#lou being his sassy self

[rapha-reads]

IWTV rewatch

(now that I've read the books and know the entire canon, let's see how it changes things or don't)

Season 1 episode 1 [In Throes of Increasing Wonder...] - part 1/2

- oh man, Daniel looks so old and tired and resigned at the very beginning. Comparing him with the Danny boy of season 2 who's so fired up and sassy... He's an adrenaline junkie.

- [Daniel] "I told my editor I was meeting with the most dangerous man in the world. Gave him two choices: Bezos. Putin." - moment of silence for 2022. It was shit but we didn't realise that it could get even worse.

- [Louis] "You've grown old, Daniel" - oi, manners, Louis! Where are your manners.

- [Louis] "I wasn't sure you'd remember me" - funny. Because none of you remembers shit actually. Memory as the core theme of the whole ride. Memory and subjective narrative. From the very first line.

- Oh maaaaaan, Armand lurking in the background from the very first scene. Armand babe, I've grown to be fond of your psychopathic tendencies, but this is seriously creepy, dude.

Also. Also. The way he's keeping such a tight leash on Louis. The surveillance. The eyes recording.

- [Daniel] "'That's the sun out there. Where's your coffin?' [Louis] 'You're standing in it'" - first of all, departure from canon lore, the sun doesn't make vampires slip into the death sleep automatically. They can resist it no matter their age. Secondly, morbid, Louis dear. Very morbid.

- Oooh, Armand letting the sun come in and staying sitting right next to the beam. Taking roleplay to the extreme. And Louis showing off his self-destructive tendencies. Amazing how we're having all the elements (most of the elements) already.

- [Louis] "Truth and reconciliation" - 123 dead, 84 injuries, a whole city levelled up. Nobody's ready. Let's get into it.

- Oooh, Armand coming into play. "No third party" - why, afraid you'll slip even easier? And then full on roleplay, Louis giving orders, and the blast of patronising aimed at "the boy". Brilliant writing. So very subtle when you don't know where to look, so in your face and crucial when you're in the know. Delightful.

- Interview date: June 14th 2022. Start of Louis' story: 1910, fall. Canon change. De Pointe du Lac's lineage: Creole. Canon change. Although I feel like the collapsing of timeline takes away some of the weight of the unholy family's life (not even 40 years versus 70 years in the books), I greatly like the change of personal history. So much richer.

- Can we take a moment to appreciate, nay, worship, Jacob Anderson's vocal skills? The change from his unaccented Dubai English to the Creole New Orleans English drawling... I am in absolute awe.

- [Louis] "Go on home, else I bleed you like a cochon, bruv"

Oh hello Lestat. Welcome to the narrative.

Paul needs to retreat to some monastery. 'Get thee to a nunnery'.

- [Priest] "I haven't seen you in confession in a while, Louis" and then that little scoff - oh, hello there, religious trauma. How much are you going to poison the narrative? Entirely? Well, carry on then.

- [Louis] "My business and my raised religion were at odds, and the, uh... ha, latencies within me, well, I beat those back with a lie I told myself about myself - that I was a red-blooded son of the South, seeking ass before absolution." - first of all, the fuck does that mean, Lou. Secondly, can someone get him to therapy.

- Delightful social commentary on segregated Southern states at the beginning of the 20th century, but I'm being told in my earpiece that a certain blond demigod (or monster, depending on the perspective) is about to make his entrance, so let's drop the sociology for now.

- [Lestat] "Seul l'impossible peut faire l'impossible" (only the impossible can do the impossible) - okay Lestat, ominous and nonsensical, lovin' it. A+ for the French accent, Sam, by the way.

- Never mind, Lestat's continuing the social commentary for me, thanks boo. "I mean that as a compliment, a man of your race to have privileges here". Ouch. Great first introduction there.

- [Lestat] "You're the man who made me buy a townhouse in the Quarter" - wooow there, wow! Slow your rolls, Ariel, you haven't even met the guy properly! Maybe take him on a date before making commitments like that?

- [Louis] "I know sometimes, men of my race, we all look alike to you people, but I ain't been selling you no townhouse" - *wheeze* yeah that's my boy.

- [Lestat] "I disembarked for the music, but then, there was the food" - yeah, I think they're called people?

- [Louis] "I wanted to take the end of my cane and slit his throat with it." - CAN I GET A WARNING before y'all gonna foreshadow like that?? Damn. Can't escape fate, or something like that, I guess.

- Hello and welcome to 'oh no I am more turned on than I have ever been in my whole life' : [Louis] "I couldn't move. My body was seized with weakness. His gaze tied a string around my lungs, and I found myself immobilized." Or maybe it's survival instinct telling homeboy "danger! Dangeeeeeer!".

- Lestat playing Mind games on Louis while he can still.

- Excuse me, the exchange between Lestat, Miss Lily and Louis is fucking hilarious, I'm wheezing: [Lestat] "Only it turns out the saint is not a city but a handsome man with a most agreeable disposition." - agreeable what, the only phrases y'all have been exchanging are a commentary on racism, and then you went on to start fucking with his mind. Lestat, stop being impulsive or draw 25. [Miss Lily] "You're his destiny, Louis." - you know, talk about destiny outloud too often, the universe hears and plays a trick.

- [Louis] "Emasculation and admiration in equal measure. I wanted to murder the man, and I wanted to be the man." - and you wanted the man. Don't forget the third part of the rhyme.

- Lestat already using the Fire Gift. Canon change. Well, in book canon he's still under 30 human age when he meets Louis and Fire Gift only develops later in vampiric age. But here he's already a bit more than a century old. Logical change.

- [Lestat] "We both wanted the last bouquet of lillies" - *wheeze* You fucker.

- That poker scene is another social commentary with thinly veiled - or like actually not even that veiled - racism. Oh, and Lestat's here to continue the criticism. And play mind games. Though, hey, freezing time. Another vampiric power that usually appears late. Absolutely adore that Louis just rolls with the fuckery and switches his cards. 'Dude's stopping time in front of me and talking in my head? Whatever, cards await nothing'. Love a guy who's decided that everything goes and he ain't gonna press too much for the answers. Now if only he'd press a little bit more, but hey, no story if he does.

- [Louis] "Let the tale seduce you. Just as I was seduced." - you know what, as someone who just read 12 or 13 books in the span of three weeks because they couldn't stop, I'm right here with Louis. Let yourself be hypnotised. You'll lose sleep and attention span and the ability to care about anything else but these whiny blood suckers, but hey, totally worth it. If you survive till the end.

- [Louis] "Money would arrive, wired from France" - another departure from book canon, where Lestat lives off of Louis. Then again, book!Lestat is barely 30, mustn't have had time to set his network of attorneys, while show!Lestat already has a century of existence. Which brings me to a point that I haven't raised before, but what was Lestat doing between leaving Paris at the time of the Révolution (if memory serves) and arriving in New Orleans in 1910? Having tea with Marius? Sleeping beneath the sand? That's a full ass century Rolin Jones and Cie have to explain, here.

- Louis' conversation with his sister. [Louis] "'He ain't white, he French' [Grace] 'Oh, that a different kind of white? French white?'" - listen sis, as a half white French half brown Moroccan, yeah, trust me, white French's pernicious. [Louis] "Paul crawled into my bed last night" - who wanna bet Paul's talking to our book canon friends the spirits? And these ain't good spirits either. Ah, but Louis loves his family. Ready for the grief? No? Me either.

- [Lestat] "My mother, she gave me every advantage in life" - Gabriiiiiiellllllle. Cannot wait to see her in s3.

- Someone needs to shut Paul up. "the birds asked me to ask you" - okay Paul. Sure.

Wait, "Monsieur Freniere", ain't that the other plantation guy Louis wants to protect and becomes obsessed with his sister, Babette? Or am I already mixing up my canon.

- Oh hello, Lestat's backstory in the monastery, plus Sam Reid showing off for the first time his acting. Or should I say, his possession. An award for Sam. All the awards for Sam.

- [Louis] "Don't everybody need to know what I do" - preach, bro.

- [Louis] "Nothing but broken souls around me, and the ones that ain't broken, greedy" - ah, then, which one are you, Louis chéri ? Broken ? Greedy? Both? Only one for the moment, both as the years go on? And Lestat? Greedy, yes? But isn't he also so deeply broken?

- [Lestat] "The Earth's a Savage Garden" - begging Rolin Jones to give us Lestat soliloquising about the Savage Garden please and thank you.

- [Lestat] "'Shall we have a nightcap?' [Louis] 'Probably had enough for the night.'" - and yet you're helplessly following him, drawn in like a magnet, like an impossible to resist planetary orbit. Also look at that little gay panic. Awards for Jacob please.

- Ah, the gift. That's how Lestat will ensnare you. Gifts and gifts and precious things and then a child. Run, Louis, run.

- Oh, Nicki mention! [Lestat] "a boy of infinite beauty and sensitivity" - yeah he kinda was insane too, but that's your point of view I guess.

- [Lestat] "What kind of a man wastes this beautiful waist with words?" - first of all, damn, nice alliteration here. Secondly, a gay man, Les, you know that, we know that, Lily knows that.

- The erotic tension of this scene is off the charts, blimey. And Louis keeps repressing. He's about to blow off. In every meaning of the term. Yep, there it is. Excuse me while I go look. Respectfully. Also. Hands. They have something for each other's hands. And the first bite. And levitating. And that's just episode 1 and we're only halfway through episode 1. Nobody does it like this show, I swear.

part 2 | episode 2 | episode 3 | episode 4 | episode 5 | episode 6 | episode 7

Season 2 rewatch (coming soon)

[calderskillday]

A STARSTRUCK ODYSSEY EPISODE 6 liveblog!!!!!

let's go spacers!!!

i Want siobhan's SHIRT

SKIP CLAPPING LMAO

sid self realizing is so great

HOW HAS EMILY PICKED UP A FAMILIAR DAMMIT THE DICE REALLY WANTED THIS FOR HER i truly cannot believe that she rolled another nat 20 animal handling

i love that lou gets to be in charge of the budgeting & math stuff lmao

EVERYONE HANDING THEIR CONTRACTS TO GUNNIE TO LOOK OVER SIFHDKF "oh THESE are my people"

emily finding this so silly just tickles me

oh my god they have silly names and are silly little slugs but this backstory is so. deep

SKIP MY DEAR SLUGBOY PRINCE

lmao the whole crew agreeing that they want skip to stay and they don't want norman to come back

THE ACAPELLA MUSIC IN THE BACK OF THE KITCHEN SCENE LMAOOOO

the sound effects as the princeps is cooking oh my GOD

brian headinhands murph is back (god him and emily sitting next to each other is a goddamn treat)

"imagine, if you will, me."

"you really don't wanna let those sit" "can i get peppers and mushrooms" LOUUU

honestly love how crunchy this season is

WORFFLE HORSE

"you roll the dice like it hurts to be in your hand" YEAH THATS IT emily put into words exactly how beardsley rolls

not this guy suggesting a casino to deal with gunnie's problem 💀

TRUCK NUTS FOR THE SHIP

i cannot believe. they have roped a ROYAL into being their INTERN

SQ is such a sassy passive aggressive AI damn

emily and lou have such a great dynamic GOD what a funny lil scene

lou's little yell as he throws the dice omg

HAHAHA MURPH'S REACTION AS BARRY TO HIS GUNS GOING OFF

"i'm doing something crazy, don't worry about it" UH BRENNAN

props are a big yes from me

CLIPPY?????? OH MY GODKSJRHFBFK

oh my god this is hilarious lore i love that they can draw on real world things that we've all experienced and pretend it's this ancient intelligence FUCK brennan's a genius

THE MICROSOFT PUNS

oh my god. OH my god. holy shit

so many breakthroughs and one huge terrible issue

MORE PERSONHOOD MORALITY ETC ETC STUFF I LOVE THIS SEASON

it needs a promotion from being a helper 🥺🥺🥺🥺

BEARDSLEY DID NOT JUST. HOW. EVERY SEASON. HOWWWWW

"baustin"

oh this is the city for this crew

i know i say this every week but damn they all look so good next week i want all of their clothes

ANYWAYS what a THICK SODE so much LORE

[letthestorieslive]

Ask Game

Tagged some time ago by @scribeoffate and answering late as usual

Name : Lou, OIlie on ao3

Fandoms : Teen Wolf, Doctor Who and Ghibli mostly, I still have a foot in the Percy Jackson one, another in Merlin, another in Lovely Complex, and another one (I have a lot of feet) in Harry Potter.

Most popular oneshot : Going by kudos that would be It’s Time to be Brave, Thiam Valentine’s Day shenanigans. 

Most popular multichapter : I haven’t write multichapter fic so far so I’m changing the ask to most popular oneshot going by comments and it’s Butterfly Goes Away but You Stay, a kid fic featuring Liam and Mason.

Actual worst part of writing : Writing down the first sentence and the first words. So so hard. Most of the time, I start somewhere before the middle of the fic, write everything to the end and then the begining flows.

How you choose your titles : Ahem. I hate titles, like a lot, and I need some time before finding one. Usually, I re-read the fic and either I go with the most important part/element or I go with the general feeling behind it.

Do you outline ? Kinda. On several post-it (that I often lose at some point but I’ve come to term with it) to have a general idea of what I want to tell and the key moments, but otherwise I like to have some space to write whatever I feel right which leads to some passages that I am very proud of.

Ideas I probably won’t get around to, but wouldn’t it be nice ?

Oof, many. Here is a short list :

Number One would be a supernatural detective agency with Deaton, Lydia and Stiles (and Mason probably, maybe), but if I enjoy a good detective story I cannot write one.

Number Two would be about Hayden and Kira, they never get the chance to interact and it’s crime.

Number Three would be AU in which Mason is still a chimera with an exploration of what it means, his powers, and his trauma. 

Number Four would be about Theo, with a parallel to Sisyphus myth (eternal punishment and being the prisoner of your own self)

Callouts @ Me : You know that if you want to read that very specific idea you’re going to have to write it first ? Fic is not, contrary to popular belief, going to write itself.

Best writing traits : Probably all the little details about the characters that I like to include in the fic, it adds depth and fun !

Spicy Tangential Opinion : Stop hating on the women and removing them from the narative or reducing them to a hateful/bitchy character or to some character here so that the main ones can be clever/sassy/whatever. Also, stop hating on Scott.

Tagging : @allyjostan, @theoceanismyinkwell​, @ksbbb and @attempted--eloquence

[myhiraeth]

Are there any AU’s you’d like to explore but haven’t had the chance to yet?

munday meme || acceptingggg

I mean yes and no lol Most I've at some point gotten offers for and it's my incredible sporadic nature that keeps me from being able to develop them xD

Quick list of always-wanted au's plots though:

Circe - more clientele interactions with Circe. More people and police and vigilantes that use her services and develop relationships with each other. I love Circe being able to be her seemingly all-knowing self.

Louis - More messiness. More trash ships that are doomed because he's a fuckboi who thinks he's better than that, more ships that are toxic and unhealthy because HE'S kind of toxic and unhealthy. More people that want to be mroe to him and he jsut can't give it to them and cue the fights and arguments. MORE PIT INTERACTIONS. People he knows and loves showing up at the pit and seeing him at his absolute worst. The Pit tearing apart his relationships- Ripper (leader of the pit) forcing Lou to choose between having a healthy life outside the pit or having the pit but not both and Louis choosing the pit because he's scared of who he is without it.

