#my dad just had to wait for three minutes. fuck him there's a CAT

[existencebringsonlypain]

CAT AT THERAPY OFFICE

THERAPY CAT

[360iris]

Me & U, Isn’t | dad’s best friend!santiago ‘pope’ garcia x reader

2.5k word count. Content warning— this is not a good time read! Relationship angst, m/c is intended to be over 21 years of age, Santi isn’t a bad guy, but he isn’t the best either. M/c is kind of self deprecating tbh, message for the girlies: Always speak your mind, and let your feelings be known if you are in a safe place to do so! Fuck “keeping the peace.” Don’t be like this m/c! She is stubborn! Anyway, I wrote this almost two months ago. It was fun stressing my friends out talking about it. Now the world can read it and stress too ig lol

Please do not read if you are not in the right headspace for more serious relationship topics and themes, thanks!

The last thing you’d expected to see this afternoon was Santiago leaning against his truck, arms folded as he watched you pull into your reserved parking spot at your apartment complex. A fond smirk lining his lips.

You take your time gathering your things, face waxing unimpressed as you exited the vehicle. “How long have you been out here?” You ask with brows knitted as he pushes himself up.

“About... ten minutes?” He takes a moment to think it over. “Saw your phone location and noticed you were headed back this way. Figured I’d be able to catch you before you headed back out.”

“What the fuck?” You remark surprisingly, looking at him like he’d grown a third arm. “Since when have you been doing that?”

“You let me, remember? That one night you were all cock drunk, I asked you and you let me enable it.” He says nonchalantly and you stare at him fixedly for a moment before promptly turning to start walking to your door.

Santiago simply follows suit, his pace lax as he trails behind you, waiting patiently as you open the door, step inside and gesture for him to enter.

“What do you want, Santiago?” You ask, shutting the door. Technically your tone was mellow, but there was something about the sentence itself that made his smug expression fall.

“What are you doing that for?” He asks.

“Doing what?” You ask, eying him weirdly as you set down your keys and take off your jacket.

“You know what. What are you upset about?” He pries.

You straighten up, tipping your head back to look at him straight on.

The elephant in the room was right there, and yet here he was asking you, what you had to be upset about like he himself hadn’t chosen to go dark for an entire week and three and half days— not that you were counting.

Although you were.

Going about your days like the family and friends trip to Miami didn’t happen last May.

Like all the glances and tension that was brewing between you and Santiago that entire year didn’t lead up to him fucking you in a beach shower at 5pm, on a Tuesday, didn’t lead to you having to keep the biggest secret you’d ever endeavored to take on.

No one could know, he’d told you.

And you weren’t fucking stupid, of course they couldn’t.

But no one didn’t just mean your mom or dad, who’d lose their minds, and more than likely relieve Santiago of his if they found out how long you’d been “seeing” one another.

No one also pertained to your childhood, college and online friends. It entailed your lab partners in Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, the girl who always gave you extra whipped cream and caramel at the campus Starbucks since you were a sophomore— and even the family cat, Feek.

When you got into this, whatever this was, you’d thought you were gaining something.

Something fun and exciting, something that kept you up at night from how giddy you were. And if you were being honest, for a little while, you’d thought you were gaining him. Even if you knew you couldn’t really be together, you’d thought— well, you don’t even know anymore.

You’d just hoped he’d at least show up for you more. And instead, he pulled away.

Santiago put more time into Kim, the woman he’d been seeing on and off since you were ten. The one he took on showy trips to the Bahamas and brought to all the special occasions as his plus one when it’d be too weird to attend alone.

‘Just for the photos.’ he’d said. ‘If people see me with her, then they wouldn’t think even in their wildest dreams that I was with you.’ He’d continued.

Eventually you stopped bringing it up. That’s how a lot of things went with him it seemed. He’d settle on one answer and that’s what he’d stick to. Not once would he divert or slip up— things just were, no matter how unsatisfied you were with his replies.

Though, you weren’t granted that same privilege it seemed.

“Mi amor,” He says walking closer to where you stood by the breakfast bar. Amor. Love— Santiago never could say it in English. And it always felt like he’d made a point of it not to. “What are you upset about?”

You scoff, effectively rolling your eyes and slipping past him to walk down the hall to your room. “Oh, there’s a list of things. I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to get to them all, even if I tried to, Santiago.” Your voice echoes in the barrer space, he follows.

And just as you reach to open the door handle, his hand rests on top of your own— keeping you locked there in the darkened space, his chest to your back. His chin ghosting over your left shoulder.

You try to even your breathing as he makes you soak in the silence before breaking it, “I know you.” He says evenly, out of all the things he could say. And his right hand that rests against your hip begins picking at the hem of your burgundy knit long sleeve.

“I know you keep a lot of this hidden. A lot of things go unsaid between us, and I thought we were both okay, with that. But if you’re not, how can I know if you don’t let me in on what it is you’re letting stew in that little head of yours.”

Your hand grasping the doorknob tightens against the metal as he speaks, your fingers beginning to shake under his.

You rest your forehead against the painted white wood, exhaling heavily through your nose as he keeps you pressed to him. And vaguely you acknowledge how ironic this moment in time is—

You, reaching the door of something, maybe it was the future. One without him and all his empty promises. One where you were free to see whoever and share them with whomever you pleased.

And him, stopping you. Holding on to you and this shitty situation like it isn’t absolute madness.

Didn’t he go day by day antagonizing over this too? Didn’t he share in the thought that this was pure torture?

‘Don’t you see what you’ve done to me?’ You think. ‘You’ve made me feel like everyone I could trust was an inside spy, waiting for one damn slip up to crucify me for.’

‘I’m protecting you, and I’m lonelier than ever.’

‘You’re holding me and I hate how you’re all I’ve got left that feels like home.’

You couldn’t say those things. And he didn’t want to know them, not really.

“Why won’t you let me go?” You ask, taking a shaky inhale.

Santiago doesn’t answer right away, undoubtedly getting your true meaning.

“Do you want me to?” He asks finally, quiet. Waiting.

“I,” Your voice cracks before everything becomes too much and you’re turning in his grasp to look at him.

Could the truth fix everything in this instance?

If you told him, ‘It’s about you not being honest? It’s about you sleeping with whoever you want but acting like a scorned child when I do the same? Ignoring my texts for weeks at a time, and showing up at my apartment at odd hours of the night whenever it suits you?’

But what was the point of wasting your breath when you knew it’d turn into a futile argument that changed nothing.

It’d end the same way regardless, with him dismantling all your lines of defense with a look, with a touch, and a kiss.

With him fucking you into your sheets with your nails clawing into his back, until your throat is hoarse and your vision is skewed with tears. That’s how he seemed to like you best anyway— responsive to his smallest whim and wholly compliant.

So as always, you don’t speak, you don’t push the limits. And he rewards you for it, whether or not he knows it. By bringing you into his arms, holding you close and skipping the fight altogether.

“My pretty girl. Smart girl.” He says running his fingers along your face now, looking into your eyes, and you take the opportunity to search his. If the eyes were the gateway to the soul, what would you find if you looked into his?

Right now. If you were being honest. You saw nothing. But did that say more about you, or him?

Maybe you lacked whatever it took to catch a glimpse of whatever a person’s true nature was but as he cups your face with one hand, you abandon the thought. It was better not to think.

“I’m here now, so just… be with me.” He says it so softly he’s almost whispering. Leaning in til your noses touch.

“Santiago.” Comes out raspy, your voice strained by nerves and excess emotion.

“Nuh-uh.” He interjects, softly tilting your head back til it makes contact with the closed door behind you. Nosing at the slope of your neck, he keeps his eyes on your face as he rubs his lips along your cold skin. “None of that. Say it properly.”

“I don’t know what you’re—“ And you’re interrupted by the way he pinches at your clit through the fabric of your jeans, quick to cradle the back of your head to prevent you from hurting yourself when you throw it back.

“Still don’t know, do you?” He asks eyeing you with a glint forming in his eye as you shook your head. “No?”

He begins undoing your pants with one hand, pulling your underwear and bottoms down just enough so that they sit just above your thighs, before placing your cunt on full display for him. “What’s it going to take to get that little attitude of yours in check? Hm?”

His thumb rubs over your clit once, slow and purposeful as you keen in his grasp. “What am I going to have to do? Fuck it out of you?”

At those words, he begins rubbing the pad of his middle finger in your arousal. Pressing slowly into you fully before pulling back and when he pushes forward again, this time it’s with two fingers that have you quietly gasping at the intrusion.

Your cunt wets his fingers all to quickly, you’re leaning into his touch as he fucks you open, one overwhelmingly patient pump at a time.

With a beckoning motion, he massages your spongy walls until he locates the spot that causes you to buck into his hand. “That’s it.” He purrs, praising you like you were some wild thing he was working to tame.

Your cunt squeezes around him as he introduces a third digit, encouraging you to fuck his fingers with an eager tone. Slick rolling down his wrist in reflective streaks. “That’s it, baby, that’s it. Give it to me, mi amor. You’re gonna cum, aren’t you?”

You nodded foggily as he upped his pace, your hands shooting forward to grasp futilely at his immovable wrist, his hand becoming a blur as he propelled you closer and closer towards an edge you couldn’t see but could feel fast approaching from all angles. Your moans rise in pitch, voice cracking as he works at an unyielding speed.

“Say my name, baby. All you have to do is say it and I’ll let you cum on my fingers nice, long and hard.” He murmurs, brows raised expectantly. “Come on, baby. Come on.”

“F-fuck, Santiago!” Comes out jumbled and whiny, your face buried into the side of his neck when suddenly his hand comes to an immediate standstill.

