#Carlton are so much better | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

babygorewhore · 4 months

Text

Prey

Rafe Cameron x Fem reader

Part one

Part two

After moving to the Outer banks to stay with your cousin, John B after your parents death, you catch the eye of Kooks. After being invited to one of his parties as part of a bet, you realize that Rafe Cameron has decided to make you his. Even if that means he’s going to stalk you.

W.C over 3k

Thank you so much to @take-everything-you-can and @reidsbtch for beta reading!!

Warnings! FemReader is alternative and introverted! Parental death! Bullying! Implications of stalking and flashing! Reader is slightly naive and easily manipulated at first. No use of y/n. No smut in this part but it’s definitely going to be in part two and I’m crazy. Concept inspired by @sadfury and Haunting Adeline by H.D Carlton. Events after season two but altered because I said so.

John B let you settle into your new room as you slightly grimaced. This was the last thing you ever expected, moving here away from home. But after the death of your parents, you weren’t able to live alone, you didn’t have a choice. He was the only family you had left.

You couldn’t be more different. He was used to the beach life, a Pouge as he educated you on the drive here after you arrived. He was sunshine, tan and light colored clothes. Sandals and shorts.

You on the other hand were an all black wearing, band shirts, dark makeup and tall boots that gave you at least four inches. You stood out like a sore thumb.

It was hard to adjust to the passing of your parents after the sudden car accident. It couldn’t be more cliche.

If you weren’t in your room crying, you were usually scrolling aimlessly on social media looking at your photos of them.

Shy wasn’t the exact word to describe you, introverted was a better description and you completely dreaded the next day because John B was determined to show you around and introduce you to his girlfriend and friends. You tried to smile, practicing in the mirror but it looked painfully fake.

The weather was just as hot as John B mentioned. You were wearing a band t shirt, black shorts and he tried to convince you to wear flip flops but you kept on your converse shoes. The beach was crowded much to your distain and you desperately wished you brought an umbrella.

This part of the beach had a golf course not far away and you had never played golf a day in your life. You stuck to solitary hobbies.

“You sure you’re not gonna get too hot in that? I can buy you a swimsuit.” John B nudged you with his elbow and you shook your head.

“No, thanks. I’d rather wear something I’m comfortable in.” You forcefully smiled as you shield your eyes from the sun rays.

“So, uh. We have a library in town, a few shops nearby. We have a pretty good restaurant Kie’s parent’s own. I know you remember some-unless you want to be alone.”

“I think that’s good right now.” You confessed as you both settled your towels on a spot on the beach. The waves crashed and it was a soothing sound you didn’t expect.

“Wow, it’s so beautiful.” You nodded.

John B smiled. “I’ll take it.”

You laid down on the towel, gingerly moving off any sand that flicked onto your calves. You did bring a book you were determined to finish when John B growled. “Fucking prick.”

“Why so hostile?” You questioned, you never saw him angry. John b crossed his arms and pointed behind you.

You turned, twisting your back to see two men at the golf course. You squinted but you could tell one of them was pointing in your direction. They were both blonde, dressed in preppy light clothing while holding golf clubs. They looked rich.

“Who are they?”

“Kooks. The worst of them. That one is Topper, he’s Sarah’s ex boyfriend and the taller one is Rafe. Her insane brother who beat the shit out of me, Pope and JJ.” You scowled and turned around.

“Kooks are the…?”

“Slang for the rich people. You and I are the Pouges.”

A few minutes later, his friends joined you. They were nice, really nice and outgoing. You stayed mostly quiet, watching the interactions and the way they swam in the water. Kie stayed with you the longest, consistent in her question if you needed anything or wanted to join them. You declined each time. Needing alone time after the long trip and new environment.

You sighed, having enough of uncomfortable sun bathing and decided to get a drink. You still had some cash and it wouldn’t kill it to just buy a soda. You walked to a shack, quickly wiping off your shoes of all sand.

You started towards the counter, grateful there wasn’t a line when a a blonde male moved around and stepped in front of you. He was the same man who was pointing at you and John B. The friend of this infamous Rafe.

“Hi, you must be John B’s cousin.” You remembered his name. Topper. He stuck out his hand and you folded your arms.

“Uh, yeah. That’s me.”

“Everyone’s heard about you, John B wanted to brag and Sarah couldn’t wait to meet you.” You internally winced at the not so subtle anger in his voice.

“Right, yeah.” You told him your name and started to step around him. “I’m just here to buy a drink.”

“Oh, let me,”

“No, really I’m fine-“ You both stood at the counter.

“I insist.” Topper paid for your soda and you wanted this interaction to be over.

“I’m not trying to be rude, but is there something you wanted?” You held the bottle protectively as he smirked.

“Sorry, I’ll get to the point. But I noticed how you were talking to the gang John b is friends with. And I wanted to see if you’d let a couple of Kooks let you show you around. You’ll actually get to see the island.”

Your hackles raised immediately and he sensed it.

“Don’t worry, we’re not gonna do anything. I just wanted to be nice. If you don’t want a tour, Rafe is throwing a party tonight. I wanted to invite you.” You raised an eyebrow and scoffed.

“No offense Topper but John B told me that Kooks wanted nothing to do with Pouges and how much you both hated him. Why would you be nice to me?”

To your dismay, he stepped closer. “Just because you’re John B’s cousin doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. And you don’t seem like you want to stay on the beach all day. Come on, maybe you’ll have a good time?”

You wanted to scream hell no, but something in your chest secretly wanted to get away, get a distraction for why you left home and John B unintentionally reminded you of your loss.

“I’ll-I’ll think about it.” Tooper smiled triumphantly and quickly wrote down on a napkin his number.

“Here. I really hope you come. And I can pick you up if you want.”

You gulped the bottle of coke and made your way back to the beach. After a few more hours of roasting underneath the sun, the invitation felt more and more appealing. The air conditioning didn’t work at John B’s house even though he was trying to fix it. And would one night really be so bad to let loose with a bunch of rich kids?

When you asked John b to drive you home, he kept asking you if you’d be okay alone and you firmly said yes. You left out the information of a party and Topper as you scrambled to find something to wear. Everything you had was black. Well. At least mostly everything.

You owned a pair of sparkly, silver high heels that you got as a birthday present two years ago for your twenty first and you hadn’t gotten a chance to wear them. Biting your lip, you slipped on a black dress that was mid thigh height, ruffles at the bottom of the skirt and it was a v neck exposing your bust.

Your hair was messy from the bun it was in all day so you braided it in two. Quickly slapping on makeup, you pulled out your phone and texted Toppers number.

“Is the offer still on the table?”

He responded almost immediately. “Of course! I’ll be there in twenty”

True to his word, he was there in twenty and you inhaled. You could do this. You could go to one party.

The ride was…okay. He talked to you about the landmarks and talked about who would be there. His friends since childhood and of course…he talked about Rafe. How great he was. How rich he was. How he took over his parents empire after his father’s death and he ran it alone. You withheld comments about being handed down rich lively hood as you kept quiet.

You dreaded if he made any advances towards you but he never did. He was ever the gentlemen when he parked in the driveway of the massive penthouse. Booming with music, you saw people dancing through the bare windows and the balcony.

You couldn’t believe you were here. John B probably wouldn’t assume you were out of your room and besides. You were a grown woman capable of your own decisions.

“Let’s go,” Topper opened the door for you and you followed him inside. It was crowded. More than any party you’d been too.

Several people turned and stared at you, you couldn’t tell if it was judgement or curiosity. You clutched your small bag where your phone was closer. You could call John B anytime, despite his probable anger.

“Can I get you a drink? I can introduce you to some people.”

“Sure, thanks.” You wanted to scream for him not to leave you alone but you stayed strong and drifted to a corner.

God, now you were having regrets as the music turned up and people started cheering. Topper was taking longer than expected and you decided to be brave. Fuck it. You moved from your place and wandered around. Your heels clicking over the wooden floors.

The kitchen was almost filled to the brim with people, several sitting on the island and girls immediately turned towards you and paused mid conversation. Topper held two cups as he talked to Kelce.

“Oh, hey! I was just about to find you.” Uneasiness settled in your chest as you took the red cup. “It’s okay. I just-.i feel a little awkward.” You whispered.

“Come on, I wanna introduce you to the man of the hour.”

You started gulping the alcohol to try and suppress your nerves as you both climbed the stairs to another lounge area with dark lights. People were doing lines, slurring from drunkenness and making out. Basically fucking as your eyes narrowed on Rafe.

Up close, he was fucking hot. Sharp jawline, blonde hair that was separated with bangs and crystal clear blue eyes that were currently focused on a girl straddling his lap.

They were tongues and teeth making you feel even more uncomfortable and another emotion hit you. You tried to shove it away, but his fitted light pants around his muscular thighs, t shirt that exposed his defined arms and large hands…thick fingers gripped her ass.

Oh god, you were fucking jealous over a man you hadn’t even talked too.

“Hey, man. Hate to interrupt, but this is the new girl.” You tried not to bite your lip and smear your lipstick as he pulled away from her.

His light eyes swept over you, pausing longer on your tits, hips and exposed legs. He gave you a nod before a small smirk slid towards Topper. “Get off,” he lifted the poor girl off and plopped her on the couch to her distain.

Your core tightened in anticipation as he drew closer. He couldn’t be more opposite. In clothes. In height. In status. He oozed power, money and sex. With a little danger.

“Mmm. Yeah. I saw you today with John B. Didn’t expect him with Tim Burton.”

You cleared your throat, offense rising but you tried to remember you were in his house and yelling at him probably wasn’t the best idea given he could crush you. You started to extend your hand but he turned.

“Hey, get your asses to the pool! Im tired of being up here!” He called out and everyone started moving quickly. His commands obeyed without question as he jerked his hand to point them downstairs.

“Oh, I don’t have a swimsuit with me-“

“You live on the beach. But you didn’t bring one, Tim Burton?” Rafe challenged, looking down at you with a hazed look. You couldn’t tell if it was dislike or anger.

Why would he invite you if he didn’t like you?

“Come on,” Topper gestured with his head for you to follow him.

The pool was lit from under the water where several half naked people were playing chicken, kissing and smoking. You didn’t exactly mind the scene but it was entirely out of your comfort zone. Your heels caught a puddle on the concrete and arms caught you.

You inhaled sharply, thinking for a second it was Rafe but you saw him sitting on a lounge chair with the same girl perched on his thigh. She was beautiful except for the death glare she was giving you. You turned around to see your savior. It was Kelce who gave you a smirk before you were launched over his shoulder.

