After the drop, we turn around and head back to Lviv. At midnight, we stop just before a road block. At three am we start driving only to be told at the road block we can't break the curfew. The sky is clear with no light pollution. Our insignificance is massive.

We stop for coffee and chat every few hours on the way back. Where will the next road trip be?

I am crowdfunding my volunteer work here. If you can spare anything, a small donation would be appreciated. https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/farandaway

[anthonysstupiddailyblog]

Anthony’s Stupid Daily Blog (119): Sun 10th Jul 2022

Saw that the trailer for Clerks 3 had dropped so I gave it a watch. I didn't even know that this was in production, let alone that it was finished and almost ready to debut. In fact I was quite sure Smith abandoned this project entirely so he could make Jay And Silent Bob Reboot. I really like Kevin Smith but a lot of his movies have become a lot more cartoonish than the original Clerks movie. Clerks can be over the top at times but for the most part the dialogue and the antics in the film are quite realistic but a lot of the gags in Clerks 2 and the Jay and Silent Bob films are the kind of thing you'd see on The Simpsons or Family Guy. Sometimes switching up your brand of humour can be a good thing sometimes most notably with South park which started out as merely gross out humour for the sake of gross out humour but slowly morphed in to a much more clever and satirical show. Another thing I find interesting about this new film is that the gap in-between Clerks 2 and Clerks 3 is longer than the gap between the original Clerks and Clerks 2. Clerks 2 came 12 years after the original Clerks whereas fans have had to wait 16 years for this new sequel. I do like this idea of doing a comedy franchise in the same way that they do the Up series where we pop in on the characters every few years to see how they're doing but hopefully the next gap won't be so long (And to be fair Smith has been trying to get Clerks 3 off the ground for about 10 years now so it was probably supposed to happen a lot earlier than it has). Went for a run before bed. Although I'd intended to just do a 30 minute run it turned into an hour long one as I had more energy than I originally thought. These trainers I've bought are awesome. The weird thing is they're not running trainers and I assumed that they'd give me blisters as new shoes often do while I'm breaking them in but they've been incredibly comfortable so far. Maybe that's why I was struggling with my recent attempts at long runs because my old trainers are the kind of thing you'd expect to see a tramp wearing but I was just too frugal to buy a pair of decent ones. Ideally what I would like to do is buy a treadmill and cover the conveyor section in bubble wrap because then I'll be able to just run barefoot.

[allywritesforfun]

{Confessions} Karl Jacobs x Reader

summary: your favorite director came out with a new movie so Karl invites you over to watch it with him

pronouns: not mentioned

word count: 1910

masterlist

You and Karl have been pretty good friends ever since you moved into the neighborhood. He was one of the first people to welcome you in. You moved from your hometown to find more excitement in your life, and boy did Karl give you the excitement you always wished for.

At first, it was simple gestures of friendship. You baked cookies one day for yourself and had some left over that you packaged up and gave to Karl. You even took the risk of adding your phone number to the basket. To your surprise, he actually called that night to thank you.

Those calls became weekly, to daily, to no calls at all. Instead, you simply went over to his house. You two did easy little things, your favorite was making “neighbor bracelets” which Karl renamed as best friend bracelets. Both of you still wore yours today.

You’ve built a very good relationship with Karl, you both trusted each other with your lives. Both of you had the other's spare key just in case. The neighborhood wasn't sketchy, but life is life and the two of you were prepared to drop everything to help each other out.

Tonight was a special night. You and Karl were super excited about a new movie coming out of Netflix. Karl knew how much you loved the director, so he invited you over. You were ecstatic.

You offered to bring pizza since Karl provided the drinks. After you picked up the pizza, you headed straight to his house. You parked behind his car and welcomed yourself in, you two basically lived together at this point.

“Karl!” You called, “I have the pizza! Where we watching this?”

You heard a voice from downstairs, “I set up the basement to look like a screening room!”

You chuckled to yourself, that was such a Karl thing to do. Karl always went all out on everything he did. That was one thing you admire about him: he always lived his life to the fullest.

You stopped at the kitchen first to drop off your keys and your shoes and picked up some extra napkins, you weren’t the neatest eater.

You made your way carefully down the stairs, step by step. You had a history of being a bit clumsy and may or may not have dropped pasta down the stairs before.

You turned the corner to the right and stopped immediately. The room was beautiful, with an even more beautiful sight in the middle.

Karl really did surprise you this time. When he said he made it look like a ‘screening room’ you thought maybe some aisle lights and very original signs, but no.

The room was completely transformed. Everywhere you looked, you found something new. The first thing you noticed was the amazing set up around the couch. Karl moved the couch to the middle of the room in front of the projector. Above the couch draped satin sheets that made the set up look like it was from a fairy tale. At first you didn't notice the fairy lights spread out on top of the sheet, but it made the perfect touch. Next was a line of squishmallows leading up to the couch. You even laughed at the little outfits Karl put on them to make them look like workers. You followed where the little workers directed, which lead you straight to Karl.

“Surprise!” He jumped, arms wide open.

You set the pizza down on the coffee table in front of the couch. You took another look around and noticed the abundance of blankets that Karl had laid over to the couch to look really cute and really comfortable.

“Karl,” You covered your mouth in awe, “It's just a movie, you didn't need to do all of this!”

He grabbed your sweatshirt and pulled in for a hug, “But I wanted to! You were so excited for this movie and if it ends up being trash then I wanted to make sure there was at least something good about it!”

You put your arms over Karl’s shoulders and leaned into the hug. You always felt safe in his hugs. His hugs were unmatched. They always drained all of the negative energy out and replaced them with safe and secure vibes.

Karl waddled you two over to the couch and he gently set you down. He stayed up and grabbed the remote while you got the pizza ready.

“This was so sweet of you to do,” You told him. “Thank you very much. I think this might be one of my favorite nights with you.”

“That’s good to know, I’ll make sure I do this more often,” Karl laughed, causing you to blush.

You enjoyed every day with Karl and treasured your friendship to the point when you weren't aware of your own feelings for him. You wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of your life with him, but you wouldn't let yourself think in a romantic way. You feared losing due to unlevel feelings. Karl knew so many people around, so why would he pick the new person in town?

You buried your feelings so far down that you blamed your blushing on going down the stairs and getting overheated from it… because that makes total sense. Karl sat down next to you, about a forearm's length away.

“What type of pizza did you get?” Karl asked.

“I wasn't too sure on what I wanted myself, so I got half pepperoni and half sausage,” You answered.

“Oh good! I was feeling both today too, in sync aren't we?” Karl questioned.

You shook your head, “No, you’re obviously way ahead of me!” You made gestures around the room, “I would've never thought of something this beautiful!”

“Not as beautiful as you,” Karl said under his breath.

You heard it loud and clear. Karl gave you these compliments every once and while. But again, you pushed it off to the side and rationalized it by saying that he says it to everyone. You weren’t special or some sort of exception. What you didn't know was that you were the only one that Karl called beautiful. All of his other friends he called ‘pretty’, beautiful was just for you.

Karl started the movie and the opening seemed off. This wasn't the typical comedy that the director normally did, this was a horror movie. You shifted around in your seat.

“Are you alright?” Karl asked.

You nodded, “Yeah, I just assumed it would be a comedy.” It's not that you hated horror, you in fact enjoyed the storyline of most of them over any other category. It was the jump scares and suspense that you hated.

“Did you not watch the trailer? It was pretty obvious by the dark mysterious basement that it was a horror thriller.”

“No I didn't,” You admitted. “It's alright though. I'm sure the director made it one of the better movies.” “Oh my gosh,” Karl turned and made eye contact with you, “You’re scared aren't you?”

You almost forgot to reply by the eye contact. Karl had the best eyes that you’ve seen. They were so vibrant and you always got lost in them, no matter how hard you tried not to, “Pffft. Me? Scared? Nope, never. It's just a fictional movie that happens to have events that could very well happen tonight or at any point in someone’s life.”

“What the honk?” Karl asked. “You are scared! I can already see it in your eyes and movement that you're scared. Here,” He offered his hand, “Take my hand and you can squeeze it when you get scared.”

You gladly took his hand and refocused your attention back on the movie. It was off to an alright start. You could already tell who was going to die and what character would be your favorite. You didn't jump until a door loudly shut in the movie. You slightly yelped and squeezed Karl’s hand.

He laughed and squeezed back, “That made you scared? You’re in for a long movie.”

You shook your head, “It was a loud noise! How did you not jump?”

“I wasn't really paying attention I guess,” Karl admitted. “Your hand is just so soft and I was trying to think about what lotion you use.”

“Oh, I think I put some Bath and Body Works on them before I left. I took a shower and they got pretty dried out.” You were obviously very unaware of Karl trying to flirt with you. This became a regular thing. It was surprising how much Karl was into you. You accidentally rejected him almost every day, yet he never let up.

The movie progressed and got scarier with every scene. The plot really developed and you loved it. You were so caught up in the movie that you didn't even realize that you were laying down in Karl’s arms.

“Are you okay with this?” Karl whispered into your ear.

You didn't realize that he had his hand on your waist, resting on some exposed skin, you nodded back at him, “Yeah, of course.”

You saw Karl’s cheek turn to a dark red hue despite the darkness of the room. You smiled to yourself and leaned more into him, with the excuse, of course, that you thought there was going to be a jump scare.

Karl’s free hand danced his way around to meet yours, which he nonchalantly took. It was a perfect moment for the two of you, even though neither of you knew about your feelings for each other. This was your first time cuddling with him. You absolutely loved it. You loved the fact that you didn't even have to ask, it kinda just naturally happened.

The movie ended and you two stayed in the same position for a while. You talked about the movie which eventually led to telling stories. You let Karl do most of the talking, you enjoyed watching his eyes light up when he told you about his childhood. The only time Karl’s hand left yours was to either fix his hair, or give you head pats.

Both of you ran out of things to say and laid there in comfortable silence. Karl moved his hand up and rubbed your arm for a while, which made you pretty sleepy. You yawned and snuggled into Karl more than you already were.

You felt him lean down and kiss the top of your head, “Y-You know I really like you right?” He asked.

You nodded, “Yeah I would hope so, I’m here like almost every day.”

“No, I mean like- god this sounds childish but I like you, like you,” He confessed. “Like I invite you over all the time and want to hang out as much as I can because you bring me so much happiness and joy. Like, I’m falling really hard for you and I don't think that you picked up on it.”

You sat up in his arms and stared at him, “You’re joking right? Because you’re the only person that I’ve wanted to be with since I moved, but I didn’t think that I had a chance because you’re so sweet and kind, and you know all of these people so I just kind of ignored my feelings because I didn't want to lose what we already have.”

Karl cupped your cheek with his hand, “y/n, you’re the only one that's had a chance.”

[anime-grimmy-art]

Told you guys I’d ramble in due time.

I absolutely adore Bravely Default 2. It came at a really bad time cos I can’t waste 70 hours on a jrpg, but well, it’s too late to be concerned about that now. And as is tradition with me obsessing over a new game / show / whatever, you’ll basically find a fullblown review disguised as ramblings right under the cut. Be aware that I’m gonna talk about EVERYTHING, so spoilers are a given. Some maybe even for the previous Bravely Default games.

Also, if you wanna talk about this game in any capacity, hit me up, I’m DESPERATE to talk more about it.

Just for reference on how long this is gonna be, I made a voice recording while driving to remember all the points I wanna make, and that recording is almost 2 hours long. I did cut it down but still, this is gonna be a lot.

I’ll start off with the things that actually bugged me about the game, since there are only 3 things that really bothered me. First of, I really don’t like that you can name Seth. He has too much personality to be a self insert and player integration is not that big of a part in the game that this decision can be justified. It wouldn’t bother me that much if it didn’t leave a bad mark on the ending. First of all, we were robbed of Gloria desperately shouting for Seth, which makes the impact work less, and it’s just so prevalent that the name can’t be said because you have all the normal sound design going. If they’d just let the credits still play I wouldn’t have batted an eye, but because every other sound comes in it’s so obvious they’re just silently shouting in this scene, which makes it look silly. Like I said, this decision is more a detriment than an addition, and it’s a shame it casts a shadow on an otherwise heartfelt ending.

Speaking about lost potential, the other thing that really bothers me is the lost potential in certain plot points and character conclusions. I mainly mean Adam and Edna here. Both of them have been built up to be these formidable foes but they just, die. If it was just Adam I’d be fine with it, since you expect Edna to backstab him and be the actual big bad of the story, but I cannot fathom why they dropped Edna this HARD. If not Edna herself, I don’t understand why we don’t get more of a reaction from the Fairies and especially Adelle. I mean, Edna was her sole reason she left for her journey in the first place, then Edna dies and that’s it? No part where she grieves for a second? No concern from the others about Adelle? Mind you, I haven’t finished all the Sidequests, so maybe there actually is one in which this is addressed, but I think even just a Party Chat after Bad End 1 would have been sufficient to show how Adelle suddenly feels about the loss of Edna. It would have made Bad End 2 / The Secret Ending even more impactful, because, yeah, of course, you kinda know Adelle isn’t going to turn her back on fairy kind, but one of the reasons she doesn’t leave is because if Enda didn’t get a happy ending, then she shouldn’t either. It would have been amazing foreshadowing if she showed this sentiment before this scene happened. Other than that, it’s a shame that we know so little about Edna, or rather, how she became “bad”. I get she’s supposed to be corrupted by the Night’s Nexus, but how did it even come to this? It can’t have been a gradual thing, after all, Adelle says Edna was always good natured and then just disappeared one day. Really would have loved seeing more of that plot point.