He laughs humorlessly, pulling out of you completely. A cry is promptly ripped from your lips when he lands a clean, wet slap square against your clit. The swollen bud pulsating as he ignores your whines.

Grasping your face in his palm, he smears your arousal along your cheeks as he forces you to look at him through hooded eyes bordered with tears. He searches your gaze for a moment, unbelieving amusement vaguely lining his features as he looks over you.

“Hmm.” He takes a moment to hum and haw, as if what he finds is in line with whatever he had thought. “Fucking it is.”

Making quick work of yanking your pants down your legs, he haphazardly tosses the material on the floor. His belt clinks as he unbuckles it, unzipping his jeans with one confident pull of his wrist.

He doesn’t bother removing his own bottoms completely, instead holding your unsteady gaze as you watch him pull his cock through the opening he’d made for himself. Grabbing a hold of your left thigh, he hooks your leg over his hip.

Fitting you against him, he rubs the tip of his cock against your clit, spreading his precum across your folds.

“You can be difficult with me, baby. I have all the time in the world for you.” He says in a tone so sweet, your brows furrow and lips press into a fine lined pout. His eyes soften at the way your expression crumples.

“Pobrecita,” He coos, peppering kisses across your face, against your cheeks, and nose, and eyelids— wherever he felt so inclined. You balled your hands into the fabric of his shirt, clinging to him as he began pushing inside of you.

You release a faint sob, his cock filling you to the hilt when tears begin streaming down your cheeks in angry droplets.

“What is it, bebita? Talk to me. I can’t help if you don’t let me in.” He mumbles into your skin, pulling his head up to rest his forehead against yours. His hips rocking slowly as ugly emotions rolled through your chest.

“Why—“ You suck in a big breath of air in between hiccups. “Why don’t you ever tell me you love me?”

His eyes are deep, chocolatey and steady when he speaks. “I tell you. I tell you all the time.” He says, bringing a hand up to card his fingers through your hair.

“In Spanish!” You argue unhappily, eyelashes matted together with tears, cheeks watermarked. “You tell me in Spanish, Santiago.”

“You think I don’t mean it?” He asks evenly.

“You don’t say it.” You insist.

Releasing a sigh, he leans closer, his lips ghosting against yours. “Te amo.” He whispers, low, just for you to hear. It was a sentiment only for your ears as he thrusts in and out of you in slow, meaningful drags.

“Te amo.” He says again, kissing you softly, the words being almost spoken into your mouth.

“Te amo.” Santiago repeats with another kiss before pulling back to look into your eyes, sparing one hand to cup your chin. “I love you.”

Your bottom lip trembles, from finally hearing the words, from how gently he looks at you. “I love you, Santi. I love you.”

A smile breaks onto his face as he leans in to capture your mouth again. Only parting after he’d thoroughly taken your breath away, leaving your chest heaving in his departure. “I know, babygirl.”

[kennyomegasweave]

My live thoughts on The Sign Special Episode

Let's go!

IS MY BABY DEAD IN THE FIRST GODDAMN TWO MINUTES AND THE HOT CAPTAIN TOO??? Oh wait, it’s one of Tharn's dreams that hasn't come true yet.

I'm dying at Tharn waking up from a terrible dream where three of his homies are dead/hella fucked up, and Phaya's just like "what about some dick to start the day?" I know he's stayed on that man every day since he came back.  FUCKING RIGHT UP ON THE DOOR??? NASTY ASS. I love that for Tharn. I love that for Phaya. I love that for me. 

OH A FINE ASS WOMAN CAPTAIN HAS SHOWN UP ACCUSING THE FINE ASS MAN CAPTAIN OF STEALING HER CASE They have ~tension~ are they exes? Cause damn the fine ass Captain is reading her down. No matter what happens, I am choosing to believe they're exes cause like this feels ~personal~ 

Aww there's a cute little baby here. And everyone is just watching her cry and talking about her like she's not right in front of them. Can someone act like they've seen a child before? Damn. lol Oh fuck my boy is gonna talk to her, and I love him, but I know he’s about to make it worse. Well I guess Thongthai ain't getting a baby anytime soon cause Khem just made this little girl cry. lol At least Mayris hugged the baby. But I am crying at the fact that the room was obviously full of Team No Kids cause they had no idea what to do with a crying kid. 

Yai being all "aww don't be worried about me, I got people looking out for me" is, in fact, making me worried. lol Not Phaya getting jealous of Yai. That is his brother!

Khem and Thongthai coming up with the gossip! I love one messy ass couple. That's how you know they've been together too long cause they're just here for the mess. Not Tharn and Phaya going in on gender inequality and KhemThongthai standing there like ...well we just wanted to gossip but now we feel bad. 😬😬😬

As always, I'm crying that Khem and Thongthai are not only allowed to work together, but on the same team. Khem is just touching him all the time and calling him baby. That's not professional in the office, not at all. And they've been like that for 14 years, I know this in my spirit. At least Phaya and Tharn handle their shit better. lol

Okay. Phaya. Tharn is telling you how sad he was when all his people died and he mentioned his asshole bestie and you're just trying to fuck away your jealously. Phaya please. Also, there is a traumatized baby girl in the next room? Let's not. And okay. I get what Phaya means, and I absolutely hated how stupid Tharn was about Chalothon, but that man was in his life for like two decades. He's gonna come up and it's really not that cute for Phaya to be mad about it. 

Phaya is really out here trying to get his dick wet while this traumatized little girl is locked in an unfamiliar house with unfamiliar people. Not the time bro. lol

PLEASE DON'T POINT GUNS AT THE CHILD. Thank you Tharn for having sense. So far it seems like Tharn and Mayris are the only two people who have ever been around a child before. Which is wild cause Phaya has a baby sister that I thought was significantly younger than him. 

Okay that was a good move to bring the cat in. Cats make everything better. One point to Phaya.  Aww this little baby. She's only speaking English. So she's even more out of her element. 

Phaya was just watching Tharn with that baby and def wants that man to have his babies now.

Aww poor sweet baby girl. She doesn't want to sleep alone. If y'all don't get in that bed and sleep with her.

GET HIM THARN YOU CAN BE THE DAD AND HE'S THE MOM Oh Phaya pulled the uno reverse and said "that's cool, I can be the mom and you can be the dad." And honestly yeah. Phaya would have Tharn's babies if he could, I believe that. He just wants Tharn with a baby now however possible. JELLYFISH NICKNAME MENTIONED YES

I appreciate Phaya's garuda brother being like "I did help you but you caused these problems, so you have to deal with them the most." A beautiful representation of an older/younger sibling relationship.

Phaya's phone be ringing for eight years. It should have gone to voicemail by then.

Oh the hot lady Captain is in a leather jacket. My god. I'm so gay.

I do love how Phaya earlier was like THARN IT'S JUST A DREAM and now Tharn is like "your dream MIGHT be important but let's just WAIT." Like these two men aren't reincarnated gods and Tharn didn't spend a whole year in the naga world. 

NOT YAI AND KHEM. KHEM WHY WOULD YOU EVER SAY YOU WERE A SWIMMER. Like I know he is but like. Baby. Why would they have sent Khem for this mission? That is my baby but he is not bright. Like. What the fuck was this plan. Also they're talking all kinds of shit about the plan knowing the building has cameras? Like. I'm sorry my stomach is IN KNOTS.

This is WAY TOO TENSE for me okay. Why on god's green earth did they send the dumbest two in to do recon??? I assume it's cause they're the strongest but like. I don't like this. Not at all. They’re dumb! And not good actors! They're gonna get caught out!

(But damn at least I get to see Gap's body. Cause that man is fine as fuck and fit as hell.)

NO WHAT DID THAT MAN GET ON HIS PHONE. Like okay I'm not scared for Phaya, Tharn, and Deeni cause they're not gonna kill a baby. But my babies Khem and Yai, however, those are grown ass men so you know. I don't want to dance, I'm scared to death.

HE JUST TURNED OFF THE LIVE FEED. Oh my fuck. They know they're cops. I am fighting for my fucking life.

Okay so this crack team is just gonna go in three deep? God this team really just has no brain cells, it should be the hot lady Captain leading cause Captain Akk just like. Doesn't have the best plans. You gotta bring more than THREE dudes against a tio in that shirt. Cause now everybody is disarmed and captured. 

HE'S MAKING KHEM AND YAI FIGHT TO THE DEATH??? IN FRONT OF HIS MAN??? OR THREATENING TO KILL THE OTHERS OH MY GOD HE JUST SHOT THONGTHAI IN THE LEG. Khem is def gonna have to fight now and like. NOT KHEM HITTING YAI AND SAYING SORRY. AND YAI TRYING TO BE LIKE KHEM DON'T WAIT STOP. Yai baby. He has to. It's Thongthai. That's his baby. 

Captain Akk is standing there stuck and restrained looking dumb. Like yeah baby maybe you shouldn’t have a damn married couple of like 14 years on your team? Especially when it was already shown that they can't really be objective about each other. (See: Khem getting shot and Thongthai useless for the last battle)

Okay now we're at the start. Those three aren't dead but Yai and Khem are still captured. But damn these three are all beat. So Khem had to see his man get shot AND beat? Guys. Thongthai can't be rational about this. I'm glad he called Phaya out about that. Captain Akk still sitting there like "maybe I shouldn't have picked a married couple for my team."

Okay Captain Akk. Baby. Let Captain Achara help. I don't know what your beef with her is. But it's not noble babe.

I'm sorry not Thongthai standing there beaten with a shot leg. He really wouldn't be much help here. But I get why he's there. He NEEDS to not only see his man, but get him back himself.

Oh yes god. Is she gonna switch the flash drives? MY QUEEN.

Phaya's garuda brother FTW!

