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bigmusclenm · 16 days

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Give or Take - Part 5

[Story Collection] | [Part 4] [●] [Part 6🔵]

“Oh yes, yes, yesssss. How are you doing that?” Mason shouted, gasping for air in desperation as Bryce’s lips and tongue worked wonders on the head of his dick. “Where did you learn... ohh fuck! I-I’m so close,” Mason added, tilting his head back.

Bryce teased Mason’s dick slit with his tongue to make the big guy climax once again. Simultaneously, Bryce’s hands rubbed the sides of Mason’s dick, pressing his whole torso against the shaft. Bryce’s 5-foot-tall body was just two feet taller than Mason’s 3-foot-long dick, so he had to use his entire body to work on it. Even then, what was really taking Mason over the edge was Bryce’s skilled mouth working on his dick slit.

“I can’t hold back… anymore,” shouted Mason as he felt his balls churning and pulling into his groin, sending a massive wave of cum through his dick, hitting Bryce’s face with the force of water coming out of a firehose.

Mason’s massive cum shot took Bryce by surprise, a significant amount of cum entering his mouth, forcing him to swallow as his life depended on it. Mason could only moan loudly because the increase in the size of his dick and balls had intensified the pleasure that took over his body while cumming. Mason’s balls were huge, and his loads were unbelievably big. He had already flooded the room, and Mason could still cum endlessly.

Bryce managed to swallow almost a gallon of cum before he moved away from Mason’s dick, which was still shooting. His face was covered with Mason’s cum, so he licked around his lips to take some more cum into his mouth. Cum coated part of Bryce’s torso, so he started spreading the cum over his big muscles like it was lotion. Then, Bryce moved his hands to his round abdomen, bloated with Mason’s cum.

“I don’t know what it is, but your cum tastes delicious. Well, I had never swallowed cum before, but I tasted mine, and it’s not the same. Yours feels so powerful,” Bryce said, smiling at Mason, who was slowly coming down from his horny high.

“You… you felt like you were a pro at sucking dick,” Mason managed to say, still heavily panting. “You made me cum so much. It was the best orgasm I had ever had, and believe me, I’ve had a lot in the last two days.”

“I know. Was it the seventh of the day?” Bryce asked, observing Mason’s magnificent body, covered in a thick layer of creamy cum.

“Eighth, and by far the best. Your mouth made a big difference. If you had used your mouth earlier, I would’ve flooded the entire apartment hours ago,” Mason said, smiling while catching his breath, his dick finally deflating after being hard for most of the day.

“Buddy, you already flooded the place, or at least your room. The pool of cum is like a whole foot deep, if not more, and the walls, ceiling, and pretty much everything, you included, are covered with cum. I don’t think you’ll be able to use this place anytime soon.” Bryce gave his bloated belly some rubs, somewhat hungry for more.

Mason looked around, and a proud smile spread across his face. “Well, I guess we’ll have to share your bedroom while we find a way to clean this place. How sad,” Mason said, reaching for Bryce’s hand and pulling him into a hug. “At least until you make me flood your room, too.”

Bryce smiled and kissed Mason’s mouth, tasting some more of the cum that was all over Mason’s body. “No, I’m not letting you into my room. You’re going to break my bed with this enormous, perfectly sculpted body of yours,” Bryce said, caressing Mason’s pecs while they kissed. “Also, you made this mess; you deal with it.”

“First… I promise I’ll be gentle with your bed as long as you’re there with me,” Mason said, moving his hands to Bryce’s hips. “And this is not only my fault; you made me cum several times using your hands, and the last one using your mouth... Wow, out of this world,” Mason added, squeezing Bryce’s bare butt with his hands.

“Hey, hey, stop there. We’re not that intimate yet,” Bryce said, pulling Mason’s hands away from his ass. “One step at a time. We’re still just roommates.” Bryce kept denying that he had fallen hard for the big guy because he wanted to think that a need for revenge, not desire, still fueled his plan to make Mason even larger.

“You just sucked my dick off, and you even swallowed my cum; what else do you need to understand that I like you, Bryce? I haven’t gone to the hospital to get checked only because you insisted I’d be okay,” Mason said as Bryce slowly moved away to avoid the conversation.

“You’ll be just fine. Look, even your dick is finally softening, I think,” Bryce said, pointing at Mason’s python resting next to his thigh, soft for the first time in two days.

“Yeah, and I have to thank your mouth for that. I’ve tried, and it never went fully soft until now. Bryce, I’m…” Mason said, but Bryce quickly got off the bed and sank his feet into the deep pool of cum.

“Mason, we can talk about this later, but we need to find clothes for you. You have to work tomorrow. It’s been two days.” Bryce changed the subject as he walked around the room, seemingly trying to find something for Mason to wear. “Or maybe we should just go get you something new, at least until you grow again,” Bryce said, and his dick throbbed.

“I don’t think there’s... wait, you said grow? So, you really believe me when I say I grew overnight,” Mason said, moving to the edge of the bed with a happy face.

“No, I don’t believe you because that’s impossible, but I’m just playing along with what you said,” Bryce replied, not even looking at Mason to avoid making it evident that he was lying. “If you don’t have any clothes that fit you, I think I have an idea. What would you say if we traveled back to ancient Greece?” Bryce said, turning around with a devilish smile, slightly scaring Mason.

About an hour later, both guys were standing in the living room, looking ready for a Halloween party. Bryce was wearing more of Mason’s old baggy clothes, which hugged his muscles nicely but were too long for him. He looked odd but nice enough to avoid drawing too much attention. On the other hand, Mason looked like a literal “elephant in the room,” nervous about going out in public dressed like this.

Bryce had helped Mason get clean, using Bryce’s bathroom, and considering there were no clothes big enough for him to wear, Bryce took some of his clean sheets and came up with a toga-like dress for Mason. Even though it was decent enough to go out, Mason still felt exposed. The toga only covered part of one of his pecs, leaving the rest of his enormous upper body on full display. His chiseled abs were visible, and his covered lower body didn’t leave anything to the imagination.

Even though the sheets were long enough to reach down to Mason’s ankles, the way the sheets fell over his body accentuated the shape and size of Mason’s thighs, ass, dick, and balls. It was clear Mason had an enormous dick because the shape of it was visible under the fabric. The shape and size of his massive balls were unmistakable beneath the dick, so anyone who stared at Mason for more than a second would notice what he was packing. On top of it all, Mason’s ass was unbelievably big, making his backside look like a pair of bowling balls stuffed under the toga. The costume was somewhat ridiculous, but Mason knew he couldn’t expect anything better considering his inhuman proportions.

“You ready, big guy?” Bryce said, smiling like a kid at a birthday party.

“I’m definitely not ready. I appreciate you coming up with this, but I’m almost shirtless. And from my waist down, I think everybody will see everything, and you know there’s a lot to see,” Mason replied, blushing and sighing. “And… I can’t see much past my pecs, so, no, I’m not ready.”

“Don’t worry, it’s already getting dark, and people won’t pay much attention to you. Also, I’ll be by your side at all moments, and if anyone stares at my big guy for way too long, I’ll punch them,” Bryce said, flexing his biceps and winking at a blushed Mason. Then, he grabbed Mason’s hand and left their apartment.

For Mason, walking down the street only wearing bed sheets was incredibly awkward and weird because he expected everybody to turn around to stare at him. He definitely drew everybody’s attention, but nobody was scared or too shocked by his size, which he found incredibly odd. People looked at him with admiration and even some lust. There were some disgusted expressions here and there, but not as bad as Mason expected. The fact that he was a giant among men gave him some confidence to enjoy the walk while holding hands with Bryce.

Having such a magnificent specimen of masculinity right next to him was amazing for Bryce. He loved his own muscles, but Mason’s were intoxicating in all senses. Even though he couldn’t fully admit he had fallen for Mason, Bryce felt great holding his hand and knowing that most people around them were envious because of the big guy walking right next to him. Mason was a massive trophy that Bryce wanted to show off to the entire city. In his mind, Mason’s body was his creation. It somehow belonged to him, so he wanted the world to see he owned the big guy.

Due to Mason’s thick thighs and huge balls hanging freely under the toga, he waddled instead of walking, so it took them some time to arrive at a Big & Tall Men’s clothing store. The place was almost empty; only five customers and a few employees attended. All the men in the store, employees included, were big guys in different ways and levels. Some were really tall, others had big muscles, and one had a nicely shaped big bulge. And even then, no one was nearly as big as Mason.

“Look for some underwear to see if they have anything able to accommodate the big thing between our legs. I’ll go get you some pants and T-shirts,” Bryce said, slapping Mason’s huge ass before walking away, leaving Mason confused about Bryce’s attitude.

Bryce knew Mason needed help, but having 12 big guys in the store, apart from Mason, was a chance he couldn’t lose to have fun. Bryce started with two customers who were looking for T-shirts. Both looked like bodybuilders, but one was bigger everywhere, and his attitude was more dominant. The bigger man was picking up clothes for the shorter one, who was clearly unhappy with his partner’s choices but stayed silent.

“Regular jackass who abuses smaller people. I’ll teach him a lesson.” Bryce smiled, and the world stopped.

The bigger guy was 6’4” and weighed 255 pounds, while the shorter guy was 5’11” and weighed 215 pounds. Bryce had learned his lessons about taking size from others when he woke up 8 inches shorter, so he decided to grow the shorter man. He added 10 inches to his 5’11” height and 120 pounds of muscle to his already big frame. Then, Bryce gave the guy a “tiny” extra touch by adding 5 inches to his 6.5-inch-long dick, to contrast with the 7-inch-long dick the other guy had. Then he moved on to the next customer.

Bryce found one customer with two employees looking for underwear. The customer didn’t look that strong, but he was tall at about 6’9”. It took a few seconds for Bryce to choose what to do with that guy, but then he noticed the big bubble butt he had and his 11-inch-long dick with baseball-sized balls. Bryce smiled wide and gave the guy 30 pounds of muscle and fat only in his ass. Then, he left the dick untouched but grew his balls to twice their size.

Bryce wasn’t even paying attention to what he was doing because he only wanted to have fun with all those men. One by one, Bryce altered the bodies of almost all the men in the store. Only based on his desires. He used his power to have fun, forgetting about the cloaked man’s words in the alley.

When Bryce finally went back to Mason, the big guy had a massive jockstrap in hand with a large pouch that Bryce immediately knew wasn’t big enough. Mason was nervous because he was clearly too big and tall for all those clothes. However, Bryce handed him some outfits and convinced him to try them. Mason wasn’t sure about trying the clothes on but couldn’t say no to Bryce.

They went to the fitting rooms for Mason to try on the clothes Bryce had picked up for him, removing the improvised toga first. However, the cubicles were somewhat small for Mason’s proportions. He tried to put on a T-shirt first, but his elbows kept bumping against the walls, making the whole place tremble. Aware that he needed to be careful, Mason preferred to walk out of the cubicle and stay in the hall with Bryce.

He was somewhat optimistic about a T-shirt that Bryce had picked up for him. However, as soon as he fit one of his arms into the sleeve, the fabric ripped, exposing his massive arm. Mason looked at Bryce in complete shock, and Bryce insisted he could use some tank tops or something similar. However, just like the sleeves had ripped, when Mason pulled the T-shirt down to cover his pecs, the fabric ripped again, exposing Mason’s pecs.

“I’m really sorry. I promise I’ll pay for everything,” Mason said, blushing when the seller walked in, but the guy was too entranced in the show to care about the T-shirt.

Mason removed the remaining shreds of the T-shirt from his torso. Then, he picked up a massive pair of sweatpants that looked stretchy and comfortable. Masin turned around to face away from Bryce and the seller and clumsily started putting the pants on. It was clear the size and weight of his junk was a significant issue when he tried to pull the waistband up, but it wasn’t the only obstacle he had. Mason’s massive butt seemed to be too big for the sweatpants, making him struggle to cover it. Also, his dick and balls were simply impossible to hide.

Mason groaned and grunted while trying to adjust the pants, but it was evident they wouldn’t work. Bryce approached and pulled the back of the pants up in an attempt to cover Mason’s ass, but it was impossible. The pants only covered the lower half of the massive butt, and the front was even worse. The pants couldn’t cover the base of Mason’s dick and part of his balls, leaving nothing to the imagination. However, a desperate Mason tried to pull the waistband up to cover his genitals. But between his strength and the weight of his dick and balls, the fabric gave up, his dick bursting out of it in front of the seller’s shocked eyes.

A very ashamed Mason decided to abort the mission and go back to the apartment, but they still had to pay for the clothes he had ruined. Even though Mason was ashamed of his predicament, Bryce constantly reminded him that he was way too glorious for regular clothing. The walk back home was even slower than before, and it helped Mason feel a bit better about his enormous body because he loved hearing Bryce’s compliments about it.

By the time they arrived at the apartment, Bryce had praised Mason’s body so much that the big guy was smiling like never before as his dick started hardening again, ready for Bryce’s attention. Mason was still worried that he had nothing to wear but felt more confident about his size and more open about his desire for more size.

“So, what now, big guy?” Bryce asked while they had dinner in their living room.

“I don’t know. I still think I should go to the hospital, but at the same time, I like this,” Mason replied.

“I don’t think a hospital is necessary. You’re great. You look good, and you feel good; there’s nothing wrong. Also, you know you’re the hottest guy on Earth to me, right?” Bryce replied, and he immediately saw Mason’s dick raising and growing under the toga. “You really like me saying that, right?”

“You have no idea. It turns me on, so I think I’ll need a hand again before bed. I mean, before I fall asleep on my cum-covered mattress,” Mason said, sounding sad on purpose to convince Bryce to let him stay in his room. “Maybe I’ll even drown in my own cum overnight, but it’s fine; I don’t have anywhere else to stay anyway.”

Bryce rolled his eyes and smiled. “Okay, you can stay with me, but only after we have taken care of that hard-on in your room. We don’t need two flooded rooms,” Bryce said, caressing Mason’s massive dick through the fabric.

“Thanks, Bryce; you’re the best. And, if I grow again overnight, you’ll be there with me, so it’ll be fine,” Mason said, and his dick throbbed.

“It’s cool. I’m sure we’ll have fun tonight, big guy.” Bryce smiled devilishly, and the world around them stopped as Mason’s stats appeared. “Without clothes, you won’t be able to go anywhere, so... there’s no reason to keep you at this size. I’m sure you’ll love how huge you’ll be tomorrow morning,” Bryce said, kissing Mason’s cheek as he started altering the big guy’s massive body.

...

#muscle growth story

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lasmarginatvra · 7 days

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Oath || Sandor Clegane × Original Female Character

Alerie Arryn Lore

After her mother dies giving birth to another stillborn child to Jon Arryn, she grows up under the care and affection of Horace Hightower, the sworn shield of the Lord of the Vale. Keeping the promise he made to his beloved, Horace raises his biological daughter almost in secret, taking her around the woods and teaching her the value of the sword and knowledge, far from the turmoil of the rebellion. When Jon Arryn is appointed Hand of the King, he decides to bring Alerie, who is now a young woman, with him to the warm capital, she will do everything to oppose him but will join him only two years later, when the lifeless body of her father Horace is found in the woods.

Born: 290 AC circa

Parents: Lara Florent and Jon Arryn (former) / The Fox Horace Hightower (real father)

Siblings: Robin Arryn (stepbrother) Darrik Arryn (stillborn) Alfered Arryn (stillborn) Bryce Arryn (stillborn) Annarel Arryn (stillborn)

Love interest: Sandor Clegane (husband)

From the beginning, the girl's indomitable nature clashes with the harsh reality that inhabits the Red Keep, for this reason she manages to attract the silent attention of a pair of dark and stern eyes. After the death of Jon Arryn, Alerie manages to obtain the protection of King Robert from the harassment of the lions of house Lannister. Comforted by the arrival of the Starks, she immediately forms a close friendship with Sansa and months after the execution of Ned Stark she dedicates herself entirely to the protection of the girl who she considers as her blood cousin, this will lead her into a forced marriage with Joffrey's dog Sandor Clegane. The Hound is known as the most ferocious and bloodthirsty being in all the seven kingdoms, the only man who according to that blonde cunt with the crown, will be able to break her and make her eat her tongue. In reality, it will be Alerie herself who will tame the restless and stone-cold heart of her gruff husband, managing to wrap him around her little finger.

Children: Katherine Clegane, Elynor Clegane, Laina Clegane and Horace Clegane

Titles: The Fierce Rose of the Vale, The Fox's cub, Little Dove, Lady of Clegane's Keep.

Weapon(s): Knives/blades, bow and arrow

btw It's a story I've been thinking about for weeks and I don't know how to cope.

I'm so sorry for my bad english lmao :)

#sandor clegane #sandor the hound clegane #asoiaf #the hound #original character #sandor clegane fanfic #got #game of thrones fanfiction #house clegane #got the hound #a song of ice and fire #sandor clegane x oc

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youcouldmakealife · 9 months

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LBTE: Jared (161-163)

Christmas, New Year's, and media.

If you'd like to read along, the series page is here.

161. Strategic Retreat

Final arc, baby!

Big ol’ summary to cover some ground because I DO need to end the story eventually, despite what Bryce thinks. So zoom, here comes Christmas.

Bryce being on LTIR means he doesn’t have to deal with media unless he explicitly seeks them out, and if the Canucks refuse to make Jared available for reporters, there’s not much they can do about it except like, shout questions in the parking lot.

Which does actually happen, incredibly; the security guards were apparently the right idea, but also, ironically, aren’t actually present the one time they’re needed. But Jared has Gabe and Dmitry with him, and Dmitry makes for a very friendly but also completely immovable barrier between said reporter and the getaway vehicle.

Except for the one scene before Christmas, in which Dmitry gets to play bodyguard and Gabe gets to play getaway driver, and they both have a blast.

“Who the fuck even was that?” Jared asks, twisting around to look through the back windshield as Gabe pulls out of his spot. “I’ve never seen them before in my life.”

“Should I take detours?” Gabe asks.

Jared thinks that’s unnecessary, but he also thinks Gabe looks hopeful, like maybe he’s always secretly dreamed of being a getaway driver.

“Can’t hurt,” Jared says.

Thank you for humouring Gabe’s ambitions, Jared.