Ok, last gripe I have, some choices in the soundtrack and sound design. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the OST, and I will get to that, but damn, whatever Revo used for the lead instrument in Wiswald hurts my ears. It’s a really good track, but I always have to turn down my volume because these high pitched sounds physically hurt. And for sound design. Dude, the Night’s Nexus is the least threatening, nightmare fueled abomination that ever existed. I get that its growl is kinda supposed to be layered with Edna’s or sth, but it, it just sounds silly. If they went the route of just swinging between different voices or began distorting it from phase to phase, it would have been fine. But the choice they made really made an otherwise creepy design just absolutely silly.

Ok, enough jammering, on to the good stuff. Like I said, there’s going to be a lot, so I’ll try to be brief in each aspect.

Gameplay

I honestly like the new battle mechanics more than the old ones. This individual, turn based system feels way more dynamic and it’s easier to strategies in battles. Because nothing made me more angry than setting up for a heal and the enemy suddenly being faster than me and killing my healer. Now it’s easier to plan ahead a bit.

I also found myself experimenting more with the jobs. Not sure what it really is, but none of the party members leaning more towards certain types of jobs and the job leveling being way faster probably helped.

And I know some people get up in arms because the boss sometimes can be a real pain in the ass (looking at you pope dude), I still found it very interesting getting around counters or even using these counters as a benefit. As an example, I made Adelle my main physical fighter and gave her lots of counter abilities to help her profit from being countered by enemies themselves. Now, she can attack enemies, get countered, automatically evade that counter and earn a BP at the same time. Made a lot of boss fights way easier and fun to exploit.

Music

Ok, I will try my best to be really, really brief, because in my recording this part takes up almost 40 minutes. Anyways, Revo might have just become one of my absolute favorite composers ever. I don’t know what kind of magic he used, but I initially wasn’t that impressed with the OST, but every time I listened to it, I just fell in love harder and harder. Before getting into specifics, I wanna highlight the two things that made me love this OST overall. First of all, this soundtrack almost seems like a refinement of BD’s. While losing some of that fairytale vibe, it sounds even more fantasy now. And in contrast to the original, this almost sounds more balanced? Like, BD’s OST felt high energy throughout, BD2’s on the other hand manages to find a good balance between high and low energy pieces. Like, the character themes or battle themes are absolute hype, but the overworld themes are a lot calmer and easier to listen to while exploring. Second big point that makes this soundtrack amazing is that Revo is an absolute god at using emotional progression/storytelling and leitmotifs in his songs. And heck, do I love myself my leitmotifs. You’ve got some obvious ones, like the final battle theme in which all the character themes and other leitmotifs are integrated. Then you got some maybe more subtle once, just like how the overworld themes are just the main theme, just a lot calmer and using the lead instruments of the towns of the areas.

But my absolute favourites gotta be the character themes and the main theme. I love how fitting the themes for the characters are and in general, each of them is such a bop. At first I prefered Elvis’, because I sure am a sucker for jazzy vibes, but over time Adelle’s became my fav. It’s just something about the trumpets, and how the theme almost sounds a bit melancholic and bittersweet, that drew me in. And considering her story, mostly her bad end, that the bittersweet tone really fits.

Then there’s the main theme. Just like BD’s it shouts “triumphant anthem” and it definitely gives you a very familiar vibe, but I’d argue it has even better emotional progression. Heck, the first time I heard the music start up in the reveal trailer, I didn’t have to look at the screen to know this is gonna be a BD game. Also, the credit song version had me weeping at the true end. I’m someone who’s very easily affected by music (if me shouting about soundtracks on this blog wasn’t proof enough) and just hearing that ending song, getting the after credits scene, just for the second credits to start as a freaking duet. Dude, at that point I just started sobbing, I’m not gonna lie. Just this little part showed how much Revo knows how to put emotion in a song and also write it in such a way that he can elicit strong, emotional reactions from you too. 

Story

People have been complaining how the story is too boring and kinda disappointing in comparison to the last one, but I just think the games tried to accomplish different things here. Since the BD series is a celebration of old, classic jrpgs, “cliche” storytelling is a given. Though, BD did throw a lot of meta stuff in there too. BD2 in contrast just feels like a direct execution of that initial idea. It feels familiar, it feels comfy and it feels safe. Except for the little things with the endings and then overwriting the Nexus’ “save file”, BD2 doesn’t really get that meta, which is totally fine. It doesn’t try to reinvent or innovate anything, it just wants to be a fantasy story, that might be cliche, but still fun and enjoyable in its own right.

I’d also argue that the pacing is a lot better than the old game, because with BD I sometimes found myself skipping through scenes to get on with the story. Not that this game didn’t have me rushing through stuff as well, but I found it kept my intrigue way better than the original.

Characters

Next to the music, this is the part that I absolutely love the most. While, yes, they did lose a lot of potential with some characters, mostly with the villains, the main cast is just so much fun. I love these 4 dorks so, so much.

I honestly can’t stand how much people compare them to the original cast. Yes, ofc, I’ve been doing my fair share of comparisons too, but calling these four a more boring version of BD’s party physically hurts me. Because except for some initial impressions, the Heroes of Light are completely different from our beloved Warriors of Light.

While yes, Seth and Gloria give off strong Tiz and Agnes vibes at first, they both grow into such different characters that they’re not really comparable. I think this shows with Adelle and Elvis even more. I do understand how people could compare Adelle and Edea, since they’re both the feisty girl type, but I can’t understand how people can see Ringabel and Elvis as the same character type. While those two are the “suave” party members, they act so differently from another. And that’s honestly apparent the first time you meet them. 

Anyways, I love these 4 so much.

We technically don’t know a lot about Seth at all, but they manage to pull so much out of just the fact that he’s a sailor, that it makes him really endearing, really fast.

I was kinda disinterested with Gloria at first, because again, the initial impression was Agnés2.0, but she grew on me a lot. Gloria is way more hard headed and honestly sassy in comparison to Agnés and I absolutely adore it.

Elvis. Elvis, my man. I love this fantasy scottosh wizard so, so much. He’s such a ridiculous character but so endearing at the same time. You got all this dorkiness, with him setting himself on fire as a student, him doing god knows what for a good drink or just laughing danger and prejudice in the face. But then you got his super empathetic and caring side. Mind you, most of his wise moments come from quoting Lady Emma, but still, as much as he’s hopeless with certain social situations, he’s actually still really good at reading the room and playing things smart. He’s a smart and powerful idiot, which makes him a danger to everyone and himself, and I love him for it. (I also can’t believe they called him Lesley I MEAN COME ON)

And then there’s Adelle. I liked her from the start, but I didn’t think she would stick out to me. I think now she’s my favourite character. Not even talking about all the stuff that happens in chapter 3 and onward, because these story threads are awesome in their own right, but there’s just something about her personality that’s interesting and appealing to me. Like I said, I’m not surprised people compare her to Edea, I did too at first, but while Edea walks very close to the line of a Tsundere, I was really surprised that Adelle is, well, not a Tsundere at all. Yeah, of course she’s putting Elvis down a lot, but that stems more from her preventing his ego from going to his head than her being all embarrassed. No, Adelle is actually really well adjusted when it comes to communication. While it’s hilarious that she and Elvis met with her chucking her shoes at him, the two just got along well right from the start. Adelle in general has this really open and helpful personality, but also doesn’t shy away from putting her foot down, even if that sometimes comes out as an embarrassed sputter. She’s also the mother hen of the group. She looks out for the other three and gets concerned about them real fast. 

I dunno, Adelle just really grew on me over the course of this game, and then her kinda being paired with Elvis too, as partners and as partners, makes me like her even more. Because as much as I like their personalities individually, I like their character dynamic even more. I honestly love the relationships between all four of them a lot. You really feel them grow closer as friends and all the little character sidequests just always made me really happy.

Conclusion

You might not believe me, but I really held back there. This could probably have been 3 times its length. As much as I love this game, it’s of course not perfect. It struggles and flails in some parts a lot and it certainly has some aspects that might turn people off. But for me, it was just a very familiar and comfy game that didn’t necessarily deliver anything new, but that told its story in such a way that it still got me excited to keep going. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing and the conclusion of the story actually got me to cry. While not groundbreaking, this game is highly enjoyable and leaves you absolutely satisfied at the end.

Also, I would like to iterate that I am desperate to get more content about this game, so if you wanna chat about it, hit me up.

Anyways, anyone else felt like having a fever dream when everybody in chapter 2 started talking fantasy scottish? Cos I sure did.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

May 2021 Wk 3

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.

It’s a cray cray Friday when Vietnam gets its eng subs up before GMMTV Thailand. What alter-reality are we in? Well, the Vietnamese offerings are better right now anyway. (Oooo, feel that burn.) 

Ongoing Series - Thai

Top Secret Together Ep 2 - pulping it up in the best possible way. Sure sound and production values are pants, and in classic Thai fashion the editing in post is exacerbating (rather than fixing) pacing issues, but it’s still CUTE AF. I don’t even mind the added university storyline, because they’ve got good chemistry (and a confident gay fresher after a panicked gay hazer is an old favorite... what can I say, SOTUS was my first love). We aren’t spending too much time with any one couple, so it’s weighted a lot better than Brothers was, but also character development is slow. 

Siew Sum Noi Ep 2 - Unfortunately, it’s just too hard to find, plus no subs. I’m dropping it in the hopes it comes back on my radar some day. 

Y-Destiny Ep 8 - (Thurs) It’s rough having a ghost boyfriend, half your friends are scared, the other half think you’re crazy, and kissing shortens your lifespan. This was a cute couple even if I wasn’t wild about the surrounding story. 

Close Friend Ep 5: (Dear My Star/JimmyTommy) - about high school penpals. It had to rely entirely on voice over work as the actors only meet face to face at the end. It’s a good thing they are appealing screen presences on their own, with good vocal control. It’s hard to imagine any other BL pair carrying this kinda plot. It’s by far my favorite of the series so far, and I’m not even a big JimmyTommy fan. 

Fish Upon The Sky Ep 7 - no subs. Do we care? Not really. Because we have... 

Nitiman Ep 3 - currently my favorite out of Thailand. It’s the university Thai BL i’ve been waiting for since... when was the last good one? My Engineer? Yowza. Anyway we got: head on my shoulder, baby is a floppy drunk (but still wants to be in control), proximity alert, boyfriend’s closet, seme gets seriously jelly, and a cute twist on feeding him. There’s something fun and complex about Jin’s character. He’s not a panicked bi. He knows exactly what’s going on, he just hasn’t decided if he wants Bb or not. He clearly enjoys being looked after, the compliments, and the attention, but he’s not sure if he’s going to like what happens if he gives in. I like that twist on the usual tsundere uke archetype a lot, cautious rather than willfully obtuse or freaked out. We can see Jin realizing in stages: I like this person, I like that they like me, I like the romantic attentiveness. But in the background is... do I actually want to f*k him? It’s a dynamic we don’t often see on BL. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

HIStory 4: Close To You (Taiwan) Ep 10 fin - the most ridiculous show using BLs worst tropes in a sort of weird smoothie of bitter greens and too ripe banana. The ending was the sappiest cheesiest thing ever, like cheese syrup tapped from the cheese tree. So of course I loved it, but I’m pretty sure I giggled through all the bits meant to be profound. Because, in the end, to tolerate this show at all, you just can’t take ANY of it seriously. RECOMMENDED (with some SERIOUS reservations and trigger warnings.) Full review here. 

Be Loved in House: I Do (Taiwan) Ep 1-2 - I don’t mind a damaged seme character but this one is a bit weird for me. Like creepy Cheese in the Trap level weird. On the bright side, the story has given our tsundere uke good motivation for his angst and great existing friendships, loyalty, and likability. Plus I’m invested in the cafe owner/innocent puppy side dishes. So if it’s only the seme character I’m not jiving with, and he’s the most established actor, it should all turn out fine. I believe in you, Taiwanese BL. 

Papa & Daddy (Taiwan) Ep 6 fin - speaking of belief. This such a good show but they gave us a cliffhanger ending. Now we must hope against hope for season two. That’s never guaranteed with Taiwan tho. So, I’m docking a few points and saying, RECOMMENDED so long as you realize it’s a cliffhanger. 

Love is Science? (Taiwan) Ep 1-9 (BL subplot) - this is a good het romance, but the fact that the BL subplot is a beautifully acted disaster bi + confident gay means you’re hearing about it whether you want to or not. Plus they just added in some GL! Come on! I gotta support Taiwan normalizing queer to this extent. They are fighting the good fight and if I also have to watch a career lady and her much younger softest straight boi get it on, too? Twist my arm with that service sub subtext. Go on Taiwan, TWIST IT. It’s on Viki. Join the revolution.   * Incidentally if you actually like the D/s het dynamic of this show, I highly recommend Japanese Kimi wa Petto - career woman keeps a hot young dancer boy as a pet. Oh yes, an actual pet, that IS the pitch. Never doubt Japan when kink is on the line. It’s also on Viki. Go get your kink on, thank me later. (If it helps: That was not a request.)  

Most Peaceful Place 2 (Vietnam) Ep 2 (AKA 5) - love triangles aren’t my thing, but if you’re gonna do it short form, by all means bring in the lead’s other BL pairing so the chemistry is on point. Now I've no idea who I want him to end up with. Can’t they just be in a poly triad? 