I'm sorry. Yai got his ass beat like ten hours ago and is now hand to hand fighting. Yes Khem! Kiss your man and then go kick some ass!

Is this man and his turtleneck a tiger man (never 4get)??? Why is he growling? Phaya, please. It's time for your garuda powers to activate babe. Get those wings boo.

Yes! He has his wings! Or his brother's wings, I don't know which. But still. Wings baby! Wings!

YES QUEEN SHOOT HIM MULTIPLE TIMES SHOOT HIS CORPSE I WON'T TELL 

Of course Yai is calling Sand. I love that.

Aww, Deeni hugging and saying goodbye to Tharn and Phaya. 

I don’t like kid fic, but in my HEART, I know these two adopt a baby at some point. I know in my SPIRIT.

Did Singh just call Mayris a box bitch? That’s why he’s the single pringle cause my girl was looking fine as hell in that swimsuit.

(GAP'S DICK IN THESE SWIM TRUNKS. I eagerly await that gifset.)

WHY IS THARN IN A BANANA HAMMOCK???

This Avengers Assemble ass ending shot. It's so cheesy. I love it so much.

And on that note, we are done. I had a very good time during this episode. Did the plot make any sense? Not really. But it didn’t really in the show either so I mean. I got everyone looking great and everyone happy and in love and shit at the end. I got Thongthai losing his shit over Khem and, to me, that was worth my $16. I also got a hot ass lady captain running around in a leather jacket. I won.

[milfgyuu]

I haven't sent one of these in a hot minute! The last gifset had me thinking: Sincr it's 🎃time, how about assigning the typical horror movie roles/tropes to Seventeen? Like, we already know Mingyu is The Hot Girl that Dies First™️ 🤣 (grouping them is also fine!)

HELL YEAH, it's spooky time!!!!! I am popping these under a read-more jusssst in case there are some sweet angels on my blog that may be sensitive to the themes or aren't into the horror genre <3

but if you're into SVT and horror film roles/tropes, read below!

Cheol - is surviving. idc. he's giving Chad Michael Murray in House of Wax like he definitely is kind of the asshole with a seedy past in the movie but it's also the reason he is making it out alive because he's fighting back. mf is running around with a tire iron and a gash down the side of his face and he's PISSED.

Jeonghan/Minghao - is taking things a little too...unseriously. like "why are you guys freaking out? ooooh he's gonna getcha!" probably even finds himself getting caught or injured and laughs when everyone gets mad at him because "it was just a joke, omg u guys". definitely turns out to be the killer in the end.

Joshua - god, sorry, but he's the handsome, sweet, innocent boyfriend of the female lead who gets absolutely gutted by the killer in the first half of the movie. Like he is the letterman jacket-wearing jock bf of Drew Barrymore's character in the original Scream. He was truly a bystander but boy is he pretty.

Junhui/Hoshi - He's just a side character but the whole audience loves him! and then he gets kidnapped and disappears halfway thru the movie so everyone assumes he's dead but just when the killer is about to whack the main character he shows up out of nowhere and knocks them out with a fire extinguisher to save them. he's a hero, baby. he still might get got tho :/

Woozi - can we get fluffy for a sec? i know it's horror tropes but this is Thackery Binx from Hocus Pocus, ok? he was kind of a little shit and then he got turned into a cat so now he's chasing around these three idiot kids trying to help them stop the witches from eating all the kids in Salem and he's perpetually irritated at his lack of opposable thumbs bc if he had them, he could just do it all himself.

Wonwoo - he's the dark-knight detective on the case. he's scary, kinda shady, and is likely doing a ton of illegal shit to find leads and force information out of people, but he's not a bad guy. He's been on the case for over a decade and lives off black coffee and cigarettes. definitely makes it to the end and has a hand in taking the killer down.

Mingyu - ok, yes, i still think he's the token slasher-bimbo - like he's the opening kill before the title sequence BUT alternatively, he's the martyr...he's the character you end up loving and then you have to watch as he sacrifices himself so everyone else lives & we love/hate him for it. We weep for him. We write alternate ending fics for him.

Seokmin - Sigh, he's the dad who buys the super-haunted house in a paranormal horror flick. He can't afford to move because he poured his life savings into buying the house. Shit keeps getting progressively worse. His dog chased something into the woods and never came back. His kids are possessed. His wife is floating in the corner and making weird noises. but he's hot - like ryan reynolds in Amityville.

Vernon - bro, he is actually Darry from Jeepers Creepers. I literally can't explain this to you if you haven't watched this CLASSIC and those of you who have seen it...you get it. Like why tf is he ignoring Ms. Dabney????? she's trying to save him and he's like...ok weirdo...i'm gonna go check out that hole where it looks like bodies are being dumped...bye.

Seungkwan - he's not going in that fuck-ass house dude. he's not doing it. he will stand guard with whatever makeshift weapon he can find and he's talking mad shit about everyone and their stupid plan the whole time he's waiting. he is, however, a good friend, and he will run into the house the first time he hears someone scream. is soooo pissed when he finds out it was over nothing and now he's stuck with everyone else in the death trap.

Chan - he is the planner, the optimist, the strategist. he is getting everyone the hell out and he's got the brains and balls to pull it all off. like, my boi is setting traps as if he's Freddie in Scooby Doo. He is pissing the killer off left and right. definitely gets himself in a pinch - almost meets his end - and still, somehow finds a way to live.

[howldean]

Hey here's a million quastions because I love you

6:A song that makes you want to dance

9:A song that makes you happy

11:A song that you never get tired of

19:A song that makes you think about life

20:A song that has many meanings to you

22:A song that moves you forward

30:A song that reminds you of yourself

the way i waited to be on my computer to answer this and then. forgor every time i was at my puter since then. and now i'm procrastinating on taking a final so i'm going through asks. ANYWAY

6:A song that makes you want to dance - still feel. by half alive (there's a video of me literally just bouncing up and down to this song like. the day before i got my tits chopped off. it's quite funny. somatic shit just feels really good with this one idk)

9:A song that makes you happy - long way down by the happy fits! honestly i fuck with every thf song but "atom bomb, atta boy! only gods can change the weather / apathy over love, it's a long way down together. WOO!" untouchable.

11:A song that you never get tired of - secret of life by lord huron. i won't even lie i've had this playing about three to seven times in a row since i queued it on our way to lunch. it's been scratching by brain so very very good

19:A song that makes you think about life - I'VE GOT A FEW!!!! lightning crashes by live, yesterday by imagine dragons, 7 years by lukas graham (i blame a warrior cats amv for this one i won't lie)

20:A song that has many meanings to you - enjoy the silence by depeche mode. this was my dad's lullaby to me growing up and looking back that's really fucked up of him. i love this song dearly and it did rounds on tiktok a while ago ?? and that was fucked up fr. anywho. words like violence break the silence

22:A song that moves you forward - sunday best by surfaces (idk it's upbeat and silly and a good vibe)

30:A song that reminds you of yourself - another try by the happy fits "my thoughts recede into all my habits, a kind of freedom that's automatic / if i'm my keeper, does it matter?"

i could go rounds and rounds with that last one and it took me about 30 minutes to pick one that i'm mildly satisfied with. so we're going with that. love u 5ever sunny d <3

[sadchip]

Rehabilitation Is Bullshit

This fic is nearly 100% based off of an idea @letmerambleplease had.

TW: Lots of cussing, Valentino.

Part 2

Velvette walks into her new room and sighs. She's only been here three days and she misses her linen sheets. Her plushies. And dammit, maybe she misses her friends a little. Not that she'd ever tell them that.

She looks at her luggage. She doesn't wanna unpack this shit. Then again she kinda has to, so…

She picks up her luggage and she pulls everything out, laying it on her bed and shoving her bags in the closet.

She grabs the spare fabric and the notebooks she brought. Just because she's trying to get revenge doesn't mean she's going to get behind on her work. She has a line coming out in a few months.

Despite what some may think she actually does love her job. And her business partners however begrudgingly it may be.

She pulls out her clothes and shoves them in the closet and the dresser.

When she's done putting her stuff away she sits at the desk that's at the front of the room. She's really fucking bored. She pulls out her notebook and a pencil. Might as well get some work done.

But she can't, the ideas are all garbage. She can't get shit done when she's bored. She makes her emotions. The designs will be boring, and that just won't do. She groans and hits her head on the table.

She really should stop doing that.

Suddenly she gets the feeling that she's being watched. She looks around, but no one is there. She shrugs, she's probably gone insane with boredom. Vox will have to pick her up in a body bag.

She chuckles at the thought. She can't wait to have him on his knees begging for her to come back. Maybe she wants to go back a little too.

Not because she misses them or anything… She misses her room. Nothing more, nothing less.

She stands up and sits on the bed, it's comfortable enough. She's about to get back up when she hears a knock. She gets up and answers it.

The Princess is standing there, smiling. “Hey!” She says happily. It's honestly annoying how upbeat she is. “We're going to do an activity, do you wanna join us?”

Velvette wants to refuse, to slam the door in her face. But she's so fucking bored. “Sure, its not like I have anything better in this shitty hotel.” She answers, brushing past Charlie.

Charlie follows her, trying to make small-talk the entire time. Velvette wants to rip her eyes out. Does this bitch ever shut up?

They all sit in the living room. Velvette is in a chair in front of the radio demon. She doesn't get what Vox sees in him. The guys teeth are fucking disgusting, and he smells like shit.

Charlie stands in front of them. “Okay, now that we have somebody new I thought it would be fun to play a game!” She says happily as she looks at everyone.

Nobody seems interested, she either isn't interested or doesn't care, because she just keeps on talking. “Okay, everyone get onto the floor!”