Styxx - More allowance for Styxx to be his best OP self. I tend to downplay it and he admittedly doesn't use his OPness much but I'd love interactions that others or even himself allow to acknowledge his strengths. MORE BROTHER STUFF. I'm so down to npc and let others npc his twin Ash and I'd love more people seeing the absolute HATRED Ash has for his brother esp given Styxx is generally rough around the edges but likeable. More Ash trying to turn people Styxx likes/loves against him by telling horrifying stories about him (only a rare few of which are actually true).

Mbege - More canon shit with him without his voice. I'm a lil obsessed with him trying to communicate without a voice but I hesitate because it WILL make interactions harder and I pause when wanting to ask people to do that. ESP more post-bunker shit where he's just silent and completely fuckin' deadly after 6 years in the pit.

Dick - Family interactions all the way. Bring me ALL the batfam. It's my creme de la creme for Dick.

Jason - n/a

Blaise - More in general. Blaise is….. a comlpete jerkoff so I hesitate too asking to write with him because he is just a snobby, judegmental, asinine jerkface most of the time but like, with his backstory and the traaaaaauma he could be so fun to dig into. I just dont' know if anyone has the patience to deal with him and honestly I don't blame you hahah

Gina - SOMEONE GIVE ME BELLINA. I am a shameless stan of Bellamy and Gina and because I'm absolutely paranoid about force-shipping and Bell did end up with Echo I don't like asking for the ship but like- I want it I need it someone let us explore what they could have been they were so casual and easy and NORMAL in this canon world of so-not-normal.

Fox - MORE THIEF THINGS. I kinda let go of my hesitancy with Fox and I really want to lean into sassy, sarcastic, thief Fox. Gimme other criminals, cops, friends, romances, all that jazz. ALSO POST RING THINGS. Again where she's less childish and soft and more bold and rough around the edges has been where my desires lie with my foxy baby.

[music-my-angel]

The joker

Prompt - Hi!! I love your work ❤ can you do where Louis is like being his same sassy joking self and he tells Liam to leave the band or something mean but he wasn’t serious but Liam gets really sad and hurt. Thank you Xx

Prompt - Could you do when about how Liam’s grandpa died while they were on Australian leg of the tour? Maybe he doesn’t tell the boys because he doesn’t want to be a bother but then they worry about why he’s so sad and they ask around until someone tells them? Then lots of sad crying Liam and cuddly protective lovey boys? Thanks!!!

 ------

Louis was generally a very fun loving person. He was loud, funny and is always brightening up the atmosphere around him. Usually, he was the go-to person in the band if you’re feeling down or need some cheering up. Between the elder ones if Zayn was the protective one, Liam was the responsible one then Louis was the fun one. Harry and Niall loved talking to Louis. Zayn found a cheerier side to himself whenever he was with Louis. Liam could bet on himself smiling genuinely if Louis was around which is honestly why he couldn’t understand Liam’s aloofness with him lately.

------

For the past few days Liam had been completely cut off from them. He received a call some days ago and looked very emotional. Since they were on tour, the boys thought that Liam was homesick because however much they tried to ask the boy, Liam refused to tell them what was wrong with him. So he stayed in his room for most of the time, upset and in a too dull mood to even talk to the boys. Obviously, Louis wasn’t going to let his friend stay alone for long. But unfortunately for Louis, him barging in Liam’s room, cracking jokes and trying to drag the boy out of his room didn’t quite do the trick for Liam.

------

“Just leave me alone, Louis” Liam tried pushing Louis away but the boy wouldn’t budge.

“Come on Li, how long are you gonna sulk? Nobody wants to see a sulking Liam” Louis teased.

“Yeah? I don’t care! Nobody wants to be the joker like you are, every single time!” Liam snapped.

Louis took a step back, trying to not to be hurt by Liam’s words.

“What do you even bring to this band except of being the joker every day? Just get lost” Liam shouted.

“Sorry man” Louis whispered and walked away.

Liam was too lost in his anger to even notice Louis walking away in tears.

------

“Li said that?” Niall couldn’t believe his ears as he sat by a crying Louis’s side.

“Lou, please don’t cry” Harry whispered, rubbing Louis’s forearm. He couldn’t watch his best friend in tears.

“I’ll talk to Liam” Zayn mumbled, getting up when he saw Liam walk down, in tears.

“Liam, what you said to Louis was completely uncalled for” Harry warned the man.

“I know… I’m so sorry Louis” Liam said, crouching down in front of the man.

“It’s okay. I was bothering you. You clearly wanted your space” Louis brushed off some tears.

“I… My grandpa passed away… I was too angry that I couldn’t go home so I removed my frustrations on you. I’m so sorry” Liam sobbed.

“Oh Li! Oh my God! That was what that phone call was about?” Louis asked and when Liam nodded, he pulled the boy in a hug.

“You should have told us” Zayn said, patting Liam’s back.

Louis forgot all his complaints with Liam at that time as he held onto the boy a bit tighter.

------

Later, they all got together and helped Liam mourn his grandfather. Liam talked about the man he had great memories with. He broke down and the boys were there to pick up the pieces. Zayn offered him a shoulder to cry on. Harry made him his favorite tea. Niall suggested a movie to help lighten the situation and Louis, he was back to being his normal joker self. He didn’t mind being the joker if it meant that his bandmates could smile again. For Liam to find his smile again, Louis became the joker that Liam himself adored more than anything.

------

A/N

Not too sure of this but hope you all like it.

[bearsinpotatosacks]

Jim Kirk Playlist

I love listening to music to get inspired. This has manifested itself into playlists for the main seven in TOS and AOS. I don't have playlists for specific ships just because I have so many so all the songs for all my ships for a certain character are an amalgamation of angst and fluff!

This is mainly for AOS btw, and I've only included the non-shipping ones that are included in my timeline. Let's go!

Run Boy Run | Woodkid- Tarsus IV, Jim was chosen, he ran away and collapsed in the arms of a Starfleet officer

San Francisco | Scott McKenzie- Jim exploring Starfleet Academy in his first week there

Mambo No.5 | Lou Bega- Jim having fun 😉

Golden | Harry Styles- This is the most shippy this is going to get, but only because this is in every timeline for all of my ships. It's Jim and Bones friendship during the academy years, how they're the only people that truly understand each other. But it's also Bones developing a crush on Jimmy boy, this also contains an "I'll patch you up after a bar fight but you're going to get flirty scolding too scene"

I Love to Boogie | T Rex- Just Jim and Bones drunk off their tits dancing once exams are over

Honky Cat | Elton John- I just need Jim getting ready for the day to this song, it's a great montage song

Let Us Adore You | Steven Universe the Movie- This just makes me think of the Admirals loving Jim when the 5 year mission starts because he's living up to his father, finally

Space Oddity | David Bowie- I imagine that Ambassador Spock left Spock a load of Old Earth pop culture things he found, one of them is this song. So he and Jim listen on the observation deck with the gravity off

Escapism | Steven Universe- This is inspires a scene in a fanfiction I'm currently drafting, so no spoilers 😉

And now some non-shippy Jim vibes!

Sexyback | Justin Timberlake- Do you need an explanation?

I'm Too Sexy | Right Said Fred- See above comment (also the video I put in was by Putnik68)

Cut to the Chase | Rush- Jim training, maybe anti gravity training or with new tech

Love Like You | Steven Universe- Self-esteem issues with Leonard and Spock but they all think this about themselves and the others

Other Friends | Steven Universe Movie- Mirror!Kirk, maybe he finds some of his officers have joined the resistance?

Here Comes a Thought | Steven Universe- Anxiety and feelings ☹

7 Rings | Ariana Grande- Just imagine the main 7 being sassy to this

Candyman | Christina Aguilera- Jim being sexy yet again, maybe some dancing too

Seaside Rendezvous | Queen- This song is a bop but full of crack, they probably just sing this after too much wine, or fruit cocktails for Spock

Strangers | Taemin- Just undercover spy vibes

What do you think of my choices? Do you have any songs that scream Jim? I hope you enjoyed listening to this, I'll probably do Spock next because, trust me, Bones has many many songs in his playlist!

[heartshapedstrand]

Not meaning to be rude or anything, but I was wondering what makes you see compatibility in Sam and Heartman? I've always seen Sam as too standoffish to reciprocate anything and Heartman being more needy than he could handle.

So here’s the rub, I sincerely hope you weren’t trying to be rude, cause, I dunno, I do still feel like your wording was a bit… rude. But that is okay. Its my choice to be a little offended, but I’m not gonna hold that against you.

Let’s break things down, starting with canon. 

Canonically, Sam shows little interest in anyone, and onlykind of opens up friendship-wise with Fragile, being playful with her over the cryptobiotes, and allowing her to touch him, willingly, because of story-drive necessity.

Canonically, there IS no romantic relationship for Sam, after the loss of his family. Fragile came a hair closer to being a possible canon ship, and I know there are people who can put up a decent argument for Deadman as a possible canon ship, but. Kojima left everything open ended on purpose. He left it open for each person’s interpretation, just like the story, the ambiguity of it gave everyone a different perspective on what happened. Some people saw Amelie as a manipulative, unfeeling monster (me), and some people thought she genuinely didn’t want to end the world. Its opinion, its perspective. Moving on.

Canonically, no, there’s nothing to truly show there’s any kind of interest between Sam and Heartman. But that is the point of fandom, to take what we know of canon and extrapolate from it the possibilities of deeper relationships. It’s true that in canon game story Heartman and Sam’s interactions are few, so those no room to see more development of their friendship dynamics.

So, my perspective on the compatibility of these two starts with these things:

They both have suffered the loss of their families.

Neither of them were interested in the “reunite America” bandwagon. 

Heartman was a father once, he could offer Sam advice on caring for Lou

Sam gave Heartman his first step in moving past his grief and obsession

You used the term “standoffish” to describe Sam, and I can agree for the most part, Sam is standoffish, but to everyone he doesn’t know. He was like that with Fragile, Deadman, Mama, Lockne. But. He did thaw a little to each of them because for one reason or another, he’d come to care for them. Heartman is the same.

However, Heartman is the only person in-game Sam willingly talked about the loss of his family to. Deadman looked up his records to find that information, and when he brought it up, Sam was terse and didn’t want to talk about it.

With Heartman, it was Heartman himself speaking about the loss of his family. Sam relates to his loss, the sentiment that he’s “already dead” by saying “I know that feeling. Lost my family in an accident.” Only then, does Heartman mention he’d read about Sam’s history. It’s that interaction and dynamic that gives me the idea that there’s potential for at the least a deeper friendship than some of the others. 

Stepping to the next thing, the fact that they share the lack of enthusiasm for “Reunited America” also gives them a connection. Heartman’s only desire to work with Bridges and the UCA is that he has access to the chiral network, and research materials. They keep him set up in a remote lab with equipment he needs for his medical issues, and lets him carry on toward his eventual death as long as he’s providing them with his findings in the meantime. I think that gives Sam reason to relax a bit, around Heartman. And, it was Sam’s coming that I think was Heartman’s first step to moving on from his endless search for his family. I wrote all that out in this post a week or so ago, go give it a read if you like. 

And as for Heartman being needy…. I mean? He is starved of human contact, god only knows how long he’s been at his remote lab without contact from another living soul. He’s a bit awkward because of that, and I suspect he’s always been a little strange. Most scientists are in games or other media, pretty sure its a trope, even.

But! Heartman is a grown ass man, he probably knows he’s a bit needy, but also had self-control. It’s clear that even though he does want to talk to Sam about more than the research, Mama’s corpse, and whatnot, he doesn’t invade Sam’s boundaries. Two different times, he tries to shake hands with Sam, and once, he vaguely offers him a hug. My feeling from it was… He’s a scientist, and he’s fascinated by Sam for a number of scientific reasons. Testing his boundaries was just one of the things he could do to analyze him unobtrusively. 

Once he had a feel for Sam’s personal space, he never tries to invade it, just offering thumbs up or down as a gesture of social interaction without the need for physical contact. If Heartman was needy, to an unhealthy degree, he wouldn’t respect Sam’s boundaries.

And lastly, post-game, Heartman was a father once. And as far as we know, Sam’s never actually handled babies or children. He clearly didn’t trust returning to the heart of the UCA after violating a directive by the ‘president’ of the UCA. 

Heartman worked remotely, away from the rest of the Bridges/UCA people. He had knowledge, he had room to spare, and we also know he would spoof the system to hide conversations from the UCA’s 24/7 surveillance. Why not call on him to help?

As for romantic/sexual shipping, well. We don’t actually know what attracts Sam or Heartman to anyone, do we? 

Hell, that crush you had in high school, do you remember why? Was there a reason? You see that one person, and suddenly there’s a flutter in your stomach, but why? Did their smile make your heart skip a beat, did the way they wore their clothes make you a little hot under the collar? I love nicely shaped shoulders, and men with wide hips. Why? I have no clue, but it’s what I like. It just is. It was a spark, something inside me said “this is attractive”. Hell, I had a crush on the biggest bitch in my school. I hated her personality, she was a bitch to everyone but her friends(which i was not), and she was a snobby rich kid. Pretty sure she didn’t even know I existed, but every goddamned time I saw her, my stomach fluttered, and I couldn’t function when she was in my presence, and I’d blush if I was within 5 feet of her, even though she never even glanced my way. Why? I will never know.

Sooooo. Why not provide that spark, myself? No, it isn’t canon, but so what? Neither is Sam/Fragile, or Sam/Deadman. Or Sam/Higgs, which is the popular ship in the fandom so far. Other than the heroxvillain trope, how the hell would we ever see Sam/Higgs together? Hate ships and enemies to lovers ships are out there, though, and they make delicious art. ;]

Ya wanna know an even less likely ship? Higgs/Heartman. Why? Because I can. Deal with it. 

ANYWAY. I’m frank, sassy, and sometimes an ass. But, I hope that this gives some insight into why I think Sam and Heartman could work out as a ship. 

And I keep typing, but that’s just how I go.

The ship isn’t perfect, either. I have shown, and plan to continue to show, moments where there is friction between Sam and Heartman. Sam still has trouble with touch, sometimes. Sam will push Heartman away, and at some points Heartman may feel hurt by that, even though he knows its not his fault.

And Sam does have trouble showing emotion or talking. Heartman will experience frustration with that. Sam broods, and if Heartman can’t deal with it, Sam will run off until he’s done brooding.

Also if this was sparked by the silly post about Samantha Spade, I was having fun, i tagged it with my tag for things that are silly, said tag being “ ;;shenanigans ”. It’s the first tag I put on the post. Please don’t take anything I post with that tag seriously, I like to have fun, and my goofy little hopeless romantic heart was a flutter at the silly idea.

P.S. If you wanna continue to question my view in compatibility between characters, you can keep throwing those question to me. As long as I’m not getting hate, I won’t be giving hate. If you don’t like my answers, I can only politely suggest you find someone else to bother.

If you wanna know me better, I am actually a really nice person, fiercely loyal, and fun to plot and chat with. Come talk to me, I won’t bite, I promise. ;] 

Oh, and I’ve always loved rare pairs. They need love.

[vedj-f-bekuesu]

I need to actually stick to what I say for once.

I was going to do S2 on Monday, but then I got the realisation that after watching NS12, I was already running out of things to do. So, I did it tonight, and it’s...certainly an eclectic collection of thoughts. Hmph.

