#like my dad genuinely thinks if we let her loose in a dog park she would. get over her aggression towards other dogs

[lucienvanitasabysslll]

"she went berserk and starting barking when i took her out earlier and there were dogs but then i took her out again and she was fine???" YEAH MOM BC THERE WERENT ANY DOGS THIS TIME

[phantomphangphucker]

Ectober Day 11: Villain - Sinners Are We Chap. 1: I’m Kinda Glad That You’re Evil Too

When Danny goes down, so does everyone else. Including one Valerie Gray. And Dan couldn’t be happier.

Danny Fenton’s life had gone to shit and it didn’t take long after for Valerie Gray’s to follow right behind. Like Danny, she had lost her entire genuine social circle. All the other kids at school certainly weren’t friends of hers that’s for sure. And when Danny went with Vlad? Both of them seemed to just disappear in the wind.

Honestly? She was furious he hadn’t taken her with them. Wasn’t she practically family? Didn’t both of them value her? Vlad said time and time again how proud he was of her and how important she was to him. Danny had loved her once, and had stayed a strong friend after. Yet they both left her behind to rot. Danny, she could forgive, he had lost everything and nearly died; but Vlad? No. Sure she had her dad, but their relationship was strained at best, toxic at worst. He hated what she did and was meek. While she had a violent streak a mile long and loved to fight ghosts. Combine that with all three of her only friends and the one man who supported her vanishing in the aftermath of a fiery explosion, and she became a walking bomb of anger and resentment.

School didn’t help either, none of them gave a damn about the trio after the initial shock and gave even less of a damn about her. If anything, she became the new target for the torment all three had faced. Difference was? She hadn’t been about to tolerate that. Which eventually lead to a quick and unpleasant expulsion due to repeated and violent fights. Her shattering Dash’s knee had been the breaking point for the sports-obsessed school, and she couldn’t have been happier.

Screw the lot of them.

And what was she going to need schooling for anyway? She was a hunter. Now she was free to do that without the distraction of school. Which only led to her feeding her aggressive side. To her fighting more and more. Which her dad was having none of. Because then she had been around him more too, and that led to more fights. Which, her father put his foot down on after she threw a lamp through their stupid thin walls. So that left her out on the streets, with the only family she had left telling her to stay the Hell away. It was at that point she started to resent people more than ghosts.

Because what had ghosts really taken from her? Nothing at this point. Sure that damn dog had got her dad fired and ruined her clothing. But it was humans who abandoned her as a ‘friend’ and ‘family’. It was humans who had harassed her at school and sneered at her on the streets. It was humans who were the mean ones.

The treatment of her as the huntress didn’t help things either. Jack and Maddie, though strange and even dangerous, were likeable and friendly. Red was not. Especially since her grieving tactics seemed to involve taking things a little too far more often than not. She had been stupid proud the first time she managed to actually destroy a ghost, but the first time she did that publicly? The town reacted with nothing but abject horror. Crucified her as a murderer and danger to society. They didn’t reject her though. Of course those pricks didn’t, they needed her. She was the only line of defence against the ghost onslaught.

And eventually she decided: you know what? Screw this whole fucking town. You can all burn for all I care. And stopped giving even an ounce of a damn about bystanders or damages. She was just here to fight, that was it. End of story. If someone died in the crossfires then that wasn’t her problem. These people didn’t deserve for it to be her problem. Fuck every last one of them.

Then her ‘father’ really screwed her over, revealed who she was. The girl behind the mask. And all Hell had broken loose. People would cross the street to avoid her, which only pissed her off. The motel was suddenly perpetually full and any place that could get away with refusing her service did. Eventually, she had to resort to petty theft and death threats just to get a decent meal.

She was absolutely done. Done with this damn town. Done with the stupid people in it. Done with humans. At least a ghost she could pound the crap out of. And they, the ghosts, respected and feared her for it. Good. And she’ll let those ghosts destroy that stupid town, it was retribution as far as she was concerned.

And that’s when she met him again, as she was walking down a deserted road away from the only home she’d ever known and one that had scorned her. And he had looked different. In a way much similar to her. Less friendly. Less kind. Less helpful. Actually...

He had looked like a monster.

All sharp fangs and claws, forked tongue and flaming hair. Red eyes. He couldn't fool a blind man into thinking he was ‘good’ with the way he looked then. Add in the deeper voice as if puberty was a thing ghosts experienced. And the really stupid thing? The first thought that had popped up in her mind was that he was kind of... hot. Which was ridiculous. And she remembers the conversation they had then. Him floating down to stand on the ground with arms crossed and a mean smirk across his face.

“Well if it isn’t the Red Huntress”, quirked a mocking eyebrow, “come looking to hunt me down?”.

She had rolled eyes, “hardly. Unlike the others you aren’t pathetically easy to beat the shit out of”.

That had gotten him to more genuinely raise his eyebrows in slight surprise, “oh? And what if I just so happened to be on my way to Amity? What would you do then, little hunter?”.

She had known that was a threat instantly, she hadn’t known just how serious of a threat it had been though. “Ha, like I care. Raise that miserable place to the ground for all I care”.

He had actually laughed at that, loudly, and uncrossed his arms to shrug exaggeratedly, “well I’ll be. Wasn’t it your ‘sworn duty’ to protect them? That town and it’s people? Whatever could they have done to change your mind”, he had actually looked slightly impressed then, “you are impressively stubborn after all”.

“Hmmm, let me make a list. Oh wait! I don’t care. Those people are dead to me”.

“Oh? And what of ghosts?”.

She had stared at him for a bit then, though had never been able to figure out what the fuck his angle was. “Punching bags that talk back. Might have destroyed a few. What’s it to you”, she had scoffed, “not like you like ghosts either”.

He had laughed again, almost sounding like a cackle, “fair enough, Huntress. Can’t say I haven’t destroyed a few myself”, then smirked and leaned forward menacingly, “what if I said I killed Vlad? Or your dear sweet little Danny”.

She had scoffed, not believing him for a second, “that’s bullshit and both of us know that”.

He shrugged and leaned back, “hardly. Though fine, I just blew up the guys mansion. Didn’t bother confirming any corpses”.

She had squinted at him, the nonchalance had made it clear that he was being honest that time, “yeah well, that man can rot too. He turned his back on me, so fuck him. Fuck people honestly. And what? Did ghosts finally tick you off enough to want them obliterated. Join the fucking party”.

He had smirked and laughed, the smile had been honestly charming; not that she admitted that at the time. “No. I just want to see everything burn, roast marshmallows in the flames, and dance in the aftermath”.

“Well that’s ghostly of you, Phantom”.

He had rolled his eyes very exaggeratedly, “it seems you’re no different”, he had walked close and gotten his face in hers, “so who’s the ghostly one here? Seems you’ve turned your back on your kind. And here you’re supposed to be the ‘good human’”, she swore he purred then, “you know, that almost makes me disappointed. You were always my favourite. Not like any of those other idiots stood a chance”.

She had huffed and refused to back up from him, “agreed. And I don’t think I even have to point out you were my favourite target”.

“And now?”.

She glared at him, “those people have done worse to me than you ever have. I told you, screw them”, and smirked a little, “what? You gone deaf over the years?”.

He had tilted his head back and laughed loudly again, she hadn’t remembered him ever laughing that much or smiling that much. “Damn!”, and looked to her with that stupid cocky smile, “in that case, want to watch it burn together?”.

She had squinted at him more, “what are you playing at”.

Phantom had just rolled his eyes and walked past her, “as I told you, you were always my favourite, Red”. And wasn’t that a mindfuck?

She had turned her head back to watch him walk, looked back to the direction she had been going, and then made a decision that would change everything.

Screw them. Fuck them. This was just. This was what they deserved. They were going to burn and she was going to enjoy the flames.

She had turned on her heel and stalked after him, determined anger in her eyes and a small mean smile on her face. He had looked back to her, at the sound of her footsteps, and full-on cackled before grinning wild and malicious.

In another time, Amity Park would have been the last town standing. Heralded by a hero standing against her long time enemy. But this time, the charred twisted mess of debris, blood, and guts was the spark that started the fire that would set the whole world ablaze. Brought about at the whims of a duo with stained hands twined together doing the waltz across the remains; grinning and laughing all the while.

[furyfought]

abernathy is a small town, surely you’ve met AGATHA KLEIN ; they can be a little IRREVERENT & OPPORTUNISTIC but have no fear , the TWENTY SEVEN year old definitely makes up for it by being IMPISH & SENSITIVE . most of the time anyway .  they’re usually seen around KLEIN & ASSOCIATES, LLC , as a CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY . you know, i hear they’re affiliated with the local mc, iron kings as an ATTORNEY . they’ve got this vibe of A HEART GROWN RAVENOUS, A CYANIDE CENTER ENCAPSULATED BY SACCHARINE FRUIT, AND A SOUL IN THE FORM OF A SCRIBBLE WITH FANGS going on , makes them easily recognizable.

loosely inspired by jennifer check (jennifer's body), wendy byrde (ozark), ginger fitzgerald (ginger snaps), elizabeth sloane (miss sloane), john silver (black sails), & BBHMM.

+ pinterest, stats.

hey, friends. i’m devin (or dev) & very tickled to be here. agatha’s a combination of two of my favorite muses, and i can only hope that you’ll love her as much as i do. 🤎

"𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄, 𝐈 𝐀𝐌 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒. 𝐍𝐎. 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓."

agatha’s story isn’t one that she likes to tell anymore. she feels it’s useless: to be defined by the actions of others, to attempt to battle the preconceived notions that run rampant regardless of what one says or does. she doesn’t want to beg for understanding anymore, or to claw her way from beneath the filth she’s made of her life. all that most know is all that she can bear to have known. the rest? it’s confetti; a meager concession in a game of chess. if you know her, is that a fact or a weapon to be used against her?

when it comes to the stories that can be told, however.. perhaps the most important is background. agatha’s an abernathy native: raised in grandiose park, flew the coop for college, only to settle back down in bordeaux apartments. klein & associates, llc. has been in her family for generations, each forefather serving increasingly questionable clients. agatha’s life, like that of many kleins before her, was already planned before she’d ever even been a thought in her parents’ minds. under her mother’s rule, there wasn’t any room for straying from that path. agatha would be smart; she would be clean; and she would be, without fail, someone. in other words, she would be her perfect replica. imagine the disappointment when agatha was anything but. 

agatha’s childhood can be summed up by three things: a door slammed shut in her face, an ear-piercing howl, and the chronic longing to go home — wherever that was. it’s another thing she doesn’t talk about, another thing she tries not to think about. those three things have followed her into adulthood, but they’ve taken different forms now. no longer is agatha a child screaming her throat raw — no; now, she cries out in other more productive ways. if you were to ask her, she’d tell you that she’s a woman grown; the past is behind her, buried in the sand where it belongs. the truth is trickier, less absolute. agatha is a child in the form of a woman; forever in the midst of a metamorphosis, unsure if for better or worse. she lacks foresight & lives largely in the now. she can’t imagine a future for herself and her choices in life reflect that.

agatha succeeds because she’s pretty, powerful, and convincing. wherever she falls short, her father is sure to more than make up for it. it’s amazing what people will do for the right price, and when they want to keep certain secrets from ever seeing the light. nepotism & immense privilege have done wonders for her, but she does.. actually work hard, too. she has an incredible memory & is really good at digging for more information & making her case. if she tells you that she’s going to do something, then she’s going to do it right no matter what. she’s dogged in that way, blinded to the outside world by her stubbornness. she works long hours & values her career above all else. she thinks it’s the only sure thing she has & views it as the one stable, secure thing in her life.

