#the last time i spoke with my grandma was like 6-7 years ago?? man

[namekujii]

nobody in my family has ever tried to contact me since i estranged myself except for my now 17 year old brother who just asks about tablets and if he can have my old pokemon cards

[1ivinqdeadqir1]

Shades of cool: I

Lalo Salamanca x Reader

A/N: I’m uploading this on my phone and I’ve never properly written a fic before so if it’s a bit rough around the edges bare with me xx

Word count: 1.7k (give or take)

Warnings: n/a

Part 1: that’s a Salamanca

You started your shift at around 7:45 am, working at Casa Tranquila was a reasonably tame job. Usually, you worked at the desk; though on occasion you’d hand out medicines and chat with residents in the common room. Recently, around 2 weeks ago or so, an old man by the name of Hector Salamanca had been admitted to your workplace's facility. He’d supposedly suffered a stroke and had little movement of his body. He could move his hand a little, and the muscles in his face would writhe as you spoke to him, though that was about it. The two brothers that brought him were rather upfront and talked little to anyone other than their uncle.

They’d visited once more after that.

You’d been working in the lounge area, listening to a group of old women tell stories when the door abruptly swung open and two men walked through. The one that led in front was tall - around 6 foot you guessed - with a dark head of hair, a moustache and triangular tuft below his lower lip. His broad shoulders were driven back as he stopped and glanced around the room, in search of someone. The man that followed was a little shorter; he was bald and muscular beneath his jacket, his clothes looked quite expensive.

You wondered who they might be here to visit. You made eye contact with a coworker nearby who shrugged- as if they knew exactly what you were thinking.

“Uncle Hector,”

You struggled writing Spanish, though your addiction to telenovelas and the speaking lessons given by your friend were seeming to become rather useful. Your heart fluttered and you smiled to yourself at the thought of Hector having visitors, it’d been so long since his two twin nephews had left. Being alone was hard enough for you let alone an old man that’d been taken prisoner in his own body.

You hadn’t meant to listen in, though you couldn’t help it. You had a soft spot for the guy. You made sure to save him the last chocolate yoghurt at lunch, and occasionally would sit and watch tv with him and keep him company. The doctors had informed the staff of his form of communication, tapping. You’d ask him questions to try and form some sort of conversation- and more often than not it worked. Though there were times when he wouldn’t reply out of irritation. In that case, you’d sit back in your seat and read a book or continue watching whatever Señor Salamanca had chosen.

The older man was ‘Lalo’, you’d heard from the table, momentarily tuning out the older ladies. You tried to keep your prying eyes on the wooden slab as cards were currently being dealt out by 74-year-old grandma, Cheryl.

You could no longer hear them as well as you’d like, though that was probably for the best… it was ‘rude to be nosy’, which is what your father would say when you were little. “Cheryl, I might sit out of this one, but I’ll keep track of the numbers for you gals’” you turned to place a hand on the old woman's shoulder, smiling as you did. She beamed and nodded, eyes half closed whilst her bony fingers trembled; rattling the deck of cards silently.

As you focused on their game, occasionally picking up the sound of laughter from across the room, you felt a pair of eyes on you. Looking up from where you were seated, you made eye contact with the younger bald man from before, who seemed to be silent in comparison to this ‘Lalo.’

The sound of ringing echoed throughout the common room a few minutes later, and you stifled a laugh as it frightened Margery from her nap. At this point most in the room were watching Hector and his visitors. Some overlooked with confusion, whilst others glowered with complete and utter annoyance.

“that’s a Salamanca!!” Lalo sounded, crouched beside his uncle who rang the bell a few more times.

The scene brought that fuzzy feeling back to your chest, a sense of pride. You were so moved by this act of kindness that you’d almost forgotten who out of the senior women was winning. Your train of thought was interrupted by Jenny, the 48 year old mother of two that worked alongside you and the other members of staff. “Y/n, it’s your shift at the desk now” she said, hands folded as she leant on her hip. “Alright” you shrugged, said goodbye to the old women, brushed off your uniform and informed Jenny of who was winning the card game before leaving the common room.

The bald man had left to give Lalo and Hector privacy around 15 minutes after you began manning the desk alone. You sat signing family members in and out, answered phone calls and absentmindedly doodled on a post-it whenever given a moment to yourself. From looking at the log book, the man stood by the common room doors was named Ignacio Varga. The name suited his face, you thought.

“Same old Hector, just wants to kill everybody” you heard in the distance, by which you put aside your pen and made yourself look as busy as possible. Jennifer had done a really good job at organising these files. The man called Ignacio mumbled something back in reply to his friend, which earned him a laugh. Once they approached the desk, your throat went dry.

Damn. Lalo Salamanca was better looking up close. Your eyes took notice of the silver streak in his hair, and the smile plastered to his face. It was infectious, and you couldn’t help but smile back shyly, face suddenly warm.

“Aye, so I assume we just sign out now like we did when we signed in?” He queried, flicking through the pages of the log book that rest open on the counter. “Ah, yes- sorry, it uh” you stood from your seat to get a better look at the book, and pointed a finger at where the older man should sign. “Just here please…” you added, mentally scolding yourself for how pathetic you must’ve just made yourself sound.

He simply hummed in reply, and thanked you as he clicked a pen and began to write rather quickly.

You for some reason didn’t want him to go just yet, something was eating at you “so, you were visiting Hector, hm? I saw- well, heard the bell you’d gifted him” your eyes met his, and he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

“Yeahhhh, Uncle Hector, thought the bell would be a good idea, I hope it didn’t disturb you” he replied, keeping that same smile as he handed the pen to his friend.

“No! No, of course not” you stopped for a moment, your cheeks a soft shade of red as you realised how rude you must’ve sounded, “I think it’s sweet- the bell, it definitely makes our job a lot easier… and it makes it a lot easier for Mr Salamanca to communicate…”

Lalo tilted his head slightly, resting his arms folded on the counter as you spoke. Waiting for you to finish, he took note of your sweetness and huffed in amusement, “yes, I agree it does make things a lot simpler…” he didn’t seem to shift in his place as he stood, so you figured you’d keep talking for a little longer.

“It does, I actually spend a lot of time with him- during breaks and stuff, before you and your friend he hadn’t really had other visitors” you swallowed, and avoided his gaze, “well, since the two men that dropped him off here left anyway… he’s a character, your uncle, I’ll give him that”

Lalo laughed and nodded eagerly, “yes, My cousins! Lionel and Marco, they’re good boys, though men of very few words I must admit, mi amor.”

You smiled up at him, and felt yourself growing dizzy. There was something so enchanting about this man, you could smell the feint essence of his cologne from where you stood, bashful like a schoolgirl. You pushed the thought to the back of your head, kicking yourself for being such a creep.

“Mhm, well, I’m sorry to keep you both, Mr Salamanca” you brushed off your uniform and smiled at both Lalo and Ignacio. Lalo gawked and waved your politeness aside, “oh please, it’s Eduardo, Eduardo Salamanca but you can call me Lalo…” he outstretched his right hand, tattooed forearm bent in your direction. Your hand was dwarfed by his larger one, but you liked that. You also liked how rough they were, though- you also pushed that thought to the back of your mind for another time.

“It was lovely meeting you Mr Sal- Lalo,” you stumbled on your words, and laughed beneath your breath as he quirked a brow at your sudden nervousness. He was so dreamy. You’d always had a thing for older guys but Lalo was just- wow. He was the whole package.

“And you….”

“y/n”

“Y/n” he repeated back a few times to himself, allowing your name to linger on his tongue, as though he were thinking.

“Well, I’ll definitely see you again, y/n, you should stop by ‘El Michoacáno’, it’s just before the park you wouldn’t miss it” Slapping his hand off the side of the counter, Lalo turned and started toward the door with, Ignacio in suit.

“Yes, of course” you called after him, by which he chuckled and glanced back over his shoulder, “please do, I’ll cook you up the best Tacos you’ll ever eat, my treat señora”

Ignacio rolled his eyes subtlety, wanting to leave Casa Tranquila as soon as possible. They’d spent too much time talking. He had things to do. Important things.

Before you could reply, the phone rang, and you sighed, picking up your side of the receiver- the chipper tone returning as Lalo and his friend left.

As you talked with the person on the other end of the line, you quickly jotted down the name of the restaurant Lalo had told you to stop by. You were busy up until the weekend, though folded the paper and placed it in your back pocket. You’d always been a fan of authentic Mexican food, but now you had even more of s reason to eat out. To see him again and talk some more- openly.

A/n: sorry if they’re out of character at all, I’ll probably post part two soon, so keep an eye out for that 🤍

Thank you for reading!!!

[more-than-i-can-say-blog]

26. We’re doing okay at being friends, sometimes it doesn’t even hurt anymore, when I remember that we’re, you know, just friends. I’m one year sober, in a few days. A couple weeks ago I tried to hang myself in my hospital room bathroom. The very mind that is mine, overtaken with thoughts of hatred and nothingness. But today, today I was here. I was alive to celebrate my oldest sons birthday.

25. I keep drinking. Hundreds of bottles of crown have passed through this void. Never to fill it. Never to even make a puddle. Im drunk all the time. Slurring words and ruining lives. Ripping apart our relationship at its very seams. The love I have for you is real. I don’t know why I do the things I do.

24. I’ve lost my best friend. And the last of the three people who raised me. Drunken autopilot.

Break up, make up, break up, make up.

Last year I fell in love. The kind of love that only nicholas sparks can dream up.

23. Last month of the year and boy was it the best. Peer pressure turned out to be a party. And luck was in my favor this time. Her name is cait. Caitlin. With an I. Apparently it was special to her that I knew that. I knew my whole life I wasn’t meant for a man. And now I’ve found my reason why.

My grandma got diagnosed with breast cancer. Heartbreak. One I’ve never felt before. Like somehow I was living. But for days I was on autopilot, shut off from the world but somehow also shut off from myself I morned her death while she was still alive, liquor always helps the hurt.

22. We welcomed our third baby boy.

My friend and I have some drinks. I kinda like alcohol. But I have to be careful, my families both have alcoholics.

21. We welcomed a second baby boy.

20.

19. We welcomed a baby boy this year.

18. We welcomed a baby girl this year. My uncle passed away. He was like my best friend.

17. I met a guy online, he says I’m the girl of his dreams. Maybe I was meant to be with a guy. Maybe those thoughts about girls were a phase. Maybe I’m normal. The pills stopped.

Oh my god, I’m pregnant.

16. My virginity was stolen by a monstrous, evil man. Feelings of hate start growing. I hate you. I hate everything about you. Before I really knew you, I looked up to you.

You ripped to shreds, the very fabric of my innocence. Now my self worth is based on what people think of me. I live my life with flashbacks and paranoia.

I slept with one guy that I actually through was cool. Until I lost our baby and he never spoke to me again.

15. Another psych stay.

14. Another psych stay.

Hey pills. How are ya? Percocet, vicodin, tramadol, they numb your pain right? Emotional pain too?

13. I don’t quite remember exactly when it started. The autopilot. I got put in a psych unit for “at risk youth”

Drinking pretty fun.

12. I kissed my best friend this year. I told her how I felt about girls, and she feels the same way. I’m not alone.

11. Boy crazy. But, that girl on tv is catching my attention.

10. Why don’t boys interest me like they do my peers? Boy crazy.

9.

8. I don’t know why I feel like this. I’m so young yet my mind is so dark. Full of self hate. I got suspended because a teacher caught me throwing my bloody razor in the bathroom garbage can. I don’t think I’m normal.

7. The older girl across the street molested me. Though I don’t know that word nor the action until much later.

6.

5. Kindergarten is really fun. I really love my teacher.

4.I see aunt lora when I go to daycare. She works in the kitchen, I see her a lot.

3.

2.

1. My grandmother took me in at two months old. Freshly home from the nicu, born 10 weeks early and almost died from rsv.

0. I bet my mom was so happy. When she found out she was having a girl. I bet she loved me so much.

[gaemkyuu]

So...Boyfriend? Boyfriend.

Warnings: death of a loved one and grief. There is one mention to drinking a bottle of wine but all characters in the story are above the age of 21. A/N: this is based off a post @ah2113​ made a little while ago! I liked the idea and decided to write a cute fluffy piece on it! Hope you like it! “Reader and Charlie are best friends and they met on JATP. Charlie and the reader are in love with each other but don’t know. The readers grandma passes away and she calls Charlie, who is in a completely different state/country, in tears about the situation. Charlie feels horrible and completely drops everything he’s doing and immediately flies out to the reader and surprises them. He is with them throughout the whole viewing and funeral and meets her entire family. Everybody mistakens him for the readers boyfriend because of how much he is doing to help and tells the reader that he is clearly in love with them.”  Disclaimer: This is a FICITONAL writing piece! In no way do I claim characters in this piece act this way in real life. 

Masterlist *now taking requests ;)

So...Boyfriend? Boyfriend.

Bzzz. Bzzz.

Charlie was in the middle of an interview when his phone started vibrating. Normally he kept it on airplane mode, but today he forgot. He quickly reached for his phone and saw her name pop up on the screen, losing focus for a brief moment on the interview. 

“Pardon me? Could you repeat the question?” Charlie was trying so hard to focus on the interview at hand but knowing he was on the last question, made it all the more difficult to focus when he knew she was calling.

“Charlie, the fans want to know. Are you single?” he chuckled but since he was distracted, he didn’t give a really good answer.

“Kinda” he regretted it as soon as it left his mouth and the fact that he started blushing made the situation worse! Thankfully the interviewer didn’t press any further into the matter and made a casual joke about it. They quickly wrapped the interview knowing that Charlie had another one scheduled right afterwards, but he had a few minutes to make up a phone call.

Amelie had worked on set for season one of Julie as a hair and make up artist and shocked many at how talented she was for her age. She got along well with the cast and would often hang out with them on their days off, but for some reason she gravitated the most to Charlie. Everyone often teased them about the chemistry they had and how they would make a great couple but both of them would laugh at the comments and deny any feelings towards one another. They were simply nothing more but really good friends.

Or so they thought.

Amelie was head over heels for the brunette and Charlie for her. She loved his smile and enthusiasm for life. She admired his work ethic and passion for what he did. She would squash every thought about being with Charlie because he was too good for her. She liked the weirdest things and entertained people with the most random facts. She could spend hours in an art and fashion museum, when most people could only spend so much time. Amelie saw herself as weird and knew that Charlie saw her as nothing more than a friend.

The opposite was true. Charlie loved her quirkiness and nerdiness around the strangest things. He loved that she was always so modest and humble, even though she had all the right to brag at how amazing she was at her talents. He loved how she was always up for trying something new and that she had an eye for fashion, design and art, but he knew she didn’t see him as anything more than a friend. That still didn’t stop Charlie from always being there for her.

“Charlie?” her voice came out in a broken and quiet whisper. He could tell that she was crying and he instantly felt his stomach drop. A few sniffles came from the other line before the voice spoke again. “She’s gone Charlie... Grandmaman is gone...” he could hear her voice start to shake again.

“Say the word Amelie and I am there” Charlie glanced at his watch,8:55pm. He had five more minutes until the next interview with the pop culture podcast from Sydney. This meant that it was 5:00am in London, where Amelie was working on Netflix’s newest series. “Ams?”

“It’s okay. I’m okay. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to disturb you, I just didn’t know who else to talk to...” she sniffled quietly not sure what else to say.

“What time are you leaving to get to set?” 8:57pm, he was running out of time. He saw the notification that the next interviewer had signed on to their zoom meeting.

“I gotta be on set at 7:00am so the van will be here to pick me up at 6:30am. It’s my last day on set, so there’s that” she sniffled again, feeling herself calm down with Charlie on the other line. She desperately needed him, but she couldn’t ask him that. He was doing press for season 2 of Julie and the Phantoms and he needed to be available, not off consoling his friend who was madly in love with him. 

“Amelie, listen, I have to jump onto the next interview, but try to get a little more sleep and drink some water. I’ll call you as soon as I’m done. When are you flying back?” Charlie felt awful having to hang up on her when he knew she needed him.

“I’ll be on the next flight out to Vancouver. Hopefully there’s a flight this evening back to Canada. My mom’s really upset and my siblings are rushing to get home for her” Amelie took a deep breath and listened to the frustrated sigh on the other end. He was probably annoyed that she called him. “Thank you for picking up Char”

“Anything for you Ams... I’m really sorry but I have to go now... If you’re busy when I call, can you let me know when you’re at the airport?” Amelie agreed and hung up the phone, flopping on the bed and a silent stream of tears falling from her eyes again. Meanwhile, Charlie sat in his LA bedroom, head in hands frustrated that he couldn’t be there for her.

***

Amelie watched out the window as the plane landed in Vancouver. She felt an anxiousness to get off the plane and be with her mom, but she knew she had to go through security and baggage. She didn’t notice that her leg was restlessly bouncing until the nice old lady beside her placed a hand on her lap. 

“Excited are we?” she smiled at her kindly and Amelie blushed, a little embarrassed. “I was once in love too. I get the feeling”

“Actually, I’m just anxious to be with my mom... My grandmother passed away yesterday and I wanna be there for her” the old lady’s smile changed to an empathetic one and she patted her knee.

“I’m sorry for your loss my dear... I lost my sister a year ago today. It is not an easy thing to grieve and I can tell that your soul feels heavy. You might want to think about sharing that load with someone” she smiled. A flight attendant interrupted their conversation letting them know that she had priority to leave the plane. The old woman then looked at Amelie and winked. “They’re letting us off the plane now honey. Thank you miss, but my daughter can grab my bags from the upper compartment, can’t she” baffled at the kindness of the old woman, Amelie dumbly nodded and stood to help her. As they made their way through the gate, an attendant was waiting for the old woman. “You can leave my bags with this gentle man” she smiled.

“Thank you, you didn’t have to do that” the old woman took her hand. “Your mother is fortunate to have you as a daughter. Now go and be with her” Amelie smiled and gave the old woman a hug, and teared up a bit remembering her own grandmother. Wiping away a tear, Amelie said thank you again and headed off to get her bags. To no surprise, getting her suitcase was a gong show because they had to share a lane with another flight. By the time she got there, tons of people waited right by the carousel for their bags, making Amelie stand in the back and tippy toe to see a glimpse of her bag. She was fortunate that a man had helped her as she squeezed her way to the front, waiting for her bag. With a deep breath, she exited the doors and dialed her mother.

“Hello? Maman? What car are you in? Oh wait! I see it!” Amelie quickly rushed outside of the door at YVR to get to her mother’s vehicle. She was able to find a flight that evening and she left right away. The flight was long, but she was able to make it home to her mother’s side in 24 hours. She trotted over to her mother’s vehicle that pulled into the loading zone, flashing their hazards on, her mother getting out of the passenger side. Amelie stopped for a moment, confused that her mother wasn’t driving the car. Her mother quickly embraced her in her arms and both of them shared a tearful hug. “Who’s driving maman?”

Charlie stepped out of the driver’s seat and took Amelie’s suitcase from her, as she stood there with her mouth open. “Surprise?” she immediately felt a sudden wave of emotion wash over her and she jumped into Charlie’s waiting arms crying as he held her tight. She felt sadness and happiness while grieving over her Grandmother and feeling elated at the sudden presence of the boy.