My Lascivious Boss (Vietnam) Ep 7 - I’m still enjoying it a lot. It’s still unabashedly queer and the tension is ramping up. We now have secret identity, blackmail, femme fatale, faen fatale, and incoming seme confrontation. Best of all, the series is still airing, which makes it longer than any other Vietnamese BL I’ve seen (aside from Tein Bromance - which is just too weird to count). 

Gossip - Thai BL 

SEVEN PROJECT TEASERS

No one is entirely sure what Studio Wabi Sabi’s Seven Project/7Project will entail. 

It might be like Close Friend (1 episode per couple, no linking), 

or Y-Destiny (2 episodes per couple, loosely linked), 

or The En of Love (4 episodes per couple, linked but independent consecutive stories). 

They’re giving the couple’s arcs separate titles. So each one would be what? Seven Project: Once Upon a Time or the like? We’re in Taiwanese title territory people and NO ONE WANTS TO GO THERE. Anygay... 

Once Upon a Time is the BounPrem (og UWMA) anchor story, and seems to be the most dramatic and likely saddest. These two can handle most of what’s thrown at them at this juncture, so it should be good. 

Vs Love is a BoomPeak (og Make it Right) university vehicle. Since I thought Boom was done with our nonsense, I couldn’t be more thrilled and surprised this pair is doing another show together. I don’t think either of them are the greatest actors but I find Peak very endearing and Boom charismatic on screen, so I’ll watch. 

Would You be My Love is the hotly anticipated SantaEarth launch. They’re a (cultivated) IRL ship and Earth is an established BL actor. They have great chemistry and high energy so this could be lots of fun. 

We are also getting a GL from this series from established BL actresses Samantha and Pineare. Nothing teased yet on that, but I’m looking forward to this installment the most. Also curious to see how the ladies handle the branding and promo side, not to mention the culture. (Thailand variety shows gonna force *girls* to play the Pepero game?) 

Secret Crush on You upcoming Thai BL with no release date, co-produced by and featuring (but NOT staring) Saint and directed by Cheewin (sigh) with all fresh faces. (Previously known as Stalker the series.) It looks like pure pulp and I’m not wild about the plot but could be better than expected as it’s adapted from a novel. Cheewin is an okay director when he has an actual story to follow. 

Don’t Say No the series. Coming from the producers of TharnType this is the JaFirst vehicle many have been waiting for. Friends to lovers + a good boy/bad boy pairing on a sports romance foundation. It’s basketball so they tapped Meen as well (he’s semi-pro). The bad news? You get one guess as to who is writing the darn thing? Yep it’s MAME. So, ya know, expect some slam dunk kidnapping, a light dribbling of rape, and me turning into a basketcase. AKA... 

Will I have to live blog this series in order to survive it? That seems to be the only way I can. So probably. Which means the bad sports puns will continue. Look, if I’m suffering, SO ARE YOU! 

Rumors of a new YinWar vehicle The Best Story (mini series) coming in July. Also rumors that their previously announced Love Mechanics (full length series) has either been delayed, is facing money issues, or is moving studios, or all three. 

Breaking News 

DELAYED (I’m talking these three off the watch list until we get new airing dates) 

Love Area’s release was pushed out but it got a trailer. 

Golden Blood was supposed to drop Weds but comments in MDL report that it is delayed due to C19.  

Love’s Outlet (Taiwan) is supposed to have started a 50 episode run (only 3-5 min each, what utter nonsense). Sadly, this delay is due to a surge in cases in Taiwan which was doing so well, but also doesn’t have many inoculations. 

Bad Buddy has started workshopping at GMMTV actual. 

Kang Insoo’s BTS for Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding is SO FLIPPING CUTE. You have to watch it. Trust me, I don’t rec behind the scenes stuff often. 

Next Week Looks Like This: 

Some shows may be listed later than actual air date for International accessibility reasons.

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

[judyhopps934-mt-zd]

Thoughts on Lies

Warning: Spoilers! And possibly having your heart torn into pieces. Other than that, have fun!

We open up with Marinette figuring out the recipes for the power ups as the new guardian.

I am disappointed that she still has not stopped oogooling over Adrien when he appeared on the news. Especially since she was allegedly with Luka by then. (I'll explain what I mean in just a minute)

Adrien was tired after the day he had as Adrien, which is a contrast of what Marinette believes his life is like. But being Chat Noir is the highlight of his day...

...only to not see Ladybug show up for patrols. And we see that it was all due to her figuring out the powerups.

Also, the patrols are a thing in cannon and I am still not over it after "Truth".

Chat Noir hoping for an akumatization so he can escape his civilian life radiated the same energy as Alya asking for akumatizations to interview the temporary heroes on her IG post. I get it, but still! We do not have people in danger for our needs.

Plagg being the one who announces any voice messages for Chat and asking for cheese through the feature on the Chat Phone brings me a whole other level of life.

Also, the whole milk thing at Le Grand Paris bar counter. It was hilarious, but also very sad. He really missed his m'lady

He ends the patrol after he saw Kagami training with her mom. And the smiles on his face! *Cries in Marichat and Ladynoir*

Plagg is the one that encourages Adrien to move on from Adrien, just like he applauded him from doing so in Loveater.

Kagami apparently said that fencing lessons are scheduled an hour in advance and Adrien (with that goofy grin on his face) knew what was up!

Both Ms. Tsurugi and Gabriel are very pissed at one another for the schedule change. That's hilarious, although everything comes at a price.

The parallels! Kagami is apparently learning Russian at her mother's request. Truly is a reflection of Adrien, civilian life wise.

Kagami? Lying???? The hell???? Who are you and what have you done to Kagami????? (Why am I surprised, y'all did this in Desperada)

She lies to their parents and the teacher to be in the art room with Adrien. I get it, teenage rebellion after being under an uninvolved parent, but still!

I like how the writers gave Kagami another dimension by saying she loves art, but her mom does not like her passion for drawing.

To Kagami's mom: WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR DAUGHTER IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH???!!! HER DRAWINGS BELONG IN A MUSEUM!

Also, art reflecting the truth? Hmmm.....

Since people like mentioning that Marinette has a thing for people with absent parents after "Truth", I will now say that Adrien has a thing for people who are great at drawing. I do not take criticism.

Kagami is hinting that Adrien's civilian life is not his true self (thank you for understanding him!)...

...but also says that being a "clown" (it was the Chat pose) is also not who he really is. The fandom would disagree with you. Although that brings up the question of whether both personalities merge to form who he really is and cannot be seen completely by anyone in any part of his life. But he is more like Chat Noir regardless.

Also, I want to see Adrien and Kagami spend more time together prior to this episode to see why she was not pleased with him being a clown if that's who he truly is, because her repositioning him against the wall made me feel like she is trying to place Adrien into a mold that reflects the image she might have created in her mind. (I don't know, this was just the first thought that came in my mind.)

They almost kiss, with Adrien being taken into shock (not terrified as we thought) until the alarm saying they have fencing lessons starting interrupts them and Adrien runs out, not before BLUSHING LIKE HELLO?!?!?

This is what I referred to in my second point and confirms what everyone was saying about this episode: this is "Truth", but through Adrien's perspective. Finally, an Adrien-centered episode!!!

To continue, every time Adrien and Kagami are together or were about to kiss, a sentimonster appears, with Ladybug trying to do something about it. Just like Lukanette, just like Adrigami: being a superhero affects your love life as a civilian.

Chat being thrown off the roof by accident and being rescued will never get old or less funny lol.

Montages continues up until the boat scene, where Adrien missed the intro to the performance, but I will never get over the fact as to how Adrien made it there before Marinette. It is beyond me.

Kagami not letting Adrien stay for 5 more minutes. Hmm...

Their cute moment together was what will lead to the demise of Adrigami as Kagami noticed he dropped the infamous lucky charm bracelet. *le gasp!

Why *le gasp*? Because 1) I fear it symbolizes that something will happen to Adrienette or that Adrien has forgotten about her, and 2) Wait until later.

Kagami revealed she lied so she can spend more time with Adrien alone, lying about leaving rehearsal earlier, lying about the fencing lessons rescheduling, and who else knows what else so she can be with him.

She tells him she loves him. But Adrien notices Ladybug and an Akuma. Oh boy, he wasn't able to give her any attention.

Because he left towards the direction of the boat (and said he left something there), Kagami used that to conclude it had something to do with Marinette. Oh boy.

Either I missed an entire scene about Ladybug knowing ShadowMoth's name, or we were not supposed to know how they know until this episode. It feels out of place to me, but oh well.

"I..am...AN INCREDIBLE SWIMMER!" still cracks me up even when I know how important it was in protecting her secret identity.

Happy Birthday Prince Ali!

Apparently, Kagami lied that her mom was in charge of watching over Adrien (or maybe not? I can't tell at this point.)

Yep, Kagami believes that Adrien is going after Marinette and probably resents them both if her facial expression says anything

We get to see that Ladynoir moment from "Truth"!! I love these two and their banter.

Adrienette stans, not much has changed. Adrien was concerned that he lost the Lucky Charm bracelet, for real. But said again because he though he would be clear of the lie since he thought he had it on him.

Kagami confronts him with it. AND THIS IS HIS SHOCKED FACE SCENE FROM THE TRAILER!!!

Thinking that she lies to get out of being with her, she leaves. With the bracelet. The leaving part is understandable, especially because she does not know about him being Chat Noir or what entails him to do. But why take the bracelet???

Adrien is also saddened by what happened. He also liked her.

We've never seen that part of city hall. Well designed in my opinion.

She was the akuma in City Hall with the glowing sphere! We were right!!!

Adrien feels guilty, though it is not really his fault. He has a duty to Paris!

Why is the music sounding different in French.

Jagged Stone. How do I feel about you after learning you purposefully abandoned Luka and apparently Juleka? Also, what's with the song??? (Rhetorical question. Do not answer)

We were wrong about Kagami's power: it paralyzes people who lie, not kill everything in its path.

Jagged, you abandoned your children. And you apparently lied about your age?!?!?! Both episodes show something about Jagged Stone that make him seem like an awful person on the inside.

Ladybug, how do you know about Lies's powers?!?!? There is a hole in the plot here! Unless there were other paralyzed civilians that gave her power a dead giveaway.

Chat Noir, if you lie as a civilian for whatever reason, of course Ladybug will too, since as a civilian, you need to lie to keep your secret identity a secret. Same rules apply to Ladybug, especially as the guardian.

The Lucky Charm is a drone, not a camera like I thought. How the hell did I get into an ivy if I can't tell the difference?!?!

Chat Noir pretending to lie is funny. It might also be his peppy attitude to lying. Also, his funnier version of ShadowMoth's name.

Ladybug finds the akumatized object and gasps. I wonder if its only a eureka moment or also the fact that she recognizes the bracelet, especially if its custom made.

Brutally honest people does not exist (we have all lied at some point, even Kagami who is usually brutally honest with people), but animals can't lie.

Fang being involved in destroying the akuma is cool.

This is the moment that we dreaded so much, yet knew was coming: CHAT NOIR DIES!

JK! He actually is paralyzed by truth because he jumped into the glowing orb. We were right that this is an anguishing scene to watch, but we're wrong about the part that he's killed. Yet, he still unnecessarily sacrificed himself and caused Ladybug to be angst about it.

WHAT IS UP WITH CHAT NOIR BEING HAPPY ABOUT SACRIFICING HIMSELF?!?!? AND DO NOT SAY ITS BECAUSE HE TRUSTS LADYBUG!

Yes Ladybug. Chat is crazy. And also crazy for you. And you are right about the crazy unconscious part. My Ladynoir heart!

ShadowMoth almost won until Fang bit off the charm bracelet. Thanks Fang!

Chat backing away from Fang licking him is a mood.

My favorite Ladynoir moment of the evening: Ladybug telling Chat to stop sacrificing himself and Chat saying she likes her adorable angry face. Her smirk afterwards.. And then their pound it.

But no seriously Chat. You need to stop doing that to Ladybug. She cannot take it anymore

Plagg said that even if Adrien loves someone else, he is likely to go back to Ladybug. Just like he goes back to Camembert. Seriously, despite his cheese analogies, he gives great wisdom.

Not Kagami almost beating up Adrien during his fencing lessons. And Mr. D'Angercourt notices this too as he stopped Kagami's final blow.

Also, isn't it illegal in fencing to push people? Oh boy.

And there's the Adrigami breakup scene: Adrien telling Kagami that he enjoys their time together and Kagami knowing their is sincerity in him. It is sort of unclear who actually ended things when Adrien asks if they could still be friends, but Kagami ends it all by saying that she will let him know once she can face him again. Ouch.

Adrien is hurt and stares at the lucky charm bracelet with what looks like sadness. Once again ouch.

Like Lukanette, I want to see Adrien and Kagami be happy together at least until halfway through this season. The issue is that it will hurt them more in the end.

Also, I noticed the difference between Luka and Kagami when ending their respective relationships. It hurt them both, but Kagami was more forward about it and Luka was somewhat passive. It could be based on what they know about their now exes (Luka knew that Marinette had feelings for Adrien and was not secretive about it even when they were together if the truths her friends said and the opening scene to this episode reflect this, whereas Kagami only has a suspicion and Adrien does not say anything regarding to it.

Also, I really did not like how the breakup on this end resulted in. While more realistic for a lot of people, it did not help that it involved Kagami as there are people who will go after Kagami after watching this episode, and I believe that the writers know this. Kagami is a good person who has a different response to the trust issues and lack of communication, as well as lies in their relationship. Not saying its a perfect one, but an understandable one. In conclusion, don't trash Kagami, especially if you saw this coming.

