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shewhohangsoutincemeteries · 3 months

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to ashes, connected

Clint Barton x F!Reader

To Ashes, Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Summary: clint brings you back to the apartment after your close call in the fountain, and you find yourselves closer than before despite your outburst.

Warnings: mdni

Word Count: 2,562

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Days Since the Decimation: Three Years, Sixty-Four Days

Your hands were still trembling as Clint led you back into the apartment with a reassuring hand on the small of your back. Ushering you through the apartment, he didn’t bother to turn on the overhead lights to the living area until you’d crossed the threshold to your bedroom, as though the direct light would rekindle your anxiety.

Clint set you carefully on the edge of your bed, brushing hair away from your forehead with gentle fingers. “Take your coat off for me, okay? I need to get a look at where the taser hit you. I’m going to get the first aid kit.”

You nodded dumbly, a pained grimace staining your lips as you shrugged off your coat. Your fingers brushed against scorched leather as you tossed it to the floor; the bolt had burned right through the material. A scratching against your back told you it had ruined the shirt beneath it as well. You unbuckled the armor set against your torso and were pulling the shirt off over your head when Clint reentered the room, his own armor gone in favor of the t-shirt he wore underneath.

He stopped as he noticed your undress. “Sorry, I—”

“It’s fine.”

Neither of you spoke at barely more than a whisper, and you held the shirt against your chest as Clint came to sit beside you on the bed. You turned your back to him, tucking your hair over a shoulder as he opened the first aid kit. You stiffened slightly as you felt his fingertips trace the border of the wound.

“It’s not so bad,” he said quietly, and you heard him fumbling with the first aid kit before his touch returned, cooling this time as he applied burn cream to your skin. “A pretty bad burn, but I think your jacket took the worst of it. How do you feel?”

You shrugged a shoulder non-committedly, your eyes closed.

“Y/N.”

“I’m fine.” you replied, your voice quaking slightly.

You heard him exhale softly, not quite a sigh, and the two of you fell into silence again as he taped a piece of gauze over the wound. His hand smoothed over your shoulder blade for a moment before he moved away. He cleared his throat, standing and collecting the kit.

He was almost to the door again by the time you found your voice again. “Clint?”

He stopped, haloed by the light of the next room.

“I… I know we do this thing where we don’t talk and we don’t…” you swallowed. “But can we just… be for a minute? I… I don’t want to be alone.”

There was a moment’s pause, where your heart sat throbbing in your throat. Then, Clint returned to the bed, retaking his seat beside you. He didn’t speak, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and pulling you gently into his side. You relaxed gratefully into his embrace with a quivering sigh, resting your head on his shoulder.

The rise and fall of Clint’s chest soothed you, and you felt that terrible, anxious fluttering of your heart begin to finally slow. Clint rested his chin on the top of your head after a few moments, the hand on your arm squeezing you gently, reassuringly. The scent of him was comforting and wonderful; the faint notes of leather, coffee and the surprisingly pleasant combination of his deodorant and sweat. You inhaled it, exhaling slowly.

It could have been hours that the two of you sat there; it could have been only minutes. The darkness wrapped the two of you in its own embrace, the soft light from the next room casting you in an intimate glow.

“I’m sorry, Clint.” you murmured, unwilling to break the silence between you. “For shouting.”

He chuckled quietly, his cheek pressing against your forehead. “It’s okay. I’m pretty sure I deserved it.”

You smiled despite yourself, and Clint’s breath tickled against your cheek. You tilted your head back to meet his eye, your breath catching as you found he was already watching you. His eyes were dark in the low light, and your lips parted, that fluttering once more returning to your chest.

Your heartbeat pounded in your ears as Clint’s hand came up to touch your cheek, tucking hair behind your ear. His fingertips trailed back along your jaw, cupping your cheek in his hand. His thumb brushed softly over your cheekbone.

Clint’s voice was barely a whisper when he said your name.

His lips met yours hesitantly, his kiss barely more than a brush of his lips against your own. He kissed you almost carefully, his thumb stroking your cheek. Your lips parted, your tongue meeting his as you felt it touch your bottom lip. Clint’s arm slipped from around your shoulders, moving to touch his hand to your bare waist, and you shivered under his touch.

It was so soft, almost… you could have sworn it was almost reverent, but still you could feel that same need you’d felt the first time burning inside his kiss. You whimpered as his lips moved across your cheek and jaw, lowering your arms from your chest. Clint’s hand left your cheek to help tug your shirt from where it still hung from your forearms and you tossed it aside before catching his lips with your own again.

Clint’s hand moved to your knee, sliding up your thigh. You took his face in your hands as he deepened the kiss, smiling slightly against his lips as the hand on your waist glided upward, his touch tickling your ribs. Clint’s lips didn’t leave yours as he lowered the two of you down onto the blankets side by side.

Kissing Clint was intoxicating, and even without the aggression and hunger you’d shared in the alleyway, your whole body felt as though it was coming alive under his touch.

Your hand slipped into his hair and Clint moaned as your fingers curled into it, the sound of it so soft that you almost could have believed you imagined it. The hand on your thigh tugged it toward him, bringing your leg up to hook over his.

The move pressed you almost flush against him, and you thrilled at the feeling of the hard planes of his body against yours. His hand was almost possessive on the back of your thigh, fingers digging into the muscle. It moved further up your leg to claim your ass instead.

His lips left yours to trail along your jaw and down over the side of your throat. Your breath hitched as he found the sensitive spot below your ear, your hands moving to his chest. They curled in his shirt, urging it upward, and Clint pulled away long enough to tug if off overhead and toss it to the floor with yours.

Clint rolled on top of you as soon as the shirt was gone, bringing his mouth back to yours. His hand took hold of your hip, pinning you to the mattress, his arms caging you in beneath him. You ran your hands down his torso, slowly mapping out the muscles of his chest and stomach, fingers lingering on the lines left by near-invisible scars.

Clint’s hand moved up along your ribs, tracing the edge of your bra, and you reached behind yourself to unclip it. He pulled it off of you, his tongue sliding against yours as he palmed your breast in his hand. You moaned into his mouth as his thumb teased over your nipple.

Your hands returned to his stomach, nails grazing over the soft hair below his navel before finding his belt buckle. Pressing your lips to his jaw as you unfastened his pants, you watched Clint’s eyes roll back as you curled your fingers around his cock. His lips parted, his breath fanning over your face as he exhaled a groan.

Clint’s lips brushed over yours again before he pulled away with a shuddering breath, resting his forehead against yours.

“Y/N…” he murmured again; his voice heavy with want. With need. “Fuck…”

Your other hand fumbled to push his pants further down his legs and he broke away only long enough to remove them. He was thick and hard in your hand and he twitched under your touch. Clint’s breathing was labored, his lips finding yours blindly as you squeezed the base of him, his kiss deep and heated. His hand left your breast to ghost fingertips down over your stomach, and you swore you could feel him smile into the kiss as you shivered in response.

“Oh, god…” you whined as soon as he had unfastened your pants and slid his hand into your underwear, his expert fingertips finding your clit with ease. Clint circled it slowly with a teasing pressure, his teeth and tongue teasing their way over the sensitive skin of your throat. “Clint…”

“God, you’re so wet for me,” he muttered, his breath tickling the damp flesh of your neck. His words sent heat straight down your spine and you arched up against his hand. Your eyes rolled back as he pressed a finger into you, and you met each gentle thrust of it with a roll of your hips. Clint continued teasing your clit with his thumb, his ministrations earning him a long, soft moan into his ear. “Fuck, baby…”

When you came against his hand it was with wide eyes and a long, shuddering breath, your hand wrapped around the back of Clint’s neck. He watched every moment on your face as he withdrew his hand slowly, replacing your hand on his cock with his own.

Anticipation tightened in your belly as you felt the length of him slide against your cunt, but you pressed a hand to his chest. “Wait.”

Clint stopped immediately, a furrow appearing between his brows.

You kissed him again in quick reassurance, reaching above yourself towards the bedside table. You wiggled further across the mattress beneath him, stretching to open the drawer. You fumbled blindly inside it, eyes rolling back again as Clint used the new positioning as an opportunity to trail his lips down your chest to tease over your breasts. His teeth grazed your hardened nipple and you gasped, arching up under his attention. He curled his tongue around it and sucked lightly, his hand possessive on your hip.

As distracted as you were, your fingers finally closed around a condom, and brought it to eye level. “I found these in the drawer when we first ‘moved in’ here,” you explained, struggling to read the label in the muted light. “I have no idea if they’re…”

Clint took it from you, studying the label for a moment before sighing in relief, tearing it open with his teeth. “It’s not expired.”

“Oh, thank God,” you said, and Clint cut off your relieved laugh with another heady kiss.

You took his face in your hands, your fingers curling in his hair. Your mouth parted against his in a silent moan as you felt his cock press into you slowly.

“Fuck, baby, I almost forgot how good you feel,” Clint murmured breathlessly, his eyes closing as your fingers tightened in his hair. Your other hand clutched at his bicep, his shoulder… every inch of you was burning with sensation as he fucked himself into at an agonizing pace. Your nails dug into his flesh as you felt every inch of him as he thrust into you, marking his skin with your pleasure. “God, you’re amazing…”

His hand slid up along your thigh, hooking it over his hip as he thrust deeper into you, his hand claiming the soft skin behind your knee. Clint kissed your neck, your shoulder, your chest and always, always brought his lips back to yours, his mouth catching yours between moans.

His hand returned to the side of your face, his thumb brushing over your cheek. You turned your head to kiss his palm, your lips wrapping around his thumb as he brushed it over your bottom lip. You sucked it gently, tongue curling around it. Clint exhaled what was almost a sigh, eyes closing.

“Clint…” you moaned his name quietly, as though saying it too loud could break the spell between you, and he ran his fingers through the hair by your ear. “God, Clint, I’m…”

“I know, baby,” he whispered, his hand trailing down from your hair to ghost along your torso. It lingered over your breast before continuing down, and you gasped aloud as he returned his fingers to your clit. He held your gaze, his lips parted and his breathing heavy. “I know; I’ve got you…”

“Oh, fuck, Clint—”

Your eyes rolled back and your hips pitched upward as you came, bringing him so far into you that pain flared inside you briefly. You clutched at his shoulders tightly, your nails biting into his skin, and Clint groaned his face falling into the crook of your neck. His lips brushed over your collarbone, and you continued meeting his thrusts with your own, one leg wrapping around his thigh.

Clint breathed curses and nonsensical praise against your skin, his fingers still an intoxicating torture against your clit. You could barely think anything other than ‘more’.

You clutched at his hair and brought his lips back to yours. Clint moaned into the kiss as your fingers tightened in his hair, and you felt another orgasm wash over you just as Clint came too, his hand moving from your clit to grasp tightly at your hip.

“Oh, baby…” he whispered, his lips brushing against your jaw as he pulled away slowly, rolling off of you. The two of you lay in silence for a few long moments, chests heaving as you both caught your breath. You could feel yourself shaking as you came down, your fingers curling in the blankets beneath you. You could feel a wet patch beneath your thighs and your face warmed.

You heard the sound of the condom being removed and Clint pushed himself up off of the bed, rescuing his underwear from the floor and pulling it on. He stood, moving away from the bed without looking at you. Nerves twisted in your gut as he tossed the condom in the bin in the corner of the room and left the room.

You sighed heavily, but rather than follow him, you only rose long enough to pull back the blankets and slide beneath them. If he was going to do this again, you weren’t going to fight with him. Not again. You pulled the blankets up over yourself, turning on your side to face petulantly away from the door.

The lights in the other room switched off, bathing you in darkness.

Fine, Clint, you thought, closing your eyes against your emotions. But I’m done.

You started slightly as you felt the bed shift behind you, eyes flying open as the blankets shifted and Clint lay down in the bed beside you. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t pull you into his side or roll over to wrap his arms around you. But you felt his hand come to rest gently on your thigh as if to reassure you that he was, in fact, still there with you.

You felt a small, tentative smile touch your lips, and it stayed there until you fell asleep.

tags:@trekkingaroundasgard@lovely-dreamer19@wittyforachange@wefracturedmotivation@january-echoes@glossyloner@capitalnineteen@youclickedthislink@s0ftness@castieltrash1@drakelover78@queenoftheunderdark@lol-you-thought@akumune@xxboesefrauxx@enna-core@hearmyharmony@katsies@youralphawolf72@maenji@rhymesmenagerie@gwianasky@melaclintbartoncorner@loki-is-loved@whovianayesha@bradfordbantams@alice-the-nerd@fanofallthefics@ace-fandom-dumbass@kaelyn-lobrutto24@twsssmlmaa@earth-pig-fish@meeksmusic83@hallothankmas@justanothermagicalsara@janineb86@darsynia@rhymesmenagerie @thatwelshbi @lauraashley93 @darkwhisperswolf

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melodramaschild · 2 years

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𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 (𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝) 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 ??

𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐤

Navigation || Age limit: 14+

Warnings: fainting, being sick, flu, Y/n is scared

Let me know if I forgot anything

Words count: 3 328

Pairing: dads Remus and Sirius x daughter reader

Read me: If you see any mistakes, please let me know. English isn’t my first, not even second, language and reminding me of some mistakes would help a lot. Also, feel free to reblog.

One big thanks to @veryberryjelly for helping me with this one

You knew you couldn’t tell them. Not now. Not when you were living with them only for a few weeks. They would definitely send you back into an orphanage house. Just where you came from.

Sirius Black and Remus John Lupin.

Funny names. And even funnier people. The gay couple was so fun to be around and you felt comfortable in their company, yet, you still couldn’t fully relax.

It took 3 years of visits, courts and paperwork to adopt you, and it still wasn’t done. Long story short: you only saw Sirius and Remus only twice in a month and only for two hours. So you could get used to them. And now you were living with them. And you were scared.

From 4 hours in a month right into 24/7. Life is funny sometimes.

You felt so hot, sweat was forming on your temple and you felt like throwing up any minute. Your fingers tightly gripped the spoon as you tried not to throw up from the smell of eggs and bacon for breakfast right into your plate.

Sirius turned around from the kitchen range and was about to put another bacon on your plate, but seeing your sickly sweaty face stopped him. “You alright, flower?” he asked with a serious face while he held the pan in his hand. He shook you out from your overthinking world and you looked up at him. Suddenly all those sounds and voices became more clear.

He was a charming, funny (older) man.

He wore a silk bathrobe with colorful birds on it, loosened shorts and top. His curly black hair had one gray hair lock and he looked like a mess. Even his beard wasn’t brushed. And don’t get me wrong with the hair lock, he isn’t old. He is the perfect man in his late 30’s, he just got some gray hair.

Remus on the other hand was already in his daily-wearing clean clothes and his hair were tidy and all fluffy.

“Mhm.” you nodded and gave a fake reassuring smile. You didn’t want him to worry about it, nor them putting you back. So you chose to lie. Lies are good.

Remus carefully listened to the whole conversation behind his newspaper and after your not-convincing mhm decided to give you his all attention and put the newspaper down. He watched you so carefully, from toe to head.