“How?” she sniffled and pulled away, wiping her tears.

“Charlie knew how sad you were over Grandmaman, so he texted me late last night and flew in early this morning” her mother explained. Amelie’s mother knew of her crush on the boy and always encouraged her to pursue the relationship further, but she always insisted to her mother that they would be nothing more than friends. Her mother would roll her eyes at her daughter every time she said that, knowing that the chemistry and the feelings were there, but the two were just too stubborn to admit it.

“That’s what friends are for right?” 

Right. Friends.

***

After being picked up at the airport, they went straight to her mother’s house and helped her mom plan out things for the funeral. Naturally, Charlie became the chauffer, driving Amelie and her mom around the city to make various appointments with funeral directors and lawyers. Amelie’s grandmother gave birth to five children and never remarried after her husband passed away. Amelie had very little recollection of her grandfather as he passed away when she was quite young. Each of her mother’s siblings had at least three kids and each child had at least three kids, making their family huge. That didn’t include her mother’s cousins and their families, all of which would be flying in to attend the funeral in two days time.

Running around was an emotionally exhausting task, not to mention the exhaustion that came with grief. The two women were grateful that Charlie was around for them that day as Amelie’s siblings slowly started to get into town. He ordered pizza for everyone, knowing that all of her siblings would be in Vancouver in time for the funeral. Her grandmother was clear that she wanted the viewing and funeral to be combined into one day, not wanting to prolong her burial process, something that they honored. But with that request, it meant a lot had to be done.

Amelie had four siblings, all of which were older than her, making her the baby of the family. Her brother Benoit had moved to New Brunswick to live with the love of his life Maxime, and he was the second to arrive. He had work to take care of and unfortunately Maxime couldn’t get the time off. Benoit got along very well with Charlie, connecting over Dieppe and how it differed from Fredericton where Benoit lived with his partner. Her twin sisters Rachelle and Rene got into Vancouver right before dinner and actually carried the pizza inside while Charlie paid. Both sisters lived in Toronto, one training on the Olympic figure skating team and the other working in Parliament. Throughout the night, they joked about how cute Charlie was and how they were both single and didn’t mind dating someone younger. This annoyed Amelie but she wouldn’t admit that to anyone. Her third oldest brother, Theo, was the last to arrive, getting in way past dinner but before midnight. He lived in New York pursuing photography and had to finish a shoot before he could come home. Hearing this, Charlie asked him multiple questions about photography when they sat around their mother’s fireplace that night. It was nice to be able to gather as a family before the craziness of their relatives. French Canadian families were big, loud and full of personality, but Amelie knew Charlie understood this dynamic very well.

The next two days passed by in a blur with Charlie helping out wherever he could and sometimes locking himself in her mother’s office to do an interview or meeting here and there. Amelie was so grateful for him because every time she felt overwhelmed or that she was going to cry, he somehow made it to her side, comforting her and helping her be strong. Rachelle and Rene kept telling her to claim Charlie before they did, but Amelie would always insist that they were friends. But when her brothers got involved, Amelie couldn’t help but think that maybe her siblings were right. Maybe she should ask Charlie out, but how could she do that when her entire family was still dealing with the loss of her grandmother?

Just last night, Charlie sat up late into the evening comforting Amelie as she put the slideshow together on her Macbook. She could hardly look at the pictures or listen to the music without tearing up and having mini cry sessions on his shoulder, something he took in stride. It also didn’t help that she had consumed an entire bottle of wine...

In all honesty, Charlie couldn’t be more happy to be by her side at this moment. He knew how hard it was to lose a loved one, especially since he lost his grandmother before filming season one of Julie and the Phantoms. Being here for her was important to him and he wanted to show her that she could always come to him. When she passed out on his shoulder that night, he thought about how badly he wanted to be with her as he tucked her in bed. He loved how she snuggled into his shoulder as he finished up the slide show and he loved that she reached out for him and called his name in her sleep as he walked away. He kissed your forehead goodnight and hated the fact that he couldn’t just call you his.

A soft knock at the door interrupted Amelie’s day dream of her grandmother. She wiped the tears that have unexpectedly fallen from her eyes and took a deep breath. “Come in” her voice was shakier than she wanted it to be, but relief washed over her when Charlie walked in wearing a black dress shirt and tie. He smiled empathetically to her and approached her with open arms, something she gladly accepted. She inhaled his scent, burying her face in his chest, while he rested his head on top of hers. 

“You ready?” Charlie held her tight as he asked this question. This would be the first and last time Amelie would be seeing her deceased grandmother.

“I should be asking you that question” she softly giggled. Charlie would be meeting all of her relatives today, including her annoying cousin Madeleine. 

“You forget that I too have a big family. It’ll be fine. Plus, I’m here for you and not them” Amelie pulled away from the hug to stare him in the eyes, silently figuring whether now was a time to discuss her feelings or not. In the end, she decided against it and smiled softly at him, which he returned.

“Thank you for being here Char... It really means a lot” he chuckled and pulled her close for a second hug, something she would never tire hearing.

“Anything for you Ams. Anything.”

***

The funeral and mass went according to plan and soon enough they found themselves in the church basement with a slide show of her grandmother playing in the background, while guests visited the pastries and beverages being served. Amelie was occupied with the many questions her aunts and uncles had about her career and how she was doing, but she couldn’t help but worry about Charlie. Throughout her conversations with her relatives, she watched Charlie help out her mother with the pastries and beverages, stopping once in a while to entertain the younger cousins at the children’s table. She smiled at him gratefully for helping out so much, but grew a little nervous when her nosy aunts and uncles pulled him aside and started interviewing him. It seemed like he was handling himself fine, but Amelie felt even more confident when he made eye contact with her and winked. 

“Well if it isn’t the Hollywood superstar.” Amelie could feel herself cringe at the sound of the voice. It was Madeline, Amelie’s cousin. They were the same age and same stature, but they couldn’t be more opposite. Madeline pursued modeling at a young age and still continued to do it, but for some reason, she always felt that everything was a competition. Amelie wanted to simply be cousins, but Madeline would take every opportunity to upstage her or show off to their aunts and uncles. Amelie didn’t really care, but the more she didn’t the more vicious Madeleine became. At one point in their lives, Madeleine had moved to Vancouver for more opportunities and ended up living with her family. This caused a lot of drama between the two of them, including Madeleine dating several of her exes and bringing them to family events.

“Hey Mads. Long time no see” Amelie forced herself to be nice and polite, even though she felt her cousin didn’t deserve it. Her black dress was a little too tight and a little too revealing for a funeral, but she wasn’t about to bring that up. “How have you been?”

“Oh you know, living it up in Paris, traveling all over Europe for different modeling jobs. It’s exhausting, but I’m sure you know of it” anyone could hear the sarcasm and apprehension in her voice. Her aunts awkwardly moved away, making up some excuse about visiting other family members so that they could catch up. “How does it feel to be working on a children’s show?”

“I mean, I love what I do, so I can’t complain” Amelie bit her tongue before she could say anything rude. She never understood why her cousin always felt the need to announce how much better she was over her.

“So... optimistic. What’s it feel like to settle?” she felt the blood rush to her face, starting to lose control of her emotions. This was not the place or time to have this conversation, yet Madeline persisted. She took a deep breath trying to level herself and forced a smile on her face. As she opened her mouth to reply, she felt a warm hand hug her lower back and the slight smell of cologne fill the air.

“Everything alright babe?” she blushed at the name and gesture from Charlie, who kissed the top of her head. Madeline flushed and her eyes were as wide as saucers. “Oh hi, I don’t believe we’ve met, I’m Charlie” he reached out his hand towards Madeline, keeping the other wrapped around Amelie. 

“Madeline. It’s nice to meet you Charlie. You’re an actor from the show that she worked on, right? What are you doing here?” Amelie could hear the faintest trace of annoyance in her voice, and shook his hand. Charlie and Amelie looked at each other, a cocky smile on Charlie’s face and slight confusion on Amelie’s. 

“I’m her boyfriend and I came to support her. I’m sure you’ve been dealing with the grief as well and I couldn’t let her go through this alone” part of what Charlie said was true, but Amelie couldn’t help but blush at the mention of boyfriend. No one had actually asked Charlie if they were dating, but a lot of relatives were beating around the bush. Apparently Charlie had said that rather loudly and some of the relatives started gossiping in a hushed voice. 

“Wow Amelie. I didn’t know you had such good taste in men based on your past partners” Charlie laughed at the comment, something Madeline didn’t suspect.

“I wouldn’t say I’m good taste, but Ams if definitely a catch” he gloated and kissed her cheek, causing Amelie to blush furiously. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I actually came over because your mom needs some help” if there was one thing Amelie could count on, it would be Charlie’s ability to read a situation and get her out of it. “Shall we, my love?” she nodded and walked away from Madeline flushed and confused, but also really excited. He moved his hand from her back to her hand, softly dragging her away from the conversation.

“Boyfriend?” Amelie whispered to him, inferring the comments he made to Madeline. 

“I know she ruffles your feathers, so why not ruffle hers?” Benoit interrupted Charlie, asking him if he could help put some of the tables from upstairs away. “You’re mom’s in the kitchenette, you can probably hide there for a bit. I got you a plate of pastries that I stashed in the back” she thanked him and watched him walk away with her brother. Before she could take another step, Rachelle and Rene linked arms with her on either side and rushed her into the kitchenette.

“So you’re dating now?!” Rene questioned and before Amelie could answer, Rachelle interrupted her. “When were you going to tell us this?!”

“About time” her mother scoffed, stirring another jug of fruit punch. “Okay you two, leave your sister alone to breathe for a second. Take these pitchers out to the table and find Theo. Make sure Tante Genevive hasn’t stolen him for a private photoshoot for Facebook” Amelie was grateful that her mother shooed the twins off and passed her the plate that Charlie put aside. 

“Thanks Maman” her mother smiled smugly at her, moving about the kitchenette. “Please don’t say I told you so” her mother made the motion to zip her lips as she giddily made her way around the kitchen.

***

That evening, Amelie’s family stumbled through the front door of her mother’s house, everyone retiring to their rooms for a short moment of relaxation while their mother ordered take out for a late dinner. They had stayed behind to clean up with a few other relatives and put away the church tables and chairs. Charlie didn’t complain a single time and rushed to do whatever he could to help everyone out. Charlie followed Amelie up the stairs to her old bedroom and shut the door behind him as she plopped onto the bed. Part of Amelie did this was because she was tired, but the other part of her did it hopefully to avoid the conversation they were about to have. Charlie quietly sat beside her on the bed and played with her hair, something she absolutely loved.

“So, about today...” this conversation was happening whether she wanted it to or not.

“It was really nice of you to stand up for me but you didn’t have to. I have no problem telling my family it was a small misunderstanding. It should stop them from blabbering to the media” She sat up and Charlie looked incredulously at Amelie confused at what she was saying.

“Ams, I don’t think you get it” again, she interrupted him before he could continue.

“No I do, I get it. You’re an amazing friend Char and you didn’t have to risk the rumours for-” she didn’t complete the thought because Charlie’s lips were suddenly on hers and she completely melted into them. It was like this tension that she never acknowledged left her shoulders, making her feel like she was floating.

“Do you understand now?” he searched her eyes for some sort of confirmation. “I really like you Amelie and I’ve liked you for a long time, but I’ve always thought you wanted to be friends”

“I wanted to be friends?! I thought you friend zoned me first!” he gave her a look for interrupting him. “Sorry”

“Regardless of what happened, being with you here and helping you and your family throughout all of this made me want to be a part of your life so much more. I want to be more than your friend. I know this is a bad time to say this, but I don’t think I can keep pretending that I don’t want to be with you” he held her hand in his and drew nearer to her again. “I really want to be with you if you’ll have me”

She closed the gap between the two of them and kissed him this time, something which Charlie gladly accepted. The two shared a simple but passionate kiss, as if they were confessing two years of secret feelings to each other. A bang at the door startled them.

“Put your pants on! Maman wants you guys to go pick up the take out!” Benoit yelled from behind the door. The two flushed at the comment and heard the snickers and giggles from the other siblings.

“So...boyfriend?”

“Boyfriend.”

[lovemesomesurveys]

1 - If you have caffeine late in the day, does it cause you to struggle with your sleep? No. Caffeine really doesn’t do much for me in terms of giving me energy anymore. I drink coffee because I genuinely like it and it does help some, like with taking the edge off. I’m a little bit less of a zombie. 

2 - When you struggle to sleep, what do you do instead? So, my nightly routine consists of watching YouTube videos, listening to ASMR, scrolling through Tumblr, and doing surveys. 

3 - Who was the last person you spoke to for the first time? How did you come to speak to this person? The new doctor I met with last month.

4 - If you have a pet, have they ever embarrassed you in public or in front of friends or family members? What happened? Nope.

5 - Do you leave the house every single day? Ha, no. Not even close. Since the pandemic hit last March I’ve only been leaving the house once a month for my doctor appointment. For a few years prior to the pandemic I certainly wasn’t leaving the house everyday, but I did a few times a month at least as opposed to just once. 

6 - Would you rather spend the day at the beach, or a day in the snow in the mountains? Oh, man. I’d love to do both.

7 - Do you prefer tops that are plain, or ones with patterns/logos/slogans? I like my graphic tees.

8 - Are there any TV shows from your childhood that you still watch today? Yeah, several such as Rugrats, Hey Arnold, Doug, Sister, Sister, Full House, Step by Step, Family Matters, Boy Meets World, Roseanne, and The Golden Girls.

9 - How many texts would you say you send on an average day? I don’t text everyday and when I do text it’s typically just a few quick texts at most, like I’m not having ongoing conversations.

10 - Do you enjoy buying gifts for other people, or do you never know what to buy them? I love buying gifts for my loved ones.

11 - Girls - if you get periods, do you suffer from period pain or any other horrible symptoms? I have awful pain and other symptoms. 

12 - The last time you were in a car, where you were travelling to? Were you the driver or a passenger? I went to the doctor, to get food and coffee, and then headed back home. I was the passenger of course since I don’t drive.

13 - Who were you with the last time you went out for a meal? My mom and brother. That was over a year ago now.

14 - What book do you wish they’d make into a film or TV series? The Emma Griffin mystery series by AJ Rivers that I’ve read could be an interesting TV series, I think.

15 - The age old question - do you prefer coke or pepsi? Coke.

16 - What’s the last thing you watched on TV? Is this a programme you watch regularly? The Golden Girls and yes.

17 - Do you have a favourite documentary subject (eg. nature, celebrities, history, crime)? True crime docs.

18 - Do you prefer sweet or savoury snacks? What snack would you say is your overall favourite? I enjoy both.

19 - Does having to wear a mask stop you from doing anything, just because you dislike them or find them uncomfortable? They don’t bother me, but perhaps that’s because I only leave the house once a month for an hour or two at most, so I’m not having to wear one very long. 

20 - Do you prefer zip-up or overheard hoodies? Zip ups.

21 - If you have a yard or garden, how much time do you spend out there? I don’t. I don’t have any interest in gardening.

22 - When was the last time someone bought you flowers? What was the occasion? A family friend did for my birthday a few years ago.

23 - How often do you get takeaway? What’s your favourite thing to order? Most days of the week to be honest. My favorite to get is Wingstop, which I get like 2-3 times a week.

24 - Do you own a lot of clothing items in your favourite colour? What is your favourite colour, anyway? Most of my clothes are black. I have several favorite colors, black is one of them.

25 - When was the last time you stayed overnight away from home? Was this with friends, family or in a hotel somewhere? What was the occasion? Around this time last year at a hotel during my Disneyland vacation with my mom and brother. We went for my brother’s 21st birthday.

26 - Would you ever be interested in seeing a live magic show? Sure, I think it’d be fun.

27 - What’s your favourite period to learn about in history? What got you interested in this particular era? Various times and events.

28 - Do you still use or carry cash, or do you pay for everything via card? I generally use a card, I rarely have cash.

29 - Are there any TV shows that remind you of your grandparents for some reason? The Golden Girls is one because my grandma and I used to watch it together.

30 - Have you ever had to wear a tie for school or work? If not, do you know how to tie a tie without looking it up? Nope to both.

[alittleroseandhoneyblog-blog]

Sticks and Stones

A comment left on one of my photos!*

Let’s start this by simply saying Thank you!

Thank you for taking the time to comment on one of my photos – thank you for providing your opinion on a topic that we as women face on a daily basis – I want you to know that when you attacked my body, you did not effect me in a negative way – you did not discolor my self esteem, you did not hurt me (as I have been through far worse) and you certainly did not make me think any less of myself– in fact you empowered me.

You’ve made me stronger, so thank you!    

In many ways you are right, your opinion is exactly that – but it’s your form of “fit” that I do not fit into – not mine (or those who love me)  You see, this whole industry is in the eye of the beholder – it’s what we choose to get out of the process that matters, it’s all indifferent and perhaps if you removed your rose-colored glasses you would see beauty in all the different shapes and sizes the human body comes in rather then taunting those around you for not having your form of fit.

Those comments set us back, they linger and are a leading cause of so much self doubt and self sabotage and that conversation needs to change, you cannot be teaching children that – in fact, you should be educating yourself because YOUR perception of what “FIT” is needs to change.

FIT is defined as

“in good health”

……especially because of regular physical exercise.  

Well, that sounds like me…I mean

I have climbed the CN tower stairs, twice – all 1,776 of them.

I dance, every day for upwards of an hour or two

I lift weights every day

I fuel my body properly; I do not diet or restrict what foods I put into my body (because I am human)

So contrary to an unsolicited opinion on MY body…I AM FIT and here’s the thing- YOU (whoever you were) don’t get to decide – 

I have moved past that way of thinking – and I invite you to as well!  

I am not an expert.  I do not have a flashy background it fitness, I am not a trainer or a nutritionist – but what I do have is life experience, I’ve been through trauma (that I am still healing from) I have demons that I have been so ashamed to face until recently because of fear of judgement from not only strangers but from people who frequent my table.  The truth is none of this is easy to talk about, no one wants to stand up and talk about their body in a negative way, or relive their toxic relationships no one wants to risk appearing weak when there is already so much judgment out there, but guess what, we all have pasts, we all have gone through something that has lead us to be who we are today and just because someone has a similar story and lived through similar situations (and survived) doesn’t mean that your story is any less validated, it doesn’t make the experience any less traumatic or hard and it certainly doesn’t mean that you don’t have the right to tell it – we tell our stories in hopes that it helps someone so that it shows that we can go through dark times and still rise – we should be encouraging people to read their chapters out loud instead of claiming rights to something that many of us have faced whether its disordered eating, body image, mental health, self sabotage, relationships…and so much more. 

My first ever heartbreak had a lot to do with my weight at 21 … I will never forget how I watched a man that I loved fall out of love with me as the number on the scale went up. I was insecure about it but we never talked about it - I never asked the right questions I never asked if he was still attracted to me (as he gained the same “happy” weight I did) I didn’t ask if he was falling out of love with me but up until that point I never struggled with my body image and I believed that the number on the scale didn’t define me – but the truth is, it DID (in my own mind at least) – and in the end he broke up with me.  Truthfully, I can pinpoint that to exactly when my negative relationship with my body started.  B and I ate out a lot and If we weren’t eating out then I was cooking big meals that were greasy and with portion sizes that were out of control, I thought food solved everything. I gained about 30 “happy pounds” and hit my second puberty. My hips went up 5 sizes, my boobs were out of control and I didn’t recognize the girl I saw in the mirror anymore.

