#like some of the final bits with louise too

[copinghex]

Family bonds | T.S

Summary: After a hurtful comment at a fundraising event, you wonder what really bonds Tommy to your child. 

A/N: Ok, so as I previously mentioned, I edited some of my old stories and will be reposting one per week. This is the first selected!

"Do you want to sit?" Tommy whispered in your ear, your hand went straight to your belly, moving up and down, where you baby rests and patiently waits to be born.

"No, I'm fine, just take this gin away from me, otherwise I'll be tempted," you pushed his glass away, "are the cute kids working?" 

"The wives look more excited than the men, but yeah, four huge donations until now," 

"In less than two hours? That's a new record!" 

This was probably the best business idea you ever had. The inauguration ceremony of the Shelby Institute for orphaned children took place in a cozy room, with closed windows and lighted up fireplaces, the cold breeze freezing the bones of anyone who dared to attend without a coat.

Months later, spring came to warm your bones and put a self-giving feeling into Thomas Shelby's heart. In the middle of a boring, typical week, he arrived home planning to uplift the structure of the institute's building. 

He told you the idea during the night, with his hand resting on your pregnant belly and although he didn't tell you what made him come up with it, you could clearly see his line of thought.

Tommy could rarely afford nice things, there was no gentleness in survival and for most of his life, that was all he did. Finally, with his rise to new money, he could provide something he never had to children who look too much like him - comfort. Also, being seen as a charitable person would do no harm to the business.

The small change of plans you suggested put a smile on his face, instead of making a typical fundraising dinner, why not make an afternoon tea? The invitations encourage couples to bring their children, seeing those innocent little humans running around shall make them remember why to donate.

A mansion with a huge garden was rented for the event, maids were hired to look after the children and butlers served biscuits and hot cups of tea. For your surprise, the event had more children than adults, most couples - including you and Tommy - were outnumbered by their children. 

Your eyes ran through the garden trying to find your little ones, the younger one was the easiest, no place was safest than inside your own mama, but it was better to keep an eye on the other three. Marie Louise Adler, whose hair looked exactly like yours. The twins, Henry and William Shelby, except for the eyes, are small versions of Tommy, from the physical appearance to the mannerism.

Quickly, you found William trying to teach one of John's girls how to use a slingshot. A few steps away, Henry had a handful of biscuits and carried a toy car made of wood.

"Where is Loui-'' before you could ask, a collective ugh followed by a child's cry got your attention.

Louise was under a tree with her knees on the grass, the hem of her yellow dress covered in dirt and the left leg of her white stockings ruined, exposing her bruised knee. Tommy reacted faster than you, his hand slid through your waist as he ran in her direction. You quickly followed after, rolling up the sleeves of your dress.

He picked Louise up, she put her arms around his neck and seemed to calm down a bit. A maid tried to apologize for neglecting your little girl, but you were too focused on following Tommy inside to answer.

Curious eyes followed your trio while you crossed the hallway and once you were in a private room, Tommy tried to put Louise on a sofa, but she didn't want to let go.

"C'mon, love," he encouraged, making her lift her crying face from his neck and allow him to sit her down.

"What happened, Lou?" you took her hair off her face and her stockings off, watching out to not brush her bruised knee.

"I was trying to climb on the tree, but I got scared and slipped up," she brushed off tears with her tiny hands.

Tommy took a napkin and wetted it with gin, after kneeling in front of the girl, he asked, "And what did me and mama say, eh?" 

She looked down, ashamed of disobeying.

"You can only climb trees when me or daddy are around to help," you rubbed her back, trying to comfort her.

"I'm sorry," she pouted.

"Now I have to clean your knee, it's full of dirt," Tommy held her leg.

"No! It 's gonna hurt!" she pulled her leg back.

"Just a little, but don't think about it," you sat at her side, holding her head to your chest, "think about the delicious cake I'll get you when we get home!" 

"Can we get some too?!" William, who'd been peeking the whole scene from the door, suddenly yelled, Henry tried to shush him and ended up being dragged by the hand into the room.

"Boys! How long have you been there?" 

"It was William! He had the idea of following you!" Henry quickly accused.

"That 's not true! You were curiou-" 

"Alright, boys, it doesn't matter," Tommy silenced the argument before it started, playfully hitting the twins foreheads with the napkin.

While you were distracted by the kids, Tommy had taken care of Louise's knee and the five of you were finally allowed to go back to the event.

Louise insisted Tommy should carry her, Henry and William took your hands and the eyes of many guests softened to the vision of you walking together. 

Soon, the kids dispersed in the garden, Tommy got the attention of charitable housewives, interested in donating to the institute, you leaned on an empty table, sipping your favorite juice and smiling at anyone who crossed your way.

"Mrs. Shelby!" an old woman walked to you with a huge smile, "I must say, this is the most diverse charity event I attended in years!" 

 "Oh, thank you so much, misses…"

"Thompson, Aline Thompson, nice to meet you," she shook your hand. "you don't drink?" 

"Usually I do, but I'm pregnant," 

"Darling! That's lovely! Your husband is already so lucky to have two kids, now one more!" 

"Three," you corrected her.

"Pardon?" 

"Thomas and I have three children, Henry, William and Louise," 

"Well, if that's the case, I guess you're the lucky one, Mr. Shelby indeed treats the girl as if she's his," 

"Hm," you pressed your lips together. "may I ask who told you Louise isn't Tommy's?" 

"It's written in the guest list, Y/N Adler Shelby and Louise Adler, I'm sorry for Mr. Adler, I'm sure he was a good man," she smiled, "now, if you excuse me," 

Aline left you with teary eyes, how dared she speak about your family like this? But what if…? What if she was right? Did Tommy really love Louise? Did he see her as his daughter or an extension of you?

"Seven, Louise falling over had a good effect on them," Tommy held your arm, telling you about the new huge donations.

"Really? That's great, love," 

"Are you alright?" 

"Yeah, just a bit tired," 

"I'll tell the driver to take you home," 

"No! There’s still a few hours to go,"

"Ada will take your place, most of the guests are leaving already anyway,"

"Oh, alright then," you drawled.

"Will you take the kids?"

"Yeah, I think," you looked around, searching for them, "just Louise, the boys look like they're having fun, can you look after them?"

"Sure." 

-

The way home was quiet, Louise had asked to rest on your leg and fell into deep sleep, Frances helped you to carry her to bed. After a well-deserved bath, you had put some foundation's papers in order so Tommy could add today's profit without any problem. Night was falling and all you could do was wait for the rest of your family to arrive.

Heading upstairs, your eyes fixed in a spot they usually didn't, the family painting. It took months of persuasion for Tommy to agree to pose and even longer for it to be done, since he only agreed to give away two hours of his agenda. 

Your heads leaned together in a sign of unquestionable affection, Louise sat in the middle, where your right and Tommy's left leg stuck together. William was on your left leg and Henry on Tommy's right, they were less than two years old and didn't get a characteristic Shelby haircut yet. All in all, you looked like a family, no one would dare to say otherwise, unless Aline Thompson.

The sound of the front door opening followed by the maid's heels told you Tommy arrived, you decided to wait in the stairs and he showed up alone.

"Where's Henry and William?" you asked with furrowed brows. 

"At Ada's, they wanted a sleepover with Karl," 

While you both walked upstairs, he had a hand on your lower back and you realized he didn't ask about Louise, the very first thing you did when Tommy arrived was to ask about your kids, Tommy didn't even bother, probably because Louise wasn't his.

Time passed quietly, Tommy took a bath and asked a few questions about the paperwork, you told him to add today's profit and nodded to whatever else he said. Night could have been good, or at least, peaceful.

He sat on the bed looking through his paperwork and his sudden warning made your jaw clench, "You have a doctor's appointment scheduled for tomorrow, so be home when he arrives," 

"What for?" 

"To check on our girl," he answered without paying attention.

"How do you know it's a girl?" 

"This pregnancy it's different from the boy's," 

"Oh," you lay down, turning your back on him, "I'm glad you at least care about this girl," 

He sighed and you heard him writing something, a few seconds passed until he asked, "What did you say?" 

You didn't answer.

"Y/n, what do you mean?" he touched your shoulder, trying to make you look at him.

"Nothing, Tommy, nothing," 

"No, what the fuck you mean with this girl?" 

You sat up, taking a good look at his face before questioning, "How many children do we have, Tommy?" 

"Three and another one on the way," he harshly answered and you sighed in relief.

"This is what you say to everyone else, right? Not just to me," 

"Yeah, y/n, of course, why would you fucking ask that?" 

You teared up and Tommy's face softened, he cupped your face, catching some tears and patiently waiting for you to speak.

"You only have three, Tommy, the twins and this one," you rubbed your belly.

"Who said that?" he looked at you with disbelief.

"It's the truth," 

"Louise is my child,"

"You know she's not, I know it, you know it, and-"

"Y/n-" 

"Aline Thompson fucking knows it," 

"Who 's Aline Thompson?" 

"It doesn't matter, Tommy," 

"It fucking does, if there's someone around saying Louise isn't my child, then I have to know," 

"It won't change the facts." 

"Listen," he moved closer to you and cupped your face again, "Louise is my child, I'm raising her, she's a Shelby." 

"Then why didn't you ask about her when you arrived?" 

"I asked Frances, she told me she's sleeping since evening," 

"Oh," your cheeks heated up, ashamed of this huge misunderstanding. 

"Who's Aline Thompson?" 

"A stupid woman at the charity tea, she said I was lucky for you treating Louise as your own," 

"Lucky, eh?" he nodded, "I bet her husband has a deal with the Shelby Company," 

"No, Tommy!" you giggle.

"Oh, just a few pounds to lose,"

"Tommy! You're mean! Not that she doesn't deserve it," 

Hesitant knocks on the door made you stop laughing, you and Tommy switched a look before he got up and opened the door.

"I'm sorry to bother, Mr. Shelby," a young maid holding Louise's hands apologized, "but Louise wants to sleep with you," 

Too sleepy to speak, your daughter rubbed her eyes and walked past Tommy, climbing on the bed and laying near you. 

"Right, thank you-" 

"Oh, also, Mrs. Thorne called, the twins want to come home."

[fbfh]

tristin dugray relationship and intimacy hcs pt 2

wc: 1.1k

pairing: tristin x (implied fem) reader

genre: straight up smut with some mild feelings

warnings: brief mention of exhibitionism, debriefing with madison and louise, aftercare, cuddles, car sex, sex in a variety of places, cockwarming, nudes, brief mention of oral (m recieving)

song rec: mary - alex g (bc this is literally tristin's song. it's so fucking tristin coded.)

a/n: so good news I think my adhd medication is finally working lol

tags @yesv01 @magcon7280

As with all nsfw works all characters are aged up to 18+

WITHOUT FURTHER ADIEU MORE TRISTIN SMUT BC I’M FOAMING AT THE FUCKING MOUTH

What’s fun about Tristin

Among many other things

Is his fixation with your hips

Seriously it was one of the first things this horny motherfucker noticed about you

Whenever you wear anything mildly form fitting he can’t take his goddamn eyes off your hips

Once you’re together it’s basically impossible for him to resist touching them

Sometimes it’s a playful squeeze

Or an affectionate rub

Other times it’s full on groping while he shoves his tongue into your mouth and makes you grind against his thigh

He could live like that for days and not get tired

Speaking of

Tristin has fucking stamina for DAYS

“Men can’t have multiple orgasms” tell that to him!!!!!!!!

He just… has a fixation with all of you honestly

Like there’s no part of you that he’s not going to eye the fuck up 

You know the looks he’s always giving Rory???? 

That’s just the tip of the iceberg babe

Or should I say tip of the penis lol

Anyway 

Tristin is vocal as FUCK

Like mans can’t shut up

Even when we’ve reached the previously mentioned dumbfucking point, he’s still going to be whining and grunting and panting nonstop

His moans have you gushing like niagara falls tbh 

There is a zero percent chance he’s not going to give you the most affectionate aftercare every time too

So much praise and kisses and cuddles

Like he’ll genuinely get upset if you try to just bounce afterwards

Or worse

If he wakes up the next morning and you’re not there

Maybe he could handle casual hookups with other girls

But not with you

He will absolutely pull you back into bed and demand kisses and cuddles

I’m not gonna lie

He does have a little bit of an exhibitionist streak

Just a tiny itty bitty one

Mostly just from the urge to prove that you’re his when other guys keep flirting with you

If the circumstances were right and you were down, he would be happy to put on a show for them, show them how good he treats you

If you’re still friends with madison and louise/go to the same college as them they will BEG you for details and live vicariously through you

The line where they saw Tristin and Summer making out in front of Rory’s locker and one of them (I forget which one) was like “if you’re dating Tristin you have the right to make out anywhere and everywhere”

…

Yeah

They will literally grill details out of you

Whatever they can get

And the way they look at him after

The little sighs and head tilts and staring off into space thinking about what you told them, letting their imaginations go wild

It would make you jealous

If you didn’t know how much he likes you

But yeah there’s no one that can take you away from Tristin 

He loves you

And he loves keeping things fresh and spicy and exciting

He absolutley fucks you in his car a lot

Like a lot lot 

There’s at least a few pairs of your panties that you’ve lost somewhere in the fancy leather seats

He’ll also happily fuck you in your car

And every room and surface of your apartment

And your apartment hallway

And in an elevator once 

And public bathrooms

And your bathroom

And pretty much anywhere he thinks yall can get away with

Seriously this boy is such a slut but he’s only a slut for you

You light him on fucking fire and he can’t cope

He needs you biblically,, like in a way that’s concerning to feminism.

You can tell how he feels just from the way he looks at you 

And it’s obvious as shit to everyone else too

Like literally everyone

He eye fucks you a lot lot lot

GOD this boy can seduce you so fast

He moans so loud for you too

Tristin will really give you a good show

He wants to impress you

Wants you to need him

(cough cough praise kink)

He wants to breathe the same air as you

He wants to wrap you up so tight in his arms that it feels like you’re merging into one person

Tristin is the “cuddling isn’t enough I need to climb inside your skin” kinda clingy

Solution is cockwarming

Which you both love a lot

Once he realizes cockwarming is an option????? 

It slowly increases in frequency

There’s a good chance you won’t be able to sleep without it at some point

Seriously he will hold you tight and rub your back and touch your soft skin and tell you all the lovey dovey things he feels about you

Most of it is lovey dovey

But don’t let that fool you 

He is the CEO of both his family company AND dirty thoughts about you

Seriously he’s set off so easily by you

9 times out of 10 he’s probably fantasizing about you

Remembering your touch

How you feel around him

God he can’t wait to get his hands on you again

Let me tell you

Tristin is a motherfucking MENACE when it comes to sexting

He will have you blushing over the phone in ways you didn’t know you could blush

He’s so shameless about it too

If you send him nudes??????

He will literally die

And he’ll happily, happily return the favor

Once he realizes how you react when he sends you nudes?????

He never wants to stop

He literally loves getting you all feral and worked up over him

Don’t let Madison and Louise find out Tristin sends you nudes or else they will steal your phone and make a copy of your fingerprint with sticky tape and face powder just to access them /hj

Speaking of going feral

Tristin’s happy trail?????????

Are we gonna talk about it??????

Are we gonna talk about how you want to fucking bite him and deep throat him until you memorize every vein whenever you see his lil happy trail????

Because you will

You’ll definitely want to

Okay putting myself down now lol

I need his cock immediately

Constantly covered in hickeys and unable to walk and he loves it so much

He loves when you need him and he loves fucking you so good that you’re out of commission the next day

It’s what you deserve

You think he’s a menace now???

God help you when he gets baby fever

[yourdoorisunlocked]

The Altruist Family Children - Headcanons

𝐀/𝐍: Some headcanons about Alastor x Reader's children in my AU <33

🎙️ Rowan and Louise are darling twins of the Altruist Family, your own little bundles of joy that grew up to wreak havoc across the neighborhood. Absolute sweethearts.

🎙️ They both look strikingly similar to their father, with deep gray skin, cherry red hair and gleaming yellow teeth, sharpened to the point, but their hair ends in tangles and curls, much like Alastor's when he was alive.

🎙️ Lousie is Alastor's little princess, of course, and he just adores doting on the little girl. Purchasing her whatever her little heart desires, whether it be trinkets and toys, her favorite desserts, frilly dresses and laced skirts – he'd spoil her absolutely rotten.

🎙️ Rowan, on the other hand, was quite the anomaly, at first. Raising a boy – as a father – were uncharted waters that Alastor wasn’t all too keen to tread, at first.

🎙️ Truly, Alastor was just little bit nervous apprehensive when he learnt that you would be having a boy, since his own experience with his father was rather... unsavory, to say the least. But when you sat him down, giving him all the faith and reassurance a man could ever need, well... how could he say no to his darling wife? 

🎙️ And so, Alastor resolves to raise Rowan as his dear mother, bless her heart, raised him to be – a gentleman. The first time Rowan opened the front door for you was the only time Alastor allowed a camera inside the house, or anywhere near his children.

🎙️ When your sweet little boy finally came of age – at a ripe eight years old – your husband took him out hunting. As much as you wanted to suggest that he wait a few more years, the giddy excitement Alastor exuded while polishing his favorite rifle, preparing for a full weekend of spending time with his son, was just too endearing for you to say no to him. 

🎙️ So, every weekend, Rowan and his father would disappear for a few hours, only to return at near twilight lugging some sort of Hellbeast behind them, and their prey only grew in size each year. And by the time Rowan turned thirteen, it wasn’t just wild game that he and Alastor were hunting. 

🎙️ You cut their hair. No questions asked.

🎙️While Louise refuses to get down into the mud and dirt with her brother and father, she adores gardening and growing her own flowers, and has a collection of books on poisons and toxic plants. You humored her fascination with toxicology and allowed her to grow a collection of poisonous flowers, so long as she kept them far away from the kitchen. 

🎙️ Family dinner nights are a given, especially when Alastor does the cooking. There'll be a jazzy swing number playing in the background, while Louise helps her father prep for the meal, and you'll be laughing and dancing with Rowan in the living room.

🎙️ Sometimes, whenever the children play with you, Alastor would lurk just around the corner, watching you with such softness in his eyes, before they drift down to your stomach. You were so good with them, perhaps you'd grace him with another?

𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬: AHHH I'M KICKING MY FEET RN- THESE TURNED OUT SO CUTE AND I LOVE ROWAN AND LOUISE!!

This turned out to be so long 😭 I just have so many ideas for this AU, I can't wait to release the oneshot

𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭:

@starsformydarlingmazel, @chitter-chatter, @hazzbindarlingg, @darkangel582, @matrixbearer2024, @prosciuttosblog, @frog-fans-unite, @mysterypotatoink, @burgerflipper72, @chibikochannumberone, @strawberry-gothic, @roboticsuccubus83, @lulurubberduckie, @fangirlanxiety74, @viviannagiorgini, @localmsifan, @justtnat, @karolinda007-blog, @mglawwica, @wonderlandangelsposts, @saitisfied, @repostingmyfavs, @weirdflower2024, @montis-posts, @sirens-and-moonflowers, @theperfectmangovoid

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@maggotzdilemma, @cassidywinters

[itsnothingofinterest]

So if it isn’t clear, I’m not a fan of chapter 423 and how it ended this final fight with AFO or Deku's supposed save of Tomura. I know I haven't talked that much about it but it's true.