“You sure?” Remus asked and you nodded as you took the beacon into your hands. “Lovebug, but you don’t look like, come ‘ere.” Sirius moved closer to you and carefully placed his big palm over your hot forehead. “Shit, you’re burning up…” Sirius said more to Remus than to himself or to you.

“Show me.” Remus urged and placed the back of his hand on your sweating temple. Remus scrunched his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes. You huffed and tried to chew on your bacon in peace.

“Sirius gimme your forehead.” Remus said and placed his other hand on his lover’s forehead. Sirius quickly did the same and at that moment you all made a small triangle.

“She’s burning up, you don’t have the same temperature as her.” Remus pointed out. “I know, she really is.”

“I’m not burning out.” you rasped with rolling your eyes and quickly got up from their touch. As soon as you are gone, that longer you can keep them in your game that you’re not sick. Plus, how were you supposed to tell them that you’re sick?

“You going to school already?” Remus surprisingly asked as he leaned in his chair so he could see you in the hall and how you’re getting into your shoes.

“Yes.” You gave him a one-word answer.

“We can take you there, lovebug.” Remus smiled at you and shook your head. “I’m fine, thank you.” you said and grabbed the keys they gave you. It was just three keys on a key ring. Reminder that you have home now. You smiled for yourself through your headache and Remus saw it. Even through your rolling eyes and raspy voice, he knew he was doing a good job with you. Warm spread through his whole body and all he wanted to do was run to you and hug you.

“Have a great day then, sweetheart!” Sirius called and interrupted yours and Remus’ thoughts.

“Thank you, you too.” You politely replied and went on walk to your fifteen minutes away school.

“She didn’t look well.” Sirius turned to his husband. “I noticed. I’m going to prepare some items for her when she comes back.” Remus made a list of things for your sickness in his head.

“Just be on the phone. Maybe she will call that she doesn’t feel well or maybe her teacher.” Sirius worried himself. Remus saw how his face was twisted in worries and he could hear his worried thoughts. Remus took Sirius’ hand in his and stroked his knuckles. “My dearest, I promise you everything will be alright.” Remus gave him a reassuring smile and kissed Sirius hand. Like back in those days. And Sirius blushed, like back in those days.

But no one was ready for the call that was only a few hours in future.

You felt your head pounding, you could even hear your heart in your ears. Your headache was getting worse and worse and sweat was forming on your forehead. You were sitting in the school library, trying to eat your lunch that Sirius made for you and read some book, but it was hard to focus. You felt like throwing up any minute and you were still coughing.

“Y/n!” Maria, your new friend, snapped her fingers in front of your eyes. You quickly blinked and looked at her and how one of her dreadlocks fell in front of her face from her messy lower bun.

“You alright?” She asked with her soft voice. She crouched down and looked into your eyes.

“I’m okay, I’m fine,” you tried to smile at her but it was a bit harder.

“Uhu, okay, let’s go, biology starts in four minutes.” Maria gave you a warm smile and handed you her hand. You gladly accept it and let her bring you up.

“Biology is gonna be so much fun, Miss Smith told us that we should talk about clouds today…” Maria continued with talking about today’s biology class, but your ears started to ring and your vision got blurry.

“Y/N!”

Remus’ breath hitched as he hung up the phone. He blinked a few times to ground himself and looked up. “Love? Is everything alright?” Sirius asked. “Get in the car.” Remus rasped. “What?” Sirius knitted his eyebrows together. He was halfway done with his outfit for today. Some linen pants with so many strange symbols and with simple black shoes he had from his teenage years.

“She… she…” Remus panicked and grabbed his wand. “Accio keys!” He shouted and in a second there were keys in his hand. “Remus! What happened?!” Sirius yelled at his husband and he quickly grabbed his hand. “We don’t have any time. Get in the car!” Remus dragged his husband from the house to their car.

Remus quickly ran around the car and sat into his seat, turning the motor on. Remus drove fast, heading to the hospital.

“Remus what happened?!” Sirius barked out. “She passed out at school…” Remus whispered and drove into the hospital parking lot.

Sirius ran into the hospital like a snowslip. Remus quickly behind him.

“Good afternoon, how can I help you?” The nurse behind the reception table smiled at them. “Where’s my daughter-” Sirius breathed out and tried to catch his breath. “I’m so sorry, we are looking for our daughter. Y/N Williams.” Remus explained and the nurse lady typed something on the computer. Williams was a simple ordinary last name the state gave you. Because you couldn’t be a kid without a last name.

“Only Y/N Williams we admitted today is Y/N with three last names.” The lady looked up from her seat at them with her left eyebrow raised. Remus and Sirius looked at each other, confusion written all over their faces.

“Are the last names Lupin and Black?” Remus asked with a hope in his voice, with hope that he accidentally didn’t run into the wrong hospital.

“Yes! That’s it! Do you want to see her?” The lady smiled at them and both of them quickly nodded. “The school called us that she passed out, is she still…” Remus didn’t even dare to finish his sentence. “Yes, she was. She quickly told paramedics her last names with ‘They might ask for their names.’,” the lady chuckled and got closer to your room. “The doctor is still examining her, but it looks like she has the flu.” The lady explained and knocked on your door. “Please wait here.” She said before she entered your room.

“A flu?” Sirius questioned and looked at Remus. Remus quickly grabbed his hand and tangled his fingers. “How could we be so blind…” Remus sighed. Sirius opened his mouth to say something but the nurse got from your room with a doctor behind her back.

“Black and Lupin?” The doctor asked and they both nodded. “Yes, that’s us, where is the teacher? There should be her teacher…” Sirius looked all around the room, looking for your teacher.

“Once the hospital accepts a patient, we, as the hospital and attending doctors, take responsibility over the patient.” The doctor explained with a calming voice, knowing how much parents can be nervous, especially new parents. “Your daughter is now okay, she has the flu and is a little bit dehydrated.” The doctor explained. Remus and Sirius couldn’t believe it. They always made sure you had enough to drink and food. They might have missed the flu, but not your needs.

“But we-”

“It’s okay. Look,” the doctor started and raised her hand with the patient's report. “Your daughter told me everything. That you adopted her, that you are brilliantly taking care of her,” the doctor looked at Sirius and fondled her paper. “That you’re funny.” She said when she was Sirius half pajamas outfit with linen pants. Sirius chuckled and nodded.

“And she also told me about her feelings. It’s totally normal to feel like that, from what I heard, she’s anxious, everything is new. I promise you that you didn’t miss anything. The flu takes a lot from her body and that’s where the dehydration comes from, she was scared to ask for more water…” the doctor sadly smiled. You were a really nice patient. A little bit scared to talk, preferring non verbal answers. Shy, a lot.

“Bloody hell…” Remus cursed. “You might see her, come in, please.” The doctor opened the door to your room.

Remus and Sirius were met with your shy anxious face. They both gave you one of their sweet smiles. “We will leave you alone.” The nurse lady smiled and closed the door behind her.

“Hi there, lovebug.” Remus sat down next to your bed, while Sirius sat down to your bed, next to your legs. Like a loyal dog.

“Hello.” you barely whispered with your shaky voice.

Because that was it. That was the part when they will tell you that they don’t want a sick kid. You didn’t want to walk in circles. That would be only false hopes. So you ripped off the patch with a question “Are you gonna send me back?” your voice broke at the end of the question, tears filling your tears. You were just so exhausted from hoping that someone would want you.

Sirius’ face fell when he saw your tears and quickly got closer to you. “What? No! What are you talking about?” Sirius quickly took your hand in his and shook his hand while looking at Remus. “Sweetheart, what are you talking about?” Remus asked. There were worries and love in his voice. You could feel it and that’s what scared you. It was new and you never felt it. It could disappear in a minute.

The feeling of losing Remus and Sirius scared you. You started crying even more and you didn’t even know why.

“Hey hey, shh, it’s okay, come here.” Sirius quickly pulled you into his hug, wrapping his arms around so tightly. Sirius rested his chin on your head and looked at Remus. They comforted a lot of people in their life, but they never comforted a kid before. Their kid.

Remus leaned closer and touched your arm, slowly rubbing the place. And you let them both to comfort you.

“It’s okay to cry, alright? Just let it all out.” Remus whispered and you continued crying into Sirius’ silk colorful bathrobe. Maybe that was something you needed, after all.

“Can you, please, tell us what’s happening in your pretty head?” Remus asked when your cries turned into sniffles. Sirius turned you around in his arms so you could face Remus, stroking your hot cheek. You coughed a couple of times before trying to speak. “Here, I got you.” Remus handed you a paper tissue and you blew your nose.

“Take your time, okay? We have all the time.” Remus reassured you while taking your hot hand in his. You sniffled one more and leaned against Sirius’ chest more. “You’re okay, lovebug.” Sirius whispered while continuing stroking your cheek.

“Whe-when I w-was…” you weren’t able to talk through your hiccups and sniffles.

“Shh, it’s okay, don’t rush, take a deep breath, it’s okay, we’re gonna wait for you, okay?” Remus reassured you once again and stroked your knuckles with his thumb.

“When I was younger… there was a family who wanted me, but I got sick and they…” you started. You made the story as short as possible. “And they put you back?” Remus asked and finished your story. You only nodded and let some tears fall from your eyes.

“Flower, I promise you that this won’t happen with us. You’re meant to be taken care of when you’re sick, not to put you back.” Remus explained and you cried out. The love. Parents’ love. Something you feel for the first time.

“We’re gonna take care of you now, alright?” Sirius whispered and you nodded. “Pinky promise that we won’t put you back.” Sirius joked and showed you his pinky, Remus did the same, both of them waiting for you to intertwine their fingers. And you did. You made your first pinky promise ever. You made your first pinky promise with your first parents. Ever.

Remus looked at you both and smiled for himself. He could get used to it. And he’s pretty sure he will.

Remus chuckled and you both looked at him. “You should tell us that you don’t feel well. Well, at least you know how our hospital looks.” he said and you giggled, earning another cough.

“Can we talk now?” The doctor entered your room and Remus with Sirius nodded.

“Hate to say it like that, but welcome to quarantine.” The doctor handed you three face masks. “Since your daughter has the flu, it’s our responsibility to inform you about quarantine. You’re obliged to stay in quarantine for two weeks, or,” she raised her point finger. “Or until you all feel better.” the doctor looked at you.

“Here is your medical prescription.” The doctor handed Remus the small paper. “And I would like to talk with one of you if I can.” She said and took Remus by side, explained the whole quarantine and how to use your meds.

The nice nurse lady entered the room and handed you the hospital jelly. “What is it?” you asked as you held the plastic cup in your hand. “You never had hospital jelly?” Sirius looked down at you.

“Do I look like I’ve ever been to the hospital before?” you raised your eyebrows at him. “Damn,” he sighed. “You’re missing a lot. The jelly is delicious.” Sirius said and opened the plastic cup. “He’s right, it’s really delicious.” The nurse said and handed you a spoon.

You dig into the jelly form, examining the weird jiggly form. Sirius laughed and you ate it. The sweet flavour melting on your tongue.

“I fucking love it.” you whispered and they both laughed.

“You can go now, but it’s really important to rest.” The nurse said and turned to Sirius. “She tired her body so much that she passed out, make sure she’s resting for as many days as possible.” The nurse explained and looked at you.

“Where’s your jelly?” She asked. There was no evidence left behind after the jelly in the plastic cup. “I ate it, it was really good.” you admitted with a smile.

She smirked at you and turned around, grabbing another cups and handing them to you. “Aren’t these for other kids?” Sirius asked. “Fuck these kids. They are getting on my nerves and they don’t deserve any hospital jelly like your Jelly does.” She referred to you and Sirius held his laugh. “Here, take them.” She handed Sirius’ another cups. “Thank you then.” Sirius thanked her and stood up, helping you to get into your jacket.

Sirius was sitting in his car, with thirty jellies in his tote bag. “Hey Y/N, I was thinking about watching all the movies you always wanted to see but you never got the opportunity and what do you think?” Remus asked. But there was no response from you. “Y/N?” he asked and Sirius turned around to look at you and laughed.

You were blacked out, deep in your slumber in the car backseat, head leaning against the window with your mouth ajar. And you were still holding the hospital jelly and spoon in your hand.

Remus parked the car in front of the house and carefully opened your door, holding your side so you couldn’t fall. “Do you want some help?” Sirius asked and got your school bag. “No, I got her, thank you.” Remus politely thanked and scooped you into his arms. You were still holding the jelly and spoon from your sleep.

“I can’t believe she used our last names.” Sirius happily grinned and unlocked the door. Remus carefully took you to your room, softly placing you on the bed. Sirius followed you and then carefully took your jelly and spoon. Sirius grabbed your duvet and wanted to tuck you in when you suddenly woke up.

“Hi, we’re sorry, we didn’t mean to wake you up.” Remus squatted down next to your bet and brushed some baby hair from your forehead. “It’s okay.” You sleepily mumbled. “How are you feeling?” Remus asked and got a bottle with water from your school bag.

“Tired.” you closed your eyes and rolled to the side. “Just get some rest, okay? We have plenty of time ahead of us.” Sirius smiled at you and wrapped the duvet around you. “Can I have more jelly when I wake up?” you asked. “You can have anything you want.” Remus chuckled while Sirius secured the duvet all around you, tucking you in.

“Have a good rest, Jelly.” Remus whispered and stroked your cheek for the last time.

He took Sirius hand in his and both of them were leaving your room, when your sleepy voice stopped them. You said the sentence they always hoped to hear, but they would never force you. That sentence that told them they’re doing the right job and choices.

“Love you.”

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chiiyuuvv · 8 months

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that’s ok if you’re not comfortable writing about making out, if possible could you do something where sumin and the reader are fighting over something (little or big) and the only way he can get the reader to stop fighting is by giving them a kiss?