Dating as a chubby girl was seriously depressing so much so that I tried online dating (I know, save the judgment for later) I remember only using pictures of my face and avoiding anything that showed my body – and I ended up meeting this guy and after a few days of us texting we went for a movie (we had a wonderful time and he seemed really into me) but unfortunately on the ride home he pulled over 3 times and PULLED IT OUT…(I am not joking and there is a whole other story to this) anyways – I declined – politely (3 times, once with tears lol)  I could tell that his ego was a little hurt.  Shortly after he dropped me off at home I got a message from him that said… “you know you’re a lot bigger in person” as if that was the reason he wasn’t going to see me again - (not that he was a total pig) but honestly I was shocked and so embarrassed that someone openly commented on my weight (that wasn’t my grandma) and I wont lie It really hurt my feelings,  but I politely reminded him that the weight was something I could easily work off, but he was stuck with a small dick for the rest of his life (lol) and so we never spoke again (until he came across my social media last year and has been creeping ever since!!)

The truth is in that moment I became so desperate to have my old body back - to be able to fit into my old pair of jeans (the “before” him jeans) that I started skipping meals – I lied to my loved ones about what I was putting in my body - I ended up in the hospital - multiple times with stomach pain and exhaustion - I took a leave of absence from work because I was too sick to even get out of bed.  

I DID THAT - I starved my body and all I can remember thinking at the time was that it worked, I lost the weight as if it was some miracle.  It didn’t change anything- I was still sad, I was still skipping meals and I knew that mentally I was not in a good place and it didn’t help that 6 months after the break up that spiraled all those negative feelings just announced he was getting married.  This went on for about a year, where I struggled with disordered eating and my body image - I met matt, at my thinnest and I maintained that as long as I could - fast forward to pregnancy (which turned out the be incredibly unhealthy) I was still  starving my body, its really the only pattern I knew and I continued to watch my weight,  I didn’t want a repeat of what happened with B, So I limited my calorie intake – But once I realized what I was doing I started eating smaller meals more often, then the portions became larger, and within a few weeks I went from not eating the foods I wanted to eating everything in sight.  I would over-eat…and then eat and then eat some more…and in 3 months I gained almost 40lbs (60lbs my total pregnancy), went borderline Diabetic and ended up having a premature birth at 7 months followed by my gallbladder being removed shortly after-  great experience, right!  

My mentality at that time was “Well my body is changing anyways, may as well enjoy it…”

Or “I’ve already gained this much weight, what’s another few pounds….”

WRONG, wrong, wrong WRONG - that is not a healthy mentality at all and again is a part of that self sabotaging culture that we as women live in.

I wasn’t surprised that 5 years later I still owned 95% of that “baby weight”, I knew I needed to get serious – I put blinders on when it came to my health I was overweight, I was lazy and I lacked motivation to work out and it wasn’t until about a year ago that I actually committed to something that worked for me… (did you catch that… “something that worked for me”, because everyone is different ) Anyways- It certainly didn’t happen overnight, and I had to overcome a lot of personal demons that ended up being bigger then just a negative body image - I had to get raw and admit that in some situations I was the toxic person – that I allowed my circumstances and for that I carried so much guilt. 

The point is! 

As human beings we need to learn to co-exsist with all of our demons whether its food, weight or body shape or even our mental health – we need to be as patient with ourselves as we are others, mindful of our own feelings, our own needs and we need to cultivate in them.  This is why this conversation is so important to me – why I choose to address certain things, why my social media is public- no one but me has the right to narrate my story and so the best I can do is live well,  without fear of judgment, comfortable in my skin, in my decisions 

- Although I am as open as I can be, I choose to be very conscious about what I post on social media (for a few reasons) - One is simple, my husband has to approve of the content being posted. Out of respect and love for that man who has supported me unconditionally throughout this process, regardless of being 1000% confident in my “now” body, he prefers some things to stay private (in which I totally agree) but the other is because there are people (no scratch that) women out there whose “dream body” is my “then” body –  and the words I use to describe how I felt in my own skin during that time can damage someone else’s perception of their dream body, it can become discouraging – But understand this, I know now that my body was actually never the problem. That additional weight I carried, was beautiful. I admit there have been things that I have been insecure about, yes but that was society making me believe that my body didn’t look right,  that was social media and marketing saying you are only worthy of real love at a 120lb and everything else is unlovable.  That was my own self sabotage that made me believe I wasn’t good enough as is and so I went to drastic measures to try and comply to what society told me beautiful should be and throughout this entire process I wish I would have told myself sooner that being a size 12 did not change my banging personality or my sense of humour and being a size 8 didn’t change my heart, or how I viewed the world and being a size 4 now doesn’t make me any better of a person then I was 10 years ago when I felt my worth was dictated by the number on the scale.  I have had to accept that not everyone will see “fit” the same way I do and unfortunately because I have decided to put my life on social media the way I do, I have opened a window for others to form that opinion of me, I have allowed them judge me, to be passive towards me or to even question my character and in some cases those opinions will be voiced but I welcome them and if by chance you are that person who wants to dim my light know this you can’t break me - I am 10000% comfortable and confident in who I am – Broken past, Belly fat, cellulite, saggy boobs and all (Lol)

I will end with this, I will not apologize for “showing off” as I have earned the right to – I will not apologize for over coming the two worst relationships I’ve ever had and will ever have in my life (food and my self worth) – I will not apologize for being my own version of fit even if it doesn’t align with yours and I certainly will not apologize for being who I am.

As far as I am concerned, as long as you are not harming others in any way, live unapologetically in all you do.  You don’t need validation from anyone or anything!

[deliverydefresas]

masters of the scene

I know it’s been like, a century, but better late than never amirite? Happy birthday to this fic and thank you to everyone who’s still reading it. I love you all. 

I re-read it twice but honestly this probs has as many mistakes as if I hadn’t lmao. In case you don’t remember / have missed a part:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 + 6.5 | 7 | 8 | (this one will be considered 9.3 since there’s two more parts to be posted)

♥

AU: Matteo Balsano is a famous singer who has been crushing on this one girl he saw every day behind a window many years ago, back when he first started recording his debut album and inspired his first big hit, Princesa. Luna Valente, professional Olympic skater turned actress is at a local (and very popular) talk show to promote her breakout movie. This is where it all starts.

♥

When someone mentioned the words bachelorette party, Luna pictured women enjoying themselves, lots of bottles of alcohol, games that are fun after five drinks, and maybe a stripper or two. She, definitely, didn’t imagine herself in a corner, scared of facing the bride’s tantrum. No joke here, she’d seen Yam’s cousin crossing herself before she informed her they’d gotten the tablecloths they’d ordered for the wedding, a silent prayer to keep the already stressed bride calm. But, of course, the universe hated them and decided whoever oversaw the cloths, to pick the ‘wrong’ shade of red.

“I specifically asked for cadmium red, not this cheap ass lipstick red! Are you so fucking blind you can’t distinguish from two different colors? How can you be this incompetent?” She saw most of the people flinch at Yam’s tone; Luna felt for them, she too wanted to be anywhere else. “They are different colors! If you can’t tell one from the other why would you even offer them in your catalogue?!” As Yam continued to yell, Luna saw her friend’s mom apologizing for her daughter’s outburst, offering everyone another round of drinks, before dragging the blonde to another room to continue her call.  Jim sighed tiredly – poor girl had had to endure her best friend’s moods far longer than anyone in the room- slipping her margarita to Nina’s hand – not before emptying it all in a gulp-, as she hurriedly left to follow the screams.

“If I ever become this level of bridezilla, please slap my face with the tablecloth.” Luna told Nina, sipping on her mojito, silently laughing when they heard Yam cursing someone once more.

“Only if you return the favor.” Her best friend proposed, offering her glass of water to her, her duty as DD kept her alcohol free for the evening.

She happily clicked her glass with hers, sealing the deal. After both had sipped on them, Luna spoke again, “time really flew by. I still remember the day Yam came to lunch waving her hand on our faces because Ramiro had proposed, and now…” she sighed.

“She’s only days away from spending the rest of her life with the guy she loves...”

Luna snorted. “Or having a heart attack because another insignificant detail got messed up, whichever happens first.” Nina laughs with her for a moment, sipping the last of her drink before changing the subject.

“How’s the roller coming along?” her friend asks, as if she hadn’t spent most of the last three months inside the building with her.  

“Slow. Tiring. Hopefully great, though.”

“Still going over paperwork?”

She sighed, “yeah. Who knew buying a building and reconstructing it to open a skating rink was so laborious?”

Nina offered her a reassuring smile, extending her hand to squeeze hers in support. “You’re doing more than great, L. Soon your dreams will be a reality and all this work will be worth it.”

“I know, I know. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck, though.” Her best friend laughed.

“Don’t pretend you’re not the one who insisted on reviewing everything and every little step, Luna. You could have easily left it to your trusty lawyer and architect, but you didn’t and here you are now.”

Luna huffed out, “excuse me for wanting to make sure everything is perfect.” She knew Nina was only kidding, so she tried to make it sound like a joke; even if she only half-meant it. You couldn’t half-ass a business, you just couldn’t; not unless your goal with it was to end up broke and deep in debt.

“And it will be. It might take time, but it will.” Nina said reassuringly, not an ounce of hesitance in her voice.

“Thank you, N.” She sipped her mojito once more, “now, will you tell me what’s bothering you? You’ve been playing with your necklace since we got here, and I doubt it’s because of Yam getting on your nerves.” Then again, Luna at least had alcohol to sooth the yelling and bear the ridiculous games, Nina’s soberness surely was playing against her.

“I’ve got something to tell you and I’m not sure how you’re going to react, and  I don’t want you to get mad at me, so…”

“So you’re choosing not to tell me?” she frowned. She hated when people did that; after all, if they gave her a head up beforehand, she’d save herself the unpleasures of being surprised.

“No, no. I just- well I just wasn’t sure how to tell you. It’s kinda… it’s to do with a certain someone.”   Oh.

Oh.

While Luna didn’t choose to avoid having Matteo as a topic of conversation, she purposefully didn’t bring him up, so, neither did Nina. Until now, apparently.

The fiasco at his apartment had been left unspoken after her plans with the Roller started to pan out. Partly because she didn’t have enough free time to do dwell on it, and partly because she still cringed whenever she reminded herself of what had happened with him. She’d still kept up with him through Delfi’s offhanded comments on their ‘lessons’, and – embarrassingly enough- through a couple magazines there and there. Not that she believed anything they’d written about him; she highly doubted he’d brought three lions to exhibit at a party in his apartment.

Point was, even if she didn’t particularly have the lady balls to talk to him again and call a truce, she still cared enough to make sure he was somewhat okay.

“Matteo isn’t Voldemort, Nina, you can say his name out loud and nothing will happen.” Nina gave her a sheepish smile.

“I know, but since we haven’t talked about him in a while I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a problem.”

“Well, it isn’t, so you can say whatever you have to.” Luna urged her, sipping her drink once more, her curiosity getting the best of her.

“So, you know how I said I’d asked Eric to be my date for the wedding?”

“Yeah, but then you said his grandma broke her hip, or something, and he cancelled on you.” She frowned, “did you ask Matteo to be your date?” Luna didn’t try to hide her surprise. Had her best friend reached out to him? Became close friends and didn’t tell her?

“No! No, no, no! I would never do that to you! I asked Gastón. You know, his best friend? We’ve talked from time to time and since I didn’t want to stay glued to Yam’s cousin more than necessary, I asked him if he could come. He said yes.”

Now she was confused. “Okay… is Matteo coming? Or why were you worried I’d react badly?”

“You’re not mad?” Nina asked timidly, as if she’d explode on her for this.

“No! Why would I? Matteo and I’s disaster is that – ours-, you can be friends with his best friend and invite him wherever, N. To get mad at you for having friends would be ridiculous; just like you thinking I’d get mad at you for this.”  

“Better safe than sorry, no?” Luna shook her head, letting out a small chuckle. Nina spoke again, “and the answer is no.” At her confused expression, she clarified, “he’s not coming. At least, I don’t think he is, neither Yam or Ramiro are in his circle, and you know Yam would tell you if she had invited him.”

“Yeah. I guess so.” Their conversation was cut as Yam, her mom, and Jim entered the room once again. The bride significantly happier, and her companions a lot more relieved.

The moment Yam’s words left her lips, she was glad she was on her third mojito.

“Who’s up for a round of ‘Pin The Macho on the Man’?!”

♥

               Welcome to a whole new JaJazmin! I’m your host, the beautiful, incredible, gorgeous, amazing… Jazmín Carbajal-Gorjesi! Thank you, yes, thanks, I know all of you love me but let’s save some love for our guest tonight, alright?  She’s beauty, she’s grace, she could break your face in roller skating! Please welcome Olympic Medalist, and the star of your favorite sports movie, SHATTERED WINGS, the one, the only, the best of the bestest: SOL BENSON!-  

-          Thank you! What a lovely welcome, Jazmín, thank you for having me again.

-           

You’re very wel-… I mean, it’s an honor to have you back. But tell me, please, how’s retired life treating you?

                                It’s been pretty calm, really, which I think is what retirement is all about (*chuckles*), and like I’ve said, I never meant to leave the skating rink permanently, I’m just not competing anymore. I’ve achieved everything I’ve ever wanted, and I’m happy with how everything ended.

                  The days following your statement must have been crazy, weren’t they?

Yeah, a little. I never talked about my plans, or early retirement, so it’s partly my fault for dropping this on my fans so suddenly, whom I apologize to for hurting them with the news. They’ve been there for me in every step of the way, and I hope they continue with me for what’s to come.

               We’ll talk about that in a minute, but I have to ask - and I hope you don’t mind-, your name wasn’t the only one that resounded when the news hit.

Mmhmm.

               Correct me if I’m wrong but many people… concluded your decision wasn’t at all about you reaching your dreams and being done with competing. They assumed your rumored boyfriend – Matteo Balsano, for those who don’t know-, had asked you to quit for one reason or another.

Crazy, isn’t it? I worked, sweated and bled on my dreams for over a decade… you’d think that hard work would get more recognition without a rumored fling butting in.

               I’m sorry.

Don’t be. I want to make it clear though, that Matteo and I were never anything but friends. He’s a great guy, one of the best I’ve ever met, but we were nothing except platonic.

               There you have it folks: Soltteo were a no. What a shame for every of us who were rooting for you two…

(*chuckles*) Sorry to disappoint. But hey, at least a lucky girl can still get his heart.

               Think you can hook them up with him?

Uh…

(*laughs*) I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Moving on, though, what’s next for Sol Benson? Got any plans yet?

Well-

 ♥

“What are you watching?” His best friend flopped down on the bed next to him, grimacing as soon as he saw what was on the screen of his TV. “Again? This is what, the millionth time?”

“The re-run was on.” Matteo shrugged it off, dismissing its importance.  

“And you decided to watch it just because? You gotta stop this masochism, dude. It’s been three months, if you miss her so much-”

“It’s not like that, and you know it.” He didn’t miss her exactly.  After all, he didn’t have the chance to get to know her enough to do so. It was more of him occasionally wishing he had the guts to pick up his phone and apologize again until things weren’t… weird between them. Luna running away from him had left him with a permanent needle pinching his heart, and he was sure it wouldn’t leave until they resolved their… issue.

“Do you know that, though? ‘Cause honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if you had her words memorized by now.” Matteo turned the TV off, just as Luna initiated a round of quick questions with Jazmín, shaking his head at his best friend, whom had taken the liberty to spread out on his bed.

“Sorry to disappoint.” He huffed.

Gastón let out a sigh, as if he was tired of his denial. Which, in all fairness, so was he. “Are you in one of your weird moods? These short answers are kind of annoying, I want to talk to my best friend and feel like he’s actually here.”

“I’m sorry, my mind is just all over the place.” He offered him a smile, hoping Gastón could hear the sincerity in his voice. Matteo wasn’t giving him an attitude on purpose, he knew he was worried about him.  “And before you even ask, no, this isn’t about Luna. Delfi called me; my label wants to hear the songs I have so far. I guess I’m just nervous.”

“Why? I’ve heard some of them there and there, it’s sounding great, dude. I would even dare to say it’s your best so far. If anything, they should be nervous, they won’t know what hit them.”  

“Thanks, bro. But you know it’s different this time. A lot more… personal.” Out of all his albums, this one had to be the rawest. He wasn’t holding anything out this time, he wasn’t telling half-truths or hypothetic scenarios; whatever he was feeling, he wrote. He poured every single emotion into them. And it left him exposed, his heart naked to anyone who were listening.

He wasn’t playing it safe, dismissing the formula that had gave him a name in the industry. Now, his true self was on the spotlight, and he’d be lying if he didn’t admit it scared him.

“I’m telling you, they’d be crazy to reject them. I’ll pay for them to get checked by a doctor if they as little as insinuate it’s not the best thing they’ve heard in all their careers.” He had to laugh at this.

“Now I know it’s your bias talking.”

“Hey, I might be your best friend, but I’m not deaf, and I happen to have an excellent ear and taste for music.”

“Says the ABBA fan.”

Gastón gasped dramatically, sitting up quickly as he took his right hand to his heart. “How dare you! They’re amazing, and happen to have great, iconic songs! Here I am, bolstering you, like the great friend I am, and you dare to insult me and the greatest Swedish band of all time. Shame. On. You.”

Matteo threw him an amused look in return. “Well, consider me thankful. Anyways, did you want to tell me something?”

“What do you mean?”

Matteo arched his brows, as if it weren’t obvious. “You mean to tell me you just came into my room to ask me what I was watching on TV?”

“Uh, yeah?” When he gave him an ‘I don’t believe you for a second’ look, Gastón shrugged sheepishly. “Okay so I might have some news.” Matteo motioned for him to continue, “you know Ramiro Ponce and Yam Sánchez, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well they’re getting married this weekend, and Nina invited me as her plus one. Her supposed date cancelled on her and since the groomsman that’s supposed to walk the isle with her freaks her out, she asked me to cover for him, so he doesn’t attach to her after the ceremony.”

“Dating her now, are you?” He couldn’t help but to tease him, even if he knew they were merely platonic. “So, you’re going out this weekend, cool. I can manage to be alone one evening, you know.”  

“It’s not like that and you know it.” Gastón threw his words back at him. “I’m telling you this in case you want me to rely a message on a certain someone, or something.”

Why was he friends with him again? “Sure. Can you tell the happy couple I say, ‘congratulations on getting contractually bound to each other’ for me?”

Gastón looked surprised at first, but as soon as he finished hearing his answer, he put on a blank face. “Sure. Well, if you want me to rely anything else to anyone else, you know where to find me.”

“Mhmm.” After that, Gastón left his room, huffing what sounded like ‘stubborn idiot’, which he was sure were his words.

Mindlessly, Matteo turned his TV on again, switching from cable to scroll on Netflix as soon as he noticed JaJazmín had ended. He was about to put play on a random movie when his phone rang. The name displayed on the screen took him off guard.