agatha is lonely to the point of defect. she lacks a sense of security in her life, which is why she’s so career-focused. she genuinely thinks that the only person ever looking out for her is her dad. she becomes very predictable once you realize that she will always pick the winning team; that she will forever follow the money; and that she is always going to make the decision that most benefits her. that isn’t to say that she doesn’t have any friends omg, but.. she doesn’t really trust easily. if she trusts you and considers you near and dear to her heart, then she’ll choose you. but until she has that reassurance? you’re on your own, bro. 

but like.. you literally would not know that unless you got burned by her. agatha is really good at listening and really good at playing parts for people. the thing with having no story is that she’s free to create her own. if you need a hero, she can be that. if you need a villain, she can definitely be that. she’s eerily good at getting chummy enough to make people think she’s close, only for them to realize.. they don’t actually know anything real about her? fun stuff. 

i think.. her entire life is a vie for power while also wanting to let go of that desire while also being afraid of what might happen if she were to let go of that desire. she’s not tht bad. she can play decent, be a guy’s guy. and she does come off tht way. it’s jus.. underneath there’s tht like .. tht rot tht she can’t scrub away. n it rears its ugly little head smtimes. but. :^) she can be cool n shoot the shit u kno.. heheh.

anyway.. lighter stuff<3 puts the gaslight and gatekeep in girlboss. talks just like her daddy, except for when she’s in the courtroom. egocentric without ever meaning to be. (spoiler: it’s a smoke screen.) she can, must, and will find a way to twist your words into something she can make sense of. believes in mixed drink supremacy. will absolutely smoke all of your weed + play dumb about hogging the blunt. plays dumb a lot actually, until it’s time to be smart. she’s touchy-feely, but freezes up whenever someone touches her. stares — a lot. can’t ever be the person to pick you up after a rough night out, because she’s likely there with you egging you on to do one more shot. every event is a tits out event / she has to be the most overdressed person in the convenience store at all times. can, must, and will be your unsolicited sugar momma. YOU SPIL-DBFDHFDJHBF LIPSTICK IN MY VALENTINO WHITE BAG? energy. thinks everything is a competition because it is. if she loved you once then she loves you forever. thinks going 20 over the speed limit isn’t speeding, actually. a bit of an emotional anarchist. can’t actually take what she’ll dish out. teases u if she likes u. teases u if she doesn’t like u. doesn’t care abt the feud as long as she’s gettin’ tht shmoney. big fan of an emotional sucker punch. 

"𝐌𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐄𝐄𝐌𝐒 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐋, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈 𝐀𝐌 𝐀𝐋𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐘 𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐋."  + below are some ideas open to any & all muses no matter the age, gender, affiliation, etc !

i’ve left how she got involved with the mc totally absent from this intro bc i was hoping to plot it out! i’d love it if someone wanted to be her “in”. could be they were a childhood friend in need of help, a client she got close to, jus smth tht happened by chance.. whtever we come up with works! <3

if anyone needs an evil ex gf .. She’s Here. she will lie, cheat, scam, trash yr car, empty yr bank account.. whtvr you need, baybee<3

conversely.. not-so-evil ex gf? agatha can be nice & caring without there being a catch sometimes. maybe they still talk. maybe they’re friends. u tell me.

fwb / ex fwb? she do be sending them ‘u up?’ texts. 

someone tht agatha only got close to bc she wanted them to testify/be a character witness in court oopz<3

omg actual friends pls.. ppl tht Know her. tht See her. ppl tht she cares abt n would actually do anything for. friends!!!!!!!!!!!!

agatha has “get off my lawn” energy so i think it would be very funnie if someone needed a place to crash n she let them stay at hers thinking it was temporary n then they jus.. did not leave. n she’s like 🤨 hello?

an almost smth? anything weird n awkward n unspoken tht maybe fizzled out or maybe still lingers under the surface?

agatha doesn’t have a budding drinking problem but if she does no she doesn’t but if she does then<3 drinking buddy? someone that she’s gotten into questionable shenanigans with? poor bartender tht has to deal w her trying to “help” them as she waits for her uber to come? the possibilities are endless.

agatha’s all bark n very little bite but i still think it’d be funnie if she had a hateship. jus putting tht out there<3

if yr muse wnts an ego boost via unrequited crush.. lmk. i’m willing to hulk smash all of agatha’s dignity jus for u.

omggg a dealer? >.> who said tht omg #hacked.. 

on n off again thingz? lorde wrote tht "i am my mother's child i'll love you til my breathing stops / i'll love you till you call the cops on me" line abt her</3

budding friendships!!!!!!! ppl tht she goes to pilates or yoga with; people she gets brunch with; ppl she keeps running into n its like heeey u :); little platonic crushes jus . all of the cute platonic thingz tht make her go wtf is this 🤨. 

i mean.. if anyone wants a sugar momma.. I MEANNN..

college friends!! law school friends!! ppl she met over the summer while interning somewhere!! i left tht purposely vague, hint-hint.

tinder dates gone wrong. ghosted tinder dates. tinder thingz.

agatha’s been attending galas / banquets / office partiez for ages now so if anyone wants to be her plus one or her lil fake date... :^) could be cute. cld be angsty. world is our oyster. 

speaking of which.. coworkers n maybe even a lil personal assistant would be so sexie.

[commander-rahrah]

Alone with You - A Ride or Die Short (Logan x MC)

Pairing: MC Ellie Wheeler x Logan

Chapter Rating: T

Word Count: 3600+

Description: It’s been two years since Ellie and Logan said goodbye. And now he’s standing in front of her. 

Disclaimer: Characters are from Pixelberry’s Choices. They fully own the characters, backgrounds, etc. 

Author’s Note: 1 billion years ago I said that I had re-read Ride or Die and it made me have a lot of feelings and ideas about what happened to Ellie and Logan (since ROD2 is never going to happen?!!?!!?!). Well, I wrote it. Finally.

The two have been stuck in my head for so long -- I have a playlist for them, I have a pinterest board for them. I am so happy to finally have fully written this little short out. And who knows... if people like it, maybe it can become a little mini series? 

As always any likes, reblogs and comments are very appreciated. 

Taglist: @omgjasminesimone​ @brightpinkpeppercorn​ @choicesarehard​ (hope this is OK, I remember you three being excited for this lol)

Full choices masterlist: here

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wanna be alone Alone with you, does that make sense? I wanna steal your soul And hide you in my treasure chest I don't know what to do To do with your kiss on my neck I don't know what feels true But this feels right so stay a sec Yeah, you feel right so stay a sec

“Ellie?”

She froze — her hands hovering on the latch for the car hood. Gulping, she snagged it with a tan finger before turning around.

It was really him.

He looked exactly the same. His brown hair, perfectly waved around his face. His puppy dog eyes were big as he took her in. A black t-shirt clung to his chest and biceps — his arms hanging loosely at his sides, his car keys dangling from his fingers.

“L-Logan?” She stammered, wiping her greasy hands on her jean shorts.

He took two giant steps, before enveloping her into his arms.

Ellie stood frozen for a moment — standing in shock. Before she blinked back to reality, and threw her skinny arms around him. He placed his forehead into the crook of her neck, holding her tighter as she hugged him back.

“What — what are you doing here?” She muttered through his wavy, brown hair. Her eyebrows were furrowed in confusion as she pulled away from him.

“I’ve just been driving — and I needed to stop and do some work,” He pointed a finger behind him to the familiar GT — that was painted matte black now. “I usually go to a little Ma and Pop like this...” He voice trailed off as he took her in. “You look good Troublemaker,”

Ellie ignored the feeling that nickname gave her, following her train of thought. “You were just driving? You didn’t realize you were getting close to my college town?”

He hesitated, “I—I’ve been driving for a while, didn’t really pay attention to where I was going.”

“Right.” She said, not believing him.

He peered over her shoulder to the white convertible she was working on. It was sitting half out of the garage, shining in the sun. “230SL, hey? She’s pretty.”

“Thanks, she’s mine.” She looked back at the car, licking her lips.

His dark brows furrowed in confusion, “What happened to the Panther?”

Ellie ignored the question, “Logan, what are we doing?”

He shrugged, not sure what she was implying. “What do you mean?”

“I mean — I haven’t seen you in two years, and we— we’re just, what? Shooting the shit at this garage?” Her voice started to raise a little — her emotions getting the best of her.

His dark eyes went wide, “Well, no—“

“Well, what Logan? I didn’t think I was ever gonna see you again. And now you’re just here and you’re asking me about my car?!” Her arms wrapped around her torso as she started to tremble.

Logan moved his hands out to touch her — but then thought better of it. He played it off instead, running his fingers through his dark waves, “Ellie... I know this is so unexpected. If you could — just gimme two hours. Two hours of just normal stuff. I missed you — more than I want to admit.”

“I missed you too.” She croaked out, her blue eyes meeting his brown ones. “We’ll trade out spots in the  garage. Take my car.”

Logan hesitated — looking back at his car with a twisted mouth.

“It’s that or you can pay like $25 an hour to park near my apartment.”

“Way too rich for my blood.” He smiled sheepishly, before unlatching his key from his belt loop.

The pair reversed and drove around each other — before Logan slid into her white convertible. His hands ran over the fine stitching on the leather seats — a smile spreading across his face as he took in the vintage car. “You have to tell me how you got this.”

Ellie swallowed as she watched him — following his calloused fingers softly touching the console and arm rests, “I bought it at an estate sale actually. This guy’s son was selling it — said his dad was working on it for most of his life. Poor guy died before he got the chance to finish it and it was way over the sons head.”

His thick brows raised on his forehead, “You low ball him?”

“For a 230SL? No. But I made sure I had enough leftover to fix it up.”

Looking over her shoulder, Ellie reversed out of the parking lot with ease and started to drive them through the streets of Cambridge.

Logan was looking through the passenger window — watching all of the brown stones whiz by, “So, you work at the garage?”

“No,” She shook her head, imagining the little two car garage mechanic shop in her head,  “I just made an arrangement with Mr. Kim, the owner. He lets me work on the car and get it fixed up when I want.”

“So you did all of this?” His mouth opened in slight shock.

“Everything but the paint.” She shrugged nonchalantly.

“Damn, Ellie.” A grin spread across his face as he was genuinely impressed with her. “You a grease monkey now?”

She smirked at him, “Mechanical engineer actually.”

“That’s what you decided on for school?” His voice was so genuine — it was killing her.

She nodded in reply, her eyes focused on the road. Her fingers were tight around the steering wheel.

“Good for you. I’m glad.” There it was again — and he was probably looking at her with those big brown eyes.

Licking her lips, she changed the subject, “You hungry?”

“Starving.”

“Good thing I know the best place to get burgers in Cambridge.”

______________________________________________________________________

“Can we get also get two doubles, well done and crispy fries? Thanks Joe.” Ellie rattled off the order without looking at the menu. She gave them a smile, but then quickly her eyebrows shot up, “Oh! And no mustard on one!” She turned around to face Logan.

“You remembered?” His heart fluttered.

“Yeah, it’s no big deal.” She shrugged, before putting the straw to her milkshake back in her mouth — chewing it slightly.

But it was a big deal to Logan. His heart was melting because she had remembered he didn’t like mustard. Two years later.

God, he was a mess.

He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to act right now. All he wanted to do was to hold her, to make her laugh again. To kiss her soft pink lips.

“EJ?!”

Logan ignored the voice, instead drawing his eyes away from her and looking out of the window at all the people walking by — all of them mostly students.

“Austin, hey.” Logan’s ears perked up as he heard Ellie’s voice. Turning around he watched as she was approached by a tall guy with a black cap and MIT hoodie.

His stomach burned with jealousy as they hugged.

The young man pulled his arms back from around her, looking down at her with a warm smile, “We were just talking about you,” He gestured behind him to a group of guys sitting at a table, “You heading to the track tonight?”