GET UP - SUMIN °

~~~~~~~~♡

You sigh again, the constant strolling through your phone annoys you, as you cant find anything else to do. You were supposed to be hanging out with your boyfriend but nooo, "hes studying."

You would never bash him for perfecting his skills — you would actually join him — but after laying on his bed for 2 hours, you've decided enough is enough.

"Sumin-ahh."

"Just a couple more minutes baby I promise." You'd normally feel at ease, all giddy as you think about spending more time with if he didnt say that 30 minutes ago.

You've had enough, your mad. If he cant spend time with you, then he should at least take a break. He has been at that desk for 3 hours for God's sake.

And so you stand up, and walk towards his chair, not a single ounce of fear in your steps. "Baby what are you doing?"

"I'm making you take a break." You spin his chair over, your arms crossing as you mock sumins pout. "I told you baby I'm almost donee-"

"No! You said that 30 minutes ago. Sumin take a breakk!! Its not good for your health."

"But baby-"

"Dont 'but baby' me. Get. Up."

"But-" A quick chaste kiss lands on his lips.

"Baby-" Another one.

"Mm if your going to kiss me then dont do it so quickly.."

"Will you get up?" He nods his head as he shuts down his laptop, stretching his arms before placing then around your waist.

"Thank you baby~" You smile in victory, your lips finding his again as you stay there for a while, before breaking into another smile.

"Now let's go eat something yeah?"

A/n: I was supposed to write this yesterday but I was too lazy to, but surprisingly this only took like 20 minutes to write. Thank you person for requesting and also thank you for resubmitting your request, it was much better <3

#xikers #xikers fluff #xikers drabbles #xikers fanfic #xikers imagines #kpop #xikers fanfiction #xikers au #xikersau #spotify #xikers sumin #sumin #sumin xikers #sumin x reader

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zaddyazula · 5 months

Note

gimme yakuza propaganda so i can see if i wanna peep it

🫡🫡🫡

well there are currently 9/11 main line games (i shall explain) and all of them are available on modern consoles (a lot of them came out on ps3 or ps4 originally).

there are two remakes, one for yakuza 1 (a ps2 game) and one for yakuza 2 (another ps2 game), called yakuza kiwami and yakuza kiwami 2. they are actually pretty good remakes from what i’ve seen, but i haven’t played the original two. this is why i said 9/11 main line games.

the total order goes (chronologically):

yakuza 0

yakuza (kiwami) 1

yakuza (kiwami) 2

yakuza 3

yakuza 4

yakuza 5

yakuza 6

yakuza 7/like a dragon

yakuza lad gaiden (the one that just came out)

they are all classic fighting games until 7, which is turn-based, i am still raging about that. gaiden isn’t though. also as you asked me about a while ago now, the guy with the spiky hair is the protagonist of 7 and he will be for 8, which is coming out january next year.

the main protagonist (table slam guy) is the or one of the protagonists in every other game (0 has two, 4 has 4, and 5 has 5).

women are written decently well, a lot, lot better than mgs, though there is about two main characters who are women per game 😭😭😭😭😭😭 not one of its strongest points but they all have clothes on!! the bare minimum we love to see it. (i will just say there is actually a fat woman who is a main-ish side character in 4, who is done pretty well!!! so hurrah!!!!)

characters are extremely well written and the writing is good for the most part, there are a couple of moments in earlier games (more 3,4 and 5) where you’re sort of shocked by how ridiculous it is, but it works decently well. i prefer the first couple of games, and then the 6+. there are a few spin-offs available in the west, being dead souls (zombie game), which is ps3 only, and lad:ishin, which is set in the 1860s (and a couple more others but i can’t think). the table slam man (kiryu) has actually started to remind me a lot of snake, and the series’ stories are actually quite similar.

talking about kiryu, he respects women!!! to the point where he refuses to ever hurt a woman, and has on many occasions beat someone up for hurting a woman. not to say he doesn’t have weird-ish female relationships, but they’re overall quite sweet and last for the game, and are then never touched upon again. they’re nowhere near a meryl-snake level catastrophe.

the games themselves aren’t too long for the most part, the longest i found being 5 (30 hours) and 7 (39 hours), but that’s including all the time fucking around doing karaoke or other things. 0 took me about 28 hours; kiwami 1 took about 22 hours (i think); kiwami 2 took me about 26 hours; 3 took 16 hours; 4 took 23 hours; 6 took 21 hours, and gaiden took 11 (it’s a lot shorter).

going back to karaoke - the amount of optional shit you can do is crazy. substories are probably the biggest thing with this, some of them being decently long and others being pretty short. they are usually quite fun and can give you a break from the story (which can at times be miserable). karaoke is probably my favourite mini-game in the series. you basically just press buttons with the right timing and it is ridiculously fun and silly. other mini-games are available, such as pool, bowling (in the earlier games), fishing, claw-machines, arcade games, DISCO (in 0 but it’s class), darts and probably some others but i can’t remember. the story can get a bit depressing, but it’s balanced out by the silliness the games also have, and surprisingly it works? in mgs, it sort of half works, you’ve got a monkey who smokes cigarettes and drinks coke and then the world is falling apart. war had changed. snake is old and dying and he cannot escape the world yet. and then johnny shits himself. comedy 👍 but with yakuza, the two different sides work together really well, especially in 0, and it ends up making sense eventually.

i think that’s it you have been yakuzer-propagandad!!!!

#i’m sorry this took like 7 hours i started it before i went to school and i then had to do cornell notes for homework so here you go!!!!#rgg #yakuza #my asks

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kissthesun-gvf · 1 year

Text

Hurting for You: part 2

INTRO: It is here!! to be brutally honest I've been writing this as a way to distract myself from the impending doom of my finals, but that's besides the point. I wasn't sure of what I wanted to include in this, so it's a few bits and pieces (hopefully the time jumps aren't awkward?) I have a couple little stories in the works right now, but nothing feels perfect yet. If you have any suggestions on what to write, I'd love to hear them!

-----

Once Jake’s presence had gotten Josh to sleep, you tiptoed your way over to the chair across the room and opened your computer, doing your best to limit the light. Typing as quietly as you could, you did your research on doctors in the area that would be able to stifle the pain shooting through your chest by helping Josh, and who could do it the fastest. You soon found yourself in a sinkhole of information, and just as you clicked on a promising private office, Jake stirred in the bed across from you and slowly got out of bed, trying his best not to wake Josh. “You know, you should really try to get some rest too,” he whispered, leaning on the arm of the chair you were in. “I know, but I think I found a doctor who might be able to see Josh tomorrow…” you paused, glancing at the timestamp in the corner of your computer. “Or today, I guess.” “Send the link to our tour manager, she can take care of that. I’ll be up in a couple hours to go get Mom from the airport. You just lay down and rest, darlin’. I know you’re exhausted too.” And you couldn’t tell him he was wrong. You had been along with the guys on tour for about a week and the events of the night had caused everything to catch up with you. Still, sleep had been the last thing on your mind until Jake took your laptop out of your hand. You stood up only to realize you were still in your clothes from the show. Having the same thought, Jake rustled through the suitcase on the floor and tossed one of Josh’s t-shirts at you. “You better be asleep when I get up, but I’ll text you with updates, okay?” Truly, Jake was exactly the energy you needed right now. Although your relationship with him was obviously not the same thing as you had with Josh, his twin had a special place in your heart. He was a brother and a friend in one, and right now he was giving you all the peace you didn’t have. “Thank you, Jake. So much.” “Of course,” he half-smiled, “whatever it takes to get him better.” He glanced at Josh before returning to lay beside him, you making your way to his other side not long after.

Too few hours later, you woke up to the buzzing of your phone, and a picture of Jake filling your screen that he hated, but you thought was just bad enough to be funny. You answered in a whisper, hoping to let Josh sleep as long as possible. “Hey, what’s up?” You wrapped your other arm around yourself, the cold hitting you, and made your way to the bathroom. “I’m waiting for mom and the airport right now, so we should be back in like 30 minutes. And good news, we got Josh an appointment with that doctor this afternoon. It’s at 3, so he still has some time to sleep.” You were so thankful for Jake in this moment; all the anxiety and fear he was feeling had been channeled into productivity. “Thank you so much, Jakey.” “Of course. He still sleeping?” he asked, a tinge of concern in his tone. “Yeah, surprisingly. You really helped him last night, Jake.” “Yeah,” he laughed. “We haven’t done that in a lot of years, it was smart thinking on your part.” “I have my moments, I suppose…” You jokingly mocked a phrase he used often in interviews, which always made you laugh. “Hey hey hey, I’m the one that convinced you to get to bed last night, remember? Don’t be making fun of me now.” “You’re right-” Jake cut you off before you could continue. “Oh I see Mom now. We’ll be back soon, I’ll text you when we’re at the hotel.” “Okay hun, see you soon.”

You hung up the phone before creaking the bathroom door open, planning on returning to bed, but instead you were surprised to see Josh awake and sitting up in bed. “Hey you, how’re you feeling?” You sat cross-legged on the bed in front of him and took his hands in yours. He stopped himself before speaking, remembering the discomfort that came with it. “Dizzy still?” He nodded, moving his head ever so slightly. “Let’s relax for a while, baby. We have time.” You sat up against the headboard and Josh leaned back into you, his back against your chest. You slid your arms around his waist and rested them on his stomach, feeling the rise and fall of his breathing. “We got you an appointment with a doctor in the city, but not until later. So you’ll have some time to rest and work your way up to going out,” you filled him in, and slowly felt him relax into you. “Depending on how that goes, we’ll see what we’re doing from there. Right now we’re just focussed on getting you feeling better.” He inhaled deeply in response, still fighting the urge to speak. You were sure his mind had already gone to the idea of having to cancel shows, but that would come later. His breath hitched and he jolted against you. “It probably is time for more meds, Josh.” He sat up and turned to you, shaking his head. “I know you don’t love the idea, but they helped enough to get you to sleep last night, didn’t they?” You slid out from behind him and grabbed the bottle of extra strength Tylenol from your bag. As you handed it to him you saw a text from Jake. Let us in? Your stomach flipped as you had nearly forgotten that Josh didn’t know about this part of the plan. “Hey, I thought of something last night that might make this a little easier for you,” you told Josh, and his eyebrow raised. You walked across the room and opened the door to Jake and Karen, who were still out of Josh’s view. You lifted a finger to your mouth to quiet them, and Karen looked confused. “The sound is hurting for him, so maybe tone down the reaction a little.” She nodded and pulled you in for a hug. “Thank you for taking care of him, dear,” she whispered in your ear before heading over to her oldest. You stayed at the door to talk with Jake before following her. “I filled her in on the way here, but she insisted on seeing him, of course.” “Lucky for her he’s awake now.” “Oh perfect,” Jake stepped into the room, just as anxious to see his brother. You stepped back inside and Josh looked up at you, his face with the closest thing to a smile you had seen since last night. He reached out for your hand and squeezed it, tears brimming his eyes. “Are those happy tears or hurting tears?” You asked him, stepping closer. “Happy,” he croaked out. “Hey, that’s improvement!” Jake smiled, sitting down on Josh’s vacant side. You spent the next few hours just sitting in the room with the twins and Karen, Josh sleeping a little before you had to head to the doctor. The pit in your stomach wouldn’t settle, but you tried your best not to show it for Josh’s sake.

“I’d recommend canceling shows for at least the next week, but you’ll likely need more time. If you get back to things before you’re fully healed, you’ll be setting the process back each time.” You had been repeating the doctor’s advice in your head since she said them, and you knew Josh had been too. She had left the room, telling Josh that he was free to leave whenever he was ready. But instead you both sat in the exam room in silence. It had been nearly five minutes when you moved to stand in front of him while he sat on the exam table. You wiped the tears off of his face, leaving your hands to hold his face gently. He had yet to look up at you. “We don’t need to make any decisions right now, but let’s go back to the hotel, okay?” He sighed and stood up, still not saying anything.

It was a quiet drive back to the hotel, and by the time you reached the room you had unopened texts from each of the brothers and Karen. Josh went right back into bed, and you sat on the edge next to him, rubbing his back as he faced away from you on his side. You watched his shoulders move as he cried, completely overwhelmed with the news. “Josh…” you whispered, unsure of what to say. He sat up and faced you, eyes filled with sadness and fear. “What do I do? What do I tell the guys? The fans, they-” You cut him off and brought him in for a hug. He buried his head in your neck as you spoke softly, doing your best to calm him. “I’ll take care of everything, Josh. I can tell the guys if you want, but you know they’ll understand. Everyone’s first priority is your healing, the fans’ too. I can talk to your manager about postponing shows, and we’ll make a post to explain what’s going on.” “But we’ve already canceled so many shows…” he mumbled. “And all of that was out of your control, love. They know that.” You kissed the top of his head, the mop of messy curls tickling your face. “We’ll get you through this, baby. Right now you rest, and I’ll get things handled.” He sat up and leaned his forehead against yours. “What can I do right now, J?” His breath caught in his throat as he thought about how gentle and loving you had been to him these last few days. “You um… you can tell the guys. I think I just want to lay here for a while.” “You want me to text your mom to come meet you?” He nodded and carefully pressed his lips against yours. “I’ll go handle the boys and the details, you just take your time baby. Anything else you need?” His eyes met yours and he blinked, letting a tear fall. “I wanna go home…” This was the most broken you had ever heard his voice, not even taking the same morose tone on those late night calls when he missed you. “Of course, sweetheart. I’ll get it all figured out.” He laid back into the pillows and you kissed his forehead before shooting a text to Karen. As soon as she came in you went to tell the guys, and nothing sounded less appealing at the moment.

You met them all in the room Danny and Sam were sharing, everyone anxiously sitting around when you walked in. “So… good news or bad?” Danny asked. “It’s gotta be bad if you’re telling us instead of him, right?” Sam added. You slumped down on the edge of the bed next to Jake, who put his arm around you. You rested your head on his shoulder for a moment before you started explaining. “He did burst his eardrum. Doctor said it’ll heal on its own, but he’s out of touring for at least a week. They referred us to a doctor in Nashville who can check in on things then.” Your words hung in the air while everyone thought of the right thing to say. “How’s he doing?” Sam asked quietly. “Physically, better than he was. He got some antibiotics to prevent infection and something for the pain and dizziness, which should help him sleep. But emotionally…” you couldn’t finish the sentence without sobbing, so you stopped there. You felt Jake’s body tense next to you at the thought. When one twin hurt, the other did. “He wants to go home, so I’m trying to get us a flight. I need to work out telling the team and we’ll have to tell the fans the next couple shows are canceled, and-” You stopped and brought your hand up to cover your mouth, hoping to stop a sob. Jake held you closer and Sam crossed the room to kneel in front of you. We can help take care of things. I can look for flights and Daniel can talk to people about the tour side of things. You’re not doing this alone, bee.” You grinned at the nickname the boys had thought up for you after the first time you joined them on tour; according to them you were always buzzing around, caught up in the hustle and bustle of life on the road. Josh admired it, he said it reminded him of what a gift touring was. You turned to face Jake, who was staring off into space. “Jake,” you tried to snap him back into it to no avail, so you squeezed his arm a little to get his attention. “Why don’t you go see him?” You handed him your room key. “Yeah,” he wiped his hand across his mouth, pulling himself together. “We’ll go get things handled” Danny added, “Why don’t you stay here and relax a little? I know this has been stressful for you too.” He was right; you had barely slept the night before, you hadn’t showered since before the show, and you had barely eaten. “You’re right, I should shower… and eat.” “You’re right, you should,” Sammy added. You go shower and I’ll order you some room service so you can eat when you’re done. Then we’ll see where to go from there.” You were thankful that just as you had fallen apart, the boys had pulled things together. You’d be lost without them. Jake left to go see Josh and Karen, Sam behind him to go meet with their manager at the coffee shop down the block. Daniel starting to leave made your stomach drop. “Danny, wait,” you stopped him. “I’d kinda rather not be alone right now…” He turned back to you. “Okay bee, I’ll stay right here.” He sat down on his bed and pulled out his computer. “I’ll check around for flights while you shower. Take your time, okay?”