And being the arrogant little internet-er that I am, I thought I might go over how I think this fight should’ve gone down. A little self-indulgent thing about how I would've done it, to make myself feel better, which you guys can read too if for some reason you want to. Granted, the objectively correct way to end this arc would’ve of course been to not do the fight or bring back AFO, end it at 418 as I described before; but this outline is for if one were to really insist on a final battle with a returned AFO.

Starting disclaimer; length: as mentioned in the above linked post, this is going to be quite longer than what we saw in canon. Some may say this is unfair to claim Hori should have done when he’s so clearly burnt out, but that’s just what the fight needs to be properly epic or properly conclude it’s dangling plot threads. Again, this is why ending it at 418 was the correct move. If we really are including this extra climax though, then it needs enough pages for it; which is why we’re going further than the entire manga might, up to chapter 430 plus an epilogue. (Wanted that to be including Epilogue but one chapter outline went long so I split it in two. Just the way things go.)

Pre-423 changes:

Surprisingly little. A part of me wants to change the ‘it was AFO all along’ reveal to be less dog-doodoo but I can’t imagine how. The reveal is bad; ruining many of MHA’s themes, several of its characters, and helping cement Deku as an All Might clone by ending his arc as a hero who beats the big bad AFO…but it’s also necessary for the extra climax to happen. AFO’s ability to take over Tomura is almost literally directly proportional to how bad the reveal is, so we’re kind of stuck with it.

However I would like to change Deku’s dialogue with Aizawa in 420 to not mention his plans of killing Tomura along with AFO up to now. His character just becomes unsalvageablely unlikable with the reveal that he was just looking for a way to murder the crying child in a way he found most tasteful this whole time. So we’re cutting that and Deku’s still aiming for the save like a good hero should. Just have him go into more detail on what happened in Tomura's mind; it'll be useful for Kurogiri to overhear for later.

Besides that, the early chapters of the final AFO fight were mostly fixable with later additions or otherwise inoffensive, so we’re moving on to:

423: On the Offensive

Once again, we start with Deku just landing a huge hit on AFO. Immediate change; the fight is not over with this: AFO manifests a huge mouth with sharp teeth on his chest right where Deku hit to chomp down and pin him before charging up an energy explosion point blank that’ll rip his arm off at minimum.

Deku escapes using a St. Louise Smash to scrape off the bottom row of teeth, letting his arm out and chasing that energy attack to mostly just propel him back into the ground.

Some hero comments how it’s like they’re back to square one while another denies that and points out AFO’s two new major injuries. Shoto takes the opportunity to try going for a major attack too; but AFO, furious that the heroes think he’s on the back foot, uses a quirk to launch the remaining sharp teeth at Shoto as missiles. Endeavor then swoops in and takes the hit for Shoto, surprising him with the sacrifice play but demoralizing the other heroes for their No. 1 to take a hit like that.

Now needing to get back on the offensive, AFO pulls out the giant double rivot mouth move to try and chomp down on Deku while he’s reeling; but they get intercepted by Mt. Lady and Ryukyu. At this time, Aizawa notices Kurogiri has disappeared from beside him.

As Deku is helped up by Aoyama, we see Kurogiri reappear on a bit of elevated dirt behind them; and stepping out to comment on how much he’s missed is a dishevelled looking Spinner.

424: The League of Villains

We instead start with a flashback to Touya, Fuyumi, and Rei being taken away from the battle by those stretcher robots. While they’re a distance away from others, sparks appear from the droids carrying Touya as they halt in place; causing Fuyumi to panic and ask her and her mom’s droids to also stop so she can see what happened. As Rei and Fuyumi struggle to sit up, they see that Toga has thrown knives into both of Touya’s robots and is now cutting him out.

As Fuyumi panics and tells her to get away, a warp gate opens and lets out Spinner, who tells Dabi to get up because the inevitable has happened and AFO has started fighting Tomura; Kurogiri filled him in on the whole thing. Dabi responds, revealing he’s still awake, and attempts to get up with Toga’s help.

Fuyumi begins really panicking, telling them not to take her brother when he’s so injured and she just got him back. But Dabi responds, in an apologetic tone as one could expect of Dabi, that he’s got something important to do.

Rei finally takes the chance to pipe up, asking if these are the friends Touya’s been staying with. Touya introduces Spinner, Toga, and Kurogiri, and says that they are; and then introduces his mom and sister to the League.

Back at Mt. Fuji, Spinne, Toga, and Dabi arrive out of Kurogiri and take in the situation. Kurogiri, now awake for real but with some Shirakumo in his tone, comments that it seems AFO is back in control of Tomura, but that like he saw last time, AFO’s control is probably still precarious. They just need to wake up Tomura again before they think of a more permanent solution.

Aoyama panics seeing the League here, but Deku interrupts asking if they’re here to fight AFO and save Tomura. Toga answers by saying he can just sit back and watch them do his job before telling Kurogiri that he’ll need to play defence; neither the heroes or AFO have noticed them in the crowd yet, but they will not appreciate them being here once they do. As he does, she and Spinner start yelling at Tomura; asking why he left them behind to wallow in his self-pity while they’re still waiting on him to destroy this unfair world? Where’s their horizon?

(maybe call back to this^ somehow?)

This grabs the heroes attention, some wondering if they need to fight them too. But then Dabi joins in, saying that Shigaraki was the one person to truly surpass All Might in power, so to see him a pawn of AM’s favourite punching bag is just sad; what’s with this embarrassing state, leader? Reminded at this sight of his own words to All Might in Kamino, Endeavor tells the other heroes to let the villains speak, while thinking to himself that he can finally see what relationship Tomura has with these villains like his son, and that he's glad he learned this about Touya.

AFO gets annoyed at the League’s insults and moves to attack, but finds his body shaking. In the back of his mind, Tomura stops screaming and appears behind AFO from the shadows, responding to the League’s call.

425: Secret Boss Battle

A fight begins at the centre of the mind between Tomura and AFO, the arena resembling the destroyed cityscape from when he first got the AFO quirk, but shrouded in darkness. Unable to really use their quirks in this space, they basically both resort to hand-to-hand combat and psychically throwing debris at eachother.

As they fight, AFO asks how Shigaraki awakened; his will should have been crushed with his identity as Tenko Shimura torn to shreds. Tomura affirms that he finds no will in the friends or dreams of Tenko Shimura, AFO has managed to treed on those things thoroughly; so instead he'll hold onto what is his own as Shigaraki Tomura. AFO balks at that; he moulded that identity even more thoroughly, implanted every idea in his head and guided his every decision; but Tomura reminds him that's not true, he left Tomura in the care of others many times. We then get both a flashback to Kurogiri comforting Tomura when AFO first died fightign AM, and a montage of flashback panels to his time with the League. Tomura exclaims that this is more than enough will to take on a shitty secret boss like AFO.

At this point, Shinomori appears and punches AFO hard in the face. He is proceeded shortly after by Ragdoll & various other costumed folk who follow up Shinomori with their own attacks. AFO asks if Tomura has caused a quirk rebellion like what happened to the 'other him' and Tomura answers: yes & no. The quirks are active in fighting, but they're not so much rebelling as just helping him subdue a rogue quirk, like what happened against Star & Stripe (he made sure to ask them though; need to know your party for the raid boss after all, and he'd been meaning to take stoke anyway). Or did AFO forget the dynamic of person & quirk between them?

AFO responds by growing into a giant, elongated monster to fight back; furious that these pawns, husks, and nobodies think they have any right not only attacking the demon lord, but looking down on him. AFO knocks a dozen hero & villain vestiges back, but Tomura throws a whole mental building at him for his trouble. AFO emerges out the top trying to attack him, but gets intercepted by the vestiges of Kudo and Bruce; both of them look shattered and like they're missing half their pieces, but the rest are keeping shape to punch AFO as much as they can.

AFO's fury briefly flares seeing them, but he quickly realizes what their being here means, as he hated them too much to ever take their pathetic quirks. Tomura confirms by saying AFO has his own secret boss, pointing out a small light in the distance like a star that AFO immediately identifies as the last spark of Yoichi.

426: Two Fronts

The inner fight continues: AFO begins racing past everyone to try and claim that distant light, but this just allows vestiges both stolen and OFA to slam him into huge debris as he tries. AFO grows even larger to Machia-level size and swats them away, landing a good hit on Tomura, Kudo, & Bruce as he tells them to stop infringing on his story. Just he he goes for another blow though, he takes a hit from seemingly nothing.

Cut back to outside and it's clear that he just got hit by Momo & Denki's canon, now with Jirou helping too. Dazed and in disbelief, AFO is then also hit by Kamui Woods throwing many huge boulders at him. Rikido and Kirishima go for a big attack too, but AFO knocks them away as he regains himself.

Realizing that he's on a war of two fronts and losing, he implants himself with those large roots he seems to have, embedding them in the earth and spreading them out to disrupt and separate the heroes. He then uses more quirks to form a large shell around himself, and uses a more defensive All-Factor Release to launch a myriad of attacks from the shell's surface. Deku goes in to attack AFO from an opening on the shell, but he launches more attacks out of it at Deku & the League. With the roots and shell protecting AFO from most of the heroes, he left an opening on purpose so he can see the League and focus on destroying them, which will then let him subdue Tomura. Deku realizes this plan too, and changes course to deflect the attacks on the League.

More roots emerge, but other members of the class catch on; Shoto freezing some while Shoji grabs others, allowing the League to keep yelling for Tomura to fight. At this time, with assistance from Sero, Iida, Mineta, & Mina; Ruyukyu and Mt. Lady lady finally rip out those mouth stalks, leaving two great black indents in the shell. Enraged, AFO causes the shell to grow large with great teeth around it's opening and enlarge in size greatly, now resembling the imagery of ultimate evil from All Might's old description of AFO as it launches more attacks at Deku and the League.

Deku tells the League to keep it up while he protects them, and we see side-by-side panels of both him and Tomura, bolstered by the League's words calling for his help, continuing their respective assaults on AFO.

427: Trust and Worth

We briefly see the other heroes attempts to get through the now-giant shell in between AFO's still-ongoing onslaught of attacks; Nejire and Amajiki's best attacks doing nothing, and Momo's laser barely putting in a scratch. Mirio says he got in, but his punches still can't phase the guy inside. Weird thing is, he didn't even notice a hero got in; so focused on Deku & the League. The attacks from the shell's surface seem completely random and haphazard too; he's ignoring them. Shoto points out that he basically can thanks to his defences, so does this mean they have to wait for someone who can do something? But Mirio rephrases it to that they need to wait for when they can do something.

Cut back to Deku and he's in a similar mental state. He's almost literally running on OFA's fumes and he's stuck on the defence protecting the League because he can't get into the shell through all the attacks, especially now that it's grown much larger and AFO is hiding deeper inside. It's anxiety inducing, he knows Bakugou would hate it. A part of him wants to try and think of a way to blast past the attacks, but he's not sure he could beat AFO in one hit so it might be too risky (if not for him, then for those behind him). Better to do some entrusting himself and leave this to Tomura until he leaves an opening or needs one himself, which Deku will know because he can see the fight in his mind through their connection.

But back at the mental battle; Shigaraki's confidence only enrages AFO, who grabs him in his giant hand and start squeezing. He taunts Tomura, asks if he really thinks someone who AFO built from the ground up can deny him? 'No, his pathetic friends will have their cries left unanswered forevermore, as punishment for entrusting their hopes to a pawn.'

Just then, another new player swoops in, busting right through the palm of AFO's hand to pull Tomura out. It's Hana Shimura! Who promptly tells AFO to shut up about her brother. The rest of the Shimuras also appear, with Kotaro denying the scope AFO's influence, apologizing to Tenko, and saying his abusive behaviour was his fault alone. Tomura pauses at seeing them, and says while he's in no mood to forgive his father, he promises to get them all out alive so he can grovel for forgiveness properly later.

Nana also appears and asks how the Shimuras are here, which Nao answers saying AFO pilfered their quirks from their remains after their tragedy. Nana is horrified, but AFO can only say that he's beginning to regret letting his whims draw him to any worthless trash he found along his path. Shigaraki remarks back that he's finding plenty of worth in this so called 'trash'.

428: A New Strategy

As more vestiges go back on the offensive; the Shimura family take a moment for strategy, wondering how they can beat this giant monster. Nana wonders why AFO can even grow like this, but Tomura figures he must've done it by letting long-suppressed emotions run wild. He's fraying himself for a chance to reach Yoichi, but stronger emotions like from Tomura or his sister can tear right through him. It also means if they beat him, he'll either be gone for good, or unveil his own core like what happened with Tenko. Concluding this is enough strategy, Tomura leaps into the fray and deals a massive wound to AFO.

AFO is beginning to realize his situation in this two-front battle is not improving, but being so close to Yoichi, he reconsiders his priorities and his strategy to shut up the League. Luckily the reappearance of Nana reminds him of just the way to do it. Outside, Deku, Aoyama, and a few other students continue to protect the League as they call for Tomura and mock AFO, when something changes. The onslaught of random attacks stops, and instead the shell begins to glow, and then a massive force begins emanating from the shell causing gale force winds to blast everyone away. AFO has combined the energy explosion he used to kill Nana with Air Cannon & Shokewave and is using them continuously to create these winds. Using his explosion quirk like this might burn up all his stamina, maybe even kill him and Tomura, but he decides it's worth it to see Yoichi.

The winds drown out the League, internally causing Shigaraki to think they might've just died, which in turn lets AFO pin him under his hand and start crushing him once more.

Deku, being blasted into a wall of dirt, realizes they can't keep up a passive strategy anymore, these winds will tear & burn everyone up. This is when a Warp Gate opens in front of his face, blocking the winds and letting him talk though it with the League, who are protected by a much larger Warp Gate. Spinner says they need a new strategy, but Deku gets distracted observing how Kurogiri's Warp Gates seem to be very effective against these winds by just warping the wind somewhere else. Before Dabi can properly express annoyance, Deku says he's got a plan; but he'll need the League's full cooperation, so are the willing to work with him? Dabi & Toga look to Spinner, who tells Deku...fat chance. He wants their help, he's the one who has to work with them. Deku agrees, so Spinner welcomes him to the League of Villains and asks for his plan.

429: All For One; One For All; All Or Nothing; One Last Smash

Deku and the League begin their operation. Kurogiri opens various Warp Gates around the area that a) give heroes places to take cover from the gusts of wind, and b) let him create his own jets of wind. He points all of them at Deku's back, launching the boy at the shell's opening. The force of each jet matches the force of AFO's wind, meaning multiple will overcome it. Granted, applying that much force to someone from both ends this way would crush most people, but Deku's got a body that can withstand OFA so this is nothing.

As he's launched at the opening, AFO notices his approach and creates giant sharp teeth to impale him; but Deku, being carried by the wind, is free to use another St. Louise Smash to destroy them and make his way in. AFO then tries a variety of other attacks inside the chamber of the shell, but a Warp Gate opens and a blast of ice freezes all of them, and we see Dabi commenting how there's nothing like a life or death situation to see how strong you really are (his mom's quirk packs quite the punch).

AFO then closes the shell to stop the League's interference, air jets or otherwise, and prepares another All-Factor laser pointed right at Deku. But just then, we see Shoto outside preparing a ramp, which Bakugou takes off from (that's right we see their team-up this time), using explosions to overpower the wind, break through the shell where team Momo scratched it, and blast away the charged up laser before it could fire. Now with line of sight inside back, another Gate opens with one of Toga's syringes shot through. Deku grabs it's cord, and uses it to launch himself back at AFO, finally landing the hit to knock off his gag.

Back inside the mental battlefield; AFO is so close to Yoichi and is dragging himself through the vestiges' attacks. Deku suddenly arrives across their mental link, and slams into the giant AFO. Truly desperate, AFO seems to almost puke up something from the hit that gets launched at Yoichi; it's trashbag baby AFO! Who's suddenly feeling a lot more honest, yelling for Yoichi about how much he needs him, how he only cares about him, just let him see his brother's face one last time.

Shigaraki hears this and realizes what kind of person his sensei was all along, and decides what to do with a pity-ing look on his face and a nod from his parents. AFO's path is interrupted one last time by Tenko Shimura, who grabs him in a hug and tells him he understands his pain, but it's over, he needs to let go of this. The star-like light he'd been chasing turns into Yoichi's face, causing AFO to being to cry and relax into the hug, and the two boys fade into another tiny light that rests in Tomura's hand as he shows Deku & the vestiges. It's over.

430: What Makes Heroes and Villains

Deku asks what what Tomura will do with that last shred of AFO, and Tomura says he doesn't know. Part of him still wants to crush it, both out of anger & just to be safe, but that seems distasteful after what just happened. Just then, one vestige steps forth and asks for it, who Tomura identifies as Spearlike Bones; the Shigaraki twins' mother. She doesn't introduce herself as such, but says she knew AFO before he went evil, so give it to her and she'll keep it safe and out of trouble this time. Both Deku and Tomura agree, and then sit down to talk.

The scene shifts to a beach at night, they're alone, and they shift to their four and five-year-old selves. Tenko and Izuku talk for a bit like that, about...a lot of stuff. Mostly about heroes, about Deku, and what Tenko thinks of Deku. If Tenko feels saved (a bit yeah, but also a bit not), how Deku's a good hero, how he's a mediocre hero. How Tenko thinks all heroes suck and are failures, especially All Might, which riles 4-year old Izuku up good...but also how, as the first hero that Tenko doesn't think is a failure who sucks, Deku is the greatest hero ever.

Izuku asks what Tenko will do now, and he says he'll do what he said before; be a hero for the villains, as only a villain can. That said, Tomura doesn't really want to fight Deku anymore if he can avoid it; so he's prepared a peace offering, and a message. The peace offering appear to Izuku as a meteor shower in the night sky, accompanied with a shot outside the mental world to show Shigaraki standing over an unconscious Deku with Tomura's hand pressed agianst him. The message gets blacked out a la Dabi. Izuku, suddenly a teenager is shocked and turns to ask what he means, but finds instead Shinomori asking what what means? Deku has been given the quirks from OFA back, although they are all in pieces aside from Danger Sense, hence them appearing to him as a meteor shower.

We cut to various scenes with villains; Skeptic in a police carrier, Spinner's advisors and a couple other rioters being held in custody, Compress in prison, Redestro in another prison, and even Gigantomachia, once more being tied down even as he holds his hand to the wound AFO gave him. They all see above them a tiny blotch of blackness like Kurogiri's mist.

Back at Mt. Fuji, Tomura finally emerges from the shell of ultimate evil carrying Deku. Lemillion is first on the scene and tells Tomura to hand him over; and is quite shocked when Tomura does just that without issue. Says the two of them made friends and sorted it out in there so don't worry. Toga also tells Mirio to relay a message to Deku that she'll be keeping an eye on both him and Uraraka from here, so keep up their progress together. Other heroes arrive and surround them slowly, not sure what move to make. Iida is the one who finally tells them to come quietly and let this end.

