#that boy has ny whole heart

[the-larashark]

Okay so the online community is basically non-existent (screaming crying throwing up) but if you're interested in non-mainstream dnd type actual-plays I need you to check out Tabletopnotch right now I'm so serious. Their first campaign was in a homebrew world, it's called A Peak Beneath The Veil, they have bite-sized recaps about ten minutes long if you can't make it through full episodes (about three hours), BUT I've been watching their new campaign called Brunkhollow and I'm completely obsessed.

Brunkhollow is a low-magic campaign, where most magics disappeared (wiped off the planet by the gods?) years ago, and only Clerics use magic. They're highly regarded as Bad News, so make sure you don't run across one! In any case, Brunkhollow centres around this group of people arriving in a new town called, you guessed it, Brunkhollow! This town is only about a year old, and is surrounded by something called the Cusp, which is important to remember when travelling there, as Brunkhollow is known as a "blind-spot to the gods", and no magic or Clerics can be found here. It's a godless place, and gives big Deadwood vibes honestly. Everyone here is trying to get by, find work, start a business. It's said that the only reason anyone comes to Brunkhollow is because "they're either running from something or coming to find someone".

Anyways the DM is amazing, the way he truly inhabits each NPC as he plays them, the physicality and descriptions and voices are just stellar, all the player characters are amazing and I love them, I always think I have a favourite and it changes every twenty minutes or so, I'm only on episode four but I've been watching bits and pieces via YouTube shorts and Instagram for months, seriously the props and the maps and the roleplay and the battles, it's all so good, please go check them out!! They're on YouTube, Twitch (they stream on Sundays!), they have a Discord server which is the most active place for fans, and a TikTok which they also stream on and post clips to!

I'll never stop singing their praises okay they're so so good I'm proud of them??? Seriously you won't regret checking them out they're so fantastic I'm obsessed

[hockeyandhrsepwr]

Yeehaw baby! 🤠

Mat Barzal x reader insta edit

Note: I’m not a Barzal gal but I am a ho for a man in a cowboy hat which I blame on my proximity to Alberta. Someone has probably done something similar to this so I just want to be clear that I’m not copying anyone

Summary: Barzy takes on Stampede

Yourusername

Yourusername it’s July now, y’all know what that means 🤠

Yourbro it’s Canada Day?

Yourusername bruh

Yourbff yeehaw?

Yourusername haw-yee baby🤪

User2 oh slay, time for the yearly content

User4 can’t wait for your outfits!!

User457 this is my met gala lol

Yourfriend Pede?

Yourusername Pede

Yourfriend well hurry up bitch!! We’re waiting

Yourusername hope you’re ready

Lenasianed can’t wait to see you!

Yourusername it’s time to celebrate you my sweet girl!! Please tell me I can have baby snuggles?

Lenasianed she’s with the grandparents this weekend

Yourusername ☹️

Barzal97

Barzal97 a rootin tootin good time celebrating EBear

Titobeauvi oh dear god

Bboeser buddy you’re from Vancouver

Barzal97 I’m a cowboy at heart

MamaBarzal oh really?

User78 oh fuck Cowboy Barzy

User67 HELLO?!

Yourusername The Longest Ride (TM)

User33 um, something you wanna tell us?

Yourusername he’s giving Scott Eastwood in the classic film The Longest Ride. Obviously

User25 not where I thought that was going tbh

Barzal97 thanks I think?

EBear thanks for coming out man!!

Barzal97 anytime man!

Friend78 YYC > YVR

Barzal97 I will not accept Van slander. Calgs only better when it comes to this

HockeyGoss

Hockeygoss howdy y’all, look what we have here. Mat Barzal spotted getting close to a mysterious woman during Stampede

User4 girlies living the dream

User90 god the hat

User69 random but anyone else think that could be yourusername?

User2 girl what?

User69 idk, something about the jewelry we can see

User268 girl you tripping

Yourusername

Yourusername Wear the hat, something something 🤔

Yourbff pretty sure you know how it goes

Yourusername ummm nope

Yourbff well maybe B can refresh your memory

Yourusername oh he’s working on that 😘

Barzal97 context please?

Yourusername cowboy hat rule hockey boy. Google it

User56 Queen!

Friend56 ride him baby!

Yourusername 🫶yeehaw

Yourusername

Yourusername don’t take but two to have a little soir��e (me & Sam if that wasn’t clear)

Highlight of the month CowboysMusicFestival SamHunt

Yourbff truly iconic performance

Yourusername I don’t think I’ll ever recover

Barzal97 okay I get the hype now

Yourusername was a crime that you weren’t a fan tbh

Yourotherbff can’t believe you didn’t before now given how often she plays him

Barzal97 I just to see her in her element to get it. She really sold it

Yourbff stop sucking up

Yourusername no please, continue

User89 did everyone just skip over her friends comment!!

Lenasianed it was a party all right

Barzal97

Barzal97 I met a girl with crazy shoes and baby blues. The way she moves is changing my whole world.

Yourusername crazy shoes are my specialty 😘

User7 OH?!

User25 my two worlds colliding

Yourbff if you don’t take care of her, I’ll kill you with your own skates

Barzal97 uh

Yourusername babe, we talked about threatening people on the internet

Yourotherbff but mom!

Yourusername no!

Titobeavi she’s so out of your league

Yourusername thank you Tito. See you next week?

User85 she’s already met his bf?

Barzal97 I should hope so, she lived in NY all last year

User64 💀 he didn’t deny the bf allegations but omg they’ve been dating a year?!

Yourusername

Yourusername save a horse, Vancouver Edition

Yourbff what?

Yourusername save a Zamboni, ride a hockey player 😏

Yourbro 🤮

Barzal97 🤦‍♂️ (I love you crazy woman)

[ash5monster01]

Goes On Chapter Seven

Pairing: Charlie Dalton x OC!FemReader

Warnings: 18+, depression, mentions of suicide, heavy topics, eventual smut, slow burn romance, fluff, gender themes/stereotypes.

Summary: Against his best efforts Charlie has to start at a new preparatory school after the tragic events that took place at Welton. The very events that led to the loss of his best friend and getting expelled in the first place. He has no plans to make friends let alone get close to anyone ever again. That is until he meets Evelyn and her interesting group of friends. No matter how hard he tries to push them away he finds it to be impossible. So he caves and in the end learns that life can still be enjoyable even if it feels like everyone is against you.

word count: 3.5k

Six ←→ Eight

Masterlist

Ridge Academy, NY

2/10/60

Once classes ended Charlie found himself walking to the schools pay phones, excited to call his friends, and see what they had been up to so far this week. It was the one thing he looked forward to. He wasn’t sure if it was because it made him feel closer to Neil or if he had gone so long without talking to them it was all he wanted to do. Either way he finally felt a semblance of happiness since the whole mess had happened and Charlie was just gonna have to make do, one phone call at a time.

Yet when he rounds the corner to find the line of pay phones he also finds the familiar girl with brunette hair cascading down her back and a soft smile on her face. He takes a moment to admire her, the way she acts fondly about the person on the other end, how her fingers curl around the coiled wire, as if the rest of her body was on autopilot. She was so God damn beautiful and Charlie was such a fool, a fool for not being able to let the old him out. The old him that would do everything in his power to charm her.

“Hey you” his voice is sultry smooth, arms caging her in, and landing on either side of the pay phone. She’s so close he can smell the strawberry shampoo in her hair and the faint smell of her rose perfume. She turns with a wide smile, eyes glimmering with amusement, face so close that if he moved forward just a few more inches he could kiss her.

“Oh that’s just some classmate of mine, thinks he has a chance or something” she says into the phone, devious grin flashing back at Charlie. He figures whoever is on the other end asked who he was and all he could do was roll his eyes at the girl.

“I know. If he bothers me I’ll let you know” she says with a soft chuckle and Charlie raises his eyebrows, glancing at the girl.

“Me? Bother you? No way” he mouths, a hushed whisper coming from his mouth and she bites her lips to suppress a laugh. The sight of it alone makes Charlie’s heart clench. After eating dinner with her that one night he had somehow let her in. Not close enough to bare his soul like he had with his own friends but enough to finally feel comforted by someone around here. He regretted not staying strong but Evelyn somehow was the exception.

“Alright, I’ll talk to you later. Love you” she says into the phone and Charlie raises his eyebrows in questioning again. Watching as she turns back around to hang up the phone, still caged in by the boys arms.

“Boyfriend?” he questions and she giggles out loud this time, warming Charlie over.

“Brother actually” she tells him and now he actually is more confused than before.

“He doesn’t go here?” he asks and Evelyn shakes her head.

“No he practically begged my parents to go to public school, plus he’s only eleven, so I don’t think they had it in them to mind. Babies of the family, they get away with everything” she says with amusement glimmering in her eyes and Charlie wishes he had grown up with siblings. It might’ve made growing up with his parents much more bearable.

“So if I bother you, you’re gonna sick an eleven year old on me?” he teases and Evelyn crosses her arms, shrugging.

“Possibly, he does have a mean swing. As his only sister, I would know” and that has Charlie laughing loudly, mentally cursing himself for still not asking the girl to the dance.

“I’ll take your word for it” he tells her and Evelyn grins right back.

“What brings you to the pay phones on this fine Wednesday afternoon?” she questions and Charlie smiles.

“Calling Todd, today’s his day” he says and Evelyn snorts which Charlie finds adorable.

“They have designated days? Is Knox only Fridays then?” she teases right back and Charlie shakes his head, brunette hair swinging.

“No Knox is Tuesdays. Friday nights he spends with his girl” and Evelyn doesn’t miss this way his eyes glance down at her lips when he says ‘his girl’.

“Convenient” she teases and he rolls his eyes at her once more.

“If you don’t mind waiting doll we can go grab some dinner after this” he tells her and Evelyn smiles, still basking in the feeling Charlie was willing to spend time with her.

“I was actually going to meet Nate for trivia on campus but you’re welcome to come” she says and Charlie chuckles, thinking of his room mate who had seemed very on edge lately. If he knew him better he would know why but he figured it was just school.

“I’ll walk you to it, trivia isn’t for me” he says and now Evelyn is the one rolling her eyes at him. Charlie just finds it cute though as he finally pushes himself up off the wall and reaches for the pay phone in front of her. She watches as he drops a few coins in the machine and dials a number familiar to only him.

“Yes, I’m calling for Todd Anderson” he says, raising his eyebrows at Evelyn who watches fondly. After a few minutes of waiting, Evelyn trying to poke Charlie and urge him to finish up already, Todd finally answers.

"There he is" Charlie grins when the familiar voice comes through the phone.

"Charles" Todd greets back with a grunt and Charlie can't help but laugh. He was sad his friend had come out of his shell after he was no longer there to see it. The things he would do to see Todd stand on that desk and stick it to Nolan like that. So much better than a phone call from God.

"How are you, turning in all your assignments on time I suppose?" Charlie teases, knowing Todd was still a goodie two shoes no matter how out going he had become. He could practically see Todd rolling his eyes now.

"Well yeah considering my punishment is to work study under Nolan for the rest of the year. I do all my homework in his office" and Charlie almost winces from the punishment because that must be horrible. That meant no study group with the guys and when you had a question you had to ask Nolan.

"The rest of the year, man all I got was my ass beat and pots and pans for two weeks" Charlie says recalling the punishment he recieved for his own big stunt. He couldn’t sit in his chair properly for a week but at least he had tried to make change. Evelyn just wears a confused look as he hears him say this.

"I guess outwardly disobeying Nolan is much much worse than asking for girls to attend Welton" Todd says which has Charlie laughing again.

"Yeah well much to Nolan's dismay, him kicking me out landed me in a school with girls. Joke's on him" Charlie jokes, looking at the only girl in this God forsaken school that he had somehow gotten close too. She wears a smirk, hearing him mention girls and she hopes more specifically her.

"I'm pretty sure the joke is on those poor girls. Charlie Dalton and his miserable flirting" Todd picks on the boy and Charlie doesn't have the heart to tell him that he had given up the flirting and confident act. That he was just as miserable as the rest of the world if not more.

"Miserable flirting, me? Never" Charlie tells the boy, and Evelyn gives him a confused look because this guy talking on the phone right now is still one she hasn’t gotten to know. Yet a flash of him appears when he spots the look on her face and reaches to grab a strand of her hair, curling it slowly around his fingers.

"Yeah right- Oh, here's Meeks" Todd says before the phone shuffles around.

"Hello Sir" his red headed firends voice floods through the phone and Charlie can't help but crack a smile.

"Meeks, where have you been? My Latin grade is rapidly dropping and my teachers are starting to wonder why" he says referring to all the times Meeks spent hours making sure Charlie not only finished his homework but at least understood it.

"It's a dead language Charles, they'll never question it" he says and Charlie feels that familair clench around his heart. The one that happens everytime he misses being at that school and with his friends.

"I suppose you're right Meeks, it must just be that I miss you bossing me around" Charlie says and he watches as the brunnete girl perks up in front of him. He actually still couldn't believe he told her about all of them. He just hadn't told her what happened to them quite yet.

"We all miss you Nuwanda” the boy says and Charlie smiles, losing his cool and confident act with his friends. Especially when they got sentimental like this.

“Yeah, I miss you guys too. We’ll try and make plans soon” and Evelyn doesn’t miss the sad look on his face and she realizes just how much he misses his friends.

“Okay, bye guys” he says one last time before hanging up the phone and flashing a smile her way. Suddenly he’s distracted, no longer the boy who was just teasing her.

“You got your ass beat?” Evelyn questions, hoping to bring back that smile on his face. When he chuckles softly she realizes it just might’ve worked.

“That’s a story for another time, let’s get you to trivia” he says, arm falling over her shoulders and ready to escort her throughout the school. Evelyn smiles softly at him and shocks Charlie when her hand reaches up and laces with the one hanging off her shoulders.

“You’re different with your friends you know?” she tells him and Charlie nods slowly.

“Yeah well, they’ve known me for my entire life. Never got a chance to hide who I was from them” he tells her and Evelyn sighs, loving her new friendship with the boy but hating entirely that he wasn’t himself with her still.

“Is that you admitting how you hide your true self from us?” she questions again as they round the corner, eyes on the rec room set up for trivia this week.

“It was never a secret Ev, I just have a lot going on” he tells her as they push through the door and before she can question him even further they both realize fairly quickly trivia is not what’s happening here.

Alone beside a table is Nate holding a poster. A bouquet of flowers and some balloons sit on the table beside him, his eyes are hopeful until they land on Evelyn with Charlie’s arm wrapped around her shoulders and fingers laced with her own. Evelyn takes a moment to register exactly what’s happening but when she reads ‘Ev, will you go to the Valentines Dance with me?’ she’s quick to remove herself from Charlie.

“Nate, what’s going on?” she questions and Charlie takes one look at him and realizes what he should of when he first started here. Nate is in love with Evelyn.

“Uh, I’m trying to ask you to the dance” he mutters, eyes darting between the two and Evelyn is approaching him, almost in a way to not scare him.

“Why?” she questions and Nate’s eyes are quick to dart to Charlie, embarrassed that the boy was here to witness this.

“I’m gonna go” Charlie mutters and is out the door lighting fast as Evelyn searches Nate for answers.

“I just, I assumed no one had asked you yet” he says, arm gesturing to where Charlie had just made his great escape. Yet Evelyn doesn’t get what he means.

Nate means that he had assumed Charlie hadn’t already beaten him to it but based on the way the both of them walked through the door he assumed wrong. Evelyn takes it as him being good old reliable Nate. Her dear friend who doesn’t want her to attend a dance on her own. Her friend willing to give up his own date to help her. She still doesn’t get that he’s in love with her.

“Nate that’s sweet you don’t want me to go alone” she starts, trying to reach out for him and Nate realizes quickly his mistake.

“No I-”

“But I’m hosting the dance, I can’t take a date. It’s kinda business for me, not pleasure” and Nate snaps his mouth close. There was no use fighting, he’d already humiliated himself enough. At least this way he knew Evelyn wasn’t going with Charlie either. In fact she wasn’t going with anyone.

