#implied waffle duo

[gillipop-plus]

i relate to grian because sometimes i play minecraft and my best friend isn't there and i just want to crumple up into a ball of Sad

[livein-yellow-submarine]

[arekayic]

mumbo has grian’s voice turned up so high in the proximity chat MY EARS HURT LMAOOOOO

[chvoswxtch]

a little more time

pairing: frank castle x fem!reader

summary: you're starting to question just how much patience you have left for frank.

warnings: swearing, frank getting ganged up on by our latest dynamic duo, more angst than an early 2000s emo playlist

word count: 3k

a/n: & here is the second half of this week's double drop. enjoy the calm while it lasts, bc the storm is right around the corner. as always, feedback is welcomed/appreciated!

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Frank raised his right fist to knock three times against an apartment door labeled 6F. The person who the apartment belonged to was still a mystery to you. Neither you or Frank had spoken a single word to each other the entire short drive over. Instead, you’d sat stiffly in the passenger seat, arms crossed tightly over your chest, glaring out the window.

A minute later, the sound of a lock twisting broke the tense silence, and the front door was opened. A tall man stood in the doorway, his dark brown eyes wandering over Frank from head to toe and back up again. He was somewhat obstructed from your view since Frank was standing right in front of you, but you saw the way his full lips pursed in lighthearted disapproval before he lightly smacked them.

“Aw, shit.”

“Good to see you too, Curt.”

“Wish I could say the same. You know, most friends do normal shit. Go fishin’ down in Florida, maybe golf or somethin’, but you, you’re always draggin’ me into some bullshit. So what kinda trouble you bringin’ me now, Frank?”

“Told ya I needed you to look after somethin’ while I was gone for a bit.”

The man wore a light gray long sleeved henley, and the top of three buttons was undone. The waffle knit fabric stretched tightly over his biceps when he crossed his arms over his chest, lifting one of his dark brows in question with a look of suspicion on his face.

“Yeah, you didn’t say what though.”

Frank finally stepped aside, and the man fully came into view before you. When his dark brown eyes landed on your figure, an expression of surprise softened his skepticism. His onyx brows lifted in a show of disbelief as he glanced between you and Frank, giving him a pointed look.

“She’s with you?”

“Yeah. Curt, this is Y/N. Y/N, this is Curtis.”

Looking up at Curtis, you did your best to give him a polite smile along with a faint nod of your head.

“It’s nice to meet you, Curtis. Frank’s told me nothing about you.”

“Well that makes two of us.”

Indents of puzzlement creased along his forehead and without another word, Curtis reached his right hand out to wave his palm back and forth in front of your face, which took you by surprise and made your brows knit in curiosity while you blinked a few times. Frank looked at Curtis inquisitively. 

“The hell you doin’?”

“Just checkin’ to see if she was blind.”

“Why?”

Turning his head to look at Frank again, Curtis looked him up and down once more with an expression of dubiety.

“Couldn’t think of another logical explanation of what the hell she was doin’ wit’cho ugly ass.”

Blowing a puff of air past his lips, Frank shook his head and turned to glance around to his left. Meanwhile, you had to cover your mouth to stifle the laugh that Curtis conjured with his quick response. Shaking his head, Curtis reached out to take your bag from you, stepping aside and gesturing for you to come inside, all the while side-eying Frank.

“Could’ve at least carried her bag for her, damn.”

Frank looked genuinely offended by the implied accusation that he hadn’t even attempted to be a gentleman, and you had to bite the inside of your cheek to stop from smiling at the way he scrunched up his face in defense.

“She wouldn’t let me.”

“Mhm.”

Curtis’ apartment was modest and simple, not overly decked out in furniture and decor, but definitely more homely than Frank’s. It felt awkward standing in the middle of a stranger’s living room that you had just met, knowing that you were supposed to be staying here for a few days. That thought had something from Frank and Curtis’ exchange suddenly sticking out in your mind.

Frank had told Curtis he needed him to keep an eye on something, not someone. 

Turning around to face them, your narrowed gaze landed on Frank and creases of irritation swiftly knit between your brows.

“You didn’t tell him that I was coming, did you?”

Both men’s heads snapped in your direction when you spoke. Curtis glanced between the two of you with a comical look on his features as he picked up on the fact that Frank seemed to be in trouble with you. It was evident how hard he was trying to suppress a smirk. Frank on the other hand turned to face you fully, and he returned your expression of irritation with his own annoyed, broody scowl. 

“Didn’t wanna ask over the phone-”

“And you didn’t think to ask in person before you packed me up and dropped me off?”

Curtis had his arms folded over his chest, and he was fighting to hide his amusement behind his right fist. His broad shoulders were subtly bouncing, and the sound of his snickering caused Frank to snap his head in his direction with a deep frown. Clearing his throat, Curtis turned to look at you with an easy going smile and gave a loose and dismissive wave of his right hand.

“Look it uh, it ain’t a big deal, alright?” 

“It is when he’s the only one here who seems to know what the fuck is going on.”

The tension between you and Frank was thick, almost visibly lingering in the air, and Curtis quickly picked up on it. He’d placed your bag on the floor by his feet, but in an effort to diffuse the situation, Curtis reached down to pick it up in his left hand and loosely gestured with his right towards a hall around the corner from you.

“Here, why don’t we get you set up, alright? I uh…needa talk to Frank right quick.”

Curtis regarded you with a sympathetic glint in his eye, and it had guilt filling your bloodstream like lead. Your presence here was an imposition, whether he would say that out loud or not, which you figured by his kind nature he wouldn’t. It wasn’t fair of you to stand in the middle of his living room and argue with Frank, disrupting the peace of his home and causing him to feel uncomfortable. Silently nodding your head in agreement, you gave Frank one last forlorn glance before you turned to follow Curtis. 

In the midst of your disappointment, both in Frank and yourself, you noticed that Curtis seemed to walk with a slight limp. It wasn’t overly apparent, and you’d only observed it because your eyes were on the ground in front of you following the heels of his shoes, but it stoked your curiosity. Frank hadn’t told you anything about him, you hadn’t even known he existed until today, but he was clearly someone important if Frank was leaving you in his trusted care. Your mind began to wonder where that integrity stemmed from. When he placed your bag down on the edge of his bed, you quickly shook your head and spoke up. 

“I’m not kicking you out of your own room.”

Curtis turned his head to look at you and studied you silently for a moment. His deep brown eyes flickered between the door of his bedroom and your own gaze. Taking a step in your direction, he reached out with his right hand and gave your shoulder a comforting light squeeze. 

“We’ll talk about that later. Why don’t you just sit down for a minute, take a deep breath. Unclench your jaw and relax your shoulders.”

You hadn’t even been consciously aware of the fact that you were doing all of those things until Curtis pointed them out. Sucking in a deep breath, you let it out in a slow exhale through your lips, trying to release the frustration and stress in your body along with it. When you sat down on the edge of his bed, your shoulders slumped in exhaustion, and you folded your hands in front of you with your forearms resting on your thighs, staring blankly ahead at the wall.

“So, this kind of thing is normal with him?”

Slipping his hands into the pocket of his jeans, Curtis looked over at you while leaning back against the wall and granted a nod of his head.

“I’ve known Frank a long time. Kinda gotten used to him bein’ a pain in my ass.”

“And you put up with it?”

There seemed to be an unspoken understanding between the two of you at that moment. The way that Curtis looked at you told you that he knew what you were really asking him with your veiled question. 

Should I continue to put up with it?

Letting out a deep exhale of his own, Curtis pursed his full lips and a contemplative look covered his features. After a moment, he returned your interrogative stare with an expression of empathy and lightly shrugged his broad shoulders.

“I’ve never known Frank to do somethin’ without a purpose. Whether it’s right or wrong, I can’t say. But, the intentions come from a good place. Most of the time.”

The way he spoke that last part caught your attention, and you looked up at him in intrigue. He had trailed off a bit, his dark brown eyes wandering towards the empty space next to your side. You wished you could read the thoughts currently passing behind his eyes. Curiosity creased along your forehead as you tilted your head to the side in question. 

“Most of the time?”

Curtis’ eyes focused back in your direction and he held your gaze silently for a few seconds. You could see on his face that he knew he had said maybe just a little bit too much. He turned his head to glance towards the open bedroom door once more before returning your look of query. His lips faintly tugged into a reassuring smile when he nodded his head in your direction.

“Like I said, there’s always a purpose.”

While Frank and Curtis were conversating in the living room, you took a moment to look around the quaint space of Curtis’ bedroom. Eventually your eyes fell on your bag that sat on the mattress to your right, and all of a sudden it seemed to dawn on you that Frank had packed it for you. Unable to deny your curiosity, your fingers reached out to tug back the zipper, peering inside to see what clothing and necessities he’d chosen.

On one side of the bag, a pile of clothes were folded neatly, and on the other was your toiletry case. Thumbing through the pile of clothes, you felt a tightness in your chest seeing that Frank had chosen outfits that you would’ve picked for yourself. They were ones you wore regularly, and he’d even packed your favorite pajamas. Knowing that you liked to be overly prepared and have options in case you changed your mind, he’d made sure you had enough choices for a week, and he even managed to fit two other pairs of shoes in the bottom.