Bryce looks down at the open suitcase, which is frankly more cords than clothes at this point. Bryce didn’t pack any cords whatsoever, which was a problem considering they have different phone models, and then there’s Jared’s laptop, and Bryce’s iPad, and backup cords for their phones, because they have a tendency to disappear, and Jared prefers his electric toothbrush, so he packed the cord for that, and —

Got to be prepared for everything in the great wilds of suburban Calgary.

But wait. Jared has parents. Parents who can retrieve things for them. Also they can get same-day delivery for just about anything. Maybe not on Christmas, but: parents. Dad would grumble, but he’d make the Christmas morning drive to Shopper’s Drug Mart. He’d probably even insist on it, rather than let either of them do it. Definitely before he let either of them drive his car.

Shoppers Drug Mart: your best friend when you realise on Christmas morning that you forgot to get someone a present.

“I don’t know,” Jared says. “I’m being ridiculous in my head, that’s all.”

“If you tell me, I promise I won’t judge,” Bryce says. “I’m ridiculous in my head all the time.”

<3 Bryce

The one tiny sliver of a silver lining to Bryce’s injury is that he isn’t going to be game ready until after their next game in Calgary. May miss playing in the Saddledome entirely this season, and selfishly, Jared hopes he does, not just so Bryce doesn’t have to deal with what they yell at him, but also so Jared doesn’t have to hear it, doesn’t have to know just how ugly it is. He wants to be able to come back there.

Something uniquely special about getting booed by your hometown team. Not in a good way.

Dad picks them up at the airport, and Jared doesn’t know if that’s because he’s worried some Uber driver will recognise them, or to continue the weird charade that Mathesons are a nice, welcoming family they all do whenever Elaine’s around. At some point they’re going to get tired, right?

Elaine continuing to bring out the best in everyone.

Dad and Elaine catch up in the front — well, Elaine catches dad up, dad just tells her all the food he’ll be making — as Jared takes the opportunity to nap on Bryce’s shoulder in the backseat, waking up for flickers of exit signs and snatches of appetizers and Elaine’s laugh, Bryce’s fingers threading through his as dad takes their exit, squeezing when they pull onto Jared’s street, a gentle wakeup call.

This is all very soft.

…insisting on taking Elaine and Bryce’s bags — ‘don’t want you to screw up the recovery timeline’ he told Bryce gruffly, but Jared has two hands and thirty less years on the planet, so he can probably handle it.

More baby steps!

“Can’t come, watching pots!” his mom yells as soon as they open the door, with the exasperated tone of someone who does not appreciate the duty they’ve been assigned, and dad beelines straight for the kitchen, presumably to make sure she didn’t fuck up pot watching.

‘Watch my pots’ is said way too frequently by Don considering nobody watching them knows what to look out for.

Erin shoves one into her mouth and puts a protective arm around the rest before she pulls her phone out, aiming it in their direction with intent while she chews bread in the most obnoxious manner possible.

Erin’s got the right priorities.

“Not awful, I’m going to post it,” Erin declares, but she shows the picture to him and Julius first — Jared guesses they’re all a little gun shy where social media is involved right now. She’s right though, it’s not awful, and Jared doubts anyone who doesn’t know him personally could see all the spite in that smile. Julius scoffs at it, so Jared definitely didn’t fool him, but strangers? They’ll buy it.

Jared smiles rarely enough that you’d have to know him quite well to be able to differentiate his smiles. Julius is one of the few who can.

“Guard my rolls from these thieves, Elaine,” Erin says, then somehow bullies Jared and Julius onto one half of the couch while taking the other half for herself.

All the right priorities.

Jared would argue, but he peers over Erin’s shoulder to see a picture of them wearing the same fake smile on their faces while Julius looks faintly terrified between them. Exact same. It’s horrible. And Jared can’t even make a face at Erin right now, in case she makes the same face back.

She would make an identical face and Jared knows it.

They get a better one later, one where Jared and Erin look related but not too related, and Julius doesn’t look traumatised, and dad has an objectively ridiculous expression on his face, which will hopefully quiet some of the ‘Don Matheson is a silver fox’ narrative — Jared doesn’t know if that’s still a thing, and he’s afraid to ask in case it is — and Elaine looks like she just popped in from a complete different, much fancier event. Bryce is just a sweater sleeve and a ringed hand on Jared’s knee, because he was reaching for the wine when Jared’s mom took the picture, but that still would have made this a picture that would have needed to be deleted, or at least cropped, Bryce carefully excised from the frame.

But instead, when Erin asks if she can post it, Jared shrugs and looks at Bryce, who shrugs right back, and they collectively ignore his dad’s protests that it’s an awful picture of him as Erin fiddles with approximately seventeen different filters before posting it for all to see.

Bryce just a sleeve and a hand, but he’s there! And of course everybody knows exactly whose hand it is. A small thing compared to the media they’re going to be doing, but after years of carefully censoring what photos make it to social media (or are taken at all), this is a small thing that means a lot.

162. Ritual

When the clock strikes midnight on Christmas, Jared’s drowsy, contentedly full of dinner — ‘don’t expect this tomorrow’ his dad warned, but Jared is fully expecting a repeat, judging by the overloaded fridge and his mom’s longsuffering expression — and also pie, because his dad made a fucking pie. From scratch. He’s officially out of control and Jared will happily reap the benefits.

Don’s cooked throughout Jared’s life, albeit mostly in a ‘let’s get food on this table before your game’ sort of meals, rather than his new passion for it, but pie? PIE? The closest thing to baking his dad did before was pancakes, and Jared’s pretty sure that doesn’t count.

Elaine’s gone back to the hotel room she got rather than kick Bryce and Jared out of his room, his parents to bed. Bryce is asleep, Jared’s pretty sure — he put his head in Jared’s lap after the third jaw cracking yawn, and hasn’t moved a muscle since. Julius doesn’t look like he’s far behind, slow blinking like a toddler fighting sleep, though if Jared says as much he’s going to get something thrown at him, and while he’s almost certain he could dodge it given Julius’ current condition, he doesn’t want to disturb Bryce when he looks so comfortable.

This whole scene is very soft.

“Hey,” Erin says, and when Jared looks over, she takes a picture.

“Delete that,” Jared says immediately.

And then Erin happens.

“Not that one,” Jared says. He doesn’t even need to look at it to know it isn’t one he wants people to see. “It’s too — not that one.”

For all Bryce said 'what’s the point of coming out just to pretend to be different people', Jared needs that distance between him and his relationship and what people see of him and said relationship.

“Who turns ‘hey you’ into a pet name?” Jared asks. “What’s next, ‘sup dude’?”

“Okay babe,” Erin says.

“We barely even use babe, so whatever,” Jared says.

You shameless liar.

“Bryce? Bed?”

“S’that, babe?” Bryce mumbles, and Erin gives Jared a mocking look. Jared doesn’t know how she understands Bryce from across the room when Jared can’t understand Julius after literally living with the guy, but it’s probably helpful that it’s just sleepy, rather than sleepy and/or Finnish.

You deserve that look. Also do not start competing with your sister on ‘who can understand mumbles better’ Jared, I swear.

“I told him that, but he got all ‘what do you know, you’ve just known Jared since the day of your birth’,” Erin says. “‘I am the only one who truly knows him, due to our sacred former liney bond’.”

I will have you know she says this in a gruff monotone with a faintly sardonic expression on her face.

“You know half of what he says is just looks,” Erin says. “The withering look definitely said ‘Erin, you must know the sacred liney bond is much deeper than something as simple as blood’.”

This time she curls her lip.

Jared swears he knows exactly what look she’s talking about, but for him it was ‘Jared, you cannot possibly understand the nuances of the music I listen to with your weak North American ears, now apologise to the Finnish death metal bands you confused’.

This is the softest, fondest Matheson mockery.

“Can’t believe you stole my liney,” Jared says.

“You abandoned him in Edmonton,” Erin says.

The door to Erin’s room opens, and Julius scowls out at them. “Stop talking about me,” he says.

“Why would we even talk about you?” Jared says, over Erin’s, “Big head, much?”

I love them.

Julius gives them a withering look, then shuts the door.

“I’d say that one was ‘pathetic, who taught you how to lie?’” Jared says.

“With a dash of ‘I am on the other side of the door and have ears, Mathesons’,” Erin agrees.

They both adore him.

“He shouldn’t do that,” Jared says, skating over to Gabe.

Gabe gives him a questioning look, and Jared reminds himself that Gabe isn’t actually psychic.

It’s easy to forget considering he always seems to read Jared’s mind. Or, more accurately, the expressions Jared doesn’t hide as well as he thinks he does.

And nothing — not being dirty, not being selfish, not being cocky, not being a convicted fucking criminal — is as bad in this league as being a whiner. Maybe diving comes close, if you do it incessantly. Maybe.

Sad truth.

The last thing Jared needs to be is the gay guy who is also a whiner.

Jared absolutely has a legitimate concern here because he knows people are looking for things to dislike about him that aren’t who he’s married to.

“Hey, Jared?” Gabe says. “You’re not the only player on the ice that sign was directed at, whether they know it or not. Not everything is about you.”

But yeah, this.

“It’s okay,” Gabe says. “Just keep that in mind. And also keep in mind a lot of kids are paying extremely close attention to how people are treating you and Bryce right now, and that’s not the kind of shit I want them to be seeing.”

Also this.

“They’re going to say you’re stealing Bryce’s man,” Jared says, and gets Gabe’s glove in his face in response. He spends too much time with Dmitry. They all spend too much time with Dmitry, Jared very much included.

“Leaving me out!” Dmitry says, crashing into both of them, and nearly sending Jared into the boards.

Did someone call for more Dmitry?

Jared’s first kiss of the new year is a smacking one on the cheek from Dmitry fucking Kurmazov. He doesn’t know what that signifies, but he doubts it’s anything good.

It indicates another year of Dmitry, lucky you.

“Mom’s drunk,” Bryce says.

“I’m not drunk!” Elaine says loudly. “I am celebrating a new year with my beautiful baby boy, who I am so proud of. You too, Jared. I’m so proud of you too. You boys have been so brave, and I am so proud of both of you.”

“Mom’s drunk,” Bryce repeats.

Elaine is a very happy drunk, to the surprise of no one, I’m sure.

Jared would take a drunk Elaine over Dmitry any day.

“Aw mom,” Bryce says. “Why are you crying, don’t cry.”

Also an emotional one.

“You’re hiding somewhere,” Bryce says. “Vending machine room?”

Jared scoffs. He’s not an amateur, and that’s the worst possible hiding place, considering people tend to actually use it.

“There’s this nook kind of thing,” Jared says. “It has a couch for some reason. I have no idea who the hell designed this place.”

Look at this trust on display. Not even a moment of suspicion before he tells Bryce his exact location.

“How did you even find me?”

“Bullet,” Dmitry says, and Jared, mentally rewinding his conversation with Bryce, realises he’s been betrayed by the person he loves most in the world.

Jared is the most dramatic person in the entire world.

“Math,” Gabe says, after handing Jared another hard seltzer and listening to Jared’s complaints. “Buddy.”

“You’re going to tell Stephen about this, I know,” Jared says.

Gabe waves a hand. “He’s bored of these stories by now.”

This is the meanest thing Gabe has ever said to Jared.

Jared takes his hard seltzer and his remaining shreds of dignity and relocates himself to the video game playing room, where people won’t kiss him or tattle on him or refuse to tattle on him.

Poor Jared, so hard done by.

163. Take Five

The problem with Bryce and Jared putting off any and all interviews until the new year is that, inevitably, the new year arrives.

Every procrastinator’s nightmare: when later becomes now.

Not that their agents aren’t involved or anything, but Jared’s imagining Greg trying to field all the interest, and it’s not a pretty picture. Summers is a different story, but Summers also recently found out that Bryce has Jared’s name tattooed on his chest, and as a result Summers is currently not particularly happy with them.

Dave is so tired. So tired.

“We have interest from hockey journalists, obviously,” Grace says. “But also some 2LGBTQ+ media, and some local lifestyle pieces, which we think are probably a good idea considering Bryce was born and raised here. Makes you Vancouver’s, you know? Not just Vancouver Canucks. And then there’s some mainstream national interest. We’ll let Bell and Rogers fight over who gets dibs. Presumably Rogers will take it, considering they have our broadcast rights, but I wouldn’t count Bell out. There are a lot more eyes on CTV than City.”

Blah blah blah, Canadian telecom stuff (Rogers (Sportsnet) has NHL rights, Bell (TSN) gets the leftovers, also they co-own the Leafs? Canada is just several monopolies in a trenchcoat). Also 2LGTBQ+ is Approved Government Order of the acronym in Canada — putting two-spirit first.

“Telecom cockfight,” Jared says. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Wait, like roosters, or like—“ Bryce says, then gestures at his lap.

Grace returns to Jared in tears of laughter and Bryce indignantly saying, “You’re never going to let go of the truffle thing!”, which means, of course, that Jared has to tell her about the truffle thing, but only after he catches his breath again and manages to force himself to stop picturing a literal cockfight.

Bryce’s grandchildren will hear about the truffle thing. Not the cockfight, though.

“You know,” Grace says. “You two just keep being like this and everything is going to go perfectly.”

Grace why.

“What is wrong with you!” Grace says, throwing her hands up. “Why are you being like this right now, I know you have personalities! They’re good personalities!”

Jared shrugs, while Bryce commences a brand new sulk.

You brought this upon yourself, Grace.

“You’re in front of cameras all the time,” Grace says. “You’re used to interviews.”

“Talking about hockey, not, you know, us,” Jared says. “It’s not hard to rattle something off about having a good group of guys and getting pucks deep. It’s pretty much scripted for you.”

Plus people’s expectations for how articulate you are are pretty low when you’re panting and wiping your sweaty face. ‘uh, we had, uh, a pretty good twenty minutes, and um, I like our effort and we just gotta keep it up and stay in their zone and uh, we’ll be good’. ‘thanks for your time’ ‘yup.’

“Okay, fair enough,” Grace says. “Then — just say nice things about Jared. You love saying nice things about Jared.”

She found it. She found the button.

“Plus, Jared has to listen to you saying them,” Grace says. “And he can’t cut you off in the middle without looking like a jerk on TV.”

“Hey!” Jared says, as Bryce looks increasingly thoughtful.

Nailing that button, you got this Grace.

“Try to convince the viewers to love Jared as much as you do,” Grace says. “Shouldn’t be too hard, right?”

“I don’t like you very much right now,” Jared says through his teeth, as Bryce cracks his first smile of the day.

And Bryce Marcus has officially changed his stance on media. Get him in front of a camera, he has a husband to embarrass with his gushing.

Bryce and the interviewer have a nice little laugh together, and Jared adds ‘smart’, to join so great at cooking, so fun and so funny, and so supportive, which certainly is Bryce changing his tune from after shoulder surgery. Also ‘just look at him’, which Jared doesn’t quite classify as a compliment, but knows Bryce means as one.

And just look at Jared: face on fire, because he is in hell.

Sucks to be you, Jared, you smart, fun, funny, supportive, hot as fuck cook.

(Jared would argue he is maybe half of those things.)

"You don’t have to say nice things about me, babe,” Bryce says. “I don’t mind.”

Jared’s three defiant compliments into his interview before he realises Bryce knows him a little too well.

How does it feel to be handled, Jared?

He goes to slump into Bryce, realises they’re in public, then realises that doesn’t matter.

Bryce wraps an arm around his shoulders, kisses the side of his head.

In public! Not in front of their friends, or family, or team, but a bunch of total strangers (albeit total strangers who had to listen to compliments about Jared ad nauseum)

“I don’t actually give you a look like ‘how did you even graduate high school’, do I?” Jared asks.

“Sometimes,” Bryce says.

“Fuck,” Jared says. “I’m sorry.”

“In your defence, the last time you did was because I thought Alaska was an island,” Bryce says.

BC and Alaska are ATTACHED. (Bryce says in his defence they always show it as little floating land in the north in maps of America. Jared says ‘IT BORDERS YOUR PROVINCE’)

It actually got interesting with a few American towns bordering BC when the US-Canada border was closed to non-essential traffic — some Alaskan kids went to school in BC, and Point Roberts, Washington is basically surrounded by Canada (look at it on a map if you want to laugh), so they had some significant issues.

But also Jared feels bad and he will try not to give Bryce that look going forward.

“You’re giving me the face again,” Bryce says.

“Okay, but seriously, B,” Jared says, and Bryce tips his head back and laughs.

BUT SERIOUSLY.

#liveblogging the end

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hope-and-insanity · 3 months

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Celestaxia Post-Canon Fanfic - Chapter One - "Waste Any More Time On You"

[Hypaxia’s POV]

Ithan was at it again. He was glaring at her over and over again, like he was undressing her with his eyes and Hypaxia was sick of it.

Bryce’s advice has been to, Ignore him! He’ll get the memo sooner or later!

Well, it had been both sooner and later and Holstrom has not been able to comprehend the fact that Hypaxia really didn’t want to date him. Or fuck him. Or whatever it was he wanted.

The male was hopeless.

Naomi plopped onto the Comitium’s couch next to Hypaxia. “Want me to slap some sense into him?” she asked.

“As much as I would like to say yes to that, Bryce has enough on her plate without interfighting already,” Hypaxia muttered.

“Bryce…Bryce is riding a pegasus right now,” Naomi clarified.

“Okay, but she still has a lot to do and I don’t want to put her through more stress!”

“Yeah, fair enough,” the malakh agreed. “So, maybe no physical violence but I could yell quite loudly at him?”

“I don’t need you to stand up for me!” Hypaxia exclaimed. “I can handle a thirsty wolf on my own, thank you very much.”

“No one is doubting that,” Naomi told her. “All I’m saying is that you shouldn’t have to.”

“Listen, if it gets out of hand, I will call in backup but a crush isn’t hurting anybody,” the witch said.

“Alright, alright!” Naomi conceded. “But while we’re on the topic of your romantic relationships…” “Actual worst sentence starter I’ve ever heard,” Hypaxia interjected, deadpan.

“...the fuck is going on between you and Celestina? Are you dating or trying to murder each other?” the angel asked. “Because, seriously, it is quite confusing to watch.”

Hypaxia didn’t want to talk about it. She and Celestina had used to come here together- just being in this room reminded her of the few stolen nights they’d had in it before everything went to shit.

She reminded herself that even the horrid bar in the Comitium was better when she wasn’t there with a liar.

“We are coworkers who have come to terms over the termination of their relationship.”

Naomi burst out laughing. “You rehearsed that sentence.” Hypaxia blushed. “What gave it away?”