“Oh, uh,” Ellie clammed up, “No actually I have—“

“Hey I’m Logan.” He stepped forward — his calloused hands outstretched for a handshake.

“Logan?! Like hometown, Cali Logan? Nice to meet you man.” He clapped his hand to his, gripping it tightly.

“Yeah — that’s me.” So Ellie has talked about him to other people?

Ellie sidled up in between them, waving her hand at the guy in the cap, “This is Austin. He’s in eng — engineering with me at school.”

Logan scrutinized him quickly — he was a lot bigger then him. But that wouldn’t be a big deal — he had fought guys much bigger than him his whole life and usually came out the winner. “Austin” had way too perfect stubble and the vest he was wearing over his hoodie probably cost $250.

“EJ’s our resident brainiac.” Austin flashed a megawatt smile — his teeth were perfect too.

Logan’s first instinct was to hate this guy, “Sounds about right.” He said casually, looking over to Ellie who had her arms crossed over her torso.

“He’s just saying that.” She said, her eyes low.

“EJ, foods up!” The man working the countered yelled from behind them.

She sighed in relief, and quickly turned to get the bags. Shuffling back towards them she gave a sheepish smile, “All ready to go.”

“Enjoy you two. If we won’t see you at the track tonight, we’ll catch you at Ash’s birthday tomorrow?”

“Yeah, sure. Probably.” She nodded nervously, “Okay, talk to you guys later.” She waved her full hands to the table of guys behind Austin and started to walk away.

Logan followed her out, looking back over his shoulder at the group once more — his brows furrowed as he watched Austin return to the group — all of them chatting excitedly and watching them leave.

He grabbed the car door for her, before grabbing the brown bags of food so she could climb in.  Getting in himself, he couldn’t help but notice how nervous she seemed as she fumbled with her keys to start the car.

They sat in silence for a moment — the only sound was the rustling of the bags on his lap as they drove through the downtown streets. Finally he broke the quiet.

“So, EJ huh?”

She licked her lips before speaking, “Yeah. Ellie J—“

“Jane. I know.” He nodded, remembering the night she had told him her middle name. She had been curled up in his arms in his little loft above the garage — she had drawn circles on his arms as she spoke about her mother, her namesake.

“Of course...” She glanced over to him — her face was hard to read. “When I moved here I just — I wanted to be someone else. Not just Ellie. So I introduced myself as EJ.”

“So what’s this EJ like? She hangs out with people like Austin...”

“Austin’s a good guy. All of them are. We lived in the same building freshmen year.” She chewed her lip, “It’s a tough program — we all take care of each other.”

“Right.” Logan felt his stomach twist — someone had to take care of her. It couldn’t be him, he knew that.

She pulled up in front of an empty park filled with trees, and cut the engine. Leaning back in her seat, she closed her eyes as she breathed in the fresh air with the top down in her car.

He gulped as he watched her — his eyes following the line of her nose, curves of her lips and throat. Coughing slightly he composed himself as she started digging through the brown paper bags.

She handed him one of the burgers, wrapped with a napkin.

“Do you usually eat greasy take out in a priceless vintage car?”

“It’s my right as an American.” She grinned at him, before taking a big bite of her food.

Slowly unwrapping the burger, he took a bite and let out a moan, “Oh, that’s good.”

“The best.” Ellie said through chewing. Ripping the brown bag a little with a free hand, she poured out fries onto the brown bag for them to share. “Probably been a while since you’ve had decent food? Being on the road?”

“Yeah... yeah it’s been... I mean I didn’t have to do a huge drive recently. But I was trying to go from coast to coast.”

“Were you following me?” She joked.

“Right, yeah. I guess you made the same drive.” He sat the burger down in his lap and ran his fingers nervously through his hair. “But I — I didn’t make it.”

“Oh?”

Shit. Okay, he was going to do this. “I got arrested.”

“Logan, I— I had no idea. I’m sorry.” Her voice turned quiet — but genuine.

“S’okay.” He mumbled out, “I mean — it was just a matter of time honestly.” He gave her a sad smile, “I made it to Colorado at least.”

“What happened?”

“I got a lesser sentence for agreeing to be a key witness against Shaw. Served for a year, got out on remission... Served a probation order.” He nervously ran his fingers through his wavy hair.

“Wow...”

“And now...”

“You’re here.” She moved her knee closer to his — her bare skin brushing up against his jeans.

“I’m here.” His dark eyes met her light ones — going back and forth between them. He had missed them, as corny as that was to admit. “I was living in New York before—“

“Before?”

“I didn’t mean to come here.” He admitted.

“You didn’t?”  She asked — a line forming between her brows.

“Not at first. Not on purpose.” He gulped as he looked up at her, “I just started driving. And this is where I ended up. And then I thought — I could just drive by your school, through the town— just see what you see. I didn’t think I’d actually find you.”

“But you did.”

“But I did.”

They locked eyes again, studying each other.

“Do you wanna see apartment?” She asked simply.

He gulped — he suddenly felt nervous and clammy. “I — sure, if you’re okay with it.”

“Mhmm.” She said with a nod, before turning the key in the ignition and starting to drive away with one hand on the wheel and the other clutching her burger.

After a ten minute drive, she pulled up in front a row of studio apartments that were in alternating colours of brown and orange.

Logan followed Ellie up the sidewalk and into the apartment complex. They padded down the empty, carpeted hallways and up a set of stairs. Her keys jingled in her hand as she let them in to apartment 2-7.

Logan’s heart fluttered as he stepped into her apartment. He had never gotten to see her bedroom in California — and stepping into her little home now was like stepping into her mind.

It was a studio apartment — just a tiny little thing. The first thing he noticed was the big window at the back of the apartment, pouring in the afternoon light. Christmas lights were wrapped around the frame, turned off at the moment.

A little kitchenette sat off to the side — scarred wooden counter tops and vintage appliances showing the age of the building. There wasn’t any where to sit — a bed sat in front of the large window, a mattress on wheels. It was messily made with a sunny yellow duvet. Night stands on either side were made of stacks of books, and a little green plant was sat precariously on top of one. He could see a few photographs taped on the far wall — but it was too small to see from the front entrance.

It was so messily organized and soft and simple — it was so Ellie.

“It’s not much.” She shrugged as she stepped in.

“I love it.” Using his toes, Logan kicked off his shoes and followed Ellie farther into the apartment. He was trying to be nonchalant about looking around — he didn’t want to seem like he was prying. But every little detail — even the magnets on her fridge shed a light onto the young woman in front of him.

His fingers trailed on a framed photo — Ellie in her red cap and gown from her graduation. Her dad standing next to her — big smiles on their faces for the photo. He could try and determine how fake the pose was, knowing everything that had led up to that photo, but he didn’t want to go down that road.

Moving his dark eyes, he let out a chuckle as he saw an extremely organized calendar stuck to the fridge door. “I see you haven’t lost your passion for organization.” He thumbed through the pages, noticing all the stickers and highlighter.

Her face turned red as she realized what he was looking at. “You have to be with my course load. I’m taking extra classes on top of my usual work load.”

“Trying to graduate early, nerd?” He teased.

Her face fell. “Uh, no. I have to take extra courses if I want to graduate on time actually.”

He raised a dark brow at her, “What? Did you take a light course load or something?”

“Yeah — light course load. An extremely light course load.” She let out a heavy sigh, “I took off a whole semester actually.”

He almost scoffed but he stopped himself. “You love school. I highly doubt you took off a semester to travel abroad.”

“I, uh, I didn’t. I went home.” Ellie had wrapped her arms around her torso, starting to hug herself.

“You went back to LA?”

“Well, I went there for the summer.” She chewed her lip, “And then I stayed throughout the semester.”

Logan studied her carefully, “Okay, what are you not telling me?” It had been two years, but he still knew how to read her.

When she didn’t answer him right away, his stomach twisted. “Ellie?”

She kept her eyes to the worn floorboards, but finally opened her mouth. “At first, it was just for summer break. But while I was there — Dad got sick.”

“Ellie, I’m so sorry.”

“He collapsed at work — apparently it had happened before, when he was home alone. That’s when the doctors found it...,” Her voice trailed off, “The cancer.”

He crossed over to her — getting closer, but not touching. He wasn’t sure if he was allowed to do that. “What— what happened?” His voice was quiet — gentle.

“School gave me an extended absence — they held my spot and scholarship for me. Due to family distress. I — I stayed there. I took care of him, drove him to chemo... I was all he had.”

“Ellie...,” A sharp breath escaped him — imagining the pain she had gone through. The pain she was still going through. Was he...

Logan didn’t even want to think it.

“Wh—what happened?”

“He died.” She croaked, before exploding into uncontrollable sobs. She tried to speak again but all that could be heard was hiccups and gasps of breath.

Logan didn’t know what to say. He’d never been one with words.

So instead he did the only thing he could think to do — wrap his arms around her. She fell into him easily — her face burying into his chest as she started to soak his t-shirt.

As he felt her start to crumble into him, he softly lowered them until they were sitting on the edge of her mattress — her face still glued to his shoulder.

He wasn’t sure how long they sat like that for — and he didn’t care. He would sit with her all night if she wanted him too. But finally she shifted around, keeping her face tucked to his chest but she wrapped her arms around his torso.

“Ellie — I’m so so sorry.” He said softly, rubbing her back as she sniffled, “About your dad. And you having to go through that by yourself. No one should have to do that. And for what I put you two through — the wedge I drove between you and your dad is unforgivable I know that, I—.”

“We were okay. In the end.” She said through her sniffles — her voice muffled through his shirt, “We were good.”

He let out a sigh of relief.

“And I’m sorry for keeping my promise — to stay away.”

She turned her face up to his — her blue eyes wide as she listened. He stared into them — his heart beating faster as he thought about what he was going to say.  

“I wanted to be there in little ways — maybe a letter or even just to call, and hear your voice — heck, even hearing your voicemail would have tied me over. But I was so afraid. I’m still afraid.”

“Why?” She asked — her voice a whisper again.

“Because the way you make me feel, Ellie Wheeler, terrifies me.” He used his thumb to brush some of the lingering tears on her cheek away. “I haven’t seen you in two years — and the moment I saw you it felt like I had gotten a sucker punch to the stomach.”

“And I’m sure you know what that feels like — I assume  you’ve been punched in the stomach a lot.” She said, a smile forming on her lips. They let our breathy laughs together.

“I have. Look I have no idea what I’m doing, Ellie. All I know is—,” He gulped, “That the last couple hours I’ve spent with you ... have been the highlight of my life for the last two years.”

He hung his eyes low for a moment, his dark brows furrowing, “And I know that I’m scum. I’m trash. A freakin’ ex-convict... I know, I don’t deserve someone like you.”

“Logan, what are you saying?” She moved her fingers to his chin, moving it so he was looking at her again.

He took a deep breath before speaking.

“I’m saying that I love you, Ellie Wheeler. Troublemaker. EJ. Every side of you. The valedictorian. The speed demon. I love you.” He looked up at her through his brown waves, his dark eyes big as he tried to read her face — trying to figure how royally he had just screwed everything up.

“I’m sorry — I shouldn’t have said anything, I’m such an id—“ But his words were interrupted as Ellie crashed her mouth onto his.

A surprised gasp escaped Logan — not able to comprehend what was happening. Before his lips met hers again — the kiss was needy and desperate. It had been so long — too long. He almost forgot what her soft, pink lips had felt like, how she had tasted. He felt goosebumps start to cover his skin as she moved her fingers up the nape of his neck and into his thick hair. He moved his hands onto her waist carefully, pulling her into him. Their kiss softened as she parted her mouth for him, deepening it.

They sat like that for a moment, relishing in the feeling of each other until Logan felt dizzy. Their lips stuck together slightly as they pulled away. He gulped as he looked down at her — waiting for her to say something.

