#idk how i feel about chimney's face here but oh well

[lonelychicago]

Falling asleep in a hospital waiting room 'Stead of holding it over my head Baby, you held me instead

maddie falling asleep on chimney while he's at the hospital <33

ko-fi 💌

[elspethdekarios]

WIP ask!! Meeting Morena?? I have to know what El thinks about Morena and vice versa

hehe in short, they get along great. Morena is the opposite of El's mom in every way so she really appreciates having a mother figure in her life. Idk how I feel about what I've written, but here's part of it:

“Brace yourself,” Gale says as they approach his childhood home. “You’re about to receive a hug tight enough to crack your ribs.”

The house is a pale yellow with dark wooden beams criss-crossing the exterior and a matching wooden fence along the sides. A trellis abundant with vines and white flowers stands over the gate, which opens to a stone path leading to the front door. The path cuts between the front garden, a patch of tomatoes, peppers, and herbs on one side and various magical plants on the other, the front wall of the house lined with beautiful pale pink rose bushes. A light cloud of smoke rises out of the chimney, leaving a hint of firewood lingering in the crisp autumn air.

“It’s so cute, Gale!” Elspeth says as he unlatches the gate. “You grew up in an actual fairytale cottage.”

He stops walking to look at her.

“You grew up in a capital-H House which may as well be a miniature palace, and you’re impressed with my mother’s quaint little bungalow.” 

She smiles and nods. “It feels like a real home.”

“You truly are the woman of my dreams.”

He kisses the back of her hand and they continue to the front door, which swings open before Gale can even reach for the handle. Morena stands in the doorway, her wide mouth smiling to reveal perfectly straight and white teeth, cheeks pushing up her kohl-lined eyes, laugh lines and crows feet showing off years of love and laughter and certainly some heartbreak from the troubling adventures of her only son. Her eyes and hair are deep brown, like his, and a portion near the front of her thick, wavy hair has grayed with age, framing the right side of her tan face with a strip of silver. She takes in the sight of her son for a brief moment before pulling him into a hug. A head shorter than him, he hunches over to rest his chin on her shoulder and she squeezes him close.

“My boy,” she says, her eyes closed, savoring their reunion. “Oh, my boy. How I’ve missed you.”

“Hi, mum,” he says as she loosens their embrace, still holding him at arm’s length as if to make sure he’s really there. “I’ve missed you, too.”

“One of these days you’re going to give me a heart attack, Gale–you know that, don’t you? I never–”

“Yes, I know, I’m sorry–”

“And poor Tara’s been just as worried sick about you–”

“El, this is my mother,” he interrupts. Elspeth’s been grinning ear to ear as she watches their reunion, admiring the bond they share.

“Oh, dear, where are my manners? I’ll get onto Gale later,” she shoots him a look that says I’m not done with you and reaches to hold El’s hands. “Elspeth. It’s so lovely to meet you.”

Morena pulls her into a hug, and Gale wasn’t lying–she’s stronger than she looks. El savors it, a mother’s hug. “It’s lovely to meet you, too,” El says, Morena’s presence already warm and welcoming. She smells like creamy, floral amber spiced with incense and a loaf of fresh bread straight out of the oven.

“Come in, come in,” she beckons when she lets go of Elspeth, motioning them into the house. Gale gestures for El to walk in first, and Morena shuts the door behind them. “Take a seat, and I’ll grab the tea.” 

Gale leads Elspeth to the dining room table and pulls a chair out for her.

“On your best behavior, I see,” she teases him.

He plants a quick kiss on top of her head before taking a seat next to her. “Not trying to get reprimanded in front of my fianceé.”

“Is that Gale?” comes a familiar voice from the sitting room.

“Hello, Tara.”

The tressym jumps onto the table, stretching her front legs and pushing her tail into the air. A low purr resonates from her as Gale scratches above her tail.

“Lovely to see you again, dear,” she says to Elspeth before settling into a cushion near the window.

“You too, Tara,” El says. “Caught any good pigeons lately?”

“I haven’t had to,” she replies. “Mrs. Dekarios’s cooking is far superior.”

[freewayshark]

The passage below from "hold your head high, heavy heart" (which is a large chunk of the ending, but I'm haunted by the depiction of grief here overall, but especially in relation to Jee-Yun):

“Oh, Buck,” she whispers, and somehow those two words break the dam inside her. Every tear that she hadn’t yet shed wells up and spills down her cheeks. She cries for Buck, who doesn’t deserve the things that happen to him. She cries for Jee-Yun, and swears to herself that no matter what happens she’ll know Buck. Maddie swears that if Buck—if Buck—

Dies.

She takes a deep, gasping breath and cries harder. She wasn’t supposed to think that word but now she has and she can’t stop. Buck could die. Her baby brother, the little boy she raised from the time she was still only a child herself, he might never wake up again.

But she promises to herself, if that happens, despite the grief and the pain she will feel she will never wall him off. Jee-Yun will grow up knowing him, seeing pictures of him, videos, hearing stories. She prays to a God who has never much seen fit to answer her that he’ll be here himself and Jee-Yun won’t have to rely on the memories, but she promises nonetheless. She won’t do to her what was done to Buck.

So she cries. For Buck, for Jee-Yun. For his team out there in the waiting room, Chimney and Hen who see him as a brother, for Bobby who sees him as a son. She cries for Eddie, who sees him in a way it’s not her right to put a name on, but she cries for him, and for Christopher who may not yet know there’s even anything wrong.

She cries for her parents. They don’t deserve it, and would not cry for her, but she cries for them anyway, because they’ll never understand what they’ve lost, whether Buck pulls through or not.

And she cries for herself. Because life has rarely been kind to her for long. And because she’s scared. She’s scared that even with all her promises to herself there may be more of her mother in her than she realizes, just waiting until the moment life deals them a similar hand to show itself.

She cries until her eyes go dry and her mouth feels filled with cotton balls and there’s a pounding in her head that demands a glass of water. Eddie’s probably vibrating out of his skin waiting for his turn, and the others probably aren’t much better. So she stands and brushes a kiss across Buck’s forehead—his warm, living skin under her lips reminding her that as bad as this is he’s still warm in a bed upstairs rather than cold in a drawer down below.

“Wake up soon, baby brother,” she whispers, brushing his hair back from his forehead. “You have people waiting for you.”

When the idea for this fic popped into my head I knew I wanted to do two things: have Maddie essentially tell her parents to fuck off, and to show that she is not like them. And I thought about it and realized that Daniel would be even more on the surface of her mind because the parents are there, so how will that direct her feelings about Buck possibly dying?

So I think it makes her even more aware of how wrong her parents’ choice to tuck Daniel away was, because she now knows exactly what it feels like to be facing down the death of the child you raised, and as painful as it is she could never erase him, nor could she do that to her daughter.

But then there’s this line:

“She’s scared that even with all her promises to herself there may be more of her mother in her than she realizes, just waiting until the moment life deals them a similar hand to show itself.”

I included this because I don’t think there’s a daughter alive that hasn’t feared she might one day become the worst parts of her mother, and I don’t think even in her anger and grief would Maddie forget that.

“his warm, living skin under her lips reminding her that as bad as this is he’s still warm in a bed upstairs rather than cold in a drawer down below.”

Ok here’s a fun fact, I more or less stole this line from one my own fics lol idk I like the harshness of it, I think it juxtaposes the difference of life and death better than just saying some version of he’s alive and not dead.

[bi-buck-coded]

WIP Wednesday

✨Thursday Edition✨

Important note/question at the end under the cut?? Please read it :( it's important to me. Here's potential scene one to NPC fic (it will most likely change if im being honest but I need feedback).

Tagged by: @honestlydarkprincess @buddiearemydads @ebdaydreamer @usercowboy

Sara speed-walks her way to the ping pong table, almost tripping, but catching herself before any of the others can see. “Guys- guys!” she says, “You will not believe what I just found!” Her voice comes out half whisper half yell. At the ping pong table Stan is writing a tally on his score-keeping note pad while Jess and Tom argue over the last play. When they hear Sara coming they turn their heads. 

“This isn’t over, I swear we’ve never played with those rules,” Jess says to Tom as Sara reaches them.

“Well Stan’s already given the point out so I think I’ll let him decide-”

“The point went to Bradshaw.”

“-nothing. He will decide nothing because you can hit the ball before it bounces.” Tom crosses his arms and looks defiantly at the other two. Jess looks over to stan and rolls her eyes. “I saw that!”

“Guys! Can you listen to me?” Sara looks around before pulling out her phone. “I know I said I was taking a break from online dating after that catfish incident, but I went on this hookup app last night - for reasons - anyway and look what I found.” She turns her phone relieving a profile boasting the username firehose. A shirtless mirror selfie in black and white shows at the top of the profile. The flash and the phone block out the user’s face. 

“Okay so you found some guy with the cheesiest username known to man why do we care?” Jess asks. Sara turns the phone back to herself, scrolls down a little, and then flips the phone back to her awaiting crowd. “Oh my god, why did he choose a blowjob angle?” She takes the phone into her own hands and stares open mouthed. 

“I’m sorry, he chose the name firehose?” Tom scrunches his face in confusion. “I get the joke, big dick or whatever, but why would you ever swipe on a guy who chooses the name firehose?” Stan laughs and grabs the phone for himself to scroll through the phone. Picture after shirtless picture stare back at him. Jess smirks.

“Maybe it actually means he com-”

“I mean he looks good in these pictures, sure, but then his prompts are so bad! ‘I go crazy for…’ and then he just put ‘you’. ‘My biggest regret is…’ ‘the opportunities I didn’t take’.” Stan pauses to laugh at that. “What? That one doesn’t even sound right!” Tommy takes the phone next.

“Would it be bad to say I’d swipe right?” The group looks at Sara and she turns her head to look away. “As if you wouldn’t,” she mumbles.

The sound of an engine backing into the bay startles them out of their bubble. Sara takes her phone from Tommy and locks it before putting it in her pocket. They watch as Buck climbs out of the engine and jogs up the stairs. “Oh my god,” Sara mouths at the others who all have wide eyes. They stand there quietly for a second, too scared to breath. It feels as if someone could tell what they were just talking about from any sudden movement. 

“They charge you extra for the full detail?” They hear Chimney say above them. Tom holds back a laugh while Sara clamps her hand over her mouth and stares wide eyed at Jess who’s biting back her own laugh. 

“So the game was 3-0 Bradshaw-” the alarm blares, cutting Stan off, and they’re off getting into their gear and the engine. “Do you think it was on these seats or-”

So I dont really know how I feel about this, writing third person omniscient (or kind of really third-person objective because idk how to write omniscient well) was weird for me and idk if I can really make it better? I'm thinking about just switching to text threads only? Idk read this and if you want in the tags you can give feedback on what might make it better or if you like the idea of just texts, because in my head texts would just make more sense? / I could make it funnier? idk in my head I feel like it'd be funnier if it were texts. Please give thoughts im begging.

[libraryofloveletters]

a fic of chim coming back to live with you as he bunked with Buck due to covid while you worked at the hospital

Home

Howard “Chimney” Han x Reader 

Warnings: mentions of covid, alcohol and the consumption of, teasing Eddie about Buck (for my Buddie stans)

Category: Fluff with a lil bit of angst 

Word Count: 2k

Author’s Note: I have more Chim content coming soon :) also I didn’t proof-read this so idk hopefully it's okay 

-- 

“Hey you” you smile at Chim over the phone, he called you while he was getting ready for work, you on the other hand, now getting home from a shift. 

“Hey, how was work?” he asked while pouring some coffee into a mug, his phone was up against the wall. 

“Hectic but that’s a norm” you proceed to go through your after work routine which consists of disinfecting everything that comes in with you, your scrubs in the washing machine and straight to the bathroom you go. “What time are you off tonight love?” you turned on the shower, the phone rested face up on the counter. 

“6 this afternoon, if they don’t need me any longer. What time is your shift ?” he took a sip of the coffee, his face contorting at the overly hot liquid. You chuckled at his little scrunched up expression, “I start at 7 but I got to be in around 6:30″ 

“Oh my god, is that y/n?” you wrap the towel around yourself when you hear Buck’s voice and heavy footsteps approaching. Picking up the phone so they would see you again, “hi buckaroo, how’s life with your roommate ?” 

“Y/n, I'm begging you. Please take him back” Buck was half dressed, you knew they had to leave for work what should have been 15 minutes ago if they wanted to be on time. 

“Is he driving you crazy yet Buck ?” 

“Yet?” he shouted, “he’s been doing that since day one!” 

“Buck shut up and go get dressed. Stop talking to your lady friend.” Chim rolled his eyes. “Ohhh does he have a little girlfriend ?” you tease, you can hear Buck shout a shut up in your general direction making you smile. 

“Why don't you come home babe ? I'm sure Buck would be happy to have his apartment back to himself” 

“I can’t, you know that” he gives you an apologetic look

“It’s not that you can’t, you just don't want to.” 

“Y/n I-” he opens his mouth but you cut him off, “C’mon, we’re both working and yeah, we both need to take the precautions necessary to keep ourselves safe, which we’re already doing. Just think about it? Please ? I miss you.” 

“I know,” he sighs, running a hand over his face. “I know- I'll think about it okay ? I miss you too” 

“I’m gonna take a shower and try to get some sleep. I love you, be safe okay?” 

“I love you too and I will. I'll text you before your shift” Chim blew you a kiss, you blew one back and hung up. 

-- 

The door to your apartment was propped open as Eddie helped you move the new couch.  “No, no lift it! You're going to scratch the floor!” Eddie warned you because you were pulling the couch from your end. You had spilt chocolate ice cream on the couch and the stain just wouldn’t come out. In all fairness, it wasn’t just ice cream, the couch was old as hell. It wouldn't hurt to replace it so you did just that. Eddie was over to help you because one, he’s the only person you knew with a pick up truck who would help you move both couches on a short notice, two, Chim was working and you didn’t really feel like telling him that you were getting rid of his favourite couch and three, Eddie was your best friend, if you asked him to help you bury a body, he’d drop what he was doing and come help you and you'd do the same for him. 

After managing to get it into the apartment, you finally get it where you want it. “How about a beer for all your hard work ?” you asked, walking to the kitchen. Eddie took a seat on the couch, “how about you watch Chris next Saturday for me and I'll still take the beer for all my hard work ?” he called out, making you chuckle. “You got a deal, Diaz” you sit beside him, handing him a bottle. 

“Chim’s still staying with Buck, right ?” he takes a sip as he looks over at you. You can't help but sigh, “yeah, why? Jealous that you can't have your boyfriend all to yourself, Eddie ?” you tease, Eddie gives you a slight shove. He wouldn’t admit it but the mention of Buck being his boyfriend made him blush. The two of you sat there just catching up on life, it had been a while since you last saw Eddie. 

“How’s Chris adjusting to the whole online school ?” you ask, Eddie groans, “It was a little hard at first, they didn’t have a set schedule for a few days and it was hard for him. Now, he's got the hang of it, he really seems to like his teacher.” Eddie tells you, you smile. 

“Maybe I'll pop by one day if I’m off. They have me working back to back, so I should have a few days off next week” 

“Yeah, that would be nice. Chris misses you. The last few weeks have just been me and Carla who he only sees via FaceTime, it’d be nice to have someone else around.” 

“Oh his other dad didn’t come by ?” you ask, Eddie’s brows furrow. He had that adorable confused look he gets. 

“Buck, I'm talking about Buck” 

“Oh,” the same blush appears on Eddie’s face but he shakes his head. “Not yet”

Your phone was tucked under your leg as you shifted towards the side of the couch, your legs now stretched in front of you. The phone was somewhere under your leg when Eddie changed the topic back to you and Chim and what was happening there. 

Across the city, Buck’s phone rings. “Hey y/n!” he says, the audio from your end sounds muffled. “Y/n ? Helloooo?” Buck calls again and it still sounds muffled. He listens for a few seconds, setting the phone on speaker and resting it beside him on the counter. The sound is coming through clearly now and it sounds like you and Eddie were having a conversation. Buck debated for a minute, does he hang up or should he keep listening ? It was wrong to eavesdrop but it’d be even worse to hang up, he just had to know what the conversation was about. 

Curiosity always killed the cat. 

Buck listened, Eddie had asked you something that he didn’t quite catch but he listened to your reply. “God, I miss him you know ? It took forever to get used to sleeping by myself again and I know I do it when he’s on shift but it’s not the same” you tell him, Eddie hums. Continuing with your thought, “I just want him home I don't care if it’s selfish but what’s the worst that could happen, ya know?” 

“You both work equally dangerous jobs right now, he knows that. He worries about you” Eddie says. “Yeah and I worry about him too, but I'd worry a little less if I got to see him.” you mumble, the sound of something clinking from your end. 

Buck wanted to hang up but he wanted Chim out of his apartment a little more than he wanted to hang up. His need to hear what was happening was a little stronger than his moral compass, Maybe there’s something in here to make his case to Chim.

Chim pushes the door open, his bag dropping to the floor. Buck was hunched over the counter, his eyes on his phone. “Hey” Chim says, walking over to Buck. Buck looks like a deer in headlights, “Chim” his eyes go from the phone to Chim and then back to the phone. Eddie begins talking before Buck could end the call. 

“He’s just taking precautions, y/n” 

“I know that Eddie but so is everyone else. He's just being a stubborn ass” you groan. 

Buck looks over at Chim, an apologetic look on his face. “Does she-” Chim whispered, Buck shook his head. 

“Cut him some slack, he’s trying” Eddie spoke up

“Eddie, stop trying to justify his actions. Everyone is taking precautions, he's not the only one that’s worried about that. You’ve got a kid at home and you still go home to him! All of you have families to go home to and you all do, what’s the difference here ? We’re two grown adults, I don't see what the issue is.” your voice raises slightly. 

Chim leaned over and ended the call. “How long have you been listening ?” He questions the blonde man, Buck turns to lean against the counter. “A few minutes before you walked in.” Chim nodded, he stood there for a few seconds before turning on his heels and headed towards the couch. 

“What are you doing ?” Buck follows him, all the clothes that had been scattered across his living room, the same ones that had been driving him insane, were now tossed into a bag. 

“I’m going home, Buck. Unless you want me to sta-” “god no, go home” Buck answered a little too quickly. “Uh- sorry. You're more than welcomed to stay if you’d like” Buck mumbles, Chim shakes his head and laughed. “Thanks for letting me crash.” He patted Buck’s shoulder as he headed to the door. 

---

Eddie was still lazing on the couch when the door unlocked. He looked over his shoulder to see Chim walking in. “Hey” Eddie sits up, “hey, where are they ?” Chim sets the bag down on the floor, he walks to the kitchen leaving Eddie on the couch. 

“Shower, should be out soon I think.” He gets up and walks towards the door, “I’ll head out and give you guys some space” Eddie says.

“Yeah, thanks for hanging out with them.” Chim smiles, Eddie gives him one back. 

“Anytime man, tell them I said bye. Oh and I'll text later about babysitting”  Eddie heads out, pulling the door shut behind him.

Chim knocked on the bathroom door before walking in. “Get out! Can't whatever you want wait dude? I'm in the shower” you groan from behind the curtain, Chim smiles at the sound on your voice. He’s talked to you everyday since he’s been staying with Buck, but it sounded different in person. 

“Yeah, it can wait” he leaned back against the counter, your head pops out from behind the curtain. 

“You're home!” you seemed excited yet confused. 

“I’m home” he smiles 

“Wait, is Eddie still out there?” 

“He went home, said something about babysitting ?” 

You nodded before pulling the curtain shut again. “What changed your mind ?” you called out, continuing with your shower.  “Your phone call to Buck.” his fingers tapped against the counter. “What phone call ?” 

“Seems like you accidentally called and we overheard. Well, he did, I only heard the last part about me being a stubborn ass” 

Chim saw the towel disappear behind the shower curtain, you pushed it back and stepped out, the towel now around you. “I didn’t realize I called Buck, I'm sorry.” 