-The biggest point I have, and one I think really damages the season, is the pacing. You can tell the writers were aware that Ninjago was going to be cancelled (indeed, it was actually cancelled for a year) so they jammed two seasons’ story into one season. As a result, the last...say, five episodes are pretty strong since it seems the story beats were fairly set in stone (heh), but it takes over half the season to get there and before that you have some pretty meh writing. I know they didn’t exactly have full control over that, so bear in mind I am aware of this and assume I’m giving some leeway for it where appropriate, although I will still criticise it. -Lloyd Montgomery "For Fucks Sake Stop Grounding Me" Garmadon is the best character in this season. However, the fact we spent just seven episodes with young green Ninja Lloyd is a waste of an idea in hindsight.  -Skales remains an MVP before he’s written out of the story.  -I see now that S2 Garmadon is the basis for Movie Garmadon because he was great, and it was especially hilarious watching him bounce off his boring pilot self. -Wu is still the worst character. I’m sorry, he was bad enough when he was being too harsh on four teens, Lloyd is one kid and Wu is already like “I’m shoving the weight of the world on your shoulders”. Fuck you Wu. -The non-elemental parents do no get enough due credit. Ed, Edna and Lou are all great in their own way, and Doctor Julien is a badass considering he’s on death’s door.  -And yes, this does mean I like S2 Misako overall. She’s a victim of the rushed pacing though; her motive for leaving Lloyd at Darkley’s could have been way more smooth if she just had five seconds longer to speak, like “I left him to go and research the prophecy...and make sure the dark forces would not attack him”. You could answer at least three potential hangups with those few extra words. Otherwise, the idea of old regrets is one with potential, and it’s handled pretty well here. I am aware it gets fucked up later, but what else is new. -The bizarro ninja are about as good as early Archie Evil Sonic. Which means they’re terrible. Hopefully they don’t show up again.  -Wow, Captain Soto is an early one! I’m glad his contribution to the season actually had serious ramifications. -I like the way the first part of the season built up the new civilian cast, even if most were unnamed. Started to really give life outside the ninja, something season 1 was short of. Also Dareth wasn’t that great at first, but the mini-arc he had warmed me up to him.  -Nya...existed. Outside of being turned evil and using Samurai X once this was not her season. Kai used Samurai X more than her, even! -I don’t know how to vocalise my thoughts on the main four, their treatment was erratic. For the first eight episodes they were honestly pretty weak, basically being shoved into the mentor role and not being given much material beyond that. Jay managed to just about counter that with his obnoxious personality (actually acting as a positive rather than a negative). Zane doesn’t counter it, but because he’s generally like that anyway he adapts well to it. Kai and Cole suffer for it. I know I didn’t like them in S1 due to being abrasive and not my thing at all, but now they’re basically the other extreme; revolving around their mentor role, taking out a lot of the personality. All of this is probably because of said rushed pace so they had to get them as mentors lickety split. Then five episodes from the end the story’s like “Whoops, we left the personality nodes off, let’s just switch them back on” and suddenly all four of them were improved. Zane had his own arc to go through, Jay was electric, and Cole was apparently just unleashing the energy not used in the first half (How did we go from him being so stoic to doing the Moonwalk over Stone Soldiers???). Even Kai got moments back, and it finally genuinely felt like he’d become protective of Lloyd without it being forced in by the plot needs.  -Jaya has a bit of a stumble in S2 thanks to Double Trouble (thanks for nothing, Bizarro Ninja), but overall it’s still cute.  -Whoever said that the Stone Army isn’t treated with any comedic elements is a filthy liar. Even the Overlord got sassy at one point.  -The plot ends up being an overt Star Wars homage and I am okay with this. -I should have mentioned this with the first season but I hope the once-an-episode slow-down bits stop soon. The choreography of the fighting has improved though!

So overall? I honestly have pretty mixed feelings towards this season. In terms of quality it’s more consistent than S1, but at the same I feel it’s brought down more, mainly because of that omnipresent pacing issue. The last five episodes suffer less from it, but that is far too late to be kicking in. Not that the first part is bad, but you can tell they’re skimming content to get to the good stuff. That being said, said good stuff is good. 

I want to add a little extra though, because the way it ends only makes me more conscious of how the next few seasons take the story. The story here does feel like an ending point, and that was fine for the time. But hindsight has shown that this was not the case, and there’s definitely some corners that have been written into. So with that, I can at least understand why the Hagemans and Andreason might have thought at the time that creating new drama for all the main characters (that weren’t Lloyd because he needed a rest) was the best way to try and give themselves an out. But man, there are going to be moments where I am gonna legit fume (there’s a moment in S2 that makes the upcoming love triangle so much worse, and I think the bit I’m dreading the most now is actually Kai’s green Ninja drama in S4). 

Also poor Lloyd get schtick for hogging the limelight, when it seems in most instances it’s been circumstances that did that. S2 was trying to rush its story so it had to focus on Lloyd to tell it, and S8 was probably LEGO’s way of continuing the film inertia, and it just happened to be an arc that needed three seasons to resolve due to the way it was structured. For once, S11 is the most guilty since that one didn’t need to be Lloyd. 

Okay, so next up whenever I decide to do it are Rebooted and Tournament of Elements...oh joy...at least all the seasons are shorter this time.

[starryace]

my personal introduction to vav

so i have a few friends who’ve been wanting to get into vav but dunno where to start so... i’ll just do this lil thing. obviously there’s gonna be my own opinions so don’t take everything i say to heart but like... here we go

vav (very awesome voice -- pronounced vee-ay-vee but i say vav bc im lazy) debuted in 2015, but when they debuted they had a different lineup. zehan, xiao, and gyeoul all left to pursue other activities. ziu, lou, and ayno joined the group in 2017! the fandom is called vampz because of the groups original concept but we don’t talk about that

title tracks/mvs: *under the moonlight | *brotherhood | *no doubt | *here i am | venus (dance with me) | flower (you) | abc (middle of the night) | she’s mine | spotlight | gorgeous | give it to me | senorita | **so in love | **thrilla killa | **i’m sorry | give me more

* = pre-line up switch! | ** = without jacob (due to his participation in a chinese program)

more about the members under the cut!

st van (lee geumhyuk)

note: during updating i ended up having to redo this entire section bc my computer deleted it all... sigh.

everyone’s dad

kinda gives off party vibes, like a cool club dad, you know?

super duper soft :(( he laughs at everything and he loves gentle things and he may be the oldest but he’s babie

gets really embarrassed really easily and blushes and laughs it off

oh! he also laughs with like... his entire body ekhrbgj

tattoos! on his shoulder and right arm

full sleeve completed

self composed the track “im sorry” off of the thrilla killa album

he lived in china for 13+ years and can speak fluent (if not, almost fluent) chinese

he’s super good cook and he wanted to be a chef before becoming an idol

loves jacob :(( with all his heart

weird but he can drink a lot of water really quickly, that’s his special talent

got a dog with the group! her name is cash and she’s super cute

im sure there’s more but i got mad after my computer deleted everything so i’ll get back to updating this part when things dawn on me

baron (choi chunghyeop)

dancer extraordinaire! he actually used to be in a dance team before vav

smiley boy ;;;; literally he has the prettiest smile and the nicest teeth

he can play the piano and a lil guitar im p sure!

he’s honestly a lil shit but we love him anyway

he’s very mom like, and loves taking care of the members, but i spy with my lil eye someone a lil more mom-like but that comes later

he choreographed a cover of shape of you!

unfortunately, his mom passed away early this year (may she rest in peace).

his nickname is baby prince (from his mom) and it was because of his mom that he was able to become and idol

baron singing??? yes,,, yeS!! his voice is godsent istg

he loves loves loves music and dance

wont shut up about millennium dance studio

was the pizza delivery boy in minx’s why did you come to my home

has a very intensive skin care routine

he!! loves!! food!! constantly nomming

ace (jang wooyoung)

remember how i said how i thought there was someone more mom like? meet ace.

literally babies everyone

eSPECIALLY ayno + ziu (sometimes lou, when lou will let him)

sassy, diva, can also be a lil shit -- esp with baron... 92 line is just lil shit line

lil fucking tease, too--

he has an oral fixation-- licks his lips a lot no bueno for me

teal hair? god tier. senorita? also god tier. everything about him? god tier.

plays the guitar... see senorita

“you’re doing wonderful sweetie” but like... a living version of that

abs... abs for days..........

works out with jacob

dimples!! but it’s more prominent on the right cheek.

god he’s??? literally ethereal. like i can’t put into words how pretty he is

he ;;;; has the purest, most sweetest heart

they need to start letting ace have more lines bc omg his voice ;;;;;

really good with kids ;;;;; they love him

he’s a BIG flirt, it’s like when he opens his mouth the only thing he thinks to do is say “i love you” or “you’re mine” or smthn

Prince Wooyoung™

ayno (noh yoonho)

was on no.mercy -- still kinda keeps in contact with monsta x now (hims was lil babie minhyuk)

yknow how baron is dancer? so is ayno -- aYNO IS GOD TIER DANCER ok he ;;;;; ugh he’s literally so talented

he raps too! also god tier

hims a soundcloud rapper -- dropped zero coke (mixtape) and god that boy is talented

self composed their song touch you (aka one of my fave vav songs)

ace’s baby... really, he’s vav’s baby, but still

fake maknae to the max. it still baffles me that he’s older than the others ima list

hims also pretty shy, but it’s real cute ;;;;

lou has such a big fat crush on him and he’s always embarrassed by it

he zones out a lot and is very mellow & quiet until something inside him switches and then he’s like BAM loud and crackhead

ziu.... brings out... the crackhead in him lbr

former happyface ent trainee w/ ziu

puppy!

also really good with kids!! prolly bc he is a big kid himself erhbjeg

often writes his own raps for songs

jacob (zhang peng)

resting bitch face to the max

800% done with everyone’s shit

chinese member!

he was performing in a chinese show called all for one -- his team got eliminated (sad) but that means he’ll be returning to the group (happy!)

that’s why he wasn’t in so in love/thrilla killa/im sorry

hims loves his st van

he also eats... a lot.

ok but like... he works out with ace, right? boy has such chiseled and nicely defined abs, it pains me

he’s a happy lil sunshine boy

savage as fuck

his smile literally adds 5 years to your lifespan

all of the members miss him so much ;;;; its honestly super wholesome and every once in a while they’ll be like “omg cobi would love this” or “jacob....... we miss you”

but then you have shithead lou being like “i mean... its nice having the room to myself” wrehbjehg

he dance too! idk what type of dancing it is but he does it!!!

he was in the chinese movie “the dreamer on the catwalk”

BRING HIM BACK ATEAM PLS I MISS HIMS

HE HAS RETURNED AND HE’S STRONGER THAN EVER

lou (kim hosung)

my #1, my one and only, my precious sweetheart

tall as fUCK

has a deep ass motherfucking voice

grew up in georgia as a kid (can speak fluent english) and then the philippines when he was a teen!

kinda the more quiet & reserved member

but dont let that fool you......

he too is a lil shit

AND A CHAOTIC GAY -- ziu bothers him a lot but he has a big ol’ crush on ayno and he never shuts up about how pretty he is and how much he loves him

he can be a grouchy lil bitch too tho hkerbjeg

in this interview baron and st van were being cute and he’s just in the corner like “youuuu shouuuld daaaate” -- gay. in the same interview thats one instance where he wouldn’t shut up about ayno

hims a rapper too!! he often writes his own raps for songs (much like ayno)

his own mixtape (goodnight) literally is so nice i listen to it all the time

he has a vlive thing he does called lou-dio and it’s real cute

big ears = the cutest thing ever ehkrbgjeh

he collects a bunch of stuff!! like pop figures and toys, like souvenirs from everywhere they go

he was in the youtube webdrama “lemon car video” (eps 1, 3, 7, and 8)

his stage name is lou (pronounced “low” but i refuse to say that) because his voice is so low

ziu (park heejun)

chaotic. just chaotic. chaotic gay, chaotic maknae, chaotic man.

he’s the real maknae tho... doesn’t look it, huh?

manly af

literally so charismatic and funny as hell

wants kisses + love + attention from everyone

goes in for a kiss -- everyone else usually backs away but he’s always disappointed that no one gives into him

kisses kisses kisses

did i mention kisses?

he makes a lot of random ass noises all the time

screm... lots of screm. like you know opossums?? think that kinda screm.

his vocals ;;;;; his singing voice is so, so nice ;;; i adore it.

his room is dirty af i could NEVER

he does some really questionable things sometimes... see here.

like i said, i cannot express this enough... he’s so charismatic. so charming. so handsome.

also!! super hyper fluff ball. hims cute.

aegyo up the wazoo too

former happyface ent trainee with ayno

was in the fri.sat.sun teasers by dalshabet

can get p loud & annoying but that doesnt change how much we love him

idk if any of that made sense... but there you go! there’s so much more to vav and everything they do and who they are, so i hope this just kinda gets more people to look into them? it’s a stepping stone, not everything possible to learn.

+ keep in mind, a lot of this stuff comes from both kprofiles, what i’ve seen in videos, and my own personal opinions & inputs. so... yeah. don’t use what i say as truth/fact unless you see stuff to back it up (or you adopt it as your own opinion idk).

thank you for taking your time to read this!!

[panelshowsource]

i actually wasn’t too nervous! i knew paul, iain, and joe would all be sweet and i was excited for sian because no middle-aged funny lady has ever not been a legend. even though i don’t think it was a god tier season i thought they were all endearing in their own ways (even iain lmao) and i think we appreciate that kind of pleasantness. i had thought it was going to be a touch more competitive — which is my taste, which is why i liked s2 so much, for example — because iain and even lou were bringing it hard in the beginning, but they seemed to succumb to the wrath of the taskmaster pretty quickly and begin just going along with what he decided without much fuss or drama. that said, i also think the taskmaster was a little lax; you may have noticed plenty of rounds he didn’t give out 1 or even 2 points, like prize tasks were 3-3-3-4-5 points opposed to someone having to come last even if they did a decent job (which can cause some fun drama). i thought the editing of the tasks was really back up to par this series and i loved the return of sassy talkative alex like we had in s1 and 2. i really think it was a lot of fun!

ahhhh hard to say! maybe......sian 💕 hbu??

i’m not proud of him and frankly i hope he’s not proud of himself

even though requests aren’t open this was cute so i got u hehe

joe is very special and perfect and good and i am highly concerned about him

you and a thousand other anons, trust me ;’) luckily if u catch him with a rosé in his hand i think you’re in with a chance

hell yes she is! taskmaster said smith family rights!

it’s what we DESERVE!!!!!

seal*! ofc mitchell brook primary school are a league of legends baybay!! and ya i tried to do a lot of miles content this week bc it’s what the people want heh

i would really enjoy seeing glenn moore and larry dean more, who i think were some of the best newcomers to have come on the show in a long time. as for guests from very previous series? ooo well i def miss gina and do think david should be on every show forever until the end of time, obviously, but hmm it’d be great to see holly walsh, sarah millican, and jo brand again!! they’re all ace with those big group dynamics which is super important on that series in particular. i also miss frankie with my every fibre

lmaooo i call him a poor man’s ed gamble and that’s a compliment tbh

it may have very well been an act back in 2017, or maybe you were just really receptive to even him at his most honestly aggressive, hard to say. i was much more forgiving of that aggression the second time i saw him live but by the third and fourth times i was very much on the same page as those in the thread and thought it was borderline unprofessional and barely funny. honestly to each his own though, bc if it can pass as comedy then it is comedy, truly. the worst of it i saw was when a woman got up to use the restroom during the set and he ended up berating her for ten mins over it, and after the show she was outside telling people she was so sorry she upset him but she couldn’t wait any longer to change her tampon...seriously brutal. i really don’t have any reason to believe it’s an act. he’s mentioned many, many times on his podcasts that he is very sensitive, is sidetracked easily, is very self-critical, he doesn’t enjoy interacting with fans (specifically during and after standup), and it’s not uncommon for him to lose his groove half-way through his shows if something throws him off; he is also self-admittedly seriously mentally ill. the protection of being in character seems to have come in handy for him in a serious way for a long time, and i don’t think he’s come to understand how he’s meant to behave and interact when he’s being Real James like he is in cold lasagne. i don’t claim to know him, but considering the last time i saw him (spring) he did a whole bit about how suicidal he was just a couple months prior, it seems fair to say he’s still in throes of taking care of himself, so i’m sending him positive and healthy vibes and hoping he’s putting that before his career

note: i really don’t want to rehash this acaster convo again in the asks, so please message me off anon if you have any questions. stay positive and take care of your mental health, y’all!!

i haven’t!! i’ll let you know when i do though :’)

apart from the champion specials that are upcoming, we aren’t suuuure. probably september or october, though! i am rly excited for it to come back, it’s such a pleasant show and richard is such an underrated panelist in general imo

my thoughts exactly anon 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

anon stop are you trying to make me cry..........i genuinely find it so inspiring.........the first time i heard him say that the 2 years waiting for her were the hardest of his life, and if he had known he only had to wait 2 years for her they would have been the easiest..........broke a piece of my heart off that is still floating around my chest cavity trying to find a home..........