Velvette ends up sitting beside the princess and her girlfriend. Charlie explains that they'll all be playing two truths and a lie to get to know each other.

Charlie starts smiling as she thinks. “Okay… Lucifer is my dad, my eyes are blue, and my favorite color is red!”

Velvette scoffs. This will be a long day.

Around thirty minutes passes and eventually it's Velvette's turn. She thinks for a moment before she speaks. “I died in the late 2000's, I hate the color brown, and…” She smirks, pointing to Nifty. “I watched that one kill an angel.”

Charlie smiles. “Ooh! Ooh! That one!” She says, seemingly proud that she found out the ‘right answer’

Velvette cocks her head to the side, still smirking. “I died in 2012.”

Charlie's eyes widen almost comically.

—

It's day five and Velvette is still bored as shit. She's currently sitting in the lounge area, she's playing on her phone. Angel Dust and that fucking cat are talking at the bar.

Angel Dust has been shooting glares at her every fucking chance he can. Too bad, Valentino would lose his shit if he thought they were hanging out…

She stands up and walks over to the bar, she smiles at the cat guy. “Whiskey.” She says simply as she scrolls through her phone.

He starts making it, mumbling curses under his breath. Velvette turns to Angel Dust, a smirk on her face. She flips her phone to Angel and he chokes on his drink.

On her screen is a picture of Valentino tripping and eating shit on some pavement. He thinks she deleted it, but he doesn't have to know.

“Here's the deal.” She starts, turning off her phone. “You take a few pictures with me while I'm here. It will piss Valentino off. And I'll also give you that lovely picture.”

Angel Dust stares at her for a moment. He smiles and takes the drink that the cat guy made for him without him even asking for it. He drinks it. “You had me at pissing off Valentino.”

AN: Hey, I finally updated this, I couldn't really find a way to improve it, so I just posted it as is. All in all I kinda like it.

[theoddcatlady]

My sister came back from the dead

When I was young, there was a serial killer in my town.

For three summer straight, he killed people. Young, old, female, male, it didn’t matter to him. You just had to be alone long enough for him to snatch you up like some kinda boogeyman. Hell, it didn’t even have to be at night. Mrs. Gibbs ran out for groceries with her husband, he stepped back inside for a minute to grab something they forgot, and came back out to their baby crying in the car and a dropped bag of groceries next to the car.

They found her three days later, her ribs all cut open and splayed out so anyone and everyone could see her guts.  

It was a nasty time, I’ll tell you that. I was only a kid. Like, maybe five when it started, eight when it all ended. I only found out the nastier details when I got curious and asked enough questions to people willing to answer. Not many people were, that was for sure.

Where I grew up was a pretty small town, so you’d think we’d find the murderer faster. But nah. Our neighbors couldn’t be killers. During the summer people did their damn best to never be alone. People who lived by themselves would move back in with their parents, friends would all group up. It’s hard never being alone though, ya know? There’s always moments when you just need to step out for a breather or you need some private time. And that’s when he got ya.  

That last summer when the killer lurked was hot as hell. You’d be able to fry eggs on the sidewalk. I got a sunburn so bad I had to stay in bed for a whole day, the box fan blowing only slightly cooler air on my dried up face. There was at least two incidents when elderly people croaked from heat stroke. And of course that killer was back. Heatwave didn’t stop him from killing my sister.

I don’t remember Jill all that well. There was about a ten year age gap between us, so we were never close. My parents had her real young and she grew up to be stubborn. And like most teenagers, she felt untouchable. Immortal. That particular summer was bad, probably because she’d broke up with her boyfriend when he went off to college and met a fellow college gal.  

So one night she blew off my parents when they told her to stay home and instead went to a party. Next morning is when they realized Jill never came home.

It took two weeks to find her. I made myself find out the details, you’ll figure out why later. She’d been fucked up real bad, he’d kept her alive as he cut her to pieces. First her fingers and toes, then her hands and feet, and up until she had no limbs. Then he cut up her face, cut out her tongue. And to wrap it all up her gutted her while she was still alive.

She suffered. But this time the killer made a mistake. Cuz someone saw him leave with Jill.

Frank Stokes. He was nearing his midthirties but spent most of his time with highschoolers or young adults. But mostly people thought he was harmless. Real quiet, real shrimp of a guy. But you know, there was a few rumors of his wild teenage years, how he stole his neighbor’s cats and dissected them. It was brushed off as youthful curiosity and charges were never pressed, probably because said neighbor died from a sudden stroke. Who knows, maybe it wasn’t a stroke, maybe Frank stuck some rat poison in her coffee. No one could answer that but Frank himself.

My town suffered far too long because of Frank though. My parents, my dad in particular, wasn’t gonna wait for the cops to fix this. So he gathered a mob and they went to go get Frank. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, death for death.

They broke into Frank’s house and found a collection of human body parts. His souvenirs, I guess. People talked about how they found all sorts of fucked up stuff, I don’t know how much is true of course, since it all ranges from sacrificial altars to a taxidermied human being. They chased Frank out and into the nearby corn fields.  

This is the part where it does get a little more fuzzy. Like it wasn’t fuzzy already. Retellings of the story vary, some people say they actually caught Frank and gave him what he deserved, beating him into the dirt as he cried and pleaded for mercy. Some other tales say they only cornered him. And another one says they actually started to hang him on the nearby oak tree before this next twist happened.

This is the one part of the story that does line up though. The part of the story where Frank said he could bring all his victims back.  

Yeah, you’re not misreading that. While bawling his eyes out, Frank promised to return their loved ones to them if they only let him live.

Such a stupid idea. I mean, he killed a little under twenty people. And when you’re dead you’re dead. There’s no coming back from dead, especially when some have been dead for years by that point. I don’t know how he convinced them that yes, by tomorrow morning all of his victims would start coming back, but he did. My dad came back and got Jill’s room ready, the bickering between him and my mom actually woke me up.

I remember peering through my sister’s bedroom door and watching my dad make up Jill’s bed. But Jill was gone, my parents told me that Jill was dead. Jill was never coming home. But my dad even turned her radio on to her favorite station.  

My mom ended up storming out, tears in her eyes. I think she was pissed dad didn’t end up killing Frank. I mean, I don’t blame her, if I’d really understood what was going on back then I would’ve been pissed too. That bastard took away my sister, and sure we weren’t close but she was still my sister.

Next morning though I was watching cartoons when I heard a knock at the door. Not really thinking as I was still waking up I stumbled to the door and opened it up.

There was Jill, wearing the same outfit she’d been buried in, standing out on the front steps. She smiled at me.

“Hey, idiot, mom and dad moved the hide a key. Thanks for letting me in.”

Numb, I just nodded and moved aside for her to walk in. She mouthed thank you as she tip toed inside. She sighed with relief as I shut the door. “God, it’s already getting hot. Mom? Dad? I’m home!”

My mom ran into the living room and promptly dropped into a faint. My dad ran in after her and fell to his knees, pale and shaking. I don’t think he really believed Frank was going to follow through with his promise. But Jill was here, back and perfectly fine. Or so it looked.

For the first days, everyone was just shocked to see the friends and family they’d buried come back to them. Even if they’d been dead for years and years, they came back looking as alive as you or me. They had no memories of actually dying, which is probably for the best considering how Frank made them suffer. But they did know they’d been dead.  

It’s sad to say that Jill and I really only bonded after she came back from the dead. I guess dying shifted things back into perspective. She went from hell child to perfect angel. She did her chores, never broke her curfew, and spent time with me. We went to the park, the ice cream parlor, hell, we even had a day at the zoo. During all this time she kept telling me how much she loved me, how she was sorry she always pushed me away or treated me like an obnoxious lil shit before. She was just frustrated and took it out on her family.

We all took the miracle at face value. Don’t be mad about it, we were just so damn glad to have our family back. No one noticed how Frank just slipped out of town one night. People only realized he was gone after he didn’t show up for work three days in a row. But now he was someone else’s problem, people reasoned. All the people he’d murdered were back, so why even bother anymore, right?

But come on, I’m sure if you’re reading this you know that bringing people back is always a fucking mistake. When you’re dead, you’re dead, and that’s that. You don’t get a do over, at least, not in the body you started out in. I dunno about reincarnation and shit like that, but I do know that all those people coming back was a big fucking mistake.

It was just little things at first. Dead animals, roadkill turning up with no blood in it. Dry as a bone, those bodies. Then a funeral home was raided the night before Ms. McCarthy’s funeral, she’d been drunk dry too. Not only that, Mr. Quinn, the funeral director had been attacked. He’d lost so much blood that they thought he was a goner. But he managed to pull through, when he did he had the strangest story to tell.

He’d just been getting things finished up for the night when it happened. A small group of people barged on in, and before he could ask what they wanted the leader grabbed him and threw him to the ground. Most of the group ran to the casket, dragging Ms. McCarthy’s body out and started cutting her open with knives. They looked disappointed at the minimal amounts of blood as she’d been embalmed but all Quinn could do was watch as they sucked away at the wounds they made.  

Then one of the leaders cut open Quinn’s wrist and screamed with triumph as they began to suck away at the wound. He tried to get away but more and more of them pinned him down and made cuts all over his body. They only left after they’d drunk their fill from him and Ms. McCarthy.

If there’d been no body there that night, I imagine Mr. Quinn wouldn’t have survived to tell the tale.  

Jill wasn’t doing well though. Although she’d been strong and healthy at first, she’d gotten pale and started wasting away. She wasn’t sleeping at night, and when she did sleep, she woke up screaming. I think she remembered what happened to her. But she wouldn’t tell us if she did.  

