#this photo is going in my ‘I want to be Hannah when I grow up’ album

[talldecafcappuccino]

Hannah Waddingham at the Olivier Awards | Photo by Joseph Sinclair

[lunarsturniolo]

Everyone Loves You

“I met Matt and Y/N in an escape room,” the girl narrated, a poorly lit photo of the couple with the girl filling the screen. 

“She was sweet,” Matt mumbled, a fond smile growing on his face.

or

The fans loved you. 

masterlist

The fans love you, too

Sometimes, more than they love Matt. 

Maybe it’s the relatable nature of being an ordinary girl attending university classes in LA, or maybe it’s your witty humor. No matter what it was, you were loved, and the fans made sure you knew it. 

It was a busy day in LA, and you had just finished a couple of midterms the day prior. Matt decided to take the morning off and take you to brunch and coffee as a treat. 

Matt held your hand tightly as you dragged him around the area where you were grabbing brunch. You navigated through crowds, tugging on his hand slightly when you felt he was too far from you. 

“Do you wanna run into Zara?” You ask him with a wide grin. 

Matt sends you a matching smile- he can’t help but smile when you do. “Yeah, let’s go.” 

He lets go of your hand and wraps it around your waist, “I wanted to get some cargos,” he mentions quietly. 

You nod slightly, still a little flustered from how close he was to you, “Yeah, I can help you look,” you look up at him with a soft grin. He sends you an eager nod before helping up the steps of the store, headed towards the women’s section. 

You immediately begin picking through the clothing, holding things up to get a good view before draping them over your arm to try on later. It had been almost ten minutes of looking when you noticed there was a small group of girls following you both.

You turned around, a polite smile gracing your face, making eye contact with one of the girls. Matt was oblivious, still sifting through a rack, all while the girls waved. 

“Hi,” you say simply. Matt hears your voice and turns towards you, finally noticing the girls behind him. He gives them a pretty big smile and waves as well. 

This elicits a small gasp from one of the girls, “Hi, my name is Emma! I love your YouTube videos!” 

You smile, looking at Matt, “Hey, Emma. Thanks for the support. How are you guys?” He asks.

“Good,” they chime. 

Matt nods, “That’s good. Do you guys want a picture?” He asks

They nod eagerly, and another girl holds her phone out for a selfie.

“I can take a photo!” you say, ready to take her phone. 

“Oh,” the girl says, “We were hoping you could be in the photo.”

You break out into a large grin, “Yeah, I’d love to. What’s your name?”

“Hannah,” she says. 

“Hannah,” you repeat, “One of my best friends' names is Hannah!”

She blushes, “Did you post her on Instagram yesterday?” 

You let out a little laugh, “Yeah, I guess I did,” you say, “I haven’t seen her as much since school started.” 

Hannah nods in understanding, “I get that,” she says. 

With a bit of triumph, you look at the last girl, “And what’s your name?” 

“I’m Liza,” she says softly. 

“Hi, Liza. I’m Y/N,” you joke, “Do you want to talk for a minute, or are you in a hurry?”

Liza’s eyes dart between yours and Matt’s, “I have to go study for a final.”

You nod, “No, I totally get that. I just finished all of mine. No worries!” you smile, finally positioning yourself next to Matt. 

The three girls crouch in front of the two of you. You smile softly at the camera, and Matt holds up a peace sign. 

“Thank you guys so much,” Emma said. 

“Of course,” Matt says, “It was great to meet you guys.”

The girls echo Matt's sentiment, “Is there any way I could give you a quick hug before we leave?” 

“Oh yeah! Of course!” he says, finally relaxing a little bit, “That I can do.” 

The girls laugh, one by one giving Matt a hug before finally heading off towards the front of the store, “Bye, guys!” Matt calls out behind them.

“Good luck on your final, Liza,” you say, giving her shoulder a tight squeeze as she hugs you goodbye.

“You’re so good with them,” Matt comments. 

You let out a little laugh, “What do you mean?” 

He shrugs at you, “I can never think of what to say. You’re good at that,” he clarifies. 

You smile at him, “I have lots of practice talking to new people.” 

“Okay, Miss ‘I’m getting a degree’,” he teases with pride in his eyes. 

--

You were in bed with Matt lying on your chest, scrolling through his TikTok. He kept swiping through edits of himself in his brothers, cringing slightly whenever there was a sexual edit that would come up on his page. 

“You look good,” you comment as he scrolled past a video of himself.

“Mmm,” he hums, “Thanks, baby.” 

You nod in response, reaching up to play with his hair as he continues to scroll. 

You let out a sharp breath at the next video that shows up. It is an edit to the song ‘My Love Mine All Mine’ by Mitski that compiles all the clips of you and Matt that have surfaced in vlogs and the only car video you were in. 

Matt quickly likes the video and leaves a comment of just the goat emoji. You snort at his comment as he adds the video to his favorites. 

“Everyone loves you,” he says as he scrolls through comments.

“What do you mean?” you reply. 

He shifts his phone up to be at your eye level, letting you scroll through the comments yourself. There were about 200, all of which were giving you excessive praise. The comments ranged from “Y/N is so unbelievably pretty” to “I love how they look at each other”. You were really feeling the love.

You hum a reply to Matt, allowing him to lower his phone and continue through his for you page. One of the next videos he stumbled upon was a video of a girl who they had met earlier that day. 

“I met Matt and Y/N in an escape room,” the girl narrated, a poorly lit photo of the couple with the girl filling the screen. 

“She was sweet,” Matt mumbled, a fond smile growing on his face. 

You nod in response, focused on the video. “Basically, I had gone to do an escape room with my friends from the fandom I met on TikTok, and as we were walking into the building, I see Nick, Madi, and Chris running to their car,” she says. The next photo that appears on the screen makes Matt let out a belly laugh- a photo of Nick's blonde hair behind a sprinting Chris flooded the screen.

“Obviously, I’m not gonna follow them to their car,” the girl paused, “That would be really weird,” she said. 

“That would be,” you nod in response. 

“So, my friends and I just keep walking. I’m pretty shocked at this point because I just saw some of the coolest people I’ve ever met, but it gets better!” She exclaims.

Then comes the photo of the three of you. You are standing particularly close to Matt, his hand around your waist, and the girl on the other side of you. You smile softly at the photo; you and Matt look adorable. 

“Y/N and Matt come walking out super calmly. Like they weren’t running like everyone else was. So I quickly tried to catch them. I call out Matt’s name, and both of them turn to look at me. Y/N immediately waves and drags Matt over to me with this huge smile on her face.”

You blush and look down at Matt in a fleet of embarrassment, “God, I hate being perceived like this.” 

Matt chuckles in response, “I know, right.”

He refocuses his attention on the video, “Basically, the two of them came up to us and talked to us for like 15 minutes before we had to go in and do our escape room. But I could tell that Y/N was doing a super good job of helping him talk to us and make him feel comfortable because he was cracking jokes and seemed super excited the whole time!” the girl concluded. 

Matt smiles before opening up the comments once again. This time, the comments were flooded about how great you are for making Matt feel comfortable in his own skin. He points a few out to you before he stumbles upon a different comment. 

“I can just feel how in love they are from how close they are standing,” Matt reads out loud, “Damn right, we’re in love,” he laughs, looking up at you, puckering his lips for a kiss. 

[mendeshoney]

This can be just a blurb request for this concept i have in mind, where the reader is like a volunteer in one of the isles' organizations and barzy getting this "love at first sight" or meet cute situation 😉

(I know the gif below has Brock in it too but let's just focus on Barzy shall we?)

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard this many grown men have such high pitched voices in my life.” Your co-worker, Hannah, murmurs under her voice as she plays with a strand of her baby pink hair.

You can’t help but giggle, because it’s technically very true.

It had barely even been five minutes since multiple players from the New York Islanders had entered their locker room, and already, they were either sprawled out on the floor or sitting in their locker stalls, playing with the puppies and dogs brought specifically for the calendar shoot. Three of them had even asked for applications in the last minute or so, immediately looking to adopt.

You’d been a vet nurse at the Bayport Animal Society for a little over a year now, and it was your first time tagging along on one of their many “Puppy with a Purpose” events. This one in particular had been a huge buzz around the office for the past two months.

The Islanders’ organization wanted to do something different for their annual calendar and had decided to go with an “adopt don’t shop” campaign, and wanted to feature the dogs from Bayport Animal Society along with making a considerable donation to your job in exchange.

You nudged Hannah when one of your more rowdy puppies, Rocky, started chewing on the hem of one of the players’ jeans. “Looks like Rocky’s still teething.”

Hannah snorts. “At least he’s not pooping.”

A player sat a few feet away from you on the floor in front of one of the stalls, cuddling up with one of your favorite dogs, a Doberman named Brutus, who was fast asleep despite bouncing off the walls ten minutes earlier, resting his head in the player’s lap as he rubbed his belly in soothing circles.

The look on the player’s face as he stared down at Brutus said everything you needed to know - he was absolutely smitten, and one doggy snore away from signing the adoption papers. You’d thought of adopting Brutus yourself, since he was such a loving boy, but you worked too much, and didn’t want him to spend anymore time at the society than he already had.

Hoping to help your good boy seal the deal, you excused yourself from Hannah’s side and quietly approached the player, not wanting to wake Brutus.

“That’s Brutus,” you say gently, “He’s two, but he’s an absolute sweetheart. He’s everyone’s favorite at work, including mine, and he loves everyone he meets.”

“Yeah,” the player says, “I can tell. He’s been glued to my side since I came in, and I-”

The player looks up then, and when he does, you feel your heart skip a little.

He’s…well, he’s gorgeous is what he is. Like if Apollo suddenly came to life. His jawline is as sharp as marble, and his brown eyes are warm as he stares at you.

“I uh…” he starts. “I’m Mat.”

You nod a little, offering your name in return. “I’m one of the vet nurses at Bayport.”

“Nice to meet you,” he says, his eyes still focused on your face. His gaze unnerves you a little, unsure of what it is he sees, or what he’s thinking, so you offer a small smile, hoping to ease the sudden growing tension.

A tension that is cut quickly when one of the photographers for the shoot says “Can we clear the staff from Bayport so we can take a couple of quick photos?”

It snaps you both out of it, and you laugh nervously. “I um, I’ll leave you to it.” You say, before you’re backing away and returning to Hannah’s side.

When you approach her, she’s got a perfectly arched brow aimed in your direction. “Who is he?”

“Mat,” is all you can say. “He uh, might take Brutus home.”

Hannah smirks at something she sees behind you, then glances at you with a teasing smile as she tosses her baby pink hair over her shoulder. “My guess is that’s not all he wants to take home.”

~

“Who’s that bombshell?”

Mat’s head snaps to his right where Hudson is, trying to wrangle a puppy chewing on the hem of his jeans. He follows Hudson’s eyes to where you’re standing, and tries to tamp down the rage he feels when he realizes Hudson’s staring at your ass.

His hand flies out before he can think and swats Hudson on the arm. Hudson winces, shooting a rueful look at Mat. “The fuck was that for?”

“She works for Bayport you fuckin' toad, you’re supposed to be professional.”

Hudson frowns at Mat. “The one with the pink hair?”

Pink…hair?

Mat turns back to where you are, and to his surprise, he sees another woman beside you, with baby pink hair.

"Oh," Mat says, turning back to Hudson.

Hudson raises a brow. "Who did you think I was talking about?"

"No one," Mat shakes his head, looking back at Brutus. "My bad."

To be fair, he hadn’t even noticed the pink haired woman. He’d been way too busy staring at you. Hadn’t stopped staring at you since he finally tore his eyes away from Brutus.

The pup had walked straight up to him the second he came into the room and Mat instantly knew he probably wouldn’t be leaving today without adopting this dog, but he also couldn’t figure out why he’d been so drawn to the pup in the first place.

That is, until you said Brutus had been your favorite, and then Mat had torn his eyes away, fulling intending on asking more about him, and then he saw you, and everything just...stopped.

He didn't know how he didn't notice you the second he walked into the locker room, didn't understand how a woman so beautiful, so perfect, hadn't stolen his attention immediately, but he'd been beating himself up for it every second since laying his eyes on you for the first time.

It had already been fifteen minutes since you introduced yourself since he and some of the others had been dragged away to take pictures, and in Mat's opinion, that had been fifteen minutes too long that you'd been away from him.

He glances down to where Brutus lays beside him, chewing on the tennis ball Mat fished out of his stall, and scratches between his ears gently. "Hey boy, if I promise to take you home, can you help me out?"

Brutus' ears perk up and his head tilts at Mat, like he understood every single word, tennis ball still gently clutched between his teeth.

"Wanna help me get a date with your pretty friend?" Mat asks, and Brutus tilts his head in the other direction. "Well I'll take that as a yes, c'mon buddy."

When Mat stands, he's slightly surprised but pleased when Brutus also gets up and trots along side him, following him as Mat crosses the locker room over to where you and the pink haired woman Hudson was eyeing earlier are sitting.

As he approaches, you look up at him from under your lashes before you head lifts to gaze at him fully, and his heart begins to hammer uncontrollably.

"Hi again," he starts, and is cut off from finishing his sentence when Brutus stops in front of you and lowers his head for pats.

You laugh a bit, smiling at Mat. "Hi there. Having fun with Brutus?"