“Hello?”

“What do you think of being my date to a wedding this Saturday?”

[hqdelila-blog]

h is for, happiness.

WHO: delila mcintosh. xavier hayward @xkinghq, lots of aunts, lots of family npc.

WHEN: 6/02. mid day 

WHERE: manila philippines, her lola’s home.  

NOTES: delila sees her birth family for the first time in 17 years, lots of crying, fluff, grossness tbh.

WC: 1794

She felt like she was buzzing, but in the best way possible-- while she was tired, all she wanted to do was sleep; she and Xavier had been on a plane for 19 hours, when they checked into their hotel, the sight of the bed was far too tempting, and given that it was simply morning, a nap couldn’t hurt. There was nothing more exciting to her in the moment, jet lag was a thing but an easy cold shower was enough to wake her up, scrubbing the traveling away, she came back refreshed-- laughing as she came back to a passed out boyfriend *easily woken up hours later by a certain someone jumping on the bed, causing him to fall off. 

“Come on old man, up-- up, it’s time to meet my family, it’s time to see me cry like a baby.” 

An hour later they both were up and ready, in the car over-- her hand gripped onto the others tightly, lifting them to her lips to press her lips against his knuckles. It settled that, that the last time she was here, it was the news of her parents death that rang through her--a 7  year old girl broken, but...

But this was a do over, she no longer wanted her home to be a memory of sadness, but joy. 

Getting dropped off a block before, already she could hear the music-- she could smell the food, and it all more or less clicked in her mind, in seconds she was doing that fast walk, a run to her lola’s home-- only stopping when arms wrapped around her waist, causing her to laugh.

“Okay, okay-- here is what’s going to happen, my lola knows we’re here, she’s expecting us any minute, everyone is in the backyard, it should only be about 28-30 people, cousins, aunts, uncles, we’re doing a pig roast-- dancing, celebration.” She grinned, turning in his arms, fingers fixing the collar of his shirt. “I’m going to go in first, there is going to be a lot of screaming, a lot of hugging, you will probably be asked if you’re my husband a dozen time-- knock that look off.”

The nerves she felt before were near vanished, she wasn’t nervous-- she, with her arm looped in Xavier’s, made those final steps to the home and she actually felt tears pool in her eyes; her fingers traced the walls-- everything was the same.

“Kung hindi ito ang aking anghel na babae.” If this is not my angel girl.

The voice, that voice-- that sweet, raspy, lived in voice rang through the room and Delila made no secret to hide the tears that rolled down her cheeks as she crossed the room to her grandmother. 

“Lola...” Grandma

Her voice was soft, as if if she spoke too loudly, she’d wake from a dream, but it wasn’t one-- it wasn’t a dream as she took to her good knee so she as below the woman, taking her hand in her own and pressed it to her temple.

Pagmamano

It was more so something that children did when they were brought to their grandparents, god parents, it is a sign of respect, a blessing-- while Delila was not a child, for the first time in 17 years she was able to show her grandmother, the woman with her mother and father that raised her--- when her parents were deployed, this was the woman that took care of her, and the love that Delila had for her was very easy to see. 

Feeling the older womans hand press to her cheek, a careful thumb wiped at her tears before she was being told to stand-- the moment she did, her face was taken hold of by her lola, and Delila grinned, she grinned-- pressing her temple to hers, hands resting at her shoulders. 

“I’m home.”

The watery laugh that left her lips, the smile on her lola’s face-- Delila pulled away for a moment, keeping her hand in hers before looking over at Xavier-- her eyes softening everso slightly

“Lola, this is Xavier-- Xavier, lola.”

She felt like a child, giddy such like one-- she let her hand fall as the older man took steps toward the two, and like her, he rested at the knee and took her grandmothers hand, pressing it to his temple. Again, there were the tears-- she took a careful step back for the moment, just looking.

This man.

This man that has more or less feeding himself to the sharks, coming with her to a new place-- he spoke in broken Tagalong and her heart melted, he took respect in the traditions of her family and she wiped at her eyes as her grandmother took his face in both her hands.like she did to her motioned for him to stand and once he did, she pressed a kiss to both his cheeks. 

“Are you both ready to see everyone? This secret has been kept long enough children.”

-- only her grandma would call a 25 and near 30 year old children.

The sound that came out of her mouth was embarrassing, it was a cross of a laugh and a squeal, nodding her head as she laced her fingers with the other mans, smoothing her thumb over his knuckles. 

“We’re ready.”

After being told the older woman would introduce them, give her a few moments-- Delila took that moment to lean on her tip toes to press a soft kiss to her boyfriends lips, hand pressed against his chest as she pulled away, dimpled grin on her face “Thank you.”

She heard the music lower, heard the claps of her lola to gather attention, and for a moment she turned her face into Xavier’s shoulder, a squeal leaving her lips as the sound of ‘someone special is joining us tonight, this is a welcome home’, and Delila simply couldn’t help herself and she fast stepped it to the back door and swung it open.

Now, she wasn’t able to see much-- she heard screams, she saw faces of grown cousins, now adults-- teenagers, she saw aunts-- uncles, but it all was overshadowed as she was more or less tackled in a circle of people-- she would of fallen if an uncle wasn’t behind her. It was all so much, words were being thrown a mile a minute, but it wasn’t until her mothers sister, her closest aunt was in front of her that it stilled just for a moment. 

“Surprise?”

“You are going to give us all heart attacks, little lion.”

The old nickname fell from her lips and Delila simply threw her arms around her aunt-- pressing her lips against her cheek as she felt a gentle hand go over her long waves.

“You look as beautiful as your mother, just like her at your age.”

The words caused her eyes to soften, but her arms to tighten just a bit more,  nodding her head for a moment. 

“And the little lion brought along herself, her husband.”

Her grandmothers voice rang threw the backyard, her hand taking hold of Xavier’s in a loving way--and it was seconds, she swore seconds that the English around her changed to Tagalong, her left hand was grabbed and Delila couldn’t help the bark of a laugh that left her lips, 

“No-- not husband!!! No ring, English people, English! Boyfriend--” She pulled away from the vice grip her aunts had on her to walk over to the laughing man, kissing his shoulder quickly, “I told you they’re crazy, come on-- lets have you meet everyone pulot.”

If Delila wasn’t falling for this man before, the night sealed it all in-- most would be terrified of meeting so many family, hell she bet most wouldn’t even agree, but whenever they weren’t together, Delila catching up with cousins, her aunts taking Xavier and showing him around, she’d sneak peeks at him, as they sat around the table for dinner, it wasn’t awkward, 

Even if marriage came up more than 7 times.

As she ended the night ready to get to sleep *it was near 3 in the morning at this time, she watched as Xavier cooed at one of her cousins children, little fingers wrapped around just one of his and she smiled.

“You love him.”

Her aunt’s voice was soft as she stood next to her, resting her hand at her shoulder,Delila making the move to lean into her, not confirming, not not denying-- her smile only widening as his eyes caught hers and waved.

“Mahal ka rin niya, maliit na leon.” 

Delila just smiled, if you looked closely you could see the small nod of her head, without even thinking. Walking over, she laughed softly as siad baby was placed into her hands and she spun gently, holding the 2 year old to her chest, nose wrinkling as a chubby hand went to her nose, her hand catching it to lift them to her lips to kiss. 

This was happiness, she was full of food-- she was sure her cheeks were to be bruised in the morning on account of how much she was grabbed, but she was so happy. 

10 minutes later she walked back into the now quiet home, her Lola had gone to bed an hour ago, grandpa following suit with her; her aunt was in the guest room and that left the two of them to share her old childhood bedroom, *at least it had a bigger bed now. The jet lag finally caught up to her, she felt like she could sleep for 20 hours, so she shuffled around to find Xavier, laughing as she found him in the kitchen, fork in hand. Rolling her eyes she took the offered forkful of flan offered to her, a smile at her lips. 

“You handled today like a champ, pulot-- I’m very proud of you, I told you that they’d love you.”

Somehow her arms wrapped around him lead to a phone being taken out, A certain Legend on Spotify being streamed softly,  and they were swaying back and forth in her childhood kitchen. Long gone was her make-up from the morning, hair was thrown ontop of her head-- she laughed as she stepped onto the others feet and let him walk/waltz them around, her face tucked against the crook of his neck.

Above them, unknowing to the distracted pair her aunt and uncle, her mothers brother and sister watched the two--  “Don’t they remind you of her parents?”

“Given he’s not a stupidly smitten Scottish man, I’d say that she looks at him the same way she did him.”

[captainswanandclintasha]

Awake and Alive - Chapter 11 (11/20)

Summary: While Emma and the other Nevengers are leaving Storybrooke for Neverland to search for Henry, a misterious and unkown woman comes in Storybrooke, looking for a long lost man and some answers about herself. Meanwhile in Neverland Emma and Hook discover something about themselves that is going to change their lives forever.

Rated M for future chapters and HA for HARD ANGST. Yet no one is dying. I promise. Thought I can’t say the same about the readers (or the writer) and F for fluff (also for future chapters)

Many many thank to Cathy (@ultraluckycatnd​) for her help in betaing this story!

Tumblr: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10

FF.NET | AO3

As always tagging  @cinnamonduckling, @captainswan-shipper88, @tirsu, @tomeandflickcorner. Let me know if you want to be tagged for future chapters!

Soooo... You’ve got a little bit of Milah/Killian at the end of the last chapter. Now get ready for more of that. Poor Killian. What is going on with him? How will he react?

Since the next chapter will be posted after Christmas I want to wish you all a nice Christmas with your friends and families and I hope Santa brings you everything you want.

Enjoy!!

________________________

“They’re back!” Leroy started to yell as soon as he got into the diner.

“Leroy, stop yelling in my diner at 10 in the morning!” Ruby yelled back at him and Milah had to smile at the exchange.

She started to get used to the city and the people in it. She loved spending her morning at the diner, sometimes just drinking coffee, other times helping Ruby when there were too many customers.

“But Red, they are back. Emma and the others are back! One of the sailors at the docks saw Hook’s ship!” the man said again. Hearing his news, Milah let out a sigh.

Was it true? Was Killian back in town? Finally? Milah thought to herself.

She looked at Ruby, who was now standing with her grandma at her side and Ruby was looking towards her.

“They’re back,” Ruby told her.

“Let’s go to the docks!” Milah said, leaving behind her food in a rush to get out the door.

“Leroy, go and tell Belle. She will want to know. Tell her to come to the docks quickly,” Ruby said as she took off her apron and then looked at Milah. “Let’s go.”

The two of them, together with Ruby’s Granny and some other people from the diner started to walk towards the docks. She could already see the ship, her former home, in the distance and her heart started to grow more and more with every minute that passed as the ship was getting closer to town.

“Maybe you should stay away for now?” Ruby turned to look at her.

“No way. Killian will be there,” Milah protested.

“He doesn’t know that you are alive, Milah. Let me, Granny, or even Belle prepare him,” Ruby explained.

Milah thought about what Ruby was saying and realized that she was right. She didn’t want to give Killian a heart attack by seeing her there, but at the same time, she didn’t want to leave. Still, the rational side of her won, so she simply nodded at Ruby.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t be here. I won’t stay here with you, but I’m going to stay close and watch him from a distance,” Milah said.

“That sounds good,” Ruby smiled at her and Milah started to walk away when Ruby called out to her. Milah turned around and Ruby started to speak again. “I will let you know when I talk to him. I promise.”

“Thank you, Ruby,”

With that, Milah started to walk between the people who were already starting to gather on the docks to welcome the people from the ship home. She wondered if Killian had at least one friend in town. A person who cared about him enough so he or she would come here to welcome him back . Ruby told her that in the short time he had spent in town, she hadn’t seen him with other people aside from the people who tried to kill everyone prior to their trip, but that his old crew were in Storybrooke. Milah looked around at the people that were on the docks for any familiar faces, but there was none she recognized. Not even Smee, whom she saw in town in the week she spent there. Maybe he had a friend on the ship? Although she doubted that, thinking back about the things Ruby told her about the people that were there with him. Rumplestiltskin, The Evil Queen, the sheriff of the town and her family. None of them liked Killian very much before they left, if what Ruby told her was true.

That’s when she remembered that one other person would be on the ship, her grandson, Baelfire son’s. Milah couldn’t help but wonder what the child looked like. Did he look like Bae, or did he look more like his mother? Milah wondered if she was going to be given the chance to meet him and his mother, and maybe even ask them more about her son.

Milah watched as the ship docked and she smiled when she saw the Jolly so close after so many years. Not a single things had been changed. Killian clearly took great care of his “marvelous ship” as he liked to say. When the ship was ready, people started to disembark. First, it was a couple that were hugged as soon as they put foot on the docks by Ruby and Granny. The couple was followed by a blonde woman and a child, the sheriff and her son, if Milah had to guess. Then another woman followed therm and the last one was Rumplestiltskin.

At the sight of her ex-husband, Milah let out a deep breath. He didn’t look like the monster that killed her. He looked only a few years older than the man she married. He was walking fine, no longer needing a cane to help him walk and Milah followed him with her eyes as he was hugged by Belle and then the two of them kissed.

Not being able to look at the two of them for much longer, Milah moved her eyes around the crowd, trying to find Killian, but he wasn’t one of the people that were in the middle of the docks being welcomed by others. When she finally found him, Milah was shocked in a good way at what she saw. He was still close to the Jolly, alone, watching people hugging and talking. But what surprised her the most was the fact that he looked exactly as she remembered, still wearing the pirate outfit she knew from many years ago.

Milah watched his profile. He was still young and still in his prime. His hair was ruffled by the wind that was blowing on the docks, while he was half leaning on a pillar. She continued to study him as best as she could, and then her eyes moved lower on his body. He was clearly more muscular, she could see that in the way his biceps were covered by his coat. Then she saw the reason people around the town were calling him Captain Hook. Instead of his left hand there was a silver hook, making him look more fearsome than he ever was.

He was looking at the blonde as she talked to her family. She looked at him, turned back to her family and then turned again and started to walk towards Killian. Milah watched her starting to smile as she was getting closer to Killian and he was smiling back at her as well. Milah watched their interaction, talking and smiling at each other and then at one point, the woman took Killian’s hand in hers as they continued to talk. The two of them talked a bit more and then they started to walk, still hand in hand, back to the group of people that was still on the docks.

As Milah watched him starting to walk away with the woman, she felt the need to make her presence known. So before she could think more about it, she came out of her hiding place and said his name loud enough so he, and everyone else, could hear her.

“Killian,” she said, hoping he would turn around.

And he did. Killian turned around, looking at her with his blue eyes and in a flash, the color on his face disappeared. She watched him as he started to tremble, stretching his hand behind him to grab Emma’s. The woman turned to look at him, looked at his hand on hers, and then looked in Milah’s direction, only to then look back again at Killian.

“What happened?” she heard her asking him.

“Do you see that woman?” Killian asked, his voice trembling.

Emma looked again at her and then at Killian, a strange look appearing on her face.

“I do. I see her. Killian, who is she?” she asked him.

“Killian?” Milah said his name again, no longer being able to watch the confusion on his face.

“Milah?” Killian finally said her name.

Hearing her name coming out of his mouth made her smile. But he wasn’t smiling. He still had the same confused and scared look on his face so Milah took a few steps forward, stretching her hand out to him. As she did that, Killian took a step back, still holding Emma’s hand tightly.

“Who are you?” Emma asked her.

Ignoring Emma’s question, Milah started to talk to Killian.

“Killian, it’s me,” she said, trying to convince him that he wasn’t seeing ghosts.

“This is impossible,” Killian said, shaking his head.

“No, it’s not.”

“What’s going on?” Emma asked Killian.

“Milah, I told you to stay away!” Ruby came from behind Emma.

“I don’t listen, you know that,” Milah answered.

Ruby looked at her with an unpleasant look on her face but Milah didn’t care in that moment. All she cared about was Killian.

“How is this possible?” Killian asked again.

“How are you still alive?” A different voice came from the group and when Milah looked past Killian, she almost froze.

The person that just spoke was none other than Rumplestiltskin. He was looking at her intensly, but not with the same confused look that Killian had in his eyes. No, Rumplestiltskin’s expressions were more curious and half annoyed about the fact that she was there.

“None of your business,” Milah snapped at him.

“Hold on! What the hell is going on here? Who are you exactly?” Emma asked again, this time looking at Rumplestiltskin.

“Oh, I think you know very well who this is, Miss Swan.”

Emma shook her head at him and raised her shoulders, silently questioning Milah’s old husband. When it was clear that no one was going to answer her about who Milah was, she decided to take the matter into her own hands and introduce herself.

“I’m Milah. I’m Killian’s-” but she couldn’t finish the sentence because Killian talked faster.

“Nothing. My nothing. My Milah is dead!” he snapped.

“I’m alive!” Milah yelled at him.

“It’s not possible! Not after 300 years!” he yelled back.

Emma watched as Killian was yelling at the woman and she was yelling back at him. Milah, Emma had to remember. Was this really her? Was this really the person Killian loved the most in this world? Neal’s mother? Hell, Henry’s grandmother?

“Mom, Dad? Why don’t you take Henry to Granny’s?” Emma turned to speak with her parents, knowing very well that none of them should be there right now.

“Are you sure?” Mary Margaret asked, moving her eyes from Emma to what was going on behind her and then back again to Emma.

“Yeah. I’ll come there after I take care of this,” Emma said, trying to smile at her.

“Ok,” Mary Margaret said, still not very sure of the situation.

Emma watched as Mary Margaret turned to Henry, put her hands on his shoulders and then guided him towards town with David, Regina, the dwarves, and Granny. Only she, Killian, Ruby, Belle, Gold, and Milah remained on the docks.

“Ruby, what is going on?” she asked, since it was obvious that she knew more than anyone else there.

“This is Milah. She came into town after you left, looking for him,” Ruby explained, pointing to Killian.

“She is my ex wife and Hook’s ex-lover,” Emma heard Gold say. “What I don’t understand is how she is alive. I killed her with my own hands,” Gold hissed, looking towards Milah.

Emma looked at him, then at Belle who physically took a step back at his words. She imagined it wasn’t easy to hear something like that, especially coming out the way it did; like Rumplestiltskin enjoyed killing his ex-wife and would do it again in a heartbeat.  Emma looked at Killian who was still by her side, frozen in place, shock still present on his face.

At least he stopped yelling, Emma thought to herself.

“Welcome to the club, dear,” Milah snapped at Gold again. “No one knows how.”

“Well, it can’t be because of your heart, since I crushed it myself.”

“Rumple, maybe we should give them some space,” Belle tried to tell him.

“Oh, I think this is my concern too,” Gold said, ignoring the plea that was in Belle’s eyes.

“Please,” Belle insisted, this time looking straight in his eyes.

Gold must have finally seen the pleading look Belle had in her eyes because he agreed to leave without another word. What he did have was a dirty look for Milah. Belle looked at Milah with something that resembled worry, then at Ruby. Emma could see that the two of them had a quick discussion just with their eyes that ended with a nod from Belle to Ruby. After that, Belle took Gold’s hand and started to guide him back into town.

