#like i texted her Monday like hey when i see you Tuesday can i cop off you and she was like yeah of course

[grimandghoulish]

.

[moldisgoodforyou]

lost time (chapter six)

MASTERLIST

pairing: rafe cameron x oc

warning: cursing, underage drinking 

wordcount: 3.4k I’m getting into a groove here

_________

Sophie didn’t know what came over her, but she lied. Straight through her teeth.  

_

When she woke up on Saturday morning, head throbbing, she dragged herself out of bed and down the hall to promptly pull trig in the bathrooms and move on with her day. After taking care of things, she looked herself over in the mirror, grimacing at her appearance. As she pulled her hair back into a ponytail, her eyes widened in surprise at the dark hickey coloring her neck and she promptly let her hair fall back down, storming back into her room.

Allie was already up early, doing homework, and Julia was just barely waking up and winced at the sound of the door slamming shut behind Sophie. 

“What the fuck is this?” Sophie exclaimed, pulling back her hair and pointing out the bruise. 

Allie covered her mouth as she tried her best not to laugh, hesitant to answer. “Um...you might have made out with someone at the party. You don’t remember?”

“No, I was way drunk.” Sophie turned to Julia, raising her eyebrows. “Do you know who?” 

“You made out with my date, bitch.” Julia snorted, using the insult as a term of affection. 

“Your date…” Sophie trailed off, the memories rushing back to her and her jaw dropped. “I didn’t. No I fucking didn’t.” 

“You did. And then you walked home alone and didn’t text us like you’re supposed to, so thank god for Find My Friends.” Allie chided her, crossing her arms. 

Sophie winced and glanced between the two of them. “Fuck, Jules, I’m sorry. I wasn’t -” 

Julia waved her hand. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. I don’t care, he clearly wasn’t into me.” She wiggled her eyebrows at Sophie, grinning. “Had his eye on you all night.” 

“Fucking hell.” Sophie cursed, pressing her hand to her neck. “If this is still here on Monday, I can’t go to class. I can’t.” 

In the end, Allie forced her out the door for class after Julia skillfully applied three layers of concealer to Sophie’s neck. Sophie told herself she would play nice, for once, and tried catching his eye during the entire class, but Rafe didn’t glance in her direction once. She felt like her heart was going to beat straight out of her chest as she pulled him aside after class, resolving to confront the situation head-on. The exact opposite happened and she regretted playing dumb the second the words left her mouth. 

“I meant to ask, did you have fun at the party with Julia? I honestly don’t remember much after the bus back to Theta.” 

As Rafe’s face dropped, she clutched at the straps of her backpack, wanting to just shrink away in embarrassment. She kept up the small talk for only a few moments later before watching him walk off alone. Sophie ignored the small voice in her head yelling at her to go after him, explain things, but realized she had nothing to explain. It was simply a drunken makeout, she decided, nothing more. 

Of course, he had to ruin that plan of ignoring things by getting her coffee from her favorite place for their study date. 

“Where’d you get the coffee?” Allie questioned her the second Sophie returned to their room Tuesday night, struggling to hold back a smile. 

“Rafe brought it. For our study date.” 

“Date?” Julia teased, sending Sophie a wink. 

Sophie blushed, shaking her head quickly. “You know what I mean!” 

“You know, if you weren’t so stubborn, you could just get together already.” Julia pointed out, rolling her eyes. 

Sophie scoffed right away. “Yeah, okay. When hell freezes over, maybe.” She took a seat on the futon, pulling out her phone to distract herself from the conversation. That lasted for approximately two minutes until Allie broke the silence. 

“Soph...why are you so against the idea of you two?” Allie asked, treading carefully around the subject. The last time she had brought it up, sophomore year, Sophie had reacted worse than when Julia had tried to set her up with a Michigan basketball player she knew (“not the enemy, Jules!”). 

“I...I don’t know.” Sophie avoided eye contact from both her roommates and ducked her head down as she thought. “We fight too much.” She decided, giving herself an easy out. 

“You two are like magnets are every party.” Julia pointed out. “Fighting is a cop out, and you know it.” 

Sophie huffed and stood, crossing the room to leave. “I don’t want to talk about it, it’s nothing.” 

“You’re going to have to figure it out someday.” Julia pushed, sticking her foot in front of the door. 

Sophie frowned and gently kicked her foot away before she left. “Not today.” 

_ 

She was distracted again in class, barely paying attention when Rafe finally sat next to her in their assigned seats. He kept tapping his pencil against the desk in a steady pattern as their professor lectured.

Midway through class, Sophie reached out, placing her hand on top of his. “Stop.” She hissed, nudging her knee against his under the table.

He didn’t tug his hand away like she expected he would. “You stop.” Rafe whispered back, smirking.

There was something about the smug smirk that made her want to both kiss him senseless and slap him across the face. 

“You drive me fucking crazy.” She muttered, pulling her hand back to her desk. 

He grinned and leaned closer, his voice husky as he whispered. “I should hope so.” 

She closed her eyes to keep her composure, letting out a slow breath. “Rafe.” He leaned back in his seat, satisfied, and redirected his attention to the lecture. Sophie grumbled and angled her seat away from his as she continued to take notes, doing her best to ignore his presence.

When the lecture ended a few minutes later, he bumped his shoulder against hers as they packed up. “Hey. Um. Does your offer still stand?” 

Sophie softened, surprising him with a smile. “For family weekend? Yeah, of course. I’ll come over to Delt and we can walk over together.” 

“You don’t want to drive?” 

“Nah, don’t want to mess with parking. And I’m not planning on staying sober.” She grinned.

He swallowed, thinking about what happened the last time she was drunk. “Right, okay. I’ll see you then.” 

_

Sophie showed up on the front porch of Delta Tau Delta right on time like she promised. She hesitated, about to ring the doorbell, then decided to just wait outside, shooting Rafe a quick text. Upstairs, Rafe had changed into his third polo of the day and was currently sporting his second jacket he had tried on, fixing his hair in the mirror. 

“You gotta chill the fuck out, dude.” James told him, watching skeptically as Rafe combed gel through his hair. 

At the ding of his phone, Rafe groaned, decidedly not ready. “Colin, can you get that?” 

Colin reached over and grabbed Rafe’s phone, then raised his eyebrows just slightly. “It’s just an email. Hey James, come check on the tailgate out back with me?”

James grumbled but rose from the bed, following Colin out the door. “Can’t you boss around the pledges on your own?” 

The second they were down the hall, Colin grabbed James’ arm and hustled him down the stairs. James yanked his arm away, trying to smack him upside the head before Colin batted his hand away with a smirk. “What the fuck are you doing?” James asked.

Colin grinned, holding up Rafe’s phone. “Sophie’s here.” 

“Ahhh.” James nodded knowingly and followed him out to the front door. Sophie glanced up from her phone when the two boys swung both the front doors open, flanking either side of the doorframe.

“Sophie, hello!” Colin greeted her with a broad grin, waving her inside.

She stood slowly from the porch bench, tilting her head slightly. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure I remember your names…” 

James shook his head. “Nah, we haven’t met. But we’ve just heard so much about you from Rafe!” 

“Our roommate.” Colin clarified. “Come in, we’ll get you a drink! He’s still getting ready.” Sophie nodded and followed them both inside, making their way to the kitchen past a couple groups of girls there for the pregame. 

After a couple minutes alone upstairs, Rafe turned to check his phone on his own but couldn’t find it. He immediately cursed, figuring James and Colin were up to something, and allowed himself another glance in the mirror before rushing downstairs. After asking a pledge where they went, he found James and Colin in the kitchen with Sophie. She looked a little bemused as she accepted a White Claw from them, glancing around for Rafe. 

“Sophie!” Rafe called out across the room, making his way to them. His jaw was slightly gritted as he slung a tight arm around James’ shoulder, shaking his head. “Don’t believe anything they’ve told you, alright?” 

Sophie laughed, taking a quick sip. “I like your friends, they’re fun.”

Colin grinned. “Hear that, Rafe? We’re fun.”

Rafe grumbled, dropping his arm from James. “Yeah, yeah. Soph, you ready?” She nodded, giggling as Colin and James called out ‘be safe!’ in unison behind them as they left the house. They fell into an easy stride outside, heading toward the stadium.

Sophie reached out, lightly brushing her fingers across his hair. “Did you put something in your hair? I thought you ditched that in college.” 

Rafe blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh, yeah, just got kind of lazy with it. Why, does it look bad?” 

“No! No, it doesn’t at all.” She replied hurriedly. “Just haven’t seen it like that since high school.” 

“Oh.” He nodded, reassured. “Dunno, just wanted to look a little nicer to see your parents, I guess.” 

“It’s not like you have to impress them or something, they know you.” 

“Yeah, but I’m crashing your family weekend. I’ve got to make a decent impression.” 

“You’re fine, Rafe, don’t worry about it. I mentioned you were coming to my dad and he sounded more excited to see you than me.” She laughed and he relaxed just slightly, but kept his hands shoved in his jacket pockets.

“Okay, so. I gotta know how you ended up as such an…” He paused, searching for the words. “Such an outspoken, feminist environmentalist when your parents are so…” he trailed off again.

Sophie raised her eyebrows. “Not?” 

He nodded. “Yeah, basically. I did not expect that golf debate from you, given that your dad probably spends 50 hours a week at the golf course.”

She laughed, touching his arm for a moment. “I mean, I already had those ideals but college has helped. Education, baby.” He suddenly felt warm at the term of endearment, ducking his head down for a moment so she couldn’t see his blush. 

They kept up easy small talk until they arrived at a house just a street away from the stadium, packed with alumni and students alike tailgating. Sophie was greeted by several people almost instantly and gave them quick smiles before taking Rafe’s hand to guide him through the party to find her parents. He couldn’t help but grin. 

“Mom! Dad!” She called out, grabbing their attention as they came closer. She dropped Rafe’s hand but her mom didn’t miss it, giving them a knowing glance between the two. Sophie shook her head imperceptibly, making her mom just laugh. She gestured at Rafe, as if presenting him. “Mom, Dad, you guys know Rafe. Say hi.”

Her dad grinned, shaking Rafe’s hand heartily. “Good to see you, kid. Your dad didn’t make it out?”

Rafe shook his head but offered a broad smile in response. “No, not this year. Business stuff.” 

“Ahh, always working.” Her dad nodded knowingly, reaching into the cooler. “Well, no worries, you get to hang with us instead. “What are you drinking, Rafe?” 

“Oh, uh, just a beer, Mr. Flint.” 

Her dad laughed. “You called me Jeff all through your lessons in high school and now we’re back to formalities? Knock it off.” 

Rafe nodded, fully relaxing as he accepted a beer from him. “Sorry, habit. How are you, Mrs. Flint?” 

“I’m good, Rafe, it’s nice to see you.” She stepped forward, giving her daughter a hug and tugged on the end of Sophie’s tight denim skirt. “Sophie, could you have worn something shorter? You’re going to be freezing halfway through the game.”

Sophie hid a grin as she took a sip from a beer. “Not if I’m drinking properly, Mom.”

Her mom shook her head, letting out a big sigh but ruffled Sophie’s hair affectionately. “You’re still 20 for a couple weeks, child, remember that.” 

“Yeah, yeah. C’mon Rafe, let’s go find my brother.” Sophie excused them from the conversation, taking his hand again to wind them through the party.

Rafe leaned in close as he followed behind, a teasing lilt to his voice. “I don’t mind how short your skirt is.”

She rolled her eyes but was grateful she was leading him, as she felt a blush creep onto her face. “I don’t remember asking you.” 

She found her brother with some friends in the kitchen and knocked back the rest of her beer to help herself to another from the fridge. “Hey, Carter, you remember Rafe?” She kept ahold of Rafe’s hand this time, stepping into his side.

Her brother, Carter, looked over the two of them with a wary eye. “Course I do. How’ve you been, Cameron?” His tone was friendly, but Rafe could tell otherwise from his stiff posture.

“I’m good. Soph told me you’re in grad school here? What are you studying?” 

“Soph told you, huh?” Carter repeated, emphasizing the nickname and shooting Sophie a glance, unreadable to Rafe. She rolled her eyes as she watched the interaction and traded Rafe’s empty beer can for a new one. “I’m getting my master’s in civil engineering. You? How’d you end up here from the Outer Banks?” 

“Thought I’d look for something different than what I was used to. And there’s a good business program here.” Rafe responded, thanking Sophie quietly for the new drink. 

“Hm.” Carter replied curtly and Rafe was reminded in the moment of how much he resembled Sophie, especially when she made a point to argue with him. His lips turned up in an amused smile. “Something funny, Cameron?” Carter asked, breaking Rafe’s reverie.

“Huh? No, just thinking.”

Sophie shook her head. “Stand down, Carter. Rafe, let’s go find someone more entertaining.” She grinned at her brother as she took Rafe’s hand again, leading him away. 

“I don’t think he likes me too much.” Rafe mentioned as they made their way to the front porch.

Sophie hopped up on the porch railing to face him. “He’s just protective. He’s not very friendly to any guy I introduce him to.” She took a drink, watching Rafe smirk, then shook her head quickly. “Not that you’re - I mean, you’re not -” 

Rafe laughed and leaned forward, placing both hands on either side of her on the railing. It was friendly, maybe with a hint of flirting, but Sophie shivered all the same. “You’re fine, Flint, I know what you mean. When are we heading over to the game?” 

“Soon. I want another drink first though, I know the rules better when I’m not sober.” She tilted back her head to catch the last couple drops from her can, trying her best to ignore his steady gaze.

He laughed. “That makes zero sense.”

She ran her tongue over her lips subconsciously. “It makes sense to me.” 

“Uh huh.” Rafe leaned back just enough to finish his beer like her. “There’s twenty minutes to kickoff, how about we grab one more and head over?” 

Sophie took the opportunity to hop down from the railing, nudging him aside with a hand on his chest. “Bet I can shotgun faster than you.” 

“Is that a challenge?” He raised his eyebrows and took her empty can, tossing them both. 

“Always, Cameron.” She grinned, grabbing two drinks for them from a cooler.

Rafe wrinkled his nose as he accepted the drink. “White Claw, Soph, really?”

She took out her key and stabbed the can, then handed it over to him. “What, can’t handle it? Would you prefer a piss-warm beer?”

He scowled, bringing it to his lips. “Ready?” 

“Ready.” They popped the tab at the same time and kept eye contact as they chugged, Rafe stepping away as Sophie tried stepping on his toe to distract him. He finished moments before her and threw down his can triumphantly, raising his hands in victory. “Ha! Beat you!”

Sophie groaned and grabbed new cans right away. “Rematch.” 

“Don’t be a sore loser.” Rafe teased, but took the can anyways. 

“Don’t be so proud about finishing first.” Sophie shot back with a proud smirk. 

He laughed, loud. “That’s a good one. Just one more, yeah?” 

“Yeah, I’ll win and we can call it good.” 

He grinned. “You’re cute when you’re persistent.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Fuck off.”

He just laughed again and stabbed both their cans, then lifted his to his lips. “Ready to lose?”

Sophie responded by popping her tab just quick enough to give her a tiny head start. She finished just before him this time, dropping her can - but a shot’s worth of alcohol dripped out onto the porch, betraying her.

“You cheated!” Rafe pointed out, grabbing up the can and pointing out the evidence.

She blushed but crossed her arms, lifting her chin. “Did not. That’s...condensation.” 

“It’s okay, Soph, just say I’m better.” He smirked. 

“Except you’re not, and I never lie.” She retorted. 

“You’re turning red.” 

“I’m not.” 

“You’re lying again.” 

She huffed, folding her arms across her chest. “Thank you for reminding me why I hate you.” 

At that moment, her parents walked out from the house, her dad laughing as he caught the last of Sophie’s words. “There’s the Rafe and Sophie I know. I thought you were being too nice.”

Her mom tutted, elbowing her dad’s side. “Are you two ready for the game?”

Sophie bent down to pick up the cans from the porch and throw them away, wobbling slightly when she stood up too quickly and plastered on a smile for her mom. “Yes, we’re ready.” 

Rafe grinned, catching her elbow to keep her steady. “Didn’t peg you as a lightweight, Soph.” He murmured, so only she could hear.

“It’s the heels.” She replied lamely, gesturing to her boots.

“You’re underage, Sophie. Don’t be a bad influence.” Her mom reminded her, starting off with her dad toward the stadium. Sophie and Rafe followed close behind and he laughed at her mom’s sentiment. 

They were pretty engrossed throughout the game, Rafe enjoying her family’s company. He was caught off guard a couple times by her dad slinging an arm around him in celebration after a touchdown, or her mom reaching over for a high-five, but gradually grew more comfortable. Sophie took several opportunities to sneak him shooters throughout the game, trying to knock them back as discretely as possible even though her mom was just a few seats away. (Her dad participated in a round of shots when her mom left for the restroom at halftime.) The alcohol and lack of food went straight to her head, and by the end of the game, she was leaning completely into Rafe, her arm wrapped around his waist. 

“You’re trouble, Soph.” Rafe murmured to her, laughing at her obvious blush. 

“I’m just keeping the game fun. Poor Indiana has been getting blown out since the first quarter.” She rested her head on his shoulder and he cleared his throat, reminding himself this was only because she was drunk.

“Ready to go?”

Sophie shivered, crossing her arms. “Yeah, fine. To the bars?”

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and rubbed her arm, trying to warm her up. “I don’t know about that, I think you need some food.” 

“Rafe, are you joining us for dinner?” Her mom interrupted them with a friendly smile.

“Um, no, I don’t want to intrude. I really appreciate you letting me hang around for most of the day though, I had a lot of fun.” He countered quickly, moving Sophie to stand upright.

She let out a quiet whine and he dug his fingers just slightly into her shoulder.

“You’re welcome to join if you’d like.” Her dad replied, giving Rafe a second chance. 

“No, no, it’s alright. I’m going to catch up with my friends, thank you though.” He denied the offer again. “I’ll see you in class, yeah Soph?” 

She patted his cheek with a dopey smile. “See you in class, buddy.” 

Rafe grinned, shaking his head before he turned away to walk home on his own. “Call me if you want a ride later. It was good to see you both!” He waved goodbye to her parents, walking away. 

taglist: @obx-saltlife​ @dontjinx-it @butgilinsky @oopsiedoopsie23 @taiter-tots @annedub​ @alexandracheers​

[actuallybarb]

The Aftermath ~ Part 8

Summary: y/n meets the 99th precinct in brooklyn and gets a ride to school with a cop, brad still tries to be friends with her even though she’s told him off multiple times, and pepper potts saves the day, as always

Pairing: peter parker x reader

Warnings: swearing, angst, fluff, trauma, more i’m forgetting

Word Count: 4450

A/N: truly, sorry not sorry. obviously you gotta keep reading tho, it all resolves in the end. 

                                                        //////////

The police were there in fifteen minutes. They had the apartment taped off after five, and two detectives from the ninety-ninth precinct were on the scene after ten. The detectives, Peralta and Diaz, let Dad and I grab a few things before the apartment was entirely given over to the investigation, but there wasn’t much else we could do.

“We’ll let you know as soon as we get the blood results back and if any new developments are made, but for now, just keep trying to find your mom.”

Detective Peralta was talking to me while Diaz took over talking to my dad - he was a little more distraught than I was. (I was 17 years old and had seen a lot of shit, call me heartless.) But something wasn’t sitting right with me about all of this. I looked at the detective with narrowed eyes. “Let’s do everyone a favor and not bullshit, okay? I just want an honest answer: do you think my mom is dead?”

He flinched a little bit and looked around the crime scene, but his eyes looked clear when he answered. “I’ve seen a lot of dead bodies, kid, and you get familiar with how much blood a body has. There’s too much to make me think there’s only one victim here, so we took multiple blood samples. I wouldn’t put the chance of your mom being alive high, but the amount of blood makes me think she might be.”