“The word termination. Sounds like a business transaction,” Naomi scoffed.

Hypaxia ripped a pillow off the sofa and tossed it at her. Naomi caught it and threw it right back.

“Speaking of Celestina, where even is she today?” Hypaxia asked as she prepared the pillow for another throw.

“Oh, she called in sick. Third time in, like, two weeks- Lidia told her to schedule herself a doctors’ appointment,” Naomi said.

—

Celestina couldn’t handle going into work. Yes, she had the firstlight bank to organize, and an intern to fire, and enough paperwork to probably fill every building in Nena, but she just couldn’t handle bearing witness to Ithan’s bullshit again.

Every time he so much as looked at Hypaxia, she wanted to rip him into shreds.

Everything seemed so much duller now without Hypaxia constantly hanging around, sending way too many texts, telling stupid jokes.

Enough.

Celestina had her fucking chance and she blew it. Whether or not

Hypaxia wanted to date that goddamn wolf was none of her business.

And Celestina wasn’t going to let herself close enough to Hypaxia to hurt her again.

#celestaxia #crescent city #celestina crescent city #celestina #hypaxia enador #ithan holstrom #hypaxia x ithan #hypaxia x celestina #it's my headcanon that celestina misses nena #so she makes little references to it all the time #she feels more comfortable in lunathion #it's more accepting #but she still really does miss nena #also yes i know this is short the next ones will be longer #and fun fact: every chapter is inspired by #named after #and uses certain lines of #a song on my celestaxia playlist #sjmaas

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azsazz · 7 months

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CC3 Anon

spoilers under cut

Hiii it’s CC anon. THANK GOD YOU RESPONDED NO ONE ELSE I KNOW IS READING THIS BOOK 😭

I finished CC3 last night and yeah. I enjoyed the pacing at the beginning of this book more than the first two books because we’re already in the thick of the climax and don’t have to build up suspense again but omg it dragged in the middle.

I did not care for Ithan at all I’m sorry. And yes he hasn’t been a pro sun all player in YEARS idk why she keeps bringing it up. I think someone stumbled and he caught her and Sarah went “his sunball reflexes” HES A WOLF HE WAS ALWAYS GOING TO HAVE QUICK REFLEXES. Had him running up and down to resurrect Sigrid and in the end it DIDNT EVEN MATTER.

Lmaoooo Ithan mostly acted ago appropriate if I think about it. He's like 20 I'm assuming since he's around college age. He's def not my favorite character either tbh. Love how everything fell into his lap tho. Literally anytime he was mentioned so was snuball it was so fucking dumb.

I know you like Tharion but can he do anything right omg. Ithan carried him with the Viper Queen. Sathia carried him in front of the Ocean Queen 😭 I WAS SO PISSED ABOUT THE ANTIDOTES OMG and then Ithan went and did the same. I see why they are best friends like wow stupid really follows stupid.

LMAO I love Tharion, yes he'd definitely dumb and needs to make better decisions but I liked how witty he was in the first book. He really needs to stop with the whole woe is me act tho. omg the antidotes shit don't even get me started. half of the stuff that she wrote for the book didn't even matter in the end. like, we could've cut this damn book down 300 pages tbh, nothing would've been missed because nothing made sense even.

I don’t hate Bryce. She did annoy me though. I hated when Aelin wouldn’t tell people about her plans and could not stand it from Bryce here. Her yelling at Hunt about having to face the consequences of their actions. I’m like dude you went to another world and came back powered up. Hunt stayed and was tortured brutally like what? I know why she doesn’t want him to have guilt about it but it’s his 3rd time going through this and failing. And now he has more to lose. Of course he would be feeling a type of way.

I do not like her at all lol. The whole not telling people plans things pissed me off because her loud mouth is not like that. AND THEN SHE HAS THE AUDACITY TO TELL HUNT "OH YOU DONT EVEN WANT TO BE HERE" girl maybe if you told someone the fuckin plan they would feel a bit more confident about going through with it for fucks sake. she's a mean girl and i can't stand her and i don't think she's funny at all she is so cringe to me haha. HUNT HAS ALREADY TRIED GOING AGAINST THE ASTERI AND HE WAS TORTURED FOR 200 YEARS?! Then he gets freed and has to do it all over again?! Like, why are we yelling at this man? of course he's weary.

I’m not the biggest fan of her swagger at times. Like sometimes we don’t need the quippy (read: unfunny) one liners :/

LITERALLY

The STAKES???? Bryce should’ve stayed dead! It would have been a lot more impactful. Even the torturing scenes kind of didn’t hit as much after the fact cause everyone can just regrow their limbs and be fine. No one had a single nightmare about what happened to them? I thought we would see something like that beyond “a glimmer of darkness in his eyes” idk :/

The entire "someone dying only to be brought to life on the next page" has definitely fucking worn off now but sjm apparently can't see that. she created a world with 50+ characters only to not use half of them when it matters. so stupid. Also, i don't remember them being able to regrow limbs tbh.

Maybe the book would’ve been too long but I was genuinely shocked we didn’t get more scenes of anyone on the actual battlefield. We were mostly in the palace after Bryce and Hunt teleported, and then the moment with Lidia and the sprites. But maybe the book would’ve been too toooo long idk.

Yeah there really was only like 60 pages of the end scene. but as soon as i saw the word space i actually almost DNFd it because what the actual fuck was that.

I will say I really like how the male friendships are genuine. I honestly can’t tell you that Bryce, Fury, and June are friends LMAO. (I’m exaggerating but I do kinda agree with this) .

Yeah, i love Ruhn, dec, and flynn's relationship. i think sjm tries to be like "oh yeah girl power, strong fmc's" but there's no women in the books? and they all don't like each other? like danika, bryce, fury, and juniper seemed like mean girls? girls that didn't give a fuck about anyone else? idk. the way that the men to women ratio in her books is very interesting to me. and the fack that EVERY man that comes across bryce thinks she's the most gorgeous girl to have ever lived...fuck off with that logic.

My girl Jesiba :////// She was my favorite for sure. I'm indifferent about her lol. Her entire storyline i feel was just made up like two months ago so she could connect to the other series lol

I do agree with what you said about Bryce (I legit almost wrote Aelin LMFAO) . I was not expecting her to just say no rulers for the Fae at all. But I guess a Senate would be more democratic.

SO STUPID. The Senate (starwars)

Im sure there will be a fourth book but I am so uninterested in Tharion and Ariadne like who caresssssssss. If Im interested in Ithan, it’s because I want to see more Perry. I wonder how connected this world and ACOTAR will remain.

I honestly hope it ends at 4 books. I think that would be a perfect ending because there's four houses. no need for more im already sick of it. yeah i liked perry too. i hope they're no longer connected lol.

Ruhn and Lidia :) but HE LEGIT SHOT HER?? I know she was acting irrationally because of her sons and he wanted to make sure she didn’t get herself killed but then he shot her. Like okay 😭. I think my favorite couples are Bryce’s parents and Lidia and Ruhn. Ruhn just seems so hot 😭.

Ruhn is a winner for sure for sure.

I’m writing too much and I’m scared this app will just shut down so I’ll quit here. I still think the first book is the worst one in this series. But I had fun with this one (despite my hang ups) and I’m glad it’s over (for now :/).

THANKS FOR LETTING ME RANT!!!

THANKS FOR LETTING ME RANT TOO!

CC anon!! I went to goodreads to read reviews of the book and I genuinely cannot believe how many 5 star ratings this book got. I mean, I can and can’t believe it. Atp anything Sarah puts out will average at least a 4 star rating on there and sell a crap ton.

I think people just give her that rating because she's popular, not because they read lol. oh yeah, why do you think she released 5 different bonus chapters. talk about a greedy cash grab. that mentality kinda makes me sick im not even going to lie.

I was reading through the 2-star reviews and someone mentioned their shock at how quickly Ruhn and Lidia resolved their issues which I totally agree with. She said she hated him and would never forgive him for what he did, and she was right! I know why Ruhn did it, but I genuinely still cannot believe he actually shot her, even if she was gonna be okay. That’s a terrible time to be worrying about a wound like that when you want to be at full strength to fight for your children.

Yeah half of the plot lines felt stupid? like what? he couldn't have stopped her any other way...really? i feel like she did not think this book through as well as she thought she did tbh. seems to be her thing these days.

(Even when Hunt said he hated Bryce for stopping him from killing Celestina, I was like Oh!)

OMG THAT WAS ACTUALLY WILD. YEAH OKAY. I TOTALLY BELIEVE THEY'RE MATES.

The reviewer said Sarah should have left their relationship on the rocks so we could get Ruhn groveling in the fourth book, and I can’t get that idea out of my head. ESPECIALLY with their bonus scene. Idk if you’ve read it but I was like ??? I like them as a couple and I like their story, but it did seem like it was all patched up insanely quickly. Like if you shot me then the very LEAST you could do is get my kids to safety. That alone would not necessarily make me forgive you.

I didn't read their bonus chapter but i can't believe they moved in with each other literally after like two days of knowing each other in real life. bro, you just found out she has two kids? you don't know the woman at all lol. no, everyone has to have a happy ending by the last page of the book or else. lol. no suspense.

#cc3 spoilers #cc3 #hofas #hofas spoilers

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heartlandians · 1 year

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Filling Empty Spaces (Amy/Mitch), part 215

Mitch and Amy find an unexpected connection due to absent lovers. Set around season 11->.

A/N: I didn’t have a beta for this story, so hopefully there won’t be too many grammar errors.

* * * *

Amy was relieved to see Mitch’s truck parked in front of his house as she pulled in. Even though she had checked that the man was at home via text, the relief of knowing she’d actually be able to talk to him soon had not washed over her till this moment.

She jumped out of the truck after parking it and started looking around, but it didn’t take long for Mitch to peek his head out from the barn and reveal his whereabouts. He was holding a manure fork and it seemed like he had been in the middle of mucking the stalls.

While Amy looked pale and concerned, Mitch couldn’t help but smile seeing the cowgirl stride across the yard to meet him.

It was one of those rendezvous where they basically were pulled toward each other as if they had not seen one another in a while. But while that was not true, sometimes when they were apart, experiencing big things, it did feel like they had been living lifetimes between the meet-ups.

Pushing through the frame of the barn doorway, Mitch set the fork aside, against the wall, so he wouldn’t accidentally poke Amy with it.

“Hey”, Mitch said softly when Amy was close enough to hear.

“Hey”, Amy exhaled over her greeting as she came to hug him.

Wrapping his arms around her, Mitch gave Amy a light squeeze as she clung onto him like he was her life jacket in the middle of sea.

“Everything okay...?” Mitch worried.

He knew Amy had some things she wanted to talk about, but he had not realized she was in such a dire need of support.

“Not really. Or...” Amy said, leaning back a little, lines forming on her forehead as she looked at Mitch with a tired expression. “I don’t know. I just needed to see you, talk to you, to get some clarity. It’s like I’ve been holding my breath for hours now and finally I can exhale when I’m with you...”

“Okay”, Mitch said, with some concern over her feelings but also with some relief, as he seemed like he could possibly help her with them. He kissed her temple quickly, then gently guided her under his arm. “Well... let’s talk”, the man said and gestured toward the porch where he had a bench waiting.

“How was your day?” Amy asked, not wanting to make this all about her. Just being around Mitch was already a good first step to feel more free. Besides, she felt like she needed to ground herself a little bit before she could get started.

Mitch, walking next to her, threw his head back a little, letting out a dry laugh.

“Well... let’s just say it was interesting”, he replied.

The tone made Amy curious. “What do you mean?”

“I was at Bryce’s, as you know. I was hoping to talk to him about this... uneasy feeling I’ve been having, and he sort of made me work instead”, Mitch explained.

“That doesn’t sound like Bryce -- refusing a conversation, I mean”, Amy said with a furrowed brow, feeling some relief of having something else to talk about than the tense atmosphere back at Heartland.

“Maybe at first”, Mitch agreed, “but then again, you know what he’s like; he wants you to make your own discoveries instead of giving you ready-made answers.”

Amy slowly bobbed her head from side to side, considering what Mitch was saying and coming to the same conclusion.

“Well, yeah... So... were there discoveries?” she inquired.

“Yup. Several, actually”, Mitch admitted, giving some credit to Bryce. “He made me work with one of the inmates. The guy who trained the horse Bryce was thinking for Lyndy, actually.”

Amy’s eyes darted at Mitch, knowing he had felt uncomfortable around him, so this was interesting change of pace. “Why would he do that? Did he know about your... feelings?”

“Oh yeah, he knew exactly what he was doing”, Mitch hummed. “And I have to admit, I wasn’t pleased about it, but... I guess I figured if it’s so hard for me, instead of turning away, I should probably face it, to understand why it makes me so uncomfortable.”

Amy nodded, proud of Mitch. “And how’d that go?”

While Mitch had made some discoveries, he was still processing what it all meant for the future and had not really thought about how to talk about them yet.

But for Amy, he was willing to share his scattered thoughts.

“It wasn’t the best experience, but it also wasn’t the worst. So, okay, I guess?” he figured. “We didn’t really talk much, but I guess we didn’t have to, because the silence was enough to make me uncomfortable. There’s just too much room for thoughts in a silence like that.”

Amy nodded, understanding.

“I know how that’s like...”

They reached the porch and walked up to the bench, sitting down side by side.

“I have a confession to make”, Mitch began, wanting to be honest.

Amy turned to him, listening. Mitch let his arm rest on her shoulders while he was looking down, searching for the words. Amy on the other hand wouldn’t let her eyes move from him.

“When going in, I thought maybe I was struggling with the thought of having a criminal involved in... my life and your life.”

“But I haven’t made the decision about the horse yet”, Amy reminded. “Lyndy’s still so young. I wasn’t planning on finding a new horse for her, so... the horse he trained... it might not even be the one for her. There’s still time.”

“I know, but... I didn’t just mean that guy”, Mitch had to expand.

He struggled to find the words, not wanting to hurt Amy or put her in an uncomfortable position. But he had to be honest and transparent or otherwise this relationship would be built on a shaky foundation.

“Now that we are officially moving forward with our relationship, I have started to think about... our future and how life will be after Ty gets out”, he continued. “I mean, it’s only months away.”

The pieces connected in Amy’s head and she fixed her posture a little bit.

“Oh...” was all she could say so immediately. She had not even allowed herself to think that far as every day she was still struggling with taking steps forward.

“But... we don’t have to talk about that now”, Mitch hurried to say, looking at her now, since he had strung this up on Amy so unexpectedly.

“No”, Amy said firmly as she shook her head, “we can talk about it, if it’s something that’s on your mind.”

“Well, yeah, it is, but... what about you?” Mitch worried, seeing as Amy had come in, seeming worn-out.

“It can wait a little while”, Amy assured, feeling like maybe this was actually something that should be talked about before her topic. She took Mitch’s hand that was resting on his knee. “So... tell me”, she insisted softly.

Mitch gazed into Amy’s eyes, almost as if checking if she was sure, as he didn’t want to put his needs before hers. Amy gave him a light, but determined nod, so he proceeded.

“Okay, well...” Mitch began, trying to think what to tell exactly. He had not practiced this, so he felt nervous about that. “I don’t really know where to start, but I’m just going to start somewhere, because it’s better than not start at all.”

“I don’t expect you to come out with a prepared speech. We’ll get where we need to, one way or another”, Amy encouraged.

Hearing her say that they were in it together gave Mitch a small boost.

“There’s just so much baggage I’m carrying with me, and I’m not saying this to scare you off or make this impossible for me, because I really want to give this a try. If there’s something that’ll motivate me to get over myself, it’s this. Us”, Mitch wanted to say first, giving her hand a soft squeeze.

Amy smiled a little bit, liking the sound of that.

She wasn’t scared of trauma - in fact that was basically the base of her life’s work - she only cared about Mitch having a willingness to work despite it. That was the only way this was ever going work.

And it seemed like he was determined to do it.

“I sort of discovered today that I have this... trauma that I’ve been carrying with me for so long without really realizing, and it affects the way I approach things. It’s been slowly building up, and that’s why I haven’t really given it thought, not until I realized it had become this... pattern”, Mitch narrated. “It’s about wanting to have control-- and I know how that sounds, it sounds bad. But let me explain first.”

“Okay...” Amy said with patience, wanting Mitch to know she was listening.

“It’s not that I want to control people, more like...” Mitch was digging up for words to use, “I want to control the circumstances. Because I want to make sure everyone’s okay and safe. Like it’s my job to make sure everyone’s okay.”

Amy nodded, understanding that to some extent. “Where do you think that comes from then?”

Mitch let out a long sigh, the kind that almost made his whole body collapse, as he thought back on his life.

“Well, I think it’s always sort of been something I’ve wanted to do - help people.”

Amy nodded, recognizing him in that description. “Yeah, I see it; that’s the kind of guy you are. You help everyone.”

“Well, yeah, I mean, it’s kind of obvious now that I think about how it’s almost this... foundation that has become my personality”, Mitch agreed. “You know, with what happened with my ex-girlfriend in high school... I couldn’t help her. So I guess that was at the back of my mind when Zach and I joined the military. I always had this idealized version about it all; soldiers help people, right? But then my mom had her stroke while I was away. I couldn’t help her or... erase that. I wasn’t there when she needed me.”

“But you couldn’t have known what would happen to your ex-girlfriend or your mom”, Amy comforted, pressing his hand gently. “Sometimes bad things just happen, no matter how much you try to protect others.”

Mitch nodded. “I know that, if I think about it, but... you know, sometimes that guilt just won’t leave you alone.”

Amy nodded, understanding that as well.

“Anyway”, Mitch continued, sighing. “Then... after I had settled back a little, Zach... died; I couldn’t help him either. It was like I couldn’t help anyone I cared about. So there was this heaviness within me as I felt like I didn’t even know who I was, because I had thought about myself being a helper - because I wanted to help people - but I had not helped anyone in any way.”

Amy tilted her head a little, looking at Mitch with compassion as he kept going.

"So I was just fumbling towards, not really knowing what I could even do, because if wanting something wasn’t enough, then... how could I possible be able to do anything, you know. -- I was so lost, almost... afraid to get attached to anything. And that’s when I became Heartland’s ranch hand. Jack asked for my help and... I still wanted to believe maybe I could help somehow. I mean, someone was asking for my help, so... how could I refuse it?”