“I love you Logan,” She said simply, her fingers trailing down his tan jawline, “You’ve always been my ride or die.”

He couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face.

[couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name]

About your YouTuber! Percy hc, do you think he would actually know everyone subscribed to him because of the weird background shenanigans or do you think that he’s think they all just find him funny?

okay, I actually have made some more Executive Decisions since I posted that, so let’s just make it clear that:

Percy spent maybe half a day thinking ‘wow I knew I was valid in thinking my girlfriend and sister deserve to be famous’ just because he genuinely hadn’t registered the monster-sized dog or nico crawling out from the shadows behind him as ‘weird’ at first, but then he started reading the comments and was like…..ah,

Annabeth wanted him to immediately delete the videos but he was just like ‘nah it’s too late now we might as well commit’ and started planning his next video lmao. he still didn’t think it was gonna get like, Big tho

demigods and technology don’t mix this is true but by this time the Hephaestus and Athena AND Vulcan kids were all very disgruntled by this and collabed on making a line of products that are monster proof, halfblood suitable, and Hephaestus approved. Percy is using a camera in this line, and that’s why mortals watching his videos aren’t getting blocked by the mist, because….shut up, I said so lol

so again, his videos are mostly tame except for just a few small ‘wtf’ things happening in the background, but it’s enough to get people circulating his videos like ‘hey what the fuck is going on with this guy’ and he gets more and more followers impatiently waiting for updates

after about five months, and article gets posted on buzzfeed about the videos, listing a few theories like, a) it’s photoshopped and cgi-d, although they claim they sent a few clips to video analysists that can’t find any thing fake, and b) this boy is being terrorized by ghosts and demons and he just hasn’t noticed them on camera for some fucking reason, and c) Maybe Us, The Viewers Are The Crazy Ones and d) He’s In Danger And Sending Coded Messages And We Need To Rally Together To Help Him

it trends and his followers SPIKE so Percy decides he should probably do a Q&A and everyone gets hype

except

it’s Percy

He’s sitting on his bed in an orange shirt, but the writing on it is mostly obscured by a blanket. You can JUST see the tip of a spear on the wall above him.  There’s a large cut on the side of his head. He’s got a clear glass of some golden liquid he’s sipping from every now and then. There’s an aquarium on the table next to him, but all the fish in the tank are huddled in the same side, staring at him??? Annabeth is sitting next to him, but she’s not looking into the camera, she’s reading a book, and you can see the cover clearly on screen but no one is able to figure out what language it’s in??? at one point during the video, you hear a horse neighing even though he’s in his fourth floor city apartment and his stepfather comes in to tell him ‘blackjack’s in the kitchen make him leave’

but other than that, everyone tuned into this video excited to get answers….but all the answers Percy gives are like ‘Oh, Estelle is 10 months old! she’s getting so big!’ and ‘Annabeth and I met when we were 12′ and ‘I’m looking at colleges in California but I haven’t committed anywhere yet’ and ‘my favorite subject in school is math’

In the middle of the video he read a question ‘please what is up with that dude that keeps crawling out of your fucking walls p l e ase’ and he responds ‘Oh! That’s my cousin Nico! :)’ and then moves back to the tame boring questions sdkjnckdvm

The very last minute of the video, he reads a question asking if he’s possessed and he’s like ‘No, not anymore’ and Annabeth fucking snorts, the first acknowledgement she’s given the whole q&a. the video immediately just ends there, he doesn’t do a sign off or anything

people FLIP

and the next day he’s just back to posting his usual content. this time features a shot of him walking in a rainstorm, to hood no umbrella, completely fucking dry

youtube drama channels are covering every single video he posts. conspiracy theorists are going fucking wild.

one of these youtube conspiracy channels is 100% run by Leo Valdez. He’s having the time of his goddamn life throwing bullshit out there

Piper McLean 100% has her own channel dedicated to debunking everything Leo says on his channel. They’ve been doing this dance since 9th grade and all of their viewers think they fucking hate each other it’s hilarious to them

so SHE points out that not only are Leo’s theories stupid, but he’s been spotted in Percy’s videos! And he was on fire in one of them! Hello???

Someone then tweets her that SHE’S been spotted in Percy’s videos, a few of them the same ones Leo was in, and she responds to the callout with a Mariah Carey gif and goes silent on twitter for three months

Leo starts insisting that’s Definitely Not Him In Percy’s Videos, Thank You, How Dare You Accuse Me Associating With Not Only The Demonic Forces That Follow Him But Also Piper McLean

Percy tweets out a picture of the 7, featuring Leo and Piper hugging and looking like best friends. Leo responds with a Joanne the Scammer gif and also goes quiet on twitter but keeps making ridiculous conspiracy videos lmao

On screen: ‘Hey, Paul, the internet thinks I’m in league with supernatural forces. What do you think about that?’ *camera slowly zooms in on Paul’s tired face as he looks up from reading a book on the Greek god Poseidon*

everyone realizes one of Percy’s mortal friends from school is also a youtuber so they BOMBARD him and he’s just like ‘Listen Percy just….fucking lives like this. he’s not planning anything. He disappears all the time and comes back covered in burns. one time I went in his apartment without calling first and he met me in the living room with a shield and a sword. Sometimes carriage horses in the city get loose and just follow him around and he holds conversations with them. I think his dad is in the mob. He just lives like this. We just got used to it’ sjkdgkjldsklsd

Percy posts a video called ‘skateboarding down my camps climbing wall!!’ and every comment is ‘WHY IS THERE L A V A?!?!?!?!?’

A video where he sees just How Much he can annoy Chiron and Mr. D before he gets threatened with dolphin-ism. It doesn’t take long, but everyone ignores the guy with glowing eyes yelling about how he’s going to change him into a sea creature in favor of focusing in on the fucking leopard head mounted on the wall that’s moving, roaring and being fed snacks??? 

Rachel goes into Oracle mode and gives out a prophecy in the middle of a live stream and Percy just sighs in annoyance while all the viewers are flipping out like hello isn’t she one of the richest people in the world???

the viewers start trying to decipher the prophecy like they think it’s all planned and Percy’s just slowly dropping some lemony snickett bullshit on them

his videos are ALWAYS trending and he’s one of the most popular vloggers and it’s so funny because 90% of the videos are literally just ‘taking my sister to the park!’ ‘date night with my girlfriend!’ ‘swim team awards ceremony!’ ‘I forgot to study for my history exam!’ like just. the most fucking generic but people are sucked in lmao

He does monthly q&a’s but they mostly go the same way the original one did 

‘what’s with the fucking guy who’s half donkey???’ ‘Grover identifies as a goat, actually, please be respectful of that in the future’

‘who’s that fucking kid that crying on your couch that you ignored the whole video’ ‘that’s actually the Greek god Apollo, he was upset because I wanted back the Led Zeppelin shirt he stole from me’ 

‘am I crazy or was there a 7 foot tall guy with one eye walking around the kitchen eating peanut butter out of the jar’ ‘that’s my baby brother Tyson :)’

‘your friend said your dad’s in the mob but we’ve never seen your father on this channel where is he???’ ‘he, uh…….lives with the fishes?’ (Annabeth groaned at that one lmao)

‘you really vlogged getting struck by lightning and not going to the fucking hospital, huh’ ‘don’t worry, that was just my cousin, she was mad because I stole her nail polish earlier but she wouldn’t kill me over it’

COULD YOU IMAGINE HIM POSTING A VIDEO WITH THE PARTY PONIES AND TITLING IT ‘I ACCIDENTALLY GOT DRAGGED TO FURRY CON’

but overall: Youtuber Percy™ is, in fact, the only valid thing that exists thanks for coming to my TED Talk

[crushedbyhyperbole]

Beyond Broken - Chapter Seven

Chapter Summary:  We learn about the argument Jess had with David, and how he'd been a spectacularly bitchy arsehole, and how Jess felt about kissing her lonely man for the first time. The misunderstandings start to surface for both Jess and Thor/Don. This chapter covers the events at the end of the previous chapter from a different perspective, and with additional info.

Words:  2.6k

Warnings:  Angst, emotional hurt & distress, crying, a really mean argument happens, sexual attraction, soft Thor, first kiss, morale dilemma, guilt, bad language.  There’s a lot of angst in here so please beware if you’re triggered by guilt and emotional distress.

Falling

Jess wasn’t thinking straight when she kissed Don.  Her emotions were running high and her brain had practically disengaged but, in the moment, it had felt wonderful and so very right.  Now, afterwards, rushing away with the tears of rejection stinging her eyes she felt scorned and shameful.  Everything had been going well until suddenly it wasn’t.

When she’d met David that evening he’d been different, cold even.  She recalled their conversation.

 “Can you cover for me tomorrow?  I want to spend some extra time with Silas.”

“It’s Sunday,” she’d said, “can you not just tell Bill that you’re meeting a friend from work?”

“He knows I don’t go out with people from work.”

“What about when he’s at his survivors’ group?”

“Too early.”  He sighed angrily.  “C’mon, Jess, it’s one extra day.  I never ask you for anything.”

She scoffed at his audacity.

“You ask me for things all the time.”

“Like what?  Name one thing I’ve asked of you before this.”

“Are you serious?” She was dumbfounded.  “Am I imagining that I meet you 5 days a week to walk your dog while you go get your asshole drilled by a married man, and keep it a secret from your homophobic father?”

“I can’t believe you’re being this selfish.”  He spat.

She actually laughed at that remark.  How could he ever call her selfish and ever be right.

“It’s my fucking birthday tomorrow, David, or did you forget?  And My friends from work are taking me out for dinner and a few drinks. I apologise if that doesn’t fit in with your designs for my time.”  Raised voices on a public street weren’t the best for privacy but at that point she was so angry she didn’t care who saw or heard.  “And how dare you!  You don’t get to stand there and call me selfish.  Not when I do every goddamn little thing you ever ask for and a whole bunch of stuff you drop hints about but never actually do me the courtesy of asking.  I volunteer for them because you’ve been through a lot and you’re Will’s brother.”

Her tears had started flowing around about the middle of her little rant.  Why was David being like this?

“I’m surprised you remember who he is to be honest.”

“What the fuck does that mean?  Do you think you’re the only one who misses him.  That you’re the only one who suffered when he died?”

“It means that I know about that guy you meet over there in the park while you’re sooo innocently walking Daisy.  It hasn’t even been a year since Will died and you’re already looking to get with someone else.  It’s disgusting.  You wear his ring and flirt with other men.  You’ve got no decency.”

“I haven’t flirted with anyone.  Don is just someone who goes to the same spot I do to watch the ocean.”  She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  While Don had grown on her over the months, and yes there was something about him that really appealed to her, she’d never encouraged him or acted on any feeling she might have had.

“Don.”  He sneered.  “I bet he’s been in my brother’s bed already.”

“Careful what you say next, you’re in no position to lecture me about morals.  And for the record it’s been fourteen months and eight days since D-Day.  I know exactly how long I’ve been without Will.”

“You promised him when you got engaged that you’d look after me if anything happened to him or dad. Have you forgotten that or do you just not care about my happiness?”

“Give me the goddamn dog leash.”  She hissed at him.  “You better find someone else to keep your secrets and run around after you because I’m done now.  I’ll take Daisy home to your dad after her walk, and you can find your own way home.”

She glowered at him, watching his bitterness flare into hatred.

“You shit on the memory of my brother like this and think I want anything else to do with you.  He should never have started dating you, you’re nothing but a selfish bitch.  It should’ve been you that died, not him.”

Jess’s tears were flowing like twin rivers down her face, and a tight knot had formed around her heart. She couldn’t breathe.

“Those fucking Avengers probably did him a favour letting him die so he could get away from you.”