TBH I ASKED AND I HAVE RECEIVED

which links anon? i clicked through a bunch and everything is in working order. are you sure you’re looking at the original post, which gets updated?

f.a.q. // tags // watch links masterpost

[hazbinextgeneration]

ASK THE HELL PEOPLE

Finally got the last banner for my ask blog done. Fern, Rosie, Sara, and Angelo are half owned by @palettepainter. Dawn is half owned by @ultimatefangirl-exeFrom left to right. Amalfia:- (Cursed Unicorn being. Died in 1910's) Cursed by Life and sent to hell, she currently works at the Poison Ivy Casino for her husband and is the mother of Fern and Rosie. Mally for short, she developed a fear of touch for those she doesn't trust. Recently she's been learning on how to be more confident with herself and is (mostly) sure of what she's doing. Fern:- (Plant demon) Fern is the younger twin by 10 minutes and is the opposite of his sister. He's not as powerful as his father or Rosie, but can summon red thorns and develop a stinger on his tail which can inject liquid deadly nightshade. Despite this, he is a little tyrant that loves to torment Midnight *Lou's bad influence*, knows his way around a poker table, and uses his innocent looks to his advantage. Though he's slightly skittish around bigger demons and loves winter. Rosie:- (plant demon) Rosie is the older twin by 10 minutes and has no problem teasing her 'little' brother about it. Spoiled rotten by Lou, she's used to Fern following along games with her as the lead and has no problem ordering her father's employees around. While she does have Lou's smug attitude, it's gone in a flash if her mother glares in her direction. Then it's every girl for herself. Hates winter but loves warmer weather. Iridescence:- (Grandchild of God and Princess of Heaven)  She's the angel of Hope and dreams and loves children. She can only go to and from earth and heaven during the time dreams are most powerful. Sun rise and sunset. If she misses one she has to wait for the next sunrise/sunset to go. Being the grandchild of God , she's almost watched constantly by the ArchAngel Gabriel or sometimes Chainsaw. Sara:- (Crackship child, vampire, Coal x Maizy) A sweet little nervous girl by nature, Sara is the little baker girl of her home and is often seen in the kitchen with her dad or visiting Grandpa Alastor or other family with Maizy. While not the most sociable, she gets along well with Angelo and her Uncle Mako. Sara is pretty magical from her mom's side with a wide smile to match. Angelo: -( Crackship child, spider demon, Angel-Cake x Mako) Fourth generation mafia fighter in the making. He has his mom's sassiness and confidence with his father's mind, strength, and temper. While he can act tough, he loves attention from his parents that usually leads to cuddle time. Excellent bomb making skills, he makes his mafia family proud. Tatiana La Luna- (Vampire bat Sinner of Arackniss, died in the early 90's) In life she was known as the Russian Bandit and began stealing from a young age to provide for herself. Tatiana died when she was accidentally caught in the middle of a mafia terf war. In death, a demon offered her a deal to serve him and in return, have his protection and a chance to ovoid the horrors of hell. Mother of Webs, she never really meant to have children, but is trying her best with her new life. Death:- (God of Death himself) Death is the calm god of the after life and is the usual one to calm Life down. Has a 'slight' attraction to Life which only his Reaper Grim knows about, and is the only one to ever see her eyes. Death has endless patience dealing with the many souls to lead them to judgement, but anything he doesn't feel like doing is dealt with by his reaper. He's a little self conscious about his looks and how people picture him. Life:- (Goddess of Life herself) Mother Nature, Earth, Life. She has many names. She's the mother to all creations and is possibly the most motherly woman anyone would meet. But she also comes with a high temper and anger towards man kind for hurting her Earth and the many creatures on it. Her favorite was the pure being she made from stardust and angel feathers. Responsible for Amalfia's death and regrets it now. She is often stopped by Death before she can do anything bad and she is greatful to him. Clockwsworth:- (Child spirit burnt at the stake. Died in the 1500s) No one knows Clocksworth's real name, so he goes by the nickname one of his children gave him. Clocksworth was burnt at the stake after being captured by religious nuts and sent to hell for his murders. In death, he was experimented on and put back together by a mad scientist before escaping. He now runs the Cat's Eye Children's Home in hell and takes in any child left on his doorstep, often recruiting them into Charlie's program. He also may or may not have a thing for one of his daugther's teachers. Dawn crackship child, wolf demon, Queeny x Mickey) Dawn was the accident of too much booze and two demons. While she resides with her mother at the hotel, her father often has to sneak out or pay his twin to take his place to see her. The only ones to know of her existance on her father's side is her father and her father's twin brother. Dawn is about 2 years old and it's unsure if she has any powers from her mother yet.

[djesusgetnaked]

Star Fire (Chapter 1)

A/N: This is a soulmate AU and a multiple chapters fanfiction ! There are already 13 chapters planned. Why do I always want to write too much ? Though I really have fun writing this story. Hope you enjoy as much as I do.

moodboard // playlist (Because when I want to write but I feel lazy, those are always a good excuse.)

Thanks to my baby hedgekey for the wonderful aesthetic.

@locke-writes & @ghostofachancewithyou all my love, as always. And @judy-jetson-hookah ily too okay ??

Warnings: None, for now.

Here comes that electric spark in your eyes. Turning me into flames. All these explosions go off in the night. Don't let them fade away. I'm under attack. There's no turning back. Lighting me up you're the weapon of desire. Burn like a starfire. It had always troubled him.

It was common knowledge that people had either the first name of their soulmate somewhere on their body or a clock, which kept running down until they met their other half.

It shouldn’t have been different for Rafael, because he wasn’t different from any other person. Even if sometimes he felt bit out of place, like being a small, sickly and clever boy living in the Bronx. Or being a Cuban who lived in the Bronx and went to Harvard to become a great lawyer. But it was normal, right? Everyone in their life feels different from time to time. It was no big deal.

Or he thought so, trying desperately to persuade himself. Because of the fact that he was different, an exception from others.

Rafael Barba had a first name and a clock on his skin. It didn’t make any sense for him or for anyone. During over 35 years, he tried to find someone else who had both too, but it seemed that he was really the only one in this situation. And nobody could tell him why he was that way.

In the end it didn’t change anything. He assumed he would meet this “Lou” when his clock would mark a perfect zero. But he always had been a thinker and he just wanted to know why he was the only one of his kind.

With time he simply accepted to drop the subject because he wasn’t going anywhere with it. He hardly thought about it now, forced himself not to. But sometimes as he rolled up his sleeves, his attention was drawn to his marked wrist. He would tell himself he didn’t believe in this soulmate nonsense, his work life was more important to him. Even so the truth was that it was terribly curious.

A glass of scotch in front of him, he couldn’t help but smile while Liv was gabbling about this new agent in training that her squad would have to work with, for an entire year, beginning next Monday. She couldn’t decide her mind. In one hand she was satisfied to have one more police officer to work for her, because they had been short staffed for months. On the other hand she wanted an experienced detective, not someone they would have to explain all the complexities of the job.

“Oh come on. You’re overthinking this.”

She stared at him, which only made his smirk bigger. Both of them had the bad habit of overanalyzing everything. It was part of their jobs and unfortunately it had become an occupational hazard.

“Liv, the thing is you don’t really have a choice. You’ve been complaining for weeks because you don’t have enough staff. And NYPD wants to train future new detectives. It’s not a bad thing, actually. When they graduate, they’ll already have field experiences. You’ll just have to make the best out of it.”

It seemed that his words made her think for a few seconds before she sighed. She knew he was right. She finished her glass of wine and Rafael ordered another round with two fingers waving in the air. Seeing the usual gesture the bartender nodded knowingly.

“Beside it’s always a pleasure to meet a new recruit in your elite squad.”

The smirk on his face was anything but helpful. He was her friend but right now she wasn’t sure if she could trust him to be a real moral support. The ADA was known to be a smart ass and she had no doubt he wouldn’t hesitate to make sassy comments on her misfortune.

“Well, that’s not what you said about Carisi.”

Suddenly his arrogant smile disappeared. He couldn’t deny that Carisi was a brilliant detective. But his obsession to impress him with law observations tended to exhaust him. When she gauged his reaction she burst out laugh.

Obviously she was nervous. She wasn’t shy at all, on the contrary she was one that other people would naturally notice and remember. Some would say she was kind of charismatic, with her big smile and her spontaneous confidence. But as she was walking in the precinct, she felt very little and wanted to disappear somewhere else as much as she wanted to start ardently working with the SVU. She knew herself. She was clever and she totally could make the best first impression. But she was also very human and could become the most awkward person in the entire world when she was much too too self-conscious. The problem was that she never knew which one it was going to be. She took a deep breath and walked in, praying for her friendly personality to save her in tight situation one more time.

Fortunately for her, the entire squad seemed quite friendly. All of them had a strong bond, which was only understandable as they worked together every day and had a very emotional job. But they made an effort for her to feel comfortable around them quickly.

Only Olivia Benson seemed to be a bit more distant with her. She couldn’t blame the older woman. She knew she was undeniably younger than them. She had no doubt as she was still in training she had been imposed to the squad. And as a Lieutenant she only wanted what was best for her team. Besides she didn’t feel any bitterness from a new boss and was grateful for a healthy work atmosphere.

“Don’t worry doll, I’ve got your back.”

She frowned, mostly because she was startled and amused. Who still called people “doll” these days? She wasn’t sure if it was still a common thing, but she surprised herself to think that it suited him. Sonny was a radiant human being. He never stopped smiling at her since she introduced herself and tried hard to integrate her by making random and funny comments. Yes, his nickname was kind of perfect for who he was.

“Y’know, I was like you few years ago. I was the newbie among them and all.”

She quickly returned his smile, realizing she had been lost in thoughts for a few moments. He was really friendly and made her feel good about herself, about her choice to work with the SVU. She was so glad that Benson decided to put him as her partner.

“Well, it’s really reassuring to know I already have a knight in a shining armor to protect me.” she replied joyfully, playing his own sweet game very easily.

She swore she could see him lightly blush and she would have giggled about it if Benson hadn’t stormed out in the main room to tell them they had a new case.

If she had to be completely honest she was relieved that her first case wasn’t about child abuse. But fortunately she didn’t have to tell so out loud as she was still trying to make a good impression. She knew rapes weren’t less important, but there was something about broken kids that made her want to scream in deep anger. Life is hard enough and she really thought years of pure innocence were essentials.

Her attention snapped back to the board, where a picture of the victim was posted, as well as a bunch of pictures of potential suspects, all very rich and powerful.

Obviously, the case could have been easier. It dumbfounded her but didn’t shock her, that rape cases were so difficult to prove and to convince to a jury. What was wrong with the world? Everything. But the fact that the victim was a stripper and didn’t recall who raped her because she was probably drugged by one of her rich clients, didn’t help at all.

As Sonny was gesticulating in front of the board, while Lieutenant Benson was telling them what to do next for their investigation, Barba walked in the precinct with his usual confidence and determination.

“Hey counselor, your timing couldn’t get better.” Sonny greeted the man, and the new agent’s eyes turned to this man in a beautiful and elegant suit.

Benson didn’t wait for his friend to respond to the Italian detective. “Ah Barba, this is our agent in training.”

When she heard a boss was presenting herself to the new arriving, she immediately stood up, observing the man while he did the same thing, unashamed.

“You’re young.” She fought the urged to raise an eyebrow, as she usually did when her friends tried to give her shit and fight with her on smart-ass comments. She didn’t know him, but she guessed he always chose his words wisely. He was testing her.

“And you’re wearing suspenders. I guess it creates a concrete gap between my baby age and the fact you were born in the 19th century.” She didn’t hesitate one second before snapping at him the same way he did, though there wasn’t any animosity in her voice.

There was a silence for a few seconds, people startled by her reaction and waiting to see what Barba was going to do. Eventually he smiled, maybe a bit impressed by her comment and her “I don’t take shit” attitude.

“You’re sassy, I like that. I’m ADA Rafael Barba.”

He stretched out his hand towards her, and she seemed to freeze for whatever reason, before she shook his hand. But it was so quick that he wasn’t sure.

“I’m Lou.”

He didn’t know if it was due to her name, or the feel of her hand in his, but he felt suddenly really dizzy. His vision began to blur, he could feel his heart hammering in his chest, and he had trouble breathing.

He withdrew his hand, and opened his mouth to say something. But as he thought the feeling would disappear, it just got stronger until the world was spinning all around him.

And everything went dark.

[thewordcollector2]

And Then There Was Rain: 35+ Uplifting Reminders for Those Rainy Days

Bismillaahir-Rahmaanir-Raheem بسم الله الرّحمن الرّحيم… In the name of Allah (God), the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Assalaamu 'alaikum السّلام عليكم… Peace be with you

Hi, Readers :). There are those times in life when we experience dismal days. These are the days when you feel like the world is coming to an end, and everything just seems to be going downhill. During these moments you feel gutted (down or depressed), and as if a dark cloud is following you everywhere. But fear not! Your days will not always be sunless and cheerless, as sadness never lasts forever. There is hope in the rain, and you just need to hold on, InshaaAllah إن شاء الله (God willing)! :)

Persian / Farsi Idiom: Havaa-toh daaram هواتو دارم / I have your back.

Literal Translation: I have your air / weather.

Today, I wish to bring back some hope, optimism and confidence in YOU. This post is mostly centered around rainy days* (figurative and literal). It is especially for the downhearted, but anyone is welcome to read. Please try some of my reinvigorating treatment. Don't worry, it's totally safe and poison-free. And, guess what? It won't cost you a dime. Happy swallowing! :)

*rainy day

(n.) A time of need or trouble. (The Free Dictionary)

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Important Notice:

Readers, I apologise for the unclickable URLs and hyperlinks in this post. My blog seems to have a glitch right now, so please be patient with me. Thank you for your understanding, and again I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience.

For the while, you guys can copy and paste URLs (web addresses) from the "Sources, Credits and Further Reading" section to the address bar (location bar or URL bar) of your web browser, and then hit / press "Enter" to visit them.

