#in all seriousness though the colouring on my previous set of this bothered me because it was too bright

[hammerbacks]

[evakuality]

Mia, episode five

1.  One thing Druck is super good at is these aesthetic shots.  This whole opening bit reminds me of the scene with Amira when she’s praying in her room.  Lots of beautiful shots of the room, curtains and stuff, which are just super pretty with a few hints of colour.  I dunno, this is just an aesthetic I like and I appreciate that Druck caters to me.  Mia is so cute, too!  Like both the way she looks and also how kind she is.  She still doesn’t really like Alex a lot (though you could see in that montage from the previous night that she’s warming up to him) but she still feels like she should leave things looking nice.  These little post-it notes are sort of cute too, and you can see that she thinks they’re sweet.  I don’t like this Bjorn though.

2.  Interesting that we get a clip specifically one week later.  I have no idea how that must have felt while this was live, and I’m really glad that I didn’t have to live through these long gaps in any of the things I did watch in real time.  This one was reasonably low key though, so maybe the wait wasn’t as agonising.  If you didn’t know who Bjorn is (I’m assuming the Niko character) then nothing in the last couple of clips would have felt all that alarming.  But Mia’s so flirty here - that one conversation at his house must have really charmed her.  Pity we didn’t really get to hear a lot of it because he still hasn’t charmed me!!  And actually that ‘show a montage of how things are going while a song and/or other conversation plays overtop’ is a huge thing Druck does, I think.  I feel like in some cases (Matteo and David after their first pool kiss moment, for example, or Hanna and Jonas breaking up) work quite well.  But here, I think we needed to hear more of Alex to actually believe that Mia would be this flirty with him.  For me, this is too big a turnaround from her very cold manner with him at the piano and an actual proper look at that conversation might have helped.  But also, I am super biased because William and so maybe a more reasonable person might like it okay.  This bit with Linn is weird.  Genuinely creepy, and I’m not sure why they’re setting her up to feel like this.  Maybe some sort of hint of the creepiness to come with Bjorn (I’m assuming it’s coming, anyway).

3.  I don’t get this bit with all the pictures at the school.  I assume it will become obvious later but I’m not sure what exactly they were trying to do with this.  You’d think they run the risk of having the whole Abi chaker clan thing shut down - if this happened in my school there’d be so much trouble.  A groups of kids once put post-its all over one teacher’s room and they got in SO much trouble for it, and that wasn’t obscene like this is.  This thing here seems so targeted at the Abi thing, using their plan specifically, that it feels like someone outside the group wants them not to be allowed to run their theme.  Or someone in the group who wants a different motto maybe.  I don’t know, but it feels very mean and very specifically directed at this group of people.

4.  Hmmm, I’m with Leonie on this one.  I’d be giving Carlos the super evil stare too.  It may be ‘funny’ to some of these people, but given that there are younger kids at this school (I assume, right?  They still have classes running for the smaller ones at the end of Matteo’s season, allowing their prank to go ahead) this is sure to go down really badly with the school itself.  I’m rolling my eyes at the ones who are outraged that the school is considering reporting it - what did they expect?  Also, surely they can figure out who was doing it - people were literally throwing handfuls of the pictures over the stairs.  Surely they could work out who it is.  It’s pretty clear that Alex still thinks this is funny and I’m losing patience with him.  Every time it seems like maybe he’s getting less gross he goes and acts like this again.  Bleh.  I’m not often rooting for Leonie and feeling for her, but wow today I really am.  This is shitty and she has a right to be angry.

5.  Ew, Alex, why are you stalking Mia again?  She’s made it pretty clear she’s not happy with you.  Turning up out of the blue like a creep isn’t a good way to go about winning her over again.  His ‘we were drunk, what can you do?’ is so... stupid???  They’ve lost money from this, the school is really angry, they could easily have some pretty bad consequences and he’s all ‘meh, it was a drunken prank’?  I know money isn’t an issue for him, but there are issues here beyond the money.  I’m also kind of annoyed that everyone keeps suggesting she’s upset because she’s jealous.  I’ll be really annoyed if the show carries on this way - this isn’t just a silly little prank, and people have every right to be angry and annoyed.  Diminishing it to jealousy isn’t cool.  Is Leonie also jealous?  The people who are angry and upset they’re being blamed and their money has been taken?

6.  I do love scenes where the whole girl squad is together.  They make me happy and I miss seeing them together so much.  But OMG, Alex is blackmailing Mia again????  I mean I guess it worked the first time so why wouldn’t he?  But this is seriously shitty behaviour.  Honestly, in clip one I was mildly starting to warm to him with the post-its and all, but he’s managed to speed run right back into ‘asshole’ category.  This was the problem in the og as well - William was such an asshole, that in order to make him likeable, we had to see a much more genuinely villainous character.  Alex is still super dislikeable and so we need someone ‘worse’ to make him look palatable, which I assume is coming.  We’re halfway through - we should like him by now.  I dunno.  Maybe some people do?  But he still has done nothing to make me think he’s nice or someone who Mia might be attracted to.

7.  Oh a long Friday clip?  Almost half the episode?  I guess it’s going to be a rough one for Mia then.  More reflections again - her whole face in the mirror now, but it’s surrounded by graffiti.  I’m always fascinated by the way mirrors and reflections work, and it’s fun to see Mia slightly obscured in her mirrors even now.  It’s not as disjointed as it was at the start but it’s not a fully clear reflection either.  I may not like the way Noora/Mia’s story goes but I do like some of these things which show the progress.

8.  I feel kind of sorry for Jonas, because that break up wasn’t his choice.  But seriously, he seems to be blaming this on Hanna a bit and like ????? He chose to make her feel small and unworthy through her whole season.  She’s allowed to try to figure herself out outside of him and his wants and needs.  Eh, I know he’s hurting and all, but that’s actually his issue and he shouldn’t be pushing it on her.

9.  This scene with Mia and Alex bothers me.  He still seems to have no idea why she might find his actions (selfish and self-serving and filled with blackmail) offputting.  ‘I fixed it, so we should totally be together now’ is such an immature and childish take on this.  These types of guys need to grow up and learn that they can’t just buy and/or coerce their way into whatever they want.  I like the way they decide to have Kiki walk past just as Mia has to choose whether to say she doesn’t want Alex or not.  It adds a poignancy to it and Mia obviously chooses to stick by her friends.  I do wish it felt more conflicting, like if Alex genuinely had changed or had shown he has depth or something it would be a bigger ‘wow she’s rejecting him for her friend’ but instead he’s still such an unpleasant character that I don’t care.

10.  I’m not sure why Mia does the brushing off of the makeup - I feel like it made more sense when Noora did it (I mean I watched it once a very long time ago so who knows, but my memory is that it was her way of trying to reject being ‘pretty’ and having guys liking her because it was messing her up).  With Mia, I don’t understand.  Someone help me out?

11.  I still don’t get what Mia sees in Alex.  Again, I know I have a really big bias against him because of William and I know it was always going to be tough for him to be someone I care about.  But even so, this feels like a huge whiplash when she says of course she likes him.  I’d get it if we’d seen any of his development, but every time he took a mini step forward he shoved himself right back into dislikeable territory.  Once again, I mourn the actual conversation between Mia and Alex.  This all feels far too fast, and the fact that this is suggesting his blackmail is all good is very worrying.  All the post-it notes in the world can’t make me think he’s nice enough to want to kiss.

Overall, I didn’t really like this one.  I feel like the pacing is still off; I don’t believe the speed at which Mia has fallen for him and honestly it hasn’t been very long since Kiki was with Alex and had her heart broken.  The fact that Mia even saw her and told him she doesn’t like him only to turn around immediately and change her mind is strange to me.  Mia has always come across as a caring person who tries to do the right thing and help out her friends.  That she has apparently no qualms at this point is difficult for me.  They’re acting the hell out of this, but I can’t buy it.  Unfortunately.  Sadly, because this is based on a very flawed original, I don’t think it’s going to make me enjoy these two.  There are things that I’m interested in seeing as we go forward but most of those have zero to do with Alex.

[jamestrmtx]

Fairytale Complex - [Undertale | Sans x Reader]

[Gender Neutral, Frisk's Parent Reader | Slow Burn]

Chapter Nineteen | Temmie Village (Part 2 of 2)

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The air conditioner paired up with the sound of the rain against the windshield and the wheels against the wet road quell and soothe both your stress and nausea alike; drowsiness replaces them and allows you to relax with a sigh. It feels odd to have someone driving while you're resting at the back, though there's not much you can do about it. The drag of your steps as you tried to climb into the car even with the help of your co-workers had been sufficient for Papyrus to insist you laid down and for Sans to agree with him. The latter's driving remains slow and careful throughout, strikingly different compared to how he usually was when handling his own vehicle. You assume he's doing it for your sake, until a faint melody you once believed to be coming from the radio turns loud enough to make the car's windows boom and vibrate.

A cheery beat floods your ears, and -- when you sit up straight -- you can see there's what looks like a parade taking place right in the middle of the street. Large tents, plastic ponchos, and colourful umbrellas help shield against the ongoing rain. There's a flower float with Frisk's face on it, along with a cat-dog hybrid standing on top of it, clad in a student uniform and waving a flag with a presumably newly-opened school's logo stamped on it. You recognize the monster from one of the few unbelievable tales -- now facts -- Frisk had told you about, though you can't exactly bring yourself to take in the oddity of that sight. Seeing Temmies walking around and near the float isn't the strange thing, but -- rather -- the fact that there's an entire choir of them marching forward along the streets, singing almost effortlessly to the complex tune of the song. Not only that, but there's another float following behind them, this one promoting free education and advertised by a college graduate -- also a Temmie, with the only noticeable difference from the rest being she's wearing a teacher's suit jacket and a pair of glasses.

Just as you hear the car's signal click left, you spot Frisk amongst the small crowd surrounding the second float. They're sporting a bright yellow raincoat, smiling wide, and with their hand held tight by Toriel's, who stays behind while they wave back at all the Temmies and passerby waving at them. Some drivers stop to take in the scenery while others drive by quickly; what sends alarms off in your head is realizing how exposed Frisk is to the public and how little protection you notice around them.

"Wait," you call out, word blurted. "What's…" Your eyes fix on them and how calm, happy, and carefree they seem regardless of those dangers. A pang of jealousy makes its way to your chest when you see they encourage Toriel to join them, bringing her out of the shadows and into the spotlight. "What's going on?" You try to shake those feelings aside, yet you can't help the persistent and bitter emotion that comes with knowing Toriel had played a major, supportive role in one of Frisk's biggest journeys. She'd been their aid for almost two entire months -- a time when you could only work yourself down to the bone, and stress and cry over your loss, neither of which helped much at the end of it all.

"That was supposed to be one of the surprises, but well…" His voice sounds tense -- as if he's read right through you. "But with what happened, well-"

"It's… It's okay."

You try to calm yourself down.

He didn't need to say anything else.

It wasn't his fault, just as it wasn't Toriel's or anybody else's. You'd refused to take the medicine specifically prescribed for you, and that resulted in you having to occupy a busy friend for no reason other than purposely neglecting something you were supposed to adhere to for the betterment of your health. Toriel was watching over Frisk as she so promised. On a similar note, Papyrus had been more than kind enough to offer you the back seat of his car for you to rest in while you made it somewhere to eat after dropping him off where he needed to be. He accepted the risks of running late simply to agree with Sans on picking you up from work, and he even rejected using your own vehicle to keep it protected from the rain.

What you didn't comprehend was why none of the monsters informed you about this earlier than today.

"I understand this was meant to be a surprise, but…" Your tone falters, though you clear your throat to regain strength. "But why didn't you ask for my permission first -- before letting Frisk take part in something like this?" You stop for a moment. "I- I'm not against it, but after what happened at the bus, I…" 

You grab your knees and squeeze them, preventing yourself from getting emotional. 

"I fear for their safety." You swallow hard, feeling nausea returning. "If things were different, I wouldn't mind, but they're not. The Surface is too dangerous for them now." Reluctance makes your chest hurt. "I'm not seen as a good parent by many, and then there's that whole thing with CPS and Frisk's custody, and... And now my health, too." You huff and take a breather. "There's just so many things I'm afraid will go wrong, that I… I-"

A familiar warmth covers your face; two hands slip around your waist.

"Easy now," the eldest of the two says. "Else you're gonna end up faintin' again," he adds, well-mannered humour tracing his sentence.

You hold on tight and shudder at the feeling of his face pressing against your collarbones. His head stays there while you settle down; his hands -- conversely -- run up and down your back, attempting to further calm your stress. No other words are said as he remains that way.

At that, you continue with, "I'm afraid of them being this out in the open, a- and even more when I can't be there for them." 

You let him go and stare right at him, eager to set things straight. 

"It's amazing you're celebrating Frisk's achievements in such a wonderful way, b- but..." A smile shows on your face, conflicted with reluctance you can't avoid and a bitterness you try to shake off. "But I'm their parent, Sans," you add, words strained. "I… I've only known you for a few months, and yet," you say, hesitating, "and yet… You're like this with me. I don't understand how you and others can be this way, s- so quick to trust and befriend, but… I can't be that way. Everything's going too fast, and I need a little more time -- until I figure out what actions I should take as a parent." You grab his hand and squeeze firm at it, smiling again afterwards, a bit more honest than before. "I'm eternally grateful for everything so far, but… Please don't forget I'm still Frisk's main guardian, e- even after all that." Notwithstanding, your smile doesn't last long. "Maybe I'm bitter, or maybe I really do have the right to feel angry about this, but either way... I need to be careful." A pause and a breath. "And I acknowledge I'm not the best parent, but… But I still need to prioritize Frisk's safety before everything else."

Sans nods and squeezes your hand back. "I'll let others know about this too, then -- If that's alright with you, 'course."

Your smile returns. "That would be nice."

"Would you feel better knowing there's a protective barrier surrounding the parade?" Papyrus intervenes, helping ease out the mood. 

He's now sitting behind the wheel, replacing Sans while he stays with you by the back seat. His driving is much more careful, yet his speed is quicker now that the parade's left more space for him to pass through. "We haven't turned a blind eye to this situation either, (L/N)," he says, looking at you from the rear-view mirror. "Frisk's safety is just as important as their happiness!"

You look to his side and later at the parade, staring more closely to notice the reason for Frisk's raincoat still being intact is a barrier similar to Sans's magic, though of a different colour compared to his.

"We were going to inform you after you clocked out of work, but…"

You let out a chuckle -- more defeated than anything else. "I apologize for that, then." You bring a hand to the back of your neck and rub at it. "I've been... reckless, as of late."

"Why's that?" he asks, sounding just as intrigued as Sans looks.

"I haven't been taking care of myself like I should. If I were, things wouldn't be like this. I... I would've been healthy, and Sans would've told me about this. I was irresponsible with my health, and now I'm bothering others to help me with something that could've been avoided."

Your confession is followed up by a sharp inhale and a shudder as you then add, "I haven't done anything to change how many hours and days I work every week, now that I don't need to do that as much, and…" You hesitate. "And I haven't been taking the doctor's orders that seriously, either." Your hands return to your knees, where you squeeze tight enough to almost hurt yourself in the process. "I don't want to grow dependent on them -- the medicines prescribed to me. I'm… I'm afraid of them changing who I am, and… And I just don't want to risk the possibility of affecting Frisk because of this, either."

Sans grabs your attention by holding your hand again, more careful than when you went to squeeze at his. "You should let the doctor know, then. If you're scared of what that stuff'll do to you, the best you can do's ask her about it." He lets go, giving you space to breathe. "She could keep your doubts in mind, and maybe tell you to visit her if that new treatment does you more harm than good with time."

You don't acknowledge you've made it to Papyrus's stop until you see him set the shift on parking. The cheery music's now fainter, and the parade can still be seen when you look back. The only difference is the change in scenery, as you now stand in front of what looks like a culinary university, large, tacky, and colourful banners promoting the acceptance of the monster population into their campus. "I need to go now, but…" He smiles, almost as bright as the sun shining behind the rain clouds. "We can discuss more later, if you'd like!"

You smile back and wave goodbye; he steps outside after that and walks off, leaving Sans to give you one final glance before going back to the front seat.

While he adjusts, you observe Papyrus from a distance, who's now making his way to the line at the entrance gates of the university.

"So…"

At that sound, you face the mirror and meet Sans's gaze.

"Where to?" he asks. "And don't say home, 'cuz I know you ain't eaten yet."

"What's easiest for you," you reply, fixing your posture. "You've already done enough."

He stays parked to turn to your side. 

"Doesn't mean we can't talk more about it," he says, "It's your right as a parent to set boundaries and all that, but you really do need to take better care of yourself, (Y/N). Not just for Frisk's benefit, but for yourself, too." He sighs, turns back to the wheel, and grasps it tighter, continuing after with, "And I acknowledge I also failed to do my part, 'cuz -- like you said it yourself -- you shoulda known about this stuff sooner than today. Surprise or not, I coulda hinted at it. I promised I'd keep you informed, after all." Recognition flashes in his irises, and he stops for a minute. "That being said, we've gotta finish up the rest of that tour soon -- It's been a while."

"Don't remind me, teddy bear." You grin and slump on your seat, huffing afterwards. "There's so much stuff to do, I don't even know where to start."

"Tell me about it." He lets a broad smile show through and spares a quick glance at the mirror to wink at you. "Wouldn't really complain over another day like the one at the hotel."

You look away and hide your grin, feeling it widen. "...I'll keep that in mind, then."

• • •

“So,” the skeleton says, hands slipping under the table. An awkward stiffness overcomes his shoulders, and his gaze takes a while to meet with yours. “You heard about it from her first, huh?”

You gulp some water, needing to cool off. 

“Yes,” you reply, grabbing the medicine out of your belongings. The headache’s still going strong, even after having ended work an hour ago. “Are you really working an office job now? ...What about your other job?” Catching on to how invasive you’re being, you take another sip to bring the pills down and breathe in deep. “Sorry if it seems like I’m being nosy, but… I just want to know if you quit selling hot dogs because of me.” It’s a strange sentence no matter how you look at it, and even more so when you consider the on and off romantic relationship you share with the monster; or to put it bluntly: a friend with benefits -- or a man-friend, as your godmother had so accused him of. “I… I feel like I’m responsible for this, so I’d really like to know.”

Sans grins, takes his drink, and swirls it around. “And that’s exactly why I didn’t wanna tell you yet.” He sets it down and breaks eye contact with you to retrieve something from his suitcase. When he finds the item, he places it on the table, revealing a yellow folder about as thick as the menu left beside you, open to display an array of desserts, one you'd tried the evening before you stayed with him at the hotel, and the other you had today as a way to make an impromptu meeting with him about what happened earlier with Brenda's own fair share of invasiveness. “I know it seems way too coincidental, but I really am workin’ in an office now.”

You pick up the folder, set it in front of you, and keep a hand over it.

“It’s about that thing Tori wants to talk about with you.” He tugs at his jacket’s sleeve; that sight makes you take in the oddity of his looks right now: wearing a suit and tie. He’s like a whole other person today. The main two things that remind you he’s still the same as before are his low voice and mellow personality. Even his posture and body language are different, as if to match with the formality of his attire. “Open it,” he adds, facing your eyes again. “It’ll kinda spoil the surprise she has for you, but I think I owe you a better explanation after what happened today."