Emma felt like she could finally breathe when she saw Gold moving away. She wasn’t in the mood for a fight with him and she was afraid that if he would have stayed here for much longer, something bad would have happened.

“Is it really you?” Emma heard Killian finally ask.

Emma turned to look at him, but he was looking at Milah with something soft in his eyes.

“I am. It’s really me, Killian,” Milah talked, using a soft voice.

“But how?”

“I don’t know. I still have to figure that out, but I’m back, my love.”

Emma jumped at the use of the phrase. She could feel jealousy making its way into her head and she hated that. She knew deep down that she had no reason to worry, but another voice in her head was asking “what if”. Looking from Killian to Milah, Emma started to feel like she was out of place there like a third wheel, so she decided that maybe she should go back to Granny’s and be with her family.

“Maybe I should go,” she told Killian, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“No,” Killian said, quickly, panicking.

“I will be at Granny’s with the others,” Emma tried to assure him.

“Stay. Please, Emma,” Killian pleaded to her softly.

Emma let out a sigh, but nodded. She looked at Milah who had an annoyed look on her face, most likely because she was going to stay with them and then at Killian who was looking at her, panic still present on his face.

“Maybe I should be the one who should go back,” Ruby said, from behind Emma.

Emma looked at her with a small smile and nodded, knowing very well that Ruby might not want to be there in the middle of everything.

“Thanks, Ruby.”

“Should I let everyone know that you are still here, Emma?”

“Just my parents and Henry. Thank you, Ruby,” she smiled at her. Ruby just nodded at her and left with a smile on her face.

After Ruby left, all that remained on the docks were Emma, Killian and Milah. The silence grew between them and started to become more and more uncomfortable.

“Maybe we should move this to the Jolly,” Killian suggested.

Both Milah and Emma agreed it was a good idea, so the three of them started to walk back to the ship. When they got there, Emma didn’t know what to do. She watched Killian as he went to sit on a barrel while Milah stayed close to one of the edges of the deck. Watching her, Emma realized that she hadn’t introduced herself to Milah.

“I‘m Emma,” she said, holding her hand out to Milah. “I realized I hadn’t introduced myself.”

Milah took Emma’s hand in hers and put a fake smile on her face, simply replying “Milah”..

“So…” Emma started to talk. She knew what she really wanted to ask, but she didn’t know how to make it sound less… rude.  “You really don’t know how you are alive?” came out after a short time.

“I’m afraid not. I tried to figure it out, I even went to see the Blue Fairy. But she couldn’t do much for me,” Milah explained.

Emma closely studied her, trying to see if there was any lie in what she was saying, but there was none. What she said was true.

“So then why are you here?”

“To talk to Killian.”

“Actually, I was wondering what you’re doing here in Storybrooke,” Emma said awkwardly .

“I’m here for Killian,” Milah said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“I understand,” Emma said, not really understanding, but at least trying to.

She looked at Killian who raised his head and looked at the two of them with a lost look. It was hard to read him in that moment.

“Killian? Please say something?” Milah asked.

“I don’t know what to say,” he said, looking at Milah and then at Emma. Emma tried to smile at him, tried to encourage him, but she knew she didn’t succeed.

“Anything would be good,” Milah said with a somewhat demanding voice that Emma didn’t like.

“I can’t believe you are alive,” Killian finally said.

“Well, me neither.”

“Although, it would have been nice if you knew why,” Killian continued.

“What do you mean?” Both Milah and Emma looked at him with puzzled looks.

“People just don’t come back from the dead out of the blue, Milah. Trust me, I know,” Killian said, taking a look at Emma and put on a small smile. “There has to be a reason why you’re alive.”

“Aren’t you happy?” Milah asked with a pained voice, making Emma feel sorry for her.

“I am happy, of course I am happy. I just don’t understand.”

“Well, you don’t look very happy,” Milah replied, her frustration showing.

“Milah. I’m shocked, okay? You came out of nowhere, telling me that you’re alive after all this time,” Killian snapped at her.

“Ruby was right. I should have let her tell you,” Milah said with a sad voice.

Emma hated the whole situation, but she sympathized with both sides. On one hand, Killian was put in an impossible situation, deciding to move on with someone new when his long lost love miraculously returned back from the dead after 300 years. And on the other side, if Emma had to guess, Milah came back expecting him to be happy for her return, but instead of being met with warmth and affection, she was met with coldness, being snapped at, and overall apathy. Milah was getting her very first glimpse of Captain Hook.

Looking at the two of them, Emma decided that they both needed some time for themselves.

“Maybe you could give him some time,” Emma said to Milah.

Milah nodded but then snapped at Emma.

“I still don’t understand why you decided to stay here,” she said quite rudely.

“I’m his… friend. I’m Killian’s friend, and I didn’t want to leave him alone.”

“Friend?” Milah said snidely, narrowing her eyes.

“Yes.”

“Maybe your friend is right, Killian,” Milah said. Emma could tell that she didn’t believe her. “Maybe I should give you some time alone.”

“Thank you,” Killian told Milah with real sincerity in his voice.

“I’m going to come back later. Or maybe tomorrow,” Milah told him before she started to walk down the plank.

“Yeah, ok” Killian simply said.

“Bye Emma.”

“Bye.”

Emma watched as Milah left the ship. She waited to make sure that she was far enough away before she let out a deep breath she didn’t realized she was holding. With Milah gone, Emma moved to sit beside Killian on another barrel.

“So that was Milah.”

“Aye.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Killian rose and went to lean on the railing, looking out towards the ocean. Emma rose from her place and went to him.

“Talk to me Killian,” she said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“How is it possible?”

“I don’t know. Maybe Regina can find out. Or even Gold.”

“You saw him earlier. He doesn’t like the idea of her being alive.”

“Let’s think about that another time. Right now, something else is more important,” Emma said, trying to change the subject. “How are you feeling?”

“Confused as hell? I don’t understand. Why after all these years? Why now?”

“Why now?” Emma wondered about what he meant.

“It’s been 300 years. Why now? Why not years ago?” Killian questioned. “Why now, after everything that happened in Neverland with us,” he added, making Emma’s heart sink.

“There has to be a reason,” she started. “Maybe we were wrong. In Neverland, I mean,” Emma said, trying to ignore Tink’s voice inside her head, telling her that no, they weren’t wrong.

“No, Emma. We weren’t wrong. I know it. Milah being alive doesn’t change that,” Killian quickly dismissed her idea.

Emma tried to read him again and this time, things were clear in his eyes. There was no doubt in his eyes when it came to her and about what they shared. He had many emotions in his eyes in that moment, but there was one that scared Emma, even if she was expecting it.

“I should get back to Henry,” she said, trying to look anywhere other than his eyes.

“I’m afraid I’m not really in the mood for partying right now. Do you mind if I don’t come with you?”

“No. I know you need some space,” she said, being completely understanding.

“Aye. That I do,” he said with a small smile.

“Will you be alright?” she asked him.

“I’ll try.”

“Okay.”

Emma wanted to leave without another word, but he still had that look in his eyes; the look that some people might describe as a “lost puppy” look, so she did the first thing that came to her mind. She leaned in and pressed her lips to his in a small, but meaningful, kiss. She felt his smile against her lips and she couldn’t help but smile as well. His lips were soft and she was sure that if she proposed to stay there with him doing that for the next few hours, he wouldn't say no. But they both needed some time alone to think and get some sleep, so Emma broke the kiss, pressing her forehead to his.

“I really have to go back,” she said between hard pants.

“Okay,” he said with a small smile. “Will I see you tomorrow?” he asked, his voice sounding hopeful.

“Of course,” she said, turning away and starting to walk off the ship. “Bye, Killian,” she said, turning to face him one more time before stepping onto the gangplank.

She saw him smile and heard his “goodbye, love” behind her as she started walking down the plank.

She wanted to go home and change her clothes first, but she decided that a few more hours at Granny’s wouldn’t be that bad. Besides, her stomach was yelling at her to give it proper food, so she started to walk the short distance to the diner.

She still couldn't believe that Milah, the Milah, was alive and well in Storybrooke. She hoped that after Neverland, she would finally have time for herself, not only take a vacation with Henry but also take the time she needed to think about everything that happened and was going to happen with Hook. She wanted to explore this thing between them, to see where it would go, but she was afraid that now with Milah in town, things wouldn’t be that easy. They had to help Milah find out why she was alive, that was for sure. And that alone might take a lot longer than what Emma was willing to give away from her own time. Besides, she needed to find out what Milah’s intentions towards Killian were. Did she want to be with him again or did she want to be just friends? Right now, Emma felt like she was going to lose her mind.

Her stomach made strange noises again and Emma decided that for tonight, she was going to push all of that aside, and all she planned to do was to eat and sleep for at least ten hours.  

[daphner20]

John Woodside

Forgiveness

Prologue “Today is the best day of my life,” said John Michael Woodside II joyfully. Am in grade 7 at the most prestigious Catholic High school in The Bahamas. St. Francis of Assisi, was the most competitive school to get in. There were almost a thousand entries, but only 100 applicants were accepted. John was in the top 5% with the highest score. He played soccer, baseball, basketball, and ran track. He also played the piano pretty well. Let’s see what they said “ he would be an asset to the school”. And the icing on the cake, I was an altar boy. My best friend Benjamin Hall, got accepted as well, this is so cool. John, didn’t think much of his life up to now. He was an only child. His father John Sr. , whom he loved fiercely, was his idol. His mother, (the prettiest woman in the world) whom he adore was his everything. His father, was quite a bit older than his mother (30 years). But they seem very happy. Most people called them wealthy, he knew they lived in a upscale gated community, he was chauffeur driven every where, and for as long as he could remember, he had travelled extensively, with his parents, ( his father had his own plane). He overheard, his father, telling his mom, that he was contemplating buying a yacht. “Time to go”, said his Father. “Do well, I am so proud of you”, beamed his Dad. “Thank you, daddy,” said John, as he hugged him, and kissed his mom. The first day of school, was everything, John, thought it will be, Benjamin, and I were in the same class. At recess, I heard my name on the PA system, to come to the Principal’s office. When I got there, my chauffeur, Mr. Lee was there.

He said , “there has been an accident.”

Chapter 1 John in his 12 years, never had to deal with anything distressing. Mr. Lee, didn’t offer any other information. We he got to the house, there were so many people there. He wanted to see his father, because Daddy will explain everything to him. However, it was his mom, who came to him. She was disheveled, no makeup, track suit and sneakers, this isn’t my mom. “ Where is Daddy?, I asked. “ Your father, is dead, he suffered a heart attack this morning,” she said sobbing. “ This can’t be, I just saw him this morning,” I said in disbelief. “I want to see him, this can’t be,” I shouted. ‘Its true Johnny,” she was openly sobbing. As I looked around, all the staff was crying as well. Then I knew, my daddy was gone, my heart just melted, and I just couldn’t stopped the tears. Suddenly, my father’s lawyer Mr. Campbell told my mom, that he needed to speak with her in my dad’s study. I noticed, that 3 men and a woman, entered, as well. I have never seen them in my life. About half and hour later, I heard my mom screaming, No! I can’t loose another parent I thought, as I burst through the study door. “Leave my mother alone,” I shouted. Then this man turned at looked with such hatred, “ so this is the bastard” he said cruelly. “ Stop it,” said my mother “ Stop what,” said the stranger, “ I am just getting started.”

“ What is your name?” asked the female stranger. ‘ John Michael Woodside the second,” I said proudly. “ Unbelievable,” shouted male stranger, “He gave his bastard his name.” “ Stopped saying that,” said my mother, “he is a little boy.” “ Do you know, who we are?, asked male stranger 2. “ No,” I said. The girl stranger, just starting crying, “he forgot about us,” she continued crying. Finally, stranger male 3, said, “ we are your brothers and sister. I am Jason, I am the second,, this is James, the third son, this is Jasmine our sister. And this is the eldest son, John Michael Woodside the second.” He pointed to the first stranger. I looked to my mother, for affirmation, she looked liked her worst nightmare had just came true. “ How come we have the same name, as our father,” I asked the first John the second. “That is not your name, he was not your father, and we are nothing to you,” he said angrily. Mr. Campbell, finally spoke, “Let us show some respect for your father. I know that emotions are raw, but don’t let us say anything we will regret.” “ Considering my father, never divorce our mother, from this moment on, I am now the head of this family.” John the first second said as a matter of fact.

Chapter 2 The day my dad was buried, it was dark and wet like my soul. My mother and I were not allowed to attend. The servants were, but not us. In one week’s time. My whole world was turn upside down. When my mom, meet my dad, she was 20 and he was 50. She was his junior secretary, at the Offshore Bank, where he was the President. My brothers were

28, 26, 23, and Jasmine was 18. With my dad being Catholic, he didn’t divorce their mother. My mom, got pregnant with me 2 years later. I was their love child. Because of the scandal, he was forced to retire, however, he took two thirds of the bank clients, and open up his own private trust company. My mom and I became his family. His children never forgave him or spoke to him again. So, in one week, because my dad didn’t leave a will. My oldest brother, became his heir. First decree, we were not allowed to attend the funeral. We were kicked out of the house. My name was taken from me. My dad’s name was never on my birth certificate, ( my parents were not married) so my name was John Michael Munnings. ( my mom’s maiden name) And finally, I never returned to St. Francis of Assisi. There was no provision for our future. My mother left all of that to my dad. I hated every thing and everyone. Things couldn’t get worse, don’t bet on it! We had no place to go, my mother didn’t want to keep me out of school, much longer, so she decided to return home. Because, we had little money, we had to take a mail boat to Orange Creek, Andros, that was my mom’s home. The boat took 10 hours, and we arrived at 5 am the next day. An elderly man, came to pick us up, in an old beat up truck. He didn’t say one word to my mom. He just loaded up our things on the truck.. I don’t know how long we were driving, but it felt forever. We pulled into a modest wooden house. I couldn’t see much, it was still dark. The old man, put our stuff in a small room, with an even smaller bed, and left. My mom told me to go back to sleep. Later that morning, mummy got me up. She told me she had to enroll me in school. This was another Catholic School, but it wasn’t like the one in Nassau. It had from kindergarten to grade 12. The average size of the class was 10 students. I could still wear my St. Francis of Assisi school uniform. Everyone seem friendly enough.

St. Thomas More, was the name of the school, it was a 20 minute walk to the house, everyone lived in the settlement. On the island, instead of towns, they were called settlements. When I got to the house, I was formally introduce to my maternal grandparents. Charles and Louise Munnings. My mother, looked exactly liked my grandma. My grandmother did all the talking. “Your mother, has brought shame and disgrace to this family, we will keep you, but she is not welcome here.” I looked at my mom, who was sobbing quietly. “Please Mummy, don’t leave me, “ I begged. “ It will only be for a short while,” Mummy said. “I will come back for you, and we will get our life back.” That night, as I lay on my tiny bed, I made a vow, I will never forgive my mother, or my siblings.

Chapter 3 “ Do you have your speech,” asked my Grandfather. “Yes sir,” I replied. I am the Valedictorian of St. Thomas More Prep. It’s been six years. I thought it was going to be 3 months! My mom, never came back. She got married, two years later, and guess to whom? Yep my oldest brother, John the second. He has truly taken every thing away from me. Life on Andros, was hard. Firstly, my grandparents who were devoted Catholics, had the mindset, church and work. My grandfather was a Catechist, and grandma played the organ in church. I took that role over when I became 15, 2 mass every Sunday, and the high seasons. My grandfather was a fisherman. He liked to say,” they were Jesus' s favorite people.”

So, for the last 6 years, this was my life: devotions at 5am, rain or shine; feed the chickens, rain or shine; (grandma sold organic eggs) ; school, rain or shine; mass rain or shine. After school, I helped Grandpa, with the nets and his boat. I asked God, that if I ever get of this island, may I never returned. My grandfather believed, that I will follow in his footsteps. I wanted to be an investment banker, like my dad. I wanted to make so much money, that no one will ever be responsible for my well being, only me. Unbeknown to me, my guidance counselor, Mrs. Smith had fill out several scholarship applications, and I got them all. Because I was 18. I didn’t need anyone’s permission or consent. Thank you Lord. As I walked down to the graduation ceremony, I knew my mother, will not be there, I haven’t seen or spoken to her in 6 years. My grandparents, never discussed her, and neither did I. I thought of my dad, and the last thing he said to me was “I am proud of you”. I have no more tears left. A month later, as I said goodbye to my grandparents. I was on my way to St. John's University, New York, on a full ride. I knew that I didn’t want to see this country again, or my family. “Thank you Grandfather,” I said as I shook his hands. “ Thank you Grandma,” I said as I kissed her cheeks. “Goodbye son,” they said in unison. Chapter 4 As I looked out on Central Park, from my penthouse, I had to pat myself on the back. You have made it. Forbes Magazine, had just listed me, as one of the youngest millionaires under 35 ( I was 32). It’s been 14 years, since I left Andros. I didn’t returned even when my grandma died 3 years ago. There wasn’t nothing there for me . I am living my best life. It’s 6am and my cellphone is blowing up, who is calling me? And from a 242 area code The Bahamas. “ Hello,” I said in my most annoyed voice.

“ Good, morning Johnny, this is Mrs. Smith from Andros, your grandfather, has been airlifted to the city on an emergency flight. He is at Nassau Hospital. He is asking for you, so don’t tarry. I came on the flight with him, so I will you see you when you get here.” Click. “Why me,” asked John, as he booked a flight, made hotel arrangements, and cancelled all of his appointments for the next week. As the flight touchdown in Nassau, the country of his birth, John heart was hurting. “20 years,” he muttered to himself. He hadn’t been back in 20 years. When he got at the hospital, Mrs. Smith, just hold him tightly. “ Go in John,” she said quietly. As I walked in the room, lying on that bed was not Charles Isaac Munnings. Not the imposing figure of my childhood. The man laying there was frail and fragile, he was hooked up to a lot of machines. He opened his eyes, and motioned me to come closer. “Forgive me,” he said weakly. “ No Grandpa, forgive me, I should have come back sooner.” “ No, son, unforgiveness, has robbed from me of a relationship, with your mom, my only child for over 35 years. When you came to us, it was like God was giving us a second chance. But we were so bitter and angry with Carol, that we couldn’t see that we were creating you to be like us. The greatest gift you can give your self, is a spirit of forgiveness. Johnny, my dear son, My departure is at hand. Forgive your mom, and your siblings. Forgive me and your grandma. Bury me in Andros, with your grandma. Now pray with me one last time.’ “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespassed against us.” Then my grandpa died. And after 20 years, as the tears flowed, I finally found Peace.

As I knocked on my father’s door, Mr. Lee open the door. “ Master John,” he exclaimed with genuine warmth.

“ Hello Mr. Lee, I replied, is my mother here?” He hesitated for a moment, “ Don’t worry Mr. Lee, it’s ok.” He pointed at my dad's study. As I entered the room, to my surprise, they were all there. My mom, John the second, Jason, James and Jasmine. The glass fell out of my mom’s hand. “ Johnny?” It was more of a question, than statement. “Yes, I said, “ Your father died today, here in Nassau, but he wants to be buried in Andros, because you are his child, I need your permission to release the body. I will take care of all of the arrangements. My mother, still a beautiful woman at 54, aged immediately, that is when she finally moved, and cried in my neck for eternity. “ John, forgive me,” she cried. “ Its ok Mum, the hand of The Almighty, has been with me, all these 20 years, what the enemy meant for evil, the Lord made it for my good.” I said. My grandfather left me, every thing he owned, one hundred acres of land in Andros. And now I own the largest commercial fishing company in The Bahamas. It has provided over 90% of employment in Andros. Plus grandma organic eggs, has become a house hold name. THE END

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #186 - The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: I think so.