“Huh. That wasn’t what I was expecting you to answer.” I looked around the apartment though and could tell he was right. “Thanks.”

“If you need anything, give me a call, okay?” I took his card and nodded, then left with Dad again for the second time that day.

“Where are we going to stay?”

Dad scratched the scruff on his jaw and sighed. He looked exhausted, and it wasn’t even two. “I don’t know, sweetheart. I don’t know.” He opened the door to the stairwell (he always took the stairs, a real curse when we lived on the twenty-third floor) and let me lead the way down. “We could get a hotel. I can book it before I go to the hospital and drop you off.”

I slapped my feet on the stairs. As much as I scrubbed my hands in the bathroom, I still felt like there was blood under my fingernails. It still smelled like it, too. And the last thing I needed was to be by myself washing my hands until I got so tired I passed out. “I don’t want to be by myself in a hotel, Dad.” I slowed down, thinking about my options. “I could call Jess. I could stay the night with her then we could get a hotel tomorrow.”

“I don’t want to have to bother her...”

“I don’t want to be alone,” I whispered.

His eyes softened immediately and he needed no other persuasion. “Okay, Y/N. Let’s call her when we get to the lobby.”

“Okay.”

She picked up on the third ring. “Hey, Y/N.”

“Can I stay the night with you?”

“Is everything okay?”

“No. My dad’s going to the hospital tonight and—and—” I couldn’t breathe. Holy shit I couldn’t breathe. Who the hell would do something like this? Where the hell is Mom?

My phone was pulled out of my hand. “Breathe, Y/N. Deep breaths, that’s it.” He pressed the phone to his ear. “Jess? Yeah, it’s me. I can drop her off and we’ll talk then? It’s - it’s bad. Okay, see you soon.” He hung up and leaned down beside me. “You okay?” I nodded as convincingly as I could. “Okay.” He helped me off the ground and we walked slowly to the parking garage.

We eventually made it back into Queens and outside Jessica’s house. She and her husband, Brayden, were waiting for us on the porch.

I ran into her arms as soon as I got out of the car. “Hi.”

“Hi, Y/N. Let’s talk inside.”

I didn’t do much talking. Jess got me a mug of hot chocolate and a blanket and I stared into space while Dad relayed all of the happenings in the last few hours to them. But then he had to go to work, and even though I was with Jess and Brayden, I still felt alone. I guess I was more distraught than I thought.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow and we’ll sort things out, okay? I love you.”

“I love you too.” He drove off, and I curled in on myself.

“Come on, let’s talk.” Jess lightly touched my arm and I followed her up to her room. She opened the french doors to the balcony and we both took a seat, but even the blanket I had wrapped around my shoulders couldn’t keep out my chill. “I’m not going to make you go to school tomorrow. But you should probably tell someone so you don’t get behind on work.”

I nodded numbly, then sent Peter a text.

I won’t be at school tomorrow, will you get my work?

Course. Everything okay?

Not enough energy. Thanks Pete

Any time Y/N

Jess nudged my foot with her own. “What’s going through your head?”

I put my chin on my curled up knees and sighed. “There was so much blood, Jess. The detective thinks there might be a chance she’s still alive, but it was everywhere. And I can’t help but think that this person is coming after me, because of everything. Venice, Prague, London, even helping Spider-Man clear his name. Maybe Mom was just in the way, so they got rid of her.”

“You can’t blame yourself for this, Y/N. It’s not your fault.”

“Doesn’t stop me from feeling guilty,” I mumbled.

The sun started to set and my stomach started to grumble; the only thing I had eaten all day were Sam’s pancakes. Delicious, but not a fix-all. Brayden made dinner - grilled chicken and mashed potatoes - and I got to sit beside their little girl, Hayley, who was getting the hang of small full sentences by now.

“I like you.”

“Well that’s good, considering we’ve been sitting next to each other for the last twenty minutes. I like you too, Hayley. I’m glad we get to be friends.” As much as I hated using a three-year-old as a coping mechanism, Hayley was an easy distraction. She didn’t have to worry about dead bodies and superpowers and the chemistry test on Tuesday.

Shit, the chemistry test. I was still missing some notes. And, as much as it surprised myself, I didn’t want to ask Peter for them. But I knew someone else in that class.

Eugene, will you send me the notes from Monday?

Finally realizing your sleeping endeavors were poorly timed?

Stop using big words and send me the notes

Why don’t you just ask Parker? Aren’t you two attached at the hip?

Believe it or not, Eugene, I’m actually trying to form some semblance of a friendship here, and you’re kind of ruining my plan (okay, I wasn’t trying to make a friendship, but it’s something Taylor’s griped about for months, so might as well try with someone who won’t get offended at my relentless roasting.)

The fact that your grammar is perfect even when you text is infuriating. Whatever, I’ll send them. And don’t think I’ve forgotten about the favor you owe me.

Of course not, Eugene. Thanks

I grabbed my backpack and started copying down the notes, but even though I was asleep for some of the class, I could tell Flash didn’t have all of the content. There was one other person I could text before Peter. But we weren’t necessarily speaking.

Hey can you send me the chem notes from Monday?

yeah sure. ready for the test on tuesday?

Hell no, why do you think I’m cramming now 😂

and then we have that english paper due on friday 🤢

If I fall over dead in the middle of the test on Tuesday do you think we’ll all get an A?

i’ll take one for the team if you don’t

Haha sounds good. Thanks MJ

no problem

Thank god MJ actually took good notes. Combined with her’s and Eugene’s, those pages of notes were better than any I had actually taken in class. Maybe I would actually do well on this test. But that was a cramming problem for tomorrow.

///////////

Hayley reminded me a lot of Morgan: too smart for her own good. Jess called in sick to work so the three of us stayed home and watched Disney movies, but Hayley was starting to guess the endings halfway through. I mean, they’re all pretty predictable, but she’s only three. She had just guessed the ending for Brave when my phone started ringing.

It was Peter.

“Hey, Peter.”

“Y/N what the hell is going on?”

My blood went cold. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t bullshit me, Y/N. I went by your apartment to drop off the notes I got for you and it was covered in police tape and blood. Wha- Is everything okay?”

I couldn’t get the words to come out of my mouth. I couldn’t say anything, let alone answer his question. So I just texted him my location.

“I’ll be there soon.” He didn’t wait for an answer, which was probably for the best.

He pulled up to the curb half an hour later. “May let me borrow her car.”

“I didn’t know you got your license.”

“Right before Europe, actually.”

“Oh.” I sat on the porch steps with plenty of room for Peter, and he just sat and looked at me. Waiting for me to start talking. “Thanks for getting my notes.”

“Yeah, no problem. There’s a review for the chem test in there, too, but it’s not an actual assignment.”

“Oh, okay.” I brought my knees up a step and wrapped my arms around them. We sat in silence for a while, but he came over for a reason, and if I was going to tell anyone about what happened, I’d want Peter to know. “We found it after we dropped you off at your apartment.”

“The blood?”

I nodded. “We opened up the door and there was blood everywhere, and my mom wasn’t home, which was weird, because she’s usually making something in the kitchen on Sunday afternoons. So we called the police, and they took some blood samples, and I stayed with Jess last night because my dad was on-call at the hospital and I- I didn’t want to be alone.”

“Have they called with any news?”

“Not yet. But hopefully they’ll get the blood samples back and know whose it is.”

Peter just sat in silence for a second. “Are you doing okay?”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, trying to put a semblance of a smile on my face. “What do you think?”

The corner of his lip lifted up. “Yeah, I figured.” He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and let me lean against him. “When’s your dad supposed to get back?”

When was he supposed to get back? It was getting closer to five, and he was usually home around then. I checked my phone, but there were no new messages. “Hold on,” I told Peter, and I called Dad’s cell.

No answer.

I called the hospital. “Southwest Mercy Hospital, how can I help you?”

“Is Doctor Y/L/N in right now?”

“Might I ask who’s calling?”

“Y/N Y/L/N. His daughter.

“One moment please.” A few taps on the other end. “No, he’s not. He was actually supposed to come in last night, but he never showed up.”

“Can you call me back if he shows up?”

“Of course.”

I hung up.

Where the fuck is he?

Why didn’t he show up at work?

There was something warm in my hand, and it took me a second to recognize it as Peter’s own hand. “Hey,” he said softly, “it’s going to be okay.”

“My dad’s missing, Peter,” I wanted to shout, but it was barely a whisper. “My dad and my mom, in less than forty-eight hours. That can’t be a coincidence.”

“We should call the police. If they’re really connected, they’ll be the ones to figure out how.”

I nodded in agreement and pulled out Detective Peralta’s card. “This is Jake Peralta.”

“Detective Peralta? This is Y/N Y/L/N.”

“Wow, what timing, we were actually just about to call you. Is your dad with you by chance?”

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.” I squeezed Peter’s hand as tight as I could. “My dad is missing.”

“What? Are you sure?”

“He was supposed to work the night shift at the hospital last night and he never showed up. And he’s not answering his phone.”

Peralta was scribbling something down frantically. “Would you be able to come by the precinct, Y/N? We found something interesting in your apartment that you’ll want to see.”

“Okay.”

“Okay, we’ll see you soon.”

I hung up and pressed the palms of my hands over my eyes. “God, when did my life become a living nightmare?”

“Five years ago,” Peter said, “when everyone turned into dust.”

I can’t argue with that. I stood up, brushed off my jeans, and sighed. He stood up beside me, and, completely unprompted, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and held on tight. “Thank you,” I mumbled into his neck.

His arms wrapped around my waist. “Call me when you hear something, okay?”

I pulled back and nodded, then kissed him on the cheek. (I was unbelievably upset and needy and decided I was not going to deny myself the simple wants of physical contact with Peter Parker. Sue me.) “I’ll see you tomorrow.” I ran back inside and had a quick conversation with Jess and Brayden (who somehow got into the house without me noticing, weird) and he handed her the keys to his car. We were on the road a minute later.

“It’s not necessarily linked with what happened to your mom, Y/N,” Jess tried to console me as we trudged through traffic to the 99th precinct in Brooklyn. “It could be completely unrelated.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s any less terrifying, Jess.”

“No, it doesn’t. But it could just be a coincidence.”

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” I said as we reached the parking garage. The man at the front desk told us which floor, and I was too anxious to wait for the elevator so I ran up the stairs. I waited for Jess before I walked in, but it hardly made a difference; I’m sure I still looked like a crazy person.

An extremely muscled man approached us first. “Can I help you?”

“I’m here for Detective Peralta,” I wheezed out, still catching my breath.

“He’s the second desk on the left.”

“Thank you.” Detective Peralta turned around and shook both of our hands. “What do you have on my mom?”

He brought over another chair for Jess and sat behind his desk. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get the information for your dad first. Just so we can get an APB out for him as soon as possible.”

“Oh, sure.”

“Okay, when was the last time you saw him?”

“Last night, around 5? His night shift usually starts around 6.”

“And where was he?”

“He had dropped off Y/N at my house, we talked for about ten minutes, then he left for his shift.” Jess told him her address and where Dad worked while I looked around the precinct. Peralta’s desk had a picture with him and another detective and a little girl between them. Detective Diaz’s desk was across the little walkway, and there was a man at a secluded desk in his own office.

I kept looking around at the office until Jess put a hand on my arm. “Sorry, what?”

“We got the results from the blood samples. There were two different bloods in the apartment, like I thought, so I got forensics to use a UV light and some sort of magic I can’t explain to differentiate between the two. And this is what came up.” He slid over a picture and five words were shining against the mass amounts of blood.

I know who you are.

“Whose blood is it?”

He took the picture back. “Your mom’s. But those are the only traces of it we could find.”

“And the rest of it?”

“The DNA isn’t in our system. We contacted the FBI and CIA to see if anything comes up in their systems, but we haven’t gotten any results yet. Y/N.” He leaned forward, extremely serious. “Because of the message left behind and the fact that your dad is now missing, we want to relocate you to a safe house —“

“No.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I’m not hiding.”

“Y/N,” Jess started, but I cut her off.

“If they’re actually trying to scare me, I’m not going to let them go after anyone else I care about. Let them come for me.”

“Y/N, you could be in serious danger. We shouldn’t take this lightly.”

“I’m not. But this person already took my mom and my dad. They’re not getting anyone else.”

Peralta and Jess looked at each other, but Jess knew me better than most; she knew I wouldn’t budge on this. “Okay,” he conceded, “no safe house. But I’d like to have a detail on you, just in case, okay?” I nodded. That wasn’t the issue. Besides, if I wanted to go to a safe house, I’d just go upstate.

Detective Peralta walked us to the door of the precinct. “We’ll keep a look out for your dad’s car and let you know if it comes up. Officer Mason will be keeping an eye on your house tonight. Take care of yourself, Y/N.”

“Thanks.” It was closer to eight, and I still had that stupid chemistry test tomorrow, but all I wanted was to fall asleep and never wake up.

But that wasn’t how the world worked, and I was up until one studying. Jess handed me a to-go cup of coffee when I walked into the kitchen right before school, and I raised it to her before taking a sip. “See you later.”

“Have a good day.”

I walked down the steps and knocked on the window of the patrol car outside of the house. Officer Mason started and looked around, then rolled down the window. “What’s up?”

“Can you give me a ride to school?”

He looked at me like I was incredulous. He wasn’t wrong, but still. “That’s not really what I’m here to do, kid.”

“You’re here to keep an eye on me, right? So let’s go.” I pulled on the handle until he unlocked the car and let me in.

I got to school with five minutes to spare (shout out to Officer Mason for running that last red light). My Spanish book was so unused it collected dust on it, but I brushed it off quickly before I walked into class. I took my spot among the few in class and looked over Peter’s notes from the day before, just in case there was a pop quiz.

“Hey.”

Shit. Brad.

“What do you want?”

“You weren’t here yesterday, and you showed up today in a cop car. Everything good?”

I rolled my eyes and looked up at him. “Why the hell would you think I would tell you anything personal about my life ever?“

“I was just asking, Y/N, fuck.”

“I don’t like Brad either.” Peter sat beside me and gave me a small smile.

“I think most of that has to do with the fact that he tried to make a move on MJ.”

“And the fact that he took a picture of me in my underwear and was going to show it to everyone in Europe.”

“Everyone in Europe? That’s pretty big, Peter, you could’ve been famous.”

“For almost-nudes I didn’t even take,” he said with a smile. “What did the detective say?”

The bell rang and Peter flinched just slightly. “I’ll tell you after class.”

No pop quiz, and lunch was turkey and gravy. I was feeling slightly better, and I remembered almost everything I needed to study for the chem test. I was halfway through it, feeling good, when Principal Morita was at the door of the lab, asking for me. I looked up, and none other than Detective Peralta was standing beside him, giving me a look full of nothing but pity.

My heart dropped down to my stomach.

I looked over at Peter and his eyes were as wide as mine, his heart racing. But there was nothing he could do.

I left my test at my seat, grabbed my backpack, and met Mr. Morita and Peralta in the hallway. “What did you find?”

“We found your dad’s car, and I had forensics do the same test as the one in your apartment. This is what they found.”

I know what you did.

“I need you to come into the station, Y/N. We need to ask you a couple of questions.”

I looked between the two adults and could feel my heart rate rising. “I, uh — I didn’t finish my test.”

Mr. Morita spoke up. “I’ll talk to Mrs. Phelps and make sure you can finish it later in the week.”

“Okay.” I followed him to his squad car and sat in the back, making me feel like I had actually done something wrong.

Detective Diaz joined us in the interrogation room at the Nine-Nine, and I could feel two others behind the mirror. But none of them stopped me from being set on edge.

“Y/N, I hate for having to bring you out like this, but we need some answers. What is this second picture about?”

I shifted around in my seat. Where to even start? “I’m not going to talk with the people behind the mirror.”

Peralta sputtered. “What? There’s no one behind the —“ Diaz glared at him and he stopped. “We have them there as a precaution, Y/N, they’re detectives too.”

“Either they join us in here or they leave, but I’m not talking to someone without being able to see their faces.”

They looked at each other for a second before Peralta turned to the mirror and motioned for them to leave. I felt their footsteps retreat down the hall until I couldn’t feel them anymore, then I at least let my shoulders drop. Just a little bit.

“You guys remember Quentin Beck from the summer? The Mysterio guy who fought the Elementals?”

“Yeah, that dick that said Spider-Man murdered him?”

“Yeah, him. He kind of... hijacked our field trip.” I told them everything; well, almost everything. “Beck blackmailed me into helping him with his plan, so I, uh... I ended up hurting a lot of people. That’s probably what this person is talking about. It could be a family member, or one of Beck’s crewmen.”

“Why would one of the crew come after you, you’re just a kid.” Diaz hadn’t said much, but she was an observer, like me. I just wish I could shove away my emotions like her.

“I, uh, kind of got them all put in prison after they put up the video of Beck outing Peter Parker as Spider-Man.”

“Oh. Well that would do it.”

Peralta thought for a second then spoke up. “We’ll keep an eye on the families of the crew, see if anyone has a similar timeline to the disappearances. Until then,” he put his hand down on the table and looked me in the eye, “I have to insist that you stay in a safe house, Y/N. Staying anywhere else could put yourself and others in danger.”

Staying in a place by myself made me want to throw up. But I could see how selfish it was.

“One more night. One more night, and then I’ll go. And I want to stay at my own safe house.”

“You have a safe house?”

I shrugged. “I know a — a person.”

They glanced at each other again. “Okay, we’ll talk about it. But I want to talk to them. Today.”

“Fine.” I pulled out my phone and clicked on Pepper’s contact. She picked up on the first ring.

“Y/N. Is everything okay?”

I laughed lightly, even though nothing about this situation was funny. “Not even close. So much has happened in the last three days.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. “I, uh, need to come up to the compound tomorrow, but I need you to talk to these detectives.”

“You’re freaking me out, Y/N, what’s going on?”

“I’m going to put you on speaker.” I set the phone on the table. “I need to go to a safe house, and I figured the compound is the best place to go. But these detectives have some questions.”

“Okay.”

“Hello, ma’am, my name is Detective Jake Peralta, I’m here with my partner, Detective Rosa Diaz, and we’re concerned for Y/N’s safety. We’ve been trying to get her to go to a safe house provided by the Nine-Nine, but she says she’ll only go to her own safe house. Mostly we just need to verify that the location is legit and we need a squad car there at all times. Would you be able to come to the Ninety-Ninth Precinct in Brooklyn so we can talk in person?”

“Um, I’m not actually in New York right now, but I could be there by tomorrow. Could I come by in the morning?”

“That should be fine. Can we get a name?”

“Pepper Potts.”

They both balked. Their eyes got huge and they looked at me with disbelief. “Pepper Potts?”

“That’s right.”

“Okay, we look forward to meeting with you tomorrow.”

“Perfect. And, Y/N? You better call me back within the next hour about what is going on.”

“Yes ma’am.” She hung up and I tucked my phone back in my pocket. “Am I good to go?”

“You know Pepper Potts?”

“I told you, I cleared Spider-Man’s name. I have a lot of connections.” I stood up and opened the door, deciding for myself that the interrogation was over.

“You know Spider-Man?”

“Jake’s loved Spider-Man since the first video came out on YouTube,” Diaz said. “He won’t admit that he has a fan account, but I think he does.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I know Spider-Man.”

“Can you get me his autograph?”

I glanced at him. “Yeah, I guess.”

Officer Wade drove me back to Jess’s, and I happily left her at the curb.

