#y'all know shotgun weddings?

[witchofthesouls]

Are divorces a thing in cybertronian culture? Like, spark bonding is basically marriage but more extreme in the sense that their literal souls are being bound together, but can it be broken? If it is but very rare I’d imagine that their version of divorce is seen as very shocking (possibly even seen as blasphemy to some religious bots) to others.

Because of the variety of relationships on Cybertron, which can be different between city-states and caste, there are several kinds of marriages that are accepted throughout the planet.

Conjunx Endura is the legal process of it. It's mainly based on the Acts of Affirmation and other additional regional concessions.

Because Iacon is the birthplace of Functionism, the city-state requires the pair to register as "Primary" and "Secondary" Conjunxes. By their mandates, it's the party with the higher caste that becomes the Primary Conjunx. If both are from the same caste, then the one with more wealth and/or political acumen.

Polyhex, unlike her sister-cities, mainly relies on legal paperwork to declare their statuses. This is due to their highly unstable terrain and loosely connected towns and villages. While still a passionate and artistic culture, it created a cold, very pragmatic mindset when it comes to relationships. Their courts that involve family matters can be viciously ugly for different reasons.

Legal spouses have the option to split and go separate ways.

Mecha can have multiple Conjunxes.

Bonded by spark marriages are a whole other shebang. While highly romantic with many spiritual and religious connotations, it's a permanent thing until death... with the surviving party following their bondmate soon after.

Despite what the media depicts, a deep connection isn't formed with a single passionate, yet shallow press. That could yield a sparklet but not a solid bond.

It's mainly due to the highly coveted Resonants status. It's where two (or more) sparks are ridiculously compatible with each other to the point the separate sparks immediately latch into a deep connection, overwhelming the respective mecha's wishes.

Bondmates have the unique ability to ping each other's general location. It isn't a specific set of coordinates, but they can get a pull to a direction, no matter the distance and suppression tools.

Highly-tuned and well-established bondmates would have the capability to 'feel' each other's emotional states.

Throughout Cybertron's history, many parties have taken advantage of spark marriages, both for personal and political gain, such as two warring parties reconciling with two high party members spark-bonding.

The most (in)famous pair are Megatronus and Solus. While the most widespread tale is their tragic romance that ended with Megatronus killing Solus, there are tales and myths of them taking more lovers, separate and together.

Because of the highly risky nature and uncomfortable level of raw intimacy, this extreme kind of political marriage usually has witnesses to the initial martial bed. Both to verify the authenticity and to mitigate any potential assassination or murder-suicide during the orns-long bonding sessions. (The closest equivalent would be a secluded month-long honeymoon and consummation ceremony. Traditionally witnessed by a senior priest and medic team to vet it and to use their considerable combined strength if necessary...)

There had been tales of survivors, but that usually included the necessity of another intimate sparkbond to stabilize them.

Vos and Praxian do have records of survivors within triads and trines. Researchers of the city-states have proposed that the trine bonds allowed the backlash to be shared with two others. The immense stress would be painful yet not fatal, provided the two members were alive.

Seekerkin cities have a specific relationship status for successful heat-induced couplings.

Much to Vos, Praxus, and Polyhex's annoyance and bemusement, other city-states reclassify this kind of status as a "marriage" as they gave up trying to figure this out in addition to Seekerkin's convoluted social structures and kinship-ties.

Heat-couplings have protected statuses in regards to sharing medical information, finances, and can define custody between the carrier's and sire(s)' flocks.

An 'annulment' can happen should the sparklet(s) fizzle out before dropping down.

[sassylegshayne]

marry me, idiot. - chapter seven

the finale!! I hope y'all enjoy it! 2.4k words.

series masterlist

It had become normal to wake up tangled in Spencer's arms, his soft snores rumbling his chest lightly. Craig would often curl up at the end of the bed, on Spencer's side.

It was relaxing, usually. When you find yourself waking up just before your alarm was set to ring, it felt like your nerves were on fire. You wanted to melt into the mattress and disappear, acting as if this had never happened.

As Spencer shifts, his arm slung around your hips now pulled you closer, a soft murr leaving his lips. You couldn't help but bite your lip, smiling softly down at him.

After a moment, a large grin spreads across the man's face before his eyes open, landing on yours, sending your heart aflutter. Your cheeks heat up as a nervous laugh bubbled out of you.

"Good morning.." Spencer spoke softly. reaching out his hand to cup your cheek gently, your worries melting away as you lean into his touch.

"I know it'd be kinda last minute but... if you wanna back out, get it." Spencer chuckled softly as you press your forehead to his, his blue eyes scanning yours.

"I'm all your's, no refunds." You grin, placing a soft peck to his lips before slipping from the sheets, much to Spencer's dismay.

The two of you make quick work of attempting to wake yourselves up before running out on a quick errand, before heading toward your chapel.

Erin had managed to snag a cheesey shotgun- wedding chapel, and with help from some of the cast and crew, it would be ready for you ceremony in a few hours.

You and Spencer had been tasked with the chairs, Jackie delegating tasks left and right with a bright smile, her enthusiasm radiating off of her.

You finish wrapping another bow, tying the knot gently when you feel a shoulder bump into yours, finding your.. Spencer squatting beside you. A small giggle escapes you as you watch his eyes search over your face.

"Can I help you?" You ask playfully, the brunettes cheeks burning bright red as his eyes fall on yours.

"I..." He trails off as your head snaps up, Jackie quickly seating herself on the chair behind Spencer, your cheeks now lit up as bright pink as the bows in your hand.

"Ya know, wish you guys were actually getting married." The woman huffs, pouting as she looked between the two of you. It feels like your heart's stopped beating, but it's the only thing you can hear in your ears Damn Jackie.

"Yeah, good one." Spencer barked out a laugh as he stood quickly, looking as pale as a ghost as he scurried off, leaving you in a fit of giggles.

You finished up the last of the chairs, working diligently on whatever tasks you were given until Kiana found you in a flurry, ushering you off to get ready. You'd opted for a simple outfit, knowing the Spencer had done the same.

You quickly got ready before heading back toward the chapel area, the room now filled with your guests. Your heart fluttered as tears threatened to spill from your eyes, all of your friends moving about the room as they took their seats, the cameras and mics all set in place. It was so weirdly perfect.

You're pulled from your thoughts as Ki gently takes your hand, giving you a squeeze. "You excited?"

She was always quick to sense things out, yours nerves unhidden to her. You gulped, putting on a bright grin as you nodded.

"Of course I am.. have you seen.." You trail off, brows furrowing as it dawns on you that Spencer wasn't in the room. Your heart drops to your stomach, your mind fearing the worst as you turn to your best friend beside you. Kiana gives you a soft smile, nodding her head.

As if on cue, Spencer rounds the corner with a mic pack in his hand, your nerves crashing away in an instant.

"Hey, pretty.. you okay?" Spencer asked softly, the bright smile he had when he first saw you quickly turned to worry as he saw the concern on your face.

"Yeah, I thought you got cold feet." You chuckled softly, Kiana trying her best to suppress her grin, her heart soaring at the love between the two of you.

"T'm gonna go do some finishing touches if you two wanna.. get those on." Ki grinned, nodding to the mics before she took off, leaving you two alone for a final moment.

You link your arm with Spencer's, guiding him towards the back with you before you step out into the hall. As the door closes, all of the chatter becomes a soft murmur as you turn to him, a grin spread across his face to match yours.

"So," Spencer begins as you turn your back to him, allowing him to clip the pack onto the back of your dress. "You really think l'd get cold feet?"

You let out a shaky chuckle, playfully rolling your eyes. A shiver runs up your spine as Spencer gently presses his lips to your shoulder before placing his hands on your hips, spinning you slowly.

Spencer digs into his pocket, pulling out the wedding rings you had picked out. The video called for gauty, fake rings, but for the real marriage, you'd decided on matching bands.

You couldn't help but giggle with excitement as you slip the ring into your bra for hiding, planning to exchange it for the faux ones later on.

You look back to Spencer, wrapping your arms around his shoulders, wishing to stay in this moment forever. You slowly lean in, your lips brushing his gently before the turning of the door handle has you jumping back.

Spencer steps aside, his cheeks burning as Shayne poked his head out, offering the pair of you a soft smile.

"We're all set up whenever you two are ready..." He trailed off, quickly shooting a thumbs up before disappearing behind the closed door once again.

You take Spencer's mic wordlessly, slowly stepping around him as you clip it to his waistband, trailing the cord under his shirt before you step away.

As soon as your foot hits the tile, Spencer is wrapping his hand with yours, spinning you back into his arms before pressing his lips firmly to yours.

You pull back slowly, wiping your lipstick from his lips with a smile that sets his heart ablaze.

"C'mon," You nod to him as you wander off, tugging the door open. "Marry me, idiot."

Spencer took a deep breath, unable to hold back his smiles any longer, trailing after you. Erin quickly positions Spencer up at the altar in front of Jackie, everyone else already seated or behind the cameras.

You give him a small wave, the small ring on your finger catching the light as he stuffs his hands in his pockets, fidgeting with your band he had hidden.

This was an absolute mess of a wedding; it's perfect for the video, but realistically, who else would want this but the two of you?

And in the midst of all this chaos, you stand just down the isle, and all he wants to do is kiss you. Spencer can't find it in himself to try and focus on anything but the view of you before him.

The soft playing of Josh's piano is the first thing to pull him from his thoughts, his grin so wide it looked like it might split his face. The crowd in front of him erupts into cheers as a camera pans to you.

Spencer still can't tare his eyes away as you playfully wander down the isle, finally greeting him with a grin to match, offering your hands to him.

You try your best to steady your shaky hands as Spencer takes your, a nervous laugh leaving him, causing your own to escape.

'Shush." Jackie chastises the two of you playfully, her minister costume not helping the laughter for the pair of you, or the crowd.

"I, Jacklyn Uweh, have been brought here today before al of y'all to ordain the matrimony between the Spencer Agnew and the Y/N L/N." Jackie called out dramatically, the crowd cheering once more.

"Now, since I'm not legally able to bind these two together, I'll just let them say their pieces." Jackie laughed as she steps aside, leaving you and Spencer alone together.

Spencer quickly fumbles around, reaching into his pocket as he grabs a piece of paper, setting aside the approved roasting 'vows' Erin had handed him earlier.

You glance behind the camera, seeing confusing open Erin and Kiana's face, worry setting in slowly.

You glance behind the camera, seeing confusing open Erin and Kiana's face, worry setting in slowly.

Spencer tugs at your hand once more, pulling your attention back to him. He smiles softly as his eyes scan over your face, a sigh escaping his lips.

"Uh, I would be the aforementioned Spencer, and I have some words I'd like to say to my future wife here, if you'd let me." He jokes, looking out to the crowd for the first time. Everyone seemed invested, but no one had a clue what he was about to say.

"Y/N," Spencer turns to you, glancing down to the paper held in his shaky hands. "You're my best friend but you're about to become my favorite tax break."

You chuckled softly, chewing your lip as your heart races, the laughter of the others around seeming to disappear as he spoke.

"When I sat down to write this, I realized that I have a lot that I want to say." Spencer chuckled nervously, nudging his glasses up on his nose before stuffing the paper back into his pocket, lacing his hands with yours.

"I don't know how to say all of it, but I know that I love you, Y/N. I don't know when it started, but I know it's not gonna end."

"I don't know what made me fall in love with you, or when, but I feel like it's just the most natural thing for me." Spencer grinned, a few tears escaping him as he blinked them away, your hands gripping his tightly.

"Basically, I don't know much, but I know that you're my best friend, you make me the happiest man in the world, and I love you, Y/N."

You let out a small laugh through your tears and sniffles, your trembling hands quickly taking the paper of your's that Spencer passed you.

You refrained from looking around the room, wanting to get your words out before taking in everyone's reactions.

"Spencer, you're my best friend, too." You laugh softly, biting your lip as the man before you rolls iis eyes playfully.

"I wanted to make sure to get that out of the way first, but I digress." You grin, glancing from his blue eyes to your handwriting.

"I tried to think about how long I've loved you but.. I really don't know, either." You blink away a few tears, feeling them drop onto your hands.

"I know there was some point where I realized that I wanted you in my life, I want you forever." You chew your lip, your heartbeat thudding in your ears. "I loved you, even before I realized it."

"I just know that it feels like I'll love you forever. I want to spend the rest of my life watching you fight with Craig."