Tomura agrees to let this all end, and Spinner & Toga both ask what they're doing now? Going out in a peaceful way, or a villainous way? Tomura says both; that they'll be performing what may be their final act of villainy, before asking if Kurogiri has a big enough place picked out. Kurogiri confirms he does, and opens a Warp Gate for the League.

At this time, those other villains we saw earlier start getting Gloop Warped away from custody. As the League step through Kurogiri, a number of heroes suddenly move to stop them. Deku barely regains a bit of consciousness and tells them not to attack, causing a few of his classmates to pause. No one is fast enough to stop the League anyway, and Kurogiri disappears behind them. The League are gone.

The chapter ends with police, prison managers, and heroes all reporting in. Besides Dr. Garaki and Overhaul who got left behind, every villain bigger than a small time crook they had in any form of custody throughout the entire country has disappeared.

431: Class 1A Rising

The obligatory Epilogue chapter. As I expect of canon, this would probably be extra long and cover a lot of different plot threads. It'll also be very different based on how Hori wants to take things; but I'll go the simple route.

First things first is catching up with all the hero kids in the hospital. Friendship moments, decompression, comments on character arcs, that sort of stuff. We also learn Tomura's final message to Deku, which he relays to everyone else, student and pro: The heroes have attacked the League three times now. If they attack a fourth time, the villains will return to destroy Japan. But if they don't, the villains will never return.

We then get narration of the immediate aftermath of this announcement; heroes throughout the country search high and low for any signs of Shigaraki & the disappeared villains for months. In a similar case to when they hunted for Stain, this results in heroes finding a lot of injustices they'd normally overlook to catch bigger villains; lost children, domestic abuse, prejudice, that sort of thing. Still, for those entire months, no villains more dangerous than some corner store robbers are found.

Speaking of the heroes, an emergency ranking is conducted; naming Kamui Woods as the new number one, with the rest of the Lurkers as No. 2 & 3. The previous top 3 have all retied (maybe Endeavor dies from that tooth attack he took for Shoto, idk.) Additionally, Mirio, Nejire, & Tamaki have taken the no. 8, 9, and 10 slots, and vow to catch up and rise even higher. Still, there's not a lot of interest by anyone involved; seems everyone has their eyes on the next generation.

There's a few more scenes of loose ends getting tied up like Overhaul waking up Pops or Gentle & Nagant getting status as heroes before we finally return to UA The kids' 2nd year finally begins for real. it's jarring to be sure, but time must go on and so too must education. Besides, a lot of them have started thinking after that war that they need to consider what kinds of heroes they want to be. Deku's falling behind with his shattered OFA not yet showing signs of healing, if that's even possible, but he's confident he'll catch up once again. Perhaps this is where we'd see out final moments with the core cast, checking in with everyone here as they all get ready for their next lesson/mission as heroes. If Hori wanted a more overtly 'to be continued' ending (though I imagine he would not), perhaps we might see where the villains ended up in some sense, building up a future conflict. Or perhaps we might skip forward years into the future, see the kid as pros and end on that kind of uncompromising 'Happily ever after'. Depends on how much open-endedness is preferred.

Either way, there's my conclusion. I won't say it's perfect or anything; I'll even admit I may have gotten the League more involved than would ever be realistic (or maybe it's more like I may not have involved the Deku's class enough). But I like to think I got some cool plot beats in, some cool reveals, I'm more proud of the call back to All Might's ultimate evil imagery than it may deserve; but most importantly, the villains end this war alive and saved. Tomura got to be the hero for villains; and I'd say Deku, between getting his save off and not being the focal point of the win, came out looking a lot less like an All Might clone or the next pillar, and just looking a lot like a better hero than in canon in general. That's what I feel anyway.

Regardless, writing this whole 'what-if' out did in fact make me feel better about 423. So my self-indulgent ramblings were worth that much at least.

[stevetwisp]

What's your all-time favorite Bob's Burgers episode? Like this is YOUR episode? (You can list multiple if you want!)

ooo yes i will need multiple, i have like lil categories for my favs episodes;

like nostalgic, and just genuinely good, and then episodes i find really silly/have my favourite characters

'The Belchies', 'Bob Day Afternoon', 'Bob Fires the Kids' and, 'Sexy Dance Healing' are all episodes I can't decide which i saw first, as in my first episode of Bob's Burgers overall, they all feel a very special and kind of nostalgic and honestly? besides Sexy Dance Healing, they are all really classic episodes that kind of hold the edginess of season 1, but in a good way, and also just have really good well put together stories- as well as introducing/building on side-characters that will become staples to the series (not including Beverly and Cooper, mostly talking about Mickey and the kids' friend group)

Sexy Dance Healing is just a cool episode in the sense they bring attention to the chalk board and Bob's routine with it and him breaking that routine and how the family reacts to it? it's just a wonderful character/world building episode especially if you have been watching the show for a bit before seeing it

'Manic Pixie Crap Show' and 'Silence of the Louise' go up in my top favs bc 1) i LOVE MILLIE and 2) i love the movie silence of the lambs, but also I love louise's crisis about 'being a girl' in Manic Pixie Crap Show

'Amelia', 'The Amazing Rudy', 'Radio No You Didn't', 'Show Mama From The Grave' are all episodes that sort of break formula to tell a better story, Amelia is just... oof. The Amazing Rudy? to escape the Belchers and have a whole episode just on Rudy- and not just Rudy but to focus on his face the whole episode to be inside his head without any inner monologue or narration- it's powerful stuff. Radio No You Didn't is just straight up a cool episode- and I love the running gag of never really showing Bob's mom? Lily is finally in an episode and.... she's a baby the whole time. It's kind of genius? oh also his grandma fighting nazis is cool too. HAHA and to follow that up- I really didn't think they would actually show Lily's grave in 'Show Mama From The Grave' (ironically), I was expecting them never to find it and I want to believe there's a draft of the episode where they never reach her and it's just about how that's okay because Bob thinks of her all the time. But Linda being the one who found her? Bro I was sobbing, loudly, WILDLY.

'Vampire Disco Death Dance', 'Earsy Rider', 'V for Valentine-detta' are episodes that are silly but I feel very strongly about them- Earsy Rider is also one of the first episodes I ever saw, and I think it's so neat they did an episode so early on that addresses- but doesn't unpack- Louise's bunny ears. Also the introduction of some of my favourite background characters, the One Eyed Snakes and Critter (love his name. love that man.) and his partner Mud Flap. ("Aw my mother's name is Mud Flap!" "...Really?" "No, you are named after the dirty part of a car.")

and c'mon, who doesn't love V for Valentine-detta???? We get sweet sweet adorable family time with Linda and Tina and Louise- NAT?? THE INTRODUCTION OF NAT!!!! best character in the series, and probably the gayest Tina will ever be (next to her and Sage... Next to her and Dillon... next to-)

but my ultimate favourite episode of Bob's Burgers will always be, 'Thanks-Hoarding'. I love Teddy. Yes it hits home, yes I relate to him, YES the episode makes me cry, YES I THINK ABOUT IT ALL THE TIME

YES I DID MAKE A YOUTUBE VIDEO ESSAY ABOUT IT LIKE 5 YEARS AGO!!!

YES I LOVE THAT EPISODE STILL (tears shirt off)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

anyway thank you for the question c:

honourable mentions: any episode with Gretchen. 👍

[remyfire]

Thinking about Louise and Trapper this morning got my mind racing and I had a scenario come to mind that I don't think I have the time to turn into a fanfic, but I wanted to share it here anyway in case anyone else enjoys it.

CW: A brief but explicit description of sex.

Trapper postwar sneaks a photo of him and Hawkeye home with him and tries to keep it hidden from Louise. I feel like in whatever verse this would be, Trapper probably wrote to his daughters more about Daddy's Friend Hawkeye than mentioning him much to Louise in the few letters he sent home specifically to her. Maybe he wrote about Hawkeye quite a bit initially, then suddenly cut to never mentioning him to Louise, even conveniently ignoring any time she might've asked about That Surgeon Friend Of Yours while he wrote around the question in his replies home.

Trap doesn't talk about Hawkeye once he gets home, not a word. He's so frigid and tense, rigid too, only really loosens up with the girls. He's intimate with Louise once or twice, but it's few and far between and he makes excuses whenever Louise initiates sex.

But there's one night—something big, maybe the anniversary of Henry's death—when Trapper slides over to her side of the bed, quietly but passionate seducing her with a growing fervor, but they get as far as both of them being naked before she realizes he's not actually hard and when she points it out, he's embarrassed, pulls back sharply and tries to just roll over and go to sleep.

But Louise is undeterred. She wraps herself around his back with all her limbs, kisses and nips at his shoulder and throat, and when she finally feels him starting to relax, she asks him what he wants tonight, that she'll do anything she can. And it takes a few minutes for Trapper to get the words out—his tongue is too thick in his mouth and when she puts her hand over his heart, it's racing so fast that she's surprised he hasn't passed out. But eventually he finds a clumsy way to say that he wants her to fuck him. She asks if he means riding him and he says no, reiterates, he wants her to fuck him. And god, they've never done that before. Trapper's always taken her with such feverish passion, loved being inside of her.

Her silence makes him anxious and he begins to pull away again, but Louise blurts, "On your back or your front?" and Trapper holds his breath for a long few seconds, waiting for her to change her mind, before he rolls onto his hands and knees. He's up there maybe a second before his front half crumples and he buries his face in his pillow, ass still up in the air.

It takes Louise a few minutes to figure things out. She's got to be a sight, she thinks, her tight barrel curls wildly mussed and flying everywhere, completely naked but for her wide-open white robe, probably looks like the world's weirdest ghost rooting through the pantry in the dead of night. But she had plenty of needs of her own while Trapper was away, and with two little girls who always needed her attention and no contact with her own family for personal reasons (she hates their guts, as you do), it wasn't like she could go trawling the bars and bringing joes home to fuck her. So when she gets back to the bedroom, she tentatively rubs at his hole with a little bit of vegetable oil and when Trapper whines into the pillow—whines, a sound she's barely ever heard from him—she drips a little more onto her fingers, then cautiously begins stretching him out like he often had to do with her in those first months of marriage when she had trouble adjusting to his size.

I'm imagining Louise doesn't own a dildo because she has no idea how to get a hold of one and especially doesn't want to ask the wrong person and have her looked down on in some way as a mother—she already feels like she must be the worst kind of wife, thanks to Trap's occasional bitter treatment of her for one reason or another over the years, and like hell is she gonna risk somebody saying she's a shit mother or a dangerous influence—but after she has Trap prepped, she pulls out her hairbrush that's served her many a night and fucks him with the handle.

Trapper gasps and moans for her in ways that he rarely does, and when she quietly asks, "Still good, John?" he freezes, then lifts his head just enough to say, "Call, call me Trap, okay?" And it's a nickname that Louise has always been wary of, but what is she going to say, no? So she does. And the moment she whispers that name, Trapper begins crying into the pillow, is still weeping when Louise gets a hand around his cock and jerks him off until he comes.

And I'm imagining Trapper pulls Louise close, curls up in a little ball as he buries his face in her neck like a child hiding from the world, and she...is pretty sure she understands quite a bit more about her husband than she did an hour ago. So when she quietly asks, "I bet you miss your friend very much. Hawkeye, yeah?" he sniffles, begins to cry again, but gentler this time. And it's halting and coaxing, asking gentle questions that confirm her suspicions—that this man was her husband's lover in Korea, that he's the only person who kept Trapper sane—and every time he goes quiet with fear at what her next response might be, she simply keeps rubbing his back and talking about whatever comes to mind, anything at all to do with Hawk and with Trap's time spent with him. They're still talking when the sun rises. It's the most words he's said to her in literal months.

Hawk finally gets a letter from Trapper two weeks later, written on Louise's stationary and with the pen she'd pushed into Trap's hand. And at the end of it, Hawkeye gets an open invitation to drop by Boston the second he gets home, signed by both of them.

[oodlyenough]

dw empire of death

spoilers ofc

hm. like many RTD finales, a bit of a mixed bag. i feel less certain of my overall thoughts than last week (which i thought was a blast, tbh).

the good: i'm... pretty happy with the ruby mom reveal. this whole mystery box set up turning out to be "she was just a scared young woman who couldn't raise her baby", an ordinary woman mythologized by ruby and the doctor over the season, etc, is an extremely RTD solution. and as a fan of his stuff I liked seeing that... well... pivot to his roots as opposed to her being part of the pantheon or something (which I admit I did wonder about myself).

the *idea* of her pointing at the sign to name the baby is nice, I like the meaning of it and what Ruby takes from it, but it is a bit of a clumsy set up. very dramatic pointing, ms miller.

also as much as i was dying to see what the screen said lol i DID love the character moment of ruby stepping forward to offer the name to sutekh, only to smash it, and then clip his collar (lmfao btw). i thought that was a nice character moment for ruby. in that moment i thought perhaps we'd never find out the answer, and that would be something ruby sacrificed for the greater good. i wasn't sure how satisfying that would be and I guess I'll never have to find out bc it's not what happened lmao, but it is where i thought we might be headed.

i liked seeing the gloves and the rope from TCORR come back. i like surprise tools that will help us later :)

loved the memory tardis from the time window and the use of that tales from the tardis set. how cool.

loved the time window playing clips of classic who that's so fun. mel's moment with six's outfit awwww. and i'm sure i missed some of the namedrops of planets etc that fifteen was going on about but i liked the ones i caught. shan-shen! oodsphere!!

i thought the effects of the dust wave and the insta-crumbling was pretty good and spooky

i really like having mel around! i hope we get to see her cameo again

the mixed bag:

'the death wave is eating memories and going back through family trees in reverse' is pretty cool as a concept, i thought. where i think this hurts the resolution a bit is that in the moment i thought, "ok, well, ruby's "safe" because there's the Mystery, there's no family tree for it to climb!" but like... there was. does sutekh need to personally be aware of your family tree to kill you?

i really liked the moment of fifteen and ruby watching louise outside the coffee shop, and i really liked the moment where ruby sits down across from her and then the barista calls the name ruby and they have this look. i ... kind of found myself wishing that it would stop there? i mean, i'm happy for ruby, and i think "ruby found her bio fam and now ruby and her big family are together" is a nice ending for the character. but there was something so emotional and bittersweet about that split second of wondering and connection between the two, and ruby having that choice to make...

the goodbye between ruby and fifteen was lovely. millie gibson is so good her big watery eyes make me so sad. i've enjoyed the two of them together and i think they have incredible chemistry as characters and actors, like, what a team of besties. i'll miss ruby on the TARDIS. but ... only 10 episodes, a couple of which didn't feature them much at all... a bond that didn't get super developed on screen ... I dunno. Left me wishing we got more from them through the season.

I do know we'll see more of Ruby next season, so I'm excited for that. an s4 Martha situation. but then I also worry about Varada Sethu's character getting development time too...

the not so good:

killing off rose, kate, etc in the first minute removes stakes, because while you might worry about characters like cherry or carla who won't necessarily stick around when ruby leaves or whose deaths will impact ruby, you know rose and kate are not going to stay dead permanently. also very infinity war (derogatory) where there was the same issue -- no these characters won't stay dead and i'm not going to humour it lol

rose temple sweetie it was nice to see you stand in the background and not speak. what was that about. she FINALLY got all of two lines. it just felt like she didn't serve a lot of purpose in this ep. I mean I liked seeing her but she did not do anything to the story in either part of the ep

the solution of "death kills death" was a bit goofy lol but it's doctor who the solution is always goofy. i didn't care too much about that i guess. but it was goofy

i really think we could've used a more decisive scene with carla and ruby. carla seems to understand ruby's desire to know her bio fam and be supportive of it and that's lovely. obviously ruby loves carla and vice versa. but i think it would've been nice to have a moment of on-screen explicit acknowledgment between carla and ruby that there might be weird feelings there, that louise isn't replacing carla, something like that.

related to the above, the Doctor says Ruby redefined the way he thinks of family, which is a huge thing to say, but I don't feel like I ever saw that happening on screen. it COULD have. all the pieces are there with foundlings and foster care and adoption...

[ltwharfy]

"The Amazing Rudy" and the Evolution of Rudy and Louise's Friendship (Long Post)

Rewatching "The Amazing Rudy" last night made me feel like I finally want to write a little (using the term loosely) analysis about why I love the final act of that story so much. (I thought about doing this during Roudise Week but was too busy with fics.) I think the ending of that story is so wonderful not just because it is sweet in itself but because it reflects one of the things that I love about Rudy and Louise's friendship- that it has grown and evolved over the course of the show.

A lot of stories begin with characters who are always friends, the origins of the friendships are unexplored or pretty simple ("they grew up next door to each other" etc.). Or you get stories where the characters go through one adventure together and are suddenly BFFs. Rudy and Louise's friendship isn't like either of those.

It seems pretty clear that the events of "Carpe Museum" are the first time they've interacted much- but they don't immediately become besties after it. In Rudy's next two speaking appearances ("The Unnatural" and "Bob and Deliver") he doesn't interact with Louise at all. And when the Belchers enter the juice caboose in "The Kids Rob A Train", Rudy introduces them to Beanbag by saying he knows them from school- not that they are his friends. And there are some moments in that episode that I think are really important for their friendship- in particular, the moment when Rudy tries to get Louise to give him the bag full of candy through the train window and she's convinced he'll take it and ditch her, and the moment at the end with Rudy's fake severe allergic reaction- and Louise's panicked response.

But I'm not interested in going through every moment in their friendship. (I mean, I am. Absolutely. But not in this particular post.) What I think is really interesting about Act 3 of "The Amazing Rudy" is looking at in relation to the two episodes where conflict between Louise and Rudy plays a big role- "House of 1,000 Bounces" and "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy". Looking at those episodes, you can see Louise learning how to better read and respond to her friend's emotions.

In "House of 1,000 Bounces", Louise leads the rest of the party guests in stealing the bounce house from Dahlia. Rudy mentions twice that he'd be happy just to do the spoon puppets, but nobody listens to him. And then he blows up at them in Ranger Jail. (And, I think it is interesting to note that he is not just mad at Louise, but at all his friends- "I didn't want to steal that bounce house, but none of you would listen!") Louise tries to make things right by organizing the play with office supplies- and Rudy thanks her for that. But she never apologizes to him for not listening to him earlier- and it seems like maybe she never even noticed he was unhappy until he blew up at her.

At the beginning of "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy", Rudy communicates pretty clearly to Louise that he's feeling stressed because he isn't going to be able to return to his dad's for two weeks; Louise acknowledges that, but then gets caught up in her excitement over the Blaster Bridge, leading to Rudy getting upset, her calling him a weenie, and him asking her to leave. It's pretty clear that Louise recognizes right off the bat that she screwed up- she's taken aback when he asks her to leave, and then there's the whole bit while walking back with Tina and Gene where she decides she can fix things (not that she can yet acknowledge that things need fixing) by moving the bridge. At the end of the episode when they are blowing up the bridge, Louise finally says the thing that she couldn't say earlier in the episode or in "House of 1,000 Bounces": "Yeah, well, I'm sorry I kept pushing you when you were stressed out. And I'm sorry I called you a weenie...And I'm sorry, I didn't just say sorry right away. I'm not great at that, maybe. And I'm glad we're friends." Admitting that she is not great at apologizing right away- or generally acknowledging others' feelings and when she's hurt them- is a big step for Louise.