I had an important phone call to make.

tags: @eridanuswave​ @vampirestrawberries​ @yougottalovefandoms​

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Trust: Jake

CW: References to violence, beating, blood, noncon/dubcon, domestic abuse, child abuse, and all the other gross that goes along with the Box Boy universe

The final installment of this mini-narrative I’ve been working on where Jake and Chris took over my brain. I’m going to take a writing break for a couple of days and hopefully will start posting again on Monday! See my other BBU writings here.

Tagging @burtlederp, @finder-of-rings, @endless-whump, @whumpfigure, @stxckfxck, @slaintetowhump

This piece features @deluxewhump‘s Alex, from her Frathouse Box Boy series - highly recommended reading! Alex is used with permission.

His fucking mugshot is all over the place.

Jake only barely remembers that part - it’d been on the second day, maybe, after he’d already been beaten and shocked and awake for nearly twenty-four hours. He has a vague knowledge of standing in front of lights, the sound of a camera, being made to turn. That knowledge comes alongside the memory of a pounding in his head, his knee, of zip-tied wrists dripping blood on the floor while the two men in front of him joked about something on TV the past weekend.

He’d forgotten it as soon as it was over - there were worse things going on in his life than having a photo taken of his black eye and busted-up face - but when he came back to school two weeks later, Jake discovered that just about everyone he spoke to had seen his mugshot on the local news website, with Public Intoxication, Criminal Assault, and Resisting Arrest listed as his charges.

It doesn’t matter that only one of those charges is real. It doesn’t matter that it’s not going to stick, and Nat has already told him that the lawyer who works with the safehouse pro bono is fairly certain they’ll drop the charge since no one can prove Jake resisted anything and the ‘cop’ in question is nowhere to be found.

It doesn’t matter, not any of it, because by the time all of that goes away - by the time he’s healed up enough to go back to class, and Chris has stopped panicking at the idea of him leaving the house, Jake is already known as the guy who got arrested for a drunk barfight after punching a cop.

He doesn’t bother telling anyone what actually happened. He doesn’t care enough about any of these people to try and change their minds about him. 

He doesn’t know who he can trust with the knowledge, either. No matter that the guys had given he and Nat two different stories on how they’d been found out, and it’s possible neither one is totally true, Jake is pretty sure it had to be someone on campus.

He goes early on Tuesday, feeling like shit but kind of wanting a break from Chris’s nervous clinging, just… just for a while. He’s done more comforting and caring for Chris than taking care of himself, and it feels good to be back home - and it is home, isn’t it? At some point it became his real home - but he could use the space to just breathe, and feel sorry for himself.

He hasn't spoken to Addie since the night before the raid. Just texted after he got back to let her know an emergency had come up and they'd talk again when he could. 

It’s not fair to her, but on the list of things that changed right before he got turned in… meeting Addie is the only big one. 

The idea that he got turned in by his fucking girlfriend seems so fucked-up and cliché and weirdly old-fashioned, somehow, that he refuses to think too hard about it. But… if it was her… if she would have sent Chris back to that motherfucker… he has to know.

He’s staring off into space over a cappuccino in the student center coffee shop when movement in front of him catches his eye.

“Um. Hey.”

Jake takes a deep breath at the familiar voice, raising his eyes to see… the frat guy. Alex Something-Something. The one that came and asked him about ways to get a Box Boy to pass because he wanted to take his frat’s human mascot or whatever out in public without people knowing what he was. 

The guy looks half-awake, a coffee in one hand and the other resting on the strap of the backpack hanging off one shoulder, wearing a big hooded pullover with his frat’s symbol on the front and blue jeans. 

Jake stares up at him, and thinks, you fucking bought one. A bit of anger twists in his chest, but Jake’s too fucking tired to hold onto it. His frat had bought a person, sure, but he couldn’t stay mad at someone who had really been trying to learn. Jake had messages on his phone from some friends who said there was a frat guy kind of nosing around for more info while he was gone, maybe going to join the movement.

It wasn’t fair to judge him by what he’d allowed to happen if he was going to try and do something about it now. What matters is that you leave, he reminds himself, thinking of his mother and Nat and the conversations he’s had, again and again, with people who had to fight between standing still and putting themselves at risk, even in small ways. What matters is that you choose, once or twice or four times or however many times it takes, not to watch it happen again.

He couldn’t hold on to anger when he saw the signs of someone wanting to change. He was too exhausted, carrying too great a weight on his own, and too scared that his one attempt to open up and meet someone had resulted in putting the lives of Antoni and Leila and Chris at risk.

He’d been the one having nightmares, the house turned upside down again and Chris dragged into the middle of the living room, a knee jammed in his back, screaming and screaming for help that Jake couldn’t give because his fucking girlfriend held him down. 

If it had been Addie all along, Jake would never date again. He honestly feels like the stupidest asshole on earth for having taken the risk at all. He needs to call her again, he needs to set up a meeting or some kind of dinner date or something. He needs to tell her that he’s scared.

Instead, he’s here way too early on a Tuesday morning, trying to figure out how scared he gets before he’s brave enough to take the risk of letting someone new in.

“Hey,” He says, buying himself a little time to think by taking a sip from his cappuccino, ruining the little heart the barista had drawn into the foam. “You’re on campus early. No house party last night?”

The guy gives him a weird look - like he’s looking for the insult and isn’t sure if he’s found it or not. “Last night was Monday.”

“Since when does that stop a frat house?”

There’s a pause, and the guy quirks kind of a half-sided smile, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, okay, fair enough. Some of the other guys had a couple people over to play COD, so I guess technically you’re right. Don’t be a dick about it, though, okay?”

“Sorry,” Jake says, and honestly, he kind of means it. This Alex guy’s pretty nice, and the longer he’s thought about it the more Jake is certain that he definitely isn’t the one who turned them in. Even if he’d been kind of complacent in stuff, he just… isn’t that kind of person. Jake can tell, deep in himself, that he’s not. “Sorry. I’m kind of an asshole, I probably should have warned you.”

“You, uh. You did, Jake.”

Jake raises his eyebrows, surprised the frat guy remembered his name at all. “I did?”

“Yeah, like… the first time we ever spoke, man. It was maybe the third thing you even said to me, that you’re an asshole about, uh… the stuff. You know. That we talked about.”

“Oh.” Jake clears his throat. His voice was back to normal - the first week it’d been hoarse, the screaming had turned the inside of his throat into raw meat, barely able to swallow the warm tea that Antoni brewed in massive amounts with plenty of honey. He’d made soup with carrots and ginger and some kind of yogurt and Jake had had to insist Chris not try to feed him like his hands were broken, not just bruised. “Sorry. I’ve had, um. It’s been a weird couple of weeks.”

“Yeah, I heard about that.”

Jake’s eyes narrow as the guy sits down in the chair across from him, sipping his coffee, gripping onto the cup nervously. “Did you?”

“Uh. Yeah. The, um… you know, someone I knew showed me… your, uh. We were talking about it in class last week.”

Jake closes his eyes, slowly. Even after two weeks of rest, it’s hard to open them again. “Of course you were.”

“I mean… man, it’s not every week someone who sits three rows down gets arrested for fighting cops.” 

“I wasn’t-” Jake cuts himself off, his hands tightening around the cappuccino. “Never mind.”

“Nah, man, I’m teasing you. Look, I was going to hit up the library before, um, before our Ethics class.” 

Jake snorts. One possibility - the handler had told him it was the Ethics in Political Philosophy professor who turned them in. Could be him. Could be the landscaping company guy down the street, like they’d told Nat. Could be Addie. Could be the fucking yoga instructor who smiled at Chris and complimented his fucking posture, could be-

He catches his thoughts before they can take off, drag him down into depression again.

“I’m about to go beg for mercy before that class,” Jake says, dryly, and watches Alex smile in response. “Since I missed, what, four classes. And he’s not exactly known for being nice about that shit. Can’t exactly say my grandma died when the whole fucking campus has seen my face all bashed up, huh?”

“Oh. Uh, well. You don’t… actually, that’s why I’m glad I saw you so early.” Alex sets his coffee down - he’s been sipping it steadily - and reaches over to unzip the backpack currently sitting at his feet, digging around inside of it. “I figured I’d catch you before class started, but this is better. Um.”

“Why? You want to help me beg?” 

It’s Alex’s turn to snort. “No thanks. I try not to ever look him in the eyes, let alone ask him for anything. No, I wanted to talk to you because… here.” He pulls out a stack of papers more than an inch thick and sets them on the little table between them.

Jake blinks, and looks down. “What is this? Is this the shit I gave you? You’re… giving it back?”

“Fuck, no. No way, man. I… no. I want to keep those. This is, uh, this is two weeks of notes.” Alex pats the top of the paper like a car salesman patting the hood of a car, grinning at him with  kind of absurd, sweet pride in his eyes. “I talked my adviser into printing me a list of your classes, found some people I knew in them, and, uh. Here we go. That’s notes for every single one of your classes for the past two weeks, plus copies of the assignments.” Alex pauses, then pats the pile of papers again. “Man, you are taking way too many classes.”

“Yeah, well. I have a lot of shit to do on all the other days, I kind of have to load them…” Jake leans forward, barely able to believe it as he picks up the stack and flips through it. Different handwriting and little encouraging notes in the margins, copied assignment papers. He just… keeps blinking at it. 

“Yeah, I, uh. I know. I talked to some people when, you know… when it came out about the, um. Your face.” Alex waves his hand around, as if emphasizing his own absolute lack of injury. 

“Who’d you talk to?” Jake is still staring at the notes, feeling and unfamiliar flutter of something like… like real gratitude. He tells himself to say thank you, and for just a second, the words stick in his throat.

It’s been Jake and Nat versus the world for so long, it’s hard to believe the world just expanded to include a whole new person he barely knows. 

“Some people. You know. That, uh. Know you. I… I know it wasn’t a barfight, Jake.”

Jake’s fingers grip tightly onto the papers, and he raises his eyes to meet Alex’s sincere expression of real concern. “You do?”

“Yeah. I, uh. I had no idea shit like that even happens now… we never heard anything on the news-”

“Yeah, and you won’t.” Jake thinks of the Governor standing in the corner, hidden behind glass and shadows, laughing as they hit Chris across the hands to stop him from tapping, hit him again and again and again, the awful soundtrack of his cries layered over the top of that fucking pervert’s laughter. He’s going to fucking kill that man one day.

“Uh, Alex, I just-... you didn’t have to do this, man, that’s… really cool of you. Thanks.” He has to force out the word, but he wants to, he wants to say it. He never expected this. 

He’s spent so much of his life insisting he doesn’t need charity, he doesn’t need help, and his mom will get on just fine, thanks. No, those bruises aren’t because of things at home. No, he doesn’t need to talk to the guidance counselor, no, no, no no no-... but here it’s just been done, the mercy, the kindness. None of that bullshit how are you? with the overly exaggerated concern and sadness. Alex just… helped. It throws Jake off-kilter, the same way learning how every single neighbor they had had come together to care for Chris while they were gone throws him off-kilter. “How’d you get everyone to take notes?”

Alex shrugs, drinking his coffee again, supremely pleased with himself. “I just asked, Jake. You can get a lot of stuff just by being nice to people, you know.”

What if we had told the neighbors what we were before the raid? Would they have helped us?

“I wouldn’t know. You just… asked? God, no wonder you’re Poli Sci. You’re gonna make a hell of a politician one day.”

Alex’s smile, if anything, widens. “Yeah, I hope so. Maybe I can do something about this shit, then.” At Jake’s surprised expression, he rolls his eyes. “I read your stuff, Jake. I read every single page. I’m kind of in it, now, sort of. It’s hard to know it and not, uh, think about it. So, can I ask-... your cousin, the one that you brought to class for a while-”

“Yeah.” Jake takes a chance. He takes a risk. He goes stepping voluntarily off a cliff, maybe taking Chris along with him. Somehow, though, he can’t stop himself. He’s tired of feeling alone when he’s here. He’s kind of just tired of feeling alone. “He’s a rescue.”

“Is he a… you know.” Alex’s face darkens, and he clears his throat, looking almost ashamed of himself just for saying the words. “A, uh. Where they… refurbish them? I wish I knew a better word for it.”

“There aren’t any better words for when they pull that shit on people. And… No. He’s not.”

“Oh, okay. Um. What, uh, what kind was he-... I was reading about the different, uh, kinds-”

“I don’t want to talk about that.”

Alex nods, slowly, looks down at his coffee, looks back up. “Sorry. How old is he?”

Jake’s jaw tightens - not at Alex, but at the memory of the boy in the video, shaking and terrified, whimpering I’m eighteen to a room full of adults who all knew he wasn’t. “I don’t know.”

“He looks really young.”

“He is. I don’t know how young. Alex, if you… if you tell someone about this shit, about him, they’ll take him away and send him right back. You get it?”

“Yeah. I get it. Except… d’you mind if I tell, uh, my, um… our… my friend? That I talked to you about before? If it comes up that getting, uh, rescued is a, uh, a thing? That, that maybe… I don’t know, maybe he could… go home with somebody. Have a home, like that kid has with you.”

“The kid’s name is Chris,” Jake says, quietly. “He picked his name himself. There’s a couple more where we live. When they’re ready, they move out, and they start new lives. Chris, it’ll take him a while.” If ever. “Look, I, um, this was… was amazing, what you did, getting all those notes put together. I don’t know how to thank you for it, really, saying ‘thanks’ just feels like it doesn’t really cut it, you know?”

Alex nods, finishing his coffee up and setting the empty cup down on the table, decisively. “It’s no problem, man. I get it. I’m just, uh. I’m just glad everything worked out.”

Did it? Is that what happened?

“Me, too,” Jake says, aware of how heavy his voice sounds, how false the sentiment. “Look, I, uh, I can’t bring Chris on campus anymore. There’s a possibility we were… found out… because of that.” His voice catches in his throat, but Jake pushes down the guilt. He has time for that later. “So… you won’t see him anymore.”

Alex is silent, for a long moment. Then he says, almost hesitantly, “What about meetings?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“What if I… go to meetings? Do the, um. The… you called them ‘rescues’? Do they go to meetings? If I go to them, if I start, uh, going to them… would I see any? Be able to talk to them? Or…”

“Yeah. Rescues go, sometimes. They give talks about their lives, and everything. Antoni - sorry, I have a, uh, there’s one I live with right now named Antoni - he’s given talks on his life as a Domestic before. I don’t know about Chris, though, he, um... Chris struggles with-”

Chris would go into dark corners with anyone who smiled and touched his face and I don’t always trust the very people who are risking themselves to help us. Not with him. Not when he’s so easy to hurt, and easier to convince that you didn’t.

“That’s okay,” Alex says quickly. “It was just. He seems like a cool kid, I saw you guys over at the yoga class a couple times.”

Finally, Jake’s smile is genuine and real. He thinks of the mussed-up strawberry blond hair spread across the pillow when he woke up this morning, Chris mumbling to himself and shifting into the warm spot Jake’s body had made when he got out of bed. One arm flinging out to search for human contact. How young and soft and sweet he looked, in that moment, like a kid ignoring his alarm clock.

He should be in high school right now.

“He is,” Jake says, gathering up the papers from Alex, finishing his cooled cappuccino in a few quick drinks, setting it back down empty. He sticks the papers in his own bag. “He’s fucking amazing, Alex. He’s been through so much-... they’re all… they’re all fucking amazing. Do you get that? They’ve survived so much bullshit and they come out the other side and they still want to figure it out and get better. They’re amazing.”

“Yeah,” Alex says, softly. There’s a weird look on his face, one Jake can’t quite read. “Yeah, you know… they are.”

“You want to meet Chris sometime,” Jake says, pushing his chair back and standing up, pulling his backpack on over his shoulders. “You let me know. I think… I think I’d let him talk to you. Just… don’t hug him too much.”

“Does he not like that?” Alex looks up at him without standing up yet. “Ours, um, my-... the guy that lives with us… he really likes being touched. And it seems like, when Chris was coming with you…”

“No, he likes it. But he wouldn’t-... he can’t tell what kind of affection is safe, yet.” It’s as close as Jake’s going to get to explaining what Chris has been through, at least here and now. He catches someone pointing at him out of the corner of his eye and sighs. 

“No, ours. Uh. Ours can’t either, exactly.” Anger flashes on Alex’s face, distant and thoughtful, and then he just shrugs. “Look, just. I hope those papers help you, man. From what Meghan said, your place was basically trash from top to bottom. I guess she talked to some people who talked to your, uh, your boss or whatever.”

Jake and Nat still haven’t talked, not really. Two weeks later and they’re still drifting past each other, tense and uncertain, each waiting for the other to be the first to bring it up. He feels his shoulder hunch slightly at the mention of her. “Yeah. It was. They left-... You know what, I don’t, um. I don’t want to talk about it. Yeah? Is that okay?”

“Yeah, man, that’s fine. Not a problem. But… if you need help again, will you, uh. Text me or something?” Alex takes a deep breath, meets Jake’s eyes, his jaw set and the open, friendly face set in an expression of stubborn determination. “I want… I want to help you.”

Alex, Jake realizes, is also walking off a cliff, hoping there’s something other than rocks at the bottom. He’s also taking a risk. He’s got his own future, and he probably never saw it including this.

“What are you, um, able to do?” Jake asks, and there’s more to his words than just the surface. A depth he knows Alex can hear. What are you willing to do?

Alex shrugs, standing up finally, giving him that bright handsome smile, politician-to-be through and through. Jake almost wants to shake his hand and the guy’s younger than he is. “Don’t know yet. But, hey, sometimes all you have to do is ask, right? Sometimes it’s just about, like, trusting people not to be utter shits for five seconds.” He moves past Jake, walking away, and calls over his shoulders, “Next time, Jake, trust me, okay? If you need help, just ask.”

He leaves, sliding out through the set of double-doors that leads in from outside, and Jake just stands there, watching him go.

Just ask.

Easy for him to say. 

Harder, so much harder, for Jake to do.

He picks up his phone, staring after Alex’s backpack until it disappears into the morning, until he turns a corner down the walkway, behind a stand of trees, and is gone. 

Jake hasn’t trusted anyone who isn’t a rescue since he was a little kid. No one has ever been someone he could rely on. It’s never, not once in his life, been safe to trust the people who told him to trust them. Right from the start, the people who were supposed to give him a solid foundation had been the quicksand dragging him down.

Jake dials a number and holds his phone up to his ear. After a second, Addie’s warm voice picks up, blurry with sleep. “Jake? Hey, I haven’t… you haven’t called me in a couple of weeks, are you-... what’s up? Did you get your emergency thing sorted?”

Jake swallows, hard. “Can I… can I meet you for lunch during my long break today? I have something to ask you.”

Was it you?

“Yeah… yeah, sure. I missed you, Jake.”

If it wasn’t, can I trust you to know? 

“I missed you, too, Addie. A lot happened, and I just-”

“Yeah, I saw the mugshot, it’s all over campus… are you okay?”

Can I trust you to protect the rescues?

“I’m fine. Now. But, uh. There’s kind of more to it than that… I’ll tell you at lunch. Vegetarian wraps at 1:30, that sound okay? I’m buying.”

There’s a pause, and a smile in Addie’s voice. “Of course it’s okay. I can’t wait to see you.”

Can I trust you to protect Chris?

Jake hangs up, heading out himself, to look over the notes before his first class starts. Alex’s words ringing in his ears, a weight against his back. He’s never going to forgive himself for letting a fucking frat guy be more self-aware than he is. 

If you need help, just ask. 

Trust people.

Ask.

[embeanwrites]

Finding Home Gavin Reed x Reader

Chapter 17

Masterlist

I took Gavin back to my office on the second floor. The building was still fairly quiet since classes hadn’t begun. Gavin had managed to calm down and now he was sitting on top of my desk leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. I had gotten him some ice for his hand, and I was working on my outline.