"I'm so glad I get to marry you." Spencer tugs you gently closer, your toes tapping together as you laugh softly, your nerves bubbling inside of you. "I love you."

A deafening cheer erupts across the room, the silence from moments before is long forgotten. The two of you are quickly wrapped up in familiar arms, Kiana a crying mess as she holds the two of you tightly.

"What the fuck?" She yells out quickly, squeezing you tightly as the questions begin flooding in, the confusion and excitement buzzing throughout the room.

"Okay, we can explain.." Spencer speaks after a few moments, Kiana slowly stepping aside as you grin up at the man beside you.

"Kiss the bride first!" Kimmy squeals out from behind the camera, flailing her arms as your eyes fall upon her and Erin, tear streamed faces and grins greeting you back.

Your head quickly snaps to Spencer, your heart fluttering again. It felt like you fell a little more in love with the man each time you laid eyes on him.

Spencer took in every detail of your face, wanting to commit every part of this moment to his memory forever. He slowly cupped your cheek, you hand wrapping gently around his hand as you pressed your forehead together. You could almost cut the tension with a knife; it seemed like everyone was on the edge of their seats. Your first public kiss would seal your marriage.

You couldn't take it any longer, moving your hands to cup Spencer's cheeks as you crash your lips into his, melting into his touch as the cheers sounding again.

"It's just a prank, bro!" Spencer calls out, pointing out to the camera with one hand, snaking the other around your hip as he tugs you into his side, your cheeks bright red as you take in the state of all your friends around you.

"Spencer fucked up and got us into this situation where it seemed like we were getting married, which would've been funny, except for the fact that Rhett and Link believed it." You began, the attention of everyone making you blush again as you nodded to your bosses before you.

"Okay, well.." Spencer began, his defense dying on his tongue as he glances at you smiling beside him. "Then we decided we would make a series of it, right, pretend we're actually getting married and fool the fans and our bosses, right?"He gestured out to everyone, murmurs of agreement echoing around.

"Well, big surprise, we are in love with each other and decided we might as well get married.." You finish off, a timid grin on your face as Spencer squeezes you gently. "We went and filled out the paper work at the courthouse this morning, so."

"Oh my god!" Courtney squealed out, another wave of shock hitting your friends. Everything seemed to finally click, the roar of cheers getting impossibly louder as the two of your are engulfed into a massive group hug.

This was the perfect mess, Spencer had fucked up in the best way possible. One dumb idea led him here, attempting to slip on your wedding rings as you're squished between more people than you could count.

It's all you've ever wanted.

[bagel-muncher]

You're THE SOUKAN guy, tell me every single soukan HC you have IMMEDIANTLY (this is a threat btw :3)

I literally started typing this all up before I went to bed last night and I woke up to see this... get out of my head bestie. I am honored to be thought of as the Soukan guy lmao.

Some Soukan hc's because my brain is wrong

First off, I see Yu as bi and Kanji as pan.

Yu fell first. He has no clue when it happened, but at some point, Kanji just went from one of his best friends to someone he couldn't really do without. Still, Yu doesn't confess. If any of y'all have played the New Days fangame, I think of it like that dream Velvet Room thing with Kanji, where Yu worries that being in a relationship with Kanji would just make his life harder. He knows that if he does feel the same he'd just grin and bear it, but he doesn't want Kanji to have to deal with more rumors and assumptions about him than he already does.

Kanji is the one who confesses. It's the classic "one fell first, the other fell harder". Yu had time to come to terms with his feelings and let them be, Kanji realized he was head over heels for Yu and almost explodes trying not to let it slip every time they hung out. Surprise surprise, he doesn't last long and tries to make some big romantic gesture, only for it to fail miserably. Luckily, Yu found it adorable and they started dating.

Yu expresses his love through physical touch. He prefers being quiet to talking, so it's the easiest way to make sure the people he cares about know he loves them. He does his best not to be too obnoxious about it in public for Kanji's sake, but he's constantly holding his hand, leaning onto him, or otherwise invading his space. When they are alone though, he's super cuddly. Kanji can't do much of anything if it doesn't allow letting his boyfriend hold him while he does it.

Kanji is all about acts of service and gift-giving. Words are hard and he struggles to be as unabashedly affectionate as Yu. So instead, he makes use of his skills in sewing and cooking to constantly make him gifts or treat him to meals. Even if some part of him is still embarrassed about his hobbies, he feels a lot better about it since he's doing it for someone he loves who wholeheartedly supports him.

Comfortable silence is the name of the game with them. Yu prefers not to speak, Kanji never knows what to say without feeling like he'll make a fool of himself. Still, he always felt like he had to fill the void Yu made with his silence until Yu eventually was able to convince him he didn't have to.

THE cat dads of all time. Yu showed Kanji the neighborhood strays one day and now they have them all named and Kanji comes by to help feed them from time to time. Kanji mentions getting a cat or two when they eventually get their own place, and Yu teases him for already fantasizing about them living together. (He has already imagined a full wedding and everything his ass should NOT be talking)

Dojima had very mixed opinions on them dating at first. There was the whole thing about Yu dating a guy in the first place, which while making Dojima a bit confused at first, he got past pretty quickly. The bigger problem was that it was Kanji. Dojima knew he really wasn't a bad guy, but he was stubborn and had trouble being comfortable with a guy with his reputation dating his nephew. Nanako really likes Kanji though, and with how often Kanji shows up with Yu and helps out while he's there, Dojima does grow to accept it. There's still a level of "Dad who makes sure his daughter's bf knows he owns a shotgun" energy, but he lets them be as long as they're responsible.

On the other hand, Kanji's mother was over the moon when she learned they got together. Yu's a great guy, and she's overjoyed that not only has her son started to make some great friends, but he even managed to snag himself a boyfriend.

I think Nanako would absolutely love to learn they're dating. Even if she still thinks Kanji looks scary, he's very sweet to her and makes Yu happy, so she adores him. He's basically already her brother-in-law in her mind.

Yu and Nanako have a frankly ridiculous amount of plushies that Kanji made for them. Nanako is of course overjoyed by the gifts, but Yu is starting to run out of space on his shelf.

Since Dojima is usually out late, Yu invites Kanji over often to have dinner with him and Nanako. It's part date, part making the work easier on himself. It's the exact sort of domestic fluff one would expect, the three of them having a great time cooking and eating dinner before watching TV together (Yu using Kanji as a pillow the entire time, ofc) before Nanako eventually has to be put to bed. Yu constantly jokes about them living just like this when they grow up and if they decide to start a family, and Kanji's red even as he denies how much he'd like that. These nights usually end up with Kanji staying too late to be out and having to stay over or straight-up falling asleep on the couch. Yu always has to deal with a lecture from Dojima the next morning, but getting to cuddle Kanji all night makes it more than worth it.

Honestly, I could write waaaaay more but I feel this is enough for now and I probably should focus that energy on actually writing lol.

[anewnewcrest]

From the Bell Family Simstagram

Praise the Watcher! He is so good! It's me, Gwen Bell, and I've just hopped here on Simstagram to announce that my daughter-in-love Kayleigh has delivered my son Nathan's fourth child! We're all so excited to get to know little Miriam Bell and love on her! She's Nathan and Kayleigh's first girl after three boys, and already such a sweet little soul with fiery red hair (red hair runs in our family!). And with three strong older brothers and a protective daddy, all her future suitors will have to get thoroughly vetted before they can get to her!

We were so worried about Kayleigh and the precious little one after her difficult last pregnancy, but the Watcher is so good. Mom and baby are both happy and healthy and Mom is resting, so I took it upon me to announce the joyous news to the world! We're all so grateful to the Watcher that he protected my daughter-in-love and my precious granddaughter Miriam, and we can't wait what He has in store for our family during the next season of our lives!

BELL FAMILY TREE

(That's it for the Bells for this season, and I'll be taking a bit of a break now. My work schedule got crazy a couple weeks ago, therapy is intense, and I want to build up a bit of a queue again before I start with the Miller-Rogers Shotgun Wedding Drama! See y'all soon!)

[wangxianficfinder]

Fic Finder

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1. hello! i am searching for a fic where su she pretends to be lwj to trick wwx? i believe he traps lwj in a closet at one point. please help!

FOUND? seeds by antebunny (G, 3k, WangXian, SS & LWJ, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Identity Porn, Dramatic Irony, identity theft, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, the Inherent Romance of Being Known, BAMF WWX, protective boyfriend!wwx, simp!lwj)

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2. Hi, this is about the last anon ask y'all shared. The one about the missing fic 2 no 31. I think i was searching for the same fic. I remember a one shot where LXC and LWJ were going for food or coffee and they saw XXC and WWX on the sidewalk, and LWJ was jealous of how much WWX was touching XXC as they walked until he realized WWX was guiding him bc he was blind.

If it isn't the same, I would appreciate y'all helping me find it. Thanks for your wonderful work for the fandom!

FOUND? A sip of vinegar by Aki_no_hikari (G, 1k, WangXian, Modern AU, Pining, One-Sided Attraction, or so lwj thinks)

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3. Hey, I’m looking for a post-canon fic where there’s an assassination attempt on WWX with poison and LWJ is super protective and has to find the culprit. Thanks so much!

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4. Hi! Love the blog so much!!! Do you remember the name of the fic (from LWJ POV) where LWJ is in the airport on a dating app and swipes away from WWX who is (coincidentally) sat next to him and remarks on it? TIA xxx

FOUND? Ticket to Ride by mistresscurvy (E, 18k, wangxian, modern, online dating, road trips, service top, phone sex, dick pics, wedding banquet)

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5. Hey, I hope you guys are doing well. Please help me find this fic ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ

So I just remember a tiny part of it :

WWX is accused of giving away war intel to the Wen by YZY in front of everyone. She pulls out some letters i think? Then to help the former, NHS brings in a handwriting specialist and it turns out to be YZY who wrote the letters. @utxqia

FOUND? Lessons relearned by Iamnotawriter (T, 44k, WangXian, LQR & WWX, Not YZY Friendly, Time Travel Fix-It, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Inventor WWX, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, No Golden Core Transfer, YZY Bashing)

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6. Hi, I hope you can help me find a fic! It's an abo one I think, where teen wwx is pregnant. The story is LQR pov where he overhears WWX tell LWJ and is really supportive! I think WWX was kicked out my Madam Yu, but I'm not sure?

FOUND? In which Lan Qiren eavesdrops and gets a new nephew (and grandnephew) out of it by h0peless_oblivion (M, 64k, WIP, WangXian, Modern AU, High School, A/B/O Dynamics, Alpha LWJ, Omega WWX, Mpreg, Teen Pregnancy, Shotgun Wedding, Good Uncle LQR, Madam Yu's A+ Parenting, Fluff and Angst, Family Feels, Unspecified Setting, Probably ooc, WWX Has ADHD, A-Yuan is Wangxian's son, Pregnant WWX, Humor, non-graphic birth, Family Drama, The Lans love wwx, Male Lactation, Mild Smut in later chapters, wangxian's canonical breeding kink, Tooth-Rotting Fluff)

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7. hello, i hope you're well. i love your blog and i read it often and now I have an ask to make ;) Do you happen to know a fic where WWX and LWY "pretend to visit a women in sleep and make them pregnant" in order to explain unwanted pregnancies and save a women's honor?

It is a crack fic but it has a lot of heart.

I read it maybe a couple of months ago, but i cannot find it anymore. I hope it's not deleted.

💕 谢谢，再见 @amrame​

FOUND! Taking Responsibility by deliciousblizzardshark (T, 6k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Getting Together, Trope Subversion/Inversion, Pretend mpreg, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Fluff and Crack)

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8. I want to know ff name in which wei Ying is a female and he is going to live with male lan wangi, as he is her sister friend. In ff there is a line like " i am a man Wei Ying ". @yizhan12

FOUND? tell me what’s your motive by sweetlolixo (E, 7k, wangxian, modern, fem WWX, smut, size difference, older LWJ)

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9. hiii~! hope u all are having wonderful days! I'm looking for a fic that i think is cql centric? Anyways it's one where wwx and lwj start cultivating together? Like there are multiple scenes that suggest that they try to combine using cultivation. If that's too vague as a description there's this one scene where lan wangji finds his mother's letters and how she kills herself (?) and goes missing in the nighttime?