I know some fans are kind of tired of "Louise learns a lesson" stories, of which "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy" is certainly one, but I don't mind them, if they are actually entertaining and if the lesson stays learned. After all, if a show is going to be on the air for over a decade, why not let the characters have some growth and development?

Act 3 of "The Amazing Rudy" shows that Louise did learn a lesson from "House of 1,000 Bounces" and "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy". In "The Amazing Rudy", without Rudy saying anything specific directly to her, Louise alone among the Belchers realizes just how stressed out Rudy is and why. There is some really great, subtle writing, voice acting, and especially animation, that shows that Louise understands that something is troubling Rudy more than he is willing to admit. After he slips up and talks about the food he ordered, you can hear her suspicion and concern when she asks: "What you ordered?" Then, in Act 3, when Bob is getting ready to drive Rudy back to the restaurant, you can see that Louise is paying attention to Rudy, keeping her eyes on him the whole time, while not saying anything until she proposes her idea about walking back to the restaurant with him. She is the only one of the Belchers to recognize what is truly bothering Rudy- which he may not even have been able to articulate himself: that he feels lonely.

Bob and Linda are clearly (and reasonably) looking at Rudy's situation from a concerned parent's perspective: everything will be okay if Rudy is back with his parents who are worried about him. in Act 3, Tina seems to be very much sitting at the adults' table (metaphorically)- worrying about Vicki's pants and if Bob has his keys. Gene's focus is primarily on getting back to his baked potato lasagna. None of this is to understate how kind the other Belchers are to Rudy in the episode- but at that moment, none of them are as focused on him as Louise is.

In "The Amazing Rudy" neither Rudy, nor any other character, says that he feels lonely or isolated- but its clear from the episode that that is one of his real sources of sadness in that story. He is a kid surrounded by adults who are kind of focused on their own stuff- the scene where they are waiting for their table is the best visual illustration of this but their are others- for example, the multiple conversations where he is in the backseat and his dad is in the front. And then when his parents and their partners are literally on the same level as him- when they are all sitting down for dinner, he feels that he has to be center of attention to make the situation less awkward. He has to perform as The Amazing Rudy (or Rudy the Illusionary Visionary).

What Rudy really needs throughout the story is a friend- and Louise recognizes this without him having to say it. And she not only recognizes the cause of his pain- she comes up with a way to address it, by going back to the restaurant with him.

From "House of 1,000 Bounces" to "The Amazing Rudy", Louise goes from ignoring-and perhaps not even noticing- that Rudy is upset because she took over his birthday party with her bounce house scheme to recognizing and coming up with a plan to address a pain Rudy is feeling that he does not (perhaps cannot) even articulate. And, to me, this doesn't seem unrealistic or out of the blue. Rather, it seems like a logical growth of their friendship, building on "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy", as well as other episodes, with plots or subplots about their friendship that I haven't really talked about ("The Hawkening"; "Bob Actually", among others) and other non-Rudy-focused episodes that show how Louise is developing to be a more emotionally aware person ("Flu-ouise", "Thelma and Louise Except Thelma is Linda", "Prank You For Being A Friend". etc.).

Rudy and Louise's friendship is not the focus of "Bob's Burgers". Not even close. I did the math once, and I think Rudy's in just over 10% of the show's episodes. But I still think that, with Rudy and Louise, the show has done one of the best jobs of developing a friendship on television- from classmates who didn't really know each other, to friends who are still learning about each other and figuring out how to communicate, to friends who can pickup on each other's nonverbal cues and know just the right thing to do.

And I love that.

(P.S.: Someday, I will be able to think about this episode without tearing up. That day is not today.)

[leonaquitaine]

Starter GPose: Lighting 101 - GPose controls

It's hard to overstate how important lighting is for photography in general- and the same applies to gpose shots.

This is a huge topic, so let's start with the basics!

GPose Controls

There are 3 different kinds of lighting control available when in gpose: Global, Character, and Points.

Global illumination is controlled by the manual brightness adjustment slider. This is equivalent, in real-life photography, to exposure. Character lightning has no real-life equivalent, but may be thought of as a brightness control that only influences characters and similar entities (minions, NPCs, and enemies, for example.)

GPose also gives you 3 point light sources that can be used to emulate the 3-point lighting traditional method for illuminating a subject.

Positioning a source isn't exactly intuitive: A source is placed exactly where the camera is at the moment it is toggled. So to place it you need to move the camera to the desired position, and then enable it by toggling its button.

Oddly enough, these points do NOT project shadows. (in fact, a great deal of 'glowy' elements don't, like weapons and armor.) But you can use this fact for great effects!

You can, for example, create shots with perfect dark backgrounds by strategically placing gpose light points behind objects that do not block the emitted light. You can learn more about this technique here:

Ok, so where was I? Oh, right- lighting!

Let's play around with what we just learned then. Here's a default setup for a scene: Notice that the ceiling light *do* project shadows, but it's kinda low-res. So let's set ambient light to zero and control the shades ourselves.

Some rotation and gshade filters from Neneko Colors for better luminance, color, and model shades. It's better - but still looks pretty flat.

We want to pop the character out, so let's add some highlights and rim lights. First, the hair: let's give it a lustrous shine. Camera up top and a slightly bluish point.

Now the weapon. Remember that the item itself doesn't emit light? so let's place another point with the same tone as the weapon to illuminate Louise. To her left and behind her, slightly distant so as to project on her legs as well.

And finally, a directional key light to help illuminate her face.

Her model is still too dark, so let's use the character lighting control to help with that.

Now let's make the whole scene a bit brighter. Change the brightness adjustment slider to manual mode, and bring it up as needed.

This should be a good point to compare the initial setup with our results so far, showing how much basic gpose lighting can enhance a shot.

Now that you know how it's done, it's easy to see how some of my poses were set up! Here's one with a yellow source top-right, an orange source bottom-right, and a dim white source to the left of Louise:

Or this one: A very bright white source to the left (and a bit to the front), and a dim bluish/purplish source to the bottom right. Notice how much Louise pops out of the scene.

Next, I'll talk about exterior shots, fixture light sources, and other neat things.

(This guide is part of a series that I'm migrating from Twitter since Tumblr offers much better options for formatting and editing, and taking the opportunity to also update images and references. Let me know if you have any questions!)

[cowgurrrl]

Blue Sunday

Pairing: Joel Miller x fem!reader (plus platonic Ellie Williams x fem!reader)

Author’s note: I love a big happy family <3

Summary: “You are here to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart.” - Louise Erdrich aka Ellie calls you mom for the first time

Warnings: fluff, time jump (Charlie is 5, Ellie is 21, and JJ is 2), talk of deceased loved ones (Anna, Sarah, Jane), Charlie being curious, Ellie being a good mom, Jesse’s alive!!

"Bellie, I have a question," Charlie announces from her place next to Ellie at the dinner table. Joel smiles at the nickname and leans forward to watch his girls interact. 

"I have an answer," Ellie says. 

"Why do you call mommy and daddy by their grown-up names?" She asks, and the table freezes. You knew this question would come up eventually, but you didn't think it would hit you as a rapid-fire question from your five-year-old.

"You know how sometimes we talk about how you lived in my belly, and JJ lived in Auntie Dina's belly? Well, Ellie didn't live in my belly. She lived in someone else's belly." You explain. Charlie nods as she listens and looks between you and Ellie. 

"Who?"

"A very nice lady named Anna." 

"Anna," Charlie tries the name on her tongue. "Anna is Ellie's mama?"

"Yep."

"Why doesn't Anna live with us?" She asks, her eyes full of curiosity. You look to Ellie, unsure of how much of her story you're allowed to tell. Ellie puts her fork down and folds her hands together.

"Do you remember how we talked about Sarah and Jane?" Ellie asks, and Charlie nods. "Do you remember how we talked about the tattoo Cat did for me?" Again, Charlie nods, before reaching out to trace the ink on Ellie’s forearm with her little fingers. "Well, my mommy got hurt in the same way I got hurt when I was little, but my mommy got really sick, and she died."

"That's sad." Charlie frowns. 

"It is, but she made sure I was safe. When I got hurt, your mommy and daddy found me and brought me all the way here to Jackson to get medicine. Then, they got married, and then they had…" Ellie trails off and points to Charlie for dramatic effect.

"Me!" Charlie yells, and she laughs.

"Yeah, that's right. So, even though my mommy died, I was okay."

"Because my mommy and daddy were your mommy and daddy for a little bit?" She asks, and Ellie takes a deep breath, looking at you and Joel. 

"Yeah. Yeah, they were. That's why we're sisters."

"Do you remember…" Charlie trails off, scowling as she searches her brain. 

"Anna?" Joel supplies, and Charlie lights up.

"Yeah! Anna! Do you remember your Anna mommy?" She asks, crawling into Ellie's lap to play with her bracelets. Ellie takes it in stride, tucking Charlie's hair behind her ears. 

"No, I don't remember my Anna mommy, but I know she was funny and kind and a badass just like me," Ellie says. You don't have the heart to correct her swearing, especially in such a sweet moment with Charlie. You just sit and watch.

"So, you call mommy and daddy by their grown-up names because you have an Anna mommy in Heaven just like I have Sarah and Jane sissies in Heaven?"

"Mhm."

"Does your Anna mommy take care of my Sarah and Jane sissies?"

"I hope so." Ellie hums as she wipes crumbs from Charlie’s shirt.

"Oh," Charlie says. "When are Auntie Dina and Uncle Jesse gonna come over with JJ?" She transitions seamlessly, and you laugh. The mind of a five-year-old will forever be an elusive one. You get through the rest of your family dinner without a hitch, although you have to admit that you miss Dina, Jesse, and JJ, too. 

It's hard to get everyone together, especially with Ellie splitting her time between her own little family and us. Every Friday, the motley crew of parents switches off where they go for dinner. Some Fridays, JJ, Dina, Ellie, and Jesse go to Dina's mom's house. Some Fridays, they all go to Jesse's parent's house before finally coming to yours and Joel's. It's pretty complicated, but they have a system. The other three couldn't come this time because Jesse unexpectedly got assigned a patrol shift, JJ got the flu, and Dina didn't want to risk giving it to Charlie. But Charlie practically begged to see her sister, so she made the solo journey out. 

Once you're done with dinner, Joel gets Charlie ready for bed while you and Ellie do the dishes together. You didn't ask her to, nor do you expect her to when she comes over, but she always takes a place next to you at the sink. She tells you about JJ's birthday party coming up and how difficult it's been trying to find a time that fits all sides of the family. You tell her about how Charlie's doing at school and how she's taken a particular interest in music, one you're sure was influenced by Ellie and Joel. 

"I'm sorry for what Charlie asked about at dinner. I had no idea." You say as you walk with Ellie towards the front door once the dishes are all dry and put away. She waves you off.

"No, it's okay. She's smart. I didn't realize how much she understood," she says, and you nod, tucking your hands into your back pockets. "She has a point, though."

"About what?" 

"Maybe… I should start calling you and Joel my parents. At least until she's old enough to know the whole story. Same thing with JJ. I mean, he already asks for Grandpa Joel." She explains hesitantly, wringing her hands as she talks. You smile at the nervous habit and take a deep breath, processing her request.

"I'd really like that," you say, and she smiles back. "But do I have to be Grandma? I mean, I'm old but not that old." 

"No. I'm sure Jay will come up with a cool, non-old name for you. Plus, he's already got Dina and Jesse's moms," she says, furrowing her eyebrows as she thinks. "And two moms and a dad. And an aunt that's really not that much older than him. Oh, god," she scrubs a hand down her face, and you laugh. "I'm going to have to explain so much to him."

"Welcome to the club," you grab her jacket off the hook and hand it to her. "You're a really good mom. I hope you know." You say, and Ellie blushes as she pulls the jacket over her shoulders. 

"I've learned from the best." She says, and your heart feels like it could burst. You pull her close and hug her tightly like you always do when she gets ready to leave. You never thought you'd miss the days when she was just down the hallway, playing guitar loudly or gossiping with Dina in the late hours of the night. You kiss her temple and squeeze her. 

"I love you, kiddo."

"I love you, too, Mom."

🍓

🍓

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Tag list: @evyiione @nyotamalfoy @abbyhaslongshorts

[kranagok0]

Oh boy, this Is a complete love square....

Guys, I don't know what I have about polyamorous romances but it's like a strange feeling of 'look at that, no one is sad and everyone loves each other.'

That just crossed my mind when I saw the new member of the trio of strange friends (now it's a quartet).

Louise is a breath of fresh air among the extroverts that make up the group.

Louise is practically an introvert. Someone closed who was even the last to be chosen on the boat trip (if we leave aside the trio of protagonists). Louise mentions that she has been in the Sparrow Scouts for some time now but has made almost no friends (or so I think).

I understand what it's like to be an introvert, more or less. I am the type of person who acts with a lot of concern, nervousness and gets serious so as not to say something stupid the first time they meet him... However, when I gain the necessary confidence I transform into someone different. I go from being 'a mouse thinking carefully about its next move' to becoming 'a monkey with a shotgun'. I hope I'm not the only one to have that strange way of being....

My life aside, I'd say Louise is kind of like that too. At first she tries to fit in by being normal with the team, but then she begins to get to know them and identify what things the trio of friends think are right or wrong and that is when Louise begins to show more of her personality. It emerges from the cocoon like a butterfly to show its true colors.

And in short: it is perfect for the trio of friends. It's so weird and different that I feel like it's necessary for the group, and I'm speaking in a positive way when I say weird. A good time.Now the main topic..... Romance.

I've seen a lot of Frida X David, Hilda X Frida, David X Frida fanfics and blogs, there's literally everything. But with the arrival of Louise the combinations are doubled. Now it could be Louise X David, Louise X Hilda, Louise

*Music from a 80's TV game show plays*

Hello ladies, gentlemen and other magical creatures who visualize us! I want to welcome you to this little head-canon idea I had of what each character in the trio of friends would be like if they were Louise's partner!

To do this, we will see the qualities of each suitor and what their dynamic with the character would be like:

Let's start with the one who represents better than anyone the shyness and courage that exists within us, he died twice to try to demonstrate it. Here we have David.

David may be a scary guy, but he will definitely come to save you if you are in danger. This kid would literally show what he's made of on a battlefield if he feels like he needs to prove something.... Don't tell me no, we've all seen the Vikings episode.

Our next contestant is not only smart in school but also in witchcraft. If you ask him about a certain topic, rest assured that when he finishes his talk you will at least have knowledge of the entire topic and its related subtopics. She is willing to do anything for her friends, she would even open a portal to the unknown and create non-existent spells just for you. Let's give a big, fervent wave of applause to the young city witch: FRIDA!

Frida may have been a bit of a perfectionist in the past, but after meeting Hilda and experiencing several events she went from being miss perfect to becoming the smartest friend you can count on. To be honest, sometimes Frida can be a bit boring, but that doesn't stop her from reaching your heart by showing great gifts of her intellect and the magic she possesses means that any topic can arise from a conversation. So, if by 'boring' we mean a lot of context and extremely long topics that she explains to you with excitement and great happiness, then boring is pretty good.

Finally we have the icing on the cake, or in this case the blueberry. Coming from the wild and with more extroverted energy than any of the other candidates mentioned above, we have a young woman with blue hair as long as she could grow it (I don't doubt that she would have let it grow longer if it didn't bother her in her adventures). This girl can literally make friends with almost anything and her circle of friends is huge, ranging from elf scribes to giants who are no longer on this planet. She would be the one to always take the first step in battle with her sword if I see it necessary and— Wait, where did he get that sword?

With you, Hilda!

Seriously, where do I get it from?

Hilda is by far the most outgoing and curious person I have ever seen. Don't you remember what Tofoten was triggered by his curiosity? Dude, it was literally the end of the series. And if you hadn't already noticed, this girl would fight barehanded against a king to save her loved ones. She would be the first to take up weapons to save her friends, she is capable of moving every rock in the entire city to find her pet, she is even capable of doing an act of terrorism just because the bells were bothering her friends.

Oh my god, I'd be afraid of this girl if I were someone who played some practical joke on David in the past or something. I would be locked up at home for what might happen to me. Better confinement than meeting Hilda on the street and having her recognize me.

So.... In a little while we will see Louise's possible choices about who she would like to be with, why I think they would be a good couple and also about what their relationship would be like. And it wouldn't just be from my point of view. Indeed, dear reader, you can also have your opinion. Comment what you think a relationship between Louise and any of our favorite trio of friends would be like.I retire to write incorrect quotes and more about this romance because I am burning with emotion. See you later

[be-my-ally]

The first meeting, and other firsts.

An Empty Promises chapter! Crossposted on ao3.

Fic 1 references events that are technically sandwiched between two sections of this one but the main events there take place after this, and on the phone comes after both.

So this series is a little like my baby… and I’ve had this half-written for ~ six weeks while I became distracted with literally everything else. It’s entirely self-indulgent - just finally giving some backstory to fic 1 and on the phone. I have two later smutty, shorts in the works too - because, honestly, Elvis just constantly wants to spank reader (who is a whole 5/6 years younger than me so is ABSOLUTELY not an author insert, no way…) and uh, I really don’t have a problem with that. 

pairing: fem!reader x elvis (1964-5)

warnings: 18+, slight innocence kink, little bit of daddy kink, oral (p + v receiving) ... elvis reads reader's diary.

wc: 11.6k

You’d noticed him hanging around the past couple of nights, although you’d done your best to ignore him. It was difficult. His characteristic pretty face and charm drawing you in. He’d barely been through the door when you’d recognised him. Recognition came and with it, the sudden spike of adrenaline and nerves that made you almost too anxious to acknowledge him. You’d barely just had the courage to wave hello the first time, pleased that he was seated far enough down the counter that he was Louise’s responsibility and not yours - you weren’t sure you’d have been able to get yourself together as quickly as she had. He’d stayed for a single cup of coffee, black - although the envious looks he’d given to the cream and sugar on the table made you suspect this was learned behaviour rather than a true preference, looking like perhaps he had just wanted a few private moments to himself, before leaving pretty quickly and quietly. You assumed that was the first and last time you’d get to see him up close. You’d lain awake that night, regretting everything, wondering what could have been - at the very least you could have had a signed napkin or something. He’d been right there, you’d been able to see the comb-marks in his hair, where the strands had been split, the tiniest hint of a lighter brown at his roots, you’d been able to see his eyelashes - fluttering in pleasure at the heat of his drink. You couldn’t deny you’d studied him, even if you hadn’t managed to bring yourself to talk to him. Somehow though it had worked to your advantage; it must have been part of the reason he came back so many times in the following week - that so little fuss was being made of him in your quiet little diner. 

The second time he’d come in with a group - all men, that had burst through the doors loudly; you’d looked up to frown at them for making such a racket when you’d noticed him in the middle of the crush. He’d looked up at you and you’d smiled shyly, your knees wobbling less this second time. You’d still had to take a deep breath before coming around to the two booths they’d squished themselves into, building yourself up for the faux nonchalant air you hoped you could give off. You’d managed to make it through their order without embarrassing yourself, although you know you blushed when you overheard one of them asking if they should “take out that pretty waitress?” You were the only one still working out front. But whoever had said it never materialised at the counter - and they’d left as raucously as they’d arrived not long after.  