Do I remember it: Better than I did the 1st one, which isn’t saying much.

Did I see it in theaters: No

Format: Blu-ray

I nominated the recap for the first Princess Diaries to @princessofsunnydale because she nominated it for my (Re)Watch so I thought I’d do the same for this post. Thanks!

1) I think it was a wildly smart decision to move the setting of this film from San Francisco to Mia’s often spoke of but rarely seen dominion of Genovia. It’s an organic next step to her story. We saw her learn how to be a princess in San Fran, now we see how she actually adapts to her home country (which is a lively character in its own right). The decision to jump ahead five years ahead instead of three (the number of years between releases) I think also is nice. Mia is more comfortable in the agency she gained in the first film, the relationship with her beau Michael is not hanging over her head, it just allows the film to not be dogged down by some plot points from the first film.

2) Sir Fat Louie? Did they knight him? Can you knight a cat?

3) I didn’t remember this line before I put in the movie but I do now.

4) Shonda Rhimes co-authored the story AND wrote the screenplay? Huh.

(I don’t actually watch any Shonda Rhimes shows, now that I think about it.)

5) Chris Pine as Nicholas.

There is a strong initial chemistry Pine has with lead actress Hathaway, allowing the audience to grow invested in their relationship quickly. Even/especially when they’re not getting long, you can just fell the sexual chemistry in the air between them. It’s fun, making the film stronger because of it.

Chris Pine on his own is as charismatic and interesting as ever. In lesser hands the character of Nicholas could be an even bigger jerk and while there are antagonistic qualities to him the audience UNDERSTANDS his motivations. He is trying to honor what he believes his dead father wanted, he believes he’s trying to do what’s best for Genovia. And when he sees he was mistaken, he tries to step aside. There’s a nice honesty to Pine’s performance. He doesn’t play Nicholas as an over the top mustache twirling villain. All in all, Pine does a fine job in this film and helps support it.

6) Except for one black guy, Genovia’s parliament is made up of all white guys saying they don’t want a woman to rule unless she has a man by her side.

I think Queen Clarisse has the perfect response to that.

The law is severely sexist and antiquated. One of the members of parliament claims it should be respected because it is 300 years old. Saying a law is that old is not an effective argument for it as much as it is AGAINST it. 300 years ago in 2004 that’s 1704. That’s slavery, that’s a fundamental lack of women’s rights across most countries. Don’t use the fact a law is old to argue for it. Laws should evolve as the world does.

7) John Rhys Davies is a wonderful character actor who plays Nicholas’ uncle as a holier than thou elitist arrogant jerk. I love to hate him in this, but I might need to watch Lord of the Rings or Raiders of the Lost Ark next to balance out my feelings.

8) Hey guys. Remember that time Catwoman stomped on Captain Kirk’s foot in front of Gimli and Mary Poppins?

I’m sure someone has made this joke before, but still.

9) The last film was largely about Clarisse putting her duty as queen aside to be Mia’s grandmother, a relationship which is as strong in this film as ever.

Clarisse [after Mia stomped on Nicholas’ foot]: “As a grandma I say right on.”

10) Like the first film, this movie’s biggest flaw is definitely pacing. Many scenes serve no purpose for the larger plot and instead distract from the main conflict. But - like with the first film - these scenes are also some of the most memorable. So…I’m not sure what to say then. I’m just going to move on.

11) I dig this.

Matarazzo is a continued treat in this film as she was in the first, stealing a number of scenes and infusing some quality humor into the plot. The way she mixes with Genovian life and culture can lead to some nice fish out of water observations, and Matarazzo plays the role with as much commitment and heart as she did in the first film. God bless Lily.

12) The bachelor selection scene is - by far - one of my favorite moments in the film. It is directly related to the plot and has an incredible amount of humor to it. Also, it’s not nearly as long as I remember.

For those of you who didn’t watch the clip above (or even if you did), here is my favorite moment from the scene.

(GIFs originally posted by @ezrajamessharkington​)

I mean it’s small, but I appreciate that both this film and its predecessor acknowledge the LGBTQIA+ community more than other Disney films did at the time.

13) Callum Blue as Andrew Jacoby.

Much like Michael from the first film, Andrew is able to be a good guy while avoiding the trope of Nice Guy™. There is a respect he has for Mia, an understanding and a fondness. They clearly have a connection and appreciate each other’s company, but it is clear that neither of them love each other. And Andrew does not force this on Mia. He’s pretty much at her service, ready to respect her wishes without being a total pushover. He’s a good guy, someone who could have easily been a jerk or a bully but the fact Mia could plausibly end up with him just ups the stakes.

14) The fan scene is a nice moment of chemistry between Hathaway and Andrews, which (much like in the preceding film) is one of the strongest elements of this movie.

this film one of those moments is when she is reduced to tears because John Rhys Davies spooked her horse and revealed that - SHOCKER - women actually prefer to not ride side saddle. I suppose it’s better that she’s too hard on herself than not hard enough though, as she will be queen.

16) Damn, Joe is a badass.

Mabrey: “Sir, you will find that the word ‘fear’ is not in my vocabulary.”

Joe: “Perhaps. But it’s in your eyes.”

17) Hey look! The foot pop!

18) Okay, Nicholas is being creepy with Mia at the fountain. Yes, they kiss. But then she says no to him. Multiple times, too. Yet he keeps groping at her and chasing her around the fountain until they both fall in. And MIA’S in trouble?

19) The parade.

By far the strongest moment in the film. It shows off not only the agency Mia gained in the first film (she has the confidence to stop a parade), but also her incredible heart. She shows off such kindness and care for the people of Genovia, accepts her role as a leader, and is able to create a positive change through the sheer depth of her heart. Also, little Abigail Breslin is very cute.

20) Holy crap, Paul Williams is in this movie.

What is this movie?

21) The bridal slumber party is another scene which doesn’t really add to the plot and it goes a little long. BUT - again - it is wildly memorable. Especially seeing Julie Andrews surf on a mattress after giving a wink to her most iconic character.

22) Julie Andrews’ song.

Julie Andrews underwent surgery in 1997 to treat what she referred to as a muscular striation on her vocal cords. She emerged from the surgery with permanent damage that hurt her singing voice and gave a rasp to her speaking voice (for which she sued the hospital for malpractice two years later). Julie Andrews basically lost her singing voice. Her song “Your Crowning Glory” was the first time she sang on screen since the surgery. Although it was set in a limited range to accommodate her voice, she was reported to have nailed it on the first take and brought tears to the eyes of crew members on set. Raven Symoné - who duets with Andrews on the song - was so moved when she told she’d be singing with the legend that she too was reportedly brought to tears. If for no other reason, I am grateful this movie exists for all of that.

23) Nicholas is very ready to step aside and let Mia rule.

Nicholas [after his uncle notes all their work would be for nothing]: “It wouldn’t be nothing. Genovia would in good hands.”

I love that. I love that he’s true to his beliefs about doing what’s right for Genovia, NOT himself.

24) So there’s a slight bit of foreshadowing here.

Nicholas [at Mia’s window]: “Rapunzel, Rapunzel…”

Chris Pine would later go on to play Cinderella’s Prince in the 2014 film adaptation of Into the Woods, which also featured the characters of Rapunzel and her prince.

25) I’m surprised Paolo’s back. I mean, Larry Miller is great. But didn’t he totally betray the trust of the royal family in the first film? And also, why is he suddenly kinda bad at styling Mia?

26) Bless whoever made this

(I just found this on google. If this is your’s and you want credit let me know and I’ll be happy to give it.)

27) Um, guys…

What the heck is Stan Lee doing in The Princess Diaries 2? Is Mia going to join The Avengers? Is Genovia a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? What is happening!?

All humor aside, as I understand it Stan Lee will cameo in any movie asked as long as he gets his standard fee. I think he wants to have the record for most cameos ever.

28) I dig it, Andrew.

Andrew [after Mia calls off the wedding]: “Uh…thank you. Thank you for saving me from doing the proper thing for once in my life.”

29) Much like the first film, it is Mia who must take her own fate in her hands. She’s the one who argues against the marriage law, she’s the one who convinces the people and parliament to strike it down (although the Prime Minister is again incredibly supportive and I love that). It’s her taking charge of her life, which I think is absolutely great.

30) I 100% forgot that part of this film ended with Clarisse and Joe getting married. I am very okay with that.

31) OH MY GOD YES! PARLIAMENT IS MORE DIVERSE AT THE END! THERE ARE SO MANY WOMEN AND EVEN WOMEN OF COLOR AND IT’S JUST BEAUTIFUL AND DIVERSE AND I NEED MORE OF IT! THANK YOU!

Like the first film, The Princess Diaries 2 held up surprisingly better than I was expecting. Obviously it’s aimed at a younger audience than me but it was pretty enjoyable. Anne Hathaway is strong as ever, as is Julie Andrews, while Chris Pine is a welcome and fitting addition to the cast. The themes are nicely feminist as is the ending. Overall I just find it an enjoyable film worth the watch.

[seriestrash]

The Story of Us

PROLOGUE || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10 || 11 || 

Chapter Twelve: Happy You’re Here

Word Count: 1675

✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮

After a telling conversation with Jed Sunday evening and a very emotional phone call with her parents, Riley finally passes out in her room. 

The following morning it’s a knock at Riley’s door that wakes her. The brunette stirs in bed. She feels completely drained, quite the contrast from the revitalising sleep she had the night before last.

Jedediah pokes his head through the door. “Time to get up for school, Riley.” He says softly. “I’ll drive you today.” 

“Thank you.” Riley gives him a small but sad smile. 

The older man leaves Riley to get herself ready for school. Riley opens the tall old-fashioned wardrobe and looks at her clothes. On one side there were the things Topanga sent over and on the other were Maya’s old clothes. For the first time in days Riley felt like wearing one of the ripped shirts. After some quiet contemplation Riley changes into an outfit from the side holding her own clothes. 

Once ready, Riley drags herself downstairs, her school backpack slung over one shoulder, her steps sluggish. Riley’s mood pricks up a little when she catches the end of Jed’s phone conversation. 

“... Yes, Topy. Okay. Yes. I’ll tell her. Alright I have to go now or she’ll be late for school... I love you too.”   

“That was mom?” Riley asks once she hits the bottom of the stairs. 

“Yes. She was a bit worried after you called her last night.” Jed nods. 

“Sorry.” Riley shifts awkwardly in place. 

“Don’t be.” Jed says sincerely. “Topanga was just checking in. She says she loves you and will talk this afternoon. Riley gives him a small nod and they head to school.

During the car ride to school with Jed, Riley’s initial exhaustion - which spurred from how emotionally draining the previous evening was - quickly turned into an empty feeling. Something Riley could only describe as numb. Like life was being lived around her. A disconnect to her immediate reality. 

The numbness stuck with Riley all day. The only release she had from her own thoughts came at lunch when Mabel drags Riley outside to the secluded bench where she goes on to, very excitedly, share details of her walk home with Thomas Saturday evening and their first date that followed. 

Riley is happy for her friend and does get caught up in the story but once the bell rings signalling the end of lunch, she’s forced back into the state of shock she’d been in all morning. 

Finally, the end of the school day arrives. The New Yorker is extra quiet on the bus, just like how she’d been all day. An anxious Lucas sits one seat behind her and Mabel sits in the seat in front. 

Once at her stop, Riley exits first. Her strides are a little quicker than usual as she wanted to get back to Jed as soon as possible. 

“Riley, are we okay?” Lucas fastens his pace in attempt to keep up with the brunette as she marches down the street.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t we be?” Riley keeps her gaze focused on the road ahead.

“You’ve been acting strange all day.” Lucas says.

“Would you like me to apologise for being weird?” Riley almost snaps.

“No…” Lucas frowns. Riley could be confusing at times, usually he felt he had a pretty good read on her but this was another level. “You didn’t show up to see Zay off this morning-“

“I’ll see Zay when I go back to New York.” Riley is blunt. “Because I will be going home. Probably very soon.”

“Okay..” Lucas is struggling to keep up with Riley as she walks with purpose ahead of him. “And you didn’t sit with us at lunch today.”

“I sat with Mabel.” Riley sates. “She was telling me about Thomas. She couldn’t do that in front of him.”

“Yeah that makes sense.” Lucas nods. “I kinda wanted to talk to you about how we left things yesterday.” 

“Lucas, I’m sorry but...” Riley trails off when she spots someone in the distance sitting on the porch steps of Jed’s house. 

“Who's that?” Lucas followed her line of sight. 

“That’s my little brother.” Riley’s face lights up. The backpack that she has slung over one shoulder slips off and hits the road as Riley quite literally sprints towards Jed’s house. Once Auggie spots his sister he jumps up too and they meet by the mailbox where they slam together in a hug. Riley loves moments like these when Auggie wasn’t too cool to love his big sister. 

“Auggie!” Riley squeezes him tightly. 

“I missed you.” Auggie says mid embrace. 

“I miss you too, Augs.” Riley gives him another quick squeeze before pulling away to look at him. “Mom and dad?” 

“They’re inside.” Auggie grins. 

Riley looks towards the house and through the window she sees her mom and dad speaking to each other. As if she sensed her, Topanga turns towards Riley, they lock gazes and both wear sheepish smiles. 

Riley breaks her stare once Lucas finally reaches the mailbox, he has Riley’s fallen pack in hand. 

“Thank you.” Riley takes it off him with a quiet giggle.  

“No problem.” Lucas half smiles. 

Auggie clears his throat. Riley lets out a little chuckle. “Auggie this is Lucas, he lives next door. Lucas, this is Auggie my not so little brother.” Riley ruffles his hair. 

“It’s barely been a month, don’t start crying about how much I’ve grown.” His tone heavily suggests sarcasm. ‘Cool’ Auggie was definitely back. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Riley rolls her eyes with a smile. She even missed their bickering. 

“I should probably let you get inside.” Lucas says. 

“Okay.” Riley nods slightly. Her mood completely different to that of two minutes ago. “I’m sorry for being weird today... and yesterday... We can talk soon.” 

“Hey, I never wanted you to apologise for being weird.” Lucas takes a few backwards steps. “But I won’t say no tho that talk.” With that he turns on the heels of his boots and walks towards his house. 

“When did you get here?” Riley turns her attention back to Auggie. 

“A couple hours ago. We left home this morning.” 

“Do you know what’s going on?” Riley’s mood deflates a little. 

“Mom and dad explained last night.” Auggie nods. 

“I’m happy you’re here.” Riley wears a small smile. 

The two make their way up to the porch. Riley grows nervous as her hand hovers above the handle. Feeling silly, she shakes her head, opens the door and enters Jed’s home. Within seconds she’s engulfed in a three way hug with both her parents. Riley sinks into the comfortable familiarity that is the embrace. 

Once the warm family reunion is out of the way, Riley is still left with the excited rush feeling she’s had since she spotted Auggie out on the street. 

“How long are you here for?” Riley asks. 

“For the time being, indefinitely.” Topanga is the one to answer. Riley knew exactly what that meant. 

“What about work and school for Auggie?” Riley questions. 

“Your mother and I have plenty of holiday time and I can homeschool Auggie for now.” Cory speaks next.

“You can stay in class or study here with your father too.” Topanga adds. 

“I’m really happy you’re here.” Riley smiles genuinely. 

Throughout the rest of the evening there is still a slight off feeling lingering in the air but overall it was pleasant. Riley notices how happy Jed seems to have his daughter present and how interested he was in acquainting himself with Auggie.  Once everything settles down, Riley excuses herself from the dinner table and heads upstairs for a moment. Riley sits cross-legged with her back against the balcony doors. It’s only a few short moments before Topanga enters the room too. 

“Bay window?” She asks with a soft smile. Riley nods. “May I join you?” Another nod from Riley and Topanga is joining her on the floor.   

Topanga is smiling, her grin softens as she broaches the sensitive subject. “How are you, honey?” 

“I’m okay. I have to be, right?” Riley’s smile is sad. 

“Hon, you’re just getting to know your grandfather and now you have to deal with the fact that he’s sick.” Topanga states. “It’s fine to be upset about that.” 

Riley does her best not to cry. “What’s going to happen now?” 

“Tomorrow your father and I are going to go to some appointments with Jed and we’ll see from there.” 

“Does grandma know?” Riley asks. 

“Yes, we spoke to your grandma and grandpa before our flight this morning.” Topanga nods. 

“No, I meant your mom.” Riley clarifies. 

“Oh.” Topanga is slightly shocked. “No, I haven't spoken to her about it...” 

“Are you going to tell her?” Riley questions. 

“That’s a little complicated, Riley. My parents have been divorced for years.” Topanga is more awkward than usual. “It might be hard for you to understand..”

“That’s what I’ve spent three weeks here trying to do. Understand. Where I came from, why I’m here and it’s the same answer for both. Love.” Riley says. “Did you know this is where grandpa met grandma?” 

“I did.” Topanga nods softly, quietly in awe of how mature her daughter seems. 

“Then you know he moved back to a place that reminds him of the time they fell in love.” Riley says. 

“Yes but that was a long time ago, Riley.” Topanga frowns. 

“If you and dad were to ever split up, even on the worst of terms, I can’t imagine you not wanting to know if dad was sick.” Riley holds her mothers gaze. 

“Okay.” Topanga nods knowing her daughter is right. “I’ll speak to her.” 

Riley cuddles into her mothers side. “I’m really happy you’re here.”

“So that boy this afternoon, was that Lucas?” Topanga asks a devilish tone in her voice. “The boy next-door you talk about on the phone?”

“Yep.” Riley nods into her mothers side.

“Now I know why you warmed up to this place so quickly.” Topanga shares a knowing laugh.

“Mom.” Riley chuckles nervously.

End Notes: Sorry this chapter is so short but at least you didn’t have to wait two weeks for it hahah ! The story has only a few more chapters left! Let me know how you’re liking it so far xxx

[captain-zajjy]

Solstice, Chapter 21 - A Final Fantasy XV Story

Pairing: Ignis x Female Original Character

AO3 | Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

A/N: I am SO SO sorry this is late! D: Hopefully the 4.7k words somewhat makes up for it.

For the first time since she’d arrived in Lestallum, Valeria had no appetite, pushing her food around on her plate.

“You don’t like it?” Iris asked, eying her from across the table at the Amicitia’s apartment. Valeria had been expecting Gladiolus Amicitia’s younger sister to be some sort of hulking bruiser, and was surprised to find that, aside from being rather tall for her age, she was quite slender, with a soft face and plucky demeanor that could only be described as cute.

“I know the canned stuff is kind of bland,” Iris went on. “But Gladdy says not to waste money on stuff that can go bad.”