“So, what are you even going to do for your research?” I leaned back from my computer and looked at the ceiling.

“First, I need to conduct various interviews with androids, citizens, police officers, Cyberlife employees, and... well pretty much anyone who was in Detroit. Then I need to compile it, create the timeline as tight as possible, and then integrate theories with what happened.”

“That sounds like a lot of work.”

“Yeah, but I have three years on my contract, so I’m not too worried. As long as the dean sees I’m doing the work it shouldn’t be too difficult to get my contract extended.”

“What happens once your contract is up?”

“WSU decides if they want to keep me here as a professor and I have the option to leave this position for another one if I don’t want to renew my contract here.” I paused, thinking back to earlier. I still couldn’t shake what he said to me before I kissed him. “Hey, Gavin?” He hummed in response. I took my hands off my keyboard. “Earlier you said that I shouldn’t be with you because you’re a mess and you can’t do anything right…you know that’s wrong, right?” I waited to see if he would respond, but he didn’t. “I’m a mess too.” He snorted. “No, I am. I mean you’ve witnessed me have a full-blown anxiety meltdown and just lots of anxiety in general. That’s just one part of my baggage. I am in no way a perfect person and I would never expect you to be.”

“Yeah, but I have a whole list of problems, (Y/n). You’re gonna get tired of me.” I looked at him, his eyes were still closed.

“Gavin, you’ve got to trust me. I’m not going to hang you out to dry. I didn’t have to run after you earlier, but I did. Doesn’t that tell you something?”

“That you’re an idiot?” I grabbed a pen off my desk and flung it at his head. “Ow!”

“Oh, hush you baby. You know the real Batman would’ve caught that.” He groaned.  

“I hate that nickname.”

“Then what am I supposed to call you?” He got quiet.

“Gav.” He murmured. I nodded and started typing again.

“Well, Gav. I probably need at least another hour to finish this rough draft of my plan. What do you want to do after?” I continued facing the computer, but out of the corner of my eye I saw him smirk.

“Go to my place and make out.” I snickered.

“Alright. Let me finish this and send it to the dean.”

 It took me a little less than an hour to finish the draft and send it off, and I’m pretty sure Gavin had driven at least 15 miles over the speed limit the whole ride back to his place. I laughed, short but full heartedly. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be a cop? Why are you speeding!” He flashed me a grin. 

“Special privilege, babe. Even if I get pulled over all I have to do is show my badge.” I laughed again, a smile lingering on my face while I watched him drive. We hadn’t even gotten through the door and I was pulling his jacket while he was trying to unlock the door, standing on my tiptoes to kiss him. He finished unlocking it with one hand, the other wrapped around my waist and pulling me close, and then up, and I squealed, wrapping my legs around his waist and using this new angle to my advantage, taking control of the kiss. Gavin kicked the door open and then shut behind us, carrying me to his couch and dropping me down into it, pouncing on top of me, not wanting to be apart any longer than we had too. He was kissing me as if I was a lifeline. I gently pushed his chest up forcing a small space between us and smiled.

“What?” He asked, with a cocky smile.

“I haven’t made out with anyone like this since I was a teenager.” I laughed and leaned up to kiss the scar on his nose. He sat up and shifted so I was sitting on his lap. He mimicked me and kissed my nose. Suddenly we heard two of the cats yowling and hissing, causing Gavin groaned.

“Robin! Sassy! Knock it off!” I giggled and laid my head on his shoulder, he started kissing my neck. However, the cats kept fighting, so I hopped off his lap and walked towards the two cats, Gavin huffed and followed me. “What are you doing?” I picked Sassy up.

“Cuddling with Sassy.” She purred in my arms and Robin hissed at the two of us. Gavin laughed.

“You get ‘em, Robin.” I gasped and jumped up and down. Sassy started to claw at my arms. “What?”

“BATMAN AND ROBIN!!!” Gavin groaned.

“Alright this was nice while it lasted.” He gestured towards the door and I kissed his cheek.

“If I’m leaving, I’m taking Sassy.” I held her close to my chest, but she squirmed and jumped down. Gavin laughed.

“Looks like you’re not taking any of my cats.” He said, wrapping his arms around me. I rested my head on his chest and hugged him. I looked at the time on his microwave.

“Hey, I told Connor I would see him and my dad tonight.” He tensed in my arms. “Do you wanna come with me?”

“Your dad doesn’t like me.”

“Yeah and he’s not going to magically start liking you unless you try.” I looked up at him, through my lashes and pursed my lips, wrapping my arms around his neck and lifting my chest up, knowing it would pull my shirt down to reveal more cleavage. “Please?” He groaned.

“Fine.” I smiled, using my arms to pull him down to me for another kiss. 

 I texted Connor to tell him that both Gavin and I were coming over. He said that both he and Hank were home and that should be fine. He also asked me if we were going to watch another Muppets movie tonight. I told him we’d see.

Gavin parked in the driveway and didn’t move from his seat.

“It’ll be fine. Just be nice to Connor.” I unbuckled my seat belt and Gavin slowly followed. I walked into the house. Sumo ran up to me and wagged his tale. “Hi, Sumo.”

“Hello (Y/n), and Gavin.” Connor said from the kitchen table, my dad turned around from the couch to look at us.

“Uh hey Gavin whatcha doing here?” My dad asked his brow furrowed, before Gavin could answer I grabbed his hand and dragged him to the kitchen table and sat down.

“I invited him. Is that okay?” I looked down at the table to see what Connor was working on. I smiled; he was doing a puzzle…except all the pieces were the same color. He seemed to be having no problem with it all.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” My dad shifted, uncomfortably, and took a sip of his beer, turning back towards the tv.

“Is that last night's game?” Gavin asked, craning his neck to try to see the tv.

“Yup.” I nudged Gavin and nodded for him to go over there.

“Go watch the game with him!” I whispered. He nodded and got up to go sit next to my dad. I tried to read my dad's expression, but it seemed clouded. I looked at Connor who hadn’t looked up from his puzzle, but his LED was spinning yellow. “Con, are you okay?”

“Yes, all my systems are operational.” He nervously glanced up at me.

“Connor.” I tried again.

“(Y/n), how’s your proposal going?” My dad shouted over the tv. I looked over at him.

“I sent it off this afternoon. I’ll probably start arranging interviews next Monday, since my class is only on Tuesday and Thursday.”

“Have you decided if you will be interviewing me?” Connor asked. I smiled and put my hand on his shoulder.

“I hope so, I’m a little worried about interviewing you and dad. Since it technically is a conflict of interest. Hopefully my colleagues can overlook that considering how much you two did for the revolution.”

“You gonna write about your boyfriend pointing a gun at Connor?” My dad grunted, I looked at Connor and he looked back down at the puzzle.

“That’s taken out of context!” Gavin huffed.

“Is it, Reed?”

“He was interfering with Chris’ job!”

“So, you point a goddamn gun at him?” My dad yelled.

“You pointed a gun at me!”

“BECAUSE YOU WERE GOING TO SHOOT CONNOR!”

“YEAH, BUT I DIDN’T!” 

“Dad! Gavin!” I shouted at them. Gavin looked at me, he was fuming. “My book will have the relevant information pertaining to the sociological explanation for the android revolution and whatever that includes. If I deem it to be relevant, it will be in my book.”

“I think it’s pretty relevant. He could’ve killed Connor.” I slammed my hands on the table, all three men jumped.

“Dad, can I talk to you in the other room.” He sat the beer down on the coffee table and followed me into his room. “Dad, what the fuck!” I aggressively whispered at him.

“What? I’m being honest!” He said right back.

“He’s a guest!”

“He’s an asshole!”

“You can be too sometimes, so can everyone! But I like him, doesn’t that mean anything?”

“Why did you even bring him here?”

“I brought him here because I like him, and I thought you wanted to be more in my life! Well, hello if I’m going to date Gavin that’s a part of my life, so get used to it!”

“(Y/n)! I’ve known Gavin way longer than you have. I know what he’s like, he won’t be good for you! You’re better off without him!” I glared at him.

“You’re not even giving him a chance!” 

“I don’t have to! I’m your father and I’m telling you he’s no good for you!”

“You lost the chance to tell me what’s good for me when you decided you were done caring for me and mom. Ten fucking years I don’t hear from you and now you want to tell me how to live my goddamn life? No fucking way! You don’t have a say in who I date or who I like! I am a grown fucking woman, so even if you had been present in my life I’d still be pissed that you’re trying to control me. This is my life and if you want to be in it then you need to back off now, because I’m living it on my terms and no one else's!” 

I quickly ran out of the room before he could notice the tears in my eyes. Gavin was standing at the end of the hallway and I grabbed his arm and pulled him out the door after me.

[mksc77]

This is a ff.net request for Andy having an ex-girlfriend show up and Sharon being jealous.  Jealous Sharon isn’t really my thing and is hard for me to imagine, so I tried to make it entertaining enough to make up for the parts that I obviously struggled to write. And I know Madam Secretary didn’t come on Monday nights, but its schedule just wasn’t working for me :)

As was usual for a Monday evening, Andy came home from a meeting to find Sharon and Rusty curled up on the couch and watching Badge of Justice. "What do you guys see in this show? It's awful!" 

"Johnny Worth," Sharon and Rusty murmured at the same time. 

Andy rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on." 

"May McDonald's not hard to look at, either," Sharon commented. "That's one woman I would kiss." 

"Huh..." Andy looked at the TV and back to Sharon, an intrigued look coming over his face. "You would absolutely have my blessing. As long as I get to watch. That'd be pretty hot." 

"Andy!" Sharon reached up and jabbed him in the side. "Don't make me call you Andrew."

Andy grinned. "Maybe I like it when you call me Andrew."

 Rusty looked disgusted. "All right, if your goal was to get the living room to yourselves, you got it. I'm out."

Sharon pawed at Andy with her foot until he sat down and settled her feet in his lap. "Ohhhh, that feels amazing," she hummed, closing her eyes as he kneaded them. "I hate breaking in a new pair of heels. My feet have been killing me all day." 

"How you walk in those damn things without breaking your neck is a mystery to me." 

"Hmm, a little lower," Sharon directed, ignoring him. "Little bit more—there. A little deeper...That's it. Please don't stop." 

"I was kind of hoping I'd hear something like that tonight...I just didn't think your feet would play such a large role." 

"I'd kick you if this didn't feel so good...But keep rubbing, and I could be easily persuaded." Sharon looked over at the TV. "After Madam Secretary." 

"Don't worry, I know where I stand on Monday nights." Andy looked down at his phone when it started buzzing. Catherine. Again. They'd dated several years ago and had come close to getting engaged.  They’d managed to end on friendly terms, but now she was wanting to get back together and wouldn't leave him alone, despite the fact that he'd told her he was in a serious relationship. He didn't realize he'd stopped rubbing Sharon's feet until she impatiently nudged at him to start again "Sorry." Setting his phone aside for the time being, he got back to the task of getting her into bed. 

On Tuesday morning, Sharon had an early meeting and was rushing around the kitchen, trying to get out the door. She heard Andy's phone ding with a text message, and she accidentally looked at it out of habit. "Is that Provenza?" Andy called from their bedroom. 

"No, it's Catherine." Who the hell was Catherine? Sharon had never heard Andy mention a Catherine before. 

Damn it. Andy finished getting dressed and went to the kitchen for his phone, knowing Sharon was going to have some questions.

Sharon eyed him.  “You’re dressed early.”

“Yeah, I might run a couple of errands if I can get out of here in time." 

Sharon was a little suspicious, but she had to leave now to be on time for her meeting. Not about another woman, but just that Andy was hiding something in general. "Okay, well I have to go. See you at work." She pecked him on the lips, grabbed her things, and left. 

Later that morning, Sharon thought it was odd when Andy, Provenza, and Buzz were all a half-hour late and hadn't texted or called. She was checking her phone again to make sure she hadn't missed anything when Andy finally called. "Hey, uh...We caught a murder." 

"Okay, where are you? Are Buzz and Provenza with you? What happened?" 

"Yeah, they're here." Andy paused for a moment. "Uh, we found a body in a pool. Looks like homicide." 

Sharon was confused. "How is this a major crime?...Wait, you found the body? How did that happen?  Where are you?”

Andy sighed. "Well, Provenza and I..." 

Sharon rolled her eyes. "Oh, good, because every good story starts with Provenza and I." 

"I found a house I thought you might like, so I wanted to show Provenza and see what he thought. I brought Buzz so he could film it for you, and then we found the body." 

"Okay, I'll send the others. Text me the address. Tell Morales to let me know when he needs me at the morgue." Well, at least this solved one mystery from that morning.

Later that day, Andy walked by a crowded interview room and nearly panicked when he recognized Catherine. "Provenza!" He hissed. "Who are all of these people?"

 "Huh?" Provenza was busy going through the deceased realtor's phone. "Oh. They were all interested in the house, and it's not too much of a stretch to consider them suspects. Since you want it, too, this will keep any of them from acting on it."

 "You're responsible for this?! And you don't even think it's necessary?" Andy's face started turning red as his voice got more high-pitched. 

"Ye gods, what's the problem?!" 

Andy looked toward the interview room and back at Provenza. "Catherine's in there." 

"Catherine who?" 

"Catherine. You remember. Catherine." 

"Was she the one with the cats or the one with the eye twitch? You’ve gotta be more specific with the who’s who of your dating history, Flynn." 

Andy shook his head. "No, no, Rachel had the cats. Amanda had the eye twitch. Catherine's the one—" 

Provenza's eyes widened. "Oh, yeah, the one you almost—" 

Andy nodded. "The one I almost. And now she's been texting me for the last few days, wanting to get back together." 

Provenza chuckled. "I tried to tell you this would all go to hell when you started calling the captain 'Sharon.'" 

Andy rolled his eyes. "You're not helping." 

"Oh, I wasn't trying to." 

"Lieutenants? Is there a problem?" Sharon walked up and looked from one to the other, wondering why they hadn't made a move. 

"Ah, no." Andy looked around, trying to conceal his growing panic. Sharon had stopped trying to understand Andy's and Provenza's antics long ago, so she didn't think much of their odd behavior. 

"Well, come on, then! I'd rather not be here all night." 

Andy's face turned pale. "You're going in there, too?" 

"To speak with potential suspects? Yeah, I'd planned on it, if that's all right with you." Sharon impatiently nudged Andy forward. 

Andy thought quickly. "It looks like you guys have it covered, so why don't I, um, try to find out more about the ex-husband?" As far as Catherine knew, he was still in robbery-homicide, so if he could manage to stay away from her, he might get out of this alive. Sharon gave him a questioning look, but didn't press him about it. 

Andy retreated to his desk. A couple of hours later, he got a warning text from Provenza that they were about to let everyone go, so he went to hide out in the bathroom for a few minutes. When it sounded like the crowd had died down, he waited a couple of minutes before going back to the murder room.  Just to find himself face-to-face with Catherine. So much for that plan. 

"Andy! I was hoping I'd run into you." 

Andy looked over his shoulder toward the interview room door and back at Catherine. Much like the murder victim, she'd had some work done, no question. Both to her face and other areas that he couldn't help but notice. "I told you, I'm in a relationship." 

"Oh, please, you're going to have to come up with something better than that. I won't try to pressure you into getting engaged this time. I don't want that anymore. Come on, we were great together." 

"We can't do this here—" 

"Can't do what here?" Sharon approached them, noticing the sexual tension immediately. The nervous look on Andy's face and his avoidance of the interview room were helping her put the pieces together. "You guys know each other?"

"You could say that." Andy shot Sharon a pleading I'll explain later look, but he couldn't catch her eye. He could tell by her expression that she was already well aware of the answer to her own question. "This is Catherine. We, uh, dated a long time ago. A really long time ago." 

"Ah, Catherine." Sharon's demeanor turned from mere amusement to slight suspicion. Of course Andy had old girlfriends that he might run into every now and then, but texting them was a different story. If it was even the same Catherine, but she had a sneaking suspicion that they were one and the same.

Andy smiled nervously. "It was so long ago that there were still cops around older than Provenza the last time we saw each other." He'd forgotten that Sharon had seen where Catherine had texted him that morning, and he didn't blame her for being taken aback. 

"I see." Sharon wasn't the jealous type, but this woman and her not-so-subtle attempts at disguising her age and once-smaller breasts unnerved her. The past is in the past had been her mantra regarding Andy's former relationships so far, but seeing it in person was different. "Well, Catherine, it was nice meeting you. Thank you for your help today." There was no question from Sharon's tone that what she really meant was goodbye, and Catherine took the hint, having guessed pretty quickly that Sharon was Andy's "relationship." She gave Andy a look that said this isn't over and left. 

Sharon couldn't help but smile to herself when Provenza walked out of the interview room, widened his eyes in panic at the sight of the three of them, and did a 180 and went right back where he had come from. That brought her back to reality, and she pushed Andy and his sack of plastic, fifteen-years-his-junior ex-girlfriend to the back of her mind for the next few hours. 

Later that evening, Sharon sat on the balcony with a blanket and a glass of cabernet. She'd never doubted Andy's devotion to her for a second, but knowing that a much-younger ex-girlfriend had been texting him was getting under her skin. He could've at least told her about it. She still didn't know why she was letting it bother her so much. Even if this Catherine low-quality-plastic-surgery-barbie-knockoff were after Andy, she knew the efforts wouldn't be reciprocated. But why was Andy still communicating with her? Looking back, Andy had been acting strangely, especially sometimes after reading a text, for a couple of weeks now. If there was nothing to hide, then why was he acting so weird? Her suspicion heightened when she got a text from him that he was going home after dinner with the AA member he sponsored instead of to the condo. That was pretty common, but in light of recent events, her mind was in overdrive. 

Sharon went inside to refill her wine and returned to the balcony. She called her sister, not to talk about Andy, but just to get her mind off of him before it drove her crazy. By the time they hung up, she heard the balcony door sliding open, and she was surprised to see Andy. "I thought you were going home." 

"I was, but then I realized what that might have looked like..." 

"Hmm." Sharon sipped her wine and looked out over the city. She'd actually been looking forward to relaxing alone and having her bed to herself, as she knew deep down that Andy wouldn't be unfaithful. 

Andy stood awkwardly by the door, not sure what to make of her mood. "Do you want me to go home?" 

"You're an adult, Andy, I want you to do whatever you want to do." 

"I want to be with you. That's all I want. I promise." 

"Yeah, you've made that clear." Sharon didn't know why she was in such an ill mood about this, but he was annoying the hell out of her with every word. 

Andy wasn't sure what to do now. She seemed to want to be alone, but going home seemed like a dick move at this point, so he settled for going inside and changing into his pajamas. When he came into the living room, Sharon was refilling her wine glass in the kitchen. Instead of placing a soft hand on his shoulder or pecking him on the cheek like she normally would've done when she walked by him, she fixed him with an irritated look. "I'm taking a bath." Sharon placed her wine glass on the edge of the bathtub and sifted through her bath oil collection while her water filled up. Finally settling on a rose scent, she discarded her clothes on the floor and set a towel nearby. After tying up her hair and starting a playlist on her phone, she climbed in and slowly lowered herself into the hot water, hoping it would help her relax. She didn't like how she was acting, but she was aggravated and couldn't help it. Only the Good Die Young usually put her in a good mood, but it wasn't doing anything for her this time. The water was getting cooler by the time she finished her wine, so she climbed out and dried off. She was in a slightly better mood, but not much. It had been a long day, so she said a quick goodnight to Andy and got ready for bed. 

Sharon's mind was still racing long after she felt Andy climb in beside her and softly kiss her cheek. As usual, he fell asleep in just a couple of minutes, and she was still running through the day's events in her head. She hadn't thought much of his remarks about the realtor's "enhanced" physique, but after seeing Andy's ex-girlfriend and hearing a couple of remarks about how the realtor was known for getting a little too friendly with potential buyers, she was starting to have doubts. 

