#yeah it’s mostly bc i was staring at ruby a lot

[wereh0gz]

which oc of urs do u think would get along the best with fibula... personally i think he'd have the best first impression of ruby but only because he's fond of halloween monster-types. since, you know, he is one. her personality probably wouldn't gel with his antics though LOL

YEAH Ruby would not trust him at all. She'd probably be really weirded out by him too. It's not every day you meet a zombie. Also he'd smell weird to her. Like dead but also not really? And the sheer amount of Chaos energy inside him would probably be enough for her to smell too (she has a very sensitive nose) so he probably smells like. Irradiated to her lmao. Dark Gaia and Chaos energies don't mix well so it might just make her physically sick actually. Bad vibes all around. She keeps her distance

Melany and Max would stare at him weird. Not just bc he's a zombie but bc they can see his soul and it's probably Fucked Up. But it's like fucked up in a way they've never seen before so they're very curious. Also they're probably curious abt the whole zombie thing bc as far as they knew resurrection like that was just straight up impossible. I can see them (mostly Mel) asking a bunch of questions like excited little kittens (they like morbid stuff)

Nox would try to capture and disect him. Or try to inject him with Dark Gaia energy to see how it reacts to his body (it'd probably be Very Very Bad)

Livewire is chill as long as he doesn't hurt anyone close to them. They probably find him and his decapitation trick funny and would kick his head like a football if given the chance

Elysium would be. Quiet. It's not like it's very talkative in the first place but it recognizes Eggman's work when it sees it, and finds it hard to trust him (valid, considering he's actively working for Eggman and causing trouble). Would probably try to get Livewire to convince him to leave since it can't on its own. But ultimately it's Fib's choice and from what I know I think it'll take a lot more to convince him to switch sides

So in conclusion I think Livewire or the twins would be the best candidates for being friends with Fibula but he can potentially have very fun and interesting interactions with the others. Thank you for coming to my ted talk

[mego42]

207 Discussion Q’s

shout out and thank you to @pynkhues for putting these together even though she wasn’t gonna be here this week

1. What was your favourite scene of the episode? Tell us why!

obvs the dubby but underrated fav is Ruby and Jane in the closet, idk exactly why but I am starved for the families interacting with each other content (screw the timeline, the most unrealistic aspect of this show is that they aren’t constantly in and out of each other’s houses with ben and sara continually being called on to babysit) so this little snippet makes me levitate

2. Was there any scene that missed the mark for you? And if so, how?

the annie and noah scenes for sure. I mostly feel betrayed bc I really liked them the first time I watched (i have a lot of built in affection for sam huntington let me live) and now I’m like BEGONE FOUL BETRAYER and feel pre-emptive fatigue over annie’s taste in men and how that’s not going to get better any time soon

3. I know time does not exist in the Good Girls universe (or in reality anymore), but let’s start with a timeline question! The implication of the opening montage is that a bit of time has past since Beth strongarmed the partnership with Rio at the end of 2.06. How long do you think it’s been? And more importantly, what do you think these early days of their partnership looked like?

I tend to lean towards at least 2 months, maybe more based on:

the number of shoeboxes and how many times Beth’s shown making a closet deposit

how lived in their annoyance over Beth’s dividing her time and Rio pushing back feels

the implication (at least how i read it) that Rio’s annoyance stems from having to track Beth down which presumably implies they’d grumbled their way into a semi-functional working relationship prior (supported by their ease with each other in 208) and if the montage has only been a month, that would be a maximum of 4 meetings and I don’t particularly think that’s enough time for them to get over being extremely prickly with each other

the fact that Beth goes to Rio for help when Jane’s missing (again, to me implies a longer period of time to get over some of their antagonism than a max of 4 meets)

I imagine their initial partnership went something like Beth being a smug brat about forcing her way in, Rio being deliberately unhelpful and trying to force her to admit she’s in over her head (while still keeping enough of an eye on things that his money isn’t jeopardized), Beth stubbornly refusing to and finding ways to rise to the occasion, Rio being grudgingly impressed, Beth being annoyed with herself for how pleased she is over that. Lather, rinse, repeat until they’ve worn a cantankerous but bizarrely comfortable groove into each other.

meanwhile, Mick, Annie and Ruby are absolutely disgusted by everything happening in front of their eyes.

4. The first scene between Ruby and Turner in this episode is a really dynamic one! It’s pretty clear that Ruby’s afraid of Turner, but what do you think Turner thinks of Ruby?

I think he sees a big cartoon canister labeled "Beth Boland Bait"

5. Taking the kids to the drop was a pretty big mistake! What do you think Beth should’ve done in this instance? Do you think saying no again to Rio was an option?

CALLED BEN OR SARA FOR A BABYSITTING ASSIST. For fucks’ sake.

And yeah, I think she could’ve said no to Rio but he would’ve kept her cut of that drop and, even worse, would’ve been able to hold the fact that she didn’t deliver that one time over her head forever more.

6. The krav maga teacher offers some sage advice telling Dean to not order the hit and instead just divorce his wife, haha. Do you think that he thought the baby hitmen would come through for Dean? Or do you think he was deliberately setting Dean up to get robbed?

I choose to believe the krav maga teacher knew exactly what kind of an idiot Dean was and set him up because the dude clearly had at least two brain cells to rub together and anyone with two brain cells to rub together would never get tangled up in a murder plot with Dean standing on the street corner telling random bystanders in detail how he wants to kill the guy that fucked his wife what do you mean established means and motive Boland.

7. During Ben and Annie’s tense conversation, Ben tells Annie that she’s hard to keep track of - she’s parent mom, cool mom, sketchy mom. In a lot of ways, this feels like a parallel to Ruby talking to Beth in the last episode and calling her ‘drug Beth, gun Beth, human trafficking Beth’. What do you make of this? And how do you think it relates to the show’s themes?

I defer to @foxmagpie’s answer because I like it a lot. 

8. The scene with the girls in the house! Tell me all your thoughts please!!!

I love this scene a lot

Beth’s channeling Rio in general but also specifically in 201 you will never ever change my mind

Sometimes I lie awake at night wishing Rio had seen it

Prayer circle that he sees a version of it in s4

Can you imagine the nightmare level of boner he would get? The sheer narcissism!!

Ruby’s obvious wish for new friends is The Most Valid

I really love the main drug den guy, I love Blake Shields’s energy, it makes the scene crackle, and I wish they’d bring him back purely bc he’s gr9

9. Annie meets Noah in this episode! What do you think of their introduction to one another? And how would you rate Noah on the scale of ‘Garbage Annie Love Interests’?

at least he’s not her therapist I guess

10. Beth has two pivotal and emotionally revealing fights this episode - one with Dean and the other with Rio. How do these fights compare? And what do you think they tell us about her respective relationship with them?

UUUNNNNNFFFFFFFF

I L O V E how hard the show goes on Dean’s obsession with Beth and Rio as the primary source of his angst

the fact that he’s trying to rope Stan into murder while looking for Jane who isn’t even MISSING but Dean had NO IDEA bc instead of giving a shit he went straight to HOW CAN THIS BE THAT GUY’S FAULT

I love how clearly they delineate that it isn’t about Beth but specifically about someone else ~*~taking~*~ Beth from him and how emasculated that makes him feel (something something something the storyline opens with the krav maga guy choking him out and then telling him to divorce her and Dean being like I reject your rational and logical solution bc it doesn’t punish the man who touched my property, idk i have a half baked thought there but i can’t pull it out of my brain)

and then it’s all underscored how little Dean’s worried about Beth and her safety by him bringing her work up specifically as a gotcha (which, unless I’m forgetting something, is p much the only context Dean ever brings it up in besides maybe the sit down fight but that’s again, about Beth acting out vs genuine concern)

Meanwhile, this is contrasted with:

Beth flipping tf out at the mere suggestion Rio would ever hurt her children, showing how deeply and instinctively she trusts him in regards to her children aka what’s been established as her Most Important Priority over and over (in the same breath that she rips into Dean for losing Jane in the first place)

which is doubled down on her immediately going to Rio for help

and he is FURIOUS at her, but the thing he leans hard on isn’t how she could have jeopardized the business deal (aka his money, what’s been established as his Most Important Priority over and over) but how she jeopardized herself and how badly she can fuck up if she doesn’t take this seriously

putting himself in a vulnerable position (presumably burning a connect, letting on that Beth means something to him beyond business) to look out for Beth’s emotional well-being

And then, just to drive it home a little further, @sothischickshe pointed out the Beth and Rio fight over Beth’s self preservation is directly paralleled with Stan freaking out at Ruby over the IA stuff because he’s worried about her and I had to go and stare at a blank wall for a few minutes to calm down.

anyway, draw your own conclusions.

11. Ruby takes Jane being missing as an opportunity to try and find evidence on Beth for Turner and, in the process, finds Jane too. How do you think this scene captures Ruby’s moral dilemma? And do you think it’s a satisfying turning point in the Ruby-Turner arc?

I struggle a lot with the Turner and Ruby plot specifically because I HATE that Turner’s ruthlessly leaning on Ruby as the weak link but I’m also ferociously attracted to him so I’m less bothered by it than I feel like I should be so mostly I just try not to think about any of it.

Idk, I see it in some ways as a continuation of Ruby’s fight with Beth and Annie in s1 where Annie said she isn’t blood. They put Ruby on the outside but when push comes to shove, Ruby still puts the two of them above her own family. As far as I’m concerned, Annie still owes Ruby a massive apology for that. Beth I let off the hook a little because by the end of the season she’s ready to turn herself in to make it all go away for all of them (I think, unless I’m misremembering, which is entirely possible bc I don’t think I’ve ever rewatched all of 213)

12. RIO GETS BETH THE DUBBY!! That’s it, that’s the question. Please discuss.

I think a lot about how the gesture is so baldly honest neither one of them can face it either at all (Rio) or without taking a shot first (Beth) which, now that I’ve typed it out, is also an interesting flip of their general MO bc under normal circumstances I’d put Rio down as the one that, of the two of them, is more willing to face stuff whereas Beth’s the one that hides from it.

[emybain]

Renegades Mermaid AU Fic for MerMay:D

so im posting this on june 1st but only a few hours after may officially ended so this is still valid. I’ve been trying to write this fic for two weeks and have been changing up the outline and plot over and over. I came up with this plot literally like three hours ago so. yeah. the only things yall should know I guess are that the anarchists are merpeople and the renegades are humans. merpeople are considered dangerous bc of the anarchists, and the renegades were mostly former merpeople who chose to live on land. merpeople in this world have the power to go on land and have legs, but the longer they’re on land, the harder it is to change back into a merperson. I had a lot of backstory/information that I wont dump on yall bc it isn't necessary to this short fic soooo enjoy:)))

    Fighting a criminal for robbing a supermarket was not how Adrian wanted to spend his Saturday night.

    Things had been relatively quiet in Gatlon recently, so Adrian and his team figured that their patrol would be mostly uneventful, and hopefully, result in them being released early. Not that Adrian didn’t like patrol. It was just that it got boring when there wasn’t any actual crime.

    And while he was technically fighting crime now, it wasn’t wholly for a worthy cause. Who robs a supermarket close to midnight anyways?

    He supposed he should be treating the situation with more enthusiasm. After all, they were currently chasing the infamous Nightmare through Gatlon. She had shown up at a smaller supermarket and held the workers at gunpoint until she got what she needed. Adrian’s team had barely spotted her escaping the store after all getting messages from their communicator bands about her appearance.

    Nightmare had proven herself to be a tricky one. The Renegades had been chasing her for almost six months now, and she always managed to disappear before they could catch her. But now tonight. Adrian was determined to get her, corner her, arrest her. It wasn’t because he wanted the credit and fame for her capture. But she had already caused the Renegades and Gatlon enough trouble in the past six months. Her villainous ways had to come to an end. It was the right and just thing to do.

    Also she had embarrassed Sketch’s team more than once by beating them, despite being outnumbered.

But Adrian definitely didn’t hold personal grudges when it came to villains. That led to revenge, and he strived for justice. Two completely different things.

    “Where is she going?” Ruby shouted from behind Adrian. He could tell she was getting tired of running from the way her breathing got heavier and heavier.

    “I don’t know,” Adrian replied. He glanced around them, ahead of them. Nightmare was a good thirty feet away,     and she kept turning corners, which made gaining on her increasingly difficult.

    “Let’s split up.” Danna appeared beside him, her pulled back dreads whipping in every direction. “Ruby, Oscar, go left, since she likes turning that way; Adrian, you and I keep straight.” Their team did as she said, Oscar and Ruby leaving them, with Oscar trailing behind Ruby a good amount.