Sorry for the vagueness... it's been so long since i read it! 😅

FOUND! ❤️ Gentians in bloom by teawater (M, 251k, wangxian, Canon Divergence, AU after cold spring, Political Marriage, Dysfunctional Family, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Fix-It, Hurt/Comfort, LQR bashing (not really), POV Multiple, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Eventual Happy Ending, BAMF WWX, JC is actually a lot better than canon, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, YZY bashing (again not completely) )

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10. Hello hello! I really want to read this fic again and I’ve given up on searching for it. It’s post-cql and a very fluffy fic. Wwx and Lwj share hazelnut cakes. They roam in Caiyi and meet a vendor lady selling combs and she tries to matchmake Wwx and her daughter. She tells them that they should buy combs for their beloved and I'm pretty sure Lwj was considering buying a comb. Please help! This has been bugging me quite a lot. Thank you and have a great day!

FOUND? I hope that you will come and meet me by feyburner (M, 28k, wangxian, post-canon, getting together, love letters, hurt/comfort, cuddling & snuggling, literal sleeping together, intimacy, first time)

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11. Hello mods, looking for this awesome AU I was reading where Wen Xu takes LWJ as his warprize at CR and makes him go through some horrible things. WWX tries to help him at the Wen lectures and LWJ refuses but they kind of get together after fighting the Tortoise. but then Wen Chao attacks the Jiangs and captures WWX. LWJ is NOT a courtesan and WWX isn't either, and the Wens don't have a whole harem or anything.

tysm for your help, been looking all over and I rly want to finish reading!!!

NOT FOUND! tarnish, lustre, gold by iliacquer (E, 22k, wangxian, LWJ/WX, graphic depictions of violence, rape/non-con, ABO, mpreg, forced marriage, forced/coerced pregnancy, infidelity, alpha WWX, omega LWJ, alpha WX, bottom LWJ, reproductive coercion, mating cycles/in heat, knotting, YLLZ WWX, domestic violence, whump, misgendering, happy ending)

FOUND! 忍辱负重 | to bear the burden of humiliation by dragongirlG (E, 106k, wangxian, LWJ/WX, WWX/other(s), WWX/WC, graphic depictions of violence, rape/non-con, sexual slavery, domestic violence, wen indoctrination, xuanwu cave, prisoner of war, warprize, humiliation, non-con bondage, non-con body modification, golden core destruction/melting, dual cultivation, revenge, whump, hurt little comfort, protective LWJ & WWX, hopeful ending)

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12. Hello, I'm looking for two specific fanfics.

A) The first one is about WangXian having an arranged marriage and Wei Ying in the beginning tries to get along with Lan Zhan but then when he notices that he's not very responsive he ends up being kind of like cold to him but in the end they do realize that they love each other also Wei Ying is mostly a stay at home husband and there are no original characters in this one. I'm pretty sure it has multiple chapters but I may be wrong.

B) The second one is a case fic one where WangXian go to this town where apparently the Yiling laozu is terrorizing but it turns out to be Jin Zixuns son who he himself has possessed and they solve it. The juniors were in there I think at least I remember Jin Ling was. Thank you so much in advance! @amaraxoxo98​

12A)

FOUND? A Marriage Story by DeviyudeThoolika (E, 38k, WangXian, Sex is complicated, Angst, Pining while fucking, Mature elements., Mutual Pining, Arranged Marriage, Sort Of, Misunderstandings, of epic proportions)

12B)

FOUND? Don't Turn Your Heart by sami (T, 29k, wangxian, WQ/JC/LXC, JYL/JZX, XY/MXY, hurt/comfort, family, shenanigans, some violence)

~*~

13. For your next fic finder... I've suddenly remembered this elusive fic. I'm pretty sure it was a canon era BDSM AU (in that people have inherent dom/sub dynamics), and WWX was a sub that had been raised/socialized as a dom by the Jiang sect. The fic was set during the CR study arc, and IIRC something happened in the library that caused WWX to drop hard, revealing the truth to everybody. It's not The Hilt Lies Well In Hand by HeavenlySkyfarer, or A Gesture of Companionship by Khashana. Help?

~*~

14. Helloo I would like to request to find this fic in which I remember there was wei wuxian who had owned a diner? And it was like open until the wee hours of morning. I think he also had some eating problems? And sleeping problems? I also remember that he had cut contact with everyone except wen qing and wen ning who he had met after he moved away... I'm pretty sure lan zhan finds him first but the memory is a bit hazy since I haven't read it in a long time and I can't find it anymore 😭.

FOUND? ❤️ 不晚 | a lovely light by seagaze (T, 62k, wangxian, modern, midnight diner au, CW for eating and sleeping disorders, happy ending)

~*~

15. Hi I was wondering if you could please help me find a fic? Basically the story starts off as this shadow always hunting wy so the whole Jiang dynamics changes as their protective of wy, later on come to find out that shadow following wy is his future self trying to kill him so he doesn’t “ruin the jiangs” or something along those lines, hoping u can help me as I’ve been trying so long to find this fic again 😭

FOUND? Beyond the Darkness by ULTIOcean (T, 73k, WangXian, WWX-centric, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Pining, Oblivious WWX, A sprinkle of horror here and there, injuries, Blood, Canon Divergence, Different Beginnings, OOC for some characters, Mainly WWX JC and JZX, Follows the Donghua's events, Mystery, Copious amounts of affection, jc's dogs, Time Skips, WWX POV)

FOUND? Building a home by R95irth (T, 586k, CSSR/WCZ, JFM/YZY, wangxian, JC/WQ, JYL/JZX, 3zun, BSSR/LY, MS/Sisi, canon divergence, time travel fix-it, everyone lives au, angst w happy ending, horror, nightmares, family fluff, found family, babies)

~*~

16. Hi, for the next fic finder I need help finding 2 fics that I read on AO3. A) During the first siege Wei Ying uses the Soul Summoning Ritual to bring back Jiang Yanli's soul in his body and the Yanli runs to Jiang Cheng and says something like "A-Cheng it's me.". B) During the Wen Settlement days one morning Wen Qing walks into Wei Ying’s cave and finds him dead on his bed. I think he died due to an illness and Wen Qing wasn't suprised to find him dead. Thank you for your help. @bluekittenfire

16A)

FOUND! A Final Sacrifice by FrozenHawFlakes (T, <1k, major character death, Angst, Protective Siblings, Family Feels, family love, everything is worse off for everyone, except maybe JL, but he has another set of problems, What-If, Canon Divergence)

~*~

17. Hi, could you possibly help me find a Lan Wangji x Wei Wuxian fanfiction? I had read it, but now that I am trying to look for it, I can't find it anymore. It was in a modern setting. Wangxian were already married but had many misunderstandings. Wuxian believed that Lan Wangji was in love with someone else named 'William Williamson'. Other characters that appeared were Lan Xichen, Lan Qiren, Nie Huaisang, Jiang Cheng. Lan Xichen had a whole thing going on with his relation issues too. Thank you.

FOUND? A Marriage Story by DeviyudeThoolika (E, 38k, WangXian, Sex is complicated, Angst, Pining while fucking, Mature elements., Mutual Pining, Arranged Marriage, Sort Of, Misunderstandings, of epic proportions)

~*~

18. I can't find a fic where Wei Ying died at canon and woke up from coma in modern world where everyone is alive and good. And they think Wei Ying is dreaming. Wei Ying is also confused. Everyone is good even madam yu and fengmin. And he's also lan zhans husband there. Thank u

~*~

19. Hello! I'm trying to find a fic that I read a little while ago. wwx is a dm and is writing a chinese inspired homebrew campaign and lwj is a publisher. wwx has a fox spirit npc and adds a dragonji character when he starts to fall in love with lwj. The story ends with lwj helping wwx to publish his system. Thanks! @worlds-of-else​

FOUND? 🧡 Where’s Your Emergency? by trippednfell (M, 64k, WangXian, 911 Dispatcher WWX, Single dad LWJ, Kid fic, Modern AU, D&D Games, Angst with a happy ending)

~*~

20. hii!!!! im looking for a fic in which wwx is badly hurt, and the lan doctor tells him that the only way he can survive is through dual cultivation. lwj immediately goes to do the deed because he can't stand wwx in pain. they get together in the end! but it has a little of angst! their first time is a little sad because wwx is very hurt but they love each other a lot and get quicly together! thank you

FOUND? as amber of ember glows by occultings (microcomets) (E, 11k, WangXian, Sex Pollen, Marathon Sex, Multiple Orgasms, Mutual Pining, First Time, Miscommunication, Aphrodisiacs, pining for the person you're fucking, Getting Together, mostly) sounds like one of occulting's fics, maybe 'as amber of ember glows' but there are several along this line so I can't be certain?

~*~

[candied-boys]

The Beekeepers' Daughter

Luke Randolph x fem! Reader

Is this what they call a drabble or is it a hc?

Tags: SFW, fluff, country life, honeybees, pregnancy, breeding kink🤤, a lot of kids

Cowboy Luke who shows up at your honey farm one day and buys a crate each of lavender, clover, wild flower, heather, and buckwheat honey.

Cowboy Luke who is silently impressed by the way you insist on helping to carry the boxes of liquid gold out to his truck without breaking a sweat.

Cowboy Luke who pauses loading up his muddy red truck, the same colour as his beautiful hair, and looks at you curiously when you ask if he's going to take it to sell at a market in the city.

Cowboy Luke who grins wide with a sparkle in his lush green eyes and tells you he's gonna eat it all himself and that he reckons you'll be seeing a lot more of him since he just moved into the 500 acre ranch thirty minutes down the road.

Cowboy Luke who chuckles at your flabbergasted expression and confirms that yes, that old cow rustler does indeed have not merely seven but eight sons.

Cowboy Luke who just can't seem to get your pretty eyes, your adorable small town accent, and your honey sweet laugh out of his head when he's napping in the hay loft or riding the range for hours on end.

Cowboy Luke who comes back a month later to buy more honey, but only picks up one jar this time so that he has an excuse to come visit you sooner - this week sooner.

Cowboy Luke who keeps dropping by, saying he's too lazy to drive cattle and muck stalls, but chats you up until you let him help you with loading the hives into your truck and then rides shotgun in your truck to take the bees out to pollinate other farms.

Cowboy Luke who brings fishing gear the next time you take the bees out for a ride together so you got something to do while you wait for the tiny creatures to collect their fill.

Cowboy Luke who cooks you up a mean fried catfish with all the fixings using his catch from earlier after y'all get back to your little house on the farm.

Cowboy Luke who’s impatient for the weather to get a little hotter so he can finally ask you to go down to the lake with him ‘cause he just can't get the image of the sun kissing your bare skin out of his mind lately.

Cowboy Luke who just can't keep his hands off you after he finally makes a move, but you can't resist him either, and a few months of rolling in the hay later…

Cowboy Luke who catches a shooting star for you and puts it on a ring because he wants you and only you forever, shotgun wedding or not.

Cowboy Luke who has a hard time reining in his desire for you as the changes to your body remind him daily that it's his child you carry, always looking at you with those half lidded eyes tainted with lust that he knows you just can't resist.

Cowboy Luke who won't let you lift a finger once the baby is born, doing all the farm work and all the house work and all the baby care because he has an abundance of energy, but more importantly is madly in love with his baby girl who looks just like you.

Cowboy Luke who doesn't have to wait a year to ask for a second like he planned because you have baby fever and want him all the time.

Cowboy Luke who is over the moon when the doctor tells him you're having twins, but is secretly nervous because two boys will be a handful on top of a two year old.

Cowboy Luke who stands on the porch, his arms wrapped around you from behind, as the two of you watch your six kids run around the yard ten years later.

Cowboy Luke who never imagined he'd ever be this happy after everything he went through growing up, but who is grateful for every second of his life since he met you.

[ineffableigh]

Fic recommendation!

I just got done reading this and gods, my heart is full. I cannot describe how beautiful this work is, and it made me think and question and learn and grow along the way.

I don't even know how to put it to words, but this is something really, really special here.

If y'all know the author on here, tag them in!

AHA @charlottemadison42!!!

[creativeafterdark]

Chapter 9 and 10

Heyo folks taking a @journeythroughjourneytothewest

Had to take a break from book club last week, burn out was very bad. But I've had a week to relax, celebrated my birthday and slept most of the day lol. Let's get back into Journey to the West

First: Chapter 9.

We finally meet our Monk and learn the story of his family!