“Well, you did help us. A lot”, Amy wanted to give him credit.

Mitch smiled shyly.

“Yeah, well... I started to believe in my ability to help again”, he added. “I guess what happened was the Heartland effect. You know, healing horses, healing hearts...”

Amy was encouraged to grin. “Yeah, well, that tends to happen a lot”, she admitted.

Mitch nodded, agreeing, as he had seen it so many times.

“So, what I’m saying is... I know you don’t need my help with Ty, but it’s that instinct that I have; I want to protect you. Especially after everything you’ve told me and how I know he makes you feel. And I’m fully aware you don’t need me as you’re no damsel in distress, but I’m just telling you this because I’m trying to fight back that urge, and it might look a little crazy to someone else - but know that I’m working on it. You can tell me to back off, anytime, and I will. Whatever you will have with Ty, I will try to stay out of it because I want to respect that that’s your life.”

Even though Mitch had explained everything well and it made sense for Amy why he was behaving like he was, his words still blindsided her as it was not something she had considered about from Mitch’s perspective.

She sat there quietly for a while, marveling at the words.

“You’re right”, Amy then began, “I don’t need your help or for you to stand in front of me in hopes to protect me, but... I am still hoping maybe you’d stand by me, help me along the way when I need someone to lean on. -- I’ve come to realize I can endure a lot, even though it’s not easy, and I know I’m strong and capable, but I also have times when I need someone there to support me. And I’d really like it if it was you.”

Mitch looked Amy in the eyes, saw the strength and resilience in her, but also the softer underbelly. It was everything he loved about her.

Yes.

Loved.

That feeling struck him a little bit, but also gave him this ease as he was so sure about his feelings now.

“I would be honored”, Mitch told her, leaning in to kiss her.

#heartland #fanfiction #filling empty spaces

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rosy-mocha · 1 year

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summary: Things have been getting pretty lonely on the Plane. (Especially for a certain subway seat.)

notes: subway uses he/it prns, takes place after one 18, angst, hurt NO COMFORT (also subway centric. others do appear briefly)

ao3 link below if u wanna read there idk

*Click click, tap tap*

The faint sound of keyboard keys could be heard throughout the Plane. Everything has been the same for the past few… days? Or was it just a few hours? It couldn’t have already been days, but it was hard to tell by the constant blaring sunlight that covered the entire place.

Everyone was out of view, doing whatever they were. Scenty was probably with ‘Bryce’ (That’s what Soda Bottle said what his name was, it was a nice name Subway thought), and Moldy was probably back near the pool.

And of course, Subway Seat sat near two objects though he only focused on one particular one. The blue, round container of whipped cream.

In all honesty? He didn’t know what he felt right now. Everything had happened so fast, barely anytime to process anything. They had pulled out the plug, only to have it put back in by Airy, then suddenly Backpack— Liam— somehow got into the place where Airy hosts, and now Airy’s dead?

Subway didn’t exactly know what happened between the two. Liam wasn’t exactly descriptive with his words, and he didn’t want to upset Liam any further, so he mostly kept his mouth shut. All that he knows now is that Liam is trying to learn how to teleport all of them out of the Plane using a computer. It certainly interested Subway, it wanted to know more about what was outside the Plane. (Though it’s not like Liam was going to say anything. He has been just as quiet as the others.)

He kept staring at the inanimate object. It felt strange seeing him like this now. He didn’t think he had seen Whippy Creamy’s inanimate form ever since the drawing challenge. Subway Seat frowned, would this have even happened if Airy hadn’t decided to make Bryce rejoin?

It thought about when Bryce was so… full of emotion when he had rejoined.

—

“Soda Bottle! You-You’re back!” Scenty yelled out.

Soda Bottle turned around with wide eyes. He couldn’t tell what emotion he was displaying all over his face; was it shock? Fear?

Everyone surrounded Soda Bottle tried to speak to him, but it was clear that the bottle wasn’t listening. “Liam…” he whispered, not saying another word. Liam? Who was Liam? Subway Seat soon shook off that thought once he suddenly heard a familiar monotone voice from above, “I have to go... Think of a new challenge. Go… uh… Welcome the rejoiner.” There was a sound of a microphone shifting around before it went quiet.

“Soda Bottle, I’m so—” Scenty spoke again before she was cut off by Soda Bottle facing away from them and stomping through the grass. Moldy took a step forward, “Wh- Soda Bottle! What are you—”

“Don’t call me that! My name is Bryce!” He turned around sharply, “I’m not letting Airy do this anymore!” He screamed out.

“Soda—” Moldy paused, remembering the name that he told her, “Bryce. There’s not much you can do to stop him.”

Scenty widens her eyes, “The plug.” she uttered.

“What? What about the plug?” Moldy questioned.

“That plug is definitely connected to this place. Maybe if we can unplug it, something will happen!” Scenty’s mood suddenly shifted, almost yelling out her words.

Doubtful looks were given to each other. “That may not be a good idea. We don’t even know what that plug is connected to. Plus, there’s no way we will be able to unplug that thing, it’s massive.” Moldy argued.

“...Show me where that plug is.” Bryce said.

Moldy staggered, “What? You can’t be serious about this.”

“Liam and I were so close to figuring this out! I’m not letting Airy take me another step back! Don’t you guys care about any of this? About being treated like some kind of toy?” Bryce raised his voice, “Airy has taken a part of my life, and I was just willing to just forget it! Pretend it never happened, but I don’t want that anymore!”

Bryce took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down, “I’m sure you guys feel the same way. Please— we all have a home to go back to.” Bryce looked towards the ground, “Whatever this plug is, I know that it’ll help us. It has too.”

Dead silence. They all stared at Bryce in shock. Moldy sighed, “Okay, fine. Let’s do this.”

Scenty now stared at her, “Moldy? I thought you—”

“I will admit that I was doubtful at first, but you’re right.” Moldy took a deep breath, almost hesitating before continuing, “I… can’t keep staying here. I already know what’s going to happen if I do, and even if that wish is true, I don’t think I want to stay in this god-forbidden place anymore. Not any longer.”

No one else objected to that. They stayed silent for a while. “Well? What are we waiting for? Let’s show Bryce the plug.” Moldy started walking away from the group.

“Whoa! Wait— are we actually doing this?” Whippy Creamy spoke out for the first time.

“I don’t think we have any other choice. This could bring us back home! All of us! Don’t you want to at least want to try?” Tray exclaimed almost in an excited, hopeful tone.

“I agree,” Subway Seat chimed in, “If there’s any chance of escape, I think we should take that!”

Whippy didn’t look convinced, but after some time, he sighed, “...Alright, fine.”

Moldy and Bryce had already started going toward the plug. Subway Seat watched as Whippy Creamy and Tray tried to catch up to the two. He was going to come with them as well until he noticed that Scenty was still behind him. “Scenty? Aren’t you coming with us?” It asked her.

Scenty stood in silence for a couple of seconds before looking at Subway face to face, “Yeah… Yeah, I will.” she finally started walking, going in front of Subway, “We got to catch up now. Let’s go, Subway.”

They all felt so hopeful. That there was a chance.

But… it got dragged right away from them.

There was no celebration. There wasn’t even a second of cheer as the plug that they were trying so desperately to pull was shoved back into the Plane.

Subway Seat hadn’t even seen what happened, but he certainly heard.

The group, exhausted, just stayed silent for a moment trying to process everything that happened. Eventually, Whippy Creamy spoke.

“All that… for nothing?”

Subway Seat immediately felt panicked, “Don’t say that! I-I’m sure we can try again, maybe we can—” Subway tried to rationalize the situation, surely there was another way, there had to be!

Whippy sighed, “Subway… Just stop. Please.”

He shut up.

—

Subway Seat doesn’t understand why they haven’t come out yet. Liam was going to help, right? It knew that they were still able to hear what was happening, so why aren’t they doing anything? The object tried to come up with things to say, but every time he opened his mouth it closed back. However, it decided to just suck it up and tried to speak to them.

“You guys must be really upset over that plug thing, huh?” It said, “It's okay! I mean— I was too! But someone is helping us get back now!” He tried saying in a cheery tone.

Oh, who is he kidding? Of course, they would be so upset over this! He couldn’t just forget the way all of them had tried pulling, trying so desperately to finally end everything. He didn’t even know how long they were trying; it felt like hours clawing away at the plug, hearing Bryce scream all those words and the aching pain in its arms. Remembering it all… Subway doesn’t want to think about it anymore. It was probably the first time he felt so, so hopeless.

He fidgets with his thumbs, “Uh… It’s getting pretty quiet around here. I haven’t talked to anyone other than Atom. No one seems to… want to talk much.” It’s understandable, they probably need to rest their voice after all that screaming anyway.

“Uh, Whippy?” Subway Seat asked even though it knew that Whippy Creamy wouldn’t answer back, he still held onto that small sliver of hope, “I would really like to talk to you again… It was nice! Wasn’t it?” It smiled.

It kept staring at the container with optimism, but nothing happened. “I mean, it’s alright if you still need some time to rest! Just… think about it, okay?”

Subway turned around. He knew that staring at inanimate objects wouldn’t help. It pained him to even look at them. Why did he keep coming back here? He didn’t want to think about this anymore.

Subway Seat lifted himself with his arms and ‘walked’ away. There wasn’t much to do on the Plane, but surely there was something that could fill in the time! Talking to others was a big no. It didn’t mean he didn’t like the others, he liked talking to people! But his mood had deteriorated. It just wasn’t the right time to talk to others right now.

While trying to do anything, he found himself back at the spot again. It sighed, was there really nothing else here? It felt like a sudden wave of grief had hit him. Was this really all there was here? He had never felt so alone before, there has always been company it could rely on in the Plane, even before the competition the subway was always busy and he could hear all the conversations happening all around him.

Ever since he went to the Plane, he really got used to being someone. An actual person! Having limbs, having a face, expressing emotions… that felt pretty good! But of course, it would be lying if he didn’t want to go back to the subway. It was cramped, sure, but it was something he could call home.

Maybe… it could feel a bit more at home that way. The way the two objects stood still, it was a familiar feeling. Subway sighed and shook his head. It needed to be patient. He still had hope for Liam getting them all out, and it was sure that he would be able to do that very soon.

He gazed over at the objects again.

“We’ll get out of here. I promise that.” It smiled.

#hfjone #onehfj #fanfic #i decided to try posting my fanfics here cause..... why not???#note: this fic is old so sorry abt mistakes #hfjone subway seat #subway seat hfjone #hfjone whippy creamy #whippy creamy hfjone #whippyseat if you squint #hfjone amelia #amelia hfjone #hfjone bryce #bryce hfjone #hfjone charlotte #charlotte hfjone #tray atom and liam are there but its very minor

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pastel-player · 2 years

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i'm not sure if you're still doing hfjone asks, but i was wondering if you have any thoughts on how the contestants would deal with being back on earth after ONE?

I am ALWAYS taking ONE asks- stuff like this makes me super happy to see! Let me go through them one by one.

Charlie’s life is relatively unaltered, but the lingering affects of ONE become more clear as he starts growing up. Nightmares about falling from high places become a common thing, for instance.

Taylor comes back with a notable spike in anxiety. I feel like she’d be the only person to tell people what actually happened to her- which, unsurprisingly, no one really believes. I think her close friends are willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, but they honestly don’t fully believe what she says happened to her. I think she eventually starts going to therapy, where she slowly starts working through what happened to her.

Charlotte.. hoo boy, she’s fun. Okay so she’s definitely fun. I think the latter parts of ONE really fricked her up. I have a lot of thoughts on this women, but to summarize, I think she used to have a belief that the only thing that could hurt her was other people. She no longer believes that once she gets back. Now, she believes that she’s one wrong move away from the world taking everything from her. I think she’d be able to reconcile with her friends, but she definitely still has A LOT to work through.

Amelia is having a hard time but she’s doing much better. With my headcanons, she’s able to move right back in with her brother, so she’s spared a fair amount of trying to rebuild her life. I think she spends awhile struggling with her identity though, particularly in trying to figure out where Amelia ends and Senty begins. She takes a lot of adjusting, especially in her self-perception. It isn’t too uncommon to see her frozen in front of a mirror, staring at her own reflection.

Bryce I’m not quite as sure on, but I think he’d be handling it alright. Obviously he’d have been stuck longer than last time, but I think having a support group of friends this time around would help. He has a lot to rebuild, but he’s done it before, which would hopefully give him some confidence in doing it again.

Now, Liam… again, he’s doing better, but recovery is going to be a very long road for him. I think he ends up staying with Owen for awhile but eventually ends up moving near Amelia- the more he tries, the more he realizes he just can’t go back to his old life. He definitely has a lot more anxiety now- nightmares and panic attacks are unfortunately pretty common. He’s doing what he can to cope, but it’s difficult. I have my fair share of headcanons with him during this, but I’ll save that for another time cause this is already super long XD

#hfjone #charlie hfjone #hfjone taylor #charlotte hfjone #bryce hfjone #amelia hfjone #liam hfjone #taylor nolan #Charlotte stern #bryce hansen #amelia euler #liam plecak #asks

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upsidedowngrass · 1 year

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ok so abt the amelia thing i mentioend in the tags of the other post? im thinking abt making a companion fic to the one i just posted but also i wanna preface it w some ideas abt amelia i think abt sm that kinda get undermined by other characters (even as a local liam fan i STILL need amelia in my life you know)

a lot of times? shes just written as Nice. and thats it, unless shes ALSO being portrayed as like... doting on liam and bryce and like im sorry but i dont think thats quite accurate. she IS kind, and she DOES care for her friends but i feel like this compassion gets SUPER oversimplified

the thing is, people make her revolve around the others, and i think there IS some basis for this; she cares abt the others a LOT and tries her best to help!! its a part of her character. but what people miss is that she DOESNT tend to act selflessly like constantly. she spends the first 6 episodes asking and trying SO hard to be up for elimination despite everything, even when stone makes liams team be up for elimination- but the thing is that i dont think not being selfless means shes selfish either, which i think is also overlooked (it CAN be inbetween). shes acting actually not unrealistically in this situation, she wants to be safe so it MAKES SENSE that she doesnt really think abt bryce or liam going home and tbh i think thats ok. shes under a lot of stress. the fact that everyone was divided into teams likely didnt help either

but then comes ep 7, and the fact that she loses the contest on purpose to get liam home i think overshadows this? and like she is 100% such an mvp here and i think she is literally so kind bc yeah liam Has gone thru the wringer at this pt. but this scene isnt Revealing that she Actually Wants To Look Out For Them Above All Else, its... very realistic guilt. a LOT of how i see her character i think revolves around guilt that i never see ppl portray her w

the thing is that i dont think she likes to see ppl unhappy, as very frequently shown and explained thru her helping the others! shes the one who is frequently shown looking out for others, and this IS bc shes very compassionate!!!! but i think it is partially abt the fact that it 1. is smth she can control, its smth she can DO, and 2, that if she doesnt help it kinda seems like it eats at her? helping the others during those 7 months WAS about caring abt them!!! and its just also that when ppl she cares abt are struggling , it helps her, too, to help them, yknow?? like its One thing that can make the plane more Safe and comfortable, and bc she DOES look out for people, but this IS often when worst comes to worst- shed help before that, yeah! but i think before it gets REALLY bad its easy for her to get overwhelmed with her OWN problems. this is only pushed to the extreme when the only thing she CAN do to make living on the plane bearable is to forget everything before it and embrace it, and subsequently, pushing those problems on the wayside, its a LOT easier to help others

as for the guilt, i feel like the scene in ep 7 is abt compassion but also about. SUCH heavy guilt. its not her fault, but she was also the only one who was Actively Aware of the fact that liam would sink, AND able go down there. and i think thatd mess with ANYONE. and the fact that suddenly this person she Couldve helped before Couldnt Be Comforted because she Couldnt Stop The Worst From Happening kinda like. Got to her. in ep 7, it isnt that things "revolve around liam," now, its the fact that she feels GUILTY. now looking back at every competition she tried to have HER team lose seems like just another instance she couldve stopped him from drowning before it happened. its extreme guilt, because blaming airy was easy, but airy doesnt budge, and all she has control of here is potentially helping others, and its like she failed, and she wants soooo badly to make up for it, because she already cared abt liam, but now theres also guilt around the fact that she DIDNT act selflessly because it WAS smth she could do. and it fucks me up so much

#hfjone #this one might be less cohesive than my other posts but. i hope this is clear enough anyway #just. man. shes kind and i love her so much #i never see her portrayed w like. the Guilt that i rly see her as having. even tho she SHOULDNT feel guilty #man....#this is one of the most important ideas i have abt any of the characters so i REALLY do hope it makes sense #shes kind but not selfless and she SHOULDNT be bc she doesnt NEED to be. its very normal to not act selflessly like all the time #esp in such horrible circumstances #like ya whatever abt selfishness. but if you only act selflessly you like. lose so much of You #but guilt is powerful :(#anyway she isnt selfless constantly. shes kind but when not under immense pressure shes more 'just hanging out w ppl'#rather than 'i need to give up my chances of being free from horrible shit bc this guy is having such a rough go of it'#which i wanna reiterate she IS like. so good in that scene its so kind of her. but she SHOULDNT have to be #and she shouldnt FEEL like she has to be #it is as sweet as it is deeply sad #drowning tw

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actuallylorelaigilmore · 2 years

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2022 MOVIE OF THE WEEK #29

jurassic world: dominion. this one was not previously on my list. i watched the first jurassic world in theaters but even now haven’t the seen the second one--the first one took the world to such a monster movie/horror place that i was not a fan. but @actuallylukedanes loves this one and wanted me to see it, so it was our most recent hangout film. and there was a lot i liked about it!

to get it out of the way, though, here’s what i didn’t like: the continued focus on dinosaurs as monsters, by taking the story to an extreme that forced humans and dinosaurs to be sharing the same lands, along with dinosaurs from different eras that weren’t meant to coexist. dinosaur fights-to-the-death, dinosaur ‘dog fights,’ and most scenes where carnivorous dinosaurs had to be hurt or killed so the human characters could survive.

i logically agreed with, and completely understood, leander reminding me that the humans were acting defensively. but i flinched anyway whenever the dinosaurs were hurt, and cried through at least one bit where the caption on the dinosaur was ‘whimpers.’ which just tells me i’m not the target audience for movies like this because i can’t shut off the part of me that’s overly sensitive to animals experiencing pain and to me the dinosaurs are animals, who didn’t ask to be brought into a modern world and don’t have nefarious intentions like some humans--they’re just following their instincts.