    Nightmare peaked over her shoulder at them, then, as Danna pointed out, turned left. A gust of wind, filled with salt, slowed Adrian down in realization. He regained his speed as quickly as he had lost it.

    “The ocean,” was all he managed to yell in Danna’s direction.

    “What?” He thought he saw Danna shaking her head in his peripheral vision. “Why the hell is she going to the ocean? Doesn’t she know it’s dangerous?”

    But they pursued her still, and soon, the concrete beneath them became sand, making running more difficult. Oscar and Ruby rushed over to them. They must’ve figured it out as well.

    Together, Adrian’s team chased Nightmare down the beach until she ran out of room to run, ending up on a long dock. The wind had increased, blowing sand up into their faces. Nightmare seemed unaffected by it, only acknowledging it when it blew her short hair in front of her face. She tucked the strands back into her hood.

    “It’s over, Nightmare.” Oscar leaned on his specialized crutches. “You have nowhere to run. Surrender to the Renegades.”

    “Or what?” Nightmare tilted her chin up, cocky. Her eyes glinted, as if she knew something they didn’t, and she was inwardly laughing because of it.

    “You’ll be arrested either way,” Adrian spoke up. He took a step closer to her on the dock. “But if you surrender, it’ll be much easier and your punishment will be lessened.”

Nightmare rolled her eyes. “I’m sure.” She looked behind her at the waves, then back at the Renegades. Her hand that wasn’t clutching a gun went to her neck. Adrian blinked, not sure if he was seeing things when her neck began to glow a soft green.

“What is that?” Danna demanded, positioning her feet defensively.

“None of your concern.” Nightmare winked at her. “Well, this was fun. We should do it again sometime, yeah?” she addressed toward the rest of the group. All four of them yelled and ran forward as she turned and dived into the water.

“I don’t see her.” Ruby got down on her knees and bent over the water, although it was too dark to see anything.

Danna cursed and hit Adrian on the arm. When he gave her a questioning look, she pointed ahead without saying anything, eyes transfixed on what was before her.

When Adrian and the others saw what she was pointing at, they cursed as well.

Far enough from the beach was a girl with short hair in the water, with bare shoulders and stuff that glimmered against the moonlight on her cheeks and neck. Adrian could only see her eyes, due to the darkness and distance between them. They stared at one another for a moment. Adrian knew those eyes anywhere.

The girl shook her head, as if coming out of a trance, and dove beneath the waves. Ruby gasped from beside him as a long tail rose up and quickly followed behind her.

Danna gulped. “We have to go to the Council immediately and tell them what we saw and what this means.”

“You think they’re going to care that Nightmare is a mermaid?” Oscar asked, eyebrows furrowed. “All that explains is how she’s been able to get away.”

“They’ll care,” Adrian assured his teammates, gulping. “Danna’s right. This confirms that Nightmare is an Anarchist.”

[afangirlwashere]

Wrong door (Louis x reader)

(gif is not mine all credit goes to the creator)

A/N: so.......I’m gonna keep this short and quick......after what the fuck happened to my sweet sweet boy in this episode I just really really needed some Louis in my life ‘kay? This was sitting in my drafts since episode 2 and I forgot how good of a boy he was. I still can’t fucking believe what the actual fuck fuck happened what the fu-anyways.. If any of you have any burning ideas my requests are open so....y’know what to do...I’m sad and angry and need to go to bed so I hope you enjoy...peace.....✌️

Warnings: just some swearing, don’t worry about spoilers there ain’t any for ep. 3

Summary: Soup sucks as much as changes nobody told you about. 

(while reading I suggest you listen to this song bc it’s a bop and it nicely flows with the fic)

Soup.  Soup all the time. It was definitely better than starving but ugh.. Fuck that soup! 

(Y/N) would KILL for some fruit.  ‘Apple... Or a banana... Oh my god... Watermelon!’

“What ya’ thinking about?” Ruby asks.

“Watermelon...” (Y/N) blurts out.

Everybody at the table grunts in unison. 

“Goddamnit (Y/N)! Why do you always do this? Now I want it so bad I’d shave my head for it!” Louis bangs his head on the picnic table.

“No, you wouldn’t.” Violet says unfazed while putting another spoon of the tasteless soup in her mouth.

“Yeah, you’re right... But I’d shave your head for a piece.” Louis points at her with his spoon while smiling charmingly.

Violet has just about enough energy to roll her eyes at him.

“Or an orange... orange juice...” (Y/N) dreamily looks ahead of her.

“Somebody shut her up or I’m gonna leave this table!” Louis covers his ears.

“Please continue (Y/N).” Vi turns to her and sneers. 

“Strawberries...” she can feel the drools almost slipping her mouth.

“You’re killing me!” Louis is jokingly overdramatic as usual.

It gets annoying from time to time but at least it’s entertaining. Not a lot of fun stuff happening around here anymore.

He was the fun one of the group.  Definitely.

“Alright, I had enough!” Aasim angrily stomps to their table. 

(Y/N) didn’t notice him walking towards them because of her fruit fantasies. 

He throws a bunch of letters in front of them. 

“Whoever is doing this it’s time to stop!” he seems to be getting more and more furious each second he has to stand there “You guys already make fun of me all the fucking time especially you Louis! So if this is one of your stupid jokes-”

“Hold up, hold up... Why the fuck do you have these?!” Louis stands up.

“So they are from you!” Aasim furrows his eyebrows.

“I’ll repeat myself one more time. Why the fuck do you have these?!” Louis snarls.

That’s a whole new side of him. He never seemed to get too angry about... anything. Thinking about it (Y/N) has never seen him in a real fight with anyone yet. Well not in a fight that wasn’t supposed to be a joke.  He was kinda scary in this state. 

“Because you keep fucking shoving them under my door!” 

“No, I don’t! Your room is upstairs!” Louis defends himself.

“What is going on?” Ruby whispers to the others.

“I’m not sure, but I’m intrigued.” Tenn’s big eyes keep moving from one boy to the other. 

(Y/N) shrugs “I don’t know... I just wanted some fruit.” 

“No, it’s not! My room is eight doors before yours! I switched my old one with (Y/N)’s because she kept knocking on my door every night to climb on the rooftop and then left through my room again! It got annoying and I couldn’t sleep so I offered her to switch!” the vein on Aasim’s forehead kept on getting bigger and bigger. 

Louis stared at Aasim in shock.

If Louis wasn’t in the middle of that conflict (Y/N) could just hear him saying “Careful! If that vein pops we’re gonna have a problem.” 

“So I was... I-I was giving the letters... The whole time! To you?” 

“YES!” Aasim picks them all up again and throws them at Louis’s head and storms off to the school building. 

Louis runs after him right away “Aasim! Wait! Come on dude I wasn’t making fun of you let me explain!” 

The rest of the kids at the table exchange confused looks. 

When the wind picks up all letters start to scatter around.

“We should catch ‘em. Don’t want them floating around.” Ruby picks up two letters that still haven’t left the table. 

Tenn - being the smallest one - crawls under the table to catch another one.

(Y/N) has to chase one for a bit till it gets stuck in a bush. Violet hands her the rest of them. She notices (Y/N)’s confused stare “They were obviously meant for you. I hope you realize that... He thought he was sliding them in your room the whole time.” 

(Y/N) sets her gaze on the letters.

There were little doodles on every envelope. Stars, hearts, snowflakes, cartoony looking walkers, heads of dogs and cats, little bees, butterflies,   pressed old looking flower, all that cute stuff. 

“But why the hell would he-” (Y/N) stops talking the moment Violet’s expression changes into ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’  

“Do I really have to explain this to you as well? Louis would flirt with anything that has two legs. I thought you weren’t that oblivious... It’s obvious he likes you.” Vi keeps an unbothered stare.

“I picked up on that I’m not that dumb. But why wouldn’t he just... tell me? He is a very verbal guy after all.” (Y/N) shrugs.

Violet looks a lot less unbothered while rubbing her eyes now “Because he’s one of those ‘helpless romantics’, I don’t know! He’s an idiot! An extra idiot! He probably has like fifty songs prepared for you. I think he wanted you to feel special or something like that... I don’t know how boys think!” 

“Yeah, you might have a point...” (Y/N) thinks out loud “There was this one time I wanted Ruby to braid my hair but she didn’t have time so Louis offered he’d do it.” 

Violet looks startled “He knows how to braid hair?” 

“He doesn’t.” (Y/N) chuckles “Well he didn’t know at the time but I taught him. It took some time but he really liked it so I taught him a fish braid and dutch braid and... looking back at it now I don’t think he was that interested in braiding my hair.” 

“He just wanted to spend time with you... I mean he does pick you for everything. Patrols? Hunts?”

“I’m gonna go talk to him.” (Y/N) clutches the letters with more force. 

“Hey!” Vi shouts right after her “Just... Whatever you do, don’t hurt him too much alright?” 

Louis sat at an old school desk. There was still one room left mostly untouched by the disasters of the apocalypse. 

The downstairs classroom which was meant for classes like history, geography, and biology.  They took most of the maps off the walls because they were useful but some of them still stayed up. 

The chalkboard was filled with drawings. They dedicated this one to the kids so they could have fun with it. There were other chalkboards in other rooms which they used for plans or rules.  Until they got out of chalk. 

Still, it was nice to see one part of the school stay the same. 

Louis remembered the boring biology classes he spent sending secret messages with Marlon or drawing funny pictures of Miss. Gonzales - their teacher. Oh, how he wishes he paid more attention in that class. 

“Can we talk?” 

Louis dreaded this moment ever since he slipped that first letter under the door. Which kind of backfired at him with that whole Aasim thing but... He’ll be angry about it for a while and eventually, he’ll forget.  Aasim is not very good at holding grudges. 

“You know, I found those envelopes and papers here... And then I got that stupid idea to write letters. I’m gonna go dig a grave before I fully process how much I fucked up this time.” his foot is nervously tapping on the floor. 

“Oh come on it wasn’t that bad. Could have been worse I think. You could have been accidentally sending them to Violet.” (Y/N) sits down in the school desk that’s next to him.

“Nope, that wouldn’t have happened. I would slide that piece of paper under her door and before I could straighten my back she’d open the door and throw the envelope on my head just like Aasim did.” Louis weakly smiles.

(Y/N) has the same smile on her face. 

“Listen, Louis,” she starts “I picked up on your little crush on me.”

“Little? It’s huge! It overgrew me in a few weeks! I couldn’t even look at you when I was talking to you! Felt like my face was on fire every time!” 

(Y/N) looks at him startled “Well... Okay... I-I just wanted to tell you that I’m not freaked out by this. I don’t think you’re weird or anything.” she put the letters on the table in front of him “Here... I haven’t read any of them. If you don’t want me to read them I won’t. You can keep them and do whatever you want with them. Burn them, bury them, keep them, I don’t know. But I’ll let you decide.” 

Louis looks at her with big dark eyes “You... You don’t want them?”

“No! It’s not like that!” (Y/N) panicks “I just thought maybe you wish you could take it all back and getting rid of them without me ever seeing what you wrote could help you.” 

He looks at her with furrowed brows “I want you to keep them. Don’t read them now though that would be... weird. If anything happens to me I want you to have them so that, you know, you’ll have something left from me.” 

“Nothing is going to happen to you, Louis. I’m not losing you. You’re going to be safe and sound here with us. At home.” 

The older boy studies her face for a good second “If I wasn’t so sure you didn’t feel the same way about me like I feel about you I’d say you like me too little (Y/N).” he smirks. 

She takes a shaky breath “Never said I didn’t.” 

His response is just like she presumed.  Shocked. His stare is a bit uncomfortable but what else could he do?

“I was just waiting for you to y’know... Say something. I’m not the most confident in these ‘romantic’ things I’m sure you’re aware of that. But you seem to shine in those things so I thought... you would do something.” (Y/N) feels the need to explain her point of view.

“I just-I never thought you-I mean you always-you always seemed to not care. I thought you didn’t think about me the same way I do about you.”

“I mean, yeah you’re kinda annoying. I don’t really get how you can just blurt out stuff without caring plus your jokes can be a little insensitive at times and you named your weapon Chairless which I still think is the most childish thing you ever did but... I guess it’s all part of the reasons why I like you so much. You’re different.” (Y/N) smiles at him. 

“That was the nicest thing anyone has said about me.” Louis stands up while fixing the collar on his jacket. 

“Well, you are a nice person.” the girl stands up as well “No doubt about that.” 