Almost as if he knows he's being discussed, Brutus adorably curls up between you and Mat on the floor, resting his head on your shoes and his tail on Mat's shoes.

"I am actually," Mat admits. "Pretty sure he's coming home with me."

"Just Brutus?" The girl with the pink hair says, and Mat watches in amusement as your eyes blow wide and and you elbow her in her side. Pink hair doesn't miss a beat, sticking her hand out to Mat and saying "I'm Hannah, her best friend and favorite co-worker."

"Mat," he responds, taking Hannah's hand and shaking it once. "Nice to meet you. And no actually, not just Brutus."

This time he laughs out loud at the matching shocked expressions on your faces, and he scratches his head nervously, realizing he could be swinging for the fences here. "I just mean...I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to come out so inappropriately."

"Don't apologize," Hannah says, nudging you in the side.

"I just meant, if you're not doing anything after this, I could use some help picking out some of Brutus' favorite things, since you know him a little better than I do."

"I mean..." You start, "Bayport gives you a basket of his things when you bring him home - ow!" You shoot a look at Hannah, who glances down at Brutus as though she didn't just elbow you in the ribs.

Mat smiles, taking it in stride. "Well in that case, how about dinner? I know a great place with a patio that allows dogs. It's pretty great, and I'm sure Brutus would love it, too."

There's a second where Mat can see you hesitate, and he mentally prepares himself for the impending heartbreak, can feel his heart start to pound in anticipation for a let down, but then you're smiling shyly, and nodding. "Yeah, I'd love that."

You'd love that.

Not like.

Love.

Mat's sure his smile stretches all the way across his face, and even Brutus perks up, looking up at you with something Mat is sure resembles happiness.

"Yeah? Okay, how about Thimble Island, tonight at six?"

"It's a date," you say, and the way you look at him when you say it has Mat certain of two things.

The first is that you were the reason Brutus came up to him, and the second?

He's pretty sure if this leads where he hopes it will, he'll give this dog anything in the world that he wants.

[e-dubbc11]

Hi! 🙋🏻‍♀️

Reading “Always Her Hero” again got me thinking…exactly what traits do Dylan & Billy share?

“And your son, Dylan, well, let’s just say he’s more like you in ways you hoped he would have been more like his mother.”

Hello my dear friend!

First of all, this gif? Swoon! Fun fact…I found and purchased those sunglasses from that scene. Took me awhile to find them but I won!

Thank you for sending in this ask, for always supporting my writing and loving this little family as much as you do.

I hope you like what I did here ♥️

Be Like You

Photos are not mine. They are courtesy of Pinterest/Google.

Pairing: Tattoo Artist Billy Russo x F! Reader, Anna Raven, and Teenager Dylan

Warnings: a couple of swear words? Maybe? Teenage angst, and fluff

Word Count: 2.1K-ish

Summary: Lately, Dylan has been moody, quiet, and acting…well, like his father. You and Billy would like to know what’s wrong but like Billy, you hate to push so it’s best to tread lightly. He just needs a bit of a talking to. Part of the Sweetest Pain Series. I’ll leave the link to the Masterlist HERE

As always, thank you for reading!  I appreciate it so much and comments, reblogs are welcome and encouraged. Don’t be shy to tell me your favorite part. 💕💕 💕

“Your brother is growing up to be really cute, Anna.” Sofie said with raised eyebrows and biting down on her lower lip.

Little Raven’s friends, Sofie and Hannah, were home for Christmas break. You, Anna, and Billy survived Little Raven being away for her first year of college and now she was home until January.

Behind the kitchen door, you were eavesdropping on Anna and her friends while they were watching a movie. They had just watched Dylan go upstairs to his room and commented on how handsome he was becoming.

Physically, Dylan looked just like Billy. He had the wild dark brown hair, the ink like eyes and that smile, that perfect and irresistible Russo smile that was hard to say “no” to. Even when he was little, he knew when to use that smile.

Pictures from Billy’s childhood were non-existent until he joined the service and then he had his picture taken after he graduated from boot camp.

Comparing side by side pictures of Dylan and his father, they could be twins and even though they were slightly older, Anna’s friends had noticed Dylan was growing up to be very handsome.

“Ew, gross you guys, that’s my brother!” Said Anna.

“Yeah but he’s REALLY cute!” Hannah exclaimed.

You didn’t notice that Billy had crept up behind you, the man was extremely light on his feet and without warning, he grabbed you by the waist and whispered in your ear.

“What are we doin’?” He asked.

You nearly jumped out of your skin but tried to stay as quiet as possible.

“OH MY GOD!! BILLY!! You scared the shit outta me!” You whisper yelled at him.

“What else is new? I scare you all the time, sweet girl.” He said with a wide smile.

You glared at him playfully and said, “You are freakishly light on your feet, that is not normal, lieutenant.”

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry, my love. But what are we doing?” Billy asked again.

“Little Raven’s friends have a crush on Dylan.” You said softly and in a concerned tone.

“You say like that’s a bad thing, baby.” Said Billy. “He’s a good lookin’ kid, like his father.”

You rolled your eyes and tried not to smile. Billy wasn’t wrong but Dylan was starting to exhibit behaviors like his father used to before you walked into his life and into his tattoo shop.

You didn’t find out until after he started tattooing you that he stopped his playboy ways like going out with different women all the time, and flirting with every woman that walked into his shop.

Billy could have any woman he wanted. He was charming, handsome, and his smile made you weak in the knees. And his son was following in his footsteps, he had girls at his school falling all over him and he would take a different girl out every week.

“Billy I don’t want him having that kind of reputation. No girl likes that, baby.” You said.

“I should talk to him, huh?” Asked Billy. “I guess I never really cared what kind of reputation I had at 16 either.”

Your husband looked unsure of how to handle the situation and almost angry at himself for possibly passing on certain personality traits to his son. Anna Raven was guilty of it too but Dylan could be quite moody at times, he would shut down and not want to talk about what’s bothering him or tell you if anything was wrong, and he was growing up to be a very handsome young man, to which he was hyper aware of.

And now that you were thinking about it, Dylan started to exhibit this type of behavior more so after Billy felt comfortable enough to tell both of his children about the way he grew up. They were old enough now where they could handle the truth.

Snaking your arms around his neck, you pulled Billy’s forehead to yours then gently pressed your lips to his. You wanted to reassure him that you were raising two great kids, one of them just needed a little extra guidance than the other right now.

“Baby, I think Dylan needs a little bit of a behavioral adjustment. I know how long It took you to finally open up to me, to tell me if anything is bothering you, learn that attachments weren’t a weakness. Hell, it took you over 6 years to tell me that you had feelings for me! I know it’s still difficult sometimes but I don’t want the same thing for Dylan.” You said.

You continued.

“It started pretty much right after you told the kids about your mom and growing up in a group home. We know how Anna felt about it by the tears streaming down her face when you were finished talking but Dylan…he didn’t say much.” You said softly.

Billy kissed your forehead and said, “I’m gonna go talk to him.”

He walked out of the kitchen and headed toward the stairs, Anna and her friends said hello and went back to watching their movie.

You waited a minute before following Billy up the stairs, mostly because you were concerned about Dylan but also you were incredibly nosey.

Before you reached the top of the stairs, you heard Billy knock on Dylan’s door.

“Dylan? Can I come in?” Asked Billy.

Dylan replied, “Yeah…sure.”

You crept up to Dylan’s door, Billy left it cracked, maybe he did it on purpose because he knew you were nosey and you wanted to hear what was being said but maybe not. Through the small opening in the door, you could see Billy sitting in Dylan’s desk chair and your son was sitting on the floor with a video game controller in his hand.

They were sitting side by side as you gazed fondly at father and son, they looked so much alike. Dylan was just a younger version of Billy and you thought Dylan could play a younger version of Billy in a movie.

“Whatcha playin?” Billy asked.

Dylan furiously pushed a couple of the buttons on the controller before answering his father.

“Street Fighter II. I’m trying to get better so I can beat Mom.” Replied Dylan.

Billy chuckled, “You’re never going to beat your mother at that game. Before she got pregnant with Anna, I took everyone out to celebrate her birthday at a bar where they had old video games. Your mother beat every person that challenged her in that game. She didn’t even lose a round, let alone a match.” He said.

Biting down on your thumb, you stopped yourself from laughing but your body was shaking uncontrollably. You remembered that night like it was yesterday and how drunk you got on the tequila shots Frank was feeding you.

“Oh I’m gonna beat her, one of these days, Dad. Bet on it.” Said Dylan.

Billy leaned forward, rested his elbows on his knees and laced his fingers together.

“That’s the right attitude to have, buddy.” Billy said.

“But that’s not why you came in here, is it, Dad.” Dylan said, shaking his head slightly and narrowing his eyes.

“No, it’s not.” Billy said, followed by a short pause. “I came in here to ask you if something is bothering you or if you wanted to talk about anything. Lately, you’ve been walkin’ around here in a mood, not sayin’ a whole lot.”

Still playing his game and staring at the television, Dylan’s mouth downturned and he shook his head back and forth. He finally said, “Nope, I’m fine.”

In a concerned tone, Billy said, “You know you can come to mom and me if you’re havin’ a hard time.”

Nonchalantly and not even phased, Dylan said, “Yeah Dad, I know.”

Your son was just like his father and didn’t want to be pushed into talking when he wasn’t ready. You learned early on in your relationship with Billy not to push too hard if he wasn’t ready to talk about something. It would only push him further away so you let him do it on his own terms like gently approaching a scared animal so they wouldn’t run away.

Billy understood that his son didn’t want to talk at the moment so he got up to leave. As he started to walk toward the door, Dylan stopped him in his tracks.

His expression saddened but then his cheeks flushed with anger as you heard Dylan ask his father, “She never came back for you, did she, Dad.”

Dylan’s tone was somber and he tried to hold back the hitch in his voice but he couldn’t help it. Those words broke your heart all over again, thinking about how Billy’s mother just abandoned him like she did, and left him to grow up in a cold and cruel environment of a group home.

Has Dylan just been holding that inside this whole time since Billy told him the story? He was just alone thinking about how Billy didn’t grow up with a family, that he had to do everything alone, and how she should have been there to protect him.

Billy turned to face his son and replied, “No Dylan, she didn’t.”

“I’m sorry, Dad. I know Mom gets on my case sometimes about wanting to talk about what’s bothering me but I’d hate to think about it if she just left and I didn’t have her anymore. So I’m sorry you never had that.” Said Dylan.

“It’s ok, buddy. And I don’t know if your mother will ever know how much she’s helped me. She’s always been so patient with me and she’s made me a better person so I can be a good father to you and your sister.” Said Billy.

His words brought tears to your eyes.

“I’ll try to be better about talking to you guys if something’s bothering me.” Dylan said with a slight smile.

Billy returned the smile, the smile that was just like his.

Billy replied, “Don’t be like me. I learned the hard way, it’s not good to keep stuff inside.”

As he started to walk toward the door again, Dylan said, “Dad?”

Billy stopped, “Yeah bud?” He asked.

“It’s not so bad being like you.” Dylan said, his lips curled up to reveal that million-dollar smile.

Not knowing how to react, Billy stood there speechless while your heart swelled at your son’s heartfelt words to his father.

With a slight hitch in his voice, Billy replied, “Thanks buddy.” He paused to compose himself and then said, “Oh and Mom said take it easy with the playboy attitude. You’re a good lookin’ kid but you don’t have to go around breakin’ girls’ hearts all over school, you got it?”

“Sure Dad.” Said Dylan.

“You can do that when you get to college.” Billy said with a sly smile.

That’s when you charged into the room.

“BILLY RUSSO!!” You shouted.

“HA! I knew you were listening, baby.” Billy laughed while you glared at him. “Ok, ok…We’re serious, Dylan. Pull up a little bit, yeah? You have plenty of time for that but I will say when you finally find that person you’re meant to be with…it is so much better.”

Billy snaked an arm around your waist, pulled you in close to him and kissed your temple. The two of you fit perfectly together, like his body was molded exactly to fit yours.

Dylan rolled his eyes a little, both of your kids were always just slightly embarrassed when you and Billy would show any affection for each other.

You gave Billy a kiss on the cheek, you caught the faint scent of green soap and laundry detergent on his shirt and the bristles of his beard tickled your lips.

“Alright Dylan, keep practicin’ that game, maybe someday you’ll be able to beat me.” You said as you and Billy started to leave the room.

“What if I challenge you to a match right now?” Dylan asked coyly.

Billy replied, “Oh you really shouldn’t have done that, son. Look, your mother’s eyes are actually glowing!”

Reaching out for the controller, you could feel the excitement in your stomach as you sat down to play video games with your son. He might be 16, but he’ll always be your baby boy.

“I’m not gonna take it easy on you, Dylan.” You said.

“I don’t want you to, Mom. I wanna beat you fair and square.” Said Dylan.

Billy had a proud look on his face. He knew that Dylan would always try his hardest and always try to make himself better in whatever he decides to do…just like his father does.

For not having a model to work from at being a parent, Billy was a pretty fantastic dad. From day one, he wanted his children to know that he would always be there for them for whatever they needed and make sure they knew how loved they were. It wasn’t always easy but Billy finally had the family that he had always wanted.