We don't spend a lot of time learning about them (minus his Dad, gets a thumbs up from me. Kind to all and easy going enough to be like "I got hit by a ball-- oh I'm married now? Okay cool". Like talk about a shotgun wedding), but we do see little bits that remind me of our Monk. He does share his kindness with his Dad, and I genuinely think his anxiety is from his mom. I'll talk about her in a minute because she is a whole other thing.

My one question is... wouldn't other officials notice that Liu Hong, essentially becoming Chen E, had no idea what he was doing??? He went on business trips, did no one recognize he wasn't who he said he was????? I mean you would think anyone who took the exams with him who got positions would be like "uh... that's not him tf??". Or they just did not care. Who knows at this point. Apparently he had Six Eared Macaque level disguise skill, rolled a nat 20 in bullshitery.

Now. Lady Yin. The poor lady went through hell for over 18 years. She had to watch her husband get murdered, had to abandon her baby, and had to play wife to a murderer. Even when her husband came back... I'm not surprised she still ended up passing. That's a lot of guilt (and I'm sure Liu Hong was not kind to her) on her mind for a LONG period of time, nearly two decades. I wish there was a happy ending for the family but I get why it ended how it did, knowing what depression and anxiety can do to people.

Now our baby Monk. Our Xuanzang. I am so proud of him for being as brave as he was. This recently turned 18 year old did everything he could to help his family. Licking his grandma's eyeballs was...a choice. But it was for a good cause so good on him. I can see why he was a good choice as the Scroll Pilgrim.

And as promised, a sketch of Xuanzang

And as a bonus baby Monk with a doggo

But now we move to Chapter 10.

...I legit got annoyed going thru the debate between the fisherman and woodman. Like it went on far longer than it should have. I'm sure there was a profound moment that we're supposed to glean from it but I just wasn't receptive to it. Maybe I'll read it again.

Anyway.

I have been doing some looking into of Chinese historical heroes (I desperately want to read Romance of the three kingdoms, and I need more reading material about folk heroes and heroines) so seeing some references to the stuff I learned made me happy. There was mention of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang and the painting of The Emporer's Generals on the doors (supposedly the Tang dynasty is where this practice was first used. A few three kingdom folks also get this treatment as door gods, or menshen, along with other important heroes and deities. Makes me wonder if the Emperor essentially deified his Generals and Wei Zheng. How does Heaven handle that?)

Fun fact! In my jttw x mythology story Wukong will work with Asena, mythical wolf mother of the Ashina Clan of Gokturks. Guess which dynasty of China had to deal with them a lot? :)

Anyway.

I've also come to the conclusion that Dragons just like to fuck around and find out. Like, the Dragon King just goes against heaven's orders to spite a very accurate fortune teller, does not even THINK of the consequences, and is surprised Pikachu face when he gets in trouble. Also not sure why he thought appealing to an earthly emporer would save him from THE SUPREME DAOIST DEITY'S JUDGMENT. Like, y'all, I'm beginning to think dragons just don't give a crap or just don't think. Got what he deserved for being dumb. Did the emporer make promises he shouldn't have? No doubt, you don't promise supernatural beings anything because it will make you want to die if they catch wind of you breaking promises, regardless of nationality. Did he deserve what he got? .... I mean historically probably but in the sense of this story, no.

I find the Tang dynasty interesting (because it gave us a certain Empress and had some fun female warriors, like Taizong's sister, who helped her father found the dynasty) and I can definitely thank jttw for getting my attention about it.

I think that's all I have as far as thoughts. And I apologize if my rambles just jumped around too much lol.

Over and out ✌️

[therealnightcity]

Tag Game-Summer Goth Aesthetics

𝘙𝘜𝘓𝘌𝘚: 𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴; 𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘺; 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘺

Hiro

𝘏𝘈𝘜𝘕𝘛𝘌𝘋 𝘉𝘖𝘈𝘙𝘋𝘞𝘈𝘓𝘒

rickety ferris wheels, carnival lights through fog, saltwater taffy and popcorn, tarot card readings, childhood best-friends, thunderstorms over the sea, tear-streaked face paint, chipping animatronics partially submerged in brackish water, ill-fated games of truth or dare, vintage circus posters boasting mermaids and wolf men, underwater caves marked with a skull and crossbones, darts that are a little too sharp, twinkling lights in the dark, distant and ghostly laughter, blue and pink cotton candy, sunburnt shoulders, cherry flavored sno-cones, switchblades tucked into costumes, a bloody trail into an old tent

𝘚𝘖𝘓𝘐𝘛𝘈𝘙𝘠 𝘗𝘈𝘙𝘒 𝘙𝘈𝘕𝘎𝘌𝘙

the yellow eye shine of an unseen animal, circling turkey vultures, unnatural fluctuations in the passage of time, daddy long legs in rotting logs, distorted backwards speech through a walkie-talkie, unexplainable antler shrines, coniferous mountain horizons, star-like bonfire sparks whirling in an indigo night, nests of infant barn owls, claw marks in tent fabric, soft and distant howls, unexplained lights darting through trees, clawed footprints in the dirt, bomber jackets and hiking boots, an old and well-used shotgun, thunderstorms that darken the sky, a rusted and reliable truck, the smell of petrichor, a voice calling your name from the trees 𝘚𝘖𝘜𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘙𝘕 𝘊𝘌𝘔𝘌𝘛𝘈𝘙𝘠

magnolia blossoms, chipping white porch swings, spanish moss, suffocating humidity, faded photographs of lacy weddings, tire tracks in mud, mausoleum angels, family trees, the yellow-green eyes of alligators, repressed childhood memories bubbling to the surface, broken porcelain dolls, legs covered with mosquito bites, blood promises, crucifixes, barbed wire, dark family secrets, stained white button downs, sweat drops down your spine, marshy swamp lands, weeping willow trees, rusted iron gates, cicadas in the summer, moss covered gravestones with fresh dirt, cursed family jewelry, old patina rosaries, fireflies at dusk

𝘙𝘖𝘈𝘋 𝘛𝘙𝘐𝘗 𝘉𝘜𝘙𝘕𝘖𝘜𝘛 bloodshot eyes, flickering neon motel signs, aviator sunglasses, magic 8 balls, recurrent dreams of grey aliens, beaded curtains, dusty denim and incense smoke, sepia desert vistas, playlists of 1960s rock songs, coded messages in television static, comets in the night sky, fake ids, gas station snacks, jesus bobble heads, split lips, patchouli, paranoia between friends, ice cold diet coke, ripped jeans and converse, cigarette smoke drifting out of a car window, a 1960's white ford mustang, evergreen air fresheners, thousand yard stares, a gas station attendant who knows too many secrets, something dark following alongside your car, abandoned rest stops, rickety road signs that lead nowhere

Tagging: @shinycorvidae @dreamskug @wraithsoutlaws @faepunkprince @onlymeandlife @a-pirate @ghostoffuturespast @morganlefaye79 @gloryride @dustymagpie @wanderingaldecaldo @jaymber @fereldanwench and anyone else who sees this and wants to do it--there's a lot of y'all~, zero pressure tho!

[amidst-wonderland]

just a heads up, i know i've been on a bit of a writing kick for the past week or two and i'm gonna try buckle down a bit and get some more out soon but i'll probably be mia in the next few weeks as i'm going back to set work and it's long, hard hours also my favourite band is releasing their first official / full album in five years (after military service, shotgun weddings and legal disputes) so i'm gonna be a bit mental on main because ma man jongdae is back!

if y'all see me thirstin' over a married man with two kids, no. you don't.

[fratboykate]

...

[lorna-d-m]

Lights Out: Ch. 24

Summary: Roxanne, recently graduated and unemployed, gets a call from her childhood friend and hero: her cousin James hunt. In need of a social media manager after one too many scandals, he can think of no one better than Roxanne for the position. Excited about a fun job and getting to know more about her cousin, she jumps at the chance. However, amongst all the bright lights of both the circuit and the media, Roxanne falls in love with his rival: Niki Lauda.

Pairing: Niki Lauda (Rush 2013) x fem!OC Roxanne Hunt

Word Count: 4,633

CW: speculation/talk of the accident, fear of another, one mention of a shotgun wedding, explicit sex

A/N: Hello, I hope y'all are doing well. I'm in the burnout portion of the semester, but writing is how I cope sometimes. My exams are coming up soon so I may not write/post as much, but I will be working on this story when I can. Thank y'all so much.

previous chapter

Maranello

August 2021

A month after the accident, the doctor finally cleared Niki to drive. Just three days after the Dutch race he was annoyed, but he focused all his efforts on the Italian Grand Prix. They spent a lazy week in Austria before flying to Maranello. The team insisted on a test drive before the next race to assess Niki’s abilities again. He grumbled the whole time, saying it wasn’t as if he forgot how to drive, but complied with the order.

The morning of his test, Niki kept his arms wrapped tight around Roxanne, his face nuzzled into her neck, and his body pressed close to her back. It wasn’t until he laid beside her, but not curled up with her, that he realized how much he missed the floral scent of her shampoo and the warmth of her body. His early alarm had yet to go off, and he snuggled closer to her. Roxanne woke up at the soft touch, and enticingly wiggled her butt against him. One of his hands left her waist and slid under her shirt, cupping her breast as he brought his lips to her ear. His breath was hot against her neck.

“Were you trying to wake me up?” he teased, his hardening member pressing firmly against her butt. She giggled in response, shifting again to tease him instead of answering.

His other hand slid down and pushed her underwear off her hips, surprised she wore any at all. Niki’s deft fingers swiped through her folds and noticed the slick already accumulating there. He chuckled in her ear, calling her a needy wife, before teasing her clit. She let out a soft moan, melting into his touch before he properly began, and sighed contentedly into the pillow.

“Look at you, grinding yourself against me like a good little wife.” Roxanne clenched around his fingers and hummed in agreement. His cock flexed against the curve of her ass, proud to call her his good wife. She praised him enough the first time he ate her out after they married, calling him a good husband, that he came on the sheets as he brought her to orgasm. Now, it was Niki’s turn to turn her into a blushing, giggling, moaning mess in his arms.

He continued to fuck her with his fingers as she throbbed around him, and her head fell back against his shoulder. Niki kissed her exposed jaw and nibbled her ear. “You just want to come for your husband, don’t you?” He nipped her ear then. “Go on, be the good hausfrau you are and come for me,” he whispered darkly.

Roxanne cursed as she came around his fingers, and she arched her back. Niki’s firm hand on her breast held her close to him and kept her in place so she could feel him still sink into her with three fingers and twitch under his thumb on her clit. His name fell from her lips as her only prayer, and he kissed down her neck. Finally, he removed his hand from her and used it to grab her thigh, bringing it into a comfortable but stretched position, and holding it there as he entered her in one smooth move.

Her moan was obscene as he entered her, and she quickly rocked back against his hip. Niki groaned as he moved his hand from her thigh, no doubt leaving little prints in the shape of his fingers, and slid up her abdomen, noting the soft mound of himself pressing inside her. “Such a good wife,” Niki murmured, “taking all of your husband.” Then he nipped at her shoulder, a sharp contrast from the kisses on her neck, as he thrust in and out of her.

His hand moved back to her clit, teasing it in time with his deep thrusts. “Fuck, Niki,” she whined at his expert touch. He knew exactly how to bring her to the edge, and would sometimes leave her there just to listen to her whine.

“Yes, who fucks you this good, Schatz?” His breath was hot against her neck.

“You, Niki, you,” she panted, feeling the tension build again. He bit her shoulder at that, clearly not the answer he wanted, as he continued to stroke her fluttering walls. She could feel every inch of him, and it took her a moment to cry out the correct answer. “My husband!” Roxanne arched hard against his chest again as she gushed on his cock. Niki’s hips stuttered as he continued to fuck her through her orgasm with his so near. When she muttered his name again, he came so deep inside he claimed every part of her.

Roxanne gasped and panted when he finally stilled, and she could feel the racking of his chest against her back. Before he could move to pull out, the alarm on his phone rang and buzzed in anticipation of a busy day.

“Hell of a way to wake up.” Niki kissed her cheek before rolling out of bed to start the shower.

***

Roxanne sat in the Ferrari garage, aware of everyone’s wary looks, and tapped her foot on the floor. Niki, his race suit tied around his waist as he puttered around the garage, didn’t seem to mind the nervous tension amongst the team. Today’s test had one question to answer: Can Niki drive? And not just drive, but quickly, steadily, and like a champion? Old man Ferrari was keen to fire Niki, rip up his contract, and let Carlos Reutemann race for him if he couldn’t.