The next morning, Andy got up early and made breakfast. He knew he hadn't done anything wrong, but he hadn't exactly handled the Catherine situation very well, either. It was going to be a long day, and he guessed Sharon would be opting for coffee, so he went ahead and got it started and placed her favorite mug on the counter while she was in the shower. 

Sharon smelled coffee as soon as she stepped into the hallway from the steamy bathroom. With her silk robe wrapped around herself, she padded down the hall with wet hair and bare feet. She'd been running through the case in her head, and she couldn't help but laugh at remembering Julio's amused-turned-somber "butt...implants, ma'am" comment. But, all that did was remind her of Andy's comments and the doubts she’d started to have the night before. 

Andy was standing at the stove, cooking eggs, and damn it if he didn't look so cute in his striped pajamas when she wanted to be angry with him for a minute. "Thanks," she murmured as she filled her mug. She took her coffee back to the bathroom, brushed out her wet hair, and applied her makeup before going to eat breakfast. 

"Crap, these are a little runny," Andy muttered as he scooped some eggs onto a plate. 

"Oh, those aren't firm enough for you, either?" Sharon retorted. 

Andy turned around, and Sharon felt a little guilty when she saw the pained expression on his face.  "I've been either ignoring Catherine's texts or trying to get her to stop, and I told you I didn't mean anything—" 

"I know." 

"Then what's with the cold shoulder?!" Andy demanded. 

"Nothing, Andy, just—I just—just give me a minute, okay?" Sharon knew she had nothing to worry about, especially since Catherine's uneven implants obviously hadn't been done by a doctor as skilled as the murder victim's doctor, but this was the first time she'd even thought about doubting Andy so far. She wasn't sure how to handle her feelings about it, but they would have to wait for now. 

Sharon hurried through breakfast and quickly got dressed. "I have to stop by Taylor's office on my way in, and that's never a quick process, so I'm going to go ahead and go." 

Andy nodded. "I need to go home tonight.  I have a guy coming to look at my dishwasher and a couple of things I need to take care of at the house.  You can stay over, or you can FaceTime me as many times as you want. That's all I'm doing, I swear." 

"I know, Andy." Sharon stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. "See you in a little while." 

Late that afternoon, they reached a bit of a standstill in the case, so Sharon sent everyone home for the night so they could start fresh the next morning. She was kind of hoping Rusty would be staying at Gus's again so she could have a rare night to herself at the condo, but she wasn't disappointed to find him at home that night, either. She had a feeling that he'd been avoiding her lately, not wanting to talk more about his other mom's baby, and she and Andy had spent a lot of their free time looking at houses, so she hadn't seen much of him. She was tempted to talk to him about calling his mom and his unfavorable attitude toward the baby, but she decided to give him a break tonight. They ordered a pizza for dinner, and they were watching TV when Sharon remembered that she had the video from the house Andy wanted to buy. She could tell before they even played the video that Rusty wasn't thrilled with the idea of a new house, but her preoccupation with her own thoughts kept her from dwelling on that for the time being. As irritated as she was with Andy, his impish grin at the beginning of the video made her heart melt, and she realized that she missed him tonight. He was lucky he was so damn cute. 

Rusty seemed to read her mind. "What's with you and Andy? You guys seemed kind of weird today." He didn't necessarily want them to break up, knowing how that would hurt Sharon, but he couldn't help but hope that something had slowed down the "buying a house/moving in together" conversations.

"It's nothing, honey. Just a misunderstanding. We'll work it out." 

"Whatever it is, which is worse?" Rusty asked, never missing a chance to throw Sharon's own words back into her face. "Whatever you're arguing about, or being here without him?" 

Sharon rolled her eyes when she recognized the advice she'd given him about Gus not so long ago. "We're not arguing, it's fine. We just—can you believe Buzz jumped into the pool like that?" She asked, changing the subject. 

Sharon went to bed not much later, but between Rusty's obvious apprehension about a new house and feeling guilty about how she’d been acting toward Andy, she couldn’t sleep.  She sat up and texted him, hoping he was still awake, and she felt a little better after they’d texted back and forth a few times.  After telling each other goodnight, she was able to find sleep a little more easily. 

The team wrapped the case on Thursday evening, and Andy hung back in the murder room with Sharon as everyone else hurried to get out. There hadn't been much time to talk, but the distance from him and the distraction of the case had allowed her to let her aggravation simmer and see the situation more clearly. Andy knew her well enough to know that she just needed a little space sometimes, but he had sensed a change in her demeanor toward him and was pretty sure she was ready to talk. "Look, Shar, I blocked Catherine's number, which I should've done weeks ago, but I didn't want her to find out and be hurt. We were serious years ago, but she started texting me out of nowhere just a few weeks ago. I kept telling her I was with someone else and wasn't interested, hoping she'd give up, and I just didn't handle it very well when she didn't. You can read our texts—" 

"That's not necessary, honey." Sharon hoisted her purse over her shoulder and laced her fingers through Andy's. "Let's go home." She leaned against him as they walked toward the elevator, and she couldn't help but laugh when she thought of the poor woman's lopsided breasts. "I haven't seen such a botched boob job since the nineties!" 

Andy had noticed as well, as it would've been incredibly difficult not to, but he didn't want to respond the wrong way and start the fight all over again. "Really? I, uh, didn't notice." 

"You didn't notice?! They were like this!" Sharon pointed one index finger toward the ceiling and her other one toward the floor. 

"Yeah, well, I was a little distracted." Andy pressed a kiss to the side of her head, pausing to smell her hair. 

A couple of nights later, Sharon closer her book and placed it on her nightstand. Andy looked down as she lay against him and traced her finger down his chest. Her mind had drifted back to the most recent case, and she was suddenly curious about something. "Do you have any fantasies?" 

Andy looked confused. "What do you mean?" 

"Sexual fantasies, I mean. After the last few days, this obsession with perfect appearances just has me curious." 

"Oh. Why? You might do it?”  Andy asked incredulously.

Sharon shrugged, but gave him a look that clearly said yes.

Nurse and patient," Andy answered, without hesitation. 

Sharon looked up at him. "Really? I wouldn't have thought that." 

"What would you have thought?" 

Sharon shrugged. "I don't know. You strike me as the French maid type." 

"Well, it used to be banging the boss, but..." Andy kissed the top of her head. "That fantasy has become a reality. While we're on this, any for you? You can't bring this up and not tell me." 

"Pilot and passenger." 

The answer was so quick and certain that she had obviously thought about it before, and it was Andy's turn to be surprised. "Talk about unexpected. I thought you would've gone with something like the student and the professor." 

Sharon shook her head. "All of my professors were either old as dirt or assholes, sometimes both. That fantasy never did much for me." 

"Well, then, valued passenger, allow me to—" 

"No, I'm the pilot," Sharon interrupted. 

"Oh, right. Of course you are. So, now that we know this about each other..." 

Sharon cupped her hand behind Andy's head and pressed her lips to his neck. "Prepare for takeoff."

[nnegan13]

hello my good dudes I am here to offer a one shot for y’all 

prompt: “one of them a bit tipsy and the other one just loving and enjoying it and teasing, basically fluff”

it got away from me so fast tho haha 

bit of an AU, they met in college and are friends and not enemies and Eva is still Edo’s cousin bc I can’t help myself 

if this had a title it’d be called: edo rambles about how much he loves ele 

enjoy lovies! read on ao3 here

— 

“Ele,” Edo mumbles, thumbing at the top of his bottle and Fede looks over at him, brows raised. He has to tell Ele something, he knows this and not much else. Fede would know where to find her, right? Right? “Ele, Fede where’s Ele?” 

“What the fuck are you on right now?” Fede asks, shrugging Edo’s hand off his shoulder. “She’s not here, said she wasn’t coming, remember?” 

“Ah, really?” He asks, frowning. Surprised that he doesn’t remember something Ele told him, Edo thinks back over the past few days. Monday, he hadn’t seen her, which was the worst, but Tuesday she came to their study group and sat next to him and leaned over to write something on his notebook and he couldn’t think of anything but the way her hair smelled for the rest of the session. Wednesday, again, he failed to see her, but she did text him for over an hour that night. Thursday, Eva made him take them to lunch, Ele pressed her foot into the side of his leg, and he could barely concentrate on the conversation. Friday, he’d seen her with Stephan, her friend from that study program in England she’d done in high school and that, that was when she told him she wouldn’t be coming tonight. Plans with Stephan while he was still in town, or something. Who was he kidding? There wasn’t an or something, he remembers practically every word that she’s ever spoken in his presence, at least when he’s sober enough. “Fuck, I don’t—God, I forgot.” 

“Maybe you should stop drinking every time you see her, man.” Fede tips his own bottle to his mouth. “Or, every time you see her and she’s with another guy.” 

Edo shoves him. “I hate you sometimes.” 

“Only when I’m right.” Fede gestures to the crowd of people filling up their apartment, dancing to the music pounding through the room, or drinking, or talking in dark corners. His eyes catch Eva pulling Gio by his tie down the hallway toward the bedrooms that’s strictly off limits during parties and takes a long swallow from his bottle. His cousin is likely going to go do it on his bed. God, sometimes his life is fucked. “Go find a girl and get your mind off her.” 

“Fede, I don’t think you understand,” Edo says, mind whirring. His cousin is going to go fuck one of his friends, the girl he thinks might be the love of his life is currently on a date with a man she only sees once a year, and he’s drinking the shittiest beer he thinks Chicco has ever brought to him. Nothing makes sense, but the buzz is nice and he takes another swig. 

What is he saying? Something, something about Ele, Eleonora, the most beautiful woman in the entire world. “She’s so—so—”

Behind him, a soft voice he would know anywhere interrupts, “So what?” 

Ele stands at his shoulder, eyebrows raised, and watches him make a fool of himself turning around. Good, she’s here; he can tell her what he needs to tell her, now, once he remembers what it is. “Ele!” 

“Hi,” She chuckles and his eyes catch on her smile. “You look like you’re having fun.” 

“Only ‘cause you’re here.” That’s close to what he wants to say, right? Almost, almost, that damn smile is too distracting. The blue lights hung in the windows cast a glow across her face and she looks like a fucking angel. 

There. That’s closer. 

She shakes her head at him and peeks over at Fede, watching them with thinly veiled amusement. “How much have you let him drink?” 

“He was very distraught earlier when he remembered that you said you weren’t coming,” Fede reports and Edo frowns, but catches the flicker of Ele’s eyes back to his face. His lips part, he doesn’t want Ele knowing he forgot something she told him. Or Fede answering any questions about him, the fucking liar. “Chicco was with him first.” 

He lists to the side a little and Ele’s hand catches his chest. His mouth is very, very dry. “You let him start off with Chicco? Fede!” 

“It’s probably for the best,” Edo interjects, drawing her eyes back to his. They’re wide, green, and shining in the blue light around them, and he momentarily forgets how to speak, as per fucking usual around her. “Hopefully I drank enough to forget that Eva took Gio back to fuck in my bed.” 

And the filter, that’s broken, too. 

Ele, though, smiles and shakes her head again before slipping the bottle from his hand and setting it on the counter behind him. She nods into the kitchen. “C’mon, let’s get something else to drink.” 

The fucking, the fucking Sanpellegrino, he has to tell her about the Sanpellegrino. He follows after her, stumbling only on the first step. She looks over her shoulder at him, placing a hand on his arm. He might combust. “Careful.” 

In the kitchen, he spots Marti standing with Nico next to the fridge and calls across the room, Ele fisting her hand in his shirt. “Marti, hey, in the fridge, two of the Sanpellegrino.” 

Marti manages to open the fridge amidst the mass of bodies crowded in the kitchen and ducks to look inside. “Ah, orange or pomegranate?” 

Edo looks over at Ele, raising an eyebrow, and she smiles a little smile at him. Again, he almost forgets how to speak. “Which would you like?” 

“Pomegranate, Marti, please,” she says, turning to address him and grab the cans he slides across the island counter, and Edo bites his lip when she looks back at him. So damn beautiful. She holds a can out to him, eyebrows raising. “Sanpellegrino?” 

He shrugs and leans his hip into the counter, opening the can in his hands before trading her. “Last time you came you didn’t drink anything and I wanted to make sure there was something if you decided to come again.” 

There’s that fucking smile again. “Then how’d you know my favorites?” 

“Ah,” he ducks his head. “Eva told me.” 

“Of course she did.” She doesn’t sound mad, she sounds pleased, actually, and he dares to look up. Her eyes are turned away and she sips at her drink, gaze darting around the party, and he registers a few things: her hand is still gripping his shirt and he succeeded in telling her about the Sanpellegrino. Only one thing to go, if he can fucking remember what it is. 

“What made you change your mind?” 

“Hm?” Ele peeks over at him, red, red lips curving, and he stares at them for only a moment before fixing his eyes back on hers. 

“About coming to the party.” 

“Oh.” She looks back into the crowd and the blush that spreads on her cheeks is promising. He tells his hopes to stay firmly where they are and bites his lip, leaning a little closer to hear her better, and catches a whiff of her hair, just as distracting as before. “Ah, Stephan’s flight left earlier than I thought it would, and I figured I could stop by.” 

“Very nice of you.” 

She smiles, wry, and, fuck, she’s so gorgeous. “Thank you.” 

That’s it, that’s what he needs to tell her, if she doesn’t already know. God, how embarrassing would it be if she already knows he thinks she’s beautiful? Edo swallows and prays he isn’t invading her space too much. “Ele, I need to tell you something.” 

“Okay.” Her mouth forms the word carefully, and he has to force himself to look back at her eyes. Her big, amazing eyes. Hopefully, she doesn’t notice when his breath catches in his chest. “Tell me.” 

“You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, I think,” he says and tries not to let his eyes widen too much as her hand pulls at his shirt a little more and her lips part and just the center of her brow raises, face opening. Fuck. Fuck, he’s so gone. “So fucking beautiful.” 

“Edo—” Not Edoardo, Edo. He can’t stop the smile forming on his face. 

“Hey, man.” Chicco claps him on the shoulder, startling him and Ele, and he tries not to get too annoyed. “Dina’s outside, complaining, and you know she likes you best.” 

“Chicco, really?” 

Chicco rolls his eyes. “Dude, she’s gonna call the cops if you don’t go charm her.” 

Edo really doesn’t want to, he’d much rather stay put and listen to whatever Ele was going to say, but Chicco starts pulling him out of the kitchen and he doesn’t have the best control of his body, at the moment, and winds up standing in the open doorway. Dina, their tiny little landlady, stands with her arms folded across her chest and he hopes with his whole soul that she’s feeling kind tonight. “Dina.” 

“Edo.” She’s frowning. This is not a good start. “What have I told you boys about the music?” 

The music that’s still currently playing just inside the apartment. He opens his mouth to say something, anything, but Dina’s furious gaze slides from his face to something next to him and turns immediately into something more pleasant. A small hand touches his back. “Now, who’s this?” 

He looks over his shoulder. Ele. Fuck. “Did you get a girlfriend and not tell me about her, Edoardo?” 

He panics for a moment, but Ele, amazing, fantastic, wonderful Ele, pulls his arm up around her shoulders and slides her arm around his waist. Forget combusting because she touched his chest, he might actually implode, now. Her body is so, so warm against his, even in the heat of the party, and she gives him a practiced smile before looking at Dina. “Yeah, we’ve only been dating for a little while, though. I’m Eleonora.” 

“Ondina.” Dina is smiling now, and reaches out to clasp Ele’s cheeks and plant kisses on them. “Ah, a girlfriend, just what Edo needs.” She reaches for his face, now, and he stoops so she can press a kiss there. “Oh, very good, very good.” 

Dina, so happy at the recent turn of events, toddles away with a sweet goodbye, leaving Edo standing in the open doorway, Ele still pressed into his side. “Fuck, thank you.” 

She steps back, leaning against the doorframe, and he mimics her. “Not a problem.” 

“Seriously, you saved my ass.” 

A wide, teasing grin cracks on her face and his heart spasms. God, she’s incredible. “Anything for the guy who thinks I’m the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen.” 

His own smile slips onto his mouth and he looks away. “Fuck.” 

“What, did you not mean it?” She asks, still amused, and her tone alone draws his eyes back to her face. “You’re drunk?” 

He bites his lip. “No, no, I mean it.” 

This smile kills him. “Good.” 

[prorevenge]

Predator vs Predator

Background: My son is almost 13 and plays AAA football at a provincial level. His 'bestie' we will call 'Joey' also plays on his team and he is my second child spending each weekend here and after school till dinner. Amazing kid and I love him like my own.

The Story: I was sitting outside on benches watching my son's football practice tonight when Joey's mom asked to speak to me privately. Uh oh...

She then proceeds to tell me that the police will be calling me to speak to me and my son about events that happened at MY house over the weekend. The events surrounded Joey's teacher and it was disgusting, disgraceful and empowering at the exact same time.

Apparently and on Saturday night at around 10pm, emails were sent from my home that would forever ruin the lives of a teacher that were sent to her husband as well as to the local police detachment where I live. Explicit pictures were attached to these emails and think I am still in shock, honestly.

Joey who is 11 years of age was getting 'hand-jobs' by his teacher during lunch and after school. She was in her early 30's, had 2 kids and a husband. He had told my son about his adventures with his teacher but my son always thought that he was joking.

I understand that around 9pm on Saturday night, Joey showed my son the pictures that his teacher had sent him and they were 'explicit' in nature and it was then that my son knew he was telling the truth. He saw the text messages and IG conversations and he took screenshots of them all. There were over TWO HUNDRED texts from this teacher to this young boy. I then saw a search history of her name and I saw it linking to her husband who was a realtor. (Yes, I record my son's history...Call me paranoid.)

"Hey, let's call her up and ask her for another hand job?", my son said.

The boys called her number at 9:35 according to the police and I am told that the boys asked if they could get another one and she retorted, "I will come to your school on Monday, Joey and one of us is going down"

Looking in my son's email logs, I saw an email sent at 9:42 to the teacher's husband outlining what he did with pictures attached and the email said it would be forwarded to the local police.

A call was made to the police at 9:51pm on Saturday night and I am told that there is a recording of my son's conversation to them and it started with 'Hi, my name is X and I want to talk to someone about a teacher abusing a kid in grade 5 and I have proof'

I received a call 30 minutes ago from a detective and after our conversation, I poured a glass of red and I decided to vent and thus, here I am.

My son has already had 2 conversations with the police and I smile when I look at him and I see that he recorded EVERYTHING and looked out for his friend. He said he even used a throw away email account to send the husband the proof. hahaha

The teacher was suspended immediately pending charges and I looked at him out on the field in awe. I had just learned this all and I knew NOTHING about it.

I looked out at my son on the field running yards and hoping to make it big and yet, he never said a word to me about this. I was PISSED.

After the practice and when we got into the truck, I looked at him and I said, "Maybe, we should talk about Joey and his teacher and the freaking cops?" I WAS NOT PLEASED not knowing.

"We called her. I wanted to ask her for another hand job and when she said one of us was going down, one of us was. You would have done the same thing"

Update from today:

I had to take my son into speak to a special detective in Toronto today in the sexual crimes unit. They called me at 7am and had to see him today for a video interview. I spent last night going through the keylog files on my son's system as this is a MUST HAVE in my home and it's hidden from my son. When we went for his interview today, I also took a flash drive of all my key log files from the last 3 weekends that Joey stayed over as well. On that flashdrive were some of the most disturbing and disgusting images that I can honestly say that I have ever seen. In my home, keyloggers are what I use to try and keep my son safe online and I record everything. The interview went well and I received a call from them this afternoon stating that distribution of child pornography and solicitation for child pornography would also be added to the list of charges for this vile creature. Will update if more happens. Joey is coming over this weekend and I'll see if anything else pops up as I have an interview myself on Tuesday next week about the evidence I found with the keyloggers.