Tag List: @wheresthesunshinesblog @idaoftheburningmind @rafaelakelley @fakehappy27 @snowkestrel @music-indie-tv @kayhi808 @munsonownsmyass @gijos @fictional-hooman @celestialend @nutmeg17 @k-marzolf @vaguekayla @rosaleenablack @danzer8705 @fireeyes-on-teller-dixon-grimes @mysteriouslydeafeningwerewolf @aoi-targaryen @rachlovesactors @qu1etwolf

Others that might enjoy: @itwasthereaminuteago @ittybxttykxttytxtty @fluffyprettykitty @jvanilly @imagine-a-fictional-boyfriend @mrsbillyrusso @colereads

If you’d like to be added (or removed from) my tag list(s) for the ever so handsome Billy Russo, just let me know and thank you again for reading! 💕💕💕 If I tagged you but you didn’t want to be, just let me know and I’ll never do it again.

[martiandmichelle]

First, before I go any further with this post, the photo above is of me (Marti, of course). I'll explain what it's about. . .

Headquarters send us a new girl back in late July - Hannah is her name. She had gone into one of our board member's business looking for a job and once the director saw her he knew he needed to hire her and send her to us. You see, not only is Hannah very beautiful but she is also quite busty sporting rapidly growing 32DDD breasts on a thin, girly figure. There was a problem, though: Hannah was extremely shy and withdrawn, acting years younger than her 18½ years of age. And, she was a virgin. There was a lot of work to do before she could pose in front of cameras.

The nearest regional airport from our Mountain Media complex is some 2½ hours from here so I sent my assistant, Kaatje, to pick her up. I felt the two needed to spend some time together as Kaatje was closer to Hannah's age than anyone else here and also because I was going to have Hannah report to Kaatje and do odd jobs around the studio until she could open up more and, quite frankly, grow up more.

When I first greeted Hannah at our home I was taken back by her beauty even more so than her body which was plainly dressed. She had long, straight blond hair and a timid smile - the sweetness of youth. I almost felt ashamed of myself when her eyes went from my face to my chest and her smile faded to awestruck. I was dressed but my top was tight and lots of cleavage showed. Her face turned red as she stared.

Hannah spent the day with the other ladies and we all had dinner together after which Kaatje showed Hannah to her room. As I hadn't spent much time with her during the day I went to her room that evening. I apologized for her room being so small and that she would have to share a bathroom until we could complete some construction, but I don't think she heard me for her eyes where glued to my chest. I quit talking, slipped the straps of my gown off my shoulders and slowly pulled the top down over my breasts until they were bare to her wide and staring eyes. A shimmy or two of my hips with some assist from my fingers and my gown fell to the floor leaving me wearing nothing but my jewelry and my thong.

(The gown I wore that night is the same one in the picture above. The photo was actually taken the next time I visited Hannah's room as she asked me to wear it and recreate the moment I just wrote about.)

Hannah, who wore shorts and an overly large t-shirt, stared at my chest, a stare of hunger and want. I took her hands and sat on the bed and watched her watch my breasts. "You can have them if you want them," I whispered. Her nod was almost imperceptible. I leaned back on the pillows and pulled her to me. She slowly took my left breast in her shaking hands and her stare focused on my nipple. I so wanted her to take it in her mouth but I knew this was her moment, not mine. She adjusted herself - her eyes never leaving my nipple - and lay across my lap then curled her lovely legs up agains her thin tummy. And, finally, at last, took my long, thick, hard nipple in her mouth.

There was a weak whimper as she sucked and lightly kneaded my breast. My motherly instincts flooded back and my milk burst into her mouth. She didn't hesitate but gently nodded, those whimplers becoming moans of acceptance and pleasure. I pulled the cover over her and held her like a baby.

Hannah spent the entire night suckling my breasts. She had a couple of orgasms that night just from sucking - I had more than a couple! - and, as I learned later, those were her first orgasms. When we arose the next morning, she finally spoke and called me "Mommy." I sat next to her and told her it was OK to call me Mommy when we were alone together, but around everyone else I wanted her to call me Marti, or even Miss Marti if she preferred. I then took her face in my hands and told her in the most confident voice I had just how beautiful she was and for her to promise me she would never forget that. "Like I will never forget last night," she said.

"Neither will I," I whispered back.

[ofenvs3000semester]

Blog 1

I’ve had a close relationship with nature since I was very little. My mother always took us for walks and hikes, such as to the “Rattlesnake Point” conservation area in Milton, Ontario (where I have yet to actually see a rattlesnake). Since then I’ve been all across Ontario and beyond. I in particular have many positive memories of my summers at our rented cottage in Wasaga Beach, where I’d spend hours swimming over the rocky lakebottom hoping to find a cool rock or fish. I also spent a lot of time in a creek near the town of Lowville, fishing for crayfish with my siblings. 

Growing up, experiencing what nature has to offer continued to excite me. I always took great joy from things as simple as seeing a cool new bug, to visiting a new country on vacation to see what creatures and sights I’d find there. I in particular fondly remember visiting Mexico and seeing all the cool lizards, and Cuba and seeing the beautiful ocean. I had a lot of happy memories of “experiencing” nature, and I took that as a sign to pursue a career in working in the environment. And here I am!

When I was younger, I never really needed an excuse to go outside and poke cool animals, or see a beautiful sight- and as such I didn’t usually need an interpreter (although you could argue my mother was the one who introduced me to nature, taking me to all those wonderful locations). As I got older and became busier with additional responsibilities (such as my job, and post-secondary), I didn’t get an excuse to go outside as often. This really became apparent to me when I went to my co-op in Bamfield, British Columbia, where despite being surrounded by amazing nature (the mountains took my breath away!), I spent a lot of time working on my computer inside. However, I made a friend in BC named Hannah, who I could consider my interpreter. Not only was she more familiar with the outdoors than I, but she helped me make that first step to getting outside. Attached to this post is a photo I took on the west coast trail, a sight I never would have gotten to see had I not been encouraged to come outside by Hannah. Thanks to her encouragement, and with the help of her environmental knowledge, I was able to invest myself in this wonderful natural area and get a “sense of place” walking along the trail.

As I mentioned, I never had a hard time finding cool animals or admiring the scenery, but that initial first step of going outside on my own was what I had the most difficulty with. One of the reasons I took this course was to maybe, one day, break others out of that same rut too, and help some otherwise enthusiastic naturalists find their home outdoors once again. There’s so much to explore, and I don’t want to miss it!

[lewmagoo]

Leah if you've requested Bob and or Rhett thoughts/thots, I'd be more than happy to oblige. I'd been meaning to send in those book recs for a while but we've got kids at work who are going off to kindergarten soon so things have been a little crazier than usual (lol).

I'm still very much a believer in the Rhett x wifey!reader adopting Amy when she was born because Perry's a royal douche canoe and an unfit parent to boot. I know Royal probably wasn't the best dad to Rhett either but I firmly believe that when Amy was born and you and Rhett took her home, he saw what an asshole Perry was and helped Rhett get the paperwork (signing them was a shithouse mess because Perry tried to start shit and it ended up with Royal pinning him to the kitchen table and a pretty nasty shouting match that was Rhett and Royal vs Perry......needless to say Perry lost, lol).

After Royal kicked Perry outta the house, you and Rhett could finally focus on your lives together. The next few years were actually pretty eventful with you and Rhett welcoming your first child together (Hannah Cecelia) and Amy beginning preschool at one of the more outdoorsy schools near where you lived. You, Rhett and his parents grew closer through the grandbabies and you could see that Royal was trying really, really hard to have a relationship with his son and vice versa.

But oh God help you when Hannah was two and you and Rhett found out you were having twin boys. When Rhett showed his parents the ultrasound photos of the boys, Cecelia swore up and down that they were gonna be like their father. Rhett was utterly exasperated when he looked at the photos some time later and realized that the two little buttheads were mooning him.

The two of you were planning your dream home up in Bozeman to be closer to some family friends and to be as far away from Perry as possible but the frigid, Yellowstone winters kinda put a dent in it. You were all snowed in after Thanksgiving and in early December, the two little buttheads decided they were gonna make their grand entrance (I also seriously hc that Cecelia came from a really long line of women who were midwives and helped deliver the kids at home and that her own mother delivered Rhett when he was born). Building the house had been delayed and the snowstorm had snowed everybody in so Cecelia jumped in to help.

Tatum and Tanner were both born on a frigid winter morning, two weeks before Christmas. It was an easy birth in the end with Hannah having been born at the house as well. You can hardly take your eyes off of Rhett as he holds one of the boys, but it's not long before he's talking with Royal about how the boys are the spitting image of him. It's only when you and Cecelia both see Royal holding Tanner that the relationship between Rhett and his father has finally been healed.

I know it's not my best Leah and I know Royal isn't everybody's favorite but this has been simmering in the big pot that is my brain for the better part of a month. I did think of something kinda funny for the boys when they're older and do have some Bob ones, but I won't send'em just yet because I know you probably have alot on your plate right now. I hope you have an absolute blast when the new school year starts and that everything goes smoothly 🥰🥰🥰🥰.

Mary

perry slander! it’s what we’re here for! you and rhett adopting any is my favorite au and one i want to expand on in the future. and the twins being born at home during a snowstorm? why is that so fitting? i love the idea. and i really like the thought of rhett being so involved in their birth. he’s not just there for moral support, my man is in the trenches with you. growing up around animals, not to mention hannah being born at home, he’s seen his fair share of births and he’s actually very equipped to help deliver your babies. i’m sure he catches one or both of them when they make it out into the world.

and then seeing his relationship with his father mended? that’s such a nice thought. him coming to that place of healing is a really big step. it’s funny how this all started with a baby (amy) and three babies later, things are so much different within your family. everyone is at peace with each other.

[goodmorrowing]

https://www.tumblr.com/goodmorrowing/739768044635717632/httpswwwtumblrcomgoodmorrowing73964689999121

I'm here bestie 😂 i thought you'd like a break since you've been engaged too... Congratulations btw

So here it goes

Jamie, her 2yr old daughter(let's call her betty) and their golden retriever dog (let's call him Bruno) continue to live their lives after being separated from her wife due to a very tragic incident. Betty suffers from chronic asthama, right after her birth and doctors just advise Jamie to take care of her until she grows older and that the asthama would eventually resolve by itself. Jamie is a very popular and a well known florist in the country and she makes lots of money so betty has access to pretty much everything, except a mother (Well, jamie is a mother too, but you know what i mean). Jamie always reads stories to betty that doesn't include a mom and Betty always keeps asking Jamie about her mom, how she was, how she looked and Jamie, most of the time, answers the questions indifferently, tells her that she doesn't have any photos of her mom or brushes them off altogether. But one day, betty becomes too stubborn and asks Jamie to tell the story of her mom, or else she won't take medication. Jamie convinces betty that it was too late and time for bed and promises her that she would tell her about her mom the next day. The next day comes, betty patiently waits for Jamie to tell her mom all day long, even in the shop she reminds Jamie of what she has promised to her while Jamie feeds her lunch and Jamie doesn't respond. After going home, betty becomes restless and keeps asking Jamie about her mom and Jamie loses her cool, snaps on her and betty goes to bed with silent cries. The next day, when Jamie wakes up, she doesn't find betty beside her and Bruno as well. She checks the entire house, doesn't find them anywhere. She calls Owen, Hannah, everyone in the shop if they have seen her but doesn't receive any helpful information. She takes her car and starts searching for them in the area and then she gets a call. She answers it, and it's a man on the other side, informing Jamie about the whereabouts of betty. He tells her that she's in a certain cafe with his fiance. She thanks the man and rushes to the cafe. When she reaches the entrance, she sees betty and bruno sitting with a woman, both betty and the woman laughing and having a pleasant conversation. She goes to the table and looks at the woman to thank her and she becomes shell shocked. She forgets to speak. And then the woman introduces herself to Jamie "Hi, I'm Dani".

Twist in the tale - Dani is Jamie's wife. They had been married for 4 years before having Betty and after they had Betty, she was seriously ill and was hospitalized right after her birth for a very long time. This made Dani go into depression and then one night, while Jamie was driving them home after leaving Betty at the hospital with Owen and Hannah, Dani says "We shouldn't have had a baby. I should've listened to you. It's my fault and I know you blame me for this". Jamie turns just for a second to look at Dani and provide reassurance and then BAM, a truck hits them from behind. Jamie hits her head to the steering wheel, while Dani suffers a severe head injury as falls out of the car by breaking the front glass of the car. They're immediately taken to the hospital. While Jamie recovers soon as she faces minor injuries, Dani, on the other hand, goes into a minor coma and when she wakes up, she doesn't have any memory of the past 6 years of her life. Jamie informs Karen about the incident and when Karen visits Dani at the hospital, she lies to Jamie that Dani had told her the day before the accident that she wasn't happy with her and had wanted a divorce from her. So Jamie, though it's breaking her heart, decides to not interfere in her life anymore. She takes one last look at Dani from outside the ICU and leaves the hospital, with baby Betty, after finally being discharged on the day Dani has no memory of their existence.