You spent a while letting the hot water hit you, closing your eyes and letting a few tears out before you were reminded of how hungry you were. You stepped back out into the room in one of Danny’s tshirts and the jeans you had found in your suitcase before leaving for the doctor’s. “Hey you, food’s here and I found a flight for tomorrow morning. Jake said Josh asked for Karen to come back with you, so there’s three tickets. The boys and I don’t know what our plans are yet, but you don’t need to worry about that. “You’re the best Daniel, truly,” you told him through the bites of french fries you were taking. “Hey, I do what I can considering all the shit you’ve done for the four of us,” he laughed.

The rest of the day was spent lounging around the hotel and spending time together, now that Josh was feeling slightly better. You could still tell he was hurting; when he turned his head too far or opened his mouth widely, but he was more himself than he was 24 hours ago. The boys’ tour manager had posted on the band’s instagram account, but you were trying your best not to let him think about it. He was obviously devastated that it had to be done, but a long talk with his family helped to convince him that it was the best thing to do. Before you knew it you were heading off to the airport, through the regular hustle and bustle of flying, and then driving back to the Nashville home you and Josh shared.

Karen had offered to run to the pharmacy to get a couple things Josh’s doctor had suggested, so it was just the two of you walking through the door to the familiar sights and smells of your home. You dropped your bags at the door, Josh leaning against the kitchen counter. You walked up behind him and massaged his hips, giving him a moment to collect his thoughts. “Hey,” you prompted, but he didn’t turn around. “I know this isn’t ideal, but we’ll get through it.” You nearly stopped yourself from saying ‘we’. This was harder for Josh than anyone else. He leaned down further, resting his bad ear against the cool countertop. Deciding it was better to support him without words, you rubbed his back. After a moment his tears started up again. “Sweet boy…” was all you could bring yourself to whisper. There weren’t many things you could think to say right now that could truly make him feel better, or that he hadn’t already been told. You gave him his time to feel and waited for him to take a deep breath and stand up. “What do you need right now, love?” You tried, wanting to let him decide. He just sighed and shook his head, so you took the lead instead. “Shower?” “It’s loud, and I can’t get water in there” “Bath?” He nodded at the idea, and you pressed a kiss to his forehead before going to set up the bathroom for him to relax.

While he took some time to unwind, you unpacked your bags and attempted to make dinner, quickly realizing that you had left no food in the house before leaving to meet the tour. Karen was more than happy to run to the grocery for you, so you settled on making Josh a cup of his favorite tea. You returned to your bedroom to find him standing on his side of the bed. Tears brimmed in his eyes again when you entered the room, greeting him softly with a smile. He glanced up at you and sighed before he began to cry again. You loved how in touch he was with his emotions, how he was never afraid to cry or make it clear to you how he was feeling. Right now, though, you were spending much more time than usual deciphering whether or not he was crying out of pain, disappointment, or just being overwhelmed. “Josh, I’m so sorry.” You set the cup of tea down on your bedside table and crawled across the bed, kneeling to match his height. “I can’t begin to understand how frustrating this is for you, but please know that I’m here for you, whatever you need. “I know, love. You’ve shown me that already, you’ve been perfect. You haven’t had to be this good to me,” he half-whispered, knowing how you would respond. “I know I don’t have to, but I want to.” You reached up again to hold his face in your hands. “In sickness and in health, Joshua.” The corner of his mouth snuck up into a smile and you wiped a tear that had made its way down his face.

#josh kiszka #josh gvf #gvf blurb #greta van fleet blurb #greta van fleet #josh kiszka blurb

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invincible-selfxmade-punk · 8 months

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I survived the day even though I felt sick as hell. The principal had donuts for us this morning so that was nice. Come to find out about 50% of the teachers were sick too. I don't think these kids seem to understand they need to cover their mouths when they cough. And I guess we're just not disinfecting enough or at least not keeping up with it well enough. I'm okay now I'm just completely worn out.

Did not get my grade book set up until about 10:30 and then left for lunch at 11:15.

I had lunch with some fellow teachers which is always nice. It seems like there is a group of us that always end up together even though none of us work in the same Department. I don't speak much at these lunches. No one goes out of their way to speak to me or question me I'm anything and occasionally I'll add a comment but that's about it. I'm too awkward and autistic to lead any conversation even at this Advanced age. Still I enjoy it greatly.

The professional development in the afternoon was boring as hell. They always have these things in the Middle School cafeteria where the bench seats have no backs and are horribly uncomfortable. Plus it is always freezing and the person giving the lecture was about as exciting as watching paint dry.

Surprisingly enough the principal told us as soon as the training was over at 3:00 we could leave. That's the first time that has happened in about 7 years. Most of the time they demand we go back to school and work until 4:30. But we ended up going back and working anyway because Gradebook took so long to set up. And even in 2 hours I had not finished putting in grades because so many of my kids did not turn anything in and you would have to write an explanation by every single failing grade.

The typical comment was "Worked on it in class and either did not turn it in or turned it in without a name and did not claim it when I asked whose it was."

I only got two and a half classes done and one class would not populate no matter what we did and it was not just me it was for the whole school. And I did hear a lot at teachers say that as low as these kids are and as inherently annoying and needy as some of them are they are nothing compared to how bad last year's kids were. I'm so glad those kids have moved on to another grade and I wonder how they are faring in Middle school.

#teaching #marzano #labor day #technology

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summerbirdie · 8 months

Text

Jeremiah Fanfic:

Summary: Part 1(maybe, if this gets attention)

Jeremiah picks up Addie(oc) from the Cousins bus stop.

Notes: this is my first ever fanfic so pls be nice. Imagine its Jeremiah but season 2 Jeremiah and not season 1 Jeremiah

Warnings: none. unedited. just cute stuff

My name is Addie and me and my mom have been going to Savannah’s beach house ever since I was a baby. Beck, my mom and Laurel had been best friends ever since high school. I had been spending every summer there with the Conklins and the Fishers until 3 years ago when my mom passed away in a car accident. After that I started living with my dad. Before him and my mom had never been close and I only saw him on holidays. Dad let me continue to go to Cousins but it wasn’t the same. Everyone was to sad to do anything. Last summer was when everything changed. It was like the good old days again.

I wanted this summer to be the same. Like nothing had ever changed. I told myself i wouldn’t be sad AT ALL anymore because i had lost enough time being depressed and i knew my mom would want me to be happy. I hoped that everything would stay the same. Belly would still be the same supportive person she had always been, Steven would still be the same old guy that could always make your day, Conrad would still be the same easy-going person (and hey he might actually let me smoke some of his weed this time) and Jeremiah would be the same funny, flirty golden retriever he had always been. This summer would be the same as it’s always been.

Key word: SAME.

It was the day before the Conklins had to arrive because I could only get a ticket for this day but hey, who complains about an extra day at the beach. I pulled up to the bus station at 2 in the afternoon after my 5 hour bus drive (my dad never came to the summer house and it didn’t make sense that he drive me 5 hours in one direction and another 5 hours the other so now I took the bus). I had called Jeremiah 30 minutes ago and asked him to pick me up and just as I was expecting he was right there when I walked off the bus. “Hey Addie, whats up?” he said looking at me with his blue eyes. “Oh hey, Jere nothing much just happen to be visiting my annoying best friend. I don’t really like him that much but hey I’m m not one to turn down a free vacay!” I responded looking at him cockly. “ Oh, really? We are gonna play it that way?” “ Hey, I guess we are.” I continued bluffing. “Yeah? Ok then.” Jere responded suspicious. Before I was able to blink I realized I was upside down and staring at Jeremiah Fishers surprisingly good-looking butt. “Noo, Jeremiah Fisher, PUT. ME. DOWN!” I said trying to hold my laugh in. By the time he put me down too much blood had gotten to my brain and I felt lightheaded. Jere noticed my red face so he immediately bent down to get my duffle-bag filled with practically every piece of clothing i owned because I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t overpack.

As we got to Jere’s Jeep he opened the door for me, put my stuff in the back and got in. We were silent the first couple of minutes before he asked me “So… how are yo-“. “ Lets not do this.” I knew he was asking about my mom and though I was at ease now I hated when people tried to connect with me and try to convince me that they understand what I am going through. I realized I had been a bit harsh so I mumbled a quick “Sorry”. Jere was quick to change the subject which I was glad for. “So how are things with Tyler?” I kept my silence before he continued “Do I have to beat up anyone?” It was hard to keep the smile off my face and ignore him for much longer so i shamefully answered his questions. “Well if his constant annoying spamming continues into full on harassment you just might have to.” Jeremiah’s happy face suddenly became a concerned one. “Shit Dee Dee, what happened?” “WellI guess some guys can’t take a hint and by hint I mean straight up looking him in the face and telling him we’re over.” “ Please promise me you will tell me if anything happens!” He genuinely looked worried so I assured him. “Thank you, but I can defend myself well enough.” Now his eyes were on me and not the rode. “Promise me, Addie.” I didn’t want him to get upset. “ I promise, Jere.” That seemed to calm him down and I was satisfied. I suddenly wondered why we was suddenly so interested and worried. I didn’t have enough time to think it through because we had just pulled up the house.

#jeremiah fisher #the summer i turned pretty #tsitp belly #belly conklin #fanfic #romance #series #team jeremiah #team conrad #jeremiah x reader #oc stuff #oc story #gavin casalegno

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mimisempai · 1 year

Text

What took you so long ?

Summary

Greg is waiting for Mycroft to return from a business trip, and no matter how hard he tries to entertain himself, impatience gets the best of him. But when he wakes up to Mycroft's return, he is in for a pleasant surprise.

Notes

Mystrade Monday 3.0 #11 "What took you so long ?"

@mystradepromptsandscenarios

On Ao3

Rating G - 710 words

Greg flipped through the channels on the TV, but there was nothing that interested him. Even the reruns of the Arsenal games did not appeal to him. Usually a good game or a good show could relax him and divert his attention, but today that was impossible. He fumbled with the lighter in his pocket, hesitated to go to the balcony to smoke a cigarette, searched for the usual relaxation, and then abandoned the idea.

He glanced at the clock on the wall, which showed 9:00 p.m., and checked his watch, which showed the same time. He picked up his phone and scrolled through his photo gallery, looking at pictures of his niece, the last holiday with Mycroft, smiling at the pleasant memories.

Then he went to the last SMS exchange with Mycroft.

-I am on the plane,

I will be home around 8:30 pm

xx M.

Received 3:25 pm

-No phone in the plane,

it's forbidden!

I look forward to it.

xx G.

Sent 3:27 pm

-You forget who I am.

And then you're the policeman,

you'll just have to arrest me.

PS : me too.

Received 3:29 pm

-Getting the handcuffs ready. 😏

Have a good flight.

Love you.

Sent 3:30 pm

-Now the trip will seem

extremely long.

Love you too.

Received 15:32

It was only half an hour later than expected. A lot of unexpected and harmless things could happen between the airport and their house, but Greg was nonetheless impatient.

He ignored the little voice that told him that Mycroft was never late, even when he gave an approximate time of arrival. And if he was, he would send a reassuring message. But Greg refused to let the dark thoughts enter his mind.

He admonished himself, "You idiot, it's just a little delay. He went to get a beer, resumed his position on the couch and turned on the TV again, trying to think of something else.

He must have fallen asleep, because he woke up to the sound of keys clicking in the lock. Waking with a start, his heart pounding in his chest, he jumped up from the sofa, almost tripping on the carpet. As he passed the wall clock, he noticed that it was past 11:00 and was about to exclaim, the words already on his lips, "What took you so long?" But all coherent thoughts left his mind the moment he arrived in the hallway to face Mycroft.

Mycroft stood there, his face lit up with that familiar smile, his travel bag slung over his shoulder, his briefcase in one hand and, most surprisingly, a bouquet of flowers in the other. His hair was a little messy, his features were drawn, but it was definitely him.

He said softly in a sheepish voice, "Sorry I'm late. First I had a cab problem, and then when I went to notify you, I saw that my phone battery was dead. So to make up for it while I was waiting for my cab, I got you this."

He handed the bouquet to Greg who took it, a little confused, and Mycroft continued, "I know we've been together for a few years now and I've never done this before, but I thought they were pretty, like you, so here you go."

Greg chuckled softly, "I never thought you'd be the sappiest of the two of us." He placed the bouquet on a small table and continued, "Not that I mind."

Mycroft put the rest of his things down and said quietly, "This trip has been a bit of a challenge, but the goal was worth it."

"What g-"

Greg didn't have time to finish his sentence because Mycroft had wrapped him in a hug so strong it almost lifted him off the ground.

His lover was whispering into his hair, "This goal. You. Getting back to you. It helps me bear anything. I've missed you, my love."

Greg replied, looking up at Mycroft, "I've missed you too. I'm glad you're here."

They didn't know which of them closed the distance between their lips, but when they met in a reunion kiss, nothing mattered but each other's presence and the joy of being together.

_________

Still not beta'd

Still not my native language

Still hoping you'll enjoy this story 🥰

Still thanking you for bearing with me 😝

Mystrade masterlist here

#mystrade #mycroft holmes #greg lestrade #mycroft x greg #some fluff as always #sherlock bbc #emotional hurt/comfort #established relationship #mystrade monday #mystrade monday prompts

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c7thetumbler · 4 months

Text

Quick Game reviews: 2023 (Part 1!)

Hey everyone! Apologies for the screenshots stolen from google; at the point I compiled most of this I deleted my Xitter account and didn't have the screenshots I typically share from there.

Additionally, since Tumblr has a 30 image limit this is going to be split into 2 parts! How exciting.

Let's get it goin

This group of 8 games were beat in the first week of 2023! Do not set such goals; games are made to be fun on your own time and turning it into a job is a lot like seeing how the sausage is made. But I digress;

Tinykin (Steam)

A very fun 3D puzzle-platformer collectathon. It has many pikmin-like elements in that you control a bunch of little guys to carry, push, or interact with various objects in fun ways, but I would hesitate to call it a full Pikmin like game because they really serve as collectibles which when you have enough of let you access certain areas. There's really not strategy element to it. But, it's still a fun 3D platformer, and I recommend it

Super Kiwi 64 (Steam)

This is a weird one. Another 3D platformer that will last you at most 1 hour, Super Kiwi 64 is an unsettling but intriguing little experience where you navigate a number of levels with challenges and items to collect. I say unsettling because the music has a very mysterious vibe, and the environments go from the bright forest above to some almost liminal, dark areas devoid of interactable characters and littered with strange skeletons and glyphs. It was interesting; I would say pick it up on sale if you're looking for a chill hour of playtime, but it's also only $3, so you do you

Toree 2 (Steam)