the plot actually made sense to me, as depressing as i found it. i think we have good reasons to believe that if humans could make dinosaurs, they would do so with terrible consequences, and i think that if we were then forced to coexist with dinosaurs, things like black market breeding and poaching and treating them like an invasive species when we’re the ones who unleashed them...all of that would be likely. and sad.

i could see what the filmmakers were going for with the beginning and end of the movie though (we watched the extended cut) in showing a more peaceful coexistence and the beauty of all kinds of dinosaurs--i just don’t think that wrecking everything for the whole rest of the movie was the only or best way to be able to then contrast a happy ending. like, ‘we broke it, everything’s horrible now...oh look we fixed it, isn’t that nice?’ felt as much like a way to revel in the horror bits as a path to the conclusion. and personally, i would’ve been happy with less horror bits--but again, i accept that i’m not who the movie was trying to entertain.

all that having been said, i enjoyed this movie more than i could have. i’m not a chris pratt fan and just sort of waited out the parts that were centered around him...luckily for me his importance was mostly based in his created family, and i liked maisie in a ‘teenage girl who’s trying to figure out if she exists’ way--i connected with a similar storyline on btvs when i was a teen so it’s one that will always resonate with me. i’ve never loved bryce dallas howard much in anything (i’ve got no problems with her, i just can never seem to connect with characters she plays), but she gives great final girl energy here.

and by far, the best of what this movie has to offer comes from the return of the original trio. not only is it a super fun reunion in every combination, with the actors sparkling at each other across their genuine AND fictional history, but once everybody comes together--new cast and old, totally random rebel pilot ally 1000% included in what makes this movie better--the ensemble is really better than its parts.

you get maisie constantly witnessing ellie/alan tension, kayla basically rolling her eyes at alan and owen sharing a Protective Men Moment, and (one of my true favorite parts of the whole film) ellie and claire giving up on ian’s attempts to tell them how to destroy a thing--just going full feral and taking it out with violence instead. the layers to that of wordless teamwork and men being useless and those two women in particular being so. very. done. with near-death experiences...i loved it deeply.

the ways they mixed and matched the new and old characters was full of so much potential, i actually think the movie’s need for constant action held that back. it could have been even better than one-line nods to shared trauma and fanboys of science, but the story they were telling just didn’t have room for (and wasn’t interested in) slowing down to explore and indulge in that. i would have enjoyed as much extra depth as they’d given us, if they’d gone that way.

i would watch this movie again, though, and it is the only jurassic world one i feel that way about. i would also happily watch a spinoff movie starring kayla (which i guess is a thing that might happen?), who didn’t just hold her own in this very white established world but came in and took up space and made it better. honorable mention also to dichen lachman, who i love in everything and whose character survived this movie and could theoretically therefore be a returning villain in a future spinoff.

honestly, give me the ellie & maisie & kayla & dichen lachman post-disaster dinosaur movie i deserve! but in the meantime, i’m glad i saw this.

#jurassic world: dominion #2022 motw #dichen lachman #actuallylukedanes #i have the best best friend

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silver-rings-and-rabbits · 3 months

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Open Heart 2 - Chapter 10

The Senator

The words hit Matthew like a bullet, leaving him breathless and shaky.

“You’re…leaving?” he asked, weakly. Rafael was looking back at him sadly.

“Wh…why? And when…?” Matthew stuttered. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know, but that didn’t matter. Whether he wanted to know or not, Rafael had made his decision.

Keeping a distance between them, Rafael shifted on the spot as he scratched the back of his neck.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while, actually. I felt like…I don’t know, it was like a restlessness. I was just treading water without going anywhere.”

“Is this because you got suspended?” Matthew asked. “Suspension isn’t termination. You’ll be able to be a paramedic again.”

“But I don’t know if I want to go back to being a paramedic. So I decided I would quit.”

This part was a complete surprise.

“So…what are you going to do instead?”

He suddenly had a vision of Rafael getting on a train to New York to make it big on Broadway. Little did he know, Rafael was about to say something much worse.

“I’ve decided to move to Brazil. A lot of my mom’s family still live there. I thought it was time to reconnect with my heritage and make a fresh start.”

A fresh start…four thousand miles away. He had well and truly moved on, right in front of Matthew’s eyes. Meanwhile, he had wasted time pining, practicing softball with him and getting butterflies at the slightest touch of the hand. He never had a chance. Their story was over, and had been for a good six months. It shouldn’t be so hard to accept.

“How do your family in Boston feel about this?” he asked. Rafael stuck his hands in his pockets.

“They understand. I mean, they were upset at first, especially Vovó, but I think they can tell I’m not as happy as I used to be. Ultimately they support my decision.”

Matthew couldn’t help thinking back to when he had been applying for various residencies. Of course, he had wanted to place Edenbrook number one but he had hesitated. Holly had already lost one child, he didn’t want to move so far away from her. Don’t you dare put your dreams on hold because of me she had soon told him. You already turned down an ivy-league college, don’t turn down your dream hospital. You supported the dreams of the person you loved.

“When do you leave?” Matthew asked. He put his hand against the wall to brace himself, hoping he looked casual. He didn’t.

“…Next weekend,” Rafael admitted. Matthew winced. It was so soon. But what else would he do in the meantime? They didn’t hang out one-on-one anymore, it would be too weird. And he had been hanging out with the gang less often in general since Sora came onto the scene. Whether he was leaving next week or next month, Matthew was unlikely to see any more or less of him.

“So…that’s that,” he said, hoarsely. “Sounds like you have everything figured out.” He bit his lip, looking away from Rafael. His gaze landed on Kyra, small and vulnerable in her hospital bed. She and Bryce were looking like they were pretending not to eavesdrop, and Matthew returned to Rafael. He couldn’t face the idea of explaining it to them now.

“Matthew?” Rafael asked, gently. “It’ll be OK. We’ll keep in touch.”

“Yeah…” Matthew would look forward to the annual ‘happy birthday’ exchange.

But he didn’t want to be bitter. This was Rafael’s life and Rafael’s choice to make, and Matthew hated that he was nervous to tell Matthew about it. When he thought back over how happy Rafael had made him, he never wanted to make him feel any less in return.

“Good luck out there, Raf,” he said, finally meeting his eyes with a small smile. “I think you can conquer anything you put your mind to. But…” he hesitated for a moment before continuing. “Just in case it doesn’t work out how you thought and you need a break…you’ll always have a place to stay with me.”

“Thank you,” Rafael said warmly, his eyes kind and beautiful. His returning smile was equally small and soft – a private moment for just the two of them.

“I’ll see you around, Raf.”

“Bye Matthew.”

Matthew nodded and turned, walking away without looking back. If he had, he would have seen Rafael watching him go.

He took his time in the locker room, feeling numb. He didn’t want to stay at work, he wasn’t sure how much more he could take on. But he didn’t want to go home either. His roommates didn’t know how much his world was ending. They would ask ‘how was your day’ and he wasn’t sure he could answer that right now.

He hadn’t realised how stuck he’d been until he’d been hit with the realisation of how much further forward everyone else seemed to be. He slumped onto the bench with his head in his hands.

“Matthew?”

Sienna had found him. She stood in the doorway with a frown.

“Are you OK?”

Matthew pressed his lips together, took a deep breath and looked up at her.

“Rafael just told me he’s moving to Brazil.”

Sienna’s eyes widened as her face fell. A mix of emotions flitted across her face – shock, confusion, sadness – and she struggled to say something. There was nothing she could say to alleviate the situation, and she decided to simply sit beside Matthew and hold onto him.

****

Matthew didn’t see Rafael in the hospital the next day, but he facetimed the group that night to tell them about his big move. They all wished him luck, and were sad to see him go, but no one pressed too hard about why he had decided to move. Maybe it was because Matthew was there, and they didn’t want him to be upset by the answer. Or maybe they just accepted that he wanted a change, and Matthew was the only one stuck in the past.

“Are you OK?” Jackie asked him later.

“I’ll be fine.”

Jackie didn’t believe him.

He needed a new focus. The senator had been assigned to the diagnostics team but he hadn’t turned up to the hospital yet. All they had was an email from Travis Perry, his aide, that the senator had business to take care of before he was admitted. It annoyed Ethan, though Matthew wasn’t bothered so much.

Matthew was getting ready for work on Thursday morning – which was taking a little longer than usual because he had suddenly become the victim of crank-callers who were pretending to be news anchors wanting to interview him – when his friends called out from the living room.

“Matthew, you have to come and see this!”

Matthew walked out, half dressed in his shirt and underpants, to find his roommates gathered around Jackie’s phone. A video was playing of the senator, standing in front of the Edenbrook fountain, talking into a swarm of microphones.

“Is this illness serious, Senator? Are you worried about your health?”

“Of course not. Dr Valentine spoke very highly of his team, and the young man himself is one of this city’s premier doctors.”

“Wh-what is this?” Matthew stuttered.

“Senator Ed held a press conference this morning,” Jackie explained. “This interview played on a bunch of local stations, and I think a couple of national ones.”

“He’s been name-dropping you like crazy,” Sienna giggled.

“About that, how does the senator know you by name?” Elijah asked.

“I gave it to him when I convinced him to switch. I didn’t think he’d namedrop me on national television.”

Aurora had been quiet until now.

“He was trying to fly under the radar at Mass Ken, but he’s clearly decided to turn this into a publicity stunt.” She and Matthew glanced at each other and looked away again. She was still being very cool with him, and he hadn’t spoken much to anyone since Rafael told him he was moving to Brazil, leaving nothing but tension between them.

“He obviously decided he could win more voters with this approach. Anyway…” Jackie looked Matthew up and down with a raised eyebrow. “If you want people to think you’re a premier doctor, you need to put some pants on.”

Elijah smirked. “Matthew’s clearly trying to start a new fashion trend—”

“Oh, shut up!”

Twenty minutes later, with everyone fully dressed, they piled off the subway. Kyra caught up with them in the morning rush. She had one last check up before surgical prep but wouldn’t be discharged until she was fully recovered from tomorrow’s surgery, which could take a while. She was bright-eyed and breezy, and as she joked around with everyone, Matthew realised he wasn’t sure if he wanted tomorrow to come at all. The world would be a darker place without Kyra.

“Obviously I want everything to be OK, but just in case, I’ve had a good life. Especially sky-diving with you guys!” Kyra beamed. “But the fact is, there is a very real chance I’m not waking up tomorrow.”

“Kyra.” Matthew tried to hide his fear. “You’ve gotta be more positive.”

“I am being positive. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best,” Kyra argued. “A big part of the process is coming to accept all outcomes.”

“Makes sense…”

“She makes a valid point…”

Matthew wished he could borrow their positive frames of mind. Kyra rolled her eyes and fell into step beside him.

“I’m excited to be taking this risk, I really am. And it’s thanks to you that I’m taking it. If you hadn’t been so brilliant last year, I’d have been too scared.”

Matthew swallowed and nodded, putting his arm around Kyra and squeezing her.

“We’re all so proud of you, Kyra,” Sienna said.

“Seriously.” Jackie looked uncharacteristically emotional. “You need anything between now and your surgery and we’ll make it happen.”

“Well, I do have a list of sundaes from this awesome ice cream shop…”

“Didn’t Bryce say you had to fast before the surgery?”

“Fine…but at least come keep me company whilst I’m bedridden and starving.”

Bryce met them just outside the hospital. He was practically bouncing with excitement.

“There’s so many cameras by the entrance!” he said, eagerly. “Are they here for the senator?”

“He should already be in the hospital, why would the press still be hanging around?”

But the press were indeed still hanging around. They clustered at the main entrance, cameras flashing despite there being no senator. Every time a doctor walked past, the reporters would shout after them, asking if they were Dr Valentine, or knew Dr Valentine, or had anything to do with the diagnostics team. Matthew stopped short, his fingers digging into Kyra’s shoulder.

“Guys…” he said, panic mounting. “I really don’t want to be caught on camera right now!”

“He’s not lying, guys, his hand’s sweating,” Kyra interjected.

“OK, don’t panic. Cover your face with my jacket.” Jackie shrugged her jacket off her shoulders and handed it to Matthew. Meanwhile, Bryce generously volunteered to distract the reporters and swaggered over to them, tossing his fringe and flashing his charming smile.

“Floozy,” Jackie snorted. “Matthew, do you want to be hidden or not?!”

Matthew still held Jackie’s coat, not sure if hiding his face in it would be an adequate disguise. Jackie made the choice for him by snatching it back and throwing it over his head. He heard her instructing Elijah and Kyra to walk in first and act as a battering ram, before she started shepherding him towards the entrance.

“Excuse me, are you—”

“HEY, back off!” Jackie barked. “Some of us have work to do!”

“She’s right, folks, we’re trying to run a hospital here!”

That was the gruff voice of Bobby Gunderson, who could be extremely fierce to unwanted hospital guests, but was a complete teddy-bear to staff and patients. He had been Matthew’s favourite security guard ever since he had let Matthew sneak in to visit Rafael when he was injured and Matthew was suspended.

The jacket was yanked off his face. He blinked in the harsh hospital lights, looking around to find they had made it into the atrium. Bryce had joined them, lamenting that the press didn’t want to hear about the surgeons; he insisted they hadn’t done adequate research. Meanwhile, Bobby had shooed the press away and was now returning to the group, shaking his head.

“Thanks for the assist, Bobby!”

“Yeah, yeah. Should have known you’d be the reason I’ve got a hospital full of reporters.” He looked at them with mock annoyance. “Trying to make my life a living hell?”

“I’ll buy you a coffee to make up for it.”

“You can put in a good word with the senator while you’re at it,” Bobby joked as the group dispersed. “Gunderson of the Presidential Guard…has a good ring to it, don’t you think?”

“Surely you wouldn’t leave your favourite hospital behind?”

“My oldest is turning sixteen this year. Edenbrook ain’t gonna help me buy her a car!”

Matthew chuckled as he headed for the stairs. Bobby might joke, but he loved Edenbrook.

The senator was sat at the conference table when Matthew got to the diagnostics room. The rest of the doctors were already there, as was the ever-present aide.

“Hello, Matthew. I see you made it through the throng,” Ethan said. The senator gave Matthew a warm smile and stood to shake his hand. He was a little shorter than Matthew expected. With the warm smile, dark eyes and streaks of silver through his hair and beard, it was easy to see why he was so popular.

“Dr Valentine,” he said, in a smooth voice that had been trained to never stutter or croak. “Wonderful to see you again.”

“Hello Senator.” Matthew offered a firm handshake. “I just wish you hadn’t mentioned my name on the news.”

“I’m sorry, Doctor, but I believe in credit where credit is due. I have every confidence in your care, and, please, call me Ed. Now,” he said loudly, returning to the table. “I’d like to see my excellent doctors in action.”

“We don’t typically brainstorm in front of patients…”

“Believe me, Matthew, that information has already been conveyed.” Ethan sounded tired already.

“Can I get you anything before we begin, Ed? Coffee?” Baz offered, but Ed shook his head.

“I never touch the stuff, but I could use some water. Travis?”

“Of course, sir.”

Travis heaved a briefcase on the table – coffee spilled over the rim of Ethan’s cup – and took out a notebook and pen, a phone for the senator, several phones for himself, and finally a worn, stainless steel water bottle and reusable cup. Ethan pinched his nose briefly before turning back to the team and opening the discussion.

June had done an initial consult upon Ed’s arrival and reported a list of symptoms including headaches, tingling in the hands and feet, stomach aches and constipation.

“I’m as bloated as a balloon,” Ed chuckled good-naturedly. “As a small-town mayor that might have been endearingly everyman, but a senator needs a certain presence.”

“You started as a mayor?” Matthew asked, ignoring Ethan’s eye-roll. He liked to hear his patient’s stories.

“Indeed. In fact, Travis was one of my constituents back in the day, weren’t you, Travis?”

“If you can call a ten-year-old a constituent…” Travis smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes.

Returning to the brainstorm, the senator confirmed he hadn’t been in contact with anyone who had been ill, was unmarried, and too busy to date. The only person he was in close contact with was Travis, who felt fit as a fiddle.

“I’ve had a bout of flu on occasion, and I was hospitalised following a car accident back in…er, when was that, Travis?”

“I’m not quite certain. It was before I started working for you, sir.”

“At least five years back, then. Though it’s hard to remember a time without you.”

“What injuries did you sustain?” Matthew asked.

“Slight concussion. Nothing serious.”

“I think we can probably rule that out as a cause,” June said. “Any more recent pain, Ed?”

“Standard aches and pains after a workout, though I’ve been slacking a bit lately. I blame the new house for that.”

It transpired that Ed had recently bought a fixer-upper house by the river, and was relishing the prospect of a renovation project. However, being next to the river came with mosquitos.

“I was covered in bites until Travis added bug spray to his little arsenal. Though I suppose presenting my funding bill for addiction services with my arms covered in little red marks had a certain impact.”

“It’s very noble that you’re advocating for addicts,” June said. She had probably been up all night studying the senator’s entire life and, if it had come up in conversation, might have altered the truth of her own voting record to keep him on her side.

“Can we focus?” Ethan asked, irritably.

“We were at mosquitos,” Matthew said. “I’m thinking we should test for West Nile virus.”

Baz was instructed to run the test and Matthew had to escort Ed to his assigned patient room. Ethan warned Ed to stay there, and Ed remained chipper and insisted someone fetch him for the next stage of brainstorming.

Later on, Matthew was darting between patients when he overheard a conversation between Elijah and Sothy:

“You told him he has to take dimethyl thumarate twice a day for the rest of his life, right? And he’ll need physical therapy appointments?”

“I…may have forgotten to mention that. Is it important?”

“Yes it’s important, he has multiple sclerosis. It’s currently incurable. Turn around and explain it to him right now.”

Matthew smirked a little. It was about time Elijah got Sothy to fix his own mistakes, but the smirk disappeared when he turned the corner and found Esme hitting her head against the wall.

“Uh, Esme? What are you doing?”

“Anger management. I just got a new case.”

She thrust a chart into his hands with a scowl and Matthew’s heart sank as he read the name across the top: Garrett Thorne. Neither of them saw him around the hospital very often which had given Matthew a little hope that Esme could get through her intern year unscathed. He hadn’t forgotten the way Dr Thorne’s hand had travelled down Esme’s back, or the way she had broken it by slamming it onto the bar top. Or the way Thorne had glared at Matthew the next day.