You consider his words and eye him for a moment. While he has a more proper posture, the monster’s the same one you met months ago. He’s still himself -- formal wear or not. “It’s… It's alright,” you say, smiling. “I’ll wait until Saturday.”

Tension seems to let him go, yet he still replies with, “You can open it, really. Tori said it was fine, and that she could use the extra time this saves up to take you somewhere with her.”

“...Is it really okay?” You pull your hand back from the folder, emphasizing your words.

Sans nods, sighing the rest of his rigidity away. “Go ahead.”

Doing as told, you tear it open as carefully as you’re capable of, preventing potential damage to the documents waiting inside. From there, you retrieve a single sheet of paper first, its texture rough and giving out at being far more important than all the other files found under it. You turn it around. The words ‘Frisk (L/N)’ and ‘student’ instantly pair up and click into your mind. There’s a school under Toriel’s name written down, along with a print of its logo and motto -- the former you recognize from the parade. 

“I…”

You can’t find the proper words to say to him. It worsens when you decide to take a peek at another document, seeing your name right in the middle. It's not as thick as the previous paper, but it still holds potential for a new future. Besides Toriel's stamp of approval and a small paragraph stating the terms, a single, empty line waits for you at the bottom. Your signature's the only thing missing for the agreement to be made.

“This is…” You shudder out a gasp, almost forgetting to breathe.

The skeleton breaks the ice, saying, “Tori’s school finally got approved, and she was thinking of havin' you and Frisk in it.” You face to his side, holding back a flinch when you notice he’s moved closer to you; the table helps keep some distance between you, fortunately. “Whaddya say, (Y/N)?” he asks. “You don’t have to answer right away, but… Just know the offer’s up, and that we see you guys as a family.”

You hoist yourself over the table and reach out for a hug, using that to replace any words you could possibly direct to the monster in front of you. He returns it, maintaining his hold on you until you break it apart -- a bit complicated to do when you notice you’re letting yourself get sentimental again. That allows your mind to drift back to the past and the more recent memory of Brenda’s visit.

“Thank you...” Your words come off in a murmur, lacking anything to say even now. 

You sniffle to restrain the emotions forming up inside, from disbelief and contentment, to melancholy and excitement. Were this a movie and were you on closer terms with the monsters, you would’ve imagined kissing the one in front of you in the sheer spur of the moment. Unresolved tension and personal limitations team up to delay any progress of that kind with him. “So you... I take it you’re in charge of keeping finances in order while her school finally opens?” you ask, changing the topic. You need time to think -- just like he’d mentioned. Having Frisk study in Toriel’s school didn’t seem like a bad choice if you were going to be paying for it, and if it would help bring more word out about her school. You working there was a wholly different story, finding the offer a bit too good to be true. It wasn't because of the goat lady, but rather due to it feeling like you were straight-up taking advantage of her and all the other monsters’ kindness. 

“Precisely,” he replies, grinning. 

His expression freezes up, and it’s only when he sits back down that it loosens. The proximity left between you after the hug's kept itself present without you acknowledging it by full. “I can work the numbers fast, so that way Alphys can focus more on plannin' out the structure and how science class will be laid out, since we all wanna leave things runnin' well before we can start employin' any other monsters.” He meets your eyes again and winks. “And of course, any cute human who’s willing to help us out.”

You glance away, feeling your face turn warm. “I'll… I’ll think about it.” Then, you look back to him; a question pops into your thoughts. “But what service could I provide you with? I've only got an Associate's in Business with what, well... happened in the past.”

“You say that like it’s nothing," he replies, chuckling. “You could easily take up three different positions with those preparations you've got.” Then, he sits back and takes the check when a bunny waitress arrives with it. “You’ll see what I mean when you talk with Tori this Saturday. Can’t really keep spoilin’ the surprise for you anymore.”

Beat to it, you put your wallet away and shift on your seat. “Alright,” you say, taking the folder with you. “But could I still make it up to you somehow? I know Brenda can be a bit, well... tough to handle, so it's only fair for me to do this."

“I’m perfectly fine meeting up like this. And she came by right as I was about to clock out, so I’d tell you it’s no big deal, but…" He trails off to stare at you, done with paying up. "If this's a crafty excuse for us to keep on hangin' out, then I'm all on board with it, puddin'."

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[fangirl-ramblings]

Pairing: Arthur Morgan x gn!reader

Summary: A return trip from Annesburg is about to change your life forever

Word count: 1520

Notes: CW: vague descriptions of wounds | Unsure how to tag this right now, Amensia Plot | Unbetaed [Any feedback is appreciated]

Tags for: @husbandits.

I was so excited when I saw that I was assigned to be your Secret Santa this year (even if i do still have a request I need to fulfill for you 🙈) I loved each item on your wishlist, but this one really jumped out at me.

"okay, so there was a post going around like last year i think where arthur had gotten amnesia and the reader took him in, and honestly i haven't been able to get it out of my head these past few months for some reason"

I couldn't find the original post you referred to, but a rough idea started to form in my head...The only problem is, this idea is so much bigger than the stories I usually write and I was starting to run out of time to get it posted for in time for the @rdr-secret-santa event (as you well know, I'm a slow writer) so...please accept my humble offering of the first chapter while I try chip away at the remaining parts.

The Best Kept Memories

[working title]

Chapter 1: Late 1899 [Oct/Nov]

All this commotion was frustrating to say the least; you'd arrived in Annesburg late yesterday afternoon, ready to pick up the supplies you'd needed to stock your cabin up with before the weather turned back into the harsh winter the Grizzlies were famous for. Despite arriving in town a good 30 mins before the train carrying your supplies from Saint Dennis was due in at the station, an hour later you were still standing on the platform waiting for it to suddenly come rumbling down the tracks.

   "All the trains have been delayed you know" A local busybody informed you.

   "Yeah, I kinda gathered," you politely replied - not really wanting to be drawn into conversation...too bad the older lady didn’t get the message.

   "Talk is…" she leaned in close, as if she was sharing confidential intel that only you were to know about, "a bunch of degenerates living not too far from here, decided to rob one of the earlier trains coming up from city." 

You found yourself rolling your eyes internally upon hearing this; you were aware the Murfree Brood were a sadistic bunch of murdering bastards, but from what you previously heard about them, they could barely care for and ride their horses, let alone plan to board and rob a moving train.

"Terrible affair I heard, seems they managed to make it all the way up towards Bacchus Bridge before…" she stopped mid-conversation, not because she ran out of gossip to share with you but she had noticed that the tracks began to rumble and the sound of a train's whistle could be heard approaching the station.

   "Well, looks like the delay is finally over," you commented, pointing out the obvious.

  "Oh do excuse me will you." You sighed with relief as you watched the woman move a little down the way, heading towards the train's engine to see if the driver had any updates of the goings on in Saint Dennis to share with her.

By the time you'd finished loading your wagon up, you were exhausted and couldn't face the thought of driving home through Roanoke Ridge in the dark, especially if the Murfree Brood were still loitering about. Looking down the main street you saw the local hotel had some vacancies and made the impulsive decision to spend the night in one of the rooms there, ready to feel refreshed in time for your morning ride home.

While it seemed like a very good idea at the time, you soon realised you'd made a huge mistake. After waking up and having a quick wash before getting dressed, you made your way back outside to find the most peculiar sight. The mining town of Annesburg, usually full of workers with dirt covered faces, wandering about in their equally filthy overalls, was now overrun by well dressed men in suits. 

   "They say they're Pinkertons." You overheard the gossiping woman that you encountered the previous night, telling her newly captive audience. "One of them told me personally that there was a gunfight up near Beaver Hollow."

   "Well Eunice, I heard talk there was reports of those hooligans that they're after, fleeing into the night and the 'Pinkertons' had to chase them all over the Ridge well into the early hours of the morning," another lady informed her, looking super smug that she'd been able to provide some information that her friend wasn't already privy too.

   "Well either way, several roads around the area have been blocked off by the men in suits." Eunice huffed before walking off, looking for a less informed person to chat too.

Shaking your head, you dismissed their talk as nothing but idle gossip and jumped up on your wagon, ready to head back home along one of the roads leading South.

   "This road is closed," the well-suited man hissed as you approached the roadblock with your wagon. "I suggest you find another route."

   "It wasn’t closed yesterday when I rode into town, any chance you could let me go past just this once?" you protested, not really knowing why you were bothering. His stony face told you this was not a man who had much compassion for others, but wanting to get back home before the storm brewing on the East side of the Lannahechee river rolled in, you persisted, "I can be home within the hour if you let me past, whereas the other route will take me twice as long - not to mention those treacherous mountain roads I'd be forced to travel along."

   "I said, find...another...way" he growled at you, clenching his teeth as he emphasised each word.

   "Fine," you sighed as you reversed your wagon and drove along the road heading north.

Even though this route would take you the better part of the day to get home, you didn't mind so much as you could take the time to enjoy the beautiful scenery of this part of the country, especially the area around the huge mountain that rudely stood directly in front of you.

Taking a left hand turn to finally head southwards; you trundled along, lost in a world of your own as you admired the red wildflowers that grew in abundance here. Making a mental note to maybe pick some up on your next visit up here, so you could liven your cabin up, you were shocked when your horse suddenly reared up, whinnying a distressed shrill.

   "Hey now Ponos, what's to do with you?" you asked gently, hopping down off your wagon to assess the area around you. There was nothing obvious that you could see in the road, but out of the corner of your eye you noticed a flock of scavenger birds circling over something that must be hidden out of sight behind the giant rock to your right.

   "Trust you to be scared of a half-eaten animal" you chuckled as you patted Ponos' neck in an effort to calm him down. A beautiful Chestnut coloured Belgian Draft, you'd named him after the Greek God of hard labour & toil and while you couldn’t fault his excellent work ethic and seemingly unlimited stamina, you soon realised why the stable owner had offered you such a cheap price for him all those years ago; this giant of a horse was easily spooked by the smallest of things.

After reaching up to grab your gun from underneath your seat, you started walking over to the most likely spot to investigate. If it was a fresh kill you had enough space on your wagon to throw the carcass on and take it home to make a nice meal or two out of.

Approaching the overgrowth behind the rock, the birds squawked and scattered when they realised that you were about to steal the meal they had their eyes on. Getting closer, you noticed a heaped mound laying there. Your mouth started to water as you realised whatever this was, it was certainly likely to be bigger than a rabbit and therefore would provide several tasty meals over the next few days. Using the barrel of your rifle, you cautiously moved apart the long grass, almost dropping your gun as you finally saw what was previously hidden.

Looking like death personified this was certainly no animal, but a seriously injured man. His poor face, gaunt, bloody and bruised. Judging by the shallow, laboured breaths you could see him trying to take, he was still alive - but only just.

   "Sir? Sir? Can you hear me?" You asked, not really expecting a response but the almost corpse groaned and weakly nodded in response.

You glanced back at the grey clouds that had followed you on your journey from Annesburg, before looking back at this wretched soul. What was it your old pa used to tell you?

   'There's never any harm in being a good Samaritan to those that need your help.'

Realising that you could never let yourself walk away and leave a healthy man to be stranded in a storm, let alone an almost dead one to succumb from his wounds, you quickly set your gun aside and placed his arms around your neck. Summoning all the strength you had, you somehow managed to pick the sandy-haired man up and manoeuvre him onto the back of your wagon. 

   "I live a short ride away, you’re welcome to rest there until you get your strength back up.” Unravelling a few pelts you had stored with the rest of your cargo, you tossed them over the injured man to help try to keep him warm.

   "Sorry it's not very comfy but I guess it beats lying there in the cold waiting for the cruel embrace of death," you explained whilst taking out a carrot from your satchel to feed Ponos, in the hope he had gotten over his fear and was willing to continue your journey back home, “Tell me, do you have a name sir?”

Jumping back into the driver’s seat, you looked back over your shoulder, only to find your passenger had passed out.

[tomhiddlestonfanfic]

Post Apocalyptic Love Chapter Five

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3  - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7  

NUMBER OF CHAPTERS/ONE SHOT: 5/? WHICH TOM CHARACTER: Doctor Thomas Hiddleston   PAIRING: Tom/OFC   GENRE: Drama, Romance

SUMMARY   After three generations of living inside of vault 181, the era of expeditions into the wasteland has finally come. Young scientist Rory Waters is more than eager to join in on the fun together with her colleague and boss, Doctor Thomas Hiddleston. There is only one problem, Rory is a fertile and childless woman in her mid-twenties. In order to be able to go out on an expedition, she has to promise the research board that she will provide them with a child afterwards. There is only one man in the entire vault that Rory can imagine having children with…  

Taglist: @twhiddlestonsstuff​

CHAPTER FIVE The Disciplinarian’s Office

Tom shook his head amusedly at Rory’s habit of getting herself into trouble. It became so apparent how different she was from the other girl’s their age as they sat down in the waiting outside the disciplinarian’s office. The other visitors were children, some accompanied by grown ups, or adolescents, all of which considerably younger than Rory. It was a bizarre experience for Tom to sit outside the disciplinarian’s office with his soon to be wife, just to make sure that she didn’t try to escape from whatever punishment Mister Cavill would have in store for her.

Mister Cavill sighed heavily and shook his head upon seeing Rory in his waiting room.

“You can come back in an hour, Miss Waters, so you don’t have to sit around and wait here with all the children,” he informed her.

“Thanks, Mister Cavill,” Rory replied with a grin as she got out of her seat.

“Then I suppose we could head to the canteen for a meal,” Tom suggested. Rory nodded agreeingly.

They ate in silence until Tom noticed how Rory was not eating but picking at her food as though she was deeply bothered by something. He wanted to cheer her up.

“What’s wrong, Miss Waters? Don’t you like the food?” he asked, causing her to snort at his bad joke. Reflecting over whether you enjoyed the taste of the food you were rationed was merely a waste of time and a luxury of the past. Her entire life, Rory had been constantly reminded to be grateful for what she was given and chided when displaying any signs of discontent. There simply was no room for that kind of behaviour in this new world.

Rory picked up the fork and began eating from her plate. She had been in deep thought and forgotten all about how hungry she really was. Once the plate was emptied she looked around the canteen with its metal walls, ceiling, tables and chairs. They all had the same boring colour of grey. She sighed heavily as she thought about the world outside the vault, it had been pretty grey too, but in an open way that didn’t give her that unpleasant claustrophobic feeling as the insides of the vault did. She wanted to get out there again. She had to get out there again, she thought.

“We should probably head back to Mister Cavill’s office now,” Tom informed her after an hour had passed. Rory nodded and got out of her seat, taking the metal tray with her.

Inside of Mister Cavill’s office, Tom noticed an unmistakable chemistry between Mister Cavill and Rory. They shared knowing smiles as Rory slumped down in one of the seats by the desk.

“So, Miss Waters, what brings you here today?” Mister Cavill questioned in a businesslike tone, leaning slightly forward in his seat behind the desk to look at her through his thick rimmed glasses. He was very muscular, but his gentle ways made him considerably less threatening than he would have been otherwise.

Rory smiled amusedly as she motioned to Tom. “I believe Doctor Hiddleston should tell the story, seeing as Commander Fowler told him to escort me here,” Rory replied.

“Commander Fowler, huh?” Mister Cavill said with a heavy sigh as he looked at Rory. “You know he’ll want proof, right?” he informed her. “That’s why he sent Doctor Hiddleston with you, so he’d have a witness for the administration of your punishment.” 

“A witness?” Tom questioned uneasily. He certainly didn’t want to see Rory get beaten. Especially not after all the awful stories she had told him about it throughout the day.

“Yes, a witness,” Mister Cavill said and looked at Tom thoughtfully, as though he was trying to read him. “But to judge by the look on your face, you want Miss Waters to be caned as little as I do,” he continued with a smile. “In fact, you make the perfect witness, Doctor Hiddleston, because you’re considered a reliable and conscientious person. We could use that to our advantage. Don’t you think, Miss Waters?”

“You can call me Rory in front of him, Henry,” Rory told him happily. “This is Tom, my fiance, I think?”

“Yes, I suppose I am,” Tom realised and smiled embarrassedly as he looked at her ringless hand. “I should probably get you a ring,” he added.

“I would like that very much,” Rory replied with a wide smile and turned to look at Henry. “Can you believe this, Henry? I’m getting married! The plan is that we’re going to have children and raise them together, not collectively like you and I got raised, but as a real family,” she told him excitedly.

“I’m so happy for you. Congratulations, Rory,” Henry told her and walked around his desk to give her a proper hug. “But you should have just come and told me that without pissing off Commander Fowler first. Now we both have to spend the next couple of days acting like I caned you,” told her with a sigh. “I hate it when you glare at me.”

“Yeah, I’ve been told I’m pretty good at that,” Rory replied with a smile. “I’m sorry, Henry. But we can’t act like we’re friends outside of here, because then they’ll get suspicious and possibly ruin everything you have worked so hard to achieve.”

“I know. The number one troublemaker can’t be friends with the disciplinarian who allegedly gives her beatings on a regular basis,” Henry said sadly and parted from her to look at her properly. “I’m sorry I can only see you when you’re in trouble.”

“Me too,” Rory said regretfully. “But at least we see each other quite regularly.”

“It’s not a good thing that you still get sent here on a regular basis, Rory. You’re too old for this,” he told her seriously before turning to face Tom. He shook his hand. “Congratulations on your engagement, Doctor Hiddleston. As you already know, she’s a handful, but she’s also one of the best people I know.”

“Awwh, thank you, Henry. The feeling is mutual,” Rory told him, placing a hand above her heart as she looked at him tenderly.

“I promise I’ll take good care of her,” Tom assured Henry as he walked back to his desk.

“You better,” Henry told him seriously “She’s like a little sister to me.” He looked at Tom for a moment before cracking a smile that made Tom even more nervous. The smile didn’t look genuine.

They spent the rest of the time in Henry’s office talking about details of how Tom and Rory should act to convince everyone that Tom had just seen her get severely caned by Henry. The attention to detail in the story of the alleged caning made Tom feel sick to his stomach. Was this really how people were being treated within the vault? He felt bad not having had any idea how bad things really got for those who couldn’t or wouldn’t keep their heads down and stay in line.

Tom also felt a sense of pride for becoming a confidant when it came to Rory and Henry’s plan to change things from the inside. Henry had set out to become a disciplinarian solely because he wanted to change how badly children and adolescents were being treated. He would actually talk and listen to the troublemakers rather than hitting them, like he was instructed to do.

As the two of them left the disciplinarian’s office, Tom looked at Rory with a new found interest and wondered what else he might not know about her. The more he thought about it, the more he realised how little he really knew about the free-spirited woman walking beside him.