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25+ Inspirationally Refreshful Quotes for Rainy Days

"Don't confuse your path with your destination. Just because it's stormy now doesn't mean that you aren't headed for sunshine."

Only a select few are able to see the true beauty that lies behind what just might seem like a rainy day or a grey sky. ~Jessica M. Laar

Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder. ~Rumi

Fall seven times, stand up eight. ~Japanese proverb*

*Japanese Idiom - Wiktionary

七転び八起き (hiragana ななころびやおき, rōmaji nana korobi ya oki)

Meaning:

the ups and downs of life (lit. seven falls, eight get-ups)

Note:

"This proverb implies that you have a lot of ups and downs throughout your life, but you will be fine at the end. It encourages you to tackle your problems again and again until you overcome it, even when you cannot see the light. This is often used when you want to encourage somebody facing difficult problems." (Japanese Words of Wisdom)

Let a smile be your umbrella on a rainy day. ~Perry Como

If you have the power to make someone happy, do it. The world needs more of that. ~Anonymous

Do right. Do your best. Treat others as you want to be treated. ~Lou Holtz

"Thank Allah* for what you have. Trust Allah for what you need."

*"Allah الله is the Arabic word for God in Abrahamic religions. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from al-ilāh, which means 'the god', and is related to El and Elah, the Hebrew and Aramaic words for God.

The word Allah has been used by Arabic people of different religions since pre-Islamic times. More specifically, it has been used as a term for God by Muslims [both Arab and non-Arab] and Arab Christians." (Wikipedia)

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other. ~Abraham Lincoln

Everyone wants happiness; no one wants pain. But you can't have a rainbow without a little rain. ~Zion Lee

Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud. ~Maya Angelou

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. ~Maya Angelou

HasbunAllaahu wa ni'mal Wakeel حَسْبُنَا اللَّهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ.

"Allāh is sufficient for us and He is the Best Guardian."

(Qur'ān, Sūrat Āl 'Imrān)

Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it. ~Mohandas Gandhi

When you feel like giving up and quitting, remember why you started in the first place. ~Unknown

Without rain nothing grows, learn to embrace the storms of your life. ~Expanded Consciousness

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. ~Dolly Parton

Learn Something New: Island Talk

Caribbean Idiom: Guava Season

Guava

Meaning:

"The term 'guava season' is used to describe a period of difficulty, of economic woe and hardship, when there is nothing to eat but wild fruit like guava… when it used to be wild."

(Guava Superfruit | The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper)

When it rains look for rainbows, when it's dark look for stars. ~Oscar Wilde

Predicting rain doesn't count. Building arks does. ~Warren Buffett

Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet. ~Roger Miller

A true friend is like an umbrella that opens her heart to protect you on those rainy days. ~Debasish Mridha

"Good friends will come out, even on rainy days, if we need shelter."

"Sometimes life just calls for an umbrella."

No matter how much it rains, there is a place in you that never stops shining. ~Princess Sassy Pants & Co.

Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will. ~Zig Ziglar

"Life is like a rainbow. You need both the sun and the rain to make its colors appear."

"God didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way."

Ya Allah يا الله (O God), please enlighten the darkness of my heart. Aameen آمين

A gentle word, like summer rain, may soothe some heart and banish pain. What joy or sadness often springs, from just the simple little things! ~Willa Hoey

"In our lives there is bound to come some pain, surely as there are storms and falling rain; just believe that the One who holds the storms will bring the sun."

"And O my people! Ask forgiveness of your Lord, and turn to Him (in repentance): He will send you the skies pouring abundant rain, and add strength to your strength: so turn ye not back in sin!"

The Qur'aan 11:52

When someone is mean, don't listen. When someone is rude, walk away. When someone tries to put you down, stand firm. Don't let someone's bad behaviour destroy your inner peace. ~Author Unknown

Don't let insignificant / trivial / little things break (destroy) your happiness.

Arabic Transliteration 1: Laa taj'al al-ashyaa'a at-taafihata tudammiru sa'aadataka لَا تَجْعَل الْأَشْيَاءَ التَّافِهَةَ تُدَمِّر سَعَادَتَكَ.

Arabic Transliteration 2: Laa tada' al-ashyaa' at-taafihah tudammir sa'aadatak لاتدع الأشياء التافهة تدمر سعادتك.

Have patience with all things but first with yourself. Never confuse your mistakes with your value as a human being. You are a perfectly valuable, creative, worthwhile person simply because you exist. And no amount of triumphs or tribulations can ever change that. Unconditional self-acceptance is the core of a peaceful mind. ~Francis de Sales*

*Saint Francis of Sales, also called Francis de Sales, French Saint François de Sales

"Let the rain wash away all the pain from yesterday."

Be strong because things will get better. It might be stormy now but it can't rain forever. ~Hailee

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... It's about learning to run in the rain."

After a storm comes a calm. ~Matthew Henry

Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come. ~Robert H. Schuller

If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm. ~Frank Lane

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them—every day begin the task anew. ~Francis de Sales

"For indeed, with hardship [will be] ease. Indeed, with hardship [will be] ease."

(Al Qur'aan, 94: 5-6)

An Inspiring Pick-Me-Up Poem for People Who Feel Like Giving Up

Don't Quit by John Greenleaf Whittier

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,

When the road you're trudging (walking) seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is strange with its twists and turns

As every one of us sometimes learns

And many a failure comes about

When he might have won had he stuck it out;

Don't give up though the pace seems slow—

You may succeed with another blow.

There is no success without hardship. - Sophocles

Success is failure turned inside out—

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell just how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far;

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit—

It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

This poem is in the public domain.

“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”  ― Oscar Wilde

Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book. ~Bill Watterson

12 Lovely Little Words for Rain Addicts

rain

(n.) water falling in drops condensed from vapor in the atmosphere (Merriam-Webster)

rain cloud / raincloud

(n.) a cloud (as a nimbus) bringing rain (Merriam-Webster)

cloudburst

(n.) a sudden, very heavy rain (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)

pluvial

adj.

1. Of or relating to rain; rainy.

2. Marked or formed by abundant rainfall: pluvial periods; a pluvial lake.

n.

An extended period of abundant rainfall, especially such a period of the Pleistocene Epoch. (American Heritage Dictionary)

Pluviophile - Wiktionary

English

Etymology

From Latin pluvia +‎ -phile.

Noun

pluviophile (plural pluviophiles)

1. (biology) Any organism that thrives in conditions of heavy rainfall

2. One who loves rain, a rain-lover

Pluviophile: (n.) a lover of rain; someone who finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days.

ombrophile (ombrophil)

(n.) a plant which survives well or flourishes in rainy conditions (Collins English Dictionary)

ombrophilous (ombrophilic)

(adj.) of a plant: capable of withstanding or thriving in the presence of much rain (Merriam-Webster)

bibliophile

(n.) a person who loves or collects books (Cambridge English Dictionary)

mizzle

(n.) light rain; drizzle. (Oxford Dictionaries)

pitter-patter

(n.) the sound of a rapid succession of light beats or taps, as of rain, footsteps, etc. (Dictionary.com)

petrichor

[pe-trahy-kawr, ‐ker]

(n.) a distinctive scent, usually described as earthy, pleasant, or sweet, produced by rainfall on very dry ground. (Dictionary.com)

rainstorm

(n.) A storm with heavy rain. (Oxford Dictionaries)

Did you know?

The word “pitter-patter” is an example of an onomatopoeia. The following is the definition of “onomatopoeia”: “Onomatopoeia is when a word’s pronunciation imitates its sound. When you say an onomatopoeic word, the utterance itself is reminiscent of the sound to which the word refers.”

(101 Onomatopoeia Examples | Ereading Worksheets)

Fikar mat karo, sab theek ho jayega فکر مت کرو، سب ٹھیک ہو جائے گا = "Don't worry, everything will be okay / fine" in Urdu

"Rain" in 23 Languages

Afrikaans: reën

Arabic: maṭar مَطَر

Estonian: vihm

Finnish: sade

French: pluie

Greek: vrochí βροχή

Hausa: ruwa, ruwan sama

Hawaiian: ka ua (pronounced 'kah-oo-ah')

Hindi-Urdu: baarish बारिश  بارش

Italian: pioggia

Japanese: ame 雨  あめ

Latin: pluvia

Malay: hujan (the 'h' is silent)

Mandarin: yǔ 雨

Persian / Farsi: bârân باران‎‎

Portuguese: chuva

Spanish: lluvia

Swahili: mvua

Tagalog / Filipino: ulan

Thai: fǒn ฝน

Turkish: rahmet

Welsh: glaw

Yoruba: ojo

How to Say "Enjoy the rain" in Arabic, Indonesian, Malaysian and Spanish

Arabic: Istamti' bil-maTar اِسْتَمْتِعْ بِالْمَطَرِ

Indonesian (bahasa Indonesia): Selamat menikmati hujan

Malaysian (bahasa Malaysia): Selamat berhujan / Selamat berhujan-hujan / Selamat berhujan-hujanan*

*rough translations

Spanish: Disfruta de la lluvia

It's Raining Wisdom: 7 Fantabulous International Proverbs

Prepare the umbrella before it rains / Sediakan payung sebelum hujan. ~Malay Proverb

Meanings:

- "Prevention is better than cure." (steemKR)

- "Always be cautious when you can sense danger." (steemKR)

- "Thatch your roof before the rain begins." (Peribahasa Melayu dan Inggeris)

- "Dig the well before you are thirsty." ( Peribahasa Melayu dan Inggeris)

The sign (i.e. precursor) of rain is clouds / Dalili ya mvua ni mawingu. ~Swahili proverb

Meaning:

"Pay attention to indications for something which is going to happen." (www.kiswahili.net)

How beautiful it is to see the rain and not get wet / How nice to see the rain and not get wet / Qué bonito es ver la lluvia y no mojarse. ~Spanish Proverb

Meanings:

- "Don't criticize others for the way they do something unless you've done it yourself." (BuzzFeed)

- "Criticism is easy, art is difficult." (Culture Trip)

All clouds bring not rain. ~English Saying

Meaning:

"We can rephrase this: 'Not every cloud brings rain.' And that's true. Sometimes there are many clouds in the sky, but it doesn't rain. Don't judge things by appearances." (EnglishClub)

Kay koule twompe soley soley men li pa twompe lapil / Kay koule twompe soley men li pa twompe lapli / Kay koule tronpe soley men li pa tronpe lapli / A leaky house can fool the sun, but it can't fool the rain / A leaking roof may fool sunny weather, but cannot fool the rain. ~Haitian proverb

Meaning:

"When things are going well, it is easy for us to appear solid, intact, grounded, strong, etc., but it is during and after a crisis, loss, failure, or other misfortune that we discover the power of our resilience i.e. our courage, fortitude and stamina." (Quozio)

There is no bad weather, there are only bad clothes / There's no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes / Det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder. ~Swedish proverb

Meaning:

"Any weather is tolerable as long as you have the right clothing." (Wikiquote)

Rain wets a leopard's skin, but it does not wash out the spots / Rain beats a leopard's skin but does not wash off the spots. ~Ashanti Proverb from Ghana

Meaning:

"In life each person will encounter hardship, which in this proverb is represented by rain. The supposition that rain cannot wash out a leopard's spots alludes to the fact that hardship is temporary and can only strengthen a person in the end. Eventually the rain will stop falling, and all things can be overcome." (DePauw University)

Miscellaneous Section: 3 Special Islamic Prayers

Du'aa* of Prophet Musa, aka Moses (AS)

رَبِّ إِنِّي لِمَا أَنْزَلْتَ إِلَيَّ مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَقِيرٌ

Rabbi innee limaa anzalta ilayya min khairin faqeer.

Translation:

"O my Lord, truly I am in need of whatever good You bestow on me."

(Surat al-Qasas, 28:24)

*prayer, supplication, etc. = du'aa دُعَاء (Arabic)

Du'aa (Supplication) for Distress, Sadness and Anxiety

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ الْهَمِّ وَالْحُزْنِ وَالْعَجْزِ وَالْكَسَلِ, وَالْبُخْلِ وَالْجُبْنِ وَضَلَعِ الدَّيْنِ, وَغَلَبَةِ الرِّجَالِ

Allaahumma innee a'oodhu bika minal-hammi wal-ḥuzni wal-'ajzi wal-kasali wal-bukhli wal-jubni wa ḍala'id-daini wa ghalabatir-rijaal.

"O Allah [God], I take refuge in You from anxiety and sorrow, weakness and laziness, miserliness and cowardice, the burden of debts and from being overpowered by men."

or...

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ الْهَمِّ وَالْحَزَنِ، وَالْعَجْزِ وَالْكَسَلِ، وَالْجُبْنِ وَالْبُخْلِ، وَضَلَعِ الدَّيْنِ، وَغَلَبَةِ الرِّجَالِ

Allaahumma innee a'oodhu bika minal-hammi wal-ḥazani wal-'ajzi wal-kasali wal-jubni wal-bukhli wa ḍala'id-daini wa ghalabatir-rijaal.

"O Allah [God]! I seek refuge with You from worry and grief, from incapacity and laziness, from cowardice and miserliness, from being heavily in debt and from being overpowered by [other] men."

Du'aa (prayer) for when it rains

اللَّهُمَّ صَيِّبًا نَافِعًا

Allaahumma ṣayyiban naafi'an.

"O Allah [God], may it be a beneficial rain cloud."

Was this entry interesting? If so, you may also want to read "23 Courage Quotes to Spark Your Inner Spunk", InshaaAllah إن شاء الله. Here ya go:

http://thewordcollector2.tumblr.com/post/168641993628/23-courage-quotes-to-spark-your-inner-spunk

Sources, Credits and Further Reading:

https://visionpdf.com/guide-to-persian-phrases-learn-persian-with-chai-and-convers.html

https://golbou.com/2014/09/09/13-things-persians-say-that-dont-make-sense-in-translation/

https://pixabay.com/

https://svgsilh.com/8bc34a/

https://www.pexels.com/

https://www.maxpixel.net/

https://pixlr.com/

https://www.freeonlinephotoeditor.com/

https://quotescover.com/

https://spark.adobe.com/home/

https://www.fotor.com/

https://www.postermywall.com/

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/rainy+day

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rainy_day

http://quoteshunter.com/rainy-day-quotes/

http://www.amyreesanderson.com/blog/just-because-its-stormy-now-doesnt-mean-you-arent-headed-for-sunshine/#.Wz-g9cInZVc

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/428038-raise-your-words-not-voice-it-is-rain-that-grows

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/here-there-and-everywhere/201201/40-quotes-help-you-get-through-the-day

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B8%83%E8%BB%A2%E3%81%B3%E5%85%AB%E8%B5%B7%E3%81%8D#Japanese

This post includes text from the Wiktionary entry, “七転び八起き - Wiktionary”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution license, CC By-SA 3.0.

The License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

About CC BY-SA 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

https://wisdomjapan.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/falling_down_getting_up/

https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/you-have-the-power-make-someone-happy.html

https://sms4islam.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/thank-allah-for-what-you-have/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allah

This post includes text from the Wikipedia article, "Allah - Wikipedia", available under the Creative Commons Attribution license, CC By-SA 3.0.