It all came to a head when someone heard screaming from the Gibbs residence. Course, 911 was called, and when the police got there the eldest daughter stumbled out, her shirt covered in blood and cradling her bleeding youngest sibling. She just pointed inside before she collapsed.

Inside was Mrs. Charity Gibbs, sucking on her dead husband’s neck while two of the other resurrected drank from other wounds on his body.  

They managed to escape, after killing a cop and taking his body with them. I think they found it later in the ditch, drunk dry of blood and all shriveled up.  

Lots of people died as the resurrected made their escape. All of them got out too, ran off into the woods and just disappeared. Turns out a couple of them actually had help from their living relatives and friends, bring them animals and people to drink from.  

Every one of them left. Except Jill.

Jill called me to her room. My parents were out, don’t remember why. But I went into Jill’s room, probably one of the only times I did. She never liked me in her room.

She looked terrible. White as a sheet, her face all shrunken, she’d probably lost like twenty pounds in the matter of a few weeks. She took my hand in hers and squeezed as tightly as she could. “Can you stay with me?” She asked, her voice raspy and dry.

“Why?”  

“Because I’m gonna die again. And this time, I don’t-” She coughed and spattered blood all over my face, “I don’t wanna do it alone. I know it’s selfish. It’s gonna be bad… and I could’ve… I could’ve stopped it, but I didn’t want to hurt anybody. Please stay. Please?”

I stayed. I sat at the foot of her bed and stayed. Her fingers gripped tighter and tighter until they went lax… and rolled onto the bedspread.  

Her palms followed shortly after, plopping on down in my hand. I ended up dropping it and it rolled away on the floor. It took a bit longer for her arms to come off at the shoulder, each muscle and tendon snapping like a rubber until it hung on by a few shriveled threads. She cried as her head fell to rest on my lap, her tongue falling from her lap and onto my shoe.  

She fell all to pieces in a matter of an hour.  

My parents came home to find me on the bed, rearranging my sister’s body parts to look like she was just resting. I don’t remember that, but frankly I blocked it all out after she ended up dying for the second time. I was admitted into the hospital, I didn’t speak for weeks.  

But I recovered, you know. I bet that bastard Frank would’ve loved to see the havoc he caused. No one thought about looking for him after they got their loved ones back, and after their loved ones turned on them we had our hands full. Gotta admit, a clever move on his part, to give him enough time to get out of our lives.  

Frank’s gone. And he stayed gone. I just hope he isn’t causing problems somewhere else.

[professormembranexreader]

Family Bonding Drabble

“Okay, we all know who wears the gaming crown in this house,” Gaz smirked. (Y/N) hopped over the couch and sat on Gaz’s right. Membrane could only smile as his spouse entertained his children. But he knew something they didn’t…

“Okay, just like last time, whoever completes the level faster gets to play with me in the final boss level first,” Gaz said. She actually had one eye open and was sporting a soft smile. She was glad that (Y/N) had convinced the rest of her family to play this game with her. Even if her dad just watched.

“You can try first, Dib. I’ll show you how it’s done after!” (Y/N) said with a smirk. Dib simply scoffed and gripped the controller. Gaz was keeping time as the referee between the two. “On your mark…” (Y/N) and Dib locked eyes. “Get set…” Dib flicked his gaze to the television in front of them.

“GO!” Gaz screamed.

Dib furiously mashed on the controller. Moving joysticks, hitting buttons, and pressing the directional pad, all of this his life depended on. They were competing on the mini-boss’s level, so there was a decent amount of challenge. The stopwatch kept timing how long the fight took, and all (Y/N) could do was wait and watch as the enemy’s health bar went lower and lower. Soon enough, the mini-boss was defeated.

“What was my time?” Dib asked.

“Two minutes and forty seconds.” Gaz looked expectantly at (Y/N). “You have a good shot at this, man. Don’t fuck it up...”

(Y/N) took the controller and hovered over the button to retry the level. They looked at Gaz for confirmation. “On your mark...” (Y/N) bit their cheek. “Get set...”

“GO!”

And once more the battle started. The mini-boss was an easy fight if you had played the game enough times — or watched it be played multiple times, in (Y/N)’s case — all you had to do was whale on the tendrils that came up from the floor every now and then and aim for the torso while the tendrils weren’t visible. (Y/N) quickly finished the mini-boss and looked at Gaz for their time.

“Two minutes and twenty-three seconds. (Y/N) has first go on the boss with me.”

Dib seemed disappointed, but was a good sport. He got up off the couch and sat on the floor, watching the opening cutscene play out.

Our noble heroes, Demarkus and Sam, had just slain the nefarious Emperor Gunnam’s most beloved henchman on the way to rescuing their cat. Emperor Gunnam was filled with the fury of a thousand hurricanes, and saw no way to avenge his henchman other than to kill the two of them.

And with that, the fight began. Emperor Gunnam’s attacks had many different themes, but he was weak against summons. It was a good thing, though, that Gaz was playing as Sam, the necromancer who specialized in summons. It was almost as if she knew...

But soon enough, (Y/N)’s character ran out of health, leaving Gaz to fight Gunnam alone. Obviously, this was a losing battle, but she still tried. But a mage can’t win a fight on their own. Sam’s health was depleted, and the game over cutscene for the level played out.

“Alright, fair’s fair. Dib, you wanna play as Demarkus or Sam?” (Y/N) asked. Dib said Demarkus, so they handed him the same controller. (Y/N) watched the same events play out once more, and sighed.

The three of them alternated turns and characters, but to no avail. They were about to dejectedly give up for today, when Membrane cleared his throat from behind the couch.

“I have been analyzing the attack patterns and damage done over the course of your attempts, and I may have an idea. Daughter, would you be willing to attempt this plan with me?”

Gaz opened her eyes in astonishment. Her dad? Video games? I mean, it was a well known fact that he was in favor of them — he did enable her GameSlave obsession, after all. But did he actually play them? She closed them, and in trying to mask her surprise, she gave a simple thumbs up.

Dib got onto the floor in front of (Y/N), making room for Membrane to sit. (Y/N) leaned an arm around the back of the couch and watched as Membrane and Gaz started up the level.

Spells were cast. Zombies and skeletons were summoned. Swords were swung. Blood was shed. But unlike previous attempts, Membrane was being much more daring with his strikes.

He attacked relentlessly, as did Gaz, but eventually their hp was low. And with one stray hit that Gaz didn’t see coming, Sam the necromancer was down. The three watched in anticipation as Membrane fought against Gunnam. And with one more button combo, the boss was defeated.

The three stared at him in awe of this feat. Meanwhile, Membrane stood up and cracked his knuckles.

“Jaja, aún lo tengo,” he laughed, walking away.

[gettothestabbing]

Since I’ve already begun, let me continue from the previous personal post.

I am so very tired of hearing my sister complain about situations that I want to be in. She’s married, pregnant, has a new house, and lives close to our father. But unlike me, she doesn’t see the last thing as beneficial in any way. (The rest, she’s pretty stoked about.)

She has a terrible relationship with our father. He’s definitely not been a good father to her in many ways, so I understand. My relationship with him is better because I don’t feel the need to argue every difference of opinion we have. I’m less confrontational. I still value some of his advice. I don’t admire him anymore, but I can connect with him and tell him things sometimes.

Mimi has never forgiven him for some terrible things he’s said to her. His remarriage destroyed their relationship over several years. He’s excited for his first grandchild, and Mimi hates it, because he is making her pregnancy and her moving closer to him all about him. He’s very self-focused and feels entitled to her time and space because he’s her father. She’s keeping him at arms length. Her husband doesn’t like him at all. I keep trying to play peacemaker between these three and it just doesn’t work very well, long-distance or otherwise, because they won’t talk directly to each other. So all I can do is listen when they each complain to me about one of the others and try to help them see the other perspective.

When I’m tired, lonely, unable to live with my beloved cats (currently living with her), having awful date after awful date, unable to make plans with friends because I had to move to another state for work where I only work evenings and my coworkers are all immigrants who only hang out with each other, I get pretty fucking sick of complaints about how awful it is for people to (1) want to see her not-yet-fully-furnished house, (2) give her advice she’s not going to follow about her baby, or in Dad’s case (3) act entitled to her time and try to make her invite people over that she doesn’t like.

Oh gosh, people want to be around you and help you out? Wish I had that! People are selfish and don’t understand you when you literally have refused for years to actually tell them how you feel about anything? Go figure!! Do you think there’s any way to change that? No? Ok, just tell me how much you hate them for not reading your mind. It’s not like you sound exactly like my patients, who are nice until you mess up the plan they have for their day in their head that they never told you they had.

I’ve had one relationship. One. We had 6 dates and then 2 years of terrible long-distance nothing. Outside of that, I’ve had like 30 first and second dates. The only way I cope with that is by trying to turn these experiences into funny stories for others. She married her first boyfriend from college after living with him for like a year. She’s never had a bad first date, or used a dating app, or been stood up or ghosted or dumped or had someone just give up on the date twenty minutes in with no explanation. She got pregnant the first try, while I am trying to accept the increasingly real possibility of never being able to marry or have children. She hasn’t had a job in years because she doesn’t need one, and is having a lovely time being a homemaker and mom-in-waiting. I’d love to be either of those things, if not both. But given how long it’s taking me to find anyone to even hit a third date with, I’m just trying to reconcile myself to being happy single and working my whole life. Got to prepare for all possible futures and ward off despair!

I really wish I didn’t feel so resentful of it all. I want to be a good older sister. I have a good job, save my money, act on my principles, and try to be kind. I hope I’m setting a good example in the ways that I can. People always assume that she’s older than me, not because of her looks (she’s gorgeous), but because she’s married/pregnant/a homeowner/always giving me advice. They’re quite shocked when I reveal I’m the older one. It’s all disheartening. I always wanted to be a great older sister, ever since I realized what that term meant. But Mimi never needed one. No one else sees me that way.