You screamed, “What the FUCK?!” And then you saw Topper briefly before you sailed into the cold pool. The water stung your eyes as you flailed from the weight of your shoes and panic. You clasped onto the side and pulled yourself up.

Everyone was laughing. Even recording you.

Your chest burst with embarrassment, anger and utter heartbreak as you knew how stupid you were for believing this was a kind invitation.

You wiped your face as you got your bearings and black liner, lipstick and foundation smeared all over your hand. “Fucking shit.”

You went to climb up but you slipped again, causing more laughter.

You remembered your phone, oh god your phone. No, your purse was still held by Kelce. You let your anger heave you over and you crawled up, shakily standing before you yanked your heels off. Everyone was still laughing and recording but you locked eyes on Rafe himself.

He wasn’t laughing. But his eyes held a hint of amusement and the corner of his mouth was tilted up.

You wanted to run. Cry and scream. That’s exactly what they expected. Instead, you marched towards him, shoving people out of your way as you stepped in front of him and the girl.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” You growled, pointing a dripping finger. “Is this your idea of some kind of joke?”

He shrugged. “It looks like I won five thousand dollars. Top didn’t think you’d actually come. I said you couldn’t resist some attention, Tim Burton.” He parted his legs further as he got comfortable.

You were seething but you were also petty. So you took the bottom of your dress, not caring if it exposed your black panties underneath around the crotch as his blue eyes immediately dipped down to the area. You flapped the skirt. Splashing water right in their faces. And when he stood up, the girl followed suit, you slapped him.

Hard but he hardly moved an inch as he chuckled darkly and took a small step forward. The water dripped from his brow and landed on the ground.

“Fuck. You.” You hissed. You turned around and flipped everyone off before he could get a chance to tell you off.

You stormed away, bursting through the house, ignoring the cat calls as you shoved open the front door. You didn’t have a car and it was late. You had ripped your purse away from Kelce and checked your phone. John B was calling you.

You answered. “Hello?”

“Oh my god, are you okay? I’ve been calling for an hour, where did you go?” He sounded worried and you winced.

“Um. Can you pick me up?”

“Yeah, of course. Where are you?” You cringed at his question but you had no choice.

“I’m at Rafe Cameron’s house.”

To say John B was angry was an understatement as you were sitting like a scolded child in his living room. You were still soaked like a wet cat as he rummaged to find a towel.

“I can’t believe you fell for it! I told you about those assholes. You can never trust them. Why did you even go?”

“Stop talking to me like I’m a child!” You finally snapped, standing. “I made a mistake. Can we just let it go?”

“Let it go? Rafe Cameron is a monster and you were made as an example for Pouges and now he has more ammo. He’s never going to leave it alone. And you may never-“

“What? Show my face? Be accepted? Guess what, John B, I’m already fucking USED to it. And maybe I just wanted a distraction from what happened. For once, I just wanted to let loose. Obviously, I fucked up. I’m going to bed.” You ground out and moved toward your bedroom.

“Wait, I’m sorry-“ But you slammed the door and locked it.

You were too upset to even shower as you yanked off your dress, underwear and shoved on an oversized t shirt, put your hair up and flopped onto the mattress.

Now, the tears started as you looked on social media.

Somehow they found your account and tagged you in dozens of videos of the incident. Horribly mean comments underneath caused you to cry harder. You never should have gone.

You hugged your pillow, about to close your phone and throw it, when a text came through. You didn’t recognize the number but hair raised on your arm as you read the words.

“Maybe if you did more than flash your panties, I would make them take them down.”

You sat up immediately. Now this, this had to be a joke. Rafe Cameron was texting you.

“Go. Fuck yourself. And don’t text me. I’m blocking you.”

“Do you really think this is my only phone number, Tim Burton?”

Your mouth parted. He was right but you thought of another tactic.

“Fine. I’ll change mine tomorrow.”

“Good luck. I’ll find out what it is.“ You clenched your jaw. Half a mind to call and scream at him.

“Leave me alone.”

The reply came almost immediately.

“I make the rules here, princess. Not you.”

You then pressed the call button. It rang once, twice, three times. “Pick up, asshole.” You grunted.

Finally, it stopped ringing and you heard silence. “I know you’re there, douchebag. Don’t text me anymore and don’t fucking call me princess.”

“Are you still trying to have control, princess?” You had to breathe deeply so you wouldn’t wake the neighbors with your yelling.

“What are you doing, Cameron? Why are you talking to me? After what you did? After hurting me like that? Is this some sort of sick game? Well, I’m not playing it. Stay the fuck away from me, you son. Of. A. Bitch.”

“I would be very careful how you talk to me, little girl. What makes you think this wasn’t what I wanted? You. All to myself.”

Fear stilled you as you whispered, “You-you leave me alone. I don’t like you. In fact, I hate you and I hate what you did! Fuck off.” You then hung up.

You shut off the light and crawled back into bed. Your body went from boiling hot to now ice cold. You blocked his number. Quickly and you shut your eyes. Drifting into a nightmare filled sleep being tormented by Kooks. Rafe Cameron’s voice and then…you dreamed of his dark eyes trailing the outline of your pussy through your black panties.

You snapped awake at the knock of your door.

“Hey, uh…do you want to go to breakfast? If not, that’s okay. I just want to make up for what happened. I feel awful for yelling at you and this shouldn’t be your first impression.”

You were tempted to say no. Let him go alone but you were hungry. And you wanted a distraction from the event last night. Sighing, you got out of bed. “Yeah, I’ll be right out.”

You throw on a pair of black shorts and your converse. Still wearing your big shirt and ponytail. You were weary of your phone, but you forced yourself to move past your fear and you snatched it from the pillow.

Another number was on your screen but you could see part of the message. You could only squeak when you opened it.

“I hope you enjoy breakfast, baby doll. I’d hate for you to starve that pretty little body. But I want you to behave. Like a good girl. Or this will be harder for you.”

Your mouth was completely dry when you stared at the screen. Oh fuck. He was true to his word. This was another number. But how the hell would he know about this morning? You realized the reality of this situation. He had eyes and ears everywhere.

You were certainly fucked.

And not in a good way.

Tagging

@scene-and-dandylover @xxhellfirebunnyxx @slvt4jamesmarch @take-everything-you-can @drewstarkeyslut @ifeeltoofuckingmuch @emsgoodthinkin @imyourdaninow @reidsbtch

#rafe cameron #rafe fic #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron x you #rafe cameron x female reader #Rafe Cameron x fem reader #Rafe Cameron imagine #rafe cameron one shot #rafe x reader #rafe cameron obx

376 notes · View notes

mostlysignssomeportents · 5 months

Text

The FTC has Big Pharma’s number

On November 27, I'm appearing at the Toronto Metro Reference Library with Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.

On November 29, I'm at NYC's Strand Books with my novel The Lost Cause, a solarpunk tale of hope and danger that Rebecca Solnit called "completely delightful."

The most consistent bright spot in the dark swirl of US politics is the competence of the Biden Administration's progressive enforcers: people like Rohit Chopra, Jonathan Kanter and Lina Khan, who keep demonstrating just how far a good administrator can go. Anyone can have a vision, but knowing how to execute is the difference between hot air and real change:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/23/getting-stuff-done/#praxis

Take a minute to contrast Biden's administrators with Trump's: Trump's administrators had an ideological vision just as surely as Biden's do, and Trump himself had a much more pronounced and explicit ideology than Biden, whose governance style is much more about balancing the Democratic Party's blocs than bringing about a specific set of policies:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/06/personnel-are-policy/#janice-eberly

But whatever clarity of vision the Trump administration brought to DC was completely undermined by its incompetence (thankfully!). Apart from one gigantic tax break, Trump couldn't get stuff done. He couldn't deliver, because he'd lose his temper or speak out of turn:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/14/when-youve-lost-the-fedsoc/#anti-buster-buster

And his administrators followed his lead. Scott Pruitt was appointed to run the EPA after a career spent suing the agency. It could have been the realization of his life's dream to dismantle environmental law in America and open the floodgates for unlimited, wildly profitable corporate pollution and pillaging. But the dream died because he kept getting embroiled in absurd scandals – like the time he sent his staffers out to drive around all night looking for a good deal on a used mattress:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/epa-s-pruitt-told-aide-obtain-old-mattress-trump-hotel-n879836

Or his insistence on installing a CIA-style "Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility" (SCIF) so he could play super-spy while reading memos:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/26/politics/epa-administrator-scott-pruitt-sound-proof-booth-scif/index.html

Or the time he sent his security detail to the Ritz-Carlton to demand that they supply him lots of little bottles of his favorite hand-cream:

https://www.vox.com/2018/6/7/17439044/scott-pruitt-ritz-carlton-moisturizing-lotion

There were other examples in the Trump administration, but Priutt is such a good case-study. He's like a guy who spent his whole life training to compete in the Olympics, and finally got a shot, only to be disqualified for ordering too much room-service in the Olympic Village. Priutt was wildly ambitious, but he was profoundly undisciplined – and wildly incompetent.

Compare that with Biden's progressive enforcers and agency heads, who showed up on the first day of work with an encyclopedic knowledge of their administrative powers, and detailed plans for using them to transform the lives of the American people for the better:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/18/administrative-competence/#i-know-stuff

The Biden administration's competence translates into action, getting stuff done. Maybe that shouldn't surprise us, given the difference between the stories that reactionaries and progressives tell about where change comes from.

In reactionary science fiction, we enter the realm of the "Competent Man" story. Think of a Heinlein hero, who is "able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly."

In Competent Man stories, a unitary hero steps into the breach and solves the problem – if not single-handedly, then as the leader of others, whose lesser competence is a base metal that the Competent Man hammers into a tempered blade:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/RobertAHeinlein

Contrast this with a progressive tale, like, say, Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry For the Future, where the Competent Man is replaced by the Competent Administration, in which people of goodwill and technical competence figure out how to join forces to create population-scale architectures of participation that allow every person to contribute their skills and perspective:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/03/ministry-for-the-future/#ksr

The right's whole ideology insists that the world can only be saved by Competent Men. As Corey Robin writes in The Reactionary Mind, the unifying factor that binds together conservative factions from monarchists to racists to Christian Dominionists is the belief that a few of us are born to rule, and the rest to be ruled over:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/25/mafia-logic/#mafia-logic

The Reaganite insistence that governments are, by their very nature, incompetent and malign ("The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I’m from the government, and I’m here to help'"), means that conservatives deny the possibility of a Competent Administration.