“I can get this transferred to someone else,” he offered, but Esme shook her head.

“I’m not afraid of him,” she insisted. “But…it’s going to be stuff staying cool.”

Matthew nodded as he handed the chart back.

“Alright, but I’m coming with you to make sure everything’s OK. And don’t let me catch you banging your head like that again.”

****

Garrett Thorne was pacing the room, wearing his work clothes and a hideous scowl. A patient gown had been placed on a nearby chair and remained stubbornly folded. Thorne stopped pacing when they entered, then looked down on them with disgust.

“I don’t need two doctors. This hardly warrants one from where I’m standing.”

Thorne was glaring down at them, but there was no hint of recognition or snide remarks about what happened four months ago. He glanced at Esme, whose mouth was tight with anger.

“You got this,” he whispered to her. She gave him a tight smile before turning to Thorne.

“You only have one doctor assigned to you today, Dr Thorne. Dr Valentine is my resident. He’ll be shadowing me today if that’s alright with you.”

“They palmed me off to an intern? Seriously?”

“I don’t know who ‘they’ are…” Esme fought to keep her voice level. “But I assure you, you’re in good hands.”

“Whatever. I need you to prescribe me alpha blockers so I can get back to work.” He folded his arms defiantly across his chest. Esme narrowed her eyes.

“May I?” Matthew asked quietly, and Esme handed him the chart. He flipped through it quickly. It was very tempting to call Thorne out on the fact he’d pissed himself and fell on his ass in public, but they were professionals here.

“It says here you’ve experienced some incontinence and balance issues.”

“Can you tell us more about that?” Esme asked.

“It was humiliating enough the first time, thank you,” Thorne said, through gritted teeth. “It happens to plenty of men once they reach a, uh, certain age.”

He looked at Matthew with the impression that he hoped it might happen to him a little earlier than usual.

“Prostate problems would fit the symptoms…” Matthew murmured to Esme.

“True. But I’d like to run some tests to be certain.”

“Don’t bother,” Thorne demanded. “I’ve had no other incidents, no other symptoms. There’s no explanation for this other than BPH.”

“But—”

“I’m not asking, intern, I’m telling. Prescribe me the alpha blockers so I can get back to my surgeries.”

Matthew and Esme stepped into the hall, closing the door behind them. They walked a little way down the hall before Esme turned to Matthew with a face like thunder.

“I hate that asshole!” she steamed. “I know we’re supposed to care for our patients but I just want to sock him in the jaw!”

Matthew wistfully remembered a red-faced, fat man who had dismissed his credentials and would only stop yelling just long enough to belch in Matthew’s face.

“I know,” he said, sympathetically. “But there’s as much to learn from rude patients who will never thank you as from the pleasant ones. Unfortunately, Thorne’s the first of a long list of patients you’ll wish you didn’t have to deal with.”

Esme sighed heavily. “So, how do I deal with him? Take his word and prescribe the alpha blockers or…?”

“You’re his doctor, why are you dithering?”

“Well…probate problems would fit the symptoms, as does karma. But…I don’t know, something feels off.” She bit her lip. “It’s just that, he is a senior doctor so he’d know better than me, right?”

“Don’t let jerks like Thorne make you question your skills,” Matthew said, firmly. “I’ve seen you at work, he hasn’t. Follow your gut. You’re in charge of this situation, not Thorne.”

Esme blinked, then squared her shoulders.

“Hell yeah I am!”

She turned and marched back into Thorne’s room. Matthew chuckled, feeling a little like a proud parent, leaving her to fly solo.

****

Later on, he was back he was back in the diagnostic office with a table full of negative test results. The senator remained in good spirits, but Ethan’s frustration seemed to grow every time Ed turned to Travis to ask a question.

“What’s your diet like, Ed?”

“To be honest, I could do better. I’ve made some changes over the last month: less meat and dairy, more fruit and vegetables. Although I’m not a practicing…er…what’s the word…Travis?”

“Vegan.”

Matthew frowned as he glanced between Ed and Travis. Ed had been asking Travis for a lot of details about his life, but ‘vegan’ was hardly a difficult word to remember.

“How long have you been having memory issues, Ed?”

“Memory issues? I don’t have memory issues…do I, Travis?”

“Well, I don’t know if I’d call them issues,” Travis said quickly. “I mean, you forget things here and there, but who doesn’t?”

“Senator, you’re famed for how well you remember everything,” June said. “Every vote you’ve ever cast, every constituent you’ve met.”

“That’s true, but Travis also keeps track of that,” Ed said. “Forgetting a word or two doesn’t mean I have memory issues, does it?”

“Do you have any idea when it started?” Baz asked.

Ed turned to Travis, who frowned, a line appearing on his forehead as he tried to recollect.

“I suppose…it must have been a few months ago.”

“When did you buy your fixer-upper house?” An idea was forming in Matthew’s mind.

“A few months ago…”

“OK, I have a hunch. I’m going to need another blood sample to test it though.”

****

When the doctors returned to the office, Matthew finally had a positive test result.

“There are high levels of lead in Ed’s blood.”

“Lead poisoning!” Baz gasped. “Good save.”

“Do you know what caused it?” Travis frowned.

“It was probably the fixer-upper house. Before the 70s, a lot of house paints contained lead. I’ve already sent for paint samples to be collected and for the renovation company to be warned that their crew may have been exposed to lead.”

“Good job,” Ethan nodded. “OK, Senator, what we need now is—”

“Yes, yes, just as soon as Travis calls for a press conference. Ah, and contact our friend from the Chronicle. I’m thinking a headline along the lines of ‘Senator Refuses to let his Dangerous Illness Slow Down Addiction Bill.’”

It was almost ridiculous how excited he seemed to be at the news of lead poisoning. Travis didn’t seem too concerned either, frowning and tapping away at a phone screen.

“Senator, would you like to hear a treatment plan?”

“Oh, I trust you all know what you’re doing.”

“Yes, but we need to trust that you can stick to our treatment plan,” Ethan said, firmly. “You’ll need injections of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, which may take some time to work, and then there’ll be side effects. We need to keep you here to monitor for at least a week.”

“Alright, alright,” the senator chuckled, as if he were humouring them. “I can work from here, just as easily as anywhere else.”

At that moment his phone buzzed and he insisted on answering it, cheerfully dismissing them with ‘you all go save some lives!’. Ethan threw his hands up in irritation.

“June, prepare the first EDTA injection. Baz, tell security to keep out the press. And Matthew, when he’s done, get the senator back to his room and make sure he stays there.”

He stormed out. Baz, June and Matthew couldn’t help exchanging amused glances as they left. Matthew sat back in his chair, waiting for the senator to finish his phone call. He tried making small talk with Travis, but his answers were monosyllabic and Matthew gave up.

“You’re missing the point!” Ed was arguing on the phone. “This bill will send addiction rates tumbling. It’s the right thing for Massachusetts!”

He paused to listen to the reply, then shot Travis a thumbs up. Travis barely glanced up as he returned it. Then Ed’s voice became sly.

“If it’s that important to you that I hold off on this, I’m going to need to know that I have your full support…ah yes…yes, I think a campaign contribution of that magnitude would be a very strong show of support. Consider the bill dead in the water.”

Matthew froze, and then leaned closer to Travis.

“Did he just agree to shelve his addiction bill? What the hell happened?”

“Democracy in action.”

“But…he’s supposed to be one of the most progressive members the Senate! And…he said the bill was close to his heart…how could he just…”

“His voting record is progressive,” Travis said, finally looking at Matthew. “He waits until a bill is likely to pass and then he jumps on at the last second. It keeps his success rate high, and he can then look like the hero who got it over the line.”

Matthew had so far been impressed with Senator Farrugia. He made it easy to picture a future that included far less medical debt, falling crime rates, and a generally better standard of living. But now Matthew just felt stupid. Senator Farrugia was just like every other politician.

“How do you not get demoralised, seeing this every day?” Though it would certainly explain Travis’s apathy.

“I don’t have to respect him to be a good assistant. Besides, working with Ed is just a means to an end for me.”

He returned to his phone. Matthew suddenly wanted to be as far away from both of them as possible.

****

The team were packing up for the night when Travis knocked on the office door and said that Ed had been invited to appear on an evening talk show that night to talk about his diagnosis. He also wanted Matthew and Ethan to join, as the doctor who made the diagnosis, and the leader of the team.

“It’s a good idea,” June said. “ANB is a national news channel. This could be extremely beneficial for us.” She shot Travis a charming smile. “They would both be delighted.”

So, rather than curling up in bed, Matthew was sitting on a smart leather sofa, sweating under the lights of a TV studio. They were interviewing with Chris Aarons on the Nightly News Hour. Chris had reassured him he would be fine, just relax and act like the several hundred people in the live studio audience weren’t there. It would have been easy to do so if Chris didn’t then start warming up the audience with chatter and jokes.

As he did so, Senator Ed leaned over to Matthew and started amicably talking about how this publicity could do wonders for his career. Matthew stiffened. He just nodded along in a non-committal way until the senator got distracted by someone else.

“Are you alright?” Ethan asked Matthew. “You seem…uncomfortable with him all of a sudden.”

“A few hours ago I overheard the good senator give up his rehab bill in exchange for a hefty donation.” He sighed heavily. “Why is everyone so disappointing?”

Before Ethan could answer, the crew called for the show to start. The host hopped into his chair, sitting as comfortably as he would in his living room, and the senator seemed cheerfully relaxed as well. Matthew and Ethan sat straight upright. Audience lights were dimmed down and the cameras started to roll, then a cheer went up as the senator and the doctors were introduced as the first guests of the night.

“So tell us, Ed…are you going to be OK?”

“I won’t lie to you, it was a close one. If these two weren’t so incredibly smart, I might not have caught it in time. But I’ll let them explain.”

“Doctors? What was this mystery illness?”

“The senator…ahem…the senator had a fairly advanced case of lead poisoning,” Matthew explained, hoping his voice didn’t sound as dry as his mouth felt. Luckily, the senator jumped back in to explain it was from his fixer-upper house. He took the opportunity to go off on a tangent about how much he loved his constituency and how important public health initiatives were. It earned him heartfelt applause, and Chris was nodding reverently.

“Dr Valentine,” he said with a smile. “I’m sure you’re in high demand right now. Can you explain your process of the diagnosis?”

“Er…” It was hard to describe something that he did without necessarily thinking about it. “Well, simply listening to patients is my best tool. A doctor always has to remember that, in most cases, their patient hasn’t been to med school. That means they don’t always understand what might be relevant information. No symptom should be dismissed. For example, memory issues are a symptom of lead poisoning, which the senator didn’t realise.”

“It’s true. I thought it was a sign I was getting too old,” Ed joked. The audience laughed.

Chris asked Ethan about the treatment, and Ethan explained the science behind the EDTA treatments, and reiterated the importance of rest with some very pointed looks in Ed’s direction.

Ed spoke highly of Edenbrook and insisted that, once he had recovered, he would prioritse a healthcare model that could work for everyone and reduce the cost on the taxpayer. Matthew frowned. Perhaps it was his imagination, but Ed’s smile now looked slimy.

“Well, doctors, has Senator Farrugia won your next vote?”

“I’m sorry, but I make it a point not to discuss my politics with anyone,” Ethan said firmly.

Chris turned to Matthew. Ed looked on expectantly.

“Well…I guess…” Matthew hesitated…but he was sick and tired of the idea that people could get away with screwing over the most vulnerable.

“I guess I was planning to vote for him, but I’m not sure I can, since I overheard him being bribed to drop his addiction bill.”

The audience erupted in surprise, and Chris glanced over to his camera crew anxiously. The senator sat up, going very pale and spluttering out a weak cover. Ethan continued to sit still, but he wore a very subtle smile.

“I…but…a misunderstanding!” The senator gasped, tugging his collar. “I…I remain as firmly committed to passing that bill as ever. I can’t imagine where Dr Valentine got that idea from.”

“So you’re promising, on national television, that you’ll be sponsoring that bill this term?” Matthew asked quickly. He noticed how the senator gritted his teeth.

“…Naturally.”

“Well, I’m glad we were able to settle that little misunderstanding!” Chris said, loudly, before quickly announcing an ad break, after which he would be speaking to a young social media star who had just hit Hollywood.

As soon as they were backstage, Ed turned on Matthew.

“What the hell do you think you’re playing at, Valentine?!” He snarled. “I throw you a bone, let you share my airtime, and you stab me in the back?”

“All I did was tell the truth,” Matthew snapped back. “I wouldn’t vote for someone who abandoned a bill like that.”

“You knew exactly what you were doing, you little—”

“Senator, I have a phone call for you,” Travis interrupted, with impeccable timing. “Um…several, actually.”

“I’ll bet you do,” Ed snarled as he glared at Matthew. He marched out of the room as Ethan walked in.

“Proud of yourself?” he asked, casually.

“Yep.” It might not have been much, but it was nice to regain just a tiny bit of control.

“Good. For the record, so am I.” And for once, Ethan was full-on grinning.

****

His brilliance seemed a little less brilliant the next morning when he woke up and remembered he would have to continue overseeing the senator’s care, and the senator would be even more difficult – not to mention would be less likely to help fund Edenbrook – but his roommates had watched the interview, and cheered him on and clamoured for the full story. It was gratifying to know they would have done the same thing.

Still, he felt slightly apprehensive as he approached the hospital, and then an all-too-familiar voice called his name and nothing else mattered. He did his best to hide his heartbreak as Rafael caught up with him. One more day until his big move…

“I didn’t think I’d see you here again,” he said.

“I have to pick up my last paycheck,” Rafael said. “Come on, it’ll be OK, I’m moving to Brazil but it’s not the moon. You can come and visit.”

“With all that vacation time us residents are known to have,” Matthew muttered. He shook his head, and tried again. “When do you head out, again?”

“My flight leaves tomorrow afternoon.”

“And…is Sora going with, or…?” Matthew was afraid of the answer, but the question had been at the back of his mind since Rafael told him he was leaving.

“No, at least not yet. We’re not quite ready for a leap that big. But he already has tickets for a visit next month!”

The little comfort that was offered by the fact Sora wasn’t moving with Rafael was overshadowed by the fact the two of them already had visits planned and prepared. Sora would still have Raf, they had it all figured out. It was just Matthew being left behind.

“You’re not just here to pick up your last paycheck,” he said, painfully. “You’re here to say goodbye.”

Rafael’s face fell.

“Yeah.”

The two of them gazed at each other. There was suddenly so much that Matthew wanted to say to him, but he didn’t have a clue where to start. His selfishness could ruin everything Rafael was trying to do, and he couldn’t do that to him. Not if he valued his friendship, and Rafael was so excited for what was to come.

“Matthew…”

“Heads up!”

They both jumped as a basketball bounced towards them. Rafael snatched it out of the air before it could bounce up again and hit Matthew in the face. Bryce ran towards them, shirtless and panting from his morning practice.

“Shouldn’t you be prepping for Kyra’s surgery today?” Matthew asked.

“I am, this is how I get in the zone before my day starts,” Bryce grinned. “What do you say, Raf? One last showdown?”

“I’m in if Matthew’s on my team.”

Raf looked at him with bright eyes, and Matthew couldn’t refuse.

“Well, I do like winning…”

He shrugged out of his sweater and tie and rolled up his sleeves. Raf grinned, taking off his bomber jacket.

“Then you picked the wrong partner!” Bryce teased as the other two left their clothes beside Bryce’s shirt and joined him on the small court. Bryce didn’t wait, and dribbled the ball to the hoop, scoring an easy lay-up.

“Bryce, 2. Losers, 0.”

“Doesn’t count until the game has actually started.”

“Then hurry up before I start tallying!”

Matthew chuckled to himself as he and Rafael started playing. For the next few minutes, he didn’t want to think about anything else except having fun with his friends. Chances to relax didn’t seem to come very often these days.

Matthew had his back to Bryce as he dribbled towards the hoop, but Bryce was relentless, trying to dart around him to steal the ball. Matthew passed it to Rafael, who caught it with practiced ease, and made a beautiful three point shot right through the hoop.

“Yes!” Matthew threw up a hand and Raf met him with a high-five.

“You’re making this way too easy, Lahela.”

“What was that you were saying about picking the wrong partner?”

“Lucky start!”

“You guys look like you’re having way too much fun for this time in the morning.”

The three boys turned to find Jackie, Sienna and Elijah at the edge of the court.

“We’re playing a farewell game for Raf,” Bryce said. “You guys in?”

“Hell yeah!”

“Alright, Varma, you’re with me,” Bryce ordered. Jackie obliged, also removing her shirt and declaring their team ‘skins’. They also called Sienna, who agreed but refused to remove her dress, and Elijah rolled over to Matthew and Raf.

“Alright, shirts, start with the ball!” Bryce tossed them the ball and the game resumed with a happy fifteen minutes of friends chasing each other round the basketball court, exchanging praise and insults until the scores were tied. Matthew advanced on Sienna, who had the ball.

“Stop her, Matthew!”

“Don’t let him stop you, Sienna!”

“Give it up, Sienna,” Matthew trash-talked. “Your sports skills are as bad as your chocolate chip cookies!”

“My cookies aren’t bad! You take that back!”

“They taste like ash and garbage!”

“Such a lie! You ate five when I made them that time for—”

Rafael ran past, stealing the ball from her hands, but Bryce intercepted the shot before he could make the hoop.

“You dirty dog.” Sienna pouted at Matthew.

“Too easy,” he laughed, though he hoped he hadn’t gone too far. Sienna took baking very seriously.

The battle resumed until, with thirty seconds left on Bryce’s timer, the ball came back to Matthew. Now the other team were advancing on him.

“Go for the hoop, Matthew!” Elijah called.

“You got this, Matthew!” Raf called as he ran down the court.

He met Matthew’s eye and discreetly signalled to the hoop. Matthew had seconds to interpret and react, and he could only hope he had the right idea as he tossed the ball. Rafael leapt, catching it, and swiftly dunking it through the hoop, scoring the winning point as the timer went off.

“I can’t believe that worked!” Matthew howled as he, Elijah and Raf came together for a celebratory group hug.

“Fair play, guys. I’m actually impressed,” Bryce gasped, pushing his hair off his forehead.