Present day scenario - Dani is engaged to Eddie and has absolutely no memory of her marriage with Jamie. She meets Betty outside the cafe, when Bruno runs towards her and sees betty chasing Bruno. (Bruno remembers Dani and that's the reason he runs towards her as soon as he sees her). She's with Eddie and when Dani talks to betty, she tells that she ran away from home because she was angry at her mum but now was lost. So Eddie, who was with Dani at that time, calls Jamie and informs her of the location and leaves as he has some meeting to attend to. Dani feels a strong connection with Betty and she sits with her inside the cafe and they engage in a nice conversation. Betty tells Dani everything, everything in detail, about her life, about Jamie, about why she ran away from home, so much detail that had she known Jamie's credit card's credentials, she would've told her that as well. When Dani sees Jamie, she feels like she had seen her before but can't really remember her. She anyway introduces herself to Jamie and listens to Jamie and Betty's conversation. When betty stubbornly asks Jamie then and there to tell her the story of her mom, Dani intervenes and says "Keep your promises, Jamie. She's your daughter". Jamie, obviously, gives in and starts to tell the story of them and Betty interrupts "Mumma, what does momma look like? I want to imagine a face in the story" Jamie hesitates telling and then Dani says "You can imagine me, sweetie"

Jamie narrates their entire story, but makes a change in the end, telling betty that her mom had died in an accident. Dani has tears in her eyes at the end as she feels it's too personal. She feels as if she's gone through the entire thing.

And the story goes from there. Betty and Dani become good friends. Dani having flashes of the events of the past 6 years of her life vaguely and eventually develops her feelings for Jamie AGAIN and breaks up with Eddie. Slowly but surely, Dani gets her memory back after getting the right treatment (which she keeps a secret from Jamie). And then comes the climax when they have a huge fight where Dani says "So you'll leave me?"

Jamie - "You lost your memory, Dani. You forgot me, you forgot your daughter, what was I supposed to do?"

Dani - "Be there and help me get my memory back"

Jamie - "You weren't happy with me. You wanted a divorce from me"

Dani - "Did I tell you that?"

Jamie - "......."

Dani - "TELL ME"

Jamie - "Your mom told me"

Dani - "You think I'll talk to my mom about wanting a divorce before talking to you about it?"

Jamie - "......i-i don't know...things weren't very smooth between us after betty was born and-"

Dani - "And what? You thought I'd leave you?"

Jamie - "You hadn't spoken to me for a month, Dani, what was i supposed to think?"

Dani - "THAT I'D GET BETTER."

Jamie - "I WAS HURTING TOO. IT WAS HARD FOR ME AS WELL TO SEE OUR DAUGHTER IN THE ICU FOR 6 FUCKING MONTHS. AND IT WAS MY FAULT. EVERYTHING WAS MY FAULT"

Dani's face softens and reaches for Jamie. Jamie tries to move away but Dani pulls her closer by her shirt

Dani - "I'm here now" she whispers

Jamie - "for how long?"

Dani - "Until you drive properly and not cause any accidents" she jokes

Jamie - she laughs but she still feels guilty about what happened "I'm sorry. I probably deserved it"

Dani - "Jamie, look at me, it was an accident. That's it"

Jamie - "I still can't believe you got your memories back"

Dani - "I know MEAT"

Jamie - "......................wh-what?"

Dani - "Yeah. Do you still have it?" Nudges her shoulder

Jamie - "No"

Dani - Gasps "Why?"

Jamie - "what do you mean why. You weren't there anymore"

Dani - " well, I'm back and you should get a new one"

Jamie - chuckles "alright"

And they make up, make out 🌚 and Betty now has a mum and a mommy ☺️

BESTIE ⁉️ i'm being so serious right now, are you a writer? have you ever considered being a writer? please become a writer and write this i will be your BIGGEST FAN. i would be honored to take on this idea but honestly i think you have it NAILED and holyyyy fuckkkkk the amount of gasps and giggles and tears i just shed. please write this i will be ALL OVER IT (i am already ALL OVER IT) and genuinely this is gripping! it's emotional! it's tumultuous! AHH!!! i love this, i love you! please let me know if you're going to write this (so i can back off and let you and be your #1 fan because ?!!! oh my GOODNESS) because. i am actually shaken right now.

[thespookybean14]

🐑 Clarice M. Starling Headcanons 💙

Just a compilation of some Clarice Starling headcanons and interpretation stuff I have, I think she’s absolutely lovely. Let me know if you guys want more! Trigger warning for some mentions of parental death, and religion struggles.

Note: This is my personal interpretation of her. If you don’t agree with me, that’s okay! I respect your interpretation. Please don’t attack me for my interpretation of her just because it doesn’t align with yours. Enjoy!

The M. in Clarice’s name stands for “Marie”

Clarice has two younger brothers and a little sister, she’s the oldest of the four siblings.

I headcanon her siblings are named Matthew (second oldest), Patrick (middle child), and Molly (youngest).

Her siblings grew up and went into different careers— Matthew became a psychologist, Patrick became a law professor, and Molly became a nurse practitioner.

Clarice eventually reunites with her siblings at some point and they grow to become extremely close. (I’m definitely not mad Thomas Harris mentioned them like once or twice in the Silence of the Lambs novel and then never tells us what happened to them.)

Clarice has sensory issues with certain foods.

Clarice is around 5’1”-5’2”, she was born pretty small.

Clarice is a lesbian

Clarice Starling is autistic

Clarice looks almost exactly like her mom but has her dad’s darker hair, nose, and eyes

Clarice as a kid used to do horseback riding or running as a extracurricular activity

Clarice did track and field in high school eventually because of how much she enjoyed running.

Even though she probably tries to stay hydrated most of the time, her favorite drink is Diet Coke, Diet Dr. Pepper, or Fanta.

Clarice still occasionally thinks about the kids she used to counsel before she got into Quantico and hopes wherever they are, they’re doing better.

Clarice gives some of the best hugs but she doesn’t do it extremely often

Clarice has a very contagious laugh, you’d just want to laugh along with her

Clarice is pretty ticklish but she’d never say a word about it, specifically her sides, back of neck, and ribs are where she’s vulnerable at.

She has a soft spot for kids, she wants to listen to them and thinks what they have to say is important.

One of Clarice’s comfort foods is brownies

Clarice will occasionally hum or sing softly to herself if she’s alone studying.

Clarice still visits Noble occasionally at The Smithsonian just to check in on him and see how the entomology exhibit is going.

Some of Clarice’s favorite musical artists are Eric Clapton, Queen, Blondie, Louis Armstrong, Joan Jett, Alanis Morrisett, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, and a few others out there.

Her favorite fruits are oranges, apples, and grapes.

When Clarice met Ardelia at Quantico she immediately felt like they’d start a very intimate and interesting bond, which they eventually did.

Clarice struggled with her faith in Lutheranism after her dad died, it kind of just shook her up a bit and made her question a lot of things.

Clarice still looks at that photo of her horse, Hannah, years after the events of Silence of the Lambs. It gives her the strength to continue and remind herself healing takes time and it’s a process. She knows she’ll be okay soon enough.

[smoulderingocean]

Osblaine Week Day 2: Headcanons

My list is long (though far from exhaustive haha- I could really go on forever), so it's under the cut. May we be blessed with more details in the future so we don't have to keep headcanoning them.

Holly is left-handed, just like her Uncle Josh. Nick is deeply moved by this small connection they share, feeling as if Josh lives on in her.

Nick and Holly's birthdays are both in February and are just a few days apart, with Nick's birthday coming just three days after hers. To him she is the greatest possible gift that he could ever receive. And the closeness of their birthdays has a deeper meaning too- his Mum and Josh had August birthdays that were just a few days apart.

Nick's family couldn't always afford it because money was tight and it was hard to get time off of work, but every couple of years they tried to visit Mackinac Island for a week in August to celebrate those August birthdays. Those handful of summer visits are among Nick's most cherished memories because it was the only time that his family was truly happy.

Growing up Nick was really close to his Mum. She was a very gentle, kind, and sweet person, and raised Nick to be the same. She was the head and heart of their household. When she died the Blaine family fell apart. Nick's father and Josh both struggled to function, falling deep into a pit of depression and spiralling further after they were laid off. Seeing no other alternative, Nick, himself deeply depressed, stepped up and tried to fill her place. He never felt like he was enough, because no one could ever replace his Mum.

Because he took on the head of the household role at a very young age, Nick's natural caretaking personality grew stronger, something that follows him for the rest of his life and is part of why he is such a good partner and father.

June sleeps cold while Nick sleeps hot. One night, very early on into their relationship, Nick wakes and looks over at June. He can tell from her face that she is cold and not entirely able to relax enough to sleep more deeply and get enough rest. So Nick gets out of bed and gathers his spare blanket from his trunk, tucking it carefully around her. After a few minutes, he sees June relax and fall more deeply asleep. When she awakens a couple hours later, very well-rested, she is deeply moved by the simple gesture. A gesture that hadn't been given to her in years. From then on Nick has the extra blanket out for her wrap up in. It's unspoken, but to both of them that blanket belongs to her.

Nick is a night owl while June is a morning person. This dichotomy works really well within their relationship as it allows for balance. In the mornings June wakes up early and goes for her run, then gets the kids up and going while Nick makes breakfast. Then at night Nick puts the kids to bed and stays up later than June to read, listen to music, watch tv, or just sit on the balcony and relax.

June enjoys the mornings because they're a new start, while Nick has a harder time with them because getting everyone up and going and out to where they need to be means they'll be apart for most of the day. Meanwhile Nick enjoys nights more because it's a winding down- the family is together and able to spend some quality moments with each other. At night Nick is most able to take care of everyone; there are no burdens or expectations, just love. The nights are peaceful and calming for him. For June, the nights are challenging because she finds it difficult to wind down- she enjoys being busy and being on the go, and the nighttime family rituals are the opposite. Together, Nick and June manage to balance each other out- June's drive and energy get Nick going in the mornings while Nick's tenderness and unwavering support help June wind down and relax at night.

Together, they sleep really well because they feel safe and so their subconsciouses are able to let go and relax. Without the other they struggle to get enough rest.

Nick is the cuddler of the two and really craves those moments in their relationship. The quiet warmth and comfort means so much to him and it's what he really looks forward to each night because he feels safe and loved.

One of June's favourite things to do is to watch Nick read. She finds it -the glasses and the lips pursed in concentration and the emotions on his face- incredibly sexy and she often finds herself unable to resist temptation and ends up distracting him, which Nick enjoys immensely. Nick also knows that she finds the whole thing erotic and so he puts himself into situations where he knows June will notice just what he's doing.

When they were living at the Waterford house, Nick never had to say that June was welcome to read his books, the acknowledgement that she was free to choose went unspoken between them because Nick knew that she didn't need his permission and June knew that she didn't have to ask; it was a natural thing because his apartment is was close to a home that she had in Gilead (he's her home) and so those books were as much hers as they were his.

In the Boston Globe they finally got to spend a lot of real downtime together. There they found many books, dvds, and cds that had been long-banned, left forgotten in the hastily abandoned office tower. In their free hours together they got to be a normal couple. In those hours they found that they both had an unapologetic love for Harry Potter and they enjoyed getting into enthusiastic debates about the subject. (Also, they both agreed that Nick is a Hufflepuff and June is a Gryffindor.) June loves Friends, while Nick teases her that it was before his time and that he preferred Glee, which June hated because she thought the singing was terrible. Both share a love for boy bands, with Nick's music tastes being more varied than June's and he introduces her to many good songs. Both are avid readers, but June is especially and Nick reads each and every book she hands to him.

Together they learn all sorts of things that accompany a normal, happy relationship; June can't cook worth a damn while Nick is skilled at batch meals like soups, stews, and chili. Nick loves coffee and tea equally (he's especially fond of a good Hong Kong-style milk tea, the kind his mother use to make) while June is exclusively a coffee person. Nick's favourite chore to do is laundry and June is amazed to find out that he'd often take the laundry off of Rita's hands whenever he could as she despised it. Meanwhile June's preferred chore is doing the dishes, because she doesn't contribute by and so she likes to do her bit by washing up.

In the Boston Globe, Nick finds a copy of "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and reads it in its entirety, an action that makes June cry from emotion.

While in the Boston Globe, Nick does everything he can to fulfil June's pregnancy cravings, including trading his valuable illicit liquor for her beloved Twinkies. He loved being able to do that for her because it made her smile and Nick lived for those smiles.

Both Nick and June share a commonality of being bookworms as children, a trait that they pass down onto Holly. Their favourite weekend family activity is a trip to the library.

June was in the 'in' crowd in school while Nick was more of a loner and was very quiet. June ran track and was on the swim team, and was good enough to get a partial scholarship to a good school where she majored in English. Nick never played any sports (though like all good Detroit boys, was a big hockey fan and knows how to skate, and Nick's parents, especially his father, were such big fans that they gave their sons hockey-related middle names- Joshua Gordon [after Gordie Howe] and Nicholas Stanley [after the Stanley Cup]) but he excelled at English and social studies. He couldn't afford to go to university, something that broke his father's heart as he wanted to give Nick the chance to go that he never got. (Josh meanwhile, was very artistic and was particularly good at photography- one of Nick's prized possessions is a print of one of Josh's photos. Like Nick, he couldn't afford to go to school.)

After getting into Canada together after getting Hannah out of Gilead, June and Nick and their family move from Toronto to Kelowna, finding great comfort in the mountains and also appreciating that it helps Hannah recover from what she's lived through as the mountains are comforting and familiar to her.

My biggest crack headcanon is that Nick and June have the same blood type (O+) and it was Nick's blood that was donated to help June after her haemorrhage. Nick volunteered and this action was seen as so good and so 'godly' that it was a small element in pushing Nick further up the ladder. He knew this, but selflessly gave her his blood anyway, because it was the only way he could help.