When conservatives take office and proceed to bungle the most basic elements of administration, they're fulfilling their own campaign narrative, which starts with "We must dismantle the government because it is bad at everything." Conservatives who govern badly prove their own point, which explains a lot about the UK Tory Party's long run of governmental failure and electoral success:

https://apnews.com/article/uk-suella-braverman-fired-cabinet-shuffle-7ea6c89306a427cc70fba75bc386be79

There's a small mercy in the fact that so many of the most ideologically odious and extreme conservative governments are so technically incompetent in governing, and thus accomplish so little of their agendas.

But the inverse – the incredible competence of the best progressive administrators – is nothing short of a delight to witness. Here's the latest example to cross my path: the FTC has intervened in a lawsuit over generic insulin pricing, on an issue that is incredibly technically specific and also fantastically important:

https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/ftc-blasts-pharmas-abuse-fda-patent-system-sanofi-mylans-insulin-monopoly-lawsuit

The underlying case is before the FDA, and it concerns the dirty tricks that pharma giant Sanofi used to keep Mylan from making a generic version of Mylan's Lantus insulin after its patent expired.

There's an explicit bargain in patents: inventors can enlist the government to punish their rivals for copying their ideas, but in exchange, the government demands that the inventor has to describe how the invention works in a detailed patent filing, and when the patent expires, 20 years later, rivals can use the patent application as instructions for freely copying and selling the invention. In other words: you get 20 years of exclusive rights in return for facilitating your competitors' copying and selling your invention when the 20 years are up.

Pharma doesn't like this, naturally: not content with 20 years of exclusivity, they want the government to step in and punish their competitors forever. In service to that end, pharma companies have perfected a process called evergreening, where they dribble out ancillary patents after their initial filing, covering minor reformulations, delivery systems, or new uses.

Evergreening got a moment in the public eye earlier this year, with John Green's viral campaign to shame Johnson & Johnson out of using evergreening to restrict poor countries' access to TB medication:

https://armandalegshow.com/episode/john-green-part-1/

The story of pharma is that it commands gigantic profits, but it invests those profits into medicines that save our lives. The reality is that most of the key underlying pharma research is publicly funded (by Competent Administrators who apportion funding to promising scientific inquiry). Pharma companies' most inventive genius is devoted to inventing new evergreening tactics:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/19/solid-tumors/#t-cell-receptors

That's where the FTC comes in, in this Sanofi-Mylan case. To facilitate the production of generic, off-patent drugs, the FDA maintains a database called the "Orange Book," where pharma companies are asked to enumerate all the ancillary patents associated with a product whose patent is expiring. That way, generics manufacturers who make their own version of these public domain drugs and therapeutics don't accidentally stumble over one of those later patents – say, by replicating a delivery system or special coating that is still in patent.

This is where the endless, satanic inventiveness of the pharma sector comes in. You see, US law provides for triple damages for "willful patent infringement." If you are a generics manufacturer eyeing up a drug whose patent is about to expire and you are notified that some other patents might be implicated in your plans, you must ensure that you don't accidentally infringe one of those patents, or face business-destroying statutory damages.

So pharma companies stuff the Orange Book full of irrelevant patent claims they say may be implicated in a generic manufacture program. Each of these claims has to be carefully evaluated, both by a scientific team and a legal team, because patents are deliberately obfuscated in the hopes of tricking an inattentive patent examiner into granting patents for unpatentable "inventions":

https://blueironip.com/patents-that-hide-the-ball/

What's more, when a pharma giant notifies the FDA that it has ancillary patents that are relevant to the Orange Book, this triggers a 30-month delay before a generic can be marketed – adding 2.5 years to the 20 year patent term. That delay is sometimes enough to cause a manufacturer to abandon plans to market a generic drug – so the delay isn't 2.5 years, it's infinite.

This is a highly technical, highly consequential form of evergreening. It's obscure as hell, and requires a deep understanding of patent obfuscation, ancillary patent filings, generic pharma industry practice, and the FDA's administrative procedures.

Sanofi's Orange Book entry for Lantus insulin listed 50 related patent claims. Of these, 48 were invalidated through "inter partes" review (basically the Patent Office decided they shouldn't have allowed these claims to be included on a patent). Neither of the remaining two claims were found to be relevant to the manufacture of generic Lantus.

This is where the FTC's filing comes in: their amicus brief doesn't take a position whether Sanofi's Orange Book entries were fraudulent, but they do ask the FDA to intervene to prevent Orange Book stuffing because "improper listings can cause significant harm to competition and consumers."

This is the kind of boring, technical, important stuff that excellent administrators can do. The FTC's brief is notice to the FDA that it should amend its procedures to ban (and punish) Orange Book abuse. That will make it possible for you, a person who needs medicine, to get that medicine more cheaply and quickly. In America's pay-for-use privatized healthcare hellscape, this could be a life-or-death matter.

There's plenty of things the Biden administration is getting very, very badly wrong, but we shouldn't lose sight of how its progressive wing is making real, lasting change for the better. Competent Administrations are the true peoples' champions. They beat Competent Men every time.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/23/everorangeing/#taste-the-rainbow

#pluralistic

608 notes · View notes

anniesannex · 5 months

Text

Thanksgiving headcanons

This is just going to be short and sweet and to the point. I personally don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. I do celebrate being thankful for my found family and all the bomb side dishes. -A

Johnny doesn’t really celebrate with his family. When he was married he used to go to his Ex-wife’s family thanksgiving.

When you two started dating he worried about how Thanksgiving was gonna go down.

“Johnny we’re not going to go see my family.” “Okay, then what do you wanna do?”

You guys wind up doing something just the two of you.

Instead of turkey and mashed potatoes, you guys ordered Chinese takeout and watched movies together in your pajamas.

“This is way better than any thanksgiving I’ve been to.” “Yeah because I’m here.”

You guys did wind up taking the “walk” that happens every thanksgiving tho.

“Hey Johnny wanna go for a ‘walk?’ I’m about to go.” “I’ll grab our coats.”

After coming back you guys dive into the cake you bought.

“Holy shit this is the best cake ever.” “I told you tiramisu was the move!”

After devouring that cake the two of you end back up on the couch cuddling under the blankets.

As you put another movie on of your choice, you smile.

Johnny goes to make some more popcorn as you wait for him to come back after deciding on a movie.

“Let’s go Carlton! This is a good movie!” “I’m coming!” “I still cannot believe you haven’t seen _____! It’s literally a classic!”

Let’s just say Johnny loved the movie you showed him.

As the movies went on you began to focus more on each other.

If you know what I mean.

“Your eyes sparkle so hard doll.” “Johnny! I’m blushing!”

You were indeed blushing so hard.

This continues for HOURS. You guys watch movie after movie. It’s honestly pretty sick.

As it gets later you seem to have trouble keeping your eyes open.

Johnny notices so much.

“Getting tired Angel?” “Mmm”

As you start to get tired Johnny winds up carrying you to bed. As you thank him profusely.

“Seriously johnny, this is the best thanksgiving I’ve ever had. I really appreciate this.” “It’s no problem doll. I liked this too.”

He tucked you in after making sure you did your nightly routine.

“Teeth? Check. Skincare? Check. Hair? Check. Etc.”

You look so cute to him just snuggled under the covers of his bed. He snaps a photo.

“Thank you again Johnny.” “Thank you doll.”

He holds you as you drift off to sleep. Following shortly behind you.

You two are just at peace as you hold each other in your slumber.

#johnny cage x reader #mortal kombat #johnny cage #johnny cage smut #mk1 2023 #thanksgiving #headcanon

204 notes · View notes

sinimake · 4 months

Text

Now, it's Johnny specific headcanons! Read Kenshi's here

Took a gap year to earn his college funds, but when he got accepted into a film school, his family wanted him to sign up for the army. So one morning, he just went out, took an interstate bus, and started living on his own.

He worked many menial works here and there, barely surviving, so he started to enter underground cage fights in the night for quick bucks. The first time he got in the ring and the announcer asked for his name, he chose Johnny Cage on a whim.

His college years were wild. Almost always drunk every night bc he's landed a job as a bartender in a local bar. Alcohol is conveniently within arms reach and is an effective painkiller to the punches he took in the ring fights. That's when his addiction started.

He got his Johnny tattoo when he was shit faced and sad. He desperately wanted to shed Johnathan Carlton name off himself, so he marched into a tattoo parlor to have a permanent reminder on his chest. People think he's narcissistic to have his name tattooed so big on his body, Johnny never corrects the meaning of it bc it is better to be seen as an asshole than weak.

One really good perk of his bartender job was talking to the patrons and hearing their life stories. It really helped Johnny's acting career in the long run, where he understands his roles deeply and delivers the portrayals from heart.

He got a golden raspberry award for his The Flesh Pits movie. Threw the tropy out of the window once in anger but now he displays it along with his other achievement awards as a reminder.

He's an ambassador of many luxury brands.

He's very timely organized person where he plans his days down to every hour. Hates when there's a sudden change in his timetable.

When Johnny and Kenshi have a movie night, not only does he narrate what's happening in the scene, but he nerds out on what exact techniques of shots and lighting are used.

A big car enthusiast. Gives his cars the names that are in Mambo No. 5 by Lou Bega. (A little bit of Monica in my life—)

Snores in his sleep, specially when he's really exhausted.

His music taste is mainly girly pop, but sometimes he belts out on old school rock songs.

Loves improv acting. Sometimes, he drops in at random improv club nights to participate in one or two sets. It is always fun to see the crowd going "is that Johnny Cage? THE Johnny Cage?" whenever he goes on the stage.

A serial double texter. Will send you random ass pictures with no context or whatever. It is especially funny bc Kenshi can't see the pics, and the voice-over feature of his phone gives him the most obscure descriptions that have the man facepalming every time.

Is a big coffee guy but always gotta have them with milk and sugar bc he can't handle bitter taste of americano.

Has love and hate relationship with paparazzi cameramen. When he's out with the earthrealm defenders, his friends sometimes get the feeling of being followed. They say the concern to Johnny, thinking some outworld danger is hunting them or something just for the actor go "no worries that's just my regular paparazzi, Jeff. HI JEFF!! HOW YOU BEEN DOING TODAY?" "I'm fine! How about you, Johnny?", "WOULD YOU LIKE SOME COFFEE? IS HOT OUTSIDE!" "yeah."

^then sometimes it's like this: "CAN YOU GIVE ME A BREATHER FOR A SEC?! YOUR CAMERA CLICKING IS SO LOUD!" "MY RENT IS DUE!" "NOT MY PROBLEM!"