Previous Chapter  Next Chapter

[lvmosity]

saviour | harry potter

pairing: harry potter x muggleborn!hufflepuff!reader

requested: yes! by @scoofpoof​ thank u ♡

request: can i request for a harry potter x muggleborn! hufflepuff! reader? reader doesnt know harry potter (gasp) but he does bc they grew up in the same place and he lowkey has a crush on her. reader still doesnt know harry potter in school n is one of the top students. harry knows that she is physically strong bc she plays muggle sports n knows self defense. shes kind but not a coward so one time harry asks for help when he is being bullied n she agrees... reluctantly. u can choose the ending. thanks!

genre: fluff maybe?

word count: 3.4k (ok i didnt expect this to be long)

warnings: bullying, mentions of blood & scars, reader is a badass

tags: @sadhwstudent​ 

credit to the owner of the gif

It had only been less than two months since the news of Lord Voldemort’s supposed return from the dead had spread throughout the Wizarding World and all Harry Potter could do was watch in frustration as people branded him as a liar and deranged. He had to thank the Ministry of Magic, primarily Minister Fudge who took full control of this and covered up what he thinks to be complete utter nonsense. It wasn’t a surprise to him really as the Ministry of Magic were, after all, corrupt and incompetent.

Whilst Harry lied in bed feeling extremely alone and lost during those months, he did not get a single letter from his two best friends; Ron and Hermione, despite their promises. He was starting to wonder if they too had turned blind and decided their friendship wasn’t worth it but after finally meeting up one day for an explanation, he realised it was done so under Dumbledore’s orders which made the situation worse.

Then the events that followed after made it harder to cope with. He had discovered an old alliance formed by Dumbledore during the First Wizarding World and that half of them had either died or were seriously harmed. His godfather Sirius Black had informed him that the Dark Lord was in search of a special object that he had no access to during his previous attack, along with the mysterious actions of his headteacher who has ignored him throughout the summer. The pressure was starting to be a heavy toll on him, and he was forced to deal with it.

Unfortunately, it also became a difficulty attending school. His classmates had started eyeing him weirdly, growing awfully distant with him to which they would immediately stop talking once Harry entered the room, and some of his other so-called-friends had removed him from their lives. It also couldn’t help that certain students, none other than Draco Malfoy and his goons, had begun to bully him more than ever, hitting him with nastier remarks as well as the constant push and shove tactics.

Harry felt isolated and disorientated, felt as if no one had truly believed the words that came out of his mouth, felt as if he was made a laughing stock to the Wizarding World, felt as if Voldemort had already won the battle and it had barely even started. Ron and Hermione tried their best to cheer him up and distract him from reality but it would end in failure each time.

He was starting to lose hope, starting to think he was better off buried twenty-feet deep under the dirt since he knew his parents were the only ones who wouldn’t judge him, starting to accept the many labels plastered on him; he was a liar. 

He just had spent a strenuous hour-long detention session with Professor Umbridge in the afternoon due to his apparent cheek talking as well as spitting ‘false’ information about the Dark Lord’s return. Feeling emotionally drained, Harry found himself making a bee-line to the school’s library to have a moment to himself, he wasn’t prepared to face his friends and hear their worries.

Night had already fallen meaning everyone would be asleep by now, the hallways had also gotten dark. Luckily enough, the candles were the only light source as it made it slightly easier for Harry to find his way through the darkness. However, he wasn’t able to see anything further down the hall and he worried that a prefect or a professor on duty might catch him and drag him back to the dorms. Although, he’d rather bump into them than Filch.

And soon enough, once he had turned a corner and heard hurried footsteps approaching up ahead in the darkness, he started to panic. It was only a matter of time before he suddenly collided into something hard and he desperately hoped it wasn’t any of the two. Waiting to hear a grumpy voice scold him, he hears a high-pitched squeal instead.

The unknown figure in front quickly whispers a ‘lumos’ before being blinded by a bright light. Harry hisses at the sudden flash and squints his eyes to see past it expecting to see Filch or a professor. To his surprise, he realised it was just a girl but it wasn’t just any ordinary girl, it was you.

You look at Harry with a bewildered look to which he returns. Opening your mouth to question his presence, your head quickly whips back and a small gasp escapes from your lips. Both of you hear another set of footsteps approaching from behind and you instantly grab Harry’s hand and rush off to find a room or a spot to hide in.

After locating a random closet room, you hastily pull Harry inside with you and shut the door from behind. Harry leans against the wall and starts to pant but you hush at him indicating to keep quiet. You whisper a ‘Filch’ to him and he nods in realisation but mentally facepalms seconds later because you couldn’t see it anyways since the room was completely dark.

Several minutes pass by and no sign of footsteps or a grouchy voice could be heard meaning the coast was clear. Relieved, you flick your wand and a light illuminates from the tip of it, now the room was bright enough to see.

You turn to Harry and smile at him sheepishly, feeling embarrassed for grabbing a stranger’s hand. “Sorry about dragging you here, I had to make sure the both of us didn’t get caught, you know how Filch is.”

Harry shakes his head rapidly, “It’s fine, I appreciate you looking out for me though.”

“No worries...” Your words falter at the end waiting for him to introduce himself as you had no knowledge of the boy standing in front of you.

“Harry, Harry Potter.”

“Ah, well,” The sides of your eyes crinkled as you give him a friendly smile. “You’re welcome Harry, Harry Potter.”

You burst into fits of giggles, finding your small joke amusing. A faint blush creeps onto his face and Harry’s head shifts to the side in an attempt to hide it as he found you it adorable. Fortunately for him, you didn’t notice it but you noticed something instead and it wasn’t fortunate for him.

“Harry! Your hand’s bleeding!” You gasp as you reach out to his hand, lifting it up to your face to inspect it.

Harry winces at the sight of the blood, his scab had cut open supposedly from the harsh grip you had on him whilst you were running away before. It was only a minor cut and it didn’t really bother Harry whilst you reacted differently by shrieking as if he had lost a hand.

“What happened to your hand? Why do you have a scab?” You eye it closely, “It looks recent too.”

Harry scratches the back of his head with his other hand and stays silent, unsure on how to explain it to you that Professor Umbridge is a vile, old bat that enchanted a special quill to cut into his skin when he uses it. He also didn’t want you to worry too much and snitch on her to Dumbledore in case you would get in trouble.

Slightly frowning at his choice to ignore your question, you gently push him back to sit on a random obstacle as you rustle inside your school robes only to pull out a tiny first-aid box and kneel in front of Harry. You pick up a wound spray out of it and spritz it on his cut causing Harry to hiss at the slight pain.

Mumbling a quiet ‘sorry’ to him, you continue to dab the blood away, taking extra care not to deepen it. Once you saw that the cut was cleaned up, you pick up a plaster and place it on his cut, softly smoothing it out so that it sticks on properly.

Harry watches you intently as you smile to yourself feeling proud at your work, even if it simply was just tending to your aid. Harry lifts his hands up and stares at the plaster, it was girly for his liking as it was coloured a pastel purple and had a daisy pattern. He found it cute.

"It’s my friends,” Harry looks back at you. “Mine recently ran out so my friend lent me a few since I’m always getting into fights.” You bite your lip and look at Harry, waiting for a shocked reaction from him, he probably doesn’t expect you to be a troublesome girl.

“B-but for a good reason! I only fight the bad guys, y’know the bullies and all.” You stutter, trying to defend yourself. You began to bring up past events of you arguing with a Slytherin called Pansy and how it ended badly, showing him old bruises on your arm that were close to fading away. You then bring up another fight including a boy from your house and rambled on about how he blamed you for messing up a potion to which you secretly made it blow up in his face out of annoyance.

As you continue to rant, you didn’t notice Harry’s gaze on you. He knew all about you and how you are as a person, he knew this because he’s observed you for years. Harry figured that you didn’t know him too well as you saw him as a stranger but to him, you weren’t.

The two of you grew up in the same neighbourhood, practically living across from each other but a few houses down. Both of you also attended the same school and shared most classes together, yet throughout the years you didn’t seem to acknowledge his presence until now. 

This wasn’t a surprise to Harry as he was a quiet child and didn’t get on with the others in his year. He stayed reserved, spending most of his time in school sitting inside class with his teacher during break and lunchtime watching other children have fun. The teacher wouldn’t pay much attention to Harry but it didn’t bother him as he was much interested in watching you play on the field outside.

He was captivated by you. You were different from most girls in his year; you loved playing muggle sports as you would constantly single-handedly beat the boys at football. Gradually, he developed a crush on you. He would consistently hear stories from his classmates of how you would beat up bullies and stand up to anyone making fun of your friends, or rather anyone. You were strong for your age, in fact, you were always strong. 

Growing up, the stories would get crazier and Harry got a chance to witness it come alive. During one chilly December night, he stumbled upon the scene of you being harassed by two men. Irritated by their actions, Harry was about to call them out but in a blink of an eye; you quickly grab one of their arms and twist it, launching him over your shoulder and slammed him down on the ground. 

The other man shrieked in horror and ran away, bumping into Harry’s shoulder in the process. Satisfied, you calmly walk away from the groaning man and left a speechless Harry. From that moment onwards, his admiration for you tripled.

Not only were you strong, but you were also freakishly intelligent. Scoring ‘Outstanding’ grades in most of your classes to which you were one of the top students in Hogwarts, always positioning a place higher than Hermione (she hated that). 

Harry was abruptly pulled out of his thoughts as he sees you with your head tilted to the side, staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Hey, I asked if you were alright. Something wrong?”

“Oh, er, n-no. I was just thinking about something.”

“Ah,” You place your chin in both the palm of your hands, looking up at Harry. “Say, you haven’t told me how you got that scab. What happened?”

Harry sighed. “Umbridge.”

You roll your eyes, “Of course, I’m not surprised.” You stand up and sit beside Harry who scooches a bit to the side to make space. Although, due to how small the obstacle you guys were sat on, your hands were lightly brushing up against each other and Harry tried his best to keep calm and fight the uncontrollable blush.

“I don’t know why I’ve only just realised this but you were the guy that was with Cedric the night he died, right?” Harry turns his head to you, startled at the sudden change of topic. “And you’re the one who keeps saying that the Dark Lord has returned.”

No answer. Harry stays silent, he had a feeling that you were also going to make fun of him, call him a liar and walk off; forever ignoring his existence. But instead, he hears a soft giggle.

“Don’t worry, I believe you.”

Harry shoots you a confused look, “What, really?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”

“It’s just... mostly everyone doesn’t, and they bully me for it.”

You frown at the new information before your face relaxes. “I’m so sorry that’s been happening to you Harry...” Harry shrugs and you couldn’t help but start to feel bad. “I wish it was different. If there was a way for me to help, I would--”

Harry’s head perks up; “Then help me.”

“What? Harry, I barely know you.”

“But I know you.”

“You don’t even know my name--”

“Y/N, your name is Y/N Y/LN.”

“Okay, now that’s weird.”

Harry shakes his head, “It’s a long story but we grew up in the same neighbourhood and attended the same primary school.”

“Oh,” That made sense. You were beginning to think you had a stalker. “How come I’ve only just met you today?” 

“Must be a magic spell I put on myself to be invisible.”

You playfully nudge him. “Oh shut up, a kid that young wouldn’t have been able to learn the spell for it yet.”

You both laugh and for a moment, Harry’s troubles had disappeared and he was enjoying the company, your company. As the laughter fades away, Harry turns back to staring at you and you question him, “What?”

“So, will you help me? With the bullying?” 

You bite your lip and ponder for a few minutes. An hour ago, he was just a stranger to you (and whoa, has it already been an hour?) yet it felt like you guys had already met before, like fate had brought him to you and perhaps offered you both to initiate a friendship or more. Wait, what were you thinking? You’ve only just met the guy!

Your eyes meet up with his once more and he gazes at you softly, waiting for an answer. You couldn’t help but feel even more bad for Harry. What were you going to say?

“Okay.”

●●●

The next morning had arrived and like always, Harry had to deal with the usual weird looks and whispers from the students that passed by him in the halls. Ron and Hermione would instantly glare at them to which they’d shut up and walk off but they knew they’d start whispering again once they turned their backs away.

Frustrated at her best friend’s ignorance, Hermione pulls Harry’s arm back causing the three of them to stop in their tracks. “Harry, aren’t you going to say or do something about this? You can’t just ignore them!”

Harry whips his arm out of her grasp causing Hermione to frown. “It’s nothing to worry about, I’ll be alright.”

“Alright?! How could you possibly feel alright when everyone is going around making a mockery of you--”

“Well, well, if it isn’t Potter.” The three of them turn to see Draco and his two other delinquent friends walk up to them, a smug look plastered across Draco’s face. “Finding it difficult these days, aren’t we?”

Ron scoffs, “Screw off Malfoy.” He nudges Harry and a mumbles a ‘let’s just go Harry.’ as him and Hermione start to walk away but Harry stays put.

“You know, I’m surprised you haven’t had enough and dropped dead just like poor Ceddy. You can both die as cowards.”

Harry steps closer, glowering at Draco. “Don’t you dare talk about Cedric like that.” 

Draco also steps closer, their foreheads almost touching each other as anger boils up within them. “Or what?” He shoves Harry back by the shoulders causing him to lose a bit of his balance but luckily enough Ron and Hermione were a few meters away to catch him in time.

Standing back up, he was about to lunge at Draco with his fists clenched up ready to land a punch but before he could, he was interrupted by shouting. 

“Hey Draco!”

Everyone turns around and sees you up behind Draco whose head wasn’t turned around in time. He didn’t get the chance to acknowledge who the person calling his name was as you punched him square in the face making him stumble back in pain and tripped on his feet, landing hard on his back. 

The rest stood there in horror and utter shock, their mouths slightly opened as their minds were trying to register what had just happened. Harry couldn’t believe it, you stood up for him. Were you watching the situation unfold?

Draco groans and looks up at you, pinching the sides of his nose bridge in an attempt to control his now bleeding nose. “What the fuck--”

“For your information blondie, Harry and Cedric aren’t cowards.” You slowly lean over Draco, peering down at him with narrowed eyes as you smirk. “And neither am I.” You wink and reached into your robes before throwing tissues at him, Draco watches them fall to the ground and your figure walks away, a pleased look on your face.

You make your way to the trio whose eyes were focused on you. You stand in front of Harry and hand him a potion. Harry, still speechless, stares at the unknown potion in his hands.

“It’s Murtlap Essence,” You lightly tap the sides of his hands that had his scab from last night. “Soak your hand with that, it’ll heal it.”

A warm smile appears on his face, the sides of his eyes crinkled making it more genuine. He was so thankful, he couldn’t seem to think of words to express his gratitude. For years, he was yearning for you to acknowledge his presence and the time finally came, better than what he expected it to turn out to be.

But his smile was enough for your heart to flutter and you started to notice his presence was stronger than ever before, you didn’t know why you hadn’t known him before but at least from now on; the image of his smile would burrow itself in your mind. This would be enough to want to know him more.

The two of you stare at each other for what seems like forever and the other two clear their throats, feeling awkward and unsure what to do or say. You and Harry switch back to reality and the realisation of staring at each other for a while makes you both flustered.

“Thank you Y/N, for everything. You didn’t need to punch Draco though,” Harry laughs and so did the rest of you.

You shake your head, “Nah, that pompous brat deserved it. I made sure to punch him hard so his father would hear about it.” You joked, giggling afterwards.

You faintly smile and point past the trio, indicating that you were going to take your leave. “I’ll see you soon Harry, yeah?” 

He nods and you stroll past him, but not even several meters away until Harry calls out for you: “Hogsmeade. This Saturday, would you come with--”

“Yes.”

You hastily answer back without stopping or glancing back but the both of you knew each one had supported an excited smile, both now looking forward to the date that was soon coming up.

As Harry watches your figure get smaller further down the hallways, he felt his admiration for you become extremely stronger. He saw you as his saviour, back then when he was young and vulnerable but managed to make his childhood happy despite the problems occurring in his household. He saw you as his saviour right now, where he is older and still vulnerable with the bullying and all, but once again, you made his life worthwhile; he didn’t have to worry as much anymore.

He has you by his side now, and he’ll do anything to protect you in return as an act of kindness. Just like what you did by defending him back then.

[carlyfrombleachers]

EMOTION, because a CRJ blog needs to talk about EMOTION.

Some things in life are inevitable. Life, death, consumption of media, crying, interacting with others, and many other things, they are simply inevitabilities. Another inevitability is a Carly Rae Jepsen blog talking about EMOTION. It is something every blog-runner is eventually faced with, because of how impactful this record is for everyone who has listened to it. We will all write our EMOTION thinkpieces someday.

This post will only talk about the standard 12 tracks, Run Away With Me to When I Needed You. I will write about the Deluxe tracks (Black Heart, IDJCHTD, Favorite Colour, NGTHY, Love Again) some other time. Okay? Okay.

Also, I just realized my last two posts had the word “brilliance” on their titles. I do not know why that happened, maybe I’m a fan of the word, maybe they’re both brilliant! I don’t know. But the word “brilliance” is being banned from my titles from now on.

With that being said, let’s begin.

The First Three Tracks

I have talked about how important the first three tracks of an album are in my previous post, about Gone Now, but basically, the first three tracks are how they hook you, how they pull you in, how they make you stream it over and over. And EMOTION’s appetizers of Run Away With Me, EMOTION and I Really Like You are quite the solid ones. Run Away With Me wins every single “which is the best CRJ song” poll, so I really don’t want to talk about it, because I think everyone recognizes this is a good track. Personally, I think it is okay. Please don’t crucify me over this??? Thanks.

EMOTION is also a great track which I feel embodies what EMOTION (the album) is about. Which is why it shares a title with EMOTION (the album again). And this is what EMOTION (the album) is about. Emotion. I know, Queen of Subtlety, everyone please clap.

In all seriousness, EMOTION (the album!!!) is about love and the emotions that drive us. The love part is introduced with Run Away With Me, and the emotions, with EMOTION (the track). Run Away With Me is about unconditional love, about wanting to run away taking only the person you love the most. About forbidden love. About running away from all expectations and pursuing only love. EMOTION (the track again) is about evoking emotions in others, in those who you loved or still love, about wanting them to experience all emotions you two experienced together because you feel wronged by them.

And then we get to I Really Like You. I don’t like I Really Like You. You could say I Really Don’t Like It. And the fact it was the lead single? That’s just a weird choice. Sure, it’s catchy, and Tom Hanks is in the music video, but it’s just… not impactful enough? It’s very lovey-dovey, but that’s all it is. Love. Really Liking someone. There are better songs out there. But well, the first two tracks are so good, I think it hardly matters.

The Second Three Tracks..????

The middle of an album is weird. This is usually where themes are explored and pushed far. Lorde’s Melodrama features The Louvre, single Liability and Hard Feelings, where the themes of love shine through after their introduction through Green Light and Sober. Bleachers’ Gone Now features lead single Don’t Take The Money, along with Everybody Lost Somebody and All My Heroes. EMOTION’s tracks 4 through 6 are Gimmie Love, All That and Boy Problems.

These are weird tracks. The theme of love is very loosely present in all these songs, and the 80’s vibes shine very strongly here (especially in All That), but there is not much connecting all of them. Gimmie Love is about doing it with an ex, who you wish still loved you, All That is about being and doing everything for someone, and always being there for them, and then you have Boy Problems, which is, well, about how Boys Suck. The storyline of the record is confusing at best, much like Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia. Future Nostalgia, much like EMOTION, is an album about those cool disco vibes and there is not really a present, recurring theme shared between most of its tracks. The progression on EMOTION is basically, “I love you, let’s run away”, then “I hope you suffer, because I kind of want you back”, followed by “Hey, I like you!” which then becomes “let’s have sex”, and then “I want to always be here for you and do everything for you and everything about you is incredible”... only to be stopped by “hey men are kind of trash aren’t they?”, the progression is all over the place. A record doesn’t need to be composed of only tracks that tell a concise story, of course, and I’ll talk about what this means for EMOTION later on.