[a-crepusculo]

Hi Mia!

Here are some questions for the newlyweds game :) Don't forget to answer as the newlyweds themselves!

For Both

What’s the most embarrassing childhood story you know about your spouse?

What did they want to be when they were younger?

What was your spouse's favorite band in high school?

Describe your spouse in high school using memes or/and gifs only.

How old was your spouse when they had their first kiss? Who was it with?

If you two were the same age and had met in college, how would you have met? Would you have liked each other? Dated? Eventually married?

Which of your spouse's friends is the most attractive?

Who was your spouse's hero when they were growing up?

Can you name all your spouse’s exes before you?

Hello there, Bree! Thank you for including me again in this exciting game 🥰 Let's see what the couple has to say, shall we?

Newlyweds Game - Full Masterlist

For Both:

1. What’s the most embarrassing childhood story you know about your spouse?

Marchia snorted, a small grin flashing across her face.

“Don’t,” Ethan protested upon seeing his wife's mischievous face.

“I haven't even said anything!” she exclaimed, her eyes were bright and laughing above tight, withholding lips.

“I know what you're going to say,” he sighed, leaning back against the chair.

“Yup,” she beamed at him, the corners of her eyes crinkled. “It's....”

“The teddy bear,” they answered at the same time. Marchia giggled again, contagious enough that he chuckled along with his wife.

“One day, Ethan kissed a teddy bear and got caught by his dad,” Marchia explained, holding out her laugh. “I'll send you the photo, Bree, because boy, oh, boy...” she gestures a chef's kiss. “You're in for a treat.”

Ethan playfully rolled his eyes.

“Do you know my most embarrassing childhood story, though?” she asked, lines forming between her eyebrows in an attempt to recall whether she had told her story to Ethan yet.

“I do,” he replied. “It's when you decided to become a cat for one day.”

“Ugh,” she muttered. “Embarrassing would be an understatement,” she said wearily, running a face down her face.

“On a bright Saturday morning, Marchia—who was only six at that time—decided to become a cat,” he smirked at her. “She woke up, walked with her hands and feet, started running around the house with her cats, and meowed whenever someone started talking to her. Rest assured, her mother have several home videos of it to be used as blackmail,” he added, a lighthearted laugh escaped him.

2. What did they want to be when they were younger?

“Easy,” she declared. “A detective.”

“That is true,” Ethan confirmed, nodding his head in agreement. 

“And you wanted to be...” he looked back at Marchia, his head tilted to the side. “Hannah Montana.”

“How can I not want to be Hannah Montana?” she shrieked in excitement. “I can get the best of both worlds!”

3. What was your spouse's favorite band in high school?

“Believe it or not, this hunk used to love Rolling Stones,” she arched a brow, her eyes glanced her husband. “His bedroom in Providence is full of Rolling Stones posters.”

“If you ask me, it's kinda hot,” she winked at him.

“As for her, it would be Maroon 5,” he returned, confident in his answer. “She still sings to most of their songs in the shower.”

4. Describe your spouse in high school using memes or/and gifs only.

“Again?” he exhaled through his nose, gathering himself.

“Try to keep up with us, grandpa,” she lightly chuckled.

“Allow me to search through my phone gallery for a moment,” he reached into his pocket to grab his smartphone.

“Found it,” Ethan said after scrolling for a couple of minutes.

“That’s... accurate. I was confused 99% of the time,” she admitted, shrugging both of her shoulders innocently.

“Aha!” she cried out after a while. “This is absolutely your reaction to anything and everything during high school,” as she showed her screen.

“Oh my God,” she gasped audibly. “I married Captain Holt.”

5. How old was your spouse when they had their first kiss? Who was it with?

“If I’m not mistaken, you had your first kiss with James when you were fourteen years old.”

“Yeah! He was nice to me, always laughing at my jokes,” Marchia explained. “Or maybe he was just trying to get to my good side?” she questioned herself, raising her eyebrows.

“Yours would be... Amanda, at the age of ten years old,” she continued. “She was his neighbor back in Providence. True definition of the girl-next-door.”

6. If you two were the same age and had met in college, how would you have met? Would you have liked each other? Dated? Eventually married?

“It’s possible that we would meet because we have several classes together,” he mused over the question.

“I imagined we would sit next to each other, secretly glance one another with googly eyes, but we wouldn’t know how to start a conversation,” Marchia added, her eyes sparkling. “I would definitely have a huge crush on young-and-reckless Ethan.”

“In another life or not, I believe she will always irritate me in the cutest way possible. So, yes, I would have liked her and hoped that she liked me back.”

“Then we would date each other for years and get married! Assuming I’m not too much of a pain in the ass,” Marchia presented him with a playful smirk.

“Yes, because my happily-ever-after is with you, love.”

7. Which of your spouse's friends is the most attractive?

“Tobi—”

“You did not even hesitate,” he interrupted, arms crossed casually over his chest.

“I mean, it’s not like you have a lot of friends, babe,” Marchia confessed. “Maybe if you count your colleague from Duke University Hospital as a ‘friend’, then Alex would be your most attractive friend.”

“Fine,” he grumbled.

“If I must pick one, yours would be... Sienna,” he answered.

“She is a hottie. I’m glad you have good taste in women,” she teased.

8. Who was your spouse's hero when they were growing up?

“That would certainly be her mom,” he replied softly. “To Marchia, she’s everything.”

“Well, for you, it would be your dad and Edward Jenner because he’s such a dork,” her eyes softened as she looked back at her husband.

9. Can you name all your spouse’s exes before you?

“He has several flings and one night stand before, but I guess that wouldn’t count here,” she narrowed her eyes. “So I guess it would be.. Sophia from med school, Khloe and Emma from your early residency years, and Harper.”

Ethan hummed in agreement.

“Your exes are Liam from high school, Nathan from undergrad, and Sebastian from med school.”

“No one was as hot as you, though, babe,” Marchia reassured Ethan, circling her arm around his. In response, he peppered kisses along her cheeks.

A/N: Again, thank you Bree for this lovely and fun game! Bless you, it truly made my day. I hope this was enjoyable to read! ❤️

[mysticpetals]

Farewell, sunshine

𝙋𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜: Jake × f!mc (Syianne)

𝙂𝙚𝙣𝙧𝙚: angst, a sprinkle of fluff

𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩: 4.9k (oof)

𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙮: All Jake ever wanted was to find his sister and protect the person who had helped him more than anyone. Only, he slowly began to realise that bringing Syianne into this had caused more harm than good.

𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨: mentions of blood, physical attack, violence, hospitals, medical coma, panic attack.

𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙨: Anonymous asked: 5. “Wake up! Please wake up.” MC and Jake finally get to meet for the first time, but everything is heavily dipped in angst. 😂 Also I adore your writing and keep up the good work!

Anonymous asked: Can you give us the most angsty jealous filled over protective short with Jake x MC i want all the ANGST to be seeping out of my screen

@mnrangera asked: Here's a nice angsty scenario for you: MC is in Duskwood continuing their investigation but is caught out in town after dark. They are on the phone with Jake when they are attacked by the Man Without a Face like Jessie was.

𝙉𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨: I know this has been LOOOOONG overdue and I apologise for the wait. Thank you to all my followers for being patient, especially those who sent the requests in. I hope the long wait is worth it and you enjoy it. Also, please read the warnings before proceeding, I don't want any of you to be triggered by something I wrote. There may be inaccuracies in how I progressed medical conditions and general working of the hospitals so I apologise for that. Please do not repost or translate this fic anywhere else!! I'm literally begging you, please don't ruin my hard work like this. I would love if I could get some sort of feedback, whether it be reblogs or comments or just anon asks. I've tried to improve my writing and I hope it shows a little in this. This is my Christmas and New Year present all wrapped in one! I hope you all have a great 2021 <3

It was a cold, winter evening with the sky painted in a plethora of warm colors and Jake felt like finally things were going his way.

He, along with Syianne, had been working tirelessly for the past few weeks to find out what happened to Hannah. They had faced a lot of challenges along the way, with cryptic diary entries and threats directed towards them and their loved ones, but still, they'd prevailed and spent every ounce of free time, getting more information about Hannah's perpetrator.

They finally had the facts about what happened the day she was kidnapped and only the identity of the criminal was hidden. Syianne had suggested that she should go to Duskwood to try and find the last puzzle piece, to which Jake had been a little apprehensive. She argued that the rest of the group had already been through enough, with getting stalked and receiving threats and insisted that she should be the one to carry out her search in secret.

She never once asked for him to come along because she knew how dangerous it would be for him and she didn't want him to get caught. Jake was instantly warmed by the thought that someone cared so much about him, to think of his well being first.

So that night, as she called him to update him on her findings and plan after she went to Duskwood, he found himself speaking his thoughts impulsively.

"What if I came too?"

There was silence on the other end and Jake thought he might have overstepped or made it weird but she answered before he could stammer an apology.

"I'd like that. But only if you're comfortable and safe."

She told him to ruminate on it for a while and bid him goodnight. Jake thought about whether it was a logical thing to do. If Syianne planned to go undercover, he couldn't very well let her go into the lion's den alone. So he made up his mind and texted Syianne to let her know.

Jake [10:46 pm]

I'll come to Duskwood too.

Is it okay if we don't meet straight away?

I...I don't think I'm ready yet.

Syianne [10:47 pm]

I was lowkey hoping you'd say that ahaha

And of course! Take as much time as you need :)

That night, he slept with a smile on his face, excitement churning in his stomach.

⊱⋅ ──────────── ⋅⊰

Syianne was looking forward to her trip to Duskwood.

She knew it was a potentially dangerous situation and she was only going there to investigate but knowing that Jake might be there too, sent a spark of thrill through her body. They had been speaking non-stop for the past few weeks and she really liked talking to him. His answers to questions about him or his life were adorably confusing and Syianne realized that she really wanted to get to know him, be his friend or possibly something more, if their flirty banter was anything to go by.

Her bag contained all the essentials she could need, along with a sketchbook and pencils to use in case of boredom. She couldn't leave Matrix with any of her friends as they were either busy or allergic to cats so her only option was to take her along.

She had never booked a flight so fast. Knowing she would have to take a car from the airport to the rest of the way to Duskwood did nothing to damper her excitement. She couldn't wait to meet everyone once they found Hannah, some more so than the others.

The trip was nothing eventful, just a lot of travelling and it made Syianne a little tired but the idea of meeting her friends and finally putting a stop to all this madness, made her keep going. She wouldn't admit it if you asked her but she was looking forward to possibly seeing Jake as well. She knew he might not be comfortable enough to meet her yet and she completely respected that, but the thought still lingered.

She checked in to the only hotel Duskwood had, not meeting the receptionist's - Lilly's - eyes and was eternally grateful that she had only leaked her number and not her photo in that video. It would have been much more difficult to move about Duskwood, if that were the case.

The room they had was pretty basic, but not too bad for a few nights. Matrix prowled around the room, getting herself comfortable in the new environment while Syianne slowly unpacked the few clothes and necessities she brought.

In the corner of her mind, there was the thought that Jake might be staying at this hotel too and that sent a shiver of excitement down her spine. But she was a woman of her word and would wait until Jake was ready and would not try to look for him.

She had a mission here and she wanted to be damn sure that that's what she would be focusing on and save Hannah.

⊱⋅ ──────────── ⋅⊰

Jake was supposed to be in Duskwood about two nights ago.

He had encountered some issues with removing his tracks from the internet, as well as trying to find a safe way to drive to Duskwood without exposing himself. Working as a hacker did have some benefits and finally he managed to find a guy who made him three fake number plates that he would interchange every once in a while, so his whereabouts couldn't be traced.

He had let Syianne know of the unexpected delay but to his surprise, she was enjoying herself in Duskwood. She had told him that Jessy gave her a virtual tour of the town once and she was excited to explore all those places in person. She talked to him at night, describing the beauty of the small town and Jake felt himself growing wistful, wondering what they could do together if he had been there. But then again, hadn't he said that he wouldn't show himself right now? He was cautious - just as he had been all his life - but something about Syianne just made him want to let his guard down, to just be selfish for once.

He had no time to think further on it because finally, all the preparations and precautionary measures were done and he could drive to Duskwood. He couldn't leave Glitch at home because he had attachment issues and couldn't go without Jake for a long period of time. So he ushered him into his carrier and told him he could claw all the wood he wanted when they reached their destination and Glitch meowed in agreement. He had always been a smart cat, after all.

Changing the number plates every hour was exhausting, especially when he didn't do much manual work but he endured it, if it meant he was one step closer to finding his sister.

When he finally reached Duskwood, he was in awe of how normal it looked, how silent; how someone who didn't know that a girl had been kidnapped would think of this place as the perfect getaway. But he knew better, didn't he? This town held dark secrets, secrets that people weren't willing to acknowledge and he was going to expose them for what they were, no matter what it took.

Signing into the Duskwood hotel was as awkward as he imagined it to be, his half sister having no idea who he was and looking at his dark, baggy clothes suspiciously. He wasn't blaming her, he would have probably done the same if a strange man came out of nowhere to stay in Duskwood of all places. Lilly gave him a tight smile as he picked up his bag and key and made way to his room.