“Oh, well in that case” he says, arms starting to wrinkle the poster in his hands that he felt stupid for holding.

“It was such a sweet gesture though. I’ll save you a dance even” she tells him and Nate shakes his head with a chuckle, tossing the now mangled poster in the garbage.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about me” he says and Evelyn gives him a soft smile before pulling him in a hug.

“You’re a good friend Nate and the next dance I don’t plan, I’m all yours” she says and Nate feels his heart shatter once more because maybe everyone was right. He had waited far too long and now he never stood a chance with her.

“Sounds like a plan” he says pulling back, trying to hide the sadness written all over his face. Evelyn just smiles before looking back at the door, he assumes for Charlie.

“Well since there really isn’t any trivia, I better be off to do some homework” she tells him and Nate nods, collecting the roses and balloons on the table.

“Okay, I’ll see you later” he bids her and she smiles and waves before scurrying back off. Nate sighs and looks at the flowers and string of balloons in his hands. With a swift movement he dumps them in the trash right along with the poster and officially gives up.

Not wanting to face his room mate knowing the rejection he just faced from a girl they both liked, he starts for the doors to the outside. Determined to spend the rest of the day moping in his self pity alone.

It’s dark by the time Nate makes it back to campus. Any later and it would’ve been past curfew. He still hadn’t gotten over what had happened and worst of all he no longer had a dorm to himself. He shared it with the very guy that was stealing the girl he loved whether he realized he was or wasn’t. Yet when he reaches the door and doesn’t see any light flooding out the bottom of it, he sighs a sigh of relief.

Slipping inside as quietly as he can he changes into some pajamas and crawls into his bed. He still feels the heavy weight of crying from behind his eyes but he wouldn’t risk Charlie hearing him. So he tried to get comfy, erase the image of Evelyn denying him and friend zoning him all in one go. There was no way now he could ever prove to her his feelings, he was already in too deep.

“You said you were just friends” Nate stiffens at Charlie’s voice filling the dark room, assuming he had been asleep this whole time.

“That wasn’t a lie” Nate responds after a moment and he hears Charlie sigh.

“You should have told me you liked her” and Nate wears a confused look even though Charlie can’t see it.

“Why, you clearly like her too?” Nate says, his voice clipped and holding an anger he didn’t want to take out on the boy because Evelyn wasn’t his property.

“Yeah but if you had said when I asked, I never would’ve gotten close to her. You don’t do that to friends” and Nate feels his heart break once more this afternoon because before Evelyn and Charlie, he was hopeful for a best friend and he had let that get away from. He had spent so much time resenting him to even realize Charlie might’ve finally let him in.

“We’re friends?” Nate can’t help but ask and Charlie chuckles in the night air.

“Yeah man, as much as I hate to admit it. I feel like a real shit one right now for falling for your girl like that though” and it’s finally out there. A confirmation and in the open for Nate to hear. Somehow it’s more comforting to know then harmful.

“I don’t blame you, I’ve loved her since I was thirteen. She’s one in a million” Nate says staring at the ceiling he can barely make out in the darkness.

“Why didn’t you tell her then? All those years ago?” Charlie questions and Nate shrugs into his sheets, thinking of thirteen year old him too scared to say something to her.

“I felt silly. We had been friends so long and I thought it’d be weird. After a while I just didn’t want to face rejection” Nate admits, knowing how lame he sounds. Charlie wished he could understand that, considering he told everyone exactly how he felt about them his whole life.

“This is coming from your friend, not the guy going after your girl, but you waited too long man. You became someone trustworthy to her, someone to always fall back on, reliable. Once a girl starts seeing you like that you become the guy she goes to when other guys hurt her” Nate knows it isn’t a bad thing but Charlie is right. You either become reliable in a relationship or reliable to the point of a brother, and that’s why getting out of the friend zone was so hard.

“So I shouldn’t have waited around?” he asks curiously, realizing Charlie was wiser than he expected.

“No man and you shouldn’t wait around for anything. We have one life, why waste it? You never know when it’s going to end so everyday spent waiting is one that’s lost! Carpe Diem! Seize the day!” Charlie rants, excitement hitching in his voice, and when his words resonate within him he freezes. For the first time since Neil had died that burning passion had found its way out of him and in its midst he realized exactly what he had been doing. He hadn’t been seizing the day, he was wasting it. Wasting it because he was heartbroken and if Neil could see him now he’d be pissed.

“It sounds like you know” Nate tells him, feeling the statement rattle around in his brain and hearing Charlie’s heavy breathing from across the room.

“I do Nate and no life is worth living if you can’t get the things you want out of it” he says, finally realizing exactly why Neil might’ve made the decision he did.

“Have you Charlie?” Nate asks and Charlie starts to laugh. Laugh at his own pure stupidity for wasting all this God damn time.

“No but I plan on starting tomorrow if you want to start with me?” Charlie asks and Nate grins from ear to ear. Evelyn may never see him the way he wants him to but he finally had a friend. One he made on his own. He could get over her with a friend.

“Yeah, plus I’d like to finally see you getting out there” Nate tells him and Charlie wears a matching smile that the boy cannot see.

“Can I tell you something Nate, something you won’t tell anyone until I’m ready? I just need to hear myself say it” Charlie asks, his voice desperate and pleading. All around sad and Nate can tell from across the room.

“Yeah man, whatever you need” and Charlie feels the tears pool in his eyes. He stares at his own ceiling and takes a moment to breathe.

“My best friend Neil died. He was just seventeen and when something like that happens you find life isn’t really worth living for if they’re not around” Nate freezes at the words, the truth hidden deep within the boy who had seemed so broken. Now he knew why.

“I’m so sorry Charlie. No one should lose anyone that young” Nate offers and Charlie smiles, his tears sliding down the sides of his face and into his pillow.

“Yeah but if he was here right now he’d be telling you the same thing. He didn’t want to waste a second of his life and even if he died so young I can promise you he didn’t” and for the first time in months Charlie feels a weight being lifted from his chest. The suffocating feeling he had lived with for so long.

“Carpe diem then” Nate says, finally resonating with Charlie and the truth that he carries. He was a broken man who was just trying to find his way. It can’t be easy to lose your best friend and be expelled all at once.

“Seize the day”

Taglist: @eden-punk @linmichea1 @pursuedbyamemoryy @mynameisjxlia

Comment if you want to be added to the taglist :))

[alotogifs]

A League of Their Own Cast Live Tweets 1x08 Pt.2

Abbi: I had a hard time keeping it together in this scene with Kate Berlant. Will: Hahahaha. Kate Berlant for president.

Will: Oh boy the song! We were all very nervous. Kelly has a beautiful voice.

D’arcy:😍😍😍 #Delucathebazooka  😍😍😍 Will: It is heartbreaking to see Jo in a Blue Sox uniform. It felt like something was wrong on set! Abbi: If you notice, some of the music is not from the same period that the show takes place-- this was very intentional! We wanted to use music that felt rebellious like our characters + that meant jumping ahead in time a bit. 

Will: This is the real hurt for Bert and Toni. Abbi: "For some of us, safe isn't safe" Will: "For some of us safe isn't safe." Follow @/butchythings who plays Bert!

Will: GODAMMIT CHERYL Abbi: This scene right here between Chanté Adams and Gbemi Ikumelo THIS SCENE and these two. One of the most dynamic and real and nuanced and deepest friendships on TV. I might be biased, but it's just true. Chanté: This was Gbemi’s last scene of the season. It was hard. While most of us were going back to LA and NY, Gbemi was going back to London and that broke my heart. I tried to get her to move next door so we could see each other everyday and raise our kids together but she couldn’t 😭 Gbemi: Still tryna make it happen 😭😭 Will: This is the scene in the whole show that makes me cry the most, because you can see them realizing they've never said goodbye before. Chanté Adams and Gbemi Ikumelo are geniuses. Will: The score from Zach and Nick and Deantoni here is just amazing.

Abbi: I love Lupe + Roberta Colindrez.

Will: There is a story about how this speech was filmed. HOW DO YOU WANT THIS TO END? Abbi kills it here. Will: Okay. I'll tell you the story! We shot the reaction half of this scene on the field, and then it started raining. So Abbi had to shoot her side of it a week later, on a platform in the middle of the street outside Toni's house. Will: She is yelling at the crew mostly. It was amazing. She's so talented. Will: Rob the bank! Has become our unofficial motto for the process of making the show too.

Will: Okay. Them carrying around here is a real story from a softball team. And it came to the show courtesy of ABBI'S DAD. Who is now in charge of finding the end of every season.   Abbi: My dad gave me the end of the Peaches story here. Still cannot believe it. I called him one night, stuck. He told me this --It is inspired by a real story from women's college softball. Thanks Big Al. Love you. 

Will: Barnstorming is such a huge part of baseball history, and Marquise does such a beautiful job bringing it to life as Red [Barnstorming refers to sports teams that travel to various locations, usually small towns, to stage exhibition matches.] Will: GODDAMMIT CHERYL

Will: WE TECHNICALLY LOST D’arcy: how many times have y’all watched this finale? Abbi: Dale Dickey gets me every damn time. What a masterful actor. D’arcy: WE! HAVE! TO! TAKE! CARE! OF! OUR! OWN! ❤️❤️❤️❤️ oh Dale & Kelly 😍 Will: WE HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN with Beverly kills me. "war bonds" was an improvised callback.

Abbi: Ohh boy. This is prob my favorite scene with my girl D’arcy Carden The Peaches come between them... just like the world.   D’arcy: LOL IM CRYING Will: Abbi and D’arcy just kill me in this scene. They both come from comedy backgrounds and look at what they are doing. We are so lucky. 

Will: Seeing Max in uniform killed me too. Abbi: Max finally in her own uniform! The fucking best. 

Will: Repeating GO GET A THING was an improv from Kelly and Roberta. Abbi: Always... go get a thing.

Will: Abbi wrote "you changed my whole life" "you opened me up again" and it made me cry when I first read it. 

Abbi: Thanks so much for watching with us tonight and in general. What a treat. Will: Thanks for watching with us! Wow. There's a lot of you! Will: This is a show for everyone told through perspectives you don't usually hear universal stories from. Thanks for helping get the word out! Will: WE ARE ALL FRUIT NOW

[youn9racha]

Natural Pleaser

TW// FLICKERING LIGHTS !!!!

pairing: bf!chan x gf!afab reader

genre: smut

synopsis: your boyfriend is a natural pleaser, he loves to make you feel good so he could feel good. And when you offered him yourself on his special day so he could feel good, he knows just the thing.

warning: piv, unprotected sex (wrap before you tap), d/s dynamics, dom!chan, sub!reader, reader uses she/her pronouns, heavy praise, cunnilingus, rushed smut, chris/chan is used interchangeably, chan's a sweetie so sweet you may get a cavity 😔, cockwarming? maybe?, slight choking but not for long.

words: 1.9 (?) k

a/n: uh... hi... its been a while lmfao !!! as y'all know, i haven't been posting lately because of, you guessed it, uni. it had killed my drive to write, but i decided to write this quick piece because its my ult and baby's birthday, and what better way to celebrate then write a lowkey self insert fic ??? 👹👹 anyhow, hopefully y'all would enjoy it nonetheless.

AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BOO, MY KING, NY LOVE, MY MASTER, MY FAVORITE LEADER, MY BABY BOY, THE BANG CHRISTOPHER CHAN !!!!! I LOVE YOU SM BABY, SORRY I DID YOU DIRTY ON THIS FIC 😔🙏 YOU DESERVE BETTER WITH YOUR FINE ASS

This is no way representative of the way Stray Kids act. They’re nothing but references of character, and in no shape or form is this how they act. And I am in no way romanticizing or glamorizing any toxic behavior exhibited, they’re just stories that is meant to be read. Readers discretion is advised.

Nothing could encapsulate your arousal, excitement, and glee like the birthday of your favorite man in the whole world. The ever so generous and kind love giving out from the heart in soul to those he loves, and to you was no less. He relishes in the good times you two share which adds another line of a story in the chapter of his love that is dedicated to you.

And to say you don’t feel the same way would be an understatement. The way you were currently staring up at his bedroom eyes as he was gasping and groaning at the warm tight feeling of your cunt that wrapped around his cock as his hips snaps into yours at a fiery yet pleasant pace.

His birthday celebration started normally, you two spent it with a simple romantic dinner that you and the boys helped plan. A typical social butterfly, he was accustomed to having a big celebration with his great sum of friends and having a wonderful time. But that was before he knew you on a deeper level; now he couldn’t care less about the number of people who show up and celebrates it with him, if you are there with him, he’ll take it over a party.

And that’s what it was, you and him having a bonding time together and giving him the best time of his life. You presented him with precious gifts that he would either ogle at a distance from the display window of a clothing shop or him placing it in his wish list, to which he responds with his typical humble yet appreciative objections.

“Oh, baby, you shouldn’t have…” he says with a big smile on his face.

And what you could kill to have that smile permanently on his face. You adored the man who went by Chris, you would do everything to please him and make him happy. Of course, he felt and did the same thing, but you thought that your love for him has exceeded the seventh heaven, which you tried to give him that, after telling him that he could do as he pleased with you while you teasingly rubbed your foot across his leg and ultimately his crotch under the table, smiling at him with that feign innocent smile that you knew drives him wild.

And you knew what you were in for when Chan dragged you out of the restaurant and away to your shared apartment. Once you two arrived at your complex, Chan dropped the gifts you got him on the floor, and his hands were on you instantly.

The closer you two got to your bedroom, the fewer clothes that attached to your skin, and once you two reached your bed, you two were practically bare, apart from Chan’s bottoms. A natural pleaser, the way he drew onto your skin with kisses that his plump lips provided with affection always gave you the sensation of electricity.

“Chan…” you sighed, nearly protesting him, it was supposed to be his day, he was supposed to be felt good, but you knew he wouldn’t allow that.

“Shh,” he hushed sweetly, his hardworking slender fingers roamed your body, touching your sensitive breast to your soft tummy to your inner thighs, “I know you want me to feel good, but,” his soft voice paused as he began kissing your jaw and it started to go south until you suddenly felt his breath onto your wet core.

“I could only feel good if you felt good,” he looked up to you with a smile before he began kissing your clit and began with his feast, savoring every drop of nectar you were handing him. You breathed heavily and gasped the more his tongue lapped more of your sensitive parts, with him occasionally pulling away to praise you and how good you taste.

“fuck, baby… you taste so good,” he chuckled slightly, licking his lips as your arousal stuck to his face, chin glistening with your juices. Before him pulling away, you felt almost orgasm, and he knew that based on your breathing pattern, moans, and the way you called his name as your grabbed chunks of his hair.

“Chris… Chris…”

That prayer you gave him, the way your toes were curling, your hips levitated across his face with his nose hitting your core, he knew your body language very well, better than anyone could imagine. And he didn’t want you to come on his face, that’s not what he needed, it not what you deserved most importantly.

Chan got up and began unbuckling his belt, you laid there beautifully with your legs spread, biting onto your thumb as you anticipated the exact moment you have been waiting for. Once his bottom and boxers were off, his already erected cock sprung out and slapped onto his lower abdomen, making you clench to the air and goosebumps cascading through your skin. Even though this wasn’t the first time he has ever been bare in front of you, he almost has a way to leave you enamored by the beauty that is his naked body. He noticed your reaction, making him chuckle and hold one hand on your face and the other on his cock.

“Aw, does my baby want my cock in her? Is that what she wants?”

It’s not so often Chan speaks like this to you, especially not when his hand that’s on your face has his thumb run across the bottom of your face while the other languidly strokes his parts, hissing slightly at the feeling, but to say that this moment was unattractive would make you a liar. You nodded back as you parted your lips slightly, expecting him to insert his thumb in, only for him to lower his hand down to your throat, his hand wrapped around it not too much where it was suffocating you but enough to leave you gasping at the surprising action.

He laughed as his hand slid down, his forefinger created a line from your chin to the center of your clavicle, “you are so cute, baby… I hope you know that.”