The Second Set Of Second Three Tracks

“When you need me / I will never let you fall apart / When you need me / I will be your candle in the dark”

This is for later, don’t worry. :)

Tracks 7 through 9 are also quite the odd bunch, with a bunch of odd tracks with zero correlation between each other. 

Making the Most of the Night is about being there for who you love no matter what, much like All That, with a sick beat instead of the more chill vibes. Your Type is a song about jealousy, one that is very welcome on EMOTION because it displays both themes of love and emotions very well. Your Type shines. It ranks very highly on every EMOTION ranking I see because it’s hard-hitting. “I’m not the type of girl for you / And I’m not going to pretend / I’m the type of girl you call more than a friend / And I break all the rules for you / Break my heart and start again / I’m not the type of girl you call more than a friend”? Damn. Let’s Get Lost is kind of meh. Run Away With Me did the whole “running away from everyone” deal a lot better. But I think it sets out to do a thing and it does the thing. Not particularly impressive, but it’s good.

I have seen people go insane because of someone saying their favorite EMOTION song was bad or annoying, so if you have felt personally offended by any of these, send me an ask. End all your asks with “+” so I know you hate me. It’s okay. My self-esteem is quite high nowadays. I also wish to keep track of which of you to watch out for. Unless you send them anonymously, of course. In that case, I hope I know how to evade you. I have seen this happen very frequently with people who like Let’s Get Lost, so that’s why I’m apologizing.

Why didn’t I apologize at the end, though? Well, it’s because the next three are my favorites.

The End: The Last Three Tracks

The last songs of an album are magical. All the themes shine after their exposition in earlier tracks, allowing the record’s message to be complete and meaningful. Of course, not every record needs to do this, but it’s a lot cooler if they do.

L. A. Hallucinations is a nice song about a love story that starts being interrupted because of fame and how impactful it is to one’s life, Warm Blood is this eerie-sounding track about creating this façade and hiding who you are, only to meet someone who makes you give up on everything because you wish to be completely truthful to them, and When I Needed You is the best Carly Rae Jepsen song. No, I am absolutely not biased, shut up.

I think the album’s title, and its theme of emotion, shine on the last tracks. The build-up for the closing track is simply wonderful, and it just ties everything together. The connections that opening and closing tracks (or simply first and second halves) have is a beautiful thing to witness. Let’s take Melodrama as an example, since I’ve been listening to it a lot lately.

Melodrama is divided into two main parts: Green Light through Hard Feelings, tracks 1 through 6; and Loveless through Perfect Places, tracks 6 through 11. The first half of the album is dedicated to Lorde sharing how she feels, how her breakup makes her feel, how harshly she feels everything. How she loved and how she is no longer loved, how she didn’t care about what happened to her as long as she was having fun and how she sees that what she was doing hurts herself. The second half is Lorde accepting that she is not loved by him anymore, that it is not really her fault and that she has to move on, knowing that her ex may or may not realize what he’s done. That’s why we get Sober II, when Sober was present in the first half, and Liability (Reprise), when Liability was also in the first half. The first half was about hurting and feeling awful, while the second part is about how you're not the only awful person out there. In Liability, Lorde believes wholeheartedly that she is a burden to everyone, that she is too much, that she needs to disappear, but in Liability (Reprise), she mocks such an idea, or perhaps even comes into terms with the fact that she is a liability, and then follows it up with “Whatcha gonna do?”, because if she admits such a thing and is not bothered by it, then it doesn’t matter. After reflecting on whether or not she’s a liability, she doesn’t care anymore.

EMOTION's When I Needed You is basically Melodrama's second half crammed into a single track, and oh, does it sound good. This track fixes every single problem I had with EMOTION's inconsistency, its contradictory themes. Because I can just argue that it's foreshadowing. This is the part where I argue that it's foreshadowing.

When I Needed You, And How Great Closing Tracks Are Important

When I Needed You basically turns EMOTION on its head. Everything about this track is straight up perfection. All the emotions that kept hiding from you and refusing to show themselves finally do in what is, in my opinion, the best closing track of any pop record.

It’s just… the way everything sounds, the amazing production, the lyrics, it’s all just… so perfect??? EMOTION (the track), Your Type and Boy Problems kind of don’t fit the theme of the rest of the record, they’re not about how amazing it is to be loved, and instead are about how painful it is (for EMOTION and Your Type) and how love does not matter (Boy Problems). When I Needed You somehow manages to tie all these themes together with stellar lyricism.

“Sometimes I wish that I could change / But not for me, for you / So we could be together forever” 

The sheer power of these lyrics, oh wow. Carly is just so tired of things not working out that she wishes to become someone else. She wants to be who she isn’t. All of that, just because she likes someone who doesn't like her for who she is.

“But I know, I know that I won’t change for you / ‘cause where were you for me? / When I needed someone / When I needed someone / When I needed you”

Very few records reach this level of… I don’t know. It’s hard to explain. But not every track can take the premise of “I wish I were someone else, but is it worth it?” and do it like When I Needed You does.

Remember what I said in All That, how I saved those lyrics for later? This is the part I bring them up.

“When you need me / I will never let you fall apart / When you need me / I will be your candle in the dark”

“[...] where were you for me? / When I needed someone [...] / When I needed you”

Carly wishes to be everything for someone in All That, she wishes to do literally anything for her lover, but in When I Needed You, she reveals her lover won’t do a single thing for her. Her lover does not care for her. And it doesn’t matter what she does, it doesn’t matter because she is not who she wants her to be.

I’m a Bleachers blog too, so I’m bringing Strange Desire up. I think Strange Desire, much like EMOTION, suffers from not having a very cohesive theme between all its tracks. Most of them are about love, and then you have I Wanna Get Better, and some more songs about love, but the album is quite… tame? It sets out to do something and it does it, and I like it.

The final track of Strange Desire, “Who I Want You To Love”, is quite the odd one. Whereas most songs in Bleachers’ first record are about wanting to see someone evolve while also struggling with evolving yourself, Who I Want You To Love is not really like that. It’s more like a “I give up” letter.

“I will love who you want me to love / Oh, I will bleed when you want me to bleed / But I don’t wanna know too much of anything / Because it all hurts me”

WIWYTL is simply about giving up. Going so far you don’t care about what happens to you. And it’s a perfect closing track for a record like Strange Desire. It has feeling. It has emotion. It has power, strong themes, a message. It’s beautiful. If you only come here for my CRJ content, I highly recommend you listen to Bleachers. It’s a bit wonky at first, but I’m sure you’ll love it if you give it a try.

Back to CRJ though, When I Needed You is an example of how to do a closing track. The weird, contradictory messages that popped up every now and then? It was self-doubt. Doubt that this relationship could grow. That maybe everything was not so great. She experiences a breakup, then falls in love again, and again, and again, only to realize she was changing too much for the people she loved, she was doing too much, and she doesn’t need to do too much. She needs to be happy and make others happy being herself, instead of changing who she is. And this is the main lesson you should take from this song: if you’re changing who you are just to satisfy someone you love, and you’re not happy with who you’re becoming, stop. It is not worth it.

I think every track has a message that can be taken from it, and the most important ones lie in Run Away With Me and When I Needed You. And I think that’s why so many people LOVE Run Away With Me. Because they love the message. Because of how beautiful the lyrics are, and because of how many people identify with wanting to run away with who they love, because they’re queer, because others would not understand, because being LGBT+ is seen as sinful. Or maybe it’s about sex, and that’s what the sinning implies, but I like my (and many other people’s) interpretation better.

Well, that’s all I have for today! Have a great month and happy holidays. As we approach December, I might start pumping out extra content, potentially talking about other records I love (Melodrama lol) or some other things I feel like you (my beautiful lovely readers) might enjoy! If there’s an album you want me to listen to, feel free to send me recs through the asks function! Goodbye.

[wolfpawn]

I Hate You, I Love You, Chapter 81

Chapter Summary -   Tom calls Danielle with an emergency with Mac leading to them talking a little again.

Previous Chapter

Rating - Mature (some chapters contain smut)

Triggers - references to Tom Hiddleston’s work with the #MeToo Movement. That chapter will be tagged accordingly.

authors Note - I have been working on this for the last 3 years, it is currently 180+ chapters long.  This will be updated daily, so long as I can get time to do so, obviously

tags: @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog @jessibelle-nerdy-mum @nonsensicalobsessions @damalseer @hiddlesbitch1 @winterisakiller @fairlightswiftly @salempoe​ @wolfsmom1​

If you wish to be tagged, please let me know.

Two days, it had been two days since the argument and Danielle leaving, and if he was honest, Tom felt as miserable about it, if not worse since then. She had not made contact with him while he was sitting in the house that did nothing but remind him of her. Her parents' clock ticking in the living room, her books among his own, even her laundry, which he brought to the laundrette as well as his own, he just wanted to know where he stood. He thought a lot about what Ben had said, he was right, he could only accept what Danielle decided, so though he wanted to know, he waited, badgering her would only end in more arguing and perhaps a wrong decision. Parking his car after meeting with the fitters for his Gucci suits and casual wear for the Milan show, he walked back into the house, bird food in hand. He thought with Danielle gone, the birds would need more food, so he had taken a photo of the food she had been using and went and retrieved some more.

When he went into the house, he noticed a large clump of fluff in front of him, grey in colour. Frowning, he looked at it for a moment, then going into the kitchen and putting the birdfeed on the counter before going back into the hall to investigate it further. To his shock, it was one of a few clumps, which seemed to be clinging to anything in their way, one at the living room door telling him that it as more than likely coming from in there. He opened the door and his eyes widened. There were several more clumps, some of grey, some of tan colour, and in the middle of them, a panting Mac Tíre, who seemed very uncomfortable. It was then, as another grey clump stuck up on the dog's back, did Tom realise he was the source of the fluff invasion. Concerned, he tried to think if Mac had ingested something on their walk earlier in the day, but couldn't think of anything. As Mac sat up and scratched, more fur came out in large clumps before he shook himself, his fur flying different directions.

Part of Tom thought to bring him to the vet and say nothing to Danielle, knowing that if there was an issue, she would only be worrying, but he knew the right thing to do, so taking out his phone, he got up her number and pressed dial.

"Hello." he was startled when another voice answered.

"Is Danielle there?"

"Sure, I'll…wait, are you Tom?"

To be honest, Tom was shocked the other girl guessed him. "Yes."

He could hear her purse her lips, "Is it important?"

Tom stared at the phone screen for a second, the girl on the other side clearly knew about Danielle's argument with him and was giving him attitude regarding him contacting her. "It is actually, yes, it is about her dog, so please could you put her on."

He heard a muffling noise on the other end of the phone as well as a voice in the distance. "He's politer than I thought," he heard the mystery girl state. "He said it is to do with the dog."

"Give me that," He heard the phone being moved around. "Tom?"

"Elle," for a moment, relief filled him at even hearing her say his name. "Hi."

"Hey." there was an awkwardness to her voice. "Siobhan said that you said something about Mac."

"Yes," Tom snapped himself out of his daze. "He is…well, I think he is sick."

"Right, what has happened, tell me what he is doing and what he did over the past twenty-four hours." her tone became serious.

"Honestly, I am racking my brain, but I cannot think of anything out of the ordinary, he's only had his usual food, he has not had a chance to eat anything in the park." Tom sounded half frantic.

"Okay," Danielle stated in her best 'paramedic in an emergency' voice, "What exactly is he doing? Throwing up, having seizures?"

"His hair, it is falling out in huge clumps."

"You mean there are bald patches?"

"No, not that I can see," There was silence on the other end of the phone, "Elle?"

"Tom," her tone was far less concerned. "Is it really really soft fur, almost like a cotton texture?"

Tom picked some up and felt it. "Yes." he was unsure what he expected to be Danielle's reply, but her erupting in laughter was not what he expected. "How is this funny?" That seemed to only set her off more.

"I am so sorry Tom." though she still had a laughing tone to her voice, she seemed somewhat remorseful for something. "God, you've been freaking out, I am so sorry."

"It's not a problem?"

"No, Jesus, I am terrible, I forgot to tell you."

"Tell me what?" He asked worriedly.

"German Shepherds shed."

"What?"

"They are nicknamed by owners as German Shedders, they have this weird fluffy undercoat for the winter, every spring it starts to shed in huge fluff balls."

Tom felt sheepish. "Really?"

"Yes, certain breeds do it, Shepherds, Huskies, Malamutes, it's awkward, annoying and hairy, but it is totally normal."

"So I don't need to bring him to the vet?"

"No, I will Google groomers, they will take what is able to be removed from him."

"How long does it take?"

"The shedding? A few weeks."

"He has the place covered." Tom looked around, in one day, the dog had infested the living room with fluffy clumps.

"I am so sorry Tom, if it is too much bother, send him to the kennels if he is wrecking the place."

"No, it's fine, it's not like he does it on purpose, I was just worried."

"You're too good." He could hear Danielle smiling on the other end. "Is he doing okay?"

"Yeah, apart from giving me a carpet I never actually wanted," Danielle laughed at that, "He misses you, obviously, but I got him a toy, a Kong, it's called, he loves it."

"They are great, I can imagine him with it. I miss him too."

"How is Ireland?" Tom asked, noting sadly how she didn't say she missed him. "You told that girl about me."

"Yeah, that's my cousin Siobhan. She asked why I came early and we got talking a bit more."

"She knew my name, does she…?"

"Yes, she knows you are you," Danielle answered.

"When did you…?"

"When I arrived, we got talking in the car, so I told her about you."

"Will she…?"

"No, she won't, she told me something, something that is seriously… God, it is just so stressful…"

"Elle?" Tom asked, hearing the stress in her voice.

"It's fine, just family crap."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I just wish I had you…" Tom's heart fluttered for a moment. "I wish I didn't have to deal with it." Though he was saddened with her alteration, he was glad to hear her slight admission, it gave him some hope. "You nearly ready for Milan?"

Shocked that she was asking him such a thing, he smiled. "Yes, yes, we are after getting the final fitting for the suits, they are quite nice, I think you'd like them."

"That's good, are they being done there or…"

"No, the measurements are sent to Milan so I don't have to drag them across."

"Very handy." There was a moment of silence on both ends of the phone. "Thank you for calling Tom."

"I was worried."

"I know, but thank you for thinking to tell me."

"I am glad I did, could you imagine the face of the girl in the vets if I rang or ran in with…" he stopped speaking because Danielle erupted in all-out laughter once more at the other end of the line, causing him to chuckle. "Yeah."

It took a full minute for her to stop. "God, I would have paid to see that."

"Yes, and God forbid if someone realised who I was."

"Yes, that would have been funny to read." Danielle's tone altered slightly. "It's good talking to you again, Tom."

"Likewise." Tom agreed, forcing himself to not say anything for a few moments, knowing what he would say if he did. "I was talking to Ben the day after you left."

"How is Sophie?"

"Ready for the baby to be born."

"I'd bet. I cannot wait for it to get here, I may have gone to the shops again."

"Jesus, you don't even know what they are having."

"I know, I may have bought a bit of both gender stuff, but let's face it, at my age, I know a few people having kids, it'll get used." She dismissed. "My final results may come during the week; if you're home when they do, could you…"

"Of course, I will put them somewhere safe."

"Actually, I was going to ask if you could call me?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, I am so anxious about them."

"Why, you worked so hard?"

"Exactly, I am terrified it wasn't enough, I know I won't be able to just wait, I will be restless."

"If I am home, I will ring you," Tom swore.

"Thank you." Danielle's genuine gratitude was obvious. "How are you?"

"Fine, yeah, just busy getting ready."

"Have you attempted the washing machine?" Tom did not respond, causing Danielle to laugh a little. "You're going to have to get used to doing it, you know."

Tom felt his heart sink at that implication. "Yeah, I suppose."

"Thank you for ringing Tom, it was good to hear your voice."

"You sound tired."

"I am, I'm not getting much sleep."

"What…?"

"My aunt, she is making things really difficult here."

"I would have thought, with everything…"

"No, she hasn't focused on anything other than…well, I don't want to annoy or bore you, let's just say it is hard work with her here at the moment, I really…" He heard Danielle inhale deeply. "Your call was actually really well-timed."

"Glad I could be of service," Tom joked slightly.

"I better go here, costing us both a fortune in international calls, thank you for calling Tom, if he has any issue, call me, okay?"

"I promise, if you need to…if you want to check on him, I can send a picture." � "I'd like that, thank you."

"Bye Elle."

"Bye Tom."

Hearing her say his name like that broke Tom's heart, she seemed so upset. He looked around at Mac, "She wants you to go to the groomers hairy boy." Mac's ears went up. "You need it."

*

Danielle looked at the phone in her hand, cursing herself for being so weak, so many times in the phone call she came too close to telling Tom she was sorry and that she wanted him there. It felt so good to hear his voice, to be able to talk to him.

"You are cracking," Siobhan commented.

Danielle looked at her. "No, just rose-tinted glasses."

"He sounds really nice."

"He is." Danielle looked at the picture on her screen, it didn't show Tom's face, but it was his back and Mac as the pair sat on a hill looking over the Welsh countryside from the time he visited her on set in Wales.

"So, why not forgive his 'booboo'?"

"Because I have to have some self-respect."

"You're so fucking stubborn." Siobhan scoffed. "You'll end up alone if you don't cop on." Danielle just looked at the phone for another moment, but before she could do anymore, Siobhan looked out the window. "Mam's back."

"Fuck." Readying herself for another battle, Danielle thought for another second about Tom before putting her phone away.

[the-rebel-archivist]

Breaking the Cycle

Have a little Dad!Anders this morning!

Prompt: Legacy: The LI’s thoughts as they watch Hawke discover and learn about their father wishing their child would not be a mage. 

“Look, Varric, he’s so clever already!” Hawke said excitedly as she magicked a small tongue of flame just out of reach of her son, who was trying to reach it with his tiny, chubby fingers.

“He’s got your self-preservation instincts, I’ll give you that.” The dwarf grimaced as he gingerly handed the baby to her as though it was a ticking bomb, then wiped his hands discreetly on his pants. Hawke didn’t seem to notice, or maybe she just didn’t care; she generally refused to hold any babies who weren’t Liam as well. Varric hadn’t had much of a choice when she had thrust him into his arms and looked glad to be rid of him.

She smiled at the infant, who smiled back with a wide, toothless grin. “You’re a charmer just like your daddy, aren’t you?” she said with a laugh and a tilt of her head towards Anders. “Who’s the best little tainted fade baby in the whole wide world? You are!”

He hated when she called him that. It was a reminder that Liam should by rights never have existed, between his Grey Warden taint and her inadvertently carrying him physically through the Fade. The descriptor also brought to mind memories of the Wardens at Weisshaupt trying to ‘convince’ them to stay so that they could study the miracle child. It was not fair, not to him, not to Hawke, and especially not to Liam. And so they had run, perhaps unwisely, straight to Kirkwall and entered Varric’s new viscount residence under cover of darkness. 