Frank had grabbed all of the essentials to pack in your toiletry case, everything that he knew you used regularly, and even a few things he must have just thought you might need. He hadn’t just randomly grabbed a bunch of things to shove in a bag and go. Frank had thoughtfully chosen every single item in this bag with you in mind. While you sat there with your bag open, staring at the contents inside, an unexpected wave of emotion built up along your waterline, and you hadn’t even noticed until you felt a trail of wetness cascading down your cheek. 

A light knock on the bedroom door made you quickly wipe away the evidence of your emotional turmoil with the sleeve of your shirt, and when you turned your head, you saw Frank standing there in the doorway. He looked considerably calmer than he had twenty minutes ago, and seeing the remnants of sorrow shining in your eyes, his rough features softened into raw remorse. Glancing at your open bag sitting beside you, Frank looked down for a moment and cleared his throat.

“I uh…grabbed what I thought you would.”

Hesitantly lifting his head to meet your gaze, you saw that his warm brown eyes were full of unspoken apologies. Giving a faint nod of your head, you dropped your gaze down to your lap and spoke quietly.

“Yeah, thank you.”

Both of you had so much you wanted to say, but neither of you knew where to start, or what the right words were. The silence echoed loudly and the walls felt like they were tauntingly closing in around you. A sinking stone of intuition in the pit of your stomach had you prophesying the very real possibility that this would end with you left in bereavement, and that the romantic daydreams you had hand crafted in the back of your mind had been false fortune telling. 

Frank took a few cautious steps towards you, and you could see his boots come into view in your peripheral as you kept your eyes downcast towards the floor.

“Sweetheart.”

God, the way he uttered that one word made your chest ache. There were a million different emotions packed into those two simple syllables, and you could hear the tender longing in his deep voice softly calling to you. Frank knelt down in front of you, his large hand reaching out to cup your face. He slipped his fingers into your hair right beside your ear, gently grasping the back of your neck and he tucked his thumb under your chin to lift your head slowly. 

“Hey-”

Frank dipped his head to try and catch your eye. Swallowing thickly, you slowly lifted your line of sight to look at him, and the expression on his face broke your heart. His warm brown eyes were desperately pleading with you, darting between your lips and crestfallen gaze.

“-c’mon I don’t…I don’t wanna leave it like this.”

The warmth of his breath could be felt against your lips, and his eyes were frantically searching every inch of face for something…anything that could temporarily relieve this anguish until he returned with a permanent fix.

“Look if I could…if there was another way…”

Frank let out a deep sigh that trembled past his lips, and it was clear he was struggling to find the right words.

“Just…please. I’m gonna make this right, okay? I swear to you. I just…I need you to give me a little more time, alright? Just a little more. Can you give me that?”

It was hard to see Frank like this, the somber sheen to his eyes and the misery weighing heavily on his shoulders. He was asking for another strand of patience, but you didn’t know how much you had left, and it scared you to even think about what would happen when you ran out. It was unclear in your mind whether the love you had for Frank that was embedded deeply in the chambers of your heart could be enough to salvage the pieces he was leaving you with.

“Okay.”

Frank could hear the lack of conviction in your defeated tone, and it killed him. Deep down he knew he was asking too much of you without giving you any concrete reassurance in return, but he couldn’t see another path. All he could do was hope that your faith in him wouldn’t run out like grains of sand slipping through the narrow bridge of an hourglass, and that the consolation of your forgiveness could still be earned. 

His soft lips parted, and there was an intense emotion in his eyes when he stared deeply into yours. It looked like he wanted to say something so badly, but he cut himself off before he could. Leaning in, he pressed a gentle kiss to your forehead and let it linger for a moment before pulling away and retracting his hand from your face.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can. You’ll be safe with Curt, alright?”

A pang of disappointment quickly spread through you. For a second you thought Frank might be the first one to speak those three words. If there was ever a time you needed to hear them, it was now. But then again, you didn’t know if you were ready to say them back.

Running your hand through the roots of your hair and pushing it out of your face, you sucked in your bottom lip and grazed it with your top teeth before letting it go and nodding.

“Yeah.”

Frank eyed you wearily for a moment before hesitantly rising to his full height. He didn’t want to leave things between the two of you so unfinished like this, but he didn’t have a choice. He didn’t know if he’d made things better or worse in attempting to leave on a smoother note. When he reached the doorframe, he paused and turned to look at you again, and it bothered him that you wouldn’t look at him.

“I’ll see ya soon, sweetheart.”

There was no verbal reply from you, just another nod of acknowledgement. Frank lingered there for a moment in the doorway, silently begging you with his eyes to look at him, but your gaze seemed to be permanently fixed on the floor. The image of you sitting there looking so dejected and disappointed burned into his memory, and he knew it would haunt him, even long after this was all over. He wouldn’t forget the moment he’d let you down so badly.

The only goodbye you got was the resonation of Frank’s heavy boots fading, getting fainter and fainter the further away from you he got. A few seconds later, the front door opened with a soft creak, and a murmur was exchanged before the sound of heavy wood sliding back into a worn frame was completed with the soft click of a lock.

The golden hour dripped through the thin plastic blinds, coating the entire room in a sundrenched glow, but the warmth couldn’t penetrate the endless and echoing loneliness that dug deep into your bones knowing that Frank was gone, again.

tags: @thyme-in-a-bubble @day-dreaming-goddess @messymissy @itwasthereaminuteago @strawberry1042 @queenofthenoobs @wanda2themax @xcastawayherosx @avengerstower-houseplant @stevenknightmarc @ponyosmom35 @babygal-babygal @wellwwhynot @oldermenaremyreligion @combustiblemeow @tired-night-owl @fairykiss32 @danzer8705 @calkissed @fxckahs-blog @lemon-world1 @polskiperson @imperihoe @v4leoftears @harperdoodle @spideyvibez @joalslibrary @cherry-berry-ollie @sorrowfulfragmentation @kdogreads @sumo-b98 @blackhawksfanatic @gloryekaterina @whistle1whistle @starbritestarlite @callmebrooklynbabes @hallway5 @scarletfvckingwitch @bifuriouslatina @soupyspence @fireeyes-on-teller-dixon-grimes @wonwoosthetic @linguist-breakaribecca @nerdytreeflower @mrs-bellingham @smhnxdiii @s3riou2 @slavic-empress

[these-godforsaken-halls]

the limit

tags: major character death, waffle duo, desert duo, grief/mourning, hurt no comfort

you can also read on ao3 !!

Some things don’t get fixes or answers or do-overs or cheat sheets or any other thing that might make it all easier. Some loads don’t lighten, even with time. Some loads aren’t supposed to lighten; some loads he’d — he’d kick and scream if anyone tried to lighten them, if even time itself tried to lighten them. He thinks he could forget, if he really wanted to, he could forget on purpose — that would take time. He’s not going to do that.

“You fill your life with other good things,” says Scar, every part of him gentle, his voice most especially. “That takes time. That’s what that means, Grian.”

“Time doesn’t — heal, I don’t know who came up with that, they must’ve — they didn’t love him,” Grian repeats, bitter and red-eyed, staring at a patch of empty wall. Scar sighs and repeats himself, too, somehow even gentler this time.

But that doesn’t sound like healing it sounds like forgetting and people keep telling him that’s not true, because they don’t understand what he’s saying. He can’t find the words for it. He is working on it.

“You miss him because you loved him,” says Pearl three days later, sitting beside him and rubbing his back, and this brings him closer to the right words, but he still can’t find them. He can hardly find any words at all. He tries, and they stop in his throat and clog it up and he just starts crying. “We all loved him, Grian, it’s — of course it still hurts. God.” She sounds like she’ll cry, too. But she does other things besides crying. That’s the difference. That’s the difference between Grian and everybody else. She picked up her life and lived it again, in small pieces first and then larger ones, and he never did that. He doesn’t think he’ll ever do that again.

The thing is, it’s been months. So many months. Ten or eleven of them now. The loss didn’t hurt when it was one day old or two or three — it just didn’t. It was an emptiness, an absence, not a feeling at all — not a pain. It hurt the first time he opened a chest and saw some extra redstone he’d put aside for later. It hurt worse than anything’s ever hurt before, it cleaved him right open for days and then weeks and then months, and soon it’ll be counted in years, and it’s not letting up; if anything it’s getting worse. How, Grian wants to know — he says this viciously, he snaps at anybody who tries to pull him out of the fucking mental pit he’s dug himself — how is he meant to plan a project that Mumbo will never see? Why is he building things anymore, why is he teaching himself two-by-two piston doors if not to show Mumbo? Why do they think there’s any little part of him that can do that? Everything Grian does is another thing Mumbo’s not a part of and he doesn’t want any more of those. Time is only for remembering or forgetting, now — the new axis his days are measured on, because it was all measured on Mumbo before, is the thing, and it still will be forever and ever; he’s dead — great. Awesome. Remembering or forgetting. They say healing — they mean forgetting. He knows they do. They are lying to Grian because they didn’t love him so they don’t know.

Grian will stay here, on the floor of the starter base that his world’s shrunken down to encompass, staring at an empty patch of wall and remembering.

At least he’s found his right words, now.

One day Mumbo will be dead longer than he ever was alive. One day Grian’s life-after-Mumbo-died will be longer than all the time he spent with Mumbo in his life and every day gets him closer to that. Every day it hurts worse. And Grian hates everyone who even begins to imply anything else. There’s a limit no one told him about, in those early days — when he was still here, on this floor and staring at this wall, but no one was coming to bother him or try and dig him out of his mental pit, yet (they came to bring him food or offer comfort, or they told stories about Mumbo, but they never, ever tried to make him forget, those first few months) — there’s a limit people put on how long you can live on that axis.