I take back what I said before; this is my favorite Ladynoir scene. I want to hug them both because they have to lie and keep secrets from everyone, even have some secrets between themselves! But at least they can trust each other! Excuse me while I cry over how much we are being fed. Also, the fact that they broke up with their respective partners makes this both heartwarming and heart breaking.

Overall, this episode is just as good as Lies! It is the first fully Adrien-centered episode, which makes this a first and already exciting. While I did not like how their breakup was handled, it was realistic and showed that honesty and communication are important. Also, can my children be happy together for longer than an episode??? I swear, their pain hurts me.

But at least Ladybug and Chat Noir have each other's company to get them through. May us Ladynoir stans continue to be fed!

[remnantoforario]

7 Things I Want to See in RWBY Volume 8

So with Volume 8 being stalled because of the pandemic (though they are still working on it in increments) I thought about doing a post about things I would like to see in the next volume. This is similar to the “Questions I Want Answered in Volume 7″ before that volume came out, but this one will be more centered on the actual story and characters rather than the broader stuff I wanted in 7. These have no real order, just seven random things I want to see. Here we go:

1. More Varied Character Interactions

This is one of the bigger sticking points I’ve had with the show in general rather than a problem I had with V7 itself. It’s no secret that one of the biggest complaints about RWBY from even it’s most hardcore stans is the lack of interpersonal interactions between characters outside of their given pairs. Ruby only talks to Weiss, Blake only talks to Yang, Ren only talks to Nora, and vice versa. 

Yang and Weiss had moments in Volume 5, but when was the last time Ruby and Blake had a conversation? Volume 1? What about Yang and Qrow? A big part of his arc in Volume 5 was his alcoholism and Yang was nowhere near that. Ruby and Yang are also big offenders. Weiss and Blake had one small moment in the mine and then went right back to being perfect strangers. Weiss and Jaune haven’t “talked” since volume 2 (I don’t count their dialogue after she got stabbed in V5) and I can’t recall anytime Ren and Nora have ever had a conversation with Yang and Blake. These kids are supposed to be friends who have been through thick and thin together, but they seem more like strangers outside of their supposed “pairings”.

The preview with Yang interacting with Oscar, Jaune, and Ren gave me some hope. Hopefully the show continues it. 

2. More Information on Summer Rose

Volume 7 dropped the only notable information we’ve had about Summer since Qrow’s talk about the Silver Eyes in Volume 3, that being that Salem was likely responsible for Summer’s death. It’s now time to finally get more information on her. Who was she as a character? What was her semblance? What was her weapon? How did others view her? What is her connection to Ozpin? Why was she so important? How exactly did she die? I think some, if not all, of these questions should be answered in either this volume, or the next. We need a reason to care about her. 

One more important thing I would stress is that it needs to be Ruby actively searching for these answers. She shouldn’t have them handed to her, she should ask Yang and Qrow. Hell, if I wanted to get crazy I would just have a bottle episode with the three trapped in a bunker or something while Salem is attacking and all they do is talk about Summer.  Anything to highlight just why this woman who has been hanging over the show like a specter since the red trailer is so important. 

3. Give Yang Something to Do

Yang has been mostly directionless as a character since Volume 4. Her goal was to find Ruby, and that mostly carried her through V5, but now that they are reunited she’s mostly used to dress up the background or play will they won’t they with Blake (we’ll get to her) for ship bait. Put her on a path of wanting revenge on Salem for killing her mother (Summer), make her more worried about Ruby, or add her to Nora’s “defend Mantle” plotline. Something to make her an active character in the story again. 

4. Put Blake Back on track

Told you we’d get to her. Blake is an interesting character when you sit down and think about. In theory she should be the most compelling character with the deepest story arc, but she’s not. She was usurped by Weiss (who we will also get to in a moment) not long after Volume 5 ran its course. Her original course was to face her past, which morphed into taking back the White Fang from Adam, and then finally devolved into getting rid of Adam. Since then she has had little to no direction as well. 

Atlas is a hotbed for Faunus discrimination (as far as the show has implied) so I would like to see Blake get back to that. There was a slight moment in V7 with the mine, but that was quickly discarded. It would be interesting if she was able to rally the Faunus in Mantle similar to how she did in Menagerie.

Also, fix her hair. Come on, CRWBY. My girl out here looking like a used swiffer duster.

5. More Focus on the Schnee Family

A lot of people expected Volume 7 to be Weiss’ volume and its not hard to see why. The set up was there. She ran away from Atlas at the end of Volume 4 to find Winter, only to find out that her sister had been called back home. Now she was going back and not only would she reunite with her sister, she would also have to face her Father once more. Ultimately, this didn’t pan out and Weiss was mostly window dressing for what should have been the biggest part of her story. 

The other Schnees weren’t much better. Winter got some things to do, but it was more in service to Penny’s character than hers. Jacques remained the same. Whitley STARTED to get a character arc and Willow did little more than drink and a be plot convenience for Weiss. With Jacques now in jail and the company and family in shambles, this is the perfect time to give us something to latch onto with these five individuals. 

6. Character Conflict and Consequences

RWBY has had a nasty habit of late of pushing “protagonist-centered morality”. Meaning that no matter the situation, our main characters are always right and whoever opposes them is wrong (despite the litany of examples illustrating the opposite). This has to stop going forward. It only serves to irritate the audience because it makes it seem like the characters can’t make mistakes. Nothing they do has any lasting consequences or stakes. 

Team RWBY stalled Atlas’ defense plans against Salem by lying and unwitting sabotage, yet the story treated it as if they were in the right despite them offering no alternatives. Any attempts to speak against them were framed as “villainous”, turning once compelling characters into caricatures (Ironwood did nothing wrong). 

When it comes to character conflict, Ruby is always right. No matter what she says or does, her group falls in line no questions asked. That’s not natural. Someone should question her, someone should disagree with her methods and give a different perspective. 

Yang blistered Ozpin for lying about Salem and the Relic, but she was ok with Ruby doing the same thing to Ironwood? It made no sense and made her look like a hypocrite. 

Blake abandoned her friends, yet was welcomed back with open arms with little to no conflict. Even if the audience knew her reasons, her friends didn’t. For all they know she just up and left because she felt like it. Yang talked all this mess about Blake leaving, but didn’t keep that same energy when she came back. 

It’s ok for characters, for friends, to argue and disagree. It’s normal and happens all the time. Let them fight in the beginning of the volume, break up, and come back together in the end. Something. Maybe Ruby has a plan that Blake, Weiss, or sister don’t agree with and their clashing ideas split the group in half for a while. Then you can have the underlying narrative be them coming back together with new ideas to combat Salem when their individual plans don’t work. 

7. Give the Villains A Win

This is probably the most important thing I want to see. Salem and her forces are supposed to be the most evil group of people the planet has ever seen. A force of nature filled with killers, monsters, and madmen who want nothing more than to watch the world burn...but they haven’t posed a real threat since the Fall of Beacon. 

The show TELLS us Salem is a big deal, but until the end of Volume 7 all we’ve seen her do is sit in her tower and yell about Ozpin. She had yet to directly do anything that made our main characters want to stop her other than “she bad person”. Cinder has had more impact on the plot than her, and she hasn’t been useful since Volume 3. 

The villains NEED win this and the next volume. They need it so the writers can reestablish the stakes and make it so we WANT to see these bad guys defeated. Whether that be killing notable character off, taking the relic and Maiden powers, or dropping Atlas out the sky and destroying both it and Mantle completely, SOMETHING needs to happen to assert the villains dominance again in the plot.  

These are just what I personally want to happen in the next volume. I’m expecting them all to happen, but I least hope one or two of them do. We’ll see how it goes. 

[pines-troz]

Weekend With The Warners Chapter One - Animaniacs & Pinky and The Brain

Summary: When the CEO tasks Pinky and the Brain with the important task of watching over the Warners for the weekend, Brain is prepared for any antics that the children have in store. What he didn’t take into account was forming a familial bond with the kids.

Word Count: 1,868

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27849962

This is a found family story with a good combination of fluff, humor, and mild angst. Contains Brinky and Non-Binary Wakko

Beginning AN: This is probably the most self-indulgent story I’ve ever written

On a dark and stormy evening, a mysterious figure entered a castle that overlooked a provincial village. Deep inside the gothic estate’s stone walls, the figure snarled as he trudged up the winding stairs, leading to the top floor. He let out a vicious cry as he opened the large wooden doors to the laboratory. 

Dr. Brainenstein, the lord of the castle, stood behind his chemistry set, the glass beakers obscuring his face. Upon hearing the door open, he dropped his studies and gazed upon the visitor with an eager smile. 

“Ah, Pigor, you’ve returned!” Dr. Brainenstein greeted his assistant with a confident grin. The scientist emerged from his chemistry set to reveal himself. He wore a fancy black coat, a satin purple shirt underneath a white collared shirt, and black pants. 

The monstrous shadow revealed to be a lanky and chipper mouse wearing a brown hood and a muted yellow tunic. “‘Ello, Dr. Brainenstein!” Pigor replied merrily, waving to his boss. The mouse carried a large brown sack with something moving about. 

Dr. Brainenstein slid down the table leg and eagerly approached his assistant. “How was the graveyard scavenging?” He inquired menacingly, whilst rubbing his hands. 

Pigor strained as he carried the large sack with his findings. “Oh, brilliant!” He cheerily answered. “You know, you would be surprised what the dead leave lying around.” 

“By the way, I’ve probably been in here a thousand times, but I’m always amazed at how beautiful your castle is!” Pigor complimented. 

“Thank you, Pigor.” Dr. Brainenstein acknowledged. “I employed only the top masons. Those schooled in the latest techniques of wall-stone craft.” 

The scientist curtly shoved his assistant off to the side. “Now, let’s see what you brought me!” 

Dr. Brainenstein eagerly opened the sack, expecting a horde of body parts for his latest scientific experiment, but was surprised to see the Warner children. Yakko, Wakko, and Dot huddled together and smiled at the mouse. 

“Hi!” They chorused, but Wakko belched loudly, blowing the scientist’s fur and jacket backwards like a strong gust of wind. 

“Sorry.” Wakko apologized, their cheeks turning a bright shade of pink. 

At that moment, Pinky and The Brain broke character and started laughing. The Warners soon joined in, and the five rode out their bout of laughter together. 

“Oh, classic Wakko.” Brain sighed as he wiped a tear from his eye. 

Pinky went by Brain’s side and wrapped his arm around the smaller mouse’s shoulder and turned towards the camera. “You better add this to the blooper reels! Zort!”

But the primal yell from the director brought the joyous moment to a halt. The five actors immediately huddled together as they were about to face the wrath of the man in the director’s chair. 

“What is this?” The director irately shouted. 

“Hey, Wellesley! Hope you don’t mind the surprise cameo!” Yakko replied with a playful smile to humor the irascible filmmaker. 

“Yeah, we just wanted to give our favorite mice a surprise visit.” Dot explained as she gently patted their heads. Pinky contentedly closed his eyes and began tapping his foot a mile a minute upon receiving the girl’s affection. Brain, too, was endeared by the Warner sister’s pats and smiled at her. 

“So I ate all the potatoes and we hopped into this sack!” Wakko concluded, happily stimming by flapping their hands around. 

“But the script says for Pigor to carry a large sack of potatoes and have Dr. Brainenstein to open up the sack and be squished by a pile of potatoes!” Wellesley angrily explained. “Now can someone get those pesky kids out of here and get back to the scene!” 

But before any of the crew members could intercede, Brain stepped forward, taking a defiant stand against the director. “Forgive me if what I’m about to say comes off as a crushing blow to your fragile ego, but I wholeheartedly disagree with your creative vision.” Brain argued. “I say we should keep the Warners in the short.” 

The intelligent mouse quickly retrieved the script from his coat pocket. “And one other minor criticism I have with the script is that I find the ‘wall-stone-craft’ pun to be awfully misleading.” Brain added with a stern frown. “While Mary Wollstonecraft was an illustrious writer, she did not pen the classic gothic novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Her daughter, Mary Shelley, wrote the book that this segment is parodying.” 

“Hey, the studio isn’t paying you to be a walking history book.” The director fired back. “And besides, potatoes are very funny.” 

“Perhaps in Idaho, but having a cameo appearance from the Warners would be keeping in the comedic spirit of Animaniacs in regards to rapid-fire visual gags.” Brain argued. “The kids are staying in the short, and that’s final!” 

Unbeknownst to The Brain, the Warners smiled as they watched their fellow co-worker stand up for them and make a compelling case for their inclusion. 

Pinky then rushed over to Brain’s side and faced the director. “Can the Warners stay in the segment? Pretty please, Mr. Director?” Pinky pleaded, using his best puppy dog eyes and simpering pout. 

Wellesley rubbed his forehead and gave in. “Alright, we’ll use the Warners, but the ‘wall-stone-craft’ pun stays. Now can we get back to filming please!” 

Brain smugly smiled, satisfied with the compromise. He then turned to face his dearest co-star. “Well Pinky, it appears that my excellent debate skills and your irresistible cuteness have saved comedy yet again.” Brain complimented, ruffling the taller mouse’s head. Pinky relished the small and gentle display of affection from Brain. 

“Aww, I thought I was the cute one!” Wakko sadly interjected. Dot merely rolled her eyes at her sibling’s protest. 

“Places people!” The director yelled. 