TL:DR Young teen gets a handjob from a teacher at 12 and tells my son who decides to hand her back what she deserves.

(source) (story by bhurley10)

[11tumbler]

Case Closed 13

Kym wakes up engulfed in Robert’s arms. She could feel that he was already awake. But she didn’t want anyone to move or say anything, so she tucks herself back against him. “Good morning,” he whispers. She creeps her arm out and around his back holding him against her. She doesn’t want to move away from his body. “I can see you don’t want to get up,” he whispers. Kym shakes her head no. He laughs at how adorable she is. He loves everything about her especially when she’s so soft and vulnerable. She had to be tough to be a cop in a male dominated profession, but this, just being in his arms and him surrounding and protecting her was what he treasured most. “Well I don’t have anything planned for today so if you want to stay like this all day I’m fine with that.“ He kisses her cheek.

Kym stretches open finding his lips and wrapping her arms behind his neck. They continue kissing, getting more and more passionate and then Robert eases himself inside her. It wasn’t even so much as the act of sex, but just the fact that they were together that they both enjoyed. They do eventually find their way out of bed.

Kym pouts as she’s towel drying her hair, “I don’t want to leave today.” Robert walks over putting his chin on her shoulder and his arms around her waist. “I know. We have a few hours before your flight was there anything you wanted to do?” “Can we just get lost somewhere? Where’s the most romantic place in San Diego, away from people and the busyness of life. We can just go and be alone for a few hours.” Robert grabs his phone and starts looking for activities. He finds gondola rides, but they start at 3 pm and Kym’s flight is at 4. He suggests they just walk around Balboa Park.

Kym was happy. She hasn’t felt this way about anyone. Something between them was just amazing even though it had only been a short time they’ve known each other. She walks with her arm around his back and her head tucked against his shoulder and chest. Robert’s arm was up along her back with his hand on her neck and shoulder. Everything was so comfortable between them. They mostly just walked. They talked a bit about some of the things they were looking at, but mostly they were silent.

Robert regrettably breaks the silence, “So you know it’s time we head to the airport.” Kym sighs. She knew she had to leave and she was going to see him soon so she just needed to suck it up and be strong. They make their way back to his car and to the airport. They stand in the lobby before the security line and hold each other. Just a few short months earlier Kym thought he was going to be a thorn in her side now she’s fallen in love with him. “When do you think you’ll be back?” Kym whispers. “Not sure maybe a week or so. I guess it depends on how quickly I can find some evidence.” “Well be quick about it then,” Kym teases. “I will.” He kisses the top of her head. She pulls back, they share several kisses before she heads through security.

Kym gets home and just starts going through her routine to get everything ready for work tomorrow. Kym is lying in bed wondering why she misses him so much. He’s only going to be gone for a short while and she’s been single for a long time. She thinks back to their conversation last night and when he said he was in love wth her and she admitted the same. Maybe it was the fact that she finally found the one. People talked about true love, soul mates, maybe this is what it feels like when you find yours. You always want them with you and you can’t breathe when they’re not there.

Monday at work,Derek can see she’s quiet. “Hey how are you doing?” “I’m ok.” “You know, Stacey was saying she hasn’t seen you in a while, why don’t you come over for dinner.” “Oh no, but thank you. I’m ok.” “Ok. Did you start seeing someone?” “Uh yea.” “Did you break up, you seem so down.” “Oh no.” “Well then, invite him to dinner too.” “He’s out of town right now.” Derek wasn’t sure if she was lying or not. “Ok well when he’s not out of town, you both should come over for dinner. I’d like to meet him anyway. You can give me his name I’ll do a little digging on him.” “You know I’m a cop too, i can do a background check,“ Kym laughs. “Ok. We will come for dinner.” Kym knew Derek would be surprised to know who she was seeing.

Robert was gone for the whole week and weekend. They would call or text when they could. Kym had two more homicides she was investigating so she was busy, which helped pass the time. Tuesday morning she gets a call that she has a delivery up front. She finds a bouquet of 8 roses. She brings it to her desk, everyone gushes over it. “One rose for each day I was away from you. Love Robert.” Kym saw the 8 roses, that would be through Monday, today was Tuesday, she really hoped that meant he was on his way home.

She phones him. “Hello,” he answers. “Hi. I received the roses. I noticed there are 8 of them. Does that mean you’re on your way home?” Kym asks hopefully. “Yes. I’m actually at my place in Malibu right now. I’ll be at your place tonight before you get home.” Kym smiles so big. She whispers, as to not scream in the precinct, “I can’t believe you’re home. I can’t wait to see you.” “I know baby, I missed you too.” “Ok I’ll see you later, I love you.” “I love you more,” Robert replies.

Kym was so excited that she was hoping to see him later. Derek walks back over to his desk. “Oooo, the boyfriend sent flowers,“ Derek teases as he smells the flowers. "So is he back in town yet?” “Yes.” “Ok then dinner tomorrow, no excuses.” Kym agrees. Then they head out to one of their crime scenes with the forensics team.

Kym walks into her house with a huge smile on her face. Robert gets up from the couch. She rushes to him throwing her arms around him kissing him. "I stopped and got something for dinner, it’s in the oven staying warm.” “Dinner can wait,” Kym says. They continue passionately kissing. Robert scoops her up and carries her to the bedroom.

[valenshawke]

Me vs. My Boss - Part 89798427987

My relationship with my boss is interesting.

I spent so much time in school that I really never had a boss before, even when I was someone’s research assistant. With my mentor at undergrad, when I was his research assistant, I didn’t need to have a boss, I just worked hard because I totally appreciated the things he did for me. For those last two years in college and three years in Columbus, he fulfilled that father figure I hadn’t had since my dad died. And while we never really spoke about anything deeply personal (except my rejection letters for grad school), he did provide that professional/career/financial guidance I feel like my dad would have. It was his advice to me when I was on the job market (academic, public, and private sector) that I found the most reasonable. 

“Whoever makes the best offer to you first, go with it. You’d be suffering upwards for 5-7 more years if you commit now to being a part-timer working 3 campuses.” 

He was the only one that offered me any career advice after I defended my dissertation. Not even my advisor/dissertation chairperson could. But, admittedly, she and her husband (also on my committee) felt really bad about my situation when I graduated (in a more favorably market, I could have stayed 1-2 more years and gotten something). They also cop to not having done enough. But hey, I got a real job with benefits.They were ecstatic.

Which brings me to my actual factual boss. 

Hooboy.

When I got to my job, he was still only one of my two group leaders. Group leaders occupy a weird position of not being managers but having some managerial authority as delegated by their (and my) Deputy Director, who is my actual manager/boss. 

Nice guy. 

Nice guys don’t always make for good managers. In fact, they make for pretty rotten managers. 

In the boss/employee relationship, I don’t need to be friends with my manager. I really don’t give two shits. Can I be respectful? Yes. Can they be respectful? Yes. Can we be professional in dealing with problems? Yes. Is there a time to raise your voice in anger? Sure. 

The problem with my boss is he’s been acting like the good cop since he was promoted. Now. there were some shady office politics (nothing illegal but between the people) going on in my office in the two years before I got there that set the stage here.

His allies among the employees for my first year here were, me and the two guys that I sat next two. 

Those two guys left for jobs at HQ, which I understand.

This leaves me.

The next two years, become a harrowing experience.

He is not a good manager.

But on a personal level, I like him. He’s a guy you could go out and have a few drinks with, watch football, and have a good time.

As a manager...

I protected him twice. 

How? I warned him on something because of something he had to one of my coworkers. He worded things so poorly even though I know his intent was, “Don’t be belligerent,” which my coworker was by refusing an assignment. Because my coworker literally HAD no assignments. 

But he worded it in a way that could have been actionable. I literally told him to walk with me out of our building and I explained it to him. 

He and our director continued to handle it poorly. But fine, that coworker ends up leaving to another department and out of our hair. Goodbye forever. [Side note: This same coworker actually asked for my number before I left. I responded with, “Why, you want me to do your work at another agency?”

After saying that we were friends, I responded with, “You are literally the worst person I have ever dealt with and I never want to see or hear from you again.”

I was literally in my 30 minutes of the day before I went on vacation and to San Diego Comic Con. 

I stopped by my actual friend’s office and my soon-to-be former coworker was there, apparently crying not understanding why I hated them so. When I do 60% or more of your work, that’s why].

Which brings us to the last 10 months.

I can’t and won’t say much but I will say that part of how I operate at work is generally this: Keep your head down, don’t talk politics, don’t talk religion, and make no physical contact with people. That last part is unless I KNOW you really well or your someone I HAVE to shake hands with (big deal with at HQ), do not fucking touch me. 

But I see a lot of things and hear a lot, having a large headset makes people think I tune out when I’m listening. 

But you know what? The truth, as I saw it, made this thing I won’t say much about really a non-starter. But it’s still stressful.

I even literally try to console my boss who feels bad about us being called about it. 

Now, that said, in the summer of 2015, some family problems rear their ugly head the weekend before I am supposed to run my first training school at this agency. There are some serious questions as to whether or not I can teach that Monday.

He set it up where if I can’t be there, my backup (who had actually done this project last year and knew the stuff) could do it.

I managed to run the school. Not well mind you, I know my standards.

He had my back.

I appreciated that.

I have his.

Until you start JERKING ME AROUND AND ASKING ME TO GROVEL.

On Fridays, I have the privilege to work at home. I earned it and in  the two years I’ve been doing this, all the metrics show I actually do work and get more done at home cause I have almost no distractions. 

I also have situational times due to mitigating circumstances. Remember the eclipse? There was going to be a protest downtown that day, right in front of the building and the building managers wanted us out.

Today, they’re putting in a door in some office space behind my work area. Building contractors want no one there for safety reasons.

My director has already indicated I could telework that day. 

But communications breakdown. 

I ask my boss Tuesday, what the deal was going to be. 

He say he’d know tomorrow.

Tomorrow comes.

He knows I have to leave at 3 PM everyday since I maxed out on credit and they won’t give me comp.

I want an answer. 

I actually go to his office like 4 times that day (which is normal). 

He avoids that issue. 

He wants me to ask and beg.

I am literally not having it. 

2:45 comes and my group leader says he’s willing to ask. I tell him no and even point out he’s not in his office and hadn’t been for awhile. 

2:55, still hiding. Even our Account Tech thinks I’m teleworking and is shocked when I tell her I don’t have an answer.

At this point, I just flip my shit.

I put myself on the leave calendar under sick leave (cause I have 4 people at the office wondering about my mental health at this point because I had been on edge for a two weeks). And, honestly, I was sick of being at my office and seeing people. As my friend at work said, “Yeah, sounds like you need a vacation.”

Sick leave doesn’t require any approval. I can use it without approval whenever. I don’t like using it but it’s handy sometimes. 

3 PM, I leave not before telling my group leader to tell our boss to fuck off (”I cannot tell him to fuck off, Michael.”

“Just tell him I left pissed.”)

I come home. 

And, well, situation here makes my day WORSE.

On my way back I get a text from my boss asking if I’m okay cause now I’m on the calendar on Sick Leave.

So, I actually GO BACK to my office. But I’m off the clock. 

My group leader is rather shocked I’m back and I explain to him the thing at home. At this point, he just looks at me like, “Shit man, you’re hit at all sides today.”

I end up taking him, his wife (group leader on the other side of the office), and one of the account techs to dinner just to kill time before my work friend crashes dinner with us.

But that was about 1 hour of me being at the office before we go to dinner. My boss is still there.

I walk out of the my office (our layout is weird) to go the vending machine cause I need a soda and would use the can to fill up on water. My boss is walking over to my group leader’s office as I’m heading out to the hallway.

“Oh hey, I thought I heard your voice-”

I turn around

“YOU AND I DON’T NEED TO TALK TODAY!” And I give him that wide eyed smile like I really want to pick up the chair and fling it at him.

And I walk out to get my soda.

Now, I have to walk around the office a few times mostly to calm myself down and find someone to kill time with. I actually walk past my boss twice and he tries to say something but I ignore him.

So, we go to dinner. Have some BBQ chicken nachos and a couple of racks of ribs. My group leader is happy, it’s free beer.

Beer is disgusting.

Anyways, at dinner my group leader tells me that he actually stopped my boss from trying to talk to me because he didn’t want to get between us. I then tell him the incident where I almost got between my boss and another coworker cause I reasonably believed my coworker was gunna throw a punch at my boss.

Anyways, “Well, I was gunna tell him he could work from home tomorrow.” 

It’s almost 6 PM when that conversation took place. 

You wanted me to beg and grovel.

Nope.

Not today.

We don’t have enough work to let me work some comp? You guys can cover? Okay. Here’s two more days to my vacation.

[jenniewishesshecouldb]

I did something last night. Something I never thought I was capable of, and I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing.

To start off let me give you a background of the situation; My father and I don’t get along and have never in my 26 years on this planet gotten along. I grew up in a household full of physical, verbal, mental, and emotional abuse. My mom has questioned divorce many times, but fears what that would do to my father, and her financial status. I have lived out of my house multiple times because of arguments or personal reasons many times. currently I have been home for just under a year. My father is selfish, manipulative, mean, like to get under you skin, and very very passive aggressive. It takes a lot of daily strength to listen and deal with this constantly everyday. I am always struggling. Both my brothers moved out at first chance and haven’t been back since because of it ( well it was a major factor but work and age factored in too). I have stayed for financial reasons as well as I don’t feel comfortable leaving my mother alone with him in the house. She has been married to him for 35 years god bless her soul. ANYWAYS last night I snapped. 

For the past month I have been on an off talking to my dad cause I was just getting to my wits end with him. I haven’t really talked to him since monday. we got into a little argument over my friend dropping me off and not moving over in the drive way (yes its that stupid) instead of him calling me and asking us to move over, he called my mom. My mom then called me from work and asked if we could move over. He had texted me but I didn’t see it cause my notifications are on silent and i was in a deep conversation with my friend. I wasn’t looking down at my phone, only saw the blue light notifying me I had a message. He then threw out his food that he had purchased because it was then too cold to eat after sitting in his car waiting for us to move for 20 minutes.... he could have just called or knocked on the window.  ANYWAYS that was monday, we haven’t talked since. Tuesday he buys me 3 boxes of mallowmars as a “peace offering”. I love mallowmars but instead of wanting to have a conversation he just brushed it off like “oh I got her food we all good now”. SO here he is thinking we are fine and dandy now that he bought me cookies.  Fast forward to Thursday My mom brought home Chinese food for dinner.  I am sitting on the couch minding my own business my dad has the Ranger game on. he makes a comment about the game, i say poink should be in staal should be sitting, he talks about shattenkirk and that’s that. About a week ago I mentioned my TV wasn’t working, nothing crazy didn’t say I needed it fixed, wasn’t bothered by it. Just that it wasn’t working.  Last night my dad goes “so if you change the input on your tv like this you won’t have that problem any more” I was confused to I respond with “what?” “If you change your Input to HDMI 2 you won’t have a problem your TV in your room is fixed.” Again and a little louder i say “What? What do you mean my tv is fixed?” “You said it wasn’t working so I fixed it.” “you mean you went into my room without telling me?” “ I’m telling you now.” “You can’t just go into someones room without letting them know first, that isn’t right.” “I’m telling you now, I see nothing wrong with that.” “Because that is my private domain, you can’t just violate someones privacy like that, common decency is to let them know AHEAD of time.” “See Anne, (my mom) I told you she would make this into something more than it is. She just can’t say thank you.” “I WOULD SAY THANK YOU IF YOU HAD TOLD ME PRIOR TO YOU GOING IN MY ROOM. I ALWAYS ASK OR KNOCK BEFORE I GO INTO YOUR ROOM WHY COULDN’T YOU DO THE SAME FOR ME.” “ What did I tell ya Anne. Look I am telling you now i went in there it’s not like I went through your stuff.” “That’s not the point dad, you could have, i have nothing to hide. The point is, is that you couldn’t even give me the respect to say “hey I’m gonna see if i can’t fix your TV that cool?” instead you just barge in” “Whatever Jennie just knock it off, it’s fixed just be happy.”  I shut up and just sit there angry. He continues to chirp at my mom about How i’m ungrateful that i need to learn to say thank you and so on. That was it for me, the straw broke, I snapped. I threw my food at him, i walked over to him screaming that he is a inconsiderate piece of shit. I slap him across the face a few times. He is winding up to hit me has his fist ready arm cocked back. My mom steps in yelling bleeding for me to stop that i shouldn’t have reacted this way, i’m in trouble... My dad steps a few feet back we are staring at each other for a good, what feels like, 5 minutes. Yelling at each other about the other one. He hates me cause I never thanked him for getting me out of a DWI which I did when he got home as well as when I was sober the next day. HE is telling me I should respect him just because he is my father, that he doesn’t have to earn my respect. I tell him how he has never respected me as a person. he goes how could i look at you. I tell him after 26 years of being belittled, beaten, threatened, abused, it’s hard to respect him. I end with saying, “you a such a fucking piece of shit” He retaliates with (always has to say the last word) “you are a bigger piece of shit” “Well I learned it form the best dad.” He walks into the kitchen. Says he is calling the cops on me, my mom is crying. Continues his chirping bitching and moaning about me. I’m cleaning up the food I threw. He yells something from the Kitchen.  I DON”T KNOW WHAT HE SAID BECAUSE I IMMEDIATELY SAW RED.  Grab the broom I was holding, run into the kitchen say to my mom “i’m gonna kill that son of a bitch.” And hit him across the back with it twice. My mom is screaming and crying and yelling telling me to stop trying to hold me back but i keep getting my arms loose. I start shoving my dad, shoving him into a corner. While i’m doing that. I’m telling him he is worthless, that he doesn’t deserve my mo and how good she is to him. That he doesn’t deserve my brothers and I, or his own siblings and family. Telling him that he has ruined any shred of a healthy relationship with anyone in his life. Telling him I wish he were dead. His last words to me were “If i were dead you know what, you would be sad about” I said “You are right, I would be sad, but not that you are dead, because I didn’t get to do it.” after that my mo again stepped in this time more aggressively and told me to go upstairs. “Give me a minute mom” “NO JENNIFER NOW” ( I was looking for my phone) once I found it i immediately went upstairs packed as much as I could as fast as I could. Called my brother asked him if I couldn’t crash at his place for a night or 2 and left.”  I don’t regret what I said, I am upset with the actions I took. I have been enduring through this type of abuse from him for years and I just finally snapped. I couldn’t do it anymore. I’m fine not having a relationship with him. I can survive without him in my life. And I hear every person I know who doesn’t have a dad or lost there dad tell me how lucky i am to have a living father in my life etc. But just cause he is alive doesn’t mean he is a good one.  I feel horrible for putting my mother through that, for hurting her so much. I love her dearly but I can’t live in a house with someone like my father anymore.  But what does hurt is that I haven’t heard from her. She hasn’t check on me and that sucks. 

SO moral of the story, no idea how this is going to pane out, good, bad, indifferent.

[grizzlefur]

WWEm - More Like PerestroiKO

Broadcast date: Monday 11/Tuesday 12 September 2017

Brought to you by the function 3x+6 and the cuneiform logogram DIĜIR, this is MONDAY AFTERNOON RAW!