“You want me to do something without Mumbo in it,” Grian says, the next time Scar comes around. He lets his voice do something ugly, something angry and mean and malicious. He wants these words to hurt. “You want me to — but there’s nothing. Anymore. It always had him in it, Scar, everything did. Well, stop asking. I’m not coming with you on your stupid — mining trip, or whatever it is, your stupid fucking builds — you’re not Mumbo. You’re never going to be Mumbo so I don’t care. ”

Scar must not know what to say to that; Grian hears him take a breath, a shaky breath that sounds like crying, almost, maybe, and then the floorboards creak and door falls shut.

He thinks he’ll have to snap again but when he finally summons the energy to roll over and look, Scar’s not… there.

He must have just… left. Instead of staying to argue and wheedle and whine. He always stays. He never wants to let Grian just lie here. Was Scar crying?

Grian rolls back over and stares, again, at the patch of empty wall.

[darth-shado]

Azrael's Fic Master List

Here's my (rather long) list of fanfics I have published on ao3 and will be updated in the future.

List is divided into three categories: on-going works, completed works and one-shots.

How to read the list: Title (and link) — Rating — Word count — Brief description.

On-going works

Home: A place in a Galaxy — T — 3,3k — (post tbobf, Dinluke centric)

3 times Tim tried to get Jon and Martin together, and 1 time he realised he didn't have to — T — 2,8k — Co-written with: @.im-gonna-squeet — (post MAG: Fluff, Tim and Sasha being matchmakers)

The stars will be ours (once again) — T (GDoV) — 8k — (post season 4, Virravos and Magefam centric)

Completed works

Edward's Bar and Grill — T — 3,5k — (Ed instead of becoming Kraker decided to deal with Stede leaving him by opening a restaurant)

3 times Aziraphale wanted to kiss Crowley and 1 time he did — G — 1,9k — (Aziraphale throughout 6000 years wanted to kiss someone (Crowley) three times until one day he finally did, Aroace spec Ineffable husbands)

One-shots

Star Wars

Ret'urcye mhi ner kar'taylir darasuum — G (MCD) — 5,7k — (post tbb s2e3, Cody and Codywan centric, based on unused Kenobi script)

Differences in similarities — G — 705 — (Aroace Hunter, discussion about being aroace)

Romantic feelings, are not for everyone. — G (Referenced aphobia) — 584 — (Aroace Din Djarin, implied Din/Cobb and Din/Omera)

Planning under pressure isn't easy — G (Description of sensory overload) — 485 — (post tbb s1e8, Hunter centric)

Trick or treat — G — 477 — (Din & Grogu going shopping for Halloween costumes for Grogu, Modern au)

Forgotten Lullaby — G — 426 — (post Mandalorian chapter 13, additional fluff scene)

Freezing break — G — 295 — (Rey/Rose, Prompt: Rose drags Rey into the freezing cold to make a snowman.)

Omega's story — G — 241 — (Short scene addressing Omega being trans)

Taming hair before the meeting — G — 187 — (Leia/Han, Prompt: Han helping Leia brush her hair after a shower.)

The Magnus Archives

Loss of a family — M (GDoV) — 1,3k — (Fnaf plot written as a statement)

AITA for forcing people to tell me their trauma? — G — 245 — (AITA but it's season 4 of TMA)

Genshin Impact

Lovely crime — G — 907 — (Heizou/Kazuha, detective x criminal)

Heikazu week 2022 — G — 1k

Good Omens

Ineffable morning — G — 531 — (Ineffable husbands fluff)

Would you like to move in with me? — G — 251 — (Aziraphale asks Crowley if he was to live with him)

The Dragon Prince

Growing flowers — G — 397 — (Claudia's and Terry's first meeting)

Escape from the mirror — T (self-harm but for a spell) — 339 — (Viren frees Aaravos, post season 2)

MCYT (not rpf)

Welcome back gift — G — 1k — (Mumbo returns to Hermitcraft, Waffle Duo reunion)

(Not so good) Memories — G (GDoV) — 810 — (Double life desert duo angst)

Sherlock (BBC)

I love you for who you are. — T — 332 — (Johnlock centric, Asexual Sherlock, Coming out)

Stargazing with consulting detective — G — 328 — (Johnlock, Prompt: John and Sherlock spending the night on the perfect hill for stargazing.)

Honkai: Star Rail

How to deal with nightmares — T — 1,3k — (Dan Heng/March 7th/Trailblazer, Pre-relationship, Literally sleeping together)

Sons of The Forest

Simple Gestures — G — 632 — (Kelvin & Tim & Virginia (can be platonic or romantic), Kelvin and Virginia bonding)

Our Flag Means Death

Nightmare worst than a Kraken — G — 184 — (GentleBeard, fix-it au, episode 10 is just a dream)

Marvel

Soft Spot(s) — G — 448 — (Fluff and Crack, Lego99)

Baldur's Gate 3

When Astarion saw himself for the first time since becoming a vampire — G — 815 — (Astarion & or x Artist!Reader)

[bountifulspyware]

This is the first base of the year! I've been slacking! O.o https://www.patreon.com/posts/63521218 come enjoy the water! "Don't worry waffle, it's not water... It's dinosaur pee" - THB

[voidandradiance]

if i had the time i would write a modern docks duo roadtrip fic. it's in the midwest bc fuck you i guess. jordan likes cars and he likes to make them go Fast but they end up taking either a busted van or an old pickup on the road bc it's the most street legal thing he owns. (it's not even technically his, but he is on the insurance. so.) this got Long oops

the air conditioning fucking sucks but they're taking the old route highways a lot of the time and not the modern interstates so they're going 65 or more with the windows down wherever possible. they have too many jars of cheeseballs. andor has a gas station slushie addiction and they keep giving each other shit for the way that they mix the same flavors together, because jordan does a full half red and then a full half blue but andor does it in smaller alternating layers so that it mixes better. tourist traps. really shit hotels. ihop. they play corn or soybeans but it's the middle of summer so there's really not much guessing involved. hey look cows. some old midwesterner casually addresses andor as "son" in passing and he nearly cries in the snack aisle out of Correct Gender Perception and also Daddy Issues. jordan decides to try grocery store shrimp. jordan gets food poisoning. they get stuck waiting out a blinding downpour while parked at a gas station pump for like an hour. several really good local ice cream and frozen custard places. andor has the aux cord and this is a mistake. they find a gas station in the middle of absolutely nowhere that sells cranberry wine, cheese curds, and allegedly magic soap. the wine is bad, the curds are good, and the soap is unreasonably great. jordan develops a deep and abiding passion for rainbow goldfish. kwik trip cookies. fireworks. there is an underlying theme here that is not necessarily "coming of age" but is certainly both of them getting more confident in their own ways, and it is told entirely through little details as jordan gets better about planning in lower stakes scenarios and andor figures out how to take up space in a safe environment. jordan gets cheez whiz up his nose on three separate occasions. they keep finding really good diners but andor (vegetarian bitch) keeps ordering waffles bc that's what they've got on the menu. by some miracle they stumble across a bookstore with a pride flag up during june and have to take a Moment to Process and then andor overspends horribly as an apology for hyperventilating in their bathroom. cool ranch doritos are on sale at walmart and they buy like six bags. one of them tries to order at a starbucks and everyone involved nearly cries in confusion, and the other is no help bc he's only memorized one specific order and doesn't actually know what any of it means. they go hiking for maybe half a mile on a really pretty forested trail and then realize it was a bad idea and turn around. culver's. portillos's. extremely strange billboards. it is heavily implied that this all takes place after one final explosive confrontation between andor and most of his family. jordan makes best friends with a golden retriever bc they're just so damn similar. godawful gas station pizza. docks duo they mean so much to me.

[doc-pickles]

won’t let no one break your heart (part three)

I was gonna wait another day to post this but the group chat made me post it today so you should thank them.

TW// Implied & Referenced Child Abuse

Two and a half weeks had passed quickly from the day Sadie had her surgery. She’d done well, just as Alex had expected, and was loving staying in the hospital. She had the nurses wrapped around her finger and Jo and him came to visit as often as they could. They’d both decided to keep her there as long as they could, knowing that if she was released she’d end up in a home that wasn’t theirs since they hadn’t been approved to foster yet. But the decision had ended up working out well, giving them time to bond with Sadie and giving her time to heal properly. 

  Molly had been brought by to visit once a few days after Sadie’s surgery, her foster family seemingly nice enough but overwhelmed with three other children at home. The visit had done wonders for both girls and Molly had snuggled herself into Jo’s chest once again, chubby fingers poking at her expanding belly. The three girls laughing and joking together had made Alex happier than he cared to admit, his burdened mind lightening as he watched Jo singing some silly song to them. 

  If he were honest, he wasn’t sleeping well. Something about Cassie and Molly not being in their home induced a sense of anxiety in him, a problem that he’d never before faced. He knew that they weren’t his and Jo’s children, knew that when they did come to stay with them it would only be temporary, but the thought of the two helpless girls going to sleep by themselves every night didn't sit right with him. 

  “Go back to sleep,” Jo’s fingers are in his hair, pulling him out of his daydream as she cuddles up behind him. “Or you can come over here, I wouldn’t say no to that.”