“We’ll have fresh food from the garden soon, right Iris?” The boy, Talcott, asked. Valeria didn’t mind teenagers - it hadn’t been so long ago that she was one herself - but she had no idea what to do with kids. She had no younger siblings, no little cousins that she knew of, and children certainly had never been allowed in the boardroom at work. Even when she had been Talcott’s age, she had tried her very hardest not to act like it.

“I hope so,” Iris replied to Talcott. She pointed toward the suite’s balcony beyond the sliding glass doors, where there was a small plot of soil warmed by a sunlamp. “I figured it was worth a try.”

Valeria nodded dumbly, her distracted mind only now catching up to the conversation. “The food’s fine,” she said. “I’m just…”

“Worried?” Iris supplied. “You don’t have to worry about Ignis as long as he’s with Gladdy.” From the way she spoke and the earnest look on her face, Valeria knew Iris wasn’t just saying that to assuage her. She truly believed her brother was invincible. I thought my mother was invincible too.

“My grandma used to say I was lucky to be born a girl, since all the men in our family are ‘cursed’ with bravery.” Iris laughed, but then turned somber. “My grandfather was killed trying to help someone that fell in front of a train. He didn’t even know the guy at all, he just…” She shrugged. “Dad was a little more level-headed, but Gladdy…” She shook her head. “I remember when he got his face all cut up, protecting Noct at a bar. He was happy. So, you don’t have to worry about Ignis if Gladdy’s around. He’d take a bullet for him, and probably laugh about it afterwards.”

Valeria narrowed her eyes. “Doesn’t that worry you?”

Iris pursed her lips. “Nah. He’s an ox. It’ll take a lot more than that to kill my big brother.”

Valeria didn’t have the heart to tell her that, beneath all that muscle and bravado, her big brother bled like any other man.

She forced herself to eat, unable to allow herself to waste food even when her guts were twisted into knots. If Gladiolus was so eager to to protect others, why had he left behind the two people who depended on him the most? It seemed that he was every bit as ignorant of the danger outside the city as Ignis.

Or, perhaps like Ignis, he was out there chasing his shattered pride, desperate to reaffirm some sense of purpose. For as long as the Caelum dynasty had sat on the throne, Amicitias had served as their shields. Valeria knew what it was like to grow up with the weight of parental expectation on your shoulders; for Gladiolus, that burden was multiplied by generations. Losing Noctis must have felt like losing an integral part of himself.

Gods, she prayed, even though she wasn’t so sure anyone was listening. Don’t let this be their undoing.

“So…” Iris ventured, filling the silence. “Gladdy said you stayed in Insomnia for a while, after, well...you know…”

Valeria nodded. I wasn’t like I had much of a choice.

“A lot of my friends, um...” Iris went on. “I still haven’t been able to find out what happened to them. Do you think…?”

Valeria shook her head, perhaps too quickly, when she realized what Iris was asking. She didn’t want to recall the smiling faces in the photographs of the missing, the terrified, frozen faces in the photographs of the dead, though they were indelibly engraved upon her mind.

“People mostly kept to themselves,” Valeria offered by way of explanation. “Sorry.”

“Oh. Oh yeah, of course.” Iris gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure there were, like, thousands of people anyway.”

Felix. He was a couple of years younger than Iris, but the Academy wasn’t a large school; it was very possible that they’d known one another, that they’d maybe even been friends. How could she even begin to explain to Iris that he was probably dead or worse, all because Valeria was too afraid? Because the only thing she could do in the face of danger was run away. You’re a coward. Such a paltry explanation seemed particularly pitiful when facing one of the storied Amicitia bloodline.

Somewhat to Valeria’s surprise, Talcott began to clear the table, completely unprompted by Iris.

“All finished, ma’am?” he asked, reaching for Valeria’s plate.

“Don’t call me ‘ma’am,’” she replied automatically.

“Oh, okay. Miss…?” Talcott trailed off, apparently unsure of her last name.

“‘Miss Val’ is fine. And yes, I’m done.”

“Okay!” Talcott scooped up her dirty dishes, his tongue poking out slightly as he carefully made his way to the sink with his little arms full.

“Thanks, Talcott!” Iris rose from the table.

“I can do the dishes,” Valeria said. She could certainly use the distraction.

“Oh no,” Iris said, shaking her head. “You’re a guest! But thanks for offering. I always have to yell at Gladdy to do them.” After turning on the sink, she asked, “How did you and Ignis meet?”

“At the Academy,” Valeria replied. “On the first day. I realized I wasn’t going to be the only insufferable know-it-all in the class.” Even now, as worried as she was, the memory caused her to smile.

At first, she had regarded Ignis as more of a rival than a kindred spirit, but it soon became clear that he was the only person who knew what she was talking about when she went on about geometry, that she was the only one who got his (usually lame) wordplay jokes. In Ignis, she had found a mirror, someone struggling to reconcile their desire to be seen as mature with the realities of being fourteen, someone so desperate to please the adults around them that their true self was stunted, pushed to the side.

She didn’t have to do that anymore. She wanted to feel his hands on her face, hear his voice in her ear, feel the warmth of him at her side. She wanted to tell him all the things she had been so afraid to say out loud, the things she hadn’t even been able to admit to herself. Come back, Iggy. Please come back to me.

Galdin Quay. It was here, one sunny morning that felt like decades ago, where Ignis had received the news that had forever altered the course of his life. Insomnia Falls. He could still recall the size and typeface of the headline, those two words etched in ink that had changed everything.

And yet, it had only been the beginning. If Ignis had known what fate awaited him in Altissia, would he still have boarded that boat to the City on the Sea? Yes. The answer came to him without hesitation. My place is by Noct’s side, no matter the cost.

But his liege was gone, gone where Ignis could not possibly follow. Ignis realized that, for all his talk about negotiations, he had no idea what to say to these people. Oh, the proposal for the supply line was straight forward enough. But just who he was, and under what authority he had to decide such things - that was what he didn’t know, what he couldn’t answer if asked. He was a Crownsguard with no king, and advisor with no lord. An orphan, and a blind man, and a failure.

“Ignis.” He turned at the sound of Gladio’s voice, pushing the negative thoughts away. The truck creaked to a stop, the gearshift whining as Gladiolus put it in park.

“How’s it look?” Ignis asked. Even his ruined vision could tell Galdin was lit up like it was mid-day.

“No wonder they’re low on power,” Gladiolus muttered. “It’s making me damn eyes hurt. Uh, no offense.”

“Please,” Ignis scoffed. “None taken. What about fortifications?”

“Aside from the lights, they got nothing. I mean, we just drove right on up.”

“Hmm.” Ignis frowned. He recalled the layout of the resort well, and knew that a beach and pier weren’t exactly simple to fence in, but physical barriers would greatly reduce the number of lights they needed to keep the daemons at bay. This all seemed incredibly elementary to him, but he reminded himself that most of the people stuck here were probably wealthy vacationers, not survival experts.

When Ignis opened the door of the truck, he was assaulted with the overpowering smell of salt and fish on the sea breeze. The ground suddenly lurched beneath him, and he was standing on a crumbling dock with the screams of the Hydraean in his ears and the taste of saline filling his mouth. And all around him, he saw red. Red water, bodies covered in blood, magitek exhaust. Red flames consumed his vision, searing his face, his eyes…

“Whoa, whoa, Iggy.” Gladio had grabbed Ignis by the arm, the only thing keeping him on his feet. “What’s wrong?”

Ignis fumbled behind him with a trembling hand, feeling for the car seat. “I...I’m sorry,” he said as he slumped against it, clenching his fist. The sudden pain that had erupted in his face was extraordinary and nauseating.

“Huh?” Gladiolus still had him by the arm. “You sick or something?”

“I…” It’s not real, Ignis told himself. It’s all in the past. But the smell of the ocean, the pall of moisture in the air, continuously triggered memories, memories that threatened to devour him.

“I’m fine,” he said, even as he felt his insides churning. “The smell of the ocean, it…” Ignis shook his head. “Don’t mind me.”

“Hey.” Gladiolus shook his shoulder, quite gently for a man of his strength. “It ain’t gonna happen again. I won’t let it.”

“I know that.” Ignis knew he wasn’t in danger, but memories - bad ones in particular - were pervasive, persistent things. With a frustrated sigh, he pushed his sunglasses up his forehead to press the heel of his hand into his throbbing, scarred left eye.

“You wanna wait here?” Gladio asked, releasing his arm.

“No,” Ignis insisted. “Just...give me a moment. If you please.”

“You got it, captain. Imma unload the truck.”

Ignis tried to focus on his breathing, concentrating on the feeling of the air passing in and out of his lungs. It’s in the past, he reminded himself again. Put it behind you. His heart rate began to slow, but his face still ached, a phantom of the Imperial mortar that had blinded him and would probably haunt him for the rest of his days.

As Ignis began to get himself back under control, he could hear a crowd of people gathering close by, murmuring to one another about the new visitors in their midst. He straightened his collar, buttoned his jacket, and forced himself upright, feeling his way around to the back of the truck where Gladiolus was unloading their cargo.

“How many are there?” he asked Gladiolus quietly.

Gladio dropped something heavy on the ground, then replied, “Dunno. Maybe ten people. Nobody’s armed.”

“We’ve come from Lestallum with supplies,” Ignis announced, turning to address the crowd. “We heard your message on the radio. May I ask who’s in charge?”

A couple people stepped forward, but apparently only to look through the boxes Gladiolus had unloaded, supplies shuffling and clinking in their hands.

“Hey. Hold up,” Gladio said to them, but Ignis couldn’t tell if they heeded him or not.

“It’s our understanding that you’ve been able to catch a good quantity of fresh fish,” Ignis went on to no one in particular. “On behalf of Lestallum, we’d like to establish an on-going line of trade.”

“Who are you exactly?” Some man asked. I don’t know, Ignis thought. I honestly don’t know anymore.

“Gladiolus Amicitia,” Gladio replied, stopping his work to stand next to Ignis, probably with his arms crossed. “Shield of the King. And this here’s Ignis Scientia, King’s advisor.”

“What king?” Another voice asked. “Aren’t all the Caelums dead?”

“No,” Ignis replied. “King Regis is, alas, no longer with us - may his soul rest in peace. But Prince Noctis yet lives.”

Several voices from the crowd rang out at once:

“Why isn’t he doing anything?”

“Where is he? Lestallum?”

“Why isn’t he taking back Insomnia?”

Ignis held up a hand to hush the group. “His Majesty is....he is far away. Preparing for his destiny, to banish this darkness and bring back the light.”

He was well aware of how foolish this all sounded, like some child’s fairy tale, but Ignis didn’t want to lie to the people of Lucis. The Empire had spread so much misinformation that he thought they were owed the truth, however fantastic it sounded.

The crowd at Galdin Quay seemed to divide at this news: a smaller portion exclaimed joy, relief, hope that someone had finally come along and offered them an end to this nightmare; but the majority were incredulous, dismissing Ignis’s explanation as nonsense, demanding proof of such a claim.

Ignis felt Gladio’s weight shift, felt the tell-tale thrumming of magic on his skin as Gladiolus summoned his weapon. The ground beneath his feet shook as Gladiolus drove his greatsword into the sand.

“How’s that for proof?” Gladio growled, his patience already growing thin.

“Calm yourself, Gladio,” Ignis whispered.

“They’re not lying.” A set of footsteps approached the group, and Ignis nearly groaned at the voice they belonged to. Dino. He’d recognize that ridiculous, put-on accent anywhere. Of all the people to defend us, it had to be him .

“That’s Prince Noctis’s Crownsguard, alright,” Dino said. And yet, that didn’t stop you from coercing us into running your bloody errands, Ignis thought with a frown. “They say the Prince is still alive, then you gotta believe ‘em.”

“Don’t tell me you’re the leader of this group,” Ignis said to Dino, unable to stop himself.

“Nah,” Dino said, sauntering up to the pair of them. “Don’t really got a leader around here, per se.”

A bloody democracy, Ignis lamented. That was fine in times of peace, but in a crisis, in danger, people needed a singular, decisive voice to call them to action.

“Holy hell,” Dino exclaimed. “What happened to you?” Ignis knew he wasn’t talking to Gladiolus about the new scar on his forehead.

“Back off,” Gladio growled.

“The Empire happened to me,” Ignis said, trying not to clench his teeth. First it had been Aranea Highwind, then the Marshal, Iris and Talcott, the Hunters...he was getting damned tired of constantly having to explain one of the worst days of his life.

“Damn,” Dino went on, unperturbed. “They got you pretty good, huh?”

“Ah, Dino.” Ignis just barely managed to keep himself from snarling. “Ever the beacon of compassion in troubled times.”

“What? I’m just say-”

“Whether you believe us about the King or not is, I suppose, irrelevant to the purpose of this visit.” Ignis raised his voice to address the crowd once more, cutting Dino off entirely. “We’ve brought the supplies you asked for.” He gestured in what he hoped was the vicinity of the boxes. “We can continue to provide you with such things, in exchange for part of what you catch.”

“How much fish we talkin’ here?” Dino asked. Why did it have to be him?

“Nothing unreasonable,” Ignis replied. “We’re not asking any of you to starve. How much would you say you catch in, perhaps,  a two-week interval?”

“Ehh…” Dino trailed off, and Ignis was forced to assume he shrugged. “The fisherman could tell ya, but they’re all out on the water right now.”

“It’s more than we need,” a woman, her voice familiar, spoke up. It must have been Coctura, the chef; she was the only woman they had spoken to at any length when they were here last. “I’ve been pickling what we can’t eat so it wouldn’t spoil.”

“And how much is that?” Ignis asked.

“Maybe enough to fill up the back of your truck in a month,” Coctura replied. “Maybe a little less. I don’t want to speak for the fishermen, but I’m sure if they were better equipped with lights they could catch more.”

Ignis nodded. That wasn’t anywhere near enough to feed the bloated population of Lestallum, but it was something - a start, and more than they had coming into the city now.

“Then if we sent you a truck full of power supplies once a month, you could presumably fill it with preserved fish in return?”

“That’s what the lady’s saying,” Dino said.

“And, is this acceptable to the rest of you?” Ignis asked the crowd, since it was apparently a bloody democracy. A few people mumbled some things to one another, but no one spoke up to voice any dissent. Of course, they weren’t in a position where they had much ground to argue; the moment their lights went out, it didn’t matter how well-fed they were - they were all dead.

Ignis was exhausted. He leaned against the inside of the truck door, closing his right eye, but found himself unable to doze off. After they’d filled the truck with the preserved fish Coctura mentioned, he’d only managed a few hours of sleep in the camper back at Galdin Quay, his thoughts chasing themselves in circles while Gladiolus snored.

“Can you drive faster?” He asked Gladiolus now.

There was a pause, and then Gladiolus snorted. “Seriously?”

“Nothing unsafe,” Ignis clarified. “I’m just...anxious to return.”

Gladiolus chuckled, and Ignis felt the truck accelerate, heard the engine crank and whir at the added strain.

“I said nothing unsafe,” Ignis repeated.

“Eighty ain’t unsafe,” Gladio replied. “Not when the roads are this empty.”

“Have you seen many daemons?” Ignis asked. It was difficult to hear anything in the distance over the engine noise.

“They’re out there,” Gladiolus said with a grunt. “Everywhere. Keeping their distance from the road.”

“Hmm.” Ignis touched the flashlight in his jacket pocket, idly toying the handle as he thought. “I wonder if they’re learning.”

“How do you mean?”

“Between headlights and the force of a speeding vehicle, the highway is a hazardous place for daemons. If they’re keeping their distance now, that seems to suggest a certain degree of...advancement.”

Gladio groaned. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Nor do I,” Ignis said with a frown.

Daemons had long been regarded as dangerous, but stupid, singular-minded in their quest for destruction. But this darkness was their world now, and Ignis had witness first-hand the vestiges of humanity that the terrible creatures still retained, even clung to. Though frightening, it was perfectly reasonable to assume that some of them maintained the adaptability, the capacity for logic and plans, that was uniquely human.

Suddenly, Ignis heard a scream, simultaneous with Gladio shouting a curse and the screeching of the truck’s brakes. He stuck his hands out just in time to prevent his face from slamming into the dashboard.

“Oh Gods, please! Help me! Help me!” A woman was shrieking in front of the truck, pounding on the hood. “They have my baby!” She wailed. “Please help me!”

Though Ignis wasn’t entirely clear on what had just happened, he immediately nodded toward Gladio. “Go,” he said. “I’ll mind the truck.”

Gladiolus had the car in park and was out the door before Ignis had unbuckled his seatbelt. He could hear the woman continue to scream and plead even as their footsteps receded.

Ignis reached over and felt around for the keys to turn off the engine; he didn’t want to waste gasoline, and he couldn’t hear anything over the bloody noise. Leaving the keys in the ignition in case they needed to make a hasty exit, he slid out of the passenger-side door, his ears and nose straining to discern any sign of the daemons in the darkness. A listless breeze ruffled his jacket and hair as Ignis switched on the light attached to his belt with one hand, and hefted the flashlight Valeria had given him with the other, electing to leave his cane behind in the truck - he wasn’t going anywhere, so he didn’t need it.

The woman had stopped her wailing and, just on the very edge of his hearing, Ignis thought he could make out voices, low and hushed, their words lost to the distance. What he couldn’t hear, he realized, was the crying of a baby - and any infant ripped away from its mother would have absolutely been screaming its little lungs out. The hairs on the back of his neck and arms began to rise as his stomach plummeted to his feet. This isn’t right…

Immediately, Ignis summoned a dagger to his free hand. He gripped the hilt and gritted his teeth. Behind him, perhaps twenty or thirty feet away from the bed of the truck, he heard the soft sound of dead grass crunching underfoot. Whoever, whatever was approaching was cautious, taking care to conceal their footsteps. Gladiolus wouldn’t sneak up on him, and the daemons may have been learning, but they weren’t this smart.

The breeze shifted and an all-too-familiar scent filled his nose - not the sulphur stink of daemons, nor the rotting stink of a carnivorous animal’s breath. It was filth - human filth, sweat and dirt and malice.

And then everything clicked in place. It was exactly as Valeria had warned him, that the people out here were colder and crueler than any animal. It was a trap. The woman lured the driver away, while this person, or multiple people, made off with the truck and their supplies.

Ignis should have been afraid, but he wasn’t. Anger welled within him, rage red-hot and raw like he hadn’t felt since Insomnia fell. To take advantage of others’ good intentions...there were very few things lower than that.

The footsteps grew closer and Ignis was certain it was two people, adults, likely both men. “You get one warning,” Ignis intoned, even though they didn’t deserve it.

“Just back off and give us the keys,” came the reply. The voice sounded like a young man doing his best to sound menacing. “We don’t have to hurt you.”

Ignis inhaled deeply, every muscle in his body tensing in anticipation. He switched off the flashlight and the light on his belt, extinguishing the only illumination he was aware of in the vicinity.

“You won’t,” he replied, the calm in his voice serving as a harsh contrast to the anger rolling beneath the surface. Only a fool would try to fight a blind man in the dark.

And they were a pair of fools. One charged at him with a snarl. Ignis dodged, sliding along the body of the truck. There was a clang and a cry as the man’s fist collided with the vehicle’s door. Ignis felt the vibration through his back, his mind immediately working out the man’s relative position and height.