Each time he praises you, you feel yourself blush. His praises and compliments almost always hit you in different ways that no person could, no less in moments like these. His lips began to attach themselves to yours, sweet words still slipping through his lips with mumbles in hopes to melt into your skin. Your moan turns into a wide-open gasp as you felt him stretch your walls with his appropriate girth and length so well, however, in contrast to that unexpected action, Chan still sweetly kissed your cheek and jaw, complimenting you on your way.

“You take me so well—fuck,” he cursed at the feeling of how tight you were, driving him mad in the process. Despite everything, he was still so patient and waited for you to adjust before he starts moving in and out of you. While at it, you two took a moment admiring each other, taking in every physical attribute you two carried, especially with the way you looked at Chris, and how you wanted to thank his parents for creating and raising such a beautiful man. You always thought he was good-looking, but when you were being intimate with him like right now, his looks exceed handsomeness.

Once you gave him the green light to move, his hips began moving at a soft pace as a start-up, him humming at how you wrap yourself around him. He lifted his torso and adjusted your position once again by spreading your legs slightly further and lifting your hips slightly, just so he could have a better angle inside of you and would go at a favorable pace.

His two hands were on your hips and he started moving once again, this time faster than the last one, making you mewl underneath him. The room echoes the sounds of your mouths expelling out moans and whines along with wet skin clapping against each other with how Chris was going.

“Oh, my, (y/n)—you are so good to me, you know?” Chan groaned out his broken words. You two were feeling so good, neither of you is sober enough to comprehend what is happening as you two got drunk off each other.

Chan’s thrusts began to feel even more passionate as more praises escape his lips and more loud whines expelled from your mouth at your end. You were sure that the neighbors have heard the two of you, but it’s not like either of you cared. It wasn’t only because it was Chris’s special day, but also because you two enjoyed having this proximity with each other, loving each other like tomorrow’s the last day you two were alive. Even though you two are out of it, you are damn sure that your affection is up in the air, especially with how you extended your arm out to hold his hand, to which he did back, entangling his fingers with yours.

“oh, fuck—fuck, baby! I’m so close!” his voice became high-pitched as he felt his lower stomach heating up, and he knew you also felt your peak was reached, which was true, especially with how you yelped out his name while wrapping your legs around his waist. You two made eye contact, almost feeling vulnerable at the moment as you two nodded at each other.

“You’re gonna come with me, yeah?” he asked through his moans, his eyes sparkling mirrored yours. Incapable to speak, you could only nod and let out an “uh huh” as a response. He then asked another question.

“Can I please come inside? Can I cover you up with my cum?”

The question matching with his hot voice made you yelp even louder “uh huh,” as if to say ‘you didn’t need to ask, just do it!’

And he did as promised, as you two came down almost the same time, you felt yourself getting filled by a warmth downstairs, making you squirm and twitch as you shudder at the intense orgasm you just had. Meanwhile, Chris let out a slight squeal as he finally reached his peak as well, almost dropping his head onto your shoulders, making you two catch your breaths.

The once explicit sounds of lovemaking turned into pants as the intense activity left you two breathless. You patted on Chan’s back, and your fingernails then began running across his sweaty back, making his body shake as his goosebumps creep up to his skin. He lifted his head to look down at you with a smile, kissing your lips, it was chaste and sweet yet passionate and filled with love altogether, just like one would sum up your relationship with Chan.

Once he pulls away he smiles at you as he bites your cheeks, making you two laugh before you two stare straight into each other’s eyes again.

“Thank you for the best birthday, (y/n),” he kisses your forehead, “I love you so much.”

You smiled back at him, “I love you more, Christopher… glad I made it worthwhile.”

“You sure did!” He smiled his dopey smile which resulted in you two laughing once again before settling with another make-out session.

No matter how many rounds you two went, no matter what day it would be; Chan has always been a natural please, and there is truly no one like him.

[rose-wild]

pjo characters as taylor swift albums

leo — taylor swift (debut): tied together with a smile is literally his fucking song, cold as you, i’m only me when i’m with you, teardrops on my guitar bro

piper — fearless (tv): i can very clearly see her loving fearless, the way i loved you, mr. perfectly fine, love story, white horse, etc she’s just so fearless coded

frank — speak now (tv): he’s a whimsical romantic so he’d love enchanted, he’d love singing mine at the top of his lungs, he’s so long live coded too, and he’d absolutely love i can see you and timeless

annabeth — red (tv): she’s so red coded, everything has changed reminds her of percy, sad beautiful tragic, state of grace, begin again, and she’s so the moment i knew, all too well (10 min), red, ronan, do i need to go on

percy — 1989: welcome to ny his fucking city bro, i wish you would is so titan’s curse percy, he loves singing how you get the girl in the car with annabeth, he loves singing blank space with sally, and he’s so james dean

hazel — reputation: there is no other character that fits reputation as well as her, i could go on and on. she’s so lwymmd, this is why we can’t have nice things, ready for it, i did something bad, and king of my heart, dancing with our hands tied, endgame etc etc i could go on she’s so reputation coded

jason — lover: oh this boy is so lover coded. he’s london boy even if he’s not from london. he’s paper rings and cornelia street and death by a thousand cuts and the archer is his fucking song. he loves the man and he’s cried to daylight more times than he can count.

calypso — folklore: she’s so august & cardigan, and tlgad, mad woman, illicit affairs, my teachers ricochet, etc

reyna — evermore: she’s so champagne problems, gold rush, cowboy like me, tolerate it coded. ivy and no body no crime and tis the damn season and long story short. right where you left me.

nico — midnights: maroon, lavender haze, antihero, the great war, bigger than the whole sky, would’ve could’ve should’ve, karma are all so him. not to mention he’s literally midnight rain because his boyfriend is literally sunshine

[sleepdeprivedsimp234]

since i have a migraine and stomach flu maybe i can get some platonic mass/loui stuff?

❤️

*le happy gasp* MI ÁNGEL 🥺🥺 Ofc you can, love <3

there are so many "My dad forced into a war" jokes that go on in between these two scary mfs and they think they’re some goddamn comedians when in reality the other states are just concerned 😭

They bond over talking about all the scary sh*t thats happened in their states (NOLA is #4 and Salem is #5 on the most haunted American cities list help-)

Mass’s cat, Mayflower (who is 100% a black cat with golden eyes) seems to only really like Loui. She hisses at literally everybody else, even Mass himself, but the moment that Loui enters a room, she cuddles up to him and basically does all the happy kitty stuff :]

Hurt one, you hurt the other. Which can be very bad for your mental and physical health. Just sayin.

These two pull off the BEST spooky pranks and for some reason Alaska seems to be their favorite state to scare.

Mass 100% knows how to do dreads and braids because he’s helped Loui multiple times. (Also I’m not gonna say that he uses this knowledge to help Mary with her/his/their hair, but 👁️👁️-)

Mass has been dealing with the spirits for FOREVER, and is pretty used to them by now. Whereas Loui somehow isn’t used to them, so Mass helps him on the REALLY bad nights.

Loui apologizes for literally EVERYTHING, and Mass just refuses to apologize for sh*t. So cue Mass telling Loui to stop apologizing for stuff so much and Loui telling Mass to start apologizing more.

At this point, keeping an arm out around Loui is second nature for Mass. Cuz Loui is clumsy as hell and doesn’t sleep, meaning he will just drop unconscious out of nowhere.

Related (not really-) to the one about Mass’s cat, Mass is the only person that Loui’s Maine Coon, River, hasn’t growled or hissed at yet (besides Loui, cuz River loves that boy with her whole heart).

Loui communicates through weird-sounding chirps sometimes and Mass just thinks that it’s really cute and reminds him of NY.

Seemingly, Loui walking around with Mass is like having "scary dog privileges", even though the only actual threat there is Loui. But ain’t nobody gotta know that 🤫.

[triskhellion]

Thunder

Rated: Explicit (12K)

Relationship: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski

Characters: Derek Hale, Stiles Stilinski, minor OCs

Tags: POV Derek, Alpha Derek, Werefox/Thunder Kitsune Stiles, Post-Nogitsune, Angst & Fluff & Smut, Alternate Universe, Past Derek/Kate, Hale Fire, Violence, Some canon events but often with different timelines, outcomes or other details, Full Shifts, Derek is from NY, Stiles Leave Beacon Hills, Stiles Has a Fake Name, Depression, Getting Together, Self-Lubrication, Rough Sex, Knotting, Biting, Claiming, Cuddling, Various Sex Acts, Mates Derek/Stiles, Angst with a Happy Ending, Music

Summary: The one in rural Montana where two strangers — a depressed, lonely Alpha Derek and a haunted post-Nogitsune Werefox/Thunder Kitsune Stiles — leave everything behind and end up finding each other.

Soundtrack. (Every section has lines from 2 songs. A reverse songfic? The story mostly came first and the music chosen to fit it, lol. I recommend at least listening to track #1, "Roscoe." 😉)

Mead Moons prompts: Claiming, Full Moon, Hay, Hot & Thunder. @sterek-and-stuff-events

Sterek Weekly prompt: Attract (also Midnight & Clothes.)

Shadow thrown from light unknown, calling on the hearts. To challenge the alive and summon the asleep.

Oh, they’re a little like you, they’re a little like me.

The first time he laid eyes on the fox it was an afternoon towards the end of May and Derek knew nothing other than that the hardware store, Rock Creek Lumber, had a new stock boy. One that he’d never seen around before. 

Not that he spent a whole lot of time around other folks, but he’d been here long enough, getting on 5 years now, to recognize the locals. Derek didn’t notice him in a back corner at first, was too busy mumbling to himself while looking for the right screws for the section of fence he needed to fix, but then he turned around and they locked eyes. There was an intense and puzzled expression on the kid’s face.

Although “kid” didn’t seen quite right. He was young — probably two or three years out of high school, maybe four — but there were dark circles under his whiskey brown eyes that made him seem older. Haunted. Knowing. Derek could see wiry muscle layered over his slender frame under the snug black company T-shirt.

He wasn’t gaunt, but much of the softness he’d once possessed had clearly been stripped away. There was a sharpness to him. High cheekbones and almost a point at the tips of his ears. The angles of his posture; a tilt to his head and hips and the jutting elbows leading to long fingers tightly clasped against his chest. In his clever eyes. 

Both of them seemed to realize they’d been staring at the same time, Derek saying “Uh, howdy” and the stock boy straightening up and asking if he needed help finding anything. 

“Looking for a screw,” he said, after tearing his eyes away and scanning the aisle again. He was already groaning internally when the words were halfway out of his mouth and the new guy — Sean his name tag proclaimed at another glance — snorted before asking what kind while trying to keep a straight face. 

Once the damn things had finally been located Derek moved on to the other couple-three things he needed this time. He caught Sean watching him a few times more and sighed, frowning with concern. There was nothing wrong with being attracted to men — so was he — but it could be dangerous to be so obvious about it out here.

He didn’t look back after Leann rang him up and he headed for the door, but he felt the prickle of eyes upon him, an itch between his shoulder blades, and he wanted to. Later that evening the thunder began.

Who would want to hear about the wanderings of my mind? This wasn’t supposed to be my life.

We’re not all the same in this town.

When his family, his pack, had moved from upstate New York to what he’d once thought a “small town” of 30,000 called Beacon Hills Derek had stayed behind, already into his sophomore year at college and living in his own apartment. A space-craving middle child with his own life. Some great aunt that no one knew about had passed away and left his mother a large plot of land with a slowly deteriorating, but surprisingly functional house that they’d set to fixing up.

He’d been surprised when Peter had gone too, his uncle always reveling in the cosmopolitan, but apparently the territory was special. Something about a big old magic tree. Derek’s eyes would glaze over once he got going.

Yeah, it turned out the place was “special” all right. Whatever woke up again after Great Aunt Hilda died started calling all manner of supernaturals, often of an unfriendly sort. That in itself likely would’ve been manageable until they figured out how to shut the damn beacon (har de har) off again, but with “animal attacks” and “mysterious deaths” on the rise so came Hunters. 

Derek visited the new Hale House on a handful of occasions, the last and longest time a few weeks the summer before his senior year of college. He’d been out at a bar, still thrilled at being old enough to enter one despite alcohol doing nothing to intoxicate him, when this pretty dirty blonde with a wicked grin came up to him. There was something unsettling about her, a harshness to some product she wore, but the older woman was all confidence and laughter and playful aggression and he was captivated and full of hormones, so they stumbled off attached at the face and took a rideshare to some sketchy motel. 

They hooked up three, maybe four times while he was there, Derek always taking care to shower with a scent neutralizer after because he didn’t want any shit from his family. And then he was heading back to New York, texting “Kay” or “K” or however she spelled it goodbye and setting his mind to the next few weeks of end-of-summer parties and the classes that were to start on their heels. 

A couple evenings later he was watching some new sitcom when he felt first his father and then his mother die in the span of what was probably a few minutes, but seemed much longer. He booked a flight as soon as he could, finally getting a hold of Laura before leaving for the airport early the next morning. She told him they’d been attacked, the house circled in mountain ash and set ablaze as she was on her way home.

Cora was okay, had been on the other side of where twin fires started and trapped their parents in between. She’d managed to escape out a window when a piece of debris or something must’ve disrupted the ash line. Peter though she’d found severely injured. Burned and pretty much unrecognizable, though still alive. 

That same afternoon during his layover in Seattle he felt her die too and ran to the bathroom retching and trying to hide his flashing eyes. It couldn’t be. Not his sister too. Not Laura. What the fuck was going on?! 

His wolf wanted to howl for the death of his closest packmate, the loss of two Alphas in two days, but he couldn’t. Not there in the airport. He couldn’t cry then for Laura and his parents either knowing that if he started he wouldn’t stop. Would fall apart.  

Derek forced himself to calm down enough, outwardly at least, to get on the second, mercifully short flight an hour later. Caught up in traffic he didn’t make it to Beacon Hills until after 7:00pm, driving the rental straight to the address that Laura — oh God, Laura — had given him. There he found his reportedly horrifically burned uncle looking very much like himself with the exception of some scars on the side of his neck and red eyes. 

Maybe if the first words he’d said to Derek had been “I’m so sorry” or “I didn’t mean to” things might’ve gone differently. Whether he didn’t because that would’ve been a lie — intentionally killing Laura while she was no doubt trying to care for him — or because he didn’t think he needed to apologize if he’d been truly out of his mind, Derek would never know. 

Because when Peter opened his mouth all that came out was a bunch of hand-waving about the “unfortunate situation,” a promise that things would be okay (things would never be “okay” again,) and how they were still family — only three of them left now — and had to stick together. Derek too, even though he had consorted with a Hunter, but not to worry, he had wasted no time taking care of the ones involved.

The shock of the last statement had been enough to snap him out of his overt, incandescent rage and Peter continued with how he’d recognized the scent of one of the lackeys and got him to spill on the others. After getting rid of Unger he took out the Argent Hunters — Kate — and her father, and then finally Reddick. 

Slowly, Derek approached him, the elder wolf likely assuming he’d been overcome by guilt or deep in a daze (both of which weren’t far behind) and expecting a show of submission to accept him as Alpha. Perhaps that he’d been seeking comfort or forgiveness. A hug.

He was starting to say something about expanding the pack when Derek tore out his throat. 

Roaring. Ringing. Static.

Afterward, when he came back to himself, he tried to find Cora, but she’d fled when Laura died. Her phone was likely in the smoldering ruins of the house and his own forgotten in NY, possibly in the cab. He did run into Christopher Argent, an incredibly tense encounter that consisted of tersely exchanged information and twitching claws and trigger fingers. 

Apparently, the Hunter hadn’t been aware of his sister’s plan, which his father had approved. Both were indeed dead. Peter was dead too because he killed Laura. No, Derek wasn’t staying. It brought some measure of relief to learn that based on a discovered journal the scheming had begun before his visit, that the attack wasn’t because of him somehow, but the guilt and shame, the disgust and self-hatred for having slept with someone so evil remained. 