“Actually…” Raf said, slightly awkwardly. Matthew bit his lip, looking away. “…I hate to bring this to an end but I should get inside. Paperwork to sign. People to say goodbye to.”

Matthew tossed shirts back to Bryce and Jackie. He took his time re-doing his tie and putting on his sweater, fighting the lump in his throat and blinking away the sting in his eyes.

“Take care, Elijah,” Raf was saying. “Keep spreading the good.”

“I’ll just do what you do. Minus getting into trouble every four seconds.”

Rafael laughed, and Matthew wished he could hold on to the sound. The sound of Rafael’s happiness.

When Matthew looked over, Rafael had engulfed Sienna’s small frame with an enormous hug, and he had to wipe his eyes.

“I’m really going to miss you sneaking over and letting me taste test your baking.”

“I’ll send you batches to Brazil, but you have to send me postcards in return. Every week. No, every other day!”

“I’ll do my best,” Rafael chuckled. “Jackie?”

She rolled her eyes, but smiled.

“Yeah, OK, you get a hug. But only because you’re leaving.”

“I’ll cherish it for the rare treasure it is.”

Rafael squeezed Jackie tightly. “Go easy on yourself, OK?”

“I’ll try.”

Bryce had a look of puppy-eyed sadness as he and Raf hugged each other tightly.

“I’m gonna miss you, man. Who am I gonna go on adventures with now?”

“I’m sure you’ll find a worthy replacement,” Raf smiled, patting his back. When they broke apart, he addressed the group as a whole.

“For the record, I expect every single one of you to visit me in Brazil. As soon as you get some time off.”

“Don’t worry.” Matthew had suddenly found his voice. “You won’t have a hard time selling us on a vacation in Brazil with you.”

Rafael turned to Matthew with a bittersweet smile.

“Can I walk you inside?”

Matthew nodded. He might have wanted to hear Raf say a lot of things, but he really didn’t want a long, tearful goodbye. His friends exchanged glances as they filtered off to start their day. It was just him and Raf now, walking towards the main entrance.

“Are you sure about this move, Raf?” he asked, as they walked through the sliding doors. “Why rush into it?”

“I’m not gonna pretend I’m not nervous,” Raf admitted, scratching the back of his neck. “My whole plan is to crash on my cousin’s couch when I get there. But…it feels right.”

Matthew thought about begging Raf to stay. He wanted to hold on to him tightly and never let go and tell him how much he still cared about him. What would Raf do if he knew how much Matthew missed him, and still wanted him to choose Matthew over Sora?

Rafael stepped closer to him.

“The past few weeks have actually been really hard, Matthew. I’ve been directionless. It’s given me a lot of time to think about who I am and who I want to be. Now, I get to find out who that is.”

He smiled with a gentle optimism, and Matthew’s words died on his lips. He couldn’t talk him out of this, and he wasn’t so sure that he should.

He held out a hand and Raf took it, shaking it, and holding on to it tightly. Matthew squeezed back.

“I wish you nothing but the best, Raf, I really do. I’m…I’m really glad you’re putting yourself first for a change.”

“That means a lot, Matthew. Thank you,” Rafael said, with his wonderful smile.

“I’m really gonna miss you,” Matthew blurted. Rafael held his hand in both of his.

“I’ll miss you too, but I promise this isn’t goodbye. I’ve got a feeling we’ll see each other again real soon.” He stroked Matthew’s hand once more. “Listen. When you need me the most, I’ll be there. I promise.”

“…Like Superman?”

“Exactly.”

They shared one more small smile, and then Matthew withdrew his hand from Rafael’s warm grasp, and walked away down the corridor. It was better this way, he told himself. Rafael would be happy in Brazil if that was where he was meant to be. And perhaps Matthew could finally, finally move on with his life. Rafael’s presence was so stamped over Boston, it was hard to imagine him not being in it, but in a year and a half Matthew would finish his residency and would be free to move on to another hospital. Maybe New York, maybe back to Colorado, maybe the other side of the country in California. He didn’t even have to stay in America. Someday his pain would go away. And if he was very very lucky, there might be someone else out there.

Matthew ducked into a bathroom to blow his nose and splash some cold water on his face. He could have a few minutes to calm down, but then he had to go back to his patients. People with much bigger problems than him were relying on him to make sure everything would be OK. They were the reason he had come to Boston in the first place.

He started with his new cases, taking the patients details and ordering tests, then made the rounds on his old cases to ascertain nothing had changed overnight, then going back to check on the test results. His patients were in a good mood, and no one had a bad prognosis. Today would be a good day, he decided.

At around 11AM, he stopped by the cafeteria for coffee. He placed a cup under the machine and pressed the button for a black coffee. Zaid walked up behind him with a flat look.

“You’re looking awfully casual for someone whose intern just ordered one of the most painful waking procedures on Dr Thorne.”

“…Oh god.”

Matthew ditched the coffee line and ran for the door.

****

He practically collapsed by the time he got to Dr Thorne’s room, panting heavily and leaning against the wall as he watched Esme perform a spinal tap. Thorne was shouting so loud that Matthew could hear him threatening to sue.

Esme withdrew the needle full of spinal fluid from between Thorne’s vertebrae and told him he was free to roll onto his back.

“You gave Thorne a spinal tap?!” Matthew gasped as soon as she was out of the room. She was mildly surprised to see him there, still flushed and breathless. “I trust you had a good reason to do that.”

“He tried to claim I had prescribed an unnecessarily painful procedure and threatened legal action sixteen times in the last hour.” Esme rolled her eyes. “Trust me, I ruled out every other possibility. His prostate wasn’t enlarged, like he thought, but he’s been rubbing his lower back a lot. It turns out both sides of his spinal cord show inflammation and it’s interrupting communication between his nervous system and his bladder.”

“Transverse myelitis,” Matthew nodded. “So what’s causing it?”

“I ran a bunch of blood tests first to rule out the potential viral causes. The flu, Zika, Hep B, the works. They all came back negative. Which leaves…”

Matthew’s eyebrows shot up.

“Normal pressure hydrocephalus. We need to test that sample now.”

An hour later, they were back in Thorne’s room facing him down. He was sat on the edge of his bed, looking even more furious than he had yesterday.

“I’m reporting the two of you to Banerji for this,” he exploded as soon as the door was closed. “And the ethics committee. They’ll have your credentials so fast—”

“How about you listen to what your doctor has to say before you make any more of a fool of yourself, Dr Thorne.”

Matthew had interrupted him so ferociously that Thorne was stunned into silence. Esme wasted no time telling him that the test had confirmed normal pressure hydrocephalus. Thorne was so shocked his obnoxious attitude completely disappeared.

“I…what?”

“You’re actually lucky it caused the transverse myelitis, which caused the incontinence issues. It more commonly presents like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s Disease.”

“If Dr Ortega had given you the alpha blockers you asked for, your cognitive state would have worsened and put your patients at risk.”

Esme gave Matthew a quick smile. Dr Thorne was sagging on the bed, speechless as he processed this information.

“You’ll need a shunt,” Esme told him. “I’ve paged Dr Emery and she’ll be coming by for your surgical consult soon.”

She turned to leave but Matthew stopped her.

“In the meantime, I think you owe Dr Ortega an apology.”

Dr Thorne blinked and scowled.

“You want me to thank an intern for doing her job?”

“I do. There aren’t many doctors in this hospital who would have stood up to you to do their due diligence.”

“Oh for…fine. Thank you, Dr Ortega,” Thorne said, through gritted teeth. “And…I apologise.”

Esme chuckled. “Yeah, that’s great and all but…pass.”

She gave Matthew a private wink and left the room with her head held high. Matthew looked at Thorne but Thorne didn’t look angry. There was actually a glimmer of recognition in his eyes and his frown was calculating. Matthew didn’t need to ask to know he was finally connecting the dots between Esme and that night in Donahue’s. He followed Esme out of the room without saying anything.

****

It was mid-afternoon when he was hurrying between patients on the sixth floor when he saw Bryce wheeling Kyra out of her room.

“Hey, you made it!” Kyra said cheerfully when she saw him. “I was hoping to see your face before the big slicey-slicey.”

Matthew had been nervous last year when Bryce assisted on a dangerous surgery for Kyra, and now the stakes were even higher, but he had to be strong as her doctor. He took a deep breath and squeezed her hand tightly.

“Still cracking jokes on the way to the OR, huh?”

“Always. Even if I die, I’m going to be the hilarious ghost of Edenbrook.”

“Matthew, we have to get to surgery,” Bryce said, gently.

Matthew swallowed.

“OK, Bryce. Just…don’t screw this up.”

Bryce gave him a soft smile, remembering that same day from last year. When he spoke, he was one hundred percent serious.

“I’ve been studying this procedure inside and out since I realised Kyra was a viable candidate. We’ve got this. I promise.”

Kyra had a brave smile but she rolled her eyes at Matthew’s po-faced expression.

“Stop looking like you’re never going to see me again. If I die today, I’m haunting your ass.”

“Just make sure you wake up later,” Matthew muttered, gruffly, as Bryce wheeled her away. He mentally crossed all fingers and toes that she would…and then remembered he could watch from the observation room. He had to finish his rounds first, but made a mental note to go straight over to the OR when he was done, until Danny caught up with him.

“Valentine,” he wheezed, and had to take a puff on his inhaler. “Sorry, asthma playing up today. I have the results from the paint samples you had tested. You marked it ‘urgent’.”

Matthew thanked him and flipped through the results before crying out in disbelief.

“Negative?! There wasn’t any lead in Ed’s house?”

So he had to leave Kyra to her surgery and was back in the diagnostics office – empty – frantically googling Ed Farrugia and looking for any article that might suggest another exposure to lead.

Page after page he scrolled, until he was back at the start of the decade and the senator was being referred to as ‘Mayor Ed’. His eyes ached and he was on edge in case an emergency page went off. Since last night’s TV showdown, Ethan was prioritising June and Baz to the senator’s case, but anything could happen.

Matthew perked up when he finally found a promising headline: ‘Three Dead in Lead Poisoning Scandal’. The article spoke of a discovery of aging lead pipes that had been slowly poisoning the town’s water supply for years. It had led to the deaths of three people, including a thirteen-year-old named Jonathan Perry.

Jonathan Perry…Travis Perry…hadn’t Travis lived in the town that Ed was mayor of? And he hadn’t shown any kind of worry about the senator, or even relief that an answer had been found. No, he had seemed more concerned with the cause. And what had he said to Matthew just yesterday? Working with Ed’s just a means to an end for me…

“Oh no…” Matthew whispered, faintly. He grabbed his pager and tore away from the desk, sprinting to the senator’s room. Bobby had been assigned to guard the door and he stood at the end of the corridor, chatting with Rafael.

“Bobby! Call the police, now!” Matthew called as he ran up to them. They both looked at him in alarm.

“Why, what’s going on?”

“Are you alright?”

“The senator’s aide, Travis…I think he’s been poisoning him.”

“You’re kidding.” Bobby reached for the radio on his belt.

“That little weaselly guy?” Rafael asked, wide-eyed. “I just saw him go into the senator’s room…he was acting kind of funny…”

“We need to get in there, now!”

Bobby radioed the police and then burst into Ed’s room. Matthew followed him, Rafael hesitated in the doorway. Danny was in the room, checking some charts, and looked over anxiously. Travis was knelt by the bed, rummaging through a large back pack.

“Dr Valentine? What’s going on?” Danny asked.

Bobby walked over to Travis.

“Travis, step away from the senator. Now.”

His voice boomed, even though he wasn’t shouting. Ed turned to Travis with dawning horror.

“Travis…what’s he talking about?”

Travis glanced past Bobby to Matthew. He gave a weary exhale and then stood up, resting the back pack on the bed.

“Well…at a guess, I would say it’s about the fact I’ve been poisoning you.”

The room froze at the cold-hearted confession. Matthew couldn’t believe he had just heard it. Bobby made towards Travis.

“Alright, come with me…”

Ed wasted no time, jumping out of bed and moving towards the door. He almost got out but then Travis whipped out a black cannister from the back pack.

“Stay back! I mean it!”

“Travis, please, think about what you’re doing…” Ed said, edging closer towards the door. Automatically, Rafael stepped out of his way, his eyes locked on Matthew and Travis.

“Travis, please,” Matthew said, holding his hands up. “I know what it’s like to lose a sibling, believe me, I know. But killing Ed won’t bring your brother back—”

“You think I don’t know that?” Travis roared suddenly. “I tried to move past Johnny’s death for years, but it destroyed my family. My parents. Me.”

Matthew tried to comprehend what he was hearing. It was like a horror story version of his own adolescence.

“If I leave this place, I’m going to jail,” Travis growled. “But I’d rather die and take Ed with me.”

“Travis, what’s in that can?” Matthew’s voice rose in alarm. Travis’s fingers tightened round the cannister.

“Justice.”

“Please…just let us go…we’re not part of this…”

Danny shook in fear, but Travis shook in rage, his fingers still curled dangerously around his weapon.

“Travis, for god’s sake you’ll get someone killed!” The senator cried, but Travis turned on him.

“Like you got my brother killed, thanks to your cost-cutting backroom deals?! I’ve spent years dreaming of how I’d make you pay. Lead poisoning would have been more poetic, but it seems I’m out of time.” He shook his head and looked at Matthew with disappointment. “You could have let him die, you know. You heard his phone call, you knew what kind of man he was.”

“I’m a doctor, Travis,” Matthew said, desperately. “I had to do my job.”

“Matthew’s right, Travis,” Bobby said. Sympathy had crept into his voice. “Come along with me, let’s end this thing.”

He put a hand on Travis’s arm…but Travis pulled away and sprayed a cloud directly into Bobby’s face at point-blank range. Bobby clutched at his throat and fell to his knees, gasping and choking.

“No!” Rafael cried, stumbling forward. Matthew realised the senator had gone, having made a break for it a second before Travis had sprayed.

“Oh my god, Bobby!”

Instinctively, Danny ran at the cloud that hung around Bobby and pressed his fingers to his neck. They came away smeared with a sheen that caught the harsh lighting.

Matthew wanted to help, but then Travis grabbed him by the front of his sweater and was raising the cannister again. It couldn’t be real life, and as Matthew stared into the black hole of the nozzle, he wondered if he was about to wake up…

The force of a freight train slammed into Matthew and he fell hard against the floor. His head spun as he heard the cannister deploying, but when he looked over, he forgot all about his own discomfort.

Rafael had thrown Matthew aside and tackled Travis, who had deployed the entire cannister with Danny also in the vicinity. The three of them gasped and choked as they broke apart. A light mist settled on Matthew’s bare hands and tickled his throat, but Rafael was covered in an oily sheen. He stood slowly, apparently in shock.

“Raf…you’re…”

“What the hell is this stuff?”

“Matthew?”

Ethan stood by the window, looking on in horror. Matthew did what seemed like the only sensible solution. He struggled to his feet, reaching for the door and slamming it shut, locking themselves and the poison inside.

Tags: @sazanes @rafasgirl23415 @ceruleansnake0

#playchoices #open heart #rafael aveiro #mc x rafael aveiro

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rosecoballoway · 8 months

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HOFAS Spoilers

So here’s my entire thought process on the newest Crescent City book and kinda the series as a whole.

Bryce’s character was kind of unbearable? Like I don’t dislike and at the beginning of the book I understand her not trusting the IC. Like I know every loves them and stuff but like they’re not the good guys. The Archeron sisters are the only ones who actually care about others; the rest literally only care about themselves and the people of Velaris, with the exception of Cassian who also cares about the Illyrians. But yeah, the IC aren’t the good guys and Rhys would have probably just killed her if she had told them the truth at the very start. But her entire anti-fae thing was horrible. Like girl you hate how they are so just change it? They’ve had a bigoted asshole as their leader for a billion years of course they’re following his lead? You now have the power and authority to change it so do it? Also the further I got into the book the happier I was that Aelin wasn’t showing up because you can’t tell me that Aelin, who loves the fae, would have been cool with Bryce the second she started spewing how much she hates the fae. Also her bitching about Hunt not acting like he wanted to be there. Like bitch he doesn’t? He said multiple times in the last book that he doesn’t want anything to do with it but then he went along with it, for her, and ended up being tortured for it. Like I wouldn’t want to be there either. I’m very on the fence with her just in general because she comes up with some really smart plans but she’s honestly just one of the dumbest characters like how? Like in the second book when she went around throwing around the whole Princess Bryce Danaan and then was surprised when she was actually expected to abide by the responsibilities that having that title comes with? And that her friend was angry when all of her hard work was thrown away because her royal friend got her a promotion by waving around her royal status? like i just feel like this series has the actual dumbest characters. Access to modern stuff has killed their braincells.

Also, do I think Rhys was justified in his anger? Yes. Do I think he overreacted? Also yes. I understand that he has a mate, and a child, and they’re at peace (except not really because they still have Koschei to deal with) but he needs to trust Nesta more. Like she made a gamble and it worked out. He could have waited until afterwards to be mad about it if it didn’t work out. Besides, the Dread Trove is hers. It answers to her so she can do what she pleases with it. “Oh she sent it into the world of their enemies” as opposed to what? Keeping it in their world where *gasp* they still have enemies? Like calm tf down. Even if the Asteri had gone over, Rhysand- the most powerful high lord in history- and Nesta- lady death who wields a sword that can kill the inkillable- would have been able to handle it. Besides, Feyre would have made the same choice. You know why? Because she’s always made the choice to help others. And if it had been Feyre making that choice then Rhys would have been fine with it.

Also, I feel like these last two books were supposed to make us feel bad for Tharion but it didnt? like the dude wanted to be a fuckboy and betrothed himself to a princess just so he could take her virginity and then we're supposed to feel bad for him because he's expected to uphold his end of the arrangement? like no

Also i feel like the whole lost Fendyr heir was pointless. like it just didnt do anything? we're intoduced to this character just so she can be killed off before we're even half way through the book and then the rest of the book was Ithan just running in circle trying to fix it but then just being like well that didnt work lets try something else. like Sarah could have done something else for his character that led to him being prime.

Lidia, of course, was amazing. Everything with her was fantastic and she was honestly my favorite part of the book. I was overjoyed when it was revealed that she's a descendant of Brannon's and that shes a distant relative to Aelin (Dorian too).

#cc3 #cc3 spoilers #hofas spoilers #hofas #cc hofas #maasverse

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sweetchup · 3 years

Text

Bi•valve

Noun

an aquatic mollusk that has a compressed body enclosed within a hinged shell, such as oysters, clams, mussels, and scallops.