They stand facing each other for a few seconds and then Louis speaks again.

“Tomorrow. After lunch. Come to the piano room.” his voice is back at his confidently relaxed tone which makes (Y/N) happier than she thought it would.

“Like a date?” she asks out of curiosity. 

“Like a date.” he nods and walks past her brushing his shoulder against hers on purpose. 

(Y/N) grins widely and turns around “I’ll be there. And you better play me a song that you’ve written about me.” 

Louis looks back over his shoulder “Oh don’t worry. I got a lot of those up in my sleeves.” he winks at her and finally leaves.

(Y/N)’s stomach did that weird thing again that it did when she first met Louis. If she remembered correctly Minnie always said that those were “butterflies in your stomach” and somehow...? It perfectly described the feeling. 

[sunflowercecil-blog]

Captain’s Orders

it’s fiNALLY HERE! The long-awaited pirate fic ft cecil and julian bc im one homo bastard. If you missed this boat, this post caught some attention and people were asking for a fic. And, weeks later, I’m finally providing. 

thank u to @bazzpop, @devorak-titties, @bitters-enthusiast and @timmys-and-scribbles (and all the anons!!!) who vocally wanted this and therefore gave me my Only motivation to actually write it. love all y’all uwu

warning!! there’s blood!! there’s swearing!! there’s... like... a kinda Stockholm Syndrome vibe to it! pls be careful idk people’s triggers pls tell me how to tag this osbsb. its all 3000+ words so get some fuckin popcorn lmao

without further adieu, i present to u: gay pirates

When he found the will to open his eyes, Julian recognised none of his surroundings.

The floor his knees pressed against was a dark burgundy wood, decorated with layers of chippings and scratches that scrawled all around him. When the floor met the wall, it grew into a lighter brown. But still just as damaged. The wood had dent after dent, little holes from sharp objects hitting it and chips lying scattered at the base. If it hadn't been obvious enough that this room was for more violent activities, there was a darkened patch of the wall that tinted red when the light hit it. His throat tightened.

With an attempt to stand, he found that his hands were bound behind a large pillar in the middle of the room. The pillar looked to be the most damaged thing here. The dark paint was a mere stain now, with the light core of the wood being the most exposed part. It curved and ducked and stuck out in morbid ways, like it was mocking the branches of a tree.

Julian craned his neck around, trying to catch a glimpse of his hands behind the pillar. If he knew what kind of knot he’d been tied with, he could potentially get out. His best efforts were weak shuffles and grunts, trying to twist around the base of the pillar to look. Had it not been for the support of the bonds, he would have fallen over.

Voices, muffled through the wood, hit his ears. Snapping up, Julian watched the door. Rays of sunlight filtered through the cracks and between the edges. They danced around silhouettes eagerly, trying to squeeze through to reach him. The words outside were barely audible, and he only caught snippets of words and phrases.

“… tied.” Ah. So they were talking about him. Unless they had multiple people tied up here. Actually, that wasn’t entirely implausible.

There was silence, and a small thud before the same voice squawked.

“Yes, Captain!”

Footsteps scuttled away, getting more distant. He wanted to relax, but there was still a shadow behind the door. It felt impossible to breathe, like any sound would alert the captain of his presence. Julian dropped his head, trying to catch a glimpse of the knot once more.

He stopped when he felt the sunlight hit his face, and rays of gold illuminated the red stains deep in the wooden boards below. The blood seeped between the cracks and faint lacerations that looked awfully like the scratches of fingernails. He stared, until the light was blocked once more. A silhouette crawled across the floor of the room. Julian looked up. The figure was encased in shadows, a glow of the sun behind them. It was hard to make out any real features. A captain’s hat perched on their head, the sway of tashes by their thighs.

When they stepped forwards and leaned against the frame of the door, Julian could finally see them. A tangle of red hair swept up when the hat was pushed sideways. It fell in thick straight locks, only to the ear until it was shaved.

The man had a rounded face and a button nose. Had it been in any other situation, he would have been cute. But this man also had scars down his neck and chest, which he proudly displayed with a half open shirt. Jewellery lined every patch of skin – a silver and golden choker around his neck; ruby and sapphire gems hung from chains and rested on his chest; his wrists were covered in shiny metals and gems up to his biceps, where his ripped sleeves finally covered his skin, but not enough to hide the deep black mark of thief on his left bicep. The shirt was a faded pink colour, mostly coated in stains now. All the buttons were gone, and the only thing holding it in place was the green sash it was tucked into. Underneath the sash there must have been a belt, because a cutlass dangled from the man's waist. It scathed against his leggings, but the tip harmlessly bashed into the thick leather of his boots. After letting Julian gaze, the man finally spoke.

“Well, well, well.” His voice was higher than Julian had been expecting. It certainly didn’t have a rough accent, or the choke of a smoker, but the confident, sultry tone was enough to throw him through a loop and convince him this man was a real pirate.

As he walked forwards, he closed the door behind him. Julian swallowed. The idea of being alone in a room with this man was terrifying. And... a little exciting. He'd met pirates before. But never young ones – never ones who were glamorous and cocky and perhaps a little feminine. The pirates he knew were as rough and tumble as they come.

His staring and daydreaming finally stopped when the captain was in front of him, staring down at him. Julian felt a little vulnerable. He was bound to a pillar, kneeling in front of this man. He could barely remember how this had even happened. Where he’d been, how he’d gotten here. But the questions scattered from his brain when the tip of the man’s sword was suddenly pressed under his chin. He gasped quietly.

“You deaf?” The man snapped, eyes piercing down at him. “I asked for your name.”

“Julian-" He choked, careful about how close his throat came to the blade. “Julian Devorak, sir.”

The captain raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. He kept the sword in place. “And how did you get onto my ship, Julian?”

As he opened his mouth, it suddenly came back. Stumbling through crowds, shoving people aside and sprinting as fast as his legs could carry him. With guards hot on his trail, he needed the closest hiding place possible. And it just so happened that a large ship was docked nearby, with men hauling aboard in a hurry. It was easy to blend in. Just panic and nod and hurry up. Before he knew it, the ship was sailing and Julian was a stowaway.

On a pirate ship.

“Your crew let me on.” He gulped, “They- ah- they must have thought I was just one of them.”

The captain pursed his lips. With a dirty look, he dropped the sword and tied it back to his waist. Julian let out a sigh of relief, but he wasn’t out of the water yet. He was still tied here.

“Yeah, that sounds like them. Bunch of burros, Dios mío.”

A feeling of confusion passed through Julian. Was he speaking Spanish? That would have explained the lack of a pirate voice. And, actually, a lot of his mannerisms. He wasn’t a Nevivion pirate. Which got Julian even more interested. But his questions could wait.

The captain, with an air of relaxation now, sat down in front of Julian. He pulled one leg up to his chest to rest his chin, jewellery dangling and clicking together as he moved. The way his eyes fell back to Julian's face - half lidded and dazed – made Julian gulp.

“So, why did you get on my ship?”

“I needed to hide, sir.” He quivered. “Guards were-"

A laugh cut him off, and the captain looked amused with his statement. He kicked Julian lazily, more of a playful action than anything malicious. With a grin, the captain quirked an eyebrow.

“A stowaway and a criminal? You really did fit right in. Your first time getting chased?”

Julian shook his head.

“Thought so. You’re too pretty to be good. Pretty boys are always the dangerous ones.”

Oh, Lord help him. A flirt edged on his tongue and he desperately tried to resist the immature urge to slip a reply. Julian bit his tongue, but the pain only really tempted him more.

“You must be lethal, then.”

And the immediate regret. The two of them stared at each other for a moment before Julian’s eyes averted away in panicked shame. He was a dead man breathing. Flirting with a pirate captain, what was he thinking-?!

Soft laughter caught his attention and he risked a glance upwards. The captain was chuckling, head leaned back in a position all too lewd. Julian caught a brief glimpse of exposed chest and neck before turning away once more. But not quick enough.

“You enjoying the view? You’re quite lucky I haven’t killed you yet. Don’t get too confident.” The threat was spoken in such a fluid tone that Julian almost felt comfortable. Almost. He was still potentially going to die here. Unless he could talk his way out.

“I can be useful. You don’t have to kill me.” He begged. “I’m a doctor.”

The captain raised his eyebrows in surprise. He pushed forwards onto his knees and faced Julian, leaning in close to intimidate him. It worked. Julian swallowed thickly, flushed with fear. Or, at least, what felt like fear.

“You must be a coward to be begging for your life so soon. I haven’t nearly scared you as much as I could.” The low tone made him shiver, trying to squirm away from the captain's gaze.

“Either that or you’re extremely naive. I don’t think you know who’s ship you’re on.”

The captain stood, untying his blade once more, and pressed the sharp edge to Julian's neck.

They stared at each other, Julian's eyes wide with fear and desperation. He swallowed again, feeling the point press into his neck in a way that he felt familiar with. It might not have been the smartest idea to hint that he had a thing for pain.

“I am Captain Cecil Doran.” The pirate spoke down to him. Julian’s blood ran cold. He'd heard of this man. Whispers of his name in seaside taverns and warnings of his ship in the distance. He had never gotten a glimpse before. Julian struggled to comprehend it. He hadn’t expected someone who’s name was coated in dirt and blood to be so... clean? Beautiful? Not an eighty year old pirate with a parrot and a cutlass?

Cecil's chuckle caught his attention once more, and Julian spared a glance up.

“There’s that look. You’ve heard of me, haven’t you?”

Julian nodded wordlessly. The look in Cecil’s eye was animalistic. Like he was savouring the way Julian shivered and whimpered when he pressed the sword harder against his throat. The silence between them was thick enough to be cut through. Any movement from Julian could be fatal. A clumsy slip and he'd be bleeding out. Would his mark be able to repair veins and capillaries? For once, Julian wasn’t keen to find out.

Cecil opened his mouth. But the noise of shouts and thuds interrupted whatever he was about to say. The sword was yanked away and he looked over to the door. Pained yells echoed through the wood, and Julian watched Cecil’s eyes narrow at the sound.

In a split second, the cutlass had been slashed and Julian’s bonds were undone. He pulled his hands free, rubbing his sore wrists as confusion laced his features. A sword was thrown at his chest. Cecil was already on the other side of the room, hand pressed on the door, ready to leave.

“Prove that you can be useful, and I might let you stay.”

The ship outside the room had fallen into chaos. There was no easy way of telling who was from which crew. Julian could only identify the ones swinging over to hop on board as ‘the bad guys’. Even then, they melted into the fight quickly. The sound of metal clashing was almost louder than the shouts filling the air. Blood spilled quickly, and Julian watched the action with a tight knot in his throat.

A glimpse of Cecil caught his attention. The captain was in a spur with one of the attackers, and was clearly winning. The slashes looked light and easy when he gave them. It was sword-fighting. Intense and threatening and close – and then Cecil did something.

He lunged forwards and grabbed the man by the neck. It should have been a fool’s move, he easily could have been stabbed or thrown off. But the man trapped in his grip began to scream in agony, and Julian saw blood spill over Cecil’s hands. When his hand pulled back, there were deep burns around the man’s neck, so far into the flesh that blood had been drawn. The man fell to the ground weakly, clutching his neck and rasping as Cecil moved on.

There was no more time to watch. A yell from the left, and Julian was flung into a fight of his own. He barely dodged a swipe to his chest, gripping the sword tightly. Julian raised the sword he’d been given and struck, slashing into the attacker's side as they turned to face him. They gave a groan, but persisted and went for him again. The swords clashed over and over, and Julian’s battles were soon merged with the rest of the crew. Attack after attack, brawls and shouts and cuts and bruises until they were finally overpowering them, finally getting the upper hand. Julian struck a pirate in the leg and as they collapsed, he heard it.

“RETREAT, GET BACK, GET BACK-"

The crew showed no mercy. Even as they ran, they were tackled and cut and thrown about by the crewmates still capable of fighting. By the end of the fight, more attackers were lying on the deck than were retreating to their own.

The ships separated quickly. It was then that Julian caught sight of Cecil again. Standing at the edge, practically coated in blood. He wondered how much of it was actually his own.

When the opposing ship was a speck in the distance, the captain turned and looked at the groaning, writhing morsels with a grimace. He limped forwards.

“Throw them overboard. All of them. We've got no room for pathetic fighters.” Cecil grunted, apathy lacing his tone. He headed for the helm, no doubt to go hide in the captain’s quarters and patch himself up.

But Julian still needed to know if he could stay. And with injuries like those? Even infamous pirates weren’t safe from Julian’s martyr tendencies. He followed quickly, catching up to Cecil just as the man ducked into the door below the helm.