Niki insisted he wasn’t nervous, but she could tell by the way he crossed his arms and stalked through the garage he was. The mechanics gave him a thumbs up, telling him they were ready for him, and he circled back to her. He slipped off his ring and watch for her to hold and gave her a kiss, quick but affectionate. She smiled at the gesture and nodded at him to instill confidence. They couldn’t spot it as he climbed into the car, but under his racing boot, he hid a compression sock to help him. He didn’t want to give them any reason to scrutinize him, and if the little sock helped him feel more comfortable slamming on the brakes then it was necessary.

The first few laps Niki drove were slow. Incredibly slow. Eyebrows were raised as he circled the track, and people glanced from him on the screen to the stopwatch. No one was surprised when he radioed to come in after those paltry laps. He came into the garage and the mechanics leaned in to listen. They came back with knee pads, per request, and tightened the safety harness around him. Satisfied, Niki left again.

Now, Niki started to fall back into form. One by one the lap times became faster as he shaved away time. One by one, the mechanics perked up. As Niki did more laps around the circuit, taking off milliseconds each time, Roxanne smiled wider. She knew Niki could do it, he only needed to get out of his damn head about it.

At one point, he nearly beat the Fiorano track record. That in and of itself ought to be enough to prove he was fit to drive. After a full day’s driving, testing, and data recording, Niki returned to the garage for good. The tires squealed as he came to a stop, and they lifted up the car with jacks and brought it back in. Dutifully, Niki climbed out of the car and came ambling back to Roxanne.

“Well?” he asked, cocksure of himself. “Good?”

“The best, baby.” Rox grasped him by the shoulders and pulled him closer. “The fucking best,” she whispered in his ear.

Niki kissed her again, greedier and needier than the first time, earning them a wolf whistle from the mechanics. Blushing, Rox placed a hand on his chest and brought his ring and watch back from her pocket. He eagerly slipped his ring back on, missing its familiar feel after driving, and kissed her cheek again before talking with the mechanics. They needed to know how the car felt under him again, and what they could do to make it better.

Monza

Thursday, August 26th, 2021

The press and reporters swarmed around Niki and Ferrari like flies to a horse. Niki even swatted at them from time to time, brushing them off with a snarky remark or a snippy statement. He didn’t want to answer any questions or rebuke any comments until the press conference where he could address what he wanted and ignore what annoyed him.

“Niki!” James stopped him in the paddock on his way to lunch. He moved quickly to avoid attention, but James’s insistence on talking stopped him. Niki turned to face his friend and sometimes enemy with a cheeky smile.

“You know, Niki, I tried to call you at the time, to apologize.” Niki nodded slowly and faced away from James for a moment, hoping he could have avoided this conversation. “The drivers’ meeting in Germany, before the race, I swayed the room.”

Niki didn’t hesitate to say “Yes, you did.”

“That race should never have gone ahead,” James continued, clearly feeling the need to apologize properly to him.

“No, it shouldn’t.”

“So in many ways, I feel responsible for what happened and…”

“You were.” Niki didn’t pull any punches in how he felt, and James expected nothing less. “But trust me, watching you win those races while I was sidelined, you were equally responsible for getting me back in the car.”

James didn’t know what to say, staying quiet for once. Niki took his silence at face value and continued on his way to meet Roxanne for lunch. He didn’t want to be late, leaving her alone in the cafe and anxiously looking around for him, so he walked away.

***

The FIA paired him with Clay for the press conferences, a natural Ferrari pairing for the weekend at Monza. Indistinct murmurs filled the room, cameras clicking and chairs scraping against the floor. Niki sat at the table, his closed fist pressed against his cheek, and he spotted Roxanne in the back against the wall. She gave him a little wave, enough for him to know she was there and supporting him, and she blew a kiss. Comforted, he gestured for the conference to begin.

“How are you feeling, Niki?”

“Fine,” he nodded, short and to the point. His press manager glanced at him, indicating he should speak more, and he rolled his eyes.

On to the next question. “Niki, can you confirm to us exactly what your injuries were and any procedures you may have had?”

“Sure,” Niki nodded affirmatively. “I had a number of cracked and broken ribs,” he gestured to his chest with his hands, “as well as a sprain in my right ankle. Now, that made it difficult to do anything for a few weeks, but I’m back and ready to race.”

Unbeknownst to Niki, James crept into the press conference. He stayed in the back of the room, away from Roxanne who Niki kept a careful and loving eye on, and listened to Niki’s responses. Niki had the ability to amuse James even when he wasn’t joking.

“When they heard about your condition, Ferrari immediately hired a replacement driver, Carlos Reutemann.”

Niki pinched his lips together during the question, and sweat a little under his spare Ferrari jacket. Roxanne wore his usual one, surprised by the breezy afternoon. “Yeah, before even reaching the hospital,” he stressed with a wagging finger and a glare at the Ferrari representatives.

“Is Reutemann driving today too?”

“Yes,” Niki admitted, causing them to snap pictures and take notes, “and keen to make an impression. So let’s see where Mr. Reutemann finishes and where I finish on Sunday.” He chuckled a little, confident he would outperform Carlos and put him to shame. The crowd snickered too, eager to laugh with the sitting World Champion after he’d been away for six weeks.

“James Hunt and McLaren have caught up a lot while you were away,” a reporter baited.

“Yes,” Niki waited. “So is there a question now or are you just trying to piss me off?”

The crowd laughed again, and James in the back couldn’t help but crack a smile. Niki’s brutal honesty might turn some people off, but for many it puts them at ease. They could count on him to say what he thought.

“You still think you can win?”

“Yes, of course. I have the better car,” he turned to acknowledge the team, “and I’m possibly the better driver. But he’s a clever guy and he’s used his time well while I was side-lined to win some points.”

Audience members laughed awkwardly, eager to bring the lightheartedness back to the conference. James accepted the “clever guy” compliment but remembered the remark hidden in there. Niki clearly insinuated that had he been there those would have been his points.

“And why did you marry Roxanne Hunt so quickly? Was it a shotgun wedding?”

Niki’s entire demeanor changed in an instant. His head snapped to face the accuser, who knew of his wedding despite no announcements, and dared to insinuate it was only because she was pregnant, which wasn’t even true. He pressed his lips together and blinked a few times, struggling to decide what to say. Niki glanced at Roxanne in the back of the room, all color drained from her face, and he chewed on his bottom lip.

James couldn’t help but look at his cousin, and he was only one of dozens of eyes studying her like an animal at the zoo. They all checked her face for any signs of confirmation and her stomach for any indication of pregnancy. Poor Roxanne looked as if she wanted to fall through the floor.

“We married quietly to avoid pointless and slanderous questions exactly like that. We married privately because we love each other and did not need to involve anyone else in our relationship.” Niki cracked a nervous smile, hoping his answer would please the press, the team, and Roxanne who didn’t deserve any more embarrassment or harassment. The crowd snickered, wanting to move on from the obviously tense moment, but the reporter refused to accept that answer.

“I’m being serious. Why else would you marry so quickly and privately at a courthouse? Did James force you to get married?”

Burning anger showed on Niki’s face, and he leaned into the microphone. “And I’m being serious, too,” he practically spat. Niki pointed at the man, “Fuck you. Press conference over.”

Niki ripped the microphone wire off and sat up from the table. He stormed through the room, ignoring the rising chatter and quick clicking of cameras, to grab Roxanne by the waist and take her out of the room. She hurried along behind him, eager to get out of the room. James remained on the back wall, suddenly the object of everyone’s attention, and frowned.

Friday, August 27th, 2021

Niki worked diligently to keep his surprise, well, a surprise. He designed his special helmet in secret, careful to keep the emails out of view on his laptop, ensuring the package was delivered to the team rather than to Niki himself, and keeping it from obvious view Friday morning. Now, with practice soon approaching and the team waiting for Niki to be ready, it was time for him to reveal his hard work.

“Can you hold my phone and record?” Countless times, Roxanne captured moments of Niki in the garage, catching Niki off guard, Niki goofing around, and now it was his turn to flip the script. He wasn’t going to post it like she did with several of her videos, but having a record of the moment would be nice. Niki handed his phone to the mechanic, who instantly knew something was happening and tapped his friend beside him to watch.

“Rox,” Niki noted she was near the shelf, it was just above her head, but easily within her grasp. “Can you hand me my helmet? It’s up there.”

The mechanics and crew stopped working to admire the scene. They nudged each other with elbows and pointed over to the little cluster, shushing each other when someone tried to interrupt. As much as Niki argued with Ferrari management, the mechanics and the crew loved him. They could wait a few minutes for Niki to get into the car and start his test runs.

She reached for it without a second thought, having handed him his gloves, balaclava, and helmet countless times, but hesitated when she held it in her hands. It wasn’t just Niki’s signature red helmet. It was a collage of their relationship.

Roxanne spotted their first picture together, a group snapshot after they all went golfing together, and noted his hand firmly on her waist despite James, Jody, and Ronnie in the picture. There was a collection of pictures from their trip to the amusement park, including one of them on the ride just before the drop where Niki held her hand until his knuckles turned white. That was placed under the signature Niki on the side. She found a selfie she’d taken of them at the beach where they wore each other’s sunglasses, Niki teasing the heart-shaped glasses endlessly, but admitting he loved how she looked in them. Finally, right underneath the Lauda on the side, there was a picture of them standing outside the courthouse, Niki in his checked suit and Roxanne in her white dress.

She blinked back tears as she held the helmet, some still managing to spill down her cheeks, and she turned to look at Niki. Roxanne held it firmly in her hands, refusing to hand it over to him just yet. “Did you design this?”

“Just for you, Schatz,” he said with a smile, his little teeth showing. “I may not have a shiny ring for you or something special like that, but I want to show you how much you mean to me.”

She had enough sense to set the helmet on the table nearby before grabbing him by the race coverall and kissing him. He blushed as crimson as his suit, knowing he was very watched at the moment, but relished it all the same. Niki wasn’t the type for too many grand gestures and insincere words, but he wanted to do something special for her. Roxanne and her unwavering support helped get him back in the car, and he wanted her to know how deeply he loved and appreciated her.

Roxanne released him from the kiss, and he slipped on his balaclava and helmet before climbing into the car. The helmet became a talking point for the commentators when there wasn’t anything exciting happening on track, and Roxanne was amused to listen to them trying to decipher the pictures. At high speeds and odd camera angles, it became difficult to differentiate one from another, but Roxanne knew what each one was and each moment it captured. She tried to think of which shelf in their house she could put the helmet on after the race.

Sunday, August 29th, 2021

Niki qualified fifth on the grid. Not the front row position he grew accustomed to, but not the worst considering his circumstances. Roxanne reminded him that night after the qualifying session that he needed to be reasonable with himself. Yes, he could push himself hard and win, but this was also his first race after crashing. She knew he had nightmares after the crash, she woke up enough times to him shaking and panting beside her, so she knew how deeply it affected him. Hell, she knew how quickly he got out of the car again after practice and qualifying as if he was afraid to sit in it any longer. He admitted she had a point, but he couldn’t shake the feeling of needing to do better. Niki was a race car driver, after all.

A lot of talk surrounded Niki and the weekend, could he live up to snuff, could he race, would he be a danger to others on track, and she reminded him to push all of that out of his head. “Just drive. Don’t worry about the speed or the skill or anything else. It’s you and this car.” Roxanne assured him of that with her head on his chest, hearing the consistent and steady thud of his heart.

“That’s why I married you, isn’t it?” Niki couldn’t help but tease her. “The advice and the sex?”

“And a few other things I hope,” she smirked.

Now, waiting near the grid before the formation lap, Niki took a deep breath in, counted, and let it out. It was him and the car. Nothing else mattered in that moment, not the commentators, not the reporters, not Enzo Ferrari, nothing.

***

The stands were a sea of red, white, and green Italian flags, as well as the vibrant red and yellow for Ferrari. Roxanne remembered the excitement last year for Monza, but it couldn’t hold a candle to this. The return of the Ferrari world champion, at their home track, brought hundreds of thousands of fans to the temple of speed.

“So Niki Lauda, just 42 days after his terrible accident at Nurburgring, will race here today at Monza.”

Roxanne spotted Niki walking through the grid, his helmet and gloves already on. No doubt he was working hard to ignore everyone around him. He walked in a very determined straight line with people practically jumping out of his way. More than anything she wanted to be there, to hold his hand and tell him it will be alright no matter what happens, but she couldn’t. It was almost time for the formation lap, and then it would be lights out.