AKA

The Most Common Seashell in the Ocean

————————

Vol. 1: Just Keep Swimming // Ch. 2

Type: Poseidon x reader

Word Count: 4,000+

Masterlist

————————

Sounds of horns and shouting filled the air outside as you stood on the packed bus. Cramped in from every side, it was hard for you to tell where you were going. Not as if you were paying much attention anyways.

“Okay, you left fish and pasta in the fridge… he could use the tv or read a book for entertainment while you are gone…what about…” You ramble incoherently to yourself.

Even though the storm hit Athens hard yesterday, your studio art professor was still having classes today. Forcing you to leave Triton alone at home. You shouldn’t be nervous. There was no reason to. After all, Triton is a god, he was hundreds of years old.

But…, he was still a child. No matter how old or what type of being he is. He could still possibly injure himself or get into trouble. And that single fact alone made you feel sick to your stomach.

“Is this how parents feel leaving their child alone for the first time…?” You groan to yourself, leaning your head forward so it hits the window in front of you.

“Now Approaching *Athens International School of Art*. I repeat, Now—“ The robotic voice announces over the intercom. At the familiar name of your college, you squeeze your way through the other patrons on the bus to make your way to the doors.

Sweet, sweet air, you think to yourself as soon as you exit the bus. It was starting to get way too cramped in there. So much so, you wondered if it was a safety hazard. Though it wasn’t as if you were one to talk, you left a little boy alone—

“Argh!” You scream out, slapping the cheeks of your face. You needed to stop thinking of Triton. He was going to be completely fine. But, what if…

“I’m getting too attached already…” You groan to yourself. It had only been a day. One singular Day. But you were already smitten by the blonde haired child. “It doesn’t help that he's absolutely adorable as well…”

“Who’s adorable?” A voice calls out from behind you, making you jump in surprise. Whipping around, you let out a sigh once you identify who it was.

“Bryce… how many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that…”

Bryce Kroger. He was studying abroad at Athens International School of Art for a year just like you except he was instead an architecture major. You met him by coincidence while taking art history so you didn’t know much about the guy, the only thing being the few stories he told you about his home country of Australia.

“Oi! It’s not my fault you're so skittish!” Bryce banters back with a huff.

“Whatever…”

“Eh? Wait, where you heading?” Bryce questions as he watches you walk away, “I thought you had Studio Art on Fridays?”

“I do. I’m heading to the library first though.” You yell back to the tall male who stayed put where he was standing. Not even bothering to follow you.

“You need to stop studying so much!”

“Shut up!”

“IT’S THE TRUTH!”

“SHUT UP!” You scream back with one final huff before storming off. So what if you studied so much. You just wanted to get good grades in the classes that counted. It’s how you got here in the first place. By working your ass off.

Unconsciously, you feel your hand twitch as you open the library door. So what if you spent hours studying. So what if you didn’t go out with friends that often. So what if you didn’t have a social life. So what—

You feel yourself pause, your expression turning sour. Lonely. That’s what you were. You were lonely. A miserable lonely girl.

“Miss!”

Startled out of your thoughts by the sudden call, you realize you were no longer standing at the front door but instead standing in front of one of the librarians. You must have unconsciously walked up to the front desk while you were lost in thought.

“A-Ah. Sorry, I was just looking for books on Leonar—“

You feel your voice trail off at the end as a book on the counter catches your eye. It wasn’t the gold detailing nor the leather texture. No. It was the simple words of “Greek Mythology: Tales of Zeus” printed neatly on the front.

“…Actually, Do you perhaps have any books about Poseidon?”

You just found something better to do with your time.

—.—.—.—.—

“Damn… this is extremely confusing…” You mumble to yourself as you glare at the pages of notes in front of you. Each book seemed to be a little bit different from the last. “Perhaps I should recap…”

Okay, so what makes sense to you is that Poseidon is the second eldest of three brothers and is the ruler of the seas. The things that don’t make sense are… practically everything else…

You weren’t sure if you wanted to cry or scream out of frustration right now.

According to the books, Poseidon has had many consorts over the years. One of them being Triton’s mother, Amphitrite…

“My mother… can be quite mean to other women. Even to some of the female servants around the palace. She believes that they are trying to seduce my father…”

…but that doesn’t match up with what Triton mentioned last night. According to him, it sounds like Amphitrite scared away any women that would even come near Poseidon. This also leads to another flaw in the mythology books. You doubted that Poseidon would be able to have an affair with any other women with Amphitrite antics, nevertheless have 10 other children with them.

“Triton also never mentioned having any other siblings…”

Letting out a groan, which you seemed to be doing a lot today, you banged your head against the table. It seems like these mythology books weren’t going to be of any help after all. Though…. you couldn’t help but wonder why the books were so off in the first place.

Lifting yourself back up from the table, you glare down at one of the book covers. It was blue, almost silvery in a way, with a giant black silhouette of Poseidon right smack dab in the middle. Or, at least, what Poseidon might look like…

“Well, my father is extremely strong and handsome. All the sea nymphs stare at him with big heart eyes half the time. Oh! B-but, father doesn’t pay any attention to them. Father is not a cheater like uncle Zeus…”

“…Is Father…? Oh. He’s alright… He’s nowhere as bad as my mother. He’s never hit me or anything. He’s just… cold. Extremely cold. He really just ignores me half the time…”

“…I do love my father…I just wished he would at least spare me a glance…you know?…Acknowledge his own son…”

“God damn jerk!” You hiss out in anger as you push the book aside. Your blood practically boiling at even the slightest thought of Triton’s father, Poseidon. He doesn’t deserve to have such a good and nice son like Triton.

However, as much as you want to curse out Poseidon more, you realized class would be starting soon and you really had to get a move on.

“Shit. I can’t afford to be late again.”

—.—.—

“Ugh. Why did the professor have to assign me this type of painter…?!” You whined to Yuri. Class had already ended by then with the professor long gone. The only people left were students that were conversing with others or trying to get a head start on their paintings.

“Well, it didn’t help that you barged into class late for the second time this week, (y/n).” Yuri explained with a sigh as she continued to set up her palette, not even sparing you a glance.

Yuri Saito, Or rather Saito Yuri, was an abroad student from Japan. She was the closest person you knew at the college as you both were similar in many ways. Especially since you were both homebodies.

“I get that but at least I showed up in the fir—“

“(Y/n)!” A voice shouts out interrupting your talk with Yuri. You turn around to see Bella Woods, a student apart of your major, approaching you. “(Y/n). You were part of your student council back in high school right?”

“Uh, Yeah. Why?” You answered hesitantly. You weren’t sure why, perhaps instincts, but you were already having a bad feeling about this situation.

“Well I need your help on something…” Bella explains, her voice trailing off at the end as she grabs something from her bag. It’s a piece of paper, a flier to be exact.

“A…A Cultural Festival?”

Bella nods her head at your words, “Yeah. The college wanted to put something on for the public to show what our art school is all about and Mrs. Yamamoto suggested this. A-Apparently, it’s something schools and colleges do back in Japan.”

“B-But how can I help? Wouldn’t it make sense for someone like Yuri to do this? Since she’s from Japan and all.”

It was the truth. You didn’t know a single thing about japanese culture festivals.

“Hey don’t drag me into this, I’m busy.” Yuri counterbacks with a glare before returning back to her painting.

“Well… you see… The school wanted to change Mrs. Yamamoto’s idea a bit since they really didn’t know anything about Japanese Cultural festivals either. So it’s like a Cultural festival, kind of not.” Bella rambled. You could tell all this information was scrambling her brain as well. “Basically, it’s like a Greek version of a Cultural festival where each major picks a Greek god and plans an event or booth around it.”

“…Okay… So it’s just like a school festival in a way?” You questioned cautiously. This was a lot for you to take in at once.

“Yes. Precisely. We are just taking inspiration from Cultural festivals.”

“Okay. Okay…” You answer as you rub the back of your neck, “I still don’t understand why you need me though?”

“Well, I kind of… kind of saw you reading the mythology books in the library today and we need more people on the planning committee…” Oh, god. It seems like everything is coming back to bite you in the ass, “…Just. Please (y/n), We need your help!”

You let out a small sigh as you watch Bella give you a pleading look, “Fine…”

“Yay—!“

“But…“ You start cutting off Bella’s cheers, “But I’m taking care of something really important right now at home so I can’t always make meetings and things like that. I can help with planning but that’s it. Okay?”

That was correct. As much as you wanted to help Bella and your department out with this festival, Triton was your top priority right now. His care and needs were above all else right now, even your own. So if this would get in the way of that then you would drop this project instantly. Instantly.

“Of course! Oh, thank you (y/n)!” Bella cheers, her body visibly relaxing now that a stress has been taken off your shoulder, “Well, I’m not sure if you're busy right now but… the committee is currently planning two classrooms down… so if you could…”

“I’ll go…” You sighed out. Damn, what’s with you lately. Less than two days ago, people hardly approached you. Now you are as busy as a bee. A person magnetic… Well, more like god magnetic as wel—

Wait, a minute. You feel yourself tense up as a thought flies into your brain. If Gods could travel and spend time on earth, could they live here as well? Just like how Triton wants to?

Shit. What if some that live here are able to identify Triton? You could be in big troub—

“(Y/n)? Are you coming?” Bella calls, snapping you out of your thoughts.

“Y-yes.”

It seemed you would have to worry about that later. Not that it mattered right now, you could always just ask Triton when you got home. And even if he didn’t know the answer you would just have to be careful bringing him out of the house. Yeah… you would just do that.

“Guys, I would like to introduce you to (y/n). She’s a fine arts major just like us and knows about mythology. I think she would make a great addition to our group.” Bella introduces you as you enter the room. As you looked around the group of only 4 other people, you realized you really didn’t know anyone.

That is until everyone started to introduce themselves. You never heard of the first three—Brian, James and Kyle—but you found the last name, Marissa Samudra, quite familiar. You wonder if she was that Marissa.

Who you were talking about was Marissa, the hottest girl in school Marissa. Well, at least that’s what all the boys in your major told you. The girl in front of you at least seemed to fit the part. With white silk like skin, light green eyes and dyed coral pink hair, she truly was a sight to see.

“Okay. So shall we get started.” James suddenly spoke up, seeming to want to get the meeting started. You nodded your head in agreement before taking a seat next to Holly. As well as across from Marissa. “Well, I think we should first decide which god we should do. Culinary, Music, Visual performing arts and architecture already have chosen Aphrodite, Hades, Ares and Zeus. (Y/n)…”

You lift your head up at the call of your name.

“…as you know the most about Mythology, who do you think we should pick?”

“Well,…” You feel yourself pause, your palms growing sweaty out of nervousness. You really didn’t know that much about Greek Gods, only the class you took last year and the books you skimmed this morning. You also didn’t expect so many of the main gods to be taken already.

“…How about…”

You needed to think of someone fast. Someone that would satisfy all parties here. Someone that would bedazzle people coming to the festival.

“…Poseidon…?”

Why… Why was that what your brain had come up with? Poseidon? The very god that you were cursing out this morning. Wishing near death upon.

“Fish man?” Brian questioned, letting out a small chuckle at his own joke, “You really want to go with Fish man as our god? Isn’t there anyone better?”

“I think Poseidon is pretty…cool.” You feel a shiver go up your spine as you compliment the man. It was official, you might actually puke. “…He’s the king of the seas. It gives us a lot to work with for his character. Especially since most Fine Arts students are good at realistic elements, we could really do well on painting or using sea life.”

“True… but—“

“I think it’s a wonderful idea.”

You are shocked as you hear Marissa cut Brian off. When you first sat down, she seemed totally uninterested in the topic at hand. Caring more about her hair and nails than anything else. But now, now, she was paying attention to every little thing. You couldn’t help but wonder why. “Oh sorry. I really like the sea. It holds a special place in my heart… you know?”

Oh, that makes sense. You totally forgot Marissa’s paintings were mostly about the ocean and sea. Never drifting off to other topics.

“N-no. That’s actually pretty cool. You know what, we should totally do Posedin… or whatever the dude’s name is. He sounds really cool.” Bryan agrees as he bashfully rubs the back of his neck. Gross, could he make it any less obvious that he was smitten by her. And not in a nice way either.

You feel yourself shiver as you watch him sneak small glances down at Marissa’s chest area. Disgusting pervert…

“Well, with that decided let’s move on…”

…Great… You could already tell this was going to be a long meeting…

—.—.—.—.—

Again, for what felt like the hundredth time today, you banged your head against the wall. This time however it was against the door of your apartment.

“Seriously… a Café…?”

Yes, a Café. That’s the brilliant idea your group came up with. An under the sea type themed café.

In hindsight it didn’t sound all that bad. You could have a couple of students paint some props and decorations. Then another couple of students who know how to cook plan out the menu. Maybe even borrow some culinary students if you were lucky.

But,… there’s that.

Outnumbered three to two, the boys of your group insisted the girls that are serving customers should wear togas. Togas. They stated it was to bring in more customers but it was pretty obvious they had other intentions behind it. Especially since they didn’t even bother waiting a couple of minutes afterwards to ask if Marissa wanted to be part of the waiting staff.

“Poor girl… I feel bad for her.” You mumble to yourself as you pull out your keys, finally unlocking the door to your apartment. You wished you could just beat all those men senseless with a baseball bat. “That’s actually not a bad idea… Could I bring a wooden club and say that it's part of the character? They seem to not know that much about—“

“Miss (y/n)!” You hear shouted as something comes barreling into you. Knocking you onto the ground right as you enter your apartment. “O-oops I meant to only say (y/n)…”

Even though you got the air literally knocked out of you, you still let out a small chuckle as you reached up to run a hand through the perpetrator’s locks. Triton’s blonde locks. “It’s okay. I only told you this morning to stop referring to me so formally. It will take time for you to get used to it.”

Suddenly, you wince at a feeling of pain as you move slightly. Triton sure was strong. You, honestly, wondered if he held back some strength when he jumped at you. If so, you wondered how strong Triton was nonetheless an adult god.

Speaking of an adult god…

“Hey Triton.” The boy lifts his head up at your call, “Do any gods live on earth?”

The boy seemed to take a moment to think, “Well kind of? Not really Greek Gods though. Most of them are too proud to live with humans.”

“Oh well that’s goo— Wait, a minute! Other gods are real as well!?”

Triton nods his head furiously, “Yeah pretty much all gods. As long as it is considered as one, it exists. There’s Nordic gods…, Indian gods…, Oh! Even Buddha. I like Buddha, even though I’ve only met him once. He introduced me to salt water taffy! It’s delicious.”

“I-I see…I’ll try to get you some then. Another time.” As much as you wanted to hide your surprise you couldn’t. Learning that Greek Gods actually existed was one situation but learning that All Gods existed was a whole nother ball game. Did that mean demons existed as well?

“Hey (y/n). Could I ask you a question?” Triton asks, suddenly seeming bashful all of a sudden.

“Sure. What’s up?”

“Could I…” Triton pauses for a moment, “Could I call you…”

You leaned closer to Triton as his voice slowly got softer and softer at the end. His ears and cheeks were bright red as he waited for you to answer. However, you couldn’t answer him as you didn’t hear the last part of what he said.

“I apologize. Could you repeat what you said, Triton? I couldn’t hear the end of it.” You felt bad for asking him to repeat it as his face only seemed to get even more red when you asked.

“I-I… Could I call you… Mom?”

It was silent as his question, or rather request, fell upon your ears. You thought about it for a moment. Especially whether it was morally right for you to have him call you ‘mom’. Even if his true mother was a terrible person, she was still his mother.

Though, then again, She really didn’t act like his mother. Especially in all her hundreds of years of existence of having him. At least from what you’ve heard from Triton. She’s had plenty of chances to show her love for him and she never did.

“Of…Of course you can.”

You feel yourself smile as Triton’s face lit up. And you knew, Deep down inside, that you did the right thing. You would show this boy the love he deserved.

“Hey (Y— Mom.” You giggle at how Triton seemed to practically beam with happiness once the title left his lips.

“Yes, Triton?”

“Could we have dinner right now?”

You feel yourself jump up a little in surprise. Since you stayed later than what you usually would, due to the meeting, you didn’t have anything prepared ahead of time for dinner.

“Ah, yes. Do you think you could wait in the living room while I prepare it?”

“Of course!” Triton answers as he scrambles up off of you. As you make your way to the kitchen—which was technically in the same room as the living room—to start dinner, you find yourself drifting off into your thoughts.

You realized you really hadn’t thought this through. Taking care of Triton and all. Your apartment was small, he didn’t have his own room, he seemed to eat a lot more than a human boy his physical age and so much more.

You wouldn’t be able to buy a bigger apartment right now. Going through college and all. But you could take more shifts at work. After all, it was literally down the street. You were also good friends with the owner of the toy shop next door. You bet he would allow Triton to play with a couple of toys while you worked.

As you continue to list things you would need to take care of Triton especially if it was long term, Triton was watching cartoons on the couch.

“…Wonder cats will be right back!…”

As the show goes to commercial break, Triton feels himself let out a sigh. Television sure was awesome and all, much better than the plays and coliseum matches used to entertain gods, but he despised ads more than anything.

“Who in the world created such a malicious thing…”

Triton’s voice trails off at the end as the ad changes to another. As he stares at the screen, he feels a shiver shoot down his spine. As quickly as he could, Triton changes the channel to another before shakily dropping the television remote. A cold sheen of sweat breaks out all over his skin as he collapses back onto the couch.

To anyone else, the commercial before looked like any normal hair dye commercial seen on Tv. But not to Triton. Especially when he saw something oh so familiar.

“T-that hair color…” Triton feels himself shiver at the thought, “L-looked too much like Aunties. Mom’s…No…

…Amphitrite’s Sister.”

Author Note: Ahhh this chapter contained so much but I knew I couldn’t split it up. Especially if I was doing posting Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was worried that the time frame in between would mess my readers up. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this Chapter. I know there wasn’t a lot of Triton moments but I wanted to get the ball rolling on the plot so that things and certain characters (*cough* Poseidon *cough*) will appear soon. Well that’s it for now, see you next time :)))

Taglist: @angeli-fucking-cat @marixxhq

#shuumatsu no valkyrie #shuumatsu no valkyrie x reader #snv poseidon x reader #snv poseidon #snv #bivalve

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