Then he realized that that harsh scent clinging heavily to the human now in front of him, a scent he’d picked up slightly from her, must’ve been wolfsbane. Derek fell to his knees, thankfully not getting shot when the Hunter flinched, as guilt slammed back into him. He’d never actually encountered it before, the Hunters in New York having enough to deal with to bother supernaturals who weren’t causing harm, but he couldn’t stop wondering “what if?” 

What if he’d taken an interest in tagging along to the formal meetings with other packs and Hunter representatives with Laura and his mother? What if he hadn’t showered so thoroughly and someone brought it to his attention? It probably wouldn’t have changed anything other than him never leaving with her or him fucking her fewer times, but now he’d always wonder about the off chance that they might’ve been more alert. What if, what if, what if.

Cora, who he finally got in contact with after returning to NY, had much of the same feelings toward him herself once he haltingly explained what he’d found out. She was angry at everyone and everything, refusing to come back to him and eventually ending up in South America and joining a pack down there. They talked once, maybe twice a year. Confirmed the other was still alive and had some painful or awkward conversation (usually both) where she’d inevitably refer to Kate as his “psycho ex-girlfriend” and he’d want to shout that they were never dating, but didn’t. And that was that for the Hales.

It’s such a long swim and now there is no sight of land.

So I’ve come here to wait for the end of it all.

As was pretty much always the case when he had a new project, Derek had to go back to the hardware store in between his regular visits to town every week or so for something he’d forgotten or only realized he needed after he'd started. And so two days later there he was again, being helped by Mike, the clean-shaven 50-something owner, but watched not so surreptitiously by Sean. Until the young man knocked into a display trying to keep him in view as he moved to go down another aisle, that is. 

Derek's lips curled ever so slightly upward as he pretended not to notice the scrambling to pick up or straighten the disarrayed products going on behind him. He could see Mike shaking his head in his peripheral vision, muttering under his breath about how maybe he should start drug testing. It took everything in him to keep from reacting to something he shouldn’t be able to hear. Poor Sean. People looking he was used to, but he’d never made a person run into something before as far as he knew. It was flattering. 

This time when he felt that keen gaze upon his back as he left he turned his head while stepping through the door, finding Sean absentmindedly holding a wrench with his lips gently parted. He nodded, causing the short-haired brunet to hastily duck his head like the length of metal had suddenly called his name. Derek swallowed thickly as he walked across the parking lot thinking of those cupid's bow lips.

It wasn't like he was immune to the younger man's charms either, from the broad shoulders to his cute, upturned nose. If Derek was someone — something — else he'd be up for having a go, see what those long fingers and that smart mouth (he just knew) could do. Find out what he looked like under his clothes and felt like with those nice long legs wrapped around him. Maybe lay out in the field and look up at the stars after and get to know each other.

But he wasn’t. 

Derek sighed as he climbed into his outfit, a gray, no-frills, 2-door 2017 F-350 with four wheel drive capable of towing a 3 horse trailer even on rough terrain. He tucked his new Texas Fence Fixer underneath the passenger seat and sought out some music to distract himself. 

The one thing he bothered to add to the truck after a year with only the radio was an after market stereo that also gave him the option of bluetooth, usb port or aux input. Derek used the latter, still having a working discman as he preferred to collect physical media when possible both for the higher sound quality and so he didn’t have to worry about things getting yanked from a streaming service for whatever reason. They were his.

Derek flipped through his cd booklet and slipped out The Trials of Van Occupanther by Midlake. The first track, fittingly titled “Roscoe,” was a new favorite of his and he’d been surprised to learn that the album had come out in 2006 because it sounded like something decades older. Like something his dad might’ve listened to as a kid driving around with his own father back in the 70s. A pang of grief ran through him. 

He pressed play and headed back, singing along and trying not to think of enthralling brown eyes and mole-spotted skin. 

“Ohh, and when the morning comes we will step outside. We will not find another man in sight. We like the newness, the newness of all, that has grown in our garden soaking for so lo-o-o-o-o-ong.”

The music helped for a while, but when Derek arrived he trudged inside the quiet house, new tool forgotten in the truck. He sank down onto the plain beige couch and cradled his head in his hands. When he eventually looked up his gaze was drawn to the painting hanging off-center across from him.

Despite the fact that one of the ways he brought in income was taking photographs of wildlife and the great outdoors he only had one piece of art on his otherwise bare walls and it wasn’t one of his. No, it was a relatively large painting of a ship sailing before a rocky outcrop in a storm, rough dark waves and lightning flashing, that he spied in a free pile on the side of the road after an estate sale. He’d found it compelling and all too relatable, even more so having been discarded after belonging to some now dead person. 

He imagined himself tossed overboard, battered by waves as he watched the imperiled, but infinitely preferable vessel get farther away. Trying to stay afloat, to breathe, between bouts of being knocked under. Into stone. Growing tired and heavy in the cold water. Limbs slowing. Water closing over his face for the last time. Sinking. 

Green eyes stared until everything was gray.

Bring me a day full of honest work and a roof that never leaks. I’ll be satisfied.

There’s a new wild feeling dancing in the air.

Derek never pretended that he’d always been from here, would even say where he’d come from (gasp, New York) should someone bother to ask, but this place seeped through his skin and into his bones. The mountains and the plains and the great, big sky. Like how the rain soaked into the thirsty earth in summer where it didn’t turn to gumbo. He didn’t have a “spread,” had no desire to play at being a rancher like most of his distant neighbors were, but he had a nice stretch of gently rolling prairie leading up to forest and the Beartooth Mountains. 

He’d wandered a while before deciding he wanted to buy land in rural Montana with most of his portion of the life insurance money. And now for something completely different, came John Cleese’s voice in his head. His dad had been a huge Monty Python fan. 

There’d been another plot that he stumbled across online that seemed particularly appealing, but there was no way in hell he was living somewhere named Argenta. He checked out a few other potentials, including in person, but then he saw this place and knew. Roscoe, unincorporated Carbon County, MT. Population 16 as of the most recent census. Well, it was 17 now. 

When he first arrived there’d been some months where he saddled up at the Grizzly Bar a good nine or ten times, desperate for the presence of other people despite his opposing desire to get away from it all. A city boy soothed by the chatter of the regulars and those who came out the 70-odd miles from Billings or even farther away just for a bite of fresh beef: steak, burgers, or prime rib. Talking about nothing at all with someone plunked down on a stool nearby or with the bartender serving him his usual whiskey ditch. Even just the sound of some bullshit calling itself news on the tv. Baseball or something.

There’d been other months where he hadn’t once darkened the doorway, laying in bed and staring at the ceiling or ghosting around his property, burning through his supplies until he got hungry enough to run down some burrowing critter or a speed goat if a herd came through and he happened to get lucky. Those suckers could run up to 55mph in short bursts if they saw you coming, fastest land animal in the hemisphere. The tawny, white marked ungulates with dark bits on their faces were also known as prairie goats or pronghorn antelopes despite being neither goats not antelopes, but something closer to the okapi and giraffes in Africa than anything else left alive. That was Montana for you.

It helped when he got his first horse, a gray gelding named Gable (say that 5 times fast) and had to get up to take care of another living being. A companion of sorts to spend time with and do stuff for and touch. Werewolves didn’t usually go feral without a pack like a lot of the stories said, but it certainly wasn’t good for them to be alone. 

He evened out to around once a week at the Grizzly, usually stopping by on his way to or from the closest real town (a whopping 1200-1800 folks depending on the season) for one thing or another. Red Lodge wasn’t far, about 20 miles away, but he often made a day of it. Maybe catch a movie at the one screen Roman Theater, which opened in 1917 and was the oldest continuously operating one in the state. Derek picked up all kinds of tidbits like that along with the slang and even the accent to a certain extent. 

He’d walk around and pass the flower shop he hadn’t felt a need to go into so far, maybe get something fancy from the bakery or one of the cafés. Buy random crap from the dollar store, supplies for building or maintenance from Rock Creek Lumber, and groceries from Beartooth Market or the farmer’s market. Takeout from the Chinese restaurant or the pizza shop or the taqueria (or occasionally all 3) for later. 

A handful of times a year he’d drive up to Billings for the things he couldn’t get closer. Less common cuisines, indie flicks, speciality items, etc. One night stands or even more furtive and frenetic hook ups, though he had’t bothered the last few times. He’d get eyes from the local ladies, some of them very much married, but he kept away from the free ones who he might’ve fancied as well. 

In all likelihood starting anything would mean either trying to have a relationship while hiding half of himself or winding up shot for being a monster and having to abandon his property, assuming he wasn’t killed by a particularly well-placed bullet. Even the guns had guns out here. Same issue with the local men he noticed were so inclined only with the addition of them almost certainly being Narnia-level closeted (wardrobed? whatever) and teaming with notions about manhood that would only cause pain. So that was that for love. Not like he deserved it anyway.

It wasn’t a bad life. He made enough to get by without dipping into the other money doing odd jobs and remote temp work along with his photography. There was breathtaking beauty and all sorts of projects to keep his hands busy and his body active. Responsibility and enjoyment interacting with the horses and books to occupy his mind at least some of the time.

Yeah, that’s what he told himself anyway. It was true enough on the surface, but underneath it all he had an emptiness inside bigger than the sky.

A sky which was now, from the sound of it, soon threatening to dump a river’s worth of water on his head despite there not being a mass of dark, heavy rainclouds anywhere in sight. Only a smattering of wispy ones on a mostly sunny day. What in the world?

Regardless, he quickly guided his spooked horses inside the stable barn, the bay mare sisters Ada and Jessie joining Gable a couple years ago. Three was a good number. Company for each other and able to keep him busy for at least a few hours a day, but manageable.

Derek stroked the agitated creatures in turns, along their necks and between their ears and over their snouts, speaking gentle nonsense to try to calm them. They all had white markings on their faces: Ada’s looking kind of like a leaf print, Gable’s like a streak of paint, and Jessie’s, unfortunately (or amusingly,) like a large bird shat on her forehead.

He was on edge himself from the strange wild power dancing in the air, nervous but also feeling alive, more present and in his body than he’d been in some time. He stayed with the horses as they trembled together until the unnatural thunder ceased. 

When I look into your brown eyes I struggle to pull aside. I’m wanting you more within my life.

What sort of pressure, and what kind of force must there have been to drive you here?

It was over a week into July and Derek had made another half dozen trips or so to RC, always torn between wanting to see Sean, get to have a bit of a chat or a joke, and hoping that the mischievous younger man he found increasingly attractive didn’t have a shift that day. He could’ve just gone to Ace Hardware instead and avoided the situation altogether, but he couldn’t bear to stay away long. He’d skipped one week and ended up going twice the next, so he decided to just leave it up to fate. A rather dangerous prospect given his life so far. 

Twice he’d been absent when Derek was there, including the last time. It was just as well because he’d been in a foul mood, dirty and cursing and damp after slipping in mud and falling in a puddle on the way to town. It was hot as hell — mid-90s — and had just finished raining when he’d stopped to try helping some out-of-towners get unstuck.

They’d pulled off the nice paved road just beyond a chicken foot and into the fresh sludge beside it for some goddamn reason. It was a futile attempt even for his truck without having gravel or wood or something to let the car regain traction while being pulled. The group was waiting on a tow truck when he left.

He thought he caught movement in the back of the store out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned around there was nothing there. Nothing he could see anyway. What he could smell a few moments later was another matter entirely. 

Derek had no idea what it was, but it was rich and intoxicating and called to his wolf. His eyes flashed red involuntarily and it had startled him back under control. He hadn’t slipped like that in years and thankfully neither Leann up front nor the older man browsing at the end of the aisle were paying him any mind.

Cautiously, he took a couple deep breaths, but still couldn’t identify the scent, which was now just beginning to dissipate with the back door being open. Wait, when did that happen? Derek shook his head, trying to refocus his senses. His thoughts. Was he losing time? Imagining things? Or was something messing with him? 

He fell into into an uneasy vigilance. Whatever the cause something was going on and he felt the need to get out of there. He didn’t really have to get anything today anyway and did his best to casually head for the door, a goodbye called over his shoulder.

Derek cut his outing short and headed straight home, feeling nervous the whole drive back. He kept an eye and an ear and his nose out the rest of the day and into the wee hours until he finally conked out close to dawn. If there’d been anyone around they’d probably tell him he was overreacting, but it was precisely because there wasn’t anymore that he expected the worst. He stuck to the house and only ventured out to check on the horses. 

He didn’t let his guard down until a few days later, exhausted and feeling foolish. Of course that’s when they came.

Derek hadn’t noticed the diesel pickup until it was already coming up the driveway due to yet another sudden, noisy storm nearby. This one at least seemed more normal since it was actually raining. 

It was late in the evening and he’d hurried out the back door to circle around and scope them out. He didn’t want to risk his wolf eyes giving him away, so at first he could only make out that it was three figures that were probably male. Then they stepped into the light by his front door, the one on the left reaching out to knock as the others scanned around with hands in their jackets. 

Even before the wind changed direction it was clear from the way they moved and dressed that they weren’t cops. Not regular cops, cow cops, tree cops, feds, or any other kind. And then there it was again, the scent of wolfsbane. The knocking Hunter dropped his hand and joined the others in looking around. 

“Hale, we’re not here to harm you. We just need to talk. You have my word,”  the stocky, sandy-haired man shouted.

Derek snorted quietly. That one might be telling the truth at the moment, but what about the others? As if reading his mind, the same 30-something guy — the actual leader or a decoy? — nudged the taller men who were now on either side of him. He could practically feel them eye-rolling from here, but they too made the same assurances if with more hesitation. 

Finally, the first man mentioned the reason for their visit. They’d tracked a dangerous creature to this area, a killer of several people and likely the cause of the freakish weather. Some kind of kitsune.

Derek’s eyebrows flew up. Now that was interesting and perhaps worth the risk. He might not have more than a passing acquaintance with anyone, but he didn’t want to just sit back and watch folks get slaughtered.

He didn’t want to get pumped full of wolfsbane either so he made a point of crunching the gravel beneath his feet as he slowly started to approach. The guy on the right, mid-20s with a narrow face and long, dark hair, still whirled around with his gun raised and Derek made sure to keep his own truck between him and them. The talker hissed at the man, who lowered the weapon somewhat. They stood sizing  each other up and ignoring the rain for few moments before Talker asked if he knew the whereabouts of a recent arrival. 

After a couple interjections from Young Gun they gave a pretty solid description: A 20 year old white man, 5’10”, with short dark brown hair, brown eyes, and moles on his face. Last seen in Red Lodge.

“Huh,” he muttered, pretending to search his memory even as his stomach plummeted. 

Maybe Derek was being irrational and letting his crush or whatever it was affect his judgement, but he just couldn’t believe that Sean, which was likely not his real name, was running around murdering people all willy-nilly. Not without some type of proof beyond the word of Hunters. There was something in his past, a sense that he’d been touched by darkness, but he didn’t seem like a source of it himself.

Oh and you’re such a great judge of character? his inner critic said in Cora’s voice. Heh. Well, he had picked up something unsettling about her. It’s just that he was going through life as a typical college student back then and thought it was in a “might get super insulting or jealous and controlling“ kind of way and not a “genocidal and will kill your family for fun because she thinks you’re abominations yet will still fuck you” kind of way. 

He clenched his jaw minutely and then looked Talker in the eye.

“Sorry, I don’t know where he is,” he stated firmly, which was entirely true. Derek knew where he’d been, but he had no idea where he was now or where he would be. Obviously, if they weren’t just waiting to follow him from work or something Sean was already aware that they were here. Maybe there’d even been some kind of confrontation. 

Once again his insides flipped at the thought. Sean could be injured. Or long gone and never to be seen again. 

The third man, a lanky grizzled 40-ish blond who’d been silently watching the proceedings, narrowed his eyes. 

“If you’re hiding this monster, Hale—“ he began, before being cut off.

