#it's sort of like christine with her dad! ;)

[weaponizedmoth]

If requests are still open it would be awesome to see you doodle Christine or Roul, your style is gorgeous!

Thank you! Here you go:

[thekenobee]

Unpopular opinion:

Discovery's Pike >>>>>>>> SNW Pike

[ablatheringblatherskite]

Raoul not just as a foil to Erik, but also a painful reminder of what Erik COULD have been.

Erik as someone who had a heart too big for a world so cruel. Raoul as a lover who loves so much that it hurts him.

Erik hating Raoul not just because he's jealous of him, but also because when he saw him, he saw himself. If things were different, maybe that could've been him. Which makes it hurt even more when Christine chooses Raoul, because it isn't just because she's going with someone else, or someone he hates, but because she's going with someone Erik so desperately wishes to be.

And because of that he can't fully hate him, because Raoul knows how to give Christine the love that Erik yearns to give her but can't. Because he doesn't know how. But Raoul can, because he was loved. Sure, maybe his dad did hate him (something he and Erik might also have in common), couldn't look at him because his mom died giving birth to him, but he had his siblings. And Erik had no one.

Raoul and Erik are foils to each other yet they are also so similar, because they love so hard. Love to the point of destruction. It's just that the world is cruel, and favors some and hates the others. And it's not fair, and never is fair. And I'd like to think that if Raoul had the chance to understand Erik more, like Christine and the Daroga did, then I think he would've felt a sort of kinship with him, too. With the man who has a heart too big for such a cruel world, just like Raoul has a heart too big to ever truly belong.

(thoughts after a lovely painful convo with @dont-do-rice-babes)

[raineydays411]

My Fathers Daughter pt8

The Dinner

summary: It's finally time for the dinner you've been dreading since your arrival, awesome. At least you get to know some of the bat family better than before

Also I forgot if I put the ages for these characters if I did and anyone could tell me that would be awesome.

When you first arrived to Gotham, you weren't really sure what to think.

Like yeah, you knew it was gonna suck cause you were moving in with the woman who deserted you and your father, causing you to grow up faster than you were meant to and giving you trust issues.

And sure, Gotham seems to have some sort of disaster literally every single day of the week.

But at this point, you really would rather chance it with the clown or whatever than sit through this awkward ass dinner.

"ahem"

Everyone eyes shoot to Bruce, who cleared his throat, breaking the awkward silence everyone was eating in.

"Y/n" He starts, causing you to groan internally. You were tired of being in the spotlight, especially when you knew half of this family doesn't fuck with you .

"I know I've said this before, but I know how hard sudden life changes like this are. If there's anything you need to be comfortable please let me know. This is your home now too."

You smile slightly, but before you could say anything Damian interrupts you

"Tch, father you say that as if she's a part of this family. We all know shes not."

"Damian, enough." Christine says sternly, " You've been difficult the whole day. Leave your sister alone."

"Oh please Mother, she's no blood of mine nor yours" he says absent minded

This was your chance.

"Well she actually pushed me out so..." You say taking a sip of your drink. You relished in the reactions from around the table

Jason snorted so hard his drink spilled

Dick looked disgusted and amused at the same time.

Tim looked disgusted but thats cause Jasons snort water managed to splash him from across the table. But the best reaction was from Damian and Cass. They just looked straight up angry.

Angry at the thought of their mother pushing you our of her cooch. Which was the most hilarious thing to you.

"How dare you speak about our mother like that? Have you no respect?"

"Dude, I'm gonna be honest I cannot take you seriously while you talk like an Asgardian. Get with the century Tiny Tim."

Another snort comes from Jason, " You know what kid, you're alright with me"

"I'm nineteen." You deadpan

"You look like you're twelve" Jason snarks

You pause for a bit before saying, "I'll tell you what you look like but you won't like it."

"Okay children, enough." Christine says, " Y/n, how do you like the room?"

"It's... very Addams family chic." You say, not really trying to be rude, " But if I'm being honest it's gonna take some getting used to."

"Well, you have free reign to decorate it anyway you'd like." Christine says, " In fact, we can make a day out of it!"

You physically have to stop yourself from cringing, " Um, yeah.. that sounds interesting, Or i can just order everything off amazon, no hassle."

" Oh it's no bother, it would give us some time to catch up" Christine says excitedly, " Oh we can make it a girls day, you and me!"

You feel someone glaring daggers into your head, as you turn you make eye contact with Cass.

Oh great, another Damian.

"Um.." You were never good in uncomfortable situations. Usually you would signal to your dad or Pepper and they'd find a way to get you out of it.

Even if you were good at navigating through uncomfortable situations, you doubt that anyone would know that to do in these circumstances.

"I mean some of the stuff I can only get online anyways so.." You say awkwardly.

You see Christine deflate and then more glares from the peanut gallery. Honestly its starting to get old.

" You know if you two keep glaring at me, your face will get stuck like that. " You say sarcastically, " Honestly doesn't it hurt to have such a sour face all the time? You're gonna get some crazy frown lines"

But before either Damian or Cass could respond, Bruce stood with a " Okay then! Y/n, how about you take my credit card and get whatever you need online, then your mother will take you AND Cass shopping"

Oh, this was a rich dads way of saying shut up.

"Great a whole day with Wednesday and Morticia." you mutter as Alfred takes your barely touched plate, " Thanks Lurch."

Alfred looks semi amused at the comparison. At least he appreciates your wit.

"Hey" A voice calls to catch your attention, it was Jason.

"I'll take you to your bedroom while Alfred cleans up, don't need you getting lost."

You look at him suspiciously, but take his offer wanting to be alone.

"If you kill me, there's gonna be a lot of pissed off superhero's on your ass." You say following him out of the room.

"Trust me princess, I'm not the one you have to worry about killing you." Jason scoffs.

"Yeah the little ones look like they might stab me in the shower." You say with a wince, " What did i do to them anyway?"

" Trust me its not you." Jason says, " They are the the easiest to be around, there's a wall there." He gestures to his heart.

"Ah"

"But if I'm being honest, finding out about you has been a shock to all of us." He says," I honestly thought Ma couldn't have kids."

You snot cruelly, " Yeah well finding out about all of you hasn't been easy for me either."

"I bet. You know, most of us haven't had much luck with mothers or families. That's why we're here."

"I have a family. A pretty good one too."

"I'm just saying I understand why you'd be angry. I was for a long time. I think sometimes I still am." Jason says before stopping, " Well here we are. If you tell anyone I told you that I'll deny it and they'll believe me."

"Thanks." You simply say, " It's nice to not hate one person that lives here."

And with that you go into the your room and close the door.

[techramonic]

What are some facts or tidbits about Daniel that you don't think is very well-known?

Hey! Thanks for the great question. I have a few things not a lot of people have talked about Daniel, all of which are information taken from his father's book: "Walking in Daniel's Shoes".

Facts about Daniel Mauser

1. Daniel's name came from the Biblical character Daniel and his mother Linda's fondness of Elton John's song titled with the same name. Conner was Linda's maiden name and since she was an only child, it was a way for them to carry her family's last name.

2. In sixth grade, he struggled somewhat with depression. After his mother sent him to a therapist, it was revealed that he was feeling stressed because at the time, he had pneumonia and missed school a few times. He felt that his teacher was pressuring him to catch up. Fortunately, he recovered after a few months.

3. Daniel used to be in cub scouts and boy scouts for a few years. Once school had became more hectic and he was more engaged in piano lessons, he dropped out of the scouts. He had earned basic badges but was not too enthusiastic with scouting long-term.

4. On July 24, 1999, Boy Scout 359 installed a park bench in Daniel’s memory along the South Rim Trail at Roxborough State Park, ten miles south of Columbine. Daniel was once a member of the Boy Scout Troop that preceded 359. Roxborough was the Mauser family’s favorite hiking area.

5. He played chess and won second place in a Denver metro tournament as a member of the school's chest club team. He also won two National Science Olympiad awards, presented to the top ten scorers in general science knowledge.

6. He was an occasional babysitter and was great with kids.

7. He was a Junior Volunteer at Swedish Hospital for two summers and helped in the pharmacy and he expressed interest in working in a medical or medical research field.

8. Despite winning often in games like Super Mario Brothers and even Foosball, his dad had caught on he was getting bored of playing with him, but despite that, he still played whenever he was invited because that was how much he loved his father.

9. He had a keen interest in current events and social issues and was a frequent reader of Time Magazine and viewer of 60 Minutes.

10. His father said he sometimes worried about little things, like if the gas tank in the car was getting too low.

11. He played soccer for a couple of years when he was younger, tried skiing, and played baseball on a YMCA team.

12. Before his death, Daniel's Biology teacher told his mother that he would be receiving an award for outstanding sophomore biology student. It was a supposed secret, one which Daniel never found out.

13. His family was very close. Tom described them as a "Dinner Table Family", who always ate dinner together. According to his father's words, "there was no sneaking off to watch the TV or play on the computer. We are together, talked together, and exchanged stories."

14. Daniel and his sister were close despite their contrasting personalities. Daniel was more like his mother—shy, introspective, intelligent, and calm. His sister Christine was like her father—outgoing, witty, a bit wild and crazy. He would often roll his eyes at her and in an exasperated tone, he would exclaim, "Theater people! Oh, my God!"

15. He had a dry sense of humor and his mom thought he prided himself on being a rational sort of fellow who was not given to drama of any sort.

16. Tom, Daniel's father, grew out of poverty. He came from Finelyville, a small town south of Pittsburgh. His father was a coal miner, his mother was a housewife, and he was the youngest out of four siblings. Tom rarely had pictures of himself. However, he didn't want that to happen with his children, so he would frequently take their pictures and film them to keep memories.

17. Daniel didn't like his pictures being taken when he was a teen. His father would still insist to take pictures for keepsake.

18. When he was fifteen and a half, Daniel was qualified to receive his driver's permit but he said he wasn't ready yet.

19. His nickname in debate class, according to Devon Adams, was "Moose": "So appropriate —it's a large, amusing but quick and fierce when-it-needs-to-be animal."

20. Daniel volunteered to rake the leaves off the lawn of a neighborhood senior citizen's house after he recently had a heartattack.

[applesaucesims]

Ever since Leah's passing, the old Jones home had stayed empty, only the graveyard still in use and kept in the general family ownership. With nobody left to look after it, the house had quickly become overgrown with plants, but the family did not mind. If anything, it felt as though their ancestors were given new life through them.

The funeral was not just for Edward, either. Just that morning, Tilly's partner Everett had passed away, too. Since him and Edward had been friends since school years, before him and Tilly had even met, it did not come as a surprise, though that did not make it any less sad.

Christine was now the only member of the family left that had actually been born in the old house. With that thought in the back of her mind, she looked upon the graves in front of her, knowing that it likely was her turn next. Her husband Parker, who was stood just behind her, seemed to notice her pensiveness and gently stroked her shoulder, while their three children almost subconsciously moved closer in support.

Once everyone had broken off into separate groups, Emma sat down on the stairs with her brother, accompanied by their partners, for some catching up time. It had been a while since they had talked, apart from general family gatherings, since Emma was busy with the kids during the day, and Kenneth was often with his band at nights.

Aside from that, Kenneth and Tia had been busy with more than just music. Their romantic involvement had come to a level at which they had decided to just go and tie the knot. Feeling so elated after one of their performances, they had ran off to the town hall to elope, just the two of them.

Of course, Emma felt a bit sad about the fact that she was not at her brother's wedding, but she understood that a quick ceremony without big announcements was much more his style. Mostly, she was happy that he had found his way in life, and Tia was a lovely person, so he was in good hands. Deep down, she knew their father would have thought the same, and she made sure Kenneth knew about this, too. And still, even if not on the wedding day itself, the two siblings could have a late celebration some other day, or Emma would make sure to remind Ken about it until they did.

[TRANSCRIPT]

Emma: "Gosh, I wish we would have had more time."

Kenneth: "Tell me about it."

Tatiana: "Right, I now wish he'd have been there with us."

Kenneth: "Me too."

Emma: "Been where with you?"

Kenneth: "Well, in between gigs, we sort of... eloped."

Emma: "What!? And you didn't invite me?"

Kenneth: "Hey, the point of eloping is that nobody's invited."

Tatiana: "We would have, had it been any other way."

Kenneth: "Though now I wonder how it might've been with Dad around."

Emma: "Oh, you know he's always been your biggest supporter. He'd be proud either way. But you've got to invite Niall and me for dinner some time to make it up to us!"

[randomfoggytiger]

Collector's Edition: Cars and Conversations (Part I)

Mulder and Scully have traveled a lot a lot a lot during their years in the basement-- surely, they had pretty cool conversations on the road?

Loose chronological order below~

@wexleresque/hellsteeth's

stars

As he climbs into the passenger seat of his father’s Lincoln, Fox yawns. The dashboard clock reads 5:03 AM and the smug tilt of his mother’s lips suggests that the early hour is the result of considerable negotiation. The tires crunch on the driveway and his mother waves at him absentmindedly from the porch as they depart. She doesn’t make a habit of smiling, but in the dark, Fox thinks something close might be on her face.

The drive is quiet this morning, save for the news on the radio and the whistle of the wind through the cracked window. Sunflower seeds sail over the glass and Fox takes a few out of the bag, chewing on them for something to do.

“How’s work, Dad?” he asks as they pass Fall River.

 Young Mulder is tossed back and forth by his begrudging parents.

the fbi basement bulletin board - Chapter 5 (Tumblr)

“Hm. Well you probably don’t need a medical professional to tell you this, but if you keep moving it around, it’s going to take longer to heal. You need to rest it.”

“Noted, doc. And you just missed the turn, by the way.”

S1 Mulder is bad at directions-- especially with a sprained wrist.

Local Radio (Tumblr)

Driving out to a little town in Indiana hadn't been in the original plan, but the business of Memorial Day weekend had removed flying as an option. They needed to reach their destination within 24 hours. So here they were, en route to another place that didn't even warrant a dot on the map (you've seen one, you've seen them all, he sometimes thought to himself).

Mulder is amused at a crazy radio station (and at Scully's reaction.)

Christine Leigh's (Alt. Ao3) Maybe?

"Okay, here we are." Maggie said this as she pulled off the highway and onto the road that would take them into Democrat Hot Springs. She was surprised that there wasn't more traffic. This town, if she remembered right, was supposed to be some sort of a resort area. Five more minutes, and they were in the parking lot looking up at the familiar sight of the neon arches, and that's all that mattered. 

Captain Scully is back from deployment; and Maggie senses something is off with her youngest daughter.

@thatfragilecapricorn30's (Ao3) Tell Me You Love Me - Chapter 1

“How do you know where I live?” he asked.

Scully’s cheeks reddened; she was hoping he wouldn’t notice or find her actions inappropriate. “It was, uh, it was in your personnel file. I wrote down your address after you called me at home after the last case. I figured I may need it at some point.”

Mulder smiled. “Just trying to see if you’ve been spying on me.”

Post Deep Throat Scully can't shed her keyed-up nerves after driving Mulder back home.

@scullywolf's (Ao3)

Eve

Her eyes narrowed. “How far up north?”

“California’s a big state, Scully.”

“I’m aware of that. How far?”

He decided there was probably something very interesting over in the corner that merited staring at while he answered. “About 300 miles. Give or take.”

Eve Mulder sheepishly wakes Scully.  

Red Museum

Sure, the old man wasn’t a member of the church, and similarities between him and Brother Andrew were all but nonexistent, but the cryptic “There’s something I’d like to show you,” with no further explanation, was enough to set her mental warning bells chiming. She was a grown woman, with a gun, but that didn’t mean she loved the idea of jumping into some random stranger’s truck after only the briefest of exchanges. Mulder joined her at the truck’s window, an unspoken question on his face.

Red Museum Scully communicates her anxieties to Mulder without a word.

Demons

The car company rep agreed to come and pick her up, and she sat down on the curb for only a minute or so before getting up again to pace off her nervous energy. A hundred horrible scenarios played themselves out in her head; at least ninety of them involved Mulder getting into car wrecks of varying degrees of seriousness. In order to keep herself from panicking, she tried to focus on the task at hand, which only made her angry that she was even in her current position in the first place.

Demons Scully has to call in a new rental car.

Drive

“All I’m saying,” she said pointedly, “is that it could be worse. We could be crammed in a room right now with a bunch of other agents, and instead we’re at least driving around through what you have to admit is some fairly scenic farmland.”

Mulder spared a moment to mourn their lost office. 

Drive Scully appreciates being out in the field with Mulder again.

Dreamland II

"...Mulder, I’m not proud of how long it took me to realize what was going on. I was about ready to drag you in for an MRI. Some sort of delayed-effect brain trauma from your trip out to the Queen Anne was the only thing I could think of to account for your dramatic change in behavior. Only it wasn’t you at all–”

“Well, you believe it now, and that’s all that matters. Now how do we fix things?”

Dreamland II Mulder and Scully catch up before heading back into the fray.

@cactustree's (Ao3) Fast Times and Slow Drives

She startles when she feels a warm hand on top of hers, and her eyes snap open as though jolted by an electric shock. She looks over to find Mulder studying her, his eyes darkened with concern.

“Watch the road, Mulder,” she murmurs, pulling her hand away from his.

“What’s wrong, Scully?”

Post Genderbender Mulder banters away Scully's apology with facts.

@h0ldthiscat's (Ao3, Alt. Ao3)

Survivor

She swats him away with one of her small hands when he touches her head and helps her into the car, but the look she shoots him lacks her usual antagonism, and the purse of her lips doesn't quite convince him that she's annoyed.