Syianne had texted him earlier that day that she would be checking out the lake in the evening, where Jessy was attacked. Jake was against it from the start but he should have known how stubborn she could be and eventually, he had to agree but only on the condition that she stays on video call with him the whole time. Syianne was evidently bewildered by his request, judging by the way she kept writing and erasing her reply but after a while, she managed to ask if he would be comfortable with that. Jake's heart warmed at her considerate words, never really having anyone who would care about his emotions, he was always surprised when Syianne said something like that. He replied that he would just turn off his camera or point it at the lamp or something but he had to be sure about her safety.

And that's why, he was sitting with his phone in front of him in the evening, camera turned off as he watched her fondly, pointing out the strange birds she saw.

"Ah, I wish you were here! The lake is so pretty this time and the light from sunset is reflecting off the water and it makes an amazing view," she said, voice breathy with the exertion of walking for a while and a tone of awe towards the scene in front of her.

"That's sufficient sightseeing, don't you think?" Her voice suddenly took a serious note and Jake straightened up in his chair. He was afraid but couldn't say anything. He had already agreed to let her go with a condition and he feared if he asked her to not investigate, she would probably end the call and keep looking for clues by herself. At least on the phone, he could look at her surroundings and made sure no one sneaked up on her.

"If you say so," he said half-heartedly, glancing at the surroundings behind her as she narrowed her eyes at his dismissive tone.

The next twenty minutes were spent with Syianne looking around the lake and Jake looking over her shoulder virtually. She had scouted the edge and went a little deeper into the forest, looking for a car, a boat, a mask - anything, really - but the search had proved to be futile so far. Everything was as peaceful as ever, no signs of any disturbance and it made Jake a little antsy. Nothing was ever this perfect.

"Well, since we can't find anything here, I think you should come back. It's getting late," Jake said, looking at the already darkened sky. It was an ominous red color and Jake was getting more and more worried as people left the lakeside.

Syianne frowned but didn't argue and that made him sigh in relief.

"Yeah, you're right. No use trying to find something that isn't there," she said and started walking again.

"Wait, you walked here? Didn't you bring your car?" Jake asked and she shook her head.

"Nope, I wanted to enjoy Duskwood and being in a car wouldn't have helped," she smiled at the camera and Jake let out an almost inaudible sigh. Why couldn't she care about her safety a little more? She was going to give him grey hair before he reached his thirties, that was for sure.

As he began to reply to her, he caught movement from the left side of the screen and instantly grabbed his phone, expanding the background.

There was a silhouette of a hand.

"Syianne, run!" He shouted, as the figure's arm came into view and she looked back in surprise before starting to sprint, the camera shaking from her movements.

Jake scrambled to get his car keys, not bothering with what he was wearing and ran towards the hotel parking, getting into his car and connecting the GPS to his phone, all the while listening to Syianne's panting breaths as she ran away from the man without a face.

Getting her location was no problem for him and he just hoped he would arrive there on time.

"Jake, I'm scared. I'm hiding behind a big building and I think he went on ahead," she whispered, voice shaky and trembling and Jake's hands gripped the steering wheel tightly as he glanced over at his phone to watch her looking around herself in a panic.

Five more minutes and he would reach her location. Jake had never been more thankful that Duskwood was a small town and the hotel wasn't so far away from the lake.

"I'm coming, Syianne. Just a little while more and we'll go back together."

"Okay, I think I'm safe for now," she said. There was a sound of slow careful footsteps as Syianne came out from behind the building.

The abrupt sound of a gasp almost made him lose control of the steering wheel and he increased his speed as he heard what sounded like a scuffle. Syianne had probably dropped her phone because it only showed the dark sky and sounds of her struggling against her attacker.

"No! Let–"

Jake let out a harsh breath, jaw tightening as he heard Syianne's scream. He drove straight for a bit and turned the next corner and saw the man trying once again to restrain her. His eyes saw red and he honked and honked like it was nobody's business, speeding towards them.

The man without a face seemed to have realised that someone was coming to help as he pushed Syianne roughly into the wall and ran away towards the forest. As much as Jake wanted to go after him, Syianne was his first priority and he quickly got out of the car, dashing towards her crumpled form, lying on the ground.

He fumbled with his phone, calling the local police and asking for an ambulance, his body shaking all the while, as he knelt down next to Syianne.

He felt tears welling in her eyes as he looked at her battered form and realised that she was bleeding.

"Syianne?" He spoke in a scared voice.

"Syianne!" He said more forcefully, repeatedly patting her face in hope she'll look at him but her eyes were still glassy and unfocused as if she couldn't comprehend anything.

"I'm...so sorry. I…" her voice trailed off as she struggled to breathe and Jake cried, seeing her in so much pain, when he couldn't do anything except wait for the ambulance to arrive.

After a moment, Syianne's eyes fluttered closed and Jake's panic rose to new heights.

"No, no, no! Wake up! Please wake up!" He shouted and begged but she didn't respond to his calls.

His hand was soaked in her blood from where he was applying pressure on the wound at her side. The blood hadn't stopped flowing and Jake was worried that she was losing too much, too soon.

"What do I do? What do I do?" He muttered to himself, adrenaline coursing through his veins, with only one thought in his head – to save her.

He heard sirens in the distance and was relieved to know that help was coming. He pushed up the fallen hood of his jacket up on his head and looked at Syianne for any signs of consciousness. Her breaths were shallow and eyes still closed.

Soon enough, paramedics rushed to the scene and immediately started tending to Syianne's wounds. Jake felt as if he was just a spectator, not being able to do anything but watch. Someone came up to him and started asking him questions, about how he found her, who he was to her and if he knew anything about the attack. He answered all the questions as carefully as he could, giving a fake name, because he still wasn't sure if the police department was in league with the kidnapper or not.

As soon as he was done with the questioning, a paramedic approached him, letting him know that they were taking Syianne to the hospital and he would have to come there for a bit of paperwork. Jake hesitated and said he'd drive there in his own car and the paramedic nodded in response and left.

He got in his car and put his head in his hands, shaking at the unfortunate turn of events. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. Syianne was just going to check out the lake and then surprise her friends the next day by telling them she'd be here for a few days and enjoy Duskwood together.

Jake was even thinking of meeting her in person and telling her that she had changed his life for the better. But his cowardice, his meticulous nature to not let anyone know who he was or where he was might have cost Syianne her life tonight. Even thinking about it had tears pooling in his eyes and he took a deep breath to bite back the sobs that were threatening to break once again.

He felt guilty, so so guilty and couldn't bring himself to start the car. He was pretty sure that if – no when – Syianne woke up, she would want nothing to do with the man who put her life in danger. With that thought rooted in his mind, he opened his phone and with trembling hands, sent Jessy a text about Syianne's accident. He received a reply almost immediately.

Jessy [8:46 pm]

What?

How did she come here?

You know what? If she's not okay, I'm going to hunt you down and make you pay.

Jake had no trouble believing she was telling the truth. All he wanted to do was help and now everything was falling apart. Taking a deep but shaky breath, he started the car but instead of going to the hospital, he turned towards the hotel.

⊱⋅ ──────────── ⋅⊰

Jessy had no trouble believing that the hacker was telling the truth. His texts were frantic and he practically begged her to go to the hospital to see Syianne. She had no idea how she got here, but hearing that she got attacked, just like she was, was enough to make her worry and drive to the hospital, after letting Cleo know. She figured that the rest of them deserved to know too.

She rushed to the front desk, breathless and worried, and one of the nurses told Jessy that the doctors were with Syianne and she'd have to wait until they were done to know how she was.

After some time of relentless pacing, Cleo arrived and Jessy filled her in on everything that the hacker told her, which wasn't much, but it gave them a good idea of what had happened. Cleo said that she hadn't told anyone else yet and that they should do so as soon as the doctors had an update on Syianne's condition.

About an hour later, a nurse came upto Jessy and Cleo, asking if they knew Syianne and upon their confirmation, led them to the room she was kept in. They weren't allowed to enter yet as the doctors were still in the room, but Jessy gasped when she saw Syianne's scratched up face, with bandages covering her head.

"Oh my gosh." Cleo breathed and Jessy felt a rush of sorrow as she averted her eyes.

The doctors after completing their examination, told them that Syianne was stabbed in the side but luckily it didn't puncture anything important and they closed up the wound to allow it to heal. What was more concerning, was the fact that she was hit on the back of her head.

"She most likely suffered from a concussion, in which case, it is of the utmost importance that the patient doesn't fall asleep," the doctor said and Jessy and Cleo looked at each other uneasily.

"But Syianne fell asleep…" Jessy began and the doctor gave her an apologetic smile.

"That's right. She was unconscious when she was brought here. The superficial wounds are taken care of, we just don't know when she'll wake up."

Both of them were too stunned to say anything and a call for the doctor from one of the nurses broke them out of their stupor.

"So, she's in a coma?" Cleo asked.

The doctor hesitated before answering.

"Essentially, yes. But we can't know for sure without further observation. If the injury isn't severe she'll wake up soon, we just have to monitor her constantly and look for any changes." He then walked off when his pager went off, most likely to see another patient.

"Don't worry, Jessy. She'll wake up soon," Cleo said, placing a hand on her shoulder, as they looked into Syianne's room, seeing her sleeping peacefully, as if nothing was wrong and she was just taking a nap.

⊱⋅ ──────────── ⋅⊰

As soon as she got home from the hospital, Jessy sent out a row of furious texts to the hacker, clouded by her anger and hopelessness. In her head, it was all his fault that Syianne was twittering between life and death. He was the one who asked her to come to Duskwood without letting any of them know, which caused her to be in such a terrible condition.

Everything was crumbling.

They were a tight knit group, always there for each other but when did it turn into a nightmare, Jessy didn't know. Emotion overtook her and she suddenly collapsed against the wall, keeping a hand on her mouth to muffle her sobs, and cried.

She cried for Hannah, who she had no idea whether she was alive or not. She cried for Syianne, who had become such a great friend to her. Most importantly, she cried for her relationship with everyone, that was slowly but surely, withering away.

⊱⋅ ──────────── ⋅⊰

Jake had been pacing in his hotel room ever since getting back, waiting on a word from Jessy. Glitch watched him with big eyes, as he stubbed his on the bedside and cursed. Sighing in defeat, Jake realised that it won't do any good to worry himself to death, but that didn't mean that his mind didn't drift off to the earlier scene.

Syianne lying on the ground. Blood pooled around her.

He shook his head in frustration, trying to get that image out of his head but to no success. Glitch, sensing that something was wrong, strolled towards him, rubbing and purring against his legs. Jake softened at seeing his efforts to calm him and he picked Glitch up, moving to lay down on the bed. He petted him, smiling at the way the cat burrowed himself further against Jake, curling his tail around his wrist.

After a few peaceful moments of cuddling, Jake's phone lit up with a text, which had him scrambling to grab it from the bedside. Glitch meowed in protest but Jake was too wound up to notice.

Jessy [10:25 pm]

She's in a coma

They don't know when she'll wake up

Jake felt all breath leave him as he read Jessy's text. He didn't know what to think, what to do, what he could do. Jessy didn't give him a chance to respond.

Jessy [10:26 pm]

Don't contact any of us ever again

I don't want to find Hannah this way…which leads to everyone else getting hurt

Please leave Syianne out of this

Saying her mind, Jessy went offline again. Jake took a shaky breath, trying to ground himself. Syianne might never make up.

No, he told himself.

He couldn't think like that. He knew she'd wake up, it might take a little time but she will. Because if she didn't, Jake wouldn't be able to live with himself.

He got another text from Lilly, saying she was sorry that it happened but he couldn't bring himself to write back. His mind was empty, body numb to everything around him and he was cursing himself for being so careless.

If he hadn't been so selfish, if only he didn't put all of this on her, if he had just reached on time, if, if, if.

That's all he thought of, as tears continuously trailed down his cheeks, an arm covering his eyes, the only thing on his mind being Syianne, just as it had been ever since he started talking to her.

⊱⋅ ──────────── ⋅⊰

The next day, Jake found himself holding a large flower bouquet and walking to Duskwood hospital's reception. He was trembling, scared out of his mind but he just had to see Syianne. So, he had braved his anxiety and was now standing in front of the receptionist, who looked at the abnormally large bouquet in his hands and raised an eyebrow. He cleared his throat.

"I'm here to see Syianne King, she was admitted here yesterday."

The receptionist's gaze sharpened as she looked him over and he partially hid behind the flowers.

"Only family members are allowed to visit," she spoke slowly and Jake bit his lip in frustration.

"I'm her fiance," he said and before the surprised receptionist could say anything, he continued, "I drove here as soon as I got the call but they wouldn't tell me what happened. Only that Syianne had been in an accident and I needed to get here as soon as I could and I—" he cut himself off, shuffling nervously and wiping away the tears that had managed to escape from his eyes.

The receptionist softened, seeing his genuine sorrow and care for his fiance and warmed her voice.

"Of course, I'm sorry for what happened. She's in room 309, third floor. The elevator is down the hall," she pointed and Jake thanked her profusely before walking ahead.

Him being Syianne's fiance might have been fake but everything he had felt was the truth and he felt overwhelmed now that he was here. Should he see her? Did he even deserve to see her after he put her in danger? Thoughts like this plagued his mind all the way to Syianne's room and they only stopped when he saw '309' written in bold letters on a grey coloured door.