The noise her hand made when it contacted his cheek was what made her realise she’d swung for him. The loud crack shocked her, stilling her tears, replacing fury with resolve.

Jess turned and fled, taking Daisy with her.  She jogged across the street as fast as she could in her heels, never looking back. If David was shouting she couldn’t hear him, her sole focus was getting to the safety of the park.  It was secluded there, and peaceful.  David wouldn’t have chased her to get violent, he wasn’t like that.  But then again, that person she saw just then hadn’t been David either, at least not the David she thought she knew.  Don would be there at least, as a deterrent if David did follow.

His words came to her again. You wear his ring and flirt with other men.  You’re a disgrace.

No matter how she thought about it, David was right in a way.  She’d not left well enough alone with Don, by rights she shouldn’t have gone back to the spot they met after she realised that he was fond of her.  She definitely knew he liked her and couldn’t deny it.  In truth she liked him too, more than that though, he made her happy.  Just talking, walking, sharing a coffee, for a few hours a day rather than spend the time utterly alone.  What was wrong with that?  Nothing had ever come of it.  She’d made sure to keep just enough distance between them in terms of familiarity to make it clear that she didn’t want anything romantic, and Don had been the perfect gentleman.  He respected the unspoken boundaries she imposed with unwavering commitment.  But if she was honest with herself.  Really, truly honest, she knew she’d lied to herself, for weeks now; telling herself she’d met someone who was just a friend, someone who she felt nothing for, someone who she could stop seeing if she wanted to. She could no more put Don down than an amazing book, he’d enriched her life through some of the darkest times and she knew he felt the same.  The moody broody mountain of a man had shown her he was funny and kind and incredibly sensitive, and she loved that about him.  The way he smiled, so big and genuine.  His bashfulness and the deadpan way he joked that made her laugh until her ribs hurt.  His kindness and the fact that he was chivalrous to a fault, like ancient times chivalrous.  And the way he spoke, oh Jesus that voice of his, she could listen to him talk all night.

And suddenly he was stood in front of her, looking worried, with two cups stacked in one hand and his other laid on her shoulder, so gently but it weighed enough to anchor her right there in front of him.

He was asking her what was wrong and her body gave out a huge sob before the tears dammed by her resolve were loosed and free to flow.  He soothed her and drew her to him where she buried her face against his chest and cried until she couldn’t cry any more.  The warmth and scent of him were both soothing and alluring.  The lazy circles he stroked against her back sent tingles into her gut each time his fingers trailed too close to her neck or his touch was feather-light and sensual.

Jess clung to him, feeling the rise and fall of his chest, hearing the deep bass of his voice rumble against her ear, feeling safer than she’d felt since that morning fourteen months, eight days, ten hours and fifty three minutes ago, when she realised that Will was gone forever.

 Her heart was breaking all over again.  This beautiful man knew nothing of her past save that she’d lost loved ones.  She’d kept all of that to herself, lying to him almost.  It had made it easier for her to keep that part of herself separate, distant even. But she’d been denying her feelings out of guilt.

 Daisy began to get restless, bringing Jess back to reality.  She extracted herself from Don’s arms, resenting the chill on her damp cheeks, and regretting soaking his shirt.

When he asked if there was anything he could do, her reply was thick and short – she couldn’t make herself say more without crying again.

Jess wiped her face with her hands, trying to compose herself.  She got her breathing under control enough and slowly looked up.

He looked so worried it tugged at her heart.  Standing there with one hand resting over his heart, where her face had been, the other hanging loosely at his side like he had no use for it without her to hold, he looked broken.  He cherished her, she saw that.  Even the ghost of her presence against his chest was precious to him and she felt the same.

Jess gasped like she’d stopped breathing, feeling a heavy, almost painful, thud in her chest.  She realised in that moment that she wanted him and she wanted to be wanted in return.

He must have read her wrong because he began to apologise but she shut him down and threw caution to the wind, rushing him, laying her lips on his.  He didn’t respond right away but when he did she melted against him, and got so lost in the thrill of kissing him, feeling his soft lips and tasting him that when he pulled away she was surprised.

He said something about her fiancé and infidelity and never being able to forgive himself if he carried on, and she broke again.  It felt like rejection and it hurt so much it made her feel sick.  After the fight with David she’d potentially ruined the best thing to happen to her in months because she was emotional and needy and couldn’t keep her lips to herself.

Before she knew it, Jess was running back up the footpath to the street and Don was calling after her.

Don’t follow me, I’ve done enough damage already.  She thought.  But her heart wanted him to stop her, hold her again, and kiss her. He didn’t follow.

 The drive to David’s house was too quick and rather dangerous.  Jess sped there, her tear-filled eyes barely saw the road and the oncoming traffic dazzled her.  Bill didn’t get up from his recliner when she let Daisy in the house.

“Bill it’s Jess, I’m dropping Daisy off for David, he’s had to go see a friend urgently.  I can’t stay but I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?” She called from the front porch.

“Okay Jess honey you have a good night.”

Even after the things David said to her, she was still keeping his secret.  What good was it to go ahead and ruin his happiness like that? David wasn’t the only one she would hurt, and no matter how angry or how vengeful she felt, she could not do that to William Senior.

 Kicking her shoes off behind the front door, Jess flopped down onto the sofa, the wide base and length made it more like a bed than a sofa; she’d fallen asleep there many times.

Her mind reeled as she rehashed the events of the night, from David to Don; she’d made a spectacular mess of both.  David had been a prize prick, she was vindicated in her reaction to his behaviour, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.  They’d been friends for almost ten years and had become family.  Since D-Day they’d vowed never to let anything get between them, but apparently that only worked when Jess did everything David wanted.

If Will were still here, he’d tell them both to stop acting like spoiled brats and make-up.  But then if Will were here, none of this would have happened, and she’d be in bed getting pampered and loved on as was birthday eve tradition in the Walker-Tanner household.  Instead, she was agonising over one man and his words, and another and his lips.

Jess wondered what Will would say about Don.  She knew he would want her to move on and be happy, but was fourteen months too soon?  She didn’t even know exactly what it was she felt, there was something there, an undeniable attraction, a deep connection that neither of them had been able to ignore.  Jess had been keeping it pushed behind a locked door in her mind, barely acknowledging its existence, but at the same time feeding it titbits of attention each time she’d met her lonely man.  Each time their eyes met, each laugh and brilliant smile, each casual but rare touch, each and every shared moment had helped that feeling grow until it was now wriggling and clamouring to be free.

David had seen it in her somehow, despite being so self-absorbed, and known it for what it was; a step towards healing, a possibility of life after Will, a chance at her own happiness.  Tonight, the way Don had kissed her back proved that he felt it too.  If she was honest, she knew he’d liked her from their first meeting.  He’d been nice about it, patient in a way, and content with what they had because he sensed it was all she could give him.  As their relationship had grown he hadn’t pushed but each time she’d taken a step closer, increased their familiarity or plain out flirted, he’d been right there, meeting her where she’d placed the new boundary.

She hadn’t even told him the truth, he didn’t know about Will or anything about her life before. He had been thinking the whole time that she and David were together.  Don had called David her ‘gentleman friend’ and she’d assumed that meant ‘boyfriend’, but tonight he’d said fiancé.

You wear my brother’s ring, and you flirt with other men. David’s words hit her again.

Looking down at her hands she saw she’d been absently twisting Will’s engagement ring around and around on her finger.  She fiddled when she stressed, she fidgeted when she was nervous, and she’d worn the ring since the day he put it on her finger and promised to love her until the end of time.

The ache in her chest grew until she could barely breathe.  Gasping she got to her feet and stumbled to the bathroom to splash her face with cool water.  She gripped the sides of the sink for stability whist glaring at herself in the mirror.  She was a mess; swollen and bloodshot eyes, puffy red lips from where she’d chewed at them, hair dishevelled, skin blotchy.  She looked sick but there was a spark there, behind her eyes.  One that had been missing for so long.  Even Sadie had told her she’d been looking better recently, maybe she’d been on the road to recovery and hadn’t even realised it.

 Climbing into bed after her evening hygiene routine she resolved to lay her cards on the table.  She’d kept it all inside for so long, barely allowing herself to live, but now she had someone to share with who truly connected with her.  It was about time she told him the truth.

[write-stuff-for-life-blog]

Review: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

NOTE: I actually saw this movie in theaters but since it’s DVD release was yesterday I figured I’d post my review of it here. I might ramble on for several paragraphs in these reviews, especially if I feel strongly about something, so I’ll try and make it a point to post a short rating at the top as well as a more in depth one at the end.

NOTE THE SECOND: I don’t usually care about spoilers in these reviews so read at your own risk.

1 out of 5 stars. Only watch on Netflix if you exhaust all your other options.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is written by Colin Trevorrow (previous writer and director of the last entry in the franchise) and Derek Connolly and was directed by J.A. Bayona. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard reprise their roles as Owen Grady and Claire Dearing respectively and are sent back to Isla Nublar by Jon Hammond’s previously never mentioned before former partner billionaire Ben Lockwood played by a James Cromwell who can barely bother to keep his eyes open throughout the movie. I, in fact, share that same sentiment.

Usually in these reviews I try to touch on all the aspects of said medium: visuals, camera work, writing, directing, acting, etc. But this review is going to focus mainly on the writing and acting because both are so atrocious all the other aspects are inconsequential. 

I didn’t think the first Jurassic World (JW) was as great as it needed to be for a soft reboot / revival of such a beloved franchise but it did have several memorable moments. The leads were charming enough to make you forget that they lacked meaningful character arcs (Claire does have one but the movie doesn’t care about it that much) and the action in the second half of the film was pretty cool (specifically T-Rex and Raptor and Giant Alligator Thing vs. the Indominus Rex). So for the second go around I was hoping that the filmmakers would take the time to really get it right and do the franchise justice. My hopes were far too high.

The only two performances that were worth anything in Fallen Kingdom (FK) were the two returning leads, Pratt and Howard. Howard is a decent enough actress but I’ve never seen a performance from her that I really love and FK continues that trend. Claire does undergo a change from shrewd, cold businesswoman to animal rights activist and that does give some depth to her character but it happens off screen during the three years between JW and FK. It was a little jarring at first but I swallowed it better when the film took a minute to explain her motivations. Pratt was as Pratt as ever as Owen is exactly the same through this movie as he was when we first met him in JW. I fear there’s a real risk for Pratt here as it seems as though he’s becoming another Will Smith or Tom Cruise. He is varying degrees of his usual charming and charismatic self in whatever project he appears in. Owen is just Pratt but outdoorsy to the extreme. Star-Lord is just Pratt with his ego turned up to eleven. Andy from Parks and Rec is just Pratt as a dumb man-child. And I guess that’s fine. Plenty of stars have made careers doing the same but actors actually stretching themselves and challenging themselves to become someone else will always be more impressive.

One thing that annoys me about modern blockbusters are their tendencies to inject new secondary characters into each following installment while completely ignoring the B cast from the previous entry. In the original Jurassic trilogy it did make some sense to do that as each sequel followed the branching lives of Ian Malcolm and Allen Grant who, we can presume, never encounter one another again after the first film. But here there’s little justification for it. JW’s comic relief characters Lowery and Vivian, played by capable comedy actors Jake Johnson and Lauren Lapkus respectively, are nowhere to be seen in this movie. Instead we have Franklin Webb, a spazzy tech guy played by Justice Smith, and Zia Rodriguez, a ball busting veterinarian played by Daniella Pineda. I don’t have much to say about Pineda, she was decent enough and served her purpose, but Smith … Oh my God. I believe this guy will go down in history as the absolute worst character in any Jurassic movie ever. Yes, he is even worse than every child character in all of the movies combined. He does nothing for the movie other than to scream in a high pitched voice when something scares him. Everything scares him. It’s always played for laughs but the joke falls flat on its face every time. The movie thinks it’s funny for a grown man to shriek in terror and scream out loud the thing that’s scaring him. “Lava!” “T-Rex!” “Social interaction!” All right, I made up that last one but the character is so cliché he might as well have said it. And what’s more there is no reason for this character to be here. The movie wastes a fine opportunity to bring back JW’s Lowery who was also a tech guy. In fact it even makes sense for him to run with Claire in her animal rights activism as he was a huge fanboy for Jurassic Park. He had toy dinosaurs all over his work station, he loves them! And it makes even more sense for him to return to Isla Nublar because he was familiar with the park’s computer systems. Why isn’t he joining Claire? He was courageous and had some genuinely funny interactions with Vivian. He certainly would have been better than Spazzy McScreamy.