  Alex turns to face Jo, a smirk lighting up his face as his fingers brush against her cheek. As she entered her second trimester, Jo’s hormones had left her nauseousness behind in favor of a higher than normal sex drive. Alex couldn’t complain, he loved this new side of his wife that he got to enjoy, “Mmm was last night not enough to satisfy you?” Jo’s retort was cut off by the doorbell ringing through the house, the sound eliciting a whine from Jo as Alex rolled out of bed, shrugging on his sweatpants and a shirt, “You know this is getting really old, I’m tired of getting interrupted when things get good.”

“Oh quiet, I’ll be back in a minute,” Alex padded down the hallway to the stairs, taking them two at a time in an attempt to get whoever was there out of his hair sooner rather than later. When he opened the door though, Alex was so shocked that he couldn’t form any words. 

  “Your paperwork went through,” Martha Lewis stood on Alex’s doorstep, Molly cuddled into her shoulder. “Until we find another placement for them, she’s all yours. They both are.”

  “Alex? Who’s at the door,” Jo’s voice sounds from the top of the stairs, Alex turning to look at her as he moves to the side. A gasp leaves her, one hand coming to cover her mouth as she stands unmoving from her spot. “Oh my god…”

  “Jo! Jojo, come,” Molly’s small voice is all it takes for Jo to come down the stairs, the little girl practically jumping from Martha’s arms to Jo’s awaiting ones. “Jojo!”

  Jo meets Alex’s eyes over Molly’s shoulder, her eyes shining with tears as she looks up at her husband, “For real? She’s really here? I’m not just having a really vivid dream, right?”

  He nods, looking to Martha again. She gives him a slight nod, handing Alex a small bag and letting the couple know she’d check on them soon. He barely registers her leaving, his eyes trained on Jo and Molly who are already giggling at each other. 

  “Well, now we just have to get your sister here,” Alex’s words bring both girls’ eyes up, green and hazel blinking up at him as he spoke. “For now though, how about waffles?”

  After eating breakfast and taking a bath, Molly was lying in bed with Jo, content as could be while she read a book to her. The few clothes she’d had in her bag were all in desperate need of a wash, so the little girl was dressed in one of Jo’s shirts that hung loosely on her little body. The view was perfect, Alex thought as he stood in the doorway, it was exactly what he’d always pictured for him and Jo. She was cradling her growing stomach, fingers tracing lazy patterns over the curve as she changed her voice for the different characters in the book. Molly’s head was resting on her shoulder, her own fingers tapping out a rhythm on Jo’s belly as she listened intently to the story. It was just missing one thing… 

  “I’m gonna run to the hospital, I shouldn’t be too long,” Alex came out of the bathroom fully dressed, kissing Jo and Molly on the forehead as he made his way out of the room. “I put the carseat in your car, in case you need it while I’m gone.”

  Jo nodded to him, calling out a quick goodbye that Molly echoed before both girls turned back to the book in front of them. The two were so alike, it was almost scary. If it weren’t for her emerald green eyes and pale skin, Alex might think that Molly was really his wife’s child. 

  The drive to the hospital was quick, Alex waving at a few familiar faces as he made his way to the Peds ward. He checked over Sadie’s file quickly before entering the little girls room with a smile, “Hey there kiddo.”

  “Alex! I missed you,” Sadie was clambering across the bed to hug Alex tightly as soon as she saw him, blue eyes glowing brightly as she looked up to him. “You don’t normally come on Saturdays.”

  “You’re right, but I’m here for a special reason. What do you say we get you out of here,” Sadie’s eyes widened as she stared blankly at Alex. “You’re all better, we can get you home today if you want to.”

  Sadie shook her head, Alex staring at the little girl in confusion. He thought for sure she’d be excited at the prospect of getting out of the hospital, “I don’t wanna go home, please don’t make me go home.”

  A heavy sigh left Alex as he began to understand Sadie’s reluctance to leave. She thought she was going home to her dad, not somewhere where she’d be taken care of. Alex and Jo hadn’t told her that she’d be coming to them since they hadn’t officially been approved to foster and didn’t want to get her hopes up. 

  “Hey, you’re not going back home. You get to come home with me,” Sadie looked shocked as she looked at Alex, not understanding his words fully. “You get to come stay with me and Jo and guess what? Molly’s already there waiting for you.”

  “Molly’s at your house?,” Sadie’s face was scrunched up in confusion as she tried to make sense of what Alex was telling her. 

  “Yup and you get to come too. How does that sound,” Alex watched Sadie nervously, as if her saying no would break him in half. 

  Finally after a long pause Sadie nodded, her blue eyes shining with an enthusiasm that Alex hadn’t seen from her before, “Okay, we can get out of here.”

  An hour later Alex had successfully gotten Sadie discharged, the little girl waving at all of the nurses on the Peds floor as she sat on his hip. He didn’t think he’d ever been this happy, Sadie chattering on about everything her and Molly would do when they got home. A small part of Alex hoped that his own child would be a girl so he would be able to hear the laughter and cheerfulness that Molly and Sadie brought with them. 

  He pushed the bittersweet thought to the side as he strapped Sadie into her car seat, not wanting to remember the fact that the girls were only temporary figures in their home. 

  Alex and Sadie arrived home not long after leaving the hospital, the young girl bouncing with excitement as they walked up the front steps. The duo entered the house, Alex calling out for Jo and Molly who appeared at the top of the stairs. Molly was all but glued to Jo’s hip, only making a move to leave when she saw Sadie. She shrieked happily the whole way down the stairs, Jo pasting a small smile on her face as Molly jumped from her arms to envelop her sister in a hug. 

  Seeing the sisters reunite and immediately begin playing with each other confirmed for Alex that they’d made the right decision in keeping the two together. Turning to Jo, he expected to find her just as excited as he was, but instead found her with tears in her eyes as she bit her lip harshly, “Hey, what’s wrong? Both girls are here and they’re gonna stay here until there’s a good home waiting for them.”

  “Somethings wrong with the baby,” Jo finally moved her gaze from her feet up to Alex. She looked terrified, glassy eyes blinking away tears to no avail. “Molly and I were laying in bed and my stomach started cramping. Everything was fine and now it’s not and I-”

  Alex placed his hands on Jo’s shoulders, meeting her eyes in an attempt to calm her down, “Hey hey, it’s okay, take a deep breath. Where’s the pain at?” 

  “It doesn’t hurt, it’s just crampy and it’s right here,” Jo placed Alex’s hand on the side of her stomach, tears falling down her cheeks as she leaned her head against his chest. “I’m such a bad mom, our baby isn’t even here and I suck.”

  “Is that what you felt earlier?,” Alex asked, Jo nodding a yes as a small laugh left him. “Jo, that’s just the baby moving. I can feel it from the outside, that’s a good sign.”

  Jo shook her head, looking back to Alex with a frown, “No there’s something wrong, that’s not just…”

  Her words stop as a particularly hard kick hits Alex’s hand, Jo’s eyes now blown wide as she stares at him in awe. 

  “Jojo, what’re you doing,” Sadie’s voice pulls Jo out of her daze, the observant six year old noticing Alex’s hand on her bump. She places her own tiny hand next to Alex’s, laughing when another kick hits in the same spot. “The baby’s moving! It kicked my hand!”

  A watery laugh left Jo as she realized that Alex was right and the feeling had really just been their baby squirming around inside of her. She grinned up at him, eyes shining with joy, “You know this means Molly felt the baby before you.” “I’ll let her have this one,” Alex laughed, leaning down to kiss Jo.

  +

  There was screaming in the next room, horrible words being tossed around and accusations that held no truth but still hurt to hear. 

  “Don’t you get near those kids!”

  After that, the sound of flesh hitting flesh rung out, a muffled cry following it. The sounds continued like that for a few minutes before silence overtook the house. 

  “That’s what you get you dumb bitch.”

  The sound of glass shattering and a terrified scream sent Alex diving under the covers as he prepared for the worst. He knew when things started breaking that nothing good would follow. 

  “Alex! Alex!”

  Alex sat straight up in bed, sweat drenching his body as he attempted to regulate his ragged breaths. A soft hand settled onto his back, reminding him that he wasn’t a scared kid hiding from his dad anymore. Turning to his left, Alex met Jo’s concerned eyes as her free hand came up to brush his damp hair away from his forehead. 

  “I'm right here babe, it’s okay,” Jo’s soothing voice instantly caked Alex’s hammering heart as he leaned into her embrace. “You’re okay, it’s all okay. It was just a nightmare.”

  He knew why his nightmares had come, knew that walking Sadie and Molly through their troubled realities would inevitably bring his own childhood to the forefront of his mind. Alex hadn’t realized how difficult things would be for him mentally, but Jo had been a great support to him. 

  If they were honest, the three weeks that Sadie and Molly had been with them were tough on all four people in the household. The first few nights that they’d been together, Sadie and Molly had both woken up with nightmares that dragged them to Jo and Alex’s bed. The nightmares had died down, but both of the girls showed signs of emotional distress at the simplest of things that would set them off. 

  Jo had reduced her hours at work to spend more time with the girls, but was struggling keeping up with two rambunctious children while growing one of her own. Alex’s time as Chief was coming to an end, something he was shockingly thankful for since it allowed him to help Jo out with the girls more. Martha still hadn’t found a family willing to take both girls, but even with their challenges Jo and Alex couldn't find it in themselves to complain. 

  “I’m sorry I woke you up,” Alex pressed a kiss into Jo’s hair, one hand running down her back. “I know you haven’t been sleeping well.”

