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twoidiotwriters1 · 4 years

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Starcrossed Losers X (Josh Wheeler xReader)

A/N: How was your Christmas? Hopefully, it went better than Y/N’s day on this chapter lmao don’t forget to leave feedback! <3

Words: 4,947

Warnings: Injuries and swearing, feelings and stuff.

Previous chapter // Next chapter

Today I’m gonna tell you a little story about how I’m full of shit. Delicately divided into three parts for your enjoyment.

It’s pretty much all the same, the only thing that changes is the person.

Alex.

Josh.

Let’s start with the first part, shall we? Which is called:

Confusion.

Before the nuke, my life was as normal and sad as any random teenager would have it. I was a student with good parents who didn’t really understand me, but they tried. A sibling, friends, likings and feelings. It was the latter what caused me trouble.

Alex and I met in elementary school. He sat down next to me and we shared our undying love for Adventure Time and Treasure Planet. During years our friendship consisted on knowing all of our embarrassing stories, coping our answers on every test and a bunch of firsts. He was there when I got my first period, and I witnessed Alex’s first drunken night with friends.

It was when I talked to Maya that everything kind of started to fall apart.

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My ears are buzzing, I feel my eyes dry and irritated. I know I passed out although I don’t feel like I slept, if anything, I’m more tired than before. I try to push myself up but my wrist hurts and I’m not strong enough. I fall against a thin pillow and only then I look around.

There’s nothing but cages with teens, I recognize some from school. Judging by the smell, we are in Hoyles’ fabric. I was right, this was Baron Triumph’s home.

My hand pulsates as a reminder of how screwed I am.

‘Is it broken or is it just sprained?’ The light sucks in here, I can’t really tell how it looks so I inhale sharply, ‘Okay, then...’

I move my wrist slowly to one side and then the other. I feel pain, lots of pain. But I can move it, so chances are is not broken. As long as I don’t move, I’ll be fine. I struggle to sit with only one hand as support and notice my skates are missing and my knee has a huge bruise on it.

I know I’ll die.

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We were thirteen at the moment. It wasn’t like I knew right away that I liked Alex, I just got slightly upset every time he would hold hands with Amy and sad whenever he would cancel plans to hang out with her. You can imagine how betrayed I felt.

“You’re just jealous,” Maya sighs, laying upside down on my bed.

“Of who?” I ask in amusement, “I already told you, I don’t want a boyfriend.”

“You want Alex.”

I laugh, kicking her leg playfully.

“That’s a lie. And dumb,” I reply matter-of-factly, “he’s just my friend!”

“Exactly. Please, you’re too shy to admit you like him but we all know.”

“Liar,” I sing, “Alex and Amy are cute together and all, just annoys me that he doesn’t want to spend more time with us.”

“That doesn’t sound like you’re crushing at all,” She rolls her eyes, smirking.

“Shut up!” I complain, “that doesn’t mean I like him!”

It didn’t... right? I started to recapitulate all of our time together. Alex was a great boy. He was good to me and my family loved him, why was so weird to consider him as a possible love interest? Maybe Maya was right. I did like him and this was my way cope with it.

“Maya,” I say under my breath, “what if I do like him?”

“Oh my god,” She stands up abruptly, “you do!”

“What do I do?” I ask in horror, “I don’t wanna ruin it! He’s my best friend!”

“Who cares?” She replies, “It’s time you do something about it!”

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Something falls inside the bucket in front of me and I stand (with huge difficulty, since I only have one good hand and knee), when I get closer and grab a handful the smell grows stronger, so I drop the flakes on the ground in disgust.

“Am I supposed to eat this?” I ask out loud, “I’ll rather starve”

“You will,” Says a voice above me, “don’t be dramatic, Y/N. Eat up.”

I feel something close to panic when I recognize the voice.

“Maya?”

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After that I tried to understand what the fuck was going on. I couldn’t do anything until I knew my feelings for Alex.

You know how that turned out.

Nothing made sense, what was our friendship but something magical brought to me in order to end up with true romantic love, right? Well, I had opinions on that.

Our friendship was old as hell, Alex was constantly changing partners so you can tell why I was so against dating him. I decided that if my first love was going to hurt me, it would be anyone but Alex murphy.

Which takes us to the second part that I call:

That definitely isn’t love.

Let me tell you something, and I don’t mean to say this in order to make you sad, I do it so you’re not scared of going through the same thing (if you ever find yourself in a situation like this) and you can handle the shit like a champ.

Life will go on. Seriously, it hurts and oh, how tragic it is to lose someone so dear to your heart! But really, things like that will pass, and you’ll get through and life won’t even stop its course. You wanna know why? Cause it’s all so small, our tiny little lives won’t affect how the world moves outside our houses.

I know, that may sound awful, but to be honest, it’s also relieving. No matter how many mistakes you can make in your life, it won’t stop moving. That’s great, it means you won’t stop growing, you’ll get out of that hole sooner or later.

The feeling I got from that simple, chaste kiss with Alex confused my brain and got me all kinds of anxious about nothing. The only way I felt was guilty. I wanted to erase that moment from existence.

Okay, it was my fault too. I kissed him back, I didn’t know that was wrong until it was done! I told you already, I was confused as hell.

I had to quietly make my way out and go back to the way it used to be.

Then he broke up with Stuart and started to ask me if I wanted to go back to the old routine of watching movies together, or going to the mall only the two of us, just skipping school to spend time together... I happily accepted, thinking it was all platonic. The apocalypse came on the worst timing, we were part of a group that day by day became smaller until it was only the two of us.

I wanted to find my sister so badly that I left the thought aside to work with him as a team, then he had to ask me to leave town with him, start a new life together... Alex was holding on to an illusion that I knew it was bound to fail, so I put a hard stop to it. One that ended our friendship as well.

And that’s the reason why I ran away from him. My feelings couldn’t be reciprocated if I wanted to survive on this hell.

Sacrifices must be made when you’re facing the end of the world.

Then something amazing happened: I lived. I created a new life on my own, where I could do things my way and didn’t need any other person around. With the new life, my old wishes vanished, and so did my feelings for Alex, or anyone else who belonged with old, naive Vinchi.

------------------------------------------

Which brings me to the present, where I’m on big denial about one little thing: I may not be the same girl, but I still have the same heart, along with the same feelings, memories, and grudges.

“You still won’t talk to me?”

“You still trying after three hours of ignoring you?” I scoff, “leave me alone, Maya.”

“You’re acting like a child! I thought you understood why I left you and Alex to join the Cheeramazons”

“I understand that we weren’t important to you in the first place,” I reply bitterly.

“God, Y/N. It’s not like I did it to get away from you. I wanted protection and to learn some badass skills. The Cheeramazons offered both and to be honest, it was worth it.”

“If they were so good at protecting their people, then why are you here?”

“I went out looking for adventure. You know me, I was never one to enjoy routines.”

“Sure.”

“You’re on your own?”

“On this cage? Yeah... In general? Well, I’m with some kids... remember Wesley Fists?”