"Do you want another one of these before we hit the road?" He shakes a half-empty bottle of Gatorade at her as he slides behind the wheel, but she shakes her head once, firmly, and presses her lips together in a thin line, making them even whiter than they are.

Post Darkness Falls Mulder drives them home.

7. things you said while we were driving

She shoves the sunshade back up and clears her throat. “Can we go?”

He notices for the first time that her eyes are wet, that her chin is quivering despite her best attempts to control it. Remorse and guilt wash over him as he remembers an offhand comment from earlier in the week that explains her makeup, her nicer-than-usual suit, the set of her jaw. 

Post Never Again Mulder's remorse soothes Scully's feelings.

Can I ask for a fic tonight? :)

“Was the drive okay?” she asks.

Mulder jerks his head back to the still open door and says, “Ask your son, he drove.”

William appears in the doorway, duffel bag slung over his shoulder, tawny hair in his eyes. “It was fine, Mom.”

“Good,” she says, shooting daggers at Mulder with her eyes, daggers that say she can’t believe he let their son drive in a snowstorm....

AU-- Revival era Scully is not pleased Mulder let college age William drive back in a snowstorm.

@crossedbeams’s (Ao3) I-Spy

‘I love this song!’ I explain, whizzing the twizzler I have pilfered from Mulder’s junk food haul around in some vaguely rhythmic pattern. I love music I just lack the skill set to express that love very elegantly.

Mulder chuckles at my enthusiasm and cranks up the volume, ‘I never would have had you pegged as a Clapton fan’.

S1 Scully tells Mulder about her family road trips.

@slippinmickeys's (Ao3, Gossamer)

Prompt Drabble Collection - Chapter 25 (Tumblr)

The thing was, it was next to impossible to see out the windshield. 

Scully loved thunderstorms. Having spent a large portion of her youth in San Diego, they were still a novelty, even after years on other, more weather-prone bases and college campuses, and if she'd been home, she would have pulled up a chair next to her window and curled up there with a mug of tea, watching the light play in the sky and the water ping sharply against the glass. 

However, as a driver she was cautious, and with Mulder, well, she had a reputation to uphold: He was the engine. She was the brake. 

S1 Scully drives through a storm, donuts and a dozing partner included.

@brownies-and-tea/browniesandtea's Collect Call

“Mulder, it’s too late.” Scully sighed and leaned against the rain-streaked window of the car.

"I can't believe you're thinking fondly of that awful motel."

"I'm thinking fondly of a decent night's sleep." she stretched across the passenger seat.

S1 Mulder pursues a lead with Scully, from car to phone booth.

Ten's Learning to Breath (1/2)

In the elevator the women leaned him against one of the walls and kept talking to him, worried that otherwise he would go back to sleep and start sliding to the floor. Dana asked him questions, like his name and address, to keep him alert. She was relieved when she received the correct answers.

They got him into the backseat of Maggie's car, careful not to bump his head. Dana immediately raced around the car and got in the back herself. She fastened his seatbelt and watched as he leaned back against the headrest. He was asleep again before Maggie turned the key in the ignition.

AU-- Post One Breath Scully, Maggie, and Melissa are shocked at the state of Mulder's apartment.

J. C. Sun's Car Ride

My partner is next to me, as he always is, but for the first time in months, he's wearing his glasses. They make him look like an owl: a giant, somber six-foot owl perched in the driver's side seat. However, I doubt any owl has ever rolled his shirtsleeves up to the elbow and cradled a book in his lap, or chased the paranormal for a living. Nor do I think any owl has ever looked quite like him: the slightly twisted nose, the clear hazel eyes and the annoying, annoying little lock that, even now, droops across his forehead. It takes a wrench of will to resist the urge to reach out and to smooth it into place.

Post Firewalker Scully is bonded to Mulder now.

@seek-its-opposite/seek_its_opposite's

transient luminous events

He is still just standing there, the sleeves on the turtleneck he didn’t need to wear pushed up at the elbows. She is suddenly, vividly aware of the car, of the hot metal and the smell of rubber in stagnant humidity. Duane Barry’s trunk smelled like a spare tire. Her mouth goes cloth-gag dry.

“Can we?” she asks. She waves her hand at the road ahead and wonders how she’s so sure of this: He’d have known what she was asking even if she hadn’t.

“Sure,” Mulder nods. He looks relieved. He grabs their flashlights from the glove compartment and hands her one, and the flood of Pfaster’s headlights behind her eyes softens and clarifies into two beams that will never outrun her. And they walk.

Post Irresistible Scully confronts Mulder on his bubble-wrap method of protection.

if you weren't so

She tilts her chin up at him, at the usual angle, and finds that the geometry between them is the same.

“I need to talk to you,” she says. “Something’s happened.”

Behind him, his not-wife drags a recliner over the threshold in reverse, yelling at the houses that all look like hers.

“I have to talk to you alone.”

She says “alone” like she always says it and wonders if she meant to do that. There are days when she’s sure she could leave him in the dirt and still wind up in a room with him at the end of the world. As they slip behind the truck, she's gripped by the idea that to Joanne Fletcher, she is the woman Mulder shouldn’t be with.

AU-- Dreamland II Mulder and Scully try to find a way back to each other.

theramblinrose's Irresistible - Chapter 5/Chapter 6

“I didn’t know when I’d hear from you,” Mulder said.

“I’m at the airport,” Scully said. “I’ve got a car. I’m driving in. I just wanted to call before I left.”

“Anything wrong?” Mulder asked.

“No,” Scully said. “Honestly—everything’s feeling pretty right, Mulder.”

AU-- Irresistible Mulder and Scully are juggling their new relationship, a surprise pregnancy, and the fallout from the nefarious Pfaster.

eponine119's Same Old Fight

-Turn it back, he'd insisted, his knuckles white on the steering wheel with the effort of keeping the car on the narrow twisting road, This is making me jumpy.

-I don't know why I let you drive.

-You didn't have any choice.

-Mulder, pull over and let me drive.

-No.

S2 Mulder rescues Scully after their blowout fight almost ends with an explosive conclusion.

Sneakers/sneakers's

Walter Skinner's 'From Left Field

"But I don't see why Skinner should care about the book. It didn't mention *him*, and it didn't even use our names." Scully stood in front of the bookcase, scanning the shelves. "We didn't divulge anything classified; I'm sure the reading public thinks the whole think is a joke."

"But they had the nerve to claim I ate *twelve* piece of sweet potato pie!"

She pulled the book down. "Skinner's going to complain about your eating habits?"

"But I *hate* sweet potato pie, Scully. You know that, remember? I turned green at the gills last Thanksgiving, when your sister-in-law offered me some."

Post Jose Chung's From Outer Space Skinner has his thoughts on the book.

Sweet Home D.C.

"But the reception . . ." She looked out the window at the 1 AM darkness. "I think we both need to get some sleep. Turn the radio back on if you want to."

He did.

<< . . . Sweet home, Alabama . . . where skies are so blue . . . sweet home, Alabama . . . Lord, I'm coming home to you . . .>>

"That guy's got something wrong with his head, Scully."

Mulder and Scully, switching songs and swapping gum.

Evil_Little_Dog's

Cassadaga Bound

Dana squinted out the car window. "I don't think there's enough room in this town for all the witches, or demons, or devils in Florida, let alone the world."

S3 Mulder detours he and Scully to a fortune teller's.

Travelogue

“We’re not lost.” Mulder shot her a look then turned back to the road, correcting for the drift. “We’re directionally challenged.”

Making a guttural noise deep in her throat, Scully glanced out the window.

Mulder, the car, and a ditch.

@sunlightscully's (XF Writing Challenge - Food)

They have perfected the art of car eating. The driver orders and pays and hands the greasy bag over to be unpacked. The passenger unwraps the driver’s burger. They share fries.

When he pays she asks for the bare minimum and nothing too expensive. He orders extra large milkshakes and pretends he doesn’t see her stealing sips. They compensate for each other. Ketchup has not been spilled in years.

Mulder realizes he loves Scully.

Starbuck's (FFN) Wake Me When We Get There

"Shouldn't be much longer, Scully."

She made no acknowledgment, lying her head upon the seat once again. He continued driving as she drifted in and out of consciousness. White line. White line. Yellow line.

"Wake me when we get there, Mulder."

Mulder keeps the volume down so his partner can sleep on the long drive home.

@wtfmulder/@momdadimpoppunk's (Ao3) drabble; pay no mind

Scully paces around the car, branches and leaves snapping quietly under her weight. But she’s not angry, not at all, or nervous. She occasionally bends down to steal a sunflower seed from him and pauses to crack it before continuing her little loops.

Mulder and Scully find their own ways to entertain themselves when the rental car breaks down.

@incidental-ao3/incidental's Febuwhump 2023: The Truth is Out There (And the Fic is In Here) - Chapter 18

“No, Mulder, I should be keeping you awake, you’re the driver.”

“But I am awake,” he argued reasonably. “So there’s no reason for you to torture yourself when you could catch another few hours’ rest.”

“Don’t be dramatic, it’s not torture,” she scoffed. He smirked.

“Could’ve fooled me,” he said. She scowled sleepily.

Scully tries not to fall asleep, and Mulder ruminates on life before lights.

@mulderbabe77's Taco Stands and Regrets

He pushed down a little harder on the gas pedal.

“Are you gonna throw up?” He gulped, hoping to hear a no.

“Nope,” she answered and for a moment he almost sighed with relief. “The other thing, I think,” she finished, grimaced again and held a hand to her cramping stomach.

“I’m on it!” He sped the car up a little more.

Ten minutes later they could see the exit just ahead. Mulder was shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

Mulder and Scully both get food poisoning while on the road.

@hamster-on-fire/fade_into_the_dusk_with_me’s For The Sake Of Driving (Ao3)

They’d do this sometimes. Drive. They were always driving, it seemed. But when it was dark like this & he was scared like this, or tired like this, or just utterly numb like this, it was different. The curve of the road up ahead could feel like a whole conversation; the silence, an opening, & they’d both sit there, like staring at a sterile wound.

Mulder and Scully help each other decompress on long, long car drives late into the night.

Timemeantnothing's On the road again

“We helped keep the Germans from getting Thor’s Hammer.”

“Mhmm,” Scully hummed, turning the corner.

“It was Einstein, Scully. We protected Albert Einstein.”

“That was very good of us to do.”

Mulder and Scully, driving: hot ladies, aliens, cheek kisses, Triangle rambles, and Millennium contentedness.

Thank you for reading~

Enjoy!

**Note**: I am a "separate the art from the artist" person through-and-through; but my lists will no longer be featuring writers that have blocked me-- tooooooo much drama has been kicked up over that issue.

[beautyofsorrow]

building on this headcanon as posted here because i have spent so long rotating it in my head despite not having a plot to house it:

uhura is Not Into It at first but they eventually sway her into semi-regular attendance with the promise of overblown camp + comedy. i feel like she'd also be obsessed with pontypool due to the language aspects

hemmer doesn't like the violence but he'll discuss soundtracks and their efficacy ad infinitum in the mess hall

every halloween they try to binge the halloween franchise only to get two movies in and give up. they're obsessed with the franchise's refusal to respect its own canon though and talk so much about it that uhura assumes they've seen all the films at least five times

they keep a running spreadsheet of everything they've watched complete with stats and commentary. there's an entire column labeled "does the horse die?" if the answer is yes, they can't show it to captain pike

probably no one on that ship is normal about theo crain, but chapel and ortegas least of all

i have not decided what ortegas's favorite subgenre is but chapel's is one hundred and thirty-three percent the most Terrifying body horror. the fly (1986) is the one that got her into horror films

i can and will do so much with the alien franchise, but the fic i probably won't write yet think about so often is chapel + uhura post-1x09 curled up in uhura's bunk sharing a deeply platonic sort of grief while that first one plays

una chin-riley shockingly into horror films. no i will not elaborate.

speaking of una, i will never be over the chaos potential of in-universe explanations for satanic panic (2019)

spock has been banned from attending movie night because he talks too much and not in the fun kind of way, but he watches the films intently on his own time and then meets with them both to discuss

m'benga does not get it. at least once a year they make him sit through something they promise he'll like and he never comes out unscathed

pelia: "horror films? ah yes, what a delightful genre. have you see when a stranger calls? some of my best work" [cue shipwide uproar for the next three weeks]

films christine chapel cannot be normal about: lisa frankenstein, american mary, jennifer's body, return to oz

films erica ortegas cannot be normal about: the scream franchise, probably. and not just because of sidney's tank + boxers combo in the second one

[watching scream 5] ortegas: "why does that dude look so familiar?" chapel, 15 minutes later: "oh my god. it's boimler"

they've got a prepared speech about the superiority of practical effects and a special interest in replicating the grosser ones. captain pike finally asks sam kirk to cordon off a section of the science lab for them so they can stop causing shipwide alerts

that time they made una sit through So Many nightmare on elm streets despite the declining quality only for her to turn to them in the middle of dream master and roast them to a crisp by asking if it was going to get better or if their perception had been so skewed by their love of suit-up montages set to 80s dad rock that their judgment couldn't be trusted anymore

they do eventually win her back with new nightmare, tho

[bird-likes-to-fandom]

hiiiiii birdieeeee would you consider a bmc cym??

OOH okay!!

Jeremy - literally nobody in the world other than my dear friend bucket @scrunklejunk could play Jeremy. THE number one Jeremy understander and defender ever.

Michael - ohhh this is a tough one. hmm. I'm gonna say @mansion-of-haunts. I think you'd have fun with it

Christine - @zstarcatsz for SURE because your style reminds me a lot of her and ily. I think you'd be able to bring her specific brand of "weird kid" to the table!

Brooke - @cam-stopped-eating-candles because I know she was your favorite and I think you could do her justice. I believe in you!

Jake - @sleepboysummer because you're cool and chill and he's sort of a secretly tragic character, and I think you'd fuck with that!

Rich - Me teebeeaych. He's my silly guy. I like him lots and think squip song and the fire scene would be so fun to perform. also we're both bisexual.

Chloe - @manuscripts-don-t-burn idk I just think you could have fun with playing her. there's nuance with her that a lot of people don't get, but I think you would! also I would make you and Eli sleepboysummer the costume designers of this production, since it takes place in 2004 and you guys are great with finding good 2000s outfits.

Jenna - hmmm Jenna is tough. I think you could make a good Jenna tbh!!! I think you could understand her. also because you enjoy gossiping with the besties.

i don't have castings for squip and Mr heere, but chart @1racoon7trenchcoats I believe you'd make a good Mr Reyes if ONLY because his voice on the soundtrack reminds me of Charles Deetz in the beetlejuice musical and he's your guy. so like technically you'd also be filling for Mr here, which would make you bucket's dad and that is SO funny to me.

[marvelmaniac715]

Specifically for @lydiavalentino. This is the cast list that accompanies my Schmigadoon! Season Three pitch. I’ll include actors, character names and character descriptions so that you can get an idea of what I’m going for :).

Cecily Strong - Melissa Gimble:

Melissa is the same as she always is, kind, funny, a big fan of musicals, but the stress of parenting two hyperactive twins is starting to wear her out, and she’s less willing to join in with Schmigadoon shenanigans than usual, and she may yell at this season’s leprechaun when he eventually appears for putting her children in danger. Also, is a forbidden romance with a stranger who’s not so unfamiliar in the cards? Melissa is faithful to Josh, but old lovers and crushes have a certain way of getting to you…

Keegan-Micheal Key - Josh Skinner:

Again, Josh is the same as he always is, except he too is stressed out by raising twins and his teaching position, and he’s developed a much stronger interest in musicals that he, along with his wife, tries to pass down to his children. In my hypothetical third season, his reaction to the newest version of Schmigadoon (the ‘Schmoods’ and surrounding French district) is a lot like Melissa’s reaction to Schmigadoon in Season One, because this is the period of musicals he is most familiar with and he gets so excited whenever he spots a reference. Is he a cool dad? Well… he certainly has a thing or two to learn from a few Schmigadoonians, but he and his kids get along great (even if he is a little overprotective at times).

Dove Cameron - The Princess:

That isn’t a placeholder. That’s the character’s name. Think of Rapunzel from Into The Woods, but combine her with Cosette from Les Mis and Christine from Phantom of the Opera. She’s your typical ingenue at the start of the season, sheltered from the world by her adoptive mother (we’ll get to her) and dreaming of romance. But as the season progresses, she (with a little encouragement from Melissa) begins to break out of her shell and pursue romance with mysterious French Schmigadoonians (oh, the scandal of it all!).

Aaron Tveit - The Prince:

The Prince is a more villainous character, he falls in love with The Princess and is convinced that they are destined to be together (think of the two princes from Into The Woods with Marius from Les Mis levels of pining) and refuses to take no for an answer. This would be a sort of dark reimagining of Jenny and Topher’s romance from Season Two, and Melissa would point this out at one point (but nobody sees the comparison except for her). Does he find romance by the end? Perhaps, but that is yet to be decided.

Alan Cumming - The Wolf:

As you can see, a lot of character names are symbolic (a lot like Into The Woods). At the beginning of the season, Josh and Melissa are convinced that he’s the one who lured their children away (hey, they’ve seen Into The Woods and The Wolf looks VERY similar to the wolf that ate Little Red Riding Hood in that musical, they don’t want to take chances) but it’s a red herring, and the ‘sneaking around’ they catch him doing is merely to provide for his pup, Clawsette (Little Cosette from Les Mis, slightly inspired by the SNL Diner Lobster Sketch with the lobsters in terms of naming). His character will help to teach lessons about parenting to Josh and Melissa via a song, and the character may be French, with subtle references to Duly Blight and Mayor Menlove because of course there will be.