“No, I'm glad you did. You’re right. Everyone else has families and everyone’s okay.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah, we’ll be okay too” 

“So you're saying I'm right ?” stepping towards your boyfriend, your arms wrap around his neck, resting on his shoulders. Chim’s hands find their way to your waist, pulling you closer to him and closing the gap between the two of you. 

“Yeah, you’re right. Happy ?” he asked, you nodded. 

“Always happy when I'm with you” you smiled at him. 

--- 

taglist: @dralexreid @ssa-volturi @advicefromnixxxx @keenmarvellover @venusrosepetal @mikaelson-emma @beth-winchester21

[oscar-lettjohanssonloveme]

The Moon Song (Miss Venable x reader)

a/n: lol i just wrote this a/n in german hahahah i’m so dumb but here we go in english :D pleez listen to the moon song by scarlett johansson (’her’ is such a great movie whoops) well well the second number Nico sent me (i’m so grateful for this idea :3) was also a very good song for a fanfic, so i write one for both songs whoop and this is the first one :D i feel ✨amazing✨ rn, coz i can play this song on my uke 😌..sorry for this long a/n ://

summary: Mina tells you about the apocalypse lol 

warnings: Mina is soft hahah thats it..okay we are talking about an apocalypse 

request: (by @supremeinlilac​) okay so either 13 or 24 for venable (giving you two because ik venables vibe is quite specific and idk think some songs would suit yk) <3

thank you so much for this request :3

momma i’m in love with google translate yikes

I'm lying on the moon

My dear, I'll be there soon

It's a quiet starry place

Time's we're swallowed up in space

We're here a million miles away

You couldn't remember the last time you felt so melancholy. It was one of those moments, when you wished you could stop time, because everything you needed was here: your girlfriend holding you in her arms, the beautiful night sky, that you probably wouldn't see any more soon and that life, that you were used to and would soon have to give up.

The silence around you both was scary. The only thing you could hear was her heartbeat, coming through her chest right to your ear.

You had never argued with Mina before. Never. And the memories of the last few hours felt like pictures from another world. You had yelled at her so intensely, that you had been surprised at how loud your voice could get. And the reason for the argument wasn't her fault at all. After all, she wasn't the one planning an apocalypse, she just knew about it. But somehow it felt wrong. Mina had known for weeks, that all the people she saw every day would die and you wondered how she could endure that.

Your parents, your friends, just everyone, they would die in a few days and you had no idea how to cope with that. There had to be something you could do against it and the fact, that Mina hadn't tried anything was probably the reason why you had been so mad at her. You had begged her so badly to do something against it, at least warning the people or something like that, but instead of answering you, she had just come to you, wrapped her arms around you, and you had cried and screamed against her chest for several minutes .

Now you both lay in silence on your bed and stared lost out of the large window across from the bed. Your mind wandered through all the plans you had had for your life with Mina and you realized that probably none of them would take place as you had planned. You realized how selfish you were, at least you'd survive this shit.

Mina had explained to you how everything would go afterwards. However, she had become the head of an outpost, where a select few would live after the apocalypse. But it was impossible for you, to imagine how the end of the world would look like.

There's things I wish I knew

There's no thing I'd keep from you

It's a dark and shiny place

But with you my dear, I'm safe

And we're a million miles away

"How are you feeling now, Princess?" Mina asked softly and began to play with your hair. Your eyes closed at the feeling and you let the grip on her waist tighten a little. Inwardly you prayed to God, that he would stop time, you didn't want this moment to end.

"I'm scared," you said honestly as you took the fabric of her blouse between your fingers and heard Mina hum in agreement.

"I understand that this is scary."

"Aren't you afraid?"

your voice sounded confused. Of course you knew, that Mina was rarely intimidated by anything, but what the hell, we were talking about an apocalypse here.

"Not really," Mina replied, tapping the tip of your nose with her finger.

"As long as I know, that the two of us will be together, I don't have to be afraid."

You smiled at her words and lifted your head from her chest to look at her sadly. Your girlfriend's brown eyes looked up at you lovingly as you put a hand on her cheek.

"I love you," you muttered, leaning forward to press your lips against her forehead.

"I love you too", Mina hummed softly.

"And everything will be alright."

You both stayed in this position for a few seconds, until you finally pulled away from her to sit carefully on her hips. You grabbed her hands to put them on your legs.

"Tell me about the outpost," you said, trying not to sound so sad anymore. You watched with satisfaction as Mina's confused expression turned into a gentle smile.

"Well, the outposts are designed in such a way, that we won't use technology," Mina began, gently rubbing your thighs.

"You probably think that's stupid, but it's a good thing, trust me. Well, chimneys and torches will provide light and heat and there will be a beautiful library. We will have our own room and there will be a Victorian dress code..Thats are actually all important things. "

You nodded slowly as you absorbed the words.

"You can be happy, that I'm your girlfriend and that I think the dress code is hot," you said with a wry smile on your face and suddenly you became sad again.

"I think the idea with the technology is really stupid, but I am just starting to realize, that a phone wouldn't make sense, after the apocalypse. After all, everyone of my contacts would be dead.

"You will make new contacts", Mina replied quickly.

"I know that's not much of a comfort, but there will be other people there."

A fresh flood of tears welled up in your eyes and you quickly tried to turn the subject onto something else.

"What about food, are we going to cook?"

Mina cocked her head and hummed thoughtfully.

"It's a little complicated," she explained.

"Wait, if that's complicated, what would you call the things before?" You interrupted her and Mina had to laugh.

"You have a point ... anyway, storing food is way too cumbersome, so there will be little cubes, that will replace food."

"Oh," you said, frowning.

"Then I'll spend the next few days eating, I guess."

Mina laughed softly and suddenly she grabbed your hips to whirl you around. Before you could do anything about it, you had switched positions: she was pressing you against the bed while she was kneeling between your legs. You laughed at her action, but your laugh quickly turned to concern.

"Damn Mina," you scolded and hit your girlfriend lightly on the arm. "You shouldn't do something like that, your back-"

"Oh c'mon," Mina growled and leaned over to kiss the tender flesh on your neck. Your hands caught in her hair and you had to hold back a soft scream as she started nibbling at your skin.

"We still have 4 days before we move to the outpost," Mina hummed against your skin.

"Let's spend these days at home, okay? I think it's easier for both of us to let go, if we don't have any contact with other people for the next few days."

"I agree," you muttered as you took her face in your hands to move her away from your neck so she could look you straight in the eye. You stared at her piercingly for a few seconds before speaking.

"Mina, you have to promise me, that you won't leave me alone."

Immediately the smile on Mina's lips disappeared and she looked at you hurt.

"Princess, I would never leave you."

"I know, uhm, I don't mean that you will leave with me this way, it's just-", you sighed and shook your head.

"Just promise me. You will be the only thing I have and I need you. I just want .. uhm that you take care of yourself, I guess. So please promise me."

"Oh sweet girl", Mina cooed and put her hand on your cheek to wipe away the tears, that were running down your face.

"I won't leave you alone, I promise. We'll be fine, okay?"

You nodded slowly, blinking back the tears that still glittered in your eyes.

"Okay".

"Good".

Mina smiled again before leaning forward to press her lips gently against yours.

"I'll make sure we're happy, princess, I promise."

We're lying on the moon

It's a perfect afternoon

Your shadow follows me all day

Making sure that I'm okay

And we're a million miles away

A million miles away

A million miles away

[calyssmarviss]

911 reaction - DUMB LUCK

spoilers ahead!

.

- begone, ads

- that penthouse call was the dumbest thing, like, how did they not think for a sec that this would happen??? Morons

- HOLD ON

- I’M COMING

- well her husband didn’t

- that eddie/christopher scene went from adorable to horrifying so fast i am crying

- buck recruited bobby!!!! and it makes so much sense!!!

- that song over that gay dude scene i am laughing (it’s, uh, the music, ya know, inevitably makes me think of… well, ya know)

- begone, ads

- you guys were so right about jonah

- karen!!! She’s right, the physics on this one are questionable at best

- hymne a la joie.

- lady, can you, like, ride on the right of your fucking lane??? You deserved what you got. And i say this as someone who either walks or bikes.

- begone, ads!!!

- kind of a karen, isn’t she

- oh, buck’s here. working the same shift as chimney. still haven’t seen them interact. mhhhh.

- i don’t trust this eddie/chris kitchen scene 😑

- okay that’s one’s real

- oh honey no.

- never! that’s what i said!

- oh no jee :/

- oh fuck off, ads

- ahahaha my stream died on me in the middle of therapy but eddie/buck parallel anyone? I mean he’s like i could have done something to keep the chopper from going down like buck… idk? thought he could have caught the bullet for eddie?

- so yeah no idea how the eddie/buck convo starts :(

- yay jee’s okay!

- tho what she got sounds really gross

- OH NO

- I’m writing those notes during ad breaks so the only thing on my mind rn is buck’s face when hen says i wonder how many people we inadvertently saved by saving someone else

- he’s thinking about eddie i just know it

- oh wait athena questionning her career????

- quit your job babe <3

- lol i thought mw wasn’t in this. since she wasn’t credited in the synopsis. too bad. oh well, she was there for a very short time and half of it was for a good cause. also i totally thought of her when lucy mentioned reporters. 10 points to me.

- stuff her boyfriend doesn’t want her to know and all that

- oh thats how he found out!

- oh you sneaky sneak. baiting eddie into more therapy through chris

- i gasped so loud when they bumped arms that’s the buddie brain rot

- buck stealing frank’s lines again

- see eddie? can’t feel guilty about being the lone survivor because without you tones of people would be dead, or, like, would be still in the hands of their abusive parents.

- so yeah buck’s a genius actually

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

Responses from the Opera Screencaps Captioning Quiz

Hello, everyone, and thank you for taking my quiz! I had SO MUCH fun reading your captions-- there were several times I literally started crying from laughing so hard at the amazingness of your work! With that in mind, the captions (which I will continue to add onto as more people take it):

(also, thank you to @dichterfuerstin​ for translating the German captions I got)

originally taken from: the Wiener Staatsoper’s 2020 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, featuring Regula Mühlemann (center) as Blonde, Michael Laurenz (right) as Pedrillo, and an unnamed extra (left) as the Grim Reaper

Responses:

(Backstage warm-up) “ok so someone dropped the pulse”

me and my friends watching the fire burn after doing arson

Introducing the polycule to the parents

*boom* ... did...you guys hear that too?

Ma Signor !

Knight in whinging armour gone wrong, look at how he holds the egg. Polyamory with weird knight and death.

the father, son and the holy ghost are very gay

the gays meeting for brunch, 2021, colorized

chicken lady forces death and a very flamboyantly homosexual anthropomorphized pink bird to be parents of her egg (they dont want to be)

That’s just me and my friends on our night out (before covid rip)-- closest

A Good Friday night

good omens (2019)

["the pocket guide to boy/girl/mischief" meme] who's the boy and who's the mischief though????

Papageno and Papagena take their first-born egg trick-or-treating

Angry Birds - The Musical. A pig stole an egg and the bird unites with death to take revenge.

I love my bird wife

Someone got murdered during the funky chicken dance

throuple murders child and steals sibling of said child

When you and your friends have widely different tastes in literature

angel leading twink to his rightful place (hell)

draco malfoy from a very potter musical and a death eater are very much in the wrong show

What have I gotten myself into

Mlm/wlw solidarity but I’m not telling who is who

A woman stands with a pink dipshit with an egg and a reaper.

A bird-couple makes a pact with Death, sacrificing their first-born bird-child in order to bring good luck upon their unborn bird-baby

There are three types of people on Halloween:

Uh oh, I don’t think the mother hen is very happy about this...

oh god, they’ve invented seussical. It’s too early!

gay brunch

Three little maids from school are we

guys maybe if we dress gay enough we can distract everyone from the dead flapper bee in the back

those three killed a duck for her egg and are facing the conswquences.

Duck has egg with human, shocked and upset due to biological impossibility

When you bout to make a banging omelet so you invite your fellow queers

"No mortal man could pass that egg, but heaven shall repair your rectum."

originally taken from: the Salzburg Festival’s 2007 production of Hector Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini, featuring Maija Kovalevska (left) as Teresa Balducci, Laurent Naouri (center, in chimney) as Fieramosca, and Burkhard Fritz (right) as Benvenuto Cellini

Responses:

“In this same interlude it doth befall That I, one Snout by name, present a wall; And such a wall, as I would have you think, That had in it a crannied hole or chink, Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby, Did whisper often very secretly. This loam, this rough-cast and this stone doth show That I am that same wall; the truth is so: And this the cranny is, right and sinister, Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.” - a midsummer night’s dream, act v scene 1

"ah yes a prime specimen. see here, right in this box is our one of a kind hob goblin that can be all yours for the low low price of your soul"

what, YOU don't have a special eavesdropping chimney window?

Hänsel und Gretel plotting against the witch

man takes a wrong turn and ends up in a chimney, catches his girlfriend cheating-- closest

when you end up third wheeling the straight couple

lady cheats on her leather jacket wearing scummy boyfriend and when he unexpectedly comes home she hides the lover in the chimney

A straight girl and her gay best friend gossip about stuff idk

Idk Shakespeare?

experimental couples therapy feat. the chimney mf from mary poppins

Area Couple Inadvertently Traps Santa-in-Training in Chimney as they Attempt Rooftop Flirting

Landlords laugh over student renter's misfortune

I never asked for this

Ay yo lil mama lemme whisper in your ear

voyeurist listens to sandy and Danny from grease

Psssst! Did you hear about Susan? You won’t believe it!

lady and the tramp meets beauty and the beast?

human trafficking

And for just $30 you too could have your own tiny brick cage!

Psst I’m wearing assless chaps under this dress

A couple tortures a man in a box.

It's all fun and games being stuck in a chimney until your greasy uncle steals your crush from right above you-- okay ngl this could actually be a great Don Pasquale concept

Taking eavesdropping to the next level

Will you two stop being lovey dovey and let me out? SUMMER LOVIN, HAPPENED SO FAST— 

overhearing how people talk about you when they think they're alone puts you in the shithouse 

Does he know we can see him?

dear god, i am so fucking hungry, yall please just do whatever heterosexuals do so i can go eat a popsicle 

the human version of the trash man from sesame street is realizing that those two are going to fuck on his trash can 

Tmw you capture an angry short dude and start trashtalking him where he can hear 

Omg what if we kissed but we actually kissed the lil goblin man under us

"Remember, don't feed him after midnight"

originally taken from: the Théâtre de Capitole du Toulouse’s 2017 staging of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Le prophète, featuring Leonardo Estevez (right, on fake horse) as Le Comte d’Oberthal

Responses:

“When I said we needed to drain the swamp I didn’t think there were people actually living there”

horse? what horse? no sir i dont know what horse youre referring to.

definitely don't have a napoleon complex going on

King stole La Scala‘s Lohengrin set

king breaks all his horses, has to use statue dragged by servants as transportation because he’s too kingly too walk

Emperor Söder and his subjects on a carnival procession

man on horse makes a big deal out of being on a horse

That’s not Zeffirelli because the horse is not alive

Who the fuck put a horse on the stage

isn't this that picture of napoleon on the horse

Area Count Thinks Citizens will be Intimidated by his Extremely Fake-looking Horse Statue-- closest

Everyone wants their turn on the giant plaster horse. Police are there to make sure everyone waits their turn.

Night out with the lads

Local royalty horrified at the state of his own damn kingdom

gay army fights different gay aesthetics-- hi author how does it feel to be the funniest fucking person on this quiz

Well at least I LOOK badass

ceasar if he hadn't gotten stabbed (colourised)

some soldiers jumped out of my kindergarten fairytale collection book to burn the don carlos flemish deputies at the stake

It’s just a model

Is that how you feel pulling up in your Honda Civic, Madge?

Someone rides a horse statue in public.

Just a normal party with the bros.

what is this, some kind of crossover episode? 

Terribly sorry for all the fuss, it’s just, that is, my horse is afraid of neck ruffles. I’ve tried to talk to him about it, but he’s—whoaaa there—he said he was a french courtier in a past life and he’s allergic to English fashion 

Horse seller, listen to me! I am riding into battle. I need your strongest horse. - We have horses at home. - The horses at home: 

All hail Incitatus the king 

we are not ripping off shakespeare’s henry viii. what the fuck. this is about lenny xi you uncultured swine, go drown in a pit of your own farts 

oh god is that hamilton 

Guy Removed From Art Museum For Sitting On Statue, more at eleven 

Gay <3

Officer: This horse... is a virgin! Crowd: *cheers*

originally taken from: the Parma Verdi Festival’s 2017 staging of Giuseppe Verdi’s Stiffelio, featuring Maria Katzarava (left) as Lina and Luciano Ganci (right) as Stiffelio

Responses:

That One kid in class

its a mEntAL BreAkDowN *final countdown but kazoo*

*record scratch* yeah, that's me. you're probably wondering how I got here-- closest

Dad keeps monologuing, teenager is done

left: all of my concerned friends, right: my emo ass having a very public mental breakdown

the demons in the corner of my room when im just trying to sleep

lady gets mansplained to (do i need to say more, we've all been there)

It’s probably an area baritone telling off an area soprano-- sorry; it’s a tenor. soprano is right though.

That was a fake horse in the last photo right?

child comes out as gay to father at a particularly bad time

dissociation solves everything

I can't believe it's not butter

Honey we talked about this

My sleep paralysis demon is Crowley from supernatural

child has nightmare of boring job

When you start dating a singer but he won’t stop practicing at night

just an average day in a hetero marriage

what do i do my wife's having period cramps again

Stop having an existential crisis. It’s time to sing!

“No son of mine will kin Gomez Addams under MY roof”

Crowley stares into space while a teen has post nut clarity.

When he wont stop reciting jordan peterson monologues!!

Do you realize how effed you are?

Ugh, not this lecture again! Dad’s Practicing For His Experimental Indie Band Again 

asking your parents for help with your own personal situation and them just ranting off about what they went through instead of helping in any way 

Will he shut up already!

no one tell him he’s yelling in the wrong direction, no one tell him plnsbdjddhdj 

this kid is tired of his dad listening to rush limbaugh (a man who claimed to be pro life but died anyway) 

Me internally vs externally 

Daddy issues

originally taken from: the Grand Théâtre de Genève’s 2020 staging of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, featuring several chorus members

Responses:

It’s the deadly eye Of Poogley-pie. Look away, look away, As you walk by, ‘Cause whoever looks right at it Surely will die. It’s a good thing you didn’t … You did? … Good-bye. - shel Silverstein

why the fuckith? my good sir, i beg of you to put your pants back on

I hate this itchy hat

Titanic Extras hear that they have to do extra hours

people waiting to board the titanic watch someone fall off the plank

pov: you’re a time traveler

guy in the flatcap is embarrassed by patriotism and pathos

No idea. For some reason Le Marseillaise comes to mind

Is this from Harry Potter?

disneyland main street usa workers on strike

local tries to hide behind Newsies cap to avoid unpleasant but inevitable conversations. meanwhile, some very fashionable ladies look on.

"Thank fuck, 2020 was just a dream after all"

“We gather here today because this bitch got exactly what she deserved” “heaven!” “Stfu Stephanie she’s going to hell and we all know it”-- not quite but this basically happens later on in the opera (and act) so yeah (except the person in question very much Did Not Deserve It)

dc movie filter on bridgerton

america?

looks like my history teacher paused the prohibition documentary again

Who still wears page boy hats bro?

Coming out to a room of people who Already Knew That

Bitches are relieved at some party.