He's an ambivert. Quiet night ins are as much appreciated as parties. He needs winding down moments but will go batshit insane if he doesn't get at least one human interaction a day.

#johnny cage #mk1 #mk1 2023 #mortal kombat 2023 #johnny cage headcanons #johnshi #johnshi headcanon

154 notes · View notes

disneyanddisneyships · 8 months

Text

@gyubby99 I'm sorry

Warnings: angst. Mal and Lilly being in emotional pain. Goodbyes

Summary: Aponi Lilly is finally going to heaven.... but she didn't realize she'd have to say goodbye to her best friend... again.....

youtube

For Good

Mal ran quickly into the hotel.

The news that a bright light had opened up in the sky got around quickly and..... she hadn't seen Aponi.....

She practically broke down the doors of the hotel building when she ran in....

Only to find an angel standing in front of Lilly.

"Mal!" Aponi shouted before running up to her friend, giving her the biggest hug. "Mal, it worked! We're going to heaven!" Aponi stated as she pulled away from the hug, placing her hands on Mal's shoulders.

"Wait.. we?" Mal asked, still trying to process what was happening.

"Well actually... as of now, Lillian Carlton, you are the only one who has been redeemed," the strange angel spoke out.

Aponi's eyes widened and her smile faded.

"No.... no not... not without them..." Aponi stated, gesturing to her friends and Husband, alastor. "Not without you," she muttered, turning to mal, holding her hand.

"Lilly..... one time chance.... you... you dont belong down here," Mal stated, pushing down the heartache.

"No..... no Mal i.. I can't go up there without you... not again... I won't...." Lilly stated, tears welling up in her eyes.

Mal sighed and pushed Lilly's hair out of her face to see both of her eyes.

"Just look at me," Mal started. "Im.... I'm not built for life up there," she muttered.

"No no. I'm limited without you-" Lilly began.

"Just look at you! You c an do all I couldn't do, Lilly," Mal interrupted. "Now it's up to you.... for both of us..." Mal stated.

"........ Then do me two favors," Lilly started.

"Anything," Mal replied.

"You have to try to get up there... as hard as you can. Try... please," Lilly stated, taking both of Mal's hands.

Mal sighed. "Alright.. I will," she lied.

"Alright.... and.. one more thing...." Lilly stated before looking at mal with a small smile. "One more duet?" She asked.

Mal chuckled, a tear rolling down her face.

"I know a song," Lilly stated before giving alastor a Wadded up peice of paper with music notes on it and sending him to the piano.

Mal gasped at the music....

Wicked..... their favorite musical since they were 10......

As the music started Mal took a breath. "I've heard it said... That people come into our lives For a reason," she sang as a tear rolled down her face. "Bringing something we must learn.... And we are led to those..... Who help us most to grow if we let them.... And we help them in return," she stated as she looked around at all the demons who inhabited the hotel now.....

Angel stood over to the left,, holding fat nuggets.. and Mal knew that they had helped people.....

"Well, I don't know if I believe that's true," she sang before turning back to Lilly and holding out both of he rhands for Lilly to take. "But I know I'm who I am today, Because I knew you," she sang as Lilly took her hands. "Like a comet pulled from orbit As it passes the sun," she sang as she looked up into the sky... Sheyhadnt seen the sun in years...

She turned back to Lilly. "Like a stream that meets a boulder Halfway through the wood," she wiped a tear that threatened to fall a. The looked at her best friend... "Who can say if I've been changed for the better But...... because I knew you," she took a deep shaky breath as She thought about how much Lilly loved her... "I have been changed for good,"

Lilly took a deep breath as she wiped away a tear on Mals face before beginning to sing as well.

"It well may be That we will never meet again In this lifetime...." she snag as she realized she might never see anyone down here again... "So, let me say before we part," she took a deep breath before tightening her hold on Mals hands.. "So much of me Is made of what I learned from you! You'll be with me.... Like a handprint on my heart," Lilly sang as she tried not to break down... she was leaving her lifeline....

"And now whatever way our stories end..... I know you have rewritten mine.... By being my friend," She sang as she remembered when they were little... just meeting one another.... "Like a ship blown from its mooring, By a wind off the sea..... Like a seed dropped by a sky bird In a distant wood...." her voice cracked as she sang. "Who can say if I've been changed for the better... But..... because I knew you," she sang, looking at mal with a loving smile.

"Because I knew you," Mal sang in return.

"I have been changed for good," both the girls sang at the same time as hell seemed to melt away.. It was just them against the world again....

"And just to clear the air, I ask forgiveness, For the things I've done, you blame me for," Lilly sang, somehow singing about when Mal had pushed her away all those years ago..

"But then I guess, We know there's blame to share," Mal sang in return.

"And none of it seems to matter anymore! Like a comet pulled from orbit (like a ship blown from its mooring), As it passes the sun (by a wind off the sea), Like a stream that meets a boulder (like a seed dropped by a bird), Halfway through the wood (in the wood)," the girls both sang their respective verses, turning away from each other, one of their hands still holding onto the other.

The girls turned back to each other, tears in their eyes as they sang... "Who can say if I've been changed for the better?" The girls sang, their voices cracking and breaking with the urge to jildnonto one another and cry.. "I do believe I have been changed for the better," with the way they looked at one another... you could tell... they were telling the truth through the lyrics.

"And because I knew you," Mal sang, her voice cracking again before she sniffled.

"Because I knew you," aponi sang in return, looking sadly at her best friend.

"Because I knew you," the girls both sang. "I have been changed," as hell made itself back into their concious minds, the girls felt heavier. "For good," when the song finished, the girls gave one another the tightest hug..

"Don't forget me, okay?" Mal asked, her eyes screwed shut, almost as if, if she opened them, Lilly would be gone.

"The day I forget you is the day I forget how to feel," Lilly muttered into Mal's neck.

"You are wonderful, and pure, Lillian Carlton. Never lose that," Mal muttered.

"And you are amazing, and lucky... and to me, your full name means to be utterly and wonderfully you.... and as long as I am in your head you are never allowed to forget how much I love you, Hotaru," Lilly sniffed as she used the name Mal's mom had given her.

Mal began to sob, holding on tighter to Lilly.

The angel floated up, placing a hand on Lilly's shoulder.

"It is time," The angel stated.

Lilly pulled back before quickly running to kiss alastor.

"Te amo, mi amor," Alastor spoke against her lips.

Lilly laughed. "You said it right.... you practiced," she muttered. "je t'aime aussi," she muttered in response before a bright light overtook the room.

When everyone opened their eyes......

Lilly and the other angel were gone.

Mal fell to her knees in tears, holding herself.

"Calm down.. shh shhhh Mal calm down," She muttered to herself as she rubbed her own arms, trying not to have a panic attack.

Angel dust turned to Alastor, putting a hand on the radio demon's shoulder.

Alastor shrugged him off sharply.

"Well then! Shall we all have some dinner?" Alastor asked. His voice extra glitchy as he attempted to act like he was okay.

"Do you just not care?!" Mal sobbed, anger and sadness on her face as she looked up at him.

"Oh, darling if I cared about every lowly demon who made a deal with me, I wouldn't be who I am today, now would i?" Alastor asked.

"You heartless asshole!" Mal shouted.

"Well then. I can see that this is a very hostile environment. I'll be in Aponi's room, cleaning out her things!" Alastor exclaimed, turning to the stairs.

He barely made it up one step before Mal spoke again.

"Her name was Lilly! And she loved you, you.... you demon!" She screamed.

Alastor continued his walk up to Lilly's room, closing the door.

........

Alastor stood in the room....

He just stood.... nothing else....

His smile fell and the tears he was holding back were let free.

He walked over to Lilly's closet, taking out one of her shirts...

It still smelled like her.....

He walked over to her nightstand, grabbing her phone, struggling to get to her gallery before landing on a photo of her kissing his cheek, a blush on his face.

"Please Lilly..... tell me what to do...." Alastor mumbled as he sat on her bed, setting her phone down and looking around the empty room.

..........

"Mal, you gotta get up," Angel stated as he crouched down next to mal.

"Please go away.... shes... she's gone..." Mal whispered.

And she was right....

#Youtube #Vox hadn't heard from alastor for weeks.#So he goes to check up on the radio demon.#Vox finds alastor in an awful state.... he's just sitting there... his smile gone #An empty glass of wine next to him

124 notes · View notes

daydreamwalker13 · 25 days

Text

Mk1 Random Drawings # 25

My au of mk1 teens still continues. Kinda busy this days. Don't be bored, it's kinda long but worth to read. For making it better, I advice you to zoom Johnny's face at the colored one. If you feel sad, that's the purpose, enjoy.

Protectors of Earthrealm:

Forever, Together

A love letter to Johnathan Carlton by Kenshi Takahashi.

You always smile, you always laugh and jokes around every damn time.

You can take things seriously, but of course, you have to crack a joke or rant some movie references in between.

Always happy and energetic, always annoying, the one who lives his best life in a colorful world.

Always the center of the attention.

But in reality, you live in black and white. Like those silent movies from an old tv. Quiet and static.

I never thought I'll see such face in you.

Never seen you cry before, never seen you stressed so much that your eyes didn't glistening anymore.

There's no life in there. Just a porcelain mask.

Back then, I don't like you as a kid.

Now as a teen? I love you.

So much that I can loan Sento for you, but my ancestors will hate the idea and wack me in the head.

You were always tired, but you hide it so well.

I'm tired too, tired of seeing you like this.

I'll wipe that tears in your eyes because I can, I have hands. I'm not crippled.

Reaching your hand, kiss it and prayed, for all the stress you had will washed away.

I want to see you smile again.

As I hold you,

I'll be your color and you'll be my vision for this world.

You can fight, and I like that about you. But let me, protecting you from the dangers that you can't handle anymore.

In this trial times, for you and me, I'll do my best to always help you, support you and always be on your side.

As you already did to me back then, when we met for the third time.

So, hold on to my hand too. As I already hold yours, but a bit tighter. Just making sure that I'm not letting us go.

You're really a star, a starlight crafted by the elder gods.

I'm yours, truly.

Even the world gone mad, I always choose you.

As my fighter, as the love of my life.

Forever, together.

I just found this reference on twitter, and I forgot who's post is it.

Combining Mk11 and Mk Legends for teen Johnny's outfit. And inspired by Mk1 Kenshi's suit at chapter two storymode for teen Kenshi's outfit.

Last time I said I'm not good at coloring, now I'm kinda crap doing backgrounds. Still learning tho.