And the longer Dad’s second marriage goes on, the more I realize that he doesn’t need me around either. When Mom died, Dad started to rely on me a lot. I got into an all-IB high school, so I didn’t have to do chores like Mimi, but he relied on me more emotionally. So when he remarried, and I went to college, I was still relying on him. I called and talked to him regularly. And when he had his stroke, I took care of him during the day. I gave up my summer job immediately. Even when he decided to switch to medical care, I supported his physical therapy as much as I could during law school. But now I live several hours away again. He stopped showing interest in my life unless it was about my being promoted or dating; his dating advice is usually “be nicer to the guy” no matter how I’m being treated. When I do call, he’s just not interested in what I have to say anymore, so I call much less often. He’s been married to my stepmom for about ten years now. I’m not married or giving him a grandchild or close by, so I’m no longer a priority. Even if we’re not as close now, it hurts to know that. I can’t imagine complaining the way Mimi does about Dad wanting to be around me or see how I’m doing.

Usually I try to finish these long whiny posts with something uplifting or hopeful, but today, I really don’t have anything. Honestly, sometimes I wish I was sad and crazy enough to actually kill myself. I’m not at that point and hopefully never will be. But I almost wish I was. I feel like I’m failing at life and I can’t reach out properly to people without feeling like a burden and quickly reversing course and telling them I’m fine. If I had a serious problem, maybe I could get the support I want, but I shouldn’t wish for such things.

[constelationprize]

can you tell us about any wips that are kevjean or kerejean?

I loved the snippets for the gothic horror au and I’d love more of your writing about them

I do have a kevjean WIP there's very near and dear to my heart that I haven't talked much about before. Or maybe I have I honestly don't remember and it's two am and I should be looking at trees so bear with me, okay?

quiet out loud is my Raven exposé kevjean fic. I started writing it before TSC was even announced so I had a very specific vision for kevjean's future I still intend to stick to, but there is a planned plot point I suspect the second book will touch on, so I'm waiting to see how that turns out so I can spin it in this AU.

But anyway it's about reuniting with your ex crush/best friend/trauma bonded cat on the absolutely worst circumstances possible. It's also, not exactly my two cents because I'm not that self important, but a exploration of scandals involving famous people (especially when it's around traumatic subjects) and how the public reaction to that can often be Fucking Weird.

Anyway here, have a snippet of Kevin Day taken five seconds before disaster struck:

He remembered looking over his shoulder in the last quarter and seeing one of the PAs whispering something at Coach Marinho’s ear, and how her eyebrows nearly disappeared on her hairline. Kevin had a second to frown, and wondered if maybe Park’s sprain on the first quarter ended up more serious than it looked, but then Celia was rebounding the ball his way and he had to move on. The Dragonflies won, as expected, 8-5. Kevin scored three of those goals, and his shoulder was only faintly aching when they filed out of the court and into the Away locker room. He had gotten a bad check on the first game of the playoffs that had him worried for a minute, there. He was just toweling off his hair when he noticed the uncommon silence around him. His team is usually quite chatty, even if he himself doesn’t participate very often. Seven years out of the Foxes taught Kevin some manners, and he learned to keep his post-game opinions to himself when not directly asked, which mainly meant not talking at all. Still, he liked to listen to the friendly chatter of his teammates as background noise, and its sudden absence was jarring. So was looking up to find them all staring at him. “Can I help you?” No one seemed inclined to talk, and all eyes turned to their captain. Jordan Park, backliner, main draw of the Dragonflies’ strong defense line and one of the only players with seniority over Kevin in the team. In fact, he had been a senior with the Jackals when Kevin was in his freshman year – the Ravens won their match, but Park was a good share of the reason why it was only by a hair. Eleven years was on the longer end of a pro backliner career, and with the frequency which minor checks on Park turned into injuries lately, he likely didn’t have a lot of seasons left in him. Kevin tried not to flex his shoulder. “Uh, Day,” He stammered, and if Kevin was on edge before, the hesitant tone made him want to hurl. “Maybe you should check your phone.” Kevin's first instinct was to think, My dad. He was fishing his phone out of the locker, powering it up and watching with fascinated dread as the notifications poured in. The ‘06 Foxes (and Robin) groupchat was exploding. Nicky had tried to videocall even though it was an ungodly hour in Berlin. Neil had sent him ten messages that were differently worded pleas of “call us when the game is over” and “no matter what you do, DON’T READ IT”. What it meant was left unhelpfully out of the texts. Most damning of all were his top notifications. Andrew had called him twice, five minutes after the bell rang. If Kevin had hit his locker before the showers, he would have catched it exactly. Andrew never called anyone more than once. According to him, if someone didn’t pick up the first time, it was no longer his responsibility. Checking his phone did nothing to answer Kevin’s doubts and he could feel the panic setting in his lungs. And then Andrew called the third time.

[winderlylandchime]

Hello! Hope you are doing well. My brother has officially introduced Brian the cat to his therapist today. I walked into the living room to find him sitting in front of the computer holding the cat up close go the camera and then, i guess his therapist logged on or something and he was waiting for him because out of nowhere all i heard was a deep sigh and ‘so it’s gonna be one of those type of sessions again, huh? *long pause while my brother continues to hold the cat to the camera* hey, (brother’s name) whatcha got there?’ And then my brother went ‘(his therapist name) meet Brian! He is my new best friend. Since the real deal isn’t available to me, i had to improvise.’ And then i guess his therapist started writing something down because my brother suddenly went ‘hey, nothing i said or did should make you write for this long, man.’ I did leave the room after that but the last thing I heard before i left was the therapist saying ‘be honest, did you steal the cat like the last time?’ And I obviously had a reaction to it and my brother screamed at me ‘IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! They all look the same so i took the wrong one home *and then he turned to his computer and went* and for the record it was a DOG not a cat. And dont be silly, Brian came to moi by choice’ I asked our mom and turns out he accidentally took the wrong dog home from the groomers and she did confirm the dogs were the same breed and even had the same type of white patch on their fur. However she thinks he should’ve realized something is up when the dog was shy and terrified of him.

Also the cat has officially gotten nicknames, the obvious one is Bri Bri, Bri the Cat, Bri/an the second, Brian Kinney Taylor (that one lasted a day), Bri the mad cat (after 2x01 and its only used when Brian bites him), Mr Bri the second and Brian-Baby-Sweetie-Kinney. He very briefly tried calling it Brian Justin Honeycutt Kinney but it didn’t last because he felt like the cat hated having two names and a last name.

He also has managed to piss off our mom because he’s been rewatching old episodes this week and he’s been sending her long voice memos of complaints about it (mind you he did that already so she’s having a deja vu moment) and my mom tried to bribe him to stop and be normal for at least a day. Which immediately flew out the window because he asked her if she loved him if he was like Brian. She started to ignore him so he instead started to annoy our dad. It started very simple with “normal” questions such as: ‘if i had cancer would you still love me?’ (The answer was ‘what the fuck type of question is that?’) ‘if i was gay and in love with myself would you still love me?’ (The answer to that was ‘(his name) I’m in a meeting right now if this is your way of coming out can you wait 10 minutes?’) then my all time favorite question ‘if I randomly got a buzzcut would you realize that something is wrong or would you just let me go?’ (Answer to that was ‘send me a picture of yourself right now!’) and the last but not least ‘would you help me take down a dirty politician and a violinist?’ (And the answer to that was ‘fucking hell, this is about that show isnt it?!’)

So the three main people who judge his mental state (only one professionally) for sure have to be a bit concerned.

Hello dear sweet anon! I’m sorry about taking so long to respond to your messages from yesterday. I got my covid booster and by the time I was done with work for the day, I felt like I got hit by a truck. Far far better than getting covid but the vaccine always takes me out for a day or two.

Your brother’s therapist has lost all patience for him. But also - your brother stole a dog!?! By accident, but still!

The whole point of a pet’s name is to generate nicknames. My pets only get called by their full names when they are in trouble.

“I’m in a meeting right now if this is your way of coming out can you wait 10 minutes” I AM DYING. Your poor mom and dad are really going for a ride here.

[forabeatofadrum]

The Slovenian Glossary - Part 3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4

9. Value

Blaine needs an evening to himself. He might brew a nice pot of tea and curl up on the couch underneath a fluffy blanket so that he can read. He bought some new books from Mladinska knjiga and he’s been waiting for the right time.

Mladinska knjiga is a chain in Slovenia. It’s a bookstore that also sells stationary and other little tchotchkes, like a reusable foldable bag in the form of a cat (yes, that’s what I bought there). It also sells English books, which is why Blaine bought some books there. There are a lot of Mladinska knjiga stores in the country. Ljubljana’s city centre alone has 8 of them. There are two on street 1! The one pictured above is the biggest one on the street, the Konzorcij one.

10. Overt

Nothing to say here!

 11. Education

There isn’t a lot to say here either, but hey, hey, hey, Dejan is a Slovenian name. One of my teachers was actually called Dejan. I didn’t base this Dejan on him, but that’s where the name comes from.

 12. Convergence

Kurt’s place isn’t glamorous. It’s a normal four story house that got turned into four shitty apartments for students. Kurt lives on the fourth floor with Sunil, André and a Slovakian guy who Kurt’s never talked to.

Kurt lives in the house that I lived in. I am not posting photos or an address, since you know, people probably live there. But yeah, this is a fun easter egg to me.

13. Pat

Also nothing to say here!

 14. Dispose

After classes, Kurt crosses the Three Bridges to go to VIGÒ, an ice cream shop. He and Blaine passed another VIGÒ in Koper, but it was too cold back then.