Several drunk people exiting getting off the subway attempting to seem sober and rational but realizing they have somehow lost all of their possessions

How tf do I act natural in this situation-- closest

“do you think any of them noticed that I don’t know the pledge of allegiance” 

It's too fucking hot outside for this outfit 

?

when hyyh yoonkook ending just hits different 

pedestrians watch in horror as the triangle shirtwaist factory burns and the workers throw themselves out of the windows from a dozen stories up 

Starting the pledge of allegiance be like 

He's having a heart attack oh no oh god oh fuck

originally taken from: if I remember correctly, the Semperoper Dresden’s 2018 semi-staging of Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus, with Jonas Kaufmann as Gabriel von Eisenstein

Responses:

“William Shakespeare wrote: "To thine own self be true And it must follow, as the night the day Thou canst not then be false to any man" I believe this wise statement best applies to a woman A blonde woman Over the past three years she taught me And showed us all That being true to yourself never goes out of style Ladies and gentlemen Our valedictorian: Elle Woods!” - legally blonde the musical

eat ass, suck a dick, and sell drugs

woooooorrrrd

Finally Jonas has graduated! It’s about time, considering he’s an international star.

what my professors think they look like

Prof. Dr. Dr. When someone tells him there are more than two genders

'and since you've now graduated high school, you'll be entering college etc. blablabla' .........meanwhile, there's a whole row of graduates daring each other to chug the cheap vodka one of them has brought in gallons (yes that happened at my graduation, lol)

Jonas darling baby <3-- can’t argue with that

I just realized I have no idea what the actual fuck happens in an opera

ok this one is just what jonas kaufmann always wears you can't fool me.

"as valedictorian i will share with you the importance of loving the floor"

"Yes, mother, my art degree will make me money!"

Graduation speakers are out, singers are in

Senior year takes a new meaninbg

mansplainer professor explains the concept of feminism to women

Your Prof when you finally turn in that missing assignment be like

younger boris johnson (derogatory)

jonas kaufmann retires from opera and takes up motivational speaking

What a fine graduation evening we’re having today

-70 points for slytherin you all have no swag

A man with a college hat sings.

An obviously greying actor trying to play a university student in a low-budget porn parody

How it feels to graduate high school after being held back for years

East High is a place where teachers encouraged us to break the status quo and define ourselves as we choose. Where a jock can cook up a mean crème brûlée, and a brainiac can break it down on the dance floor-

I may not have been "cool" in high school, but in ten years you will all be working for me!

I finally got my GED!

that one guy in ur intro to cultural anthropology class who mansplains to the professor somehow fucking graduated

he;s just graduating and taking his speech too serously idk

Graduation speeches with that one dude who got held back 3 times

Smrt

originally taken from: the Metropolitan Opera’s 2011 staging of Gioachino Rossini’s Le Comte Ory with Joyce DiDonato (left) as Isolier, Diana Damrau (center) as Countess Adèle, and Juan Diego Florez (right) as Le Comte Ory (disguised as a hermit)

Responses:

There is something very [disturbing grunts] About polyamorous couples - polyamorous, Chris Fleming

jinkies

femme fatale (including to herself)

I’ll have a threesome soon !

Hot guy walks by, everyone swoons.

thirdwheeling friend does not realize the other two are having sex

When your girlfriend had „just two beers“ again

jesus is exasperated about having to drag the two ladies towards doing what he needs them to do instead of purple dramatically declaring suicidal intent over the smallest trivial matters and red being equally dramatic about declaring that it's not the way! stay alive! i love you!!

The throuple is thriving

Get off the milf

orgy

my last three braincells because im a horny slut

countess receives too much love and is confused on how to react

Rasputin's lesser known romp with a much older czarina of russia

Woman's soul leaves body

Jesus and co. are worried after another woman gets pregnant without having sex

bisexual looks at photos of celebrity couples

When you go to the party to socialize with new people but your weirdo friend group starts getting clingy

Jesus cumming

one of those weird church christmas pageants but everybody's drunk

What have I done

Hozier??????????

Jesus assfucks some purple lady being hugged.

This time, the chick IS the magnet

An affair/threesome gone awry (2019 colorized)

What do you mean they canceled GLOW?

“I TOLD you it was cashmere!”

Are you wearing the - - The Gucci dress? Yes I am.

It's not what it looks like!

jesus is fucking that one cheerleader who grew up to be a suburban mom with one (1) super cool dress she stole from her kid who is desperately hugging her middle begging for it back because the spring fling is coming up and jason might actually make eye contact with her for more than three seconds.

jesus and mary magdaline and some other bitch

I’m at a bar and these drunk girls are flirting with me, do I lOOK GAY?!

Shrek 5, jesus's return

c. 2025 First attempt of an Officer and his Wife with a Handmaiden (colourized)

just about all of these are close lol

originally taken from: the Bolshoi Theater’s 1993 staging of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Maid of Orléans, featuring Nina Rautio (left) as Joan of Arc and Vyacheslav Pochapsky (right) as Thibaut d’Arc

Responses:

Don’t look, I’m still pooping

yall, the audacity of this man. he fuckin talked to me

*i can't even tell you how wrong you are* *it would be insulting to ME*-- closest

Cospeto!

„No I’m not talking to you, you keep cracking bad jokes!“ - „But I got another!“

when you’re mad at him but he says he’ll buy you food if you cheer up

When I’m wallowing in self-pity but my friends won’t comfort me

right: wanna fuck ;) left: yeah, fuck OFF lmao

Her face is screaming “don’t tell me what to do”

Yeah I got nothing

gay man tries to hit on a lesbian bc he thinks she's a twink. she's not amused but she's watching this happen anyway

me tired of MET's bullshit and them organising a Netrebko, known blackface apologist, a recital during Black History Month. (sorry im still fucking salty lol)

"stop smiling at me like that I'm trying to pout over here"

"I got fleas, you got fleas... wanna fuck?"

I have the best idea!

Haha nooooo don’t hit me with that bat you’re so sexxyy

lesbian is bothered by dilf

Me trying to flirt

if call me by your name was hetero and set in america

how many more dad jokes can i take before i explode

So. You’ve gotten yourself in a little pickle again.

What if we fought in the Russian revolution together ✨???????... unless??

Two people flirt in a poor place of town/

"If you ask me what I've got under this dirty, shapeless tunic one more time I swear to god I will kick your rotting teeth in"

You look like ur gonna kill me but ok

Really? You again?

Okay, I’ve been sitting here for 20 minutes, do you think it’s safe to—oh god, he’s still there.

Have you seen Godot?

she is tired of everyone’s shit. she has done so many derivatives it physically pains her to see a variable. dont test her. ur icarus rn.

idk pick better pictures-- I HAVE DIED THE SHEER AUDACITY AND HUBRIS I LOVE THIS

200% done with your crap 

Homeless man has fucking legs of steel n is gonna show off his Russian dance moves

originally taken from: the Théâtre de Capitole du Toulouse’s 2019 staging of Paul Dukas’ Ariane et Barbe-bleue, featuring Sophie Koch (right) as Ariane and I don’t remember who the person on the left is rip me

Responses:

The knight who wore this into battle sure was swaggy

dear god its hiddeous

Capitalism

Knight in shining armour gone even more wrong.

ghost contemplates the safety of spiky motorcycle helmet

„Stop! He feels bullied!“

'this is my newest take for jesus's crucifixion crown ...... what do you mean they already put him up'

That’s probably a really expensive magic helmet idk. IDK-- closest

Omg I love the adventure zone!

minesweeper (windows xp)

"Okay whatever you do don't touch the shiny spiky ball" "It's so shiny I wanna touch it"

Taking down the trash way too late

IT'S NOT A PHASE MOM

Darth Vader got stuck in the freezer.... again. Leia isn’t happy

Star Wars 2030

“And here is the very latest in motorcycle helmet trends” “Look, I only came to the mall for a pair of socks “

futuristic kkk

long-suffering jewelry store attendant really wants to retire

Put it down put it down put it down

“Hmm no you should see a doctor about that”

A weird ass crown is presented

The creation of sars-cov-2: an experimental Eurotrance nightclub art piece gone horribly wrong

How it feels to want something that u cant have

AND WE WILL CALL IT—SPIKE MAN actually do you think that’s too obvious?? Because of the—yeah, because of the spikes?? See, that’s what I’m worried about. I want it to be SCARY

I know it's risky but... lube me up

?

use the force luke.

that is a weird fleshlight

When you get an ugly gift and need to find a way to get rid of it, so your family member/friend offers to smash it

Touch the orb

originally taken from: the Opera Vlaanderen’s 2019 staging of Fromental Halévy’s La Juive, with Nicole Chevalier (left, with bottle) as Princess Eudoxie, Enea Scala (center, under table) as Prince Léopold, and Roy Cornelius Smith (right) as Éléazar

Responses:

When no one comes to your birthday party :(

fantastic, day 487 of mischief and they have yet to find my masterful hiding spot

i really wonder who he thinks he's playing footsie with

Marriage crisis. Reason sits under the table-- closest but not in the way you think (after all, the man under the table IS a tenor).

the last supper afterparty after jesus left

When you order the last supper on wish

espionage at the Politischer Rosenmontag

Probably the wrong opera but is that Leporello under the table

Now THIS is a Good Friday night

this was every birthday party i went to between the ages of 5 and 11

that awkward moment when you drop your fork under the table but when you re-emerge everyone else has left except one drunk lady and the guy trying to deal with her

After the last supper

Tfw you arrive to the dinner party too early and have to hide until a more fashionable hour

When the cishets aren’t home

waiter hides from customers

Nobody: My dog every time I’m eating:

what's left of the homies Jesus had dinner with

university chem lab experiment gone terribly wrong

I’ve been under the table FOR 30 MINUTES

Set your friends up by tossing them off under the table, they’ll think it’s each other n fall in luv

Someone hids under a table

"You're about to see an surreptitious-under-the-table-dick-sucking master at work"

5 yr old me trying to eat the desert under the table without my parents finding out be like:

They never invite me to their parties!

Just another girl’s night in

Oops! Didn’t notice you the table.

dionysus - bts (2019, colorized)

just a normal episode of eric andre (eric is the one under the table)

Just a normal day with the boys

Thievery

originally taken from: the Théâtre de Capitole du Toulouse’s 2017 staging of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Le prophète, featuring Kate Aldrich (left, surrounded by women in white) as Fidès and John Osborn (center, looking like a Jesus doppelganger) as Jean de Leyde

Responses:

Hold up, is that Eggman above Jesus?

holy disco

Looks like Tannhäuser. Our lord and saviour Richard Wagner. Now I need to be saved from that.

catholicism

me defending pineapple on pizza (THANK YOU)

jesus but hes about to be abducted by the alien ufo above him

Emmmmmmm Heaven? Idk

Lord of the rings?

ewww christianity gross

"behold, I am Important"

"Seriously?? It's not ACTUALLY pyjama day? Fuck you guys!"

Jesus at the Disco

Jesus Finds The Molerat People Who Live Under Bethlehem

disco is heaven

Want to join my new religion?

the kkk

church christmas pageant where everyone's sober but it's based on the director's fever dream

Am I the only one who sees the giant demon? Just me? Okay...

“Oh god I think I’m starting my period”

A party is held with a priest in the middle

"Let's get this secret Vatican sex party rolling!"

The new avengers endgame set is looking great!!

You know, guys, I try not to be a bother but...I can’t help but feel like I missed a dress code memo for this wedding??? It’s cocktail, right??”

Jesus visits Hogwarts

I must really stink if no one will even come close to me

the extra ass funeral i DESERVE

star wars life day

A cult at it’s best-- closest

Shrek 5, Jesus is still there I guess

originally taken from: the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden’s 2013 staging of Giuseppe Verdi’s Les vêpres siciliennes, featuring Bryan Hymel (left, standing) as Henri, Lianna Haroutounian (center, kneeling in the black gown) as Duchess Hélène, and Erwin Schrott (kneeling to her right) as Jean Procida

Responses:

When the director’s like “great rehearsal guys, just a few notes before I let you go” but it’s already 9:13 and your mom’s waiting in the parking lot

loyalist of subjects

bow before your queen

They forgot to take down the stage boxes after the Vienna opera ball but the show must go on.

somebody forgot to book chairs for this funeral

Me sharing God’s (Hayley koyoko) word on the discord server

mass execution bc the oboe solo sucked ass-- closest

That’s too many black suits I can’t see shit

I can’t even tell what’s going on here

8th grade school assembly about how it's uncool to shit on the walls at school

let's all get fancy so we can go to the opera and sit on the stage (idk this one's hard lol)

"Yes i am a time traveller, now don't freak out"

Tfw you forget to pay your lighting bills

White guys make decisions that will benefit them and screw someone that’s not a white guy over-- OUCH but that is too real (although not really in context here)

dead man gives speech at his own funeral

brotus and the boys ??? last meeting before the stabbing

high society social function ends in mass murder-- right opera, wrong scene

Someone walks into the talent show stage with a dog

Black-dressed bitches worship a man.

Worst school assembly of all time

POV:You're the window in the classroom and someone said "its snowing"

When the conductor shows up fashionably late to the orchestra concert

That's what you get for choosing the cheapest ticket option, get back in the mud where you belong

?

theyre just trying to jump into a grave at a funeral leabe them alone this is normal

oh my god he really whipped his dick out in front of everyone, this is just like in 1776 guys, except some women are actually in the room this time,

A funeral, stop wearing so much black

I want to slap their bald heads like rice

originally taken from: the Teatro Real Madrid’s 2018 staging of Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, featuring Roberto Tagliavini (right) as Raimondo

Responses:

Crowd “haha!! Looks like someone missed the all-black memo!! Now it’s laugh-in-your-face time! / Guy on the floor (whispering to guy against wall): go, save yourself! I’ll hold them off...”

if i leave now i wont be a witness and can tell the police i had no idea

it was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Guy in the back pretends to help but is to far away to even know what’s going on.

priest walks in on beginning of an orgy, contemplated joining but is too scared-

when someone brings up capitalism but you’re just trying to play minecraft

lol lets trample this guy while the judge isnt looking

Again. Too many black costumes

Loved this Dostoevsky novel

i would know if opera directors were more creative with clothing choices ngl

me on parties lol

"imma just sneak out of here while everyone else is distracted"

"Where did he get this flooring!? Amazing!"

Everyone act normal!

The tell tale heart but they got REALLY drunk

man tposes to ward off vampires after being caught undercover

boys ???? night

the priest really shouldn't have visited the insane asylum-- closest

He’s FINE everyone’s been hit by a car before

Something happens in a room.

Perks of being a wallflower

There's always that one person in the fight whos trying not to get involved when they really wanna

Oh good, they’re all posing for a Rembrandt painting, I can just sneeeeaaak out the back here...

The gamer livestreaming Resident Evil + everyone watching the stream ? waiting for him to open the door just knowing it will trigger a chase scene

Quick!

the guy t posing in the back is regretting his every decision.-- also accurate

the us senate jumps ted cruz, some other wack ass gop senator is trying to sneak away

...I spoke too soon, however this is a James Bond mission

Queers help fellow queer do math but it's a struggle

[skywillsometimeswrite]

So since I went back and rewatched/watched the Sahara opening from all three perspectives, I gotta just make a list of my favorite parts because it was so good. Some of these can only be found specific to one POV or two POVs so I highly recommend watching all of them because it’s so worth it.

Episodes: Grian’s 71 Mumbo’s 105 Iskall’s 111

Pre-Opening:

-Mumbo and Iskall trying last minute to make all the redstone work before Grian finds out that it isn’t done -Mumbo having a Grian head in his inventory while he is working on Sahara for seemingly no reason -Mumbo’s “YES!” when the stocking (i think) works and how excited he gets -Mumbo just completely gushing over how much he loves the project

-Iskall pro-speed-slick-recording of Mumbo’s ice confession (as well as Grian in the background “He’s totally recording. Don’t fall for it.”) and then saying that Mumbo went on to say he loves ice -Iskall: I’m gonna meet up with the boys. *opens a chest full of stuff and deeply sighs* I’m gonna clear this up then I’m gonna meet up with the boys.

Opening (under a read more cause it got long):

-The fact that Grian didn’t put on any sort of skin to begin with. I know he put on the Steve Jobs skin, but idk I find it amusing he didn’t put on his business suit for the actual opening part -Mumbo’s “Oh this is a nice tent” as he hides behind it because you can clearly tell by the other two’s laughter that that hadn’t been apart of their original skit -The failed first launch -Ren. Just... Ren. -How Mumbo mentions that the exploded door matches the one in the warehouse and immediately telling Iskall that no, he hasn’t fixed it and that it’s staying forever -Iskall and Mumbo (of all people) questioning why Grian killed a wandering trader and Grian innocently responding “I found him like that.” -The entire “It’s glasses!” interaction in response to Grian’s Steve Jobs skin -Iskall trying to keep a straight face even though you hear him quietly laughing -Violent Mumbo 1: hitting Ren towards the ordering part of Sahara -Mumbo barely being able to prevent himself from directly telling Ren how the system works and how to work it -Grian responding to Ren’s comment of a long wait with “But look at the lights go on! Ding, ding? We’re on two lights now, how exciting is this Ren? -Grian: ...thats it i’m closing the company, Sahara is over- -Iskall: NO WAIT! HAVE SOME FAITH! -”I got a beacon... receipt.” ”That’s Sahara in a nutshell. You get charged for things that don’t actually arrive.” -Grian and Iskall’s laughter sounding like they’re crying -Grian hitting all the armor stands out the door -Violent Mumbo 2: “So here’s my idea... we kill him.” -All three of them clearly having an idea of how that huddle should go and then not agreeing on it. Grian trying to have this act of employer to employees, Mumbo just saying they should kill Ren and start again, and then Iskall trying to work off that  -Iskall trying to think of something that might be near and dear to Ren without mentioning family and only managing to come up with his sunglasses -Iskall: Think about his sunglasses. -Mumbo: I haven’t been able to think about anything else since he’s arrived. -Iskall managing to keep a straight face when talking about mispricing the beacons and that finally cracking Mumbo’s facade while Grian is just in disbelief -Honestly this whole huddle is the best thing -”Where did we put the payment chest? We forgot about the payment chest.” “Are you kidding me????” -Mumbo: I only put one minecart in I wasn’t expecting him to order this much *cue them all breaking down even further* -”He ordered rockets... And they arrived! I don’t know how! How have they arrived?” “Don’t question it!” “No- why has he just broken the shulker box? Ren stop yourself!” “Because there’s no instructions!”  -Mumbo: Oh gosh! I’m setting myself on fire. Where’s my flint and steel? *looks at Grian* You took it. I hate my life- bye. *disconnecting* -Grian actually checking to see if he took Mumbo’s flint and steel because that’s something he would do -Violent Mumbo 3: hitting Grian and basically threatening him not to ever touch the system again -Iskall clearly not seeing the Beta sign on Sahara if his laugh is anything to go by while Mumbo and Grian already knew about it -All of them doing this zoom in on Ren as he stands on a chimney (which by itself is hilarious) -How the second-first opening fails and Grian is exasperated, Iskall is dying of laughter, and Mumbo is hopelessly embarrassed -”For goodness SAKE! I hate this! I don’t want to be part of this group anymore! Bunch of useless people!” -Ren witnessing all of this and inviting Mumbo to come chill on the chimney with him (”Yeah I’m going up on the chimney.”) -Mumbo having to stop himself from saying anything to Ren during the ordering process -Mumbo forgetting he doesn’t have an elytra on and trying to fly (this seems to be a common occurrence with him in S6) -Mumbo’s EEEEEEEE when he sees the minecart working -Ren’s carrots going into the machine and Grian just going “Now it’s not my fault!” -Grian: This is the most complicated thing I’ve ever been apart of and I didn’t do anything complicated so I feel great. -Violent Mumbo 4: “Did Ren ever pay?” *before even checking* “No. Should we beat him up?”  (Bonus: Mumbo cutting to the next part with a transition of him saying “One serious beating later”) -Ren: Do I get a discount for being the first customer? “No.” “No.” “Absolutely not, we’re a business.”

[nightfayre]

Awesome, another opportunity for me to be nosy, haha ^^; Well, I take 8, 12, 29, 34, 44 and 46 please. (It's a lot, I'm so sorry, I already tried to hold back >.< )

hi, Elaine!! no worries at all -- I’m so excited to answer these questions! :)

8. favorite fanfic from another author?

hands-down, no questions asked, my all-time favorite fic is our doubts are traitors by astoryaboutwar. it’s a yuri on ice fanfic that is just... it’s more than what I can put into words. it’s just marvelous. I will never be able to express my love for it even though it is incomplete. please treat yourself to it one day.