The License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

About CC BY-SA 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/everydayinspiration/2014/06/10-inspirational-quotes-to-lift-you-up-when-life-is-hard.html

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/maya_angelou_578763

https://dailyduaa.com/2015/06/16/allah-is-sufficient-for-us/

https://livelifehappy.com/life-quotes/without-rain-nothing-grows-learn-to-embrace/

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/dolly_parton_126882

http://www.guardian.co.tt/lifestyle/2016-06-19/guava-superfruit

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/8192295-when-it-rains-look-for-rainbows-when-it-s-dark-look

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/warren_buffett_701497

http://www.doublequotes.net/quotes/roger-miller-quotes-some-people-walk-in-the-rain-others-just-get-wet

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7366105-a-true-friend-is-like-an-umbrella-that-opens-her

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/zig_ziglar_125675

http://www.quotes.thinkexist.com/quotation/life_is_like_a_rainbow-you_need_both_the_sun_and/341219.html

http://www.quotes.thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/rain/

http://www.geocities.ws/yapikachu/q/4b.html

http://www.alquranenglish.com/quran-surah-hud-52-qs-11-52-in-arabic-and-english-translation

https://www.facebook.com/InspirePositiveSoulSensations/posts/don%27t-let-someone%27s-bad-behaviour/1325631677548002/

https://www.facebook.com/MadinahArabicTuition/photos/a.10151510339920659.1073741827.286005100658/10156236001130659/?type=3&theater

https://deskgram.org/p/1405753660075528097_2352741257

http://www.wordreference.com/aren/%D8%AA%D9%8E%D8%A7%D9%81%D9%90%D9%87

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%B1#Arabic

http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/trivial?s=t

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/842634-have-patience-with-all-things-but-first-with-yourself-never

http://whisper.sh/whisper/05185b0e678eaa3115941ef48d977f65978fca/Let-the-rain-wash-awayAll-the-pain-from-yesterday

http://www.wisdomquotesandstories.com/be-strong-now-because-things-will-get-better/

https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/storm

https://www.passiton.com/inspirational-quotes/3300-have-patience-with-all-things-but-chiefly-have

https://www.facebook.com/TheDeenShowTV/posts/10151485143556104

https://quran.com/94

http://www.yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=1820

http://amante-de-idiomas.tumblr.com/post/131700163570/arabic-english-translation-lan-astaslima-abadan

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/880713-rainy-days-should-be-spent-at-home-with-a-cup

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rain

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rain%20cloud

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/cloudburst

https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=pluvial

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pluviophile

This post includes text from the Wiktionary entry, “pluviophile - Wiktionary”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution license, CC By-SA 3.0.

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https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pluviophile

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ombrophile

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ombrophilous

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/bibliophile

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/mizzle

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/pitter-patter

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/petrichor

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/rainstorm

http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-onomatopoeia-for-kids.html

https://www.ereadingworksheets.com/figurative-language/poetic-devices/onomatopoeia-examples/

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101219125603AAkUquh

https://translate.google.tt/?hl=en&tab=wT#ur/en/%D9%81%DA%A9%D8%B1%20%D9%85%D8%AA%20%DA%A9%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%8C%20%D8%B3%D8%A8%20%D9%B9%DA%BE%DB%8C%DA%A9%20%DB%81%D9%88%20%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%A6%DB%92%20%DA%AF%D8%A7

http://amante-de-idiomas.tumblr.com/post/153831423205/dont-worry-fikar-mat-karo-%D9%81%DA%A9%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%AA-%DA%A9%D8%B1%D9%88-urdu

https://www.scoopwhoop.com/Rain-In-Different-Languages/#.ya12cdqsb

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rain#Translations

This post includes text from the Wiktionary entry, “rain - Wiktionary”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution license, CC By-SA 3.0.

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https://www.freearabicdictionary.com/dictionary/search/%D9%85%D8%B7%D8%B1

http://hausadictionary.com/rain#Noun

https://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/archive/index.php/t-114712.html

http://ka-ua.com/about/

https://www.rekhta.org/urdudictionary/?lang=1&keyword=barish

http://www.faena.com/aleph/articles/50-words-to-describe-rain-in-japanese/

http://tureng.com/en/turkish-english/rain

https://translate.google.tt/?hl=en&tab=wT#en/yo/rain

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%B9#Arabic

https://www.freearabicdictionary.com/dictionary/search/%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%B9

https://www.freearabicdictionary.com/dictionary/search/%D9%85%D8%B7%D8%B1

https://translate.google.tt/?hl=en&tab=wT#ar/en/%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%B9%20%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B7%D8%B1

https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-say-Enjoy-the-rain-in-Arabic-Can-it-be-translated-as-Istamti-bil-maTar-%D8%A7%D9%90%D8%B3%D9%92%D8%AA%D9%8E%D9%85%D9%92%D8%AA%D9%90%D8%B9%D9%92

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/have_fun

https://id.oxforddictionaries.com/translate/indonesian-english/selamat

https://id.oxforddictionaries.com/translate/indonesian-english/menikmati

https://id.oxforddictionaries.com/translate/indonesian-english/hujan

http://masteringbahasa.com/indonesian-daily-words

https://translate.google.tt/?hl=en&tab=wT#id/en/Selamat%20menikmati%20hujan

https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-say-Happy-rainy-day-in-Malay-Can-it-be-translated-as-Selamat-hari-hujan

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disfrutar#Spanish

https://cooljugator.com/es/disfrutar

http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/disfrutar%20de

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-spanish/enjoy

https://www.lawlessspanish.com/grammar/verbs/verbs-with-de/

http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=rain

https://translate.google.tt/?hl=en&tab=wT#es/en/Disfruta%20la%20lluvia

https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-say-Enjoy-the-rain-in-Spanish-Can-it-be-translated-as-Disfruta-la-lluvia

https://steemkr.com/teammalaysia/@asyrafahamed/malay-proverb-in-english-part-1

https://peribahasa-melayu-inggeris.blogspot.com/2014/06/sediakan-payung-sebelum-hujan.html

http://www.kiswahili.net/3-reference-works/proverbs-and-riddles/proverbs-content.html

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jameschapman/spanish-proverbs-translated-literally-into-english?utm_term=.imWdvXWv4#.ue16W2zW4

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/spain/articles/11-proverbs-in-spanish-that-make-no-sense-in-english/

https://www.englishclub.com/ref/esl/Sayings/Quizzes/Looks/All_clouds_bring_not_rain_511.php

http://www.haitianproverbs.com/

http://www.gwenstrauss.com/fooling_the_sun_110228.htm

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Haitian_proverbs

This post includes text from the Wikiquote page, "Talk:Haitian proverbs - Wikiquote", available under the Creative Commons Attribution license, CC By-SA 3.0.

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http://quozio.com/quote/47547bcc#!t=1006

https://blogs.transparent.com/swedish/swedish-proverbs-2/

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Swedish_proverbs

This post includes text from the Wikiquote page, "Swedish proverbs - Wikiquote", available under the Creative Commons Attribution license, CC By-SA 3.0.

The License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

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http://academic.depauw.edu/mkfinney_web/teaching/Com227/culturalPortfolios/GHANA/Values%20and%20Proverbs.html

https://books.google.tt/books?id=NeePAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA352&lpg=PA352&dq=Rain+beats+a+leopard%27s+skin,+but+it+does+not+wash+off+the+spots.&source=bl&ots=gSVeWfi8zn&sig=2WU3Qdjm_G6BohCYRvAywavQ02A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDlbeW07fcAhUN2VMKHQGyAz8Q6AEIgQEwCg#v=onepage&q=Rain%20beats%20a%20leopard's%20skin%2C%20but%20it%20does%20not%20wash%20off%20the%20spots.&f=false

https://www.freearabicdictionary.com/dictionary/search/%D8%AF%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%A1

https://blog.islamiconlineuniversity.com/dua-musa-alayhisalam/

http://seekershub.org/ans-blog/2012/09/26/supplication-for-a-spouse/

https://muslimmatters.org/2010/02/10/the-supplication-series-distress-sadness-and-anxiety-2/

http://thebeautyofislam.tumblr.com/post/15660867741

https://sunnah.com/bukhari/80/66

http://duas.com/dua/312/dua-when-it-is-raining

https://slideplayer.es/slide/4621550/

http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/the%20sun

http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/the%20clouds

http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/the%20flowers

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/atardecer#Spanish

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/paseo#Spanish

http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/por%20el%20campo

http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/porque

http://www.spanishdict.com/translation

https://translate.google.tt/?hl=en&tab=wT#es/en/Disfruta%20de%20la%20lluvia%2C%20del%20sol%2C%20de%20las%20nubes%2C%20de%20las%20flores%2C%20de%20los%20atardeceres%20y%20de%20los%20paseos%20por%20el%20campo%2C%20porque%20todo%20est%C3%A1%20ah%C3%AD%20para%20ti

https://www.quora.com/What-does-this-Spanish-sentence-mean-in-English-Disfruta-de-la-lluvia-del-sol-de-las-nubes-de-las-flores-de-los-atardeceres-y-de-los-paseos-por-el-campo-porque-todo-est%C3%A1-ah%C3%AD-para-ti-Also-is-it

Dios te bendiga hoy, mañana y siempre - God bless you today, tomorrow and forever (Spanish)

May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you and all your heart might desire. ~Irish Blessing

Okay readers, that's it for today. I hope that my remedy worked well. No need to worry, the treatment only has favourable side effects :). Do enjoy the rest of your summer days, InshaaAllah إن شاء الله. Keep well, Wassalaam 'alaikum والسّلام عليكم (and peace be with you)! :) :-h

Thank you for stopping by,

Sam سام.

"Enjoy the rain, the sun, the clouds, the flowers, the sunsets and the walks in the countryside, because it's all there for you / Disfruta de la lluvia, del sol, de las nubes, de las flores, de los atardeceres y de los paseos por el campo, porque todo está ahí para ti." (Spanish)

[thebluesideofmyworld]

Emotions: Pain - A Solangelo Fic

Summary: pain (n): 1. emotional distress or suffering 2. mental suffering

Word Count: 2200 words || Rating: Teenage and Up Audience || Read on AO3

Author’s Notes: Just a heads up, this chapter is a bit heavier than what I usually write, as it talks about some PTSD issue. I try to make it not too explicit, so the PTSD things only show up in their conversation.

***

It was not a big deal. Just something that Will said about how Nico could do such a better job in helping him cutting the bandages and doing the inventory than anyone else. It was just a simple thing. Just the way Austin always waved at him excitedly whenever Nico walked in to the infirmary. And really, it was not that important, how Kayla actually responded to Nico’s sarcastic comment with the same sassiness.

But those small, simple things were the things that made Nico spent more and more time in the infirmary. Those were the simple things that made Nico felt like a normal teenager with some friends. And Nico slowly built his daily routine in the camp based on those routines. On how he would spend most of his spare time in the infirmary, helping Will or sometimes just hung out. On how he talked with Austin about music and other things. On how he and Kayla listened to Lou Ellen gossiping about things that were happening in the camp, throwing comments and remarks here and there where Lou Ellen would roll her eyes while Austin and Will would laugh at what Nico and Kayla had to say about those gossip.

And Nico had always been a good observer. That was how he could sense that even though the normal routine still looked the same, something was off.

Yes, Will showed up for breakfast that morning with that smile on his face.

But Nico could see that the smile did not really reach Will’s eyes.

From where he was sitting, Nico could see Will was laughing at whatever it was that his siblings were talking in their table. But he could see the moment where Will’s face would look blank for just a fleeting second.

So when he walked into the infirmary that day and did not find Will sitting behind the desk like where people would usually find him, Nico was not exactly surprised.

“Where’s Will?” He asked Austin who was cleaning his saxophone.

Austin lifted his head up. He looked a bit hesitant, and when he answered Nico, he looked like half-cringing.

“He’s…not here?”

“Yeah. I can see that,” Nico said. “Where is he?”

Nico knew that his tone sounded a bit sharper than usual, but he could not really care about it. Not when he could feel that something is not alright with Will. And it worried him.

Austin glanced at Kayla and for a second, it seemed like they had a secret conversation without saying a word.

Nico’s heart beat slightly faster with nervousness. For reasons he still could not understand yet, Nico wanted to know whether Will was okay.

“Is he okay?”

Austin looked at him with a strange look, as if he was contemplating whether he could trust Nico or no. But it was Kayla who answered him.

“I think he’s at the lake. At the dock.”

“Oh. Okay,” Nico said. “Thanks.” Nico quickly turned on his heels. But Nico had only taken two steps when Kayla called him.

“Hey, Nico?”

“Yeah?” Nico turned around.

Kayla took a deep breath and let it out in a huff. “Will is probably…not his usual self today.”

Nico didn’t really understand what Kayla meant, but he nodded anyway.

“Okay,” he said. He turned around again, and made his way out of the infirmary.

***

As Kayla said, Will was sitting at the dock by the lake. Nico could only see his back, but from the way his shoulders were hunching down, Nico knew that Will was probably not just relaxing and enjoying the view.

Nico slowly walked closer to where Will was sitting. He stopped about two steps away from where Will was sitting.

Will turned his head. When his eyes met Nico’s, he looked slightly surprised, like he was not expecting that it was Nico, of all people.

“Hey,” Nico said, sliding his hands into his pockets.

Wil tugged up his lips into a small smile. “Hey,” he said, and looked away from Nico, gazing back to the lake.

Nico bit his lower lip, then after two seconds of hesitation, he dropped himself to the plank. He sat next to Will, leaving a reasonable personal space between them.

“You alright?”

It took a beat too long before Will answered him.

“Yeah.”

Nico glanced at Will then gazed at the horizon.

“Don’t lie to me.”

Not just because Nico hated it when someone lied to him. He wanted Will to trust him.

Nico could hear Will let out a long sigh.

“Okay,” Will said. “Maybe I’m not…really alright.”

Nico hummed and nodded lightly. He turned his head again to Will.

“You want me to stay here? Or you feel like you want to be alone?”

Will shrugged his shoulders. “You can stay if you want to,” he said. “We can be alone together.”

Nico arched an eyebrow. “Why do I feel like I’ve heard that line before?”

The corners of Will’s lips twitched. “Maybe because I was kind of quoting Fall Out Boy?”

“Ah, yes. I am pretty sure that I’ve heard their songs quite a lot in the infirmary.”

“Hey, they’re good!”

Nico tried to hold back a small smile. “Yeah, they’re okay.”

Will hummed. He gazed back to the horizon. Following him, Nico looked at the lake. The water glistening under the bright sun.

A few moments passed in silence, until Nico angled his neck a little to look at Will.

“Wanna talk about it?”

Nico didn’t think he’s really good at talking about something that involved emotions. But heck, if it was something that he could do to help Will, if it was something that could make Will feel better, then it’s something that Nico would do.

Will didn’t answer him right the way. He didn’t even look back at Nico, but kept his eyes on the horizon. Nico watched his chest slowly raised up and fell back down as he took a deep breath.

But still, Will didn’t say anything yet.

Nico turned his head away from Will, and watched their distorted reflection on the water.

Three heartbeats passed in silence before Will finally started talking.

“It’s Michael’s birthday today.”

There was a dull pain in Nico’s chest as he nodded at Will’s words. He knew how it hurt so much. Yeah, people said that birthdays were those happy days where you were being reminded about how lucky you were to go through another year in this life, how you were blessed with so many things in this life and whatever.

But birthdays could hurt.

Birthday could hurt when it reminded you of someone who was no longer with you.

“You miss him?” Nico asked.

“A lot.”

Nico nodded again.

“I’ve always wanted to be like him,” Will said, glancing at Nico with a small bittersweet smile, a nostalgic longing look in his eyes. He looked away and sighed. “He was one of those people who never hesitated to stand up for what he thought was right. Even Clarisse didn’t scare him off.”