The door shut behind them. They were alone once more. Cecil looked back, eyes narrowed at Julian.

“You’re following me now? You really are desperate to live.”

Julian swallowed his pride and ignored the jabs. There were bigger things to deal with here.

“You’re injured. Badly. I told you, I’m a doctor, I can-"

“Shut up.” Cecil hissed, stumbling through another door. Julian followed.

The room he found himself in was much more well-kept than his previous experience. It was a long room, split into two halves by a thick red curtain. From what he could see, the walls were lined with shelves covered in trinkets and treasures. There was a window on the right wall, a view of the sea stretching for miles. The light shone down onto a desk, covered in maps and papers and neatly stored ink bottles. The desk had boxes beneath it, filled with glass bottles of exotic colours and little jars of herbs and foreign spices. The left wall had the collection of trinkets, as well as a few darts lodged into the wall in various places.

Cecil collapsed into one of the wooden chairs by the desk, blood dripping off his skin and sinking into the floor boards. He glared as Julian approached.

“Did I say you could come in?” He snarled, but Julian took no notice.

The doctor glanced around the room. There didn’t seem to be a great deal of options in terms of medical supplies. His gaze fell back to the captain.

“Do you have anything I can wipe the blood off with?”

Cecil’s eyebrows raised for a moment, and his lip twitched, but his face remained just as cold and bitter as it was when the attack started.

“Why? So you can hope to win my approval with care and attention? I already said, there’s no room on this ship for pa-"

“So I can clean your wounds and assure you don’t die, captain.” Julian interrupted. For an infamous pirate captain, he really had no common sense. It was a wonder he'd survived this long.

“There are healers on board. I don’t need a doctor.” He snapped back. “The more you piss me off, the more I want you to join the bodies going overboard. So, please, keep talking.”

Julian rolled his eyes. If Cecil wouldn’t listen to reason, maybe he’d respond to force. There were a lot of ways to do this. Sedate him? Seduce him? The possibilities were endless. If Cecil was as injured as Julian thought he was...

He took the risk. Moving quickly, Julian towered over the chair and placed two firm hands onto Cecil’s shoulders. As he thought, the man quickly shot up and headbutted him.

They both recoiled, groaning in pain as Cecil sunk back into the chair and Julian grabbed his nose. Blood trickled from under his fingers and he heard Cecil give a weak scoff.

“Didn’t work out like you planned?” He snarked. Julian shook his head.

“Actually, it worked out perfectly. Judging by your posture,” He gestured to Cecil's limp body, “You just gave yourself a concussion.”

There was a silence. And then, slowly, Cecil groaned and dragged a bloodied hand over his face. He grimaced, glaring daggers at the doctor's smug grin.

“You should bleed more. It’s a great look for you.”

Julian smirked. “Don’t tempt me, captain.”

Satisfied that Cecil wouldn’t be able to fight back for a small while, Julian approached once more. He pulled the captain up, helping him walk past the curtains and to the back end of the room – the sleeping area.

It was actually larger than the other half. A large bed was at the end of the room, with deep red sheets and messily placed pillows. There were more shelves, with pictures and paintings and trinkets and ... toys. Julian tried not to pay too much attention to those. He pulled Cecil to the bed and laid him down, wiping the blood on his leggings.

“Now, do I have permission to heal you?” He teased.

Cecil groaned.

“I'll take that as a yes.” And Julian was searching about the room for anything to use as bandages or antibacterial chemicals. There didn’t seem to be much. But a bottle of unopened gin bottle was his best bet at disinfecting any cuts, and a dirty rag was his only shot at cleaning the blood off.

He'd have to make do. After collecting his ‘medical supplies', the doctor returned to the captain. Who had... removed his shirt. Julian flushed. He stopped and stumbled and had to remind himself: infamous pirate captain, infamous pirate captain, infamous pirate captain. Definitely not the type of person to be attracted to. And yet, here he was.

Cecil appeared to notice the change in demeanour. He raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing at his lips.

“Are you enjoying the view?”

Julian jolted. “N-no, I- um.”

The captain laughed. He sat up, and tossed his shirt at Julian's chest.

“Um.”

Julian held the fabric, looking between it and Cecil. He swallowed nervously, hoping to gauge some sort of answer for what the hell was going on.

“You need something to bandage the cuts. Use the shirt. I’ve got others.” He shrugged, sinking back into his bed. Cecil winced.

Okay. Doctor time. Yes. Julian shook himself out of his gay panic and stepped forwards. He rubbed down the blood stains, trying to keep a safe distance. It felt strained. There was a thick tension between them. Well. Cecil didn’t seem to care. He was too busy ogling Julian as he tried to clean up the wounds. It was getting hard to concentrate with his gaze.

But he got it done. With a bit of time and awkward eye contact and tension, Cecil was wrapped up and resting. Julian, gloves bloody, took a step back. He watched the captain breathe shakily, and slowly removed the gloves to clean them. Julian thought that now the chaos was over, it would be best to leave the captain alone. He headed towards the curtain, steps heavy. Cecil’s voice caught him as he left.

“Hey.”

Julian turned. Cecil was smiling at him, sitting up, resting on his elbows.

“You can stay. Only ‘cause you’re cute.” He teased.

With a choked noise, Julian nodded and fled the room – heart racing. He was technically a captive on a pirate ship. Fantastic.

At least the captain was hot.

[jackzimmermannn]

Queer Eye for the Hockey Guy (~5K)

Queer Eye AU! What was going to be fluff about Bitty and Jack quickly became an entire episode of Queer Eye. If you haven’t seen the show, what are you doing with your life? Credit goes entirely to @aokayinspace and @zimmerhomme for creating the jumping off point for this! Uh, I guess RPF from the perspective that it involves the Fab Five? Very few fic liberties are taking regarding them, they mostly just provide the framework for the story. It mainly focuses on Bitty and Jack. Still, if that bothers you I recommend you move on and read @omgericzimmermann ‘s fic instead (read it on ao3 here) which slots other omgcp characters into the Fab Five (or if it doesn’t bother you, read this one AND Hayley’s!) Inspiration for Bitty’s food rant comes from Ruby Tandoh’s (you may remember her from GBBO) book Eat Up which I’m currently reading and highly recommend! Do some accuracy hand waving with the timeline. Please also excuse excessive comma usage and any typos (tho if there’s anything that makes absolutely no sense, please lmk so I can fix it!), I only do a very cursory proofred bc I can’t be bothered. Enjoy!

It’s like being ambushed.

A very friendly, loud ambush.

Jack is sitting at the kitchen table, methodically alternating between eating a chicken sandwich and doing his statistics homework (he really should have gotten his Math credit out of the way his freshman year) when he hears the doorbell ring, the front door open and Holster shout, no, scream, a  “FUCK YES!” from living room. It’s a testament to how used to the team he is that he doesn’t think anything is amiss until Holster comes running into the kitchen, a man who looks oddly like a white Jesus in his arms. He’s followed up by Ransom who is carrying a small blond man. The rest of the team piles in, followed by three other strangers Jack doesn’t recognize and an entire camera crew.

What ensues is a lot of excited yelling, enthusiastic introductions from the men he doesn’t recognize and curious exploring of the kitchen. Bittle, or Bitty as he told Jack most people call him, is talking sweetly to the Haus oven when it finally occurs to Jack what is happening. “You’re the Fantastic Five.” he says, and everyone laughs.

“You look surprised to see us.” the man who introduced himself as Tan says and Jack ducks his head. “I may have...forgot we were doing this?” Shitty is immediately draped on him, cradling his head. “Forgive him. It would be unfair if he had beauty, brawn and brains.” he chirps. Jack snorts and shrugs him off. Jonathan, who moments ago was bonding with Shitty over his flow, waves dismissively. ”We’ll forgive you, but only because you’re serving me Backstreet Boys realness with these bangs and I can’t wait to get my hands in your hair.”

Jack thinks that’s a compliment, “I’m not sure who that is, but thank you?” The men laugh again, apparently under the impression he’s making a joke, but Holster claps a hand onto Karamo’s shoulder, “No, he’s not joking. Yes, you have your work cut out for you.” Rather than looking shocked, or worse, condescending, Karamo looks pensive. Jack isn’t sure if he should be worried about what Karamo’s thinking.

“Do you think you could give us a tour?” Bobby asks, “Then we can get to know you a little better, get a feel for the space.” Jack nods, “Yeah, of course. Sorry.” Jonathan is gushing over the long “O” in Jack’s “sorry” (apparently his accent is adorable) as he pushes himself to his feet. Jack thinks Bitty may have given him a once over now that he’s at his full height, but he doesn’t have time to dwell on it. Bobby is already trailing out into the living room inquiring after any repairs the Haus might need, and Tan is asking him if always wears neon sneakers.

The cameras zooming in and out around him are mildly disconcerting and he stumbles over his words a few times as a result, but he finds himself slowly relaxing anyway.

Jack gives them a tour of the Haus, kicking more stray boxers and jockstraps under furniture before they can be seen than he should have to. When it’s just the team he doesn’t really focus on the state of the Haus as long as it’s not falling apart entirely, but with fresh eyes examining every inch of the space he can’t help but feel a little embarrassed. The look Bittle gives the couch in the living room doesn’t escape him. By the time they get to his bedroom, Jack is glad he at least keeps this room fastidiously clean.

Jack notices Bitty frown at his “Be Better” poster before tugging it down and rolling it up. Before Jack can object, Bobby tosses out the idea of redecorating the Haus living room instead of Jack’s room. Jack firmly agrees, “It’s a shared space so everyone will get to enjoy it. It’s something the whole team will get to use together and keep using even after I’m gone.” Shitty aggressively hugs Jack at the comment, “You big softie. Looking out for the little guy.” Bittle seems to also like the idea. “God is good and that couch’s days are numbered.” he remarks. Jack surprises himself by laughing and Bittle grins at Jack.

Jack smiles back. Maybe this could be fun.

This is not going to be fun.

Karamo gets him first and it’s wildly uncomfortable. Jack knows that he’s just trying to get a feel for what direction to go in, but all the “What do you do for fun?” question combined with the camera focused on him just inches away leave him anxious. He’s given about ten different variations of, “I don’t know. Hockey takes up a lot of my time.” Before Karamo sighs and stands up from where he had been sitting on one of the steps of the front porch of the Haus. Jack immediately knows he’s fucked up.

He hunches in on himself, still sitting, and stares fixedly at the ground. “I’m sorry. I know I’m really not– you’ve probably had clients with a lot more personality.” Jack is expecting to get a stern, but well-meaning remark about giving them more to work with but instead Karamo sits back down next to him, “You don’t have to apologize. I was actually going to say I’m sorry.”

Jack doesn’t know what to say. “We’ve been doing this for a few seasons now, we forget what it’s like to be in front of the cameras. How about this, where do you feel most comfortable?” For once, Jack doesn’t even have to think hard to come up with and answer, “On the ice.”

Karamo’s response is just as immediate, “Let’s go then.”

Jack can feel the tension in his shoulders release as they glide around the perimeter of the rink. Karamo’s wobbly on his skates, but the fact that he’s trying and putting himself out there makes Jack want to make an effort too. Bittle ends up joining them as well, and he’s clearly at ease on the ice. Apparently he played hockey in high school. The common interest gives Jack a starting point to open up the conversation

As a fringe benefit, only some of the camera crew are confident enough with their skating to carry their equipment and be on the ice at the same time, so they put mics on Jack, Karamo and Bitty and send only one camera man out with them. The rest of the crew are doing wide shots from the bleachers. Jack doesn’t say anything, but he’s glad for a little distance.

The longer the three of them skate, the looser Jack’s tongue gets. He finds himself talking about his major, his love of country music. He mentions the photography class he took, the photo series he did about hockey which later transitioned into photography of different spots around campus. He can feel himself growing more comfortable with the cameras and he manages to make both Karamo and Bittle laugh. If he finds himself delighting a little more in making Bitty laugh he doesn’t focus on it.

They’re taking off their skates when Karamo suggests setting Jack up with an Instagram account. “Adam was right, you don’t know a lot about pop culture.” Jack focuses on undoing his laces, “But that’s not a bad thing or something to be embarrassed about. You have your interests, your own passions. That’s what’s important.” Bitty nods in agreement as Karamo goes on. “I want to focus on giving you an outlet to help you explore other sides of yourself outside of hockey. The bonus is that the outlet will help you share your fuller self with others and connect with people who aren’t your team.”