“Come on, sibs.” Yakko said as he stood up. His younger sibling followed suit and the three pulled up the potato sack and hopped their way towards the door entrance. Pinky followed the Warners and Brain immediately returned to his place behind the laboratory equipment. 

-                      -                              -                      -                        -   

Filming the rest of the segment went smoothly for the mice. Brain was able to ad-lib his rant after seeing the Warners in the sack, comparing their cameo to ‘layman’s detritus’. The mice were able to strike up a friendly rapport with the actress who played Drusilla in between takes. They listened to her fascinating background starting out as an extra on daytime soaps before making the move to horror movies and acting with heavy special effects make-up. Brain also managed to work in some improvisation near the final scene where he almost smooched his assistant in an earnest attempt to comfort him, knowing that the viewers would have a field day with that moment. 

Once they wrapped up filming the segment, Pinky and The Brain collected their paychecks and made their way through the Warner movie lot, holding hands as they strolled through the studio together. After years of wrestling with his repressed emotions and attending many therapy sessions, Brain finally professed his love to Pinky, and Pinky happily reciprocated his romantic feelings to Brain. The two started their courtship four months before they received the news that they would be returning to Animaniacs for the reboot. 

Brain ignored the curious stares from the other workers on the studio lot, instead focusing his attention on his hand, which was interlaced with Pinky’s. This was all so new to him. He was trying his best to navigate the challenging terrains of a serious romantic relationship. Thankfully, Pinky was ever so gentle and understanding with him. The taller mouse possessed strong emotional intelligence and he was able to help Brain let his guard down and help him come to terms with his own emotions. The smaller mouse was still slowly getting used to public displays of affection from Pinky. 

Pinky recognized Brain’s nervousness and started to make small-talk to keep his mind occupied. “Oh, that ‘Bride of Pinky’ segment was so much fun, Brain!” The buck-toothed mouse proclaimed. 

“Indeed it was” Brain politely replied with a small smile. 

“And your improv was on point!” Pinky praised. “Dr. Brainenstein trying to kiss Pigor after the loss of his monster wife was brilliant!” 

“Well, your performance was believable as always, Pinky.” Brain kindly complimented. 

“Yeah, I’m glad those last couple segments were more on the fun and heartwarming side.” Pinky added. 

Brain nodded his head. He was still bitter at the writers who penned that dreaded ‘Mousechurian Candidate’ script for a number of reasons. The material had angered him, but deeply disturbed Pinky to the point that he had been hiding himself in his trailer after each scene. Brain and Julia did their best to reassure their poor co-worker that they were only acting. But once they had received the scripts for ‘The Babysitter’s Flub’ and ‘Bride of Pinky’, Brain was relieved that the following segments focused on the comedic and affectionate relationship the two leads shared. This renewed Brain’s hope that the reboot would manage to retain the magic of the original series. 

Meanwhile, the Warners bounced around the movie lot, looking for a way to let out their energy. Yakko spotted Pinky and The Brain walking together. He stopped Wakko and Dot and gestured over to their co-stars. The three made one long leap towards the mice. 

“Hey, fellas!” Yakko greeted. “Listen, we just wanna thank you two for vouching for us earlier.” 

“We really appreciate you two standing up for us.” Wakko added. 

“Oh, your welcome.” Brain said. “It’s awfully rare that we cross paths in the show, but Pinky and I welcome your enthusiastic presence.” 

“Personally, I’ve always been an admirer of your sophisticated wit and earnest comedic chemistry.” Dot complimented. 

Pinky looked bashfully at Dot. “Zort! Oh you’re far too kind!” 

“Oh, I have something important to tell you two.” Wakko announced. “So I told my siblings this a while back, and I want you to know that I’m Non-Binary!” The middle child turned their hat around to reveal the pin of the Non-Binary flag on the front of their cap. “Egad, you have zero binaries? Why that’s incredible!” Pinky exclaimed as he eagerly shook Wakko’s hand. 

“That’s wonderful, Wakko.” Brain congratulated. “And could you kindly inform us of your pronouns?” 

“I currently use he/they pronouns.” Wakko answered. 

“Well, Pinky and I are very happy for you.” Brain kindly told the middle child. 

“Aw, thanks!” Wakko said with a sincere smile. Yakko playfully ruffled his sibling’s head, causing Wakko to give their older brother a soft shove. 

“Well, as much as I would love to converse with you further, Pinky and I need to go to the bank to deposit our checks, and return to the lab to discuss our plans for world domination.” Brain explained, tugging his taller partner along. “See you soon, children!” 

“Bye-bye kiddies!” Pinky addressed the kids with a friendly wave. 

“Bye!” The Warners chorused before bouncing about on their merry way back to the water tower. 

Unbeknownst to the mice and the Warners, they were being watched by Warner Brothers CEO, Nora Rita Norita, from the top floor of the WB office building. The businesswoman looked through the blinds and noticed the great rapport between the five actors. 

She flashed a menacing smile before releasing her grip from the blinds. 

Additional AN: So this chapter is mostly set up, establishing the friendly rapport between the Warners and the mice. 

Like my previous story, Those We Hold Dear, Pinky and the Brain work as actors and that most of the segments were filmed on the Warner movie lot (the period piece ones like How to Brain Your Dragon, Pinko and the Brain, Bride of Pinky, 1001 Narfs, and I added Mousechurian Candidate because of how poorly executed it was and the writers really did those characters dirty. And I was inspired by a post by @themurphyzone about episode 8 while referencing that episode in the story. While other segments like Ex-Mousina and Roadent Trip will be referenced later on in the story, occurred in-universe. 

And I chose to start the story with the characters filming Bride of Pinky because I loved that little cameo from the Warners and thought it would be fun to play around with the idea of what went on behind the scenes. Also, I decided to expand on that director who kept yelling when something went wrong while filming, and decided to name him Wellesley after the one of the producers of the reboot, Wellesley Wild. 

I also made the self-indulgent inclusion that Brain finally attended therapy because I love that grumpy little mouse and I wanted to at least have some of his emotional issues straightened out. 

As of now, this multi-chapter story is mostly complete, and I just need to add in some details in certain scenes, so I will do my best to post new chapters frequently. 

Thanks for reading! 

[crazy-bi-btch]

Exploring ( Sweet Pea X Reader)

Summary: Sweet Pea and Y/n have a dirty secret that can lead to trouble.

Paring: Sweet Pea X Reader

Warning: NSFW, MA, smutttt like alottt, light BDSM

Word count: 5k

A/N: Okay  so this was a request from a long time ago and i like how it started so I want to make a second part to it! Hope yall like it!

-Present time-

“ We need to talk!” Cheryl grabbed my arm, pulling me into the nearest empty classroom. I flinched as she pressed on the fresh bruise. Her eyes widened, “ Take the jacket off!”

I sneered, “ Damn, Cheryl— don’t think Toni would like that.” She glared at me and I caved in. That's it. Our secret will be brought out by Ms. Cheryl blossom. I told Sweet Pea, not to leave a noticeable mark. But of course, this is Sweat Pea I’m talking about. Shit. I annoyingly took my serpent coat off and Cheryl’s eyes widened and a small gasp left the poor girl.

Now how the hell do I tell her that the serpent that is the most trouble in the gang is secretly fucking me behind everyone’s back.

“ Jesus! Y/n What the actual—” 

“ I can explain.” I rush over to her to coax her from making a big fuss. She was furious. I mean she’s the biggest feminist I know beside Betty and Veronica.

“ Did the ghoulies do this to you! WHO DID THIS! IS THIS THE BOY—” I clamped my hand over her loud ass mouth. 

“Shhh!” She mumbled under my mouth and rolled her eyes crossing her arms. 

“ No one beat me up! It’s this boy—”

“Is he hurting you because I can send some serpents, his way!” She practically stomped, her frown very visible. I sheepishly remembered every single bruise and mark and how they were made.

“ It’s...a sex...thing” I mumbled avoiding her glare, she clearly couldn’t hear me.

“Huh?” Her arms crossed and an annoyed face pressuring me to spill my truth.

“ God dammit Cheryl I’m having kinky sex..” I whisper-shouted, a blush invading me as I heard myself admit it. 

She looked like she was about to faint. “ That-” she pointed wide-eyed, I nodded, pulling the coat over my bruised arms. She turned around, rubbing her temples.

“ With who? And what the hell is wrong with you! It looks so-” I cocked my eyebrow at her

“Painful?” 

“ YES!” She exclaimed concerned, I giggled softly.

“ Don’t kink shame me Cheryl Blossom because I know damn well you and Toni go all 50 shades of gray.” She blushed but was ready to counterattack like always.

“ But I don’t bruise her— visibly!” She pointed out again, I sighed and hugged her.

“ Look, I know you’re concerned… but I’m fine... We have a safeword and it's fun!” I reassured her as she hugged back.

“ Okay… I trust you! But I don’t know about him. Who is he?” She asked, furrowing her eyebrows at me. I smirked at her. 

“ That’s a secret I’ll never tell..” I giggled and ran out the classroom, but not before hearing her classic  groan of annoyance.

-48 hours before-

Saturday. It was finally here! Your phone rang, waking you up from your deep slumber.

“Fuckkk…” I groaned, half asleep as I blindly looked for my annoying phone.” Hello.”

“Hey.” My stomach flipped and my eyes shot open. Sweet Pea.

“ Hey.” I smiled softly as his voice gave me the energy and brightness enough for the day. Then I realized, today is our ‘appointment’.

“ Just decided to call you and let you know I’m excited for today.” The smirk in his voice is practically oozing. I rolled my eyes playfully.

“ Oh really? What is so special today?” I acted coy with a hint of playfulness, his demeanor fell as his voice cracked. 

“ Don’t play with me y/n.” He hissed softly into the phone, it sent a shock straight to my core. I bit my lip. 

“ Sorry Pea...I can’t meet with you today. I have another meeting with someone else tonight.” I teased, laying back into my pillows like a cliche teenage girl in a teen-drama movie.

He groaned, clearly angry, “ Who the fuck….— In a minute Fangs! I swear to god y/n if your fucking someone else.”

“ Yeah I am….and he takes very good care of me… he’s my daddy..” I edged him even more, the game suddenly starting now. The small sigh and chuckle that he released gave my heart a kick. He was jealous.

“ He sure does huh?” He teased  his voice suddenly deeper and lower. “ I have a surprise for you tonight. More like a gift.” Then the background noise became more noticeable.

“ Oh really?” I questioned—suddenly curious,  he then changed the subject signaling Fangs and the others were around.

“ Yes, Doug, 6:00pm I know! You and your stupid stash. See you then.” Sweet Pea gloated with laughs of the boys echoing through,” You better pay up a little more than last time.” The last part was definitely for me. Then he hung up. 

I squealed in excitement as I tossed and turned in bed. It sucked being friends with benefits, in secret may I add. It’s extremely hard and exhausting, but we knew that. We both found that in sex we weren’t getting what we wanted. We weren’t fulfilled. So on a drunk night as we were the last up in the trailer as everyone else was passed out drunk. We played a stupid game.

Flashback

“ Never have I ever faked an orgasm.” Sweet Pea slurred, laughing at nothing, barely able to sit still. 

“ Shhh! Be quiet! Umm… Yes I have!” I stifled a giggle as my finger fell from the rest that were propped up.

“Ohh I want to know!” He teased taking another swing of his beer. I pretended to zip my mouth and throw the key making us laugh.

“ My turn, Never have I ever wanted to try something new in bed.” I giggled like a 13 year old as I slurred it out. Pea shrugged and put his finger down. I exaggerated a gasp pointing at his finger.

“ Sweet Pea is kinky!” I laughed but shushed myself.(Very drunk may I add) “ Me too!” I exclaimed. And we both fell silent as we both stared at our 3 fingers remaining up.

“Never Have I ever wanted to be tied up during sex.” His voice serious and dark. And I was suddenly quiet. 2 fingers were left.

“ Never have I ever wanted her to call me daddy.” I sighed out, praying for him to drop a finger. If not then that would be embarrassing. But his finger fell.

“Never Have I ever wanted to be choked.” His signature smirk came out as he realized his power over me now. I was left with one finger. I gulped.

“ Never Have I ever wanted to fuck my bestfriend.” I croaked out, both of our expressions falling. His finger fell. “ We’re tied.” I sighed as I stared at his lips. He gulped and put his hand down, ending the game. Our eyes say everything. We wanted this….bad. 

In an instant we both crawled toward each other meeting in a fiery kiss, breaking the innocent friendship we had and entering a whole new dimension. 

End flashback

We snuck around, doing all of our deepest fantasies. We were exploring our sexual fantasies. BDSM, nothing bad with that right? Except that it was ruining our friendships around us. We were lying to them. Making them believe we have suddenly become enemies. That we couldn’t stand each other in public, at times hurting each other's feelings.

My trailer was farther to the sides from our friends trailer which made it easy for Sweet Pea to come to me. Plus, I had to put soundproof padding in my trailer room, my excuse for when friends came over. “I’m working on my singing career from home.” They believed it. 

Boys were too afraid to hurt me, or not be hard enough. But Sweet Pea… He lived for that. We fit perfectly. 

I finally decided all that overthinking and reminiscing was not gonna keep me as excited. Unless, I looked for the old iphone in my drawer where we kept our...videos. We filmed moments but only on this old phone and it NEVER leaves my drawer. We vowed it was for us but mostly for me when things happen and we can’t meet up.