Kristen Chenoweth - The Witch:

What can I say? She’s the witch from Into The Woods, I just wanted to allow Dove Cameron and Kristen Chenoweth to play mother and daughter again. She would also teach Josh and Melissa about parenting in a VERY Children Will Listen inspired song.

Jane Krakowski: Leader:

Leader of the troupe of children that lures Josh and Melissa’s twins into the woods. She’s seemingly kind at first (she’s inspired by the Narrator from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat after all) but she soon reveals a sinister dark side reminiscent of Bill Sykes from Oliver, and she makes the children under her employ carry out her dirty work (crime such as theft).

Patrick Page - The Narrator:

The Narrator from Into The Woods, but more sinister. There’s a running gag where Josh and Melissa (big Into The Woods fans) continuously try to sacrifice him to whatever monster or rival is onscreen, thinking that that will help them to ‘reclaim their own stories’ like it did for the characters in Into The Woods. He gets more songs that show off his awesome deep voice, and he isn’t employed by the leprechauns. He’s their father. That would extend the parenting theme I’m trying to build and show the sometimes strained relationships between parents and children.

Martin Short - All Three Leprechauns:

He’s back as the leprechauns! This season’s new addition is Johnathan, a very Rent inspired character who may have a striped scarf. And yes, he would have a line paying homage to that show, such as ‘sorry my land isn’t as flashy as my brothers’, I’m struggling to pay rent’. It’s stupid, I know, but it brings me joy.

Tituss Burgess - Unsure:

I want him to be in this, but I’m not sure HOW. He’s a phenomenal actor though, so I want him to at least have a cameo as a French villager (Ratatouille the Musical, anyone?).

Fred Armisen - Unsure:

He’s in the same boat as Tituss for me, but I would perhaps cast him as Alan Cumming’s character’s ‘mate’ or something so that Layton x Menlove could live on in a way.

Ann Harada - Leader of the Rats:

Somebody had to do it. She’s basically Grizzabella from Cats as a rat, and when the characters help out in the final episode, she leads the charge. This is no slight against Ann Harada, she’s great, but I thought it would be fun if she could have a song (or a brief snippet of a song that keeps getting cut off as a running gag similar to ‘I’ll drink to that’ lady from last season) inspired by Memory from Cats.

Jaime Camil - The Phantom:

No prizes for guessing which 1980s musical inspired this character. Melissa has a big crush on the Phantom of the Opera, and she may have a brief romance with this character (Baker’s Wife from Into The Woods all over again) but she gets over herself and sets him up with The Princess, seeing her as a version of Christine, and that it would be the ultimate fan service to set the two up together in order to ‘fix the ending’ of Phantom.

Ariana Debose - Francine:

Fantine from Les Mis, but she doesn’t die. And she has a son unlike Fantine. (Mason, played by the boy who played Carson in Season One). She helps to teach parenting lessons due to her dedication to her son. By the end of the season, she may have a romance with The Princess, but I’m currently undecided.

The Twins - Casting Unclear:

The twins are about nine or ten, and they’re scrappy and adventurous. They love musicals like their parents, but because this is their coming of age story (Into The Woods, remember) they will go from naive to wise by the end of the season, after overthrowing a powerful dictator, of course…

[nuagederose]

Dark Roots of Earth | Chapter Fourteen: Hold on My Heart

ao3 link

It was nice to be reunited with Kenny once again as Christine rode along in the front seat of his car with the window rolled down and her arm up on the top of the door. They had just had lunch and now he was driving her back home, windows down to feel the cool night air and the smell of the city all around them. Even with the lights bearing down on her, and even with the exhaust of the cars all around them on the expressway, she still found herself in a moment's bliss. Her father had recovered and was now in the process of rehabilitating. She had to relish every moment she had with him, even when he dropped her off at her place and bestowed her with a hug.

“Give your mom my love,” he told her with a kiss on the forehead and another hearty embrace. All evening long, she dared not tell him about Alex, and she especially dared not say it to him there as she was preparing to head on back up to her place for the night.

She thought about telling Eric about it in the morning, that she and Alex had seen Kenny with Nelly at Coney Island with absolutely no explanation whatsoever. Indeed, Kenny never mentioned it once to her that whole entire evening, and there was no way that she could bring it up to him, either. And yet, she still had her questions about, in particular as to why.

Why Nelly, and why her father of all people to get together, and at Coney Island no less. She also couldn't shake the memory of Captain Howdy being right across the boardwalk from them, as well. So many things ran through her mind right then, and more so when she reached her apartment door and unlocked it. The apartment across the way was quiet, and she assumed that Wendy had gone to bed for the night: it was nearly eleven thirty at that point, after all.

The middle of the night, and yet she had some unfinished business for the day.

Once she had shut the door and locked it behind her, she took her phone out of her pocket and walked on back to her bedroom for a change of her clothes into a little camisole and nothing else. She then parked herself on the edge of her bed with the little monkey Alex had won for her right next to her. She searched for his number in her address book and called him.

It only rang once when he picked up.

“Hey, my Strawberry Girl, I was just thinking about you,” he said to her as part of her greeting.

“I just got home,” she replied as she slid back onto the bed and crossed her legs. She held the monkey up to her body and leaned back against the wall next to the bed.

“So, how was your day?” he asked her in a somewhat tired sounding voice.

“It was nice,” she replied. “My dad took me to a late lunch and then I went back to his place for a bit to play a little game of catch-up of sorts. It's been a while since I've been over there, too.”

She then shifted her weight. The mere thought of him by her sie was giving her a warm feeling in her stomach, something that she swore only came to her in the months when the shadows grew long early on.

“I did like hanging out with you today, though,” she added.

“You know I always like hanging out with you,” he said back to her. “You and me, we should be doing stuff always. That is, when you aren't doing stuff with your parents or your friends, anyways.”

She smiled to herself even if he couldn't see her.

“Listen, I go in for summer school sessions all the way to the Fourth, which is when those shows take place for me, but let's do something the week after, though. I have some time off then. You and I, we can do something together.”

“Syracuse, maybe?” she suggested.

“Syracuse, or maybe... another place I was thinking of was Hershey.”

“You just wanna eat a bunch of chocolate,” she teased him.

“Hey, I get paid again,” he pointed out without missing a beat. “I wanna spoil you. I wanna spoil you and... have a little fun, too. A part of me wants to come on over after school on Monday and make the two of us come together, if you catch my drift.”

“I always catch your drift,” she teased him, and she couldn't help but chuckle at herself.

“Catch my drift as it flows closer to you during class,” he went along with it.

“I really love hearing you talk dirty to me through the phone,” she confessed to him. “Probably more so here than in person.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I mean... I'm in bed. I'm in my jammies, or my underwear. Or in the buff.”

“Which is it?” he asked her.

“What do you think?” she retorted back to him.

“I'm afraid to say,” he confessed.

“You know, it's the damnedest thing. I often feel afraid to say, too.”

“Like... with me?” He snickered as he said that.

“Yeah. I often wonder what you're wearing or lack thereof but I'm afraid to ask.”

“Remember, fear is our primeval emotion,” he pointed out. “I think... you're not wearing anything but your panties. And I'm picturing you with your hand down the front. Now, tell me. What do you picture with me right now?”

“You're wearing a tight shirt that buttons, and you have the collar open all the way so I can see your chest and that lush chest hair of yours. You've got your hair down over your shoulders, and it's all tightly curled because you just got out of the shower. You just got out of the shower, and I can't help but picture you in the buff all drenched.”

He let out a low whistle right then.

“What color is my shirt, by the way?” he asked her.

“Black,” she replied. “No, white. You're wearing a pearly white shirt with snug black jeans. Snug black jeans with a big leather belt and a shiny silver buckle. The white adds to the beauty of your chest and your belly while the black accentuates every curve of your legs and your hips. You show me your chest, and more so when you tuck your hands into your back pockets.” She nibbled on her bottom lip right then, and she thought of making his fantasy come true right then. “The glasses also stay on, too. You can't officially be my sexy nerd without those glasses.”

“Can I just say... I love how tender you are,” he confessed to her, and it almost sounded as though he was the one touching himself right then given the slight strain to his voice. “It feels a lot more honest than what I'm thinking of.”

“Seriously? You shared your fantasy with me and it had me swooning a bit.”

“I feel like I just gleaned over it,” he confessed. “I don't know, you feel more in touch with yourself than you are with me.” He then cleared his throat. “I like that. You know me, Christine, I like honesty. I like honesty and I'm a sucker for emotions, too.”

“Then again, everyone should,” she declared.

“Everyone should, exactly!” He treated her to that big hearty laugh of his, only to be followed up with a yawn. “I don't know why I'm so tired.”

“You're getting older?” she asked him.

“Nah, I don't think it's that because this is the first night in a long time I've felt this way. Again, you know me, Christine. I'm usually up until one or two o'clock in the morning and I get up at around seven or eight. She got really demanding today, especially since I thought today was going to be about you and me...” His voice trailed off. She pursed her lips as she knew the answer to it all, and yet, she lacked the courage to say it to him straight up. She held that little monkey that he had won for her close to her chest as if it was about to get away from her.

“The next trio show is the Fourth of July, you said?”

“Fourth of July weekend, yes,” he replied as he came back down to Earth. “I have that, plus a couple of more. And then you and I, we can do our thing together.”

“To Hershey?” she asked him in a near whisper.

“To The Sweetest Place on Earth,” he followed up. “Made sweeter by the fact it'll just be you and me.”

“You have a good night and sleep tight for me,” she told him.

“And you sleep tight me, too,” he retorted with a chuckle. “I'll call you again when I get up tomorrow.”

“I'll be waiting.” He blew her a kiss over the phone, and they hung up at the same time. Christine then placed her phone on the top of the desk, complete with a dreamy sigh through her nose. She lay down in her bed, although she reached up and switched off her lamp before she lay down all the way. She then rolled over onto her side and tugged the bedsheet up to her ear even though it was a warm evening, and she held the monkey in her arms close to her chest. She smiled to herself as she pictured Alex next to her with his arms around her and her head pressed against his chest to hear his heartbeat.

That steady ebb and flow that she knew would always rock her to sleep.

The next thing she knew, she awoke to the sound of her phone ringing, and she swore that it was happening in the next room over. But she rolled over onto her back and reached for it there on the her desk. Through the slumber still riddled in her eyes, she looked on at the thin stripe on the back and her heart skipped a beat when she realized that he had kept his promise.

She flipped open the phone and held it to her ear even as she lay flat on her back with her free hand down on her chest.

“Good morning, my love,” his voice drifted onto her phone.

“Good morning,” she replied, and she sat up in bed with a stretch of one arm over her head.

“Let me guess, you just woke up,” he said; she could tell that he, too, had just woken up himself.

“As a matter of fact, I did...” Christine rubbed her eyes with the inside of one hand. “I'm wanting breakfast with you again.”

“What I would give to have breakfast with you again. Unfortunately, I'm not all that hungry.”

“Wow, Alex isn't hungry. The world is ending.”

He chuckled at that, and then he gasped. “Oh, sit tight, Christine Sixteen—I have another call coming in.”

“I'll be right here,” she promised him, and he clicked over onto the other line. She thought about making breakfast and bringing it over to him for that morning, especially when it gave her the idea to feed it to him by hand. Indeed, she pictured herself spooning in some scrambled eggs and a piece of sourdough toast into his mouth as he had his hands tied behind his back. It was a fantasy that emerged out of the blue, but she pictured it nonetheless, and it made her smile to herself. She then thought about the fantasy she had shared with him the night before, in how she pictured him dressed in the white shirt and black pants. No way she could do it to him until a button came clean off, but she wanted him full until the shirt hugged his thick body for her.

He then came back onto their line with a sigh.

“What's up?” she asked him.

“God damn it,” he moaned, and she could hear him on the other end. “I'm sorry, my Strawberry Girl. I have to go. Some things came up and now... I don't know what awaits me for that marathon of shows coming up here.”

“Wait, are we still on for the days after the Fourth of July weekend, though?” she asked him, slightly taken aback.

“I'm really not sure. I thought it was dead set last night, but I guess not.” She could hear it in his voice. He wanted it to happen, for them to be in Hershey together following that literal marathon of shows together.

“You have found your way into my heart,” he continued. “I can't imagine life without you. I promise you that I'll keep you updated about it—” And he hung up before either of them could get a word in to each other.

“I love you,” Christine said anyway. She lay her phone down in her lap as the dial tone continued to ring out from the ear piece. She closed her eyes and bowed her head.

“Son of a bitch,” was all she could muster right then.

[amberjazmyn]

"i see him in your eyes, i hear him in your laugh. i think that's why i always found my way back to you..."💔🫶

pairing : charles leclerc x bianchi!fem reader

summary : every anniversary since losing her brother jules, elena bianchi always found her way back to her older brother's godson and the one person she's always loved, charles leclerc.

warnings : tears, mentions of jules bianchi, mentions of jules' crash in suzuka, mention of his coma, charles and bianchi!reader distancing themselves from one another, childhood friends to lovers???

a/n : anything about charles talking about jules just destroys me so i decided i'd write my own piece about that very thing but with a happy ending because i just can't have it be depressing the entire time. also for the 2020 segment, i did change the date of the italian grand prix to make it fit the timeline so please know i did that on purpose for the storyline and for the fact that elena and charles always meet with each other on the same day every year since 2015 even though it's obvious they have seen each other on other days but this specific date being the most important one! and i also forgot that july comes after june so i completely messed up charles' dad's passing as he passed away in june 2017, not july 2017 so i've just kept it the same month as jules but the actual date of the 20th has stayed the same!

2014 - the accident

elena bianchi thought what she was seeing wasn't real and that it was a nightmare of sorts. of course, being the younger sister of marussia f1 team driver jules bianchi, elena knew accidents during a race were bound to happen. it was due to the nature of the sport because it was always unpredictable and it involved nineteen other drivers in really fast cars that could sometimes easily crash and spin out of control. especially if something was missed by the mechanics and the rest of the driver's team. an accident to this calibre hadn't happened since aryton senna in 1994 and it wasn't supposed to. and, elena never thought of the day that her older brother would get into an accident where he wouldn't be able to walk out of it. because accidents like this hadn't happened since senna.

elena was in suzuka for the japanese grand prix 2014. she had gone alongside the rest of her family as well as the leclerc family. happily watching the race when all of a sudden, another collison happens. we say another because the reason why jules crashed was because of a crane that was still on the track still clearing debris from an earlier crash. and unfortunately due to the bad weather, jules didn't see it, lost control of his car and because of that, this accident had occured and it wasn't a pretty accident.

speaking of the leclerc's, it wasn't the entire family at the circut. sitting with elena was the middle son of pascale and herve leclerc, charles leclerc. lorenzo, the older brother and arthur, the younger brother, were at the hotel watching the race there since arthur woke up feeling unwell. lorenzo deciding to stay with his younger brother since arthur was still a bit too young for pascale and herve to feel comfortable about being left alone in a foreign country. pascale and herve were sitting with elena and jules' parents, phillipe and christine. jules and elena's other siblings, brother tom and sister melanie, similar to arthur and lorenzo, were at the hotel getting over earaches that they had both developed overnight, a floor above the two leclerc boys. so, despite not all of the families present at the actual circut, they had all seen jules' accident. because even though tom, melanie, lorenzo and arthur were in the hotel, they were still watching the race on the tv. they would never, ever miss a race the leclerc's and bianchi's. however, this was a race that they wished they all missed. jules included.

tears immediately welled into elena's eyes as she screamed from the tops of her lungs. it seemed like the entire garage and everywhere around her had heard elena's scream. it felt as though so many eyes were on her as she wept over her brother and his crash. charles immediately pouncing into action to try to get the girl he had watched grow up alongside, the two only a year apart in age, to stop crying and panicking. it tore his heart into two seeing his godfather crash and then his godfather's sister, the girl he had the fattest crush on, be so unsure of his survival. as she fell to pieces into his arms as they watched as the race got red flagged since it quickly became obvious that jules wasn't responsive.

any other crash of jules, everyone was always so certain that he'd jump out of the car and walk away with nothing but a few physical bruises with a little bit of a bruised ego. except, it seemed like this time, everyone thought the opposite. and that included jules' favourite sister, elena.

as soon as they were able to extricate jules out of the space he had been crushed into, between his car, barrier and the crane, he was taken to the nearest hospital in suzuka. and obviously, the bianchi's and leclerc's weren't that far behind. they knew they couldn't leave their brother and son all alone in a foreign country after having what could easily be labeled as his worst ever racing accident since joining f1.

🥀

elena could no longer feel her legs or her face. her legs from how long she had been sitting, curled up in that god-awful uncomfortable plastic hospital chair in the waiting room. her face from all the tears she had cried. whether they were wiped away from her own fingers or charles', the tears still didn't forget to render elena's face into pure numbness to the point it felt icy and sore to touch.

she truly had no idea how long she had been sitting on this chair, in this waiting room, in this hospital in suzuka for. had it been minutes? hours? days? it surely hadn't been weeks just yet but, she wouldn't have known because as far as her cloudy eyes let her see, she was not able to read any of the clocks that were hanging up in every other corner in the japanese hospital. she wasn't even sure how she had changed out of what she was wearing on race day and into the leggings (that were her sister's as she looked closer) and the oversized hoodie (which was one of charles', hence why it was oversized) that she finally came to notice that she had on. because of this new revelation, that was when she spoke for the first time since jules' accident.