The third time he was drawing attention to himself - not intentionally but he had come at a far busier time of the day than the strange hours he’d come in in the past and well, he was pretty conspicuous despite his clear efforts to look smaller. Still, he’d signed everything anyone thrust at him, and had seemingly happily chatted and flirted with the girls that flocked around him. You felt awkward that you had a desire to join the gaggle of girls surrounding him, embarrassed now that you’d seen him not once, not twice but three times, and never said a word directly to him, to go over and ask for something as trivial as his autograph. Louise had left a little over ten minutes ago though, and with her the other girls who had turned out to be her friends, and now he was alone and you could see his cup was empty. You took a deep breath before heading over with the coffee jug to offer him a refill. 

“Uh, would you, sorry - hello, would, could I - would you like another refill?” You tentatively manage to spit out, your hand shaking slightly. You pointedly don’t look directly at his face, staring at the cup on the table. He sounds amused when he replies; 

“That’s mighty kind of you honey, thanks.” You go to pour, immediately splashing some on the table - although thankfully not on him. Although that may have been more becuase of his quick reflexes shifting his legs quickly out of the way.

“Oh, no, oh - gosh, sorry, let me just grab a -”  You wipe it up with a napkin as you cringe, but when you start to walk away he grabs your wrist before it could leave the table. 

“Could you - stay a while? I’ve been trying to catch you alone.” It’s the first time you look at him properly, and your breath catches in your throat, he’s so pretty. It’s startling to see him up close in person, so used to seeing it through the glass of a television screen or inanimate on a record sleeve - to watch his face change, his nostrils move as he breathes, his hair shift as his head moves is as intimate a thing as you could think. As you study him you notice that maybe the difference is in the makeup; the ability to see his pores, or the softer hair, falling into his face but either way he looks younger than he usually does. But at the same time, more solid, less transient and three dimensional - you can’t imagine refusing him a thing, especially with his eyes staring into yours, so much bluer than they looked on the screen. You nod, and he gestures to the seat in front of him. 

“If - if someone comes in I’ll have to go - I can’t, I’m saving for college -” You look around nervously as you take the seat, but there’s just an elderly couple in the back corner booth and a workman on a stool - no-one who needed assistance or who hadn’t been served. He nods, agreeing, as if he could possibly understand the desire to keep a job out of necessity. So you sit there and talk. He’s polite, in that wonderfully southern way, but you can tell from the way his eyes glint, and the corners of his mouth turn that he’s also got a mischievous side that he’s trying to repress - that he’s trying to impress you somehow. It makes you squirm in the booth seat - how on earth could Elvis - Elvis who a few months ago was rumoured to be dating Ann-Margret be possibly trying to impress you? You don’t even know how he’s been managing to sneak around, be so on his own, how there’s not bodyguards and press. You’re a little town just outside of Memphis so it wasn’t like it was far for him to travel for a hint of anonymity, if that was what he was trying to achieve. But why he’s even in town at the moment is a mystery to you - shouldn’t he be off in Hollywood filming, or doing press? Why would a man of his age and position would even be interested in you. Sure, you’ve got enough self-awareness to know you’re okay looking - with enough make-up and your hair done you’re usually pretty satisfied; but you’re not California - not movie-star cute! Still, somehow he makes you forget your self-doubt when you’re lost watching his lips move as he talks. He looks you directly in the eyes, so hard that you’re always the first to look away, it’s difficult to handle the intensity of his gaze. But he’s chatty and kind, and doesn’t wholly monopolise the conversation - although you wouldn’t mind if he had; his life endlessly more entertaining than your own. So, despite your slight discomfort and nerves you sit there, and talk, and your celebrity crush rapidly blossoms into a real life crush right in your chest in real-time. 

A week later, you’re going mad - falling hard. Even though you berate yourself for it - for getting ahead of yourself, for falling so easily - for so many reasons. You’ve seen him twice more at the diner, and by sitting elsewhere from the other boys, and ensuring he speaks only to you, he’s made it pretty clear you were his main purpose in coming. You would regret the fact that he’s not been coming in everyday, cursing whatever kept him, if it wasn’t for the fact that you’ve spoken to him on the phone every night. Sometimes twice a day, often little inane chats that mean nothing, but somehow everything. 

You’ve never had a boy who talked to you like he did, like you were his friend. You wonder if you should find it weirder, that he likes this kind of talk, the kind of talk that you know how to do. You’ve always found boys so different - you’ve never known what to say to them. Found it awkward to know what to say without being accused of flirting, or alternatively being too aloof. But with him it’s easy - you chat about your days, he asks you what you’re wearing, what you’re thinking - he asks you about your friends, the daily dramas and who’s seeing who now; despite only knowing of them for such a short time he always seems interested in what you have to say. It’s novel in so many ways, to have someone care what you have to say, your parents were supportive but dismissive and you often felt on the fringes with your friends. Although you notice, but don’t think too much of it - his voice distraction enough, that whenever you try to bring up anything of a more serious nature, perhaps something you’d read in the paper he always tells you the same thing;

“That’s not for you to worry about darlin’.” So you don’t, in fact you stop worrying about a lot. He seems to be taking care of a lot of things for you.

He’s charming and handsome and flashy - famous, in a way that you struggle to wrap your head around. Wealthy in a way you can barely comprehend - he’s already sent you flowers and expensive dresses and had, just yesterday, palmed you a little box with a wonderfully thin, gold chain and heart pendant. Jewellery - jewellery for a girl he’s just met. And you know you’re getting ahead of yourself, you’ve only really known him a week or so but suddenly you find yourself hoping when he calls you doll, or baby or little girl that you’re his doll or baby, or that actually you’d be his girl. You know its too early and if she wasn’t already then your momma would be worried about you catching feelings this fast but you just can’t help it he’s just so, so… everything. 

You’re leaving work, slightly later than usual and you hurry across the dark parking lot towards the sidewalk that would lead you to the short walk home. But when you’re halfway across you suddenly notice that he’s waiting for you, leaning against his car. He’s dressed up in black on black, his hair slicked up and back, and he looks so sleek and suave and just plain attractive that your tummy flips when you see him. You do a double take, not expecting to see him stood there so casually and you rush over to him. He kisses you on the cheek in greeting, like an adult - which, you think, you are but it still felt like you were playing grown-up most of the time, and you can feel the blush rising on your cheeks where his lips had touched you. His light hold on your waist. It’s the first time he’d done anything quite so obviously romantic. He opens the door and gestures you in,

“Thought I’d take you out?” You agree easily, it’s not too late that you’ll be expected home and even if you were there was no way you’d turn down this chance. But as you sit down and he goes around the car the thought pops into your head that maybe he didn’t mean any of it romantically, after all, why would he want to take you out? You’re probably misinterpreting everything. You silently panic, until, as he starts to drive away he glances over and grins at you; one of those grins where he looks more boy-next-door than movie star, and reaches over to pick up your hand, holding it in his and placing them, entwined, on his thigh. It’s that exact moment, as you stare at your joined hands, that you know you’re ruined. You’d give him whatever he wanted if it meant he’d continue to grip your hand in his like that. That there’s no coming back from this now - even if he only means to play with you or toy with your feelings you’d allow him, that if he wanted you to be his girl at home, like you’d heard he’d had - or one of his easy girlfriends, you’d agree. You’d agree to whatever tiny scrap of attention he would bestow on you that might recapture the tummy-flipping excitement, the immense happiness of having his attention on you.

He takes you out for a simple dinner, you’re actually a little surprised, he’d assured you that your dress was fine (although you were thankful you’d changed out of your uniform) so you weren’t expecting too much, but you were still surprised it wasn’t anywhere fancy but just simple good food, that he’d clearly enjoyed with gusto and a Pepsi to wash it down with. But, as you’re growing to know and understand him a little better you’re starting to realise that often it’s the simple things that remind him of home that he likes the most - he’d almost cried at a slice of pie in the diner, saying it tasted just like one that his mother liked. And now, dinner over, you sit there in a dress he’d sent you only a day before, that you’d decided against saving for best when another had arrived the next day, slightly lost for words. What do you even have to say to him that could interest him? He teases you about this, clearly understanding or simply used to girls going silent around him;  

“What’s keepin’ you so quiet tonight? You just too busy thinking how cute I am?” He grins at you like a little boy, and you can’t help but return it. You relax, teasing him back, 

“No - just thinking about how I should shimmy out the window in the bathroom.” He looks shocked for a a second before breaking out into infectious laughter; clearly not expecting the response. When you both stop giggling he puts his hand on the table, palm up, and waits for you to put your hand in his. When you do, he clasps it tight, turning it over, and examining your hand - he tuts at the bitten nails, but flips it back over without mentioning them further. He holds onto you when he speaks next. 

“I want to make it really clear baby, in case I haven’t been so far. I don’t want you to misunderstand. I, -uh, I really think I could like you a lot, and I wanna get to know you more. I think I already do, doll, but I - I really think I’m already fallin’ for you a little. I’d like to do this again - take you out, and the like?” You hesitate he’s so overwhelmingly in a different world to you that you can’t imagine why he’s suggesting this - as much as you want to agree. You worry your lip as you think of what to say, his eyes boring into you. 

“You won’t… you won’t be ashamed to be seen out with me? I’m a waitress Elvis, and I’m not even in college yet - I’m not like those other girls, I’m not an actress or anything; and I don’t wanna be.” He shakes his head, 

“I’ve had them other girls honey, and I want you.” You look down at your still intertwined hands and you don’t know why you’re acting like you don’t know how you’re going to respond. 

“Sure Elvis, sure, we can - give getting to know each other a go.” You want to question him, ask him about the other girls you hear he has, hasn’t he brought that girl over from Germany? But you can’t bring yourself to mention it, slightly worried that it might remind him of something, make him rescind the offer.

He wordlessly picks up the check, leaving ample cash although he made you simultaneously frown and laugh at the absurdity of it all when he confesses that he had no idea how much he left and that he doesn’t usually carry his own cash so he has no idea how much anything costs anymore. He opens the door for you as you leave, keeping his hand on the small of your back the whole time, and asks 

“So what’dya say? Wanna come back with me - be my girl? Wanna take you home?” You stop, in the parking lot. That wasn’t quite what you’d discussed before. 

“You want me to be your girl El? You sure?” He nods, hurrying back to grip your hands in both of his, looking at you deep into your eyes, pleading with you.

“Want you to be all mine baby, want you to come back to Graceland with me, we can play house honey, we can - look, I just - I take care of what’s mine and I just want you… want to treat you real nice.  You won’t have to save or work anymore - you can, you can just do whatever you like.” It’s far more than you’d considered possible, but his blue eyes were so convincing and a tiny furrow forms in his brow that you just want to smooth out by any means possible. You almost don’t consider the implications of what he’s offering - far more than his girl, he’s offering you everything. 

“Well, ok then.” He pauses with his hand on your car door handle, still holding one of your hands, 

“Well, you don’t sound too enthus’astic ‘bout it.” He doesn’t sound pleased, and it causes butterflies to immediately form in your stomach worried that you’ve upset him - you’re desperate to reassure him - to please him again and you shake your head, 

“No, no, I am, I promise - it’s beyond my wildest dreams, but uh- it’s just, you’re gonna have to convince my daddy yet first. He still wants me to go ta college - you know, make a real woman of myself, and I don’t see how that fits.” He smiles with utter confidence; 

“Don’t-ya go worrying that little head of yours on that, I’ll deal with all that when it comes round to it.” He kisses your knuckles, before opening the door and pushing you in, walking around to the other side. You’d noticed before that he liked to touch you - it seemed to be his way, indiscriminately brushing his fingers over whatever he could reach. But now that you’d given him some form of permission his hand doesn’t leave your thigh the whole drive home, except for a moment when he catches your hand again, bringing it to his lips to press a kiss against your knuckles before bringing them together onto his thigh again. Much the same as the journey there.

You’ve never had this casual closeness with a boy before. Your tummy is flipping nervously the whole drive home - you can tell it’s entirely normal to him, and you don’t want to give off the impression that you aren’t also used to it. It feels grown-up, adult, in the same way that his kisses on your cheek hello make you feel mature despite your age. You don’t realise he can tell this, in the shifting of your legs beside him, the way that you hold his hand a little too tight. And you also can’t tell that he likes this, but he does. He pulls up, half a block away from your house. 

“Don’t want the neighbours peepin’ baby, or your Pa comin’ out here with a shotgun.” He offers as an explanation when you look over at him puzzled. You wonder what on earth for, when he’s leaning an arm over the back of the seat, and wrapping it around you, pulling you in closer. Your thigh starting to overlap his. He looks down at you, at your lips, and you look back at his, nervous all of a sudden. 

“Are you gonna, you gonna kiss me Elvis?” You whisper, nervously. He nods, 

“If,” he rubs his neck a little bashfully, “If that’s alright with you, honey, I sure would like to.” You rush out an agreement, curling into his hold. He presses a hand to cup your chin, fingers brushing your neck, and brings your heads closer together. He smiles when you’re close and you’re almost giddy with excitement - you still can’t believe you’re about to kiss Elvis, and you’re trying not to think too hard about it, or worry yourself, but he grasps hold of you, in complete control, and suddenly you’re utterly confident that the situation - that you are in safe hands. When your lips finally do touch it’s not like a kiss you’ve ever had before, although you’d only had two, but in comparison it’s not at all like the wet slimy kiss of Trevor or the tentative pecks of Bobby - it’s soft but unyielding and damp but not wet. It’s how you think it should feel, being kissed. You imagine it’s how champagne feels, the fizz building up in you. It makes you want to get up on the seat, kneel closer, as close as possible, it makes you feel alive. Your eyes close and you’re lost in the sensations as you contemplate who it is you are kissing, and consider how he got so good at it. He’s a gentleman, not forcing anything into or on you, just going with what you’re signalling. It makes you squirm in your seat against him, tingles being sent from your chest to your stomach. He leaves you chasing him, breathing heavily still and leaning across the front seat, when he pulls back. He presses a gentle kiss to the corner of your mouth before leaning back again. You sit like that for a few minutes, his arm still wrapped around you, leaning against his chest. You would have expected your mind to be racing, but strangely you’re calm, and can’t think of much beyond how much you enjoyed that, how much you can’t wait to do it again. After a little while he shifts you slightly, although his arm remains wrapped around yours and he wordlessly puts the car back into drive, coasting down to to pull up to your house. He gets out when you arrive, rushing around to open your door for you, and you pretend to be calm about it but inside you’re screaming, “Oh god, he kisses like that and he’s still such a gentleman - such a nice boy.” He presses a kiss to your cheek before sending you off to the front door, 

“Next time I come through - I’ll come in baby, wanna see your little room, but for now I’ll call ya honey,” You nod, looking back at him sliding into the car again,

“You promise El?” He looks back at you through the open window, holding his fingers up in a scout salute,

“I swear it baby, I’ll give you a call tomorrow.” 

By the time you collapse into bed, your mind alight with the events of the evening, you still can’t quite believe it. You look around the room - trying to picture Elvis stood there, it’s difficult to picture him amongst your school awards still on the wall. Or laying on your bed - your stuffed animals dotted around. Still, you think as you snuggle down into your comforter, soon you won’t need to imagine - he’d promised you. 

——

It’s just barely a week later, and you’re having a rare few days off from the diner while they were closed for renovations - a fact you were particularly happy about when you received a phone call from Elvis letting you know he was ten minutes away and asking if you were alone. You had of course immediately agreed, although afterwards panicked in having such little time to prepare, thankful that your mother had gone to visit her sister today while your father was at work. 

You rush to open the door when you hear him knock, thankful that he’d rang ahead to warn you that he was passing by and that you’d had the small chance to tidy up a little, and freshen yourself up even if it was in a hurry. You couldn’t help but just stand there when you opened it, still in shock at seeing Elvis stood there on your doorstep - tight trousers and short sleeve blue shirt slightly open, looking like he’d just stepped off of a film set. He lets you gawp for a second, face filling with mirth before interjecting a moment later -

“Well…, aren’t ya gonna invite me in?” You stared, but nodded and you open the door all the way but before you can take a step back he was squeezing past you, apologising as he brushed against you as he walked in. You peer out of the door before you shut it tightly - trying to make sure no neighbours had been watching him come in, unaccompanied, into your house when they surely knew your parents would be out. When you turn around you catch him glancing around your entrance way, peering his head through the archways into the kitchen and living room and he nods approvingly, 

“Nice little place you got here doll.” You smile, pleased that he approves but also slightly embarrassed at his qualifier - you know it’s small, nothing special, your parents never had much money to spare although you were always treated well. 

“Oh well, I know it’s not like - like where you live but …” He interrupts you before you can go any further, shaking his head.

“Oh no, no, honey. You misunnerstand me - up til a couple’a years ago I’d dream about a lil house like this one - we never had much either.” 

You smile back at his bashful expression. “Oh well, then. Glad you like it!” You do a little curtsey, and then immediately inwardly cringe. Why on earth did you just bob like that. He smiles at you, as if you’ve somehow just endeared yourself to him further but then glances up at the stairs,

“So, uh, you gonna show me your room?” He nods his head at the stairs and you giggle back at him, teasing him. 

“My! How forward you are Mr Presley. Wanting to see a girl’s room before you’ve even taken her on a second date!” He winks at you, before taking the stairs two at a time, his forearms flexing as he grips the handrail. You’re not even wholly sure what is so attractive about it but you can’t resist simply watching the back of him, trousers and shirt tight on his skin, as he runs up.

“Yep! That’s me, now you gonna make me guess or you coming up too?” You laugh, following him up the stairs - suddenly nervous about its girlish decoration; you’re an adult (although admittedly, only just) but you take comfort in the familiarity of your childhood room, the same patch of stain from the nail varnish you spilt when you were thirteen, the marks on the doorjamb tracking your height, the familiar bed linen - a mismatched selection from all your major life stages, one pillowcase from a set when you were seven, another from when you were twelve, underneath your newest ‘grown-up’ set. The quilt your mother made you atop it all. You rush ahead of him to nervously lead him to the door and turn back to apologise about the childish decor only to flush, watching him inspect the wooden letters on your door - oh god, how embarrassing - you start to stutter out an explanation, 

“Oh gosh, they’ve been there so long I forget they’re there - I don’t know why we even bothered with them, there’s only one of …” but your apologies falter on your lips as you watch him trace them almost reverently.

“I like ‘em baby - ’s cute, lets everyone know where you are. Could have found your door all on my own.” He turns his attention back to you and the room and you watch him take it all in. He glances over at your bookshelves, school books still stacked in them, and over at your bed with the little painted daisies on the wooden frame, the pile of teddy bears at the foot. He sneaks a peek over at your dresser and you follow his eyes where you see a scrap of white hanging half out of the drawer, your own eyes widen and you rush to close it with faux nonchalance from a knock with your hip. 

He smirks watching you, but ignores it and you watch him go to take a closer look at your desk. You perch on the bed, waiting for him to have looked his fill and turn his attention from the room to you, but he’s distracted by something on your desk. He picks up a leaf of writing paper from where you’d left it out - to dry - your daddy won’t buy you the fancy paper with the designs already on it just to send to your friends who live right around the corner so you paint them on yourself; little trailing leaves and flowers on the borders. You freeze as he stares, examining your doodles with a little furrow in his brow - he can’t possibly remember. 