“Hello, Thedas to Blondie? She’s asking you if you can take the fledgling for a bit. I could use her help down at the docks to clean up some of the mess you made.” Varric’s words roused him from his thoughts and he locked eyes with his partner, who stared back with more seriousness and concern than she usually did.

“You can, can’t you, Anders?” There was hesitation, maybe even some fear in her voice. He didn’t like that he had put it there.

“Of course he can, Hawke, it’s his kid too,” Varric said as he moved to collect his crossbow, already presuming his answer. 

Anders understood Hawke’s reticence. It had been two months and he still hadn’t bonded with the baby. Sure, he held him and took his fair share of turns caring for him so that she could sleep, even changed diapers, but he didn’t play with him the way she did. In truth, he was afraid to.

He nodded and told her to be careful.

“Haven’t found a scrape I couldn’t get out of yet,” she said with a wink as she placed their son in the crook of his arm. The child began to cry as soon as she wasn’t holding him; her mouth turned down briefly and she looked as though she wanted to snatch him back. 

“We’re going to be fine, love,” he told her. Kissing the boy’s forehead, she told him to be good - whether she meant him or the baby was anyone’s guess - and then walked out with Varric quickly before she could lose her resolve.

The sitting room was small and richly furnished, albeit for someone with exceedingly poor taste; either Varric had done it as a joke or had retained the gaudy furnishings from the estate’s previous owners and never bothered to redecorate. Without Hawke in the room, confined as it was, it seemed somehow massive and empty. He sat down on a couch covered in a pattern with colours that he thought clashed horribly, but someone must have imagined looked nice. Liam began to cry again and Anders held out his hand to try to distract him. When the boy took his finger in his surprisingly strong little hand, he turned his head down to him and studied the boy.

“He looks so much like you,” Hawke had said when he was born. He could see it now; Liam had fine, downy blond hair and a nose that, while currently tiny and straight, looked as though it might curve like his with time. They had wondered if he would have magic. It seemed likely, but the Maker so often laughed at the plans of mortals that there could be no certainty. It was such an odd turn of events - both of them hoped that he would be a mage. Hoped. He could never have imagined such a thing when he had been in the Circle. But if they were to live as two apostates on the run, why not make it three?

The words of Malcolm Hawke to Hawke’s mother in the Grey Warden prison in the Vimmark Mountains rang in his ears. “I hope it takes after you, love. I would wish this magic on no one.” She hadn’t. He remembered the way her face had fallen when she heard his hope for her. There had always been some reverence in the way that she referred to her father before that, a degree of hero worship, even. He had kept her and her sister hidden and had taught them all he could about how to master their abilities. But he hadn’t wanted any of it. When her father came up in conversation after that her words about him were always carefully neutral, skirting around anything that could remind her of how she now knew he had felt. She had refused to speak of that part of the adventure for weeks until one evening when they had lain down to sleep and everything was quiet. He had almost drifted off to sleep when he heard her voice.

“Do you think he even wanted me at all, Anders?” she asked him. “Having me forced them to run. And then I was the opposite of what he wanted.”

“Your father? Don’t be ridiculous, of course he did.” He had pulled her against him, breathing in the slight scent of lilacs that seemed to follow her and running his fingers down the softness of her bare back as he let her tell him what she had bottled up for so long.

“He wanted me to be normal. Not like I am. Not like him. I didn’t piece it together until now. We realized I was a mage when I boiled some water without a fire because I was impatient and it took too long. He left on a weeklong trip for the city the day after and made it seem like it had been planned. I don’t think it was anymore.

“My magic… it’s wonderful. It’s who I am. It’s woven into the fabric of my existence. I can’t imagine wishing to deprive me of it. I know Bethy didn’t always like it, but I wonder sometimes if she would have been happy with it if it hadn’t needed to be so secret, if it was more accepted.

“I’m glad that we won’t have children. But if by some miracle we did, I would want it to have what I have. What we have. Maybe it’s selfish. But hang consequences.” 

He hadn’t agreed then. The concept was nice, a family sharing magic, understanding each other, but in practice was it right to hope for someone to live in constant fear? There seemed to be no certainty for anyone, mage or not, now though. It hadn’t seemed to matter at the time anyway.

Liam was falling asleep, his blinks growing longer and longer. He still gripped Anders’ finger tightly. They hoped that he would be a mage, but what if he weren’t? Some feeling deep within him told him that setting an expectation of what he would be in order for them to be happy was unjust. Whatever he was, whether he was magical or not, it would be enough. They would love him just the same. He would love him.

He paused in his thoughts and stared unseeingly at the wall. He loved him. But he had done such a poor job of showing it. When Hawke had been upset by her father’s words, he had felt only envy for her. At least she hadn’t lost Malcolm’s love. She hadn’t been turned in by her own father, shackled by Templars in front of her mother and hauled away, because of an unchangeable, innate part of her being.

The way he didn’t seem able to talk to or play with his son - it was how his father had treated him. It was unjust. It was wrong. He was only a child, he hadn’t chosen to be born with magic. Liam was just as innocent. 

He held the baby closer and quietly sang a lullaby his mother had sung to him when he was small. He would do better. Justice demanded it. As long as he drew breath Liam would never feel as alone as he and Hawke had.

[rkiverse]

otoñal - 2 | jjk

previous → Chapter 2 → next

Pairing | Jeon Jungkook x Reader

Genre | fluff, angst + professor!jungkook, college!au, and very strong e2l!au

Warnings | for future chapters, there will be explicit language, lots of bantering, and lots of pining :-)

Summary | Of all the women Jeon Jungkook can have, he goes for the ones he can’t. And so when he’s faced with an arranged marriage, his best buddies come to the rescue with a proposition that leaves him with no choice but to go with. Little did he know, said ‘proposition’ has something to do with a student he doesn’t get along with quite well.

→ to get into the mood of this series, i highly suggest listening to this!

Word Count | 4k+ words

Namjoon’s startled when he hears Jungkook slam the door shut. He eyes Jungkook as he trudges his way towards his work station. Dark circles are evident around his doe-eyes and Namjoon can’t help but wonder what must have kept the younger one up at night.

“Pulled an all-nighter, I assume?” Namjoon decides to spark up a conversation. Jungkook’s putting on his lab goggles before shaking his head in reply, chuckling softly.

“Had a very interesting talk with my parents at the dinner table last night,” he explains. “I couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

“It must bother you that much, huh?” Jungkook hums in reply.

Jungkook lets out a tiring sigh. At this point, Jungkook has lost count of the times he’s sighed ever since he got to campus. Unfortunately, he had only gotten three hours of sleep and he was still late.

As he places his sample underneath the microscope, he gives it a good look before prying his eyes away from it. It couldn’t hurt telling an upperhand what was going on in your life, right?

He hesitates. “My parents think my dating life is boring and that I’m probably going to die single.”

Namjoon bursts out into laughter. “That’s what kept you up all night?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” he tries to laugh it off with Namjoon, but he can’t help but ponder on it. “But it’s true, and I don’t know if I should be concerned.”

“But you’re only twenty-three, why rush?” Namjoon questions.

“My parents are planning to set me up with an arranged marriage.” Jungkook shrugs his shoulders.

Namjoon almost chokes on his spit. He tears his eyes away from his microscope and he places his tools down before he wrecks something out of shock.

“You parents are what?!”

“____, do you mind having a word with me after class today?”

You abruptly stop in your tracks. As your eyes meet your professor’s, you quickly nod your head before scurrying to your seat that Hoseok’s saved for you. The whole class erupts into whispers that are most likely about you and you can’t help but pull at the strings of your hoodie, hoping that it’ll make you disappear.

“You literally just stepped into the class and Professor Jeon’s already breathing down your neck.”

You hit Hoseok’s arm and he lets out a muffled yelp into his sweater paws. You watch Professor Jeon as he starts to pull up a PowerPoint presentation for today’s lecture. He rolls up the sleeves of his black button-up shirt and you hear the class erupt into whispers. He has veins travelling up his arm and you can’t help but look away.

“Seriously though,” Hoseok whispers. “What did you do to have Professor Jeon hate you that much?”

You pout. “A coffee stain on his white button-up shirt, apparently.”

Professor Jeon turns around to face the class and he clasps his hands together. As he begins to briefly talk about today’s lecture while the PowerPoint loads, you take this as a chance to get a good look of the classroom itself. You notice how all the females are seated near the front of the auditorium, and all the males are seated near the back. You also notice how the females barely have any laptops with them, and instead, opted for a pen and notebook for note-taking.

You snap out of your thoughts when Professor Jeon clears his throat. “I’ve also marked your quizzes, and since this quiz is worth five percent of your mark, I decided to lightly mark your work.”

“Lightly,” Hoseok scoffs to himself. “On my other quiz, he deducted points because I wasn’t too detailed in my explanation.”

“The class did fairly well, but as the course progresses on, I’m going to expect a bit more from each and every one of you.” Professor Jeon explains. “Are we good with that?”

The whole class agrees and it prompts him to begin his lecture. You pull out your laptop and open a new word document. As you begin to type away, you could feel Hoseok nudging your arm.

You glance at him. “Why do you think he does surprise quizzes?”

“To make people come to class?” You shrug your shoulders.

“Good point.” Hoseok nods his head as he scribbles down the notes from each slide. “His notes aren’t even helpful. Maybe that’s why I’ve been bombing the quizzes.”

Professor Jeon switches to the next slide of his presentation. The great thing about taking notes with your laptop was that 1. you’re a fast typer and 2. it hid you from your professors. However, Professor Jeon takes notice of how you’re practically hiding behind your 13-inch laptop screen and he can’t help but smirk.

He clears his throat. “____, do you remember the term we used from yesterday’s lecture?”

You jump in your seat, completely alarmed. You look up from your laptop and your eyes meet Professor Jeon’s. You gulp nervously. “Immunological memory?”

He smiles, nodding his head. “Correct.”

You let out a sigh of relief before leaning back in your seat, letting yourself slowly sink down into it. Hoseok bursts out into soft giggles and you send a glare at him.

“He really is out to get you,” Hoseok mumbles.

“He really is.” You groan.

“He barely calls out anyone in the class,” he mutters. “He must’ve chosen you as a target.”

Almost an hour passes and the lecture is about to finish. Hoseok glances at his watch before letting out a small gasp. You raise an eyebrow at him and he shows you the time. Your eyes slightly widen and the both of you start to quickly take all the notes down before class time runs out.

“I’ll end the lecture here, but please, pick up your quiz before heading to your next lecture!”

The whole class starts to gather their things. You’re too busy shoving your laptop into your backpack while Hoseok’s trying to shove all his coloured pens into his pencil case. Both of you had a lecture right after this one and it only meant that you only had five minutes to run across campus to get to the classroom. It was unfortunate that the next class you both shared was on the other side of campus, and the only time it was offered was after Immunology class.

As the both of you scurry down to the front of the classroom to pick up your quizzes, you hear your name being called out. You look up to see Hoseok waving at you. He has both of your quizzes in his hand. You sigh with relief, catching up to him before you hear your name being called out again.

You stop in your tracks. You look over your shoulder to see Professor Jeon. As you let out a sigh, you turn towards Hoseok. “Go ahead, I’ll be late. Save me a seat.”

Hoseok purses his lips into a tight line. “Don’t worry. I’ll save you a seat.”

Biting your lip, you face Professor Jeon. “Is there a reason why you wanted to see me, sir?”

“Yes.” He replies. “It’s about your quiz marks.”

You furrow your eyebrows in confusion. There’s nothing wrong with your marks in the course, as you’ve been acing all of the quizzes so far. “My… quiz marks?”

“Yes. I noticed that you’ve been doing really well in the class and I was wondering if you’ve had any background in immunology.” He explains.

You nod your head. “My father was an immunology major when he was in university. He’s taught me everything he knows ever since I was a kid.”

“Interesting,” he hums in reply. “Well, that’s not the only thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh,” you mumble. “What else did you want to talk about, sir?”

“The Dean of the faculty called for a meeting with all the professors and talked about implementing class presidents in each class.” He says as he erases the chalkboard. Once he finishes erasing the board, he places the eraser back onto the ledge and glances at you. “And I was wondering if you could be the class president.”

“Me? Class president?” You question.

“Are you interested?” He asks as he dusts off the remaining chalk from his hands.

“Well, I’m quite busy with my other courses so I won’t be able to take such a huge responsibility.”

He squints his eyes in suspicion. “Well, you do owe me.”

You raise an eyebrow and watch him as he begins to smirk. You scoff. “Owe you? Since when do I owe you?”

He starts counting with his fingers. “You owe me for my white shirt, for my car, my parking spot… right, and also for questioning my job position as a professor.”

As you start to laugh nervously, you scratch the back of your neck. “Right. Well then, I’ll get right to it, sir.”

He grins. “Great.”

“You’re really out here to get me,” you mutter underneath your breath.

“What was that?” He asks innocently.

“Nothing!” You yelp.

“Well then,” he throws his bag over his shoulder and shoves his hands into his pockets. “I’ll see you tomorrow then, class president.”

“Namjoon, please, just help me out.” Hoseok pleads.

Namjoon’s busy reading his novel. At this point, Hoseok’s run out of solutions. At first, he had thought that immunology was an easy course, the bird course he had only ever dreamt of taking. Everyone had said that the course was easy and it helped boost their gpa. But surprise, surprise, Hoseok has been bombing all the quizzes so far and even the help he was getting from you wasn’t even helping him at all.

“You know the professor, can’t you just help me out by getting some notes for me?” Hoseok begs.

Namjoon sighs. “Look, I know we’re best friends and I’d do anything for you. But the things you’re asking me to do is impossible.”

Hoseok pouts. “You’re such an ass. All you have to do is just ask Professor Jeon to give you some notes for his class because of some made up reason then hand it to me.”

“And you think Jungkook’s going to buy this ‘made up reason’?”

“At this point, I’ll do anything to pass this course.”

Namjoon sighs. “You know, all you have to do is go to his office hours, ask him for help, and he’ll help you. He’s not an asshole who’ll just dismiss you before you could even speak.”

“But he’s completely unapproachable,” he whines. “He’s literally out to get my best friend and I’m pretty sure he’ll be out to get me.”

“Here’s where you’re wrong,” Namjoon shuts his novel and places it onto the coffee table. “First of all, Jungkook’s definitely approachable, he’s just the shy type.”

“Shy?” Namjoon nods his head.

“He’s a shy twenty-three year old, cut him some slack.”

Hoseok gasps. “He’s only twenty-three?”

Namjoon chuckles. “Yes, a twenty-three year old professor who’s somehow single.”

Hoseok falls silent. Namjoon could almost hear the gears turn in Hoseok’s head. But before it dawns on him, Hoseok’s already beating him to it.

“Forget what I just said.”

“Did you just say that he’s single?”

Namjoon curses to himself. “Yes, he’s single.”

“And ready to mingle?”

“Well, he is being set up in an arranged marriage that he’s completely against but―” Namjoon cuts himself off and slaps a hand over his mouth.

Hoseok’s in complete shock. He has his mouth hung open. Namjoon knows that he’s fucked up and that he can’t take back what he’s said. However, Hoseok clamps his mouth shut and begins to pace back and forth in Namjoon’s living room.

“Please don’t tell anyone,” Namjoon begs.

“So, you said that Professor Jeon―I mean, this Jungkook dude―is being set up in an arranged marriage against his will?” Hoseok questions. Namjoon nods.

“Hoseok―”

“I have a plan.” Hoseok interrupts him.

“A plan?”

Hoseok grins. “I have a plan that will give us all the benefit of the doubt.”

“Who do you exactly mean by all?” Namjoon asks.

“It will benefit Jungkook’s love life, it will improve my declining grades, it will save ____’s ass from being roasted by Jungkook, and you won’t lose your friendship with Jungkook.”

“Jung Hoseok, what do you have planned under your sleeve?” Hoseok’s grin gets wider.

“Thank me later.”

It’s been a couple of weeks since the whole campus became aware of the ‘class president’ concept. Professor Jeon had another meeting with you regarding the duties you have to fulfill as class president. Every Friday, you had to conduct a brief one-on-one meeting with Professor Jeon to outline any struggles the class has been going through in terms of course content. Before each class, you have to arrive fifteen minutes early to help Professor Jeon set up. At this point, with all the time you have with Professor Jeon, you wouldn’t be surprised if all your female classmates would die to be in your position.

But as the weeks pass, you guess you could say that the coffee stain and parking lot incident has been forgotten.

“Class president.”

You stop in the hallway. You look over your shoulder to see Professor Jeon standing a couple of metres away from you. “Yes, sir?”

“I know I told you that I didn’t need help setting up for today’s lecture, but I need help bringing a few things to class.”

You inwardly sigh. “Alright, sir.”

As the both of you head to his office, you could see Professor Jeon glancing at you from the corner of your eye. You look up at him and he quickly looks away. Professor Jeon covers it up with a cough.

He shoves his hands into his pockets. “So, what’s your major?”

“I’m a physics major.” You reply.

He looks surprised. “And yet you took my class?”

You nod. “Although I’m completely invested in the world of physics, I do have an interest in Immunology. My father loved Immunology, and I guess I wanted to live on his legacy.”

The both of you reach his office and as you walk in, you marvel at his bookshelves with all the Immunology textbooks your father used to read to you. You snap out of your trance when you feel a heavy stack of books being placed in your arms.

“Mr. Jeon?”

Out of curiosity, you turn towards the owner of the voice. It’s a classmate of yours. She hesitantly steps into the office, hugging her textbook to her chest. Professor Jeon looks quite surprised at her sudden presence, making him place down the books in his arms.

She clears her throat. “I know it’s not office hours but I have a really important question to ask.”

He folds his arms. “My office hours were yesterday, did you not set aside some time to make it to my office hours? Class is starting in a couple of minutes.”

“I just need you to clarify a diagram in the textbook. It’s not the same as the one you used in the slides―”

“I thought I made myself clear in the syllabus that the diagrams presented in lecture are the ones to be followed.” He cuts her off.

You purse your lips into a tight line. As you fix the stack of books in your arms, you slowly head towards the door.

“Professor Jeon?” You say softly, and he glances at you. His face filled with annoyance softens. You point at the door. “I’ll start heading to class. Is this all I have to bring?”

He nods his head. “Yes, just place them on the table. Thanks again, ____.”

Just before you leave his office, you make eye contact with the girl. She looks at you suspiciously before sticking her tongue out at you. Your eyebrows raise in surprise, and just as you turn on your heel, you could see the girl intentionally lean over Professor Jeon’s office desk from the corner of your eye.

You could only scoff. Right. Lately, the lecture auditorium has been overly packed due to all the female students trying to find a closer seat to get a good look of Professor Jeon. Some of them were your classmates, and some of them just heard all the gossip about a young, handsome immunology professor teaching down the hall. You couldn’t blame them, Professor Jeon did look handsome. And young. And very attractive. Wait, what’s going on with you?

But then it dawns on you. Before you even know it, you’re sprinting down the hall to get to the auditorium before all the seats are taken and you end up sitting in the aisles.