I'm giggling when I writing this, now I'm crying. I didn't expect that it will turn out like this.

#mk1 #johnny cage #kenshi takahashi #teen johnny #teen kenshi #my au #johnshi #mk1 fanart #mk1 2023 #mortal kombat fanart #mortal kombat 1 #mortal kombat #i'm busy #I'm supposed to write #but Johnshi is life #Spotify

31 notes · View notes

1986harrington · 2 years

Text

Steve Harrington x fem!reader Warnings: Mature Content (18+) Summary: You and Steve have a friends-with-benefits situation going on, but both of you want more... you're just too scared to admit it

Steve’s lips dropped from yours to allow you a breath, mouthing along your jaw and neck until he found the sweet spot just below your ear that made you keen. He nipped at it lightly, and your back arched off the door and into him, filthy praises dripping from your tongue. Pulling blindly at the straps of your dress until they slid from your shoulders, Steve palmed at your chest, groaning as he groped at your tit and pressed kisses to the now bare curve of shoulder. “I need you to fuck me, Steve, please. 'Need it so bad.” You breathed against his ear and he nodded immediately, turning you around and walking you backwards until the back of your knees collided with the mattress.

Chelsea Carlton’s parties were legendary - a well stocked liquor cabinet and a state of the art stereo system meant that it was usually impossible to have a bad time.

But it was just after 10, no more than a few hours since your unresolved arguement with Steve, and you were ready to call it a night. That was, until you caught him staring at you from over some blonde girl’s shoulder.

Perhaps ‘staring’ wasn’t the right word. More like… appreciatively gazing.

The girl in question - petite and blonde and pretty in all the obvious ways - had him cornered and all but backed up against the wall, hand flat on his chest as her fingers toyed with the collar of his shirt. You could tell from the movement of her head that she was talking, pushed up slightly on her toes so her mouth was by his ear. But Steve’s eyes stayed fixed on you, the only change to his expression was a small upturn at the corner of his mouth when he realised you had finally noticed him.

You were sitting up on one of the counters on the opposite side of the kitchen, the expensive marble cool beneath the too-warm skin of your bare thighs as your legs dangled over the edge.

You were sipping warm, flat beer out of a plastic cup when your eyes met Steve’s over the rim. Your gazes held for a few seconds, your brow arching slightly, silently questioning him. When he didn’t make a move toward you, you let your eyes flit back to the people directly around you.

The room was packed, music seeping in from the speaker in the living area - muffled but still loud enough that when an unfamiliar but fairly handsome boy approached you, you had to lean into him to hear what he was saying.

You placed your cup down beside you, hand coming up to tuck your hair behind your ear as if it would help you hear better. Really, though, the move was to expose the bare skin of your shoulder to Steve, who’s eyes were still burning into you from his spot across the room.

It was kind of distracting, honestly, trying to focus on this other boy’s words when all you could think about was how much fucking longer is it gonna take him to get over here?

You decided to try and hurry him along, suddenly impatient and borderline irritated as the girl’s hands continued to wander down Steve’s arm, her fingers intertwining with his.

You waited a beat until the boy in front of you - Johnny, or maybe Joey? - finished his sentence before dipping your head back and laughing softly, your hand coming to rest on his shoulder as you leaned closer into him.

You didn’t even look back in Steve’s direction. Instead, you let this other boy offer to take you outside for some fresh air. He held a hand out to you to help you down from the counter, which you accepted with a smile.

Your feet had only just steadied themselves on the glossy, tiled floor when you heard a shrill and highly offended “What the hell, Harrington?” come from across the room. At the same time, a stream of people gathered in front of you, making their way back in from the terrace and by the time they had passed by and out of your way, Steve was gone, leaving the disappointed blonde standing with a hand on her hip.

“Hey,” The voice came from behind you a few seconds later, lips against your ear, one hand on your waist and startling you slightly as you spun to face him.

Your eyes trailed downwards, from his dark eyes down to his oh so familiar mouth, then his chest before catching the glint of his belt buckle and retreating back up again. You crossed your arms in front of your chest, a slight roll of your eyes as you leaned back against the counter.

“Can I help you, Harrington?”

“C’mon,” Steve drawled dramatically, tilting his head back before dropping it forward again. “You’re still mad at me?”

“I’m not mad.” You countered, trying to seem unbothered.

“You sure? ‘Cause you seem mad.”

“Did you just come over here to argue with me about whether or not I’m mad at you, or was there something else you wanted? Because I was actually in the middle of something.” You gestured in the direction of… Justin? No, Jeremy? who had begun to slowly retreat back towards the crowd after Steve barged his way in.

“Just you.”

“I- what?” You asked, exasperated as confusion knitted your brows together.

“You asked if there was something else I wanted.” He replied with a shrug. “There isn’t. Just you.”

Your heart was suddenly hammering in your chest, a flush of heat warming your cheeks and you cursed yourself for not being able to control how your body responded to his words.

“What about your friend back there?” You gestured with a nod of your head in the direction of the girl who had been all over him just a few minutes ago.

“What about her?”

“Steve.”

“Told you, not interested.”

“Really? Well maybe you should have told her that before she had her hand halfway down the front of your pants.” You scolded, moving to step around him.

You’d barely taken two steps when Steve’s hand wrapped itself around your wrist, tugging you gently back in his direction. Your back collided with his chest, warm and solid against you and you found yourself relaxing into his hold without thinking twice.

He brought a hand up to slide your hair over your shoulder, his lips ghosting against the shell of your ear as he spoke.

“Look, I know I was an idiot, alright?” He confessed, voice hushed for only you to hear. “I should’ve just been honest with you about how I felt from the start.”

Your eyes fell closed, the other boy long forgotten and lost in the crowd, not that you cared in the slightest.

Steve’s fingers danced along the side of your neck, pushing your hair out of the way, his lips brushing against the skin there as he spoke. His other hand was secure on your waist, holding you upright as you all but melted into him, eyes fluttering closed.

“Although, you haven’t exactly been honest either.”

Your eyes immediately blinked open, your body straightening against his and pulling forward out of his hold.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” You replied defensively, spinning to face him.

“Hey, hey, no. Don’t get mad again, please. I just meant, this is a two way street, y’know? You could have come to me and just told me how you felt.”

You laughed out loud, staring at him in disbelief for a second before turning on your heel and heading for the door.

“Jesus Christ,” Steve muttered under his breath, head dipped back to stare at the ceiling for a second before taking off after you into the backyard.

He followed you around the pool, hopping over scattered deck chairs and discarded beer bottles, calling your name under the hazy glow of string lights dangling from tree tops and through the mist of steam rising from the heated pool.

He called your name again, a little more desperate this time and when his hand landed on your shoulder, you stopped dead and turned to face him.

“You’re kidding right? Me, tell you how I feel? As if it hasn’t been painfully obvious since we were 14 years old?”

You were yelling, hands pushing at his chest and he let you, realising that he’d struck a nerve.

“I’m so fucking stupid.” You half-laughed, not to Steve but to yourself, hands swiping at the tears that were now spilling hot and fast from your eyes as you turned your back to him to avoid the heavy pressure of his gaze. “I knew it. I knew this was gonna happen. That first night I let you kiss me? I should have stopped it right then. I never should have let it get this far. I mean, God, we’ve been sleeping together for months now, and clearly it means nothing to you.”

You sensed him step forward behind you, your hands still over your face as you felt his palm come to rest on your shoulder and you jerked away from his touch.

“Don’t. Please.” You pleaded, sounding as broken as you felt.

“Hey, hey, look at me.” Steve spoke, soft and reassuring and familiar and all you wanted to do was turn and fall into his chest. Have him press a kiss to the top of your head and tell you everything was gonna be okay, even if it wasn’t.

He didn’t make another attempt to touch you, or move any closer, but he also didn’t step away. You could feel the heat radiating from him as it warmed your back, and when he spoke again you could feel the words etch themselves onto the back of your neck.

“If you think I’m above begging, I’m not. Please, look at me.”

You took a second to steady your breath, wiping the last of the tears from your lashes and turning to face him.

“What you just said, it isn’t true.” Steve spoke into the quiet, one hand reaching out to tip your chin upwards, eyes finally meeting.

“You mean everything to me. This - whatever it is - between us? It’s the only thing that matters to me.”

“Steve, please don’t say that just because it’s what you think I wanna hear-“

“I’m not. It’s the truth.”

The hand that had been holding your head up toward him slid around your jaw, cupping your cheek as his thumb traced the curve of your bottom lip and your eyes fluttered shut as you took a shaky step forward to meet him.

“Cards fully on the table? No more bullshit pretending or avoiding the truth just because it scares us?” Steve had both hands on your face now, tipping your head back slightly as he looked down at you, your hands taking hold of his forearms as if they were the only thing keeping you upright. You nodded, breathless and terrified and excited all at once.

“I love you. I'm in love with you. Always have been. Pretty sure I always will be.”

Your breath blew out between your lips, soft but heavy and suddenly your whole body felt lighter. Your grip on his arms tightened, feeling like the only thing cementing you to the ground.

“I wanna be with you. No one else.”

As Steve’s words kept coming, your pulse quickened and your eyes fluttered closed when his forehead came down to rest against yours.

“Your turn,” This time when he spoke, his lips skimmed your temple and a shiver ran the length of your spine, setting your whole body alight.

Suddenly, you were pushing up onto your toes, your lips pressed against his and pulling him down toward you. Steve’s hand dropped your waist and tugged you closer until you were both moulded together, swallowing each other’s gasps and promises, and the other wound itself in your hair at the back of your head.

“I wanna hear you say it.” He breathed against your lips, breath ragged and his hold on you tight. “Please, baby. Just tell me.”

“I,” You began, lungs desperate for air but your lips desperate for him. “I love you, Steve Harrington. So much.”

You reached up, tugging on his wrist and sliding his hand down from your hair until his palm was splayed against your throat. He looked down at you, eyes ablaze and you nodded, bottom lip pulled between your teeth when he squeezed slightly, experimentally.

“Fuck,” he breathed out as he watched your eyes roll back, your body pushing against his in attempt to be even closer.

“Upstairs?” You asked, your eyes flickering to the darkened window on the top floor.

“You sure?” He asked, but you were already pulling him along behind you as you headed back inside.

You slipped your way through the crowd, nodding and smiling at the familiar faces as you went, Steve’s fingers still laced with yours as he followed behind. You lead him upstairs, and along a hallway crowded with people waiting for the bathroom until you reached the spare room at the very end.