12. your favorite work?

erm, right now I don’t really have a favorite work of my own? I guess allergy season is the first choice that pops into my head, but that’s typically the case whenever I post something new!

29. where do you get your inspiration from?

100% music. album/song titles, certain lyrics, even the vibes of a song can cause a whole plot to appear in my head. it’s kinda fun, actually!

34. favorite comment you’ve ever received?

I immediately went to fire and the flood to find my favorite. the love and support that fic has garnered has never ceased to warm my heart even after all these years. like, seriously, rereading all the comments has actually made me tear up a bit right now lol! I suppose a comment left by Kaminari (which I am assuming is @kaminari3112?) on chapter 5 is one that I will never forget. idk... I don’t want to talk about this too long, but comments like that one just... give me a sense of peace. of belonging. of love. it’s simply beautiful. I wouldn’t trade all my comments for anything. 

44. share a snippet of your current WIP?

LOL uhhh okay.... lemme just rummage through my google docs to see when the last time I actually wrote something was......

“What’s wrong?” Lan Wangji asks him lowly, straight to the point. For some reason it makes Wei Wuxian want to laugh.

“What do you mean?” he replies, playing the fool.

It doesn’t work. Lan Wangji catches his eye, holds his gaze. “Wei Ying.”

Caught, Wei Wuxian’s lips press. He steps back to face the other man and Lan Wangji’s hand drops from his elbow. Wei Wuxian immediately misses the contact and he curls his fingers at his side to ward off the need.

“Is it the curse?” Lan Wangji asks quietly. In all honesty, Wei Wuxian has no idea. He hasn’t a clue what just happened to him, nor what happened to him last night. Paranoid, he curses at his own brain, and he’d thump his forehead with a fist a few times if Lan Zhan wasn’t already concerned for his mental wellbeing. How could he be so childishly paranoid?

“No way,” Wei Wuxian assures him, believing it. “It’s temporal, remember? They never had issues in the daytime. I’m just super tired. I feel like it’s worse that I got a few hours of sleep rather than none at all, you know? So hurry up and put me to bed, Hanguang-Jun. If I collapse you’ll need to carry me all the way back.”

I don’t think I plan on ever posting this MDZS fic, but it was fun to write at the time! right now I want to focus on F&F. :)

46. favorite sentence/paragraph you ever wrote?

oh, dear. the mortifying ordeal of going through all my posted works. here it is:

After all, there is a rhythm to fire. It whispers and crackles and hums without saying any words at all. The smoke tendrils twirl around one another like dancers before they’re stolen by the updraft of the chimney. And, eventually, one of the logs always gives beneath the heat; crumbles and splits into pieces of itself, bright orange embers erupting like spores from its downfall. It’s He Tian’s favorite part.

[swiss-cheeze]

The Candyman Can || Spencer Reid

Request: YES/NO

Gender: none (I don’t believe there is by skimming what I’ve written however there may be a mistake idk)

Warnings: SPOILERS FOR ZUGZWANG (8x12), mention of gunshot and blood, talk of depression, I think that’s it?

Description: Maeve was gone, what more could one wish for than the Candyman?

Part 2: https://snitchthewitch.tumblr.com/post/623363610267320320/the-candyman-can-rainbow-connection-spencer

———

The gunshot rang out and it seemed to go in slow motion as Maeve and Diane fell to the floor in the pool of their own blood, Spencer's kneecaps hit the hard concrete flooring, echoed with his loud sobs. The atmosphere changed and everyone could feel it, hell, you swore you could see the atmosphere change too.

---

Spencer could hear the voices of his friends outside his door.

“Knock twice if you’re conscious”

It took a moment but Spencer knocked twice, the weight of his arm felt heavier than anything else, his heart tugged as his arm fell and he heard JJ talking too.

“He knows we’re ALL here for him!”

And then their footsteps retreated down the stairs and away from him. It all felt unreal, a fever dream, a hallucination of sorts. As Spencer stood up he took in his surroundings, the books littering the room, the discarded clothes; everything was new in his perspective but it all felt so normal, like the books had been there for all of his life instead of 14 days. He knew why. He was in the five stages of grief; he wanted to say it was depression, and with the evidence strewn around his room anyone else would say the same, but it also felt like he was in denial, or maybe bargaining? He made the choice, he told Diane him for her but she didn't take it, the kiss told him; she didn't believe his unbelievable lie even at face value. As the world turned sideways with his hands clutching the last thing Maeve and himself shared he heard the telltale ring of his voicemail receiver.

It was Derek, calling again.

His voice sounded numb to Spencer's ears as it kept ringing, the echo of the gunshot still evident in his ears, ringing, throbbing. It hurt. It hurt alot. Was this what Hotch felt when he was blown back from the explosion those years ago? That was a hard day for all of them, the irony from Spencer's thoughts almost made him chuckle. Almost.

The phone receiver echoed the room again and Spencer groaned inwardly, he stood quickly to hang it up but was too slow as it went through and your voice cut through the air.

“Spence! Uh, hey,” your chuckle rang through the air as Spencer stood standing still, “okay so this may be a little weird but um. Okay. When i was younger my dad would sing this song to me to help calm me down from anything and it always worked. Now i'm not saying it works for everyone don't get me wrong,” Spencer could hear the smile in your voice and swore he could hear your footsteps as you paced, what he guessed would be the conference room, “but, i just want to try and help so. I'm going to hang up, call you back and well,” the pause was evident as Spencer waited, “sing to you,” your grin was evident and Spencer could hear it. A moment passed as you hung up and suddenly Spencer was filled with, not exactly happiness but, an emotion close to, with his brain the way it is he couldn't think of the english dictionary.

The phone rang again, and Spencer considered actually picking up the phone but instead let it ring through.

He wanted to hear your voice. You weren't exactly the bestest of friends but you were good friends, enough to be okay to be able to do this for Spencer without either of you feeling uncomfortable.

“Who can take the sunrise?” your voice rang out, this was an unknown song to Spencer, “sprinkle it with dew,” Spencer sat on his couch as he listened, “cover it in chocolate and a miracle or two?” your voice was picking up, your emotions coming out almost making Spencer smile, “the candy man!” your voice went up an octave, “the candy man can, the candyman can because he mixes it with love” you emphasized ‘love’ at the end of your sentence, directing it to Spencer, “and makes the world taste good~” that’s when he realised. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was your favourite book and favourite movie; the number 1 thing you ever talked about, always mentioning it in any moment you could. You had said multiple times to the team that you would stop because it was annoying but they always made sure to remind you it didn't annoy them and was actually nice to have something so positive within their line of work that didn't include the saving of lives. “Who can take a rainbow, wrap it in a sigh,” your voice continued, which took Spencer by surprise; were you going to sing the whole song? “Soak it in the sun and make a strawberry-lemon pie?” this sounded more like a question towards Spencer than any of the others, and he couldn't help the corners of his mouth turn up into a small smile and mouth ‘the candy man’, “the candy man? The candy man!” a tear slid down Spencer cheek as he sniffled, were you really doing this just so he could feel some sort of ‘better’? You of all people? He wasn't complaining, he was glad, the same as he was glad Garcia always asked if he was okay and sent those baskets; Derek made sure to mention how Garcia was feeling, “the candy man can”. Spencer heard the tremble in your voice, you were crying. Were you? You masked it too well for him to know, he heard a door open, “y-yeah i'll be there in a second,” your normal voice said before you sighed, “i'll finish this verse then leave you, um, where was i?” you thought for a moment, mumbling the previous lyrics, “ah right! The candyman can because he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good~” he could hear the smile etched onto your face, “we uh, we’ve got a case Spencer so, i have to go but, i hope that did something, i don't sing for everyone you know,” your laugh echoed happily, “even if you just listened with no emotion, but, we love you Spence,” you sighed as your voice wavered, “dont-dont ever forget that,” and with that you hung up.

---

“Hey Spencer!” your voice came through the receiver, he didn't pick up and let it go to voicemail but you sounded happy nonetheless, it was a few days after your first singing session with him, “i don't know if you liked it before but i told Derek and the team what i did for you, the simple singing...thing,” he could hear the grin, “and they said i should continue it! So, here's a new song, hang up on me anytime Spence i don't mind,” Spencer could hear you take in a breath before starting the new song, this time the sound of a ukulele coming through the phone; you knew how to play an instrument, “Somewhere over the rainbow,” Spencer recognized this one right away, “way up high, and the dreams that you dream of, once in a lullaby, I” he stood closer to the phone to hear you clearly as he held the book Maeve had gifted him all those days ago, “oh, somewhere over the rainbow blue birds fly, and the dreams that you dream of dreams really do come true, ohh, ohh,” he didn't realise it but a few tears slid down his cheek, were his emotions coming back? Well they never left technically he knew that, they just got buried down for awhile. “Someday I wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind. Me, where trouble melts like lemon drops, high above the chimney tops that's where,” you wanted Spencer to sing with you, “you'll find me, oh, somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly, and the dreams that you dare to, oh why, oh why. Can’t i? i?” Before Spencer's brain could recognize what he was doing he picked up the phone and held it to his ear but it didn't stop you, you musnt have realised he picked up.

“Someday i wish upon a star,” Spencer gravelly voice came through the speaker before you could get the next lyric out as a grin took over your face and continued the chords and sung with Spencer, “wake up where the clouds are far behind, me,” Spencer let you take over the next lyric

“Where trouble melts like a lemon drops, high above the chimney tops that's where,” you paused for Spencer.

“You’ll find me” Spencer finished, he sniffled softly as you both continued the song.

“Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high, and, the. Dreams that you dare to oh why, oh why. Can’t i? i?” your voices meshed together in a weird beauty, of a gravely and recently unused voice and a smooth, vocal lessoned voice, you both harmonized together for the final ‘oohs’ before the ukulele faded out and you grinned.

“Nice to have you back Spence,” you said softly, “um, i gotta get back to work but, i'll call again in a few days, see how you're going,” Spencer could still hear the grin in your voice over the phone.

“Thank you,” was all Spencer said before he hung up the line, it was abrupt but you took it in best emotions.

---

“It’s a force of habit,” a new voice cut through the thin air.

Reid.

“Reid”

“Spence”

J.J. went up to the disheveled man and gave him a comforting hug as the rest of the team came forward, yourself included.

“I didn't expect you back this soon, you sure you’re ready?” Hotch asked Spencer.

“No, but i think i figured something out,” Spencer replied, his voice was down an octave or two, the stubble didn't fit the Spencer you knew and you didn't want it to fit the new one if it meant you could have the old one back. Spencer looked at the team as if he was back in motion, squaring his shoulders and straightening his back Spencer started explaining what he knew about the case and what he had figured out.

You stayed back while Hotch and Spencer talked for a moment before Hotch left the room, he gave you a side glance that told you everything you needed to know; ‘stay back, help him’, and then the unit chief was gone and Spencer looked to you for a moment with tear filled eyes. Grabbing his hand softly you brought Spencer to a closed and unused conference room, the moment the click of the lock echoed through the room Spencer wrapped his arms around you as his shoulders jiggled; he was crying. It was the soft but comforting hold you had around Spencer that made him cry a little harder, suppressed sobs turned into small gasps of air as your shirt soaked through to your skin but it didn't matter either way to you; he was letting you in. The soft cushions of the couch gave way as you and Spencer sat on the fabric before laying down slowly, your touches were soft and hesitant, not wanting to ruin the moment to make the situation worse.

---

The plane ride was quiet as you sat in front of Spencer, when walking onto the plane Spencer had held your wrist from the stairs until you two sat down together, wanting to be around someone he knew and would somewhat understand. You could feel a presence come from behind but you didn't want to look.

“I counted five baskets,” J.J.’s voice floated from behind, Spencer gave a tight smile.

“Seven but I think Miss Cavenar next door may have taken a couple,” Spencer replied, you grinned at the thought of an old woman stealing woven baskets from outside the 30 year old Spencer's door. J.J. laughed too as you heard another set of footsteps coming to a halt next to J.J. as Spencer started talking again, “i'm really sorry if i've been kind of…” Spencer trailed off as you stopped him.

“Spence, dont.” you shook your head, “no”

“Kid,” Derek addressed, “i didn't mean for you to come all the way out there”

“I know,”

“Listen, if you need anything at all,” Derek offered, “you just have to ask,” you looked back to Derek and J.J. as J.J. nodded and so did you.

“Actually if you guys dont mind i could use some help with something,” Spencer said quickly, it caught you all off guard but you let a small grin overtake your lips.

“Name it”

---

The room was silent as J.J and Derek restored the bookshelves, Garcia and Spencer restored the fridge with fresh food with the blonde even cooking a few meal preps for Spencer so that he didn't have to worry too much about not eating. You worked on restoring the walls, furniture and packing away the geographic profiles and newspaper clippings from the previous case. It didn't take long with the team effort as you heard the sizzle in the kitchen from Garcia's cooking, J.J. and Derek slotting and sorting through the books, talking occasionally to find where each title went with you sitting on the floor with a needle and thread; patching up the holes in the couch as well as deep cleaning when it's done. In no time at all you all finished your jobs and one by one disembarked back to your homes. Derek, J.J. and Garcia all gave Spencer a hug as they left together; leaving you and Spencer alone.

“Thank you,” Spencer said softly as he sat on the newly patched up couch, the screech of the curtains opening made Spencer finally look up from his twiddling hands to see you bringing more light into the room.

“We’re all here for you Spence,” you reminded the boy, he was finally clean shaved and showered as you sat next to him.

“Not that,” the man remarked, “for singing to me all those weeks ago,” this took you by surprise, you didn't expect a thank you for something you had done for the sake of doing it.

“It’s...it’s alright Spencer,” you said with a nervous smile.

“I really enjoyed it,” Spencer said with a soft smile, he could see your eyes twinkle with a new found light at what he said.

“Thats...that's good Spencer, I'm glad,” you grinned and ruffled your hair as a nervous tick, “I'm glad you enjoyed it otherwise that would be kind of awkward” you laughed as Spencer's thumbs twiddled.

“Would…” the boy paused a second and his voice became hoarse, was he going to cry? “Could we continue it?” Spencer asked, “the singing thing I mean, you don't have to (Y/n), but I just…” his sentence trailed off as his brown hughes turned to your smiling face.

“Yeah, we can continue it Spencer I don't mind,” you said happily, “I'd be happy to do it, you don't have to sing with me but I'm more than happy to sing for you!” your fingers started to tap the tempo for a song on your knee.

“How many instruments do you know?” Spencer asked, “maybe, maybe we can do a duet?” his laugh was evident on the end of his sentence, “i'll play the piano”

“I forgot you learnt the piano,” you said with a grin as the memories came back to you of the autistic boy who played piano. A stiff silence overtook the room as you and Spencer sat next to each other, knees just barely touching before Spencer finally opened his mouth to talk again.

“Would you be able to sing to me now?” The question was sudden, like Spencer couldn't control when or how he said it before he himself caught up to the fact he said it; surprising himself. You grinned.

“Of course Spence,” you said happily, “Any requests?” you asked. Spencer shook his head no, “right,” you thought for a moment and went through the movies you recently watched with music in it before snapping your fingers, “ah ha!” you cleared your throat in a joking manner, causing Spencer to grin, before you started singing, “look for the,” you grinned, “bare necessities!” Spencer grinned, “the simple bare necessities!” you stood up as you sung and started dancing, shaking your body and singing happily before holding your hand out to invite Spencer in to dance with you. He accepted reluctantly and before you knew it the pair of you were singing a disney classic and dancing together.

It wouldn't be perfect, it will definitely take time, but that time you were willing to pay for if it meant more moments like this to help a friend.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Caring for Zero; Four/Billy x reader

*Author’s note*

Wow so many updates for you guys (even though the last two have been done for years) but still. Now ever since watching 6 underground like all of you out there I have been DYING to make a Four/Billy fanfic and so this was born. Now I apologize for the laziness in the main mission idk how to write an action sequence Michael Bay style (even though it’s all action and explosions and that’s it). So I hope you all can forgive me for it.

Warnings: MAJOR swearing, like rated R swearing, ANGST, some fluff, paralysis (you’ll find out I won’t spoil it for you), explosions, cultural references.

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@psychosupernatural​

@waddles03​

@ixchel-9275​

@mexifangorl​

@fan-of-everything-and-nothing​

@bohemiansweede​

@simonedk​

_______________________________________________________________

“But the entire perimeter is patrolled not only by guards but by air fleets.” Said Three as the entire 6 Underground was looking over the map of their next missions, well mission and a half, maybe a quarter.

“Wait an air fleet? Why the fuck would someone have an air fleet patrol?” Four snapped.

“Because the guy’s an arrogant, cheap asshole that has cause too much military abuse of power. But no worries guys we’ve got an Ace up our sleeve.” One stated proudly.

“And just who is that exactly?” asked Seven.

“To answer that question with a question of my own, how do some of you deal with the cold?”

“Wait you don’t mean….” Started Five.

“Oh I mean.” One grinned.

“You know she won’t do it.” Two stated coldly.

“I agree with Two on this One, she said she never wanted a part of this again.” Four said defensively.

“Coming from the guy that slept with her.” One snapped at him like the smartass billionaire he was.

“Okay wait, wait just who are you all talking about?” asked Seven.

“No more questions, we’re going to see her now. Pack the gas jugs and let’s go.”

With that the group were forced to packed up their stuff from their haunted house in California and headed up North to the Yukon Alaskan provenience.  When all they saw was nothing but forests, Seven just had to ask Four.

“So who exactly are we going to see? And did One really mean what he said about you slept with her?”

“Look you’ll find out soon but I guarantee she’s not gonna help us.” Four spoke with a hint of pain and heartbreak in his voice.  Eventually after another hour of driving through the endless forest, they soon came up to a cabin that stood all alone in the middle of the woods.

From the chimney smoke came up which indicated that someone was home.

“And here we are.” One stated as he got out of the jeep in front.  Suddenly jumping out from the woods was a pack of wolves.  All ranging from light tan color to pure black.

“Oh shit!” Three cried out.

“In the cars now!” screamed Two.  But before they could make a run for it, two charcoal wolves came in front of the team snarling and snapping their fangs almost telling them ‘Just try and get past us!’

Soon the pack of almost over 10 wolves surrounded the team and just circled them.  All the team members withdrew their guns but it did nothing to stir the wolves out of fear.  The pack continued to circle the group and that’s when Five said.

“Still think this is a good idea One?”

“Well I could be wrong.”

It was then one of the wolves, particularly the large white one came right up to Four.  To say that Billy wasn’t scared shitless right now, he’d be lying.  He’s done many dangerous things in his life being the ‘Skywalker’ of the group, but staring down a possibly rabid, giant wolf was something he NEVER in a million years thought he’d be doing.

The white wolf looked at Billy and sniffed him a couple of times before ceasing his snarling and walked closer to him and sniffed his leg even closer.  It was like—the wolf detected something familiar on him. It was a faint scent but it still lingered there on his pant leg.

Then something caught the wolves attention as every single one of them ceased snarling and their ears erected as they turned towards the house.  The white wolf looked back towards Billy and Billy looked down at the haunting golden eyes of the black wolf before it took off running. Followed by the rest of the pack who barked and howled away as they disappeared back into the forest.

“Okay what just……” started Seven and that’s when a voice came out from the speakers of the cabin.

“You’re lucky I let them spare you, otherwise I’d let them rip you all apart.” With that the team slowly approached the cabin and when One was the first to look inside, he saw just a few feet away a young woman with (h/l) (h/c) doing pullups on a set of monkey bars.

“Sarah Connor, from Terminator 2.” One proclaimed.  The woman then flipped herself around and just hung onto the bars and sneered.

“Fuck you’re old!” At that One just let out a fake gasped-out laugh as he mocked her.

“Fake laugh, hiding real pain.”

*My POV*

I can’t believe this guys would come back, and what’s with the new guy? Where was six? I swear if this is the new six I’ll call my children back and have him ripped to pieces.