"...quel jour est-il? et qu'est-ce que je porte? je ne me souviens pas avoir changé de vêtements," elena whispered, her voice quiet due to her not using it since the accident what day is it? and what am i wearing? i don't remember changing my clothes

"c'est lundi, elena. et tu ne te souviens pas avoir changé parce que je l'ai fait. tu portes les leggings de ta mère et mon sweat à capuche..." charles speaks up as elena looks up at him, feeling herself just relax for the first time since the accident it's monday, elena. and you don't remember changing because i did. you're wearing your mum's leggings and my hoodie

"ah, merci charlie..." elena whispers as she digs her hands further into the sleeves of his hoodie as he smiles softly thanks

sighing, charles sits himself next to elena. he had been sitting with his younger brother arthur, who was only fourteen, who had wanted to stay at the hospital so he could at least see jules one final time. the leclerc's were having to leave japan soon but arthur (and charles) begged if they could see jules once more before having to go back to monaco. and, of course, pascale and herve could never say no to their youngest and middle children. and, it was obvious that phillipe and christine were happy to take guardianship over them since lorenzo, pascale and herve were back at the hotel, already having said their pieces to jules about wanting to see him open his eyes and wake up soon and reminding him just how much they loved him and the family. they also didn't want to feel like they were overcrowding the bianchi family, not that the leclerc's ever did overcrowd the bianchi's. but, they just didn't want to risk it so they just sent over charles and arthur to say their pieces to the family and jules before having to leave back to monaco.

so, with charles next to her, elena didn't know how or why but, all of a sudden, it felt like her world had continued to turn again. it no longer felt like someone had pressed pause on her life. whenever elena and charles were together, it was as though their worlds were reignited. any time they were apart from each other, it was as though their worlds were stuck on hold. as though they were waiting for each other since no one else was apart of their world but them two.

placing her head against charles' shoulder, she spoke up again but in english. speaking french was just too complicated for her now, "charlie, are you sure you need to go back to monaco?" the seventeen year old basically whined out like a child as charles let out a breathy chuckle

"i'm very sure, elena. unfortunately, we can't stay here in japan forever. as much as i think we all wish we could, we just can't..." charles sighed as he rested his own head against elena's, their hands resting in their own laps, inches away from the other person's

"...if you had the choice to, would you stay here in japan with jules?" elena was shocked she could even bring herself to say her brother's name as charles smiled softly

"as if you felt the need to even ask that, elena! but, since you want an answer, if i had the choice, yes, i would stay here in japan with jules, et avec toi aussi" charles sighed, hoping his french whisper wasn't heard as he also wanted to stay in japan to be with elena, whilst it was heartbreaking for elena because jules was her brother, her heart suddenly broke more wondering how charles must feel and with you, too

sure, being a godfather was a special connection to have with someone but, some people would say it's not as close as a brother or sister or a legitimate, biological family member. however, since pascale and herve did pick jules as charles' godfather, it was clear that her brother meant a hell of a lot to charles and to the leclerc family. and now it hurt her more because she wished she could see how much it was hurting charles. only because charles was still trying to be strong for elena, her parents and her other two siblings. maybe even for his own family as well. they all had cried, the bianchi's and the leclercs, all of them except for charles. but elena was adamant to change that since she could never fully stay away from charles leclerc. and charles could never fully stay away from elena bianchi.

since her parents and siblings were in the hospital room with jules, arthur in there with them, elena realised this was the only opportunity she'd get to comfort charles without anyone else interferring and getting in the middle of it. grabbing the hand of charles that was closest to hers, she squeezed it tightly as the two teenagers made eye contact with one another. charles' eyes were huge but filled with such sadness and grief that he had been clearly holding back ever since the accident. the minute elena had collapsed to the floor in tears at suzuka circut in the marussia garage, charles shut off every emotion so he could take care of her. doing the exact same for everyone else in his family and the bianchi family, completely ignoring his own grief and feelings. charles was only seventeen but he was already the protector type and those who knew him and knew him well, understood that. however, it then hit elena and she was glad it wasn't obvious. who protects the protector? and, the most logical answer in elena's mind right now was no one. so, now their jobs were being switched, elena was the protector and charles was the protectee, the one being protected and comforted.

"...i'm so sorry charlie, since the accident, you've been so focused on making sure everyone else is okay that no one's stopped to ask you if you're okay," elena whispered as she held charles' hands tightly, holding them in her lap as charles all of a sudden couldn't hold eye contact anymore

it only took that one, little sentence, that broke charles and took down his protector guard for those passing through the hospital hallways to just see a slither of. after elena said that small sentence, it didn't take much longer for charles' floodgates to open and for his grief to finally be felt after keeping it hidden away since the accident. as charles cried and cried, elena held him tightly, his head hidden away in the crook of his own hoodie, that looked giant on elena's teeny tiny petite frame which was baggy on her shoulders. whispering a bunch of sweet comforts and nothings in french, elena knew there was really nothing that could soothe and take away their shared grief except for the one thing they weren't going to get for a while. jules.

🥀

it wasn't until an hour away from visiting hours finishing that charles and elena felt comfortable enough to go into jules' room and visit him. the rest of elena's family alongside arthur had all said everything they wanted to say for the day and for arthur before he'd have to go back to the hotel and then monaco with his family. however, it had taken charles and elena that long to go visit their godfather and brother because it was obvious to the both of them that the other was trying to figure out what they were going to say to jules before even seeing him for the first time.

that was the other thing that hasn't been mentioned yet. this was the first time that the two seventeen-year-olds were seeing jules since the actual accident at the track. both of them, without knowing, at separate times had attempted to go visit jules but both of them froze the second they went to turn the door handle to jules' hospital room. neither of them had the courage to go in and visit jules on their own. but, now that they were together and had each other, they knew they could now go and visit jules before they wouldn't be able to do so. since after this night, charles and the leclerc's would be leaving back to monaco whilst the bianchi's stayed in japan until they were able to repatriate jules back to france.

taking in deep breaths, looking at each and holding hands tightly, charles leclerc and elena bianchi walked into jules' hospital room. just like the day of his accident, elena nearly fell to the floor in hysterics at seeing her brother again. but this time looking so small and hurting in what looked like the tiniest, most uncomfortable hospital bed. and charles was there, holding her tightly as he prevented her from falling to the floor and getting hysterical. but this time, charles didn't hold back his own emotions. this time it was clear to elena that seeing jules again after not seeing him since the accident was putting charles through the same pain that it was putting elena through. and the two of them cried together again, but this time by jules' hospital side. the both of them hugging his hospital bed as though their tears and soft hugs, as not to hurt him, would heal him and make him wake up as though it was a disney movie.

but it wasn't a disney movie. there was nothing they could do to magically heal jules. as much as they wished they could, they weren't able to. they didn't have the healing powers to do so. apparently, according to the nurses and doctors at the hospital, they had done everything they were able to do and now, it was all up to jules and if he wanted to continue. or get better enough that they could repatriate him to france so the hospital staff there, in his home country, could use their skill and technology to help jules get better. but, if the only thing jules could do was get himself stable enough for just the flight back to france, then that was more than okay for everyone. and it seemed as though charles and elena agreed with that statement as well.

now, they started talking to each other, including jules into it even though they knew he couldn't respond. it was just a safety thing for the two teenagers. it seemed as though that wherever the bianchi siblings were, charles wasn't that far behind. or, the alternative, wherever charles and jules were, elena wasn't that far behind.

"...as much as i hate hospitals, i don't think i can say that i hate this one..." elena spoke up, trying to at least get a small giggle out of her and charles - it worked, it was only a low chuckle but it was something

"...jesus christ, elena!" charles chuckled, jules' hand slipping out of his own as he turned to face elena with a little look of disappointment

"i know, bad timing but, i don't know what else to say at this point!" elena shrugged, charles knew that she didn't know what else to say so he smiled and suggested the same thing he always did when elena struggled to say something in a tense situation

"tell the story, elena..." charles whispered as elena smiled, her eyes lighting up as she remembered the story from when she and charles were a little bit younger than they currently were, maybe around the same age as arthur currently was

three years ago

out of the two familes, the bianchi's and leclerc's, jules, elena, charles and arthur were the closest. whilst jules and elena had another two siblings, a brother tom and sister melanie, they were a lot older than jules and elena. which meant they didn't really hang out as much with charles and arthur but rather lorenzo who was much older than charles and arthur. even then, the two older bianchi's and the older leclerc didn't see each other often due to doing other things. but the other four, the younger four, were super close to the point that it didn't matter if they were sitting on the couch or bunched up in the back of the huge bianchi family car on a roadtrip across europe, they were always piled on top of each other. it was as though the four of them had absolutely no concept of what the term "personal space" meant. because, if they were completely honest, they did not understand the term of personal space. but, they didn't mind it at all.

right now, the four teenagers/young adult were in the lounge room at the bianchi home in nice, france watching a movie together. the movie they were watching was what the oldest of the core four, jules, considered to be a classic. it was disney's hercules but, honestly, the other three couldn't fault jules' comment in saying that it was a classic because it was. when the movie was released, charles and elena were barely even born, the both of them being born in 1997 whilst arthur wasn't even a thought in existance since charles still hadn't been born just yet.

because hercules the disney movie was a musical, there were songs throughout and it had suddenly come to what jules says is his ultimate favourite disney song: i won't say (i'm in love). the song that is sung by megara who insists throughout majority of the song and movie up until that point that she won't say she's in love with hercules even though she so desperately is. using that song as a subtle way to tell his godson, charles and his sister, elena that that song describes those two perfectly. because it was so blindly and painfully obvious to everyone else except those two at just how in love they were. and every time jules played this movie with charles and elena with him, even arthur, they always rolled their eyes whenever this song comes on in the movie. all because jules would remove himself from their pile that is them unable to give one another personal space and dramatically perform the song as if he was the next best singer. which was something, if you couldn't already guess, he wasn't. which is why everyone always reminded jules that when he did sing, that they were glad he was an f1 driver and he should probably stick to that job instead.

except, this time, before jules could even think about peeling himself away from sitting in between charles and arthur, elena on the other side of charles, elena peeled herself away from charles. peeling herself off the couch, elena stood in the middle of the lounge room and begun to dramatically perform megara's song i won't say (i'm in love).

because this was the first time they had seen elena do this, the three boys started crying with laughter the second elena began to sung, replicating the exact same dramatic and overexagerated moves that jules would do. unfortunately, due to how much elena had started to laugh and get hysterical, she fell to the floor crying because she was laughing too hard. she didn't even make it to the halfway point of the song before she collapsed to the floor. elena was only on the floor in hysterics for less than two minutes before one after the other, the three boys also fell on the floor. but, not really the floor. remembering that those four don't know the concept of personal space, they couldn't deal with not touching each other for more than a few minutes before they'd be touch starved and need to be on top of one another again.

after the core four finally stopped their crying from laughter gag on the floor, they finally pulled each other up and moved back to the couch so they could finish the movie. even though they had seen it so many times because of jules, they seemed to love it more and more each time. and back on the couch, it felt as though charles and elena had gotten closer to one another. whilst they were already as close as they could get on the couch beforehand, it seemed as though they were even closer by the time jules could catch a cheeky look over. and with a satisfied smile on his face, his plan had worked. a plan that charles and elena would never find out soon but, in the future they sure would because jules had written out a letter detailing his entire plan.

but jules never imagined not being there when charles and elena would first hear of the plan. the letter with the plan detailed out hadn't been found by either charles or elena but, arthur had been given the detailed letter/plan. waiting years before it would actually be found by one of them.

"...i cannot believe that story happened all those years ago, feels like it only happened yesterday or something..." arthur's small voice came out as he entered the hospital room, joining the teary faces of his brother and best friend

"...yeah, feels like that doesn't it, thuthur?" elena spoke softly, holding her arm out to welcome arthur in, it was clear that wherever he was, he had started crying again and it broke elena's heart so her next best thing was to comfort him with a tight hug

the same tight hug that she gave charles, except maybe, arthur's hug was less tight but still tight enough that it let arthur let out the few tears that he had left that he had refused to cry before joining his brother and elena. the only person she reserved those bone-crushing tight hugs for were charles. now that she was giving out these hugs to charles in the situation they were in with jules, it made her upset. she remembered something that jules had told her before he went to his car before the start of the race.

charles noticed as he watched the way she looked between her brother and charles as she let go of arthur as he sat down in the chair behind him. charles could tell that her brain was working hard to figure something out but it suddenly overwhelmed her too much and she had to force herself to sit down before her body could think of collapsing. charles also watched as he saw elena go through what looked like the memory or flashback of what jules had told her. he couldn't help but feel curious and if the flashback of what jules had told her was about him.

5th october 2014 - japanese grand prix 2014

elena bianchi was hanging out with her brother jules before the japanese grand prix at suzuka. it had been a few years since elena had gone to one of the international races since the teenager had been focusing on high school. but now that she was seventeen and about to finish her final year and with the execeptional grades she had been recieving for the first half of the year, jules, with their parents permission, had gifted his sister with vip paddock passes to the japanese grand prix. because he knew it was held perfectly within the week after her final day of actual senior year and a week before she was to start her exams, he knew it would be the perfect congrats present before she'd have to go back and smash out her final ever exams before her actual formal graduation.

so, that's where elena was currently. of course, because she was still just under being of adult age, the rest of the bianchi's had joined but so had the leclerc family. however, the entire trip, the core four, jules, elena, charles and arthur had been split up. split into twos, it was jules & arthur and elena & charles. however, that didn't mean that the bianchi and leclerc siblings didn't hang out with each other cause they did. however, elena and charles were more interested in catching up with just each other. since elena had been at the tailend of her senior year in nice, france and charles had been pushing himself to the bone to get into the formula series since he was following after his godfather, jules', footsteps. and because they were so busy, it had been a while since the two seventeen-year-old's were able to catch up with each other and have a proper conversation without having to worry about school work or racing.

it was in that moment, as jules, from afar, watched as his godson charles and sister elena reunited after what felt like forever. running into one another's arms as though they were the main characters in a romantic movie or even a book series, elena giggles as she wraps her whole body around charles who catches her seamlessly. whilst the core four had always been tightknit, there was no denying from anyone who knew the core four and who was friends with them that elena and charles had the closest friendship. like, if anyone was to ask either of them who their best friend was out of the core four, they both would say the other person. but they would then deny it when the same people said that they were in love with each other but were hiding it. jules was always (mostly) on the side of his godson and sister however, it was this moment that he truly recognised and realised that maybe those people who said his godson and sister were in love with another were right.

no two people who are just "friends" hug that tightly as though they're scared the other is just going to disappear into thin air. he had never realised either just how tightly the two of them hugged. of course he had always seen it since, like mentioned before, the core four (jules, elena, charles and arthur as a reminder) have no concept of what the term "personal space" means. however, this level that charles and elena were on was a completely different one that jules and arthur had not been exposed to until this very moment. jules then noticed arthur on the other side of the room. fourteen-year-old arthur, just like jules, had noticed for the first time just how tightly charles and elena hug each other.

finally, after that felt like an eternity, no, seriously, that hug was a whole five minutes, maybe six or seven, charles and elena had to part ways. charles had promised arthur that he'd walk him back to the hotel where lorenzo was waiting for him. arthur had woken up sick but thought he'd feel better enough to try spend a little bit of time at the track. but it was clear that when jules saw arthur, it was clear the poor teenager no longer felt well enough and just wanted to be back at the hotel as quick as possible. however, the hug between his brother and elena happened so arthur was delayed a little bit. obviously though, when charles did reach arthur, he did apologise and promised him he'd let his younger brother wear his fleecie hoodie and have some of his lollies to make him feel better. waving goodbye to the two leclerc brothers, jules and elena stood next to each other before making their way back into the marussia garage. but, not before jules had to say something though.

"you've never hugged me as tightly in the way you just hugged charles. kinda makes me sad that you don't hug me for that long either. i thought you loved me more than charles since he's always getting those special hugs. when am i gonna get one?" jules whispered, nudging his little sister, a tease in his voice as elena started to get shy and embarrased, a pinky-red blush overcoming her face

"oh stop it jules, mr dramatics! how about if you make the podium in today's race, i pinky promise you, i'll give you one of my special hugs that are only reserved for charles after the podium ceremony!" elena proposes, she knew that her brother had been working his butt off and was extremely close at reaching the podium

so, it seemed as though this bet was the power and fight he needed to make sure he got that podium. he really wanted that special hug that was literally only reserved for charles. no one else in the bianchi or leclerc family were given the special hug that lasted for five,six,seven minutes. just charles.