  “I was already up, your son has been using my bladder to practice his soccer skills,” Jo swung her legs off the bed, groaning as she padded to the bathroom. “He must be more Karev than Wilson since he’s already a pain in the ass.”

  Alex couldn’t help but be amazed at how well his wife had adjusted to pregnancy. She never complained about the aches and pains through her changing body, instead informing him how big their son was that week or silently moving his hand to feel the movements that stretched across her stomach. 

  Their son. 

  Alex and Jo had found out just a few days beforehand that they were expecting a little boy. The thought still terrified him, that his son would arrive and he’d find some way to screw him up just as bad as his dad had done for him. He knew that with Jo by his side though, she wouldn’t let him fail in the same ways that his own father had. 

  A quiet knock on their bedroom door pulls Alex out of his thoughts as he moves to find out which little girl is up at midnight looking for him. When he pulls the door open, he’s pleasantly surprised to see both Molly and Sadie waiting for him. 

  “Come here you two, before Jo gets back and sees you,” the girls begin to giggle as Alex picks them up and tucks them into the large bed, both of them ducking underneath the covers as they hear Jo exit the bathroom. 

  “Hmm I guess I should crawl back in bed now,” Jo raises her eyebrows at Alex, who shrugs as he feigns confusion. “I hope my husband didn’t let any sneaky little girls into our bed while I was gone.”

  Jo walked around the bed and pulled back the covers, Sadie and Molly bursting into a fit of giggles as soon as they’d been caught. Jo smirked at them, not being able to hide her excitement about having them both near her, “You can stay, but you gotta make room for me in here. I’ve got a little man here who won’t hesitate to kick you if you get too close.”

  At Jo’s words, Sadie immediately scoots closer to her side, both of her palms splaying across her bump as she settles into the bed. She waits a moment before a kick hits her tiny hand, a laugh coming from her as she looks up to Jo, “He kicked me! Baby brother kicked my hand again!”

  Alex and Jo met each other’s eyes over the girls heads, both of them wearing shocked expressions at the words that Sadie had so casually slipped out. Unfazed by the happenings around her, Sadie curled into Jo, her head resting against her chest. Jo watched as Molly did the same to Alex, her chubby fingers clutching at his shirt as her eyes closed easily. 

  Watching the look on her husband's face, Jo shook her head with a small smirk, “Alexander Karev, absolutely not. We agreed.”

  “I know, I know,” a grin lit up Alex’s face as Sadie’s hand reached up to caress Jo’s cheek, her own hand coming up to instinctively grab the little girl and kiss her palm. “Just thinking…”

  “Well stop, that’s what got me knocked up,” Jo raised her eyebrows at Alex, who struggled to stifle his laugh as Molly burrowed further into his chest. 

[7r0773r]

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay

weeping

I'm thinking here of the proto-Indo-European root which means the precise sound of a flower bud

unwrapping, and the tiny racket a seed makes cracking open in the dark, which has evolved

in a handful of Latinate languages to mean the sound of lovers exiting each other, implying as well the space

between them which usage is seen first in Dante  in the fourteenth century, elbowing it for good into our mouths

and minds, and of course the sweet bead of sugar imperceptibly moseying from the fig's tiny eye precisely

unlike sorrow which the assembly of insects sipping there will tell you, when I tell you my niece, without fit or wail,

knowing her friend Emma had left and not said goodbye, having spent the better part of the day resting on her finger,

sometimes opening her wings, which were lustrous brown with gold spots, to steady herself at the child-made

gale, or when she was tossed into the air while my niece took her turn at pick-up sticks until calling Emma

by holding her finger in the air to which Emma would wobble down, and Mikayla said Deal us in when we broke out the dominoes

at which they made a formidable duo, whispering to each other instructions, and while the adults babbled our various dooms Mikayla and Emma went into the bedroom where they sang and danced and I think I heard Mikayla reading Emma

her favorite book, both of them slapping their thighs, leaning into each other, and at bedtime Mikayla put on her PJs

carefully, first the left arm through while Emma teetered on the right, then the other, and in the dark Mikayla whispered to Emma,

who had threaded her many legs into the band of Mikayla's sleeve, while she drifted, watching Emma's wings slowly open

and close, and Emma must have flown away for good, judging from the not brutal silence at breakfast, as Mikayla chewed

the waffle goofily with her one front tooth gone, and weakly smiled, looking into the corners of the room for her friend, for Emma,

who had left without saying goodbye, the tears easily rolling from her eyes, when I say she was weeping,

when I say she wept.

***

ode to drinking water from my hands

which today, in the garden, I’d forgotten I’d known and more forgotten I’d learned and was taught this by my grandfather who, in the midst of arranging and watering the small bouquets on mostly the freshest graves saw my thirst and cranked the rusty red pump bringing forth from what sounded like the gravelly throat of an animal a frigid torrent and with his hands made a lagoon from which he drank and then I drank before he cranked again making of my hands, now, a fountain in which I can see the silty bottom drifting while I drink and drink and my grandfather waters the flowers on the graves among which are his and his wife’s unfinished and patient, glistening after he rinses the bird shit from his wife’s and the pump exhales and I drink to the bottom of my fountain and join him in his work.

***

catalog of unabashed gratitude (excerpt)

Soon it will be over,

which is precisely what the child in my dream said, holding my hand, pointing at the roiling sea and the sky hurling our way like so many buffalo, who said it's much worse than we think, and sooner; to whom I said no duh child in my dreams, what do you think this singing and shuddering is, what this screaming and reaching and dancing and crying is, other than loving what every second goes away? Goodbye, I mean to say. And thank you. Every day.

[arekayic]

why did mumbo say to not get the wrong idea when he was stealing from grian wtf did he think we would think???

[isolavirtuosa]

Unlikely Office Romances 17-18

[fanfiction] Gundam Wing, 1x2x1

Basically Duo is a jerk and Heero is an awkward nerd.

Previous Parts

17-18 under the cut

- 17 -

             It was a lazy Saturday, and Heero was in my kitchen making us breakfast like usual.

           “You’re the perfect house husband,” I informed him, yawning and sitting down at the table.  There was a steaming mug of coffee at my place, all ready for me.

           “I must have missed when we got married,” he muttered.

           I grinned, breathing in the heavenly aroma of my coffee.  “Well, you sleep here almost every night.”

           “The marriage hasn’t been consummated.”

           “Very true.”

           He turned off the stove and brought over a plate filled with a huge omelet and sausage on the side.  He put down a bowl of salad for himself, none for me, because who the hell eats salad for breakfast?

           “Whaddya wanna do today?” I asked around a mouthful of food.

           Heero eyed me.

           I swallowed and flashed him a smile.

           “I thought you were going to meet Trowa at the spaceport.”

           “Yeah, but that’s not until the afternoon,” I said. “You should come.”

           “No thank you.”

           I rolled my eyes.  “Our worlds have to collide eventually.”

           “Trowa is displeased that we are dating.”

           “Where do you even get that from, you two don’t talk,” I said with a sigh, spearing a sausage and taking a savage bite.

           Heero took a bite of the omelet, eyes avoiding mine.

           “Trowa’s one of my best friends,” I said, nudging his fork with mine as he tried to continue eating.

           “I’m aware.”

           “I really like how things are going and I want them to be more going,” I said, stealing his hand and kissing his unbandaged fingertips.  The surgery had gone well, but the doctors still didn’t know if it would heal completely.

           “Things are only going well because we’re always alone,” Heero said, taking his hand back.

           “What’s that supposed to mean?”

           He didn’t answer, eating his salad.

           I rolled my eyes.  “Do you think I’m embarrassed by you?”

           “Of course I do,” he said.

           I stared at him incredulously.

           “Don’t give me that look,” he said, frowning at me. “You hate the way I talk, you hate the way I dress-”

           “I don’t hate those things,” I protested.  “I think you’re cute.”

           “When we’re alone,” he said.  “And really?  Cute?” he repeated, wrinkling his nose.

           “Freaking adorable.”

           Heero’s face said clearly, ‘you disgust me.’

           I was getting a little smitten.

           It had been more than a month since I’d come back from earth.  The more time we spent together, the more relaxed Heero got.  Also the more sarcastic and bitchy, but I liked that about him, always had.  He was starting to fit into my life like there had always been a space for him.

           Except he was right.  We never went anywhere.  We didn’t get drinks at Marty’s with the other Preventers.  We didn’t hang out a Hilde’s or go visit the Sweepers at the docks.

           “Maybe I just wanna keep you to myself.”

           “You’re embarrassed.”

           “Don’t say it so matter-of-factly!”

           “How else should I express a fact?”

           I waved my fork at him irritably.  “I asked you to come meet Trowa with me, didn’t I?”

           “Yes, I understand that,” he said, stabbing the last piece of sausage and offering it towards me.

           I waved it back to him.

           “I’m the one saying that I don’t want to ruin everything by drudging up how little our worlds fit together,” he said, taking a forlorn bite of sausage.

           “Come on, Heero,” I said, nursing my coffee. “That’s why we work, isn’t it?  Opposites attract, and all that jazz.”

           “Your insistence on me integrating into your life implies that this relationship is becoming serious.”

           “Huh,” I said.  “I guess so.”

           Heero’s cheeks tinged red.