Another retro 3D platformer that's more like the PS1 era, Toree 2 is focused on quick, optimizable movements and levels design to be speedrun and 100%'d. This one is also only an hour, but also only a buck to play! Keeping with the unsettling theme, it's levels are nostalgic and bright, but the main antagonist seems to be drawing on some glitchy, bizarre power that causes some strange effects to happen in levels. It's a small but fun nostalgic experience that it's difficult and a well done series of levels

Toree 3D (Steam)

Same review as above, the sequel! Sure, the 3D may lead you to believe it's different mechanically, but it was already 3D so it's really just more of the same.

Dead Estate: Bombs Away Update (Steam)

This update added a new character, some new enemies, and some alternate rooms. Again, my Dead Estate recommendation is high for those who are into the rogue-like, top down arcade shooters, and this free update was more goodness to complete, though BOSS can very easily be broken with a number of explosion-based items.

Mechanibot (Steam)

Is this auto chess? I don't know what auto chess is as a genre. kids these days

Mechnibot is a top down tower defense like game with rogue-like elements. You start off as mechanibot, a tiny robot who has been tasked to fix the sun and has a number of robots to choose from. Robots act as "towers" that grant certain effects depending on their type and description, and can even have multiple types and effects. Your job is to keep these robots alive and attacking by frantically running around and placing them in and out of danger. You get money for each wave, which can be spent on given options at the end of each wave to upgrade robots, get new ones, and some upgrades for yourself as well. It's a lot of fun, a good 8 hours of content and replayable. Try out the demo and see if it's for you

Minit Fun Racer (Steam)

Another short game! This is a spin-off from Minit, and is much more arcade like. You start off on your little bike and have to avoid all the obstacles and collect coins to get to the end. You won't be able to progress very far for a while, so you get upgrade to last longer and get some upgrades for your scooter until you eventually can. Took me about an hour and a half to get all the achievements, but there was surprisingly a lot of cute hidden stuff along the way. Again, a fun arcadey experience with lots of charm for almost nothing.

Chico and the Magic Orchards DX (Steam)

This one was fun! I was on a big GameBoy kick this year, and the DX for this actually came out I was playing it. It was a little aggravating with some of the boss fights, but overall I had a fun time playing it! Recommended for a nice little nostalgic GBC puzzle game, would definitely be best on a portable console.

A Little to the Left (Switch DL)

I wanted to play more simple games, and this one seemed like a lot of fun as a recommendation from a friend. It's a little short, but it speaks to me as someone who hops between obsessing over doing things perfectly and finding it difficult todo anything at all. I especially like the way there are multiple solutions for several puzzles, which when compared with another player let you understand the different ways people can "organize" the same thing. A casual puzzle game that's worth a try, though don't expect hours and hours of entertainment from it

Game & Watch Gallery 3 (Switch NSO: Game Boy Color)

I owned Game & Watch Gallery 2 as a young'un, and remember playing it endlessly so it was nice to give this one a go when the GB/C update for Nintendo Switch Online Dropped. As the third entry, it contains a lot less common Game & Watch games, but the modern spin on them using Mario characters gives it a lot of personality. Honestly, I'm surprised we don't see more of these games remade in recent Mario Parties as homages or just high score games you can do.

If you've never played a Game & Watch Gallery, I'd give this one a try as its fun, addicting little bites of gameplay are very enjoyable and there's loads of unlockable bonuses to keep your attention, but if you find you don't like a game or two in it it can be a slog to get the 1000 points to finish the whole game.

Wario Land 3 (Switch NSO: Game Boy Color)

For those unfamiliar with the Wario Land series (and yet somehow found me?), it's a very fun series of platformers which focus more on puzzle solving/execution than your typical Mario platformer. Wario Land 3 specifically took Wario Land 2's "Impossible to get a game over" formula and ran with it, also making this a fun little Metroidvania in the process. It's definitely among my favorite in the sereis, though it's held back by an obsession with its own mini-golf game which it has you play one every level (every level has 4 exits). Overall it's a great entry in Mario spinoffs and a very fun time, but be prepared to be frustrated by some pretty annoying jumps and a silly mini game

Super Mario Land 2: The 6 Golden Coins (Switch NSO: Game Boy)

I have a love-hate relationship with this one. I never got to play it fully when I was a kid, but returning back to it I loved it. But it's way, waaaaaay too short. With 6 worlds with 2-3 levels tops, and with a frustratingly focused screen due to the resolution of the original Screen, it's not got a lot of staying power. Would love to see it as a pallette in Super Mario Maker 3 though.

It's fun, but short. Don't expect to spend a lot of time with this, but hey; you're probably playing this as NSO sub or for free online so no loss with this classic

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ (Switch NSO: Game Boy Advance)

The original WarioWare! It's fun, but again pretty short. Worthj a play if you've never tried out a WW game before, but the best WarioWare portable experience is Going to be WarioWare Gold on the 3DS and the more recent switch escapades. Additionally, this doesn't have the Wario World functionality, which obviously it can't but that was part of the reason I played it back in the day. Good for some random fun, doesn't stand out as an experience vs the more recent WarioWares

Dead Estate: Heaven & Hell update

This is the update the game needed; it drastically improved the floor spawning algorithm, added a lot more interesting playstyles for each character, and added more enemies and gimmicks to keep you replaying over and over again. There are more updates past this that improve the game further, but with this I can whole-heartedly recommend this as a very fun and addictive rogue-like.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (Steam)

What a wonderful April Fools game. My favorite game dev pranks are the one where they just silently drop a whole-ass spinoff.

A wonderful jaunt in the Sonic Universe! It's no secret that I love Sonic, and I've been keeping up with the IDW comic series (it's very good) since it started releasing a few years back and it's a wonderful fleshing out of characters and side-stories that main Sonic games will never address. This murder-mystery + special stage minigame was written and produced by the same writes on the IDW comics, and it's a very fun experience to see them get to make an interactive game with some humor while still getting to keep and flesh out the characters we never really get to see in Sonic Games. I highly recommend this for any Sonic fan, and hope this means we'll be seeing more in the way of sonic spin-offs in the future.

...

Also the IDW comic series is great! It takes a little to start with the first arc, but after that it's all I want out of a Sonic Comic. Tangle and Whisper are also cool as hell.

Lunistice (Steam)

This was a fun albeit short3D platformer, also looking like a PS1 original. I unfortunately didn't 100% it so I didn't finish the story and get the nuances of it, but as a platformer it was a fun romp. I'd recommend it as a fun labor of love, but not as something you can really dig your teeth into

Pizza Tower (Steam)

This game is really good! Feels great, first time in a while I've been like "Oh this is fun but really hard, I don't think I'll get good enough to 100% it" and then slowly but surely decided to. The only issue is some kinda old racist tropes being used in the western world which they really didn't need, but gameplay, visually, and musically this is a masterpiece. An essential part of any platformer fan's collection to have tried.

... If only they hadn't added more achievements I'd still have it 100%'d on Steam

Super Mario Bros. Peach's Adventure (SNES Classic romhack)

I saw this in a bit on Vinny's fullsauce channel about weird Mario hacks, and the only premise for this being weird was that Peach's design is nonstandard. It became apparent when he started playing that actually a ton of work and love went into it, so for the sake of the bit he moved on. I Proceeded to hack my SNES Classic so I could play this and boy was it worth it.

This romhack is adorable! IT's full of collectible's, has really fun levels, tons of references for any longtime Mario fan, and carries a nice aesthetic of the original SMB but with SMW's features so it's looks like a really amazing Mario Maker game. I loved it!

Across-Stitch (Itch.io)

It's Picross, but with colors! I'm a big running fan of Nintendo Picross games, and this came up on my recommended on itch so I decided to give it a try. Very fun, has a lot of puzzles, and is just a fun time waster. I got it on itch (linked), but honestly it'd be perfect for my phone had I done that

PAC-MAN CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION 2 (Steam)

So this one's kinda weird; Pac-man CE was one of my favorite games on the 360 (I didn't have many), and I thought the sequel would be it but just better since they'd solve the scoring problems. It was actually just like more of the same but with some different styles of play, and I found myself getting tired of it pretty fast. I have nostalgic memories of 1 so I'm probably looking at it with rose-tinted goggles, but this is a very passable arcade experience.

STEREOGRAM (itch.io)

I cannot in good conscience recommend you play this game, as looking at both screen this closely to do the stereogram and crossing your eyes for extended periods of time can cause permanent damage to your eyesight.

... But as a concept it was really neat! I did beat it with frequtn 5 minute breaks, and it only took a couple hours. Very basic metroidvania with fixed rooms to make the effect work.

Charm Studies (itch.io)

A very cute mixed visual novel and picross game! I like picross and this caught my eye, so I gave it a shot. Fun, but a bit short. But also free! Maybe try it out if you're not sure about picross yourself

Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut

Longtime C7 fans will know I like Shantae quite a lot. And have an unhealthy amount of Shantae Merch. So when my Sister was visiting and I was feeling particularly self-conscious about playing games over the mic with friends, I decided to whip out this classic and finally 100% it. Shantae holds a special place in my heart for me, because I grew up an incredible prude with absolutely no interest in the kind of scandalous things that friends were starting to bring up. Whenever they tried to get me to watch Anime and watch stuff that had some fanservice, I felt wildly uncomfortable just because I didn't know how to process what I was seeing (and had undiagnosed anxiety and ADHD issues).

Shantae was the first time I saw something "suggestive" (read: cute girls in light outfits) tied with a style of gameplay I liked, and allowed me to kind of stop hating myself whenever these things came up. With this being a DSi game, meaning I could download it with nobody knowing I did, and the rave reviews it was getting by being one of the first DSi games available, I finally decided to purchase it. I loved the series ever since!

Getting back to this play-session, I decided to revisit this classic (my first experience with the series) and play it 100% with all the bells and whistles, including speedrun achievements. I got them all! For people who know what Shantae is, this is an essential entry into the series and a contender for top 3. If you've not played a Shantae game but like Metroidvania's, this or the recently released Seven Sirens are the best starting points

And yes, just to brag, that screenshot of the steam stats does mean I got the worst ending last and optimized my playtime.

My personal Shantae tier list, best to worst

Seven Sirens

Risky's Revenge tied with Pirate's Curse

Half-Genie Hero

Shantae GBC

Risky's Revolution, an unfinished GBA game in the series, was also announced to be resurrected and releasing next year, which is rad!

.. Anyway, onto another topic

TUNIC (Steam, played over steam link on the TV with a Controller away from the internet)

This was a hard one to get into, but a very fun one once I got the difficulty barrier and begun understanding the games' mechanics. I did end up getting the best ending, but not 100% all the achievements since that would've required more playthroughs, and the magic of figuring out the world would've been gone.

The use of the manuals, sudden realizations of mechanics, and really fun moments with some beautiful areas and items to figure out make this a wonderful game. Some of the bossess are.. not great, but on the whole I highly recommend this experience to people who want to feel what it was like in pre-internet days, having to solve a game's puzzles by charting out the world and coming to a deep understanding of its mechanics to find all the secrets. If you're easily frustrated or aren't a fan of 2D Zelda though, this is a pass

Cult of the Lamb (Steam)

This was one I was not expecting to get into. I saw it and thought "Hmm, I like games with a base-building aspect to them sometimes but a lot of the time that really gets in the way of the actual game." And to be honest, there were a few moments where juggling the two kinda did. Additionally, and this is a personal taste thing, the visuals of Don't Starve kinda don't appeal to me, so seeing a more cutesy version of that wasn't something I thought I'd love

... But this game is phenomenal! An incredibly fun rogue-lite game that mixes with base and resource management in a way that doesn't actually exclude someone who would like one over the other!

This was another one I 100% after a LOT of playtime and attempts at damageless bosses, but it was very worth it.

LEGO Builder's Journey (Steam)

I've been on Lego for the past few years, and this seemed like a fun little game that wasn't tied to any existing franchise so I gave it a go. It's an environmental puzzle game, where each micro-level has its own little puzzle where you need to figure out which pieces interact to (most of the time) get your little 1x1x2 lego guy to the other end of the stage.

It's very cute, and while a bit short ended up being the perfect length for this kinda game. The only thing I'd put against it is my computer had a rough time running it because they really wanted all the shaders and reflections to look great, so keep that in mind.

The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap (Switch Online)

This is a weird one. I could've sworn I loved this game as a kid, and in fact this is what got me into 2D Zelda's because it was so much fun! Revisiting it though, I find it's one of the weaker entries in the series. The visuals look great, the story is as charming as you'd expect, and as someone who was really into windwaker and picked this up I was hooked, however it is by far one of the most tedious Zelda's I've played. The Dungeons are all relatively straightforward; while some offer an interesting mechanic from being small and making you think how larger objects affect the world, they still felt very linear.

Additionally, I had no idea just how grindy this game was at the time in comparison! Tons of the sidequests and rewards are visible fomr your first pass in an area, so as a result every time you get a new item you're tempted to go back and see if helps. The NPCs often block places as an obstacle that just move after a while (or a result of kinstone fusing), which made the game a lot more frustrating to remember things by. Kinstones themselves are annoying to find and even worse to use, as NPCs will randomly decide if they want to fuse or not. So to get everything you need to frequently visit and revisit the same places and NPCs over and over again, with no way of knowing if that random person has something you need to fuse with or is actually just a random person.

Additionally the figure collection, something I adored in WindWaker despite it being ridiculously grindy there too, has been reduced to a Gacha machine. A heart piece is locked behind collecting them all, which means for 100% completion you have to collect ALL the figurines, including ones only available after you clear your file, making the final heart piece effectively useless. Worse, the act of collecting them is a gargantuan time sink; it takes loads of time to go through dialog, even more to collect the rupees you need, and the "chance" system doesn't quite work how you'd expect. With me cheating to get 999 rupees in gambling all the time and going through all the prompts to get all these, it took me 3 hours. That's quadrupled at least if you play the game properly.

Never 100% this game, but as far as 2D zelda's go this is definitely not a terrible entry; just a bit uninspired. I'd recommend ALTTP, ALBW, or Link's Awakening over this myself.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)

I would have some fun screenshots but deleted my twitter so they're gone now, oh well.

I'm not gonna go too far in depth on this one; It's breath of the Wild but >2x larger with some wild building mechanics and a really good story. A fantastic game that may see age as the open-world genre gets saturated, but quite frankly one of the best games you'll ever see on the switch.

Annalynn (Switch)

I followed the artist on Twitter (when I still had one) and really liked the retro feel of it. It's a fun classic arcade game, however like some of those classic arcade games I found myself frustrated by its difficulty while still not grasping the hardest nuances of its mechanics enough to get good at it. It's fun, but I'd see if it's for you by watching the videos first.

Part 2 coming later today!

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connor-is-ok · 10 months

Text

“The Hunchback” by Connor S. O’Keefe

For more info on the content warnings, check my wattpad.

Content warnings: Fear, Language, Mental Health, Violence, Blood, References to Alcohol Abuse

—————————————————————————