“Whose this guy?” I asked gesturing to the gunman still holding the AK-47 in his hands.

“This is Seven.” One simply stated.

“It’s Blaine actually.” Seven or should I say Blaine answered.

“Okay I’m still not gonna get used to that. Yeah a lot’s happened since you left.” One told me.

“So what? You’re now all chummy with each other? Going to café’s together to sit on a couch like you’re a group of Friends?”

“Yep that’s our Queen of the North, heart like Ice. This past two years have not done you well socially.” Said Three.

“Like you’re one to talk Three. Our last mission in Budapest you nearly killed our target just because he wouldn’t cooperate with the kidnapping.”

“Oh and he did it again with our real mission.” Said Two.

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” I muttered.

“Look we came to ask for your help. Can you come with us?”

“Why would you need me One? I told you I can’t help you. Not in that way anymore.”

“You can’t or you won’t?” asked Blaine.  At that point I knew I had to show him.  Might as well get it over with.  I released my right hand and touched my watch with my nose and soon my automatic wheel chair came rolling under me.  I released my grip and landed right on my wheelchair and just stared at Blain like I was expecting the sympathetic eyes.

And there they were. His eyes widened and his jaw unclenched and dropped even though his mouth remained closed.

“Yeah, you can take a picture it’ll fuckin last longer you know.” I then took the motor handle and moved my chair towards One.  “And as I told you before, I won’t help you. I know the only reason you would come up here in person, with the whole team for that matter, is because you physically need me.”

“C’mon Zero we need our Ace back. For the new mission. It’s right up your alley and you know military corruption like no one else.”

“True but that still won’t make me help you.”

“(Y/n),” I heard Billy’s voice say.  I looked up at him and he looked at me with those kicked puppy dog eyes of his. “We need you.”

“You don’t need me. None of you do. Now please leave my cabin. I’ll give you the weapons you’ll need by tomorrow.” I wheeled out of my cabin and headed out to the backyard.

I looked out into the lake that stood by my backyard and that’s when I heard his voice say.

“(Y/n)—”

“I already told you Billy nothing you say will make me change my mind!”

“I already knew that.” I turned and looked at him and said.

“You do?” he nodded. “Then why are you here?”

“I just—wanted to see you. It’s been…..awhile.”

“Yeah, a long time since we—we’ve seen each other.” God the awkwardness you could just cut the tension with a knife.  Why did I have to fall in love with the cute green eyed thief? Why?! WHY!?

“Can’t we talk about….what happened between us?”

“Billy we talked about this.”

“No you just decided that we should end it! Why couldn’t you give me a chance to speak about how I felt!?”

“BECAUSE I DIDN’T WANT YOUR FUCKING SYMPATHY BILLY!!! Every day all I kept seeing was the look of sympathy in your eyes after that day. I knew you’d try to make me stay out of sympathy, not just for what you wanted. One knew I was practically useless except for building weapons. He wants all of us on the field or none at all. Cause if you aren’t, then you’re nothing but collateral damage.”

“He’s actually started to loosen up on the rules.”

“Oh really? The day I see that is the day I can walk again, and without the help of machines.”

“(Y/n), please.” He then kneeled down beside me and gently cupped my face in his hand.  I tried to fight back his touch but I couldn’t help but swoon at finally feeling that calloused touch that I’ve missed so much. “I’m sorry okay. I never wanted you to think I was acting out of sympathy, I was—you don’t know how hard it was for me to see you in that pain. I’d give anything for it to have been me in that crash instead of you. I thought I lost you that day, but in the end I did end up losing you. I’d give anything to go back in time to that day and stop you from getting in that plane.”

As he spoke, he pressed his forehead to mine (a common form of affection the two of us did to each other) his nose gently brushing against mine.  I then felt the familiar, intoxicating taste of his lips on mine. It was a brief kiss but it still held so much love, passion and regret behind it.  He then kissed my cheek, then my jaw, but just before he could kiss my neck I stopped him and rolled away snapping out.

“NO BILLY! Don’t! You can’t just—kiss me and expect everything to be okay! I already told you…..it’s over. So please don’t make this harder than it has to be.” His eyes were full of pain as he looked at me in shock.

“As you wish.” Damnit why say that? He knew that was our secret code for ‘I love you’.  And with that he just walked away.  I sniffled and wiped the tears that were starting to form in my eyes away.  I then heard a soft grunt at my side and there I saw my white wolf mixed German shepherd “Ghost” standing beside me.

He whimpered and sniffed my hand and licked it comfortingly before placing his head down on my lap. All the while he let out another whimper as he looked up at me with those haunting yet beautiful golden eyes.

“Oh Ghost.” I stroked through his thick white fur and I told him. “I know you smelled me on him. But I can’t go back to him. He—deserves better than a handicapped.”

“So you do still care about him?” we both turned around, Ghost snarling defensively as we turned and saw Blain standing behind us just a few feet away.

“Ghost Platz!” He turned toward me and using his former commands that he once learned as a K9 officer, he obeyed immediately.

“You taught a wolf K9 commands?” asked Blaine.

“He’s a wolfdog actually. All those dogs you saw were in some degree a species of wolf dogs. From mixed huskies or German shepherds like Ghost here, to the traditional Czech wolfdogs.”

“So what you just—rescued them?”

“Some. Others I found as puppies at the puppy mill just half an hour away from here. I found them, busted them out and raised them. But of course I kept my distance because of the wolf blood within them. What people don’t seem to understand with wolfdogs is that they are just dogs that look like wolves. But they are also half wolf too, and sometimes that trumps the dog half within them. Two different species colliding together trying to overcome till one just takes over whether dog or wolf. And when the wolf takes over, people reject it. Fear it.”

“You say that like you’re talking from experience.” I grinned.

“You could say that. My team didn’t call me ‘Bad Wolf’ for nothing.”

“You mean the others?”

“No. My old team, my flying team. Before I got this job I—was an officer in the US Air Force. Officer (Y/n) “Bad Wolf” (L/n).”

“Wait. I think I heard about you from a former friend of mine. Carol Larson.”

“Ahh good old Carol. How was she last time you ever saw her?”

“She seemed fine. Last I knew she was gonna have a baby.”

“Ahh my older sista from another mista. That girl taught me everything I needed to know. I became the female Maverick thanks to her.”

“Now I hope you don’t mind me asking but from one Military officer to the other, was it a field mission that—”

“Oh no this? Nah this was from working with those sons of bitches you’ve got roped in with. Can’t say I blame them, hell none of us saw it coming.”

“What exactly happened?” I sighed heavily and turned towards him.  Sensing my distress and anxiety, Ghost came up to me and placed his head back on my lap and I explained.

“It was while we were still looking for information on the Turgistan dictator. One of our quarter missions. I was the eye in the sky for the team to take out any in coming police choppers or dick face’s military birds. I was having the time of my life, taking down one bird after the next. I was on point, before I knew it I had a bandit at my six. I tried to shake it off but it wouldn’t get off, nothing I did deterred it. Next thing I knew I was flying dead stick.”

I lowered my head remembering that horrible day like it was yesterday.  It’s true what they say about PTSD.  It never leaves you, even when you’re no longer part of the military.

“As you know One was gonna leave me out there, the entire plane was leaking of fluid and gas. It was gonna blow, but—for some miracle Billy managed to find me and he—pulled me out of the wreckage just as the plane blew up. Next thing I knew when I woke up, I couldn’t feel my legs anymore. At first I thought Five had to amputate my legs. Then again I wish she had.” I chuckled icily. “L3-L4 spinal injury, been paralyzed from the waist down for the past two years.”

“But you should be thankful that you’re alive.” Said Blaine.

“Is it really worth living when you have to look down at your feet and be reminded that they are useless. Like I said, I wish Five had amputated them. So that way I wouldn’t have to fucking look down at these useless mother fuckers and be reminded of my screw up! And Billy he—”

“Deserved better. Yeah I heard that, but did it ever occur to you that he would rather want you alive than to see you dead that day? On the way up here he just got this heartbroken look in his eyes. And I know he tries to hide it but I’ve seen the picture of you two together in his trailer.”

“Oh my god I thought I told him to burn that picture.”

“Billy loves you (y/n). And he still seems to.”

“I wish he didn’t.”

“Why is that?”

“Because after my accident I can’t give him what we once had. I’m just dead weight to him at this point. A Zero. And nobody cares about Zero.”

“He does. But then again I guess that is you. So if you wanna sit here in self-pity licking your wounds, that’s fine by me. But if you’re as good as One says you are, then prove that not even losing the ability to walk can’t stop you.”

“You know you speak as if this is from experience yourself. What branch were you from soldier?”

“Army. Delta Force.”

“Huh, and just what were you to them?”

“Sniper.”

“Ohh well look whose special. Got a Hawkeye on the team now.” Blaine grinned softly.

“Yeah. Survivor’s guilt is a bitch so I know about military corruption too. What it’s like for you to try and do your own thing but your superiors won’t do that. So if you can find it in your heart to save those soldiers under Hassan’s ruling from making the biggest mistake of their lives, then come with us. Or like I said just sit here and wallow like a wounded dog. Your choice Officer (l/n).” he saluted me before walking off.

*3rd Person POV*

After the failed attempt at getting their Ace back, Two asked as they arrived back at the cars.

“So now what? We knew she wouldn’t help us, so what do we do now?”

“We still stick with the plan and hopefully those weapons she gives us tomorrow won’t fuck us over.” One stated as he got back in the front car.  As Billy and Blaine got in the second car, Blaine couldn’t help but notice the heartbroken expression on his face.

“She’ll come around.”

“I doubt it. Two years and she still doesn’t want to see me.”

“Every soldier goes through grief differently. But when she snaps out of it, she’ll be back, and she’ll need you when she does.” He gave Billy a brotherly pat on the shoulder as Five drove them out of (y/n) home and they drove all the way back to their home base.

The next day the weapons arrived from (y/n) and so the team decided to go on and move forward with the mission so they were on their way to Iran through one of One’s personal jets.

After awhile they arrived just a few miles away from where their target, Iranian military General Hassan Yazin was currently residing in his home palace just behind the Iranian military station.

“I still can’t believe this guy would choose the build his palace behind a military station.” Said Three.

“Look the quicker we’re in the quicker we’re out.” Snapped Four.

“I don’t know something doesn’t feel right here, usually a military base wouldn’t allow anything not even a jet to land within 100 miles of their base perimeter. So how were we able to get close enough?” asked Seven.

“I don’t know, but I prefer not to question it. Four’s right the sooner we get him, the sooner this mission is done. And I don’t want any fuck ups like what happened on our first mission.” One said.

“Okay fine, fine.” And with that the team moved forward.  Quick as they could they raced towards the base towards the first hiding spot they could find which was a tank.

“Alright I think I can make it to the east side of the tower and get a clear viewing of Hassan’s palace but I’ll need backup.” Seven said.

“Three and I got you covered till you clear it.” Two told him.

“You know I’m beginning to agree with Seven. I mean we haven’t even seen a single guard on patrol. And usually we run into some by now.” Said Five.

“Again not questioning it! Now get into your positions.” At that point the team started to move forward.  Seven raced towards the tower with Two and Three covering him in case of an ambush. Once they cleared the tower, Seven proceeded to scale up the tower thanks to the tools designed by Zero.

But just as he was about halfway up the tower, suddenly the sound of a jet flew right over head.  However it wasn’t just any jet or plane for that matter, it was a C-5 Super Galaxy.

“Ahh shit!” Seven swore.

“Motherfucker!” swore One.

‘Did you all really think I would make it easy for you?’ through the speaker’s Hassan’s voice rang out.

“Shit, he knew we were coming for him.” Two snapped.

‘Now I may not know who you six are exactly, but it seems you all are of unimportance. So your death wouldn’t even matter. Especially if it were from shall we say…..an accidental base explosion.’ The Galaxy C-% opened up and soon about 20 jets flew out of it and began to circle around the base.

Then faster than anyone could blink, all 20 jets rained fire down onto the base.

Seven scaled down the tower as fast as he could but was soon caught in the explosion and fell the rest of about 6 feet from the ground before he, Three and Two made a break for it before the tower could crush them.

Meanwhile One, Five and Four tried to find cover but every step they were blocked off by an exploding blaze of fire.  They knew they were majorly fucked.  With this constant rain fire, One knew there was no way he or his team was gonna get out of this alive.  As he managed to crawl

From his palace, General Hassan Yazin watched with pride as his military force rained fire on the supposed coup were now nothing but ants ready to be disintegrated one by one with each shots each of his jets dished out.

But suddenly the ships stopped firing down at the six members and changed their firing from the ground to further out into the sky.

“What the hell? Lieutenant what is going on?” he snapped into the commlinks.

‘Sorry General, our radars have detected something from the upper atmosphere.’ His Lieutenant spoke out.  Peeking out from their hiding spots, all the members just looked up confused.

“The hell are they shooting at?” muttered Two.  But it was then they saw it.  Something came right out of the clouds and it turned out to be a Grumman F-14 Tomcat was heading straight for the giant C-5 Super Galaxy.  The Tomcat soon then just rammed into the side of the C-5 like it was nothing as it exploded.

It was soon the team began to realize that this was a very familiar Tomcat that circled back around towards the underbelly of the C-5 and it was at that point Three laughed manically as he cheered out.

“OH YEAH KAMIKAZE!!” The tomcat once again went through the C-5 from bottom to top and the explosion boomed like a firework as the team were in awe.

“God I love that psychotic bitch.” One said in awe. While Billy couldn’t help but smile and laugh ecstatically.

“That’s my girl.” He muttered softly.

*My POV*

As I shot back up over the roof of the C5 Super Galaxy jet, I watched as it fell to the ground in a grand overture of explosions knowing that not only that giant ship was now gone, but the rest of the artillery inside was gone too.  I knew the team was dealing with more jets than they had out there, so I downsized the problem.

Because no one messes with my family.

“You guys take care of the General and his ground fleet. I’ve got your back on the aerial ambush.”

‘It is good to see you again Zero, cutting it kinda close aren’t yah though?’ One’s voice spoke through my radio.

“C’mon One you knew I was one for dramatics. Plus you gotta admit I looked like Captain Marvel back there.”

‘God you and Four with your millennial references.’ I grinned smugly.

‘Glad to see you’ve come to your senses Zero!’ I heard Blaine say.

“Thank me once you guys get that son of a bitch in his palace. You all finished one mission without me, I intend to see this one to the end.”

‘You got it. Care to be our eye in the sky?’

“It’d be my pleasure sniper.” I then pulled the accelerator and my Tomcat took off.  I flew after the jets that were still out that didn’t get caught in the C-5’s takedown and had them chase after me, leaving my friends alone down there.

So far I managed to take five of the 20 jets so far and nearly got shot out of the sky by a few others.  But it wasn’t until I saw Billy was in trouble from not only the ground assault but the incoming aerial attack he didn’t know was coming right at his front.

‘Billy 12 o’clock!’ I proclaimed as I chased after one of the jets and fired at ready.

*Billy’s POV*

I heard (Y/n)’s voice in my earpiece and I saw one of Hassan’s jets heading right for me.  Just before I knew I was a goner, the jet exploded right before my eyes and I watched as (Y/n)’s tomcat flew right past me.  Up and down I saw her fly with ease and grace taking down each plane in her sight.

Even when some of Hassan’s soldiers tried to take down her plane, she fired at them blowing the ground from beneath them.  Doing her famed loop-de-loops and even going in between a tag team of jets forcing them to lose control before firing at them before they could get the chance to recover.

As I fired at any soldier nearby I could help but cheer for my baby. As he place flew right over me once again I couldn’t help but cry out.

“TOM CRUISE DOESN’T COMPETE WITH YOU LOVE!!!”

‘Damn straight he don’t!’ She cheered.  I widely grinned and shook my head at seeing her in her element.  She really was like a Falcon in the air, but a She wolf on the attack.

‘Hate to interrupt the little love fest going on here but can we please focus back on the mission? Four I want you, Three and Two to head into the mansion and get that slimy son of a bitch before he tries to deck out.’ One’s voice rang out.

“Got it.” I then raced on ahead with Two and Three coming right beside me and the two of us entered the mansion.

For some reason and I have no idea why but Hassan barely had any guards left to protect him inside which was suspicious to me.  After I had just taken down a guy along the upper hallway near where Hassan’s room was said to be, I looked out the window to see Hassan trying an escape attempt through a chopper.

“Fuck!”

‘What’s going on Four?’ Five asked.

“He’s making an escape in a chopper.”

‘Not for long he won’t.’ (y/n)’s voice said.  Soon enough I saw her flying in and with just a few dropped bombs I saw the fireworks blow up his chopper.

“Two, three he’s outside let’s go!” I slid down the railings before successfully landing on the ground and we raced out the backdoor.  There I saw the rest of the team surrounding him, my girl’s Tomcat having an addition to it as she now aimed a GAU-17A machine gun aimed right at Hassan.

He turned towards us and he must’ve known he couldn’t win.  Wow what a pussy.  He surrendered right then and there and we exposed him to the Iranian President with the recorded confession Two got out of him.  Soon the news blew up with News about the military corruption Hassan had played in the Iranian government.

And with that another mission concluded and we all once again went our separate ways, except (y/n) and I.

*My POV*

After the mission, Billy and I went back to my cabin because the two of us deserved to talk about what happens now since I’m officially back in the game.  Billy and I were lying on my bed and the two of us were staring at each other, our hands softly and occasionally brushing up against one another’s.

“You were right Billy.” He grinned and said.

“I know I’m right.”

“I’m trying to be sincere here, don’t push it.”

“You’re right, you’re right I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t give you a chance to explain because—well I thought you could do better than me. You know that I—can’t perform well anymore so I’m basically a rag doll from the waist down. How could you love someone like that?”

“For one thing that girl’s got a whole lot more to offer than just the incredible sex we used to have together.” He tipped my chin upwards so that I was caught once again in the spell of those enticing green eyes. “Love the sex was just a plus from you. What I really fell in love with was your wicked sense of humor, you’re a fucking badass pilot, you’re beautiful inside and out, and even when you fall down like shit on the ground, you pick yourself up and brush yourself off and keep moving forward. Like today for example, you didn’t let your paralysis stop you from flying that plane and taking down a C-5 Super Galaxy. A fuckin C-5, do you know how big those things are?”

“75.53m in length, 19.84m in height and wingspan of 67.91m.”

“See? Even your brain is beautiful love.” He praised as he cupped both sides of my face.  The two of us smiled as I felt his thumbs brush against my cheeks.  “You see love, there is so much I loved about you. That I still love about you. So can we—pick up where we left off?” I thought about it and I said.

“Will you still make me those warm pancakes in the morning?” he laughed and said.

“I will make you pancakes for every single meal if it means that we can be together again.”

“Okay I’ll take you back.” He cheered and leaned forward and began to frantically kiss me all over my face.  I giggled as he was now starting to act like Max, my youngest pup who was such a lovebug even after the hell his owners put him through.

“Oh you won’t regret it love, I promise! I’ll help take care of the dogs, I’ll help with the chores, I’ll be your workout buddy, I’ll even push your wheelchair around—no screw it I’ll carry you from place to place.”

“Billy, I’m paralyzed but not incompetent.”

“Oh c’mon love, please let me just spoil you. Just this once please?” he cooed out as he pouted his bottom lip out and looked up at me with those puppy dog eyes again.  I groaned and said.

“Fine. But you can carry me only once a month.”

“Seven times a week.”

“Twice a month.”

“Ten times a month.”

“Billy!” I laughed.

“Okay, okay fine. Three times a month, that’s as low as I’ll go.”

“Twice a month.” I confirmed again.

“Okay. Twice a month.” We then kissed each other to seal the agreement.  “Why must you be so cute in order to get your way?”

“Not my fault.”

“No I think it is.”

“No it’s not.”

“Yes it is.” It was then he gave my sides a quick tickle which made me jerk up and take his hands in mine.

“No don’t do that!” I laughed.

“Why can’t I?”