Speaking of trends let’s talk about the obligatory child character. Isabella Sermon makes her big screen debut as Maisie Lockwood, Ben Lockwood’s granddaughter. Of all the new additions to the franchise she’s the standout as her performance has a depth and range most child actors would struggle to convey. Now one thing about the Jurassic movies is that their child characters were usually pretty capable in some way or another. Hammond’s granddaughter in JP reboots the computer system. Malcolm’s daughter in Lost World is able to gymnastic a raptor to death (yeah it’s a dumb scene but she saves her dad). The teenager in JP3 survives Isla Sorna alone for eight weeks. And the brothers in JW are able to fix a derelict jeep and rescue themselves. FK started out following this trend of capable children with Maisie … until it abandons the idea so we can have a “monster creeping through a child’s bedroom” scene. This completely undermined her whole character. Up until then the movie had established her as smart and independent and capable as hell. She snuck into the secret lab, spied and hid from the bad guys, busted out of her room which she’d been locked in, and climbed atop buildings all secretly by herself without help from a single grown up. But the minute the new hybrid dinosaur goes after her, which she had seen several times before then, she immediately forgets how capable she is and hides under her bed sheets. This might be the most heinous example of bad writing in this whole movie. Mixed messages? Okay, fine. Forgettable action sequences? Whatever, that’s most of Hollywood anyway. But please, for the love of God, have consistent characters!

Now the villains. Ugh.

BD Wong returns as the dastardly Dr. Henry Wu, the mastermind genius behind the dinosaur cloning process, the I-Rex, and FK’s new hybrid the Indoraptor.  It would seem that in the three years since JW InGen and its parent company Masrani Global have cut Wu loose as he’s now partnered with a new financier Eli Mills played by Rafe Spall, the CEO / director / executor of Ben Lockwood’s … estate? Company? Trust fund? I don’t remember the movie specifying what Mills’ job was, only that he was another white collar villain (because we haven’t seen that before in a Jurassic movie). Toby Jones makes an appearance as Mr. Eversol, an auctioneer for the high rolling criminal underworld, and Ted Levine plays Ken Wheatley, the leader of a disposable mercenary force who has an odd fetish for collecting dinosaur teeth. And that is literally all there is to the villains. Each of them is cartoonishly shallow to the point that Wheatley is a parody of an archetype and all Dr. Wu needs is a mustache to twirl. True, the villains have never been that big of a deal in the Jurassic movies as the dinosaurs have always been the main attractions but not even Vincent D’Onofrio’s Hoskins from JW was this bad and in a movie full of weakly written characters he was the weakest link.

And let’s not forget the dinosaurs. They are there. Not as much as you’d like but they’re around. The big draw for Owen this time around is to save Blue, the only surviving raptor from the pack he raised and trained, from Isla Nublar’s impending volcanic eruption. FK plays this up as though Blue was always the equivalent of a loyal attack dog but it conveniently forgets that JW established her as a dog capable and willing to bite the hand that fed her. The scene from the previous movie in which Owen is in the raptor enclosure is a tense moment because he is under threat from all the raptors, Blue included. In fact when the I-Rex persuades them to go after the humans all the raptors focus in on Owen. There was that one moment when Owen pulls off Blue’s head camera at the end of JW but to rewrite the relationship as though she were a loyal golden retriever, I feel like that was not earned in the slightest. And the main attraction this time is the new hybrid, the Indoraptor, essentially a smaller version of the previous movie’s I-Rex. FK presents this abomination of genetic manipulation as an ultimate monster but it really just looks like rejected concept art of the I-Rex. Also the Indoraptor is only in half of the movie. The I-Rex in JW was a better monster because it was terrorizing the island for almost the whole runtime. Plus the I-Rex has some decent build up and a good reveal. Here, it feels like the movie couldn’t be bothered. “By the way, we made another hybrid dino. Here it is.” I did enjoy the return of more practical animatronics over every dino being CGI but if you saw the last film this one doesn’t have anything special for you in that regard.

Let’s talk about Trevorrow’s writing. It’s awful. Like a pile of hot rancid garbage awful. The biggest problem with JW is that it completely ignores the moral of the original. JP was a cautionary tale that proves whenever man tries to exert his will over nature he will lose and just because we can do something it doesn’t mean we should. It’s classic man vs. nature ending with man being humbled. JW said, “Hey look, we’re going to keep doing that ethically questionable thing most people believe we shouldn’t be doing and wield the power of a god with no regards to any possible consequences,” and gets upset when the monster it created wreaks havoc. But does FK finally learn that lesson and try to take the franchise somewhere new that doesn’t lead the characters into being idiots who keep going back to the island? Do Michael Bay’s Transformers movies understand subtlety?

More than ever this movie has dumb characters making dumb decisions that nobody with a brain can follow. The villains want to capture the dinos and auction them off to billionaire criminals because these crime lords want them for pharmaceutical reasons (but why though?), the ability to hunt one like a big game hunter (because we also haven’t seen that before), or for weaponization. Let’s touch on that last point. The villains justify it by saying animals have been used in combat scenarios for centuries when armies rode to battle on horses and elephants. And the movie might have had a point if either one of those transportation methods hadn’t become outdated before the fifties.

Now just for the sake of argument I’ll list off a few more examples for this movie’s case: K-9 units, bomb detecting dolphins, and pidgins have all historically been used by one military or another at various times. But here’s the common thread among all those examples: none of those animals are predisposed to ripping a man’s head off in a single bite. Why do you think it isn’t common practice for a military to use lions and tigers and bears? And let’s take a closer look at the proliferation of working dogs and horses. Could it be that thousands if not millions of years of closely co-existing with humans have made them predisposed towards not killing us on sight? What’s that called? Oh yeah. Domestication!

Whether we’re talking about fiction or not, training an animal that never co-existed with humans so it can become an attack animal is not a good idea any way you slice it. Any semi-intelligent person can recognize that there are way too many variables to take into account. Oh but what about Blue, I hear you asking. Owen proved that raptors can be trained with Blue. That may be true but one successful instance against a multitude of failures does not prove the concept. Sure the Polish Supply Brigade around WWII kept a bear named Wojtek that would carry their supplies for them but you don’t see cargo bears being implemented throughout the world’s militaries these days. Do you know why? Because they’re freaking bears! They could go in for a playful swipe and nick your carotid by accident you MORONS!

And that leads me to this movie’s message. Apparently FK believes these animals have as much right to life as any other endangered species. That’s the whole reason Claire wants to go back so she can save them. But the film is bookended with Jeff Goldblum reprising his role as Ian Malcolm speaking before a congressional committee on how much that is a bad idea. He argues that nature selected the dinos for extinction millions of years ago and bringing them back was a mistake. The volcano erupting and eradicating the clone dinos on Isla Nublar, he says, is nature’s way of correcting that mistake. So the film opens and closes arguing why protecting these creatures from a second extinction is the worst. And yet we spend most of the runtime doing exactly that.

Seriously?

Malcolm has always been the ultimate voice of reason in these movies and we as an audience are inclined to agree with him given the proof each movie provides for his argument. There are four previous films illustrating why bringing the Earth’s most dangerous predators back to life is a horrible idea. And now that nature wants to correct the mistake you’re going to defy that decision?

The film uses Maisie here to make this case. The dinos are technically clones and we learn that Maisie is a clone as well so now we’re using clone rights to justify saving the dinosaurs. It is a weak argument thrown in at the last moment. Arguing for conservation is good and all but how well are you going to side with that argument when the T-Rex is meandering through a neighborhood gobbling up pedestrians left and right? These animals have lived on an island their entire lives. Aside from T-Rex who visited San Diego in the 90s they have never seen a town. The only human made structures they are familiar with were the derelict park buildings that the movie shows them waltzing through all the time. Even our own real world wild animals don’t understand that they should stay away from human settlements, how well do you think Blue is going to do the first time she’s caught in the headlights? But apparently they have a right to live because they are just as alive as Maisie the clone is so let’s end the movie by releasing all these dangerous animals, most of which are as large as a rhino or elephant, into the American countryside.

Sure, forget about public safety. Forget that dinosaurs had their chance but nature selected them for extinction over sixty million years ago. Forget about all the indigenous plant and wildlife that is now under threat because you just loosed at least eleven different dinos onto the world. Forget about how their nesting habits might destroy the landscape like nutria in Louisiana. What was your motivation again? Conservation? Give me a break.

Honestly this movie makes me glad Trevorrow was fired from Star Wars Episode Nine. This proves that he has no clue what decent writing looks like and has no regard for what the original was trying to say. Just because he was given the opportunity to make these films doesn’t mean he should have.

 1 star out of 5

A forgettable and messy film that slowly meanders through the second and third act with no sense of purpose other than to say, “Ooooh look. It’s a dinosaur!” And it doesn’t even say that well.

[anothertccblog-blog]

May TC Challenge

As usual, sorry for inactivity! This time, though, I have a legitimate excuse! I have AP exams coming up this week (first is tomorrow) and next and I’ve been working hard! I have a moment now, though, and I decided that since this month will likely be very busy for me, I’m going to do the entire May challenge now just to make sure I finish everything. SO without further ado, the May TC Challenge!

1. Have you ever said something embarrassing to/in front of your TC?

I mean yeah, lots of times. Nothing comes to mind in particular, but I definitely remember having moments where I was super embarrassed that they overheard something. I think I blocked a lot of these out lmao.

2. When did you TC start teaching you? Does he/she still teach you?

B started teaching me in the fall of 2016, my sophomore year of high school. He no longer teaches me. P started teaching me in the fall of 2017, and will be my teacher until the end of this month.

3. Do you know anything about your TC’s childhood/youth?

Surprisingly, I know more about P than I do about B. I know he’s the youngest of 5 or 6, and I know he was a Boy Scout. The other day he told us about the time he took a shit behind his sister’s bed when he was two. I don’t remember how or why it came up in class, but that’s what sticks out the most when I think of his youth.

4. Describe your TC’s eyes.

The most beautiful hazel you’ll ever see. They change with the weather and the color he’s wearing; on sunny days, with lighter/brighter colors, they’re very pale and more green than brown; on cloudy days, with darker colors, they’re darker and much more of a brown shade. I think they give him character.

5. What’s your favorite outfit on him/her?

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but P is the long distance coach for our track and field team. So, he has this really nice black pullover that says the name of our school with the logo and “Track and Field” embroidered on the left breast. Usually on Fridays, he’ll wear that pullover with a pair of dark wash jeans and these grey and blue tennis shoes he has. He looks really nice in dark colors and I love the cut of the jeans, so that’s my favorite outfit.

6. How do you try to impress your TC?

A lot of times, I don’t really try. I don’t like to force it or feel like I’m trying too hard. Most of the time, I’ll just answer questions in class or joke around/banter with him because I know that’s what earns his respect.