His breath stuttered in his chest. He was second guessing his presence in the hospital, thinking whether he shouldn't have come. He stood in front of the door for about ten minutes, contemplating but when the nurses started giving him suspicious looks, he swallowed thickly and with shaky hands, opened the door.

Nothing could have prepared him for the utter despair and helplessness he felt, as he saw Syianne's motionless form on the bed, breathing as if she was just sleeping and would wake up any minute. But he knew that wasn't the truth.

She was here and it was his fault.

For the longest time, he just sat on a chair beside her bed and just looked at her. His eyes traced every injury, every bruise that was visible and he felt sick, blaming himself for letting it happen. She was still sleeping and suddenly, it just got too much.

There was too much light, too much beeping, the walls were too white, the flowers in his hands digging into his skin and he got up hastily, dropping the bouquet and backed into the furthest corner of the room.

His breath was coming in short bursts, it hurt to breath, to think, to stay upright—!

His legs gave from under him and he slid down, back against the wall, shaking hands coming up to wipe the wetness on his face.

He didn't even realise he had been crying.

His vision was a blur of dark shapes and in a distinct corner of his head that was still sane, he thought of what Syianne would have done had she been awake. He was sure she would kneel down in front of him and take his hands, running her thumbs against the back of his hands to calm him.

'Breathe slowly, Jake. Deep breaths with me, come on,' he heard her in his head and tried to slow down, breathing harshly at first but after a few minutes, his vision cleared and his breathing stabled to an acceptable rate.

His whole body shook with the sheer suddenness of the panic attack and he slowly tried to get up, holding onto the wall as a support as his gaze, once again, landed on the bed and it's occupant.

All at once, his head cleared and he knew what to do.

Snatching a sheet of paper from the notepad lying near her chart, Jake penned his thoughts, all his anguish, and his apologies on it. Not once did his hand shake as he wrote the note and not once did his mind waver from the decision he had made. At last, when he had said everything he wanted to, he put the pen down and glanced at Syianne's peaceful face.

His throat closed up but he swallowed once to make sure he didn't cry. No, Jake had no time for tears. It was his fault that this happened in the first place, so it was his responsibility that he would make it right.

He didn't know when she would wake but whenever it might be, Jake had everything he wanted to say, already written for her.

He bent down towards her and placed the softest of kisses against her forehead, knowing that it would be the only time he would ever get to do it.

She did not open her eyes and Jake stepped back with a miniscule tilt of his lips.

Yes, he would make everything right.

[seaweedinthebrain]

my headcanons for harry and neville, a rarepair i just found out about but already think is the softest

this got Long but bear with me here, they're two of my golden era favourites and I'm a sucker for some peaceful and cute fluffy love

they become really close friends once both go back to hogwarts for eighth year. in the nights harry wakes up sweating from nightmares and neville just can't sleep, they sit in the common room together

sometimes they talk about the deep stuff neither ever had a chance to, knowing the other can relate to at least some of it. (it also helps that hermione has put everyone she knows in contact with some wizarding mental health clinics cause we all know she would). sometimes neville will ramble about random facts or interesting books about herbology and harry just sits there and watches the way his eyes shine when he's allowed to be passionate. sometimes harry will ramble about quidditch or DADA and neville will sit there and listen to the excitement in his voice. and sometimes they just sit in silence and enjoy the company

harry gives up on the ideia of becoming an auror (that boy has had enough action and danger in his life, let him have some peace and quiet), so minnie mcg and the current DADA professor write him a recommendation letter for the DADA course in the Advanced Studies Academy (I don't really care if that really exists in the wizarding world, to me it does and it's kinda like uni) and he's accepted. neville is recommended by professor sprout and minnie for the herbology course in the same Academy

instead of looking for flats separately in the same city, they talk and decide it would be simpler if they just shared. the summer after graduation is spent looking for flats. except they don't find any that actually feels like them and the city is so big and there's so much noise and crowds

so one afternoon, harry shows up at madam longbottom's doorstep and takes neville to see a place, all the way saying "look, it's not exactly a flat and it's not in the neighbourhood we were aiming for BUT trust me, you'll understand when you see it"

and that's how two 19-year-old boys end up moving to an old but charming cottage on the outskirts of a forest near a small lake. the main reasons they discarted all other options upon seeing it include but are not limited to: a big bright kitchen for harry to have fun in, a small greenhouse that needs some loving, lots of space for teddy to play in when he grows a bit and the half an hour distance to the city, which does wonders to both their introverted and anxious natures

they stock the house with plants, books and old vinils. the walls are filled with photos of their friends, families and professors. by the front door, there's the moving photo minnie gave them, the graduation photo of the class of 1978, with both their sets of parents, surrounded by friends, smiling. hanging in the living room there's a gryffindor-themed banner that dean painted as a housewarming gift. jumpers and flannel shirts are tossed over chairs to be picked up later. there's a warm blanket permanently kept on the couch for movie nights on the muggle telly. neville starts growing vegetables and spices so harry can cook without driving all the way to town every week. there's a weird pendant hanging over the back door that they don't even what is the purpose of but leave there anyway cause it's colorful and was a gift from luna

neither of them had good childhoods and neither were offered much affection and support growing up, so they manage to find that in each other. be it through physical affection, bringing home little things they think the other will like or simply saying nice stuff

they genuinely make each other better. they talk about the bad stuff and laugh about the good. neville is the soft voice and the hand on harry's arm that calm his temper, while harry is the hug and warm presence that ease neville's constant worry

their first kiss happens on the exact 0:00 minute between their birthdays while they're stargazing on the grass behind the cottage. teddy, who is staying with them for a few days, is peacefully sleeping in his brightly-painted room. the summer air is fresh around them. fireflies are loose. the kiss is soft and sweet. there's nothing of the fear of ruining their friendship, it just feels like a natural turn that doesn't really change much of their dynamic except for the fact that they can now openly stare at each others eyes and say sappy things

neville is panromantic and asexual and harry just knows he's bi but doesn't really care about all the sex stuff, so their relationship (which is official now) never really gets past kisses and caressing touches, but that's exactly how they want it

now let's please take a moment for the domestic scene: 185cm tall harry potter, saviour of the wizarding world and defense against the dark arts academic, drying cloth hanging from his shoulder, dancing around in their kitchen with 170cm tall neville longbottom, hero of the wizarding world and herbology academic, who has a spot of dirt on the tip of his nose and freckles from the spring sun lighting up the front garden. you're welcome.

a random afternoon right after they graduate (with honours) from the Advanced Studies Academy, minnie shows up for tea and casually drops the information that the DADA and herbology positions at hogwarts are now vacant

welcome to the hogwarts staff, professor potter and professor longbottom, it's not as if the other professors had been planning on this all along, of course, nothing of the sort

they still go back to the cottage for the weekends, summer and winter holidays, and take time to travel around the world, sometimes for research on their areas of expertise, sometimes just for fun. during the school year, they drop by the three broomsticks to catch up with hannah or do pub nights with their friends

one summer night, they're watching a muggle movie cuddled on the couch and neville blurts out "haz, do you ever think about getting married?". that's how they got engaged. the ceremony and party are small and both held on their own backyard. teddy carries the rings and luna is the flower girl. they don't choose best-men and instead just divide their friends in two groups and call all of them the "grooms-maids"

they never get any pets, since they're basically only home like three months of the year. harry splits teddy's custody with andromeda cause she's old and definitely can use some help. ginny marries luna, dean marries seamus, lavender (who is alive and proud of her scar and eventual wolfish inclination) marries parvati, ron marries hermione. they're all happy, healthy and constantly meeting up

they have teddy every weekend and holidays

they go for family lunch at the burrow every sunday

they manage to be vastly different and absurdly alike at the same time, as seamus once put out

they're soft and happy and comfortable and ridiculously in love

the fan base for this pair is so small and I don't even know their shipp name (I've read "pottbottom" somewhere but I don'tthink there's one single name for them ) however I am totally converted, give me all the harry x neville soft content

also, I obviously made a playlist cause nothing in my head functions without a soundtrack so here

[whump-town]

Crawl Home

I thought to myself Hannah why are you so mean to Hotch? Hmm, well, I’m a self-destructive little bastard and he’s a self-destructive big bastard so I just think it’s fun to project onto him. Then I considered -- shit, why not take it out on Emily too? So, I did. 

Going to college hadn’t been nearly as difficult as leaving her soul, every good part of Emily Prentiss, behind her in Virginia. But there the pieces of her could be protected and here, in Europe working for Clyde, she can’t be sure she can offer the human parts of her that condolence. Then again, leaving for college had been leaving her mother. Freedom, at the time, she hadn’t known to its full advantage. Leaving Virginia is leaving the only family she’s ever known. The safety of girl’s nights, Dave’s expensive taste in bourbon, and the knowledge that if she had nowhere she still had them. Aaron’s couch where Jack calls her his favorite aunt and Spencer’s library so extensive she’ll never reach the bottom.

Emily is safer there with them.

The case is grueling, ripping apart wounds she thought healed and scarred over. It’s enough to make her consider calling Hotch. She gets so close, finger hovering just over her screen until she remembers that it’s probably three in the morning over there and she’ll probably wake him up. Stealing from him what little sleep he can manage and so she doesn’t call him despite the promise she made him just a few months ago. Looking into the vulnerability he’d laid out between them, needing her to be something unlike him, someone not consumed by this damned job that will take everything.

She took his hand -- rough and damp with his anxiety -- and said the words she knew he wanted to hear. Knowing that stepping foot on that plane, leaving them, was giving the job everything. It’s falling into the trap that nearly killed him and she’d watched it happen and still, she couldn’t stop it from happening to her.

Instead, she texts Garcia for a picture of Sergio and sends Dave a picture of her lunch so he can pride her on actually taking the time to at least try and eat. The food sets a little easier when he sends her some corny-ass text with an emoji he doesn’t really understand. To top it all off, Derek sends her a selfie from the bullpen where he’s actively sitting on Spencer and pinning him still for the photo. It solidifies her, the boost she needed.

See? she asks her reflection, she didn’t need to call Hotch. No need to admit defeat just yet. (and when he sends her a picture of Jack wearing the sweater she got him with the added detail that Hotch is wearing his matching one, she cries in her bathtub and reminds herself this is for the best). So this is what her freshman year roommate met by homesick…

“Clyde,” she announces, avoiding touching him as she slides past him. “After this case, I’m retiring. I’m going to go home and sleep for three days and then you expect my resignation. I’m going to go live in the Alps and hope a bear of some variation eats me after I freeze to death.” She says all this while she pours herself a cup of coffee. This is certainly a situation she’d mirrored with the likes of Hotch, Dave, Derek, and even Reid over the years. Where Clyde meets her with a raised eyebrow Hotch would have handed her his coffee and offered her a dimpled half-grin of agreeance. Dave would have taken her out for lunch. Derek would have hit her shoulder, stolen her coffee, and told her “toughen up, princess, it’s nearly Friday”.

Clyde takes a long pull from his own mug, drawing his eyebrows tight as the bitter, not properly steeped mess of his tea hits his tongue hotter than he anticipated. With a grimace he clicks his tongue, “you’ve got the vacation days.” He takes her by surprise, she wants him so desperately to be someone else. Reid’s bashful, not quite sure what he should say, face or Dave coming to sit on the edge of her desk until she caves and goes for lunch. But Clyde is Clyde is Clyde and he offers her a solution none of the others would have mentioned.

She does have time building up. Fall is rapidly approaching in Virginia and she could get home to see Henry and Jack before school. Spoil them with trinkets to show off to their friends. It’s her favorite season there and it would make great circumstances to steal one of Derek’s sweatshirts and escape with new recipes from Dave to try out. Enough time for so many girl’s nights -- her skin needs the reprieve and Garcia’s hand-picked face masks and JJ’s fantastic taste in wine. She needs to spend too many hours on Hotch’s office couch, listen to his deep baritone start to slur with Dave’s bourbon. To feel Dave’s crushing hug when they pour themselves into a cab and, like an idiot every time, the three of them bunch up in the backseat with her in the middle.

“I can see that look in your eye, Emily.” Clyde points right at her -- again, why does she expect him to be like them and just not profile her -- and he smiles with a shake of his head. “You’re going to go back to them, aren’t you?”

She takes her mug, solutes him with it, and walks away. Here, the rules aren’t the same. There is no Hotch standing over her shoulder, sending a glare in every direction, as the permanent reminder that there is a rule against inter-team profiling. But, that’s the catch. They’re not like her over here. Clyde has no secrets and she’s a field of undiscovered bodies in shallow graves. It doesn’t take a lot to go tripping over her bones.

As she sits herself down behind her desk, she spots the flicker of movement she’s learned to associate with her youngest agent and she knows exactly what the other woman is bringing. She finds herself sighing, feeling that bone-tired Hotch always looked (oh God, she hopes she doesn’t look like that). Why are there so many twisted fuckers in the world? She just wants to take a moment to enjoy her coffee.

“What is it?”

The poor woman coming into her office is taken aback but not entirely thrown off. “We found him.”

There goes her fucking coffee.

“Where?”