Oh VIGÒ. Ljubljana had a lot of ice cream spots, but VIGÒ is my absolute favourite and that’s because they have a lot of interesting flavours. The photo of the flavours is taken by me. I loved the Lila one and the VIGÒ one and my dad says that the Greek yoghurt one is one of the best ice creams he’s ever had. You can find some more of my photos here.

Anyway, the first building is the VIGÒ in Ljubljana, which, as the fic says, is found after you cross the Three Bridges. It is a beautiful building and it’s nice to sit outside (on a Friday… to watch the weekly protests) (do those still happen?). The second one is the VIGÒ in Koper. Like Kurt and Blaine, I passed it but I didn’t have ice cream there cause we saw it on our way out of the city.

As I mentioned in the author’s note, they apparently opened a second spot in Ljubljana at Kongresni trg. Looks like I have to go back to Ljubljana to see it for myself. Fuck the castle and other sights, I am here for VIGÒ.

Damn, maybe he shouldn’t go to VIGÒ. If the fact that he and Blaine walked past another store can trigger such a reaction, then maybe Kurt should just turn around and go to the Cacao.

Cacao is another ice cream place. I admit I didn’t go there often, because I opted for VIGÒ. As you can see, it has a nice terrace on street 2 and there is also a smaller pop-up-esque Cacao somewhere.

15. Pump

“Quinn, I’m gonna go get that burek,” he says calmly. He is calm. Quinn being calm makes it easy to not feel bad. “It’s a twelve minute walk to Nobel, retour, and I still have to order and all that, so take your time.”

“Alright!’ Quinn yells from the bathroom.

“Pizza burek?” he asks.

Nobel burek is all over the place, even outside the city centre. This one on street 1 is probably the most “fancy” one, because the others are just counters out of a wall, or whatever it’s called. They serve pizza burek, which is burek with tomato and cheese flavour and it is so good. Good thing I found that I had made a photo of it. Fun fact, pizza burek is one of the last things I ate. When my parents came to pick me up, I brough them to all sort of places that had become staples of my time in Ljubljana, and pizza burek at Nobel is one of them.

 16. Maintain

Of course he has Sunil and Tadeja. He also has people from his classes and from his play, and the International Student Organisation hosts a lot of events. Kurt’s also gone to the gay scene in Metelkova a few times and he’s met really cool people there as well.

Metelkova is an interesting place. There are some politics around it, but I do not know the details so if you want to learn more, Wikipedia is a good place to start. Metelkova is the hub for the alternative life in Ljubljana, including the queer scene. I admit I didn’t go there a lot, because I do not like loud and crowded parties. Metelkova is most known for its nightlife and I completely skipped that, but Kurt doesn’t.

It looks like a mess. There is more quote-unquote proper mural art on the walls that surround it. When I show people photos of Metelkova, I always tell them this is one of the most famous cultural places in the country, and people don’t believe me, but what is culture anyway? What is art? If you want to dive into that, then you can also do that at Metelkova, since the area also hosts the modern art museum of the country. I went there to go to a Polish queer exbition.

Okay, I am going off-track here, because I realise I put a total of zero (0) museums in this fic, but I do want to mention the museum culture real quick. Ljubljana is filled with them and entrée is cheap. Every first of last Sunday of the month (I can’t remember), all entrée is free for everyone. One months I missed it, so I grumbled about having to pay for a ticket. I decided to do it to support this queer exhibition. My ticket was €3, because it’s €6 with 50% student discount. I was shook. As comparison, het Stedelijk Museum, the modern art museum of Amsterdam, has a ticket price of €22,50 (and €10 for students).

Not only that, but in march, there was a week where all museums were free for students. Coincidentally, it fell in the weird week where Slovenia was figuring out what to do with COVID, so all my classes were cancelled, but museums and other places were still open (till Friday, at least, that’s the moment businesses massively started closing on their own) (the country officially locked down on Monday). Basically, it is kind of a shame I didn’t find a way to weave the museum culture into this fic, but that’s where we have this glossary for.

Kurt and Sunil try to see the biggest sights. They go to the beautiful piazza’s and cathedrals. Kurt isn’t religious and Sunil is Buddhist, but the church did go big with the aesthetics and they can appreciate that. There’s also a castle just outside of the city centre and there is a gorgeous pier, since Trieste lies at the coast.

Again, I didn’t go to Trieste. I was planning on going to it, but *gestures around* Italy in 2020. I don’t think that’s something the Italians would like to relive.

I did consider putting a bit more effort into the Trieste trip, aka to make them similar to the Koper and Piran chapters, but I had no clue what to write and it admittedly wasn’t the point of the chapter. Trieste was chosen on a whim to showcase that Kurt would drag Sunil with him. That being said, I did look up some things when I was still thinking about putting effort into it, and this place is gorgeous. I still hope to visit it one day.

“Roza Slon or Bistro Suwon?”

This photo is from the Roza Slon website and I think it paints a great impression of Roza Slon’s vibe. Roza Slon is a Thai restaurant chain that is also all around Ljubljana. I think the one of the left is the one in Bežigrad, which is where I ate my last Boni.

Roza Slon was also at Open Kitchen, which we’ll get into later. Basically, it was good and easy Thai food.

Three photos of Bistro Suwon? Yup. That’s because it looks so weird from the outside, which is what you can see in the first photo. It’s basically underground, but inside it looks quite nice and when it’s sunny, it has a nice terrace. As I mentioned in the author’s note, I was under the impression that Bistro Suwon didn’t survive the pandemic, but it did. I decided to look it up, for shits and giggles. Like many other places, I never learnt the name, but I knew the location so I just started looking for it on Google Maps, because even if something is closed down, it might still show up on Google with the message that it is permanently closed, but hey, it is open!

[starvette]

T 26/90 || K3

Alright, well it's breaking dawn so I will now go seek el gato diablo.

No sign of him for forty minutes. I gave up and went deadhanging. And guess who is coming from across the playground! The Cat is wet and dirty so I locked him in the kitchen where he promptly jumped on the counters which are supposed to be, you know, clean or whatever.

The Cat later escaped again. I don't know, through the ajar window or the door I forgot to lock. Either way, mom found him right away in the afternoon. She wants to get him neutered but evil dad threatened to hurt her other cat - the one he likes the least - if she does that. So. I think we're both over his schizophrenia and mom just ignored him and is now getting Cat neutered. Wait. I just realized you can simply call the police for animal cruelty. But there isn't prison time for that yet because humans don't give a fuck about animals. God damn it.

Everything turned out alright. The nice vet ladies had already neutered him days earlier without asking so now it's not even mom's fault. Latest reports say dad's in a good mood. Mom didn't even bring Cat back there so now he's roaming outside here somewhere. He decides when he wants to be found.

I was awoken at six in the evening by IQ 80 males trimming the sparse grass of which only the tallest blades barely reached up to my ankles this morning when I was getting my sneakers wet in the mist looking for Cat. Those are the same kind of males that go to war when a dictator orders them. I wonder how much of our money they blew on it. I also wonder how many hedgehogs they shredded to bits. Then I watched some of a forty minute fucking movie on finasteride until my brain turned to jelly from focusing so hard and scribbling notes and crashed until very late, ignoring my alarm as usual. I felt like a zombie and running was out of the question. I made a heavenly bowl of fettuccine, then measured how long it takes me to sprint a hundred steps (roughly thirty three seconds), chickened out of running a full lap because it was two thirty at night and instead biked to the park to drink vending machine coffee and swing. I remembered what Peter said about how he'd managed to eat a lot more carbs with great glucose control back when he was exercising for four hours daily and wondered if I could sneak in a banana before my daily run and get away with it. That would also solve me perpetually accidentally overeating and then being late for my runs which in turn makes me not run at all. Yes, yes, on Kitavan day 3. I will be good though and give it some more time. Maybe I can eat that meal in the morning and then make it last until evening. Better try that first.

[impressiverunaway]

Why am I angry? (Part 1 of 3)

Oh, for so many reasons you’ve angered me. But, let’s start with the most recent time I’ve heard from you until now. Three texts, it took, through out the week until I got a response from you. Great response, you even asked how I was doing. I give a phenomenal response, in which you didn’t even take the time to read or respond to. None of them you have. You responded to a picture of my cat, after ignoring the others though. And responded to my flirtatious joke back. I knew you were at a party, and I text you asking if you may be free at some point that night, considering you’re off and this was a time, to my knowledge, that we could spend time together. After an hour of waiting, I realize I actually cannot spend time with you. I explain, I forgot I did not get a decent sleep the night before, and I need a decent sleep tonight. I turn off my phone because I need to focus on sleeping. I wake up briefly, due to my discomfort of being warm, and my light being on. Shortly after, I hear a knocking on my window. It’s 4am. I check my phone to confirm it was you, but forgot it was off, so I start it up. You continue to knock, I yell “Yeah!” and check to make sure its you before letting you in through the front door. “I can come in through this way?” “Yes!?” I think wtf else would you think, clearly we are both at the door. Gtf inside. I’m bothered, because I made it clear I needed a good rest, and you have now interrupted my sleep. Initially, it being a nice surprise, just poorly timed, mellowed me out. My room is also a mess, I tell you, you say that’s fine, but then comment on it. “wtf happened” “its okay, it adds character” I lay down on the bed, near fetal position, you say “good morning”, I say it back, fucking annoyed. Order of events doesn’t matter. You lay over me in this position, which feels great. But then I notice you are reaching over me to pet the cats. I then notice, your breath reeks of alcohol. I point it out, you go back and forth with me, claiming you didn’t actually drink, and asking what it smells like. I already know you drank, and now I’m just going with it that you didn’t actually. You later admit you drank, in which I call you out for lying. I’m annoyed as well, because I brought his drinking to his attention, it being a concern. Alcoholism type of vibe. He’s recently told me how he had a whole new mind set, cutting out vices, working on himself. And he’s already back to exactly where he was.   I told you this was a “nice surprise”. You tell me you texted and called twice. I explained my phone was off because I wanted to sleep. And how coincidentally, I happened to wake up right before you knocked, because I got hot. You tell me something like “no shit, look at what you’re wearing” (Leggings and a large t-shirt” and I say something like “no shit, I was freezing when I went to bed”. You say you need to use the bathroom to brush your teeth, hesitantly I warn you that it’s also a mess, in which I quickly retract my statement with a “never mind, I can pick it up really quick, give me a minute.” I use the bathroom myself, brush my teeth, and quickly straighten up my bathroom. I return to the bedroom and tell him it’s ready for him to use. When he exits the room, I change into something lighter, short shorts and a tank top, my go to. I start to work on straightening my bedroom. You lay on the bed, playing with the cats. Cute, because this is the first time Titan has actually warmed up to you like you are one of us. I still continue to work on my room while talking to you. You tell me how your “boy” from work, a 17 year old child, invites you to a family party. You boast about how cool you are, and how his father is also an artist. Talk about red flag, kid is 2 years away from being half your age and I’m thinking you are exploiting a friendship with a child to get an in with his dad and get ahead in a sleezy way. I ignore it, just kind of did that awkward smile, you know the one you do in passing to strangers or something. With a “mhhmm” and nod of the head. I continue to clean.