"you got yourself a deal, elena bianchi! you best believe i'm gonna get that podium and i'm gonna get that hug!" jules smiled with a little bit of cheeky ego as the siblings broke out of the pinky hold, elena rolling her eyes

"anyway, why do you hug charles like that? why are you so worried he's just gonna disappear on you?" jules questioned softly as elena scoffed, shaking her head not wanting to tell her older brother that it was because of how much she missed him

"oh, no reason really. it's just, it started one day where i accidentally hugged him a little too tight and for a little bit too long. i apologised since i thought it was quite embarrassing but, he reassured me that it wasn't and that it was actually quite comforting. and, yeah, it kind of just continued after that really, why? what's your theory on why we hug like that?" elena questioned, shrugging her shoulders as at first, jules was gonna say his actual answer but decided against it

"because you are head over heels in love with him and are too shy to admit it so you act all flirty but call it just you two being really good friends?" jules teases as elena shoves him as the two of them hysterically laugh before jules then got serious, deciding he needed to tell the true answer of what he thought was why those two hugged the way they do

"but in all seriousness elena, i think i know why you and charles hug in the way you do. and i think you do too but you're too scared to admit it to me which is fair. but, i do think it's because you miss me a lot because i'm constantly away and charles looks so much like me that he's basically my replacement for when i'm not around. and because you're so scared you're going to lose me, you project the same fears and worries onto charles, hence why you hug him so tightly and for the amount of time that you do...am i correct?" jules sighs sadly, noticing that elena was about to lie but decided not to since there was no point when it was clear that he had hit the nail on the donkey quite well

"yeh...you are very much correct. ten points to hufflepuff mr bianchi!" elena smiled, sarcasm in her tone as her lip trembled

it became clear to jules at this point that this race in particular was scaring his sister for some reason. he couldn't put a finger on it but, he could sense that elena had a sixth sense about something going wrong. whether that was due to the weather forcasted for the race or something else that could make a race even more dangerous, it was something. so, he pushed it. he wanted to comfort his little sister, convince her that everything would be okay and that nothing bad was going to happen. that he was as safe as he could possibly be and that they'd see one another after the race. especially when it was considered that this was elena's graduation present from jules.

however, jules would never know just how wrong he was in reassuring his little sister that he'd be fine...and now charles realised that his best friend was having a panic attack.

thankfully, he knew how to deal with them but, the one that elena was having was one he had never seen before. he truly should have seen it coming when he noticed the way she was looking between him and jules but, he just didn't. but thankfully, charles managed to get elena to relax and to take some breaths in and out.

now that she was calm, charles began talking to her, "...what was that about elena, what flashback did you just travel through?" he whispered, holding her tightly as the constant beeping of jules' machines soothed the both of them, arthur taken out of the room by christine during elena's panic attack

"i...i was back at the track here at suzuka. it was after you had dropped thuthur back to the hotel to enzo since he hadn't started feeling better like he thought he had. jules had mentioned about the long five minute tight hug we had had and how he wished he'd get one since he never gets them and was wondering when he was ever going to get one...we had a pinky promise that if he made it to the podium that i would give him one after the podium ceremony..." elena's voice cut off at the end, tears welling in her eyes as her breathing started to get shaky as charles felt his heart break

he then remembered a conversation he had had with jules a little bit after the conversation jules had had with elena. jules had revealed to charles the reason why elena always hugged him as tightly as she did. making him, charles, realise that that was why he also hugged elena as tightly as he did. charles also hugged elena so tight because he had the same worries about her that she had about jules. just like elena projected her fears about losing jules onto charles, charles projected his fears about losing jules and his friends onto elena.

opening his arms, he welcomed elena in for the tight hug that was meant to be reserved for jules.

2015 - nice, france

the new year had arrived and finally, jules and the bianchi's were back in france, no longer in the hospital in suzuka, japan, jules had been successfuly repatriated back to his hometown of nice in france. however, upon arriving back home to france, the french hospital decided to place jules into an induced coma to help with the healing process of his injuries. and, the family trusted that having their son and brother in that induced coma would help him and eventually, he'd wake up.

unlike when they were in japan, charles and elena would regularly go and visit jules together. they'd never go on their own, that not changing from when they were in japan however. so, anytime the other person found it too emotionally difficult one day to visit jules, neither of them would be visiting jules that day.

today was one of the day's that they were visiting jules. the hospital hadn't been that busy, only the regular nurses and doctor's of jules coming in every other hour or two to check in and make sure his vitals were how they were supposed to be. so for the most part, the trio sat in an ambient silence that was quite enjoyable. the silence only being broken when either elena or charles really felt the need to let jules' subconcious know whatever it was they were thinking about was important or not. and currently, that's what was happening right now. the topic being about other people's opinion's of charles and elena's relationship and why they were still refusing to admit that they were in love. elena was getting irritated because she thought it was a selfish thing to comment on considering the grief that they were currently going through with jules still in a coma in the hospital.

"...it's so selfish jules! the fact they feel like they have the audacity to comment on me and charles' relationship when you're here, laying in this bed in a coma not able to stop them spewing pure lies!" elena's voice came out in a high-pitched shrill as did jules it seemed

the high-pitched frequency of elena's voice seemed to piss jules off, causing all of his machines that he was hooked up to to beep like a madman. a stampede of nurses and doctors, some of them not even part of jules' medical team running in. charles and elena getting pushed out of the room, the door closing as the stampede tried to find the cause of the beeps and chaos so they could stop it. it was horrifying for the both of them because it happened so quickly. one moment, elena was calm as she told the story before she wasn't and then, bam, jules' machines went ballistic.

the worst part was, it was just elena and charles visiting jules that particular day so they also had the burden to tell the rest of the blended family of bianchi's and leclerc's what had happened. thankfully though, when they did tell them, no one was mad at elena for 'making' jules' machines go haywire. in fact, they were also mad when it was mentioned what elena was talking about before the incident. all of them agreeing that the people commenting on her and charles' relationship was just beyond inappropriate considering what they were going through with jules.

🥀

the best friends had settled themselves down onto what the bianchi and leclerc's called the love couch. it was a weird looking couch that, like the title suggests, looks a little like an inverted love-heart. it wouldn't be the first time that the leclerc and bianchi had sat in the love couch together before but it had been the first time in ages. the last time they had sat in it was when they were arthur's age and jules was teasing his sister and godson about how 'touchy feely' they were being with one another considering they were 'just best friends'.

it was clear that sitting back in the love couch sent the both of them through a weird sense of deja vu of that time three years ago. however, they didn't mention it even though they were totally sure that the other one was thinking of the same feeling. that was until sweet little arthur mentioned it.

"...cela me donne un vrai déjà-vu. vous ne vous êtes pas assis sur ce canapé depuis des années," arthur spoke in french as the two older teenagers smiled over at the younger one this is giving me real deja vu. you guys haven't sat on that couch in years

"nous connaissons thuthur. je ne pense pas que nous l'ayons fait exprès," charles speaks up as elena just watches on calmly, a small smile on her face we know thuthur. i don't think we did it on purpose

switching back to english, authur spoke up again, "so wait, what actually happened at the hospital?" he wondered since he wasn't at the hospital when it had happened as charles and elena scoffed softly

"i got a little bit heated, thuthur. i got mad over the topic of people commenting on me and charles' relationship whilst jules is suffering, laying in a hospital fighting for his life. my voice started to raise and it seems jules did not like that one bit so, all of his machines started beeping since my voice had reached quite a high pitch and then we were told we had to leave..." elena explained as charles wrapped his arms around her as arthur nodded his head, a solemn look in his eyes

it was clear to the two seventeen-year-olds that arthur had a thought in his head that he was battling against whether he should or shouldn't say it out loud.

"qu'est-ce qui ne va pas thuthur? on dirait que tu veux dire quelque chose," charles questioned in french as arthur once again fought himself on what he wanted to say before he decided to just say it what's wrong thuthur? you look like you wanna say something

"tu penses que jules va se réveiller? genre, il va se réveiller et tout ira bien à nouveau?" arthur questioned as charles and elena both froze for a moment as they thought about the fourteen-year-old's question do you think jules is going to wake up? like, he's going to wake up and he'll be okay again?

"oh, thuthur, je suis sûr que jules ira très bien! il ne devrait y avoir aucun doute dans ta douce petite tête que jules ne se réveillera pas!" elena spoke up this time as she leant forward from charles' grip as she ruffled arthur's hair as he nodded his head, the fear subsiding oh, thuthur, i'm sure jules will be just fine! there shouldn't be any doubt in your sweet little head that jules won't wake up!

little did those three know that elena's statement would be heartbreakingly wrong and that they should have had all the doubts in the world about jules waking up.

17th july 2015 - nice, france

the one day that charles, arthur and elena weren't at jules' bedside was the day elena recieved the one call those four never wanted to receive. jules didn't make it out of the coma nor would he ever. his beautiful eyes would never open and he'd never wake up again. he would never ever be able to get into a formula one car again. he would never get the chance to see the relationship between his baby sister and godson break down and then bloom into what would soon become a beautiful relationship in the years to come.

as soon as elena got off the phone with her parents and lorenzo telling her that jules hadn't made it, she dropped her phone almost immediately. and of course, it worried charles and arthur. the three of them hadn't really expected any new news about jules since the last they had seen and heard, they had been told he was doing fine and had a slither of hope that he'd wake up or at least show more improvement. so, this was concerning for both charles and arthur.

"ça va, elena? qui t'appelait?" charles questioned, looking away from the tv that had been playing a movie before pausing it as arthur's attention is also on elena you okay, elena? who was calling you?

at first, elena was too stunned to speak. shaking her head, it felt as though she had forgotten all three languages that she knew, french, english and italian. however, she quickly snapped out of it as she remembered how to speak french again.

"c'était maman. elle appelait à propos de jules…" elena trailed off as immediately, charles and arthur started to panic it was mum. she was calling about jules

"est-ce qu'il va bien? genre, et jules?" charles questioned with worry as elena didn't even need to say anything at this point and the two leclerc's knew exactly what elena was alluding to is he okay? like, what about jules?

even though they had a feeling of what elena was referring to, they didn't want to believe it. to the point that arthur spoke up and started to panic.

"non. non. que…tu mens elena! jules va bien! il va se réveiller, n'est-ce pas?" arthur panicked as elena moved over to the young teenager and comforted him as it all started to set in for the three of them no. no. that...you're lying elena! jules is fine! he'll wake up, won't he?

"je suis désolé thuthur…je ne mens pas, jules ne va pas bien. il…il ne va pas réveiller bubba," elena whispered as she hugged the fourteen-year-old tighter as he started to cry i'm sorry thuthur...i'm not lying, jules isn't okay. he...he isn't going to wake up bubba

hearing her best friend break down into tears hearing her words broke elena's heart. she honestly had no idea what to expect from arthur since he was usually so positive and naive in a way that jules would get better and recover. and now, all that positivity and hope was just destroyed and it didn't give elena a nice feeling in her mouth. and then, whilst hugging arthur, she couldn't help but make eye contact with charles to make sure he was okay and how he was taking the news. and his reaction, whilst not as visceral or stereotypical as people would say, charles' reaction broke elena's heart just as much as arthur's did. charles was frozen in shock. he had no clue what to do or how to react at first. he was just staring at elena as though he was hoping that the longer he stared at her that it would mean the words she said would change. but they didn't. no matter how long charles stared at elena for, it wouldn't ever change the fact that jules was dead and he was no longer going to come back.

it was at this point that elena knew that as much as it saddened her, she could only comfort one leclerc at a time. and, now that she had comforted arthur as much as she could, it was now time for her to comfort charles. pulling out of the hug with arthur, she wiped away the last of his tears, kissed his forehead and moved him in the direction of him and lorenzo's bedroom since she knew that the older leclerc would be home soon and she could ask enzo to keep an eye on arthur. all the while she'd keep an eye on charles.

now that it was just the two of them left, elena and charles, it seemed as though there was no hesitation but for charles to just collapse into elena's waiting frame. the shock still present on his face as his breathing started to get quicker as though he was about to start hyperventilating.

"jules est mort, elena…je…je ne le reverrai plus jamais..." charles stammered out as his breathing picked up as elena hugged the distraught boy tighter jules is dead, elena...i...i'll never see him again

"je connais char et je suis vraiment désolé que cela soit arrivé parce que ce n'est pas juste du tout! si seulement je pouvais faire quelque chose pour le changer, mais je ne peux pas, aucun de nous ne le peut!" elena's voice fell into a whisper as it cracked a tiny bit as her heart broke at hearing charles finally start to break down now that his shock seemed to finally wear off i know char and i am so sorry that this has happened because it's not fair at all! if only i could do something to change it but i can't, none of us can!

it had ultimately been that sentence that broke charles and had him break down in tears. they had moved to the couch, elena openingher arms for charles to fall into as they layed themselves down and hugging one another. the cries were loud and ugly, there was absolutely nothing pretty or attractive about charles' tears and sobs. they were so loud that arthur could hear them from his and lorenzo's bedroom and it was so agonizing hearing them that it had set of arthur again, making him cry all over again after he had only just managed to calm himself down. only for his older brother's heartwrenching cries to make him cry all over again. thankfully, enzo had just stepped into the house as charles started to cry and immediately, the older brother knew that with elena taking care of charles in the lounge room, he knew that their younger brother would be in their shared bedroom and crying as well.

so, with elena consoling charles on the lounge room couch and lorenzo consoling arthur in their shared bedroom, the 17th of july would forever remain as one of the saddest days for the leclerc's and bianchi's. along with the whole entire motorsports world.

17th july 2016 - monte-carlo, monaco

for the one-year anniversary of the death of her brother, elena found herself in monaco. monte-carlo to be quite specific and she loved it. whilst it wasn't that far off from her hometown of nice, france, in monaco it didn't reek of memories of her older brother jules. elena was all alone in monaco however. the rest of her family still in france as they celebrated and mourned the one-year annviersary of jules as a family whereas they allowed elena to do whatever it was she wanted. knowing that there was no way she could stand being in nice or france in general for the one-year anniversary of jules' passing.

however, she had never expected to bump into charles leclerc. the last time they had properly seen each other, elena and charles, was at jules' funeral. and it wasn't because they were actively avoiding each other by any means. the loss of jules had actually brought the youngest bianchi and the middle leclerc closer than ever. however, it was because of charles getting further in motorsport that caused the two of them to see each other less often. they always spoke over the phone and through text messages and facetimes but it wasn't until the one-year anniversary that they had actually seen each other in person again.

it was charles that had noticed elena first and a small smile creeped on his face as he moved closer to his childhood best friend. today wasn't a day that charles originally felt like smiling about however, just seeing his godfather's younger sister in his hometown of monte-carlo, monaco was all he needed for that smile on his face to appear.

"...elena? est-ce vraiment toi?elena? is it really you?" charles called out as the brunette-haired girl turned around, her hair blowing in the wind as another smile grew across charles' face - it was elena

turning around, elena was confused and slightly freaked out that someone knew her name and was calling out for her. however, when she fully turned around and looked at the person that had called out her name, a smile overtook her face as well. it was charles and she couldn't believe it. it had been almost an entire year since she had seen him and now, on the one-year anniversary of her brother's passing, here he was, back in his hometown whilst she was there at the same time and they had just happened to bump into each other.

"charles! salut, ouais, c'est bien moi! que fais-tu à la maison?" elena jumped off the seat she was sitting on and rushed over to pull the now eighteen-year-old in for a hug as charles welcomed it charles! hi, yeah it really is me! what are you doing back home?

"j'étais censé courir mais j'ai vite réalisé à quel point c'était difficile pour moi de courir compte tenu de la date d'aujourd'hui…" charles trailed off as elena remembered and nodded her head, understanding why charles would find it difficult to even think about stepping into a race car on this date i was supposed to be racing but i, uh, quickly realised just how hard it was for me to race considering today's date

"ouais, je ne peux pas imaginer devoir même penser à être sur une piste de course aujourd'hui," elena's voice went down a step as charles nodded his head as he gulped yeah, i can't imagine having to even think about being on a racetrack today

silence quickly filled charles and elena as they sat next to each other. it was a comforting silence, there was never any awkwardness between the two eighteen-year-olds. even when they were kids, they were never awkward with one another. but now that they were eighteen and it had now been an entire year without jules, it felt as though the two of them were slowly drifting apart from one another. and it scared them because they had always been a tight knit group alongside enzo, arthur and jules. but now that jules was gone, it felt as though everything was falling apart and it was devastating. the bianchi's and leclerc's still spoke to each other but it felt as though the loss of jules made a hole in everyone's hearts that they just started to slowly drift away.

however, today it seemed as though jules was really bringing everyone together because someone's very familiar sounding accent caught charles' and elena's attention. it was arthur and lorenzo. and it was honestly quite the emotional moment when elena bianchi reunited with arthur and lorenzo leclerc. in the same way it was an emotional moment to be reunited again with charles after an entire year.

"elena? c'est bien toi! elena? it's really you!" arthur's voice rings out as he runs over to pull the older girl in for a hug, the now fifteen year old on the verge of tears

as soon as elena smiled and nodded her head, giving arthur the true confirmation he needed to let him know that it really was elena, he broke down into tears. hugging him tightly, elena smiled as she invited the older leclerc into the hug since she could tell that he was also on the verge of tears as well. the hug between the two leclerc's and the bianchi was a sweet hug that was clearly needed by all three of them - and charles of course. there was no way elena could exclude charles so she also extended a hand to charles when she started to notice that he was feeling the smallest bit left out.

"viens ici, char! come here, char!" elena giggled, opening up the hug once more to bring him into it as he smiles and does just that

now that the hug was semi complete since it was no longer the core five but now the core four, it was a lovely moment that was a sweet, emotional moment that truly reminded elena of why she had come to monaco that day for the one-year anniversary of jules' passing.

the rest of the day was elena spending some much needed catch-up time with the leclerc's, not just the three brothers but also with herve and pascale. the smiles on the faces of herve and pascale when the brothers walked in with elena with them were as bright as could be. they'd never been happier to see elena then they were that day. although the day was a difficult day and it was always going to be a difficult day, seeing elena walk into their house alongside their three boys made a world of a difference for herve and pascale. that was the day they truly had faith in the fact that jules' death didn't really cause the four friends to distance from one another but it had in fact brought them closer.

17th july 2017 - nice, france

it was the two year anniversary of jules' passing when elena found herself in her hometown, nice, france, spending the annviersary with her family. whilst she had absolutely adored being in monaco for the first anniversary and it had brought her so much closure and tightened her bond with the leclerc's, it was clear that elena needed her family this year. and the leclerc's had no worries about that. especially now that charles had made his way into formula two, they understood completely but continued to talk with each other over text conversations and one facetime call between charles and elena.

then, it started to get later in the day, two years of jules' passing almost over, elena sitting outside at a beach in nice. she needed an escape from her home and the beach was her favourite spot to decompress when she suddenly heard the roar of a car engine. and it was nearing midnight so it mortified her to think it was her parents or one of her other siblings trying to look for her. and as she started in her rush up off the sandy beach, she stood up only to see that it was charles. the very same charles that was in monaco not even an hour beforehand. well, that's what it had looked like to elena when they were on the facetime call but, apparently not. but, clearly it was possible since it was only 28mins give or take between the two places. but it still shocked the bianchi that for the second year in a row, that they were seeing each other on the anniversary of jules' passing.