“What?” I hear her snicker, “How did you two end up together?”

“It’s a long story... all Josh’s fault.”

“Little Josh with the big truck?”

“Uh, no. Wheeler. I did a project with him once, you know? He used to wave at me in the halls whenever we passed by..?”

“I don’t remember him at all.”

“I figured,” I sigh, “Where are you anyway?”

“Judging by where your voice sounds... I think I’m above your cage”

“Well, don’t get too attached to the sound of my voice, I’ll be out of here soon”

“Why, you’re actually planning on starving?” She inquires, “Did your brain turn Ghoulie?”

“Look, I have a sprained wrist and a swollen knee, I’m not going anywhere on my own... but I have a backup. If Josh and Wesley weren’t caught...”

“What happened with Alex? Is he with you too?”

“None of your business, quitter.”

“Come on, Y/N...”

“You left us. I’m not engaging in any fun chats with you. You weren’t that interest to be a part of our group since the beginning so I don’t even know why I’m mad about it, it was a matter of time”

I know I sound too hard. She was supposed to be my friend, though. Never looked back when she got bored from our little group like it was all child’s play. Now she acts like it’s all cool? Nothing is cool. Nothing at all. I’m about to get eaten!

“Look, I’m sorry-”

“Shut up”

“Don’t be rude, I’m trying to-”

“Shut up! Can you hear that?” I lean closer to the cage’s door and stay silent, Maya following my advice and listening to the hurried steps coming from the hall.

“You know where the keys are?” A voice that I know well emerges from the dark, “Where are we going?”

“Josh?” I stand up surprisingly fast, “Is that you?”

“Y/N!” I hear him rushing towards me and suddenly his face is inches away from mine, barely illuminated, “You’re here! I only saw Wesley when I woke up and I thought you were taken by the Jocks”

“How did you get out of your cage?” I ask with incredulity, “Who are you talking to if it’s not Wesley?”

“A girl got me out, I drop my tweezers and she found them”

“Then get me out!”

“I can’t, they’re broken,” He apologizes, “but I’m going to get the keys and I’ll get you out, I promise.”

“On your own? You’re gonna get killed”

“Triumph just left, I have time,” He points at my leg, “How’s your knee?”

“It hurts. I also hurt my wrist but I don’t know if that happened after the grenade or when I fell,” I wanna act like I’m not scared, but my anxiety is eating me alive, “Josh please don’t go alone, please don’t do it”

“I’ll come back,” He insists, “but if I don’t, I wanna tell you... you became someone important to me, Y/N. Please don’t blame yourself if things go wrong, it was my turn to help you, I owe it to you.”

And without giving me time to reply, Josh leaves.

“Josh Wheeler,” Maya speaks up again, “I remember him now. Blue eyes and a funny smile, right?”

“Yeah,” I frown, still looking at the hall where he disappeared “that’s my stupid Josh.”

“Your Josh?” She asks in a suggestive voice, “alright, I get it now.”

“You get what?”

“He’s your new Alex. I bet you’re always doing nice things to keep him in a good mood and he never gives back cause well, he doesn’t have to. Why would he? When you keep on giving things away for free. See, that’s the sort of stuff the Cheeramazons teach you to throw away, you don’t need boys to survive,” She states.

“He is not Alex,” I correct in irritation, “and I learned that on my own, thank you. It’s funny, you forgot to mention that I also did a lot of things to keep you happy.”

“Is that supposed to help your case?” She sighs, “I know you’re hurt for what I did to you but you won’t stop having your heart broken if you keep doing the same things”

“Joke’s on you, I already fixed that shit up,” I keep my eyes fixed on the hall, “Josh is just a friend.”

You and I know that isn’t true. Yet, is not a lie either.

Josh is just a friend, I have it under control. All I need is to keep it to myself, no accidental kissing or falling into each other’s arms anymore. I don’t have feelings fighting to come out. I’m not thinking about how Josh said I was important to him.

Which takes us to part three:

Why don’t you just kick me in the face? It hurts less, thank you.

Ah, the pleasure it brings us to finally be free from inner guilt.

This part doesn’t have a flashback, cause you already read this part. I told Josh the story. Alex and I weren’t right together so I let him go. It hurt like a bitch but now he’s far away and I can be at peace now. I control my life.

How? For starters, if I meet a cute, nice guy like Josh, I step back and stay as friends and Boom! Problem solved. I figured my life out, I have nothing to be afraid of. I conquered.

...

You know I’m lying, don’t you?

You know what, there’s no way I’ll get myself out of this. I’ll let the action roll.

“I think your buddy Josh got eaten by Triumph,” Maya mentions like she’s talking about the weather, “it’s time you accept it.”

“Honestly, it’s time you stop talking,” I reply with indifference, “you don’t know him”

“And I never will,” She snorts.

I’m about to reply when I hear screams coming from the entrance and I finally see Josh sprinting back towards the cages. Triumph is following him, when he gets closer I realize is not Hoyles.

“Principal Burr?” I inquire in mild disappointment, but calmer than before “okay then, Josh can totally survive to that”

“Don’t be so sure about it, Vinchi,” Maya adds, “Burr is not a common human anymore.”

“Shhh! I can’t hear what they’re saying!”

Josh is trying to convince the principal to let us go, he walks towards the tubes in the middle of the fabric and I can’t see what’s going on. Burr is not touched by the speech, he says he didn’t kill Sam, and my heart skips a beat.

“Sam Dean?” Maya asks above me, “she’s dead?”

“It happened two days ago,” I whisper, “that’s the whole reason why we came, cause Josh wanted to avenge her death...”

“Why would he do that?”

“He was dating her.”

“Oh,” A second of silence, “really? Him?”

“He’s not that bad,” I retort immediately.

“Sure, whatever you say...” She mumbles.

I say something under my breath that is mostly an insult, then an idea comes to mind.

“Maya, you can see what’s happening?”

“Kinda”

“Where are they?”

“Inside the big tubes...”

She narrates the whole thing while I also half-listen to the argument they’re having. She stops for what it feels like an eternity and the kids around us start to scream.

“Kill him!”

“He’s gonna do it,” Maya murmurs.

And I don’t know what to feel, cause I never thought Josh would get this close to his goal. Although now it’s different, Burr didn’t kill Sam. Would he kill him anyway? I’m not defending Burr, by the way! He still ate a bunch of kids. Just saying that If he does this, he will certainly disappoint Wesley.

He would be saving tons of children, though. In my opinion, he could cut him in half and still be a good person.

I hear Josh scream and the sound of his sword against metal.

“Holy shit, is he dead?” I ask.

“I don’t... I can’t tell- he’s moving a lot...” Maya complains.

A few others seconds of silence, then Burr’s voice.

“You missed.”

“Holy shit, he’s alive,” I gasp.

And with that, I mean both of them.

“No. I didn’t,” Josh replies.

The machinery starts to work all of a sudden and I feel my stomach tensing with fear.

What are they doing?

“Where are they?” I ask urgently, “Tell me!”