“Say…doll, haven’t I received a letter like this?” Surely not. You had hoped when you’d sent it he would read them but you hadn’t really expected him to - fully assuming most fan letters would be tossed out pretty much as soon as they were received. You certainly never would have expected him to remember a letter that if you remember rightly yourself was sent over a year ago. You stutter out a response, 

“Oh, oh, no, no. I think you must be mistaken, no, no I would nev-“ He interrupts you, completely ignoring your protestations. 

“Yeah, yeah I remember, wasn’t it something like,” He puts on a high-pitched voice in an attempt at imitating you, “My mama won’t let me play your records anymore, says you’re a … what was it, a bad influence maybe?” He shrugs,  “Seems to be most of the time anyway.” He laughs and then continues, gesturing with his hands, pacing in front of you “ ’S all coming back to me now, didn’t it go ‘but, when they leave I always put you back on the player, I just can’t help myself - your voice makes me feel things, I tingle.’ ”He returns to his normal voice again, “Weren’t it somethin’ like that?” You cringe away from his laughing eyes, you can only think to protest it but you know as soon as you open your mouth you’ll give it away but you try to do the best you can, 

“Wow - I don’t think that was me, but do you really remember so many?”  He laughs at your attempt, shaking his head. 

“Yeah honey, I remember all the real cute ones doll. especially ones that say ‘sometimes I touch myself and think of you!’ Lord! What would your mama think of that!” You squirm, mortified. 

“Oh no, no I really think you must be mistaken!” He smirks at you. Putting the sheet of paper back down - he stalks towards you and crowds you on the bed. You lean back and he follows, placing his body almost entirely over you, forcing you to lie almost completely back. You think he’s about to kiss you and your eyes fall shut in anticipation only to feel him move away a moment later - the pillow moving behind you causing your head to slip lower. 

“Well - let’s see shall we?” You blink your eyes open and they immediately widen as you see what he’s holding - the diary from under your pillow. You sit up, reaching out for it. 

“Oh no! Elvis! No - no, give it back!” He holds it above your head laughing as he pushes you back, keeping it out of your arms reach the whole time. 

“Oh, no, no no.” He’s laughing at your struggles, “Gotta check my sources! See if you’re lyin’ to me little girl. One of these days you girls will find a different hiding place, gotta make the most of it.” He manages to grab hold of your wrist holding it across your body, catching the other between the two of you - pinning you against him - his chest on your back, and holding you with ease. He flicks the book open as you cringe against him. As if it couldn’t get any worse it immediately opens to a page addressed not, as you normally did, to ‘dear diary’ but to one of a few that you’d written ‘dear Elvis,’ across the top. You moan as you can feel the delight radiating off of him. 

“Now then - looks like we won’t have to search very hard! Ooh hoo hoo!” he crows at you - “Oh my!” he fakes outrage, humming as he reads the page - you hope against hope it’s the one where you explain that you’d snuck out to see a film of his your mother had banned you from, and not a different particularly memorable entry. 

“No way! Elvis - this ain’t funny no more! You gotta, gotta let go of me. Give me the damn book back!” He laughs at you, 

“Now, now don’t you be getting too big for your britches little girl, I ain’t afraid to soap that mouth out.” He tickles your side and you giggle, although you feel a sudden surge of heat run through you, as you finally manage to break free. “No, no, where’dya think you’re going.” He sits on the bed patting his thigh and grabbing your wrist again pulling you around. “Back here on daddy’s knee, gonna read you a little story.” You squirm, but nonetheless sit where you’re told. You can’t deny, despite your mild embarrassment, that you’re enjoying yourself. 

“Now it goes something like this - ‘Dear Elvis, Today was a rough day at school, Susie and Bryce started going steady and she told me she let him touch her in his car last night! Even though she knows I liked Bryce last year!’ I never will understand why girls get so caught up in liking someone who someone else once liked - why does it matter? Anyway, ‘I worry sometimes that I’ll never find someone who wants to go steady with me. I’m just not pretty enough, or tall enough. Or maybe it’s just because everyone knows I’m going to college.’” 

You cringe at his reading out of your inane chatter, and you’re pleased when he hums and seems to be skipping along the page - hoping against hope he was growing bored. But you can feel his sudden smugness, and you just know that written on the page is not a story about you sneaking out to go and see Viva Las Vegas. 

“Oooh, here’s where it gets good little, ‘This evening I went around to Natalie’s place - her parents were out, and she put on your new single, she was trying to convince me that the Beatles were so much better, but I think we’re just gonna have to disagree - they’re not even attractive.’ Well darling, at least I’ve got that going for me.” He laughs. “ ‘The thing is though, on the single there’s another song that I’ve heard before, but I don’t think I’d noticed the end -  you make all these noises and I don’t really understand what happened but after I got home my panties were so damp through that I had to change them! Just from your voice!’ You start to squirm again, knowing what he’s about to read, 

“Elvis - I really think, this is enough now - this is private, I don’t -” He just talks louder over you though, 

“ ‘I’m still really wet, in fact, but that’s probably more to do with the fact that I couldn’t help but touch myself. Even though I heard the pastor say it’s a sin.’”  His voice is dipping lower as he talks and his hand is brushing your upper thigh close to where you can feel the heat rising from within you, both from a hint of shame but mostly from arousal. His voice is deep and low in his chest and it hits you while you sit there that you’re on Elvis’ lap which makes you squirm all by itself. 

He hushes you, “Shh, darling, not done yet, hold still.” And he holds you by his grip on your waist, fingertips gently stroking your side. You can feel his own heat burning against your leg, and you suddenly realise that’s his penis. A man’s cock growing against your own warm heat. You’re not as innocent as you were in that entry a year ago, but you’re not experienced yourself at all and pretty much all of your knowledge is secondhand from your girlfriend’s and their older sisters. You wriggle again, “Now, now let me finish.” He coughs dramatically, flicking the pages out as you whine. 

“ ‘Sometimes I touch myself and I slip a finger in, I know I’m not supposed to but I just can’t help myself just thinking of you - of what you could do to me, god I’d do anything to be touched by you, just once.’ ” He skims the rest of the page, and softly closes the book, “Well baby, how does it feel to be touched by me?” His hands rub up your thighs and your eyes slip closed in pleasure as he watches your reaction, nudging them so far up that he’s almost brushing your panties. Your tummy flips, almost on the verge of being nauseous, as you try to catalogue the feelings. He removes his hands and you open your eyes catching your breath, but then he’s leaning back and pulling you down with him. He kisses you, in a way that you’ve never been kissed before, all tongue and teeth.

Then, he starts to kiss down your neck. You’ve never thought of any part of you as super sensitive but suddenly it feels like all your nerve endings are alight, feeling sparks as his lips trail down to your collarbone. You wiggle against him, feeling his large hand span across your back, fingertips pressing in as you push closer to where his leg has slipped between yours. Unable to stop yourself grinding against him a little bit. Your dress catches slightly and it means that for a brief moment the only thing between your warm wetness and his trouser leg are your thin cotton panties and you can feel the rough fabric rub against you, an involuntary moan escaping you. 

 “Baby, you gettin’ that feelin’ again?” You nod frantically, and he laughs - “Well,” he looks over at the alarm clock on your bedside table, “I don’t reckon we’ve got time to do anything about it now - not got time for you to finish -  not before your parents get home.” You stare at him, blinking owlishly, you know, you know how babies are made, you’re not stupid, know that men can do things about it but - 

“What…What do you mean? You can…do things about it? I can… finish?” He groans, his head falling back against the pillows. 

“Oh!” He groans again, “Lord help me - yeah baby, yeah you can - can make you feel real good; you never? When you told me you touched yourself - it never felt… better?” You shake your head at him, 

“I never got very far - didn’t have a clue what I should be doing and it made me awful hot and sweaty, and and it felt terribly tight and I wasn’t sure if I was meant to be and my parents are only the other side of this wall.” He moans so hard it’s almost a keen, swearing; 

“Oh God. Oh goddamn. I swear, we haven’t got time now, really don’t have time but I’ll see you real soon, come back over when your mama and papa are home, gotta few things to discuss with them, then when I’ve got you all to myself I’ll teach you. Show you how you do it.” You immediately brighten up, forgetting your embarrassment in your excitement. 

“Oh would you! I thought there must be something to it, but maybe it was just - just something some people did and some didn’t. ” You lean back down, catching his lips again. But then you pause suddenly, your insides twisting for a different reason, “Um, but Elvis, I don’t - don’t want you to get uh expectations or be dis’pointed, I’m not, not sure if I’m - I’m not sure I’m ready for, for sex. I’m not, not sure I wanna before, before I get hitched.” He looks in your eyes for a second before nodding, 

“No darling, I know. Don’t you worry about it, that’s good, little one, you’re such a good girl for me - just gonna wait until the time is right huh, daddy’ll know when that is sweetheart, don’t you worry about that at all.” You can tell, looking straight into his eyes, that he’s being sincere and something in you relaxes. He pulls you back in for a slightly more chaste kiss, moving his thigh just enough to resettle the pressure and cause you to rut against him again. He lets you rub against him again for a moment before sitting up and pulling away. 

“Now baby,” he starts with a plea in his voice, “how’s about you let me have a little somethin’ - just to …uh tide me over in the meanwhile?” You furrow your brow, unsure what you have to offer him, 

“Well sure, maybe, I mean I don’t have -“ He jumps in before you can say anything else, interrupting you and talking fast like he’d been planning his moment on when to ask for this thing - like it was something he’d been thinking a while. Like a child sat on Santa’s knee, desperate to convey their desires. 

“Could I have whatever it was peeking out of your drawer earlier?” You flush bright red from the chest up, surely he knows - 

“Elvis! Those - those were my, my panties!” He grins wolfishly, mischievously at you, 

“Well I know that doll, why’d you think I want ‘em?” You stand up to go and get them, although you still can’t imagine why on earth he’d want them. 

“Here ya are - they’re not. Not special or nothing - but sure. I suppose.” He glows at you, and you’re still embarrassed but can’t help beaming back at him, watching him tuck them securely in his pant pocket. He stands up, looking over at the clock again. 

“Really gotta go now honey,” You nod back at him a little sadly and start to head down the stairs with him. At the threshold to the front door he pushes a hand against it, preventing you from opening it for a moment and instead curls a hand around your waist, pulling you towards him again. You look up at him biting your lip a little, he pulls it from your mouth and keeps a hold of it with two fingers, 

“You behave now ’til I see you again, alright baby?” He looks sternly at you, but his eyes are bright, playful, and although you can’t even imagine what he thinks counts as misbehaviour nor how on earth he would know anyhow but still you nod; 

“Of course!” He leans down to you - far more chastely than before, just a simple press of his lips on yours.

“I’ll call you tomorrow.” You nod again, and he leaves. You breath a sigh of relief as you close the door behind him, watching him hop into his, oh gosh, wow, totally inconspicuous, bright Cadillac all you can think is god, you can’t wait to put this in your diary. 

——

The night you moved into Graceland was nerve-wracking. It had been scary enough to be introduced to his father, to his grandmother, but you were also terrified for other reasons. You knew that he hadn’t pressured you before but surely he’d want something in return for having you in his house. For keeping you. But you were wrong again. You’d gone to bed that night, anxiously peering at his ludicrously decorated bedroom when he’d led you in, and he’d tucked you in and pulled you into his arms with nothing more than a chaste kiss on the forehead. Since that first day, he touches you all the time, so physically affectionate that even though you knew it was genuine it felt like he was going out of his way for some reason. Just so that he might brush against you, or have to place his hands on your waist and move you. Anywhere you were sat, he or you would be practically on top of the other, his hand on your thigh or your hand being placed on his. He holds you, all night long, and it’s only the second night when you anxiously kiss him, desperate to at least make-out like you had been doing back home. He allows it, but pushes you away when you reach for anything further, tucking your hands into one of his and pulling you close, lulling you to sleep with your head close to his heartbeat. 

The end of that first week was memorable for several reasons. The first, and the cause for the rest of them, was that he’d thrown the first party since you’d been at Graceland. You’d enjoyed yourself immensely - getting dressed up with him - he’d even helped you with your makeup, steady hand tracing your eyeliner. And the night itself had been magical, stuck by his side as he effectively showed you off - dancing together and meeting his friends. He’d been roped into singing and his clear enjoyment of the night had only increased your own. The second reason you found it memorable was that before the party you’d opened the wardrobe in your room and discovered an entire rail of new dresses, all perfectly sized to your exact measurements and style. The third was Elvis slightly tipsy (despite him not allowing you to have more than a sip) or perhaps just high off a good night, clutching you to him, your back to his chest and whispering in your ear; 

“You just gotta, gotta say no if you don’t wanna, darling. Not gonna push you - ‘m not like that I promise.” He punctuated his point with a hand rubbing over your stomach, gently, soothingly. You’d stilled at his words, and he’d followed it up with, “Wanna…go upstairs? Let me teach you a few things?” You’d paused in your turning around, and he’d moved his head closer to yours, his lips practically touching your ears. He’d kissed the patch of skin just below as he’d continued; “Be my good girl? Let me show you how?” He’d brushed his other hand down your arm, gently, and you’d been pulling away and up the stairs before he could say goodnight to the others. 

Which took you to now, stood in the middle of the bedroom, uncertain really as to what you should be doing. Should you get undressed? Take off your shoes at least? A moment later he’s entering himself, and shuts the door behind himself before striding over to you, capturing your mouth with his. His hands brush against you, but seem to gently hover, and it’s not until you make a little whine does he press them against you, holding you close with a hand on your back, the other coming to cup your cheek and chin. His tongue slips into yours, and you moan as you come up onto your tiptoes, desperate to stay as close to him as possible. He bends further, kissing your cheek and down your neck, sucking down when he reaches your exposed collarbone. You lean into him even further and he wraps both arms around your middle lifting you up, and carrying you over to the bed, even as his head was still buried in the crook of your neck. You can feel the skin rising, burning and stinging as he bites down, leaving a purple bruise where he had been, feel his soft, gentle tongue lapping at it and easing the sting as you let out tiny noises of pain and pleasure. 

He puts you down, laying you back, and one of his hands comes around to your waist, stroking across your stomach. It feels like his fingers are burning through your dress, and his fingers - though slender and delicate when you see them on a steering wheel or holding one of his cigarillos, feel huge and heavy as they span your tummy. He kisses you again and you arch into him, and when he pulls back his lips are wet and redder than usual, plump and pillowy soft. Yours feel bitten and sore, tender in the best way. He sits up, pulling his hand out from underneath you, and you gaze up at him. He groans as he looks back at you, 

“Oh lord, sweetheart, don’t look at me like that.” You raise onto your elbows, 

“Like what?” He doesn’t reply, but looks away and takes a breath, when he turns back to you his eyes are bright with playfulness.

“Right, dolly, time to let daddy play with you,” You don’t know why that flips your tummy, if it’s his use of ‘daddy’ in this context, or ‘play’ or even him calling you not just a doll, but a dolly. But it does. He pulls you up, and turns you, deft fingers unbuttoning the back of your dress’ bodice as he does so, leaning down to press precious little kisses - no more than gentle touches of his lips - down your back when he exposes each tiny sliver of skin. He reaches the skirt, unhooking the button and lowering the zip at the waistband, allowing it to fall open and he eases the little straps off your shoulders. The dress falls to the floor, and you step out of it, you’re immediately self-conscious stood there in just your slip, in its almost sheer silkiness, but its not long before he’s hooking his fingers into the hem, and pulling it up and over your head. He stares for a moment, at you stand there in just your soft cotton bra and panties and you wrap an arm around your middle. He frowns, 

“Don’t, don’t hide from me. Just let me look at you.” You blink at him, lowering your arm although a blush rises up from your chest. 

“ ’S emnbarassin’ E,” He shakes his head at you, tsking as he does. 

“Nothing embarrassing about it baby, letting your daddy look at you like such a good girl.” He glances at your panties, staring for long enough that you shift a little, “I love white, you got more like that? Or do I hafta go out and buy you some more?” You wonder what’s going to happen to these, but you know that the majority of your underwear drawer looks the same. 

“No, no, they’re… most of ‘em are like this,” He groans, and has seemingly reached his limit for keeping his hands off of you, moving to touch your hips and run his fingers over your newly bared skin. Goosebumps break out as he touches you and you shiver at the contact. He pats your stomach, before running his hand down to the top of your waistband. He runs his fingers over it, gently, feeling where the fabric rests atop your soft springy curls, and then steps back again. He goes to strip off himself, having discarded his jacket somewhere downstairs - untucking his shirt and pulling it off. As his chest is revealed you can feel your face flaming again - as if it wasn’t already seriously red. He laughs when he looks over at you, 

“God baby, you can’t have any blood left in your body - ’sall in your little pink cheeks.”

 He throws the shirt to the chair in the corner of the room. He pushes his trousers down, confidently stepping out, he doesn’t kick them aside like you expected a boy might, instead bending, giving you a perfect view of his naked backside, to pick them up, folding them in half and slinging them over the same chair as his shirt. You feel free to ogle at him, considering he had done the same mere minutes before and you’re stuck wondering how people go about the day knowing this is what people looked like under their clothes. You never believed it would be something that you would find especially attractive, you knew men commented on women and girl’s behinds but you never thought it happened in reverse, didn’t think you’d suddenly be overcome with the urge to sink your teeth into the soft flesh there. 

When he turns around you can’t help but stare straight at his crotch. You’d seen one before, in your biology textbook and once in a magazine that Natalie’s brother had stolen from their father that you’d all crowded around and giggled at, although not for very long before you’d had to quickly replace it as you heard his father’s car on the driveway. But never had you seen one in real life. You’d felt one, through a boy’s pants as you’d sat on his lap at the diner, you’d felt Elvis’ in fact in much the same way, but even when he’d gently stroked you over your panties you’d never gone so far to touch him unclothed, or even through a fabric layer. You didn’t really know what to expect. But his cock was rosy and already stood a little to attention, where it didn’t seem nearly as intimidating as you’d always expected them to be. Somehow, even without having anything to compare it to you could just tell it was a pretty. You immediately reach out a curious hand, and as he steps towards you, looking amused, you wish you could stop the words tumbling out of your mouth; 

“Gosh - I’ve uh, I’ve never seen one in real life….” You try to stem your burning curiosity but you can’t stop yourself “What’s it feel like? Can I, can I touch it?” You pause, remembering your manners,  “Please?” He nods laughing and gets himself within reaching distance of you. He places his hand over yours, gently gripping them together, his palm on the top of your hand and guides it towards him. You’re surprised at how smooth it feels, you don’t know why, you didn’t expect it to feel so soft although it’s also a little wrinkly almost and  you’re slightly surprised because he seems to have more skin there than the guy in the magazine - it encases just below the head of his cock which is now popping out of the little folds. He lets go and your hand just rests there for a moment, before you squeeze a little, releasing and running your fingers gently over it. 

““El, that’s, it’s so soft.” He laughs at you, pupils dilating as he looks at your fingers dancing over him. 

“Not for much longer doll,” and he guides your fingers back to him. 