I logged into it, opening the photos and started looking through all the different videos. One was that one time on Valentine’s day when he got me a new toy. It was cute and simple, but the ribbon that tied the box was long enough for my wrist to tied together also. That night was rough, safeword was used once because he didn’t let me come for the 4th time! The way he degraded and fucked my on camera seemed to always trigger those vivid memories for moments like these.

Just as I was about to pull my pants down and ease my ache, my phone dang—cutting my mood. 

SP: Red or Blue?

That was a strange message.

Y/n: Red? Why

SP: you’ll find out ;)

Okay now this was gonna kill me! 

I went on with my day cleaning the trailer, taking a shower and shaving, taking my birth control (Sweet pea pays for it and also plan B for just-in-case moments) and finishing any homework I know I will not do tomorrow because I will be too sore to do. It was 4pm and I was feeling bored out of my mind. Usually he comes earlier so we can actually do friend stuff like hang out and watch a movie but today was different. I decided to change into a cute red lace set since he did ask what color I wanted. I did light makeup and curled my hair. 

“ Damn, I look fuckable ass fuck.” I commented as I saw my reflection. Some light green on my thighs from the previous week slowly fading. A quick idea popped into my head.It would piss him off, but it would be good to let him know. I took my phone and texted.

Y/n: Wyd?

SP: Doing some serpent stuff, missing me already?

I scoffed at his cocking response.

Y/N: Maybe… Anyone around you??

SP: No...I’m in the truck waiting for them? Why?

 I jumped up in excitement and positioned myself by the mirror in the perfect angle to get a glance at everything pretty much. He’s gonna be furious… but I won’t mind. I made sure to send them quickly. Sitting down in anticipation.

Sweet Pea stared at his phone after not getting a response, it made him a little suspicious and antsy for the boys to hurry from the daily drop off service. But when he saw two pictures pop out, his vein by his temple was practically about to pop. She knew the risks. What if he wasn’t alone? They would have seen! And bam no more sex. He locked his phone and honked 4 times and the boys came running out ready to leave.

“ Yoooo Sweet’s what's the rush!” Fangs and the other laughed, he sternly glared at them.

“ I got shit to handle so can we go!” Fangs nodded but stifled a laugh as they drove away.

He didn’t respond! What the hell. He may be too busy. I decided to wear an oversized shirt and walk to the living room where I watched Friends pass the time. Then my phone rang. It was Sweet Pea.

SP: You're in trouble.

My heart raced, I got up and ran to the room making sure to get everything out, lube, handcuffs, ribbon. I sat on the bed leg shaking slightly. Then I heard the familiar steps that led up to my trailer door. His spare key twisted into the lock. Just in time. The butterflies in my stomach flutter all the way down to my thighs and core. He came in taking his boots and coat off. His footsteps coming towards the room. And I froze putting the best puppy eye dog eyes that would not save me. His face was serious, leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed. 

“ Hi.” I sheepishly spoke. I took a deep breath.

“ You know what you did was risky, right?” He barked, I got up making my way towards him, but he backed up slightly. 

“ I’m sorry.. I thought since you said you were alone...I missed you.” I crossed my arms defeated and looked down at the floor. Maybe what I did was out of line. Fuck this isn’t a relationship where you can send nudes Y/n! These were dick appointments, that's it!

I sighed defeated, “ If you wanna reschedule that’s fine… It was out of line—” I turned away from him only to be yanked up against him.

 His hot breath fanning against mine, a bruising hold on both my arms.” Why would I pass up the opportunity to punish you.” Just like that, I was putty in his hands. Like always. He made sure to forcefully take the oversized shirt off throwing it somewhere, to reveal what the photos told him. He watched as I stood flustered, shocked, and blush red. His hot gaze is enough to get me going. He sat at the edge of my bed and pulled out a small box from his leather jacket. It was black. He signed for me to get closer so I did. I towered over him slightly as he handed the box a smirk on his face. I eyed the box suspiciously.

“ Open it.” He urged so I did. My mouth fell open slightly. It was a red butt plug. What the fuck. I looked at him dead in the eyes.

“ I know you said you weren’t ready for anal...but I thought this would help ease us in. Literally.” he chuckled darkly. I was speechless. It was hot, and uncomfortable to think that it would end up...there. I sighed shakily. He caught on to my nervousness.

“ Remember at any time you can stop me.” He reassured, making me smile softly. Besides the sex, he always was my friend never pushing me to do anything I didn’t want. I nodded and took it and placed it by the nightstand where the lube and other stuff were. I walked back easing my way to straddle his lap and take his leather jacket off. Our gaze is soft and friendly for now.

“ I’m sorry again you know.” I sighed my hands working on any knots in his shoulders, his eyes fluttered shut as he relaxed under her. Deep down Sweet pea would be a sub for her if it meant it started with massages. 

“ It's fine.” He sighed, seeing him vulnerable for a brief moment made me ache and even more wet than I was. I pushed my body fully up against his, arms draping around his neck. His eye opened to meet my dark ones. My hips grounded down on him, “ I’m ready.” I sighed, that was enough for Pea to grab her hips forcefully gripping them down to make her feel the hard-on she caused. 

“ You made me hard in the fucking truck,” He made one of his arm free to hold her chin forcefully to make her stare at him while he spoke. Y/N yelled softly as she tried to keep her eyes from rolling back as he rutted his hips towards her. “ I couldn’t get out of the truck, I had to drop them off.” 

“ That was the plan daddy.” I moaned, making him growl in frustration. He pushed me off him, hand in my hair as he yanked me to the mirror where I took the pictures. It was a long full body mirror by my bed. His body flush against my back, one arm still in my hair and the other racking his ringed up fingers against my skin. 

“ You’re gonna look at yourself, and learn why you don’t tease me.” His lips on my neck as his finger roughly yanks the lace bra cup down, making me squeal. The electric feeling as his cold finger massaged my breast made me dizzy.

“ Pea…” I sighed rolling my eyes back, head limp against his shoulder. His grip on my hair wakes me from my bliss.

“ Look!” He barked, making my goosebumps jump out, his neck went back to work. His arm slowly going back but skimming down to where I needed him the most. I knew he wasn’t going to give it to me that easy. “ Please...Daddy” I whimpered as he barely grazed the skin on my thighs. He bit harder on my neck as he pushed his leg between my thighs, hand dipping into my core. I let out a shaky gasp as he went straight for my clit.

“Fuck.” I gasped watching as his fingers teasingly moved circles around it. My hand reached to cover his for support, for once he didn’t intervene.  And the other reached to his hard on that was covered but prominent against me. Pea couldn’t help but let her touch him, he watched as her hooded eyes watched as he slowly touched her. But the moment her hand gripped his hand he yanked it away and tsked her. He walked away from her taking his shirt off.

I stood stunned and breathless, the ache only growing by the minute. I turned around and followed him by removing the rest of the bra. And pried at his muscular back. Kissing it softly wrapping my arms around him.

“ You just don’t know when to keep your hands to yourself now.” The ribbon in his hands as he turned around. Fuck. With one shove I was on the bed with Pea crawling up to tie my wrists together above my head. 

“ C’mon Pea…” I whined as my hips bucked towards him for any friction, fuck was it painful. He smirked down at me.

“ You  know that's not how it works right?” I groaned in annoyance. His face came down close to hers as his hands wrapped around her thighs and as pulling her flush against him again. 

“ Pea kiss me or so help me—” His mouth was instantly on mine, nothing fluff about it. open , hot kisses as my hips wildly looked for him. His hand suddenly smacked my ass leaving a deep red print.

“ Shit-” I cried against him, his mouth moving against my jaw, his tongue leaving a hot trail down to the valley of my bare breasts. I resisted against the restraints as his ringed fingers and mouth attacked my breast.

“ Your squirming even before I touch you, you're so needy.” He laughed against my skin. I blushed madly arching my back towards him.” Answer.” He hissed, as his hand rubbed hard and rough circles against my clit. I bit my lip trying to talk.

“ Yes..ugh...Daddy..fuckkk” I moaned loudly as his pattern quickened and his finger flicked my nipple. The overstimulation nearly brought me to the edge, he watched me from above how breathlessly I squirmed, threw my head back and clamped my thighs around him. Just as I felt the brink, he pulled away. I whimpered out in pain, feeling empty again. Sweet Pea made sure to leave any mark all over her body avoiding her whimpers and cries for his actions. His fingers plunging into her abruptly, at a vicious pace that made her scream. He made sure to stare right at her as she exchanged glances to his actions and his wicked smile. “ You want hard, rough? That’s what you want right?” he spat gritting his teeth as he felt her wall clench and contract against his fingers.

“ Oh my goddd…. YES!” I screamed staring deep into his evil eyes, “ Daddy harder please!” My head thrashing back as I felt my legs convulse and shake. I wanted to come so bad, and the wet sounds that came out of me were not helping. My fingers were placed on the covers as they remain tied up above me. “ Not yet.” He whispered softly against the shell of my ear as he stopped again. I shivered as my body tried to recover from another withdrawal, eyes shut in pain as my clit throbbed from lack of release.” Please….Please.” Tears at the brim of my eyes, searching into his for a little bit of mercy. He only ignored me and turned me around chest into the mattress and ass up. The lube coming in contact with my asshole sending a jolt up my spine. At this point anything that would give me some pleasure was acceptable. Pea made sure to adjust my wrist and tie them again against my back, and my face on the mattress. He then kissed my head as the tip of the plug made contact with me. I hissed softly as he slowly pushed it in. Surprisingly, It wasn’t as bad as I thought. 

I sighed as I felt somewhat full as it sat in me. “ Damn baby.” He mumbled, I could practically picture his face. All flustered and vulnerable at her position and gleaming core. 

Not long after his hands held my tied arms in a tight grip as he grinned against me.” mhm.’” one hand constantly smacking my ass till my buttcheek felt numb. I really won’t be able to sit tomorrow. “ You're such a slut begging for me… for this… Can’t even wait till I get home.” He seethed as his rough jeans rubbed perfectly against me and the plug. 

I moaned loudly, “ Pea fuck me please! Anything I promise you anything but fuck me please!” I yelled in frustration as I tried wiggling my hips to get any extra friction. He grunted in defeat and practically sighed in relief as I heard his belt unbuckled and the bed suddenly becoming light behind me. I tried looking around to see him, but only his hand made sure to push me further into the mattress. “ You wanted this, so take it!” He roughly shoved himself into me with no warning, a loud gasp ripping through me followed by a choked moan. His size always felt like the first time, painful and blissful at the same time. “ FUCK!” Pea moaned as he steadied his hips as he made sure to feel that moment, being deep in her, ass up, red ribbon around her wrists like a present, shit it was perfect. He pulled out and back in bruisingly fast, hands back on her arms.

“ Shit shit shit!” I screamed out my eyes shut as he hit the right spot constantly but grazed the plug as he pulled out.

“ You look….so gorgeous right now fuck.” He grunted as Pea focused on not coming anytime soon but rather feeling every inch tighten around him. Just for him. Only making his grip on her arms terribly harder. The pain and pleasure as he bruisingly fucked her from behind only made her squeeze her eyes shut, her mouth wide as she felt the familiar knot about to explode. 

“ I’m going to cum! Holy shit please Pea let me cum pleaseee!” I begged as Pea made sure to rub hard and fast fingers against her clit. 

“ Come on baby, take it, squirt for me baby.” The profanities and the way his voice and body worked around her did just what he asked.

“ Shit shit shit!” I cried out as my legs shook and fluid leaked out around Pea’s finger.

“Fuck.” He growled and made sure to keep fucking her through her orgams, nearing her to the next one. 

I screeched softly and huffed as he kept his bruising pace, “ Pea oh my gawd Don’t stop! Fuck me!” Sweet Pea practically came then and their but pulled out to control himself. 

“ No, NO!” I cried as my wrist withered to pull him back. Pea shakily sighed, stroking himself softly. He watched as she squirmed and whimpered trying to be set loose. He untied her wrist sending a buzzing feeling of excitement through her as she propped herself only for a second. Pea made sure to pull her around by her hair. “ You really are prettier all tied up, huh.” He teased. 

I widened my eyes, “ No! Not again!” I wrapped my arms around his neck pulling him into a kiss and flush against my hot skin. The feeling of his skin against her finger pads was heavenly. It was rare to be able to touch him, and when he let her, she loved it. Her mouth on his hungrily as her hips bucked against his hard on. Pea grunted against her mouth, his hands moving from her breast where he quickly pulled on her red nipples and down to her bruised hips. “ You won’t be able to walk for a week baby girl.” He whispered as he teasingly rubbed against my swollen nerve. A weak moan only for a response. He slipped in easily and then faster, digging his mouth onto my neck as I scratched his shoulders. “ Ohhh, Yes….Mmmm” I moaned wrapping my legs around his waist as he pounded so hard into me, practically into the mattress. 

Pea made sure to come up to see her face as she practically cried at her second painful release. Seeing her silently watch in awe as her eyes rolled back, it brought him to the edge.

“ Come on cum with me, Come on!” Pea yelled his chin forcing her to look at his furious face, only adding to her orgasm. Pea made sure to keep his pace as she yelled his name and tears ripped through her as she threw her head back. As she saw white, Pea went balls deep and stayed in as he came in her, his groans and moans muffled into her neck. She made sure that with the little bit of energy to wrap her fingers into his damp hair, easing him down from his own high. Pea made sure to pin her arms away from him, scaring her slightly at his abrupt move.

“ I’m not done with you.” He made his way down to her core, instantly going to her almost numb and in pain clit. 