“I’m not interested.”

Hoseok tugs at your arm, pulling you back into his dorm. You use all of your power to shrug him off, but it only results in him pulling at your arm again. As you let out a tiring sigh, you face him in defeat.

“It all makes sense, ____!” Hoseok exclaims.

“How does forcing me, your best friend, to go on a blind date make sense? I’m not interested in dating, did I not make that clear for the past half hour?”

Hoseok pouts. “Listen, ____. I just need you to go out on a blind date with Namjoon’s best buddy and in return, he’ll help us ace Professor Jeon’s course.”

“Why can’t you just study? Is it that hard? Has our study sessions not helped at all?” You question, huffing out a strand of hair away from your face.

“I’ve been studying! It’s just that Professor Jeon hates my ass,” he frowns. “It’s like the moment he sees my name on a test paper, he automatically marks hard.”

“Maybe you’re not trying hard enough,” you argue.

“Do you not feel bad for me the slightest bit?”

You ponder. You shake your head. “Nope. Not even the slighest bit.”

“____!” He whines. “Please, just one blind date, and we can put it all behind us.”

“Just one?” He nods his head.

“Just one!” He places his hands on your shoulders and you feel your shoulders slump at the sudden heaviness. “Please, ____? I’ll do anything in return.”

“Anything?”

“Anything.”

“Like doing my laundry for the rest of the year?”

Hoseok nods his head. “Anything.”

“Like sharing the notes with me once Namjoon gives them to you?”

“Anything, ____.”

You pry Hoseok’s hands off your shoulders. As you push him aside, you make your way towards his kitchen. Grabbing a bottle of soju from his fridge, you look over your shoulder to see him still standing at the door, looking very lost.

You tilt your head. “So, when’s the date?”

[scribeofmorpheus]

Safe by My Side

Paring: Dean Winchester x Reader

For the SPOOKTOBER 2018 Competition

Requested by @smallmarvel : For your Halloween fic celebration, could I request a little Dean Winchester x reader where they go to a haunted house and Dean is acting all cool but one of the jump-scares get him? And the reader ends up "protecting" him in the haunted house even though Dean said it'd be the other way around.

Words: 3167

Warnings: Playful teasing, uhhh??? Maybe pining? Maybe?

A/N:  I wanted the reader to have this playful (almost flirtatious) banter between herself and Dean and I’m not sure if I succeeded but I loved making Cas pop out of nowhere and trying to make it a little more outrageous each time. I sorta changed up the jump scare bit, but it still kinda counts. I haven’t written anything Dean-centric in years so I may be rusty, this was written with the younger, less tortured Dean in mind.

The younger Winchester brother had dark circles under his eyes and was buried beneath a mound of papers and books. He looked exhausted.

"According to the news reports, several people were found dead after visiting a Haunted House attraction in Iowa. Eyewitnesses say they all just collapsed and turned pale. The current theory is that they all suffered from cardiac arrest," Sam informs you and Dean about the latest string of strange deaths that caught his attention. "Which is odd because all the victims seemed perfectly healthy."

Dean offered a cup of coffee to Sam -who accepted it graciously- before he took a sip from his own steaming cup, he looked far more rested than Sam, although you could tell he too was not at his best because he had let his scruff grow out more than usual. You had opted for tea that morning in fear of having a caffeine overdose -your hands were shaking plenty as it was.

"Young, healthy people suddenly dying of heart attacks… sound familiar to you?" Dean quirked a brow at his brother, undoubtedly a reference to a previous case they had worked. "We thinking Reapers again?"

Sam simply shook his head, "Official reports said heart attack, but have you ever seen a heart attack do this?"

Sam pointed at his computer screen and both you and Dean leaned in closer to get a better picture. An image of one of the victims was on display on an online forum run by fans of the occult. The image showed a young man, skin drained of almost all colour, his eyes red and hair a ghostly shade of white. A look of pure horror frozen onto his face as his lips were permanently set in a forever scream.

"Yikes," was all Dean said.

"Yikes indeed, which also means cause of death is not a heart attack or a Reaper."

"Wait, so what you're saying is that this demon or whatever it is, is literally scaring people to death?" You asked, slightly ruffled by the idea of being scared to death. Chills, unwelcomed, crawled up your spine and caused gooseflesh to spread over your skin.

Dean noticed you shiver slightly. His cheeky smile was obscured by his coffee mug.

"Don't worry Y/N, I'll keep you safe," he nudged you playfully with his elbow, and despite the teasing tone, you noticed a hint of seriousness in his eyes.

You rolled your eyes and let out a soft sigh, serving out your signature blend of exasperation and sarcasm. You tried really hard to hide the small smile that tugged at your face muscles but being around Dean always made you feel more vulnerable, exposed. It also made it so you'd have to constantly fight off the blush in your cheeks and the dazzled glint in your eyes every time you were close to him.

You had been an ally to the Winchester brothers for going on two years, and even though you and Dean had undeniable chemistry (like two magnets pushing and pulling against each other), neither of you dared explore it further.

They were hunters and, even though it wasn't by choice, so were you. Besides, Hunters rarely got their happily ever after. And in all honesty, you weren't sure you'd be able to survive it if anything ever happened to Dean while you guys were together.

"The mighty Dean Winchester, my hero..." you teased him back after you managed to compose yourself.

The two of you held eye contact for a while until Sam awkwardly cleared his throat, making you jump a little as you took a seat next to him to look over several newspaper articles on his laptop. An article headline revealed that the house attraction was located on carnival grounds.

"Oh, Sammy-boy, carnivals. Best keep you away from those clowns," you joked.

Sam smiled a little before putting on a serious face, "Please, stop calling me Sammy-boy."

"Not a chance!" you wiggled your brows playfully as you took another sip of your tea.

"The day Y/N stops calling you Sammy-boy, is the day Dean gives up pie," Cas chimed in nonchalantly from the upper floor of the bunker. You and the boys gasped from freight, not expecting Cas to pop out of nowhere like he always does.

"Jesus, Cas! We talked about this. If you keep on popping out of thin air unannounced I'm going to have to put a little bell on your neck so we know when you're around!" You lectured the adorable trench coat wearing angel. He gave you a confused and apologetic look.

"Where would you find a bell large enough? I apologise, Y/N, I simply came here for this book," he held up a book he previously didn't have in his hands and without a word of warning, he blinked back out of sight.

"Oh, and one more thing," Cas popped back in front of you. "Hold onto this for me." He handed you a small ancient looking pendant and then disappeared again.

"Sure," you replied to thin air. "Aaand he's gone."

"Well, that was a very insightful visit..." Sam deadpanned.

"So, everyone up for a road trip to Iowa?" Dean tossed the keys to the Impala gently in one hand.

Sam grumbled, obviously not too keen about the prospect of running into clowns, especially since it was the Halloween weekend. You, on the other hand, were slightly more optimistic. You got to solve a case and celebrate Halloween with two out of three of your favourite people, Cas was away handling 'angel duties' as he had put it. You hadn't seen him in one place for longer than 5 minutes in almost two weeks.

***

When you finally arrived in Iowa and got settled into a quaint but minimalistic motel, you and the boys decided to go to a diner to get something to eat.

"So what's the plan?" You asked as you watched Dean stuff his face with the most outrageously sized burger you had ever seen while Sam gulped down his first cup of coffee of the day.

"Well I was planning on doing some more research at the motel," Sam informed you.

You smiled into your coffee cup, stifling your laugh before it could surface. Sam rose an eyebrow at you while he moved his salad about with his fork.

"What?" He asked feeling a little self-conscious.

"Afraid of running into any clowns, Sammy-boy?"

Dean smiled like a smug squirrel with cheeks full of food at your jab.

"No, just afraid of being stuck with the two of you while you trade flirtatious banter."

Dean choked on his food and your eyes went wide as a blush spread across your face.

“Well that sure as hell shut you up,” Sam leered with delight at his quip.

Once Dean finished with his burger he added: "So I guess that means you and I are going monster hunting."

You turned to him with some alarm in your expression, "Wait… but we don't know anything about this monster. Or how to kill it. If we even can kill it!" You whisper shouted.

Dean rose one brow and tilted his head with a suggestive smirk, "Don't worry. I promised to keep you safe, didn't I?"

You leaned closer to him, "Dean Winchester, my knight in shining armour." You teased

Sam groaned into his coffee.

"Oh, brother..." He whispered before looking towards a waitress and saying: "Check please."

***

"So what's the plan?" You asked Dean as you made your way towards the haunted house.

"I was kinda just going for See monster: attack it."

You shook your head, "Not a plan for that. A plan for that." You pointed at the flashing lights blinding patrons from the windows, blaring otherworldly recordings of screams and cackles next to dozens of paying visitors dressed in costumes of all shapes and sizes.

Finding the real monster on an ordinary occasion would be difficult as is since you didn't know what it looked like, but with the added difficulty of everyone being disguised, that elevated things to near impossible. Not to mention the obvious jump scare attractions and disorienting lights and sounds blaring from the PA system.

Having a third pair of eyes would have been beneficial, but Sam doing research was equally important if you wanted to figure out how to kill this monster.

You unknowingly huffed with exasperation, not looking forward to the cat and mouse act that was undoubtedly going to play out.

Dean didn't seem as bothered by all the potential problems that could arise and simply gave you a nonchalant shrug. "Well in that case, how about: hear a scream, run in that general direction?"

You clapped sarcastically, "Bravo, good to know we're all in good hands."

"Oh, you wish you knew how good these hands were," Dean winked.

You gasped before playfully jabbing his side, making him clutch his side with a coughing laugh, "Ow, your elbow is so sharp… and bony."

“It’s sharpened by years of having to listen to your terrible excuse for wit, Winchester.”

“Wow, Y/N! You wound me?” He placed his hand on his heart dramatically.

“Come on Romeo,” you shook your head at his theatrics. Dean was always more playful around you. You loved that feeling, knowing you brought out a side of him people rarely saw.

As you made your way through the entrance a glum-looking attendant stopped you with a cardboard Stop sign.

"Fifteen dollar entrance fee beyond this point. Halloween special weekend requires patrons to be in costume for free entry." He delivered his lines in a very drowsy monotone, clearly unhappy at his current employment.

"Fifteen dollars?" Dean barked in disbelief, his mouth agape when he looked at you with shock.

"I've got this," you whispered to Dean as you sauntered over to the attending clerk and gave him a heart-melting smile. The clerk didn't look up from his desk so you cleared your throat. He finally looked up, his face caught off guard by the charming smile you had on.

"My friend and I didn't know we had to wear costumes, you think you could, maybe, let it slip... Just this once?" You flipped your hair. When he looked like he wasn't going to budge, you leaned closer and dragged your finger against his name tag. "Please Chad. It would mean the world to me!"

"I'm not supposed to… Company policy," he shrugged apologetically.

You leaned closer and whispered as though you were conspirators, "Aww, come on Chad. I'd be really grateful."

The clerk blushed and stammered a bit, "I- I wish I could but..." He averted his gaze, too shy to look you in the eye for too long.

Dean grumbled disapproving beside you, it sounded a little jealous to your ears. You would be lying if you said that didn't make you feel a little wily

You over exaggerated your pout. Then you saw a stack of name tags laying on his desk. "Hey, can I borrow those?" You pointed at the stack of name tags.

"S-sure..." he handed them to you.

"And a pen?" You batted your eyes innocently. Chad handed you his pen.

You jotted down two names and stuck them on your and Dean's jackets. Yours said 'God' and Dean's said 'Lucifer'.

Dean just gave you a very unimpressed look and you simply wiggled your eyebrows, "What? Too soon?" You joked.

You turned back to the attendant, "Now we're in costume."

The clerk looked between you and Dean and then back to the name tag stuck to your left breast pocket of your jacket, "I guess that counts."

"Thanks, Chad!" You winked gleefully as you made your way into the haunted house.

You heard the clerk whisper something to himself and then Dean cleared his throat and said, "Hey, Chad, eyes back on your magazine pal."

You beamed at his overprotective streak.

***

As you searched the house, slightly tense with anticipation of some sort of scream or attack, you and Dean made small talk as you walked from one overly dramatized room to the next.

"So, you and Chad were chummy. You gonna ask him out on a date? Maybe hunt a poltergeist." Dean huffed, pretending he wasn't jealous.

"No, definitely not." You said straight-faced. Dean's green eyes lit up as a smile danced across his lips. "Vampires are more appropriate for first dates!"

Dean's smile faltered and his ears turned red slightly. You snickered.

You twirled to stand in front of him, "Oh please, Dean Winchester. You know I only have eyes for you." You jabbed, imitating your flirtatious eyelash bat from before.

Dean sighed as he ran his hands through his well-maintained scruff, but then he saw something that made him grin. With curiosity, you turned around and yelped with sudden freight.

"Fuck!" You gasped as a giant animatronic scarecrow looked down upon you.

Dean laughed, holding his sides. "You should see your face."

You punched him playfully, "Jerk! You know I hate scarecrows!"

Dean parried your playful punches and ended up griping you cross-armed against his chest. He didn't notice how tightly your back was pressed to his chest until he felt your body move along with the resounding vibrato from his deep laughs.

He let you go and cleared his throat, his hands unsure of whether to stuff themselves in his jeans or his leather jacket. You wiped the awestruck look from your face and tried to let the smell of the smoke machine wash his musk away from your brain. It was futile. You tried to return to your playful demeanour from before.

"Come on, Mr Funny Guy. Let’s go before I beat you to death with this guy’s robotic arms," you pointed to the scarecrow, making sure your eyes didn't land on its face.

"I'm shaking in my boots."

You scowled at him in faux anger and he shrunk his neck and held up his hands.

"Ladies first," you urged him to open the door.

Dean complied and as soon as the door swung open, a creepy 6 foot Easter bunny with different sized red eyes and blood-stained teeth popped from its hidden trigger switch -a bloodied fake knife in one hand.

Dean laughed at the jump scare and turned to give you a triumphant look. As soon as he did he shouted, "Jesus, Cas!" as he stumbled onto the floor from surprise.

Cas was practically covered from head to toe in black ooze. His clothes partially singed and his torso home to two daggers.

"What the hell happened to you?" Dean asked from the floor.

"Hell happened," he said monotonously before turning to you and asking, "Do you still have that pendant?"

"Yeah," you fished it out from around your neck and handed it to him.

"Thank you. Oh and be careful, I'm pretty sure the only thing that can kill your monster is a ceremony dagger blessed by a witch doctor steeped in alligator blood."

"Alligator blood?" You asked. "Where would we get--"

Cas pulled out a 9-inch knife and handed it to you.

"Thank Sam," was all Cas offered in response before blinking out of existence.

You waltzed over and kneeled next to him, offering your hand. "Don't worry Dean, I'll keep you safe from the big, bad killer Easter bunny… Oh, and the harmless trench coat wearing angel too."

Dean tried to hide his smile when he picked up the irony of your words, but you saw it nonetheless. He accepted your hand, but before you could help him to his feet he pulled you down towards him and cupped your face close to his. And after a tantalisingly long pause, he kissed you passionately, knocking the air right out of your lungs. When your kiss broke your lips were partially kiss-swollen and your face had a blank expression. He had literally rendered you speechless.

"So that's what that’s like," He said hoarsely.

"What?" You asked in a splendorous daze, your whole body tingling.

Dean smirked, "A moment of quiet."

You were snapped out of your moment of elation by his retort and scowled at him again, slapping his chest as you untangled yourself from his strong arms.

"Oof!" He protested.

"Ha ha, Winchester," you helped him off the ground. 

When you were standing close together again the both of you tried to hide your blush when it dawned on you both what just happened. You both stepped away from each other clumsily, averting your eyes from each other's faces.

"We've got some hunting to do." You said frantically as you practically shoved the knife at him, storming ahead as you tried to shake the memory of what just happened away.

After some uncomfortable silence, Dean tried to lighten the mood again, "Are you blushing under that scowl?"

You rolled your eyes, "Say's the guy who was jealous of Chad!"

"I wasn't jealous of Chad!" He denied your allegation childishly, waving the sharp knife around dangerously causing you to bob around the knife.

"You know, I don't know how I feel about someone as jumpy as you swinging that sword around."

"It's not a sword and I'm not jumpy!" He waved the dagger again causing you to duck this time.

"I dunno, at this point I feel like I'd be safer with Sam by side. Clown phobia and all!" You quipped.

"Yeah, unless our monsters happened to look like scarecrows or clowns, or both!" He retorted. “Clownish Scarecrows! Ooh, Scarecrow Clowns! Wouldn’t that be something?”

You sighed and turned to Dean. Leaning close to him so he let his guard down. He stalled for a moment, unsure of what you were about to do.

The energy between the two of you had shifted, become more electrified now that you both knew what kissing the other felt like. Your toes were still tingling, but now wasn't the place to address his rash actions and your equally rash acceptance of them. When your lips were merely a hairsbreadth away, you snatched the giant knife and used his weight to flip him onto his back.

"Nevertheless, I still think it'd be better if I took over the role of the knight in shining armour." You said sweetly while he grunted from the impact of the fall.

"You know, it may be nice to be the damsel in distress for once," Dean joked as he picked himself up.

"Shall we?" He asked.

"After you." You replied.

***

After that night, you and Dean had found it increasingly easier to share more quiet moments together, much to Sam’s chagrin since he usually had to deal with your blatant flirting and innuendos while he was around. Cas just found the whole situation confusing.

MasterList

[tonotbelionized]

Volume 7, Episode 2: A New Approach

This review was originally going to be posted after last week’s episode aired but I procrastinated too long and now it’s already Saturday again. But better late than never!

This episode was pretty good. Heavy on lore but not in the way that Volume 5 loved doing it, the group were standing around but they emoted more, the conversations were interesting and the visuals kept me from getting bored. So, let’s start with the positives!

I love Ironwood. I’ll admit it, he wasn’t my favourite before this volume. I liked him, but it wasn’t much more than that in fairness. But this episode has jumped my love of him. I enjoy his complexity. He’s not this tyrannical dictator that some people feared, but the rest of Team RWBYJNR have good points in that what he’s doing is hurting the people he’s meant to be protecting. They’re going to hate him, and so Ironwood is going to find that being hated  is not the best way to go about the problem.

He’s a classical case of good intentions, bad methods, and I love him for it. Also the fact that the guy with trust issues is the one trying to get everyone to trust him, and showing great displays of trust to the main characters, speaks volumes. Hecouldn’t trust Ozpin to do the right thing to the point where he went to the council behind Ozpin’s back, but he’s trusting Ruby with not only the relic, but the plan and the trust he puts in her.

How much that’s worth is to be seen, though.

Onto that scene between him and Ruby with her omitting information and lying? I liked it. I get that people will be frustrated that she and the team are doing the exact same thing that Ozpin did, I was too, but I feel that CRWBY are building up the scenario where Ruby finally realizes what it’s truly like to be in Ozpin’s shoes.

The thing that was most interesting is that there was no right or wrong way to go about it. Only pros and cons, and she has to weigh them up. Either she tells Ironwood the truth, that Salem can’t be destroyed and Ozpin not only knew, but didn’t tell anyone about it, not even the Pod Squad(TM), and risk Ironwood’s mental health snapping like a piece of spaghetti but saving the people he would’ve thrown at her in a vain attempt, as well throwing the world in a panic. 