Before his assailant could move away, Ignis reversed his grip on the flashlight, smashing the butt of it into the man’s face. It took him in the jaw, not the nose as Ignis had anticipated, but the man still recoiled in pain, the smell of blood suddenly filling the air.

“Shi-” The man blubbered through his damaged lips; distantly, Ignis wondered if he’d broken any teeth.

“Lee! Where the hell are you? Are you hurt?” the second man cried out. The man called Lee sputtered and groaned in response.

A pair of hands - that must have belonged to the other man - grasped Ignis’s right arm, then tried to push him sideways. Rather than resist it, Ignis rolled with the force, popping back up on his feet alongside the truck’s front tire.

“I-I’ve got a knife!” the unnamed man cried. Ignis could hear the blade - small, probably not much larger than a pocket knife - slicing wildly through the air.

Ignis pivoted away from the truck, wanting to keep the sharp instruments far away from the vehicle. “As do I,” Ignis said. I did warn you.

In front of him, Lee screamed. “Where are you? Where are you, you son of a bitch?” Ignis sensed the wild punch coming a second too late, and it connected with his ribs. He grunted as pain bloomed in his side, but stood his ground, knowing the next blow was imminent. Ignis allowed Lee to grab him by the collar, pulling them close together, Lee’s sour breath spewing in his face. Ignis plunged his dagger into Lee’s gut.

“Wha…?” The startled reply was all that came from Lee before he started screaming in pain.

Blood, warm and sticky, soaked Ignis’s glove, seeping between his fingers. He thrust the dagger into the man again, higher this time, and Lee’s screams turned into a wet gurgle, his body going limp in Ignis’s arms. Ignis pulled his blade from the man’s flesh, allowing him to collapse on the ground. Fighting to maim was a luxury a blind man couldn’t afford. And besides, out here, anything worse than a scratch was likely a death sentence anyway.

“Lee? Lee!” His companion was now screaming.

Ignis took a cautious step backwards from Lee, who remained on the ground, moaning pitifully. As he moved, he felt the air shift off to his left, felt the man’s knife slice through the outer layer of his suit jacket. He spun on his heel, bringing up the flashlight in a defensive stance, dismissing the dagger from his other hand. When the man’s blade struck the head of the flashlight, Ignis seized upon the second of confusion, grabbing the man’s wrist with his free hand and twisting until he released the weapon. Now I’ve got you.

“What did you do to - ahh! ” The man’s words were cut off into a yelp as Ignis twisted his arm in a way Gladiolus had once shown him, that forced the man to turn and bend, lest his elbow be wrenched from the socket.

Without letting go of the man’s wrist, Ignis swung hard with the flashlight, bashing the man on the side of the head. He made a startled gasp and Ignis felt him swaying, but he didn’t go down.

So Ignis hit him again. He hit him again and again, allowing his anger to get the better of him, until the man was crumpled on the ground alongside his friend, twitching.

It’s over, he realized. His breath was coming in heaving gasps, the place where he’d been punched throbbed, and the muscles in his arm felt like gelatin. But it was over, and he was fine. He hadn’t broken his promise to Valeria to return to her.

As Ignis wiped the bits of blood and hair (and probably other things he didn’t particularly want to think about) from the flashlight, he felt something touching the toe of his shoe, then weakly grasping at it.

“H-help me,” the first man, Lee, croaked, his voice unable to rise past a whisper. “I don’t...want to d-d-die out here.”

Too late for that, Ignis thought coldly. A clamor behind him caused Ignis to jump and whirl, dagger already summoned back to his grasp by the time his feet hit the ground.

“Iggy, it’s me!” Gladiolus shouted. “It was a-”

“Trap,” Ignis finished for him. He palmed the switch of the flashlight, and to his shock, it actually powered on.

“...Damn,” was all Gladio said when the undoubtedly grisly scene was illuminated for him.

“They were after the supplies,” Ignis explained. “Despicable.”

“Yeah, that woman had a buddy waiting for me. I knocked ‘em both out cold. Must be some kinda operation they’re running here, or were, since these two are…”

“Let’s go,” Ignis said. He didn’t regret what he’d just done, but he didn’t particularly want to dwell on it either. He followed Gladiolus back to the truck and they both piled in, leaving the two men to die on the side of the road.

[morbidmanatee]

Tagged by @speechlessdragon!

1.) Are you named after someone? I have the same middle name as my paternal grandmother, which also happens to be a nickname for my maternal grandmother’s first name. (Both passed away about a year ago.)

2.) When was the last time you cried?  I don’t really know. Maybe when I was writing a part of an essay that had to do with my grandma.

3.) Do you like your handwriting?  Not particularly, but I don’t write things by hand enough to care.

4.) What is your favorite lunch meat?  Salami

5.) Do you have kids? Nope

6.) If you were another person, would you be friends with you? Like, a completely different person? Or a copy of myself who still has the same personality? If we’re going with the former, I have no idea because it would depend on what my new personality is. If it’s the latter, than yeah, probably.

7.) Do you use sarcasm?  Yes, but more in a teasing way and less in an insulting way.

8.) Do you still have your tonsils? Yup

9.) Would you bungee jump? Heck no

10.) What is your favorite kind of cereal?  I don’t know, something with chocolate?

11.) Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Usually. It’s difficult to take them off without untying.

12.) Do you think you’re a strong person? That’s a complicated question.

13.) What is your favorite ice cream? Hmm... maybe coffee? Or something with chocolate/peanut butter?

14.) What is the first thing you notice about people? I think probably eyes? Or hair?

15.) What is the least favorite physical thing you like about yourself? The shape of my face. It’s all round and flabby.

16.) What color pants and shoes are you wearing right now? Black pants, no shoes

17.) What are you listening to right now? Just house noises

18.) If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Green

19.) Favorite smell?  Maybe rain?

20.) Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone? Honestly, I don’t talk on the phone much. I don’t really remember.

21.) Favorite sport? Not much of a sports person

22.) Hair color? Brown, but a section of it is died green

23.) Eye color? olive-y green

24.) Do you wear contacts? No

25.) Favorite food to eat?  pasta

26.) Scary movies or comedy? I’d say comedy. I like creepypasta but horror movies don’t really appeal to me.

27.) Last movie you watched?  Project Almanac

28.) What color of shirt are you wearing? Green

29.) Summer or winter? Winter

30.) Hugs or kisses? Hugs I guess? Although I’m not super huge on either honestly

31.) What book are you currently reading? The Bible. And textbooks.

32.) Who do you miss right now? That’s a pretty personal question, person-who-wrote-this-questionnaire

33.) What is on your mouse pad? I’m using my brother’s, and it’s a picture he took of a poison dart frog

34.) What is the last tv program you watched?  Uh... Man With A Plan. Because someone else turned it on, not because I actually enjoy that show much.

35.) What is the best sound? Too many to pick

36.) Rolling Stones or The Beatles? idk

37.) What is the furthest you have ever traveled? Canada

38.) Do you have a special talent? Well, I play ukulele and am learning to draw

39.) Where were you born? Colorado

I’m not going to tag specific people because I never know who to pick, just consider yourself tagged if you want to ;)

[fangirldreamsandstuff]

Living Room - Jake Miller x Reader

Requested: No Warnings: None A/N: Hi ;) This is my first fanfiction ever, so please be nice. Also english is not my first language, so it would be nice if you could excuse any mistakes too. I hope you enjoy reading it and please let me know what you think. Maybe I’ll write a part 2.

You pulled your phone out of your pocket for the seventh time that evening. You were so nervous since your childhood friend and first love Jake Miller released his new song ‘Living Room’ along with a video in which he explains the reason of this song and his search for a particular girl: You. That was now two days ago. Of course you were surprised, but you were mostly happy. After all you thought he had long forgotten about you. You grew up as best friends since you could talk basically and your friendship only grew until it changed when you were 12. He was your first crush and soon became your first boyfriend. But when you turned 15, your family moved to Germany, because your grandma there was sick and needed help. You tried to stay in touch as best as you could, but eventually the calls started to slowly become lesser and lesser. Mainly because of two reasons. One reason was of course the different time zones. The other reason was, that you were both busy with school and working on your careers. You always dreamed to be an actress and he wanted to be a singer. So you decided to call it an end one year after you moved to Germany. You both couldn’t manage the distance between each other. And now he was trying to find you. He posted a number under his video and asked you or anyone who knew you to call. You wanted to call right after you saw his video, but you were afraid that you wouldn’t know what to say, and your heart was beating faster than a shooting star when you thought about calling him. 'Shit, after all this damn years, I still love him and act like a little school girl.’ You thought to yourself. 'Pull it together y/n, you’re 24 years old.’ You took a deep breath and dialed the number. After a few seconds there was a tired sounding male voice.

“Hello?”

“Jake? Is that really you? Uhm… it’s me y/n…”

The man on the phone (Jake, you supposed, sighed deeply). “Mmm… ok. I hope you understand, that I have to ask you a few questions to be sure. I feel like I already spoke with a million girls who pretended to be y/n.”

“Yeah, sure, I understand. Ask away.” You hoped you wouldn’t screw up. You were so nervous that you couldn’t even remember your own name.

“Okay, can you tell me something only y/n would know about me?”

That was almost to easy. You thought about the question for a moment, before you said: “We had our first kiss together when we were like seven. Then with 12 we had our first 'real’ kiss. And when we were 14 we had our first time with each other… Oh and your special nickname for me was muffin, because you thought I was just as cute as one.”

“Holy shit… uhm sorry for swearing, fuck, I can’t believe I’ve actually found you. I almost gave up.”

'He has such  a beautiful voice.’ You thought. You instantly felt his calm voice and his happiness giving you more confidence, as you admitted:

“I meant to call earlier, but I was nervous as hell.”

He chuckled slightly. “Wow, I’m so happy to hear your voice again, after all these years. I missed you like crazy. God my heart is beating so fast right now. I think I might have a heart attack.”

“I hope not.. I missed you too, but I can’t actually say that I can hear your voice. It sounds strange but familiar at the same time.”

“Yeah I guess puberty hit me there.” He said in a playful tone.

You giggled. He always managed to make you laugh. Even now, when you were just speaking since only a few minutes, after almost 8 years.

“Well, tell me about you, are you still dancing?” He asked curiously.

“No, i stopped 6 years ago.”

“What, why? You were so good.”

Your heart practically melted at his compliment. It was so long since you heard something like that, that was actually meant. “Thanks. It was just a bit to much with school and stuff you know? But I started to teach myself the piano instead.”

“Thats cool. We could do a duet, I mean I play guitar and sing and you play the piano and sing too. Well at least if you didn’t forgot how to sing.” He laughed.

Your best friend and roommate y/bf came in your room and opened her/his mouth to ask you something. You pointed at your phone and waved her/him off.

“y/n? Sorry if it was to early for this kind of jokes. I didn’t meant to be rude. I know that you can probably sing better than me. It just… talking to you after this long time just comes so naturally, like we were never seperated.”

“No, no it’s alright.” You hurried to say. “My friend just came in to ask me something. I told her/him I was busy. I totally understand what you mean, I feel the same way actually.”

He let out his breath. “I’m so relieved to hear this. Honestly, I’m really glad that I finally found you.”

“Well you could have found me easier though. I mean I’m not unknown here in Germany.” You said a bit amused.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m an actress. Nothing big though, but enough that I can live quit good from it.”

“Oh my goodness, so you made it. I’ve always known you would make it some day.” You felt proud welling up at his trust in your talent.

“Yeah, well you made it too, like I was always saying.”

“I guess so. ”

“I mean, I was always your biggest fan. Right from the beginning, when you started playing the guitar with 7.”

“God no, that was horrible. Do you remember my first song? The neighbour came to knock at our door to tell my mum she should take the guitar away from her son.”

You laghed as you remembered the little boys beautiful brown eyes welling up with tears as he threw himself in your tiny arms. “Of course I remember this. You looked like a sad puppy, when you heard that. I had to tell you at least hundred times that your song was incredible and that your stupid neighbour had the baddest music taste ever, until you stopped crying.”

“That was so embarrassing.” You could practicaly see his facepalm.

“No I think it was cute. And your neighbour was really the cruelest person I’ve met my entire life. He hated kids.”

“C'mon you only liked that song, because it was about you.” He said mockingly.

“Of course… Every woman would love a song about her, no matter if it’s good or bad.”

“Uhm.. Did… did you hear the last song I uploaded?” He asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, I did.”

There was a small pause, before he added almost shyly now: “W-what do you… uhm think?”

“I think it is the most beautiful song ever. Really. I actually cried  for one hour straight, when I realized that it’s about us.”

“I cried three times. The first time when I wrote it, because I had to think about you and how easy things were back than. The second time, when I finished it. And the third time, when it was recorded. I couldn’t imagine, that I would manage to find you with this song.” You could hear the smile in his voice.

“But you did.” You simply stated the obvious.

“Yes, I did. And I’m so fucking happy about that. I never stopped thinking about you, y/n.”

“I remembered you two. I mean after all you are still my first love. And I never actually found someone as good as you.” You sighed sadly, until you admitted: “Since we broke up I had two other relationships, but they didn’t last very long, because I always compared them to you and, yeah I mean, as if anyone could ever win this competition.”

He chuckeld sheepishly. “I understand how you feel. I had one girlfriend and it lasted for a year or so, but apart from that, I just had a few dates and some sexy time but I never wanted more, because compared to you, they were all nothing.”

“Some sexy time, eh?” You said, teasing him a bit.

“Oh sure, that is the only thing you got from my confession?” He asked, playing upset.

“Haha, no it’s not… I guess distance doesn’t matter after all.”

“Yeah, I think so… I wish we could turn back the time. I mean, how the hell did we grow up so fast? Or if I can’t turn back the time, I at least want to see your face and just hold you in my arms forever.” He sounded longingly.

You said nothing. You were trying to hold back tears of joy.

“Hey, you still there, muffin?” Now he sounded concerned.

You let out a quiet sob, hearing his old nickname for you again. “…Y-yeah sorry, I … I just –”

He interrupted you. “Are you crying? Shit, I made you cry. I didn’t mean to, god honestly I can’t even make a phonecall without making a fool out of myself. I’m so sorry, really, I…”

Now it was your turn to stop his worried ramblings. “Hey, no it’s okay. Really. These are happy tears. I just really missed you and I never thought I would hear from you again, and to hear that you felt the same way all this time… that just makes me so fucking happy.”

“Aww. You still say the cutest things, muffin. I really wish I could wipe your tears away now.”

“Always the gentleman.” You let out a laugh.

“Yeah, my mom teached me how to treat girls right. You know what?”

“I’m sure you tell me right away. Because you never could hold an idea back. I doubt that this has changed over the past years.”

“You’re definetly right. I wanted to say that my europe tour starts in two month. I mean I could fly maybe two weeks earlier and we could spend some time together. You know, like back in the old days.” He said expectantly.

“Like back in the old days? That sounds like we’re 90 and just about to die.”

“Wow, your still your sarcastic, sassy self.” He chuckled lovingly. “C'mon, muffin, you know what I mean.”

“I would love to spend time with you again. I really missed our late night conversations… I missed you and me together.”

“Okay, screw it. I have a last interview in four days, but I’m just gonna cancel it and take the next flight I can get on… if that’s okay with you?”

You were jumping happily up and down on the inside, but you tried to keep it cool. “You don’t have to cancel your interview just for me, Jake. I know that you don’t have much time in your job. I know this problem from my own.”

“I know that I don’t have to do it, but I want to, y/n. I waited long enough to hear your voice. I feel like three more days until I see you would kill me. If it’s okay with you, then I’m on the plane tomorrow evening.”

“That is more than fine by me. I can’t wait to speak to you in person.” You said, happy that he wanted to see you just as bad as you wanted to see him.

You talked for hours, until it was long after midnight in Germany. It felt like you never broke the contact and your heart was almost jumping out of your chest, so much love for Jake came up in you. You fell asleep with your phone still in your hand and the last thing you heard before drifting away was Jakes beautiful voice, whispering a soft:

“Good night and sweet dreams y/n, my little muffin.”

Masterlist

[mudaxolotl]

39 Questions Tag

tagged by trash lord @lxuiio

1. are you named after someone? yeah! my grandma and grandpa, kay and lee respectively 

2. when was the last time you cried? a few hours ago ngl

3. do you like your handwriting? bro i can barely read it i feel terrible for my teachers

4. what is your favorite lunch meat?

i really like hamburgers. i think that’s what this means by lunch meat???

5. do you have kids? no and i don’t ever plan to. if i do, i’m adopting

6. if you were another person, would you be friends with you? yeah i think so

7. do you use sarcasm? it's one of my identifying personality traits

8. do you still have your tonsils? ye

9. would you bungee jump? hell no. i’m not into heights

10. what is your favorite kind of cereal? i just had cinnamon toast crunch like an hour ago so that answers my fav

11. do you untie your shoes when you take them off? nah

12. Do you think you’re a strong person? emotionally? yeah i think? maybe???? physically? i used to be really strong but I’m not anymore bc of reasons

13. what is your favorite ice cream? chocolate chip cookie dough is my shit man

14. what is the first thing you notice about people? voice probably

15. what is the least favorite physical thing you like about yourself? mmmm thighs. and butt.

16. what color pants and shoes are you wearing now? blue sweatpants w/ a white stripe down the outside of legs and no shoes but i’m wearing bulbasaur socks!!!!

17. What are you listening to right now? the ‘low health’ beep in breath of the wild is currently playing on my tv as i type this. also rain

18. if you were a crayon, what color would you be? uuhHHHH idk blue is my favorite color so i guess blue????

19. favorite smell? mmmMMMM the smell after it rains is really nice... lavender is really nice too

20. who was the last person you spoke to on the phone? my dad

21. favorite sport to watch? i don’t really like sports :/ 

22. hair color? brown 

23. eye color? green

24. do you wear contacts? no but i have been meaning to get some for like 2 years now

25. favorite food to eat? this is such a go-to answer but pizza. i’m gonna be more specific to separate myself from other Pizza Lovers™ so pizza w/ parmesan crust and beef chunks on it is REALLY good 

26. scary movies or comedy? comedies

27. last movie you watched? pokemon: the rise of darkrai

28. what color of shirt are you wearing? brown

29. summer or winter? this is a hard one. summers are stupidly hot here and winters freezing. probably winter

30. hugs or kisses? hugs are the best thing in the world

31. what book are you currently reading? oh boy this is sad. I haven't read anything in a while tbh. i'm really picky about my books so i’m open to recommendations!!!!

32. who do you miss right now? my dog who i had to put down last friday :(

33. what is on your mouse pad? i don't have one

34. what is the last tv program you watched? i streamed boku no hero academia w/ maia at like 6am this morning 

35. what is the best sound? rain. it’s raining rn and life is beautiful

36. rolling stones or the beatles? rolling stones

37. what is the furthest you have ever traveled? washington dc for a school trip

38. do you have a special talent? I’m really good at BSing essays does that count?

39. where were you born? texas. I’m not gonna get any more specific than that

it didn’t say how many people to tag so I’m gonna do whatever

i tag: @empoleonpaladin @kukui @lesbiangiratina  @marcthetimesweeper @nerieners @pokemongoexcitement