I hissed as his lips and tongue wrapped around me. I didn’t have the strength to cum again, I almost wanted to call the safe word just for my sake to rest but the way Sweet Pea looked up at her, in between her thighs. Pea knew exactly how to make her cum and he wanted to see her cum underneath him all over again. “ Shit...Fuck.” My hands grabbed handfuls of the sheets as I rocked my hips against his hot mouth and tongue. 

To make matters worse, he purposely groaned and hummed against me, I never felt like cuming so fast in the times being with Pea. Each time he knew her better enough to get her on edge in seconds. His hand made sure to hold down painfully hard on her hips as she chanted his name.

“ Yes...Yes yes yes!” I back arched and watched in awe as his tongue did wonders, followed by his thumb that flicked and rubbed so hard I lost track of time. Pain ripped through my abdomen to my core, ready for a painful orgasm. It was so much. “ Pea! I can’t I-” I cried and sure enough my body cracked under him, fluid squirting out as tears fell out and high pitched moans echoed into the room. Pea pulled himself up to watch her tears stained cheeks, suddenly nervous it was too much. “Hey, Are you okay?” His soft voice made me crane my neck back to see his worried face, with a wet face may I add. I smiled weakly and wiped his cheek with my thumb. “ You are unbelievable Sweet Pea.” He smirked laying next to her as they both sighed. 

I was exhausted not wanting to move or speak. Just stare at the ceiling and acknowledge how great her body felt, for now. 

“ Wait I have to take something—” His hand pulling my ass to the side, “ Relax, I don’t wanna hurt you.” I scoffed but was cut short by the feeling of the plug coming out. I hissed softly and turned back around on my back.

“ I should get you a bath running before I leave.” Pea said as he kissed my semi wet cheek and got up to find his clothes. I watched as he pulled on his underwear and jeans and disappeared into the bathroom. I was smiling. At him. Here I was catching feelings over something we told ourselves was nothing serious. I pushed myself up to distract myself only to be extremely sore. I tried propping myself up to walk to the bathroom only to fall on my knees in pain. He really fucked me till I couldn't walk. I burst out laughing making Sweet Pea walk back into the room extremely confused. 

“ Come help me up weirdo!” He went over to pick her up but just ended up carrying her bridal style. He laughed as she groaned but laughed also. 

This was nice, their company and well the sex also. Sweet knew that it was temporary and he reminded himself that everyday. Deep down he was a romantic, and he knew his soulmate was out there. But for now he just wanted to explore himself a little more and who else to help than his best friend. He hated leaving her after, something in him told him to stay, but he was enough of a gentleman to know that staying would only send mixed signals and ruin everything. So he stuck to the plan.

“ Well, I’m gonna head out, and I’m sorry if I went overboard—” Pea flinched as he saw the bruises show up around my arms and legs, the water instantly healing some pain. I sighed sinking deeper into the tub. Pea kneeled next to me, waiting for some goodbye gesture. I looked at him smiling, “ It was great, plus I'll be fine...but,” I held his hand that rested on the side of the tub. “ Can you stay...to hang out?” I watched his reaction change from content to flustered. It’s insane that friendship intimacy was weird to us but seeing each other naked wasn’t. 

He coughed and looked at his clock, “ I don’t know—”

I patted his hand, “ Pea it’s fine, it was just and offer.” I casually played it off, waiting for his response even though it did hurt to see him turn me down. He stood up and sighed in defeat. “ How about this. I have to do some stuff to do with fangs for a night delivery, and if everything goes smoothly...I’ll crash with you.” He looked down at my surprised face. He chuckled at my silent response.

 “ Oh- Yeah sure! Sounds good.” I cooly said somehow suddenly interested in the bath water. 

“ Alright see you later!” I said before leaving entirely with the sound of the door closing, I sat in the water somehow happy but nervous that he easily accepted my offer. I giggled to myself, but was cut short by my sore body.

“ Fuck, this is more painful than my Serpent initiation trial.” I mumbled softly. 

Somehow I managed to get out of the bath, with wobbly legs, and into my soft pj pants and tank top. It was 8 pm, my eyes sleepy and my body tired. I laid in the wrinkled up bed, forgetting that someone would be coming back. 

[walkerwords]

“My Person” Connie x GN!Reader

IMAGE CREDIT:  Gene Page/AMC

Request from @thanossexual​ So I had this idea for Connie x Reader where they were together looooong before the apocalypse happened (imagine if they're engaged 😍) so they are in alexandria for a while now. Connie is friends with Daryl, but Y/n notices that glint Daryl has in his eye when his talking with Connie and she gets a little insecure so her fiancé reassures her, and they have a cuddling session 😌❤️ Lots of fluff with a little bit of jealousy. You can add something there if you want to spice up things even more and make it into more angsty imagine. Thank you ❤️❤️❤️

Word Count: 2123

Warning: None

Song I Wrote To: “Our Love Comes Back” by James Blake

Note: Of course we don’t know Connie’s sexuality for sure, but the reader is GN in this one! All ASL is in italics

--------

The waves crashed into one another on a sunlit shore as an army prepared for battle.

You stood on a watchpoint, keeping your eyes on the formation below as Aaron led the charge. When Oceanside had offered their beach for training, Daryl had roped everyone else into agreeing. While the Whisperers had drawn their lines, nobody was dropping their guard, especially after what had happened at the fair.

Your group had joined Hilltop when Judith Grimes had found you in the woods one afternoon. You, Magna, Yumiko, Luke, Kelly, and your fiancée, Connie, had all been welcomed quite coldly by Michonne at first, but now, everyone had begun to feel like a family. One you were thrilled to have after being on the road for so long. 

You and Connie had been together since before the Turn. The two of you had been High School sweethearts and when the world ended, you didn’t let her out of your sight. As you moved through the world with both Connie and Kelly, you became their main protector. While Connie was the most intuitive of your trio, you had been a strong fighter since before everything had crashed down. 

You acted as their scout and took care of any threat that would try to take the love of your life and your best friend away from you. Since living in the new world, you were wary of strangers. Connie trusted people, or rather she wanted to believe that there were still good people out there. Kelly was more skeptical but tended to be more of an optimist like her sister. 

When you had met Michonne and then more of her people as the days went by, you didn’t know how to feel about being around them in such close quarters. Then, Connie had gone with Daryl to rescue a couple of teenagers from the girl’s homicidal mother, and you were left alone without the woman you loved. 

After the fair, everyone was closer, especially Connie and Daryl. While a part of you knew that they had gone through a lot together, that they had fought together, you couldn’t help but see how much Connie’s eyes lit up whenever he was around. Daryl Dixon was a kind man and a strong leader. He had taken to your family easily and he had even begun to learn ASL.

As much as you liked him, you weren’t too thrilled about how much time he spent with Connie. Since arriving at Oceanside, you noticed that they were never too far from each other. Connie was always watching him train, the way he easily killed the Dead with his dual blades and crossbow. 

Dixon didn’t seem like the kind of man to initiate any kind of physical touches with anyone, but with Connie, it seemed easy. He would squeeze her arm or tap his fist against her shoulder with pride. You knew that he was just being friendly, but you couldn’t stop the jealously that rose in you when you watched them.

One afternoon, you were sitting down by the water when you heard soft footsteps approaching. You smiled over at Kelly as she sat down next to you. “Hey,” she said, her eyes turned towards the horizon.

“Hi,” you said back with a quick sign as well. While Kelly hadn’t completely lost her hearing, you knew that she was having days when it would come in and out and that she was worried. You also knew that she appreciated it when you used ASL whenever you spoke to her, just in case. “What’s up?”

“Are you okay?” Kelly asked. You nodded, not looking at your friend. Kelly sighed and then reached over and touched your shoulder, getting you to look at her. “Talk to me,” Kelly signed. 

“It’s nothing,” you signed back, shrugging your shoulders. 

“They’re just friends, (Y/N),” Kelly said out loud. 

“If you already knew what was bothering me, why bother asking, Kel?”

“I was hoping you would tell me yourself,” she said with a knowing look. She was looking at you with patience, something she always did. Kelly was the one person who could read you like a book. Even Connie didn’t know everything her sister did. It was a bond that you never thought you would have and you cherished it, especially in the world you now were forced to survive in. 

“Have you noticed her acting weird lately?” You asked Kelly. 

“Weird how?”

“I don’t know...distant?” 

“Distant from you?” Kelly asked and you nodded. “Not really, but we are sort of all stressed out right now. With the Skins pissed at us and with what happened to Henry and the others…” Kelly trailed off and you flopped down onto the sand, basking in the warm sun. 

“I know,” you sighed, your hands following your words. “I’m being crazy right? Thinking something is going on between the two of them?”

“I get why your head is goin’ there, but they are just friends. My sister loves you so much and she and Daryl are oddly similar. I guess she finally found her own best friend. Sort of how you have me,” she said with a wink. 

“Daryl Dixon has nothing on you,” you signed, earning a smile from Kelly. 

“Thank you,” she signed back. “Seriously though,” she said, “talk to Connie. I’m sure your thoughts will shut up afterward.”

---------

Later that day, you found Daryl with Dog watching over his niece and nephew. 

“It’s weird, right?” Daryl said as you sat next to him. You were somewhat startled because he was never the one to initiate a conversation with you. 

“What is?” you asked, looking over at him. He gestured forward, pointing at Judith and RJ. 

“That,” he said. “Seein’ the little ones playin’ in the sand like the old times.”

“Yeah,” you agreed. “I guess I never thought I would see something like that again.” It was silent again as the salty air rushed around you two. Eventually, he tore his eyes from the kids again to refocus on you. 

“How are ya doin’?” Daryl asked, catching you off guard again. 

“I’m fine, Daryl,” you said with a small smile, not liking how awkward the energy between the two of you was. “And you? How’s the training going?” 

“You tell me,” he said as he picked at his fingernails with the smaller knife in his hands. “Were the formations lookin’ good from yer spot up top?” 

“So far,” you said, kicking at the stray rocks at your feet. 

“Thanks for bein’ our eyes, (Y/N),” Daryl said. “Usually it’s Carol, but…” he trailed off and you didn’t ask him to elaborate. You didn’t know the woman that well, but you knew that she was grieving over the loss of her son, something you could never even begin to imagine. You also knew that Carol was Daryl’s best friend according to Connie. 

“You know, “ you said, “it’s too bad we can’t just clone you a bunch of times. You’re a hell of a fighter, Daryl.” He gave you a small smile, one that was hard to receive from the stoic man, but he seemed to be warming up to you and the others quickly. 

“Connie tells me you’re pretty great yourself. Told me the other day that you trained her and her sister.” You nodded, smiling at the thought of Connie praising you in front of your new friends. 

“My father was a SEAL,” you explained. “I had to pick up a few things before the end of the world. Though their skills are all thanks to them, they’re quick studies.”

“It’s good that ya knew all that. M’glad you were able to survive this long,” he said with a knock to your shoulder, something he only ever did to his friends. Perhaps he was starting to think of you that way as well. 

“Thanks, Dixon,” you said. 

“Ya think ya can help some of the fresher faces wield their blades? Not sure if many are gettin’ the hang of hand to hand at this point,” Daryl asked, gathering up his stuff. 

“Not a problem,” you agreed. Daryl smiled once more at you before clapping his hands together and getting Dog to chase Judith and RJ, the kids laughing as the canine yipped happily at them. You smiled after them and immediately felt stupid for the thoughts you had expressed earlier. 

Daryl Dixon was a good man.

--------

Later that night you lay awake in the trailer you and the rest of your family were sharing. 

You didn’t know where Kelly or Luke were, but you were grateful for the quiet. It was well after dinner when Connie crept quietly into the room, probably thinking you were asleep. Reaching over, you clicked on the lantern, gaining her attention. She waved to you and you sat up in the bed, watching her peel off her boots and pull her hair out of its tie. 

You loved the moments when she began to relax for the evening. You always felt so lucky to be able to see the more vulnerable side of her. “What’s up, Love?” she signed, sitting down on the side of the bed.

Shrugging, you just signed, “nothing.” Connie rolled her eyes and playfully pushed you, tucking her legs underneath her to fully face you. 

“I know you better than that,” she signed with a frown. You watched her in the low light of the trailer for a moment before giving in. 

“It’s ridiculous. I was just feeling jealous,” you explained.

“Jealous? Why?” You gave her a look, but she still didn’t seem to get it. 

“You and Daryl were just getting closer,” you said. “I didn’t like it.” Connie shook her head, her curls bouncing around her face. 

“Is that what this is about? We are just friends,” she promised. 

“No, I know,” you said. “I was just letting my emotions get to me. Lots of stress.” Connie frowned again and then in a single movement, sprang at you. You tumbled back down onto the bed as she pinned you, keeping your hands locked to your sides so you couldn’t interrupt her. 

“Listen to me,” she signed, her eyes never leaving yours. “I love you. I have always loved you. I know that we have been under stress, but we will beat it. Together.” Connie repeated the sign for “together”, her hands placed together at the knuckles with her thumbs up as she rotated her hands in a horizontal circle. “Okay?” 

You raised your brows, asking for permission to respond when she moved her legs so you can free your hands. “Okay,” you first signed. “I’m sorry I was being so…”

“Jealous?” she asked and you nodded with a roll of your eyes. 

“It has just been a while since I have seen you smile the way you do when you are with him,” you finally admitted. 

“He is a horrible signer, it is funny,” she said with a snicker. 

“You know what I mean, Connie,” you said and she nodded her fist, the sign for “yes”.