Or she keeps the truth from him, making the whole team’s reactions to Ozpin last volume come off as even more horrible and hypocritical, betraying Ironwood’s trust in her, and having more people be thrown at Salem in vain like the girls’ feel they were, but protecting his spaghetti string mental health and avoiding a fallout just like the previous volume.

Given the reactions in the newest episode that I’ll talk about in my next review, this seems to be set up as a very interesting arc for everyone, specially Ruby.

Going onto the more little moments of the episode, the interactions between the characters were spot on. Winter showing conflicting emotions, that are now more detailed because of the better engine being used, and her panicking over the stolen airship not because it was stolen Atlesian property, but because Weiss put herself in danger and could’ve been killed.

To Winter, Weiss was safe at home until she suddenly disappeared. I doubt Jacques would tell her the truth, so she’s left wondering where Weiss has gone, and then all of a sudden Weiss is back on an airship that would’ve been shot down in different circumstances. Winter clearly cares about her sister, and it’s shown in subtle ways because of who Winter is and how she’s grown. I look forward to seeing more of the Schnee sisters.

On top of that, I love the Ironwood and Qrow hug. I’m not a big shipper, I rarely ship many characters, but this moment was so soft and tender that I wouldn’t mind if Ironwood and Qrow have something more, or if it was just purely platonic. Give me more platonic men bonding, please, I’m starved.

Finally, the villains continue to steal the show for me. I’ll be honest, Watts was my least favourite villain, and one I found very flat, boring, and just meh. But this episode alone has me actually liking him and wanting to see more. His new coat is awesome, and it’s purple so Tyrian/Watts endgame.

Tyrian continues to be one of my favourite villains. CRWBY can really make entertaining villains when they aren’t too busy trying to make them complex, Tyrian is a simple crackhead and I love him for it because it not only brings a competent villain, but he’s not being bogged down by hamfisted Freudian Excuses or Unfortunate Implications like others.

Kinda disappointed that he went back to his old jacket, mostly because he has the bare minimal of purple in parts of his tail, and sometimes his eyes, given that colour is meant to be super important in the world building of RWBY. But I’m not super bummed because his old jacket was pretty dope.

Now onto the things that I really... didn’t like.

The main thing ultimately is that the scene in the lift was annoying, and not in the good frustratingly annoying like Ruby lying, because it made them look incompetent so it’d happen.

The group just decide to talk about how they’re going to keep something important from Ironwood... right in front of his guards. The scene even shows one of them turning to them, acknowledging what they’re saying, and I’m not a fan. It felt wholly unneeded. Blake saying that they’d follow Ruby’s lead was phoned in, we know they’d follow Ruby’s lead already, they’ve been doing so since the last Volume, Ruby’s their leader. The scene wasn’t needed.

They just look really bad at espionage. It was the same issue as last episode where they didn’t even bother to stay incognito. Weiss used her very recognizable Semblance to yeet the racist into the bin, Yang loudly destroyed Atlas property, and they all stick out like colourful thumbs in the more gritty and dull coloured Mantle.

They didn’t think this through, and it shows.

The other thing that I didn’t find funny was Nora acting like a dog at the beginning of the episode. I understand it was to not have it be too dark, but the Forest guy and his behaviour already served that purpose, and it’s meant to be dark. The team just got arrested, they don’t know what’s going to happen, and Nora has been shown to take thing seriously in the previous volumes. Her later antics in the episode were funny, but this one just wasn’t for me.

It felt like once again, Nora wasn’t acting seriously, she was acting as the “Funny Comic Relief(TM)” again, and it’s starting to wear on me.

So that’s it for A New Approach. Overall, I liked this episode! It provided the slow, lore episode needed after the high intensity of the last one, and the fact that they can have tension without needing a fight shows that CRWBY is learning that fact. I didn’t like it as much as the first one, but it was still pretty good. 

Episode Rating: 7.5/10

[scrollingkingfisher]

If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Get Out of the Kitchen

Rating: Explicit Warnings: Lemons ahoy Summary: Heat is always a trying time for everybody in a pack.

A short smutty follow up to The Smell of Home! The beta’d, tidied version will be posted on AO3 tomorrow, but for now, have the rough n’ ready version instead!

Written for Day Two of Sabriel Week - A/B/O - tagging @sabrielevents​

***

“Hey, Sam, you got a mome-”

Gabriel stops short in Sam’s doorway as a ferocious, ear-ripping snarl hits him in the face. It’s the sort of bellowing, feral sound that Gabriel would expect to come from a bear which had just been kicked in the nads, or maybe a particularly feral werewolf being pricked by a silver needle.

But it wasn’t something he had ever expected to hear from one of his human packmates.

“I’ll… I’ll come back later.”

Gabriel quickly closed the door again. He blinked at the wood for a second, still trying to process his disbelief.

Finally, he gave up, heading towards the kitchen. Cas was in there already, prodding suspiciously with a spatula at something blackened that might have once been eggs.

“Sam growled at me,” Gabriel said, dropping himself into a chair. Cas just hummed distractedly. “No, he really growled at me,” Gabriel emphasised, sensing that Cas wasn’t taking him seriously. “Like he was a badly behaved chihuahua and I was the postman!”

Dean came into the room behind him with the slap of slippered feet and a flap of bath robe, yawning before walking over stepping over to nuzzle against Cas’ neck. “Mornin’ babe. What’s Gabe on about?”

“Good morning, Dean. He’s been annoying Sam again.”

“He roared at me!” Gabriel complained again, getting a little impatient, because seriously? Were they hearing what he just said? Was everyone just gonna ignore this?

Dean turned to give him a look as though he was missing something glaringly obvious. “Dude. Are you telling me you haven’t been able to smell him for the last week?”

“Of course I have!” Gabriel was affronted. Of course he’d smelt Sam! Their relationship might still have been in its early stages, but they’d been making out and scenting each other. In fact, the more he thought about it, Sam’s scent had seemed stronger recently. More earthy, pungent...

Dean snorted, raising an eyebrow. “You’ve been on Earth for how long, slept with how many people, and you’ve never been around an omega in pre-heat before?”

Pre-heat. Of course. Why hadn’t he put it together? The scent, the irritability.

Gabriel shrugged, throwing his hands up. “You know me, Dean, I prefer to take the easy route out! Yeah, I’ve had my fun, but when people start getting mad and I’m usually outta there like I’ve been fired from cupid’s arrow. I don’t usually stick around.” Not to mention, he hadn’t wanted to stick around omegas in heat. He didn’t usually stick around long enough with his previous partners to know for certain whether they truly wanted him during heat, or just the closest available knot. The whole situation made him uncomfortable.

“Didn’t you have a thing going with Kali?”

Gabriel scoffed. “Are you noseblind, Deano? That lady was all alpha.”

“Alpha on alpha? Kinky.”

Cas turned to point the spatula at him, a sad strand of cremated egg dangling from the end. “Alpha/alpha relationships are perfectly acceptable, Dean, and you know it. Now stop trying to wind my brother up and set the table.”

“Okay, okay. Grub coming up.”

“What should I do?” Gabriel asked as Dean bustled around him, setting out the plates and cutlery while Cas dished out the eggs and produced the beans from the microwave. It felt wrong to eat a meal without Sam- like there was a gap in his flock, and Gabriel batted down the instinct to go and round him up.

Dean shrugged, pulling his chair in and tucking into his eggs. “At the moment? Leave him alone. Sam’s always a bitch the day before, but he should have calmed down by tomorrow.”

Gabriel turned down his own portion of massacred eggs, but accepted a piece of toast. “He didn’t tell me his heat was coming.” He felt kinda hurt- surely you were meant to tell your partner that sort of thing?

Dean glanced up, then away awkwardly. “He probably didn’t know. Sam’s never been exactly regular. Always seemed to start right in the middle of fuckin’ hunt.”

Heat.

What would Sam expect from him? For all his millennia of experience, he really hadn’t been around omegas much at all. Sam was the first time he’d found enough family, pack, flock again to relax enough that he was letting his biology influence him. Every rumour of alphas losing control in rut floated behind his eyes. Father, he’d never forgive himself. Not that he ever would, that was an excuse used by abusive alphas more than reality, but still… the worry was there.

And Sam… what if Sam wanted something Gabriel couldn’t give him yet? As much progress as they’d made, and as willing as his consciousness might be, Gabriel’s biology was still wary after what Asmodeus had done to him. Anything more than heavy petting sent him spinning towards a panic attack. And as much as he was slowly improving, Gabriel didn’t think he was up to heat sex yet.

“Dude, I can smell you stressing from here. It’ll be fine, it’s Sammy. Relax.”

That was easier said than done, but Gabriel tried to put it out of his head.

...

Dean had been right, he realised. How had he ever missed the scent?

By lunchtime, it was unavoidable. Sam’s smell permeated every corner of the bunker, drawing him in enticingly and making rubbing his wrists to scent the furniture irresistible. By the evening, he couldn’t hold himself back any more, despite his misgivings.

He hesitated, staring at Sam’s door. Should he wait? He didn’t really want to be roared at again, but there was no way he was going to sleep tonight in a cold bed with this scent in the air.

He pushed the door open.

The first thing that hit him was the scent. It was more intense than it had been in the corridor, almost eye-wateringly strong- the bitter earthy scent of coffee, laced with an edge of honeysuckle, drowned out everything else.  He instantly wanted to roll in it, rub his face and neck and wrists against it until their scents were blended into one.

He closed his eyes and held his breath. Get a hold of yourself, Gabriel.

“Gabe?”

He looked around. From under the huge number of blankets piled on the bed, a pair of green-blue eyes peeked out at him.

“Sam…”

He dithered, wondering if he was about to be ejected from the room, but an arm reached out in invitation. With a smile, Gabriel slipped off his shoes and slipped into the oppressive heat under the blankets. A pair of long arms wrapped around him.

“Mmm… Gabe. Glad you’re here. Sorry I growled at you earlier. Stupid fucking heat.”

“S’okay, Sammykins, not your fault.” Gabriel hesitated again, torn between nervousness and want. “Sam… I don’t think I can…”

Sam bent down, pressed a gentle peck against his lips. “I know, it’s fine, Gabe. I don’t need that, just you.”

Gabriel sighed in relief. “You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that, Samosa.” Sam chuckled, wrapping long arms around him and nuzzling scent into the top of his head. Gabriel smiled against his chest. “Okay, what can I do to help?”

“Just… be here.”

Gabriel looked at him, one eyebrow raised. Sam elaborated. “You could… lie on top of me. Not a sex thing, I promise,” he said quickly as Gabriel balked, “it’s the pressure, it keeps me calm. And that way, I can scent you too. That should make it better.”

“Sounds doable. Aye aye, coming aboard!”

Sam chuckled at his ridiculousness, twisting them around and throwing off the oppressive heat of the blankets. Gabriel shifted, climbed up somewhat awkwardly. Just as he was lying down, he felt a hardness pressing against his hip and froze.

Sam winced. “Sorry.”

Gabriel settled himself more solidly on top of him. “Not your fault. It’s a physiological reaction, right?” Sam nodded. “And anyway,” Gabriel continued, snaking one hand down, “when I’m better? I absolutely want to feel this inside me.”

Sam’s pupils, which had already been wide, blew out until they nearly eclipsed his irises. He licked his lips. “You’d… you’d do that? Oh- Gabe!”

“This is okay, right?”

Sam nodded furiously as Gabriel stroked him through his boxers, his thighs twitching and opening involuntarilty. “Yeah, yeah, don’t stop,” he said, breathless. The scent of slick wafted up, heady and pungent, and Gabriel watched as a crimson blush colour his cheeks with embarrassment. Gabriel squeezed gently, stroking more firmly, grinning. He might not be able to knot Sam, but this? This he could do.

That beautiful flush spread across Sam’s chest as he threw his head back. He was so worked up already, Gabriel realised. So desperate, trying to hold himself back. “G-Gabe… you… you don’t need to, don’t wanna make you uncomfortable, I don’t need-”

“I’m gonna work you up, just like this, until you’re all hot and bothered and wet for me,” Gabriel rode over his protestations, watching Sam’s mouth open on a gasp of arousal as he twisted his wrist. “Gonna wait until you’re had and leaking and begging for me. Then I’m gonna get up and sit right down on your cock.” Sam gasped, and Gabriel grinned, bending down to rub his scent over Sam’s chest, biting gently on a nipple to pull another delicious gasp out of him. “It’s gonna be so tight, Sam, so tight and hot. You’re gonna be so fuking big inside me, fuck you’re huge, and I wanna feel every inch of you.”

Sam tossed his head to the side, whimpered, and Gabriel couldn’t resist the invitation. He lunged up to mouth at the taught lines of his neck. Sam writhed underneath him. Gabriel leaned back a little, and he knew his pupils were blown too with his own arousal. Shit, but he was having to hold himself back, Sam was just perfect. He was getting close. He slipped his hand past Sam’s waistband, closing his hand around the heat of him, pressing his thumb gently against his slit to make him shudder. “I’m gonna ride you until you come, just like this. Come on, Sammy, come for me. Let me hear you.”

“Gabriel!” Sam gasped. His eyes flew open, his mouth dropping open as his body tensed and he came.

Gabriel worked him through it, waited until the shudders died down into exhausted limpness before he pressed a kiss to Sam’s chest and got up to get a washcloth. He slipped into the kitchen on his way, snagging water and snacks. Thank father that Dean and Cas weren’t awake to see him scuttling naked through the corridors.

When he got back, Sam was tucked back under the blankets, making the most miserable whines Gabriel had ever heard.

“Sam? What’s wrong?”

Gabriel threw himself back into bed, instantly forgetting about the cloth, checking Sam all over. Nothing seemed to be

“You left me,” Sam muttered, genuine hurt and anxiety in his voice.

“Just went to get a washcloth, sweetheart.”

“I know,” Sam muttered, embarrassed. Oh, of course. Heat. Every one of Sam’s instincts were telling him that the alpha that had just knotted him had just upped and left. No wonder he wasn’t pleased.

“Back now, I promise. I’m not leaving.” Gabriel rolled them both so he was on top again. He felt Sam melt into the mattress under him, his eyes fluttering closed.

“S’good… thank you, Gabe… what about…?”

Gabriel smiled, capturing his wandering hands. “Don’t worry about me. Maybe another time, yeah?”

“M’kay. You’re such a good alpha…”

Before Gabriel could do anything more than blush at that, Sam’s mouth fell open. A quiet snore escaped him. A purr resonated deep under Gabriel’s hands as Sam settled into sleep, utterly relaxed.

Gabriel chuckled quietly, settling down to sleep as well. If it was always going to be like this, he didn’t think he minded heats.

[sunflwrvolume6]

plausible deniability [seven]

kept secrets

Her head swims as she realises she’s lost. A small voice tells her she will never leave this corridor and she’ll die here, become a skeletal decoration. Aila swallows thickly and tries to decide which corner to take: the one before her, or the one at the other end.

[ao3 ☆ wattpad]

[previous☆ next]

[masterlist]

Aila doesn’t remember falling asleep. She doesn’t remember whether she tossed and turned all night or if she even dreamt at all. All she knows is waking to a pounding headache and a bitter taste in her mouth. She blinks slowly then sits up, stretching out the kinks in her body.

The mattress is better than the one she has at home. Aila reaches for the elastic band on her wrist, pulling her hair into a low ponytail as she examines the room like she hadn’t been able to last night.

Deep burgundy curtains are drawn tightly together around the room, fragmenting the pale creme-coloured walls. A black rug spreads across the floor around the bed frame. The mirror above the chest of drawers is gilded with gold, elaborate carvings along the edges. A nightstand sits beside the bed, and her phone sits on top. White against mahogany. There are no other decorations.

No one must sleep here, she thinks. Aila exhales sharply and pats the mattress. Would Niall think it weird if she asked to take it home? Shaking the thought away, she pushes back the heavy comforter and clambers off the bed. Her uniform hangs from a hook on the back of the door, and another pile of clothes are stacked neatly on the bureau. A folded piece of paper rests on top.

Aila, these are for you to keep. Breakfast is in the dining room whenever you’re ready.

The handwriting takes her aback. Loopy and tidy, it doesn’t exactly match what she’s seen of Niall’s personality. Aila sets the note aside and picks up the blouse. The black fabric flows like water between her fingers, the silken smoothness interrupted only by the intricate lacework along the neckline. Her cheeks flush when she sees the underwear that had been hidden beneath the top.

Had he chosen them? Or did he have Scary-Woman pick them out? Whoever did it did a good job. Aila blows out a breath and hurriedly changes. It should concern her that everything fits comfortably. That the outfit is the same style as something she would have purchased for herself—if she could afford it.

She makes sure to grab her phone and bag before leaving the room. The creme walls have extended to the hallway, white marble twin snakes on either side of a maroon rug running the length of the hall. Aila pauses next to a painting on the wall: Rolling fields of green, a cluster of cottages under an expansive stretch of blue sky. She has no idea what place the painting depicts—it certainly isn’t Primden or any of the surrounding towns—but it radiates peace, stability, home. A small scribble in the corner marks the artist’s name, though she can’t decipher it. It looks like a blob.

Breakfast is in the dining room. Right. She was on a mission. Where is the dining room? She had been so frazzled last night, she hadn’t paid attention to the path Niall had taken when bringing her to the room.

Her head swims as she realises she’s lost. A small voice tells her she will never leave this corridor and she’ll die here, become a skeletal decoration. Aila swallows thickly and tries to decide which corner to take: the one before her, or the one at the other end.

A quiet shriek escapes her lips when someone rounds the corner in front of her. The older man’s face remains impassive as Aila clasps a hand to her chest. As if it will control the sudden galloping of her heart. As if it can calm her breathing. It doesn’t work, but she tries to find comfort in the pressure above her sternum.

“I was looking for the dining room?”

She winces when the words come out as a question. The man nods stiffly and turns on his heel, striding away. Aila scurries to follow him. He may not know it, but he’s saved her from rotting in this house. His steps are measured, the route a well-learnt path, and Aila forces herself to not gawk at the decor they pass.

He comes to a stop just outside enormous doors. Voices come from the other side, unintelligible through the wood, and Aila meets the man’s gaze. His chin dips, then he reaches out for the handles with gloved hands. The doors swing open without a sound, and she watches as the people in the dining room come into view.

Niall sits at the head of the long table, and the driver who gave her a lift home that day is to his right. Scary-Woman sits to the left. Aila is focused on the soft smile on Niall’s face, not bothering to look at the others. He waves the old man away. The man bows and leaves Aila alone. She inhales as steadily as possible, hoping to draw strength from it, but her knees still shake as she takes the seat the driver vacates.

As she sits, she finally takes stock of the others. Her brows furrow. “Didn’t you get picked up by the police?”

The man’s cheeks flush a furious red, eyes flashing. His scowl disturbs the sharp lines of his cheeks. Someone down the table snorts, a hand clapping over his mouth, and even Niall appears amused by her enquiry.

“He did. He was let out.”

“Why was he stalking me?”