She’s going to hug Reid for as long as he lets her and she’s going bully him like he’s her baby brother until his face is red. When she sees Jennifer Jareau she’s going to force herself not to cry and she already knows Henry will be as tall as her by now. He just got glasses -- how do they grow up so fast? She’ll laugh, unabashed and loudly when Derek lifts her off her feet. Squeeze Garcia just as tight as Garcia squeezes her. Let Dave kiss her cheeks and press her face into his jacket when he pulls her in. She’ll snag a hug from Hotch when she knows they aren’t looking and quickly wipe her tear away when he whispers that he missed her.

“Be careful,” Clyde advises around a mouthful of cookie. “Don’t need any more paperwork than I already have.”

She rolls her eyes because it’s funny when he says it…

“Prentiss!” The agents here don’t call her Emily. “Ok, ok, okay--” The shot comes suddenly, unexpectedly and it hits her and for a blinding moment, she feels nothing. Searing, like the brand Ian pressed into her skin and then consuming so quickly that all she feels is hot, intense pain all across her body. “Hold still.”

There’s a blonde woman leaning into her wound, failing despite her desperation to keep Emily’s blood inside her. She looks like JJ -- or maybe the sky is just dark enough and the beams at just the right angle or the blood is pumping so quickly from Emily’s body that her mind is starved. Maybe there isn’t a blonde woman, she’s a hallucination, but it doesn’t matter. Emily just wants to go home.

“Hey, hey!”

Derek. It sounds just like him, his voice and roughly the hand that shakes her shoulder grips at her flesh. She feels weightless, suspended by her hips as she falls backward. The haze of blood loss and shock shutting down her functions. Tears sting her eyes and she sees the people hovering over her -- the distinct lack of Reid’s nervous voice, the hand holding onto hers is neither JJ nor Derek’s -- and she knows she’s not going home.

“Stay with me, Prentiss.”

Will they come here she wonders. If this is it, will they bring her home one last time? She doesn’t want to be buried in Europe. She wants Virginia and the fall and home. She wants to go home.

“Hey, hey--”

She feels the cold sting of a hand across her cheeks but her eyes have sunk. Home.

She just wanted to go home.

[karatam]

Dani x Jamie headcanons

sarah--tonin asked:

what are some of your favorite bly manor and/or hill hosue headcanons? (i love reading other people's hc's haha)

lol I don’t even know where to start tbh

a lot of my best ones have been sent to novel_concepts as prompts and used in discussion of prompts, so you can see echoes of my headcanons in some of her fic

warning, a bunch of these are sad and I can’t divulge some bc they might actually be used soon-ish

1. a particular fave of mine, Jamie taking photos of Dani (knowing somewhere in the back of her mind that someday this might be all she has left of Dani)

Like, there are the group photos (faces smushed together with friends and smiling widely), there are a few more formal ones for like passports and events (shoulders back and smiles a little stiff, bodies positioned a little further apart than usual), there are touristy ones (sunglasses on and arms spread open wide in front of the Eiffel Tower, at the Grand Canyon, at the Empire State Building)

And then there are these ones. Ones that no one but Jamie has ever seen (Dani gets a little embarrassed and doesn't want to look). Ones that show the dark smoky look Dani gets sometimes late at night after a glass of wine. Ones that show the constellation of freckles along her shoulder blades. Ones that show her lips a little wet and swollen from kisses. Ones that show the Dani that is just for Jamie

2. Jamie is terrible at math. This is connected to my “Dani does the taxes and all accounting” headcanon

Dani has a will all written out that she updates at least once a year.  She ducks from Jamie's notice to go and visit a lawyer or notary every few months. She mentioned it once and the look on Jamie's face broke her heart, so she kind of did it in secret from then on.  Dani has always been the one to handle their books, so she just sometimes says she's visiting their accountant and Jamie lets her keep up the pretense

A grieving Jamie having to file their taxes, blinking back the tears at just how often "Danielle Clayton" appears on all the paperwork, her loopy signature at the end of every document

alternately, a frantic Jamie calling up Owen like "I'm doing our taxes and we either owe the government a million dollars or possibly they owe us half a million dollars, and neither of those seem right but I hate math"

3. Jamie nearly kills her plants after Dani is taken

it's thanks to Owen that the plants survive for the first time in her adult life, Jamie cannot bring herself to care for all the plants growing in their apartment or store. the dark earth feels like it's a dark stain on her skin, the edges of leaves like sharp razors, the fragrant blooms nauseating

she doesn't touch the watering can, doesn't tend to brittle roots, doesn't trim overgrowing branches

she just lets it all go, because Dani, her moonflower, is gone and never coming back and this is all Jamie has to show for it and it's not enough

Owen walks in to see that carefully tended engagement plant spilt on the ground in a broken pot by the door, Jamie sobbing in the bedroom. He carefully picks it up and places it in a bowl on the kitchen table, scooping the soil in with his hands.

4. Jamie never sees a ghost (barring Hannah), but she spends the rest of her life searching for one

5. Dani being unable to control herself while Jamie is in fix-it mode

the jeep conks out somewhere in Colorado and Jamie goes to work on the engine on the side of the road, sleeves shoved up to her elbows, tendons and muscles in her forearms standing out in sharp relief as she gets to work. Dani is only able to watch this for maybe 15 minutes before she grabs Jamie and pulls her (only slightly protesting) into the back seat. Dani ends up with grease stains all up her thighs and back, but it was totally worth it

you’re all very welcome for prompting that 5 things fic of novel’s

6. Dani was subconsciously waiting for their relationship to be legally recognized so that if she dies, Jamie will be known legally as her wife and all that entails

7. Jamie has tattoos (I’ve posted this before)

She has flowers mostly.

A edelweiss bloom (courage, devotion) on her left bicep, the first type of flower she cultivated in her prison work term.

A sprig of bluebells (constancy) on her right ankle, like the ones that used to grow outside her childhood home, the one spot of beauty she can remember.

A daffodil (rebirth) on her forearm that she got when she got out, symbolizing a kind of rebirth.

An ever growing vine of climbing roses up her back, a new bloom added whenever someone manages to sneak into her heart. last count was 7: five pink (happiness), one a dark crimson (mourning) and one a vibrant red (love)

And then, delicate on her wrist, a white moonflower

I think she gets the moonflower while Dani is with her, and Dani is constantly tracing its shape with her fingertips, often without even noticing, and it makes Jamie’s heart clench a little bit in her chest every time

After, she lines the red rose with dark crimson, but doesn’t fill it in all the way. because for as much as she mourns, she also still loves

8. Dani realizing she likes hickeys

with Eddie it always felt like a mark of possession, of something he wanted displayed to the rest of the world to show his ownership of her. and she didn't even enjoy the process of him giving her hickeys, it just kind of hurt a bit

but now, as she wakes up and sees a faint red mark below her jaw, she can't help but smile as she remembers exactly how Jamie was losing control when she bit down a little harder than usual

again, just read novel’s fic, it’s so good

9. Complete crack: they meet at a D&D game.

Jamie is the reluctant DM (she says reluctant, but she also has multiple maps drawn out already), Owen the cleric, Hannah the ranger, Flora the sorcerer, Miles the wizard, Henry is a barbarian and has no idea how to play, Rebecca the warlock. Dani joins when invited by Flora (her favourite student) and decides to be a paladin.

10. Why they don’t get a pet

Jamie's greatest fear is a cat getting into their apartment and then slowly and meaningfully knocking every single potted plant off its shelf/table/ledge and onto the floor, all while making direct eye contact with Jamie

[novelconcepts]

your hot takes in bly manor are honestly making my day SO: jamie and dani being direct parallels to peter and rebecca (peter and jamie both with abusive/tragic childhoods, rebecca and dani both being au pairs and falling for them).....let's discuss

Okay. I’ve been sitting on this since it came in, parsing it out, because it’s suuuuch a choice. Such a good solid, sometimes subtle choice to place these two love stories end to end. To have Peter and Jamie both come from low-income, low-class beginnings with shitty parents, and to watch them grow into such different adults. Peter, trying constantly to game the system, to pull himself up. Jamie, who has been through not only trauma, but also the therapy that was necessary after the fact, throwing herself as far into the opposite of the system as she can. Down to the way they dress: Peter trying to look upper class and rich in his suits, Jamie slouching around in whatever is functional and comfortable, not caring the least if there’s dirt on her face. They hold themselves as complete opposites, and they scorn each other’s way of existing in the world. Peter because Jamie looks like the help. Jamie because Peter acts like a controlling asshole.

So these women come into their lives, these women who are so similar on the surface. Both good with children, both nurturing, both smarter than anyone wants to give them credit for by looking. Both want to make a difference in the world: Rebecca wants to be a lawyer, and Dani just...wants to make some kind of impact. Both have been boxed in by society’s expectations. Pretty young women aren’t expected to be anything deeper. They both are running from that, and that leads them both to this house and this family.

Peter, now, Peter doesn’t do family. Peter’s home life sucked. Peter isn’t here to make friends, he’s here to climb the ladder. Peter wants nothing more than to be of Henry’s class, and is so resentful of being viewed as lesser. And that bitterness shapes his interactions with the family of Bly. He’s charming and fake and constantly throwing barbs at Hannah—and repeats it with Rebecca—about how they’re just the help. They’re not family. They don’t get to have that.

Jamie? This IS Jamie’s family. She’s scrappy and she’s rough around the edges and she’ll threaten to throttle a child, but she loves them. She loves these people, and she does have her own separate home, as Peter does, but she spends so much time with them all the same. Dinners and fixing things around the house that aren’t necessarily the gardener’s problem. And she’s been there for the kids’ performances, even if she rolls her eyes every time. She teases Owen and Hannah, she knows them, she lets them know her. No one is surprised when she and Dani fall in love. There are no awkward “what’s this gay shit” looks between Owen and Hannah about it. Just like Jamie clearly sees the chemistry between them, like you do when you love people and want them happy.

So Peter meets Rebecca and she’s...not a means to an end, exactly. She won’t help him climb. I do believe he loves her, in his own way. But it’s manipulative from the start. Point out the stain on her blouse, an instant flaw. Here, have some flowers—but I’ll give them to the child while looking at you. Pretend to be so nice and so good with kids, but as a show to make her interested. And even their first night together, he just...is lurking outside her door. We’re meant to think he’s a bump in the night, a scary ghost, until she opens the door.

Contrast with Jamie and Dani. Dani is instantly such a part of the family for Jamie that she doesn’t even think to introduce herself. You’re here, and I’m here, and why weren’t you here all along? Feels like you were. She teases Dani from the start: about being crap at making tea, about being American, about silly little things, but the first time she sees Dani in distress? She goes to her. She instantly tells her she’s doing well. And before that, she gives a glimpse of her own self: “I cry all the time.” Here is my vulnerability. I see yours, I give some back. Their first night together isn’t quick and it isn’t dirty and it isn’t even easily won. They’re slow. Glances. A brush of hands. Jamie staying over in the house to be close, like Peter does, but not going to Dani; she just sleeps on the couch alone. And there are conversations. Conversations about how Dani needs to take care of herself. About how Dani has felt pain and loss. And when Dani throws herself into a kiss, Jamie instantly asks if she’s sure. Consent all the way down, setting the stage for their whole life.

And even when they do go on that date, and Jamie does share so much of herself, and they do go to bed together—Dani wants her to stay. Instantly. “You could come back.” And Jamie gently, lovingly, says, “There will be other nights.” Contrast again with Peter grabbing Rebecca by the wrist. Dragging her back with physical restraint. Forcing her to stay. Jamie leaves for the night, with the promise that she will be back, and when she does stay: it’s forever. It’s on equal terms. I’m back, and I’m here, if you want me. If you want the company. You get to decide, too.

Peter? Peter tries to sweep Rebecca away. Quite literally. Tries to hide away with her in the forbidden wing. Tries to wrap her in upper class clothing he has no rights to. Tries to memorialize her in photos, keeping her stagnant, keeping her with him in a way that promotes no growth. He decides for the both of them how they will be: when he can be kind, when he can abuse her for innocuous actions, when he will sweep back into her life and pretend it never happened. He doesn’t invite her to America; he says he’s got a plan. He makes it sound grand and exciting, but never tells her he’s going to make her an accomplice to theft. And when he dies, he intentionally haunts her—hides her away in her own memories—lies to her to make sure he won’t be alone. Kills her, because it’s better than never having her at all. He takes all that potential and reduces it to a moment’s decision without her consent. And leaves her to feel it alone.

Jamie...Jamie is all about growth. Jamie is all about organic forward momentum. Giving Dani space to say no, to breathe, to choose. Giving her options. Maybe we can go on this adventure together. Vermont, maybe—but doesn’t have to be. I just want to be with you, in whatever way makes you happy. They make a plan together. And they don’t hide away from anything. She certainly will never leave Dani to feel pain alone. She actively, intentionally says, “I will feel everything for both of us.” I will never let you carry this alone. You are here. Stay with me, please. Not by holding too tight or twisting the narrative, but just with the simple love of someone who wants to be with their person forever.

And of course that’s why the way Dani leaves hurts, and why it’s necessary. She knows Jamie too well. Jamie would want to be dragged down with her, if it meant not being alone. If Peter would kill to stave off loneliness, Jamie would die for it. And Dani can’t have that.

This is long, I’m sorry, but one more thing: it’s not lost on me that Peter’s preservation of Rebecca is a static photograph and Jamie’s is a story. Stories have a way of taking on lives of their own. Of growing and changing details with every retelling. Of being organic beasts in their own right. A photo stays the exact same forever, until it fades away. A story? A good story breathes.