“That’s it baby, nice and gentle,” You continue to stroke him, briefly, before he’s putting his hand back down, pulling yours off, “Just need, sorry baby, I know this is dirty, but just need, a lil help here. You gonna wrap your hand around me?” You nod, confused as to why he’s turning your palm up, “Ok, honey, I just need a little, needs ta be a little wetter.” He looks you in the eyes, almost like he’s asking permission, for what though you don’t know - but clearly whatever he was looking for he found because he’s pulling your hand closer to his face. You’re stunned, mouth open, when he brings it to his mouth and licks it, a damp wet stripe being left, before pulling back and spitting straight into it. You recoil a little, but your thighs clench as your core jolts. You blink at him, still shocked, as he pulls you back to his cock, wrapping your now wet hand around him again. 

“Ok baby, that’s it, that it’s not too tight now baby, that’s it - oh, just there,” When you brush a thumb over the end of him he moans, so you do it again, and stroke just behind it. “Just a little tighter - oh lord - just make that yittle fist a little tighter darling, up and down now, oh that’s it.” You follow his instructions, and his hips jerk a little in response, you can see his stomach muscles under his soft layer of gentle fat clenching and tightening in pleasure. “God, what a clever girl you are. Learnin’ so fast.” You continue for a moment, until his cock is fully to attention, practically bobbing against his stomach. 

“You wanna, wanna say a proper hello to him? Gonna give him a little hello kiss? Go on baby, he’s waiting for you - say hello to little Elvis. He’s so excited to meet you.” And admittedly little Elvis bobs as if he’d overhead the conversation, and from the leaking from the tip he does look excited to meet you. So you obediently bend over to press a little kiss to his rosy pink head. He lets out a little groan, that seemed almost involuntary and he apologises as he pushes you onto your knees in front of him, 

“Not really right to do this to a girl - but uh, I suppose, if you’re my dolly, then… it’s fine right?” You don’t have any experience in what you’re about to do, but you’re not so sheltered that you don’t have any semblance of understanding of the act - and you have nothing against it, so you nod again, once again stunned momentarily silent by his surprising actions. You look up at him, from between his slightly spread legs - peering up at his tight chest and nipples, to his smooth, visible, neck to where his blue eyes are practically burning a hole into you. You swallow before trying to find your voice again; 

“It’s more than fine,” You pause for a moment before considering what he’d said earlier, “daddy.” He moans, his leg jiggling a little, and you watch as little Elvis twitches in response. 

“So you’re gonna be a good little girl now, right? Do as I tell you?” You nod, he exhales, slowly before starting to instruct you.“You can start by taking just the very end into your mouth, just hold it there for a second.” You do as he says, leaning forward with your mouth, and he sucks a breath in, loudly, as you brush your lips against his tip. You go to move down a little more, and he stops you with hand on your head, “Just, just give me a second, honey, gods, you feel so fucking good.” You still - “If you wanna, you can just, just reach down below, darling, gotta treat all of me nice - just - that’s it baby, nice and gentle with them little fingers.” He praises you as you reach around to fondle at his balls for the first time. He pushes a little further into your mouth, before pulling out most of the way - telling you now, 

“Need you to just, just lick me a little baby, no, no - keep it in your mouth, just move your tongue around a bit, oh lord, that’s it right there baby,” He makes a high-pitched whine that you can feel rush through your body from where you’re connected. He puts his other hand around to poke at your cheeks, “Look up at me, that’s it.” He moves his hand to pull yours from his thigh and wraps it around the base of his cock. “Go on, what you can’t get in your mouth you can keep touching.” A moment passes, and he’s telling you, “ Ok hollow your cheeks little one, gonna suck me in, then you’re gonna just relax and let me, let me just fuck that throat and mouth of yours.” You follow his instructions, and he grasps the back of your head to keep you bobbing on him at the exact pace he wants.

“Now, now baby, since its your first time, you haven’t, haven’t gotta swallow it if you don’t wanna - but you may as well have a little taste - don’t want, don’t want it going anywhere but down your little throat in future.”  He holds your neck, keeping you in place, as he thrusts into you - practically into your throat although he’s careful not to go too deep, but you still struggle to breathe a little. He grows slightly more erratic as he chases his pleasure and you’re glad when he pulls back so that just the head is still in your mouth, letting you take a deeper breath in. 

When he shouts, “Oh god, that’s a good baby, fuck, fuck doll, I’m cumming baby,” you’re able to just have the tip in your mouth - which makes it easier to hold his cum without choking on it. You taste a little before pulling back, holding it in your mouth, your tongue recoiling from the texture. He hands you a handkerchief, embroidered with E.P on the corner, telling you slightly huffily, “Ok, that’s it, just spit it out there.” You do, embarrassed at the unladylike behaviour, and he takes it from you looking at it with distaste as he balls it up and flings it in the direction of the ensuite. 

He looks down at you, “You did so good baby, such a quick learner aren’t you! So good!” You can’t help but squirm, your own arousal peaking with the butterflies in your belly again, pleased with yourself, but then slightly worried when he strokes your cheek, expression not as soft as before before starting to haul you up from your knees. Barely giving you time to stand before pushing you backwards onto his bed. “But next time, honey, I’m not havin’ you spit it out whenever wherever ok? So you’re just gonna have to learn to take what I give you.” You’re wide-eyed looking at him, you’re not entirely sure that’s something you want, but he does know best, and you’re desperate to please him so all you can do is nod and agree. 

“Uh-huh, of course, just - just gotta get used to it I guess daddy,” He hums back at you, pushing you to lie flat on your back. 

“Mmhmm. Ri-ght, ok, baby, your turn now, just lie back and let daddy take care of you.” He pauses, as if remembering something - “Daddy’s gonna get serious now, give you a real introduction - make you finish.” He smooths his hands down the sides of your chest and stomach, goosebumps forming as his fingertips trail down, until he reaches your thighs, where he pulls them up, so your knees are bent and your legs spread. He bends down, holding your thighs down and open, to press a kiss to the fabric separating his mouth and your body. He, laps at it, sucking at the material - the wet spot that was already there growing larger as he adds his damp spit. You wriggle about but he keeps you in place with one hand on a thigh, holding you open, and the other on your stomach, a solid weight pinning you in place. Your panties have gone practically see through by the time he leans back, looks down, and hooks two fingers into the waistband, pulling them down and off of your thighs. He looks at them for a moment, at the combination of his spit and your sticky wetness coating the other side before throwing them also in the direction of the chair. 

“They’re mine now too baby.” You shake your head at him - you’ll have no underwear left at this rate. 

“Elvis. You’ve already had a pair. I don’t know what you want them for anyway! Told you that last time!” 

“You’re mine aren’t you?” You nod, you’ve been moved into his house haven’t you? How much more obvious do you need to be? “Well then, they’re mine too.” You gape at him, you can’t really deny his slightly misguided logic - not without setting yourself up for failure. You go to protest again, but he hushes you, “Stop arguin’ with me, little girl, not gonna get you nowhere.” He pushes your thighs back apart, “I ain’t gonna start something I can’t finish,” and your final protest dies on your lips when he presses a kiss against your mound. He moves his lips down, gently placing another kiss at the top of your vulva. 

He licks a stripe down you, opening you up with his tongue, you can feel a gush of wetness at the act, and it seems that he could as well as you feel him smile against you before spearing his tongue a little way into you. He strokes your inner thighs, tickling the little fold where your legs meet your body. You shift to be able to look down at him. He’s been running his hands through his hair too much while you’d been getting him off that it’s no longer slicked up and back, but fluffy and gentle as you move your own hands to clutch at him. You pull gently, and he leans back just enough to look up at you through his dark, eyelashes at you. The sight makes you clench, and when your head goes backwards again, after he moves a finger to swirl around your clit, moving ever closer to the exact spot, you suddenly catch sight of the back of his head in the mirror on the wall opposite. You let out a noise you’d never heard yourself make before and you can’t take your eyes off of him. From the angle, you can’t see much below his shoulders - but it’s enough to send you, along with the physical stimulation, teetering towards the edge. When he finally, moves his finger to touch you directly your hips thrust up of their own accord, and you grind down on him when your body returns to the bed. His lips return to you, and he laughs as he reaches up to blindly pat at your face, he pulls back laughing - “Your lips cold baby? Or my hand hot?” You stutter out a response, really not certain of the relevance of the question, 

“I, I don’t know! But can you, Elvis I’m so close, daddy please.” He shakes his head smiling and returns to your pussy with renewed vigour - firmly licking you out and playing with you. You can’t think of anything but the sensations, of how slippery you are, of how wet and soft while simultaneously gently rough his tongue is. He shies away from slipping a finger in, simply teasing around your entrance - although this reticence isn’t shared with his tongue which continues to fuck into you at a rapid pace. 

You squirm, feeling suddenly desperate - although for what you didn’t know. He holds you right at the precipice for a moment, and you thrash, tense, until he resumes the exact same licking pattern as before, rubbing at your clit as he does and its like you’ve been released, shuddering and shouting out his name; 

“Oh god - Elvis, daddy, that’s - unnh-” Your words cut off into non-verbal noises, huffing out quick breaths and moans as your body quivers. He finally pulls away after you’ve gone stiff in the bed, letting your body relax back from its arched position as you struggle to catch your breath. He runs his fingers over your folds, “God you’re so wet baby,” you squirm, feeling it cool into a thin stickiness on your thighs. He kisses your thigh, spreading the wetness from his lips, whispering - “Such a good girl for me baby - you like that? Your first one?” You can’t do much more than nod in response as you tremble lying there but you manage to murmur out, 

“Yes, god, yes I liked it.” He hums at you, 

“Well go on then baby, say thank you to daddy. Don’t forget your manners now.” You gasp, heat flooding you again although you’re too tired to want to do anything about it. 

“…Tha-Thank you daddy.” He kisses the top of your mound in response and pats at you one last time, before he heaves himself up and leaves. When he comes back he’s dressed in a set of black silk satin pyjamas, carrying a little nightgown for you. He dresses you like you were the dolly he described before, manhandling you into the nightie. He rolls you off of the comforter, allowing him to pull the covers out so that he can clamber in underneath, cuddling you into him. He cocoons you in his arms, clutching at you, and you suddenly feel safe and secure after abruptly feeling unmoored. A tear slips out, for reasons that you’re not quite sure of, and he tuts, holding your head to his chest. It’s not long before you, listening to his steady heartbeat, fall fast sleep.

[brummiereader]

PREVIOUS PART

A Ghost Of A Man (PART THREE)

Summary: The reader goes back to the abandoned building. Will she have the courage to talk to him, or will she be scared off by his eerie presence for a second time.

Warnings: Language, supernatural themes

You had barely slept that night, tossing and turning in bed, your mind plagued with questions about the day's events. Curiosity was consuming you and you debated whether to go back to the abandoned building. You had always been an inquisitive person, your family often telling you that one day it would get you into trouble, and you were definitely not looking for any trouble. But you knew how you could get, not letting things go, having to always delve deeper, could you let this go?

" Oh my god what happened to you?" Your friend asked looking at your hand as you walked out your bedroom.

" Caught it on a metal fence"

" On a metal fence! What were you doing?" your friend asked as she approached you taking your hand to have a closer look.

" I was just, looking around this old building. It's fine it's already healing, just a bit sore" you said as you walked past her to sit on the large sofa.

" Old building? You was looking into that gang weren't you?" A smile forming on her lips, she knew you far too well. "I'll get you some paracetamol" she said chuckling as she went into the kitchen. " So that's where you was last night? Scaling metal fences?" She asked coming back from the kitchen with a glass of water and a box of pain medicine in her hand.

" Slithering more like, caught my hand on the way out" you said as you took the water and box from her.

" Trespassing" She laughed as she sat down next to you. "Aw Y/N you never fail to make me laugh with your little exploits. You should probably go and get it checked though, you have had your tetanus shot right?" She asked, the mother figure coming out in her.

" It's fine, and yes I'm all jabbed up" you said getting up.

"So, did you find anything more on them?" She asked watching you head back to your room.

"Erm yeh, kind of" you answered as you turned back to face her, pulling your sleeves over your hands, a nervous little habit you've had since you was child.

"Are you ok Y/N?" Louise asked noticing your fidgeting, her eyes narrowing.

" You know, i don't think I'm going to use them anymore, you know for the assignment" you said trying to sound confident, ignoring her concerns.

" Right, ok...and why not? Your friend asked, her eyes narrowing even more. She knew something was wrong.

"Just want to take a different route that's all"

"Hmm, Ok" she replied still not convinced, but decided not to push any further. "Well you will have to pick someone soon, the assignments due in one week" she added as you nodded your head huffing in desperation at the approaching deadline.

"Oh god they're not still around are they, didn't bump into one of them did you and that's why you've changed your assignment ?" She jokingly laughed.

"What! No, no" You replied nervously laughing as you made your way back to your room to get ready for Uni. If only she knew that she was half right, you thought to yourself.

It was the last class of the day...finally, you could barely concentrate. Sitting down in one of the empty chairs in the large lecture room, you waited for everyone else to arrive. Looking out one of the small windows you kept thinking about the previous night, it was like a movie on replay, the only problem was you couldn't seem to turn it off. The old ladies words replaying in your head, you was unable to block them out. Then there was him. He wouldn't leave your thoughts alone, he was persistent in them. "I'm not going back" you said internally, repeating it to yourself almost like a mantra as you tried to convince yourself that it would be a bad idea. For the entire day his piercing blue eyes and pale face would appear in front of you, no matter where you looked you would see him. He was haunting you.

"fuck. Leave me alone." you said under your breath a little too loud.

" Huh?" Your friend Louise answered turning to you, pausing her conversation with the person next to her.

" Oh...nothing" you replied, your cheeks now bright red.

" You sure you ok Y/N? You dont look so good"

" I'm fine, honest"

With everyone now in their seats the lecture started. He was talking about Birmingham's industrial revolution...you thought, you wasn't really listening. You was far too busy having an internal battle in your head, weighing out the pros and cons for going back. After about thirty minutes of arguing with yourself you turned to your friend.

" You know, you're right I'm not feeling too good I'm going to go get my hand checked out" you said whispering to your friend.

"About time" she smiled and nodded. " Text me ok? To let me know how it went"

Nodding to your friend you got up and quietly left the lecture room. Making your way through the University corridors you walked straight past the medical office and out the front entrance. You was going to do it wasn't you? You was going to go back there, back to that building, back to him. You was like a dog with a bone, too determined and curious for your own good. Making it just in time for the bus you walked in and made your way to an empty seat. You undeniably felt scared, but not as much as any normal person would, instead you felt a sense of anticipation, anticipation to see him again. He wouldn't hurt you, right? The old lady said he wouldn't...so you believed her now?

Before you knew it, you had gotten off the bus and was now walking down the street to the abandoned building once more. Opening up the metal gates you slipped through the bottom, this time being careful of the loose piece of wire. "I'm gonna get myself fucking killed aren't I" you said to yourself completely ignoring any natural gut instincts to walk away. As you opened the front door you quietly made your way up the rickety old stairs. Once you got to the top you paused expecting to see him, but he wasn't there. Making your way slowly to his office you saw a cloud of smoke come into view through the open large wooden door. Then there was the unforgettable smell of tobacco and whiskey that filled your senses...he was in there. Entering the cold room you saw him sitting in his leather chair facing the window a cigarette resting between his fingers, his peaked cap laying on the old wooden desk.

"I know what you are... I know who you are" you said with apprehension as you stood by the door.

" And yet, you came back" he replied in a deep thick Birmingham accent. " Are you not afraid?"

" No" you said lying, as you nervously waited for him to look at you.

" You should be" he replied in a dark voice.

He turned around in his chair to face you, your breathing quickened and you took a few steps back. The cigarette still burning between his fingers he arched his eyebrow.

"It appears that you are"

" You won't hurt me" you said as you pulled your coat sleeves over your hands trying to reassure yourself.

" Won't I?" He questioned you, a slight amusement in his response.

" No...I met the old lady who lives in Small Heath, the one who says she knows you. She told me everything...everything about you"

" Hmm" was all he responded. As he turned back around in his chair to face the window.

"I don't see why she would lie to me" you said as you found the courage to walk closer to his desk.

A slight chuckle left his mouth as he took another drag of his cigarette.

" So you met the crazy old lady who lives on Watery Lane. I wouldn't believe everything she says. She claims to be my grand daughter which is amusing considering I didn't have children and clearly never will" he said with annoyance in his voice.

" She showed me a picture of you and your family" you replied, now on the opposite side of his desk.

" Is that how you knew my name?" he said turning around to face you again.

" I'm sorry?"

Standing up with his hands in his pockets he walked over to the window, leaning against it he stared you down.

" My name, I heard you say it when you was here last"

"No, I found this folder at an antique fair. It was a folder on you and the...Peaky Blinders"

" An antique fair?" He said raising his brows. " I'm a fucking antique now am I" he added as he aggressively stubbed out his cigarette.

"Well it's over a hundr" you started to say only to be interrupted by him.

" Is that what you do miss...?" He asked as he gestured for you to finish his sentence.

" Y/L/N, Y/N Y/L/N"

" Miss Y/L/N. You go looking for things that don't belong to you?"

"The folder was for sale, I didn't go looking for it" you said trying to defend your passion. " I paid for them fairly just like I paid for that necklace you took from me"

"Huh" he scoffed in response.

"The folder, it looked official. Someone was collecting information on you?" you asked nervously waiting for a response.

He walked around the desk as he did you took three steps back. Sitting on the edge of the old wooden frame he looked at you narrowing his eyes.

" I thought you knew everything about me? He said as he watched you tremble under his glare. He was enjoying this.

" I read the files" you answered clasping your hands together nervously.

" Then you know I was a bad man who did bad things. And still, you came back" he said as he got up walking towards you.

He was intimidating, his stare was piercing. He was now right In front of you, you could feel his cold breath on your cheeks, the smell of smoke on his coat.

"Why did you come back?" he said in a deep voice, tilting his head as he narrowed his eyes.

You couldn't think of an answer because you really didn't know the answer. You don't know why you came back.

" I..I don't know, I guess i didn't believe it at first. I wanted to see you again, talk to you"

For a split-second his face softened, and he stepped back away from you. Turning around he made his way back to the leather chair and sat down facing the window again.

"And why would anyone want to see something like me again, hm? Especially someone as young as yourself" you could hear the bitterness in his words, he was angry, angry that his life had been shortened so soon, his dreams and aspirations shortened along with it.

Complete silence filled the room, until you moved closer to him .

"Why do you stay? Why won't you move on?

" Move on" he chuckled. " There's only one place for a man like me to go, and I don't intend on going there anytime soon" Taking out another cigarette he brushed it along his lips, watching you as he lit it with a match" You might be going to heaven sweetheart, but I'm destined to spend eternity somewhere a little warmer" He said with a smirk on his lips.

" The old lady said you're waiting for something?" You asked only for him to ignore your question. Instead all he did was look at you. Like he was studying you, figuring out what your true intentions were, he was not bothered by the way he was making you feel nor the silence that filled the room, but you, you became fidgety. Looking down at your bandaged hand you gently rubbed it trying to ease off some of the pain.

"Chamomile"

"Sorry?" You replied confused.