“Not stalking, love. I asked Zayn to keep an eye on you for your protection.”

“Yeah, that worked out well,” she grumbles, and Niall’s gaze drops to the table, pink tinting the tops of his ears. “Anyway. If you wanted me to have a bodyguard, you probably should have picked someone less attractive.”

Niall tilts his head with a brow raised. She almost gets lost in his eyes, but his voice distracts her, pulls her out of the daze. “What do you mean?”

“He’s too… pretty, I guess, to be inconspicuous. He stood out in a crowd. Wait, why the fuck did you have someone tailing me?”

He sighs, raises his hands in surrender, and promises to explain after breakfast. She frowns, wanting to argue, but he’s already moved on. She sits back as a woman sets a plate in front of her. She picks at the food and wonders if she can get by with not eating. Her thoughts are racing too much for her to feel any hunger.

Niall pushes her fork closer to her without even taking his eyes off the man he’d had following Aila. She blows out a breath and picks up the utensil. His lips quirk as she takes a bite. The others talk around her, obviously assured she won’t understand the coded phrases. They aren’t wrong, she thinks. She has no hopes of understanding. So she only picks at her food and tunes them out as much as she can.

Aila comes back to herself when she realises she’s alone with Niall. Her eyes widen at the empty chairs and silence. He swallows down the rest of his coffee before gesturing for her to follow him from the room. His hand settles, warm and gentle, on her lower back as he guides her to a room across the foyer.

Navy blue walls greet her, and the same burgundy curtains hang over the windows here though they’re tied back. Weak sunlight barely touches the room, but the lamps on the end-tables illuminate the space enough. A chessboard sits below the front window, two wingback chairs placed on either side, and the far wall is blocked off by bookshelves that stretch from floor to ceiling.

Niall waves toward the couch in the centre of the room, and Aila sits at one end while he takes the other. She stares at the coffee-table, at the knives and wire spread across the surface. She shifts uncomfortably when she recognises them from the films she’s watched with her friends.

“When I realised my wallet was missing, I figured someone would have found it at some point.” Niall smiles when she finally meets his eye. “I have more faith in humanity than most would like, but even I didn’t figure it would be brought back with nothing stolen. You surprised me.”

Aila scratches idly at her hairline. “There was nothing in it. I told you that.”

Her tone is too defencive, she knows it is, but all Niall does is laugh and shake his head.

“Yes, well, that just further proves you didn’t search through it for longer than it took to get my address. If you had, you would have found my bank cards.” His face settles into seriousness, and he hesitates before turning to face her more fully. “When I saw everything was just as it was when I lost it, it intrigued me. I’ve lived here for almost nine years. People don’t often return lost items without demands of compensation.

“But you? You wanted to return it directly to me—or rather, Mister Niall Ho-ran. It’s Horan, by the way. And you yelled at the guard because he walked away without offering you a lift home. Which is why I sent Mully after you. Didn’t want you to freeze to death after being so kind to me.”

“I appreciate that. Well, my feet do, anyway.” She pauses, running her finger along the seam in the leather cushion. “Still can’t tell me anything, can you?”

“You believe me when I say I wish I could, don’t you?”

“I suppose I have to, don’t I? It’s the only answer I’ve ever gotten from you.”

Niall gives her a crooked grin. “I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. You’re something else, Aila.”

Her gaze drifts along the expanse of his body, the T-shirt over broad shoulders and chest. The slacks that hardly conceal the muscles of his thighs. Her eyes focus a second too long on the stretch of fabric between his legs. Cheeks flushing, Aila quickly looks away.

“So what are your plans for the day?” he asks as if he hasn’t noticed her checking him out.

“Probably go home and sleep some more. I have tonight and tomorrow morning off, so my roommates and I will most likely have a belated Junk Night.”

“You’ve mentioned that before. What exactly is ‘Junk Night’?”

Aila laughs and wonders how she can explain it without making it sound like they’re all a bunch of gluttons. “Well, we’re broke as Hell, so we pool our money once a week to get a bunch of takeaway and criticise whatever films we’re watching that night. Last time was the Godfather series, but there wasn’t much we could criticise about those. They’re classics.”

“You like mafia films, then?”

She wonders about the slight downturn to his lips, the darkness in his eyes. She nods and explains she likes almost any movie she watches. She’s more particular about books, but she can usually find at least one redeeming quality with films. Even the worst ones.

“Anyway, Junk Night is basically just a reason for the five of us to hang out, relax, and forget about the fact we’re all working too long hours for too little pay to put up with the shit we do.”

“It sounds like fun.”

“It is. Which is why I forgot to text you back before.”

Niall laughs and pats her knee. Aila’s breath catches in her throat at the contact. “And I told you that you’re forgiven for it.” He checks the time then grimaces. “I hate to do this, but I’ve a meeting to get ready for. Whenever you want to go home, let Tania or Mully know. They’ll give you a lift.”

Aila nods and watches him stand. The muscles in his back ripple beneath the cotton of his shirt, slacks tightening around his ass before relaxing once he’s fully upright. He smiles down at her, fingers brushing along her cheek as he passes, and a fluttering kicks up in her chest. His touch was soft—almost inconsequential—but it still affects her. She hardly dares to believe in the juxtaposition of the feather-light contact and the hard ice in his eyes the last time they saw each other.

“Am I allowed to text you again?” she asks; her voice is small, and she waits with bated breath and heart racing.

He pauses at the doorway, but he doesn’t turn around. “I’d like it if you did.”

Then he’s gone. Aila listens to his footsteps as they fade then stares around the room. Nothing catches her interest. Her head is spinning too wildly for her focus. This is a totally different Niall than she saw the last two times they were face-to-face. He’s still guarded. He keeps his cards held too closely to his chest. But she doesn’t feel like it’s her fault anymore, that she somehow caused him to pull away.

Whatever he’s hiding is on him. She has to trust that the truth will out eventually.

His name is in her contact list once more.

Rising to her feet, Aila exits the room in search of Mully. Tania—she assumes Tania is the woman from last night—is far too frightening. She’s been in close quarters with Mully before; she can at least have faith he won’t kill her for stumbling into Niall’s life.

“May I help you, Miss?”

Aila whirls around, eyes wide. The old man watches her with glittering eyes. She gasps in a breath.

“You need to wear a bell.”

His lips twitch minutely as he bows his head. “I apologise, Miss. My intention wasn’t to startle you. May I help you?”

“Yeah, um, I’m looking for Mully.”

“I’m sorry. Mister Sean has just left. Miss Tania is around if you’re interested in speaking with her.”

“She isn’t going to, like, murder me, is she?”

“Of course not, Miss. Mister Niall would not be pleased if she did.”

“Then I guess I’ll talk to her.”

“Right this way.”

Tania is sat at the edge of a gigantic indoor pool when the man leads Aila through the archway. He bows again and disappears. His footsteps are far too quiet. Aila draws in a steadying breath before turning back to Tania. Zayn and two of the men from breakfast are swimming laps, none of them paying attention to the newcomer.

“Uh, Tania?”

“What?”

“Niall told me to ask you for a lift home?”

Tania glances back over her shoulder with narrowed eyes. Finally, she scoffs and clambers to her feet. “If he said to ask, then I guess I have no choice.”

“I can take the train back, it’s not a problem.”

“Yeah, that’ll go over as well as a lead balloon. Niall won’t risk your safety like that. Lou, I’ll be back. Keep these idiots in line.”

Lou waves a hand, grinning brightly at Aila, and dives under the water again. The other two follow suit. Tania’s soft smile disappears when she faces Aila. No words are spoken as Tania leads her through the corridors, through a kitchen bustling with activity, and into a garage. Aila can’t stop the gasp.

Seven cars are sheltered from the weather outside. From vintage to modern, every single one of them shine in the overhead lights. Tania makes her way to a gleaming teal sports car and pulls open the door.

“You coming or what?”

Aila rushes to the passenger door. Bass thunders through the car once Tania starts the engine. She doesn’t bother waiting for Aila to buckle up; she presses a button on the pad above her head, and the garage door rises with a rumbling hum. She reverses quickly out of the building, a sharp smile on her pale face when she sees Aila clinging to the door handle.

Aila doesn’t let go as Tania goes well over the speed limit. She takes curves far too fast. She weaves through the traffic cluttering up downtown. She doesn’t slow down even when the lights turn yellow. Eventually—sooner than Aila expected—the car squeals to a stop outside of her house. Tania stares out her window while Aila steps out of the car.

Before she can shut the door behind her, Tania lowers the music and leans over. “Don’t fuck this up, Aila.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just remember that.”

“You’re making me remember an awful lot without explanation.”

“You’ll never get one from me,” Tania says with a snort. “Now go away.”

Aila pushes the door closed, and Tania speeds away. These people are demanding too much of her patience if they expect her to be okay with not having answers.

[jamesgordonblr]

Crisis? What Crisis?

Two days ago I dreamed that I was out with the dog, turned a corner, and suddenly an enormous fire engine was ten feet away, blaring and flashing loads of lights, going like the clappers.  The shock made me release the lead. The engine stopped, and I panicked, fearing the dog might have gone under it. But I couldn’t see.  So... I looked for my glasses and they were not in my pocket.  Heart in my mouth, I hastened towards the engine and ... would quite like to know what happened next, because then...I WOKE UP.  Of course at the time I thought it was all for real, really happening (OK maybe it was, but that’s another level maybe to explore another time!)

Well, not much of a story so far, but I suppose one point is (apart from getting this blog thing started!) that dreams are important, and have hidden and indeed multiple meanings.  So.  How do I interpret this dream?  My problem is being 74, (yes, sorry about that, but it’s inescapable)  and very concerned about the state of the world (global warming - even if it’s caused by the sun AS WELL AS by human activity); BREXIT (I’m a remainer, have been so from the start - so now you know I live in the UK);  money (pensions  income inadequate, not too many jobs around for 74-year olds, though I do a bit of teaching, and write/edit); and the usual things 74 year olds complain about:  swelling feet; pains in various parts, coming and going; migraines (caused by wheat, dairy, onions, oranges, lupin, strip-lighting and one or two others); my memory.  Can only get worse. My dentist (and this two years ago) said if I was a young man of 17 he would be really worried about the fact I’ve had 15% “bone loss” but “Hell,”  he said with a grin “you’re 74!  Go away and come back in a year.”  (I didn’t bother, so I expect it’s now 20%!)

Anyway, so far I’d say the dream is about all that, the chances of being run over by a speeding fire engine, the fact  that my letting go of the dog’s lead might have led to a fire somewhere having got a lot worse than it might have done , or that I might have lost my dog!  And of course the dog probably represents an aspect of myself (as at  least one theory of dreams maintains - everything in it is some aspect of the dreamer).

Maybe the turning of the corner is significant, too. I hope so. Mankind is seriously threatened by the actions, beliefs and attitudes of quite a few maniacs (probably most of whom would see me and my like as a maniac!).  I have three sons, and two grandchildren. So, though none of this is likely to affect me much, I am concerned about it.

And yes, I have written about it.  In 2012 I published printed versions of various books I had written in the previous few years.  Look me up on Amazon.  There’s a five-part semi-autobiographical novel about four key years of my late youth - 1970 - 1974 - one of which was spent in a band that made two records, but finally failed to make it.  Look it up if you will (called CMU, though I call it Crabapple in the novel. Names have all been changed). Better still read the books which are also on Kindle. It has quite a few moments of humour, and some of pathos, some even of wisdom or illumination.The other three years were mostly spent in Bangladesh where I was part of an anarchic  pacifist (mostly!) do-gooding adventurers called Operation Omega.  The five books make up a literary genre known as a ‘Bildungsroman’ - basically about how the hero (!) encountered a lot of experiences through which he became a man.  (I could have been a heroine and become a woman, as a smaller number of my colleagues there might feel that they did). This for me was much more about setting out to save the world (change it?) and coming to the realisation that only real way to attempt this is to change (save??) oneself.  

Did I?  Well, there’s a question.  In parallel with the quasi-novel, I also wrote two books about my personal (spiritual) development:  first was called ‘Cedar Bug Boards’ - to work out what that title itself means you have to read the book! - and the second ‘View from the Playpen’ about a series of weird (visionary?) experiences  I had in the summer of 2005, when I first encountered a Spirit called Azrael.  Well...

That led me to discover ‘The Teaching’, a body of work channelled over 28 years in the last century by a New Zealander called Kathleen Long.  I became so persuaded of the truth of The Teaching that I set about writing first ‘Credulous Fools’ which studies the first three years (1932-1935) and comes to the conclusion (based on evidence) that the channellings, and the Spirits channelling them, were indeed genuine.  Then a month or so ago I published excerpts from The Teaching, called ‘The Search for the Gate’, (I am merely the Editor.)

And that’s the real reason for my starting this blog.  I want to make it more widely known.  I have written, and am very interested in, the phenomenon of synchronicity (aka ‘meaningful coincidence)  Two books so far:  Ravens in Full Bloom, and The Greek Class.  That is by no means unconnected with the main matter, which is THE TEACHING, and this book ‘ The Search for the Gate’.

If there’s anyone out there (on this plane I mean!) interested in any of this, wanting to ask questions about the breed of the dog, or the precise colour of the fire engine, or indeed anything else I’ve talked about,  I’d love to hear from you.  Over and out.

 James

[amwilburn]

The Lego Movie 1 & 2 (and The Lego Batman Movie)

The first Lego Movie film simultaneously came out of nowhere (I didn't see a huge build up of hype), but at the same time, seemed long overdue. Yes, first and foremost, it's a way to keep the Lego brand front & centre on everyone's mind. But why not also cram it full of fun and heart?

The Lego Movie 2: The 2nd Part (2019)

Last month, we watched The Lego Movie 2: The 2nd Part at an advanced IMax screening on Feb 6th. We hadn't watched the original film in a couple of years, but had enjoyed it, and and *just* recently watched Lego Batman (which we also loved), were really looking forward to this.

TLM2 didn't disappoint, but didn't feel as satisfying as the 2 previous (no we haven't seen the Lego Ninjago film); it was full of laughs, and a song called "Catchy Song" that the film will *not* let you forget (think "Upbeat Inspirational Song" from "Teen Titans Go to the Movies".

In fact, I felt TLM2 film echoed the Teen Titans film in many ways, not just in having an intentionally silly & infectious song; from the overall tone, to even the general protagonist's plot arc.  Not that surprising, when both were produced by Warner Bros. Animation.

If you haven't seen the 1st film, the big reveal / twist at the end gave the 1st film a lot of heart.  In TLM2, I feel they spent *too* much time  on the same 'reveal', and it ground most of the plot pacing to a halt; I actually prefered the way that The Lego Batman Movie ignored the reveal at the end of TLM, but to be fair, you can feel this (along with the 1st film) are aimed at an even younger crowd, and I think it works for them (their attempt to inject heart into this film ended up being a little bit cheesy for me, but I think it works for the target audience), but the rest of the film delivers on laughs. Big time.

In fact, while the plot was nowhere as coherent or as smoothly transitioning as the 1st 2 films, TLM2 had us laughing throughout; in particular, I loved the meta humour as Christ Pratt as Emmet meets Rex Dangervest, a character who is the combination of Chris Pratt's Josh Faraday (Cowboy from Magnificent Seven), his Owen Grady from Jurassic World 1 & 2, and his Peter Quill / Star Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy.  The fact that Emmet is the everyman from every RPG / hero's journey from obscurity, who would of course be amazed by a wild west cowboy, a dinosaur cowboy, and a space cowboy.

The plot did stall in pacing a few times, especially while the characters were stumbling around, 'bewitched' by  Tiffany Haddish's Queen (the character's name will induce eye-rolling) and it felt like the film maker's themselves weren't sure how the middle portion of the film should connect the beginning and the end, they made sure there were laughs aplenty en route. And, as I'd mentioned, an ear-worm, catchy silly song that measure's up to the original's "Everything is Awesome". Oh, and stay for the credit's if you're also a fan of Andy Samberg's Lonely Island; unfortunately there's no post credits scene though.

Seriously, the soundtrack is so catchy, my wife immediately added it to her workout playlist.  Just going to leave "Catchy Song" from TLM2 here. You'll love it and hate it all at once.

YMMV: it's skewed a bit younger than the other 2 films mentioned here, so that may really bother some people. Conversely, if you were planning to take kids anyway, you may regard this even more highly.

Overall, B, 8.2/10

The Lego Move (2014)

Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Neeson, and Will Ferrell star in... well, essentially the film that everyone who grew up playing with Lego had imagined in some form. But voiced by huge stars; Morgan Freeman & Liam Neeson in particular add a nice gravitas to the film, which just adds to the enjoyable silliness.   Immediately after watching TLM2, we felt it wasn't quite as satisfying as the first and popped that in for a re-watch. We weren't wrong.

TLM's simple, staple RPG plot (the undiscovered diamond in the rough will save everyone) flows smoothly from point to point, and with virtually all the Lego licensed properties to parody, one scene in particular always gives me a chuckle: when Morgan Freeman's Vitruvius is addressing all the Lego licensed characters at once, juxtaposing Renaissance painters and Ninja Turtles, or the fact the Dumbledore and Gandalf are essentially the same character.  One of the great joys of this film is the sheer number of licensed character cameos that they simply crammed in because it was funny (and, probably also to sell some of said minifigs).

Emmet (Chris Pratt) is a nobody, recruited by Obi Wan (er Vitruvius) and who is predicted to be the chosen one to save Bricksburg from the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell). So while the plot itself is hardly new, it was all so charming. Set to the tune of "Everything is Awesome", the bright colourful characters and intricately modeled backgrounds will have you grinning. Plus, you get to hear Liam Neeson yelling "Darn Darn Darn Darny Darn!" Don't spoil the surprises for yourself if you haven't already seen this. A-, 8.9/10

Oh, also the 3d was great in this film; clear, not detracting or headache inducing. At least, for the rendered parts anyway. The bit at the end with the reveal could have been clearer, but the film didn't suffer for it. I've yet to see the other 2 above in 3d, but hope to someday to see if they're better or worse in 3d.

The Lego Batman Movie (2017)

The Lego Batman Movie avoids the "pulling the curtain back moments" of the 2 main films of the franchise, and while that might give it less heart than TLM, it also doesn't have that same "younger audiences only" target demographic. It's clever and funny, never takes itself seriously, and while still quite slapstick, feels like it's aimed at all ages.

Bruce Wayne/ Batman thinks he works best alone, but accidentally adopts an orphan and discovers that maybe solo isn't the most satisfying way to live his life. The plot doesn't need a detailed synopsis; suffice it to say where TLM provides fan service via all the guest cameos of the various Lego licenses, this film provides fan service to every iteration of Batman, including long forgotten comic book villains you'll need to Google!

And somehow, replacing all the gunshot sounds with someone  literally yelling "Pew Pew Pew" all the way through this movie amps up the comedy (without crossing the line into pure silliness).

Will Arnett nails it as Lego Batman through all 3 of these films, but the casting of Michael Sera as Robin is genius. A, 9.1/10.

Oh, and Phil Lord (co-writer of both TLM1 & 2, producer for TLBM) also co-created Clone High, How I Met Your Mother... and wrote Spiderman Into the Spiderverse.

This guy's pretty good.