“Surely, he knows better than that,” Talker said, smiling with too many teeth. He reached into his pocket, opened his wallet, and wedged a business card in the door jamb. “Well, if you do see him, give us a call.” 

“You betcha,” Derek said mildly, lying to his face. He felt a moments’ amusement at finally using the ubiquitous phrase. The Hunters started walking towards their truck and he took that as his cue to back away, never taking his eyes off of them. 

“We’ll be seeing you,” Young Gun called with a sneer before climbing in the driver’s seat. 

Well that was ominous. He didn’t respond and waited until they we were well down the road before going back inside, throwing the card straight in the trash. Even if it turned out that the stock boy did need to be…to be neutralized Derek would be damned before handing him over to the likes of them. 

But now he had to worry about Hunters knowing about him — and how exactly did that happen? — and he was alone and vulnerable. Couldn’t he catch a break? He sighed heavily. 

Derek thought about running, but a lot of his money was tied up in the land. He’d settled in and accumulated stuff. Had horses. The idea of starting all over yet again was not just daunting, but soul-destroying. Enraging. Overwhelming. Impossible.

And then what, just wait for the next time? Spend the rest of his life as he’d just done the previous few days; stressed out, on high alert, and looking over his shoulder? Clinging to this scrap of existence? He was tired. Beyond tired.

The odds weren’t great to say the least, 3 vs 1 assuming they were weren’t more of them lurking around, but Derek wasn’t going anywhere. One way or another he was done. Maybe he’d get lucky and they’d be particularly incompetent and poorly trained. Yeah right. Maybe he could take one or more of them down with him. That was more likely.

The next morning he made sure the horses had access to extra feed and water and called up the farm supply store in Roberts, asking the manager, Wes, if he’d be willing to do him a favor. To call if he didn’t hear from Derek by noon every other day for the next while and if he didn’t by the time the store closed at 6pm to come out and check on the horses. Charge anything he saw fit to his account. The generally jovial middle-aged former linesman listened quietly until he was done. 

“You got some type of trouble, Hale?” he asked, gruff with concern. 

“Could be,” Derek replied numbly. He thanked Wes and hung up without elaborating.

The following night there was another storm, brief, but closer and much more violent than before. A truly awesome display in every sense of the word, bolts of colorful orange lightning flashing when he peeked out before heeding the urge to keep away. When he was sure it was over he brought treats out for poor Ada, Jessie, and Gable. 

The next time Derek went to town a couple afternoons later he passed by the hardware store, but didn’t stop in case he or it was being watched. It was no surprise, but when he saw the Help Wanted sign in the window his left hand clenched into a fist, the tips of his claws piercing skin until blood dripped onto his denim clad knee or down to the floorboard. He wondered where Sean went. If he was even still alive now.

That evening Derek was at the Grizzly flipping through an abandoned copy of the weekly regional newspaper — July 15th, today’s edition — when he saw that three men had been found dead yesterday. Out-of-towners from California who had all managed to get electrocuted wandering around a field by Roscoe. A freak weather occurrence the night before. Huh.

Well that takes care of that problem. There were no pictures of the deceased and he would follow up on the story to make sure, but he had a feeling that he wouldn’t, in fact, be seeing those Hunters around. As for what else was going on, he guessed he’d have to wait and see.

Follow me down a fox hole in the ground. Don’t delay.

Everything is moving so fast. I am unlimited.

The full moon fell on another scorcher two days later, the air still warm and muggy a couple hours after the sun finally deigned to set around 9:00pm. Derek was tending to his horses, waiting until the temperature wasn’t sweltering anymore, but still sweating through his shirt after mucking out their stalls. Putting out fresh straw and climbing up into the hayloft and back down again multiple times. He wanted to have bales ready for tomorrow and maybe the following day and gave his interested audience a snack of hay and apples as well. 

Derek wasn’t sure if he was gonna stay close tonight or go ranging once the moon was in full effect shortly before midnight. The Hunters were gone (he’d confirmed it online that morning) and he hadn’t been up to it the previous month, so he was leaning toward going out for a bit and seeing how it went. He felt the moment when the alignment occurred, the moon’s power calling to his blood, to his wolf, who responded with an interested, but rather mild wag of its metaphorical tail. 

Derek sighed remembering how exhilarated he used to be, champing at the bit to run wild and reveling in his full shift. I should be grateful I feel anything at all these days. He finished up and was petting Ada goodbye when he heard the clock in the house strike midnight. It was another free box find, beat up, but with a functional pendulum, which he liked since he could know what time it was from any of the buildings on his property and a good chunk of the land without having to wear a watch. It could be silenced at night or whenever else he wished otherwise it would’ve ended up back in a pile.  

On the seventh chime the lights inside the barn started flickering and that strange energy was in the air again, full of wild, dangerous potential. There was a moment of laden silence and then something moved in the brush outside. Derek’s hair stood on end. 

He looked at his nervously whinnying horses and was glad that he’d been waiting until the check-in tomorrow to tell Wes not to bother with them anymore instead of calling him today. They would hopefully survive this even if he didn’t. He took a deep breath and walked into the night.

Lightning flashed high in the sky, confined to the rapidly congregating clouds for now, but Derek cringed nonetheless. A human-shaped shadow materialized from the darkness beyond the floodlights on the other side of the building, otherworldly eyes glowing a burnt orange. Moments later Sean was sauntering around the outskirts of the illuminated sphere wearing a sharp-fanged grin, wind blowing his not-quite-as-short hair as it whipped around and behind him. 

Instead of relaxing at the mostly familiar face that he’d spent weeks daydreaming about Derek tensed even more, wondering if Sean thought he’d helped those Hunters. Or if they were actually right about him and he’d come to finish off his prey. Derek couldn’t think of another reason why he’d be here like this. At this time of night, looking like that. His wolf was still and alert.

He had increased strength from the moon, but he couldn’t fight lightning. Honestly, without the animosity he reserved for Hunters he didn’t really want to at this point. He was tired. Of the isolation and loneliness, even with his horses. The grief and guilt and pain. Of living. The emptiness that was gonna swallow him whole some day anyway. Even as the rest of him still rebelled at the idea there was a rather large part of him that felt relieved while staring death in the face. 

The air stilled again momentarily and Derek closed his red eyes, breathing deeply as that intoxicating scent reached his nose for a second time. The scent of Sean. A final mystery solved as he waited for the end. At least it should be quick.

Oh, the fox came for him all right, but not at all in the way he’d expected. Derek kept his eyes closed even as footsteps raced toward him and moments later a body was colliding with his. The next thing he knew he was laid out on the ground, air knocked from his lungs and flat on his back with Sean straddling him. Purring. 

To say he was shocked was an understatement. Shocked, but starting to get turned on.

Hands planted on his chest, Sean leaned forward and sniffed at his neck, giving it a lick and sounding pleased when increased arousal flooded through him. He licked some more and nipped at Derek’s jaw, Inhaling again. The fox grinned mischievously and sat all the way down on his tenting crotch, grinding on him. Lying on top of him and rubbing himself all over, getting Derek all riled up.

He was content to let the fox have his way with him, but then in the blink of an eye Sean was standing and peering down at his confused form. Backing away towards the tall grass with swaying hips and a heavy-lidded gaze, licking his lips. Derek leapt to his feet, tracking every movement and matching step for step. He began to growl as Sean neared the rustling, wind-whipped vegetation and slowly turned around. Mine his wolf declared hungrily. The fox looked over his shoulder and smirked before taking off into the field.

Dirt flew as Derek tore after him, beta-shifted as he crashed through the grass. It was tall, but not enough to hide someone of their heights, yet he couldn’t see even a head floating above it. With the erratic wind still blowing it was also hard to discern that movement from one caused by someone ducked and passing through. He was going to have to rely on his hearing and smell, which were superior in wolf form. Quickly he stripped down and shifted completely, setting off again. 

Lightning flashed again, thunder deafening, and he snapped his jaws at the sky. He dropped his muzzle to the ground, sniffing for where the fox had touched the earth since he couldn’t get a good scent from the air. He came across the trail and sped along it, that unique aroma growing stronger. Derek burst into a small bare patch of land where the scent was concentrated, but instead of catching Sean he only found a pile of discarded clothing. Clever. Despite his frustration he was impressed. Either he’s crawling around naked on his hands and knees, which is entirely possible — the thought went straight to his cock  — or he’s a shifter too.

Derek was betting on the latter and this time he also looked for paw prints and snapped stalks lower down while trying to move quietly himself. During a break in the distracting weather, which seemed to be winding down, he heard what sounded like the brief tangling of a smaller animal up ahead. Stalking closer he saw a glimpse of brightness in the moonlight and rushed forward. The fox gekkered and started running again, Derek howling in pursuit. 

Twisting and turning they darted through the drying blades of grass, his muzzle nearly touching a tail or leg on more than one occasion. Then Sean shot out into open ground, Derek too close behind to successfully double back to the more advantageous environment. His quarry in full sight with no where to hide he put on another burst of speed and began to gain on the other shifter, nostrils flaring at the musky scent. Earthy and sweet. Derek wanted to roll in it, but he had to catch him first.

Closer and closer he came and he could see more clearly that Sean was a beautiful multicolored fox, bright orange and black with patches of what might’ve been gray or silver. He had every intention of finding out later in the daylight. Finally, he deemed it near enough for a good tackle and he leapt, carefully landing over the wily creature and immediately dropping his weight on top of him. Derek took the scruff of his wiggling prey in his jaws and clamped down, but didn’t break the skin as the fox panted and whined beneath him. Mine.

His wolf was rearing to go, the overwhelming urge to thrust and bite and claim, but there was no way he could fuck the much smaller animal even if he’d wanted to. Thankfully, Sean began shifting back, thick, fluffy fur receding and becoming an expanse of dotted skin as he rapidly grew in size. Derek followed suit and soon he was pressed against the younger man, still gripping the skin of his neck in his mouth. He replaced his teeth with a firm, possessive hand and used his other arm to push himself upward to view what was his. 

Panting with arousal as much as exertion now, Sean rested low on his forearms and knees and spread his legs in clear invitation. The youth glistened between his thighs and Derek ran two fingers there before sliding up to his sopping wet hole and the source of the richer ambrosial scent. Groaning, he slipped one and then two digits inside Sean’s tight heat, trying to give him some measure of prep before mounting him as his wolf demanded to do. 

The impatient shifter whined and growled, bucking back on his fingers, which were now up to three. He turned his head and snapped at Derek, so he withdrew them taking the hint. If Sean was so desperate for his cock he was going to give it to him. Coating himself with the wondrous slick he lined himself up and pushed inside, hole fluttering around him as it worked to accommodate his girth. 

Draping over his back and eyes closed in pleasure Derek immediately began to thrust, wrapping an arm around Sean’s chest to hold him close as he balanced with the other. He ran that hand soothingly along the whimpering shifter’s flank as he pounded into him, too much wolf to be gentle now that he finally started. He adjusted his angle though and soon the breathy, higher pitched sounds became low, throaty moans and Sean dropped down to his shoulders, lifting his ass in offering for more. 

The fox tried to sneak a hand down to his cock, but Derek snarled and grabbed it, holding both hands down with his own. He thrusted harder, making him cry out and push back wantonly. Derek wanted him to cum from his cock alone, but he wasn’t cruel. If his fox couldn’t get there before him he would help things along.

When he started to knot, he took the back of Sean’s neck between his jaws again, an instinctual need to keep his mate in place. Whining and gasping the youth spread his legs even wider as Derek worked it in with short, jerky movements until he was locked inside. Growling lowly he switched to grinding and it wasn’t long before the fox tensed up, a piercing shout before rhythmic clenching began around his knot, the scent of cum hanging in the air.

Sean continued to milk him and then Derek was tipping over the edge himself, shooting his load deep within the otherwise lax body. Releasing the bruised skin to howl in triumph, his fangs then descended and he was clamping down once more, this time sinking into flesh and spilling blood to claim the writhing fox. Still coming as the budding connection snapped into place, he turned them sideways and began alternately licking the slowly healing wound and marking up the skin around it. Mine mine mate.

Won’t you tell me how I will not feel so lonely?

Thought we were due for a change or two around this place.

As he came back down to earth from the high of their mating, their breaths slowing and heart rates returning to normal, his human self likewise returned more assertively to the fore as the animal receded into the background. The wolf was happy, calm, and satisfied, but the man began to fret and doubt even as he held on more tightly to the young man in his arms whose body he was still buried to the hilt inside. 

Did the fox want to be mated to him or had he just been expecting sex? And if he did was it only because his wilder, instinctual side was in control or was all of him truly onboard? Derek himself hadn't known he was actually going to bite him until right before it happened, though it was something his entirety wanted very much despite how he’d normally try to deny it. 

Before he could sink deeper into worrying about having tied the fox to him beyond the immediate way a hand crept back to rub the nape of neck. 

"Hi," whispered his mate, the first words spoken between them tonight. In something like two weeks now. 

"Hi," he whispered back. "You okay?" 

"More than," the fox chuckled weakly. "I could just hear you thinking so loudly " 

He noted the scent of content amusement, which dialed his concern down a notch. Still he took a deep breath. "About me…biting you…” 

"I wanted you to." 

"Yeah?" Derek asked softly, almost disbelieving. 

"...I came to you and initiated a chase on the full moon." 

He grinned at the snarky reply and mouthed at an earlobe, nipping it and grinding himself into Sean's prostate again. The fox moaned and turned his head to nip back at Derek's nose before continuing. 

"I might still be fairly new to all this, but I knew that much. That you would probably bite me if you felt... " There was a sudden shift in his scent. Uncertainty and a hint of guilt. "But you..." 

"I wanted you too. The moon is strong, yes, but if I truly wasn’t interested, didn’t want you, I could’ve made myself stay where I was. Walk the other way.” Derek felt his sigh of relief and inhaled contentment once more. Good. “So what brings you to Gopher Crotch, Montana?”

“I hadn’t heard that one yet,” Sean replied, laughing before growing quiet. Derek grimaced, chiding himself. 

“S’okay, you don’t have to tell me. I don’t even know why I asked. It just popped into my head and I guess my filter is pretty non-existent at the moment.” He sighed. “Folks end up out here and it’s rarely puppies and rainbows they’re coming from.” 

“Speaking from experience?”

“Yup.” 

The fox grabbed his left hand where it was idly running up and down his side and pulled Derek’s arm across him, intertwining their fingers and holding his hand against his chest.

After several moments he started to explain that he came here to try to learn to control his power in a sparsely populated area. He’d done a sacrificial ritual with some friends to save his father and a couple others, leaving himself vulnerable, and was possessed by a dark kitsune. The sadness evident when speaking of his friends grew thicker as he described the damage his hijacked body had done. Hurting and killing people. They finally managed to get rid of it when a werewolf friend bit him, but he ended up becoming some hybrid kitsune/fox shifter after.  

“The Nogitsune can’t be two things at once, but apparently I can. Or I don’t know, maybe it assumed I’d be a wolf and bounced before realizing. Maybe it was something it left behind that made me change into a fox after starting to turn. Or maybe it was just me.” The younger man shook his head and snorted.

“Who knows? Whatever the reason, it happened. I knew other shifters, mostly werewolves and a coyote. Had a kitsune friend too. But none who were both.”

He spoke of the distance and awkwardness between them after. The looks. His guilt and grief. The nightmares. And then how he accidentally shocked his father when he tried to wake him. 

“He survived. Recovered okay last I heard, but I-I couldn’t…” Sean trailed off, choking up.

“I know,” Derek said, squeezing his hand and waiting as he gathered himself.

“I once visited a great uncle out this side as a kid — not here, way more East — and after a few months on the road I thought of that. I had this old Jeep that belonged to my mom, named it Roscoe. There was no way it could make a trip like this, so I left it behind rather than have to ditch it somewhere in case some day…” His mate sighed. “So when I saw that on the map, well, I couldn’t help but stop nearby. Like it was sign.”

“I’m glad you did.” 