"For your hand" he said as he pointed at it. " My Aunt would make a tea with chamomile for injuries, whenever we got into scraps.

"I'll try it, thanks" you said as you gave him a small smile. " Wouldn't have needed it.." you mumbled under your breath only to be cut off once again.

" Needed it, if I didn't scare you off?"

" Told me to leave" you corrected him

" I didn't tell you to leave, you ran off" he replied as he pointed to the door.

" Do you scare everyone off that comes in here?" you asked with a small smile, a boost of confidence coming out of nowhere.

" Truth is..." he said as he stood up. " You're the first person to come in here in a long time" . Putting both his hands in his pockets he walked closer to you. You looked familiar, there was something about the way you smiled, the way your eyes lit up when you did, he couldn't place where he had seen it before, but there was a certain familiarity to it.

" You talk to everyone that comes in here?"

" No. But you knew my name" he said pointing at you as he raised his eyebrows.

"And now you know mine" you said meeting his eyes.

"That I do" he answered as he watched you fidget with your sleeves again. Was you always this restless he wondered. The strange girl that couldn't keep away when anybody else would run a hundred miles. He could scare you off indefinitely make you never step another foot in this building ever again, but he didn't. It wasn't just the familiarity of your face that stopped him from making you leave, there was something else...did he know you?

Looking out the window you noticed the winter evening sky already darkening.

"I should be going" you said closing your coat around you from the cold. " I'll come back, tomorrow? " You said looking at him, waiting for him to reply" But he didn't. "Goodnight Thomas" you said as you quietly left his office. You could feel his eyes on you, watching you as you left for the second time. Just as you reached the stairs you heard his voice.

"Goodnight Miss Y/L/N"

NEXT PART

[capnmachete]

Johnny Davis x plus-size fem!OC (Period piece -- mid-1960s, Bikeriders universe but canon-divergent)

PART 6: One Fine Day Good things come to those who wait. By-request tags: @mrs-hardy-hunnam-butler; @zablife; @lou1333; @potter-solomons If anybody else wants to be tagged, just LMK. FYI: for better or worse this will likely pick up steam shortly, several upcoming chapters already in the can and being edited and oo I like where it's going, hopefully you will also. Minor drama and romance and some sweet/fluffy spice ahoy, batten down the hatches and hoist the whatever-it-is and all that good stuff LOL

(Part 1, Part 2. Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5)

A month goes by.  Two months.  You keep your eyes open for the big red Peterbilt, hopin’ it’ll be there one night when you show up to clock in. Stay late, lingerin' around awhile after you clock out, in case he shows up closer to sunrise.

For awhile, you hustle over to the windows every time you hear big tires crunch gravel and air brakes squeak.  Damn near drop whole plates of food, you’re so eager to go see if maybe it’s Johnny Davis. 

It ain’t.  Not in June, not in July either.  You’re about to bust one Tuesday evenin', about midshift -- practically bouncin' on your toes when you see a big red rig roll into the parkin’ lot.  Except when it gets a little closer, it’s a Kenworth.  And the driver that gets out don’t look anything like him – tall and skinny and bald as an egg, head all shiny in the sodium lights.

Nice enough fella, polite and all that. Still, it’s hard not to be snippy and sour with him; when his pancakes are ready you slap his plate down hard enough to make him jump a little.  It ain’t his fault he’s not Johnny Davis, but that don’t help your mood much.

Purvis don’t understand why you give him the stinkeye, either, and why you don’t have much to say to him lately.  “What’d I do?” he asks you more than once, confused, when you slop his coffee over the edge of the cup on purpose.

He purely has no idea what all was goin’ on in that booth between you and Johnny that other night.  What he interrupted.  Johnny -- quiet Johnny who don’t say much -- confidin’ in you, talkin’ about things you figure he don’t talk much about ever, to anybody.  And holdin’ your hand.  And who knows where it might have gone if it wasn’t for Purvis and his damn hashbrowns?

And you ain’t about to tell Purvis Williams your personal business and have it get spread all over town.  So he’ll just have to keep right on bein' confused, unless he wants to drive on down the highway to Eagle Grove for his breakfast instead. Which wouldn't hurt your feelin's a bit.

By the time the beginning of August rolls around, and Sharlette shows up with the ice cream and three different colors of fingernail polish, you’re startin' to think you might not ever see Johnny Davis again. 

“Who knows?” she says through a mouthful of butter pecan ice cream.  “You can’t never tell about men; they seem like they’re simple to figure out, but they ain’t, not really.” 

The two of you are sittin’ on the floor of your bedroom, faces full of night cream, cotton balls between your fresh-painted toes, hair up in curlers. Radio turned up so Momma can’t eavesdrop, like she likes to do.

Sharlette finally got tired of watchin’ you mope around at work.  Pried the whole story out of you, and then invited herself over for a girls’ night.  Got her momma to watch the baby. Bought butter pecan ice cream and everything, tryin’ to cheer you up.

“You think I mighta said somethin'?” you ask her – pickin’ apart every little minute of that night, not for the first time. "Or been too forward, maybe?"

“By doin’ what?  Jeez Louise, ‘Reena.  Ain’t like you climbed up on the man’s lap and asked him for a horsey ride,” she points out with a snort of laughter. 

“Sharlette!” you say, mouth droppin’ open in a mix of shock and laughter, pink-faced under the goopy white Noxema. 

“Don’t tell me you ain’t thought about it, Miss Prim,” she says, grinnin’ and jabbin’ her spoon at you.  “You ain’t as proper as you look.”

Hard not to grin back.  She’s right.  Maybe you ain’t thought about that exact thing, but you’ve thought about plenty else.   “I’m takin’ the Fifth,” you tell her.  “Ain’t that what they say on Perry Mason when they go to court?  Anyhow, it don’t matter. He’s married,” you remind her, a little blue.

“Thought he was divorced?”  One Noxema-slathered eyebrow lifts up.

“Was s’posed to be gettin’ divorced,” you correct her.  “Who knows, maybe him and the Mrs. patched things up or somethin’.”  The ice cream in your bowl’s gettin’ melty; you spoon the rest of it up real quick, partly to keep yourself from thinkin’ too much about that.

It ain’t like that kind of thing never happens.  People get all the way to the courthouse steps and decide they’re makin’ a mistake, decide to give it another go.  Happened to Gus once; happened to Momma too.  Still with Daddy, for whatever that’s worth, even though he’s just as dull as he ever was, never talks about anything but politics and pinkos and what wheat’s sellin’ for down at the mill. Would for sure explain why he ain't been around again.

“Naw.”  Sharlette shakes her head.  “I bet it ain’t that.  Prolly just one of those man things.  You know how they are.  They say a little too much, show you somethin’ they didn’t mean to show, and they get scairt.  Get to feelin’ embarrassed and shy and clam up again.  Start actin’ like they don’t know you.”

“ ‘s that what happened with Robbie?” you ask.  It ain’t none of your business, not really.  But y’all are already talkin’ real personal, and you’ve always wondered where Sharlette’s baby’s daddy got off to. 

“Pssh.”  Sharlette makes a sound like a deflatin’ balloon, and laughs.  “No. Robbie ain’t scairt of anything except havin’ to change diapers and act like a grownup.”  She sighs, a little blue herself.  “You want some more ice cream?” she asks, gettin’ up to go down to the kitchen.

“Hell yes, I do,” you say, and hand her your bowl.  Then you change your mind and heave yourself up off the floor to go with her.  “I think we got some chocolate sauce down there too.”

“Well now you’re talkin’!”  She grins and links her arm through yours, and for a short little while you forget all about your troubles.

****

By the end of another few weeks, you’ve pretty much resigned yourself to the idea that you probably ain’t ever gonna see Johnny again. Maybe Sharlette’s right; maybe he scared himself a little, openin’ up more than he meant to.  Or maybe you're right and he’s back with the Mrs., and steerin' clear of you and LaGrange.

It makes you sad.  Because even if nothin’ big really happened, and even if anythin’ past friendship was just a daydream anyway, you miss seein’ him, miss talkin.’  You wouldn’t mind havin’ that back, even if that’s all you get.  But it don’t seem like that’s in the cards, and pretty soon you don’t go runnin’ to the window at the diner quite so often anymore.

You’re resigned enough that you actually give Smooth Melvin Hoskins– that’s the only way you can think of him now, and it makes you laugh and feel a little sad all at once – another chance.  This date’s not as bad as the first time.  A burger joint instead of a seedy bar, and he’s not quite as handsy this time, but it’s still nothin’ to write home about.  Same ol’ haw-haw laugh, same Skoal breath, same ol' everything.

You get dinner and a strawberry milkshake out of it, at least. And a ride to work afterwards, which doubles as a handy excuse not to go to the drive-in with Melvin after dinner.  And that’s good, because all that’s gonna do is wind up with him tryin’, not for the first time, to get into your panties, and that’s just not happenin’.  Not with Smooth Melvin.  Not lookin’ to be Mrs. Hoskins or even anything close to it, and for sure not lookin’ to end up like Sharlette.

And lo and behold, what do you see when Melvin pulls into the parkin’ lot at the diner to drop you off?  There’s the big red Peterbilt in the parkin’ lot, for the first time in months, big as sin and twice as shiny.  And your heart does a weird little flip.  And you near about bolt out of Melvin’s Chevy.  You almost trip over a big rock mixed in with the gravel, that’s how eager you are to get inside. 

Which is when you know for sure you’ve still got an almighty crush on Johnny Davis. One you thought had petered out, one you were pretty sure you'd talked yourself out of.

Guess not. Not the way your heart's thumpin' when you hustle across the parkin' lot.

“Dang! Don’t I get a goodnight kiss, even?” Melvin calls after you out the driver’s side window.

“Maybe next time, I gotta go!  I’m late!” you holler back without even turnin’ around. And bust in the glass door, the little bell over it ringin’ like crazy.  Everybody in the place looks up – Gus, big-boobied Tiffany, Purvis from the feedstore. Mr. and Mrs. Hoover from the farm up the road, plus a couple of other truck jockeys, from other big rigs out in the lot.

And Johnny.  Who smiles, pretty blue-grey eyes lightin' up and crinklin' around the corners.  “Hey, lookit who it is,” he calls out and raises his white china mug in your direction.  “Miss Corinna!”   And you can feel yourself smilin’ back, so wide you're surprised your face doesn't split in two.

It takes you a few minutes to clock in – fizzin’ and bubblin’ over inside like a glass of Coca Cola – and get back out there into the dining room, and fill a few coffee cups and pass out a few plates. Tiffany cuts her eyes at you when she clocks out, like she can't hardly believe Johnny's talkin' to you instead of her, and you grin back, pleased as punch. And maybe a little smug.

“I shouldn’t oughta have dumped all that on ya, last time i was here,” he says, when you finally get a minute and sit down on the other side of the booth between customers – stealing away a minute for your customary shared cup of coffee.  “ ‘m sorry,” he says, ducking his head a little. "That was a lot; I don't know what got into me."

“Stop it,” you say, waving him away with a plump pink-nailed hand.  “That’s what friends are for, and we’re friends, right?”

He lifts his head and a smile blooms across his face – the one that makes him look like a boy in a grown man’s body, brings a sparkle to tired dark-blue eyes.  “Yeah,” he admits, with a chuckle, chewin’ on a toothpick.  “Yeah, I guess we are, ain’t we?”   And looks at you in a way that feels like somethin’ maybe a little bigger than just friends.  Makes you all warm and tingly inside. And he lays his hand over yours this time, and don’t let it go until Gus starts hollerin’ and bangin’ on the little silver bell like his hair’s on fire.

------

Song inspo: One Fine Day, the Chiffons (1963)

[pendarling]

Don't Lie 4

<< Start < Part 3 • Part 5 > End >>

"Are you ready?" Villain had finally finished and walked toward them; they looked as gorgeous as usual. It seemed like everything Villain wore always fit them nicely.

It took a lot of work to stay focused on their one true objective. Villain was temporary; their sincere gaze would not stop them from continuing their mission.

The drive was smooth and unusually silent. However, Hero didn't mind; they would eventually reach their destination. As long as they weren't needed to help combat the hijacking, that should be happening right about now.

Hero felt Villain's hand rest on their thigh, almost unconsciously reassuring them everything would work out. They blushed; for the past few months, they couldn't stop refuting their emotional attachment to Villain. One thing they'd made clear, though, was what they had was not love. In any case, they couldn't let anyone know they knew Villain's identity; if the other heroes discovered this, they would be cast out. 

Hero reached down and turned on the radio.

'... we'll look back at the situation currently in the venue, and if you're just joining us as this unfolds, there's been an attack at the Cold Castle down at 1846 36 St. Louise Square. Luckily, there's been a stifling of the attack by several heroes-- however, be aware of upcoming traffic.'

It wasn't a big surprise to hear about the ongoing battle over the news because they had been responsible enough to take action before the villains had. Hearing the story favour the heroes over at the city's heart had been a relief. Hero was nervous about it, but knowing it was another victory had finally put them at ease.

They heard Villain sigh and turned it off almost immediately.

"What's wrong, dear?"

"Nothing." A hand ran through their hair. "Just tired of hearing the same thing over and over again." They looked back outside absently.

Hero adjusted their position, "I know, a hero's work never seems to end." 

Villain rolled their eyes and mumbled indistinguishably under their breath. 

…

They weren't lying when Villain told them they were going to a nice restaurant. Nice wouldn't be the fitting word though it was beyond exceptional. They took their seats and watched the servers twist around the moving chairs as if on ice.

Hero pulled up the menu between them and made their decision. 

The number of people filing into the place was a lot, so waiting would be a while. Hero stared timidly back up at Villain's frustrated expression.

Hero scooted in closer, their hand barely reaching up to grab Villain's when it pulled back a bit. Their eyes flickered back at them, worried. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I think I forgot my wallet in the car." Hero thought they caught a glance of their annoyance. With a slight huff, Villain pushed their chair and stood.

Hero would also be upset if they'd known their teammates were losing. They'd get over it eventually.

A buzz from their pocket alerted Hero of a text message. As they pulled it up, their eyes landed on the words on the screen.

"Any more criminals?"

Hero opened up the message and viewed the attached image. It was a photo of the other heroes surrounded by the successfully captured villains with a massive wreck of buildings in the background. Red and blue lights flickered in the camera lens as one of the sidekicks stood proud against some of the much older members. Hero snickered at the sight of their goofy smiles. They'd have to all get together sometime. 

Hero pressed their fingers to the screen and typed back. 

"And who's going to clean all that?"

"Not our asses!!"

Villain returned a few moments after, and Hero hurried to place the phone away.

The food was extravagant, to say the least. Villain didn't seem too happy still, was less talkative than usual and would only reply in short sentences. But their mood would change, as mentioned.

After several drinks into a happy hour later, their vision returned to their ditzy impression of oversaturated love. 

"Baby~"

Villain glanced back at Hero's wrecked attire. It hadn't even been midnight yet, and they were already wasted. "You really shouldn't have eaten all that." Villain leaned across to fix the part of Hero's outfit that slipped over their shoulder. 

Hero pouted, "You barely-- hck-- touched yerrr... food."

Villain mumbled something incoherent again. 

"Hm?" They lifted their lopsided head and stared hazily at the still well-groomed Villain. Oddly, they hadn't been subjected to the same effects as the food or drinks. Hero was aware some foods contained alcohol, but they were certain most of it should've burnt off anyways. Hero laid their head back down again.

The wine tasted lovely. They weren't too much of a fan of it on a regular day, but there was something keen about it tonight. They looked around the spinning room, clueless for a moment.

The air felt so humid. So strange.

They could almost feel every bead of sweat on their forehead, every breath they took and how the darkness inched closer to the centre of their vision.

"What's the matter, love?" Villain whispered as they leaned in, and what could only be described as an eerie discomfort overcame them. 

"Mhmm..." They squinted back at what was supposed to be their partner. But all they could make out was a true villain's stare. 

Was there something in their drink? Why was everything…

The table was so warm. They could sleep at any moment. 

"You wanna go home?" A soft hand pressed on the top of their head and ran down their hair; stroking them in a familiar fashion that would lull them to sleep on regular days.

But they didn't want to go to sleep. 

Not yet.

<< Start

< Part 3

•

Part 5 >

End >>

~~~ MASTERLIST

[deafchild2000]

I don't care how you guys feel about Charlotte, if there's one thing I'm glad S2 (in it's prime) explored - it was generational merfolk magic.

(Admitting Charlotte truther here) I find it fascinating exploring Mako Island and the generations of mermaids over the years for many reasons. Let's be honest, there's plenty of H2O fanfiction on Fanfiction.Net that tried exploring the H2O gang growing up and having powers to various degrees. Some focus on adulthood and drag it out while others get to the marriage and children phase a bit too quickly, but a few stand out just right (and by right, I mean "I could read this as if I'm watching it on TV"). But what I gather trying to read is Next Generation fics. Some writers opt to say the girls had normal children and don't tell them the Secret - which leads to history repeating and the daughters and/or sons finding their way onto Mako and going through the Metamorphosis. Others say the children are born with their powers, therefore automatically in on the Secret. And I think I recall a fic that ventured into the girls (or maybe just Cleo) becoming grandmothers themselves.

(FYI: It's a lot more telling how long ago a fanfic was written if the mermen in them have orangey-gold tails or any other colors pre-Mako Mermaids.)

Overall, I do appreciate those stories, but that doesn't diminish my preference for the past mermaids or what they could've/would've done if taking the present canon into account. I wanna explore how being mermaids in the 50s had worked out, if Gracie's choice was what split the group up, or if it was the tip of the iceberg. But mostly, I wanna know why Gracie was the only one to have a family and the implications of her ties to Mako after no longer being a mermaid. Did Gracie leave and never look back? Could Annette have been an 80s mermaid if she had returned? And regardless of how she came in, was Charlotte being drawn to Mako and becoming a mermaid really shocking?

Or what about Julia? The only reason we found out she died was because her locket sold at an estate sale and ended up at a jewelry shop. But did that have to necessarily mean she was alone or could it be implied she did have family and they sold her stuff without realizing the significance of the locket? What if someone did try to look for it and couldn't track it down? Maybe, if not directly a grandchild, but a grand-niece or nephew?

So in that hypothesis, out of the 4 known members of the 50s group, Gracie and Julia had more reasons to have had families in their lives while Louise (an elderly widow) and Max (a recluse hermit) didn't.

I understand we got used to the iconic OG girls, but there are too many holes and plots to be left unexplored.

((Before I end on this note, let me send this off that next-generation tropes don't necessarily have to apply to children and grandchildren. I'll fan the flame that Kim Sertori could have received the torch and become a mermaid. Cleo and co. were off the college and with the moon pool supposedly damaged, it wouldn't be like more mermaid hijinx could occur...that they'd be aware of. And what if Taryn Marler (Julia in S2 and Sophie in S3) had been brought on as a twenty-something woman who endured Metamorphosis, unlike the teenagers before her? Her character - Rachel Samuels from Blue Water High S2, free to watch on YouTube - had a much more preferable persona for H2O, so why not combine them into someone fleshed out? Instead of the main characters having children or having them help out the next random group of teenaged Merfolk - why not focus on a narrative of a mermaid's siblings finally stepping into her shoes and a woman entering her adult years as a mermaid?))