I went into the gas station to get a pack of cigarettes, and I was nearly frozen from the short walk inside. For the middle of autumn in Mississippi it was surprisingly cold. At least I think it was. I had just moved here and didn’t really have anything to compare it to. The cashier definitely could tell something was wrong because he told me they were on the house. Guess he was the owner or something, that or he was about to get fired. I appreciated it though, since I realized I had forgotten my wallet after I asked him the price. As I was leaving he told me he hoped my day got better. I stopped, glanced over my shoulder, and after a beat I popped a cigarette in my mouth and told him I doubted it would. I walked outside and lit it. I took a puff and almost hacked up a lung. Guess I should have seen that coming since I had never smoked before. I zipped up my ragged bomber jacket and hurried over to my car. I quickly unlocked the doors and hopped in. Put my key into the ignition and…. Nothing. Not even a croak.

“Damn it.” I muttered under my breath. The last thing I needed today was my car going dead. This didn’t surprise me though. Couldn’t expect much more from a 2002 bucket of Toyota bolts. I wish I could’ve bought something better but this thing was all I could afford at the time. I had spent most of my money moving to Jackson two and a half months ago. I might have been able to afford some upgrades by now but after losing my job I hadn’t been able to find another. It was a small construction job. Ten bucks an hour which was decent. The construction company usually hired people in rehab so they didn’t really care that I had no resume. But a couple weeks in, after most of the employees failed a surprise drug test, the owner decided to fire everyone and rebuild his roster from the ground up, or some bullshit like that. Even though I passed and have been sober for almost three years, I guess they didn’t want to take the chance with me. I haven’t even touched drugs before, except for some experiments with weed in college. You would think having a college degree would really help my chances of getting a job but I guess having a criminal record, no matter how small, can really screw you over.

I prayed to whatever being is out there and turned the key again and the Corolla desperately tried to start. After ten seconds of holding the key in place, I was about to slam my fist on the dash when the stupid hunk of junk actually turned over. “Finally.” I pulled out of the parking lot, flicked the cigarette out of the window, and drove home. Well, I say home. It was a shitty motel but it worked. Since I had been there a month and a half before I lost my job they were only charging me $20 a month until I could pay them in full but with that kind of deal you can guess how bad it was. It's just a small local place and the owner is the sole morning receptionist who's just looking for some amount of business. At the time I was her only customer. I still had to kill at least four bugs a day though.

I say I’ve been sober but recently I hadn’t been so sure. The hallucinations had started again. That’s what the doctor said they were. Hallucinations from psychosis due to alcohol abuse. And I hoped he was right, because there’s no way evolution, or god, or whatever being is up there would ever let a nine and a half foot tall thing like that exist. That’s why I got clean. I went to rehab, and the hallucinations hadn’t been back since. That is, until two days ago. I woke up around 3:30 AM two nights ago to a tapping on my window. I blinked a few times and it was gone. Then, last night around 8:30 the tapping started again. I looked out the window, and to my horror, the giant was back. It smiled and waved at me. I screamed and rushed to the window, shutting the curtains. I climbed in bed and curled up under the covers. All night that thing was tapping and scratching at my window. Around 5 AM it finally stopped but I still couldn’t move. Then, when I thought myself brave enough to take a look, it was gone. That’s why I, a brown-haired, green eyed, 26-year-old unemployed vagrant, am buying my first ever pack of cigarettes at 6:30 AM on a Saturday morning.

I got back to the motel around 6:45. I walked in, put the pack of Camels on the counter by the door and walked over to the window. I still hadn’t opened the curtains up again. To be honest I was terrified too. I hadn’t slept at all last night and the fear was stiffening even still. I slowly grasped one of the curtains and pulled it open with the slowest movements I’ve ever had. And the window was perfectly fine. No scratches or dents anywhere.

“What the hell?” I mumbled to myself. “I could have sworn…… maybe it was just a nightmare and I actually did get some sleep.” I wasn’t really tired so the thought process made sense. All of the sudden a small pinging noise came to my attention. It was the motel’s answering machine. I forgot the room even had one of those. I had to use that as my phone number because I couldn’t afford a cell phone at this point. I walked over and clicked the play button. A deep southern drawl came out of the other end. He wanted to meet me at 9 for a….. a job interview? Is he serious? He didn’t say where to meet in the store, he just said he wanted to meet at Shores Grocery Stores. Luckily I knew where that was because it was actually across the street from that gas station where I bought the cigarettes from. I quickly called him back and said I would meet him there.

Nine o clock came by much faster than I expected it to. I got to the store five minutes before the agreed upon time. I had gotten a shower and dressed in my nicest clothes at the time, sweatpants and a plain black t-shirt that didn’t show stains. I walked in and asked a cashier where the main office was and he directed me to the back right corner of the store where a little alcove was. I knocked on the door and heard “C’mon in.” from the other side. I opened the door and walked inside. “Can I help you?” Asked a man who looked like he was about to go to a rodeo. He was a six-foot-three, blonde haired, blue eyed, 56 year old Caucasian man, wearing a blue flannel shirt, cowboy boots, a white cowboy hat, and dark blue Wrangler jeans.

“Um… y-yeah, I-I’m here for a job interview.” I stammered.

“Ah, yeah, you’re in the righ’ place. Have a seat.” This guy's southern accent was something else. I could barely understand half of what he was saying. He stuck out his hand. “Name’s Terry Shores. I own this here establishment.”

I shook his hand and sat in the seat across from him. “Hi, I’m Jordan. Jordan Belmont.”

“Ah, Jordan. Like the country from the Bible Lands.”

“The What Lands?”

He looked at me as if he was second guessing his decision. I wouldn’t blame him if he was. One look at me and I would have kicked myself to the curb, not even a word shared.

“I’m actually named after my grandfather. Richard Jordan Manhoff.”

“Well ain’t that something. Do yah have any religious beliefs, son?”

“Well…. Kind of.”

“How kind of?”

“Well, I’m agnostic.”

“Agnostic?” He asked. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to figure out what it meant or if he was trying to not laugh.

“It means that I-“

“I know wha’ it means. You’re agnostic an’ yah decided to move to the Bible Belt?”

“What’s the Bible Belt?”

“Oh bless your heart.” He said, shaking his head and smiling. Being from California, I of course had no idea what he meant by that so when I responded with “Um….. thank you?” Terry threw his head back and laughed the biggest belly laugh I have ever heard. After about twenty seconds of laughing he wiped his eyes, looked at me, and said “Alright, let’s get this interview started, why don’t we? I see yah got a Bachelor’s in Business Management?”

“Yes sir, I do.” I said, knowing exactly where this interview was going.

“Wonderful, but I also see that yah have a criminal record, is tha’ right?”

“Uh, yes sir… I do” I said, my heart sinking with a feeling that this interview was about to come to an abrupt end.

“Tell me about that. How’d yah get it? What’d yah do?” Terry’s long southern drawl made it feel like the words were stretched out, making them hurt even more as I knew once I told him what happened, he would almost definitely ask me to leave.

“Well…. It’s a bit of a long story.”

“Well go right on ahead. I got pretty much nothing else to do today. After this all I do is just watch sec’rity cameras.”

“I um…. I burned down my house…”

“Now why in God’s green earth would you burn your own house down?”

“Well… it wasn’t my house per se. It was my landlord's house that I was renting.”

Terry nodded. “Righ’. And?”

“Well…. To shorten it up a bit, I had an alcohol problem, and according to the doctor it was so bad that it made me hallucinate this demonic creature thing, and I thought it was chasing me. I got so paranoid that one time I poured gasoline all over my house and prepared for it to come back. When it did, I ran out of the house, and threw a match into a puddle I had made, burning the whole place down in an attempt to kill the thing. When my landlord found out, he pressed charges. The judge gave me two options. 2 years in prison with a year of probation, or mandatory rehab with at least 2 years of supervised AA meetings, where there would be a cop to check in on me every week, which would also count as 2 years probation.”

“You still go to AA?”

“Yes sir… well, when my car will let me, if it works.”

Terry laughed, “Yeah, I’ve been having similar issues like that the last couple days. My truck darn near di’nt turn on this mornin’. Almost thought I would have to call and cancel with yah. Are yah still sober?”

“Yes sir. Almost three years now.”

“Well, here’s the thing. If yah don’t burn down any more houses, yah stay sober, and yah go to AA at least twice a month for the next 4 months, I’ll give yah the job immediately.”

I nearly got whiplash from his words by how much I did a double take. “Wait, what?”

“I need someone to manage my store and you seem to be the most suitable candidate I’ve seen these past two weeks. It only pays nineteen an hour, no Walmart or nothing, but we could renegotiate after a while if yah prove yourself reliable.”

“Are you serious?” I asked incredulously. No way this guy was about to hire me, a convicted arsonist, to manage an entire grocery store.

“Course I am.” He said solemnly. “I’m intending to open a ranch with my wife where kids can come and learn about horses. I love learning kids to ride.”

“Teaching kids.” I said and immediately regretted every syllable. I REALLY needed this job. And now I just blew it.

“What’d you say?” He glared at me.

“I’m sorry. Old habit. I was an English minor and I tutored middle schoolers during college. I’m really sorry. Please forgive me.” I begged him, desperately attempting to save myself.

Terry smiled a big, tobacco stained toothy smile. “I’m just messing with yah. My wife Meera has been trying to get me to have better grammar for months. She’ll appreciate having someone at the store to do that too. So what'd yah say? Can yah start tomorrow?”

“Um… yeah!” I said, barely able to contain my excitement. This was by far the best thing that had happened to me in a good 5 years since I had graduated college. “As long as my car doesn’t run out of gas by then. I can’t really afford gas until Monday.”

“Tell yah what,” Terry said leaning forward. “There’s a gas station across the street. I’ll pay for a full tank and I can just take a bit from your first few paychecks until it’s paid back. How’s tha’ sound?”

“Are you sure? You really don’t have to do that.” I said feeling guilty at the amount of generosity he had already shown by even offering me the job.

“O’ course. Like I said. I really need someone to fill this position.”

When we got outside Terry asked me which car was mine. In the thirty minutes we were in his office the parking lot had practically filled up. I pointed out my car and Terry exclaimed “GOOD GOD SON! That’s your vehicle? Are yah sure I shouldn’t just buy yah a new car instead of a tank of gas?” We both laughed and I drove him over to the gas station. Afterwards I thanked him profusely and agreed that I would be back tomorrow morning at 8AM sharp. He told me to hang on a second, walked back inside, and returned a few seconds later with a new pair of jeans. He tossed them to me and said “I’ll take these off your first few checks as well. You’ll need them. No sweatpants in the dress code.” I looked at them. 31/30. I looked up.

“How did you know what pant size I wear?”

Terry chuckled and turned around to walk inside. “I have an awfully good eye for knowing those things about people. See you at eight, Jordan.” And with that he walked inside, and I had a job. I was so excited I could scream. But I didn’t because I didn’t want to look insane…… again.

That night, after I did laundry, I laid out a Ramones t-shirt, and the pair of jeans Terry had given me. I had to go to another store to buy a belt because I felt too embarrassed to walk into the Shores Grocery Stores to buy one. I honestly wasn’t even sure if they would have one to begin with. I bought a cheap braided leather belt and a couple microwave dinners, and now I was broke until Monday when my last check from the construction job could go through. I had waited to cash it until I absolutely needed to. As I left the parking lot, though, I could have sworn that I saw it again. That thing. Whatever it is. And I knew I was completely sober. Back at the motel, I nuked a Hungry Man microwave dinner and closed the curtains again. I was so exhausted from the night before but I had a bad feeling that the thing would come back again tonight. I had bought some melatonin at the store as well, so after everything was prepared for Sunday and I had eaten dinner, I popped five into my mouth, swallowed them down with a can of Sprite I had gotten at the motel vending machine, and passed out within three minutes. The next time I woke up was 6 hours later, 5AM, except this time there was no tapping, there was no scratching. I honestly believe I just woke up because my body was ready to be awake. I wasn’t even tired anymore. I climbed out of bed, got a shower, put on the jeans but decided to put a Clash t-shirt on instead of the Ramones one because it was less wrinkled. It wasn’t anywhere near time for me to go to work so I grabbed the cigarettes, climbed onto my bed and flipped on the tv. The Boomerang channel came on playing the Flintstones, which I'm not really a fan of, but I didn't feel like switching the channel so it stayed. I popped a Camel into my mouth and lit it with a cheap Scripto lighter I had gotten for a dollar a couple weeks back. I took a slow deep drag from it and exhaled, a much smoother attempt than last night. Then, I saw it. I call it the Hunchback. It’s human-like, but it has brownish-gray skin, with giant, black soulless eyes. Small palms with extremely long fingers and short, sharp nails. It’s completely hairless, with long arms that drag on the ground. Sharp pointed, shark-like teeth, with a tongue that it constantly uses to lick its non-existent lips whenever it watches me. When it walks it always has bent knees and it leans over like an old person using a walker. It has long feet, I would guess a foot and a half each. And it’s growled at me before. It sounded distorted, kind of like the Jurassic Park T-Rex. But now, it was sitting on my TV. I don’t mean on top of my TV. I mean INSIDE. On the show. It was sitting next to Fred Flintstone’s recliner, where Dino was supposed to be. And he was staring at me… licking his would-be lips. I screamed and threw the lighter at the tv. I missed and it smashed against the wall.

“Shit!” I cried as I had simultaneously broken my only lighter and made a huge mess on the wall. I grabbed for the TV remote, but it was gone. Nowhere to be found. I had set in on the nightstand, but it wasn’t there. It wasn’t on the floor or anything. It had just disappeared. I rushed over to the TV set and as I did I saw the Hunchback approaching the screen as well. It sounded like it was moaning. A long, drawn out howl type of sound. I pressed the power button and nothing happened. I tried changing the channel. Nothing. The Hunchback was starting to move faster. Finally I reached for the power cord in the wall behind the TV. As I pulled it out I saw the Hunchback attempt to leap out of the TV but I had pulled the cord out of the wall just in time. And as the TV screen faded, I got a chance to stare my attacker in the face. Which immediately made me feel nauseous. I took a seat on the bed to catch my breath. My heart was racing. Am I going crazy? I thought. I haven’t had a drink in years but it’s back again. There’s no way this is a hallucination this time. It can’t be. I decided to put it out of my mind and went to the bathroom to grab some toilet paper to wipe the lighter fluid off the wall. Suddenly I smelled something burning and remembered I had set the cigarette on the nightstand. I quickly ran over and put it in the ashtray. Thank god that I wasn’t in a non-smoking room. I finished cleaning up the lighter fluid and hoped that it wouldn’t stain and the motel staff wouldn’t be too pissed at me for any potential smell. I looked at the clock, 6:35. The motel had a small breakfast bar. Just toast and cereal. It’s not technically a breakfast bar, just food for the overnight staff, but I’d become friends with the receptionist, a short, stocky black guy named Russell. He sometimes lets me in the back for some food in the early mornings.