The crowd cheered when he climbed into the car, his right foot first and then his left before sitting down. Further back, James watched the crowd cheer for his championship rival, friend, and now relative. Roxanne considered for a moment how funny life could be, pitting her husband and her cousin against one another on the track.

“Please clear the grid.”

Mechanics and team members scurried from the grid back to their garages and the pits. The engines roared to life, echoing in the temple of speed, and reinvigorated the audience. They eagerly awaited the moment the lights would go out, while Roxanne knew her breath would hitch and her heart would skip a beat.

“What a race today, there’s Jacque Laffite on pole, Jody Scheckter beside him, followed by Carlos Pace and Patrick Depailler, and yet all eyes are on the man in fifth position on the grid: Niki Lauda.”

“He certainly knows how to make headlines this season.” It wasn’t as if Niki wanted to, she thought bitterly.

“It’s lights out, and away we go!”

“It’s a bad start for Lauda, he’s slow away!”

Roxanne couldn’t refute the commentators. Jody Scheckter took the lead after getting a good start on the grippier side of the track, but Niki stayed bogged down in the midfield.

“The returning Niki Lauda seems overwhelmed.”

Niki could do test runs, practice sessions, and even qualifiers, but none of that compared to being behind the wheel during a race. Anything could happen at any moment, and if he had an ounce too much worry, he wouldn’t go for the position. He wouldn’t be as brave as he might have been before. He wouldn’t be the driver everyone counted on him to be.

“He’s being overtaken by car after car.”

“A terrible start for the Austrian. It’s perhaps too soon for him to be racing again.”

Roxanne resisted the urge to cry in the Ferrari garage. Did he push himself too hard? Did his anger and his frustration, his senseless need to be the best, push him into the car before he was ready? Just because the doctor cleared him didn’t mean he would be without pain. Was that why he suffered a slow start and was stuck in the midfield?

“Lauda’s off line! He runs wide into the grass!”

She resisted the urge to throw up. Roxanne kept one hand covering her mouth, hiding the frightened look on her face, but all the mechanics knew. One of them tried to comfort her, but it couldn’t soothe her. The last time one tried to console her, Niki had just crashed into the wall.

“He wrestles it back onto the track, but that was a bad moment for Niki. Niki Lauda’s the reigning world champion, but maybe in his current state he’s a danger out there to himself and the rest of the field.”

“And Stuck has collided with Mario Andretti’s Lotus!”

When the cameras panned to show the incident, the first thing Roxanne saw was Niki’s Ferrari behind them. He was boxed in with nowhere to go, and yet, he found a way through the wreckage. Her heart beat out of her chest, she swore she could feel her stomach drop, and she watched with wide eyes through the replay.

“Lauda is actually making a move. He’s on Brambilla’s tail.”

And just like that, he went around the outside and past Brambilla. He used the slipstream to build enough speed and easily overtook him.

“Lauda’s starting to find the form that early in the race we believed he’d lost.”

That had been on lap 23. For the next 20 laps of the race, Niki never gave up. He performed his best when he had a clear goal or target, and with Ferrari’s mistreatment of him, he had one.

“Lauda’s now lapping faster than Reutemann and closing the gap ahead.”

“Lauda closing on Carlos Reutemann, the man called in to be his replacement in the Ferrari team.”

Just as Niki overtook Reutemann, James Hunt’s McLaren was found on the side of the track, smoke pouring out of it. Niki gave a little wave, unseen by James at the time.

“This is bad news for Hunt’s championship hopes.” And yet, it was brilliant news for Niki. He could finally earn back some of the points that he missed.

“It’s Ronnie Peterson who comes home the winner here at Monza. But all eyes are on the man who finishes a brilliant fourth!”

Niki Lauda.

Spectators roared, mechanics celebrated, Niki waved to the crowd and pointed. He didn’t need to win that day, he just needed to beat Carlos Reutemann, which he did. The Argentine finished in ninth place, earning a paltry two points, whereas Niki brought in much more for Ferrari and for the driver’s championship. Excited fans stormed the track after the drivers stopped in parc ferme, and the team practically dragged Niki along. Literally. They hoisted him up and carried him on their shoulders since he wouldn’t be on the podium. Roxanne had to fight through the crowd to catch a glimpse of her husband.

***

Niki, who didn’t like being picked up and paraded around, looked for his wife in the crowd. He wanted nothing more than to ice his ankle, eat a good meal, and fall asleep with his wife beside him. Two exhausting hours of slamming on the brakes and regulating his breathing left him beat, more than he would admit to anyone else but her.

At the end of the day, they did just that. Roxanne drove them back to the hotel, knowing without Niki saying it that he was in pain, and ordered room service for the two of them. She elevated his ankle with a pillow while they ate pasta in bed, and he fell asleep with his hand just under her chest and his face buried in her shoulder.

There were three races left, and Niki intended to give it his all.

Tag list: @scuttle-buttle @lieutenantn @fictionlandslanddreams @danielbruhlswife @livvyshmiv @somethingthatsaysbubbles @hardlyinteresting

[erosia-rhodes]

Top 9 Newbie thoughts on Supernatural after Six Months of Madness

I started watching Supernatural a week before the series finale, and full disclosure, it was only because I heard about the gay angel. I loved me some Good Omens, so I decided to check out a series my only previous thoughts about had been, "Is that show still on?" In the past six months, I've watched about fifty percent of the episodes scattered across all fifteen seasons. I've also spent time following the bonkers-in-the-best-way fandom on Tumblr, and here is what I have learned:

1) Everyone who loves Supernatural also hates Supernatural

No one is capable of praising this show without also trashing it. Supernatural is as awful as it is awesome. Watching Supernatural is like hate-fucking your nemesis against a wall; you're totally conflicted about it, but it's enormously pleasurable and you know you're going to do it over and over again. No one has a pure, untainted love for this show. They only have complicated emotions. This is because…

2) The fact that the show needs to be fixed is an essential part of its appeal

Strangely, if this show were better, it wouldn't be as popular. If you love a show that is perfect, you watch it once or twice or thrice, make a bunch of memes, and move on with your life two years later when you find something else to hyper-fixate on. If you love a show that's broken, you spend the rest of your life obsessed with fixing it. It's the crooked photo hanging on the wall that yearns to be straightened (because, you know, this show is bad at making things straight). It's the stray dog you know would be adoptable if you fattened it up and socialized it with your other dogs, and just like some people can't stop rescuing animals, Supernatural fans can't stop thinking about how to fix a show that isn't great, but could be with a flea bath and a trip to the groomers. Supernatural fans are not fans of the actual show, but of the show they imagine it could be, one that only exists in an alternate universe. They are in love with the Platonic ideal of Supernatural. That's also the reason why…

3) The fans understand the characters and themes better than 95% of the people who worked on the show

The people who watch Supernatural have thought about it way, way, way, more than anyone who produced it. I have read complex essays about what the color of people's clothing imply and how the state of the Impala reflects the state of Dean's mental health and other things I'm certain this show did not do intentionally. People can find depth in the shallowest aspects of this series. Any random fan could explain the complicated dynamics of the Winchester family and the overriding themes of the series better than most of the people who worked on it. That includes the LGBTQ stuff, which leads to the fact that…

4) The show is simultaneously too gay and not gay enough

On one end of the spectrum are fans who are offended you would dare to suggest one of the Winchesters might like kissing a boy and they'll shove you in a locker and duct tape your butt cheeks together for it. On the other end of the spectrum are fans who think it's odd that every episode doesn't end with two attractive men dry humping in a dark corner of the bunker library. No one is happy with the level of gayness on this show. It's always got too much "No Homo" or too much queer subtext, which is why I've concluded that…

5) The audience this show wanted is not the audience they got and they are resentful of it

The original pitch for this show targeted a male demographic who’s into toxic masculinity in a non-ironic way. It was about bros and beers and muscle cars and shotguns and hot chicks who will be killed to further the man's storyline. However, when making that show, they accidentally created a show that attracted female viewers who liked speculating about the queer subtext of each scene while looking at pretty men with traumatic backstories fight back their man tears. The show depends on the unintended audience segment to survive, but is bitter about it, which they remind you of time and time again by killing the female and non-white characters and toying with endless queer-baiting. It's like the writers got a plane to Rome, ended up in a gay nightclub in Amsterdam instead, and even though the canals and tulips make it a lovely city to visit, they wanted to go to Rome, damnit, and they'll never let you forget it! I also suspect that…

6) The people who made this show were at constant war with each other

This show has such a split personality. Sometimes it leans into the gay stuff and other times it makes fun of it outright. Sometimes they'll introduce an interesting side character that could make the show more diverse and then they'll slaughter that person for practically no reason. Sometimes they praise free will and other times they force people down pre-destined paths. The writers feel like a dysfunctional family stuck at Thanksgiving dinner endlessly squabbling with each other—who then had to write a TV show together over dessert. That's why it's such a weird hot mess. The show's unevenness makes me think that…

7) Some people's attachment to the show can only be explained by the fact that it imprinted on them when they were young

Some fans have mentioned they started watching Supernatural when they were kids. It's a pretty common experience to go back and watch things you loved when you were a kid and realize they were…not so good. Your memories of them are far better than the reality of them, but you cling to them anyway. The shows you watch when you're young imprint on you in a way you never forget. Supernatural fans are like a baby duck who looks up at a cat and assumes it’s their mother. Then that cat slices open their poor little hearts, leaving them wounded but not dead, forever be toyed with in agony. The only relief is that…

8) The fandom is batshit insane in the best way

I started following the Supernatural fandom on Tumblr in November of 2020 and OMG, it was AH-MAZE-ING. It was total insanity. I didn't understand half of what was going on, but it was more fun than a yard full of puppies doing zoomies. People were posting detailed PowerPoint presentations theorizing how the series would end, citing extensive physical evidence like the background in Misha's hotel room. People learned election results through Supernatural memes. Destiel went canon every other week. When the Spanish dub was released, Tumblr literally crashed! Obama's Twitter was following a Destiel account. There was a Twitter wedding for Destiel on Valentine's Day, which made the one-month anniversary on Pi Day.

It's been a ride, y'all. I have no idea how you guys survived fifteen years of this. The fandom has been so much fun that I actually sat down and watched more than 100 hours of this show so I could understand everything better. It's like the show is an extension of the fandom instead of vice versa. If anything sums up Supernatural for me, that's it. It's all about the fandom and the show is secondary to that. It's like the fans willed the show into existence as part of some partially botched spell. And part of that twisted spell is that…

9) The show will never die until someone finds its bones and burns them

This show has been off the air for more than six months now and it keeps trending on Tumblr consistently. Misha recently trended on Twitter simply because he was at the Oscars. That was it! He didn't even do anything there, he just attended, and some people figured it out by the reflection in a photo posted by someone else! And just as I was proofreading this post, Destiel started trending again because John Cena is a stan or something? This fandom is crazy and unpredictable and I love it like Dean loves pie! If there ever does come a time when this show stops trending, that will be the moment when they decide to reboot it or revisit it.

There is a lot more I could say about this show, but these were the elements that seemed most unique and bizarre about it. I wouldn't say Supernatural is a ride-or-die fandom for me, and I have no intention of watching another 100 hours of this series, but it's been hella' fun to drop in for a while. The show is just as much a dysfunctional mess as the Winchester family and I guess that's why people love it, right?