You pushed your way inside, dragging Steve in behind you but before you even had the chance to switch the light on, your back collided with the door and his mouth was back on yours. It was more urgent this time, the kisses almost bruising as his hands ran up the sides of your body, tongue licking into your mouth and setting your body on fire. You pushed at his jacket, forcing it off his shoulders before tugging impatiently at the hem of his sweater.

“I need you to fuck me, Steve, please. Need it so bad.” You breathed against his ear and he nodded immediately, spinning you around and walking you backwards until the back of your knees collided with the mattress. You shuffled up the bed, sinking down into the mattress as he settled himself above you.

The dress you’d been wearing seemed practically scandalous now as it pooled around your hips, and it took Steve a minute to pull his eyes from the smooth expanse of your bare thighs, his hand sliding up and under the material to feel for the lace of your underwear.

“Fuck,” he muttered into the curve of your neck as his head fell forward, fingertips tracing the edge of black lace.

“Steve, please,” it was a whine punctuated with a kiss and whispered against his ear as you tilted your hips up, desperate for more pressure from his hands.

He pulled at the top of your dress in response, lips dropping to your chest, mouthing at the soft curves of your breasts, his tongue working you into frenzy when he reached your nipple.

Your hands which had previously been in his hair and scratching at his back dropped to the front of his jeans, one hand palming him over the denim as the other pulled clumsily at the button.

“Jesus Christ,” he groaned, pushing his hips down into your hand and cursing at the pleasure that shot through him in response.

“You gotta stop that or I’m gonna come in my pants,” he half-laughed against your mouth, tongue dipping back in briefly, deep and filthy.

“Hurry up and take them off then,” You grinned in response, loving how he was so ready to fall apart for you.

You made quick work of discarding your underwear - careful to slip them off before Steve tore them at the hip like the last pair - as he kicked off his jeans and underwear.

He settled back above you, one forearm caging you in as he braced himself, the other hand dropping between your legs and he groaned when he felt how wet you were for him already.

You hissed at his touch, hitching one leg higher around his waist and arching slightly as you breathed out another command for him to please hurry up.

Once he was inside you, mouth on yours, one hand steadying your hips as he rocked in and out of you, nothing else mattered. Your nails clawed at his back, fingers slipping into his hair and pulling hard when he hit a particularly good rhythm.

“Oh my God, Steve, fuck, yes, that’s it, I’m gonna-“

Your vision went white suddenly, legs numb and trembling around his waist and when he came a thrust or two later, his mouth was on yours, swallowing each other’s sounds.

You lay there for a while, head on his chest as he traced lines and patterns across the bare skin of your back, over your shoulder and down your arms until you were dangerously close to falling asleep.

“Lemme take you home, hm?” Steve spoke softly into your hair, a soft kiss pressed into the top of your head.

“Can we go to your place? ‘Wanna sleep in your bed.” You mumbled sleepily, lips ghosting across his throat.

“Sure. Whatever you want.” He replied, slipping out from underneath you gently as he sat up and began pulling his clothes back on.

No one batted an eyelid when you both re-appeared a while later, lips still kiss bitten, hair messy and hand in hand.

#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington fic #stranger things #stranger things fic #steve harrington smut #steve harrington x reader smut

977 notes · View notes

ragingstillness · 1 year

Text

Thinking about how delightfully insufferable Rebecca will get to be to the press once she’s married to Ted. “Mrs. Welton-Lasso how does your second husband compare to your first?” “Oh I’d never degrade my husband by comparing him to a sack of shit” “Mrs. Welton-Lasso how does your marriage affect the way you run your club?” “Everyone always tells us that we were acting married before we were, our strategies for the club remain the same” “Mrs. Welton-Lasso what do you say to those who think you shouldn’t have worn white to your wedding?” “What occurred during my first marriage didn’t count as sex” “Mrs. Welton-Lasso why didn’t you let any press cover your wedding other than The Independent?” “You all put in so much work covering my first marriage I figured I’d give you a break with my second” “Mrs. Welton-Lasso why did you not take your husband’s name?” “Do you people not read your own writing? I did take his name, I just added it to mine” “Mrs. Welton-Lasso what song did you walk down the aisle to?” “Never gonna give you up by Rick Astley.” “You’re joking.” “I am not.”

Oh and Ted is no better but in a different way. “Mr. Welton-Lasso what did you think of Jaime Tartt’s performance in the last match?” “Jaime did great. Did you know it was my wife who suggested I let him play left midfielder? She’s so smart” “Mr. Welton-Lasso why did you let your wife put her last name first?” “She owns the club” “Mr. Welton-Lasso, is it true that Roy Kent cried after you won last night’s match?” “Well I can’t speak for Roy but if he did cry he was probably just remembering my wedding. He definitely cried then. So did I, I cried a ton. My wife had to use her train to mop up my tears” “Mr. Welton-Lasso how do you think West Ham is doing these days?” “I’ve heard the guy who owns the team is a bit of a prick, as y’all say” “Mr. Welton-Lasso why did you do the Carlton when Colin scored that goal?” “Force of habit, my niece-in-law loves it. I tried to get my wife to do it once but I forgot she was wearing her nice heels and she almost broke an ankle. I sure was in the doghouse for that one.”

#Ted lasso #rebecca welton #Tedbecca

163 notes · View notes

black-tenacles · 7 months

Text

Hello, dear ones! I came back!

Today again with graphics for @ilitiaforever and her "Nobis", which I love. The artwork depicts Emma Drake, Riot and Carlton's daughter. I drew her in several shots at different ages. Not much is known about Emma in the fanfic, so I used my imagination and added a few elements to how I imagine her. I really like the idea of Emma being able to turn her hair into tentacles. However, this is my invention and please do not attribute it to events in fanfiction, as it is not yet known what abilities Emma has. I am very satisfied with my drawing and the progress I have made in drawing during these six months, I hope that in the next six months it will be even better :) The relationship between Carlton and Riot and their little Emma will definitely appear in my drawings more than once, because I love this family that Ilitia created.

If anyone is interested, I highly recommend reading "Nobis". Link below:

#venom #symbiote #riot #carlton drake #Emma Drake #riot love carlton #venom fanart #nobis #ilitia #Ilitia forever #blacktentacles #ao3 #fanart #mpreg #my art #comics

84 notes · View notes

imdoingmybest0 · 10 months

Text

Bob was in a Frat??

..............................................................................................................................

Bob Floyds "Brothers" from college come for a visit to see Bobs new life in the Navy. The dagger crew find out that the man they nicknamed 'Baby' used to be quite a legend before they met him. Robert "Bob/Baby" Floyd x fem!character 18+, Minor DNI. Mature Themes, mentions of sexual exploits and alcohol consumption (all 21+)

..............................................................................................................................

Bob Floyd is a shy man, always the first to offer to be the DD and the type of guy to pull a drunk persons phone off of the bar, before Penny notices. Well maybe shy isn't the word to describe him. Quiet might be better, he's content to sit on a bar stool shelling peanuts shittily into a cup in his lap and speaking to whomever approaches him.

Which is why when the Dagger squad found out Bob was in a frat in college came as such a surprise. The thought of Bob rushing a frat, pounding down beer, and flirting with everyone in his vicinity is hard to picture. But here sat four of his 'brothers', chatting with Bobs new family surrounding a pool table.

"Yes sir!" said, Carlton, one of the frat brothers who was stood talking to of course, Hangman, "Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Bobby was actually the one who roped me into joining." he continued grinning at Bob who was leaning one hip on the green, felt table face red with embarrassment.

"Oh really," Jake said with a mischievous look towards Bob, "what made you wanna do something like that Bobby?", Hangman drew out the nickname in a teasing tone.

Bob shrugged, "Seemed like any easy way to make friends and add onto my resume."

Carlton laughed, "Thats not what you told me Bobby! I remember you saying 'Dude, think about it, beer and girls.' I don't think you were thinking with the right head back then, man."

"Now hold on," Jake cuts in, "that's where this tale gets too tall for me. I could believe that 'Baby on Board' here used to get hammered on cheap beer and maybe even saying 'dude'. But Bob? Chasin' skirts? That's unrealistic." He laughs lightheartedly, and Carlton joins in. Bobs face remains red.

"Well come one, cut him some slack." it's another one of Bobs 'brothers', TJ. "If I remember correctly, Bob could take home the first girl he took a shot with.", TJ claps a hand over Bobs shoulder. "Hell, one time I saw him walking a girl to the door in the morning looking like she was still comin' back down from heaven."

Another brother, Harris cut in, "But whenever they shut that door shut, you'd think she was in hell."

Rooster almost choked on his drink, "You're kidding me. Our Baby here had game?"

Bob smirks at Rooster, "What do you mean, had?"

Hangman cackles, "Oh come off it Bobby, I've never even seen you approach a girl, much less take one home."

"Well yea," says Bobs "I'm to busy takin care of you drunks to try."

"Oh really?" says Coyote, "How about we make a bet, if you can get a girls number in the next ten minutes, I'll buy all of us a round. If you can't, you buy."

Bob hands the pool cue he'd been holding to James ,the last of his frat pals who gave him a winning look, knowing either way they would be getting free drinks out of it. "Might wanna go make your order Coyote." Bob says as he makes his way into the crowd of patrons.

The group of men watch for a moment, occasionally seeing the tall, bespectacled man appear between pillars and people. He's gone for a moment before Harris says, "Three o'clock, the one in the pink and the one with the curly hair, at the high-tops." The group looks to see Bob, forearms casually resting on one of the tall chairs speaking to the two women.

He was turned so that the group by the pool tables could see when his lips moved but not enough where they could make out what he was saying to the two of them. He was leaning on the chair but made sure to give both of the women personal space. He casually pointed to one of their wrists, the woman touched her beaded bracelet and started talking quickly with a smile on her face. Bob nodded occasionally while she spoke and smiled when she made eye contact with him. He pulled out his phone, and showed the girls his lock screen, they both made 'awe' faces and smiled up at him.

He made a small gesture to himself, and the to the door, presumably to the port down the road. He nodded his head slightly to one side while speaking and the girls laughed. He gave a shy smile to the girl with the bracelet and adjusted his glasses and said something else. She blushed and glanced to her friend, who nodded excitedly.

Then Bob was pulling his phone out of his pocket and handing it to her, she quickly typed something into it, and handed it back to Baby Bobby Floyd.

Bob said one or two more words to the women and gave a small wave, before making his way back around the bar towards the pool tables.

Hangman slapped his hand on Carlton's shoulder as Bob approached in a swirl of whistles and congratulations with a shy smile and blush adorning his face, "I guess we are buyin' you boys a round then, huh."