It sounds reasonable, and spending more time on photography could be fun. Bitty nudges his shoulder, “I’ll be your first follower.”

Jack’s sold.

Strangely, Jack doesn’t find Jonathan’s enthusiasm that off putting. He thinks it’s because of how similar the man is to Shitty, or maybe it’s just that Shitty’s personality is hard to top.

Jack is sitting in front of the mirror at a local hair salon, cape on while Jonathan works his fingers through Jack’s hair, examining it closely. It’s so casual that Jonathan’s question comes out of left field, “You have anxiety, right?” Jack tenses, “Yes.” He knows he probably sounds rude, but this isn’t really a conversation he was expecting to have on national television. The last thing he needs is to be justifying his mental health to a stranger.

But Jonathan meets Jack’s gaze through the mirror and surprises him with his next question, “Do you have any self-care practices?” Jack nods slowly, “I, uh. I have medication for when I need it. I see a therapist. But running is good for clearing my head. I meditate.” Jonathan nods vigorously, “Yes, I love it. You wouldn’t believe how many clients I have to explain the importance of this to. Which is totally fine! But it helps save us some steps.”

“So what I’m going to do is just update your cut a bit. As I said before, I love the bangs but they’re a little two thousand and late and we want you looking to three thousand and great.” Jack feels like that’s probably a reference to something. Jonathan continues, “I’m going to give you a messy undercut, it’ll be hot. Then I’m going to give you a few skin care tips, some under-eye cream I think. You have amazing eyes and bone structure so we want to help you take care of that. Sound good?” Jack doesn’t really know how any of that sounds since he doesn’t even know what an undercut is, let alone a messy one. But like Shitty, he finds himself trusting Jonathan implicitly.

“Let’s do it.”

Jack finds Tan and Lardo working their way through every item in his closet in his bedroom. He knows this since about half of his closet has been dumped into the “Hockey only pile.”

“They’re comfortable!” He protests, but Tan shakes his head. “There’s a time and place for comfort and there’s a time and place for style. You have a good sense for what kind of apparel is appropriate for different occasions, but a lot of your casual clothes are very– what did you call it?”

“Soft jock.” Lardo supplies.

“Soft jock,” Tan agrees, “I want to give you a wardrobe you can wear confidently when you’re not in the gym. Something you can wear out to lunch, on a date.” Jack flushes, “I’m not seeing anyone right now.” Lardo raises an eyebrow knowingly, “Right now being the operative word, dude.”

Bitty chooses that moment to poke his head in the door, and Lardo’s eyebrow only goes higher. “Tan, make sure you get him to a good tailor too. We all have our assets, some more than others. I know off the rack suits aren’t doing him justice.” Jack’s blush grows, “I own a suit!” Tan unfolds his suit pants from where they’re hanging, eyeing them skeptically, “That isn’t a size too big?” Bitty winks at Jack before slipping out.

“You have your annual team banquet at the end of the week, right?” Tan asks, redirecting Jack’s attention. Jack nods. “Your team speaks very highly of you and it’s clear you’re captain for a reason. You’re obviously playing the part, but you also want to look the part. We’re going to set you up with a tailored suit that fits all parts of you, and a comfortable, but styled, casual wardrobe. You’ll be set for the banquet, but different occasions as well.”

Lardo smirks, “Even if those are dating occasions.”

“I’m not dating anyone.” Jack mutters under his breath, but looks at the different tie patterns Tan offers him.

By the time it’s Bitty’s turn to get his hands on him, Jack barely notices the cameras and is comfortable with all the guys. But still, he gets a little nervous when he hears what they’re going to tackle in the food segment. After Bitty learns about Jack’s PB&J gameday routine, he becomes adamant that they make bread, nut butter and jam. Though Jack insists that he really, really, no, really doesn’t know how to bake, Bitty waves him off.  

“Everyone thinks these things are so hard to make, but they’re really not.  Bread is just a lot of waiting for it to rise, and with nice arms like yours you’ll be a kneading champion.” If Jack flexes a little at the comment, no one needs to know.

So the cameras find the pair of them in the kitchen. They’ve already made three different kinds of nut butter, the peaches are cooling in ice water so they can be peeled and they’ve moved on to bread. Bitty decided they would make two different loaves, one multi-grain and one cinnamon raisin, so they’re both kneading away. Jack has to admit, it’s kind of fun.

“We complicate food so much, what we should eat, what we shouldn’t eat. There’s all these rules.” Bitty has been preaching about food culture for the past fifteen minutes. “And you being an athlete, I’m sure that just complicates things even more. There are certain nutrients you need for sure, but we also need food that nourishes our soul. We can’t just ignore our minds and focus on our bodies. Then we just end up even more distanced from our bodies than we were to begin with. You know what I mean?” Jack doesn’t entirely, but he likes the passion Bitty speaks with. Plus, when he’s caught up in his words like this Jack can sneak looks at him without Bitty noticing.

“And don’t get me started on the politics surrounding food. People being shamed for what they do eat, don’t eat. Feeling like they need to punish themselves. It’s a whole industry, let me tell you.” Bitty lets out an irritated huff. “We’ve got a real problem on our hands when we make something that should be simple so messy. But at the same time it’s complex! Food isn’t just food. It’s history and culture. It can really affect how we treat ourselves and how we see ourselves.”

Jack hasn’t said much. He knows that probably doesn’t make for great TV, but he figures they’ll be editing all of this down anyway. He doesn’t mind listening to Bitty, enjoys it really. But with all the talk about food and people’s relationship to it he finds words joining together in his mind. Before he can stop himself, he’s saying it.

“I was a fat kid.”

To Bitty’s credit, his hands only still for a moment before they resume kneading. “Fat isn’t a dirty word, honey.” Jack nods jerkily, “Maybe not in theory. But in practice.” he lets out a shaky sigh, “I think. I think I still carry that with me?” He waves a hand, though keeping his gaze fixed on his bread, attempting to seem casual even though he knows the redness that is creeping up his neck betrays his embarrassment. “It shouldn’t matter, but people gave me a hard time, you know? And now I play hockey. I have to perform at a certain level. My body has to perform at a certain level. I need to eat certain things so that can happen. And looking a certain way is a side effect of that.” He immediately feels like he’s said too much and tries to cover it up. “But I guess. I mean. It wasn’t my best look,” to cut through the tension he tacks on a poor attempt at humor, “and you’ve seen me in Crocs.”

Jack had been so determinedly avoiding seeing Bitty’s reaction that it isn’t until Bitty takes his hand that he realizes he’s being stared at. Or. Glared at. With love?

“Now you listen here,” Bitty begins, and Jack silently think that the tone of Bitty’s voice suggests that he has no choice but to listen. “There’s nothing wrong with the way you looked, then or now. Why do you think we came all the way to Samwell?” Jack shrugs a shoulder, “I don’t know. Why do you go anywhere? To make people better.” Before he can blink, Bitty softly knocks him on the shoulder with his free hand. Jack feigns a wince which gets a smile out of Bitty, but he quickly schools his expression back to stern. “I didn’t take down the ‘Be Better’ poster in your room just because I knew it wouldn’t go with Bobby’s design concept. I took it down because it’s wrong. Getting better is for colds, not for people.” The corner of Jack’s mouth quirks up at the phrasing, but Bitty pushes forward.

“We’re here to help you be yourself. I don’t think Jack is a curmudgeon locked in his room, sadly drinking nasty protein shakes.” Jack open his mouth to protest, the protein shakes aren’t that nasty, but Bitty isn’t done saying his piece. “I think Jack is the person we were told about when your team nominated you. A dedicated guy, who loves hockey but also likes photography and history. He’s always there when you need a hand and yes he wears banana sneakers when he runs and Crocs in the locker room, but he helps his...frogs?” Jack nods, “He helps his frogs pick out a nice tie to wear to his friend’s art show. He’s thoughtful and funny.”

Bitty drops Jack’s hand, turning back to the counter to start kneading again. Jack stays where he is, a question still lingering, “Then why the whole...makeover? I mean. Why new clothes, new hair, new food?” Bitty stops and looks up, but not at Jack. Gazing out of the kitchen window he’s quiet for a moment. Jack can see him turning the words over in his head. “Because those things aren’t reflecting who you are. They’re reflecting someone else. You’re not a hockey robot, sweetheart. You like cracking jokes and spending time with your friends. Bobby’s redoing your living room so that y’all have a nice space to spend time with each other. That’s the real you. Hockey robot you would need his bedroom redone with a personal gym and a giant dry erase board to sketch out plays in his sleep.”  

Bitty finally looks away from the window, moving through the kitchen confidently to pull out a loaf pan and start to grease it. Jack goes back to his own dough, thinking Bitty’s done talking but suddenly Bitty pipes up, a tone of finality in his voice. “I think we buy into the stories the world tells us about ourselves. But you gotta remind yourself who you really are and stay rooted in that. You’re not asking for permission to be yourself, you find your core and then tell the world who you are.”

Jack turns that over in his head.

The bread turns out perfect.

Earlier in the week Bobby and Jack went through the photo series he did of the team for his photography class. What the photos would be used for Bobby refused to reveal. He had a sneaking suspicions they would just be made into prints to frame, but it was nice that Bobby thought his work was good enough to be part of the redesign.

Bobby blindfolds Jack on the porch of the Haus before they go in for the big living room reveal. Before he started all of this he thought getting free redecoration would be the best part, the rest of his makeover just something to tolerate, but as the week has gone on and he’s gotten to know all of the Fab Five better he’s grown to really enjoy the process and spending time with the guys. They’re part of his team now.

Shitty takes advantage of Jack’s lack of vision to give him a surprise sloppy kiss near his ear before they go in, accompanying a fond, “You look good, Jack-o.” Jack manages to get Shitty in a headlock in retaliation, which Bitty quickly breaks up, “Boys, boys. If you’re wanting to see your new home, you better behave.” Jack immediately lets Shitty go and feigns innocence, and even with the blindfold on he can feel Bitty smiling at him.

“Alright, Jack. You ready?” Bobby asks, and Jack nods. A steadying hand is placed on his back to guide him as they open the door and enter the Haus, gently guiding him to the living room. It’s only when he hears Shitty breathe, “Holy fuck.” that he realizes he can take his blindfold off.

Holy fuck is right.

Jack takes a few tentative steps forward, looking around in wonderment. It’s really. It’s incredible. The entire room is shades of gray and black, with red accents. One wall is painted red, the team logo printed large in the center of it in white. On other walls are canvas prints of the photos that Jack took, artistically angled shots of the rink, close-ups of skates carving ice. They look professional, better than Jack thought they would. The TV is on a real stand, not a beat up coffee table. All the cords for the different gaming consoles are tucked away, their video games neatly slotted in next to each other. The old couch is gone, to stay the least, replaced by a large black sectional. There’s a foosball table that has a closed top, so it can be used for beer pong, Jack realizes. A quick glance at Lardo’s face shows she’s eyeing it already.

Jack steps forward and touches the couch, it’s some kind of fabric. “It’s going to get stained at a Kegster. It’s. This is too nice.” Bobby laughs, “It’s liquid resistant. You get the look but without the mess. But I’m going to take that as a thank you.” Jack immediately moves towards him, embarrassed by his thoughtlessness, extending a hand to shake. “I’m sorry, no. For sure. Thank you, seriously. This is. It’s amazing. This means a lot to the team, we really appreciate this.” Ransom cuts in, “He’s got his captain voice on, that means he’s really serious about it.”

Jack is too overwhelmed to even chirp back.

It’s only a half hour later when it hits Jack that the Fab Five is leaving. Of course, he knew logically that it was the last day, but it all feels so sudden. They’ve been with him all week and Jack fulls acknowledges the intimacy and vulnerability involved with what they’ve done for him. One by one the say goodbye, Jack once again profusely thanking Bobby, reassuring Jonathan he’ll keep up with his new routine, promising Tan the Crocs will stay in the locker room and taking a last minute photo with Karamo for his new instagram account. Finally he gets to Bitty, who smiles up at him, looking a little misty-eyed.

“Look at you, sugar. All grown-up.” Bitty chirps. His expression is open but his body language is guarded. Jack places a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “I solemnly swear to never eat store bought peanut butter ever again.” It gets the desired effect when Bitty lets out a wet laugh. “Seriously though, thank you for coming out here and doing all this. For me and the team. It was great. Getting to know you.” Bitty bites his lip at Jack’s earnestness, dropping his gaze to his feet. “Oh, well you know.” Bitty replies, voice wobbily, “I’m just happy to help.”