“Because you know what tickling does to me, and I’m at a disadvantage now that I can’t kick you away anymore.”

“Oh really? Well then I think I may be tempted even more.”

“Billy!”

“Okay, okay I won’t tickle you. Yet.” I groaned and punched his arm which made him groan in pain. “Ow what the fuck that was hard!”

“Oh you big baby it didn’t hurt that bad.” He chuckled and wrapped his arms around me to pull me in closer to him.

“God I love you.”

“I love you too. And I really did miss you Billy, really.”

“Of course you did.”

“Don’t push it.” He smirked before capturing my lips with his again.  This time our kiss deepened as I felt him cup the side of my face. When air became a desperate thing, he separated from me and our breaths intertwined with each other’s.  “God I’ve missed kissing you.”

“How do you think I’ve felt?” he kissed my cheek and snuggled close to me.

“So you—you don’t mind if we don’t…..”

“(Y/n), it’s fine. The sex was just a plus with you. I don’t mind just cuddling close with my best girl.” He lay down and pulled me close so that my head was resting on his chest and I felt him stroke my back, specifically my lower back where my L3-L4 spinal points were located at.

“So you don’t mind having a paralyzed girlfriend?” I asked him.

“So long as that paralyzed girlfriend is you. I’m always gonna love you (y/n) no matter what. Never, ever doubt that.”

“I—I think I may need to be reminded again.”

“I’ll gladly tell it to you a million times a day if it’ll get you to understand.” I felt him kiss the crown of my forehead lovingly and I breathed in his intoxicating scent that I always found addictive.  His cologne mixed with a bit of sweat from his parkour scaling.  I closed my eyes and buried my face into his chest and embraced my love once again for the first time in two years.

“I love you Billy. My King of the skies.”

“And I love you (y/n), my Queen of the skies.” And with that the two of us fell asleep together holding each other close and exchanging kisses every now and then.

[whileyoursleeping]

Habits

prompt: Just Eddie absentmindedly comforting Buck with a kiss to the forehead/head after a tough call. They aren’t even together and it just ends up becoming a thing they do.

idk man it’s been a long week i needed some fluff in my life

____________________________

Today doesn't feel like a win.

Buck joined firefighting because he got to be badass and help people at the same time, and that hasn't changed - he was telling the truth about that. He gets an insane rush from the bell going, from driving the truck with its lights and screaming sirens, from kicking in doors - people's worst days keep him on his toes and make him feel alive, and he'd feel bad about that if it weren't for the fact that he helps people.

They don't have deaths that often, really. It's a police thing, to go to the deaths. But sometimes the paramedics can't make it to help the cops out and then they're on deck and that's when things go sideways, usually.

He's broken five ribs of a nineteen year old today, a sweet and kind of frail looking girl who he thinks might've had an eating disorder of some kind - he knows what those look like. And her heart stopped, and they got there before anyone else, and he was the first to do CPR, the first to break her ribs, feel them give with absolute ease under his hands.

He feels everything. That's why he didn't join the SEALs. Because he feels it all and can't switch it off.

In the truck, Eddie's watching him. Buck resists the urge to squirm - Eddie knows him too well to think he's unaffected by today. He doesn't want Eddie to look.

Eddie taps his headset, then removes it. Buck follows suit reluctantly.

"You okay?" Eddie asks, loud over the roar of the engine.

"Yeah," Buck says, and he smiles, pretty convincingly if he does say so himself.

Eddie looks doubtful, but he pulls the headset back on, and they're quiet until they reach the 118. If Eddie shuffles a little closer, and Buck lets himself press his knee to Eddie's, no one says anything.

~*~

He's getting changed after the shift when Eddie finds him.

It's been a pretty shit day really. He's tired, and his leg is aching - it acts up when it's cold or when he's had a shit shift and he doesn't want to show it, so he grits his teeth and walks perfectly normally to his locker.

"Hey, Buckaroo."

It's Eddie's voice. He doesn't need to turn around. He lets himself feel a little warm at being called Buckaroo by Eddie, with the affection evident in his voice.

"Hey, man," he says.

"You want to come over tonight?" Eddie asks, stepping up to his locker near Buck's and beginning to shed his own uniform. "I'll pick up Chris from abuela's and we can have a pizza night. You still haven't seen Star Wars."

Buck wrinkles his nose. "I just don't get why people think Kylo Ren is hot," he argues.

Eddie laughs. "Yeah. Reminds me of my emo phase."

"Emo pha - what? Are there pictures?"

"Not that you'll ever see."

Buck pouts, and Eddie laughs. His face softens as he looks at Buck, and he steps a little closer.

"I'm sorry today was hard," Eddie says, sincerely, then pulls Buck down by the back of his neck and kisses his forehead.

Buck - because he's tactile and affectionate and loves being touched and having people near him - doesn't think twice about letting Eddie grab him by the neck, even when he's being pulled down again. He blinks, unsure of what to say, when he's let go.

But it felt nice. It felt really nice.

"Are you coming to pizza night?" Eddie asks.

Buck nods mutely. Eddie hasn't let his neck go. It feels nice to be held, even if it's just like this. Does Eddie even know he did it?

"Okay." He's let go, and he immediately feels cold, adrift. "I'll see you there."

~*~

Buck somehow makes it over to Eddie's, even though if you asked him he wouldn't be able to say how.

The moment he knocks, he can hear Christopher inside, yelling, "Dad, Dad, Bucky's here!" and the clatter of his crutches to get to the door.

Buck is ready. The moment the door swings open, Buck's grinning, pulling Chris up into his arms and swinging him around, resulting in a delighted fit of laughter. He kisses Chris's hair, inhales the little kid smell, and then puts him down.

"You always beat your dad to it, little man."

"That's 'cause he's slow!"

Eddie's laugh rings down the hallway. He enters a second later, in soft, worn blue jeans and a red henley that makes Buck's mouth feel kind of dry. Somehow, he feels underdressed in his own black jeans and white hoodie.

"Hey," Eddie says, and pulls him into a hug.

Buck - who is a touch-hungry, needy little pest at the best of times - melts into it, smiling so hard his face hurts. "I didn't miss pizza did I?"

"I made Daddy wait!" Chris crows. "Buck, come look at my science project!"

They eat pizza and Buck helps Chris with his science project, they play Mortal Kombat, and the night settles as Chris begins to yawn and requests a bedtime story from both of them. It's a little hard, two grown men crowded onto one single bed, but they manage, and Chris is out like a light halfway through the second story.

Eddie shuts the door to Chris's bedroom quietly and heads back to the kitchen. Buck has already started cleaning up.

"Don't do that," Eddie says. "You're a guest. Guests don't clean."

"Guests don't eat their friend out of house and home and then leave," Buck replies. Eddie smiles, then leans against the counter, almost nervous.

"Listen," he says, and Buck - detecting the change in the atmosphere almost immediately - sobers up, takes up a similar position, and waits to hear whatever this is - maybe the evening didn't go as well as he thought and he overstepped with the homework thing.

"I'm sorry about kissing you on the head," Eddie says. "I do it with Christopher when he's upset, and I was on autopilot. It was inappropriate of me. I'm sorry."

"It wasn't inappropriate," Buck says, flustered for a number of reasons (one of them being that he has never once in his life used the word "inappropriate" in conversation). "I liked it. It was nice."

Once realising what he said, he promptly starts praying for the ground to open up beneath him and swallow him whole, preferably for eternity. He's twenty seven and admitting he likes being kissed on the forehead. Fantastic.

"Oh." Eddie smiles. "That's... good then?" He looks a little awkward. "I just didn't want you to be uncomfortable."

"I'm not. Wasn't."

Eddie laughs. "You look pretty uncomfortable, Buck."

It's true. He's wedged himself into the corner counter with his hands deep in his pockets, makes a conscious effort to relax. "I thought I was in trouble," he admits.

"For what?"

"I don't know, something?"

"We gotta stamp that out of you," Eddie sighs, but his eyes are warm and face affectionate. "C'mon. You owe me a rematch."

~*~

It's sort of a habit after that.

They have some bad calls. Someone drowns, and Buck - who jumped in and pulled the guy out - shivers in the back of the firetruck in midwinter L.A temperatures until they get back to the firehouse. Eddie sits with him, puts a blanket around his shoulders, and presses a soft kiss to the side of his head.

Chimney's eyes just about bug out of his head, and Buck is almost ninety percent sure that Hen snapped a sneaky picture to show Bobby and Athena, but he's cold and wet and miserable and doesn't really care.

They send Eddie into the change rooms with him, because he's near hypothermic and they're worried about him collapsing. He gradually turns the water temperature of the shower up until it's scalding and stands there until his skin turns red and the shivering stops, and when he exits the showers, Eddie is there.

"You waited?" Buck asks, surprised.

"The last thing I want to have to tell Christopher is that his Buck died falling over in the shower because I wasn't paying attention."

Buck gets dressed, sits down on the bench, and sighs heavily. Eddie sits next to him.

"You okay?" he asks quietly.

"I just... wish he'd made it." A lot of things don't make sense to Buck after the tsunami. Why he lived even while cut and bleeding and on blood thinners, barely a month out of a pulmonary embolism that also should have killed him, and so many others died. "Doesn't make sense."

Eddie sighs, puts his arm around Buck's shoulders again, and draws him in close, until their thighs are pressed together. Eddie's lips press into his temple again, and Buck sighs at the contact.

"Easy, cariño," Eddie murmurs into his skin.

Buck weighs his options. No one is looking for him because Eddie is here with him, and he wants so badly to snuggle down into Eddie's warmth, but he also knows the guy isn't necessarily as tactile as him and almost definitely straight - he had a wife after all - but it's been a long time since someone held him, and not the other way around.

He takes a chance, nudges closer and down until his head is mostly tucked under Eddie's chin. Eddie, for his part, just raises his head to make more room for Buck.

Someone will look for them eventually, Buck knows. Still, he waits for Eddie to end their half-cuddle.

"If you get lonely tonight," Eddie says, quietly, "there's a spot for you at my place."

Buck doesn't believe him now, when it's light out and he knows where he is, but later - when it's dark and he's woken from a nightmare - believing Eddie or not won't matter.

~*~

"Chris!"

He's sitting up, nightmare fading, panic whirling through his mind like a twisted merry go round. There's water, he's breathing it in, and everything is upside down and he can't breathe.

"Chris, Chris-"

He's out of bed, going God knows where, makes it halfway down the stairs before he slips and falls. He crashes to the bottom, and the impact serves only one purpose - waking him up.

He finds his phone, dials Eddie. It's the only action his brain is capable of taking, even as he hates himself for waking the man up.

"Hullo?" Eddie's voice, sleepy, comes.

Buck tries to take a breath, but it catches. He feels cold.

"Buck?" Eddie asks, his voice sharper. "Are you alright?"

"Chris?" Buck asks, shyly, feeling suddenly very stupid for panicking.

"Chris is okay," Eddie says, calm. "Are you okay?"

He hesitates. Eddie breathes on the other end of the line, grounding him. "I had a nightmare," he says, gulping, "about the tsunami. Fuck, Eddie, I'm sorry, it's late-"

"Come over," Eddie interrupts.

"What?"

"Come over. You need sleep and you aren't gonna do that alone."

"Eddie, it's... well, I don't know what time it is, exactly, but-"

"Come over, Buck," Eddie says, and the line cuts out.

Unsure of what else to do, and honestly a little soothed by being ordered around, Buck packs a bag of his things and heads to Eddie's. The house is dark when he gets there, but as he sits in his car - debating turning around and leaving - the front door opens.

It's Eddie, in sweats and nothing else. God really has no mercy on Buck today.

He piles out of the car, feeling childish and stupid, but Eddie only smiles at him when he gets to the front door. "You okay?"

Buck nods mutely, but Eddie's frowning, and that's when Buck realises he woke up crying and almost hasn't stopped, and that he's limping.

"Come on," Eddie says, taking Buck's arm gently. "This way."

"The couch is-"

"You aren't sleeping on the couch, Buck. It's freezing."

"But I-"

Eddie pulls him down and kisses his head again, effectively ending his sentence. "We'll stop by Chris's room on the way," Eddie says quietly. "You can see for yourself that Chris is fine."

His throat closes up, so when he says, "Thank you," it sounds quiet and wobbly.

Chris is, sure enough, fast asleep and fine under his covers. Dry, safe. Buck watches him for a few minutes, until Eddie pulls him gently, and they go to Eddie's room. It's sparse, compared to Chris's - everything Eddie has, he gives to his son.

There's something attractive about that. Buck will definitely not analyse the fuck out of it later.

"Buck," Eddie says.

"Huh - yeah?"

Eddie's smiling gently. "The bed isn't gonna eat you."

He's been standing there long enough that Eddie has stripped down to the cut-off sweatpants he wears to bed. He's watching Buck expectantly.

Buck shrugs his way out of his clothes. It's not that he's shy about how he looks - he works hard and he knows it shows - but being around Eddie makes him nervous. He feels vulnerable. It's almost nice, in a terrifying way.

"You are thinking so damn hard," Eddie groans. He's already in bed, on his stomach, hands beneath the pillow. He's got a tattoo on his spine Buck somehow hasn't noticed before, and his lats are defined as if he'd been hand-drawn by an artist.

"Sorry," Buck says sheepishly, and climbs into the other side of the bed before he can really stop to consider what he's doing. He's tired, and his brain is fogged by the stress of his nightmare, and Eddie is offering him something he doesn't know how to ask for, so he takes it. Selfishly, he takes it.

He rolls onto his side, away from Eddie, and closes his eyes, willing sleep to come. He's keyed up still, from the nightmare that shook him awake and the implications of what being in Eddie's bed could mean alongside the kisses, and if he lets himself drift too much he's back in yesterday, feeling the drowning man's ribs break beneath his hands.

(He never wanted to hurt people, only help them. It turns out those can be the same thing. Nobody warned him.)

"Buck," Eddie says quietly.

Buck jumps. He thought Eddie was asleep. "Yeah?"

"Roll onto your stomach."

He does. It's easy to do what Eddie tells him to. The other man has never led him astray before.

"Easy," Eddie murmurs, which is the only thing that stops buck from jumping when he feels Eddie sitting at his hip, and Eddie's calloused hands on his shoulders, massaging.

He didn't realise how tense he was. He relaxes, lets Eddie manipulate his head from side to side and dig his fingers into all the tender parts Buck didn't know existed.

He's falling closer and closer to the edge of sleep. Even as he does, his belly stirs with heat - he hasn't been touched like this for a long time.

Eddie finds a knot under his shoulder blade, pulls his arm out a little to open the joint up, and digs in.

"Ow!" Buck says, only remembering to keep his voice down at the last second.

"Sorry, sorry," Eddie says guiltily. He'd jumped when Buck had flinched from the pain, and now he's rubbing gently, apologetically, at the kinks that make up Buck's spinal cord. "It's supposed to be relaxing. I didn't realise you were this tense."

"Me neither," Buck admits. "I was relaxed."

Maybe a little too relaxed. He's half hard, which means there's no way he's rolling over anytime soon. He wants Eddie to keep going - to maybe duck below the waistband of his sweats.

He doesn't think about it too hard. Being attracted to men is new, but it doesn't feel that different from being attracted to women. No, the part he's freaked about is that it's Eddie, and knowing Buck's streak of relationships, he'll almost definitely fuck things up.

"Good." He feels Eddie lay down next to him; his hand keeps moving up and down Buck's spine, soothing him. "Go to sleep, cariño."

Cariño, Buck muses. It sounds familiar, and affectionate. If he was more awake, he'd probably be able to work out why.

"Night," he mumbles.

"Goodnight, Buck."

~*~

He's half awake because the door is opening.

Sometimes, his SEAL training is effective. Sometimes, because he's out of practice and relaxed, it's not. Today it's at the halfway mark, where his body instinctively knows that someone is nearby, but doesn't care enough to react.

There's a heavy arm slung over his waist, and someone breathing nearby. Eddie, Buck thinks, and the knot of momentary panic in his chest eases.

"Daddy, you didn't tell me Buck was here!"

Buck groans, raises his head from the pillow to see Chris attempting to climb onto the bed. "Hey, buddy," he croaks. He reaches down with one arm, gets it around Christopher, and hauls him up. "Why're you up so early?"

"We're always awake this early," Eddie's voice mumbles. "Chris, we said no waking Daddy up before six thirty, didn't we?" His fingers flex at Buck's hip, and Buck wishes more than anything that Eddie was dragging him close to kiss him.

"It's six-thirty-five, Dad!"

Buck laughs sleepily, tucks Christopher closer to his chest. The kid goes easily, melts into his body and lays there with his hand on Buck's neck, grinning up at him brightly.

"Dad," Chris says.

Eddie makes a vaguely muffled noise that Buck thinks may sound like a prayer for death, but doesn't do anything else, other than sling his arm over Christopher's waist. His hand lands on Buck's hip, and Buck twitches helplessly.

"Yeah, buddy?" Eddie mumbles.

"How come Buck's sleeping in your bed?"

"Because he was tired."

There's a long pause, as if Chris is contemplating something - which is never good. "Mommy used to sleep in your bed too," Chris points out.

Dead silence falls over them. Buck freezes as Eddie, suddenly very awake, raises his head and looks right at Buck.

"I'm gonna go make breakfast," Buck says, and not only does he literally fall out of bed, he trips on his jeans in the doorway, causing Christopher to laugh and clap mercilessly. Buck loves the kid, but he's way too smart for his own good.

~*~

More close calls after that. Buck nearly falls off a ladder (again), which earns him a stern talking to by Eddie and a few off-handed comments from Chim about needing to lose a few pounds.

Eddie kisses him on the head that night before they leave, and Buck feels the spot his lips touched all night.

A week later, it's more of the same - a bad pileup and an overzealous Buck results in a burn to his hand, which is superficial but still has Eddie muttering in furious Spanish as he does first aid. Buck didn't know forehead kisses could feel angry, but this one does.

He decides to be more careful. Eddie's blood pressure can't take much more of this, he suspects.

Only even being careful Eddie finds reasons. He makes a perfectly logical call during a job and comes out unscathed (which hasn't happened in, like, three years at least) and Eddie is still worried and looking like he's waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"I'm fine, Eds," Buck says, and gives his best winning smile. "What, you worried about not keeping up with me?"

Eddie rolls his eyes. "Estúpido," he mutters, but he's almost smiling.

"Hey! I don't understand Spanish, but I can guess!"

Eddie finally cracks a grin and pulls Buck down by the collar to give him a quick kiss on the head.

"So," Chimney says, later, when they're getting changed. "How long have you and Diaz been a thing?"

Buck almost chokes on the muesli bar he's wolfing down. "Me and-? We aren't. We're not."

Chimney doesn't look convinced. "You sure he knows that?"

"It's just a, a thing," Buck splutters.

"I thought you said it wasn't a thing?"

"No, it isn't - we're not a thing, the kissing thing is a thing, it's not - it doesn't mean we're together! We're just friends!"

"Oh, please," Hen scoffs - she's waited for them outside the locker rooms. "Buck, have you seen the way that man looks at you? You aren't just anything."

"I thought he was gonna blow a fuse when Buck was hanging off that ladder," Chim says thoughtfully. "Just about tore strips off the maintenance guy for not fixing it better."

"He did?" Buck asks, a little awkward.

"Sure did, Buckaroo. He loves you."

Buck bristles. "I'm straight!"

Hen just outright laughs at that, and Buck wilts. "Well," he hedges. "I mean, I thought I was..."

"Honey," Hen says, "even I'm not resistant to the Diaz charm. You can't be held responsible for waving goodbye to straight in the rearview mirror."

Her and Chimney high five gleefully. Buck bangs his head dramatically against a firetruck. Just his luck that he'd end up falling for the guy who gives him totally platonic forehead kisses.

~*~

Things get decidedly more awkward after his revelation.

He's a floundering mess around Eddie, who doesn't even seem to take offence at it - he just smiles and laughs like Buck is the funniest person ever.

Everyone's having fun except him, given that he's trying to get his head around liking Eddie the same way he liked Abby and Ali.