[herrscherofsentence]

Going to NRC and being Tony Stark’s son,

In the situation if you would get Isekai’ed into the Twisted Wonderland; 

•For starters Tony who would be in your world would probably be freaking the fuck out since where tf his kid just go

•While you on the other hand despite being in Ramshackle, if you payed attention to anything of what your dad made you might as well try to copy some of it while in NRC yk-

•Hell Tony may even try to get Dr Strange to help, while your family and friends are freaking out here you are missing your dad but also laughing your ass off with Ace and Deuce.

“Okay okay so,-“ you started “This dude his name is Happy, he’s literally like an uncle but also he has such a like- short temper? He’s so funny at times as well,” then you go on to tell Ace and Deuce stuff about Happy. “Wait your dad is rich?” Deuce asks while you take a couple minutes to reply. “Uh..yea, he has all this tech stuff,” You replied to Deuce.

•Your time at NRC is actually pretty good until the students start Overbloting. So one day you go into the Ignihyde dorm and make little replicas of your dad’s Iron Man suit with permission from the dorm students if it was okay if you make some stuff. Despite you having no magic it was very surprising to Idia that you were able to make this stuff, say you made replicas of the boots and the gloves. I can just imagine Ortho helping you with the boots with the flying aspect. 

•Crowley being absolutely useless is in for a shock when he sees you actually being able to participate in the magic portions of your classes somewhat. 

-

You are now a Junior at night raven college, it has been three fucking years with no ability to come home. It was so heartbreaking, stressful and just the amount of angrier you had towards Crowley. “Headmage.” You said busting into his office “When am I going to come home? Its been three, THREE WHOLE YEARS, since I’ve came to Night Raven College and I’m still not home. I have a mother and father at home please Crowley, get off your ass and do something for once.” You basically snapped at Crowley, you want to see Pepper, Tony, Peter, your friends and most of the avengers. Later that day when you were hanging out with Deuce and Ace, Crowley had came to you the headmage wanted to tell you something. It was until you saw a golden ring appear in front of you showing Dr. Strange and your dad, tears started rolling down your eyes at the sight of your dad. You gulp, turning to Ace and Deuce “Deuce, Ace thank you..” You cried out, “Grim..” you took off him off your shoulder. “No..[name]..don’t go :( I need my underling..” the cat cried out, it was the first time you saw Grim cry. “I’ll miss you three..” you said,completely ignoring Crowley, “Let me come with you..” Grim cried you had walked over to the portal, Grim in your arms as Crowley left, Ace and Deuce followed you. “Can we..Can we keep Grim..?” Your tears said it all as you looked up to your father and the wizard. “He needs to stay here, kid.” Strange said. “But..But..!” You protested “Please, He..He doesn’t have a home here..” your tears continued. In the end you managed to keep Grim, but still the part that was hard saying goodbye to your friends. Ace,Deuce,Epel,Jack and Sebek, you will miss them all very much but they all knew you had to go home, as a parting gift Epel gave you and your father apple juice. Even after the portal closed your tears continued as Grim rested on your shoulder, “thank you..” you gave a small smile through you tears as you hugged your father. 

“I missed you dad..” you whispered as Tony hugged back “I missed you too..” he replied.

[juddygirl]

Baby just tease me, got no family plan ficlet

It’s almost shameful the amount of luggage they had to pack for this flight back to his hometown. Two suitcases each, half of it just for Bella, even though his parents have told Daniel they’ve got everything they’ll need back home. They even bought her a big girl’s bed. But Daniel caved in and let her pack a hand suitcase just for toys and teddies. 

Max apprehends the whole flight there, the overlay in Dubai late at night, and the jet lag once they will have made it to Perth. He’s also petrified to stay with his in-laws for the very first time. They talked on the phone, and he met his mother, but never his father. Even if Daniel talks highly of them, Max is still scared, because of the age gap, because of the fact that he’s barely 21 and already a dad. He tells Daniel he’s fine that he’s okay with this, but the truth is that he called his mother and sister crying and freaking out. 

They got her a seat, just in case she refuses to sit on their lap. But take-off is too scary and she doesn’t want to leave Max’s side. He tries to distract her with colouring books and even lets her watch some cartoons on his phone but she’s scared. It’s too loud, she wants it to stop. All her whining is stressing him out. 

She slaps the flight attendant's hand away when they offer her candy. He wants the ground to swallow them up and apologies to them. They don’t mind, and reassure Max, that she’ll be fine. 

Bella eats the bread off of his tray when dinner is served and she remains calm for the rest of the flight, while Daniel plays with her hair. 

While they wait in Dubai for their next flight, there are already ten drawings for Grandma Grace and Grandpa Joe. She drew all the animals they said they have, the five chickens and three cats. 

She talks about the kangaroos and koalas, about Daniel’s promise to go see them in nature to the man who had the misfortune to be in the row behind them on their way to Perth. They have to cave in and let her watch Frozen, again and again, to leave the poor man alone. 

“Thank god for we brought this stroller,” Daniel says. 

He kisses Max’s forehead as a sign of gratitude once he’s put Bella down without waking her up. Jet lag is already getting to her. She’s hugging her little kangaroo, tight. She has changed into her princess Anna dress, she wanted to look pretty for her grandparents. 

They are waiting for them at arrival. They’ve been texting Daniel every minute, telling him how much they can’t wait to meet them. Max now understands where Daniel got his over-the-top personality. 

“Oh my god, they are here.” Max can read on his mother-in-law’s lips.

She's gripping her husband’s arm, digging her manicured fingernails into his flesh. He’s as excited as she is, impatient to take them in their arms and finally properly meet Daniel’s little family. 

She pulls Max in her arms before her son, and she’s just like he remembered her, warm, kind, and generous. He thinks she has mumbled a little thank you but he isn’t sure. Daniel’s dad pats him on the pat and Max nearly flies back to Amsterdam. 

“For fuck sack, dad. Be gentle.” Daniel says, checking that Max is okay. 

They did prepare for their arrival. There’s a baby seat for Bella, with a doll sitting there. Max ends up holding it until they reach the restaurant they’ve booked. Daniel is starving and really missed Australian food. 

As soon as she wakes up to the smell of food, Bella makes conversation with her grandparents. It was meant to be, her and the Ricciardo. She has each of them wrapped around her finger and has no trouble calling them grandma and grandpa. They’ve been a constant presence in her life since Max and Daniel got together. There’s weekly facetime, and occasional presents from across the world, and if they call a little too late and she’s already in bed, they always ask about her. 

The next day Max wakes up in a panic. He knows he slept too much, he feels like something is wrong. Daniel is in the bed with him. He checks the time and knows that Bella must have been up for hours. He didn’t hear her, she didn’t call for them. 

He rushes out to the kitchen because she’s not in her. He’s still in his t-shirt and boxers. And sees Grace there, finishing her cup of coffee. 

“Have you seen Bella?” He asks, urgently. 

“Yeah, she’s with Joe, they are watering the plants. He probably also took her to feed the chickens.”

She spends hours outside with him. Eating the strawberries she wasn’t allowed to pick yet when he has his back turned. Sitting on his lap and pretending to drive when he gets the lawn mower out. She becomes his little shadow in the mornings when he needs to take care of the animals. Joe claims she’s fine when she comes back crying because the chicken scared her. Daniel begs to differ, but he’s right, she goes back there without fear the next day. 

She doesn’t throw a tantrum when he buys her little rain boots that are Peppa Pig and not Frozen. It shocks Max and Daniel a little. But they don’t complain. They get to sleep in, in the mornings. 

She gets to have another grandma, one that spends her afternoon drawing and playing with her, that bakes her favorite cake because she asks her to. They go to the pool they bought just for Bella and watch her favorite movie with her.

But she finally gets to have a proper grandfather. Someone who lets her be a child, who watches over her when she wanders off into the garden, who teaches her about plants even when she doesn’t care about it. Joe reads her stories and doesn’t care that she isn’t learning to write yet, or hasn’t found a cure for cancer. Now she has someone that kisses her bruises and plays hide and seek until she gets bored with it. Some Max’s own father couldn’t be.