           Crap, he was the cutest little dork.  “I can’t even remember the last time I dated a guy for more than a month,” I said, suddenly realizing how serious this really was. I shook my head, deciding not to think about it.  I was more the type to go with the flow.  “Hey, how long were you with Hot Professor Lady?”

           “A year and a half,” Heero said.  “Until she found someone younger and more suitable.”

           “Damn.”

           “I always knew that I was being used,” he said with a shrug.

           “And you’ve never been with anyone else?”

           “No.”

           “Not even a one-night stand?”

           “No.”

           “You find it hard to trust people.”

           “Yes.”

           “But you trust me.”

           “…sometimes.”

           “Only sometimes?!”

           “Only sometimes,” Heero confirmed solemnly.

           “I’m very trustworthy.”

           Heero looked at me.

           “I am.”

           “Sometimes,” Heero agreed, kissing me as he bent down to pick up the empty dishes.

           I caught him, making it more lingering.

           Heero put the dishes in the dishwasher, then moved to the couch, picking up a medical journal from his stack and starting to read.

           I went to wash my hair.

           He was on his second journal when I came out.

           I held up my brush to him.

           Heero smiled his real smile, putting his journal aside.

           I sat between his legs on the floor.

           Heero went to work.

           “Are you straight?” I asked, eyes closed as I luxuriated.

           “What?”

           “Are you straight?  Heterosexual?”

           “I thought that my physical attraction to you was obvious.”

           “Yeah, but mostly you just seem to like my hair, and if I’m being honest with myself, my hair is pretty girly.”

           Heero continued to brush the wet mess with smooth, even strokes, careful not to pull my scalp.  “I think you’re masculine.”

           “Thanks, I guess?”

           “Did you want me to say that you’re girly?”

           “Just makin’ conversation.”

           “Am I not… doing something right…?”

           “Of course not,” I said, brushing off his self-doubts.  It was obvious he still felt out of his element in our relationship sometimes. “You do everything so very right. Except when you get sassy with me.”

           “Sassy?”

           “You have a lot of sass, Heero, it’s just a part of you.”

           “What are you even going on about?” he muttered, dividing my hair into three sections and starting to braid.

           “You know how I like to ramble.”

           He laughed, just a puff of air.

           I reached back, handing him an elastic.

           He tied off the braid, dropping it over my shoulder.

           I leaned back my head so I could look up at him. “What should we do for the rest of the morning?”

           “Just relax?” Heero suggested.

           “Does relaxing involve tongues?”

           “Not usually, no.”

           “It should,” I said, getting up and sitting next to him on the couch.  I gave him a nice, chaste kiss.

           Heero smiled like I’d given him the world.

           I really couldn’t understand what it was that he liked about me, but I just went with it.

           We relaxed.

           Heero told me about the boring medical journal he was reading, but then it actually got interesting and we got into a spirited debate about the merits of genetic engineering.

           We somehow ended up in the kitchen, genetically engineering an army of gingerbread people.

           “Hope Tro likes satanic gingerbread love children,” I said, sticking some of our more ridiculous designs into a tupperware container.

           Heero shook his head.

           We went to the spaceport together.

           Trowa and Daniel came out of baggage claim, laden down with bags.

           “Trowaaaaa!” I cried, spontaneously leaping at him.

           Trowa threw down his bags with a long-suffering look, microseconds before catching me.

           “I missed yoooou!” I said as he swung me around once, then promptly deposited me on the ground.

           “Didn’t miss this at all,” Trowa said flatly.

           “You just wanna play it cool in front of Daniel, I get it,” I said, picking up one of his bags.  “Goddamn, do you have anvils in here?”

           “Yes, I think the stock market will soon be moving towards Mars anvils, and I wanted to get ahead of the curve with my investments.”

           “Hey, Yuy,” Daniel said.  “What’re you doing here?”

           Heero looked like he didn’t have an answer for that.

           “He came to carry all your bags with his superhuman strength,” I said.

           Daniel gave me a strange look.

           Trowa was giving Heero an unreadable look, but then he shifted into his usual blank-faced self.  “Agent Warner, do you think you can carry more bags than Dr. Yuy?”

           Daniel looked like he wanted to say, ‘hell yeah’, but didn’t want to hurt Heero’s feelings.  “Well…”

           He was already carrying three heavy bags, so we gave him one of Trowa’s and he stumbled from the weight.  When we added a second, he was out.

           “Okay, Heero’s turn,” I said, directing Daniel to hand Heero his bags.

           Heero looked at us all funny.  “I’m not sure I understand the point of this exercise.”

           “It’s fun,” I said, taking a bag from Daniel and handing it to Heero.

           Trowa handed him another bag.

           We started piling them on top of one another.

           Heero just stared at us with an unimpressed look.

           Daniel gawked.

           Once Heero was holding all six bags, we declared him the winner.

           “Holy shit, Yuy,” Daniel said.  “You’re not even breaking a sweat.”

           “They’re not that heavy,” he said with an uncomfortable shrug.

           “Is he for serious right now?” Daniel asked me.

           “Heero Yuy is always serious,” I informed him.

           Heero gave me a long look.

           I took a bag from him, giving him a messy smooch on the cheek.

           Now Daniel was really staring.

           Heero’s look got more uncertain.

           Trowa took his bags and moved towards the door.

           “So are you two doing it?” Daniel asked, waffling a little under the weight of his returned bags.

           “Doing what?” I asked, laughing nervously.  Oh, no, I was not playing this cool at all. I was off my game.

           “Sexual penetration.”

           “Oh, uh, no,” I said.  “But I want to.  Penetrate. Or be penetrated.”

           Heero followed after Trowa abruptly.

           “Smooth,” Daniel said.  “So really?  You and Yuy?”

           “We’re kinda… ya know, dating,” I said, rubbing at the back of my neck.

           “You seem less cool.”

           “What?!”

           “Why don’t you just say that you’re dating and stop looking guilty about it?  Your ‘I don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks’ attitude is what used to make you cool.”

           “Used to?!”

           Daniel moved towards the door.

           “Hey, Dan?” I said.

           He turned to look back at me.

           “I think I’m falling in love with Heero Yuy,” I said, meeting his eyes evenly.

           Daniel grinned at me.  “See?  Much cooler.”

           “Some might even say the coolest.”

           “I wouldn’t go that far.”

           “Dick.”

           “The biggest.”

           “I don’t know how to take that…”

           “Take it in the most complimentary way possible towards me and my body.”

           I rolled my eyes, stepping into the fresh air.

           Heero and Trowa were already getting into a cab.

           “So, how was Mars, anyway?” I asked as we walked over to the cab.

           “Ah, you know, a desert wasteland with nothing to see or do,” he said.

           A man suddenly ran at the cab and slammed the doors shut.  The car zoomed away.

           Daniel had his gun trained on the man, while I raced after the cab, dialing Une and screaming the license plate at her.

           This could not be for fucking real.

 - 18 -

             I took a deep breath and counted back from ten. I’d known it was just a matter of time before Aaron Easton came for me again.

           Trowa tapped against the back of my hand.

           ‘I’m fine,’ I tapped back to him.  I was tired of being the person that everyone worried about in a crisis.

           I counted back from ten again.

           ‘My gun is at the small of my back,’ he tapped to me.

           ‘There’s a sedan following us,’ I tapped. ‘Risky.’

           Trowa’s face remained expressionless, but I knew that his mind was running through all of our options.

           “You’re being nice and quiet,” the driver commented. “Not that I mind, but I can’t help but think that you’re planning something.  And I really recommend that you not be planning anything.”

           “I’ll take your recommendation under advisement,” Trowa said.

           The driver frowned.

           Trowa and I just stared at him blankly.

           It seemed to piss him off more.

           We circled around back to the airport and pulled up to the employee entrance.  We were waved through without any kind of ID check.

           ‘Inside job,’ Trowa tapped to me.

           ‘Airplane hangar,’ I tapped back.

           I felt his fist tighten.

           We both knew what was coming.

           “It’s so good to see you again, Dr. Yuy,” Aaron said, stepping towards the car.

           Trowa and I got out slowly, our arms raised.

           “How does one smuggle not one but two gundams into the L1 spaceport?” Trowa murmured.

           “It pays to have friends in high places,” Aaron said.  “What do you think of them, Trowa Barton?”

           Trowa was silent.  He was, in fact, in a full-on rage, but no one in the room could recognize it.

           Except for Aaron and me.

           Aaron smiled.  “You’ve certainly grown up.”

           Trowa had joined the Preventers four years ago because of the man standing in front of us.  A splinter group of Aaron’s L3 Brotherhood had started attacking military targets throughout the colony, including a circus performance at the L3 base.

           Catherine could no longer perform her acrobatic act, though her knife throwing was as sharp as ever.

           ‘We can’t ever leave the fight,’ Trowa had said to me after he joined.

           ‘I don’t agree,’ I’d said, shaking my head.  ‘Cathy needs you.’

           ‘She needs me to protect the earth sphere.’

           We didn’t talk much after that.

           Trowa stared down Aaron, while I stared at the gundams.

           I couldn’t help it.  I was mesmerized.

           All I wanted to do was fly.

           I’d tried my hand at getting my shuttle pilot license, but it just wasn’t the same.

           Trowa pinched me subtly.

           I turned my eyes back to Aaron.

           He was smiling at me now.  “You haven’t been able to forget her, have you?”

           While Trowa was the infiltration specialist, I knew that being faced with the man who had done so much damage to his family would make it implausible for Trowa to play along with him.