The forehead kisses continue, except now Eddie's doing it when Buck's fine but Eddie's had a rough day. Buck considers starting except he doesn't know how to without making things infinitely worse for both of them.

Eddie notices he's being weird and brings it up all of once: "Look, I know you said it didn't bother you, but if you want me to stop, you can tell me to anytime-"

"It doesn't," Buck rushes to say. "Don't. I don't want you to. To stop that is."

God, hasn't the universe fucked with him enough already?

~*~

Eddie calls in sick two weeks later and Buck, because of who he is as a person, goes to the grocery store after work, picks up ingredients for soup, and goes around.

He's geared up to argue his way into the house, sure that Eddie won't want to see him when he's like this, so when Eddie opens the door to his knocking his jaw is set and he's ready to fight dirty to get inside.

"Buck?" Eddie asks.

"You look terrible," Buck informs him, and Eddie rolls his eyes.

"Thanks, Buck."

But he's right, Eddie does look bad. He's pale and his eyes are red-rimmed and he's wearing a hoodie, which he never does, that's a little too big on him.

"Bobby said you were sick," Buck says, "so I'm going to make you soup." He's nervous and trying to cover it up with confidence, and Eddie kindly doesn't call him on it. He just smiles a little.

"Do I get a say in this?"

"No," Buck says. "Where's Chris?"

"With abuela. I didn't want him to catch it. But she can't keep him a lot longer." Eddie's getting that hunted look in his eyes, the one he had when he first joined the 118 and didn't know how to access childcare and abuela had hurt her hip. "I'm not really up to looking after him either."

"I'll look after him," Buck says instantly. "We'll be quiet, I promise."

Eddie's face breaks into a smile. "You sound like you're trying to convince me to have a sleepover."

"Can we, Eddie? Pleeeease?"

Eddie laughs, coughs, and stands back to let Buck in. "Not that I'm not grateful," he says, "but why're you here?"

"I told you,, I'm making soup," Buck says matter-of-factly. "Go sit down somewhere."

Eddie takes a seat at the kitchen table, where he can watch as Buck works. Buck knows better than to pick this battle, so he says nothing, just starts unloading groceries from bags and chattering aimlessly as he gets preparing things.

"That was when the new guy slipped and fell right into it - grey water, man, pretty much the grossest shit you could ever go through and - that's my sweatshirt."

Eddie looks like a deer in the headlights, but Buck's certain he's not wrong. It's the white sweatshirt he'd worn here when they had dinner. After the first forehead kiss.

"Oh, really?" Eddie asks, so unconvincingly Buck actually snorts.

"Yeah." It's a little long on Eddie, but it fits well enough around his shoulders. "That's definitely mine. And you know it's mine."

"Sorry," Eddie mumbles.

"Don't be." Buck, a little slow on the uptake, realises two things simultaneously - one, that Eddie knew it was his sweatshirt and didn't return it to him, and two, that Eddie had knowingly put it on afterwards. He grins.

"You wanted to wear my clothes."

"Buck," Eddie says, almost whining. He's begging Buck to drop it but Buck has never known when to quit, even when he's ahead.

"My sweatshirt is your forehead kiss!" Buck crows.

"Dios mios," Eddie mumbles, holding his head in his hands. "Este imbécil no tiene idea..."

Buck feels like he should be at least a little bit outraged at the definite use of the word imbecile in that sentence, but he's too busy feeling warm and fuzzy at the idea that Eddie takes comfort in wearing Buck's clothes the same way Buck takes comfort in Eddie's forehead kisses.

"You love me," he says smugly.

Eddie looks up, then, smiling with his eyes warm and pinned on Buck, and Buck suddenly feels as though the floor has fallen away - he's looking at it, he realises. He said it as a joke, but he's looking at Eddie now and Eddie is looking at him and Eddie so clearly loves him it hurts.

"Te amo," Eddie says, still with that expression.

Buck doesn't need a translation for that. He knows what that means. He knows it means Eddie is putting his heart on the line for him, without much of an indication of how Buck feels at all.

He can feel how hard he's smiling, and if it hadn't been for the door opening he might've done something about the confession then and there. But then Chris is yelling, "Bucky's here!" and he can hear Eddie's abuela laughing in the background, and he goes to meet them - lets his hand catch on Eddie's shoulder, first, lingering, before getting to the door.

"Hey, buddy!"

Chris laughs as Buck swings him around. "No one said you were coming!" he says excitedly.

"I decided to surprise your dad." He puts Chris down. "You wanna help me make him soup?"

"Yeah!"

Chris heads for the kitchen, and Buck straightens, face-to-face with Eddie's abuela. She's smiling.

"Edmundo is very lucky to have a man like you," she says, pulling his shoulder until he leans down far enough for her to kiss his cheek. "Chico dulce."

He glows at the praise, at the acknowledgement that people know how Eddie feels, apparently, and that they think Buck is a good choice.

It's a quiet night after that. Buck makes soup with Christopher's help, then gets both Diaz boys situated in the living room. Christopher has math homework so complicated it makes both their heads hurt, but they have more luck with history, which mostly turns into Buck re-enacting some of the more dramatic civil war battles and attempting a poor English accent. Eddie - who has pretty much stayed on the couch since dinner - watches them and smiles.

Buck puts Chris to bed on time, reads him a story. As he's turning off the light, Christopher mumbles, "Buck?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for taking care of Dad."

His heart swells. He leans down and kisses Chris's forehead. "Of course, kiddo. Sleep tight."

He leaves the door a crack open, with the hallway light spilling in, and goes back to the living room. Eddie sits up a little as he enters.

"About what I said before-" Eddie begins, his face worried and body tense beneath the blanket.

"Please don't take it back," Buck pleads.

Silence falls over both of them. Eddie stares at him, and Buck shuffles his feet around helplessly. Appearing small is hard to do when you're six foot two, but he's trying his best - it never worked with his dad, but it can't hurt to try.

"Buck," Eddie says quietly. "Come over here."

Buck obeys mindlessly, goes to the couch and folds down on it awkwardly. Eddie sits up - if Buck looks carefully, he can see that there are light tremors shaking his frame. Maybe the fever is breaking.

"I wasn't going to take it back," Eddie says gently. "I was going to apologise for blindsiding you, but I wouldn't ever take it back."

Buck opens his mouth, then shuts it. "Chimney was right," he realises aloud.

Eddie frowns. "Chimney?"

"Chim told me you loved me! And that that's why you were kissing me so often!"

Eddie smiles that patient smile of his. "Why else would I be doing it?"

Buck flounders. Is he seriously the last person to know about this? Why is it that everyone always knows these things before him?

Eddie laughs, then. "Buck," he says. "You look like someone killed your puppy."

"I'm dumb," Buck moans, sinking further into the couch.

"Hey." Eddie reaches out and takes Buck's face between his hands, sending an instant flush through him. "If I'm right, and you want this as well, then of course you didn't realise. Maybe it felt too good to be true. You're not dumb."

Buck blinks. "I want to kiss you," he says.

"You'll get sick," Eddie reminds him gently. "But if you stay the night, maybe tomorrow."

"Okay," Buck says, smiling. "I'll stay."

[mypoisonedvine]

I Never Danced Until I Met You- Chapter 2

[Chapter 1]

Taglist: @a-banana-for-your-thoughts @saint-hardy @sophiasescape  @letscici @itsametaphorbriansblog @wackiekebab @tinyybiceps (idk it won’t let me tag you properly ugh)

Word Count: 4.1k (and it’s allllll banter lol)

Rating: still T……….. for now

You were already on horseback when he approached you in the courtyard. “Where’s my horse?” he asked as he saw you.

“You can walk beside mine,” you suggested.

“Oh no, I get enough of that with Geralt,” he protested, already climbing up onto your saddle, “I’m sharing with you.”

Before you could stop him, he was sitting behind you, his form enveloping yours.  You swallowed dryly.

“I bet this is what you wanted all along,” he postulated in a provocative tone, speaking quietly since he was already so close to your ear.  He smelled of soap and leather.

“There were no spare horses in the stable,” you replied, and though you were telling the truth your voice came out a little shaky.

“Riiiight.” You couldn’t see his face but you assumed he was winking or smirking or something.

Instead of continuing to defend yourself, you shook the reigns, prompting your horse to begin trotting towards the gates.

“To the east are the training fields,” you explained as you motioned in their direction, “where my troops prepare for battle.  To the west, the furthest wing of the castle.”

“Where are your quarters?” he asked suddenly. 

“I’d nearly forgotten how forward you are,” you replied with an eyeroll that he couldn’t see.

“I couldn’t forget how lovely you are,” he waxed poetically, “but regardless, I was just making conversation.”

“Some conversation,” you scoffed.

“You doubt my honour?” he asked with surprise (and a hint of sarcasm).  You tried not to laugh, but it didn’t work.

“If you must know, my quarters are just outside the Queen’s.  I am expected to come to her aid first in case of an emergency,” you explained.

“Not much privacy there, I’d imagine.” 

“I’ve no need for it,” you replied with a touch of surprise.  You hadn’t even really considered that aspect.

“Sounds like a boring life,” he mumbled

“To you, I’m sure,” you responded, “but I live a life of integrity, which I have found demands little privacy to be conducted.”

“I think integrity is something people think they have until they’re challenged,” Jaskier philosophised.

You didn’t respond right away, and he suddenly seemed very proud of himself. “Ah, left speechless by my incredible accuracy?” he teased.

“The idiocy of your statement was so severe, I required a moment of silence to process it,” you replied coolly.

“I know why you’re so hell-bent on antagonizing me, you know,” he said, his voice getting quieter.

“What’s that?” you pressed.

He leaned in closer to your ear, his breath tickling against your skin.

“You have to convince yourself you hate me, because you lead the sort of life where you can’t develop those pesky ‘feelings’ you’ve managed to avoid all this time,” he posited, “and the only emotion you’ve ever been allowed to have is anger.  So you’re angry with me in lieu of being attracted to me, which- hate to break it to you- isn’t a choice.”

You swallowed dryly, thankful he couldn’t see your facial expression in that moment as it would’ve surely given you away.

You scoffed weakly, realizing a moment of silence wouldn’t do you any favors.

“Men like you always have some ridiculous story to explain how every woman who isn’t interested is secretly weak in the knees for them,” you deflected.

“Then tell me it isn’t true,” he offered.  “Just say I’m totally wrong, and I’ll believe you.”

You almost considered confessing that he was entirely accurate- more right about the situation than even you had been up until that moment.  But then you remembered this was your life and not a fantastical story, that you were a knight and not a duchess, that he would leave the castle in a few days and have his choice of the women of the world (so long as they were of comparable social standing) and you would be forever tied to your duties.

“It isn’t true,” you lied confidently, “you’re totally wrong.”

He was quiet for a moment.

“Nah, I still don’t believe you,” he pshawed.

“What?  You said you would!” 

“I thought I would, but now that you’ve said it, I’m sure more than ever that it’s true.”

You sighed, kicking the horse gently to keep up its pace as you continued trotting through the castle grounds.

“It’s not true,” you repeated after an awkward silence.

“I know, I know, you’re a cold heartless warrior whose only business is breaking bones,“ he sarcastically agreed.

“Is that what you think warfare is?” you snorted.

“I just wonder how many hearts you’ve broken,” he continued, ignoring your question.

“None,” you responded, looking south towards the mountains and appreciating their beauty even having seen them every day.

“Preposterous,” Jaskier scoffed.

“I’ve never had a suitor, or secret admirer or anything of the sort,” you shrugged.

“How could you know if you had had a secret admirer?  Wouldn’t it be, you know, secret?”

“I just know,” you frowned. “No one acts like they have any interest in me.”

“Maybe they’re just very subtle about it,” he considered.

“Subtle?  I didn’t think that word was in your vocabulary,” you mocked.

“It used to be,” he smiled, “but my affections for you are too strong to be suppressed.”

“How many women do you say that to?” you asked deridingly. 

“How many women are knights?” he returned.

“Just me,” you sighed.

“Just you,” he repeated, his tone sounding more thoughtful and serious suddenly.  

You pondered that briefly but thankfully the silence was broken as your horse took you over the crest of the hill, overlooking the entire city.  You heard him gasp a bit as he looked out, and you lifted yourself off the saddle and onto the ground.

“Great view, isn’t it?” you commented as you looked out over the cobbled streets and thatched roofs and smoking chimneys.

“Lovely,” he observed, following you onto the grass and taking in the scenery.

“You’ve probably seen more extravagant places in your travels,” you hedged.

“Perhaps, but extravagance isn’t all there is to life,” he explained as he sat down on a rock.  “I can appreciate the simple beauty of a quiet town.  It must have been nice growing up here.”

You took a seat on the ground nearby, as sitting next to him on the rock would require getting closer than you were ready for.

“It wasn’t this nice when I was growing up here, actually,” you recalled. “War-torn, crime-ridden…”

“What changed?” he asked.

“New management,” you smirked, motioning behind you to the castle.

“She seems like a good leader,” he considered.

“She’s incredible.  She turned this nation around, truly.”

“Well, I’m sure she didn’t do it by herself,” he assumed.  You gave him a quizzical look. “Someone had to enforce the new laws, clean up the streets,” he clarified.

“Oh, well, yes, the cavalry did some policing; nowadays we have constables for that,” you remembered.

“You make even more sense as a copper than a knight,” he chuckled.

“How’s that?”

“You’re laying down the law with me every five minutes and you ask why I think you’d make a good police officer?” he scoffed in reply.  

“I don’t usually need to be so uptight,” you defended, “it’s the criminal in you that brings out the cop in me.”

“Me, a criminal?  Look at this innocent face,” he pouted.  “If anything, I’m the victim: I’ve recently had my heart stolen.”

“I’ll give you one thing, you’re persistent,” you groaned.

“I didn’t say it was you,” he noted.  Your head whipped around to look at him, and he started to chuckle.

“Relax, love, of course it’s you,” he reassured as you felt your cheeks flush. “You’re not as stoic as you think.”

After several moments passed in reverent silence, something you weren’t sure before was possible with someone as talkative as Jaskier around, you decided that sitting quietly let your mind wander further than you wanted it to go.

“How’s your archery?” you inquired suddenly, standing up and dusting the grass off of your trousers.

“Haven’t held a bow since I was eleven,” he answered, following suit by getting up off the rock, “so I’m sure it’s spectacular.”

“Frankly I’m more of a swordsman myself, so I can’t promise to be the greatest teacher you’ve ever had, but maybe you’d enjoy a refresher course,” you offered.

“You’re too kind,” he replied, jumping back on the saddle. “I promise to be a worse student than you are a teacher.”

~

“Elbow up,” you instructed.  His elbow did go up, but then it shot out to the side, throwing off his entire posture again.  You used two fingers to push it back into place.

“Realign your shoulders,” you added, “your back keeps slipping forward.”

“That’s because this posture is rather uncomfortable!” he whined.

“Yes, well, hitting your target will ease the pain.”

“Not for the target,” he mumbled as he readjusted his position.

You stood beside his bow and made little adjustments, moving his hands and back where they needed to be for accuracy.

It wasn’t until he looked at you that you realized the bow created a sort of barrier which prevented you from realizing how close to him you were standing.  If he faced you, which he just had, your faces would be just centimetres apart.  You used your hands to move his face back to facing downrange.

“Take the shot,” you encouraged quietly, and he did, the arrow zooming past both of your faces as it whipped the air with its feathers.

You watched the arrow hit just west of the bullseye, and Jaskier turned to you with a smile, relaxing the bow.  You stepped back so you wouldn’t be standing so close anymore.

“Hey, not so bad!” he observed.

“Quite excellent, actually,” you corrected.

“You’re a better teacher than you let on.”

“No, I fixed your positioning but that shot was all you,” you explained, “most people flinch when the arrow fires, which makes it impossible to keep steady.  You were fearless.”

“Fearless?  That’s not something I get called often,” he replied in shock.

“You asked a knight on duty to dance.  Clearly you have no fear of death,” you smirked.  He chuckled, pulling another arrow from the quiver.

“Speaking of death, think I can make a bullseye this time?” he asked as he prepared his shot.

“I’d be surprised.”

“Would you be impressed?” he asked with that tone that made you nervous for what he would do next.

“I… suppose,” you responded hesitantly.

“I just know there are stories about knights performing physical tasks to win the affections of princesses and whatnot,” he remembered, “and I wondered if I could win a knight’s affections by hitting a perfect bullseye.”

“Affections aren’t won, they’re earned,” you replied sternly.

“Earned?” he repeated, relaxing the bow and looking at you again. “Then, there is some way to get you to fall for me.”

“I didn’t mean it quite that way,” you corrected.

“So then there’s no way for me to get through?” he asked.

“Yes, exactly,” you frowned, getting more frustrated.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” he protested.

“It makes perfect sense to those of us who can accept the fact that you and I will never be anything more than acquaintances.”

“If they’re not won, and they’re not earned, then they’re just random.  Just the unstoppable will of destiny.  You didn’t strike me as the type to believe that sort of thing,” he explained.

You thought about that for a moment, not realizing before how quickly your logic on love could fall apart.

“Destiny, if it’s real, wills for me to be alone,” you scowled.

“Just because you’ve been alone so far, doesn’t mean you need to be alone forever,” he replied, his voice gentler and softer than before.

“Maybe I want to be alone,” you suggested.

He smiled, facing back downrange and pulling the bowstring back.

“And yet, here we are,” he whispered as he let go and made the shot.  You watched with a dumbfounded expression as the arrow landed right in the center: a perfect bullseye.

You looked back to him and almost wanted to hide your shock, but it wouldn’t have worked anyways.

“How did you make that shot?!” you asked, entirely flabbergasted.

He relaxed the bow, looking back to you with that effortless confidence you envied so much.

“Must have been the will of Destiny,” he shrugged.

~

You were almost ready to go to the main hall for dinner, needing only to brush your hair a bit after a long day outside.  The Queen had requested you join the staff and guests for dinner off-duty, even though you normally ate alone when you weren’t expected to attend as the Royal Protector.  She had actually recommended that you wear a dress but truthfully you didn’t even own one.

Being ready early, you snuck into the kitchen to get a glimpse of what they’d be serving that night.  You knew it would be quail because you’d see a servant going to the coop just a few hours ago, but what you were curious about, as always, was dessert.

Entering through one of the staff corridors, you breathed in the wonderful smells of bread and spices.  It was hot in the kitchen, almost too hot to be comfortable, but it was worth it when you saw an abandoned tart laying on a countertop.  It looked to have burned a bit on one side, meaning it was probably abandoned without plans to be served.  The good news?  The unburnt half was up for grabs.

You made sure that no one was too close before you grabbed a ladle and went to town.  It was sort of shameful, but at least you didn’t use your hands!

“Hey, you’ll spoil your appetite!” A kitchen maid scolded.

“What’s an appetite for if not stolen desserts?” you defended, your words muffled by the food in your mouth.

“A kitchen’s not for eating,” she frowned, “take your quarry outside, at least.”

You made a face of displeasure as you grabbed the tart and carried it into the hall.  You heard a few sounds of people moving towards the hall where dinner was set to begin shortly, but figured you could find an alcove of relative privacy.

You weren’t even properly surprised when Jaskier appeared, at this point you expected him to show up at your most embarrassing moments.  And you didn’t have the energy to stop eating over it, either.

“You do have a wild side,” he observed as you scooped tart into your mouth unceremoniously.

“Who said I didn’t?”

“Oh, I always knew it, don’t get me wrong,” he winked, “just didn’t know I’d be seeing it so soon.”

“Is it everything you dreamed?” you asked sarcastically.

“More jam than I imagined,” he replied with a quirked brow.

You shuddered to consider what he had imagined as your “wild side.”  Somewhere between a good and a bad shudder… and up until now you hadn’t realized there were good shudders.

“I have a soft spot- just the one- for dewberries,” you explained.

“Rest of you’s steel?”

“Of course,” you confirmed, “any other fruit, I’m impenetrable.”