Jack opens his arms, gently enveloping Bitty in a hug. For a moment Bitty goes stiff, but then Jack feels arms wrap around his waist.

For a long moment they’re together, then they’re apart.

When Bitty had received a call from Antoni asking him to fill in as the food expert on Queer Eye while he filmed his new show with the Food Network, Bitty wasn’t sure what to expect. Of course, he obsessively watched the show (the old version and the reboot, he wasn’t an amateur). He also wasn’t short a passion for food, he had that in spades. His baking vlog on YouTube had gained a lot of traction and he had managed to make an entire career out of being self-taught and social media savvy. But he didn’t have the same traditional credentials as other people, he didn’t go to college or culinary school. He was also young. Surely there was a long list of other people who were equally, if not more qualified to take Antoni’s spot.

But Antoni had insisted, and after a short meeting with the casting department and other Fab Five members it was clear Bitty was a solid fit. It had been a whirlwind of an experience so far, but Bitty’s favorite part was absolutely getting to interact and connect with so many different kinds of people.

Then came Jack.

Jack, with his simultaneous confidence and insecurity, muscles but soft smile. He was a sight for sore eyes wrapped up in good intention. As filming had gone on, Bitty felt himself growing closer and closer to Jack. By the end, he had thought maybe– well. It didn’t matter now. There had been a long, wonderful hug. And then goodbye.

Now all that left was filming their reaction to the follow up.

After lighting and sound had been set up, the five settled into the couch. The footage opened with Jack spreading jam and peanut butter on his homemade bread. Tan tsked at Jack’s gym shorts and tshirt, but Bitty barely noticed. “That’s my guy, look at him. That’s the almond butter we made!”

Once Jack made and ate his sandwich, the video cut to him going through his closet. They all waited with bated breath as he weighed his different options, but let out a cheer when he settled on a light blue tie with a navy suit. Bitty pressed a hand to his cheek, “He looks so darn handsome, you did a great job, Tan.” Too busy watching Jack, Bitty misses the look Karamo and Bobby exchange.

Bitty is expecting to see the video follow its typical format from there, Jack ticking the other boxes of what he learned and then attending his big event, the banquet. There should be a little video of him using his instagram account and spending time with the guys in the living room. But instead he’s suddenly watching footage of Jack walking down a familiar looking street with flowers in his hand. He stops at a familiar looking door. Bitty can’t figure out why he knows the location, even as Jack enters an elevator that Bitty swears he’s been in.

It isn’t until there’s a knock at the door of the Fab Five loft that Bitty realizes where Jack is. He’s here.

“Oh my Lord. Y’all did not. You did not.” is all he can seem to say, fussing with straightening his clothes as a crew member goes and opens the door. Jack, looking handsome as all get out in his sleek suit, steps into the room and Bitty is rooted to the spot. “Hi.” Jack says, waving nervously. If he isn’t just the sweetest thing.

Bitty slowly gets to his feet. “Hi.” he says back, staring at Jack with wide eyes. Jack smiles, moving further into the room, stopping in front of Bitty and handing him the flowers. “I got these for you. I would have brought you a sandwich but I didn’t think it would travel well.” Bitty lets out a strained laugh, taking the bouquet with a shaking hand. “They’re beautiful, Jack. Thank you. These are just. Goodness. You’ve got me all flustered.”

There isn’t much time to dwell on how overwhelmed Bitty is feeling, since suddenly Jack takes Bitty’s free hand. “You told me that I need to know who I am. Who I want to be. That I need to hold onto that and then tell other people.” Bitty knows his expression goes fond at Jack’s words. How could it not? Yes, Jack is quiet. But that doesn’t mean he’s not earnestly listening. “I did.” Bitty confirms, nodding. Jack takes a deep breath. “Getting to know you this week was really special. I mean, it was for all of you–” he glances at Bobby, Karamo, Tan and Jonathan who are all excitedly holding each other, watching everything unfold, “–but it was really special with you.”

Bitty squeezes Jack’s hand, encouraging him to continue. “I know myself a little better now, and I just wanted to tell you and I guess, the world.” He glances at the cameras this time, “I wanted to tell you that I really like you. I think you’re great.” Bitty knows he’s getting weepy, but he can’t help it. How could anyone when there’s a beautiful man in front of you, telling you how loved you are? “I’d really like to take you out to dinner. I’d make it myself, but you didn’t teach me how to do that.”

At Jack’s last chirp, Bitty lets out a teary laugh and finally leans forward and kisses him. Jack responds with enthusiasm, showing that kissing is one thing doesn’t need a team of reality TV experts’ help with.

[guns-n-zeppelin]

Never say die - Chapter one

Pairing: Axl Rose x reader Words: 2561 Summary: Reader accidentally time travels back to 1985 where Axl, Duff, Slash, Steven and Izzy find her. A/N: So i posted this already before but i changed this a bit bc first it was Robert Plant x reader and i don’t have motivation for Robert rn lmao. So now you can enjoy Axl’s company. I’ll try to update asap

”I can't believe it's already today!” my best friend Leo yelled from the living room. I was still in the bathroom trying to fix my hair for tonight. ”I've been waiting for this for such a long time and it's finally happening.”

We were going to see Guns N' Roses at tonight's concert which started at 7 pm. Leo and I loved Guns N' Roses, we were crazy about their music. I had all of their songs on vinyl and many posters on my walls. We were sure for a moment that we couldn't afford to buy the tickets, but luckily I got my salary from work earlier than usual. Probably one reason was also that it was my birthday today and my boss knew how much I loved this band. I finally turned 20 and I was sure this night would be the best birthday ever.

”I know right! I hope they'll play Better, I've been lately really in love with it. My all time favorite is obviously November Rain though, but I know they'll play it every time,” I yelled back and worked with my hair for a couple of minutes more after the curls were good enough. I walked to the living room and saw Leo talking on the phone.

”Dude, how can you not be ready yet?! We're gonna be late soon if you don't hurry up,” Leo said to the phone. Probably talking with Amelie, I thought, she was coming with us and we were supposed to go get her from her house.

”We still have time you know, we're not that busy yet,” I tried to calm him down. He'd been stressing out a lot during the last couple of months. He was sure something bad would happen before the concert and we'd miss it, like for instance Axl would become really sick and lose his voice or the band would get into a car accident.

”We'll be there in 15, you better be ready by then. See you soon!” Leo said and ended the call.

”Calm down, dude. Jesus, you're acting like some young fangirl meeting Harry Styles or who the curly brownie is. Except you're not screaming your lungs out,” I laughed and Leo finally gave me a tiny smile. ”Just breathe.”

”Yeah, let's go,” Leo said and took car keys from the table.

---

It took hours to get in but we finally made it. There were so many people, thousands of them. I had never been in a same area with so many people before. I hadn't been in many concerts because my favorites had mostly either died or they didn't just do gigs anymore. Quite hard to be a classic rock fan in 2017 to be honest. I'd literally do anything to get a time machine and travel back to 70's and 80's. Pink Floyd, The Doors, Nirvana, Queen… There were so many.

”Oh my god,” Amelie gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.

”What?” I asked and drank water from my bottle.

”Okay, don't look. But how much does that pal look like a mix of Slash and Axl?” Amelie pointed a young guy with long curly brown hair, pilot sunglasses, cigarette in his mouth, a cowboy hat on his head and a red checked shirt around his waist. And right then, I accidentally spitted all of the water left in my mouth straight to some man's back and bursted out laughing.

”Oh my god he really does.”

The man turned around, stared at me and tried to touch his back on the wet spot.

”What the fuck –” he started. Then I fully realized what had happened.

”I'm so so sorry! I didn't mean to do that!” I apologized slightly panicking. He just shook his head and turned back to his friends.

Leo was trying to hold his laughter but didn't have time to say anything when the music already started.

---

The concert was amazing, much more amazing than I expected it to be. I literally didn't have any words for the feeling, it was one of the best moments of my life. I couldn't have had any better birthday than tonight. Their first song was Welcome to the Jungle and I slightly cried during Don't Cry – which is quite ironic. Now was the time of their last song before this all would come to its end.

”So this song is really special to us for many reasons. We dedicated this song to our old friend, our best friend,” Axl said on the microphone. ”Without her, we wouldn't probably be here tonight. She was amazing, more than amazing. She was kind, funny and fucking sarcastic. Steven and her did always pranks on the rest of us.”

I had never heard Axl talk about anyone or anything so softly, deeply or just seen him being so emotional during a concert. Everybody in the audience were quiet, probably even held their breaths and let Axl speak without interruptions. He sighed and continued.

”She was always there for us when we had our hard times. I don't have a fucking clue how she handled our drunk asses after some gigs,” Axl laughed. ”We first met in 1985 when we weren't a big thing yet, we were just a little band nobody had ever heard about. And one night we were playing at a local bar and after the playing and stuff she came to talk to us and said how well we played and we would be some helluva band in the future. Well, she wasn't wrong, like she never was.”

I was speechles like were everybody else. Duff and Slash had become more serious now and didn't move even an inch, just stared at the sky.

”She was from Los Angeles as well. She was on a tour with us quite often actually. She meant a lot to us. A lot to me. There’s not a day when i wouldn’t miss her,” Axl said smiling, but was quiet for a moment until continued. ”But the thing is that she died in 1997, she was only 32 years old by then. We were there when it happened and it was literally the worst moment of my whole life. And why are we singing this song exactly today? Well, because this is the day she both died and was born.���

Axl shared a few words with Duff and Slash that the audience couldn't hear. Then he turned to face us again and said:

”Now I'd ask every one of your asses to calm down and have a moment for her.” Axl looked at the dark sky with a couple of stars, ”this is for you, Amy, happy birthday, honey.”

The band began to play and already of the first words I recognized the song to be from the album Chinese Democracy. It was This I Love.

And now I don't know why She wouldn't say goodbye But then it seems that I Had seen it in her eyes And it might not be wise I'd still have to try With all the love I have inside I can't deny I just can't let it die Cause her heart's just like mine And she holds her pain inside So if you ask me why She wouldn't say goodbye I know somewhere inside There is a special light Still shining bright And even on the darkest night She can't deny So if she's somewhere near me I hope to God she hears me There's no one else Could ever make me feel I'm so alive I hoped she'd never leave me Please God you must believe me I've searched the universe And found myself Within' her eyes No matter how I try They say it's all a lie So what's the use of my confessions to a crime Of passions that won't die In my heart So if she's somewhere near me I hope to God she hears me There's no one else Could ever make me feel I'm so alive I hoped she'd never leave me Please God you must believe me I've searched the universe And found myself Within' her eyes

In this point of the song the camera had zoomed to Axl's face and I noticed a couple of tears rolling down his cheek but there was also sorrow on Duff's and Slash's faces. She must have really been an important person in their lives, I wondered and just now noticed how wet my but also Amelie's cheeks were.

So if she's somewhere near me I hope to God she hears me There's no one else Could ever make me feel I'm so alive I hoped she'd never leave me Please God you must believe me I've searched the universe And found myself Within' her eyes So now I don't know why She wouldn't say goodbye It just might be that I Had seen it in her eyes And now it seems that I Gave up my ghost of pride I'll never say goodbye ---

The band said one more good bye and then people were pushing themselves to get out of the place. When we were finally outside of the concert area thingy and could breathe properly without being stuffed between humans, Leo took a cigarette and put it between his teeth.

”Well don't come to cry to me when the doctor tells that you have a cancer,” Amelie said and rolled her eyes.

”You want some, Ruby?” Leo asked, totally ignoring Amelie, and offering me one from the packet. I shrugged and took the cigarette.

”Eh, why not.” I lighted it and watched the smoke flying in the chilly air. ”Why wouldn't we go to a bar or something? It's only 11 pm anyway. And I need something to drink.”

My friends nodded.

”Sure thing. It's been a while since the last time I had vodka,” Amelie stated.

”Funny, it was two days ago, drunky,” Leo snorted.

”Well, we're both apparently destroying our bodies. You your lungs and me my liver,” Amelie grinned and we started walking to the bar. ---

We were nearly there, when we had to cross a dark alley.

”You know, we could go to some other way. This place gives me chills at night,” Amelie told us.

”Yeah, but it's the fastest and besides, you just think too much. Nobody's gonna attack on us tonight. And if someone did, there's three of us to handle it,” I tried to assure. Amelie just scoffed.

”As if Leo could protect us. He even screams and runs away every time he sees a mouse.” Me and Amelie started to giggle.

”Hey! That's not fair and especially not true!”

”Sureee, remember last week when –”

”Hey, Ruby, wanna hear what happened to Amelie yesterday?” Leo started.