But just as I finish the sentence I hear steps... and the sound of keys being shaken in the air.

“He got the keys!” Maya screams excitedly, “The son of a bitch did it! We’re free!”

“What about Burr?” I question.

“He locked him up inside the tubes!”

The sound of chains falling and doors clicking is like music to my ears. I hear Maya running out of her cage only to see her appearing in front of me with a wild smile on her face. She hasn’t changed that much, her hair is shorter and her clothes are not the same, but she’s still the hyperactive girl I used to know.

“Good to see you, Vinchi.”

“Hi,” I reply, “be good and get me out of here”

She calls over to the kid that is opening cage by cage and I’m finally free. Maya gives me a tight hug that I return unsure.

“This is great! You can come with me now, become a Cheeramazon!”

“What?” I pull away.

“I can see you’ve toughened up these last few months, they’ll definitely take you in!”

“I don’t want to be a Cheeramazon,” I frown.

I’m still barefoot, but I’m hoping I can find something to wear before I leave.

“Y/N it’s the best choice,” She replies, “come on, we can be part of the same tribe just like before! You and I, the classic duo we used to be...”

“I’m tired of old times,” I answer, “I'm a different person. I don’t do duos anymore.”

“Vinchi...” She pouts.

There, another friendship that dies.

Maybe I could’ve tried to convince her to go with me instead. However, I never got to finish that conversation, cause right at that moment, I heard Josh’s voice.

“Y/N?” He asks loudly, “Y/N, where are you?”

“Josh!” I limp as fast as I can towards his voice, “Josh, I’m right here!”

“Y/N?!” His voice gets clearer as I walk further into the mass, “Where are you?!”

He’s standing right in front of me, a few feet ahead. I run over to him, ignoring the way my knee feels about it. Josh turns around just in time to catch me when I jump in for a hug.

“I’m with you!” I say breathless, trying to keep my wrist away from any harm, softly supported around his neck, “You did it! You saved us!”

“I promised, didn’t I?” His smile is as big as mine, and we’re so close I can see the freckles the sun has left on the bridge of his nose.

He pulls away and turns slightly, pointing at something hanging from his hip.

“I saw them out there...” I look down and I see my skates, all clean and looking good as new, “thought you might want them back”

“What the hell?” I exclaim, “You’re the best!”

Impulsive as usual, I go for another hug, this time kissing his cheek in the process. When I notice my mistake I pull back but Josh keeps me in place, now I’m self-conscious and probably all red.

“Am I a shitty partner still?” He smirks.

Someone accidentally hits my hand and I whimper, hugging it tightly against my chest.

“Crap, I forgot...”

Josh’s smile vanishes immediately changing to a worried expression.

“Let’s go back to the mall, you need help”

“And I’m starving”

Josh chuckles, nodding.

“And will get you something to eat”

He gives me the skates and I hold them with my good hand, walking towards the exit.

I start to feel a bit hopeful about what the future could bring to us, Josh and me. I can’t lie to myself after this, you saw the whole thing, right? It’s obvious. Josh is not my new Alex for one simple reason: I don’t have a crush on Alex anymore.

I am, however, totally crushing on stupid Josh.

Just when I decide to come into terms with my new realization, it happens:

Someone walks in front of me and immediately catches my eye. How couldn’t, when I thought I would never see that back again for the rest of my life?

“Alex..?”

I drop my skates, an urgent need to run away as far as I can winning over my common sense. This can’t be happening, this can’t be Alex. He's gone. He’s supposed to be away in New York living his best life or something.

But the boy turns around and it’s the same eyes I’ve known since I was a kid.

“Y/N?” He’s not totally glad to see me. The frown on his face tells me he is just as stunned as me, few terrible seconds pass where we don’t know what to do.

Josh is the one who talks first.

“Hold on,” He turns to me, “is he..?”

“An old friend from Highschool, yes,” I look at him with wide eyes, pleading ‘Keep your mouth shut!’ “like Maya.”

“Maya’s also here?” He asks loudly, and since I’m the luckiest girl alive, Maya is nearby to hear us.

“That’s me,” She sees the boy in front of us, “oh my god, Alex?”

“Maya?” Alex’s eyes light up, “You’re okay!”

“How did you end up here?!” She walks up to him and gives him a tight hug.

“Uh, Y/N,” Josh whispers beside me, “What is happening?”

“I think I died when that grenade exploded,” I respond overwhelmed.

“I came back like a month ago,” Alex replies, hugging her with the same animosity, then he looks right at me, “I left some unfinished business behind.”

Oh, that’s great. First, everyone leaves and now they all want to make up for it. To go back and be the best friends we used to be. Well, I’m sorry I think I lost the part where that was my problem.

“We can help you!” Maya assures him, completely misunderstanding his comment, “Vinchi and I, like the good old days”

“Vinchi?” Josh questions.

“Y/N,” Maya looks at him with a judgy expression, “you’re her friend but you don’t know her nickname?”

“No one calls me that,” I cross my arms, wincing after accidentally pulling the muscle in my wrist, “not anymore, at least. I never told him.”

“But you love it,” She frowns, “everyone calls you that.”

“Everyone who used to call me that is gone,” I say, “you two are the only ones left and I’m kindly asking you to not include me on your mission. I have to go back to my friends.”

“We are your friends, Y/N” Alex replies.

“I meant my most recent friends,” I pick up the skates from the floor and nudge Josh, “let’s go, Angelica must be worried.”

“Y/N, are you sure?” Josh asks under his breath. When I don’t reply, he grabs me by the shoulder and turns my body to face him, “listen I know you feel like you have to stay because I told you we needed you, but you’re free to go with them if you want. They’re your best friends after all and I know Alex... I know how hard it was on you to be alone.”

I can’t tell exactly what he’s thinking right now and that frustrates me. His expression tells me he’s hurt, I just don’t know if it is because he thinks I’m seconds away from leaving or because he’s nervous that I’ll blame him if I stay.

“I don’t want to go, Josh,” I reach for his hand with the one that is holding my skates and brush it lightly, “I tried to leave before and something always stopped me from doing so. That has to mean something, I feel like my place is at the mall with all of you.”

“Y/N?” Maya speaks up, “You’re coming?”

“No,” I turn to face her, “I’m going with Josh.”

“Josh?” Alex looks at the boy next to me but he doesn’t seem to understand that I’m talking about him, “gay Josh or other gay Josh?”

“My Josh,” I point to my friend, “just... Josh.”

“Alright then,” Maya scoffs, “then we go too.”

“What?” I ask in alarm.

“Josh was telling the rest of the kids to follow him,” She smirks, “I hope you don’t mind, Vinchi.”

“Really?” I look at Josh, clenching my jaw. I’m unable to crush his arm with my hand since it’s injured and the other is occupied. He tries to apologize without speaking, but puppy eyes won’t work on me today, “We better get going then”

“Yeah,” He looks at me, begging for forgiveness, “we should... uh- your hand needs to...”