[titan-fodder]

ok um. where does one begin to talk about this story?? well i guess first with this last part, the ending, the epilogue, the grand finale, and oh my god, you delivered. it was so good. it felt like everything fell into place. of course they would meet up in their work (work that they love). of course hange would bet on them. of course they would reconnect no matter what. i think my favorite small part about this last part is rhi. i didn't like her, but i didn't know her. but just thinking about her and reader bonding over shitty college dudes? no yeah good for them. the way mike knew how he was gonna propose with those godforsaken fucking short oh my god. he's perfect, the love i have for the way you write him it's like i want him. i want giant man to propose to me with his stinky old frat boy shorts. and erwin? oh my god, i know you have spin-offs planned but literally just getting his speech at the wedding and nothing else would be the cherry on top of this massive fucking cake. i literally have to go back and look at everything i loved about this last part because it's everything. it just so fucking good, i can't stress that enough.

this whole fucking story was not just fanfic, i mean yes that's what it is, but the story, the characters, your writing style. it all feels like an actual book. i want this book. i want to see netflix adapt this shit because they could never come up with something this good. i've been reading your writing for a while now (it's kinda ironic bc deflowered was the first thing i read from you and i can't look at zeke rn after this) and this whole thing just proves not only how good you are as a writer but how much you love it? i hope this makes sense, but prima vista is such a labor of love. even with all the fucking pain and frustration you made all of us go through, it was clear that it was made like with so much care (clearly with how much it fucking hurt me). also you never tagged this as a soulmate au, but god fucking dammit they're fucking soulmates. they struggled, but they also knew they were for each other and it sucked it took them ten fucking years, but like it also gave us this wonderful story i will be re-reading like every fucking week. i love prima vista. i love ur writing style and characterization and this only further solidified that. thank u so much for sharing this frat au (i forgot while reading the last part this really did start off with some rando coming up to her and being like "shotgun this (gross) beer?" like how did u make a frat au so beautiful. how.)

this is a monster of an ask, and i am not lying when i say it brought me to tears. like, i just kept shoving my face further and further into my hand cause *shrieks*

i'm so stoked you liked the ending so much. i tried to add in as much as i could without turning it into its own fucking fic (and believe me, it was tempting). but yeah, i needed them to have the long break, grow, then reunite cause hhhh reunions get me every fucking time. and bro, i love that everyone is digging the rhi arc. like i wasn't sure if it would be well received but people seem to like that little circle.

i had a ton of fun writing erwin in this whole fic. like, i don't know if y'all noticed, but he was probably my favorite part aside from mike x mc. he just ggjkjgn i love him, okay. even when he was being a dickass, i had so much fun.

I FEEL SO VALIDATED knowing i kind of ruined zeke a little after dragging so many people down into hell with deflowered like kjgernkjn my greatest achievement. mike deserves so much more love than that rat bastard does (but i'm a little biased lmao). but really, i'm flattered you like my writing so much. i would be mortified if netflix ever tried to make an adaptation, though hahah

it really was a labor of love. that said, it felt really natural. like, the words just flowed. i had so much fucking fun writing it. i have never been able to write something of this length in such a relatively short time. i think it took me, like, a month, or so to start and finish writing it. but i wrote a lot. like, pretty much all of my free time went to this fic. i didn't mind, though. i had a blast. so i'm glad that showed through.

your soulmate comment is what really choked me up like erkjnrekj you're making me fall even deeper in love with my own story, and i cannot thank you enough for it. seriously. it means so much to me.

it really all did start off with mike chanting "shotgun! shotgun! shotgun!" hahahaha. what a dork.

[keelywolfe]

FIC: Welcome To Backwater ch.2 (spicyhoney)

Summary: Stretch isn’t running away, not really.

He took the bus.

Only to end up in a little town in the middle of nowhere, meeting unusual people, dealing with unexpected happenings, what the hell is going on in this place?

Content:  Spicyhoney, Midwest Gothic

Note:  Just as a heads up, I'd give this story a warning for mild horror and mild gore. None of our boys, but better to let y'all know!

~~*~~

Read Chapter Two ‘Meet and Greet’ on AO3

or

Read it here!

~~*~~

For the next week Stretch spent most of his time trying to figure out the method in the madness to Red’s store management. His first day of ‘training’ pretty much consisted of Red showing up long enough to demo the cash register and then shuffling off to the apartment at the back where he lived. Not that pushing a couple of numbered buttons was that complicated, but that wasn’t the only issue cropping up around here along with the local corn.

First of all, nothing in the shop was priced. All the items were recorded in a ragged notebook with coffee ring stains on the cover, where Stretch got to figure out if an item fell under the category of ‘toilet paper’, ‘paper, toilet’, ‘ass wipers’, or ‘shitty ass wipers’, all written in Red’s sloppy handwriting. The sheer number of items that fell under ‘ass’ and ‘shitty’ were staggering.

Turned out, the little store actually did a fair amount of business. Plenty of Humans stopped in to pick up one or two things rather than drive to the nearest Wally World which according to Granny Collemore, who Stretch was guessing was the unofficial town gossip, was better than a thirty-minute drive away.

“Don’t need to be driving an hour for a little bum tissue,” she bellowed happily, “shopping day is Sunday, we’ll stock up then!”

Stretch nodded as he rang her up, wincing away from her volume. He’d figured out pretty quickly that the old woman was stone deaf, but she didn’t seem to care if all she got was a smile and plenty of nods, so that was fine.

She handed over a wad of cash pulled from a little embroidered change purse that let out a puff of lavender so strong when she opened it that it overshadowed the store’s normal musty smell, hollering the whole time. By the time she left, Stretch knew enough about the local weather patterns to make a rain prediction and that the way someone named Pritchard was hamming on a pretty young’un Eloise meant they’d best they be married soon ‘fore it turned into a shotgun wedding. He nodded along with every proclamation, hurrying around the counter to open the door for her and ended up spending five minutes waiting for her to shuffle her way out, her bunny slippers leading the way.

But as she was leaving, she reached up and gave him a gentle pat on the cheekbone, her wrinkled hand barely able to reach. “You’re a nice boy,” she told him, too loud and with a pink, gummy smile.

Stretch was too startled to flinch away and only managed to mumble a thank you as she headed off into the growing heat of the morning, a hunched figure in a flowery dress and pink slippers, her bag of emergency tp bumping against her hip as she trundled along.

That was another thing. He’d thought that the Humans around here would be distrustful, even malicious, but that wasn’t proving to be the case. Aside from a little surprise when they first saw him, all the customers so far were small-town kindly. Kids came into the shop to raid the nickel-candy rack, their bikes left in piles outside as excited groups came roaring in. Mothers came in with babies wearing only their diapers, fanning themselves and laughing out their, ‘my, isn’t it a hot one today?’ as they bought a half-gallon of milk and some fresh apples to put in the bottom of their strollers.

No one in town seemed to care that he was a Monster past asking his name and maybe it was just ‘cause of Red being a skeleton, too. Could be that Granny Collemore was out there somewhere bellowing that the local shopkeeper had family visiting, who knew? It was sure different than he was used to. The general sentiment in Ebott about Monsters was resentment; over them taking jobs, enrolling in the schools, whatever it was, they didn’t want Monsters doing it.

It was…nice, he decided, to not have someone dislike him on sight.

That was how he spent his mornings. He worked in the shop, idly dusting, putting away the deliveries that a guy in the pickup truck and overalls brought in daily, and borrowing Red’s wifi to listen to soft music on his phone. The calls had trickled to only once a day and the glaring red alert number of his messages kept climbing.

Stretch didn’t look at them, only skipped right over to Spotify and the 'The Wedding Singer Divorce Special pt 2' playlist.

Red came in every day to relieve him at around two. He grunted out something that resembled a hello as he heaved himself up on the stool, leaning his cane against it as he pulled out a battered romance novel from beneath the counter. The creased covered did not in the slightest hide the young, scantily-clad woman caught up in a fiery embrace with her highland Lord.

“be back later,” Stretch said as he hung up his apron. Not that it mattered, wasn’t like Red was his dad or even a friend, not really, and he didn’t care when Stretch came home. A couple times they’d eaten together, takeout from the local diner that was imaginatively called ‘Mama’s’, not ‘Eats’, watched a little but that was it. His lack of idle chitchat was the complete opposite of Blue’s constant stream of chatter and after years of that, the silence was kinda disconcerting, but maybe not in a bad way.

Red didn’t even look up from his book, only pulled a crumpled bill out of his pocket and pushed it across the counter, “pick up some beer at the station, wouldja?”

“sure,” Stretch said, almost grateful for something else to do. It was miles better than sitting the rest of the day in his little room with its faded, floral wallpaper where the air conditioning wasn’t quite able to combat the heat of the mid-afternoon sun. He’d done that once, the first day, and after that made a point of staying out of his room until sundown to give it chance to cool off.

The town itself wasn’t much more than a bunch of ramshackle houses. To the west were fields, the leafy tops of what Stretch was now certain was corn rustling in the wind. Off to the east, the landscape slowly went from flat plains to trees, their wilting leaves yellowing in the heat and ending in a wooded area that surrounded maybe half the town. Shame it was too far away provide much shade unless you went walking right into it. Main street consisted of a few other public buildings; a tractor store right up next to the thrift shop, a little one-room schoolhouse with an attached shed that served as the town library, the Sheriff’s office, and the movie theater.

On the outskirts of town there was also a bar, The Whistling Cow, its glowing neon sign a single point of orange light on dark nights. As much as Stretch wanted a drink, he stuck with filching beer from the cooler Red kept under the counter. Hanging around with strange, drunk humans usually didn't end well for him.

The movie theater was where he’d taken to heading after work. Someone with a sense of humor must’ve named the place, since ‘The Grandeur’ literally only had one theater and maybe thirty seats, if that. The proprietor ran the ticket booth and the concession stand, and in his threadbare uniform with its yellowing shirt, he looked a lot like Lurch's second cousin, once removed.

But he was a nice enough fella and it was a good way to waste some time. Even if the only movies showing were old black and whites, the popcorn was fresh, with real butter, and the added bonus of air conditioning. Besides, the Three Stooges were funny as shit any old day.

That was where Stretch was headed today; the afternoon showing only cost two bucks, then another for popcorn and he was set for a few hours. It was better than trying to get anything to tune in on the television in his overboiled room. With a lot of coaxing, he might manage to get a PBS channel, but there was only so much time a person could spend sweating their way through a staticky version of Sesame Street.

Stretch got to his seat just as the lights were going down, settling in with his popcorn. Before the movie there were a few cartoons, and it was kinda wild to get to see Steamboat Willy chugging along on the big screen again.

Today’s flick was an honest to bitsy silent movie and Stretch watched with a wide grin as Charlie Chaplin slap-schticked his way across the stage. There were a few other people in the seats, at least one of them snoring; probably only came to get out of the summertime heat.

But it wasn’t really the movie he was here for. Not today.

He’d seen her the first time he came. Sitting in the far back row, not that uncommon, some people liked to sit far away. No one else seemed to notice her and that wasn’t strange either. Normally even he didn’t pay much attention to anyone else in the theater, who did? So long as a person was quiet, made no ripples in the pond, no one saw them. Movies were for escapism, not to make new friends.

But this lady. To begin with, her clothes were about a century out of date, with her pink suit and matching pillbox hat, her white gloves, and whenever the house lights came up while they switch the reel, she vanished without even a shimmer of dust motes, only returning once the darkness did.

He’d been back three times so far and she’d been in the theater for every showing. Sitting on her own watching the flick, always in the same seat. This time, Stretch was sitting in the seat next to it. He munched his buttery popcorn and watched as Charlie Chaplin-ed his way through the movie. He didn’t have to wait long.

None of the Humans noticed. The black-and-white light coming from the screen was dim enough that anyone sitting in the audience was nothing but a shadow. Humans tended towards the unobservant side, anyway, none of them had to be as aware of their surroundings as a Monster did, especially one like Stretch with only 5 HP between him and dust.

Besides, there wasn’t any fanfare about it. One minute the chair next to him was empty and the next, a young woman was sitting there, her hands clasped primly in her lap as she looked up at the movie with rapt attention.

“like the movies, huh?” Stretch said, very softly. “always wanted to be an actor myself, but i don’t have the guts for it.”

Waste of a good pun, he didn’t even think the woman had a chance to notice he was a skeleton. She startled, one faintly translucent hand flying to her mouth as if to stifle a scream. Stretch only munched on another piece of popcorn and let her gather her wits or ectoplasm or whatever ghosts had. Wasn’t like he had room to talk, the inside of his skull was as hollow as a drunken apology.

She settled quick enough and asked in a wispy little voice, “you can see me?”

Stretch slouched back and propped his sneakers up on the seat in front of him. “sure. it’s a monster thing. we see things that humans don’t, sometimes.” Or didn’t bother to see, Stretch wasn’t sure which.

“Sometimes they see me,” she admitted. “but they always run away.”

Yeah, Stretch couldn’t really blame them for that one. Humans weren’t used to ghosts, not the way Monsters were, and now that he was sitting up close, he could see the way she flickered a little, that pretty face sometimes flashing onto something else, half still pretty as a picture from an old magazine and the other a bloody ruin. There was a gaping hole on one side of her head, her blonde hair matted into dark clumps, and one blue eye stared out, unseeing. There were flecks scattered on the shoulder of her pink suit, chips of ivory, and Stretch knew enough about bones to recognize skull fragments. Another flicker and it was gone, only a pretty young Human woman looking back at him. The effect was a little off-putting, true, but it wasn’t like she could help it.