“Here I was about a week or so, got a job at RC, and then you come strolling on in. Immediately I was aware of you, drawn like a moth to a flame. I’d been…I’m not sure how to describe it, but like, buzzing inside from my power and eventually it’d grow until I’d have to let it out. But then I got this strange feeling of calmness with you there. And of course you were hot as fuck too.“

Derek blushed and grinned, dropping his face into the crook of his mate’s neck before responding. 

“I was drawn to you as well. Intrigued. I didn’t know what to do with that, figured you were one more thing — or person — that I couldn’t have. Every time I saw you I was attracted more and more…” he shook his head ruefully. “Couldn’t stay away. So each time I pulled up I’d hope you weren’t there, but then was happy when you were and disappointed when you weren’t.” 

The fox made a noise of amused commiseration. 

“Our animal sides can be on some crazy shit at times, but there are definitely others when the human just gets in the way and you have to let the fox, or wolf, lead.” He purred and rubbed himself back against Derek and he rumbled back, setting his teeth gently over the mating mark. 

“Apparently. Mine’s been pretty quiet for a while now, except sometimes when I’m hunting or if go running on the full moon. Not much for him to react to, you know? No pack, no other shifters nearby or even passing through recently. Even with the Hunters he was more in the background. Giving me information, but not trying to take point. 

“And then you were all over me and took off with that look in your eye and he came roaring awake.” Derek chuckled at the smug satisfaction emanating from the fox. “So I take it you knew I was a wolf right away?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Huh. I couldn’t pick up anything supernatural about you until tonight.” Shoulders shrugged against Derek’s own.

“It seems to be a kitsune thing. A defensive measure that keeps you hidden unless you consciously drop it or when you’re actively using your powers.” 

“Huh. And are fox abilities pretty much the same as wolves?”

“I think so, but sometimes weaker or stronger.”

“Hmm.” He was curious and looking forward to learning more about his mate. He knew that they existed, but had never actually known a fox shifter before. Or a kitsune. Both were significantly rarer than werewolves, at least in the States.

Derek figured it was his turn to share, so he gave a basic rundown of his own story. His lost family. How he stayed in New York when they moved away. The fire. Laura. Peter. He braced for judgement, if not for his naiveté with the Hunter then for killing his uncle, but the fox only turned their still clasped left hands over and kissed his palm. 

He mentioned his estranged little sister and how he’d been resigned to being alone. When he was done his mate was thrumming with anger.

“Fucking Hunters,” Sean said, bitterly. “If they’d stick to their supposed code it’d be one thing, but so many of them clearly don’t. I ran into some before here too, back in Beacon Hills—“

Derek froze, heart racing as his mind tried to process those words. Surely he hadn’t heard that right. Or it was some other place with the same name. There was no fucking way. He’d been able to tell his story with a certain amount of detachment, but he hadn’t spoken the name of that cursed place. Could hardly bear to think it. Laughter in a bar. His claws red. The smell of charred wood and melted plastic when he made himself see the house before he left.

A concerned voice calling out to him broke him out the spell.

“—okay? Hey, what’s wrong?” 

He swallowed several times trying to work the dryness from his throat. 

“Beacon Hills…California?”

“Yes…” Sean responded hesitantly.

“No fucking way,” he breathed. “That…That’s where my family moved.” Where they died.

There was a sharp inhale. 

“The house in the Preserve...There wasn’t much known about what happened. I hadn’t thought to connect the name because I didn’t know they were wolves.”

“Really? Your wolf friend never ran into Christopher Argent?”

“Allison’s dad? What does he have—oh my god! Her aunt and grandfather disappeared around that time. They were the Hunters?!”

“Yeah.”

“Holy shit. No, Allison and her parents moved away soon after. They never knew about Scott. Some other dipshits came through a while later, tried to intimidate some of Satomi’s pack — she’s the Alpha who helped Scott with the wolf stuff. She and most of her pack live in Nevada, but a few were attending the county college for their veterinary program and noticed there was another wolf around, thank God. It was a lot to deal with on our own, trying to find actual information and keep him secret and in control.”

While his mate recounted throwing lacrosse balls at his packless friend the memory of Peter’s last words flashed in his head. He gasped as another piece of the puzzle slotted into place.  

“Was your friend also Bitten around the same time?”

“Yeah, we never found out who—“

“I think it was my uncle. He was saying something about expanding the pack right before I…I didn’t know. His Alpha instincts must’ve had free rein to just attack some kid like that.”

“Holy shit,” Sean repeated.

“Holy shit,” Derek agreed. He knew he was going to dwell on this revelation for a good while, want to know all the details and about the new wolf, but he didn’t want to start that now. This time was for them. He shoved his train of thought back on track to where they’d left off.

“So those three Hunters…”

“I didn’t know I was being tracked, but I tried to be careful. Moved around, kept an eye on the weather to try to blend in with forecasted storms, but I’d have to put on a light show every so often when there weren’t any. Obviously they caught up to me when I stayed here so long...such beautiful scenery and all,” he said flirtatiously before getting serious again.

“Fuckers ran me right off the road. Tried to run me over really. I heard them behind me in time, but they followed me off the shoulder and destroyed my dirt bike right after I bailed. I had just saved up enough to get it before I came here too,” he hissed angrily. 

“I hurt my leg and side when I landed so I ducked into an old shed nearby to try to buy some time to heal more. They taunted me outside, wouldn’t listen to me. Said no one ever escaped a nogistune before so I must still be possessed, but that even if I wasn’t I’d be an abomination anyway.”

Derek growled from deep within his chest and nuzzled the younger man. Fucking Hunters and their genocidal bullshit.

“When two of them were getting closer to the door I got small and foxy and crept out a hole by the ground in back. I guess they didn’t realize that I could shift too, so it took the other one a few moments to notice and react. Then I was running into the field, trying to find cover as they shot after me. They kept coming and I couldn’t run at my usual speed, so…” He shrugged. “Boom.”

He tightened his hold on his mate. Killing was rarely pleasant even if it was necessary or well deserved and he knew the fox already carried so much guilt from the lives his body was forced to take. 

“It was self-defense.”

“I know. I mean I’m not happy about it, but I don’t exactly feel bad either, especially since I heard one of them mention coming back for you after ‘taking care of their fox problem.’”

Derek closed his eyes and shuddered. He’d figured as much, but it was another thing to hear it for sure. It didn’t matter that he was minding his own business and not a threat to anyone. He wasn’t human and so shouldn’t exist. 

“Thank you,” he said, throat tight.

“De nada, mate.” 

Mate. He was thrilled to hear it out loud for the first time. 

“Oh hey, what’s your name? Other than Hale?”

“Derek,” he replied, amused that they’d gone this long without bothering to ask. ”And what’s yours? Not actually Sean I assume?” 

“Well…it’s Myeh-cheh-swaf. But I go by Stiles.”

“Nice to meet you, Stiles,” he said, voice low and syrupy, grinding into him again. Stiles giggled. 

“If you keep doing that we’re gonna be stuck out here forever, dude.”

“Not seeing the problem.” Derek grabbed an ass cheek and then gave it a playful spank. “And don’t call me ‘dude’. I ain’t been no city slicker in years,” he drawled with an exaggerated accent.

Stiles snorted and started squeezing his knot in retaliation, making Derek groan. He slipped a hand between them to feels where they were connected, trailing two fingers through the slick. The fox made a cute little noise.

“I have to say the whole, uh, getting wet thing was quite the surprise.”

“Mmm, I like it.”

“I can tell.” Derek could hear the smirk in his voice. “I bet you’ll be happy to know the first time it happened was the last time you came in to the store before things went to hell. You were all sweaty and dirty in that basically see-thru tank top looking like a walking wet dream. Then without any warning there was leaking happening. I froze and then ran to bathroom thinking I must’ve ate something off for lunch and was having some kind of problem.”

A belly laugh erupted out of Derek shaking them both. 

“I fell into a big muddy puddle trying to help some folks that were stuck. Took off my button-down to try to get the worst of the muck off and wiped myself down. I was annoyed as hell and lost in my head when I got there and then all of a sudden I smelled something amazing. Didn’t know what it was or where it was coming from.” 

“Yeah, that seems to be from my, uh, regular fox side. Which is totally a thing I just say now. Anyway, I kind of freaked out when I saw you turning and I guess I did something kitsune-ish so you wouldn’t notice me? But using my power meant the usual concealment stuff went away and you could smell my full scent. And, um, that.”

Ah, so that’s what happened. He refrained from mentioning his own freak out thinking he was either losing his mind or that something potentially bad was happening. The paranoia that ended up being warranted, but not because of him.

“It’s weird and I’m still getting used to it, but I have to admit it’s very convenient. I would’ve had to stop for lube or something last night otherwise.” 

Derek laughed more, imagining a glowing eyed Stiles followed by a miniature lightning storm stopping by the general store for some K-Y and Miss Ginny getting on the phone right after being all “I’m pretty sure the new boy down at RC is some kind of demon, but anyway I saw him buying a bottle of ‘you know what’ and I just have to wonder who for…”

“Mind sharing with the class?” Stiles asked curiously when he continued to crack himself up. Derek told him and then they were both dissolving into giggles, causing his now mostly soft cock and shrunken knot to finally slip out. Stiles made a soft whining sound and then stretched before turning toward him. They drank each other in face to face. 

“I figured you probably wouldn’t be small, and yeah, no way that was going in me dry, especially not having taken a cock before,” Stiles added, blushing, before snuggling up to him again.

Derek froze.

“Yeah, I’ve slept with some folks, but they all happened to be of the female persuasion. So, yeah. First guy.”

A pleased possessiveness flashed through him mostly — but not entirely — from his wolf, but then Derek frowned, feeling more than a little guilty.

“I was rough with you.”

Stiles pulled back to look him in the eye. “Again, I knew what I was getting into. Full moon, Alpha wolf. And I liked it. A whole lot.”

Derek hmmed. “And you’re not…hurt?”

“You weren’t that rough and I was, you know, ready for you. Sure, I was pretty sore at first right after because virgin ass plus knot even with everything, but just very slightly now. In a nice way. While my healing isn’t as fast as yours it’s still pretty quick.” 

He sighed in relief. 

“I guess I make up for it by running faster than you,” Stiles teased.

Derek huffed. “I seem to remember catching you.”

“I seem to remember letting you. Gotta stoke that Alpha ego.” 

There was no blip in the fox’s heart beat. That little shit. 

“Plus I wanted to get fucked already. You were…” Stiles sighed dreamily. “I wanted you so much.” 

Well then. 

“But if the Big Bad Wolf is still worried about traumatizing little ol’ me with an epic dicking and you want to give me an apology blow job or something to feel well and truly forgiven, I wouldn’t stop you…”

Derek laughed again. He’d already laughed more in past 10 minutes or so than he had in weeks. Laughed harder than in longer than he could remember. 

Agreeing that that was a great suggestion he rolled them over so that Stiles was on his back and then slid down his body, tasting the grass stained skin of his chest and abdomen and belly, venturing on until he reached his prize. Derek grasped the base of the still hardening cock and rumbled as he licked off the evidence of Stiles’ previous orgasm before he took it in his mouth and suckled the head. He was rewarded with louder moans of pleasure from his mate when he sunk further down, bobbing up and down shaft while reaching to fondle his balls with his other hand.

After a couple of minutes Derek gave the delicate sack one more squeeze and then moved his hand lower to gather slick from between soft inner thighs. The moans turned to gasps and when he pushed two fingers inside the fox’s quivering hole, jacking the shaft after pulling off to watch as his load trickled out along with fresh slick. Derek growled at the sight, thrusting faster and aiming for that sweet spot. 

When his mate was getting close he descended once more on the now leaking cock, continuing to finger him while engulfing him deep, until the tip was nestled in his throat. He made a humming sound and then Stiles was coming and crying out. Derek greedily swallowed his release and cleaned his cock until he was sensitive and whimpering. Grabbing him by the hips he then hoisted him up so that only his head and shoulders remained on the ground, tongue pressing against the furled entrance of the weakly moaning fox and lapping their mingled fluids until he was satisfied.

“Um, wow,” Stiles said breathlessly when he finally set him down.

“I want to fill you up again,” Derek rasped, his eyes a steady red as he kneeled between trembling thighs, stroking his own aching, eager cock. 

Stiles’ eyes flashed orange in response and he spread his legs wider, folding them up and holding himself exposed for Derek. So trusting and willing, this alluring and powerful creature who could blast him into next Tuesday, fry him to crisp and blow away the dust, but so readily submitted to him. Wanted him. His heart felt like it could burst. 

He crawled forward to bracket Stiles in his arms, leaving marks on his throat. Filling in some of those blank spaces that he couldn’t reach the last time. He rubbed his beard against the tanned skin, nuzzling and scenting him and when he couldn’t wait anymore he coated himself with slick and pushed in again with one steady motion, both of them moaning. Flush together and wrapped in heat, Derek closed his eyes and took a moment to just savor the feeling of being snug inside his mate. 

Affection and a sweet desire coursed through the bond and then Stiles was leaning up to kiss him, wrapping those long, strong legs around his waist. He started off slow and deep, rolling his hips sinuously as they explored each other’s mouths for the first time. Eventually he sped up, the fox’s writhing and little sounds spurring him on, and Derek held his gaze as he drove in faster and harder. 

Stiles’ eyes took on an eerie glow, the same one as before the chase. A darker shade than the previous flashing yet more shimmery. Uh-oh, here it co—

Lightning flashed high in the overcast sky, the boom of thunder only a split second behind. Startled, unhappy neighing sounded from the barn.

Derek shook his head at his sheepishly grinning mate. He adjusted his position to get use of an arm and hiked an ankle crossed at his lower back higher to rest over his shoulder. Then he spat in his hand and grasped Stiles’ cock now that enough time had passed to give his new favorite toy a break.

“Think you can manage to stop scaring my horses?” he asked with a smirk, jacking him. 

“Mmm…maybe with…the proper…motivation.” The pleasure drunk fox rubbed his other thigh against his side. Derek started thinking of all sorts of fun ways of training and testing his control. He nibbled at an earlobe and let go of his mate’s erection to twine their fingers together, pressing the backs of Stiles’ hands into the earth.

“Oh is that so?” 

“Mmhmm.”

He picked up the pace again and Stiles answered, rocking his hips in a matching rhythm. Hungrily they attacked each other with their mouths, licking, sucking, biting anywhere they could reach. The lightning ceased, but then it immediately started raining. 

Shaking with laughter they slowed but didn’t stop, grinding as the heavy droplets cooled their feverish skin. He took Stiles' face in both hands and kissed him deeply between giggles. As they ramped up again and his knot began to swell arms wrapped around to hook on his shoulders. It wasn’t long before claws were scratching down his back and when Stiles came he buried his fangs into Derek’s flesh, leaving a mating bite of his own between shoulder and neck. 

He whined from the delicious overload of sensations, thrusting erratically a half dozen times more before locking, teeth still embedded in him. Rain collected in the dips of their bodies and rivulets of water, sweat, blood, saliva, and cum ran off of them into the thirsty ground. 

When they were done — his knot going down more quickly the second round — they got up and ran naked and laughing toward the house, Stiles shifting halfway and taking off with a playful yip. Derek followed suit, howling as he tried and failed to close the distance. He was definitely gonna have to do some training himself, futile though it would probably be. If he could only arrange a chase long enough he bet that he could win on endurance. Wolves typically traveled much farther than foxes after all.

In the meantime, at least he knew his mate would take pity on him — or get horny enough — and let himself be caught sometimes. Not this time though.

When he reached the stoop at the side of the house the fox was casually lying there waiting for him with his tongue lolling out. Derek chuffed and nipped his muzzle before licking his right cheek and ear fondly. Little shit. Shifting back he turned the knob and held the door open for his mate to scamper into their home, following after with a grin bigger than the sky.

Come morning, miles along, gathered round, those remained. With bird in hand and a cry for the land, joy to gain.

We have all we need.

Thanks for reading!

Here's the previous fic (unrelated) for this event/series: Second Chance Strays.

[astroboots]

Hey Cici!