           It had to be me.

           “I haven’t,” I said.

           I wondered if I was acting.

           “There’s another mobile suit factory, on one of the L1 satellites.”

           “How is that possible?” Trowa asked flatly.

           “I’ll show you.”

           There were surveillance photos spread across the floor.

           “Fuck,” Trowa muttered, turning his back to the pictures.

           We both knew that this was the beginning of the end of peace.  One secret mobile suit factory might be explained away, but two was on its way to a conspiracy.

           “Why risk bringing us in?” I asked.

           “Because of that look in your eye,” Aaron said.

           “Because you can’t find anyone good enough to pilot a gundam,” Trowa said.

           “Well, there’s that, too,” Aaron conceded with a smile.  “Even the veterans from the war are just lacking that certain je ne sais quoi.”

           “And you think that shooting Yuy has endeared your cause to us?”

           “I think that these photos have endeared my cause to you,” Aaron said, gesturing to all the photos of what was clearly a mobile suit factory.  The satellite photos put it a shuttle hop away from the main cluster.  “Besides, Heero understood.  He knew that I was doing what had to be done for the mission.”

           Trowa rolled his eyes, turning to me.

           I didn’t say anything.

           “He shot you,” he said.

           “I am aware.”

           “Then why are you listening to him?”

           I stayed silent.

           Aaron’s smile widened.

           A guard came rushing into the hangar, the other guards parting the way for him.  “The Preventers are on their way.”

           “Of course they are,” Aaron said with a shake of his head.  “Heero? Are you coming?”

           “No,” Trowa said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

           “I wasn’t asking you, No-Name.”

           Trowa’s grip tightened.

           “I have to do this,” I said, stepping out of it easily.

           “You’re still injured.”

           “I’ve had worse.”

           Our eyes locked.

           I could see Trowa’s implicit trust in that look, and I didn’t want to betray it.

           We were taken to separate transports, and both ships took off without waiting for clearance.

           I could see Minerva in the cargo bay, her siren song calling to me.

           Our phones had been left behind in the hangar. There would be no tracking us once we hit space.

           I wondered what I was doing.

           Easton went on and on about the betrayal of the government and the suppression of the colonies.

           He wasn’t wrong.

           We arrived at the colony, designated L1Z196, and our transports were ushered into hidden hangars.

           “The ESUN knows that we’re coming,” one of the men on the ground rushed to inform Aaron.

           “Then we have to make this quick,” he said.  He turned to me.  “Will you pilot her?”

           “Yes.”

           So I did.

           It was like riding a bike, as the saying went. Minerva went through her power-up while I strapped myself into the pilot chair and familiarized myself with the setup of the controls.  It was very similar to the Wing Zero and simple enough to figure out.

           Activating the Zero System was nothing.  It showed me how to cut through the colony safely, avoiding civilians while still being able to take out the factory in the most efficient way possible.  I had mastered the system, and I used it to my advantage.

           I did what it told me, and took out the factory.

           Aaron didn’t ask me to film a video, because there wasn’t time.

           The factory was in flames behind me, but the military surrounded me with their tanks and helicopters.

           I ignored them, taking to the sky.

           There was another factory on L5.

           Aaron wanted me to come back, to plan, to plot, to make sure that the each factory was exposed in the most damning way possible for the ESUN.

           “That’s not what Minerva wants,” I told him.

           “Yuy, you bring her back or I will activate the self-detonation.”

           I just laughed.

           He quickly realized that the self-detonation system was no longer active.

           I cut off all communication, and I took out the factory on L5.

           There was one more on earth.  It was in Finland of all places.

           The new mobile suits were waiting for me. Most of the pilots were inexperienced and easily immobilized.  The war pilots were more of a challenge.  I could destroy them easily, but Minerva didn’t want that.

           So it took time.

           I hadn’t slept in days.

           The factory was finally demolished.

           I tried to rest, but a voice kept crackling through my com.

           “Heero Yuy, answer me, dammit!”

           “I just want to sleep,” I said.

           “They are coming to take you into custody.”

           “It’s okay.  It’s over now.”

           “Heero, we need you.”

           “No one needs me.”

           A frustrated growl.  “Take the gundam to Sanc.”

           “I can’t.”

           “I am giving you an order.”

           “I can’t.”

           “Heero!”

           I blinked, snapping out of my trance. “Une?”

           She sounded wrecked.  “Take the damn gundam to Sanc and seek sanctuary there until we can get you out.”

           “I won’t put Relena in danger-”

           “I am giving you an order.”

           “I’m not a soldier.”

           “I am giving you an order!” she screamed.

           I took the gundam to Sanc.

           Maybe I wasn’t quite the master of the Zero System that I thought.  Or maybe I was.  No one had been killed in any of my attacks.  It was improbable.  The Zero System so far exceeded the capabilities of man.

           I almost flew over Sanc.  Minerva and I belonged together.  I knew if I landed, that they would try to take her away from me.

           Look what we could achieve.  Fighting without killing.  Peace.  We could achieve peace.  I could see it, I could see the future, and-

           I crash-landed.  A reflex, an escape, the only way that I could get away from her.

           Duo pulled me out, looking hysterical.

           “I’m fine,” I said, not understand his concern.

           “You’re bleeding, you idiot,” he said, crying and smiling and screaming.

           “What are you doing?” I said, starting to panic as he disconnected me from Minerva.  I was stronger than him.  I could make him stop.

           He caught my face in his hands, looking directly into my eyes.

           “I want to be with Minerva,” I whispered to him.

           “We just have to do some repairs on her,” he soothed me.  “You crashed pretty hard.  We’ll fix her up, okay?”

           “I’ll do it,” I said, shaking my head.

           “We gotta fix you up, too,” he said, thumbing along my forehead and then showing me the blood.

           “I’ll be okay,” I said.  “Let me do it.”

           “Heero, please, just five minutes, just see the doctor for five minutes, please, please…”

           “You look scared.”

           “You’re bleeding a lot.”

           “It’s not serious.”

           “Of course not, because you’re made out of gundanium,” he said, trying to smile.  His eyes still looked scared.

           I didn’t want him to look scared.

           “Just five minutes,” I said.

           Relief flooded through his expression as he eased me out of the cockpit.

           Minerva was on her back, so we had to travel across her chest before ziplining to the ground.

           “Heero!” Relena called, rushing over to us while we were still mid-air.

           “Only five minutes,” I said to her, before passing out.

[bharatiyamedia-blog]