“Just move,” I grumble, walking past Alex and Maya with Josh calling out Wesley’s name to join us.

Full of shit I am, cause during all the way back I avoid looking over to Alex and Maya, despite saying I was over my past.

I’m full of shit when Josh asks me if I need help and I tell him no, even though I’m barefoot and I keep stepping on rocks on accident cause it’s too dark outside. Without mentioning I just admitted to myself that I’m crushing on him and now I don’t know what will I do to keep it a secret when Angelica looks for any excuse and watches me closely to see if she’s right.

And Josh? Well, he avenged Sam’s death... kinda. I don’t know if that’s enough to calm his nerves or if he’ll keep going until he’s done killing every bad guy on Glendale, which are too many to count. I don’t even know if he’s interested in me the same way I am.

What am I saying? Of course he’s not! He spent six months of his life on this goose chase and I’m expecting that suddenly he feels something for me just because I saved his life once? Ugh, I'm not even sure if I’ll actually stay permanently at the mall...

“Hey! We’re home!” Josh exclaims as soon as we step inside the mall, “So I brought some friends... Cool if they crash here?”

“Fuck to the no!” I’m surprised to see Eli outside of his side of the mall, “How many times do I gotta say-?”

Angelica puts a taser against his neck and electrocutes him on the spot, pushing him so he falls flat on the ground.

“Yeah. It’s cool, I guess” She replies.

“Angelica!” I blurt out, walking towards Eli, “Don’t do that ever again!”

She ignores me, already rushing over to Josh and Wesley to receive them with a hug and excitedly welcome the kids that surround her. I’m happy for her, this must be nice considering how she spent most of her life alone.

“Your hand is bad,” Crumble states, kneeling beside me, “worms won’t fix it”

“I know,” I sigh, turning Eli face-up with my good hand and Crumble’s help, “I’ll fix it, don’t worry”

“Let me do it,” Alex crouches down and carries Eli to the bench behind us, laying him there.

“Thanks,” I mumble.

“It’s alright,” I can see by the corner of my eye that he’s looking at me, “listen, I came here to apologize. Things shouldn’t have ended that way between us. We were best friends...”

“Yeah, we were,” I punctuate, “you don’t have to be sorry. I’ve changed, I don’t need your words, I have a new life.”

“I see,” He looks away for a moment, his eyes finding Josh and Wesley, “How did you end up forming a group with them?”

“Accidents happen,” I shrug, “Josh brought me here. To be honest, I was doing fine on my own but I... I don’t know, I like it here.”

“I see that too,” He smiles, but it has a bitter undertone in it, “don’t worry. I’ll leave again tomorrow.”

“Stay,” I sigh in defeat, “it would be selfish to ask you otherwise, the mall belongs to all of us”

“You’re okay with that?” He frowns.

“Do it for the good old days,” I give him a small smile, “What’d you say?”

“It’s fine by me,” He nods, smiling back.

I don’t know how to end the conversation and I don’t have to think a lot about it, because Josh soon appears holding a stack of bandages.

“Hi,” He smiles openly at us and points to what he’s holding, “time to take care of you”

“Okay,” I raise my eyebrows, “sure...”

“See you later Y/N,” Says Alex, then he nods to Josh, “Wheeler...”

Taglist.

@letsbloodmagic @hollywaterpls

#twoidiots writing #josh wheeler #josh wheeler xreader #daybreak fanfic #wesley fists #eli cardashyan #angelica green #ms crumble #daybreak #netflix

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sonicroommatesau · 4 years

Text

Roommates AU Chapter 1; Meeting the Neighbors

A cab parked by an average looking apartment building. It was a normal city-type complex, so no one really paid attention to it. A pink hedgehog, around the age of 19 had gotten out of the cab. She looked around, and then looked at her phone. ‘This is the place, I guess.’ She took her bags out of the taxi, and went to door number 15. Out came a whiteish-grey hedgehog.

“Hi! You must be the new girl! I’m Silver the Hedgehog.” The hedgehog introduced himself to the pink girl.

“Hi. As you might know, I’m Amy. Amy Rose.” Silver chuckled. Amy had a puzzled look on her face. Why was he laughing? Was there something on her face?

“Sorry. It’s just that, all the hedgehogs I’ve ever met usually have ‘The Hedgehog’ as their last name.” Amy giggled.

“Well…not me. My dad wasn’t in my life, and so I had to go by my mom’s maiden name. Rose. But, she wasn’t really in my life, either. She left me when I was three and I grew up with my aunt and uncle.” She looked up with determination that Silver didn’t know was possible for the young girl. “Ehh. She probably died. But that’s okay.” Silver was very surprised now. He opened the door fully, and helped her bring her bags in.

“I was wondering when you’d get here, I was about to call a group meeting. Now that you’re here, we can begin!” Silver told her to put her suitcases in an empty room. He then led her into his living room where a bat, three hedgehogs, a cat, a fox, and an echidna were sitting in. There was a specific blue hedgehog that had caught Amy’s eye. He was staring back at the pink hedgie. They both blushed and looked away.

“Okay Silver, we’re here. What do you want?” a black and red hedgehog asked.

“Shadow, relax. First of all, the landlord won the lottery, and said that as a surprise, he’ll decrease the rent.” Everyone cheered. “Secondly, we have a new neighbor. Amy Rose.” He scooted to the side, so everyone could look at her. She froze at the attention.

“U-Uhm, hi? I’m Amy Rose. I’m 19 years old, and I am a college student at Mobius University. I also have a bakery nearby that’ll be opening in two days. I hope we all become good friends, thank you.” She stepped behind Silver again.

“Let’s all introduce each other as well.” Silver gestured over to Sonic, who was sitting at the far end of the couch. He looked away from the pretty pink hedgie, and cleared his throat.

“Hey, I’m Sonic the Hedgehog! I’m fast at everything!” The turquoise hedgehog girl sitting next to him scoffed.

“Everything, BUT, relationships.” She stood up. “I’m Lyra the Hedgehog. I’m Sonic’s little sister, and I’m also a medical student training to become a psychiatrist. (giving my OC the job I’m studyin’ for LOL) I love coffee, the night, and I really hope we become good friends, Amy! You seem really nice! I even hope my brother fal-” She was interrupted with Sonic smacking his hand over her mouth.

“Ugh. I’m Shadow the Hedgehog. I am not in anyway related to Faker over there, or his annoying and ugly sister, or Silver over there.” Silver seemed to be in a daze, so Amy snapped her fingers to break him out of his trance. There was a purple cat next to Shadow, who looked all professional and had the aura of a businesswoman.

“I’m Blaze. Blaze the Cat. I am an accountant, and I live in the middle floor with Rouge the Bat. Speaking of roommates, who’s yours?” Silver spoke up.

“Me.” They all nodded. Sonic looked a little less cheerful, making Amy wonder why his emotions changed all of a sudden. Silver turned towards the twin-tailed fox.

“I’m Tails the Fox! I’m a mechanic, so if you have a car in need of fixing, just let me know! I’m also a scientist studying at Mobius University, so I might see you often.”