I know you’re on hiatus but this question sprang to mind, so I hope you see it when you’re back!

Are there any big differences between Nena and Cielito? After reading your one shots like superhuman stamina, etc, I got the sense that maybe Nena is more confident and has had a more vibrant life than Cielito. I don’t know what you think?

Oh and on that same train of thought, are there any differences between EYEM and ATSV Miguel. Obviously, I love ATSV Miguel, but EYEM Miguel has my heart in a chokehold! I’d love to know if you have any little random headcanons for him!

Hello!!! So sorry it's taken absolutely forever to answer this one!

I love this question! Yes there are significant differences in Nena and Cielito. Primarily because while the worlds they lived in are fairly similar (save for a few idiosyncracies) their lives are very different.

There's several factors to this.

Nena meets Miguel at a much earlier point in her life than Cielito (almost a decade earlier). They built a life together, had a whole crew of friends (both superhero and not-supers).

She also had Miguel and lived a much less lonelier life than Cielito. Cielito on the other hand, never meets Miguel until the start of EYEM. She spent the last 10 years of her life, consumed in a corporate work just to keep afloat and to earn enough money to be able to stay in NY (cause rent ain't cheap, nor is anything else in the big apple, not even apples). Her life is a lot lonelier because she never had the time or the opportunity to build a fuller life as a result.

As for differences between EYEM and ATSV Miguel Oh boy oh boy! I had at one point thought of writing a oneshot about this but it was too devastating and angsty.

The main difference is that EYEM and ATSV are the same up to a divergent point. That point being Nena's death. They both live through and EYEM/ATSV Mig is one and the same right up until the end of chapter 12.5. After that they diverge.

After her death Miguel shuts down emotionally hiding himself away from the world. Until our favorite A.I. right-hand woman, offers Miguel a glimpse into an "alternative" Nena, one where her and Miguel are together, and have a daughter, in her attempt to cheer him up.

This is where there's two options:

EYEM Miguel doesn't want to see it. He locks himself away to deal with his grief and tries to not interact with the world or any other universes, for years and when he does, he almost immediately runs into Cielito...

As for ATSV Miguel.... he watches and is consumed by this other world, showing himself a better alternative than the one he has himself face. Until of course... that Miguel is killed, leaving behind this other Nena a widow, and his daughter an orphan... And Miguel gets a misguided idea, and well... we all know what happens then.

[theunstuffedpepper]

Finally finding time for a little update here. It’s been 2.5 months since we lost our little man and we’re hanging in there. B and I are leaning on each other and focusing on taking care of Pep, trying not to let the grief swallow us whole. We’re trying to focus on what’s in the future for our family which has been helpful and healthy for us both. B made our sweet boy’s urn, which is beautiful, and was a sort of therapy for him.

As summer gave way to fall, we enjoyed the last warm days of the season outside, taking trips to the park, zoo, and local farms as much as possible. We’ve had family and friends visiting and making plans with us consistently; it’s been great having that support and keeping involved socially. We went to our first trunk-or-treat and my little Incredible was too adorable in his costume. He had so much fun and big surprise: turns out, he loves candy.

One big decision we were faced with after losing Pip was whether we were going to move forward with buying the new house and moving. The day we lost him, our offer was accepted. It was hard to even think about and in the moment it was a decision I truly didn’t even care about, but we ultimately decided that we would keep pushing forward. To back out of the deal and stay living in our current house wouldn’t have done anyone any good. I felt an overwhelming need to get out of that house and out of that town. Being surrounded by things that bring heartbreaking memories to mind a thousand times a day leaves very little room for healing.

I’m happy to say we closed on our new home a little over a week ago and just moved in a few days ago. We’re currently still half in the old house, half in the new house, but it’s nice being able to take our time with moving everything over. Once we’re fully out of the old house, it’ll be time to clean it up, take photos, and put it on the market.

Moving to the new town in PA has been so incredibly positive for us all. For me, very healing. In a lot of ways, the area seems opposite to where we’ve been living in NY. I didn’t know how much I needed that until I experienced it. Our new town is slower paced, the people are so friendly, and the new house, despite only being 15 minutes outside of town, feels so quiet and secluded, in the middle of nature. We have dozens of deer on our property every day. Pep loves to watch them from his bedroom window and chase them in the yard, squealing happily and exclaiming, “deeeer!!” The center of town is very historic and charming, a very Hallmark movie kind of quaint town. Love that journey for me.

Pep, now 22 months old, is absolutely blossoming. His language and communication has exploded over the past month or two. He has so, so many words and can now tell us what he wants, what he doesn’t want, and it’s so heart warming and wonderful. He truly is the apple of my eye and he keeps both me and B going every single day.

This weekend, B and I reluctantly left Pep in the care of my parents at our new home and we made the 9-hour drive to Michigan for a close friend’s wedding. I was so nervous to leave Pep for a whole weekend — longer than we’ve ever been away before — but he’s doing awesome with my parents. After the most stressful few months of my life, I needed this rest and break more than I realized. It’s been fantastic reconnecting with B, spending time with our cherished college friends, sleeping in, eating meals as two adults rather than mom and dad, and recharging.

I’ve been half heartedly keeping up with you all and need to check in on so many of you for the latest updates. I’m missing this community, so I’ll try to check in more often. I hope you’re all well!

[muzaktomyears]

Mimi and Yoko

[written shortly after John's death] “…After years of battling to be noticed and fighting desperately to be first, now the opportunity has arrived! The centre of notice and attention. At what a cost! Seemingly reveling in it, not a sign of emotion as far as I could detect in conversation on the phone. It will go on. Doesn’t she realize the real centre of attention has gone? She knows she was tolerated because of him. God knows nobody would have heard of her… Meanwhile, all I know is he’s gone and at times I think I’ll go mental. Some days I am more or less able to go on, then I’m devastated and lost… (...) It was through that conversation that [Mimi] began to recall the early years of John and Yoko. “You wouldn’t believe how quickly he changed. He was as different as night and day, just like that. It was almost as if she’d put a spell on him.” (...) [Mimi] adored [Sean] almost from the beginning. He was amazingly intelligent, she said, and she loved talking to him on the phone. I have no reason to believe that adoration didn’t continue until she died. I remember one story she told about Sean. Apparently he had lost his first tooth so Yoko told him to put it under his pillow and the tooth fairy would come and give him money for it. He followed her instructions and came out the next morning, disappointed that he’d received American money. He had hoped for foreign coins. Mimi took that as an early indication of his intelligence and that he would grow up to know exactly how to handle money. (...) [May '82] “I’m hearing a lot from Yoko. I seem to have phone calls nearly every other day. She says she’s very busy. No doubt she is but underlying it all I think she’s realising that without her making an effort etc. nobody will bother much. She needs to be noticed and like an old witch I sense loneliness. Seems next spring Strawberry Fields will be planted. She wanted me to go over for the opening. I can’t give a definite answer. The whole thing may come to nothing. She suggested if I like it over there, would I consider living there as that’s what John wanted. I think I’m too old to do that. I could have one of the flats in the Dakota… (...) [Feb ‘84] “Perhaps you heard of Yoko’s visit? She came here with Sean, and – dear God – bodyguards! Incredible in this country! She had announced she was coming to see me, so of course the damned press were here from 8 a.m. asking to see me, but I refused. They were persistent, knocking and asking for me but I stuck it out and refused. Meanwhile they sat at the door and waited. What was annoying, they got the address and nobody knew where I was until then. Then the retinue arrived and photographs – of Yoko and Sean. “Sean – the dearest little boy. Another John in every way – self-confident and sophisticated, taking photographs with timing on the camera and his arms around me. Left me a little letter with kisses and hearts and ‘God bless Mimi’. I simply could not get over him. We were all taken with him. “With Yoko also was a woman reporter, didn’t say so until she came and sat beside me and asked why I refused to see reporters. I said because they are all liars, then she said ‘I’m on a magazine’… So, if she writes she won’t have anything pleasant to say about me. When she got back to NY she phoned and didn’t seem very pleased when I said I still had nothing to say. So that was short and sharp. Her name was Barbara. I didn’t get the surname. So look out for her article if you can. She was with Yoko everywhere. Came over and went back with her. And – the bodyguards – dear God-" Mimi truly adored Sean, and by the mid-80s was warming considerably toward Yoko. I mentioned how I thought it a bit odd that she would bring a reporter with her when she was coming to see her dead husband’s family for the first time since his death, but she merely shrugged it off. “She can’t help herself.”

The Guitar’s All Right as a Hobby, John, Kathy Burns (2014)

[irishhorse-blog]

Hi! always like your responses so just wanted to send this ask, but it’s ok if you don’t want to talk about it more because I know it’s #1 topic right now haha

Not sure how to feel on the video, at first it could’ve been anyone! Now add the dog in , similar layouts and then a later video that came out with tattoos.. it’s harder to say it’s 100% not real, there’s more doubt now

Regardless the nature of both “JK”and that woman and JK and JM is still unknown as of right now - but it’s like, have all these jikook “coincidences” been just that? we have no way of knowing for certain but it’ll just be a big surprise if things like the hickey, rose bowl, gcftokyo etc we’re just … bro things ?😂

seemed like everything between JK/JM was more than just a “ship” because things seemed real - clearly it could’ve been and they’ve broken up, but this video just adds confusion lol

(And in the end clearly Jimin is fine with jungkook because he’s also been very supportive this year)

So, I still haven't seen the video in question, and I suppose I should watch it so I can see for myself what the kerfuffle is all about. I don't know what it shows, whether it's believable in terms of being JK with some lady or other, or if the dog is Bam or not. Some things I know:

Furniture is mass produced. Chances are more than one couch has been sold that matches the couch in JK's apartment.

There are dobermans in Korea who are not Bam.

Nothing about Jikook tells me that they've ever been "just bros", that they've broken up, that they never were together, that they're on the outs, that they could possibly be seeing anyone else, that... anything the current narrative says is true.

Based on: hickeygate, Rose Bowl ear suckage, a hundred million moments of Jungkook looking at Jimin with the heartiest heart eyes ever, the inability of Jimin to have a live stream without mentioning JK, the absolute inability of JK to do ANYTHING without mentioning Jimin at least once, JK's hours-long JImin-a-thon, satellite Jeon, your are me I am you, shirtless birthday posts, semi-secret NY/CT vacations... based on all that, you cannot convince me that there's only broship there, or that there's anything less than total love and devotion, whatever form it takes. (And I still contend bros and buddies do NOT suck each other's necks and ears.)

I'm not worried. I'm not at all concerned about Jikook. I'm more than a little concerned about the so-called Jikookers who take the least little thing as a seismic event that shakes their whole world view.

Breathe. It's okay. The video is probably nothing. Think about the timing, too... JK just released "3D", which is seeing amazing success. Its loud, prosperous debut just drowned out the latest BP bragging point about YT views surpassing BTS or whatever they were on about yesterday. Suspicious that this sees the light of day on the very same weekend, no? Almost like someone is trying to distract certain sectors of a certain fandom from supporting JK and his single during this important chart-aiming time. It's just like all the sus "they broke up" horse shit shows up right when something new drops from the boys, or when some new Jikookery comes to light.

Don't worry. This is just someone being a troll and getting their little fifteen minutes of quasi-fame and shit stirring. Just wave them off like the gnats they are and trust that ten years of clear love and devotion don't vanish overnight.

Trust what your own eyes tell you. Trust Jikook.

[morgana-ren]

https://www.instagram.com/p/C0rX6RIBuZH/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Wanted to share the pic but also ask about fashion for your ocs! What's their style like??

Lmao the shirtless vests always get us. That and the tattoos. I am a fiend for tattoos, I will tell you that.

Alright, this is as good as a time as any to say that Nighty dearest (Nightmare) for various lore reasons, has changed his name. He is Corvus now. It fits him for a lot of really long and convoluted reasons but anyway, when you see me referring to Corvus I am referring to he who was Nightmare. I am trying to get the hang of it, please help me not confuse myself.

So, Reaver wears his typical rich people shit, fine satins and suits, but worse. Imagine the gaudiest shit you've ever seen, and add a huge stovepipe hat onto it. He's got the long double-buttoned coat, with the silk shirt, the vest with his dumbass insignia, the stupid gold pocket watch, all of it. He tends to dress somewhat monochromatically, preferring white and black, but he will sometimes dip into red and brown for accent shirts. He dresses very similar to how he does in canon, but with a little modern flair. He gets made fun of the most ny the others, but he does not care. He thinks he looks impeccable, and the fashion magazines are inclined to agree (or they'd be bought out, gutted, and their editor killed.)

He prefers his hair pitch black, gelled and cut clean, a bit longer in the front with a coif. It fits perfectly under his stupid hat. his bang slops down on his face when he sleeps and it reaches his chin and it's very funny. He's very clean cut, no beard, no mustache. How could you see his handsome jaw line if he had a mustache? (His words, not mine.) Don't forget the heart he has tattooed on his cheek.

Astarion tends to dress very similar to how he does normally. He prefers the finer things, but he's not gaudy like Reaver is. Occasionally Corvus and Reaver will dog on him for dressing in 'ye olde doublets' but eventually it got to him and he stopped wearing them as much (he still thinks they're fashionable and comfortable though.) Think his camp white shirt, tight pants, and high boots. Usually he's fairly casual, but always fashionable in the way you'd expect a vampire lord to be. He is partial to Corvus's clothes and that means leather. If he's going fancy, he might borrow a thing or two from the other lads, but mostly, he's very relaxed, so formal gear is different. Not quite as slutty as Corvus is, but still very suggestive vampy clothes.

Astarion keeps his hair mostly the same, but is open and partial to trying new styles. Same silvery hair, same elaborate styles. Clean cut as well. It looks longer than you'd think when it's wet or unstyled.

Corvus dresses like a prostitute started dressing like a pirate that started to buy into the act. Flowing, deep, revealing shirts, pants that are so tight that it's amazing he can move, velvet outer coats with filigree and intricate designs, and huge hats with feathers when he's feeling fancy. This man will call you a slut while you can see his whole ass chest and every curve and outline of his lower body. He does the 'whore' thing with his rapier-- you know, when you limply rest your hand on the hilt. He's willowy and tall, and he dresses like every pirate captain you've ever seen if every pirate captain was an unaware whore. Loves leather pants, and gets them custom with the tail slot for him. Loves loose, flowy shirts that bare his entire fucking upper body. Linen pants. You know, pirate boy shit-- if every pirate was a gigantic whore. He will dress in the finest he can when he wants to, but the lads and their formal gear are a bit different than their 'lounging about' outfits.

He'll have his silver hair back and braided with a lovely little matching ribbon, usually. Or just put into a low ponytail. He keeps his hair longer than Reaver and Asto, but not necessarily long. He's usually clean cut facial hair wise, unless it's one of those aus where he is just so exhausted that he cannot be assed to shave.

Ilya hasn't aged a day mentally since he turned 36. He prefers expensive long silk robes with metal cuffs and accents. This man dresses elaborately even when he's just sitting around the house doing nothing. He has one in every color. Sashes in every color. Jewelry in every color. He has special battle robes that offer a bit more protection. Just fucking robes and loose pants. When he's lounging lavishly, he'll just leave it open with his bare chest, because he's just like that. He has his hat in a multitude of colors. He has a huge closet with robes of all kinds. Bell sleeves. Regular sleeves. Sleeves with hidden compartments. Satin robes. Silk robes. Velvet robes. Robes that trail for six fucking feet behind him. He doesn't like jackets and shirts. When he goes in public, he will pretend to be a foreign dignitary. You will never see this man in one of Reaver's outfits. He's partial to leather pants because he likes the look, but mostly, it's his dumbass robes.

Ilya keeps his dark hair long. Very long. Waist to hip area usually. Brushed meticulously every day, cared for impeccably. Braided and pinned and kept beneath his hat when he's going out. Put into a bun or a braid or a low pony tail when he is at home or training. He will keep it loose sometimes, but it just depends. If you're trying to grow your hair out, you are going to hate seeing this man every goddamn day with his immaculate locks. Long and thick and slightly wavy and full. He's an asshole.