"hé, étranger, qu'est-ce que tu fais ici si tard dans la nuit?" elena chuckled cheekily as charles giggled himself as he continued to walk further down the sand towards elena hey stranger, what are you doing here this late at night?

"oh, pas vraiment de raison. mais je pourrais aussi te poser la même question, que fais-tu ici si tard dans la nuit?" charles was cheeky back as elena giggled and shook her head as they finally were in arms reach for a hug as they embraced one another oh, no real reason really. but i could also ask you the same question, what are you doing here this late at night?

"honestly?" elena questioned in english as charles nodded his head as the two nineteen year olds pulled out of the hug and sat down back onto the sandy beach below them

"well, i can't stand maman's consistent breakdowns alongside papa, melanie and tom just being on hand and foot for maman when she's not the only one grieving over jules. i thought i really needed my family today for jules' two-year anniversary but honestly, i think i just needed my own space that's away from them. besides, why are you here when you should be spending time with your family? i heard that your papa's sick, how's he going?" elena shrugged but got serious at the mention of charles' father who had recently fallen ill which got charles slightly quiet and emotional as his jaw clenched

"wow...seems as though we both needed to get away from our overbearing families..." charles' voice went quiet as elena was in shock, the leclerc's were never ever overbearing so she was curious

"...what do you mean by overbearing?" elena questioned as charles sighed and shrugged his shoulders

"similar to you, i guess. maman's started to freak out so much that it's taken over lorenzo, arthur and myself to the point that no matter what we try to do, maman will always find an arguement about why we shouldn't be doing it and instead be focusing on our father. that was why i decided to run away and find you cause i just needed to be with someone else that wasn't my family and you were the first person i thought of..." charles admitted as elena smiled sadly as she held her hand out for him to grab and he did without hesitating

and it was as though a small spark zapped the second the two made contact with one another. it made the both of them jump as though they had both zapped each other but with small smiles and a sense of calm, they stayed holding hands. and holding hands made a sweet silence grow between the duo. the only other noise being the wind and the ocean in front of them as it comes and goes from the tide's edge.

that was until charles' spoke up again, "i'm so scared of the possibility of something bad happening to papa that i lied to him and told him that i had signed with ferarri..." charles sniffled softly as elena's body deflated whilst her grip on charles tightened

"...oh, char! i'm so sorry!" elena whispered as she pulled the now sobbing monegasque in her arms, their hands still tightly clasped as elena whispers sweet words in french

"they...they think it'll happen soon. he's not doing well at all, elena and i'm terrified! i can't lose papa so soon after losing jules, i just can't!" charles whimpered, his tears hitting elena's bare shoulder ever so softly

"i wish there was more i could do or say to help, char but i'm at a loss for words! what do you want me to do to help you?" elena asked as even though she had no idea how to help her best friend, she still wanted to

"just hold me, elena, please?" charles whispered as elena nodded her head and tightened her grip on charles as he buried his head into her shoulder as they sunk further down into the sand below them

just like last year on the one-year anniversary, on the two-year anniversary, elena spent the evening of jules' passing with the leclerc's. however this time, it was so much more somber knowing that herve wouldn't have that long left himself. spending the night curled up against the three brothers as they all cried and shared with elena their fears of losing their papa in the same way they shared their fears of losing jules.

17th july 2018 - monte-carlo, monaco

today was the three year anniversary of jules' passing and it was also about to be the first-year since the leclerc's had said their final goodbyes to their father, herve. it was awful, elena remembered that day clearer than she remembered the day she was told about jules' death. and maybe that was because she was actually at herve's bedside with the leclerc's to help pascale console them on the day he died whereas with her brother, she was at the house with the brothers when she got the phone call about jules' death. but, none the less, just like the two years before this one, elena was in monaco this time, deciding that every anniversary of jules' from now on she'd spend in monaco. ever since last year's terrible two year anniversary in france, elena decided she'd spend it in monaco with the leclerc's or until she could afford to live in monaco. even then, she'd still spend all the time she could in monaco with the leclerc's anyway. so she could then also be there for them during the anniversaries for herve now that it was only a few days between jules' anniversary and herve's. herve passing away on the 20th of july last year.

so because of that, on top of missing and thinking about her brother, elena was thinking about herve leclerc and the heartbreak that brought to her best friend's family. however, it completely shocked her to find out that days later, charles won the f2 feature race in baku and tributed his win to his father. unfortunately, elena wasn't able to go to that race to support charles in baku but it was obvious that when he returned home by who he decided to visit first which was elena that charles was also thinking about wanting her to know about this win. and it had been since that day that charles and elena hadn't seen each other since charles was getting further in formula two and on the verge of making it on the grid for formula one, he was so busy with all the races and the fun and exciting things that came with formula two and verging on formula one that the two nineteen year olds were no longer able to see one another or speak to each other over the phone as often as they liked to. but they didn't let that ruin their friendship and the clear soulmate bond that they had with one another.

however, as though it was the work of jules and herve, elena turned around from the beach of monte-carlo to see charles standing right behind her. this had happened every year on jules' anniversary and now it started to feel like it was a sign not just from jules but now herve with a message for the two young adults.

smiling, she didn't hesitate to run over and pull charles in for a hug, one which he didn't fight against either as he also smiled into the hug.

"ce doit être un signe de jules et papa à ce stade. c'est la troisième année que cela arrive!" charles joked as the two pulled out of the hug as elena giggled and nodded her head this must be a sign from jules and papa at this point. this is the third year that this has happened

"ça doit être le cas, clairement ! parce que depuis que vous avez débuté en formule two, c'est vraiment le seul moment où nous pouvons nous voir et pas seulement nous parler au téléphone," elena chuckled with a nose crinkle as they started to walk further down the beach a little more as charles giggled too it must be, clearly! because ever since you've started in formula two, this is really the only time we actually get to see each other and not just talk over the phone

"si c'est un signe de jules et papa, qu'est-ce que tu crois qu'ils essaient de nous dire?" charles questions as they then sit themselves down on the sand right in front of where the tide was coming in and out if it is a sign from jules and papa, what do you think it is they are trying to tell us?

elena giggled as she tilted her head to charles' shoulder where he let her rest her head, "peut-être qu'ils nous demandant d'arrêter de tourner autour du pot et d'accepter que nous sommes peut-être plus que de simples meilleurs amis?" she giggled as she then turned to look at charles, making strong eye contact as he froze for a moment maybe they are asking us to stop beating around the bush and accept that maybe we're more than just best friends?

charles wasn't silent in shock for too long before he smiled and brought his focus back to elena, "cela aurait beaucoup de sens puisque la seule fois où nous nous voyons maintenant, c'est à l'occasion de l'anniversaire de la mort de jules..." charles trailed off as elena nodded her head and agreed because it was true it would make a lot of sense since the only time we just happen to see each other now is on the anniversary of jules' death

even though they never imagined it nor wanted it happen in that way and sure as hell did jules never want his death to be the reason for them ever so slowly and slightly drifting away from each other. it was clear that on this one day every year since, jules was bringing them together to the same spot, whether elena was in france or monaco, they always managed to find each other. and now it seemed as though this was also herve's doing since jules wasn't the only one rooting for charles and elena to fall in love. and now that they three, nearly two, days away from the one-year anniversary of herve, it seemed as though herve was also doing everything he could to bring the two closer to each other yet again.

the rest of the evening, once again, elena would find her way back to the leclerc's and spend that evening and that week with them. supporting them in the same way with herve as they supported her with jules.

and maybe, just maybe, a little something more happened between charles and elena. but just maybe though.

17th july 2019 - monte-carlo, monaco

it was the four-year anniversary of jules' death that things between elena and charles really started to change. elena had now made a permanant move to monte-carlo since she decided that she wanted to study in monaco and her parents were happy to see their daughter flourish in monaco, knowing that france was never going to do that for her. and it was clear those two, elena and charles, had started to become more than just friends but the two of them, when asked, still called their relationship a friendship. now that charles was coming off the cusp of his rookie season with formula one, just like the other years, his time spent with elena was almost fickle until this very date, the 17th of july, when they always seemed to magically run into one another. it was now a sweet inside joke within the bianchi and leclerc families that on this very day every year, there was some force or pull in the universe that had charles and elena find each other.

and once again, it was on a beach, not the same beach as last year but a beach nonetheless that charles and elena found one another. except, this time it was elena that had found charles, unlike the previous years when it had been charles. the reason was because elena was on her daily walk after her uni classes since her uni was right near this specific beach when she thought she heard what sounded like someone crying. and hearing someone crying always put elena on high alert because she never wanted to hear someone cry and not be able to console them. so that was what she did. she had simply followed the sounds of the crying and found her way to where the tide was meeting the sand and there the silhouette was.

but it wasn't just anyone's silhouette, it was charles' silhouette. and little cracks started to form around elena's heart as the closer she got the louder charles' cries were getting. running down the sand bank to the ocean's tide seemed like the only thing elena was focused on as she got closer and closer to charles before she collapsed to her knees as soon as she could see that charles could recognise it was her and not a stranger. as soon as she saw that charles knew it was her, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close to her as that gave charles the clues he needed to know that he could cry as loud as he wanted now.

"je suis vraiment désolé, char! tu ne méritais pas ça!" elena had no idea why those were the first words that came out of her mouth but they were as charles started to calm himself down i am so sorry, char! you did not deserve that!

"pourquoi tu t'excuses elena? why are you apologising elena?" charles whispered, his voice cracking from his tears as elena removed one arm from her hold of charles to his cheek to wipe away the tears

"parce que je suis vraiment désolé que vous ayez dû perdre deux belles personnes dans votre vie à un si jeune âge, à une époque où vous essayiez si fort d'entrer en formule one!" elena whispered, her hand that wiped away the tears now resting softly on his cheek, her other arm wrapped around charles as they sat knee-to-knee, the tide coming and going as it pleased because i am so sorry that you had to lose two beautiful people in your life at such a young age at a time when you were trying so hard to get into formula one

charles really couldn't understand why elena was apologising for something she truly had no control over. sure, this day as well as three days from this one, the twentieth, would always be a day of sadness and grief, that wasn't the main reason why charles was so upset and crying on the beach. honestly, the reason why he was crying was a hell of a lot more embarrassing reason than the four year anniversary of jules and the upcoming two year anniversary of his father. he was crying because he had finally read the note that jules had wrote back in 2014 before the japanese grand prix that he had given to arthur for safe keeping. it was the letter that he had written about wanting to see the day that his sister and godson admitted to one another that they really did love each other more than just as friends.

"tu n'as vraiment pas besoin de t'excuser elena. la raison pour laquelle je pleure n'est pas de ta faute ni à cause de papa ou même de jules…" charles trailed off since whilst the reason why he was crying had to do with jules, it wasn't in the way elena thought it was you really don't need to apologise elena. the reason why i'm crying isn't your fault nor is it because of dad or even jules

"alors pourquoi tu pleures, char? then why are you crying, char?" elena questioned softly as she held his hand tightly as the waves crashing around them was their background music as charles smiled tearfully

"parce que je t'aime tellement elena! because i love you, so much elena!" charles whispered, his voice breaking slightly as elena softened as a sweet smile overtook her face

"je t'aime aussi, char et je l'ai toujours aimé! i love you too, char and i always have!" elena whispered back with a 'duh' tone in her voice as charles sniffled, wiping away a tear from his cheek as he shook his head, causing elena confusion

"je ne veux pas dire ça comme ça, elena ! je t'aime plus qu'un simple meilleur ami...i don't mean it like that, elena! i love you more than just a best friend..." charles admits for the first time and it was like a weight off his shoulders as elena went into shock and froze, only her eyes blinking

the silence went on for another minute, the two twenty-one year olds staring at one another in pure silence. again, it wasn't an awkward silence but it was a silence that let elena fully comprehend what charles had just admitted to her.

"...c'est pourquoi je pleurais parce que j'avais trouvé la lettre qui était le plan que jules avait écrit il y a des années en 2014 à propos de notre entrée en relation parce qu'il avait toujours voulu que nous arrêtions d'être des bébés et que nous nous disions la vérité mais il ne l'a jamais été pouvoir le voir…" charles broke the silence but with a whisper as elena didn't break her eye contact, fully comprehending what charles had just revealed since she had also felt the same but had no clue how to bring it up either that's why i was crying because i had found the letter that was the plan that jules had written years ago in 2014 about us getting into a relationship because he had always wanted us to just stop being babies and tell each other the truth but he was never able to see it

"le plan que jules avait donné à thuthur? the plan that jules had given to thuthur?" elena questioned with a small smile as charles smiled too with a headnod

"ouais, la lettre que thuthur cachait dans sa chambre depuis 2014. yeah, the letter that thuthur had been hiding in his room since 2014," charles chuckled softly as elena smiled, nodding her head knowing it was that cheeky bugger that had been keeping her brother's letter safe

"j'avais le sentiment que c'était thuthur qui le gardait en sécurité! i had a feeling that thuthur was the one keeping it safe," elena giggled softly as charles looked shocked - did elena know about the letter?

"tu savais? you knew?" charles questioned as elena giggled as she shook her head, letting charles know that she was just as shocked as he was to find out there actually was a letter even though she was suspicious that jules had actually written one

"oh mon dieu, non! je n'en avais vraiment aucune idée, je veux dire, j'avais des soupçons, mais je n'ai jamais pensé que jules irait de l'avant et aurait un plan écrit pour essayer de nous rapprocher," she chuckled as charles did too as he nodded his head, giggling a little too as they continued to hear and feel the waves crash right at their feet, the sun fully set at this point oh my gosh, no! i truly had no idea, i mean, i had a suspicion but never did i think jules would actually go ahead and have a plan written about trying to match make us together

"eh bien, pensez-vous que ce qu'il a écrit dans cette lettre…dans ce plan pourrait se réaliser?" charles questioned with hopefulness as elena giggled sweetly well, do you think what he wrote in that letter...in that plan could come true?

"je le fais, char. je pense vraiment que Jules écrivait dans le futur parce qu'il était parfaitement au courant de tout ce qu'il écrivait dans cette lettre, comme s'il savait exactement ce qui allait se passer... même sa mort," elena admitted as charles couldn't even hide the smile on his face that was being illuminated by the two young adults iphone flashlights i do, char. i really do think jules was writing into the future because he was bang on with everything he wrote in that letter as though he knew exactly what was going to happen, even his death

"je t'aime, elena. plus que je n'ai jamais aimé quelqu'un dans ma vie…" charles whispered as he got closer to elena's face as she smiled, moving her face closer to charles' face i love you, elena. more than i've ever loved anyone before in my life

"...je t'aime aussi char, plus que quiconque dans ma vie," elena whispered as they continued to move closer before they were so close that they could feel each other's breaths on each other's cheeks i love you too char, more than anyone else in my life

"embrasse-moi elena, s'il te plaît? kiss me, elena, please?" charles whispered in a plead as elena nodded her head as she moved forward to kiss him

"je pensais que tu ne demanderais jamais, char! i thought you'd never ask, char!" elena whispered as she hiked herself up on her knees before her hands found their way to charles' cheeks

after finding charles' cheeks with the limited lighting they had from their iphone flashlights, elena's eyes and mouth found charles' eyes and mouth and then all of a sudden, in the most gentle of ways, elena initiated what was their first official kiss as boyfriend and girlfriend.

we're saying first official kiss because remember the night last year on the three-year anniversary of jules' passing? the night that elena went back to the leclerc's and there was an allusion that maybe, just maybe, something more had happened between the two? that was the 'something more'. the two had shared a very emotional kiss of desperation between the two, mostly on charles' side since it was days before the loss of his father and he wasn't coping well especially after he had made elena aware that he had lied to his father about getting not just a formula one contract but the contract signing him to ferrari. and, the only thing that elena could think to do in her elevated emotional state of mind since she had also gotten emotional herself that night as well about jules' death and the probability of herve's looming death was that the smartest thing in her mind was to ask charles to kiss her. at first he wasn't sure about it but when the both of them started to cry about the thought of herve never being alive to see his baby boy and the little girl he always saw as his daughter fall in love with each other and kiss each other, they decided they'd kiss and lie to herve telling him that they were dating and had been for a month. and it was after that evening when the two teenagers fell asleep next to each other, holding one another with tear-stricken faces that arthur, lorenzo and pascale knew that they had just lied to herve to make him happy for one last time.

and that 'first' kiss they had had wasn't the reason why they stopped seeing each other except for messages and facetime calls. it was genuinely because of charles' f2 career and that he was in the works of making it to the formula one grid and that elena was starting to think about leaving nice, france once and for all. but now that they were both permanantely situated in monaco and they were older and wiser, they took this year's four year anniversary of jules' death as their sign to finally tell each other the truth and that they were in love with each other. they just never imagined it would have started because elena had found charles crying on the beach because it was him that had found jules' letter that had the written plan out of playing cupid and getting the two dating.

and now, they were having their first real kiss as a couple and it was a wonderful kiss. it truly felt magical and as though the stars were finally aligning and as though the work of jules as well as herve had finally done it's job. jules had finally played cupid and was able to matchmake his baby sister and godson to start their long-awaited relationship after years of waiting. even though jules couldn't see it happen in real life, he still sure as hell made it happen with his soul that was seemingly always around on this specific day every year whilst his body laid at rest.

after they finished kissing, like the last couple anniversaries, charles and elena got themselves standing and walked back to elena's car. elena figuring out that charles had ran from wherever it was he had been all the way to the beach so they hopped back into elena's car and drove back to the family home. even though both charles and elena had apartments of their own, the leclerc family home in monaco was the best comfort spot for the two and it was where they had gone back to after every anniversary of jules that they had seen each other.

let's just say it brought a huge smile to the faces of pascale, lorenzo and arthur when they saw the couple walk into the house holding hands and giving each other shy looks.