I was able to grab a match book from Russell while eating breakfast with him. A bowl of Frosted Flakes and two pieces of cream cheese toast. I went back to my room to grab the pack of Camels before I hopped in my Corolla and drove to work. It was only a five minute drive so I actually got there twenty minutes early. I expected more people to be there but there were only two other cars and Terry’s dark blue Chevy Silverado. So I went back to Terry's office, and talked with him for a bit. I mainly wanted to ask him one question; why is it called Shores Grocery Stores instead of Shores Grocery Store. It turns out that Terry called it that because when he opened the store seven years ago he was intending to have multiple stores by their tenth year. I also asked him why they had a clothing section if they were a grocery store, and where it was. Terry’s response was they had installed a full clothing section two years ago to try and expand the store Walmart style but it hadn’t gone over well, but Terry decided to keep a small one just in case the clothing section started being in demand. The clothing section was in the back left corner, opposite Terry’s office, so I took a bit of time to see what they had, and it was exactly what I expected. Flannel shirts, Wrangler jeans, and three cowboy hats. A very Terry clothing section. As I headed to the back to clock in for the first time I learned that the two other cars in the parking lot belong to the two main openers, one cashier, and a stock boy, with another stock boy to arrive in about thirty minutes. Terry had to leave after showing me where the time clock was so he could attend church service at eight thirty, but he said he would be back at one. I had to ask the other cashier how to log into a register because, as the manager, I was allowed to do whichever thing I wanted; either be a cashier, help stock, or watch the security cameras, which Terry described as ‘The most boring task I have ever done in my life’ so I decided I’ll do what I can to avoid doing that. The day went by pretty smoothly, although I had to stop a lady at the doors because Tabitha, the cashier, thought the lady might have grabbed a couple candy bars when she turned around to break a hundred. She actually had and willingly gave them back. I had to go to the office to write up a report on the attempted theft, something I have to do with every injury, shoplift, etc. after that I had two hours left on my shift so I just hung out in the office with Terry for most of it because at that point the second cashier had arrived which was able to hold the flow of customers pretty well. Right before I was supposed to go to lunch, though, one of the stock boys, a seventeen year old stoner kid named Tyler, dropped a bottle of bleach on the floor, which was fun because I had to make sure nothing went in his eyes or his mouth, help them clean the mess up, and, of course, write another incident report. I went to lunch thirty minutes late. There was a twenty minute period at three where I had to go out and help in the third of four checkout lanes but that was the last major event of my work day.

That night went much more smoothly. I went to the library to create a free library membership and check out a couple books. I wasn’t about to risk turning on my TV again. I checked out three books. One, about store management so I could freshen up a bit since I had been out of college for a while. Pet Sematary by Stephen King, one of my all time favorite books, and a short book called Dead Connection by some guy named Vincent V Cava. I had never heard of him but the cover looked interesting so I thought I would give it a try. For the span of recent events, horror books seemed very fitting. Maybe it would help me mentally prepare for the potential coming onslaught of hauntings. But the Hunchback didn’t come back. Not that night, or the next morning. Monday resulted in no special events either, Tyler didn’t spill anything although he nearly dropped a big box full of egg cartons. After work Terry and Meera invited me over to their house for dinner. I found myself beginning to feel safe and settled, seemingly finding my place in the world. I went back to my motel room that night and fell asleep easily; no melatonin, no Hunchback, and of course, no tv.

I woke up ready to celebrate the one year anniversary of the last time I saw the Hunchback. It had been a pretty good year for me. I was steadily making nine hundred dollars a week as the manager of Shores Grocery Stores, I had finished paying off my debt to the motel a few months ago. I had also gotten my own small apartment with the help of Terry, and my life finally seemed to be going up for once. I went over to my desk that I never actually used as a desk, instead using it as a prop for a medium-ish fish tank and fed the few fish I kept in the tank. “Morning boys.” I said as if they could hear and understand me. I grabbed a shower, threw on an old Black Flag t-shirt and a pair of shorts, and made my way down to my car, which was now a 2008 Honda Civic, thank you Terry for co-signing so I could actually afford it, and hopped in, on my way out to enjoy my day off. The sun was bright, and it was significantly warmer than last autumn. I threw on the knock-off RayBans I had gotten at a Dollar General, put the car in reverse, and headed out to the library. I had a couple books I had to return that were about to go late. The only other real plan for today was to meet up at a bar with a couple friends later that night to celebrate today. No, I wasn’t trying to relapse, as far as they were aware I was actually celebrating sobriety, but they didn’t question why I chose that spot. It was called Lucky’s and was my favorite place to eat. Terry didn’t drink and he introduced me to it. According to him, Lucky’s has the best food in Jackson, apart from his wife. And honestly, I have to agree. When Terry first took me there I ordered a burger, expecting it to be mediocre at best. In a word, mouthwatering. Apparently they have some sort of agreement with a local cattle rancher, and they get super fresh meat, so every burger they make is super flavorful and juicy. I used to date a girl while in college and she had convinced me to try veganism, it wasn’t bad but I am so glad that we didn’t work out. The signature “Lucky Burger” is something everyone needs to try at least once in their life.

The celebration was great. The guys told me to take a few shots, I aggressively refused; at one point I was willing to leave when they told me it was just water in a shot glass, not vodka, which was relieving and I happily took it from them after a good laugh. I still kind of wanted to punch a guy named Tavon, who I had met at the library, because it was his idea, but it was a good joke. It was a great night otherwise. We toasted shot glasses of Coca-Cola to my sobriety, after which Ethan, the opening stock boy who had just turned twenty-one, said that next time we come here I’m going to be his sober ride home. I laughed and told him to shut up as he downed his shot of Coke. Overall I made a few memories and had fun with my friends. I began to feel as if the Hunchback would never come back. And just as I began to feel that way, it did. In full force.

After the celebration dinner, I walked into my apartment to find one of my windows broken. I wasn’t too worried about it though, probably just some of the apartment complex kids trying to seem cool to their friends. The next day, however, it got more aggressive. When I came home from work I found all three of my fish out of their tank, on the floor, dead. I wouldn’t say I was distraught by it but I was very upset. These guys had kept me company for the last seven months. Before I let myself start watching tv again there were times when I would get bored and I would just sit at my desk and watch these guys swim around their tank, feeling jealous that they had nothing to worry about or be afraid of. Later that day I called Terry and Ethan and we held a small funeral for my fish. Even Ethan got up and said something, which surprised me because he’s not much of an animal person, but he apparently thought my fish were cool. I later learned that the reason he thought my fish were cool was because sometimes when he would come over, he would smack their tank and watch them scurry. The next few days were marred by nightmares of the Hunchback. And they were extremely vivid. Many of them were of it chasing me down darkened and dimly lit hallways. But there were a few of them where it would actually catch me, it would pin me on the ground and start eating me alive. It would start at my legs and chew all of the flesh off, then it would go to my arms and then chew all of the flesh from my chest, somehow I would still be alive, and the pain was excruciating. Finally it would bite my head off and I would wake up in a bed that was soaked in sweat. These dreams were constant. At one point I had enough and didn’t let myself sleep for three days straight. When I got to work on the third day Terry looked at me and called me over.

“Are you sick, Jordan?”

“No, I feel fine.” I lied. I hate lying to Terry but I didn’t want him to think I had relapsed in some way.

“Well you look like you haven’t slept for days.” He didn’t say this as an exaggeration or some sort of guess. Over the past year Terry and I had gotten to know each other very well, so he definitely knew I hadn’t slept. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

I don’t like telling Terry no so I simply said “Maybe.”

“Let’s talk about it.” He said, and before he gave me a chance to reply he grabbed my arm and pulled me into his office. He sat me down in the same chair I had my interview in and looked me up and down. “What’s wrong?”

I sighed and began telling him everything, the appearances of the Hunchback last year, the nightmares, my window and the mystery of my fishes’ deaths. Terry sat back in his chair thinking for a couple minutes.

“So….?” I said after some time.

“Well, my guess is that, since it’s been a year since you last saw this Hunchback creature of yours, your subconscious is probably scared of it coming back again, and is manifesting that fear in your nightmares.” These were some of the biggest words I had ever heard Terry say over the past year I had known him, so it took me a bit to process what he had said. But he was right. It was the only rational explanation for all of this. “Now, I don’t know if I can be much help here, I’m no psychologist or anything. But what I can say is that when you get home tonight, get some sleep. You need it. Now get on out there, we need someone at register two.”

I got home that night after working a late shift, and decided to watch some TV during dinner, but I couldn’t find the remote. I figured it was probably under the couch and I didn’t feel like getting on the floor to retrieve it, so I just ate a quiet dinner and went to bed. That night, I had the worst night yet. It wasn’t a nightmare but when I woke up, there were three giant claw marks in my shirt, and through all of my bed sheets, both above and underneath me. I screamed at the top of my lungs as I ripped my shirt off. “What the fuck?” I cried to no one. I immediately called Terry, and he showed up a few minutes later. I showed him my shirt and the bed, hoping he could have some sort of advice or suggestion. The first thing he did was look at me out of the corner of his eye, and slowly say with a smirk “Did yah have a lady friend over last night?”

I glared at him and through gritted teeth said “Not the time, Terry,”

He chuckled and looked back at the bed. He took the shirt out of my hands and examined it for a few seconds. “So yah say this was the Hunchback again?”

“I mean, it has to be. There was no way this was some sort of animal. There was nothing else wrong with my apartment.”

“Has this thing ever made physical contact with yah? Has it ever touched yah?”

I had to think about this for a second but I was able to remember one incident. “Yeah… once. One night I woke up in the middle of the night in a sleep paralysis state. I saw the Hunchback in the corner of my room watching me. When it saw me wake up it slowly walked over to me, it caressed the side of my face and smiled while licking its lips. After that, it just walked away, out of my room, and closed the door. The next thing I remember, it was the morning, and I felt like I hadn’t slept at all.”

“I have an idea.” Terry said, and with that, he walked out of my apartment, got in his truck, and left. He was back within ten minutes and when he came back inside and asked me, “Have you ever shot a gun before?”

“Uh… yeah.” A half lie. When I was little, for a couple years, my dad decided to put me in Cub Scouts, I wasn’t very good at it. One year, at summer day camp, they decided to let the younger kids try the BB guns. Easy enough to say, I sucked at it, bad. I never once was able to hit the target. I did, somehow, manage to shoot my scout master in the right butt cheek. Safe to say they didn’t let me touch the guns after that, probably a good idea for an eight year old. Terry handed me a Sig Sauer P220, it was all black with a beautiful wooden grip.

“If that thing comes back again, shoot it in the face, after that everything should be fine, except for a potential hole in your ceiling.”

“I guess I’ll try my best but I'm a terrible shot.”

“How… how do yah miss from point blank range?” Terry asked in befuddlement.

I shrugged. “Guess I’m just full of surprises, Boss.”

That night I couldn’t sleep at all, not for a lack of trying. It was either the awkwardness of having a gun under my pillow, or the fear of what happened the night before. I just layed on my bed, watching the ceiling fan slowly spin, too scared to look around and see if it had come back again. If it did, the Hunchback made no attempts to make any more physical contact. When the sun started to come up I decided to get up and make a pot of coffee. I looked at one of the security cameras I had set up the night before, hoping I hadn’t spent two hundred bucks for nothing. Suddenly, a loud, ear piercing screech erupted in my kitchen, I covered my ears and crumpled to the floor. The glass cup on my kitchen counter shattered. Like an opera singer singing a high C to a wine glass. The oven door glass flew over me and I got cut a lot. The lightbulb fell out of the ceiling, and shattered on the ground. My blender fell off the counter and also shattered on the ground on my other side. Then my watch shattered, slicing open the top of my wrist. Suddenly my cabinet slammed open, as if flung by an invisible hand, glass came flowing out of it from my now shattered cups and plates, sending a new layer of sharp shards all over myself and the floor. The coffee pot went next, spilling boiling coffee all over the place. I didn’t get hit by much of it but what did get me still hurt like a bitch. And then it ended. The sound was gone as quickly as it came. I was bleeding all over, I was barefoot and I was surrounded by hundreds of tiny shards of glass. I didn’t want to move to not risk cutting my feet on the glass, but I quickly decided that my arms were already cut enough so I proceeded to sweep the glass out of the way with my forearms and slowly crawl my way over to the back left corner of my kitchen, meanwhile getting blood all over the vinyl floor. I checked the security camera. The lens was cracked but it was still recording. Which meant it had recorded everything, with sound thanks to a small microphone hole in the top right hand corner. I took the camera down and removed the micro SD card. I put it in the zipper pocket of my cargo shorts, and crawled out of my kitchen, getting more blood on the floor. I stood up when I made my way to my living room. “That’s gonna suck to clean up.” I muttered to myself. I got a shower to clean off the blood, wrapped my left wrist in a bandage where my watch had sliced it open, put on a new change of clothes, took the old ones to the dumpster, and drove to Terry’s house to show him the footage.

“Well I’ll be damned…” was Terry’s response. “What happened?”

“I’ll give you three guesses.”

“Oh right, the Hunchback. I guess you’re not crazy after all.”

“Wow. Thanks.” I said with fake enthusiasm. I was just relieved I finally had some proof of that fact, even if I felt like I could only show it to Terry.

“I didn’t think it was anything supernatural, I thought yah were just trying to play some kind of joke on me.” I stared at Terry in disbelief.

“Do you really think I would ruin my favorite Black Flag shirt and my bed sheets just to mess with you?”

“Well… I mean yah did call me and tell me the store was robbed.”

“Oh shit.” I had done that. It was a slow night about four months ago. I had just let myself start watching TV again and I had watched Pulp Fiction on AxsTV, which gave me the idea to pull a prank on Terry. I had counted the cash from the registers, and told the closing cashier Tracee to hide the money in the corner behind the drink cooler. After which I called Terry and said the store had been held up at gunpoint and the thief had gotten away with nine grand. Terry was at the store in five minutes, which means he definitely sped and went through some red lights, since his house is ten minutes away from my apartment, which is four minutes away from the store. Tracee and I were literally on the floor laughing. I am surprised neither of us got fired that night. But I digress. I looked at Terry and asked “Got any ideas?”

“How can I? Up until a minute ago I didn’t believe that something like this could exist. The only thing I have are some guns and a hunting’ knife and I’m not sure if they would be effective.”

“Probably more effective than sitting on our hands. We have to try something. I mean, I don’t know how long I can take stuff like today, I’ll probably die if it keeps going this way.”

“Do you have any idea why it’s targeting you?”

“I don’t know. But I don’t want it, not any more. We need to somehow get this thing to leave me alone, or kill it, or something.”

“I do have one idea but it will take a lot of prep time.”

“Ok, what's that?” I asked, hopeful.

“Yah like camping?”