“Don’t fall for him, Ames. He’s a womanizer.” Sonic said, chuckling a bit. Amy didn’t focus at what he said at all. She only focused at what he called her.

Ames.

She didn’t recognize this feeling, and didn’t know how to feel except hot. At the cheeks and ears.

“What do you mean, womanizer?” the bat asked, intrigued at where this conversation was going.

“He’s two-timing innocent little cinnamon rolls.” Lyra answered, taking out her phone.

“And who might they be?” Rouge asked leaning over to Tails, getting the red echidna next to her upset.

“Guys! The introduction?” Silver yelled, trying to get them out of their gossiping state. They all shut up, and leaned back in their seats.

“Hi hun, I’m Rouge the Bat. I love to party! I’m an FBI agent just like Shadow over there.” She jerked her thumb over at Shadow.

“Rouge, why is it that you’re trying to tell the whole world what our jobs are?” He asked, clearly annoyed at her.

“Because why not? She doesn’t seem like the type to go around doing bad stuff.” Rouge said. Shadow made a ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’

“Are you actually-? You know what? I’m not even going to argue.” Shadow stated, not attempting to explain to her that she shouldn’t be assuming things.

“Anyways, passing whatever all that was…I’m Knuckles the Echidna! I-”

“TAKE STEROIDS!” Sonic yelled, interrupting what Knuckles was about to say. Everyone, including Amy began to laugh.

“NO I DON’T!” Knuckles yelled back.

“YES YOU DO!”

“I SEE WHERE THAT ANNOYING HABIT OF INTERRUPTING PEOPLE CAME FROM, LOOKING AT YOUR SISTER!” Knuckles shouted at him. Lyra put her hand to her chest, as if she were offended, but she actually was.

“LISTEN HERE YOU HOT-HEADED ENCHILADA, I WILL NOT HESITATE WHEN YOU CALL ME ANNOYING!” Lyra screeched at Knuckles, trying to get her point across. Sonic cleared his throat, as if saying that she wouldn’t hesitate in her brother being called that either. “or my brother. Still, you better watch your words, or your dick will be chopped off, and I will shove it down your throat.” She threatened, having the red echidna sink all the way into the couch.

“Maybe threaten something else that isn’t his dick?..” Rouge asked. Knuckles glared at her with fury.

“…Um…Amy, why don’t you go check out your room? I need to talk to everyone.” Amy nodded, and slowly walked to the room where her suitcases were. It wasn’t a very big apartment, just two bedrooms and two baths. She heard Silver’s voice and couldn’t help but eavesdrop on their conversation.

“Seriously guys? I just wanted you to introduce yourselves, but no, you just had to go and start yelling out the most stupidest things! Now Amy’s going to think that we’re freaks, and move out as soon as possible!” As soon as the phrase “Amy’s going to think we’re freaks,” she heard Sonic yell “NO!”

“Don’t worry, Silver! I think that you guys are amazing, and I’m staying, no matter what weird things I might catch you all doing!” Amy found herself saying, as she stepped from behind the wall.

“You definitely are. You see, anytime someone moves here, we always have this test to determine their personality. You, have passed this test. Beware, for there are more tests to come.” Silver said. Amy only nodded, as everyone got up and started going back to their apartments. Sonic, the blue hedgehog, seemed to linger. Once Amy was in her room, she turned to the door to see Sonic at the doorway.

“Hi!” Amy exclaimed, a little too excitedly. Sonic blushed red, and put a hand on his neck.

“Hey.” Was all he said, which made Amy internally swoon. “Um…You said you own a bakery nearby?” He asked.

“Yes. It’s called Rose Cafe. It’s going to open in a few days.” She said, while unpacking her suitcases and putting her clothes in a closet.

“Nice…So…ya need any help with unpacking?” He questioned, as he walked over to her bed and sat on it.

“No thanks, I’m fine. Now, before we start talking anymore, tell me about the others. The people that live here. What’re they like, and how willing are they to make friends?” She asked, as she took out a red halter dress, pausing to take a piece of lint off.

“Well, I’ll start with Shadow. He usually never talks, but if he seems a little open to you, that either means you might mean something to him, or you’re a suspect of a crime without even realizing it.” She rose her eyebrows in interest. “Then there’s my sister, Lyra. She’s a chatterbox, but she’s also a bit comforting. Children love her for some creepy reason, and you should never get on her bad side, because she can smell your weaknesses and use them against you. She’s like Shadow and Rouge, but more idiotic. She likes Shadow, but I feel like he’s looking at Silver. If he were to look at my sister, I’d kill him.”

“Do Shadow and Rouge work together?” Sonic nodded at her question.

“I guess you could say that their partners, but also friends with benefits. Rouge loves to party all night. She can gather information really quickly, and uses seductive charm on people to get it. Even through girls. Even if they’re straight.” Amy looked petrified at that. Sonic chuckled at her reaction. “Then there’s Tails. He’s really nice, but is a Ladies’ man. Probably because they all think ‘Oh, he’s cute as a button!’ or ‘He’s so polite!,’ well, don’t fall for that, he’s already got two girls who don’t know about the other.”

“Why is he dating two girls at once?”

“He claims that he loves them both, and I guess I understand?” He shrugged, and continued talking. “Knuckles says he’s not on steroids, but I’m pretty sure he is. Why do you think he’s so bulk?” Amy giggled at Sonic doing an impression of Knuckles flexing his muscles. “He’s dating Rouge, but she’s constantly cheating on him. He’s too dense to notice, and it annoys me. Poor guy doesn’t deserve that slut.” Amy thought that what he had called the bat was rude.

“Sonic! Even though she may seem like a slut, maybe there’s a reason she does so!” He only scoffed at her comment.

“If you say so. Anyways, then there’s Silver. He’s really close to the landlord, who lives three cities away. He’s kind of like the leader of the place. He’s really nice, and he also likes Shadow. It causes some rivalry and competition between him and Lyra to win his affections. Although, I don’t think he notices either of them. I think that’s all-”

“You forgot Blaze the Cat.”

“Oh. Well, I don’t know much about her, seeing as she’s always in her office, I think she likes Silver, and doesn’t like talking, but when it comes to Rouge doing something that pisses her off, she starts going off like an airhorn.” Amy giggled. “At least there’s another girl here. You could stop them from arguing. Lyra would do that, but she always gets herself into the argument as well.” Amy smiled.

“Yes, sir! I will try my best, and won’t stop until the war has been won!” She saluted him playfully, making the two laugh. She put her suitcase in the closet, and put her p.j’s on the bed. Sonic hopped off, and went towards the door.

“It was nice meeting you, Ames. See you tomorrow!” And he walked out, leaving a shocked Amy.

He called her Ames again. She made sure to lock the door behind him and squeal in delight. They’ve known each other for barely a day, and he’s already gave her a nickname. What a guy.