“He’s a great guy with some attitude,” Nico said, slightly smiling.

“He was. He was awesome.”

Silence fell again between them. Nico still had his head ducked down, and next to him, Will gazed at where the sparkling lake met the sky.

“And when he’s…gone…I didn’t even have the chance to…think about it, you know?”

Nico turned his head but said nothing. Will still held his gaze at the horizon as he continued talking.

“In Manhattan, everything happened so fast, so unreal. It was scary but you saw Michael and you just…believed in him as he told you what you got to do. You were scared of the war, of fighting the monsters but you looked at Michael and he looked so brave it made you feel less scared because you trusted him. Then suddenly… Suddenly they just said Michael’s gone.”

Nico’s heart clenched at how Will’s voice trembled. He stared at Will. At how his eyes glazed and how his shoulders slightly shaking. Will’s hands were clutching the edge of the wooden plank, like he needed to hold on to something.

“They… They just told me that Michael’s gone. I didn’t even have the time to let it sink in when they said that I had to take over.”

Nico shifted closer to Will. He carefully placed his hand over Will’s. “It was so brave of you to do so, Will.  You should be proud of what you have done.” Nico bit his lower lip for a second. “I am proud of you for what you’ve done,” he said sincerely.

Will flashed a glance at him. His lips quirking up a bit into a vague, barely-there smile.

“Thanks,” he whispered and looked away again.

He didn’t say anything for a while.

He didn’t pull away his hand from Nico, so Nico let his hand rested on Will’s.

“Even after Manhattan was over, it still felt unreal sometimes. No longer having Michael around. Having to be the counselor. And sometimes… You know… I just.. I just can’t help to think.. what if…” Will’s voice faltered.

Nico said nothing, but he slowly rubbed small circles on the back of Will’s hand with his thumb.

Will sighed. “And it’s… almost ridiculous. That days just go by and then… suddenly… suddenly shit started to happen again and just like that…puff…” Will moved his other hand in a vague circle. “Suddenly it was just like… Hey, look! The gods messed things up again! So we had another war again!”

Will’s hand fell back to the wooden plank, and ducked his head down, his shoulders trembled again.

“It’s just… exhausting sometimes. Like.. can’t we have a break? Have a normal life? Is it too much to ask?”

Nico shifted again a bit. Just a bit closer. He held Will’s arm, firmly but gently. His skin had regained some of its natural olive tone, but it still looked a bit pale against Will’s tanned skin.

“Hey,” Nico said. “It’s okay. You’re here now. You’re safe now.”

Will closed his eyes and he bit his lower lip.

“Yeah,” he said and nodded. He opened his eyes slowly. “I have to be okay. I have to keep it together for everyone else.”

It hurt Nico to realize how hard it must have been for Will. Will had not just lost his brothers. He had to step in to be the head counselor of the Apollo Cabin and take the responsibility of being a leader.

“Besides,” Will turned his head to Nico. The thin smile on his lips was a forced one and his blue eyes didn’t have their usual light. “Others have gone through the same, even worse things, right? You have gone through worse shit.”

An icy cold feeling ran through Nico’s vein as the dark memory of Tartarus flashed in his mind. He shook his head, trying to push away the suffocating memory, at least for a while. Besides, Nico thought to himself, telling someone to not feel bad about something because someone else had it worse is like telling someone not to be happy about something because someone else had it better. Nico had spent enough time wandering in The Underworld and talked with the souls that he met there to understand that pain was not a contest. People had their own pain, and there was no point of comparing one’s pain with the others’.

Nico squeezed Will’s arm that he was holding.

“Hey,” he said softly. “Doesn’t mean that you’re not allowed to…not feel the pain. Suffering and pain is not a competition. If it hurt you, if it’s painful for you, then you’re allowed to feel so.”

Will stared at him with almost a blank expression.

“I know Will. It must be painful for you. And you have been so so strong to make it this far.”

Will’s lips were trembling and his eyes were glassy. He quickly ducked his head down, like he didn’t want Nico to see his face.

“I… I’m sorry…” Will said, voice barely a whisper.

“Why you have to feel sorry?” Nico said. “You were hurt, and it was not your mistake at all.”

Will covered his face with both hands. Nico could hear he choked back a sob.

And it was breaking Nico’s heart to see Will looked so fragile, so vulnerable like that. And Nico would do anything, anything that he could do just to offer him some comfort.

Without even thinking, Nico put his arms around Will’s shoulder and gently pulled him into his embrace. Will buried his face on Nico’s shoulder, his hands clutching on Nico as he started sobbing.

Nico gently ran his hands up and down on Will’s back soothingly.

“It’s okay, Will. It’s going to be okay. It hurt, but you’ll get through this.”

Will’s tears kept on falling, and Nico let him cry as he held Will close, whispering comforting words to him.

Nico could not unfeel Will’s pain. But at least, he would be next to Will, holding him to soothe the pain. He would always be here with Will, holding him as they were going through the pain.

***

Additional Notes:

With all the wars and everything, I am pretty sure that most, if not all, the demigods had PTSD, in different various level. Including Will. Despite him being the sunshine boy of Apollo, let’s not forget that he lost Lee Fletcher and Michael Yew, and he had to replace his half-brothers as the Cabin Counsellor at a very young age. In the middle of the Manhattan Battle (how old was he at that time? 13? 14?)

One of my headcanon about Nico is he would be a good therapist. I mean, not just because Nico himself had gone through so many painful things, he had talked with so many souls in the Underworld. Also, please do not forget that Nico was the only one who actually spared some of his time to visit Iapetus aka Bob the Janitor in The Underworld. Despite the outer layer of a boy who dressed in dark colors, Nico had the purest soul with the kindest heart.

Yes, I purposefully put Fall Out Boy there. Sue me. They’re brilliantly good (hey, even my therapist listens to their songs!) 

Comments and feedbacks are always loved!

[sonofadeanwinchester]

Shape Of You

Summary:  Sassy you .. meet sassy Sebastian Stan.

Words: 5037 (got a little carried away)

Sebastian Stan x Reader

Warnings: Swearing

Tags: @221bshrlocked @potterhead1265 @pawallday @shellymaesworld @titty-teetee @chameerah

"Girl! Come on, we're gonna miss all the fun!" My friend Cheryl yelled from down the street as I rolled my eyes and sauntered towards her. "Stop rolling those damn blue baby's at me."

"Fuck you. This is stupid, Cher." I flicked through my Facebook quickly, distracting myself.

"Listen to me, I need a distraction to get over him. Okay? Just please. You're my best friend and I need you right now. I need to dance my broken hearted ass off on the dance floor while I grind some guy that is either twenty years my senior or too damn young to be in the club, okay?" She had a pouty face on and I sighed, nodding. She squealed and giggled, "that's why you're my bestie."

"Right." I chuckled and followed close behind her into this new club 5th & Mad. The line wasn't too long so we stood there and chatted lightly about what to expect in there. "I don't know, maybe like shitty dance music and drunk dicks who wanna grind you? Like every other fucking dance club?"

"Girl, stop being like that! Jesus!" She cocked a perfectly arched brow at me and flashed a megawatt smile at the bouncer. He winked and let us in no problem.

 "Well, that was easy!" Cheryl spotted someone she knew across the room and excused herself, filing between sweaty bodies that were rubbing together to the upbeat music of DNCE.

"Right, well, dancing isn't my thing. I'll be the bar." I yelled after her and she nodded, waving a hand in my direction. "Fucking great." I squeezed between three guys arguing about something along the lines of sports and ordered a beer. I was never the kind of girl who had all these shitty girlie drinks and flaunted my stuff around. Beer, wings and a good hockey game was all I required to get going. "Thanks." I nodded my head in appreciation.

The three guys beside me were getting a little too close for comfort and their voices raised octaves. "Jesus man, don't you know sports!" One guy yelled, slurring his words and spilling beer onto my shoulder.

"Fuck off bro, this is a brand new shirt." I shoved him away and her turned towards me.

"I'm sorry?" His eyes were glossy and his sneer evil. "Beautiful lady say something?"

I snorted, "I said fuck off. This is brand new shirt. Don't want your cheap ass beer on it."

The guy on his right started howling in laughter, "you're feisty for sure, aren't you?" He stepped closer, cocking his head to the side and ran his fingertips down my exposed shoulder.

"Get off of me, perv." I started to stand when his fingers dug into my skin. "Christ, let go of me!"

"Nope, you started talking to us, lady. We're gonna finish this conversation." The third man finally spoke and chuckled. "Don't be a bitch, come on. Have a drink with us. You look like you could use a drink."

"I don't need a fucking drink, I need you to get your low paid pervert hands off of my body before I call the fucking police." I tried pulling my arm away.

"Don't be like that sweetheart. We just wanna show you a good time." The first man stepped closer again and brought his lips close to my face.

"JESUS! Get the hell off of me. I'm calling the pol-."

A large man came to my side, kissing my cheek. "There you are sweetheart. These bastards giving you trouble?"

The three men chortled together, exchanging glances with one another. "Who the fuck are you?"

The mystery man sneered, "I'm her fucking boyfriend. Who the hell are you?"

"Well, buddy, your girlfriend here isn't very faithful. She was trying to make a move on me. Cheap slut."

"Excuse me?" I stood to my feet and slapped him across his cheek. "Fuck off buddy. You do not wanna start this tonight."

Mystery man stepped in front of me and chuckled, "don't wanna mess with her, believe me. I've been with her for years. She may be little but damn, she's feisty."

"Whatever bro, just control your whore. We just came here for a drink not to be hit on by the likes of her." The middle man rolled his eyes and jutted his chin in my direction.

"You know what, you cock-sucking bastard, how about you take your sleazy ass home back to wherever hole you fucking crawled out of and die in it? Okay? Or if that holes not good enough for you, I know a few empty ones at the cemetery. I'm sure they could spare one for someone with a dick that small." I smirked at him and backed away, flashing him the finger and strutting away. "Fucking bastards." I muttered under my breath, navigating between bodies to another empty seat.

Half way through my beer, my phone started ringing. CHERYL. "Where the hell are you?"

She giggled, "I'm in the bathroom lineup. Where are you?"

"Sitting at the bar." I played with the napkin under my drink as I spoke.

"Right, the no dancing thing. Oh my god." It came out as a whisper.

"What?" She didn't reply, just gasping. "Jesus, Cher, what?"

"Don't look now but I'm pretty sure Sebastian fucking Stan is staring at you!" The giddiness in her voice was annoying.

"Who's that?"

"Jesus, (Y/N), you know!" Her voice cracked as she whined.

"No, I don't actually, that's why I fucking asked." I took another swig of my beer, waiting for a reply.

"Oh my god, he's walking over to you. Hang up the damn phone."

"Who the hell is Sebast-." Dead tone, bitch hung up on me.

"Excuse me? This seat taken?" A husky but familiar voice came from beside me.

"If you're the fucking prick who tried hitting on me earli-." I turned, meeting the eyes of my hero from earlier. "Uh, nope. Just my knight in shining ... leather jacket."

He chuckled, "uh, not the prick. Well, not that one anyway. Can I sit?"

My face flushed a little bit and I nodded, "free country."

He smiled and ordered two more beers. "What's your name?"

"Oh, it rhymes with Luck Lou." I rolled my eyes and sipped my beer.

"Damn, well, Fuck You is a great name. I'm Sebastian." He smirked as the bottle met his lips.

"Good for you, Sebastian." I hated coming to these fucking places.

"Okay ... you from around here?" He sighed and waited for response.

"I could be." I had to admit, I was being a bitch to this poor guy. He tried coming to my aid and I hadn't even thanked him for it. Fuck that, I don't need rescuing.

"Well, that's a good part of town." He snorted and started to stand. "See you around Fuck You."

I sighed, "wait."

"Oh, not done being bitchy? Cause I don't have all night, I have a flight to catch in the morning."

Well done, pretty boy.

"Thanks for earlier but I had it under control." I clucked my tongue displaying my disapproval of his help.

"Ah, right, of course you did. All five foot .. one,  of you."

"Listen, buddy, not all of us have to grow up and be fucking gigantic, okay?"

He laughed, "right. Some of you are done growing to perfection at your height."

Sweet Lord, did he just-. Damn boy.

I cleared my throat and took another swig, turning around in my seat to watch the people. "I'm (Y/N)."

"Really? I like Fuck You so much better." He chuckled and offered a hand. "I'm not gonna bite."

I snorted, "that's what they all say."

He smirked, squinting his eyes at me. "I'm not like the stories, you know? Just because I play douche bags doesn't mean I am one."

"What?" I literally had no idea who this guy was. I mean, he looked familiar but I could've just seen him around the city.

He laughed, "you don't know who I am?"

"Not from Adam, sorry bud." I found my foot tapping to the light rhythm of Calvin Harris.

"Well, that's refreshing, actually. I'm Sebastian ... Stan." He raised his brow, obviously expecting me to react to his full name.

"You can keep saying your name all night and I ain't gonna know who the fuck you are, buddy." Tipping my bottle up, the last few droplets plopped themselves into my mouth. Dammit.

"Okay ... this is strange." He scoffed.

"Wow, high and mighty, are we? Dude, get over yourself." I stood and started walking away.

"Hey, (Y/N), wait."

"Nope, sorry. I don't have time for proud pricks, such as yourself." I briskly walked towards the bathroom and found Cheryl dancing with a guy with holes in his ears the size of my mouth. "Cheryl, ready to leave?"

She laughed, "you wanna go? I seen you over there talking to Sebastian!"

I rolled my eyes, "yeah. That's why I wanna leave, damn cocky son of a bitch."

She snorted, "I'm sorry?"

"He's a cocky prick."

Her face flushed pink, flicking her eyes between me and the space behind me. "Here."

I turned to find Sebastian behind me, two beers in hand with a shit eating grin on his lips. "What?"

"I bought you another beer. Take the damn drink."

Cheryl giggled, "Sebastian, so nice to actually meet you."

He smirked at me and then smiled wide for her. "Thanks, lovely to meet you. Are you friend of (Y/N)'s?"

Cheryl laughed, "since childhood. She can be a bit of a bitch at first but she warms up to you."

He licked his lips and raised his brows. "Afraid I don't have time for self-righteous bitches, sorry."

I scoffed, "wow."

Cheryl chuckled nervously, "did I miss something?"

Sebastian laughed, "ask your friend. You're welcome for the beer by the way." He rolled his eyes and walked through the ocean of women eyeing him up and down.

"What the hell did you say to him?" Cheryl slapped my arm.

"Nothing that I wouldn't say to anyone else. I called him a proud prick."

"You did what?!" She nearly fainted I swear.

"Oh, don't be so shocked." I checked my watch, barely even ten. Fuuuuck, this wanna gonna be a long ass night.

"You remember watching the Captain America movies?"

"Obviously, he's my favorite."

"Well, my little bitchy friend, that young hot ass friend over there-." She pointed at him, sitting at the bar, making side glances on my direction. "He's Cap's best friend, Bucky fucking Barnes."

"Shit, no way." I said it monotone, not letting her now my inner fan girl was going crazy.

"Uh, yeah! It's a wonder you didn't fucking recognize him!"

"I mean, he doesn't even look he same! How the hell was I suppose to know?"

"Oh my god, he's coming back over!" Her face contorted into a wide grin.

"For fuck sakes." I rolled my eyes, purposely putting my back towards him.

"(Y/N). I've come to ask your friend for a dance."

Cheryl's jaw dropped, "Jesus Christ."