..............................................................................................................................

A/N; I tried to make the two ladies pretty neutral so its easier to picture anyone as them :) I did kind of intend for the Bracelet and Bobs Lock screen to be a TSwift bracelet and a photo of Bob and his twin sister at an Eras concert but it could easily be a pet rescue thing and a photo of his pet, or whatever you'd like :D

- okay, bye, thanks for reading, luv u <3

#bob floyd #BobFloydoneshot #TGM #robert 'bob' floyd #bob floyd x female character #top gun maverick #top gun fanfiction #bobfloydisagentleman #bob fucks #minors fuck off #top gun fic #tgm smut #tgm x reader

121 notes · View notes

fanneyxxx · 1 month

Text

My little #OoD Au hcs:

About the whole AU:

- Both are in the yakuza, Kenshi is the oyabun (the leader of this whole organization). This organization is spread all over Tokyo and every other gang is afraid of them.

- They deal with all types of crime except r*pe, because Kenshi considers it unforgivable, Johnny too. No matter how dangerous they are, they never k1ll innocents.

- One day, Johnny was in danger while leaving a bar drunk, and Kenshi saved his life. They stayed together and it turned out that Johnny suffered from depression because his wife left him. He was in Tokyo because of filming. Slowly, Kenshi fell in love with Johnny and started helping him in every way he can, so lovesick Johnny was slowly absorbed into Kenshi's fledgling organization. Everything was kept secret.

- Kenshi and Johnny are both very rich, so they live in a huge house in a hidden part of Tokyo.

- Kenshi taught Johnny how to help him run the business, and it turned out that he could also be of great use as an assassin due to Johnny's brutal fists.

- Johnny gave up his entire career for Kenshi. He disappeared from the TV screens and forgotted his name with the wider world.

- He also changed his name to Johnny Cage from John Carlton because of that

- Kenshi is not completely blind, but he needs Sento's help to see normally

OoD Johnny:

Backstory:

Johnny was an actor, he also had a wife who left him. After that, Johnny tried to move on by filming in new places, so he chose Tokyo. Just like other usual evenings, one day he got drunk there and got into a fight with a couple of street guys, who beat him bloody. Kenshi noticed this on the way home and immediately went to help Johnny. He took him home and started treating the wounds that Johnny got. He stayed with him all night, not knowing what to do, and the next morning they discussed what had happened. Johnny was very grateful to him and Kenshi insisted that they keep in touch. Months then years pass like this and Johnny slowly got into Kenshi's heart and then into the yakuza too.

Personality:

- crazy villain but still emotional

- He completely changed after meeting Kenshi

- He makes decisive and well-planned decisions, he is actually a genius

- Funny and always joking in serious situations

- Deep down there's an insecure John Carlton but just very very deep down

- He gets angry easily, and when he's angry, he creates a lot of drama

- He never cared about homophobes, he always knew that he was bi, a very confident and romantic person

- His love language is physical touch, but he is easily gets flustered when Kenshi flirts with him with gentle and kind words

Habits:

- Not a morning person

- he loves to bathe with Kenshi or just alone, I imagine they have a huge bathroom with a big gold ornate bathtub and a chandelier, plants everywhere. He thinks its so fancy.

- Definitely a cuddler, but he doesn't talk about it because it's not a badass thing

- He likes to party with or without Kenshi

- His fav drink is malibu with pineapple juice

- He also does the paperwork since Kenshi can't see properly, he also loves cooking

- Kenshi is usually very busy, so he also does the laundry when the cleaners can't do it

- He never makes mistakes when it comes to m*rder. He doesn't proud of it but he loves Kenshi too much to care about these things.

- He is very harsh with people, even his own close friends in the gang

Clothes:

- He likes the color blue, but since Kenshi's fav is red, sometimes he wears red as well too

- He loves fur coats

OoD Kenshi:

Backstory:

He never had a lover as he was too busy trying to take over the organization from his father. He didn't want to be a gangster, but fate wanted it that way, which led to the fact that he became the most famous among the other gangs. When he met Johnny, something changed in him.

Personality:

- He is so badass like a true oyabun

- He knows no mercy, only because of Johnny he holds himself back sometimes

- He is better with words than actions

- He was born visually impaired, he hates that sometimes he needs help he finds it annoying (but there's Sento for him)

- hates pity ofc

- Not very emotional, only with Johnny. He thinks that in a profession like this, it is better to turn off your emotions sometimes.

Habits:

- he always preferred showering, but he loves bathing with Johnny for hours (he has to because Johnny wants the princess treatment)

- he has been smoking since he was 17 years old. Johnny only smokes when he is upset or when he just wants to be in heaven for a while

- He slept like a statue until now, but otherwise he likes to cuddle with Johnny late at night (he doesn't have a choice)

- morning person because he has a lot to do every day

- If he's not sending Johnny to take care of someone, he'll go with his katana himself

- A very silent killer, everyone is afraid of him

Clothes:

- He loves red, even his mansion is red themed and fancy

- in love with suits

Relationship:

- At first it was very new to Kenshi

- Johnny didn't fully trust Kenshi at first because he thought he would just take advantage of him. But Kenshi quickly showed him that he could trust him and that he loves him with all his heart

- Their love is sometimes very chaotic and romantic at the same time

- They form a very iconic pair among gangsters, many people only refer to them as the blue-red couple

- They are ready to die for each other at any time

- Kenshi never thought about whether he was gay or not, freestyle, he just fell in love

- Kenshi is the more dominant partner of the couple although it doesn't show, Johnny likes to take the lead when it comes to discussions with others

- Kenshi was obsessed with Johnny at first it was almost scary

- Both of them are crazy but so lovelydovley

Angst:

- Kenshi is often very busy and doesn't have time for Johnny, so Johnny feels ignored

- Kenshi also has a hard time showing his emotions, mostly only succeeding in bed

- Johnny doesn't like being called a wh*re (only likes it when Kenshi says it)

- Johnny only had one breakdown where he actually cried when he had a big fight with Kenshi

- Kenshi sometimes hates the things he has to sacrifice or do

Nsfw:

- Johnny is a power bottom and Kenshi is a top, obviously okay

- When they do it its never meaningless, Kenshi likes to show his love for Johnny

- definitely had hate sx

- Kenshi often speaks japanese when they're at it

- One of the things that made Johnny fall more hopelessly in love with Kenshi was the aftercare every time. Kenshi thinks that this is very important even after all the aggressiveness

- doesn't matter where are they

#mk1 #johnshi #mortal kombat #hc #fanfic

40 notes · View notes

katiekatdragon27 · 5 months

Text

To my other followers: I am so sorry.

To my two new followers: *comes out with silver platter* Here! Eat uuuuupppp~~~~

This! *slams fists on table then slams face on table* This GODFORSAKEN MOVIE HAS ALTERED MY BRAIN CHEMISTRY I'M NOT JOKING.

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT KIND OF "RECLAIMING MY CHILDHOOD TRAUMA" MINDEST MY BRAIN WAS ON BUT THE OBSESSION WITH THIS PIECE IF MEDIA IS ACTUALLY SCARING ME-

Most stuff below. Lots of rambling.

So. Flatland. It's a good book, and an amazing f*cking movie. I love this goddamned movie so much bro. It's not even like a "good" good movie I just really like it for no reason.

Some lore I have with this book, since I want to talk about it.

I watched this movie the first time when I was in 6th grade. It scared me so bad that I had nightmares about it for a week. I hated the style of the 2D world and was so scared about the amount of murder that I psychologically blocked it all out.

Now in the present (as an adult in college), my friend brought up the movie for us to watch during a movie night. I was way more excited to watch it than I thought I would be (cuz of my previous encounter with it and wanting to "reclaim" the movie), but we only got 4 minutes in before my other friends got bored and decided to watch something else. I sorta dropped it for a bit after that before @/goosesartblog posted their ONE - Flatland crossover and 10000 emotions flew over me. I then proceeded to watch it with my siblings, who also did not care about the movie.

Now, it has become a lifestyle of watching it every single day. Every. Single. Day. It's bad. I can't stop.

And it's on YouTube for free.

AND the book is on YouTube as an audiobook AND the actual PDF book is just there to read.

PLEASE. I NEED PEOPLE TO NOT BE NORMAL WITH ME.

Anyways, actual relevant doodles. These characters are A. Sphere (the objectively best character idgaf) and Carlton Cube(?). I saw something about them being John-locked and thought it was really funny. Also, I saw a meme about the two getting Starbucks or smth during the week I lingered, so here lol.

Some more doodles of concept stuff. Actual A. Square art and some style testing, Hex doodle, and more A. Sphere bc I love him so much. His ass is gay idk if you think I'm wrong just look at him.

Silly little idea I had about if Spherious *(the sphere from the other Flatland movie) and A. Sphere were in the same universe. It's unlikely, but I think Spherious would be the Messiah of 2000 and A. Sphere is the Messiah of 3000. They met at some point where their lives overlapped, and Spherious tried to give A. Sphere advice, to which he was completely ignored. A. Sphere's a bratty teen here and Spherious is a grandpa. They treat their apostles very differently.

Another silly idea I had was that when A. Sphere "died", he was actually picked up by a 4D being named A. Tesseract. He stays with her until the war is over in his dimension, and he is able to see A. Square one last time during his hallucination (that's why A. Sphere's innards are seen). Also also, A. Sphere learns how to treat people better b/c of A. Tesseract and the 4th dimensions' more liberal views on expression and gender. Development for the stupid shiny solid.

Thank you for looking at this mindless rambling. If anyone knows of more Flatland media, please send it to me I'm starving. Expect more, and have a great day :)

#flatland #flatland 2007 #flatland the movie #a sphere #a square #spherios #flatland oc??? kinda???#a. tesseract is mine ig #idk anymore lol #flatland spherious #carlton #hexagon #a sphere my beloved #he's so me #sorry for the shitty pictures my camera is being ass rn #i sincerely apologize for this cringe guys it will happen again #doodles #katiekatdragon27

43 notes · View notes

obsidiancreates · 2 months

Text

One Undead To Another (Chapter 15)

(An intermediary chapter)

“It’s kind of adorable,” Juliet whispers, pulling out her phone to take a picture.

“They’re grown men, O’Hara. One of them is a corpse.”

“But they’re curled up like kittens,” she whispers back as she takes a few pictures. Shawn twitches a little in his sleep, pressing closer to Gus on the couch. His mouth is slightly parted, a little trickle of drool coming out. Gus is shivering slightly in his sleep, but he too curls closer to Shawn.