#sonic roommates au #sonic the hedgehog

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maximows · 5 years

Text

Against the Odds - Chapter IV

Thats convenient,

MASTERLIST (mobile) AO3

Warnings: smut, fam meetings and douchey friends

“What should I wear?” Chris’ voice echoed from our hotel bedroom. “I didn’t bring many clothes.”

I was just about to put in an earring, when he came into the bathroom. “Which one?” he held out a white and a light blue dress shirt.

“Whoa, you want to wear a dress shirt to meet my parents?” I smirked. “You’re not proposing, are you?”

“I did tell you that I’m not letting that skillful mouth of yours get away from me,” he joked. “But we are going to a restaurant, right?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “But please, don’t make a great deal out of it. It will only make both of us more nervous. And wear the white one.”

The restaurant was only a few blocks away, so we took a short walk. Chris looked amazing in that shirt and black trousers. I wished we had an extra 15 minutes for a quickie before the dinner, but it had to wait. “Maybe I should’ve brought a bottle of wine or something?” he asked, nervously.

“I’m sure there’s wine at the restaurant, love,” I smiled and rubbed his forearm. “You have nothing to worry about.”

Chris was incredibly nervous about meeting my parents. Apart from being worried that they might not like him, he also concerned about not understanding their accents, which weren’t different from mine, so no, there was nothing to worry about.

“Should I pick up the check?” he continued. “I read about it, and...”

I interrupted him by simply taking his face in my hands and kissing him, long and deep. “They are gonna love you, Christopher,” I whispered against his lips. “So please, don’t worry.”

He nodded. “Thank you.”

We entered the restaurant, where my parents were already sitting, waiting for us. I squeezed Chris’ bicep to cheer him up. “Hi, Mum,” I greeted her, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Dad,” I moved back to Chris and introduced him. “This is Chris.”

“Mrs. Dawson, Mr. Dawson.” I noticed his voice became a bit lower and more serious.

“It is very lovely to meet you, Chris,” my mum said.

“Emily told us a lot of good things about you.” Dad added.

We sat down and ordered. Chris got a little bit more relaxed once he realized my parents were really not that scary. He was mainly nervous because of the conflict I had with them at the beginning of the year, but it was now all sorted out. My dad did like the fact that Chris decided not to drink alcohol, but didn’t know that he refused only because we were going to my friend's party later and he didn’t want to mix.

“So, you two are going to be in a film together, right?” my Mum asked.

Chris nodded. “Yes, we’re filming the first one right now, it’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. We are two months into filming and just came back from South Korea. We’re actually very lucky to be doing this together and avoid being apart for such a long time.”

“Emily was always into comic books, I’m not surprised she landed a role in Marvel movies.” My dad laughed. “She'd always run around with her brothers playing football or something.”

“Since I couldn’t bring our family albums, I have a few pictures on my phone,” my Mum reached to her bag. “I’m sure Chris would love to see some.”

“Thank you, mum.” I said as I saw Chris' eyes light up. The only reason why I didn't protest, was because how happy Chris was now. My parents really liked him. How could anyone not like him? I looked at him, as he scrolled through my baby pictures with my mum and God... I love him. Words cannot describe what I feel when I look at my insanely beautiful and kind boyfriend.

After Chris finished telling my parents the story of his life, childhood and other stuff, I noticed that it was time for us to go. “Chris, we should head out.” I interrupted.

We said our goodbyes. Fortunately, there was no fight over the bill. My dad accepted Chris' offer to pay. Chris was a bit disappointed that my brothers couldn’t make it, but they both work in the same team and had an emergency they had to attend to.

“You have my parents wrapped around your finger,” I joked on our way back to the hotel. “They were mesmerized.”

“What can I say? Parents love me.” He shrugged. We reached the entrance. “I’ll just a have a smoke and I’ll be up in a minute.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “I asked you to stop smoking, baby.”

“It’s not that easy.” He shrugged.

I rolled my eyes at him and went back to our room. He did a good job hiding his addiction from me in the early stages of our relationship. He said that it was easier, because we weren’t spending as much time together as we are now. But now that we're both working on the same project, he couldn’t hide it anymore. I’m not saying that him smoking would have been a deal breaker, but I hate cigarettes and as much as I hate it when people ask their partners to change, I’d like to come up with a system to make him stop smoking.

I took a very quick shower and headed out to the bedroom in a towel, to find something to wear. I settled on black trousers, white t-shirt and a jacket.

I was still in my underwear when Chris came back. “Keep your distance, ashtray.” I snapped as he tried to get close to me. I hate the smell of cigarettes and it instantly makes me sick.

I laid on the bed, while Chris was in the shower. There was still a lot of time before we had to leave, so I just opened Instagram and scrolled though my feed. Sophia had already posted her outfit for the evening.

I heard that Chris finished showering, so I laid on my stomach, arching my back so my butt was popping out. “Chriiiis!” I called. “Can you help me with my phone?”

“In a second,” he called back and soon I heard the door open. “what is... oh, you fucking didn’t.”

I turned to see him with messy wet hair, in a towel around his hips. “Come on, babe.” I wiggled my butt at him.

“Look at those long legs...” He walked over and I felt his finger draw a line from my foot, through my calf all the way to my upper thigh. He then got on the bed and sat on my thighs. His hands grabbed my butt cheeks firmly. I groaned as he squeezed then firmly. “I am so fucking lucky...” he sighed and spanked me. I gasped as I felt my skin sting lightly. He’s never done that before. “Did you like it?” he whispered.

“Yeah,” I moaned. “Do it again.”

I felt his palm smack against my ass again, but this time it was harder, and I gasped. “Fuck.” I mumbled against the sheets.

“I’m loving it, but I need to fuck you already.” He blurted. I felt his fingers gently run up and down my clothed pussy. “How are you always so wet, baby girl?”

I turned to meet his gaze. “You make me.” I groaned, feeling chills all over my body, caused by Chris' thumb rubbing against my panties. I heard him loose the towel, then he lowered my panties and I felt cold air against my sex. Chris buried two fingers in between my folds and breathed out slowly.

“Chris, please...” I begged as he removed his fingers. They were soon replaced the tip of Chris' dick. “Fuck, yes.”

I felt a light stretch which was both painful and pleasurable. I gripped the sheets as Chris moved deeper inside me. He hovered over my body, so his lips could reach the top of my spine. “You're taking me so well, baby...” he groaned against my skin. “Come on, come for me.”

He started to pick up the pace, supporting himself with his one arm and using the other to hold my waist down. I felt my walls tighten around his shaft as my orgasm neared, I couldn't stop moaning, the friction was too much, Chris’ moans turned me on even more and I let go.

Chris turned me to lay on my side, entered me again and he continued thrusting into me, his movements becoming more and more sloppy. I was seeing stars and I’m pretty sure my moans were audible from outside our apartment. Chris reached between my legs to play with clit. “You ready to come again for me, baby?” he breathed out.

I heard Chris groan one last time as he released into me. I felt his dick twitch and we came together. Chris laid down, wrapping his arm around my waist to pull me close to his body. “I’m nearly 33 years old and I'm having the best sex of my life with you.”