7. Describe what you think your wedding would look like. What are you both wearing? Who’s invited? What’s for dinner?

It would be outside, first of all. Probably in a park. I’d want a more understated dress, natural makeup, my hair down and in loose curls. I think my bouquet would have roses, lilies, and hydrangea. Maybe I would braid some flowers into my hair, just to spruce it up a bit. He would wear a black tux with a red tie, to match the roses in the bouquet. My bridesmaids would be some of my best friends (the maid of honor would probably be my closest friend, I’ll call her C). His best man would be his best friend, who I’ve called K in the past, and his groomsmen would probably be his brothers. We both have large families and we both value them highly, so I think it would definitely be a very long list of guests. I would want steak and salad, and I’d want the cake to be marbled with chocolate frosting. The reception would be more casual and understated; I’d probably change into a different dress and he’d likely take off the suit jacket. My family is very... fun-loving when it comes to weddings, so I think we’d probably be out all night. I’d want our honeymoon to be in Italy or Ireland.

8. Have you ever caught him/her staring at you? How did you react?

I caught B staring at me once during class last year. We were doing a group assignment and he was sitting on one of the desks in front of my group, facing our direction. At one point I looked up and we made eye contact, and he seemed to be a little zoned out. I just kinda waved until he snapped out of it. As for P, I was in his room last Friday studying for psychology, and he was sitting at his desk. When I looked up from my notes we made direct eye contact, like he had already been looking, and I just blushed and looked away. I think that was just timed well, though, because there were a few of us there and he had been looking around the group.

9. If you would buy your TC socks, what would your chosen ones look like?

I actually have bought B socks before, for his birthday. They were blue with little amoebas on them, since he’s a science teacher. If I bought socks for P, they’d probably have some kind of sports logo on them, like the logo for his college or for the White Sox (his favorite baseball team).

10. If he/she visited your family for any reason and you’d have to cook, what would you cook?

Lasagna! My family is Italian so we have tons of pasta recipes passed down from past generations, and our family lasagna sauce is hella good.

11. If you lived together, would you rather have kids or pets with him/her?

Pets. I’m not big on kids. But I would definitely have kids with him if the time was right; he would be an amazing dad and I do like kids, don’t get me wrong, they’re just not my number one aspiration in life. Plus, we’d both be living on teachers’ salaries and I feel like I’d be concerned with supporting anything more than a dog.

12. What is your opinion on age gap relationships? Do you think a certain age gap isn’t good anymore?

I think as long as the parties are both consenting adults, it doesn’t really matter. Let people do what they want to do; they know what’s best for themselves.

13. What would you do if a friend told you she had a crush on your TC?

Outwardly, I’d probably express comfort/understanding. Inwardly, I’d probably be a little peeved. Luckily, P isn’t really ~super hot~ by any conventional means so I don’t think this would become a problem.

14. Do you know when your TC’s birthday is? How hold is he/she?

B’s is March 6 and he’s 45. P’s is sometime in September (I can’t remember the exact date off the top of my head) and he’s 28.

15. What would you do if he/she found your blog, knew it was about him/her but he/she was still trying to figure out whose blog it is?

Nothing. He’d figure it out in due time. I’m the only person taking both APUSH and psych. I’d let him come to me if he felt the need, and then I’d justify myself if need be, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to do anything suspicious.

16. If you were on a class trip with your TC and a friend of yours wasn’t feeling well in the middle of the night, would you be the one to knock on your TC’s door loudly and wake him/her? Would the sight of his/er sleeping face and pajamas be worth standing there in your own pajamas and with your sleepy face?

I’d probably try to resolve the friend’s problem myself, but if I really needed to get him I definitely would. And hell yeah, seeing him like that, hearing his voice all gravelly from sleep, would 300% be worth it.

17. Can you remember what happened in the last dream you had about your TC?

I remember something about aliens, but that’s about it.

18. Has your TC ever had a conversation about you with your parents? If yes, what did he/she say?

Yep! For parent/teacher conferences I sat in on his conference because I wanted to hear his praise comments. He said the usual joy to have in class/hard worker/etc. stuff.

19. Think of a song that reminds you of your TC and tell us your favorite line from it?

Whatever You Do by Brandi Carlile makes me think of B. My favorite line is  “There are days when I could walk into the ocean / With no one else but you to leave behind.”

As for P, In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel is a big one. My favorite line is “When I want to run away / I drive off in my car / But whichever way I go / I come back to the place you are.”

20. What has been the best mark you had in one of your TC’s tests? Did he/she say something to you about it/write something on it?

There have been tons of little things here and there. In APUSH, we wrote and in-class DBQ and like a dork he wrote “Boom! Nailed the intro!” For psych, one time he gave me a fist bump after I did really well on a multiple choice test and every time I score perfectly on a short answer he writes “Fridge” on the top (a direct quote as to why: “put it on your fridge ‘cause you did so well!”

21. Have you ever stalked your TC online?

I mean, I’ve done a Google search. I found his twitter and his engagement photos (and I’ll admit, I cried when I looked at those. Not my proudest moment.) His twitter is really adorable and cute though. He reblogs teacher memes.

22. Does your TC come to school by car/tram/bus? Do you know what car he/she has?

He does come by car, but I don’t know what kind it is. I think it’s black. He’s called it “reliable” in the past.

23. Did your TC ever change something on his/her appearance or wear something different that didn’t suit him/her?

Sometimes he’ll grow out some stubble and it looks hella good, but that’s generally the only real change aside from hair cuts.

24. Where do you think you’d live with him/her and what would the interior look like?

A little house, somewhere quaint, probably near his work/my college (luckily, I’m going to college close, so this wouldn’t be too hard to accomplish). I would want it to be very cozy and lived-in, but not overly cluttered.

25. Does your TC do any sports that you know of?

He does track and field, cross country, and basketball.

26. Does your TC bring coffee or tea to class? If yes, what does his/her cup look like?

He constantly has coffee in his hands. He has a ton of different mugs and stuff. He usually uses one with his college’s logo on it or one with our school’s logo on it.

27. 5 things that make him/her your ideal partner.

His passion, his kindness, his sense of humor, his genuineness, his stories.

28. A song, film, and book that you would recommend to your TC.

I would recommend Netflix Trip by AJR, A Quiet Place (dir. John Krasinski), and In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.

29. What do you think about the TCC and how has it helped you?

I think it’s pretty solid for the most part. It’s definitely given me an outlet and a place I can express myself. Of course, people have views that I don’t necessarily agree with, but that’s to be expected.

30. A new language you would love to learn together with your TC.

I’ve kinda been dying to learn Italian and I think it would be fun to swear at each other in it.

31. What does your TC smell like?

Not that I go around actively smelling him, but he smells a little fruity and very fresh/clean.

[captainkirkmccoy]

Hallmark movie plot: A coffee shop barista asks a little girl if she's ready for Christmas, but is unprepared for her response of "I'm not having Christmas." A little snooping, and the barista learns that the girl is still reeling from her mother's desertion mere months earlier. The barista sets out to show the girl - and her bitter, jaded father - that angels are still among us, that romance can blossom any old time, and that everyone needs a little Christmas.

Jim peeked around the curtains of Brew & Bean, the same ones that Nyota just got done fluffing when she slapped his hand away. "Stop, you're actually stalking customers, that's creepy, even for you."Jim was not actually stalking customers. "They're not in here yet, I'm just wondering if they will be.""They will." Nyota bunched the curtains again and sighs when they don't stay, glaring at him for wasting her effort. "Joanna told me that they go to therapy and then get hot chocolates afterward.""You're on a first name basis with Joanna?"Nyota scoffed. "Don't get jealous. You just want to be on a first name basis with her dad."It was true. The father and daughter had been coming in to the Bean for two weeks now and Jim knew this: her mama disappeared on December 1st, they weren't having Christmas this year because they were flying back to Georgia instead and her daddy was grumpy about it. Joanna was okay with that though because in March when he had more vacation time they were having a Christmas in the Bahamas on a trip for the two of them. She hoped her daddy was less grumpy by then. She was sad that her mom was gone but also happy because her parents didn't fight anymore and daddy was grumpy still but not sad. Jim also knew that he had a humongous crush on the newly single father and prayed to every power that be that the guy could possibly be bi or at the very least be willing to have a friend who was a full-time barista and part owner of "one of the best coffee joints in San Francisco" (the San Francisco Chronicle's words, not Jim's). The door opened with it's cheery jingle and Jim jumped back, dodging around the corner to avoid being spotted by the window, "But daddy, I'm responsible.""I know, buttercup." Dr. Leonard McCoy, who liked his coffee black, one sugar, splash of milk, said, ushering his daughter through the door.". "But like it or not, you're not going to want to walk the dog in the morning and I'm not going to let you do it at night by yourself and with my hours at the hospital, it wouldn't be fair to a puppy."Joanna placed her mittened hands on the counter with such disappointment that Jim wished he had puppies behind the counter instead of caffeine. "Hi Jim. Can I have an extra large hot chocolate with extra whipped cream?"Dr. McCoy rolled his eyes. "Small hot chocolate and squirt of whipped cream, please."Joanna sighed. "The usual, Dr. McCoy?" Jim asked while sliding the usual red hot chocalate mug that Joanna favored to Nyota who began to stir the hot chocolate--it was a special recipe from his mother in Iowa who had owned her own cafe with his father before Jim was born. "Ah, Leonard's fine." Leonard said, fishing out his wallet from his black jeans. Jim looked away quickly, grabbing another mug to draw his attention away from the perfect fit and bit of stomach he could see as his plaid flannel lifted with the motion of pulling out the wallet. "On the house today," Jim grinned. "You want a brownie? Nyota just made a batch.""That's not necessary," Leonard began while Joanna chirped. "Yes, please!"It was then that Leonard's phone trilled and he sighed, ruffling his daughter's hair and going in the corner to speak. "So, how's operation puppy going?" Jim asked as he returned the mug to Joanna, she folded her hands around the steaming cup, blowing gently. "Pretty bad. Dad's too grumpy for him to talk sense into." Jim chuckled at the way the little girl sighed. "I bet you he'll come around. Practice those puppy dog eyes like I showed you."Joanna scooped a bit of whipped cream with her finger. "Maybe you should practice it on Daddy, just so I can see.""And what would I be asking your dad?" Jim swallowed as his mouth and throat conveniently went dry."I don't know. A date, maybe?"Jim almost dropped the plate of brownies that Ny handed him. "A date?""Oh yeah, and maybe he won't be so grumpy because he'll have a friend that's more than a friend like grandma wants to set him up with in Georgia and then we can have Christmas and I can get a puppy under the tree." She rocked back on her heels like this was the best plan ever. Jim breathed slowly and carefully as Leonard came back. "Thanks, Jim," he said, smiling warmly and gorgeously as he grabbed his mug of coffee and the brownies and went off to his and Joanna's usual table in the back. He immediately pivoted and almost collided with Nyota. "Damnit, Kirk." She said but before she could move around him, he put both hands on her shoulders and grinned. "Why are you looking at me like that? It's creepy, stop." She tried to shrug off his hands but he just squeezed gently. "Ny. I have an idea. And I need your help."

***

Leonard McCoy was not a man to hate Christmas. He wanted to, however, strangle every dancing elf, grinning candy cane laden do-wisher who kept insisting that a holy Christmas was the best way to deal with Jocelyn’s departure. 

Departure, of course, was a nicer word for what she did. And he didn’t even care how bad his heart hurt. He ached, inconsolably for his daughter, who was having to deal with a grinch of a dad and no mama for Christmas. 

“Daddy, someone left this here.”

Jo slid a notecard, cheerily depicting a snowman with little woodland creatures dancing around it. In a scrawl that was almost as worse as his own, it read 12 PM, UNION PARK, ICE RINK. 

Leonard groaned. He had no plans to be murdered today by a random stranger. 