Besides, Stretch didn’t have to look. He was watching the movie.

“what’s your name?” he asked, softly.

She hesitated and he wondered if she didn’t want to tell him or if she didn’t know. Her eyes were large, absurdly long lashes sweeping against her cheeks as she considered. When she spoke again her voice was a little stronger, surer, “Doris.”

“doris, my name is stretch,” he told her, “and it is a pleasure to meet you.”

They sat together in silence for a little while. The music coming brightly from the speakers was as cheerful as a carousel, offering happiness and humor when she spoke again abruptly. “I know this is very forward. But. Could you do something for me?”

“maybe,” Stretch said, a little wary. Better not to make promises to unknown ghosts, they could get tetchy.

She smiled, a wry curve of lips as if she could hear his thoughts. “Your popcorn.”

He looked down at the paper cup in his hand, still half-full of buttery kernels. “you want some?” he asked, bemused.

She let out a whispery laugh, like a wind rustling through summer cattails. “No, but. Can I smell it?”

Oh. “sure.” He held the cup out and she leaned over it, inhaling deeply, or, well, looked like she did, he didn’t think ghosts actually breathed, but who knew? When she bent down twin ribbons of blood ran from both her nostrils, dark and slick. It didn’t drip into the popcorn, couldn’t, it wasn’t present in the same way the little carton was, but he felt his appetite fade. He still politely pretended not to notice.

She leaned back with a happy sigh and all signs of the blood were gone. “Thank you. I go behind the counter sometimes to smell it, but it’s not the same.”

“i bet. gotta be in a paper bucket or it ain’t right.” If she could go out to the concession stand, that meant at least she wasn’t stuck sitting in this one seat. Maybe it was just her favorite. “you get out much?” He jerked his head towards the door, “outside, i mean.”

“No,” She shook her head sadly, and her hair brushed her shoulders. “I have to stay in the theater.”

He nodded sympathetically. That was gonna make this a little harder, but not too much. He liked the movies, anyway. “yeah, it works that way sometimes. but hey, i’ll stop back in and see you again. if that’s okay?”

She brightened visibly, coming sharply into focus like a lens turned on a camera, until the chair behind her only barely showing through. “Would you?”

Now that was a vow he could make and Stretch sketched a cross over his chest with a finger and said solemnly, “i promise.”

Their chat must’ve been getting a little loud. Someone was turning around in the front seats. The room was too dark to see, but he didn’t have to witness a glare to feel it. Stretch slouched down in his seat and took the hint.

Hey, he’d made a friend. Well, most of one and it was the important part. A soul without a body was a lot nicer than a body without a soul, hands down.

Which made him wonder about the gas station attendant, because Mitch made Red seem like a warm, outgoing person.

The ancient artwork on the front window of the gas station showed a shiny, smiling attendant in a tidy uniform, his neatly cut hair almost hidden beneath his cap as he held up a dripping gas nozzle in offering. That guy must’ve gotten promoted out of state, because the only dress code Mitch followed was ‘fuck it, looks clean.’ Long, straggly hair poked out from his dirty baseball cap and, of all things, he was reading the New York Times, the business section.

His saving grace was that his disinterest in all customers was universal. Mitch was an equal opportunity kind of guy; he didn’t give a shit about anyone.

Stretch opened the door carefully so that the cowbell only gave a muted clang. He hesitated inside the door and decided to brave a question. Hey, he’d made one friend today, may as well push his luck. “you got any coffee on?”

It was a pretty safe bet, even as hot as it was. Coffee wouldn’t help with the sweat that was already dampening his shirt from walking over from the theater, but Stretch felt a little unsteady from meeting Doris. He could use a dose of caffeine to shore him up.

Mitch didn’t look up from his paper, but he jerked his chin towards the back wall. “Yep, but the only coffee I got is hot. Ain’t no ‘spressos around here, Slick.”

“Hot is fine.” He didn’t bother correcting him on the name. Started with an S, close enough, they’d be best pals in no time. The carafe of coffee smelled surprisingly fresh, considering that Mitch looked like he’d been holding that chair down for a few hours. There was a plastic basket next to the carafe filled with little coffee mate creamer cups. He added four French vanilla, carrying his murky coffee up to the counter with Red’s six-pack. Beer was one thing they didn’t sell at the store, no alcohol at all, something to do with the liquor laws in this county and Red not paying those skinflint jackholes for a license, not on his ass, thanks much.

He paid for both, picked up his change from where Mitch tossed it unhelpfully on the counter and went outside, fumbling out his smokes on the way.

Stretch sat down on the crumbling curb, drinking his coffee and smoking, letting the caffeine and nicotine wash over him in a twin, soothing rush. He’d been trying to cut down with his funds being on the uncertain side, cigarettes were a pricy vice, and he couldn’t bum any from Red the way he did the beers.

The sun was still high overhead pouring down the heat, coming up off the pavement in shimmery waves. Sweat was rising up on his bones, his t-shirt clinging damply to his ribs and spine. Somewhere nearby, he could hear children playing, the hollow thud of a basketball and their laughter carrying on in the still air. He didn’t have anywhere he needed to be, no one’s expectations to live up to.

When his cigarette was done and pinched out, Stretch climbed back to his feet and headed for the grocery to drop off the beers before they got warm. Again, he went easy on the door, keeping the bell to a faint rattle rather than a clang. It was only when he turned around that he saw the front counter was empty, Red’s book bent open on the counter but no skeleton around to pick it back up.

He set the beers on the counter, calling, “red?”

No reply and that was strangely ominous in a little store where even a short skeleton would be hard pressed to hide.

There was a long hallway in the back that led past a couple storerooms to the apartment Red lived in. He gave the storerooms a glance, just in case Red had a sudden urge to restock the sanitary napkin display, and wasn’t very surprised to find them unoccupied. He saw the door to Red’s apartment was open a crack like it never was and that cranked ominous up to sinister. The lingering sweat on his bones was chilling in the air conditioning, but that wasn’t the only reason a sudden shiver rattled him.

“red?” Stretch called weakly as he pushed open the door.

The living room was small with a ratty plaid sofa and a coffee table littered with beer cans and balled up chip bags, and standing in the center of it was a person who was not Red, not unless he got one hell of a growth spurt while Stretch was gone.

Once, Stretch would’ve just taken a shortcut out, right the hell to the Sheriff station down the road and never had he missed the skill more than when the guy-who-was-definitely-not-Red started to turn around. The instinct to teleport was still there even if the ability wasn’t, fizzling out with an aching pain right in the middle of his chest.

It was only a minor distraction and Stretch blundered over to grab a lamp from a side table, yanking the cord right out of the wall as he brandished it over his head like a club, yelling shrilly, “what the fuck are you doing in here?”

The guy turned around, looking back at him with deep crimson eye lights that flicked briefly up to the lamp before meeting his wild gaze. His voice was as smooth and dark as deep water as he stated coolly, “I believe that’s my question.”

Stretch could stare and the only coherent thought amongst the many tangled ones scrambling through his mind was only two words. Simple. Descriptive.

Oh, shit.

-tbc-

[neon-junkie]

how would micah ask his s/o to start dating? how would the gang react? thank you for providing micah content x

I was gonna put a short paragraph to this but as always, I got carried away. This is gender-neutral btw!

Micah won't ask you to be his sweetheart, he'll never ever say the words. He often beats himself up for allowing himself to get soft on another person; it goes against his father's teachings and Micah's whole persona. We all know that opposites attract, but you have to have a little bit of a chaotic side to be with Micah. You could have a heart of gold, be sweet and gentle, super pure, etc, but deep down you'll have a wild side to you. Maybe you love to rob folk by flirting with them all night, having them drag you up to a hotel room for some fun, for you to then pull your gun out, hogtie them, rob em blind, then leave them tied up for some poor sod to find. You've gotta be chaotic good. Micah will pick up on your little chaotic glint from a mile off, and that's why he's so drawn to you. You're such a kind soul but there's unhinged chaos in you, and he likes it!! He'll deny his feeling for you for aaaages, maybe even try and bully you to try and push you away. He'll feel bad, especially if you get really upset at him. Eventually, he'll make it up to you, like buying/stealing you something nice or just generally trying to be kinder towards you. 

We already know that Micah struggles to talk to women. If he's trying to flirt, it'll be cheesy and creepy, so when he approaches you he wants to try something new. He'll sit for hours at the campfire trying to think of every possible way to approach you. He'll really beat himself up over this - he doesn't wanna mess up. Eventually, he decides to just be kind and gentle, take things slow, build your trust up over time. He'll start off with little things here and there, saying you're looking nice today, asking if you slept alright, small comments like that. He'll call you pet names like darling and sweetheart from the beginning, so you'll already be used to those. Eventually, he'll ask if you wanna go on a walk with him, or maybe go sit by the lake. Micah will be SO awkward the whole time. He doesn't even know how to walk properly, he's so paranoid about coming across as weird. You've probably picked up on his advances by now, so just do something to reassure him, like maybe link your arm in his. Over time, he'll calm down. Micah will eventually be straight up and honest with you, admitting that he's 'real soft on ya.' He'll 100% have his head dipped so the brim of his hat covered his flustered face. Pull him out from his shell and give that man a damn kiss!! As soon as you do that, most of his nerves will go. He KNOWS now that you're into him so he won't have to hold back as much. Micah will only start showing PDA around the camp if you initiate it. He doesn't want anybody thinking he's forcing himself on to you, but once you show you're ready then he'll eventually start initiating back. It'll start off when few people are around, like having a cuddle by the campfire at night, or bringing you a coffee in the morning when everybody's still half-asleep. You'll have to be the one to change the pace; do something bold like kiss him in full view of everyone. He'll love that, he loves his s/o to be bold and confident. You're going to have SO many camp members approach you and ask 'wtf is going on?' Most will just tell you to be careful, especially the women, and a few will tell you you're a fool for mingling with that man. If Micah overhears any ruder comments towards him then he'll jump in, telling them to mind their own business and dragging you away with his arm around your waist. Uncle, Karen, and Arthur will call out Micah to his face, threatening to kill him if he dares hurt you. Bill will also call him out if you're close with him, he gets protective around those he loves. Some of the other members may make smaller threats through passing conversation. Micah will eventually snap, arguing overly-loud so the whole camp hears. "I get it! I get it already! I ain't here to hurt (Y/N). Y'all ain't got nothin' to worry about. Now leave me... us be, would ya?" After that, Micah will insist you wear his green neckerchief around your neck or wrist. He's never going to say the words 'will you be mine?' but this is the same thing for him. Once you two are 'official' then he's all hands on. You'll have people begging the two of you to 'please stop making out, it's not even midday. I just wanna have a cup of coffee and not throw up in it.' Micah isn't holding back anymore. You'll get to see his full personality. Oh, and he'll start using cheesy pick-up lines on you, but only because they make you laugh. He'll take you into town often, spoiling you as much as he can. He's happy to do whatever you want, even if it is something mushy like cuddling by the lake as you watch the sunset. His eyes are never on the view, always on you. If your relationship works out then he'll be eager to propose to you, probably within 1.5-3 years. If you're a gunslinger then he'll 100% propose mid-fight, just like that Pirates of the Caribbean scene. It'll be a bit of a shotgun wedding, Micah rushing it because he just can't wait to see his ring on your finger. You'll get married in private and definitely not in the eyes of god/by law. Micah is the kinda guy to sneak the two of you into a church and say all the lines/vows himself, acting as the priest and the groom. "Do you ___, take me, Micah Bell the 3rd to be your husband? Or something like that? Yadda yadda... c'mon darlin', just say yes. I can't wait to put this ring on you any longer!" Your honeymoon will be whatever you wanna do. Want to go away somewhere nice for the weekend? Sure. Want to dress up fancy and pretend to be posh whilst secretly robbing folks? Sure! Want to pull off a big bank heist whilst still dressed in your wedding attire? SURE!!! Micah will never be able to 'settle.' He can't live with four walls and a roof around him. He needs that freedom and the open road, so hopefully, you enjoy that too. You'll eventually break off from the gang, either spending your time alone together, or starting up your own gang. If you're high honour then you may be able to pull Micah towards the light. If you're low honour then he'll encourage you to unleash that chaotic side. You'll have a 'Bonnie and Clyde' style relationship, but of course, you'll do it 10x better.