(should have done this earlier, fell asleep, so sue me)

and we're starting with a moment of silence

christ, yeah, it's the 9/11 episode

fun and jokes on my blog today

oh, and a sombre text crawl

great

someone breaks the silence with a woo, usa chants begin

i get the feeling i'm gonna be sighing at america a lot tonight

oh hey, and apparently brock's gonna be here tonight

woooo

and cena/strowman, which should be fun

but for now, here comes the opposite of fun

in the form of roman reigns

oh, and apparently he's fighting jason

good way to get jj over as a face, i guess

he enters, the crowd goes tepid

recap of cena/jordan from last week

that was a good match

and video of the less-good smacktalk session following that match

so now roman gets to put his money where his shit is

if roman loses this, i just want cena to turn up and laugh for ten minutes straight

oh hey, pan out to cena watching the match

preliminary scuffling, punctuated by roman perfecting his scorn laugh

and getting punched in his smug face

booker is getting very excited about roman

well, i guess someone has to

roman cocks his fist, goes for it, jj reverse into a crossface because seriously, fuck that face

pan out again to cena looking deeply dissatisfied

truly, a man of the people

that's what we all look like when roman's winning things

okay, i hate roman reigns and all the things he does, but even i have to admit that samoan drop counter was pretty sweet

but now we're back to jj suplexing him to the underworld, so all is good

corey claims jj is "driven by failure"

truly, the next great renewable energy source

booker magnanimously agrees to stop calling jason a rookie, despite the bit where he was nxt and smackdown tag champ

jason exposes his shoulders (his other fuel source), hits the rolling double northern lights for a nearfall

then crossface for a near finish

booker sarcastically calls jj "what [roman] calls a rookie"

you were calling him that THREE FUCKING MINUTES AGO, YOU COLOSSAL WANKSPONGE

roman bullfights jj really hard into the post, superman punch, goes oooooo, spear for the pin

pan out to cena looking begrudgingly impressed

tense faceoff

roman gives jj the handshake

that'll do, pig

pan out again, and now charly is there

asks cena for his thoughts, he's just like i'm gonna go out there and tell him myself

after this total bellas ad

he didn't say that last part, but i know he understands the value of his wife's brand

(wait, are they marrried yet?)

cena drops his towel on the stage, camera focuses on it for a weirdly long time

forgoes his run to the ring to do a thug strut instead

clearly the camera guy needs to work on their cardio

cena appreciates that

thoughtfully gets two mics before getting into the ring

throws roman one with a comment about his fashion sense

asks for his thoughts, suggests some helpful catchphrases so he doesn't have to talk too long

roman claims to have had more good matches in two years than cena has in his career

cena's just like dude, seriously, stop talking, you're burying yourself

calls him a one-man human centipede

keep it pg, john

cena challenges himself every day to try everything

take that as you will

cena gets up in roman's face about how he's shat the bed on every opportunity available

not inaccurate

roman calls him a bitch

devastating comeback

roman claims to be solely responsible for raw's ticket sales

paul heyman's like um

disparages cena's hollywood aspirations, offers to introduce him to a guy

cena's like at no mercy, consider me like a drug test, you ain't getting past me

crowd goes oooooooooooh

even roman smirks

and swagger off

next up, sasha banks does a thing

after this advert for lesnar/strowman

(and if their compound couple name isn't lensman, i'll punch something)

and another one for cute kids with cancer

(and the prevention of such things)

and now that's all done with, here's sasha

in an even nicer jacket than usual

fighting emma, who doesn't get an intro this time

siiiiiigh

i mean, i hate her new music, but still

oh, and alexa's materialised on announce

and inside the ring, emma has 100% stolen alexa's iron man gear

first the music, then the space cop gear

where will it end

oh hey, here comes nia

who gets her full intro despite being in street clothes and there being a fucking match in progress

cut to ads, and when we get back nia's got a seat on announce too

like oh hey guys don't mind me

oh, there's still a match happening

who knew

wow, this is tepid as fuck

like, i love all four of these, but they're still conspiring to make this segment so dull

and bank statement from nowhere for the tap

so yeah, that happened

still optimistic for the four-way, though

and not just because the fallout from that would be the perfect moment to debut asuka

but now, let's have an overdramatic recap package of braun/show coming out of their cage

(and feeling just fine)

(yeah, i stole that joke, but it's perfect, so fuck off)

apparently show got injured

so, yknow, swings and roundabouts

(and we all know i can get away with that because a) it's almost definitely a work, and b) it's the big show)

brock up next

greeeeeeat

after this advert for smackdown, now with 100% more mcmahonity

oh wait, shane got suspended

so i guess the number stays the same

just been shot with a mad science aging ray

anyway, yeah, brock is here

which is why i'm distracting myself with jokes about the mathematics of mcmahons

(mcmahoths?)

paul continues to get mad pops by saying his name and listing adjectives

paul's just like i'm meant to be here to sell you on no mercy, but it's already generated all the hype in the world

possibly untrue

confirmed: braun's announce table origami combo sounds a lot dumber when a middle-aged accountant type describes it without the aid of video replays

paul says braun will need to rip the championship from brock's hands if he wants it

paul throws in some ufc references, because apparently people still pop for that

paul calls braun out with some enormous histrionics

and here he comes

brock tries to go straight into suplexes, gets punched in his grinning idiot face

then lands one, braun just stands up like nope

and chokeslams him

this is the shit i do like

and then running powerslam

fuck you, mr lesnar

picks up the belt so he can contemplate it for a bit, then stands on brock so he can brandish it aloft

then sarcastically puts it down on brock's chest and pats it like you just take care of my belt for a couple weeks

and swaggers off while brock lies in the ring hugging his belt

apparently tonight, we have miztv with enzo

what did we do to deserve this

but up next, bray does a thing

after cole tells us about the hurricanes

the crowd stay as classy and respectful as they ever do in a serious moment

by which i do of course mean they woo like a bunch of owls on meth

and now here comes goldust

you're not bray

although it is nice to see him actually get a match rather than just sending in his videos

ah, here's bray

doing a sermon over the tron first

continuing his crusade against people who wear face paint

bray wyatt vs icp confirmed for mania 34

booker boldly theorises that bray may be more concerned with collecting his enemies' souls rather than championships

no shit, dude

did you miss the bit where he delivered a screaming promo while anointing himself with the ashen earth from the burnt grave of the devil's sister or something

bray wins in about two minutes, doesn't even need to do the spider walk

did give goldust a chance to show off that he can still do this shit, though

bray produces a handkerchief, proceeds to scrub the paint off goldust's face to the boos of the crowd

proclaims that HE'S JUST A MAAAAAN

no shit

that paint slides right off if he fights for more than a couple minutes

finn takes offence, rushes the ring and chases bray away

bray walks slowly backwards up the ramp while giving finn uncomfortable eye contact, end thing

but now, charly interviews sheamus and cesaro

and the camera guy works very hard trying to keep the three of them in frame together

it's not really possible

apparently they're gonna leave seth and dean with punctured lungs at no mercy

seems excessive

but yeah, they're fighting the good brothers next

after this advert for the myc final

(it was great, thanks for asking)

seth and dean are on announce

dean's brought binoculars and a notepad so he can scout the competition

cole's like um dude, you know we have monitors

dean teaches seth how to use binoculars

and now they're scoring gallows and anderson on their fashion sense

and then derail the kkb's entrance by shittalking them

and then getting in a fight

and anderson and gallows can't bear to leave a good fight unjoined, so run up the ramp to brawl

gallows punches sheamus so hard his kilt falls off

security pulls them all apart, announce team are like welp guess that's a no on the match

but now, have this tapout body spray advert, featuring john cena as a presumably attractive-smelling superhero

and now you get a recap video of the team brawls we just had

cut to kurt's office, seth and dean demand a match against FUCKING EVERYONE tonight

kurt says they can have it, as long as they find two partners to even the numbers

crowd knows where this is going, immedately begins the delete chants

dean promises to find some, even if they have to go to disneyworld and bring back mickey mouse and batman

kurt clarifies that their partners do in fact have to be real people

dean shrugs like w/e man i can't tell the difference i just did a whole bunch of speed and some moss i found growing under the storm drain outside my apartment well i say apartment it's a sheet of corrugated iron against a wall under a bridge well i say wall it's a bear i knifed in a fight over half a can of special brew well at least that's what mad harry who makes it calls it anyway i don't care let's fucking GOOOOOO

(possible paraphrase)

they leave kurt to be like hmm, i guess batman would be a great partner

oh hey, here's a promo clip for asuka

confirmed for raw

but then, we all knew that was coming

pan out to nia watching it like pah

alexa appears at her elbow to be like gawd all these randos turning up in our division and our matches the fuck is wrong with people

does a spot-on emma impression

calls nia her best friend, she's immediately like ummmmmm no

alexa claims all their  troubles are just because she has trouble expressing her emotions

nia's like cool let's be friends oh btw i asked kurt for a match with you next week

walks off, slow zoom on alexa's face like WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT

up next, elias has a new song, after this ad for champions

i love how they're always like OMG DEBUTING A NEW SONG

like

has he ever reused material

well, here he is, still shedding names like a snake with some kind of dermatological disorder

crowd are weirdly supportive, then surprised when he badmouths their city

(which turns out to be anaheim)

like

have they ever watched his segments before

oh, and here's kalisto

one day, elias will finish a song

i have faith

cole refers to kalisto as a lucha libre

the man is his own style

i have but moments to appreciate the rusk-style elias world tour shirt he's got before he shreds it like the new regeneration of hulk hogan

wait a second, why isn't kalisto competing in the cruiserweight decision yet?

that'd be great

anyway, he gets stomped on and neckbroken for the pin

speaking of underappreciated former nxt tag champs

but up next, jaun strowna

after another ad for smackown

and here's john again

he's found his towel again

leaves it on the announce table, because it's one of the things they're auctioning

so fair enough

cena grimaces up the ramp a bit, rips his shirt off while waiting for braun to turn up

roars into the arena, fashionably late as ever

stands in the ring pawing at the ground for a bit

wait, are we meant to be getting bullfight vibes from this?

is cena going to start sticking spears into braun's shoulders to slow him down

pan out to roman watching the match, holding a towel for some reason

braun's getting like 90% of the offense in this, and it's great

frankly, any time braun strowman dropkicks soemone, i am entirely on board with it

the crowd agree

i think they're trying to get braun heel heat here, not sure anyone gives a shit

i mean, i know it's mostly to get cena further over as a face, but still

braun's built a massive stock of goodwill off trying to murder roman reigns

they keep making a thing in this of john going for the aa but not being able to get strowman in the air

like

i get where they're going, but we've seen him aa big show and pick brock lesnar up with one arm

these power levels are more wildly inconsistent than dbz

cena sets up a five knuckle shuffle, braun just stands up and turns it into a spinebuster

cena gets an aa off it anyway for some reason, braun makes it out of the ring

and then hits him with the ring steps for a dq

wait, they're not treating this like it's over

are they somehow arguing that braun was just holding them when cena ran into them

i understand nothing

and then braun powerslams him onto the steps, which would be completely normal usually but causes a dq here

or

wait

they're playing his music

are they playing that as the medics called it off?

i have no fucking clue

charly turns up to interview roman, he says something banal that i managed to just tune out entirely

give it a few more weeks, and eventually every time he opens his mouth all i'll hear will be womp womp womp like charlie brown's teacher

but up next, miztv with enzo

sighhhhhhh

after this ad for total bellas

(also sigh)

and one for the myc final

(non-sigh)

but now, dean tries to recruit random runners into their tag team

seth's like yeahhhhhh maybe not

and then they run into dean malenko and a friend?

and decide against it

and then the hardyz

there we go

matt's being even more obviously broken than usual

and here are team miz

maryse in a bright red power suit that, as ever, i would wear the fuck out of

bo still hasn't given ariya his jacket back yet

ooh, apparently miz and maryse have an announcement

maryse is pregnant

and they're both just looking genuinely happy and it's so different to normal miz segments

so of course, miz immediately takes the opportunity to talk shit about kurt angle's parenting

starts reading a prepared speech about fatherhood, enzo cuts in with his intro

what a bellend

dressed even more than the create-a-wanker 'randomise' function than usual

claims he's just coming to celebrate with friends, makes eyes at maryse

miz just immediately tears him a new one about his lack of solo prospects

i love angry miz

just like listen dude, i understand being hated, so let me tell you: everyone fucking ~haaaaaaaaates~ you

wow, yeah, this is just miz absolutely unleashing

see, enzo, this is how you talk smack that people understand

enzo responds by shouting at him about realness

yeah, enzo, copying someone's finisher is totally a heinous act that you would never do

promises to come back to raw with the cruiserweight belt and beat miz too

miz pledges to show enzo what a real champion looks like, dedicates his victory to their unborn child

yknow, as you do

cut to ads, during which kurt agreed to the match on the grounds that once a wrestling match has been proposed, it 100% has to happen

miz's opponent immediately runs out of the ring to rant on mic for once

must be unfamiliar territory for him

miz returns the favour while mashing enzo's face into the apron

and then foolishly decides to pause to talk on mic while on the top rope

gets inevitably crotched

enzo takes the opportunity to question the baby's parentage, miztourage join in on kicking yet more shit out of him

dq sounded, miz doesn't even slightly care

but up next, the 8-man tag we all expected

ads for our other shows later, cut backstage and enzo's coughing blood and reconsidering his life choices

runs into neville, who gives an award-winning cackle and walks off

seth and dean do solo intros this time

they really need to get some kind of joint intro

what would that sound like

who could say

although i am a bit attached to BURRRRRN IT DOWWWWWWWWWWWWWN

match begins, i am distracted from matt hardy's shambling weirdness by his sweet-ass trousers

matt gets sheamus and cesaro on the outside, jeff does poetry in motion over the ropes because OH MY GOD AN OPPORTUNITY TO JUMP OFF A THING

i sometimes feel like matt needs to stop enabling his brother

if you thought this match would be huge and messy, you win nothing because of fucking course it is

enjoyable though

cesaro nearly stacks it off the top rope setting up for a flying uppercut/back senton combo, matt kind of flips sideways through the ropes to get the break, gets their at about a count of five to find out the ref had stopped the count at two anyway

dean manages to escape a magic killer attempt to punch gallows in the throat

seth finally hot tags in, burns everyone down

including completely no-selling anderson's attempts to interfere from outside

matt hits gallows with a twist of fate, then the hardyz intimidate the kkb away from the ring while seth and dean hit kingslayer to dirty deeds for the pin on anderson

sheamus and cesaro stand at the top of the ramp doing their thumb thing, the faces stand in the ring celebrating their actual use of tactics for once, and so we fade

i say 'we'

but as we all know, this is the blog that never sleeps

(offer not valid when i miss updates because i overslept)

so i think it's high time we rolled on some MONDAY AFTERNOON SMACKDOWN!

oh god, it's going to include vince and his floppy swagger

fuuuuuuuuuck

daniel, queue something else instead

okay, according to daniel, our machines are timelocked and you can only change the video queue between 11:03 and 11:36

yknow, every week it becomes more and more clear to me why we get these offices for free

well, if it's gonna play anyway, let's get our down smacked and we open on the ongoing shane/kevin controversy

this remains one of the more close-to-the-bone promos in recent times

wow, this is a long recap

previously on smackdown (and assuming neither you nor anyone you know has watched it)

so yes, we're in vegas, and we're making this into an event episode because we don't have a ppv for a little while

and also because vince has sufficiently recovered from the last time he was exposed to Earth air

anyway, here's kevin

and i had forgotten how good this announce team was

kevin welcomes us to his show, reiterates his deep and abiding trauma and restraint when he didn't fight back

so now when he's sued everybody in wwe to death we're gonna get "Kevin Owens Presents: The Kevin Owens Show, starring Kevin Owens"

pledges to fire sami and make tom and byron share a suit

and cancel the fashion files

right, officially irredeemable now

calls vince out so he can talk business

foolishly calls out "Mr McMahon", so here's...dolph?

doing shane's entrance

sure, why not

kevin's like oh thank fuck a talented man who works here, i thought it was shane

lets him have the gimmick, since nobody's using it

and off he goes

kevin starts announcing more grand plans

and here's the other man who might have something to say about that

bryan just strolls into the ring like oh hey you don't actually run this show, i still exist

kevin promises bryan he'll still have a fulfilling job as a janitor on the kevin owens show

bryan hits back with a crack about kevin's weight

sighhhhh

sort it out, dude

ominously promises the imminent arrival of the vince

kevin's basically like yeah whatever -drops mic, walks off-

so yes, later tonight we have new day/usos street fight for the title, naomi/nattie for that title, and tye/aj for -that- title

and that last one is apparently up next

after this ad for cena/roman

which i just read back as 'catwoman', despite having written it myself

and now a moment as tom and corey tell us about natural disaster season

but back to the wrestles, here's aj

and a vt of the ongoing dillinger/us championship thing

here's tye, and this time they've actually synced his tron properly

bell rings, commence to UNNECESSARILY FAST WRESTLING

but then, anything to distract us all from tye's hairstyle

baron runs in, aj redirects a phenomenal forearm to hit him in the face

tye doesn't quite get the distraction pin, then fights out of a styles clash attempt to hit a really nice tye breaker

aj kicks out at 2.99994, then reverses another thing into a calf crusher for the tap

good match

like, felt short, but that's just the problem with this show only being two hours

tye hobbles to his feet, aj gives him the handshake, respect and love all around

and here comes baron to ruin everything

throws aj over the barricade, clotheselines tye, then end of days to aj on the floor

before announcing that next week, aj's opponent in the us title open challenge will be him

someone still needs to learn the meaning of 'open'

and now some woman i don't recognise interviews rusev, both of them speaking with the conviction of a hostage delivering their captor's demands

apparently bulgaria has turned its back on rusev after his failure

so now he has to kill randy to get his mojo back

or poorly-thought-out words to that effect

but up next, jinder does a thing

after a total bellas ad and a supremely tacky exterior shot of vegas, that is

here are the singhs, holding a note longer every week

and here comes the man himself, jinder mahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal

in a dark green suit/brown shirt combo that i actually kind of dig

match graphic for hiac revealed

hell in a cell 2017: this year it's METAL AS FUCK

surprisingly notable maharaja chant going there

big punjabi-canadian community in vegas, clearly

jinder promises to get inside shinsuke's head

a process that seems to consist of putting pictures of him up and laughing at them

aaaaaaand there goes the poop joke

wow

way to aim high

the singhs find this possibly dangerously funny

oh wow, calling him a michael jackson ripoff

nobody's noticed that

oh, and there's a racist stereotype

people laugh, jinder's like see, fucking americans

promises shinsuke that if he wins the belt, he too will get shat on by racists

(while being racist)

transitions into ranting in punjabi mid-sentence

cut backstage, where kevin is dictating a list of his demands as showrunner

including a limo for his buddy jimmy

oh hey, here's sami

this won't be awkward

kevin doesn't even try not to gloat

sami's like cool, whatever, literally anything will be preferable to working for you

up next, new day v usos in a sin city street fighter 3rd strike

(it's possible i should have stopped typing earlier than i did)

but first, cute kids with cancer again

and i hold myself back from being as excoriating as usual

(if you're wondering whether bottling up my pite and bitchiness like this causes me physical pain, be assured that it does)

in any case, here are the new day

only kofi and e have made it to the ring

reasonably sure xavier was there at the top of the ramp

oh, ok

they've sent him back so the usos can't say they had an advantage

seems fair

roll vt of the match we would like you to forget being the best part of summerslam

new day immediately knock the usos out of the ring and get a table

they know how to do their job, who knew

cut to ads, and suddenly e is in the corner with a chair wedged into the ropes above him for whatever reason

recaps suggest the usos put it there, so we know who it'll backfire on

oh look, e kicked one of them into it

that was quick

and then jimmy kicks it into e's face

nice spot

kofi reappears, gets his face smacked into the apron

and jimmy gets jey a kendo stick

both commence to beating on big e with it

kofi comes back, takes everyone out, gets the kendo stick

beats jimmy with it until it explodes

splinters for everyone

okay, this is moving too fast for me to narrate

basically watch the summerslam kickoff match again, but add chairs

kofi just hit jimmy in the face with a chair about six dfferent ways, then threw it at him

and then got thrown into the barricade anyway in the ugliest bump of the night

this enrages big e, who proceeds to murder jey

jey's shirt is getting destroyed, providing a handy visual identifier e splashes both of them, dances instead of going for the pin

jimmy superkicks him, he doesn't give a shit, big ending for the nearfall and then e takes a double superkick anyway

set up for a double splash, kofi kicks jey off the turnbuckle and through chekhov's table

and midnight hour for the pin

much tromboning and joviality

shot of daniel arguing with a runner backstage

graphic for naomi/nattie, during which corey completely forgets how to english

shots of the press carpet for the myc, mostly just reminding me how good steph's outfit was

oh, and ronda rousey's here tonight

oh right, we're in the women's match now

no better way to show the legitimacy and importance of your women's division than by depriving their title match of intros

naomi's got cool new gear though

and carmella's on announce

with ellsworth on a leash

because of course

all bullshit aside, this is a good match

p sure i know who wins because of video thumbnails, but we shall see

-puts in an alarm for 11:05 to change those settings-

naomi casually scorpion kicks nattie in the face like it ain't no thang nattie gets knocked out of the ring, carmella takes the opportunity to front at her with her briefcase

aaaaaand naomi planchas her and ellsworth

and nattie gets a sharpshooter off the distraction for the tap

so yeah, the outcome i expected

so that's three really good title matches down, but of course our main event will be the corporate disciplinary hearing

kevin walks in on aiden practising his opera, offers him a job singing the theme song to the kevin owens show

he freestyles something, kevin is pleased

really, i'm looking forward to this grand restructuring

more like perestroiKO

and now here's dolph

with his own entrance for once

claiming to be the single best performer in wwe history

wait, is this whole rejection of gimmicks gimmick because kfc dropped him?

has a rant, walks off, comes back as bayley

gives up halfway through after the crowd are super into it, bunches a bayley buddy

has another rant, walks off again

and now he's the ultimate warrior

this is not gonna go down well with a lot of people

has dolph just spent a lot of time on the create-an-entrance tool in 2k17?