“Well, you’re the one with cats. You wake Guster up.”

Juliet rolls her eyes, pockets her phone, and reaches out to gently shake Gus’s shoulder. “Gus. Wake up.”

“Nah ye’,” he mumbles in his sleep, weakly swatting at the air. “Snow d’y.”

“You’re in your thirties, Gus,” Juliet gently reminds. “No snow days.”

“Mmm.”

Juliet moves to shake Shawn in the hopes he can wake Gus up… and pauses. His eyes are… puffy.

She looks back at Gus. His eyes are puffy too, now that she thinks about it. She’d figured the dried tear tracks were just because of the whole chest-bruise incident, but…

She looks back at Shawn, leans in, examines.

“Carlton.” She looks up. “Maybe we let them sleep a little longer.”

“O’Hara, I already have to babysit one-”

“They were crying.”

“Guster cries all the time.”

“Shawn was crying too.”

Lassiter stiffens. He leans in to look for himself. “... Crap.”

“They need some rest.”

“... Fine. I need to check the gun I lent Guster anyway.”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When morning comes Henry tries to call Shawn.

It rings, rings, rings–

Voicemail.

“You better not be on the run,” Henry grumbles as he gets into his truck. He drives to Shawn’s apartment and knocks. Nothing.

He drives to the Psych office. The first thing he notices is the large crack in not only the glass of the front door, but the wood. There’s a dent in the outside wall too– undoubtedly and unmistakably made by the door handle. How did that happen? Was Shawn maybe kidnapped by that cult? Did they intimidate him into keeping quiet? Not possible– even Henry can’t intimidate his son into keeping his mouth shut when it’s important.

He walks inside.

Freezes.

He walks back out to try again.

… No, same sight as before.

Shawn and Gus are sleeping on each other on the couch– a little unexpected, but not entirely unusual. It reminds Henry of all those sleepovers when they were kids, many nights of tucking of a single blanket around both of them while the TV played and they laid wrapped around each other on the couch, still in their day clothes. Shawn always slept best on those nights.

What is shocking, enough so to make Henry question his sanity for a moment, is Juliet and Lassiter both asleep at the desks. Lassiter is sitting up at Gus’s desk, head tilted back just slightly and closed eyes the only real sign he’s not awake, while Juliet has her head in her arms laying down on Shawn’s desk.

“What the hell is going on?!”

Shawn bolts awake with a shout, facing away from Henry, and Gus shoots up with only a second delay. Lassiter startles awake reaching straight for his gun, and Juliet jerks her head up with a groan as she rubs at her sore neck.

Henry notes Gus going wide-eyed, then looking between him and Shawn. Gus whispers something and Shawn puts his hands up to his face, waiting a second before lowering them and checking for approval.

Henry half expects white powder when Shawn turns around– drugs would make this whole situation make much more sense– but instead when Shawn turns around he looks…

Fine.

Better than fine. Henry can’t remember his son ever looking so well-rested, in fact. Which makes this worse.

“So.” Henry crosses his arms. “You’re all sick, huh?”

Gus raises his hand to fake a cough– and lowers it again when Henry glares.

“Let me make sure I have this right. Your suspects’ house burns down. Shawn comes in saying you’re all sick, just– out of the blue. His only symptom is a scratchy throat. Then, I hear while working late that Shawn brought in a kidnapper after he was supposed to go home and rest. And now I find all four of you here, in the Psych office, healthy as a horse.”

“That saying makes no sense,” Shawn pipes up, and his voice is also fine. No rasp, no crackling, nothing. “Horses are never healthy, everyone knows this. Plus, you said a singular horse, and there are clearly four– four? … Four! Of us here.””

“Spencer,” Lassiter hisses. Shawn holds up his hand to shut the detective up. It works by inciting sheer indignation at the audacity, something Lassiter is somehow still taken aback by every time.

“Listen, Dad, I can explain. I felt better so I took a private case, and then I called everyone here to go over our case again even though they all wanted to keep resting.”

“And the detectives just… agreed.”

“Lassie’s a workaholic and Jules can’t resist my sweet sweet smile.”

“Shawn.”

“What are you trying to imply anyway, Dad? What, you think I burned their house down? I didn’t even know anything happened until you said it just now!”

“I think you were there. I think these three know something about it.”

“Well, you’re wrong. And apparently, our case is done, so you’re wrong and telling us we won’t get paid. You know, most parents just bring their kids orange juice when they’re home sick.”

“You’re not home sick. You’re in your office, picture of health.”

“Except for the migraine I have now.” Shawn takes off his jacket and wraps it around his head. “Since when do you breathe so loud? You should get that checked.”

“The migraine trick isn’t working today, Shawn. And you two.” Henry points at Juliet and Lassiter, who have started trying to slink out the back way. They both freeze. “I won’t tell The Chief about this, not until I know what the hell my son has dragged you both into, but know I’ll be watching.”

“You don’t have authority over us,” Lassiter scoffs as he turns around.

“You think that’ll stop him? I’m in my mid-thirties, he’s still convinced I can’t visit someone’s house without setting it on fire. He’s not exactly lenient, Lassie.”

“So you were there.”

“... No.”

Henry locks eyes with his son. He looks for any giveaway, any tells– but Shawn has gotten good. His eyes are only a window if that window has been painted over, boarded up, and then put behind a new inner wall. They’re empty– almost dead.

Henry gets a shiver up his spine.

Something in his son’s eyes is wrong.

What the hell happened the other night?

“Have it your way.” He turns, heart beating just a little faster than normal. He’s not afraid. Of anything, especially not of Shawn. For Shawn, sure. He’s afraid for Shawn every single day, waiting for a body bag and a report about his son having run his mouth off to the wrong person this time around. But not of Shawn. Despite all of Henry’s lessons, his son isn’t intimidating. He’s not scary. He’s not dangerous.

… He’s also not so…

Dead-eyed.

He slams the door of his truck closed, and just before he pulls out he could sweat he hears Shawn shout something.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“AHH!” Shawn grips his hands over his ears as the truck door outside slams shut, the old engine screams to life, and the radio blares as his father pulls away. His hearing had… evened out, for lack of a better term, the night before. After–

His throat is dry again.

Not as bad as last time. But he’s hungry this morning. Maybe because Lassie and Jules came in sometimes last night, and then his dad visited, and he was so close to Gus, and all of their tastes are swirling in the air like the best cocktail he could ever dream of–

He clamps his mouth shut and stops breathing. As freaky as it is to not breathe and be fine, he has to admit it’s useful. It wouldn’t need to be useful if he wasn’t hungry, and he wouldn’t be hungry if he wasn’t a vampire, and if he wasn’t a vampire he would still need to breathe–

Gus taps his arm, giving him a concerned look. Right. Big breakdown last night. Promises he would speak up when he needed help. Lots of crying and opening up while he shoved some information so deep down inside himself it’s probably carved into his bones now.

He clears his throat. “So, uh… about my dad–”

“We know you were just doing what you had to, Shawn,” Jules says softly. “We know your dad wouldn’t be… receptive, to this whole thing.”

“Hell, I’m still wondering if I’m willing to be in on it.”

“Lassie. At this point you could only be out of it if you got amnesia.” Or if Shawn made him forget. Can he do that? If he can make someone calm down, go away, follow him… can he make someone forget something? Or… remember something not real? That’d be pretty useful, actually, if someone ever catches him.

… Catches him doing what? He’s going to get blood from clients, so… nothing bad anymore. It’ll be all above board. Smooth sailing for the rest of eternity lonely eternity–

He sucks in a breath as another wave of longing crashes over him. Smooth whiskey, rich warmth, sweet honey, bitter aftertaste, they all assault him with equal force to the longing as he breathes in. It leaves him dizzy. He falls back onto the couch. He thinks he’s gasping. He should stop. The scents and tastes keep drawing in. His throat is dryer and dryer and hungrier and hungrier–

Slap!

“Carlton!”

“He wasn’t responsive!”

“You can’t just slap him!”

“I know that now, god–!” Shawn stares as Lassie grips his wrist and flaps his hand in pain.

Lassie slapped him. It hurt Lassie. He feels the warmth of Lassie’s hand still lingering on his skin. He doesn’t feel the sting.

“Shawn.” Gus is shaking his shoulder. Shawn blinks. He feels… floaty.

“Shawn, what happened?” Gus shakes him again. “Was that a vision or something?”

“Uh…” Shawn almost takes a breath, but the first taste hits his… not even his tongue. Just hits him. He stops breathing again. “Yeah. Vision.”

“Of what?” Jules is wrapping Lassie’s hand. Did it hurt that bad? “That was intense, Shawn. You just started hyperventilating and staring at nothing.”

“Uh…” Shawn looks around the room for anything to center a fake vision around, but his eyes keep going to pulse points. He swallows. “It was– it was hazy. I couldn’t make it out well, I think– I think it might’ve been a murder. Drowning.”

“Okay, well, we’ll… call you if we get anything?” Jules kneels down, looking up to meet Shawn’s eyes. “Do you… want that?”

“Yes.” The answer jumps out of him without allowing time for a thought.

“Shawn.” That’s Gus’s scolding tone. Where would Shawn be without years of that tone? Probably dead– well, more dead. Less dead? Is he more dead or less dead as a vampire? Probably less. It doesn’t feel like Less.

“Gus–”

“We talked last night about you taking some time to process this.”

“Well, I just had a vision of someone drowning, so clearly the spirit realm disagrees.” Why is he fighting for this? He did agree he needs to spend time processing. It felt like it wasn’t him agreeing. Has he actually done or said anything since this all started? These kinds of questions are why he needs time away. He can’t take time away. He shouldn’t distract himself and never think about the problem. He can’t think about the problem.

“Spencer. Stay out of the station, get a handle on all of this, or I’ll tie you to your bed myself.”

“Oh Lassie. It’s funny how you think that’s a threat.”

“Joke all you want, Spencer. But I mean it. I… don’t want to see you… like them.”

“Like the– … Oh.” The cult. Heartless. Guiltless. Inhuman. “Lassie, man, I won’t… I already said I want you guys to help me not fall into that, right?”

“Yeah. And then you spent a whole day alone because you convinced us to leave.”

“I didn’t mean–”

“Guster, are you feeling up for watching him today?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. If your… vision, turns into something real… we’ll think about calling you.”

Shawn’s not sure if he’s relieved or not.

#psych #psychusa #psych usa #psych 2006 #fanfic #my attempts at fanfic

31 notes · View notes