He squished his nose and accepted her outstretched hand. "Don't be too jealous, k?"

"Wow, it is possible. Your head actually got three times larger just now." I flipped him the bird and sat down, scanning through Instagram.

Half an hour later, he returned my friend who's head was somewhere between Cloud 9 and Sebastian's ass. "Oh, thanks for returning her. You're free to go now."

"You know, I have this theory that woman are actually overly bitchy to the men they find attractive. Is that your problem with me? You wanna fuckme all night long? Or are you just a class A bitch by nature?"

"Ah, thanks for that tidbit of useless information. Also, if I wanted to fuck you, all night long. We'd already be back at my apartment, buddy. So how about you climb off that high horse of yours and go back to the people who actually give shit about who you are." My phone chimed and I read the message.

'Stop being such a damn bitch!' It was from Cheryl.

I smirked 'stay out of it Cher.'

"You know, I went to school to study acting and I actually made a career out of it. But unfortunately for you, they don't offer anything for a bitch who only sees the tip of her nose cause she's too busy looking down at everybody else from it. Good luck with your life and I hope, I sincerely hope, you find a man who can keep up with your self-righteous, arrogant, high class bitchy attitude. But then again, if you end up alone, it wouldn't surprise me. Doesn't matter how hot you are, your personality sucks and you're a royal bitch. Thanks for the chat, but I have a movie to film." He saluted me and chuckled, kissing Cheryl on the cheek. He walked away shaking his head.

"That arrogant bastard." I scoffed, offended by his words.

"Woah, well put." I slapped Cheryl. "What? You asked for that. You are kind of a bitch most of the time."

"Whatever. I'm leaving." I grabbed her by the arm and drug her outside the club.

"Sebastian!" Cheryl yelled across the street a week later and he smiled, jogging over cautiously.

"Hey! Nice to see you again Cheryl." He hugged her and cocked a brow at me. "You, not so much."

"You're right. I was a class A bitch to you and I deserved every word you said."

He crossed his arms and spread his feet, leaning back slightly giving the arrogant stance. "Fucking right you did."

"I just said that." Making a face I started walking away. "Cheryl, I'll catch up with you later."

"Bye, (Y/N). I'll call later! Sebastian, I'd love to stay and chat but I'm gonna be late for work." She waved and ran into the small cafe on the corner.

"(Y/N)!" I stopped at my name and rolled my eyes. "Wait up."

"Something I can help you with, Stan." I tapped my foot and cocked my head to the side.

"Actually, I was hoping you would join me for dinner tomorrow night?"

"I'm sorry, what?" My jaw slackened in shock.

He laughed, "You heard me. Dinner ... tomorrow night ... at my place. I'll cook."

"Uh, no?" I shook my head and started walking away.

He caught up with me in a few short strides. "You're a real piece of work, you know that? Like, I wanna strangle you the whole time you talk."

"Ouu, kinky. But I'm pretty sure that's a death threat and in America and most of good ol' planet earth, that's illegal."

"Right, well, something about you ... fascinates me."

"I fascinate you? I'm not some fucking 5th grade science experiment."

"No, you're right, people want to be around that. You .. not so much. Except for me, for some dumb ass reason."

I chuckled, "well, thanks for the invite but I'm afraid that's a hard pass from me."

"Why?" He cocked his brow and flashed a cocky grin.

I'm sorry, fucking WHY?  "Why? Well, because I don't ... like .. you? Isn't that reason enough to avoid each other?"

He scoffed, "you would think right? But apparently, I'm willing to spend a couple of hours with potently the rudest person in all of America."

"Do I get an award or something? I've been practicing my speech since I was six." I cleared my throat. "Thank you ladies and gentleman for this opportunity. Also, fuck you."

He laughed out loud, "you're a real piece of work. It's truly a wonder you even have friends. How does sweet little Cheryl get trapped with you as a best friend?"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. You're grade A proof of that."

"What the hell does that mean?" He placed a hand on his hip.

"Exactly what it sounds like. Apparently, you got shot down one too many times and now you're begging for my attention."

"Begging? That's what politely asking a girl to dinner is? Is that what the kids are calling it now a days?"

"What do I have to do to get you to leave me the hell alone?"

"Uh, one; stop being such a bitch, nobody's laughing. Two; meet me at this address tomorrow night at 7." He handed me a piece of paper with an address scrawled on it.

"You know, I would but .. I don't wanna." I clenched my jaw, sucking in breath and shrugged.

"Okay, then I guess you want me to follow you around New York, harassing the shit out of you for the next, let's say, fifty years?"

"You don't get out much do you?" I scoffed and pressed the button to cross the street. I took notice to the people around us watching, staring as he followed me around the city, laughing and smirking. "I guess I'm the only person here in New York that doesn't know or wants to get to know you."

"The price of being successful is high. But it's my burden to carry."

"Right. Well, have fun with that .... I'll see you tomorrow night."

"Wait, you're willing to spend time with a peasant like me?" He touched his chest lightly and smirked.

"If that's what keeps you off my ass for the next fifty years, than hell yeah." I cocked a brow.

"Who said I wanted off your ass?" He winked and started jogging again.

I stood in front of the building, sighing and kicking myself in the ass for even agreeing to do this. "You idiot." I muttered under my breath. Ringing the buzzer, a husky voice called out to enter at my own risk. "Okay, then."

I rode the elevator up to the top and it dinged loudly as it opened to an open concept floor. The kitchen was the first thing I seen, completely open with pots covering the stove and an amazing smell filling the room. The living room was directly beside it, three large grey couches filling the area under a huge ass flat screen TV mounted on the dark maroon wall. About ten feet was a staircase that led up to a king size bed made up with a white and black duvet covering it. A door clicked from my right and I seen him come out, dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and bare feet. "Wow, I'm surprised you actually showed up."

"Yeah, me too, buddy." I cleared my throat and looked around. "Nice place."

"Meh, it does the trick." So humble.

The view from this place was absolutely breath-taking; New York skylines as far as the eye could see, time square mere blocks away. "No seriously, Sebastian, this place is amazing."

He chuckled, "it helps to have place here in New York with all my projects. You hungry?"

"Depends on what you're cooking." I laughed nervously, surprised by how calm I was to be here. Keeping up my sarcastic, arrogant facade was exhausting.

"Grilled Salmon Fillets with Wasabi and Lemon Cream Sauce." He wiped his hands on the cloth hanging from the oven. "Nothing big."

"Okay Gordan Ramsey, calm down. If acting doesn't work out for you..." I sniffed the air. "Smells fantastic and I'm starved."

"Good! And it's my first time making this, so be gentle ... please." He looked up at me through his dark lashes and my stomach flopped.

Holy sweet Jesus this man is fucking attractive.

"No promises from the grade A bitch, here." I chuckled, tucking a piece of my blonde hair behind my ear.

"You look really nice tonight, by the way." He bit his lip and stared at me, his blue eyes seemed to be seeing my soul.

I hadn't really tried all that much but Cheryl was determined to make me look amazing. She picked out a loose fitting white blouse paired with a black pencil skirt with a red wedged heel. I insisted on just wearing jeans and sweater but good lord, that woman was persistent. "Thanks."

He smirked and stirred something on the stove. "Almost ready."

"You need help with anything?" I started over to him.

"You can help by sitting your pretty ass on that couch over there. Make yourself at home." He smiled wide, flashing me his brilliant white teeth.

I plopped down on the couch, dropping my bag beside me. *clink*. "Oh damn, I brought this wine ... Cheryl insisted."

"Right, well, thanks Cheryl. I don't really carry much booze here at the house. Not since .. uh." He cleared his throat. "So, what's your deal? You're not being a complete bitch tonight?"

I shrugged, "it's exhausting trying to keep up with your ego."

He giggled, "right, of course. So, you're actually like a decent human being then?"

"Meh, I try. I mean, I'm no Steve Rogers but you know, I volunteer at the occasional soup kitchen and donate old clothes to women shelters." This was true, it was something I had been doing since my mother threw me out at seventeen.

"Steve Rogers, eh? Cap fan?" He clucked his tongue.

"Uh, yeah. Not so big on that Bucky character. Jesus, he's annoying." I winked at him.

"Uh, so you do know who I am then?" He flushed a pink color avoiding my gaze.

"After Cheryl explained to me why you looked so familiar, yeah. Sorry, by the way. For not remembering, also for my behavior last week at the club." I smiled tightly and focused on my folded hands in my lap.

He chuckled, "it's okay. Uh, it was fun actually being a total smart ass to you. Keeps me young."

I snorted, "need all the help you can get, eh?"

"Smart ass." He scoffed.

"How did you know my childhood nickname?" He chuckled. "What are you now? Pushing what, 35?"

He nodded, "just turned 34 past August."

"Wow, good god, you could be my father."

He scoffed, "you're what? Pushing 12?"

I flipped him the bird, "you can blame my parents for my good genes. I turned 23 this past September."

"Oh my god, I'm robbing the damn cradle." He rolled his eyes and smirked.

"Calm down, grandpa. People only say that when they're dating."

He smirked, "what exactly do you think this is?"

"Oh for the love of God, it better not be a date!" He made a face, nodding. "Mother fucker."

He laughed, "foods done. Fucking starved. If this sucks, there's an amazing pizza place around the corner." I pulled my phone out and pretended to dial a number. "What are you doing?"

"Calling my insurance company so when I die of food poisoning here tonight, my family gets a butt ton of money."

He rolled his eyes, "you're not gonna get food poisoning, okay? The most you'll get is like ... I can't think of anything smart to say."

I laughed out loud, "your old age is catching up with you."

"Fuck you preemee." He chuckled and dished up our plates.

To be honest, the meal was delicious. Sebastian really was a half decent cook and had some good stories to tell about being on set with the Marvel crew. He was laughing as he poured us another glass of wine, "that's when I told Chris to go fuck himself. Couldn't believe he said that!"

I wiped away a stray tear and held my gut, "oh my god, I can't breath! That's too funny. Chris seems like a pretty good guy."

"Aw, man. I love Chris, he's amazing." He smiled and clinked his glass to mine.

I smiled back and bit my lip. "Sebastian, that meal was amazing."

He rolled his eyes and swatted at the air, "meh, I mean, my mom is pretty good at cooking so..." He set his glass down and leaned onto the table. "I've had a really good time with you tonight, (Y/N)."

I smiled, like genuinely smiled. "Thank you, I've had a pretty okay time too."

"Ah, thanks. Pretty okay was what I was aiming for." He started gathering up the dishes.

"No, please, let me. It's the least I can do." I took his plate from him and put mine on top, grabbing the utensils with the other hand.

So there we stood at his kitchen sink, my arms elbow deep in soapy water and him standing beside me drying. It was a pretty funny sight to be quite frank. "You'd think some high uppity up like yourself would have a dishwasher."

He snorted, "well, I don't mind doing dishes by hand. Mamma raised me right, besides gives me time to escape with my thoughts, you know? Really lets me get outside of my own head."

I knew what he meant better than anyone. I smiled as I rinsed the last dish and wiped my hands off. "Yeah, I know all too well."

He put the plate away and followed me over to the couch, grabbing our glasses of wine again. "So, are you from around here?"

I nodded, "not here exactly, but grew up pretty close."

"Oh yeah?" He spoke between sips.

"Yep. Grew up in Canada, actually."

"Shit, no way. You're a purebred Canuck then?" He chuckled, patting my thigh but leaving his hand there.

I flushed, trying to ignore the act. "Uh, y-yeah. Lived there till I was seventeen then moved here."

"Why did you move here? Like why not stay in your hometown for a bit." He raised a brow at me.

I smiled weakly, "it's kind of a long story."

His brow furrowed, "I'm sorry if I hit a nerve or something ... just trying to get to know you better."

I smiled, "nah, no. It's fine, really. Uh, just things kinda blew up back home after my seventeenth birthday with my mom and she threw me out. Said I was too big of a burden for her to carry anymore." I shrugged. "Leaving was my best option at the time, I guess."

"Shit, that sucks. I'm really sorry that happened to you. I left my own country too when I was younger." He licked his lips, nervously.

"I thought you were American?"

He shrugged, "I mean, I am. But I was born and raised in Romania till I was twelve."

"Sweet Jesus." I choked on my wine.

He chuckled, "I mean, that's where I was born but America is my home. My mom brought me here to escape the things of home and give me my best chance."

I smiled, touching his hand. His fingers grabbed mine and laced them together. My breath hitched and he smiled. "Your mom sounds sweet."

"She's amazing." His voice cracked and he nodded. "New subject."

I bit my lip and smiled. "So, Chris Evans, eh? I mean, now he's a piece of work."

"Sweet Lord, you're on a date with me and you're still thinking of Evans?"

I chuckled, "that beard, man."

He laughed, "oh I know .. the man has a nice beard."

I smiled and he looked at me. I focused on his eyes, the color of them dancing between a light blue and a sea foam green. He scanned my face and landed on my mouth. I bit the corner of my lip, out of habit but now because of nerves. He leaned close; close enough I could smell the alcohol on his breath. "Can I kiss you?"

I cleared my throat, nodding. "Sure."

He scooted closer, placing a hand on my cheek, gently brushing my hair out of the way. He leaned in close but continually searched my eyes. When he was mere centimeters away, I felt out lips connect and a literal spark traveled through my body. He pulled away and smiled, shyly. He cocked a brow and I nodded, giving him permission to do it again. He smirked and placed his lips on mine again, this time his fingers running through my hair. He ran his tongue only my bottom lip and I opened them slightly, allowing him to explore my mouth with his tongue. I grabbed onto his bicep to steady myself as the kiss deepened. My other hand found the back of his head, and my fingers found themselves entangled through his thick locks. I could taste the wine on his breath, the wasabi from dinner but also a hint of mint. I pulled back, panting for breath and chuckled. "Woah."

He nodded, his cheeks turning rosy. "Sorry."

I rolled my eyes, "no, please don't apologize. That was .. thanks."

"Well, you're very welcome." He kissed my cheek and stood. "Do you want more wine?"

I sighed, "uh, no. I shouldn't. I have drive tonight." I cleared my throat. "And, I should probably get going. I have to work early tomorrow."

He nodded, shoving his fingers into his front pockets. "Of course, I've had you for the few hours I wanted."

I smirked, "it wasn't all that bad. I mean, the kiss was  .. mediocre."

"Oh sweet Jesus." He ran a hand through his hair, smiling.

"I'm kidding, you're pretty good. I mean, acting since you were in your early twenties, you must've picked up some tricks on how to kiss." My stomach flopped and my knees jerked becoming suddenly weak.

His face turned a scarlet color and he eyed the ceiling before letting them land on me again. "Meh, I guess."

I stood beside him and linked our fingers together. "I had a really good time tonight."

He kissed my cheek, "I did too. I'm glad I had enough balls to put up with your bullshit."

I laughed sarcastically, "my bullshit? Jesus."

He winked and walked me to the elevator door. "We should do this again. Soon."

I shrugged, "I'll see how my schedule is. Rumor has it, there's this pretty cute actor guy roaming the streets. Sebastian .. something rather. Never heard of him."

He chuckled, "I'm sure he's nobody I should worry about. I'll call you in the morning."

"Little hard to call when you don't have my number." He laughed, shaking his head, handing me his cellphone. I typed my name and number in quickly, adding a smiley face emoji after Smart Ass.

He chuckled, "suites you perfectly."

I shrugged, "childhood nicknames, you know? They just stick."

He kissed my lips again, "goodnight smart ass."

"Goodnight, Sargent Barnes."