“I wish I could say the same thing...” I sighed and made Chris glare angrily at me. “But I have no comparison.”

We stayed like that for a while before leaving for the party. It was a 30 minute drive from our hotel. Chris was driving with his hand constantly on my thigh, I held on to his arm. I did want to drive, because he doesn’t have experience driving on the left side, but he wouldn’t let me. “You’re going to drive on the way back, after I’ve had too much to drink.”

“What if I want to drink too?” I asked, raising my eyebrow.

“Oh, I mean, that’s fine...” he struggled.

“I’m kidding! It’s fine, you agreed to meet my friends, I won’t drink if you want to.” I said, giving his bicep a kiss. “Besides, I hate most of them and I wanna show you off.”

He burst into laughter. “How can you hate your friends?”

“I like my friends, but I don’t like their friends and they are also gonna be there,” I explained. “Oh, and I should warn you. The guy I, um... the guy who turned out to be taken will be there.”

“Ok, I can take that.” He nodded.

“And the guy I used to have a crush on.” I added quickly. “But I really don’t talk to them anymore, you don’t even have to acknowledge them, ok? And if you hear a stupid comment, just think about the great sex we have, right?”

“I’m gonna be fine, everyone’s got their history and I'm not going to ruin your night with friends with some jealousy outbursts.”

We arrived at Sophie and Mary’s house and walked inside hand in hand. The girls surrounded us immediately, more excited to see Chris than me, their best friend. “It’s so nice to finally meet you! We’ve heard so much about you!”

It didn’t take long for Chris to get to know most of the people and disappear into conversation with them. I stayed in the kitchen with the girls, using the one moment we had to talk privately.

“Emilia Alexandra, he is perfect for you.” Amy said. “Visually, he’s exactly your type and character-wise, he’s all a man should be.”

“I know, he’s amazing.” I sighed, watching him talk to Mary's boyfriend. No wonder, they were both around the same age. “And, don’t get me wrong, but... I’m afraid.”

“Why? Has he done anything?” Sophia inquired, lowering her voice.

“No, no. He’s absolutely perfect,” I smiled. “But he's older. 11 years is not the biggest age gap Hollywood has witnessed, but in a year or two, he'll start talking about having children. Right now, the whole idea of a childbirth freaks me out...”

“Don’t think about it now, ok? I’m sure Chris understands that he’s not dating a woman who has to hurry up if she wants to be a mother,” Mary explained. “Besides, the man is clearly in love with you, already. He would wait 20 more years for you to be ready.”

We had to end the conversation when more and more people neared the kitchen. I went to the living room, but before I sat down next to my boyfriend, Will, my former crush, appeared in front of me.

We used to have this weird dynamic – we were never a couple, but our friends told us that we looked like one. “Haven't seen you in a long time, Em,” He said. “How are you?”

“Oh, I’m alright,” I answered. “A little bit busy at the moment, but life’s good.”

“Yeah, you got yourself a superhero,” he moved on to the topic quickly. “He doesn’t seem your type, though.”

“Well, if you think that smart, tall, handsome and kind is not my type, then you’re wrong and most certainly don’t know me.” I shrugged and took a sip of my non-alcoholic mojito.

Not wanting to waste any more time on Will, I walked to the living room, where Chris was having an incredibly energetic conversation with Harry, Mary's boyfriend, and Lucas. I wanted to sit next to him, but the moment he saw me, he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me down to sit on his lap. “How’s things?” I whispered and kissed his temple.

“Things are good,” He responded with a sly smile on his face. “I thought you weren’t drinking tonight, baby.”

“It’s a mojito, but without rum,” I explained. “So, what were you talking about?”

“Oh, Chris was just telling us about Korea,” Harry said. “I’m actually going there on a work trip next month.”

“That’s great,” I smiled. “I should've gone into marketing, you travel all the time and get to actually see the cities you go to...”

“Heyyy,” Chris furrowed his eyebrows. “You wouldn’t have met me then.”

Mary walked in with even more food on the plates and set them on the table. “So, Em, still can’t tell us anything about the movie?”

“Oh, no fucking way,” I shook my head. “Marvel would fucking shoot me, just ask Chris. He’s been in this much longer than me.”

“That’s true, they barely tell us anything and it constantly gets worse...” He confirmed.

“How did you two meet?” Sam, Will's brother asked. At some point in the past, I thought he liked me, that we were getting along, because we had a lot in common, but it turned out that he was as mean as his brother was dumb.

“We were on a plane to LA together and then I came to Chris' party.” I explained.

“Oh, did she end up unconscious or vomited into your sink?” Adam asked and I rolled my eyes at him. I did this once at his house, because they kept pouring me strong drinks on an empty stomach. “She tends to do that.”

“Nooo, I think she was actually enjoying herself at mine,” Chris replied, shutting Adam down.

I could see Sophie glaring at Adam, Will and Sam, but it didn’t stop them. “Hey, do you remember, when you got so drunk on wine that you called Will to pick you up?” Sam smiled widely. “God, you were barely able to walk back to the car, weren’t you?”

I felt Chris' fingers squeeze the skin of my waist more tightly. I knew he wouldn't do anything remotely impolite. I didn’t mind them saying that stuff – I knew it was only because they were mad that I was going forward and had an amazing boyfriend by my side. They were once the only men in my closest circle and now they were just feeling threatened. “Wait, is he the guy you told me about? The one who crashed his parents' car, because he was trying to overtake a sports car?” he asked, faking confusion. God, I do love him. And I hate it when people try to make themselves relevant.

“Ohh, yeah, that’s him.” I smiled cheekily and discreetly scratched the back of Chris' neck, which I knew he loved.

“Ok, I think that’s enough reminiscing for today, isn’t it?” Sophie interrupted.

I hated every part of the evening which consisted of talking to anyone outside of my closest circle. Fortunately, most of them left before us, so the atmosphere got better and better.

A while later, Chris and I said our goodbyes to the remaining guests and left for our rental car. He was holding me tightly by his side, mostly because he got a bit hammered with the group of my friends that were actually acting normally around him. “I hate your friends,” he whined. “but I love your best friends.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” I said as Chris walked me to the driver's seat. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him as we faced each other.

“I want to say something,” he blurted out in a nearly sober voice. “Before I do, I want you to know that even though I am a little drunk, I am fully aware of what I’m saying and I’m taking responsibility for my words. Also, I’m sorry for saying this on an ordinary night like that,” he took a deep breath. “I’m in love with you, very much.”

My mouth formed a wide grin as I cupped his cheeks in my hands. “That’s very convenient,” I whispered against his lips and gave him a gentle kiss. “me too.”

He pressed another kiss on my lips, this time harder, more hungrily. He tasted like scotch, cigarettes and mint gum. “I am so lucky that these guys are absolute garbage, I got to snag you for myself.”

The next day, when we landed in Boston, we were both tired, but it was only 2pm. Chris was still feeling a little bit hangover from the night before. He slept through most of our flight, with his head on my lap. I’m sure it wasn’t comfortable for him, but he does love it when I play with his hair.