”No, no! Fine, you're the manliest man on Earth! You could even fight God!”

I just laughed. I still wondered how they weren't in a relationship. They would be the perfect couple to be honest.

”Thanks I know I'm quite powerful,” Leo said and did an invisible hair flip thingy because his hair wasn't long enough. We were in the middle of the alley when we suddenly heard noise somewhere near. We saw a drunk man ahead of us pushing a young woman against the brick wall with his body. The woman tried to yell help but the man shutted her up by putting his hand roughly on her mouth.

”Well aren't you a pretty lady?” the man said and brushed her long blond hair. She was wearing a purple dress, high heels and a black jacket. We saw already from the distance how afraid she was and without thinking anything, I approached them.

”Hey, asshole! Let the lady go!” I yelled and got his attention.

”Ruby, no, come back! Let's just leave!” Amelie said and tried to pull me with her but I just pulled away from her grip. The drunk guy stared at me for a moment until let the young woman go. She mouthed us 'thank you', took her purse and sprinted quickly away.

”And who might you be? You're just adorable,” he said and smiled, revealing his dirty yellow teeth. His brown hair was a mess, he probably hadn't washed it in a week. His clothes looked like he had rolled himself in a mud and his shirt was full of holes. Suddenly he was so close I could smell his breath. Beer. Disgusting.

Without thinking anything, I punched him with all of my force to his face and he whined in pain and held his bleeding nose. I had never punched anybody so hard and it fucking hurt my hand. I tried to run away with Leo and Amelie, but he was too quick and grapped me by my arm, so I kicked him on his man parts. But he managed to push me hard enough me to fall to the wet and hard ground.

”Ruby!” Leo shouted and tried to help me up and get me away but suddenly I felt horrible pain on my stomach. I saw blood on my t-shirt and saw a bloody knife falling to the ground. The man just stared in front of me a shocked expression on his face.

”Shit. Oh shit,” he murmured before he turned on his heels and run quickly away. Leo got a hold of me before I could collapse.

”Ruby! Ruby, no!” Amelie yelled and felt tears immediately stream from her eyes, as did also Leo.

”Fucking bastard! No, Ruby. Stay with us,” Leo said with shaky voice. ”For fuck's sake, Amelie, call help! Now!”

Amelie's hands were shaking and she barely got dialed the right number on her phone and told ambulance to come here immediately. Leo kneeled on the ground and held me in his arms. He pressed my stomach on the spot where the asshole had stabbed me, trying to stop the bleeding but with a bad success.

”The help is on its way, don't worry, you'll be fine,” Leo said crying. He had stabbed me badly, very badly. I was sure I wouldn't make it alive back home today. A tear rolled down my pale cheek.

”I-I love you guys,” I whispered. ”I really love you two.”

”No, no don't say that!” Amelie said. She had also kneeled next to me and cupped my face between her hands. ”They're here in any second, okay?”

But then I saw nothing but black and the familiar voices of my friends faded away.

---

The next time I woke up, I realized I wasn't at home nor a hospital. I was sure I hadn't been there before, it even smelled strange. I was laying in someone's bed and when I tried to get up I still felt pain in my stomach but not as bad as before and a shockingly familiar figure came from the door and smiled when he saw I was finally awake.

”Oh, great! You're finally awake!” he said.

I stared at him with wide eyes and he was just about to say something when I got up very quickly and basically screamed the words out of me.

”Where the fuck am I?! Who– what–?!”

”Woah, calm down. I won't hurt you.” He held his hands up as if defeated and kept a short pause. ”My name is Axl Rose and we just want to help you.”

[emybain]

After Archenemies Part 4/?

ngl I had trouble writing this part. It’s not my favorite piece, but I think it’s necessary for the continuation and flow of the story. I like it to an extent, let’s say that. im just not the biggest fan bc there’s no action lmao. anyways, enjoy!

here’s part 1, here’s part 2, and here’s part 3

Adrian couldn't tear his eyes from the screen. They were glued on the picture of the younger Nova, a happier Nova.

“No,” he murmured. “That...that can’t be Nova. Her last name is McLain. She was taken in by her uncle. She’s...she’s not missing.” He forced himself to let go of the computer mouse. Ruby turned her gaze to him, Oscar too. Their looks were sad, filled with the same disbelief as Adrian.

Ruby reached out for Adrian’s arm, but he pulled back. “Adrian…maybe there’s an explanation and we’re just jumping to conclusions, but that,” she waved her hand at the computer screen, ”is Nova.”

Adrian knew she was right. Everything lined up. Nova lost her family to a hitman when she was six, she had had a baby sister named Evie, and the girl in the photo was undeniably her.

“Maybe Nova was kidnapped by the man she thinks is her uncle,” Oscar mused. Adrian could tell he was trying to brighten the darkened moods of the three of them. “Forced to change her last name. That would explain why we’ve never met her uncle.”

Ruby shot Oscar a look. “Well, that is an explanation, but not a very good one.”

“Just trying to help.” Oscar raised his arms in defense. After a moment, he said “What should we do? Talk to the Council?”

“No,” Adrian said before thinking twice. He felt himself blush. “I mean...not yet. We don’t know too much about any of this. They wouldn’t do anything about it. I think...I think we need to   keep doing research. For all we know, it could be a fault in the system.”

“And then?” Ruby raised an eyebrow.

Adrian took a shaky breath. “And then we talk to Nova about it.”

Oscar and Ruby exchanged glances, and Adrian was reminded of his dads and how they would give one another similar looks. They didn’t say anything, much to Adrian’s relief. He returned to his chair, his hand shaky as he reached for his mouse.

   They stayed in the library for another two hours, collecting information about what they knew about Nightmare. Adrian refused to think about Nova and what they had learned about her past. The picture of her and her sister still haunted his mind, making it hard to focus. He was able to make a list of places Nightmare was spotted at most. The majority were dated back to months ago, before she became a real threat. They were mostly hardware and convenience stores that she robbed. Adrian made a mental note to ask the store owners what she would often steal.

   When the librarian walked by for the umpteenth time, she ushered them out, insisting that they do something more fun than research since they had been there for so long.

   “Anyone up for a smoothie or something?” Oscar offered as the three of them walked down the hall, each holding notes of information. Adrian shook his head, shouldering the backpack he had brought with him.

   “You guys go ahead. I think I’m going to head home.”

   “You sure?” Oscar shot Adrian a worried look. “You going to be okay?”

   Adrian pressed a smile to his face. “Yeah. I think I need some rest, though. With everything going on lately..” he trailed off, and his friends nodded in understanding. They said their goodbyes, and Adrian watched them go. It would be good for the two of them to get some alone time, anyways. Adrian had a mission of his own.

   On his way out of HQ, Adrian peeked into Max’s quarantine. He could make out the hospital bed and the lump of blankets. In the lobby, prodigies were rebuilding and fixing the damage done by Nightmare’s fight with Frostbite’s team. Their work was faster than a normal person’s, but there was a lot of damage, and only so many prodigies with powers fit for reconstruction.

   Cold air blew at his face as he stepped outside. The weather was changing fast this year. A shame, really. Adrian liked summer the most out of all the seasons. He walked past a group of tourists that gasped when they saw him. He heard the click of a camera and ignored it.

   He immediately thought of Nova, despite trying not to, and how she had said people would be better off without the Renegades. How they either idolized or hated prodigies. Adrian remembered all the times he had come across Renegade merchandise. They were celebrities, whether they wanted to admit it or not. He shoved the thought away and pulled his jacket closer around himself.

   It was a long walk to his destination. Adrian wondered how Nova managed to do it daily, multiple times a day. He thought of all the times she had been late and had to run. Adrian shook his head. That girl never ceased to amaze him.

   Adrian didn’t know why he was going to Nova’s, especially considering the mental state he was currently in, and the fact that she told him not to stop by. He pictured the look on her face when he showed up unannounced. It wouldn’t be pretty, either. She hated surprises, after all. Maybe it would be best to text her…

   No, her uncle took away her electronics. Maybe if Adrian brought something for her and explained the situation to her uncle.

   Adrian stopped in his tracks on the sidewalk. He was walking through a small park near Nova’s neighborhood. There was a bench nearby. The park was mostly empty, so Adrian claimed the bench. He took off his backpack and set it beside him, pulling out his sketchpad and a pencil. He flipped to the most recent page. It was filled with sketches and dimensions of a ring he had drawn for Nova. he had been working on it in small bursts, especially on nights when he couldn't find sleep, which was more often than not in recent days. He had crossed out design after design, growing frustrated at the difficulty of designing  jewelry. Finally, the other night, he had come up with a design that was simple yet charming. It was a plain band with a white stone in the center, small but stately. A ring, he had come to realize, was an odd gift, but he had found resources online stating how much all girls loved rings. He disliked generalizing Nova with thousands of other girls, but the explanation he found was interesting: rings held significant meaning when given as a gift from someone the wearer cares about. Adrian had been wanting to give Nova something meaningful in the past few weeks to show how serious he was about her, but had struggled with finding something she would like. He had planned on giving it to her later, but maybe if he gave it to her now, it would brighten her mood, and give him an excuse to see her. He pulled the ring from the paper and quickly sketched a jewelry box for it. He pursed his lips, then, as an afterthought, also drew a Peony. With the ring now safe in the box and the flower clutched in his other hand, Adrian set off for Nova’s house again.

   When he reached Nova’s street, Adrian’s hands grew clammy. When her house came into sight, he gulped. He remembered the last time he had showed up unannounced at Nova’s door. He remembered how he had cried into her stomach about Max. How she had held him. How he had stayed there for what seemed to be hours until she walked him home. How she had bid him goodnight for the second time before walking herself home. How he had watched her go until she was gone, not wanting her to leave him.

   Adrian walked up the sidewalk to her front door, stepping over the overgrown grass that grew between the cracked concrete. From inside the house, he could hear voices, two to be exact. It was a man and a woman, and the woman sounded like she was crying. Adrian lowered the fist that was about to knock. His insides grew cold. What if he was at the wrong house? But no. One look at his map on his wristband told him he was at the right place. And Adrian remembered the way her house looked, as it was one of the only better kept looking houses of the street, although not by much.

   He straightened when he heard Nova’s voice, too muffled for Adrian to understand what she was saying. Feeling awkward, Adrian knocked hesitantly on the door twice. The voices inside dropped, and Adrian heard movement. A few moments later, the door clicked and swung open, revealing Nova dressed in sweatpants and a loose tank top with holes along the seams. She wore no shoes on her feet, just a pair of old socks that didn’t match. Her hair was a mess, and her eyes were bloodshot. Despite not needing to sleep, she looked exhausted. She blinked at Adrian, as if she couldn’t tell if he was real or not.

   Adrian had the absurd thought that she looked beautiful.

   “What the hell are you doing here?” she hissed after getting over her shock, shooting a quick glance over her shoulder and pushing Adrian back so she could step out onto the porch and close the door behind her.

   Adrian cleared his throat, although no words came out. He stared down at Nova, whose  expression had quickly changed to an angry one. “I...I um..I just wanted to give you something,” he finally got out, cheeks burning. “I know you told me not to stop by, but..” Unsure of what to do, Adrian held out the jewelry box and Peony. Nova looked down in surprise, mouth opening in a small ‘o’. Her face softened.

   She took the box with two fingers and looked back up at Adrian. “Do you…” she licked her lips, drawing his attention to them. “Do you want me to open it now?”

   Adrian scratched the back of his neck, eyes staring a hole into the ground. “Um...sure. If you want, that is. I don’t want to pressure you to do anything you don’t want to because-”

   “Okay, I’ll open it.” Nova reached out her free hand to nudge Adrian’s chin. When he met her eyes again, they were a bit brighter than before. Some color had returned to her face. Adrian watched her open the box, bit his cheek as her mouth fell open again.

   “Adrian...this is…”

   “I wanted to get you a gift,” Adrian explained. His throat had gone dry. “For um...to prove that my feelings for you are very, very real. And they’ve only grown more in the past few weeks. I guess this is also a thank you gift for being there for me through this whole Nightmare and Max stuff? If you don’t like it, I understand, it’s just-”

   Nova interrupted him again by silencing him with her lips. She reached behind his neck and pulled him down to her height. He dropped the Peony and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her against him. She gasped, and the heat from her lips drove him crazy. He pushed her back until she was against the door, bathing in her touch and taste and scent as they kissed. He reached up and curled his hand in her hair. She responded with the softest moan, pushing closer to him.