17th july 2020 - monza, milan, italy

on the five year anniversary of her older brother's death, elena bianchi wasn't in monaco nor was she in france. she was in monza for the italian grand prix. wearing red, obviously, to support her boyfriend charles who was now driving for ferrari alongside sebastian vettel. it was the first grand prix of the 2020 season that she had been able to watch live due to the coronavirus and since so many races had been and were no doubt going to be cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic. and it had also been the first f1 race that she had actually seen in person since the 2014 japanese grand prix when jules had his accident. however, in monza, there was no way that elena was taking it for granted that she was at a race during a global pandemic but especially on the one day that she wishes no one could race on again. just like f1 lovingly retired her brother's racing number, 17, she wished they could retire the 17th of july as a day where they don't schedule a race on. however, she knew that was impossible since it wasn't always up to the fia as to when the grand prixs would be and what dates during the competition season they'd run on.

so, sitting in the ferrari hospitality, elena watched with equal nervousness and excitement. that was until it turned into sadness when charles had to retire out of the race. it broke her heart to see the love of her life get a DNF but at the same time, she was so grateful that he didn't hurt himself or get into a bad accident that caused him that DNF. by the time charles no longer felt any anger about retiring from the race, he went straight over to the hospitality to find elena. and she was right there waiting for him, with her arms wide open for him to fall into knowing just how much he really wanted that win considering what day the italian grand prix just happened to fall on this year as well as it being during a bloody pandemic.

"i'm sorry bebe, you didn't deserve that!" elena whispered in english, both french and italian escaping her as charles smiled softly and shook his head

"it's fine, ma belle. maybe it was a sign from jules and papa to keep me safe!" charles huffed loudly as he adored being held by his girlfriend, her legs crossing over the lower of his back, her arms rubbing his upper back

"yeah, maybe it was but, at least we're gonna see a maiden win this race i think..." elena perked up as she watched the race as it continued on the screens in front of her, causing charles to spin around and bending down to sit on elena's lap

"...oh my gosh...pierre's gonna win his first ever f1 grand prix!" elena whispered, her smile widening as her free hand covered her mouth whilst charles could only bite his lip to stop his smile from looking crazy with a shaking head

pierre and charles grew up together, doing karting together alongside a couple other of the current grid drivers and carried their sweet close knit friendship from childhood over to their adulthood. pierre had gone through a lot of loss similar to charles and elena with the deaths of jules as well as another good friend, anthoine hubert who was an f2 driver that died during the f2 feature race at spa-francorchamps during the f2 round in 2019. it was an emotional moment to see their best friend win his first ever race only for him to then dedicate that first win to anthoine. it was an emotional moment for everyone, not just for pierre, but for those who knew and loved anthoine.

the boyfriend and girlfriend had watched their best friend on the podium for his first ever win and to say it was an emotional affair was an understatement. seeing pierre get emotional and cry on that podium was heartwrenching. but it also reminded them that on this day, during this race, no one got hurt and no one lost their life in the same way anthoine had done last year at spa and jules had done on this day five years before in suzuka.

🥀

it was during the celebration party at one of milan's finest clubs that a lifechanging moment would happen just before the 17th of july 2020 switched to the 18th of july 2020. just before the clock could strike midnight, charles made his way up to the microphone where the dj paused the music he was playing and allowed the f1 driver to say his speech. no one really knew what was going on, especially elena, however it was clear when she looked at the other drivers that they had an idea of what was about to happen and no one seemed more excited than the race winner of the italian grand prix himself, mr pierre gasly. not even caring that the attention was being drawn away from him, he was just happy that a day that is filled with so much grief for his best friends was about to turn into a beautiful memory for the rest of their lives.

"...i am fully aware that this celebration party is for mr race winner of the italian grand prix, pierre gasly but, if i could please just steal the attention of everyone for one moment, that would be amazing, thank you..." charles started as elena's eyes widened in shock to see that her semi-sober boyfriend had taken the dj's microphone

just as she was to step forward to stop him, kika, pierre's girlfriend holds her arm out, stopping the girl from attempting to stop whatever it was that charles was about to do.

"...don't elena, just let him say what he has to say. it's clearly something important..." kika whispered, her arms wrapped around the back of elena as she nodded her head and relaxed

neither girl realising just how important kika's statement would be and what charles was about to do. the model hadn't realised that she had just foreshadowed charles' announcement

"...this day, the 17th of july is usually a day that is sad and full of grief for me and the bianchi family, this whole week is actually when i remember my papa as well. however, i no longer want this to be a day of sadness and grief. i want this to be a day of hope, joy and excitement in the same way the two families grew up in a happy, safe, hopeful home. because i had the pleasure to grow up with the bianchi's, it meant i was able to form a special bond with elena. the youngest of the bianchi family and i think i knew from the moment i met her and the moment i knew what the word love meant that i was crazy about her..." charles took in a deep breath as elena's breath caught in her throat as it suddenly dawned on her what charles was doing

"...elena alexandra bianchi, you are the love of my life, no one is denying that. you've been the love of my life for so long that it pains me to think there was a time in which after we went through all of these losses that you doubted that i loved you. and that's my fault for not trying harder to see you more than just on this same day every year since. and i know that's what i plan to do for the rest of my life, to love you so much that it takes away all the doubt and hurt i've knowingly and unknowingly put you through. whilst i've already asked for permission from your parents, there was always one other person that i dreamt of asking permission from to do this and it breaks my heart that i couldn't ask jules because i know just how much he adored being your older brother and watching the way the relationship between his baby sister and his godson grew over the years. whilst he may have been the start of taking charge of the ship that was trying to get the both of us to admit that we were in love with each other *tearful giggles* it truly was arthur that finished steering that ship. but, there is no doubt in the world to me that jules was the entire reason why i fell in love with you. and he is also the reason why i want to make you my wife *choked gasp*. elena alexandra bianchi, will you marry me and become elena alexandra leclerc for the rest of your living days?" charles was basically sobbing by the end of his speech as he rested on his knee, the ring a beautiful sapphire as elena nodded her head immediately

collapsing to her own knees, grasping charles' face to wipe away his tears, she didn't hesitate in kissing him and accepting his marriage proposal.

"oh, charlie! why wouldn't i marry you? i love you so much!" elena managed to choke out as tears started to well in her eyes as well

"i love you too, elena!" charles choked out in response as they shared a very sweet moment, their foreheads touching as they revelled in the silence that surrounded them

of course, after the engagement, elena and charles threw a party in congratulations about the new engagement and of course, many many photos were taken of the night. however, they first time they would see the light of day would be the next year when they were knee-deep in their wedding month. the photos of their engagement party posted a week before their big day. which, of course, they made sure was on the 17th of july 2021. of course, they were a little worried that because all of their relationship anniversaries were on the 17th of july that they were trying to take away the rememberance and memory of jules. however, christine and phillipe adored the idea that their daughter and soon-to-be son-in-law could make a sad and day full of grief into a day of happiness and love. especially when they had the joy and excitement of wedding planning now beginning, there was only room for joy and hope for the 17th of july to be filled with more happier memories even though jules would never be able to be apart of it or witness any of it.

fin (for now)

this was so much fun to write but it took forever! however, because i reached the block limit apparently, there is a part two so sorry that it just abruptly stopped but i had to! but part two shouldn't be as long nor take as long as this first part has!

[feverinfeveroutfic]

hanukkahbingo 2023

Fic or Art/Graphic Title: alone in the dark, chapter six : “Some Kind of Ghost” Author/Artist Name: josiebelladonna Fandom: Testament (Band) Jewish or Jew-Ish Character(s): Alex Skolnick (and how) Bingo Squares Being Filled: family, miracle, smashing fascists 🔥 Rating: Mature Warning(s): Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings Link to Work: x @aimmyarrowshigh

I was still shook up from the incident with Christine's father, such that my hands trembled as I brought the bites of latke and applesauce up to my mouth. Christine herself meanwhile never left my side as she indulged in her plate, and I could tell that she was enjoying it because it was humble and delicious while we were living in a cold house with no electricity and nothing better to do other than read books and play cards. She huddled up close to me but she never actually touched the side of my body, however. Though it was cold in the house, I started to feel warm again from the taste of those potatoes with the sliced and diced onions and the minced garlic. Though I had been jarred from my place, I still needed to eat, and I still needed to get back home to my parents, too. I blew on the next bite of latke before I slipped it into my mouth.

“How are they?” Wendy asked me.

“Delicious,” I said with my mouth full. “They taste almost as good as my grandmother's latkes.” I swallowed and took another sip of my coffee.

“Nothing beats Grandma's cooking,” she replied with a little smile on her face.

“Not at all! When I was a kid, my aunt and my grandma would also make my brother and me babka for Hanukkah, which he and I always loved. It was from there that I realized that nothing beats the real thing. Nothing beats the thing that came straight out of the home.”

“I think I've actually seen that at a bakery before,” she said as she took her seat next to Christine at the far end of the couch. “It's like a cross between a Swiss roll and a bread, isn't it?”

“Sort of,” I said. “It's definitely kosher in comparison to a Swiss roll, I would think, but it's more like... phyllo dough with chocolate drops, some cinnamon, and some melted chocolate rolled up and then coiled into a tin. We always like a little chocolate babka in our life.”

“We should make that at some point, Chris,” Wendy suggested.

“You've got chocolate babka, there's also cinnamon and apple,” I added. “Chocolate is the best, but I also love me some apple.” Right as I said that, I scooped up a bit of applesauce, which I could tell was sweeter than I was used to. But I wasn't going to complain.

“By the way, Wendy, is it all that flooded out there?” the grandfather asked her.

“Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you that, too,” I chimed in as I took another bite of applesauce.

“Actually, no!” Wendy assured us. “Although, I suppose it is elsewhere, but there's just some big puddles outside of the sidewalk. You know, you have to be careful walking along the storm drain because there are literal rivers out there. But it's not like immense flooding, though.”

“Plus, it's going downhill,” I added as I took another bite of latke.

“It's all going downhill, exactly,” Wendy declared. Christine then turned her attention over to me with a slightly annoyed look on her face.

“I hope this shit's not boring you,” she whispered to me.

“Hey, I would much rather chat about this than what happened with your dad back there,” I assured her.

“Oh, yeah, anything beats that, to be honest,” she said with a nod. “But you know, boring grown-up stuff.”

“You know, you're going to be a boring grown-up yoursself soon,” I pointed out to her as I took my last bite of latke.

“I kind of don't want to be,” she confessed. “You know, just because you reach eighteen years old doesn't mean you have to actually grow up and become boring.”

“You know, it's the funniest thing,” I told her as I set my empty plate down on the coffee table before me and I picked up my coffee in lieu of it; “I feel the exact same way. Who says you have to give up what you are once you've reached a certain age?”

And she showed me a smile at that.

It was right then I noticed that the rain had slowed down on the roof overhead.

“Is the rain stopping?” her grandfather then asked from the kitchen table.

“I think it is, Dad,” Wendy replied. I sipped on the coffee and the vagabond in me came alive right then. All the times that Testament travelled somewhere in the world or even there in the States, and the sheer sight of the hotel room all around me only made me want to go out and explore the town. Wendy then offered to take mine and Christine's empty plates, much to my pleasure.

“Thank you, Mom,” she said.

“Yeah, thank you, Wendy!” I added, and once again, I swore she flashed me a wink. I finished the rest of my coffee and turned my attention to Christine.

“Wanna take a walk?” I offered her.

“I'd love to,” she replied. “I have to get dressed, but I'd like to do that, though.”

“Go out and get some fresh air,” I added. “I have to find my shirt, anyways.” I couldn't help but chuckle at that, either.

Once her mom and grandparents were paying more attention to each other, she and I returned to our rooms for a quick change, whereby I found my shirt tucked under my pillow for some reason. But then I realized why and I couldn't resist chuckling again as well as wrinkling my nose and sticking out my tongue.

Once I had my shirt back on, I returned to the hallway and Christine dressed in faded denim jeans and a little black windbreaker.

“Shall we?” I asked her. “We shall,” she replied.

Once we told the three of them what was happening, we left the house and stepped outside to the gray morning. Though the place hadn't flooded like Wendy had said, small puddles still formed all across the yard, and the storm drain was one deluge away from overflowing onto the sidewalk as well. Nevertheless, we still walked up the street together, and I had a feeling that she was going to show me the stump.

“We go in the other direction and we'll be swept away by the flood waters,” she pointed out to me, to which I chuckled.

We reached the next corner up before we hung a right. The next corner up and we hung a left.

It was all so we could keep going uphill and away from whatever raging waters that came our way.

“I hope I'm not being too intrusive about it,” I confessed to her as the neighborhood around us grew much more overgrown with trees and bushes, all of which were dark and sparse for the onset of winter in the coming weeks. “You know my whole thing of 'I really don't want to impose on anyone'.”

“You're not being intrusive,” she assured me with a shake of her head. “Especially since he came after you.”

She fetched up a sigh and stared straight ahead: I followed her gaze to the veil of clouds over the mountains. We weren't far from the base of them as well as the sparse snow banks that capped them. At least it didn't snow that much.

“I love my dad but he's got his problems, though,” she pointed out. “He and my mom have separated, and he's still kind of raw about it. Then again, he should talk about it to me. He likes to drink, and my mom doesn't really like that he does that, especially in front of me. I remember one time he downed a whole bottle of gin over the course of a single day, and my mom was like 'no way' and she got me out of there. He's not a very good drunk, either.”

“I've known a few people like that,” I told her. “Where the members of my old band and I would have a drink or two and then we'd giggle and fool around and shit, there was always someone on the crew who would have a few too many and start yelling at us for no reason.”

“Exactly like that!” she exclaimed. “And it's always really scary to be around and watch right before your eyes, too, because you don't know if they're going to punch you or do something awful to themselves. So, my mom got me away from him for a bit but I wanted to be with him again because—like I said, I love my dad and I want to see him get better. So they split and I stayed with him for a whole summer before he promised me to stop drinking. When he did, I went to go stay with my mom, and that was when my own relationship fell apart and then I dyed my hair after that as a change of sorts. When he was at the door earlier, I could smell a little booze on his breath. I've grown up around alcohol enough to where I can smell even just a few drops of it from clear across the room. It also helped that the wind carried it into the house, too.”

“Oh, wow, I didn't even notice,” I confessed as I ran my hand down from my chest down to my stomach. “All I could smell was the latkes and the coffee your mom got for us.”

But she bowed her head a bit and looked down to the drenched pavement and the small rivulets in the storm drain below our feet.

“The first man I ever loved,” she said in a soft voice, and I tilted my head to the side at the sight of her there next to me.

“First man you ever loved and had a relationship with, too,” I added.

“All of that before my ex showed up, and before you showed up, too,” she continued it.

“He promised you that he would stop drinking—actually promised you—”

“Right to my face, too,” she added, and she lowered her voice to a near whisper.

“—and yet there he was, right there at your grandparents' house, just reeking of it,” I followed along, and she nodded her head at that with a crestfallen look on her face.

“Mmm, I wouldn't say he was reeking of it,” she corrected me with a slight shrug of her shoulders, “but I could tell you that he had had some to drink before he showed up.”

“Which means he also took off in his car after that...” My voice trailed off, and I shuddered at the thought of someone climbing behind the wheel after they had had just a little too much to drink, especially with that person being her own father.

She and I fell into momentary silence with our gazes fixed on the storm drain beneath us; all the while, I noticed a few circles along the surface of the water, and I could tell that the sprinkles were going to give way to even more rain after that. Though things were not very flooded at the moment, I knew that it was definitely a possibility, and I could potentially miss out on the first couple of nights of Hanukkah with my parents as well.

I then turned my head to the right, to the stretch of sidewalk that snaked up the street beside us.

“So, tell me,” I began again to her. “Where's this stump at? The stump of the tree that fell on you?”

Her expression never changed as she strode around behind me, and I followed her right at her back. The storm drain seemed to swell as we moved further along, and then we reached the next corner and crosswalk up before us. Across the street stood an old house that looked to be empty, and behind that was an empty lot entrenched in mud and large puddles that could probably flood a bit should the rain pick back up again. With a quick glimpse in either direction, Christine and I crossed the street, albeit with a hop over the rivulets in the storm drains.

She brought me to the corner across from us, and I looked on at the empty house. Something about it gave me a weird feeling in my stomach, as if something happened there before and I should be worried. But I wasn't worried, and I shook it off once we reached the empty lot, which consisted of nothing more than slabs of blacktop and patches of dark mud.

“It's right here,” she declared, and she brought me to the dead center of it all, barring we avoided the mud all around us and treated the blacktop as stepping stones instead. Indeed, there stood a large round stump right in the middle of the muck and the mud, one that was wide enough for the two of us and maybe Wendy, too, to have a seat on. The cuts on the stump had eroded with the passing of time, and thus, I knew she was telling the truth. I looked on at her and the thoughtful look in her eyes: the fine mist that fell over us left tiny droplets on the crown of her head accentuated the red of her hair. The gray sunlight around us washed out the color to her face, and her skin resembled porcelain as a result.

I gazed up to the gray sky overhead as I tried to picture that big tree that fell over on top of her. Those wandering branches as they cascaded over her, and the earth took her in its arms. To think that she had taken the path that she had taken, and she was still standing there on the sidewalk next to me. She continued to stand, with her hands in her pockets and the scars that she bore all to tell the world about it. If only there was a way in which she could overcome it and use it to her advantage, and I could tell she was on her way given how she liked to joke around with me and be all cozied up next to me.