“Daddy, please?” Jo pouted, seeing his dubious look. He rolled his eyes. 

“Get your coat.”

Her squeal of delight echoed around the room and despite himself, he smiled. 

***

Four hours later and Leo wondered what horrible karmic event in his life had led him to deserve the day he was having. 

He endured: ice skating at Union Park; taking a photo with Santa (not just Jo, the camera girl insisted upon instructions in the same scrawl that he too must be in the picture with Jo); hot chocolates at Ghirardelli’s; shopping for toys to bring to the foster home, picking out a tree (the smallest, puniest one that needed a home), a cookie baking class with octogenarians, and finally, FINALLY, dinner. He hoped the day was over. 

Each stop was accompanied by a small note, urging them to the next place. He was wondering if his mother had paid someone to set this up but his mother only cared about having her son and granddaughter in Georgia, not about having any Christmas traditions at home in San Francisco. 

And Jo’s smile grew wider, her laugh grew more genuine, she was more talkative, more open, than Leonard had seen her in months. He felt like he had before Jocelyn had left and he didn’t think he would feel like that in a long time. 

When they finally ended up at Beni’s, a favorite Italian restaurant among locals, Jo was dancing into the restaurant, chatting about the big plate of spaghetti and meatballs she was going to eat (a feat that wouldn’t have been possible yesterday, as she ate only a few bites of every meal). 

“You must be Mr. McCoy and Ms. McCoy.” The hostess said, grabbing menus and guiding them to a small table in the back. 

“How did you know?” Jo asked, sliding into her seat. 

“I was told very special guests would be arriving tonight. I’ve been on the lookout for you all day!” The woman sat down a note at Leonard’s seat. 

“From your Secret Santa,” The woman said with a wink. 

Leonard sighed and sat down. 

“What’s it say, daddy?”

He swallowed, Dear Leonard. Sorry for taking over your day. I heard that you needed a bit of Christmas spirit. When I was younger, someone set up a day like this for my mom, brother and I to make the holidays suck less. I hope this made things suck less, even for a little while. Enjoy dinner. Merry Christmas. 

Leonard showed his daughter the note. 

“So, he didn’t say who it was from?” Joanna asked, her brow furrowed as she flipped the note over. This notecard was two owls in striped scarves and hats. 

“He?”

Jo shrugged. 

He waved the hostess over. “Do you know who set this up?”

The girl looked away but he saw the small grin on her face. 

“You do!” Joanna nearly jumped off her chair. 

“I’m not supposed to say.” At Jo’s look of disappointment, the girl smiled. “But I think that’s stupid and he deserves recognition. He’s in the back, too nervous to come out.”

“I told you, daddy!” Jo crowed and grabbed onto his hand, tugging him toward the kitchen. 

It was there that Leonard found the kid from the Brew and Bean, walking back and forth while the other Brew and Bean barista, Nyota twirled a wine glass in her hand. 

“Ah!” Jim nearly collided with one of the bus boys who was trying to unload a carton of dirty dishes. 

“I knew it was you!” Joanna jumped and ran at Jim. 

“Shit, um, shoot, sorry. You weren’t supposed to know it was me.”

Joanna looked up at Jim, her chin rested on his belly, arms tight around his waist. “Why, Jim?”

“Because, I didn’t want you to think it was...weird.”

Nyota snorted. 

“You did all this for us?” Leonard asked. Jim nodded. “Why?”

“Because no one should be sad at Christmas.”

Jo tightened her hug on Jim and the soft smile that he gave her made something loosen somewhere that Leonard hadn’t known needed to be loose. 

“How can I thank you?” Leonard rasped. 

“You could take him out to dinner.” Nyota said from the corner. 

Jim shook his head. “Not necessary.”

“Have dinner with us.” Leonard said. “Please. And when we come back, just you and I?”

Brilliant blue eyes stared at him, weighing, calculating. And finally he nodded. 

“That would be wonderful.”

“Merry Christmas, Jim.” Jo whispered, as they walked out in the restaurant together, the three of them. 

“Merry Christmas, Joanna.”

[the--walking--daryl]

Concrete (pre-apocalypse!DarylxReader)

Thank you @dxsturbxa for the prompt!

Prompt- Hi!  can i request an imagine with Daryl based on the song Concrete from Tom Odell?<3

Summary:

Y/N and Daryl are hanging out in an old, abandoned hotel on the outskirts of Georgia and talk about their hopes for the future. One thing leads to another and Daryl ends up accidentally confessing his feelings for Y/N and… well you get it.

In this, I’ve made Daryl around late teens-early twenties?

Warning: fluff, not really smut but a lot of making out and clothes flying all over the damn place so its kind of implied??? idk im really uncomfortable with writing full on smut. strong language and mentions of abuse.

*NOT MY GIFS*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Daryl, come on!” I giggled, running up a ridiculous amount of stairs.

“Calm down, you’re gonna get us caught.” Daryl grumbled, despite slightly speeding up.

Daryl and I had been wandering around for hours, only to discover that we’d stumbled across a run down hotel that had been completely and utterly abandoned. The insides were derelict and messed up, but were still relatively intact. The wallpaper was peeling, the furniture in the lobby was damp and the rugs were worn to oblivion.

“Daryl, who’s gonna catch us? There’s nobody around for miles. Live a little, damn.” I chuckled, finally reaching a floor that didn’t look like the plague had hit it.

“Wow… this place must’ve been classy back in it’s day.” I panted, catching my breath.

“How’d you figure?”

“Because I don’t know about you, but I’ve never felt more out of place in my entire life.” I joked, still astounded by the decent condition of the halls.

Daryl and I became best friends when we were younger because we grew up on the same street. We’d go and hide in some park or woods whenever we got scared of our parents. Daryl’s father always beat up his brother Merle, but as soon as Merle left, it was Daryl’s turn. My Dad died when I was little and my Mama started drinking and beating me when she did. Occasionally, I’d get away before she could and find Daryl.

This was one of those times.

“So, what now? We just stay here for the rest of our lives instead of going back?” Daryl sighed.

“Obviously not, we have to go back at some point, but I figured we could just have some space for a little while.” I replied, then headed off to look inside some of the rooms

I found a large room that was surprisingly full. A bed with numerous amounts of pointless pillows, nightstands with decorative lamps, paintings of fields and ominous looking strangers, and near-mint condition rugs.

“Daryl! Come look at this- oh.” I yelled, only to find he’d been standing behind me this whole time.

“Not too bad,” Daryl sighed and jumped onto the bed.

“I’ve definitely seen worse.” I scoffed, shutting the door behind me and wandering around the room.

“We’ve fuckin’ lived in worse.” Daryl uttered, slinging the throw pillows across the room.

I came across a painting of a woman in a long robe-like dress, a glass of red wine adorning her hand and her hair trailing down her back. She had these amazing brown eyes, but they had absolutely no depth or warmth behind them. She looked soulless and quite frankly, a bit lonely.

“Pretty hot for a painting.” Daryl piped up.

“Shut up, Dixon. Keep in in your pants.” I laughed and hopped onto the bed, the oddly soft sheets sinking beneath me. 

We laid there for a little while before I propped myself up on my elbows and let out an elongated sigh. 

“Daryl, where do you think you’ll be in five years?” I asked.

“God knows. Either in jail or dead, probably.” I wanted to believe that he was joking but he genuinely thought that.

“Where do you want to be in five years?” I rephrased.

Daryl thought for a moment, as if he’d never actually considered it before.

“I don’t know. Maybe in a mechanics. Maybe just kind of riding around. Not back with my old man, that’s for damn sure,” He sighed. “What about you?”

“I don’t know either. I want to do something to help kids though. Don’t want anyone else to go through what we went through. Maybe a teacher?”

“You dropped out of high school.” Daryl chuckled.

“True. Maybe I could open a home for abused kids. Start a business.” I shrugged.

“It’s not a bad idea.” He nodded.

I fell back onto the bed again and tapped my stomach in an uneven beat. Daryl placed a hand over mine to stop me, but I continued over his hand. This went on for another five minutes before he grabbed me and pulled my body onto his and wrapped his arms around me, trapping my arms by my side.

“Daryl, come on! Let me go!” I squealed. He loosened his grip around me and I turned over to face him.

“You’re an ass, Dixon.” I laughed, sitting up and leaning back against his bent legs.

“Yeah, what’s new?” He smirked, not realizing he had his fingers intertwined with mine.

I smiled and let out a small giggle at his self-depreciating comment.

“I really do hope you open that home y’know. I hope you get out.” Daryl said.

“No, I hope we get out. We’ve had each other’s backs since day one and we’re not stopping anytime soon. When I go, I’m takin’ you with me Daryl.” I told him.

He smiled a little and then propped himself up on his elbows.

“You don’t want to drag me around.” 

“Yes I do. You’re my best friend. Even if you are the biggest pain in my ass.” I joked.

We both laughed hysterically, but it all came to a halt.

“God, I love you.” Daryl laughed.

I stopped almost immediately, taken aback by his words.

“I mean, uh… I meant… Forget that I said that,” He chuckled awkwardly.

“Let’s not forget it… You mean that?” I asked softly.

His eyes searched around the room, desperately trying to think of something to say, but he didn’t have to. 

I placed my hands on each side of his face and pressed my lips to his, and in response, his hands found their way to my waist. Daryl sat up properly and leaned back against the headboard, allowing him hold onto more of me. His hands traveled down to my hips and rested there, gently digging his fingers into my jeans every now and again. My hands switched from his face to the hem of his shirt, which he then fluently pulled off like it was nothing, only breaking the kiss momentarily before continuing. He tossed it across the room, exposing his sculpted, slightly bruised torso and well-placed tattoo. I ran my hands up his stomach and chest, his skin burning up with anticipation. He flipped us both over so his body was hovering above mine, his hips rolling against mine on occasion. I sat up and tore my shirt off, sending it flying in the opposite direction to Daryl’s. 

“You sure you want to?” He asked between kisses on my neck.

“Positive.” I confirmed, running my hands through his hair and across his shoulders as he made his marks over my neck and throat.

The next morning, the first thing I felt was Daryl’s warmth radiating onto me. My head was buried in the crook of his neck and his arm was protectively draped over me while he still slept peacefully. I gently placed his arm back by his side and got up slowly as to not disturb him. The first item of clothing I found is Daryl’s shirt, which was at least two sizes too big for me, but I threw it on anyway. I stepped outside onto the balcony and laid my eyes upon miles and miles of emptiness, bar two old women walking their dogs. One of them realized that I was in the abandoned hotel and laughed. She waved sweetly and continued walking, so I figure that she must’ve done the same sort of thing when she was my age. My legs trembled slightly due to the sore, yet oddly pleasing sensation in my core. Suddenly, Daryl joined me on the balcony, wrapping his arms around my waist and hugging me tightly. Glancing back, I noticed that all he was wearing was a sheet hung loosely around his hips.

“Hey, gorgeous.” He whispered in my ear.

“Hey.” I replied, grinning like an idiot.

“What you doin’?” He asked, resting his chin on the top of my head.

“Nothing, just… thinkin’.” I sighed.

I turned to face him and placed a long, lingering kiss against his lips.

“Thank you for last night, Daryl.” I smiled contently.

“It was beyond my pleasure, baby.” He laughed.

“Y’know, I get that this hotels nice, but… I would’ve spent last night with you on a bed made of concrete with no sheets.” He told me.

“Me too. Even though, the bed was kind of a bonus,” I chuckled. “I don’t want to go back…” I said sadly, resting my head against his chest.

“We don’t have to. Let’s just stay here. Or run away.”

I laugh at his outlandish proposal.

“I’m bein’ serious. Y/N… run away with me.”

I look up into his eyes and for the first time, I see genuine sincerity.

“Okay… Okay, lets do it. I love you.”