   A photo of a younger Nova holding an infant flashed through his head, and his eyes shot open. Nova continued to kiss him, and he responded, half-distracted. He forced his eyes closed again, forced himself to enjoy being so close to Nova. He kissed her harder, and she breathed his name against his lips, sending a shiver up his arms. He didn’t want to think about what Ruby had showed him earlier that day. Maybe he was making a mistake, but he wanted to believe that it was all a big misunderstanding, and that Nova was who she said she was. He wanted to believe that he was falling for someone that wasn’t keeping secrets. He told himself he would figure it out, but not now. Not when he had started to climb over the walls of Nova’s heart, or so he believed.

He could go on kissing her forever. All of their kisses were more amazing than the last. But eventually, they had to pull apart for air, much to his dismay.

   “I love it,” Nova murmured, pressing a shaky peck to the corner of his mouth. “Thank you, Adrian. I...no one has ever given me a gift like this.”

   “I thought you would need something to cheer you up.” Adrian cupped her cheek, and when they kissed again, it was much more gentle and relaxed. Adrian allowed himself to just hold her in that moment, savoring every soft caress of her lips against his.

   A large bang followed by a crash came from inside, causing Nova to pull back and squirm out of Adrian’s arms. She looked back at the door, anger and conflict spread across her features. She turned back to Adrian, and the look softened.

   “You should go.” She started to push him gently off the porch, although Adrian refused to move.

   “Is everything alright in there?” He looked at the closed door. A movement caught his eye, and he tore his eyes to one of the windows just in time to see a curtain close and a flash of gold.

   “Um...yeah!” Nova shook her head, but Adrian wasn’t convinced. He thought back to the crying voice he had heard before. “My uncle has a um….a client over. One of his new ideas.” She laughed nervously and tried to push Adrian back again.

   “I thought he didn’t let people over when you’re sick.” Adrian raised a suspicious eyebrow.

   “Well...yeah.” Nova bit her lip. “My friends. He can have guests over as long as I stay up in my room.” That didn’t explain why Adrian had heard her voice prior to him knocking on the door. He shook his head. Surely there was a reasonable explanation, but clearly Nova didn’t want to share it with him for whatever reason.

   “Um...okay then. Can I at least ask how you’re feeling?” He crossed his arms.

   Nova shot him a reassuring smile and pushed him again. This time, he allowed for her to lead him off the porch and onto the sidewalk. “Better because of you.” She reached up and kissed his cheek quickly. “Now, please leave if you want to live.” Her voice was light, but Adrian had an unnerving feeling that she wasn’t lying.

   She turned to go back inside; Adrian grabbed her hand, swiveling her back to face him.

   “Adrian, I’m serious,” she said, and he could tell from her tone that she meant it. “You need to leave.”

   “I know, but…” He stumbled over his words then, forcing out what he had been wanting to say for weeks now. “Wiyoubemgirfriend?”

   She blinked. “What?”

   Adrian took a shaky breath. His cheeks were on fire. “Will you be my girlfriend?” he got out slowly.

   Nova’s cheeks brightened, and not from being sick. “Oh, um...was I not before?”

   Adrian cracked a smile, shoulders relaxing slightly. “I just...wanted to ask. Officially. While I’m here.”

   He didn’t get an answer immediately, which sent him into a panic again. His palm in her hand felt sweaty. He resisted the urge to pull back and wipe it on his jeans.

   “Yeah,” she murmured, then stated louder, “Yeah. Um...totally.” She nodded and smiled genuinely up at him, and he returned it.

   “Great. Awesome.” He leaned down and gave her one last kiss. “Get some rest,” he told her, which she responded with an eye roll and a snort. “I’m serious. Now get inside.”

   “Bye, Adrian.” Nova squeezed his hand and let it go. “And thank you...for the um...the ring. I really do love it.”

   Adrian waited until she was inside the house and he heard the clicking of a lock before turning and making his way home.

   His communicator band buzzed. Odd, he didn’t think his team had anything going on.

   It was from Simon.

   Need you home right away.

   Adrian froze on the sidewalk. He never, never got texts from either of his dads, as it was an unprofessional use of the issued communicator bands.

   Adrian sprinted home.

   Nova closed the door behind her and leaned back, holding her head in her hands. Yeah? Totally? Great skies, she sounded like some lovestruck teenager.

   Which she was not.

   Adrian Everhart was her enemy, and while she admitted to being more than just attracted to him, she had been trying to kill her feelings over the last few weeks. With Ace in the hands of the Renegades, it was dangerous to like Adrian Everhart. No, she had to stop her feelings for him, no matter how much it hurt.

   She thought she had been doing good until he decided to show up unannounced and kiss her.

   Well, she kissed him, technically, but it was his fault. He made her do it.

   And Nova would not think about how it felt to be pinned between him and the door while he held her as if she were all that mattered in the world to him. She would not think about how he kissed her, and how much it made her insides turn to jelly.

   She looked down at the ring that she had put on her middle finger, on the same hand as the bracelet from her dad. She let the jewelry box fall to the ground as she admired it. Honey’s words floated through her head then.

   “They can offer you notoriety and a fancy pair of boots. They might even give you pretty gems like that bauble on your wrist.”

   “What did your little boyfriend want?” Nova looked up to see Leroy walking into the room from the kitchen. Honey followed behind him, and there was a smug look covering the tear streaks on her face. She had been crying over Ace before Adrian knocked on the door, as she tended to do multiple times a week.

   Nova blushed. “He’s not-” but she stopped herself, Because he was, at least technically. She agreed to make their relationship official, at least in the eyes of the Renegades and the public.

   “Looks like I taught you well.” Honey sat down on the torn and rat-chewed couch in the living room. She curled a finger around her golden locks, shooting Nova a coy look. “You two had me weak in the knees. You looked like two lovers on a soap opera. It really is a shame he’s a Renegade.” She sighed. “At least you can have some fun with him, right?” At Nova’s appalled expression, she cackled. “Young love,” Honey teased with a roll of her eyes.

   “You-you were...watching us?” Nova felt violated, disgusted. Not that her relationship with Adrian was real, so anything they did wasn’t genuine. What did it matter that Honey and Leroy had seen her rather hand-fanning-face short make out session with her fake boyfriend while she was in sweats?

   “Well someone had to pull you apart.” Honey examined her nails, sniffling from her previous breakdown. Nova thought of the crash from before that made her and Adrian jump apart.

   “That was you?” Nova crossed her arms. She was a little peeved at Honey. First watching them, and then being the cause for them to stop kissing.

   “Enough, Honey Harper,” Leroy said sternly. Nova was about to thank him until he continued. “Let’s just hope Insomnia didn’t get her Renegade sick with that cold of hers.” He cracked a wry smile, and Honey burst into giggles.

   Nova pushed past them. “If neither of you are going to take this seriously, then I’m going to grab my stuff and go to HQ.”

   “Take what seriously, sweetie pie?” Honey gasped, unable to stop her laughter. “Your love life?”

   Nova stopped at the staircase and turned back around to face them. There was amusement on both their faces. The hard set of Nova’s jaw loosened. It had been so long since she had seen them give a genuine smile. Not since Ace was captured. She took a deep breath and released it.

   “Ace,” Nova said quietly. “Remember what we were talking about before A-the Renegade showed up?”

   Honey stopped laughing. She wiped at her face, as if remembering she still had dried tears sticking to her cheeks.

   “Yes, you’re right.” Leroy took a seat next to Honey, taking his time to get settled. Nova realized as she watched him how his age was catching up to him. He and Honey both, although Honey was more discreet about it. Still, Nova had noticed how Honey took her time getting to bed every night. Nova noticed the way Honey winced when lying down.

   The Anarchists were weakening. Their numbers were small, allies were short, and bodies weren’t the same as they were a decade before. All except Nova, who was young and energetic.

    They needed to act quickly.

   “We know he’s in Cragmoor, so there’s a very low chance we would even be able to get past the security. Not even my chemicals could get us very far.” Nova nodded her head at Leroy. They had established that already. Breaking into the prison that held prodigy criminals was a death sentence. They would only succeed in wiping out their numbers completely.

   An idea popped into Nova’s head. Something Adrian had said the last time he was at her house. The night of the gala. After Max…

   “What about when they make a public event out of neutralizing him? When he’s back in the city?” Nova asked. She didn’t want to think about Max. Not when he was still sitting in a hospital bed because of her.

   “That’s risky, Nova,” Leroy warned.

   Nova sighed. “I know, but what if-”

   “Don’t you remember the parade?” Honey snapped, standing up quickly. Fresh tears had brewed in her eyes and were threatening to fall. “You didn’t succeed then.”

Nova took a step back. She had lived with Honey long enough to know when to back off.

“Well, Winston didn’t exactly help,” she muttered.

“You still missed your target, Winston being there or not.” Honey crossed her arms. Nova mirrored the older woman.

“I could go to the event as Nightmare. Hide in the shadows. I could shoot Captain Chromium with an Agent N dart.”

“Nova, that would only reveal your position,” Leroy pointed out.

“Can I finish?” Nova narrowed her eyes at them. When neither spoke, she nodded. “Thank you.

“As I was saying, I could shoot the Captain. Everyone would go into a panic, whether I hit him or not. While everyone’s distracted, you two and Phobia can help Ace escape, and I can throw a few Agent N bombs into the crowd. Get rid of some Renegades.” The last bit made Nova’s stomach queasy, but what choice did she have? The Renegades were the enemy. They had created Agent N. It would be ironic to lose their powers to their own weapon, just like Frostbite’s team.

“That’s a lot of assuming.” Leroy stroked his chin thoughtfully. “And a lot of open holes for things to go wrong.”

“But what choice do we have, Leroy?” Nova leaned against the stair rail. “We can’t just let Ace rot away.”

Leroy sat in silence for a moment. Then, he got up suddenly and made his way to the kitchen. He waved for Nova to follow him.

“I’ve been studying his helmet.” Leroy explained when both Nova and Honey were in the room. He went to one of the cabinets and opened it. Inside, covered with fabric, was Ace’s helmet. “Back in the Age of Anarchy, Ace never let anyone touch his helmet.” He set it on the countertop. “I had always been curious of its elements and what made it so...special.”

Nova examined the helmet. It looked the same as it did the night when she had stolen it from headquarters. Her bracelet vibrated at her wrist, and she brought it up. It pulled towards the helmet.

Leroy hummed. “Very interesting. David’s pieces always worked in mysterious ways.”

Nova tugged her wrist back down, ignoring the buzz of energy from the bracelet. “What do you mean?”

“The helmet,” Leroy explained, “has special powers. When your father made it, he used metals that would enhance the wearer’s powers. Make them stronger. It explains why Ace could do what no telekinetic prodigy could do before him.”

“That doesn’t explain the bracelet.” Although Nova had an idea, and she didn’t like it.

“Your bracelet appears to be made of the same material.” Leroy took a step towards her and held out his hand. “May I see it?”

Hesitantly, Nova slipped off her bracelet and handed it to Leroy, who took it over to his microscope sitting among his temporary mess of a laboratory. It only took a moment of examining for him to nod and hand the bracelet back to Nova. She put it back around her wrist, feeling comfort in its presence.

“Just as I suspected.” Leroy sat in one of the kitchen chairs, sighing. “Although I can’t figure out that gem. What was it you said about it?”

Nova shrugged. “Some Renegade said it was worth a lot, but she’s a thief anyways. Anything to her is valuable.”

Honey tittered. “A thieving Renegade? How interesting.”

Leroy nodded. “Quite. If the Renegades aren’t as good as they make themselves out to be, I bet we could draw some over to our side.”

Nova thought of little Magpie, angry but still so young. She wasn’t much younger when she was taken in by Ace. By the time she had reached Magpie’s age, she had been robbed of a proper childhood, already exposed to the cruel world and bitter because of the unfairness of it all. She wouldn’t wish that life upon anyone, even on an unhappy Renegade such as Magpie who was forced to become a Renegade just as much as Nova was forced to become an Anarchist. “She’s just a child,” Nova explained. “Highly unlikely to persuade her when she hardly knows what persuasion is.”

“But if there’s one, there’s many, little Nightmare.” Honey rubbed her hands together. A bumblebee buzzed around her hair lazily.

“Back to the helmet.” Leroy cleared his throat, drawing their attention to him. “Your bracelet holds the same properties as it. Now, because it is much, much smaller, it only enhances your power a bit. Not near as much as the helmet would give.”

“So what are you suggesting, Leroy?”

Leroy held the helmet in one hand, weighing it in his palm. “I’m suggesting, little Insomnia, that you use it.”