A week later, Terry and I were trekking through the woods behind his house looking for a spot to have a camp out with an indefinite ending. The plan was for Terry to teach me how to shoot a gun, and that we would be camping outside until the Hunchback tried to come after me, then we would shoot and kill it. Simple plan? Not so much, like I said. I’m a terrible shot. Terry didn’t realize just how bad I was until the first time he tried to give me a lesson. He stood me two feet in front of a tree, I raised the gun, fired, and missed. “Oh dear Lord in heaven.” I hear Terry mumble over my shoulder. It took two weeks for Terry to finally get me hitting the tree somewhat consistently. About one third or so of the time I would hit the tree. We wasted hundreds of rounds on that damn tree but Terry had an arsenal, given that he basically lived in the countryside. He had three rifles, two shot guns, and five pistols. Way too much for both of us to use, so I just kept the Sig Sauer and Terry’s hunting knife. I left everything else to Terry. We camped out about an acre from Terry’s house for about a month. We slowly began to lose hope that we would see the Hunchback again when out of nowhere the nightmares started again. And they were bad. I mean three letter organization torture bad. There were dreams where the Hunchback would gouge my eyes out and rip out my tongue. Others where it would rip off all my toenails and fingernails one by one and then pull out my each of teeth. Some were of the Hunchback using its nails to saw through the skin at the base of my fingers, all the way down to the bone and then rip them the rest of the way off. In a few the Hunchback pinned me to the ground face down, grabbed my hair, and ripped the skin from my head with its claw, nail things. It was scalping me alive, leaving blood to ooze into my eyes, leaving me practically blind for the rest of the dream. Others were so bad I don’t even want to think about them ever again. And they all felt real. I felt all of the pain and every single time I would pray that I would just pass out from the pain but I never did. It got bad enough that pain began to linger even hours after waking up. One day I tried to pick up the P220 and my fingers didn’t move for a second. When I finally managed to wrap my fingers around the handle I immediately screamed in pain as all of the nerve endings went into a split second of shockwave pain, almost like they were being reminded that they were once each cut off and tortured away from my hand on many occasions. Terry ran out of the tent thinking I was being attacked by an animal, despite at this point some of them should begin hibernating. I had crumpled to my knees. I noticed my hand was numb, then slowly went back to that tingly feeling you get when you’ve slept on it weirdly, and then it was back to normal. I slowly became aware that my hair was matted to my face with sweat, I looked like I had been in a rainstorm. As I stood up I flung my head backwards and slicked my shoulder length hair back like I normally had it. Suddenly there was a brief rustling in the trees around our campsite. I wasn’t sure but I was fairly certain I saw the Hunchback. Pistol in my right hand, I grabbed the knife with my left hand, put it in the sheath on my belt, and ran after the shape in the darkness. I ran for several minutes following it through left and right turns. Suddenly the shape rounded a thick tree. I tried to follow but it had disappeared. I gripped the gun with my both hands, sneaking around like a cop in a dangerous house that hasn’t been cleared yet. I slunk around snapping the gun in each direction, tree to tree, trying to find it. On a gut feeling, I looked up, and saw it perched on a tree branch, like a bird. I swiped my hands up and fired at hit. I missed five shots in a row but I knew I was close to getting it.

I was tired and sore, which led to me not feeling like chasing it. I wasn’t sure how far out I was from camp and I didn’t want to get any more lost. I just stood there, watching it jump from limb to limb, further and further away. Suddenly there was a hand on my shoulder. I whipped the pistol around to find the barrel of the gun pointed directly in the face of Terry.

“Terry!” I said, breathless. My heart was racing and I was still pointing the gun at him.

Terry slowly used the back of his hand to move the gun away from his nose. “What in heaven did you run off like that for?”

I stared at the ground. “I saw it. I fuckin’ saw it. It was there and I had it but I fuckin’ missed. I fucking missed it, man.” I was practically screaming that last part in frustration. As I said that I put the safety on and pitched the gun at the dry dirt like it was a baseball. It bounced and stopped a couple feet away. I looked up at Terry, tears welling up in my eyes. Terry grabbed my shoulders again.

“Hey, you’ll get it next time.”

At this point I broke and tears started coming down my face one at a time. “Who even says there will be a next time?”

“There will be, and we’ll be ready.”

“Yeah, but what if the guns don’t do anything? What if bullets don’t hurt it and knives do nothing? What if all of our preparations mean nothing?" I fell to the ground, burying my face in my knees, tears streaming down my face. “What do I do if we can’t kill it and the rest of my life is tormented by this freak.” I stopped and pointlessly tried to catch my breath. “Why shouldn’t I just give up now and go home? Return to San Francisco and just end it all. I’m starting to feel like that might be best.” Terry kneeled down and put his arm around me.

“You mean move back in with your parents?”

I scoffed. “Yeah right. Like I could do that.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t! During the alcohol abuse I stole two hundred bucks from them and they didn’t know why. They didn’t know I was addicted to booze and they badically disowned me. They knew something was wrong but they thought it was drugs. They thought I had stolen money from them to buy heroin or cocaine or something. They gave up on me which sent me spiraling even worse. I had no one to turn to at that point and that’s when the Hunchback first showed up.”

“Well, yah got me now,” Terry said looking out into the trees. “So you’re not alone anymore. I’m here for yah, and I promise yah that I always will be. We’ve been through a lot together and I don’t know how I could manage all the stuff going on without yah. Meera really likes yah too.”

I sniffed trying to get control of myself and looked at him. He was smiling, which was odd given the circumstances, but it felt weirdly comforting to have him there with me. “Thanks, Boss. I really appreciate everything you’re doing for me.”

“Meera and I only ever had one daughter. So to me, you’re kind of like a son that I never had. It’s nice.”

I smiled and put my arm around him too. We sat there for a few more minutes, watching the sun lower in the sky before Terry got up and said, “Come on, we need to make our way back to camp before the sun goes down.” I stood up and he led me back since I had no idea where we even were. When we got back it wasn’t a very pretty sight. There’s no way for me to confirm or say with certainty that it was the Hunchback, but all of the food that we had was unpackaged, removed from their respective containers, and thrown in the dirt. We had nothing left but the tent. Terry and I had brought four wheelers out and parked them a few yards away, he went over to them and examined them. They seemed fine so we decided that we would head out tomorrow and buy some more food to bring back to camp. We went to sleep hungry but we toughed our way through it and had breakfast with Meera in the morning. That afternoon we brought some metal shooting targets to the campsite, and set them up in a nearby clearing. Terry used them to help me make my aim more precise, so that next time I would have a better chance of actually hitting the Hunchback. It didn’t really help much but I hit it a few more times than I thought I would.

That night went by smoothly, I had a bit of trouble falling asleep, but the next morning we both woke up to a howling sound, like the one I heard coming out of the motel TV a year ago. I jumped up and grabbed the knife, which I kept next to me at all times just in case.

“What in tarnation kind of animal is that?” Terry asked groggy and still half asleep.

“It’s not an animal.” I said putting on my belt and the sheath of the knife. “It’s the Hunchback. I’ve heard it make that sound before. It’s nearby. I know it.”

Terry got up and threw on his concealed carry harness. We had both decided to wear normal clothes to sleep in in case the Hunchback showed up in the middle of the night and we needed to chase after it. I unzipped the door of the tent and saw the Hunchback staring at us from the woods. I grabbed the Sig Sauer from the nearby folding table and took aim. I fired and missed it by inches. I ran out of the tent and took pursuit as the Hunchback started to flee. Terry was just a couple feet behind me as we both chased after the creature while it slunk its way through the woods. It’s not a fast creature, but its long legs helped it gain distance quickly. We chased it for a few minutes until it disappeared from view. It was the same as last time. I turned a tree and it was just gone. Terry caught up with me, out of breath.

Suddenly a thud came from behind us and we both turned to see the Hunchback lunging towards me, mouth open, claws out. I tried to dodge, but was just out of time. I put my arm up and its claws sank deep into my right forearm. We tussled on the ground, rolling over and over a few times. When we stopped it was on top of me, still scratching at my forearm. Clawing chunks of skin off. It bit down into my side and blood came gushing out. I screamed in pain as best I could when it brought its fist down into my chest. I heard a snap as one of my ribs broke, and a sharp pain in my side became more increasingly prevalent. Terry ran over to try and help me but it pierced its claws directly into his chest. When it took them out blood came rushing from the holes. I finally managed to move my hand down to my waist and grab the knife on my belt. I swung my arm up and stabbed the beast directly in the neck. It screamed and jerked back, breaking the blade away from the hilt of the knife. It took off in the direction of the clearing where we had set up our target practice. I got up and limped over towards Terry. Kneeling next to him, I grabbed the bottom of his head and lifted it up.

“Go on, go after it.” He groaned.

“No, I can’t leave you.” I tried to tell him but he cut me off before I could finish.

“I’ll be fine. Just go.”

“But Terry”

He gave me a weak shove. “Go! I’ll be fine. Go kill that thing, for both of us.” I stood up and looked down at him, considering if I should leave him here, possibly to die. He looked up at me and screamed, “Go on now! Get!”

I turned and left him there, lying on a bed of leaves praying that he would survive. I ran in the direction of the clearing. I pulled the gun from my waist band and cocked it, ready to end my mystery once and for all. I pulled it up, arms extended, like I had seen in cop shows before. The sky was cloudy and gray. It looked like it was about to rain, and it would be a bad one. Mississippi winter rain again. This was the type of southern rain that doesn't stop for a couple of days. I could feel that I didn't have long before it would start. A raindrop fell on my forehead as I turned and entered the clearing. The Hunchback was just standing there. Staring into the sky as if in a trance. I halted at the edge of the trees. I felt like I was in some sort of Doom game.

“Hey, you fuck!” I screamed at it. It turned and looked at me, licking its lips like normal. Rain began to fall even more and I took a couple steps forward. It didn’t move, and I took one more step forward. Then it came running towards me, its arms falling behind it, making it look kind of like Naruto. It tried to swipe its claw at me, but I dodged to the right, rolling underneath its swinging hand. I shot it in the shoulder and its arm went limp. It screamed with a mix of pain and fury as I got up and retreated a few steps backward. I took another shot and just grazed its leg. It roared again and came back at me again. I waited for it to get closer, to make sure I could hit the shot but when my gun jammed, my heart dropped out of my chest, and the next thing I knew the Hunchback was on top of me again, gnawing the flesh from my chest. I was starting to see my ribs. There were at least three of them that were broken. I was screaming and hollering in pain and piece after piece of flesh was ripped away from my body. It was excruciating. My throat started going hoarse and my screams got quieter. The world started going black and I felt myself slipping in and out of consciousness. Then suddenly a gunshot rang out over the trees and the Hunchback stopped eating me. There was a new gash in my forehead, which was streaming blood into my eye, so I was running half blind. I got myself to sit up, propped up on my right arm. Which was missing skin and bleeding all over the dry ground.

The gunshot had come from Terry, who had made his way to the clearing. He apparently had unholstered one of his Springfield 911 9mms and shot the Hunchback directly in what would be the spine, but it had done nothing to stop it. It knocked Terry to the ground and ripped into his leg. Terry was screaming and howling in pain. The Hunchback taunted us by matching his howl and then it laughed, or at least I think it laughed. I wasn’t really sure if it even could. I pulled my gun up to eye level, and prayed to Terry’s God that I might be able to hit it from this distance, just this once. I closed my eyes, and pulled the trigger. Bang. When I opened my eyes again the Hunchback was slumped over on its side, a bullet hole in its head, and Terry was crawling his way over towards me. I didn’t have much time left. I could tell. I was weak and bleeding a lot. The pain in my side was unbearable and it was getting hard to breathe. As he got closer I shakily muttered, “Terry, I. Terry.” And then the world went black.

The next time I opened my eyes I was in a hospital, sun shining through the window, with a breathing tube in my mouth. Pretty much my whole body was wrapped in bandages and my left arm was in a cast. I closed my eyes again and when I opened them, the breathing tube was in my mouth, there was an IV in my left arm, my right arm and chest were still in bandages, and it was nighttime. I looked over to the opposite side from the window and Terry was sitting next to me, in a wheelchair. I tried to sit up but was shot with pain throughout my entire upper body.

“Hey hey, take it easy.” Terry said softly, putting his hand lightly on my chest. “Nice to see yah awake again.”

“How…. How am I still alive?” I muttered, trying to find the strength to move my mouth and speak.

“Grace of God. Best explanation for everything.”

“At least someone was on our side against that thing.” I muttered. “What happened to you? Are you stuck in that thing for good?”

“No no. They had to strap me in this thing because I kept trying to walk before the doctor said I could. They finally gave me this thing so that I could move around and come visit yah.”

“At least you’re not too bad.”

“Oh yeah? Tell that to my leg.” He gestured towards his left leg, which was still wrapped in bandages. “They say I’ll probably need a cane after this but I’ll walk again.”

I leaned back, further into the bed. “Yeah? And what did they say about me?”

“You’ve been out for five days. They said yah likely wouldn’t live to see another day. They gave 200 to 1 odds. But here yah are.”

“Damn.”

“Yah were in pretty bad shape. Yah had five broken ribs, and a puncture in your lungs. When yah stabbed that thing in the neck and it jerked back it both broke your wrist and dislocated your shoulder. Your right arm was missing most of the skin as was your chest. They had to give yah three skin grafts to fix that. I really am happy that yah woke up. I don’t know what I would have done with myself if yah had died.”

“You wouldn’t need to feel bad. I’m that one that dragged you into this mess man. Did I kill it?”

“Pretty sure. That was some good shooting form yah. I told them where the body was. They’re making their way down to it now to get it. I had to show it the footage from those video cameras of yours that we set up in the campsite.”

“Good. I’m glad it’s all over.”

“I’m gonna leave you for a bit. Go talk to Meera and tell her you’re awake. She’ll be really excited to see yah again.”

“Hey, what happened when we got here?”

“Meera brough us, that’s what took me so long. I had called her and told her to be prepared to take us here in five minutes. When we got here she told them that we had been attacked by a bear. When I woke up the next day I told the hospital I wanted to talk to the department of agriculture. I told them everything and showed them the videos. You should have seen the looks on their faces.” He said laughing. I tried to laugh but it made my chest hurt. Terry rolled out of my door and I turned my head back to look into the ceiling.

And that brings us to today. It’s been five years since then and I haven’t seen that thing since. There’s no way for me to confirm that it’s dead because the DOA never found the body. I can say though that all of the torment and nightmares and sleep paralysis, everything has ceased, and I am happier now than I have ever been. About three years ago I met and began dating a girl named Clarissa. She’s a registered nurse and actually works at the hospital I was in after the attack. We learned that she apparently changed my bandages once. Small world I guess. She has a Catholic background and even though she’s not really practicing she still goes to Mass on Christmas. I joined her last year. It was an interesting experience. We moved in together about a year ago, and life has been smooth sailing. We just had our first child, a girl which we named Theressa Anne Belmont. We call her Terry for short. Named after Terry and mother Teresa. She’s absolutely gorgeous. She inherited my green eyes, and Clarissa’s black hair. She has such tiny hands. I could talk about her all day but I am digressing. She’s my whole world. Both of them are. I still work at the store, but I have been “promoted” to managing the newly opened second one. Yes, Terry and Meera finally managed to open a second one, three years behind schedule. We actually asked Terry and Meera to be our daughters' godparents and they happily agreed. They treat her as if she’s their own granddaughter. We take her over there at least once a month, if not more. They absolutely adore her. I don’t blame them. I’m digressing again.

I’ve told Claire, my nickname for Clarissa, everything. I was able to make a copy of our footage and I have the scars, so she believes me about it all. She’s actually the one that convinced me to write all of this. I don’t really have a point in writing it other than to journal my experience. I guess if any of you have a problem with that thing, if you want, you can message me and we can talk about it. I could give you some advice. Maybe tell you what type of rounds would do the most damage. Armour piercing probably. I really hope I don’t get messages about this thing, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. But if I do, I’m more than willing to help. If you, or anyone you know, has ever encountered this thing, just know two things, it’s called the Hunchback, and you’re not alone. My name has been Jordan Aaron Belmont. And this was my story.

#short stories #original work #horror stories #scary stories #creepypasta #no sleep #blood #violence #hunchback #short story #creative writing #horror story #scary story

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