"So this is what it's come to"

dude, warrior was around like thirty years ago

how is this new

has another rant about how no-one can do what he can and how nobody cares

throws the mic at the announce table, stomps out of the ring as it goes WHONK

somewhat ruined the moment, tbh

who am i kidding, there wasn't a moment, it was dolph ziggler

back to the ring, and someone's cleared away the dead inflatables, so here are the hype bros

to be fed to alpha 2.0

now in beta

shelton makes an impression by dragon screwing mojo through about three laws of physics

counters a rough ryder into a lovely delayed spinebuster, powerbomb-cutter combo for the pin

nearly stymied by shelton thinking chad's arms were longer than they were

learn to tag, guys

mojo shakes hands and hugs them, zack stomps off

i smell plot

but up next, oh fuck vince is here where do we keep the spirits

daniel has responded to that question with a drawing of a magnet and what i'm reasonably sure is a swarm of hornets

guess that answers that question

so yeah, one myc ad later, kevin's in ring

and here comes vince

ain't nobody got swag this floppy

and what a delightful grey/green plaid suit

(disclaimer for text: that was sarcasm, it's fucking awful)

kevin launches straight into it with a thing about how vince must be intimidated by him

a spirit long-sealed at the bottom of a dry well replies

or possibly that's vince's voice

hard to tell sometimes

oh, again with the body-negative cracks

and making fun of kevin for not fighting back because lol cowards

i mean, i know that cowardice is the ultimate insult in wrestling, but it carries a lot of unpleasant baggage

vince promises to fire kevin if he sues the company, which i'm 100% sure breaks a whole lot of labour laws

just add 'wrongful dismissal' to that docket

vince claims to have never lost a lawsuit, i don't believe it for a second

also claims the laws of the land were written for men like him, which i can believe all day

apparently shane was suspended for not killing kevin

the fuck, vince

this is seriously the worst company anyone could ever work for

vince reinstates shane, makes a match at hiac so he can murder him properly

like, i know i read too much into wrestling, but this is tying into so much rich white male dickwad shit that it's making me deeply uncomfortable

vince agrees to give him his word that he won't have any repercussions for beating the shit out of a mcmahon

so kevin hits him in the head with a mic so he bleeds everywhere

and this is why we consider contract wording, children

ref tries ineffectually to get kevin to leave, so he just kicks vince in the stomach

and i get distracted by vince's old man socks for days

vince gets up, eats a superkick

kevin throws three refs out of the way, sets up for a frog splash

that dude in the suit whose name i always forget tries to stop him

it doesn't work

kevin walks up the ramp looking like he might have realised what he just did, steph comes out in that killer pantsuit to stare daggers at him

and we fade on an awful old man bleeding from his forehead and staggering up the ramp, supported by his daughter and that dude whose name still eludes me

so hey guys, who's hyped for the myc final?

sometimes, smackdown editing outdoes itself

(it might be scott armstrong?)

(fuck, but i'm bad at faces)

right - while this blog might never sleep, the lights go out in ten minutes, so we should probably relocate

expect another post sooner rather than later, since it's no mercy on sunday

and expect a decent outro...definitely later

[chillyjackal]

The Green Star Loop

-Monday-

"hey U up?"

"Yeah dude. Rough night."

"U goin to the party friday?"

Sam grinned as he typed out the text on his cellphone, he'd been excited about going to the party with his friends for a while now, and the thought that it was only a few more days away only added to his excitement.

"Dunno. I might. You know I hate social shit dude."

His grin shrunk just a bit, but he decided to keep going. If anyone could convince April to go to a party it was him.

"plz? i can be ur wingman lol. might be cute guys there for both of us."

He bit his lip a bit when he had to turn away from the phone to check himself in the mirror, a coyote in serious need of a shower looked back at him and jumped slightly as the sound of a message being recieved echoed from his phone.

"Fine. I'll get someone to drive me. You need a ride too?"

His grin returned to full strength as he typed out his reply.

"prolly. ex took the car w/ him."

"That's why I asked genius. Gonna be busy most of the week so I won't see you much. TTYL."

With that the messages stopped and Sam laid back down to stare at the ceiling for a few more minutes, his eyes wandering to his hand, covered in a bandage from a fight he'd decided to keep secret from April and Cass. He winced a bit as he pulled it off, only to see the wound mostly healed already.

Oh dude this is just getting weird..."

-Tuesday-

"Samuel."

"Oh Jesus Brittany just call me Sam please we went over this..."

The feathered manager took a moment to peek over her clipboard as Sam struggled to push some boxes back into place. It was inventory day at the shop and Sam was the lucky member of the staff that got to help her sort through the new stock.

"Alright alright, SAM, corperate has been sending me some very disturbing emails lately."

"What, they going to replace us with robots now?"

"No Sam, they noticed that the amount of stock we're getting is much higher than what's being sold. Do you understand what this means Sam?"

"Uh. We're not selling enough?"

"No Sam. We're selling more than enough, but some of our stock is going missing."

The crane narrowed her eyes at Sam as she spoke. He could feel the accusations building up behind them as she tried to scan him for any sort of weakness, anything that would tell her she was on the right track.

"You saying someone's shoplifting or something?"

"I'm saying you're shoplifting Sam. I'm not going to bullshit with you here, I've seen some things on the tapes, I know it's you."

This was bad. He was sure he'd been careful to avoid cameras, he must've forgotten where some of the newer ones had been placed.

"Sam, are you going through some sort of financial trouble? Are we just not paying you enough? What's going on?"

"Does anyone else know?"

"Not yet. Look, I know you've had some...issues with your family lately, but this sort of rebellious behavior is not suitable for a work environment and you know that!"

He felt his teeth grit just a bit, he couldn't believe this was happening.

"Samuel, I mean, Sam, why?"

"Parents are making me pay rent more, can't afford stuff as much, I think it's because they don't agree with my...life choices."

"Life choices? You mean um..."

"Yeah, the queer thing."

Brittany's eyes widened a bit as she closed her beak tightly and looked around, the air in the room growing the distinct smell of "awkward" as she cleared her throat and tried to regan her composure.

"W-Well, regardless Sam, you can't just steal from the store. If you're dealing with personal or family issues you should talk to me about maybe getting a raise. Your work is...enough, to at least try to convince someone higher up to approve of a higher pay."

Sam cringed very slightly, he knew that even if he didn't mean to he put Brittany in a very bad spot by bringing up his more personal problems.

"Don't worry about it Brittany, I'll stop stealing, I promise."

"Well, I'll give you one last chance, only because you've been here longer than any of the other kids we've had to hire recently."

"Thanks."

"The stuff you stole is going to come out of some of your pay though, so if you get a raise you'll be making about the same until that's paid off okay? Let's just move on."

Sam just nodded, glad to finally end this conversation before things got any more uncomfortable for either of them. Sam looked down at the spot where he'd managed to cut himself while moving the boxes, the cut already healed back up.

"You alright? Hurt your hand moving the stock?"

"Just a lil' sprained Brittany. I can deal with it."

-Wednesday-

"You did WHAT!? Sam what the actual hell!?"

Cass's face was bright red with anger as she tapped her foot on the sidewalk outside of the college, her friend scratching at his neck nervously as he confessed what happened at work to her.

"For God's sake Sam you said you'd stop this stuff! You promised me! No more of this deliquent crap remember?"

"Listen Cass I-"

"No, I listened last time after you almost died and you promised you'd stop."

Sam let out a pained sigh and held his head now, today was going just perfectly.

"Cass please, it was only some shoplifting okay? Nothing big, Britt let me off easy."

"She's docking your pay Sam! You're lucky she's more worried about social media crucifying her over firing you than what a bunch of old men in corperate think!"

"Okay no, I made it real clear I didn't care about that shit and you know that Cass, that's just a low blow."

"I'm sorry Mr. Shoplifter thinks I'm going for low blows. Did you forget how you almost bled out on my couch while I was screaming and calling the ambulance Sam? I sure as hell didn't! I still have a stain on that cushion! A stain made with your goddamn blood Sam!"

The coyote stared down at the pavement in a mix of embarrassment and shame, he'd never seen his friend this upset before, over anything, and he had no idea how to react.

"I'm sorry. I'm dealing with a lot of shit right now okay?"

"What? What could possibly be going on that means you can slip back into this garbage Sam?"

"Parents are kicking me out. Job isn't gonna be able to afford the new rent they're pushing on me and I don't think I can afford a new place. I just, slipped back into old habits. I thought maybe I could get a new place if I sold enough stolen crap."

"Fuck's sake Sam, why didn't you just come to me or April for help!? We would have helped you! Why do you always do this? We're your closest friends ever and you never tell us anything! Why?"

Sam stared down at his other hand again, he's been clenching it into a tight fist the entire time and was sure he drew blood with one of his claws, it already healed back up like nothing happened.

"I just... some things can't be helped Cass. I need to do some shit on my own sometimes okay?"

With that, the two parted ways. Sam checked back on his hand and cleared his throat a bit nervously.

"Something's definitely wrong."

-Thursday-

"why won't you answer my messages? sam. answer me. you stole again didn't you? sam answer please."

He stared down at his phone again as he leaned against the alley wall, the time had come for him to try to sell some of the merchandise he'd stolen from his own work and he couldn't get himself to tell Cass again, he didn't need a repeat of yesterday and she didn't need to know he'd figured out where the cameras were and how to avoid them since the incident Tuesday. He shut off his phone and peeked around the corner at the man stepping out from across the street and signalling for him.

"Mr.Samuel. I heard you got your hands on some special merhandise?"

"Yeah dude, brand new. Got it on the back of my bike man, come in and I'll show you."

The tall bird followed him back into the dimly lit alleyway as he pulled the cover off the back of his bike to reveal a toaster and some other smaller electronics.

"All new dude. Just like I promised. You bring the money YOU promised?"

"Of course Mr. Samuel. I'm a professional, I always keep my end of the bargain."

The bird undid his suitcase and handed it to Sam, who smiled when he opened it up to see small stacks of bills inside.

"Perfect. Am I even going to need to count all this to make sure it's all here?"

"Oh. That will not be necessary Mr. Samuel. Your well deserved reward is all there, and I am a man of my word. No professional would consider scamming a business partner."

He tilted his head slightly at this comment but laughed it off and nodded.

"Ha ha yeah, you business types are pretty on the up and up. Didn't think you did stuff like this."

"Oh Mr. Samuel, this is far from strange in my line of work."

"Huh?"

"The business circuit is... killer."

"Oh. Ha, thought you meant something else for a second. Sorry, been having a bad week."

The bird grunted and checked his watch, since he'd arrived Sam noticed that he checked it over and over again as if he was worried about being late for something besides the late-night trade-off.

"Oh yes Mr. Samuel. I am well aware that your week has been a bit... uncomfortable. But, as they say, it could always be worse."

"Yeah. Got that right. This could've turned out to be a set-up by some cops or something ha ha ha."

"Ho ho ho. Well, I am no officer. However... "

Sam felt his blood run cold as the suitcase in his hands seemed to shift slightly.

"This is in fact, very much a set-up."

With little warning a blade launched from under the bills, sending Sam flying back as it pierced his shoulder.

"AAAAGH WHAT THE FUCK!?"

"Excellent, you were the person I was looking for. I was worried I'd targeted the wrong individual and would have to do clean up tonight. Right then, let's get you prepared."

"P-Prepared!? The fuck are you talking about! Back off!"

Sam hissed out as he managed to grab the black diamond-like shrapnel in his shoulder and yank it out, tossing it to the ground and crying out again when it exploded, sending him soaring into a pile of garbage next. The bird rolled his eyes and took slow steps towards the pile as he continued to stare at his watch.

"Please stop resisting Samuel. This is a serious waste of both of our time. You will not be able to escape me. My ability far overpowers your own and if I must bring you back with me as a pile of regenerating ashes I will."

"Fucking shit... wh-what the fuck are you and what did you do to me...!?"

A frustrated sigh from the bird followed by a long spear forming from his hand told Sam he probably wasn't going to answer him, at least not without some serious stalling.

"Look I, I don't know what's going on just fucking tell me!"

"We still have another three minutes before this fight ends, so I will explain it as simply as possible before then. You have gained the ability to heal damage over time, and it is growing stronger with each day as you've noticed. This ability means you are part of a greater plan that is in motion and it is my job to ensure you are in place for that plan. That is all you get, you'll learn more in about three... two... one."

A dirty hand burst from the trash behind Sam and forced a rag over his face, his entire body going into overdrive as he tried to kick and fight the grunting figure wrestling his wobbling form to the ground.

"Shhh, shhh, jus' let it happen there son. S'all over now, just go ta sleep... "

As he gagged on the rag pushing into his mouth, Sam suddenly felt a deep regret over all of his choices up until this point.

-Friday, Night of the Party-

Sam coughed and groaned out as he woke up on a cold stone surface, a chill over his body alerting him to the fact that he'd been stripped of his clothing and heavily bound, a group of figures standing around him and muttering to eachother as he started to panic.

"Wh-what the actual fuck...!? What is this, this some kind of fucking stupid joke!? Fucking untie me you asshats!"

"Oh I'm gonna like fucking this guy up. He's already pissing me off."

A rough voice growled. A much more composed voice followed.

"Everyone, the time has come to bring fourth the Green Star."

Sam squirmed and started doing something he knew he was good at, mouthing off.

"Green Star!? I've got a star you can kiss but it sure as hell ain't green!"

A giggle from one of the hooded figures was quickly silenced by another who growled at them.

"Listen you shit we're not here to have fuckin' fun, we're here to carve up this fruit for God or whatever the fuck."

"Stark please shut up."

A female voice, the source of the giggling hissed.

"It's bad enough we need to do this to the poor dear, we don't need your disgusting attitude too."

The angry voice replied once again.

"I'll give you my disgusting attitude if you keep fucking pushing me bitch. You know I'll fucking do it."

Sam started freaking out when he heard the name Stark, flashbacks to the night he nearly died on Cass's couch flooding his mind as he struggled.

"Fucking, Stark!? Eli Stark!? You sick fuck this was your fucking idea!?"

"How in the FUCK does this faggot know my name?"

"You fucking SHOT ME you inbred fuckhead!"

There was a loud snarl from Stark as he tried to pull himself onto the table only for the other two robed figures to wrestle him back down.

"LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT I SHOULD'VE MADE SURE I SHOT YOU IN THE GODDAMN HEAD LET ME GO SO I CAN FUCKING KILL HIM."

A loud yell from behind Sam broke up the fight.

"ENOUGH. WE'RE WASTING TIME. STARK SETTLE DOWN AT ONCE, THIS IS AN ORDER!"

The booming voice caused a sudden silence among the cultists, who looked up behind Sam's bound body at the tall hooded figure glaring down on them, causing all three of them to back down and cough nervously.

"Fucking little bitch had it coming..."

The new figure huffed out and shook his head.

"Stark, we have no time for your outbursts. Our other sacrifice will be brought to us soon, so we must act in haste."

"Y-You're doing this to OTHER people too!? What the fuck are you all doing here!?"

As Stark rummaged around for something on the other side of the room the figure behind Sam started whispering something to him.

"Mr. Samuel, please forgive us for what we are about to do, but we assure you this is for a good cause."

"Wh-what do you mean forgive y-"

A loud crack rang through the room as something smashed down onto Sam's legs, causing them to shatter as he stared at the ceiling before screaming in absolute agony. Stark licked his teeth and laughed as he lifted the large hammer back up over his shoulder before slamming it down on Sam's side, grunting and laughing wildly as blood flew up and onto his body as he heard ribs breaking.

"Hahahahaha shit that had to hurt!"

Sam wheezed and started vomiting blood all over himself, feeling an even greater pain as his body attempted to heal itself of its injuries. Stark spoke up again.

"I need to keep doing this until the other one gets here or should we get right to the point? Either way is fine but I'm having fun doing this."

"We're short on time. They got the girl and are on their way. We'll need to end this part of the ceremony."

He growled as he slammed the hammer down at different points of Sam's body a few more times to ensure he wouldn't heal while he was being sacrificed and panted as he lifted the tattered and ripped body over his shoulder, carring the screaming and sobbing Sam over to a large container with an acrid smelling liquid inside.

"Have fun in eternal agony fruitcake."

Stark laughed as he threw Sam's screeching form into the pool of chemicals and slammed the door shut, cursing when some of it splashed and burnt away a bit of his robes.

"Oh COCK SUCKER HE WRECKED THE STUPID SUIT!"

"It doesn't matter, we won't need these outfits much longer. The time has come to complete our mission my children. Let us move to the sacred chamber and begin..."

Sam's entire body was screaming. It was like every single inch, every cell, ever molecule of his body had a mouth and it was screaming in pain as what he could only assume was some sort of battery acid kept eating away at his flesh, eating and tearing only for it to grow back, only to melt away and rot before dissolving into nothing in front of him. The screaming pain became louder and louder, and a green glow seemed to consume him with the rest of the chemicals as his agony reached a new level.

-

The sound of his phone alarm going off on his dresser made Sam wake up with a start. With a lazy stretch he reached over and checked his texts.

"From: J. Doe, please meet me this Thursday with the items we discussed last week. The list will be attached to this message. Do not be late."

Sam sighed sadly and saved the list. He had a really rough week ahead of him, but he did have something to look forward to as well. He switched to his chat with April and started typing:

"hey U up?"

"Yeah dude. Rough night."

"U goin to the party friday?"