[ash5monster01]

Goes On Chapter Two

Pairing: Charlie Dalton x OC!FemReader

Warnings: 18+, depression, mentions of suicide, heavy topics, eventual smut, slow burn romance, fluff, gender themes/stereotypes.

Summary: Against his best efforts Charlie has to start at a new preparatory school after the tragic events that took place at Welton. The very events that led to the loss of his best friend and getting expelled in the first place. He has no plans to make friends let alone get close to anyone ever again. That is until he meets Evelyn and her interesting group of friends. No matter how hard he tries to push them away he finds it to be impossible. So he caves and in the end learns that life can still be enjoyable even if it feels like everyone is against you.

word count: 2.1k

One ←→ Three

Masterlist

Ridge Academy, NY

1/8/60

Charlie was wrong in assuming that attending the one study session would get them off his back. They all took his attendance as him wanting to be friends which was the complete opposite of what he wanted. His days now consisted of actively avoiding them, ignoring when they waved him over in class, eating lunch alone in his dorm, and going straight to a private study room after classes in hopes to not be found and be left alone. Even his room mate had been trying hard to get to know him but Charlie didn’t have any interest in getting to know anybody.

Getting to know someone meant getting close to them and getting close meant there was a chance you could lose them. Charlie already knew what it was like, he had friends, and he lost them. Going through that pain again would never be worth it. So the best he had was being the new school loner for the next year and a half. Whether Evelyn, Nate, or the rest of their friends had any say about it. Which is why Charlie knew on Friday nights Nate had chess club and would have the dorm to himself for the rest of the night. Or so he thought.

“What’re you doing here” Charlie spluttered, a bit shocked to see Evelyn laid in Nate’s bed with a book in her hands. He was mainly surprised for her being in the room but even more surprised how natural it was for her to be in a boys dorm bed. Charlie thought those kind of things only happened in dreams.

“Violet and Marty kicked me out of the room if you know what I mean” Evelyn answered, turning to her side and eyes still scanning the page.

“And your only option was to come here?” Charlie asked dropping his bag onto his desk and sliding off his shoes.

“Yes, Nate normally lets me hide out here” Evelyn answered right back and Charlie sighed as he reached for the buttons on his shirt. He did not have time for making friends and trying to act normal about a girl in his dorm room.

“You and Nate are close?” Charlie asked despite everything in him telling him not too.

“Oh, so now someone wants to talk” Evelyn teased but Charlie just shook his head and traded his button down for a black t-shirt. Evelyn realized he wasn’t in the mood for teasing so she quietly sat up. “Super close, known him for what feels like my whole life”

“I guess I’m just not used to girls and guys being friends” Charlie told her, only knowing a life of school boys and crushing on every girl they had an opportunity too.

“I get the feeling you’re not used to a lot of things” Evelyn responded before lying on her back and focusing on her book.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked as he sat down at his desk, pulling out his books to do homework. Cameron would have a heart attack if he could see him now.

“I don’t know, it’s just you’re different is all” Evelyn said and Charlie wished this didn’t peak his interest. He had no business even talking to her but she was the girl in his dorm room. Old Charlie would have been all over that.

“You have no idea” Charlie muttered to himself and Evelyn sighed, annoyed she couldn’t get the boy to just talk to her. He was cute and new, and she couldn’t help but feel drawn to him somehow.

“Are you ever going to try and make friends or be miserable and lonely the entire time you’re here?” Evelyn asked, finally closing the book she was holding, and sitting up to put her full attention on him. Charlie was surprised by her bluntness, not expecting such an outburst.

“Sadly you won’t like my answer to that question” Charlie told her and Evelyn groaned out loud, hands coming to tug in her hair.

“God, you’re so infuriating” Evelyn was good at making friends, she knew all the right moves and topics of conversation. She liked being someone’s friend but so far Charlie had been impossible. Charlie wanted to laugh, if only she had met him three months prior. He figured she’d be just as infuriated with him then if not more.

“I don’t know why you’re letting me bother you so much. So what I choose to be lonely, it’s what I want” Charlie said turning to face her, feeling something tightening in his chest. It was amusement, something he hadn’t felt in so long. He couldn’t remember the last time he genuinely laughed about something.

“It bothers me because no one wants to be alone, I just think you’re hiding something” she argued back, arms crossing over her chest and Charlie felt the reminder of Neil sear through him and the amusement fade away.

“No one wants to be alone Evelyn, but sometimes you don’t have the choice” he told her, a somber look on his face, and turned back to his desk where he would proceed to ignore her. Evelyn felt something shoot through her heart as he said her name for the first time but even more she was affected by what his words had meant.

“Why do you hate Pritchard?” Evelyn asked, eyes falling on the english textbook on his desk. Charlie stiffened, surprised she had remembered his small outburst from the first day of class.

“I don’t hate him, I just think he’s stupid” Charlie told her, still working on the homework in front of him.

“How could he be stupid, basically the whole textbook is based on him” Evelyn asked and Charlie sighed, hands running through his hair.

“He’s stupid because he found a way to scale poems based on immaterial things when a poem is good as long as it comes from somewhere inside of you. No scale or fancy doctor should be the one to tell you if it’s good or not” if Evelyn wasn’t surprised with Charlie before she sure was now. All she could do was sit there and let his words sink in because truly she had never thought of it like that before. She hadn’t thought of anything in life like that before. She always looked to confirmation from others and just now she was realizing the entire time the only person who had to tell her she was good enough was herself.

“I suppose you’re right” is all she says after a beat before laying back down on Nate’s bed and listening to Charlie’s pencil scratch across his paper. She hated how much he bothered her and yet gave her little to nothing about himself at all. As of right now though she knew Charlie was no ordinary boy, he was something else entirely.

“Evelyn?” Nate’s voice fills the room, eyes glancing quickly between her and Charlie to determine the vibe of the room. He couldn’t bare it if she was here for him.

“Hey, there you are” she smiles softly, a sort of sadness to her eyes.

“Yeah, I had chess club remember” he tells her, dropping his things on the floor and moving to sit at her feet on the end of his bed.

“Violet and Marty kicked me out, I was hoping we could get dinner” she smiles at him, hand locking around his wrist and giving it a squeeze.

“Yeah, that sounds nice. Let me change” Nate tells her, eyes glancing to Charlie who continued to ignore them both like they weren’t even there.

Nate removed his school uniform quickly, Evelyn hiding behind her hands and giggling like a school girl. Which after all, she was. Charlie hated the way his heart constricted at the sound of her giggles. If he was the man he used to be he would’ve killed to get to know her and now here she was practically begging to be friends and he couldn’t even look her in the eye.

“Want to come with dude?” Nate asked as he slipped his Ridge crewneck on and Charlie shook his head, eyes flashing to the picture of his friends on his desk.

“I’m okay, have some homework to finish up” and Charlie didn’t miss the sigh that escaped Evelyn’s lips as he refused to turn back and look at the two.

“Alright, we’ll see you man” Nate told him as Evelyn hooked her arm with his own and he led her out the door.

“He didn’t bother you, did he?” Nate asked as they pushed out the doors of the dorm floor. Campus was chilly and cold and he felt butterflies erupt in his stomach as Evelyn huddled closer to him.

“No, we just talked. Or I at least tried to talk” Evelyn said and Nate snorted, knowing exactly what it was like. He had attempted and failed all week. So much for getting a roommate.

“I think he’s still upset about something, I just don’t know what. It can’t be about his expulsion or he never would’ve told us about that” Nate says and Evelyn nods, trying to think of reasoning herself. What in the world could possibly hurt a seventeen year old boy as badly as it did?

“Maybe give it time, after all it’s only been a week” Evelyn tells him, hands squeezing his bicep and Nate turns to look down at her with a smile.

“Would just be nice to have a best friend” Nate says and Evelyn instantly gasps.

“What am I? Chopped liver?” and laughter bellows from Nate and fills the air around them.

“No, you know what I mean. Like you and Violet. You and me, we’re different” he says and Evelyn furrows her eyebrows.

“How so?” she asks and Nate feels his heart accelerate as he just shrugs.

“I don’t know, it just is” he offers and Evelyn rolls her eyes before accepting this answer, seeing them getting closer to the cafe on campus.

“Well best friend, let’s get some dinner” Evelyn says tugging him inside and he chuckles, allowing her to do whatever she pleased. After all he loved her. So they laugh over a split sandwich, and spend their Friday night like they always did, but now it somehow felt different.

When Nate returned to the room Charlie was in bed, a saxophone cradled to his side, but Nate had a feeling he hadn’t even played it. He offered him a smile as he slipped off his shoes and pulled back the covers of his bed. The comforter still smelled like Evelyn and his heart yearned for the girl he had been in love with for so long. Thing was he knew Evelyn was easy to fall in love with and even if Charlie tried his best to avoid her he knew it wouldn’t be long until he fell in love with her too.

“So you and Evelyn huh?” he froze at the sound of Charlie’s voice, as if the new boy had read his mind.

“What do you mean?” Nate asked, trying to hide the shake in his voice.

“Just, seemed like you two were a thing” he told him, moving the saxophone down to its case beside the bed.

“No, we’re just friends. Have been for a long time” Nate said and Charlie nodded, arms folding up behind his head as he stared at the ceiling.

“She’s a real spitfire. Hounded me the whole time she was in the room” Charlie said after a moment and Nate snorted in laughter.

“Sounds like her. She’s always been tough like that” Nate says fondly, knowing it was one of the very reasons he’s loved her the last few years.

“I like tough. I used to be tough” the sentence is the most personal insight Charlie had given him all week and he freezes at the notion. How do you even respond to that.

“I have a feeling you still are Charlie, it takes someone tough to be so reserved” and his words hurt Charlie more than expected. He hadn’t meant to be so cold towards everyone but he wasn’t prepared to be a good friend. He still woke up with nightmares every night.

“It takes being broken to find yourself desperate to be alone” Charlie told him before rolling on his side and facing the wall. His back to him proved the discussion was over and Nate sighed before reaching for the lamp on his nightstand. With a single click they were enveloped in darkness and Nate wondered what made Charlie so afraid of being seen in the light.

Comment if you want to be added to the taglist :))

[harocat]

First of all, how are you? Yes, the main question honestly. I hope you had a nice New Year celebration. Yet another question, If this is a propriate one, how did your journey in watching figure skating begin?  Sorry for the curiosity, I’m just wondering how something passionate started.

And thank you.

I could say a million, million words and not be able to wrap them into the level of gratitude I feel towards the existence of your blog. I started, of course, with Yuuri (I love so much how good of a person he remains, despite all the hardships he encounters, so many significant details, but that's what Yuuri is all about: what you can't put into words, he always chooses action over expression which requires more attention, it's beyond me how many people can simply overlook that, and I think I could talk about it for a very long time), then I clung to all the clear and wonderful ideas about figure skating (special thank you for my sweet meow meow Wakaba Higuchi and dearest Satoko Miyahara), but beyond that I just felt comfortable staying here. I know this may sound awkward and perhaps too personal, but I really hope it doesn't unsettle you. The last little while has been hard for me (it's been going on longer than I realized) and it was good to know that I could go somewhere where I don't have to be afraid, where it would be safe to sit and just quietly think. Your perspective somehow softens my heart, sometimes it's hard for me to explain. I write in no way with the thought of burdening you, but with pure benevolence. I really hope that you know that we appreciate you very much. Thank you so much for your patience and dedication and lightness and seriousness. You don't have to read or respond to any of my words (only if you want to), I just hope you are well, and you are in good health. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, all the best, and peace of heart and soul.

Thank you for the lovely message. I'm really sorry it took me a while to reply. This was so sweet and I'm so glad my blog has been a place where you feel welcome and relieved. Seriously I almost teared up a bit reading this. And I hope things look up for you soon.

(Also your words about Yuuri are so nice. He really is the best boy ever.)

I hope you also had a great holiday season. Mine was nice. I went to a con over the weekend of NY, which was a new experience. I got a pair of roller skates which I haven't had a chance to try out yet because it's been too wet out. I could go to the skating rink, but I haven't roller skated since I was a teenager so I'd rather put them on the first time somewhere where no one will see me ahaha.

I got into skating when I was really young. I have vague memories of watching the whole Tonya Harding debacle play out, which definitely got me interested. I remember watching the Olympics that year on the tv in our basement. I only watched the women. Ladies has always been my favorite discipline. At the very beginning it was the only one I watched!

The next year my older brother gave me a poster of baby Michelle Kwan from his Sports Illustrated for Kids. I thought she looked super cool, because she was so young herself, so I started watching her competitions. The rest is basically history. I somehow became totally obsessed with her and it developed into a childhood hyper fixation. I recorded all of her competitions and by the early 2000s I had a literal massive box of recorded skating competitions (not just hers). Somewhere it still exists. I remember eventually I started taping over some of the competitions because I didn't want to buy new tapes, but I NEVER taped over one of Michelle's. I watched everything though; every pro competition (RIP cheesy pro comps), every ice show, etc. In the last half of the 90s and early 2000s, there was SO MUCH skating on tv in the US.

I went ice skating for the first time in when I was in elementary school, and my mom signed me up for lessons. I never completed the lessons because I stepped on the ice and within two minutes, I attempted a spin and broke my ankle. Kids are dumb. Once I was healed I did go back on the ice, and I skated a lot until high school. I did take lessons, but I was never super serious about it. I'd love to take it up again, but because of my ankles (ironically enough), I'd need to buy more expensive skates and I just haven't felt like investing in it. Hopefully the roller skates are a step toward that.

Michelle was such a constant in my childhood, because her career was quite long, that she really did leave an indelible mark on me. After she retired I kind of flitted in and out of the sport for some years. There were a couple skaters I pretty consistently followed, and some seasons I watched more competitions than others. So I was always a big fan, but sometimes I was more 'diehard' than other times.

I liked Davis and White and Mirai Nagasu, baby Yuzuru really caught my eye. I loved Tatsuki Machida and Shen/Zhao a lot. And Mao. ❤️

I always stayed up on being knowledgeable about the sport even if I wasn't committed to watching every competition. I've been watching consistently again since shortly after Sochi, but tbh until Yuri on Ice happened I didn't really talk about it much? I didn't know many people online who cared about skating, and I was well aware figure skating fandom was very vitriolic, so I pretty much refused to venture into it. I just watched it.

When YOI happened more of my regular online friends, people I followed, etc. started posting about skating so I started sharing my opinions more online as well. Also it was nice to come into a fandom already having knowledge about the subject matter ahahaha. That was new! TBH before YOI, in my head I'd plotted a figure skating AU for most of my fandoms. Now the AU was canon.

[sapphire-writes]

Bestie..... beloved.... sweetest of hearts....

Why would you do that? Why would you make me cry? Like legitimately cry? Ugly tears too! Now was that a way to talk to her?! I get his whole spiel, sure, he's an emo pathetic boohoo sniff sniff meow meow. But that was just a hit under the belt.

Ha ha it's just sex, what got your panties up in a twist, i dont understand where all that comes from ha ha.

Oh im so ready to throw hands for her sake. She's got guts of steel bc if that were me I'd be sobbing my eyes out.

And my poor girl now has to SOCIALISE?! AND GO OUT?!

I know she's in that car being all like:

That fucker needs to sweat. He needs to grovel. She needs to STEP ON THAT RATMAN, reclaim the NY city that is her heart from his hot, veiny hand clutches.

Choke him with that devastating chain (he might even enjoy it)

She better text that poor Tyrell boy (can you tell how invested in him i am by the way i definitely care enough to remember his name?) She better meet with him and live her life. If Mr I dont share, don't share, then dont share!

anyways.... 18372/10, amazing chapter. I am normal about it as you can tell, it's whatever..uh.. good writing words i guess. Whatevs

BESTIE HELP THIS TOOK ME OUT 😭😂

poor Reader she really took a hit this chapter, you know I have to throw in some angst!!

Whoremond is about to become Grovelmond real quick DONT you worry 🤭