“You are my person, (Y/N). Kelly loves you, Luke loves you, Magna, Yumiko, all of them. You are family and you are the only one for me.” A tear fell from your eye as you watched her hands, feeling the emotions that she expressed through her signing.

“I guess I never thought I would have to worry about losing you to anything but the Dead,” you admitted. 

“Never, never,” she signed. 

“I love you,” you said aloud and she read your lips perfectly. With a wide smile, she pinned your arms above your head and kissed you slowly. Your fingers intertwined as you melted into the woman you loved with everything you had. 

Just as she began to slide down your body, the door opened and you froze. Connie furrowed her brow just as Kelly slid into Connie’s view. Used to her sister’s interruptions, Connie smiled at Kelly. 

With a smile of her own, Kelly jumped on top of both of you, hugging her best friend and sister tightly as you and Connie struggled for air. When she sat up, she was beaming down at both of you. You grinned at her and Connie. 

“My two favourite people!” you signed enthusiastically. 

“But you like me more, right?” Kelly signed with a chuckle. With a roll of her eyes, Connie kicked her sister, shoving her off the bed and onto the hard floor.

Kelly looked up at both of you in shock before dissolving into a fit of laughter. You and Connie soon followed and all the worry from earlier in the day washed away.

You were Connie’s person and nothing was going to change that. 

TAGS: @thanossexual​ @yes-sir-hotchner​   @felicisimor

[emmy-writes-sometimes]

Sneaking Around

You and Jaeden try to hide that you’re dating from your dad, but he finds out in a not-so-great way. Both the reader and Jaeden are 18 in this!

-

           “Y/n, are you sure we should be keeping this a secret?” Your boyfriend asked you as you hid out in his trailer. You had gone on a few dates with him while he and your dad were working on Knives Out, and it was one of the last days filming. You would sneak past your dad every morning, find Jaeden, and hang out with him most of the day. Your dad, none the wiser, thought you were just in his trailer or in the main building at the café they had. But nope – you were with Jaeden.

           “He’ll kill me, Jae,” you said as you held a pillow in your arms, your feet propped up on the trailer’s couch. “Just give me a few more months to crack him. I’ll tell him before Jacob starts filming, I promise. I just don’t want him to…”

           “I know,” he responded with a little smile. He always looked cute, but that day he was extra cute in the whit suit he was wearing. It was your favorite of his costumes in the movie. “Maybe we should wait a little longer.” He sat down on the couch beside you and pulled you into a kiss that only lasted for a few seconds.

           “You really need to go now, you’re gonna be late and my dad is going to come looking for me.” He smirked.

           “Fine. I’ll see you later.” You both stood up and you gathered your backpack to go back to your dad’s trailer. He walked you there before going back to set, leaving you alone. In truth, you had both only meant waiting a couple months. That was in October of 2018. You wanted to see if the long distance thing could work while he was off filming for something else and you were back in Boston with your dad. And then you got the news that Defending Jacob was going to be filmed in Boston, too, and he showed up at the airport and told you that he was in love with you. You were absolutely head over heels for him, but your dad was still trying to tell you not to date anyone. He was still telling you that maybe you should date a guy from school, like one of your old friends, Griffin. You didn’t have the heart to tell him that you were dating the kid playing his son.

           “Hey,” you said over the phone. “Aren’t you supposed to be filming?” It was the middle of the day on a Tuesday – you had just pulled up to the house after school, and as much as you loved Jaeden, you didn’t want him to get in trouble.

           “Yeah, I’m on break though, they’re re-setting up the courtroom. Your dad mentioned he was going out of town this weekend.”

           “Yeah, he has an audition and a few meetings up in L.A., he’s not supposed to be back until Monday,” you said as you shut the door to the car, grabbing your backpack out of the back seat. “Why, what were you thinking?”

           “Well, we could spend the weekend together. Just you and me.”

           “That would be amazing. Do you think you can swing it, though?”

           “Yeah. The hotel staff already doesn’t come on weekends so no one will care if I’m not there, and you know what flights your dad is on we can just… Not tell him.” You grinned.

           “Really? Your one weekend off in forever and you want to spend it with me?” You stuck your key into the door and entered the house, petting Dodger as he jumped up on you.

           “Of course I do.” You heard the set bell ring and he sighed. “I gotta go, but are you down?”

           “I’m down.”

           “I’ll see you Thursday for dinner, okay? And then Friday on?”

           “Of course. I love you.”

           “I love you too.” You could tell that he was smiling when he hung up, and that made you happy. There wasn’t a reason not to go public at this point – you’d been dating for almost a year, you were both eighteen, and you were both used to the public commenting on your lives. The only thing that stood in the way was your dad. And he was either going to find out the easy way or the hard way, and even though you were hoping for the easy way, you honestly just wanted it out there. You talked to Jae about it during dinner on Thursday while your dad was doing a night scene, and he agreed. You would go public with it after your dad got back. You’d both be waiting at the house when he got back, you’d tell him, and then you’d finally let Jae post the picture of you two together when you went hiking one day.

           Friday came and you dropped your dad off at the airport and then went to Jae’s hotel. He smiled as he climbed into your car, putting his bag on the floor. You drove back to the house and had a nice night – you had dinner, you watched a movie, and he played video games until you fell asleep on him and he decided it was probably time that both of you went to bed.

           You woke up Saturday morning and let him sleep, taking the dog out for aa walk before making breakfast. You grinned from ear to ear when he came downstairs wearing nothing but a pair of boxers, his hair messed up from sleeping in your bed, and his eyes barely open. You took the bacon out of the oven as he came down and got a class of juice from the fridge.

           “Why are you smiling like that?” He asked.

           “Like what?” He drained the OJ and collapsed the carton before putting it in the trash bin.

           “Like how you’re smiling.” He was smiling, too.

           “I’m just glad you’re here,” you said. “It feels normal.”

           “Well, when you’re at UCLA next year, you can come over whenever you want. Or just fuckin’ come live with me.” You laughed. Your plan was either UCLA or USC, but he was trying to convince you of UCLA because it was closer to his house. “Y/n?”

           “Yeah?” You were turning off the skillet when he walked up behind you and kissed your shoulder.

           “I like being normal with you.” You smiled at him and finished getting breakfast ready, then brought it all over to the coffee table and shared it. You shared mac and cheese right out of the pot for lunch. Just as you were finishing, there was a knock at your door. The device on the coffee table showed that it was just your Aunt.

           “Oh my God, Jae, go hide in the linen closet!” You said.

           “What? Which linen closet?”

           “I don’t know! Just go hide in one!” He scoffed and went through the back of the house and down to the basement, where your aunt would definitely not go, and you answered the door.

           “Hey, y/n, sweetie,” she said. You gave her a hug, hoping that she couldn’t smell Jae’s cologne on you. You were wearing one of his shirts, too, but it was smaller on him and didn’t look as odd on you. Your aunt probably wouldn’t be able to tell.

           “Hey!” You said back.

           “Just wanted to check in, how are you doing?”

           “I’m good. Just vegging out on the couch without dad,” you lied, showing her the couch that didn’t have a single sign of Jae. “I think I need to take Dodge to the groomer soon so I was going to do that today.”

           “That’ll be good. I just wanted to drop by and check in and see how you were doing. And your dad said I could grab some of the toys the kids left here.”

           “Yeah, of course!” You let her in and she started gathering some of the toys. You had no idea where Jae was, but as long as your aunt didn’t go in your room she wouldn’t see the clothes that didn’t belong to you all over your floor. She had no reason to go in there, and you were incredibly talented at lying, so she had no idea. She left fifteen minutes later and you heard a sigh of relief as she backed up out of the driveway.

           “Jesus,” Jae said as he grabbed you, pulling you back into the living room. Dodger jumped up on the couch and found a space to lay in between the two of you, and eventually you fell asleep while he was watching some TV show. You woke up to Jae shoving you because your dad was calling you, and answered.

           “Hello?” You asked.

           “Hey, honey!” He said. “How are you? Shan came by earlier, right?”

           “Yeah,” you responded. “I’m good. Just watching some movies. I was thinking about getting dinner with a friend later, though.”

           “Go ahead and use my card if you want. I had to change planes, I got bumped, so I won’t be home until around ten. Is that okay”?

           “Yeah, that’s fine.”

           “Okay. Call me if you need anything. I’ll see you tomorrow night, babe.”

           “Okay. Love you.”

           “Love you too.” He hung up the phone and you put yours back on the table, turning around until you were against Jae’s back. The two of you slept so much during the day that you were up most of the night, doing things that you would never, ever do if there was even a chance your dad wasn’t a few thousand miles across the country. You kept checking your phone to see if he’d called you, but he didn’t, and you felt safe enough that you didn’t make Jae put on more clothes before you went to bed that night.

           The next morning you went to breakfast and spent most of the day cleaning the house and packing up Jae so he could go home around eight, but you were teenagers. You did what teenagers did, and that was being too stupid to set an alarm or check your dad’s flight number because you had the same account. If you’d checked it, you would have figured out that he had gotten back on the earlier flight and was going to be home at eight. Not ten. By that time you and Jae still hadn’t put clothes on and were just napping under the comforter. You’d fed the dog and said that the two of you could afford to nap through a few episodes of something, so you did.

           Your dad got home and got his bags out of the Uber, thinking that something was a little bit off. You hadn’t turned the porch light on yet like you usually did when he was getting home. Dodger was out of water downstairs, so he got him some more, and then he saw a phone charger that wasn’t yours plugged into the wall. You’d had friends over, he thought, so maybe someone had just left it. He walked upstairs to go put his things away and saw your sneakers by your bedroom door. Next to them was a set of boys’ sneakers, so he quickly texted your aunt. She said you were alone when she got there, so he sighed. He gathered his energy to gently push your door open and saw you. In bed. With his co-star.

           He saw you curled up against his back, obviously comfortable. He saw Jae’s arms around you, the comforter on top of you, and a pile of clothes on the floor. He sighed and walked over to your light switch, flipping it on and off until the two of you started to wake up.

           “Jae, babe, stop,” you murmured as you pulled the covers over your head.

           “I’m not doing that,” he said back, “I’m literally right here.” The two of you cracked your eyes open to see your dad standing there, absolutely exhausted, and not in the mood to have to punish you.

           “So, why don’t you guys get dressed and tell me what the fuck is going on?” He asked loudly.

           “Hi, Dad,” you groaned.

           “You two have five minutes.” He shut the door and walked to his room to start putting his clothes away. You pulled on what you’d been wearing earlier and Jae grabbed clothes out of his bag to put on. You sat down on the bed, chewing your nails. You didn’t think about what would happen if you got caught because it was the last thing you were planning to do.

           “It’s fine,” Jae reassured you, coming to sit next to you after tugging a shirt over his head. “It’s fine. We were going to come clean anyway, it’s just that he’s already not in a good mood.” You leaned your head against his shoulder.

           “I want the world to know, just not like this.”

           “Yeah, well, hopefully he won’t give us the talk too. Come on.” He took your hand and the two of you walked down the stairs, where your father was sitting, beer cracked open, and Dodger on his lap.

           “Chris,” Jae started. “Um, Mr. Evans, I guess, now, um…” He looked at you, lost, and you motioned for him to sit on the couch.

           “How long has this been going on?” Your dad asked calmly as he started drinking.

           “Since Knives Out,” you answered.

           “WHAT?”

           “We started dating then and we went long distance when I went back to L.A., and we didn’t tell you because we didn’t know if it would last, but it did,” Jae said, taking your hand confidently.

           “And when he had a weekend off and you were gone, I asked him to come stay over. We weren’t planning on you coming home early.”

           “Weren’t planning on…” your dad muttered under his breath. “What else weren’t you planning on? Me walking in?”

           “No, honestly,” you replied softly. “We were going to tell you when you got back tonight. We were going to come clean about it because we didn’t want to hide it anymore, and we wanted to post stuff about being together. We were going to tell you, just not after… you know.”

           “Are you two being safe?”

           “Yes!” Both of you said at the same time. “I can’t believe you’re asking me that, you know I’ve been on birth control for three years.” Your dad nodded and sighed. “Look, we’re sorry. We’re really sorry.”

           “Is he the reason you wanna go to UCLA?”

           “Not completely. But we were talking about moving in together once I got up there.”

           “I just can’t believe you hid this from me. Why would you do that?”

           “Because. You’re my dad, you’re his on screen dad, and we didn’t know if there was even anything there or if we were just teenagers locked in a room together. And people are insane. We just wanted to hide it for awhile until we knew.”

           “And do you?” He asked, exasperated, head in his hands.

           “What?” You asked in response.

           “I’m in love with her,” Jae said. “If that’s what you’re asking.” Your dad looked at you, and then at Jae, and then back at you again. He sat there for a few minutes. You leaned your head into Jae’s shoulder, wondering what your dad was going to say next. If he was going to try to keep you from seeing each other, if he was going to say you couldn’t date him… You were worried.

           “Fine,” he said finally. “I mean, it’s whatever, you’d probably keep sneaking around anyway, but… Just be careful, okay? Both of you. With everything.” You nodded.

           “Thanks.” He gave you a little smile, and then Jae one.

           “I don’t know how I didn’t figure it out already, honestly.” He chuckled to himself. “Jae, why don’t you go ahead back to your hotel? It’s getting late. You should get some sleep before tomorrow.”

           “Yeah, of course,” Jae said. He disappeared to get his things and call an Uber, and just before he walked out of the door, your dad came up behind him.

           “I like you. You’re a good kid. And talented. But if you hurt my daughter I will literally kill you. And it won’t be with a prop knife. Got it?”