I was more stunned by the fact that she had survived it all, and more so when I shivered from the wind picking up courtesy of the mountain slopes off to our right. The rain was coming, and yet the silence was all that we could do right then.

“An absolute miracle that you're here with us right now,” I whispered to her over the winds behind us.

“It really is,” she whispered back to me, and she extended one hand out towards me as if to hold mine. I swallowed as I extended mine to her own: her fingers gripped onto the side of my palm, and I let my own fingers curl around her hand. A chill ran up my spine right then, and something told me that it wasn't the wind.

“When my ex and I were together, I often dreamed of this,” she confessed.

“You never got to hold hands with him?” I asked her, taken aback, and she shook her head at that.

“Not even one time,” she said. “I would often dream of kissing him and holding him, just like how I did with you back at the house. But I never could do it. I could never find the courage to do that.”

“Why is that?” I asked her.

“Like I said, I just never felt good enough. I never felt like I was worthy of kissing him or holding him. I never felt like I could really tell him as to how I felt about him.” She nibbled on her bottom lip right then. “And that's why he's my ex.”

“So I should consider myself lucky,” I muttered. The rain picked up as the words left my lips, and Christine tugged the hood over her head with her free hand.

“We should probably get home,” I advised her.

“Yeah, I think we should, too,” she said. “I'm starting to get cold.” She squeezed my hand before she let go of me, and then she huddled up close to me. The two of us began to walk along the sidewalk, away from the empty lot and the swelling puddles there, and I hoped that the rain and wind wouldn't pick up at any point on the way back to the house. We reached the house on the corner, whereby I caught a glimpse of the dark roof and the trees that protected it from the elements. I spotted the witching window at the back and a shiver ran down my spine. We passed the two windows that looked out to the street, both of them as black as night, and then the corner of the house and the edge of the yard. All the while, I glanced back to it.

There was just something about the house that gave me such a weird, indescribable feeling, and it was one of those things that was going to drive me absolutely batty for the rest of the day if I did nothing about it. We reached the corner when I finally stopped, and I took a good long look at it. Christine stopped right next to me and closed her coat lest a gust of wind come up before us.

“I should probably tell you that my ex and his family used to live in this house here,” she told me.

“They used to live here?” I asked her, slightly stunned, and she nodded her head at me.

“Not for very long, like not even a year but—yeah, they actually used to live out here.”

I turned my head for another look at the house again, and I tried to picture what exactly happened there, especially since it was giving me such a weird feeling whenever I looked at it. Maybe it was the garage door and the way that it struck me as a little odd in comparison to the rest of the house: it was a yellow house with black trimming but the garage door appeared to be a slightly different shade of yellow, almost white.

Something off about it all.

“Did he or his parents tell you why they moved away from here?” I asked her, and she shook her head.

“I mean, I have a couple of theories—they hailed from New York and so, you know, maybe they just didn't like it out here. It's too much of a high desert where New York is more tempered.”

I had my doubts about that, however. I looked on at the house, at the awnings right outside of the two front windows that looked out to either side of the street given it stood on a corner, at the second floor, at the brick chimney which gave me an even weirder feeling than that of the garage door. Maybe it was just the color of the door looking off by comparison, but something about that left me wanting more out of that. Add to this, I struggled to picture him and his family living there.

I walked on over to the mouth of the driveway, which was slightly sloped from the garage door. Maybe it was an optical illusion. Maybe I really did have nothing to worry about and I was just going to drive myself far beyond the point of meshuggah. But something about it was going to drive me absolutely meshuggah regardless of what happened. I turned my attention to Christine, who strode on up to me with her hands tucked in her pockets and with a bewildered look on her face.

“Nobody lives here anymore, right?” I asked her once she came within earshot.

“As far as I know, no,” she replied. Cautiously, I strode up the driveway to the garage door. The panels were crisp and sharp, but the paint drooped a bit in a few places. I took a closer look to the one closest to my face.

Something buried underneath. I let my eyes wander down towards the base of the garage door itself to see it in full. Though it had been covered up, whoever did it did not do that well of a job, at least not for me, anyway.

The black outlines. The shape it made plus the angles.

The mere sight that haunted my own nightmares as well as that of my relatives.

“Just as I thought,” I muttered.

“What?” she asked me, and the chills ran up my spine. I took her by the hand and led her away from there.

“Alex, what is it?” she asked again, but I never replied. All I knew was I had to get away from there, and I had to get away from that particular part of the neighborhood as well. Our shoes padded on the pavement and that was the only noise I could hear. With a quick leap over the storm drains, we crossed the street from the house to the opposite corner; Christine stayed behind me as I led her away from there. At one point, I could feel her looking back, and I wished that I could completely tell her about what I was feeling. The thing is I had a hard enough time reading emotions on someone's face, let alone fessing up my own to someone like her.

We slowed down to a quick walked right before we reached the line of trees again. At least we were safe from the feeling that house gave unto me. Nevertheless, I still shivered and closed my coat to keep in the warmth. I was missing the warmth of those latkes her grandparents made for us.

I leaned back against the trunk of the tree closest to the sidewalk, and she gathered next to me as if we were hiding from something.

“God...” I breathed out, and I gazed up to the canopy of the trees over our heads. Though the leaves had gone for the autumn, the branches still protected us somewhat from the impending rain beyond us. I was not a man of prayer by any means but I could only pray that the rain spared us there in the trees for the time being.

“Makes me sick to think about,” I confessed to her with a shake of my head. “Regardless of whether or not he's your ex. It still makes my skin crawl just thinking about it.”

“What?” she demanded, and I licked my lips and ran my fingers through my hair.

“I really don't know if I can tell you,” I told her, “like I don't really know as to how to put it.”

“Well... start from the top,” she began. “That's what my parents' therapist says, just start from the beginning.”

“But... you said your ex was Jewish.”

“Yeah.”

“They lived here... not even a year, you said,” I continued.

“If I remember correctly, they moved here in July and they were gone once school was let out in June, so yeah, not even a year. I remember talking to him about it, too.”

I nibbled on my bottom lip yet again, that time because the mere suggestion only deepened the pit in my stomach.

“You know how you said you'd stand for me if something happened to me all because of my own heritage?” I recalled to her.

“Yeah,” she said, and she squinted her eyes at me as if she knew where I was going with this.

“It's so weird to me, because... you don't think of Nevada as sinking that low,” I admitted. “I mean—shit. 'Battle born.' Became a state in the face of the Civil War. You don't think of... something that hates me and your ex and probably wants the two of us dead, and maybe you, too, because you're associated with both him as well as me now. You don't think of—you know, that—as being here.”

Her mouth then dropped agape and her eyes widened. She brought a hand to her mouth, and all I could do was nod at her.

“Are you sure?” she asked me in a hushed voice.

“That fucking thing could be buried under six feet of black tar and I would still recognize it,” I told her in a single breath. “I knew what I saw, and I know for a fact that they're in that neighborhood.”

I peered out to the street. All the houses were shuttered and calm for the incoming rainstorm, but I still had my feelings no matter how they looked to me.

“Yeah, we should probably—” But before I could finish, she once again took me by the hand and yanked me away from there. Her hood fell right off her head as we ran as fast as could back to her grandparents' house with the wind and the rain at our backs; both picked up the pace as we reached the edge of the property and the welling up of the puddles in the front yard, and I was glad that we ran home when we did and as fast as we did, as well. The only exception was I never looked back to that house.

I didn't have to look back because I knew for a fact I was the menorah in the broken window.

[kryptid-kitten]

Ah fuck it I'm gonna be funny, unfortunately the Marvel brain has kicked in

I have had a Theory since, very soon after ATSV came out, about how to defeat the Spot. I would simply like to get it down and, y'know, maybe have some feedback from others :3

To start, we need to look at 3 specific worlds: Strange's What If (s1 e4), the second Miguel's (the one who died), and Pav's.

Each one has had what are separate events that can coalesce, a "canon event" and an "incursion". A canon event is a specific moment that is embedded into someone's story, whether a loved one's death, someone getting powers, or losing them, what have you, usually there's a few worlds that share that fate in some capacity. I, however, am going to be focusing on the "loved one's death" canon event, as that triggers a major catastrophe known as an incursion.

An incursion is a mass of void that consumes and destroys a whole universe after something goes wrong with the timeline. But why? Why would someone dying cause this?

It's, actually not someone dying that's the issue. It's someone being saved that is. Hence why I mentioned the three worlds at the beginning: Strange saves Christine; Miguel replaces himself; Miles saves inspector Singh. None of these were supposed to happen, in the moment, a canon event was disrupted, and an incursion occurred due to the presence of life where there shouldn't be. And because of this, two of three worlds were destroyed, with only a couple survivors who've lived to tell the tale (how many universes have been lost this way, that we don't know of..?)

Two of three. As far as we know, Pav's world still exists, somewhat. All we saw in the film was them containing the incursion, we didn't see the outcome - sometimes they're lucky, sometimes they're not. They have the technology to be able to stop this, and have been doing it for a while, it seems.

So how does that work? On god, I don't know. But I can make a guess.

From observation (and, from memory, what Spot said in his apartment), I'm inclined to believe the material, that void that consumes the dimension, is dark matter. The particle collider sort of makes it - when Miles in the first movie had his head shoved into it, he saw the whole spiderverse, which is also what we saw during the second film when he travels to Mumbhattan through Gwen's portal. Perhaps some optimised collider technology is what powers the watches, to allow for multiverse travel?

Which is also what Spot has done, except in biological form - taken dark matter and used it to his advantage where he originally thought it to be a curse. And that's what he's made of, the same stuff that inherently destroys worlds when one person lives if they're supposed to be dead.

When I googled, ages ago, how to defeat Spot, all the articles claimed that he had one weakness: number of spots. As soon as he ran out, bam, done and dusted. But, this Spot has an infinite number of spots, portals across the entire plain of existence. How do you defeat that?

And the actual theory: The technology used to contain an incursion, can also be used to contain the Spot and stop him from Plague Inc-ing the web of universes. It'd be incredibly tricky, as it isn't meant to be used to contain something living, and Spot could absolutely break the equipment if needs be, but it could work.

Obviously, I don't know if this will change Jeff's fate. They've already established that entire canons can be switched if an anomaly does something dumb (which is Spot, to clarify, as he brought the spider from 42 into 1610-B in the first place), or does just about the right thing (Gwen accidentally making her dad quit, thereby removing his canon event as "captain who perishes"). Depends on how much Spot fucks things up, I guess.

As an objective observer with no skin in the game, Miguel just needs to step up his game and realise who the true villain is - if he weren't so hellbent on chasing Miles, then perhaps he could control the root cause of his problems. Hopefully we don't have to wait too long to find out...

[bearmemesreviews]

FotW: SDMI - The Secret of the Ghost Rig

Ghost Trucks! Welcome back to Freak of the Week, we continue with Mystery Incorporated and find ourselves with a trope that Scooby-Doo only did a few times before - one of which had the Mystery Machine itself be the self-driving ghoul of the week!

Best demonstrated in Maximum Overdrive, and by a lesser extent the Cars Franchise, we sure do love to think of trucks and other vehicles as "alive". Even outside our Christines and Speed-Buggeys, it's just fun to think of these big and highly destruction-prone things as having their own souls.

Backstory: After their tryst in Gatorsburg, the Mystery Gang finds themselves in the middle of the mayor's - Fred's dad - re-election campaign. His rival being a Mr. George Avocados. Mr. Avocados runs despite the fact that his father, a previous Mayor of Crystal Cove, was sentenced to prison for stealing a diamond during his turn - one that was never found.

Daphne's parents also take the time to try and matchmake with their daughter. Despite hooking her up with the heir of a ladder company, the rich boy hits it off better with Freddie than Daphne. This won't be the last time you'll have to worry about your boyfriend's budding bisexuality Daph, remember - if you can't beat them, join them.

Anyway, while all this is happening the gang must also deal with a Ghost Truck running rampant through the town and a string of door-knob robberies. The gang then decide to trap the entire truck after a little encouragement from Mr. E.

Design: The Ghost Truck is exactly what it says on the tin. It's a luminous Big Rig that's heavily weathered, every inch rusted over, with a transparent green algae of sorts draped over its entire body. It has additional spikes added to the front, alongside an entire spike pronged cage attached to its bumper. This 10-wheeler, when active, also has flaming wheels and headlights so bright that it even lights up the driver's seating area.

Off-topic, but why does google images refuse to show me any actual 10-wheelers if they aren't from Dora the Explorah.

For something as simple as "Ghost Truck", they went all out on making it a memorable, and very formidable being. This metal beast actively tries to run anyone in its way off the numerous cliffs near the cove. It is out of luck that more people haven't been killed by this guy. The only downside is that the Trucker's motives are so focused on, we never even get any lore regarding the truck itself.

One way I could fix this would be to have Senior Avocados dead rather in jail, not like this show is all against people getting Disney Villain Death'ed already. Have him try to escape the police in a truck he stole, ending the chase with him driving it off the cliffside to an unseen demise. This would tie all the plot points together in a way that'd make the "Ghost" part of the monster's name make sense.

Just because it's glowing doesn't mean it's dead guys!

Reveal: The gang survives enough attempted murders to find the truck's hideout, discovering an entire secret video game level cave filled to the brim with doorknobs. Specifically crystal doorknobs. They find a journal belonging to Avocados' father, where he reveals that he did in fact steal the diamond and hidden it before being caught by the pigs.

It's only after chasing the gang for finding it's cave that the truck is lured into Fred's shark tank trap. And to avoid giving the meddling kids a manslaughter charge, the driver of the truck hops out on his own volition.

It's Rung Ladderton, heir to the Ladderton Ladder Company and Fred's Daphne's suitor. Turns out that rich people don't like the fact that usable products are less likely to be replaced, and thus, they don't get enough constant revenue to satisfy their lifestyles. Yeah, he says he's broke, but let's be real - that just means he needs to get his fancy ascots from a company that only has 200 active sweatshops rather that 20,000.

Rung Ladderton admits that he was stealing all the doorknobs because Avocados Senior replaced one of them with the diamond. However, there was no hint towards which doorknob it was - so Rung Ladderton had to steal all of them, using the Ghost Rig to smuggle them out of town.

We are only a few years away before a new Scooby-Doo show has a villain be a crypto dude trying to rob people while wearing a gorilla suit.

4/5 - Very simple concept with great execution.

If Rung Ladderton was well-endowed, do you think he'd be called Hu-

[dearemma]

do you have any headcanons for christine's relations with other characters?

boy, anon (gender-neutral) do i have some!!

first and silliest, i think christine is responsible for the rumor that transporter chief kyle is mean. she said it as a joke once and the rumor got a life of its own

to me, christine, unlike erica, la'an, spock and uhura, does not enter the kids jokes the fandom makes. the fandom at large loves to joke about pike and una as mom and dad (respectively) and their kids going on space adventures. while i do find that cute, i don't like including christine in that scenario. i think christine, due to her not being starfleet, and therefore not being in the chain of command, not sharing their jokes about starfleet, wouldn't really be one of the kids, which leads her to have a more grounded relationship with both pike and una.

to me, her and una, end up developing a really amazing friendship. una, who is more slow to trust and let people in, is not ready for the hurricane that is a determined christine chapel. and the two of them are together in various tense moments in season one where una has to be more open, exposed (revealing that she is an illyrian, the whole surgery scene). una, who keeps everyone at arms length, can't and... doesn't want to keep christine at a distance.

her and pike, i like to think of them having this very warm friendship that's easy to miss. they are both stubborn, adventurous people, who don't let others take care of them. i can see the two of them being able to just... nudge the other one in the right direction. christine getting him to sickbay after a mission when he is determined to go back to the bridge, pike roaming the halls and seeing christine working on an experiment and distracting her with stories about his farm until she forgets about what she is doing and realizes how tired she is.

her and erica are besties. i think we'll eventually learn they were in the war together (it explains why the two of them and m'benga have a sort of code only they know during the pilot). i think they also sleep together sometimes, no strings attached (and that eventually they get tangled up in those strings, but anyway). i like to imagine christine dragging erica on trips, going rock-climbing together, having all these wacky adventures that only they laugh about (everyone else is horrified and mouthing how did you not die).

her and la'an, look... christine getting la'an to lower her walls? making la'an laugh? is something that is very personal to me. la'an is determined, very closed-off but she is becoming more open and i think allowing christine to show her the more lighthearted things that she's missed out on would be very sweet. i also like the idea of la'an teaching christine how to fight more efficiently. christine's style is more: i'm faster than you and i'm going to take you down. while la'an really knows the technique. and i think la'an likes to feel useful, so she wouldn't just accept christine showing her what she missed out on while becoming a baddass starfleet chief of security. so showing her how to fight, would be a fair trade.

christine and uhura love to dance. that's my first thought. christine and uhura twirling around the room, laughing obnoxiously loud, singing along to the music, being the center of gravity and warmth in the room. i'm a big shipper of christine and uhura in the tos timeline, but in the snw... i see them more as sweet friends, the two of them growing together, having a good time, both becoming more connected with starfleet, enterprise and each other.

right now my thoughts about her and m'benga are shifting. babs and jess described them as a familial sort of relationship and i always had that in my mind as a sibling sort of thing. the two of them knowing way too much about each other's lives, being nosy, bantering. but right now, with the latest episode, i'm starting to think its more a family forged in fire sort of situation. they are family because no one else could ever understand what they went through. they are still very close, still banter and quip at each other, though.

her and spock are in love, thxns.