You regretted that choice of words.  You looked at his face to see if he caught it, but his expression was hard to read.  Definitely not creepy or conniving or anything of that nature; soft, maybe even thoughtful.  Sad but not like sad sad… okay, you weren’t great at emotions.

You were just about to look away, thinking you’d been looking at him too long, but then you started to wonder how bad it would be if you just let yourself look at him.  What’s the harm in that?  You let your gaze scan his body, something you had simultaneously longed to do and dreaded the idea of.  His outfit was more practical than you expected, less glitz and glam and perhaps more traditionally-masculine… though still plenty scandalous in its own ways.  His chest hair peeked out from his collar, not that it had to be very low for that to happen, but it was plenty low anyhow.  He had traded in his doublet for a tunic, more traditional in your kingdom, which was fortunately and unfortunately much tighter.  You’d seen men in a variety of states of undress before, you used to sleep in the barracks after all, so there were surely no surprises under there.  And yet, you felt so tempted to see more.  You knew he was pretty strong from his archery, but you wondered if he was strong enough to-

You caught yourself going down a dangerous path and stopped while you still could.  Your eyes shot back up to his, which were looking at you with darkness, hunger.  He didn’t say anything and yet his face already said it all.

“Want some?” you offered nervously, holding a spoonful of tart out to him.

You had expected him to grab the spoon but instead he lightly touched your hand, guiding you to feed him.  It was oddly intimate, his touch so delicate and electrifying that it almost tickled.  His eyes stayed on yours as his lips wrapped around the silver spoon, pulling his head back to get the food off of the utensil.  A little of the filling got onto his bottom lip, and you watched, enraptured, as his tongue darted out to lick it off.  

“What do you think?” you asked, your voice much shakier than you preferred, as you set the tart down on the nearby credenza.

“Delicious,” he answered softly, his eyes piercing right through you.

You heard more people moving through the nearby halls and realized dinner must be starting any moment.

“Still hungry?” you asked, intending it to be an offer to go to the dining hall.

“Ravenous,” he replied in a low voice, low enough for the bass of it to seem to shake right through you.

He stepped forward, bringing you much closer together.  It was terrifying and yet so wonderful.  Instinctively you reached up to push him away, but then as you did you regretted it, so you ended up just wrapping your hands around his arms without actually holding him back.  He returned, placing his hands on your triceps which was an oddly personal part of your body.

Right as you realized you had no idea what to do next, Geralt appeared from around the corner.

You jumped back, sort of an instinct when caught in an intimate moment.  Maybe it wasn’t that intimate, but by your standards it was rather scandalous.

“Am I interrupting something?” Geralt asked in a way that seemed perchance a bit mocking.  Before you could answer, he looked at the credenza and made a face of confusion.

“What’s the pie for?” he grimaced.

“Consumption?” you offered.  What else would it be for?

“Right,” he affirmed. “‘Finger in every pie,’ as they say.”

“…Huh?“ 

"Dandelion has a lot of fingers in a lot of pies, that’s all.”

You didn’t know how to react to that, even how to interpret it.  He walked away, and you gave Jaskier a confused look as you followed.

Dinner was delicious, but you were too distracted to properly appreciate it.  Not distracted by good conversation, certainly- the dukes harassing Geralt for details about the day’s hunt was not intriguing- but by your own thoughts.  Jaskier made you so angry, so confused, made your heart race and your head hurt and your stomach all loopy and nervous.  He still felt like a stranger to you in many ways, though talking to him had more in common with a conversation with an old friend than an acquaintance- not that you knew all that much about what it was like to have old friends.  You weren’t sure if it was normal to feel jealous when you saw your old friends chatting up other women.  He was making some duchess laugh like she’d never heard a joke before- even the servant girls thought he was charming.  It took you a while to realize that it was the cause of your feeling sick, not something wrong with the food.

Just after the final course was served, you figured it not too early to excuse yourself.  You stood, hoping to make a quick and mostly unnoticed exit, but Jaskier stood as soon as you did.  You stopped, expecting him to say something, but he didn’t.

“Are you also retiring?” you asked him, confused.

“Men are obliged to stand when a lady enters or exits a room,” he said, like it was obvious.  And you were suddenly surprised it wasn’t obvious.  The table had been obeying that etiquette for the other women who had entered when dinner began.

“Oh, yes,” you agreed nervously.

Jaskier looked around the table, seeming a bit frustrated.

“Am I wrong?” he asked rhetorically.

The men at the table stood, begrudgingly, even Geralt.

“That’s better,” Jaskier sighed.

“I’m retiring for the evening, thank you,” you said with a quick bow as you rushed for the doors.  

You almost expected him to chase after you, just because he seemed to follow you everywhere.  Instead you didn’t see him until much later when he knocked on your door.

“You found my quarters,” you observed.

“I wanted to apologize, if you felt scrutinized at dinner,” he explained. “I didn’t think I would draw any undue attention to you.  I just… assumed everyone else would stand, I suppose.”

“No one here thinks of me as a woman,” you replied with a sigh. “You’d do well to remember that.”

“Do you think of yourself as a woman?” he pressed.

“I-” you began, but then stopped as you realized that you really weren’t sure how to answer.  You didn’t even really think of yourself at all, generally.  Since meeting Jaskier, you certainly thought of yourself as a woman a lot more than you used to.

“You don’t really have that luxury, do you?” he prompted solemnly.

You nodded.

“You deserve to be treated better,” he announced.

“I tell my troops not to use words like ‘deserve.’  They don’t really mean anything.”

Jaskier crossed his arms, seemingly unsatisfied with your philosophy.  “It means that it would only be fair if you were given the same respect you give to others.” 

“‘Fair’ doesn’t mean anything either,” you smirked.

“What about ‘love’?  What does that mean?” he asked, his tone more serious.

“Doesn’t mean what you think it means,” you scoffed.  Maybe you were being too combative, but you didn’t like that he was throwing ‘love’ around and you really didn’t like how your heart skipped a beat when he said it.

“And what’s that?  Please, enlighten me,” he requested sarcastically.  You frowned.

“This might blow your mind, but ‘love’ isn’t something that happens overnight, let alone at first sight,” you explained.

“Just because I’m a romantic doesn’t mean I’m an idiot,” he deflected.  

“Just because I’m practical doesn’t mean my life is devoid of meaning or something,” you countered.

“Just because you’ve been burned before doesn’t mean you should give up on ever being happy!” he shouted.

You didn’t even really mean to slap him, it just sort of happened.  You didn’t even hit him nearly as hard as you know you could have, thankfully.

“I’m happy the way things are!  I’m happy being alone!” you asserted, slamming the door in his face.

You turned and held your face in your hands, fighting back tears.  You couldn’t remember the last time you got so angry, or the last time you’d cried.  You hated that he was always following you around and you hated that he was always saying some stupid thing like he talked in poems and you hated that he was always right, that he saw right through you.  Had it always been this obvious?  Had everyone else in the whole nation figured out that you actually weren’t happy, and just never thought to mention it?  Or, had no one else ever cared enough to notice?

Ashamed of having punished him for doing everything right, you opened your door and hoped you could still catch him as he was heading back to his room and apologize.  Instead you found him still standing there, in the same place, waiting patiently.  You jumped, wiping your tears.

“You’re still here?” you asked in surprise.

“I’m still here,” he assured.  It felt like a promise, like something important.

“Do you want me to go?” he asked, but you knew he knew the answer, and he just wanted to hear you say it.  You decided to afford him this one little gift, just this once.

“No,” you answered, “I don’t want you to go.”

He looked at you expectantly.

“Please stay,” you requested.

“All right,” he agreed, and stepped into your room.

[next chapter]

[menalez]

i wanna give my 5 pence to the zwarte piet bs debate as a german bc the krampus that was mentioned isn't even as popular as knecht ruprecht and we do know the zwarte piet / schwarzer peter over here! i absolutely do think that the black paint w/ the red lips is offensive when zp originally simply had grime / root on his face due to climbing through chimneys (cont.)

in reference to ur alternatives to zwarte piet, if u look at the receipts, girlsfrommars mentions that and says in like one message “oh personally I think the one where he’s partially painted black to look like he went through the chimney is better” or smth but she says this AFTER arguing that it’s not racist, it’s not blackface, and ppl who say otherwise r just americans who don’t know enough about Dutch history or the story of zwarte piet, says ppl from a land colonised by the Dutch following that tradition somehow means it’s not racist as well, and basically comes up with other excuses and makes it out like ppls opposition to the blackface is somehow American-centric or ignorant somehow. from the screens I’ve seen, ppl were like “oh wow really? I thought it seemed pretty racist lol” and some black women were just like “hmmm” until one came in and was like “uhhh no that’s very much identical to blackface” and wrote a long ass thing arguing how girlsfrommars is wrong. I know I’ve said this repeatedly but girlsfrommars is .. licherally a white het Dutch woman and frankly the fact that she feels such a need to *repeatedly* justify and excuse blackface in her country and to basically dismiss the countless poc & specifically black ppl in the Netherlands who have spoken on this is baffling to me. and that coupled up with her casually asking during a convo w only other white women “btw what’s ur opinions on reparations? :)” which encouraged her and a bunch of white women to sit there debating it amongst one another for hours before a woc came in,,, and the fact that she previously defended zwarte piet only to be called out & to end up backtracking in public on tumblr before as well.. all that makes me Very wary of her rationale and justifications. like idk what to believe from her bc she claimed to reconsider before, then claimed to reconsider in the timeframe the receipts were taken, and yet she’s still saying the exact same thing bc she literally only claims to consider what woc r saying when she realises she can’t justify herself and is coming under fire too much. I Do Not Trust that at alll. the stuff u said about racism and how white ppl view dark skin etc.. very true. I’m gonna share something that was once sent to me about zwarte piet that will basically show exactly why I take issue with a white woman being so adamant on defending such a practice.

as for the german costume guy u have.. i saw like one or two pics where it seemed to be blackface but since it was white around the eyes and no painted on lips i could believe it’s like... just goth Santa Claus or smth.

[kimjoongs-main]

dream seller au - renjun {1}

» type: bullet scenario

» warning(s): n/a

» dia’s note: this started out fluffy.....idk what happened....also...there will be a part 2 bc this plot was a lot longer than i thought it was going to be

you’ve heard stories about the infamous “dreamer” who resides in the depths of the forest

people say he’s the creator of dreams, the one responsible for the visual images that occur during deep slumber

many residents in your village, mostly the elderly, claimed that the dreamer was an immortal being who lived to provide dreams for mortals

others have claimed that they’ve physically seen the dreamer and described him as a young boy adorned in ragged fabric, hair as dark as the night sky and facial features which looked to be carved from smooth marble

it was also said that if you were to stumble upon the dreamer, you would have the opportunity to ask him to create a dream specifically for you

it could be anything from your wildest fantasies to your simplest desires, he would provide that for you

your mother first told you this story when you were just a child, curious as to why you were experiencing these images while you were asleep

as a child, you were intrigued by the idea and sought out more stories about the dreamer

other children in your village, however, weren’t as intrigued and quite honestly found the story to be nothing but a mindless fantasy

because of this, you were often the subject of teasing and it became hard for you to make friends

so you often found yourself wandering around the village all alone

sometimes, you’d wander as far as the edge of the village, the border which separated your cozy little town from the vast forest that lay on the other side

a few times you were tempted to cross over, to venture thru the trees and see for yourself if the myth was true, however you were always stopped by a villager who warned you to never explore the forest on your own

for the next few years, you adhered to the villager’s warning, but the same time, your curiosity continued to cultivate and eventually, you couldn’t wait anymore

you had to know if the myth was actually true or not...so one night when the entire village succumbed to a deep slumber, you carefully snuck out of your home

you left a note for your mother saying you went for a walk in case you didn’t return by daybreak

you were adorned in a black cape, completely invisible even underneath the light of the full moon

armed with only a small torch and a pick axe, you pushed past the dense thicket and ventured into the heart of the forest

from the stories you’ve been told, the dreamer’s cottage was supposedly located at the other end of the forest, past the river and at the bottom of the mountain

you continued your journey for a few more minutes, but when you finally reached the other side of the forest, all you were met w was the steep, rocky slope of the mountain.....no cottage and no dreamer in sight

feeling defeated, you plopped down on a nearby stone, deciding to rest your feet for a moment before you made the joir ey back home

“guess it was just a myth after all” you muttered to yourself, leaning back on the tree

once you saw the sky changing from a midnight blue to a warm orange, you stood back up and grabbed your stuff, getting ready to trudge back home

however, as soon as you turned around, you noticed a faint cloud of white smoke billowing out from behind a ridge in the mountain

the logical side of you screamed to just keep walking, but ofc the curious side if you told you to check it out...and of course....you did

you gingerly walked closer to where the smoke was coming from and peeked around the ridge

and there, settled comfortably at the base of the mountain, was a small stone cottage, the source of the smoke coming from the tiny chimney at the side of the roof

you let out a small gasp, heart pounding in your chest......this couldn’t be it, right?? there’s no way you actually managed to find it—

your thoughts were interrupted by the door to the cottage suddenly flying open, and a hooded figure stepped out, carrying a small woven basket

the figure looked to be a young boy around the same age as you, with glowing cheeks and soft strands of obsidian hair

his description matched the stories, but you didn’t want to assume anything just yet, so you kept watching silently.......or at least you tried to

leaning forward to get a better look, you quickly lost your balance and stumbled forward, falling flat on your face

the figure jumped at the sound and he quickly stepped back, looking at your fallen form w wide eyes

you immediately scrambled to get up and were about to leave when a quiet, but firm voice stopped you in your tracks

“wait! who are you? what are you doing here?” you reluctantly looked over your shoulder, making eye contact w the hooded figure

you slowly put your hands up to show that you meant no harm “i’m sorry, i was just wandering around the forest, i didn’t mean to scare you”

at your words, the boy scoffed and rolled his eyes before setting the basket down on a nearby tree trunk “i’ve heard that excuse before, let me guess...you’re a villager? from the small town just north of here?”

you nodded, not sure where he was going w all of this

“i should’ve known...you people just don’t know when to quit don’t you?” you furrowed eyebrows at him, asking him what he meant by that

the boy sighed and picked up his basket again, walking past you and gesturing for you to follow him...which you obliged

he led you into the forest once again, stopping occasionally to pick a few leaves, twigs, mushrooms, and flowers from the ground

as you quietly trailed behind him, he began to speak again

“i’m sure your people have told you stories about me, the one who creates dreams, the ‘dreamer’ if you will...and i’m sure your reason for finding me was to obtain a dream from me, yes?”

you opened your mouth to protest, but he cut you off again

“well, let me tell you what those stories have wrong, a minor detail they forgot to put in. i do sell dreams to people who find me, yes, but it comes at a price. in order to—“

“actually...i didn’t come for that reason” you interjected softly

the boy froze and looked over his shoulder at you, raising his eyebrows skeptically “oh? then why have you sought me out then, my dear? why risk your life?”

you hung your head sheepishly, rubbing your boots against the damp soil “i...just wanted to see if the stories about you were true..that’s all”

there was a beat of silence, the only sound you could hear was the chirping of the songbirds as the morning star made it’s ascent in the sky...and then a burst of laughter

you looked up in shock to see the boy w his hood down, bent over a field of grass, hands on his knees, and melodies of laughter coming out of his mouth, probably the most beautiful sound you’ve ever heard in your life

“so..you mean to tell me that you risked your life wandering through the forest, searching for me just so you could see if i was real?” he burst out laughing again, and you could only blush w embarrassment

after he calmed down a bit, the young boy straightened back up again, reaching out towards you and placing his hand on your shoulder “i like you, you’re funny” was all he said before he walked past you again back to his cottage

you were frozen in your spot, brain still in the process of registering what just happened

“hey, are you coming inside or what?” he called out to you

you shook yourself out of your stupor and turned around, following the boy inside

the inside of his cottage felt very warm and homey, he had a small hearth in the corner of the room, a kitchen, a dining table, and a wooden bench

it all looked very normal to you.....except for the fact that there was a huge cauldron sitting in the middle of the room, which you assumed to be where he creates his dreams

“by the way, i never got your name” he said, taking off his hood and hanging it on the back of a nearby chair “my name’s renjun....and before you say anything yes i have an actual name, i don’t refer to myself as ‘the dreamer’ or however your people say it”

“oh..my name’s y/n....” renjun took a second to process your name, then he nodded and pressed his lips together in a thin line “nice to meet you, y/n. i have a feeling i’ll be seeing you around often”

and...he was right

after your initial meeting, you would venture into the forest late at night and arrive at renjun’s cottage early in the morning

it became a routine for you: sneak out after everyone’s gone to bed, travel through the forest, arrive at renjun’s for breakfast, and then return home before noon

your mother questioned you on your whereabouts, asking why you were never there in the morning

you didn’t want to lie to her, but you also made a promise to renjun the first day you two met: that you would never tell anyone you saw him or know where he was

you didn’t ask him why and didn’t dare to, you figured it was something he’d rather keep to himself

but during your visits to renjun’s humble abode, he would show you how dreams are made and how he distributes them

he mixes the ingredients he collects from the forest in the cauldron, turning them into a liquid and placing them into small vials

each liquid had a different color, and those colors indicated what kind of dream a person would have

red indicates a dream about love, green for adventure, yellow for happiness, blue for sadness

when the dreams were ready to be sent out, renjun takes the vials he needs and places them over a small fire outside, the liquids evaporate, turn into a gas, and drift off to find their person

“how do the dreams know where to go?” you asked one day, renjun just smiled softly as he watched the rainbow of gases flow thru the air “they know...”

as you watched him concoct different kinds of dreams, you noticed that there were small vials filled w a black liquid resting on a shelf

“hey renjun?” “mm?” “why do you never use those dreams?”

his eyes followed your hand, and when they landed on what you were pointing at, he froze

“those...those aren’t dreams y/n....they’re nightmares” “.....oh”

renjun sighed and set down the vials he was working on “i..don’t use those very often. i did once and...it didn’t end very well. after that experience, i vowed to never use a nightmare ever again”

you nodded silently, listening and never prying further, renjun would explain the rest to you when he was ready

for the next few weeks, you made your daily visits to renjun’s cottage, watching him make dreams, or occasionally you two would walk over to the river and talk about random things

thru these talks you learned three things: 1) renjun was, in fact, immortal, he would sometimes tell you stories from past history and 2) the dreams he made had the capacity to come true, but very rarely and 3) renjun never stayed in the same place for very long, he usually moved once he felt that his time was spent

after hearing the last one, you tried very hard not to show your disappointment, but renjun saw right thru you

he scoffed and leaned over, poking your cheeks “stop pouting dummy, i’m not leaving this place for a long time”

you swatted his hand away, but couldn’t help the small smile from tugging at the corner of your mouth “really? why? is there something you like about this place?”

renjun coughs and turns away from you, but you swore you saw a faint dusting of pink on his cheeks, and his next words made your stomach do a flip “...yes...there is”

after that day, your visits to renjun’s cottage started to become less frequent, mostly due to the fact that your mother fell ill and you had to work the shop while simultaneously taking care of her at the same time

you were worried bc you didn’t have the chance to tell renjun why you haven’t been showing up anymore and hoped that he’d understand the next time you saw him

however...one night, as you were sleeping soundly next to your mother, you started seeing these horrid images flash before your eyes, images that would forever haunt your memory

you shuffled around the bed, arms flailing every which way, soft whimpers leaving your lips and tears streaming down the side of your face

your suffering only lasted for a moment bc you woke up to see your mother’s concerned face hovering above yours

you laid in bed, chest heaving rapidly, eyes blinking away the tears

was that...a nightmare? no, it couldn’t be..renjun said he never used nightmares, so why did i..?

you flew out of bed and, without even explaining anything to your mother, you ran out the door and straight into the forest

you had to get to renjun, you didn’t what it was, but you just felt that something was off

you ran and ran, not even taking a break, you practically sprinted thru the forest, but...when you reached the bottom of the mountain and went around the ridge...

renjun’s cottage was nowhere to be seen