Stranger Issues season 3: How and when to look at and plot rumors

http://tinyurl.com/yxmuzwlu Stranger Issues Netflix Welcome again to Stranger Things, welcome again to the Upside Down.  Stranger Issues is again! Time to begin binging. If you should play catch-up, we have a recap of seasons 1 and 2 here. For our full review, head here. When can I watch? Netflix As of proper now Stranger Issues season Three has been unlocked on Netflix globally. You may watch the present proper now. It was unlocked on the following instances… 12:01 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) 3:01 a.m. Jap Daylight Time (EDT) 4:01 a.m. Brasilia Time (BRT)  7:01 a.m. Coordinated Common Time (UTC)  8:01 a.m. British Summer season Time (BST)  12:31 p.m. India Commonplace Time (IST)  3:01 p.m. Central Commonplace Time (CST)  4:01 p.m. Korea Commonplace Time (KST) 3:01 p.m. Australian Western Commonplace Time (AWST) 4:31 p.m. Australian Central Commonplace Time (ACST) 5:01 p.m. Australian Jap Commonplace Time (AEST) Methods to watch Get your self a Netflix subscription. Stranger Issues is a jewel within the service’s crown of authentic sequence, and it is one of the best ways to make sure you get all the brand new episodes plus entry to the primary two seasons. Undecided Netflix is price it to you? The service presents a free one-month trial, so when you join near the brand new season’s premiere you may absorb the brand new season and each earlier years, then cancel your membership with out value. However we’re anticipating two extra seasons of the present, so that you may need to enroll once more afterward (or discover a Netflix-subscribing good friend who’ll invite you over) Opinions are promising And in accordance those that’ve lucked out and seen it early, you may wish to overlook the native gathering and keep house and watch a distinct form of fireworks from your personal TV. CNET’s own Jennifer Bisset provided excessive reward for season 3, dubbing it, “a tighter, faster-paced barely shorter run of eight episodes that manages to faucet each emotional vein of childhood (even for individuals who did not develop up within the ’80s).” Bisset is not alone. MTVNews tradition director Crystal Bell tweeted that season Three is the present’s “greatest season but.” CNET sister web site ComicBook.com also approves, noting that the brand new season works to “not solely ship followers all the things they liked about earlier seasons, but in addition elevate components to new heights.” Trailers and teases When you await the total episodes, Netflix dropped a final trailer. Issues in Hawkins look fairly grim this summer time — er, we imply, in the summertime of 1985. Try the present’s newest poster, too. Sure, Eleven is carrying a scrunchie, and yikes, these are a number of useless rats. And is {that a} new hideous monster rising up from the Upside Down? In Could, the present teased a bit concerning the sizzling instances coming to the Hawkins, Indiana, Group Pool. Trace: The center-aged mothers love them some bad-boy Billy the lifeguard. Again in March, the present delivered a preview dripping with 1980s nostalgia. Now enjoying: Watch this: Netflix teases Stranger Issues season Three in new trailer 2:50 The trailer has its enjoyable retro moments — Dustin sprays Lucas within the face with Farrah Fawcett hair spray when the chums sneak up on him — but it surely’s apparent that hazard nonetheless dwells in Hawkins. Hopper tries to reassure Joyce he desires her to really feel secure, however who can when there is a new horrific monster lurking, plus a man with a gun? And it is actually a disgrace that Mews, Dustin’s household cat, met such a tragic finish, as a result of it seems rats have invaded the town. (Learn: Stranger Things temporada 3 en español.) What’s all of it about? Why is Stranger Issues so unusually compelling? The present seemingly got here out of nowhere in July 2016, with a 1980s setting and wealthy popular culture particulars. Younger Will Byers disappears one night time after enjoying D&D together with his buddies in Hawkins, Indiana. The unfolding plot features a secret authorities laboratory, a younger woman known as Eleven, with psychokinetic powers, a creepy Upside Down dimension crammed with monsters and goo, and Christmas lights that blink an unnerving message. It boosted the sales of Eggo waffles, Eleven’s favourite snack, and created a whole motion, Justice for Barb, after a beloved character disappeared from a pool and despatched followers off the deep finish. The third season is about to blow up, and co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer say a fourth and fifth season are seemingly.  And in an interview with CNET Journal , David Harbour (Hopper himself) additionally confirmed that tidbit concerning the present: We will expect Stranger Things to stick around for an additional few years and push into 5 seasons. He additionally stated he is aware of “considerably a number of Hopper’s place in that story as a result of the extra you may know concerning the finish of your story, the extra you may arrange,” and that followers should not worry unfastened ends (cough — Game of Thrones — cough) irrespective of when the present lastly ends. “I really feel very pleased with that … we’re not going to get form of misplaced in our story and depart these strands,” he stated. “We will tie issues up.” Meet the solid Returning faces Who will we add to the core group in season 3? Courtesy Netflix New faces Maya Hawke: Hawke, daughter of actors Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, will be part of the solid as Robin, Variety reports. Robin is described as “an ‘various woman’ bored along with her mundane day job. She seeks pleasure in her life and will get greater than she bargained for when she uncovers a darkish secret.” Cary Elwes: Elwes, perpetually recognized to many as Westley in The Princess Bride, is coming to Hawkins, the place he’ll play the city’s mayor. “Good-looking, slick and sleazy, Mayor Kline is your basic ’80s politician — extra involved together with his personal picture than with the individuals of the small city he governs,” Netflix says.  Jake Busey: Busey, son of acclaimed actor Gary Busey, will play Bruce, described by Netflix as “a journalist for The Hawkins Put up with questionable morals and a sick humorousness.” What we all know concerning the plot Bros perpetually: Probably the most endearing options of the present to date got here when Dustin and Steve developed a likable little bro-big bro relationship. “You undoubtedly see extra of that,” actor Gaten Matarazzo, who performs Dustin, told Entertainment Weekly. “That is what I actually like about (showrunners) Matt and Ross (Duffer): They know what followers like and so they roll with it.” Millie and Eleven: Millie Bobby Brown recently revealed that she and her character are melding much more this season. “Eleven undoubtedly turns into extra like me this season,” Brown stated in a press roundtable. “She’s very weak, very highly effective and robust. I can relate to her power principally.” The actress additionally stated she had a hand in her character changing into extra fashionable, even “(displaying) somewhat leg.” Billy, do not be a hero: The ultimate trailer suggests Max’s bullying brother Billy will probably be possessed by no matter evil remains to be lurking outdoors the Upside Down. The mothers of Hawkins might imagine he is sizzling stuff on the native pool, however the summer time appears unhealthy for ol’ Invoice. Freeze, police! In October 2018 a casting notice looked for extras with military and police experience to movie with the present in Atlanta. Each women and men, aged 18-50, of any ethnicity, are wanted. Hmm, what Stranger Issues plot might name for a big army or police presence? May Chief Hopper be calling in a bigger pressure to assist management the supernatural facet of Hawkins? Strike up the band: In September 2018, casting notices had been posted seeking people with marching band experience to seem in a Stranger Issues episode. As with the police/army casting discover above, there is not a ton of information to go along with this information: Will or not it’s a faculty band? A neighborhood group? Are they to seem in a parade? And, in fact, we do not know if any of the principle solid members will probably be a part of the band, which would appear to imply it might play a bigger function in an episode, or if the band is simply background noise. Life’s a seashore: Celeb web site Simply Jared published a photo of Millie Bobby Brown filming what seems to be a fairly dramatic scene on the seashore in Malibu, California. Stranger Issues, in fact, is ready in landlocked Indiana, so perhaps the Pacific Ocean is standing in for an Indiana lake or river. Or maybe Eleven is taking a West Coast journey within the new season. A couple of week later, extra snaps of the solid taken in Georgia had been revealed, this time, that includes most of Eleven’s buddies, however she wasn’t seen. It is unclear what scene the children had been filming, and most of them had been wrapped in robes, both to maintain heat or to cover no matter they had been carrying.  Eleven’s backstory revealed: Viewers have already met Eleven’s mother, troubled Terry Ives, however a brand new young-adult novel printed in February 2019 will dig into her mom’s previous much more. Entertainment Weekly published an excerpt from Gwenda Bond’s guide, known as Suspicious Minds, and it follows Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine on the present) as he tries to assemble a gaggle of younger check topics, presumably together with Terry. 5-year-old Eight, who Eleven meets when she’s fairly a bit older, additionally seems. Netflix Love is within the air: The romantic duos of Eleven/Mike and Max/Lucas are nonetheless collectively in Season 3, however for the way lengthy? “They’re like 13- or 14-year-old children, so what does romance imply at that stage of life?” executive producer Shawn Levy said.  However in July 2018, Finn Wolfhard, who performs Mike, famous that the present will probably be set in the summertime of 1985, and known as it “the summer time of affection.” Wolfhard wasn’t round for the primary summer time of affection in 1967, and he wasn’t born till after the summer time of 1985. However his quote appears to trace that love and relationships will probably be part of season 3, for good or for unwell. Not everybody’s romance will probably be all hearts and flowers, although. David Harbour, who performs police chief Jim Hopper, stated his character will “take extra dangers with these new languages of intimacy and vulnerability,” however is “going to flail and be horrible at it.”  Father determine as martyr: Additionally in summer time 2018, Harbour told the Tampa Bay Comic-Con audience that he is aware of how he’d like his character to bow out. “I wish to take a bullet for Eleven,” he stated. And when followers cheered the selfless response, he replied, “Now you are all completely happy about me dying!” No fears, although. I believe Hopper will stick round till the present’s eventual finish. We’ll have to attend and see whether or not he lives fortunately ever after (with Joyce?) or heroically exchanges his life for Eleven’s. New faces: Finn Wolfhard appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in August 2018 and hinted at some new additions. “We’re in the course of (filming the season),” Wolfhard stated. “We acquired some new solid members, some unimaginable individuals.” However that was about all he would spill, and Fallon shortly modified the topic to joke about how he ought to seem on the present as a “bizarre uncle or one thing.” New characters are not any shock, and in the event that they play main roles, as Max and Billy did in season 2, absolutely particulars will leak out quickly. Extra D&D: The primary season began with the principle boys enjoying Dungeons & Dragons, which definitely helped endear the present to all of us nerds on the market. Count on extra of the fantasy role-playing sport in Season 3.  As Comicbook.com identified, artist Jared Flaming shared on Instagram in April that he is educating the present’s prop grasp concerning the sport. Jackson Davis/Netflix Dad Steve is again: Older teen character Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), who turned out to be an enormous brother determine for Dustin in season 2, will sustain that function. “I will simply say we cannot be abandoning the Dad-Steve magic,” Levy told THR. Again in time: Ghostbusters was an necessary theme in season 2, and Michael J. Fox’s 1985 film Back to the Future will probably be a key factor this season. Chasing Chase: Again to the Future is not the one 1980s film that can play a job. David Harbour instructed Selection that Chevy Chase’s 1985 motion comedy Fletch will also inspire season 3. “Fletch is one film we get to mess around and have some enjoyable with this season, which you would not count on from Stranger Issues. and also you would not count on from the Spielberg universe and also you definitely would not count on from a darker season,” he stated. Hopper’s historical past: Harbour also told Variety that he hopes the present investigates his character’s historical past as each a New York cop and a Vietnam vet. “I am curious as to how his excursions in Vietnam may need formed him to be who he’s and if a few of that stuff would not nonetheless linger or hang-out him in varied methods,” Harbour stated. Sing it, sister: Lucas’ vigorous youthful sister Erica (Priah Ferguson) can have an expanded function this season, and deservedly so. “There will certainly be extra Erica in season 3,” present co-creator Ross Duffer instructed Yahoo Entertainment. “http://www.cnet.com/”We acquired to make use of extra Erica’ — that was one of many first issues we stated within the writers’ room.” Maintaining with the Byerses: Millie Bobby Brown, who performs Eleven, did her greatest to begin a loopy rumor concerning the new season. While being interviewed by E! in mid-Could, Brown requested co-star Noah Schnapp (Will Byers) if he’d like to see reality-show star Kim Kardashian on Stranger Issues. A confused Schnapp thought the casting was actuality, and Brown led him on by claiming Kardashian was set to play a personality named 10. Kardashian herself appeared to be onboard, tweeting an enthused response. (Fan opinion: NOOOOO PLEASE NOOOO!)  Source link