I met Chris' oldest sister at the airport, where she came to pick us up. “Hi, I’m Carly,” She greeted me and hugged. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

“You too,” I smiled.

“They’re all dying to see you,” She cheered. “And Chris, the kids are going to go crazy once you walk through the door.”

“I’m not gonna be a fun uncle today, I’m sooo hangover.” Chris whined. “We're going straight to bed.”

“Speak for yourself, Evans.” I said.

I was a little bit nervous when we reached Chris' family house. He’s always told me how close they are, especially his mother and him and I really wanted to make a good impression. That’s why I didn’t travel in my most comfortable clothes and chose something more presentable.

We entered the house and Chris was almost immediately tacked down to the ground by three children. “Oh God, they're gonna kill me! Help!” he shouted.

Chris’ mum came out to greet us. “Oh, Emily! I’m so glad he’s finally brought you here!” chucked. “I've been hearing about you from Scott for months now.”

“Hope it's only the good things.” I smiled.

“Oh, definitely,” she smiled. “Let my get you something to eat. Chris, please take your luggage to your bedroom.”

Chris just made a strange sound as he was surrounded by his nephews.

Lisa made an excellent lasagne and salad (amongst other things). I was literally in a food coma. Chris couldn’t stop laughing at me and my post-meal facial expressions. “I always try to make her eat more and you accomplished that in just one hour, mom. Amazing.”

“You’re making it sound like I’m starving myself, but there’s just a lot of things I shouldn’t eat.” I explained. “I mean, I haven’t had a coffee in ages.”

Chris nodded. “True, I have no idea how she does it.”

“Emily, you should let me know what you wouldn’t want to eat,” Lisa suggested. “Chris should've let me know...”

“Oh, no, no. Please, don’t go out of your way for me. I can eat everything...”

“Except for brussels, asparagus...” Chris started to count on his fingers.

I’m not gonna lie, I was enjoying the attention Chris’ niece was giving me. As soon as Chris told her about my Cinderella role, Millie kept asking me about my dress, the prince, carriage. I showed her pictures of myself on the set and she looked like I was her idol already.

“I should dump you solely for that comment at the table.” I snapped, laying in bed as Chris was changing. Everyone left for some event at Carly's school and we decided to stay in and take a nap. “I loved that lasagne and now I’m afraid your mom is never going to make it again. I intend on keeping our relationship going just for that lasagne.”

“Ouch,” he gasped and lied shirtless next to me. I was wearing a hoodie of his I found in his wardrobe. He said that it was older than my second teeth. “But seriously – I haven’t brought any girl here in a very long time, so mom is incredibly excited. She actually wants to take you to the theatre tomorrow.”

“Really?” I asked excitedly. “What for?”

“I don’t know, probably just to hang out together,” he shrugged. “And then, my dad is coming over for dinner.”

“Right, ok,” I nodded, moving my head to lay on his bicep. “And the day after tomorrow... It’s your birthday.”

Chris pressed his lips into a thin line. “Yup, it is,” he sighed and brought me closer to press my torso against his. “Can we just not make a great deal out of it?”

“You made a huge deal out of mine though, love.”

“Yeah, but you weren’t turning 33 years old.”

I sighed and lifted myself up to sit on his torso. I pressed my hands against his firm chest. “Your age isn’t going to stop me from preparing celebrations, Evans,” I grinned. “I mean, everything is already prepared, you’re not getting away.” I leaned down to give him a kiss. “I loved my birthday this year,” I whispered. “I want to do something equally great for you, so let me do this, you dumbass.”

He burst into laughter as I pressed my mouth against his collarbone tattoo. “Oh, I love you,” He grabbed my side and pulled me closer. “You’re just... flawless.”

I pulled back to look him in the eyes. His beautiful blue eyes were still tired from the night before. His hair was a little messy from laying on the bed, but it might have also been my fault. I leaned down to give his nose a quick kiss. “I love you too, handsome.”

Chris moved his hand down to the curve of my ass. “How about we use the time alone we got to have a little fun?” he asked. “I mean, we are in my childhood home. An opportunity like that won’t happen again soon.”

I sat back. “Did you just say you love me and then suggest having sex?” I tilted my head to the side.

He shrugged. “I don’t know, can’t remember, I’m an old man.”

I giggled at his comment and wanted to actually start the fun, but we heard the door open downstairs. I sighed. “Well, that sums up the fun for the day.”

“Come ‘ere, baby,” he whispered. “Let’s just pretend we're taking a nap or else the kids will attack me again.” He spooned me, wrapped his arms around me and brought my back close to his chest. “Goodnight, love.”

Even though I was only hoping to sleep for like an hour, I ended up sleeping through the whole night. I woke up around 8 am. The bed was empty, so I got up and found my leggings in the suitcase. I opened the door quietly and went downstairs, where I found Chris in the kitchen.

“Oh, hello, sleepy head,” he got up off the stool and walked up to me and gave me a kiss on the forehead.

“Hi,” I answered. “I can’t believe I slept for so long.” I counted the hours and I slept for almost 12 hours non-stop.

“You went through 2 months of shooting on maximum 5 hours of sleep every night, you deserve some more time to rest.” He whispered against my hair.

Lisa came into the kitchen as Chris was making me a tea. “Oh, you’re up! I was afraid we wouldn’t get the chance to spend some time together,” she said. “I’m going to the theatre in a while, would you want to join me?”

“Of course! Just give me a few minutes to take a shower and get dressed.” I smiled and sprinted upstairs.

“She's gonna have energy to deal with those kids, she spent 13 hours in bed and woke up after me,” Chris said to Lisa. “It barely ever happens, Mom. Never.”

It was one of the quickest showers of my life. I didn't want Lisa to wait too long for me, so I tried to hurry.

Soon enough we were in a car driven by Chris. He was supposed to drop us off at the theatre and head to the gym. I was a bit nervous about spending time alone with Lisa, but I trusted Chris' words and knew that she was nothing but a kind person.

“I’ll pick you up at 2, alright?” he waved as we left the car.

Lisa let me watch a few rehearsals with her and it kind of brought back my memories from school and university. Those kids were already taking acting more seriously then I ever did. I sat there in the audience and watched their rehearsal. The teacher asked me to find something I thought they could improve, but honestly I didn’t see myself as any kind of authority in that matter. “You know, the last time I did any kind of theatre work was back in university, which wasn’t that long ago, but I was always more focused on films.” I explained. “The one thing I can tell you, is that I found meditation to be very helpful, because I couldn’t really mute the sound of the audience.”

“It also helps with auditions, filming, social interactions,” I added. “You need to be incredibly confident, don’t let people interrupt you, you’re the one on stage and they paid to see you.”

I watched the rehearsal until the end and then Lisa took me to her office. Even though I knew she wouldn’t question me like it was an interrogation, I was a little bit nervous, as it was our first time completely alone together.

“I love it here,” I admitted. “It kind of reminds me of my time in uni when I actually did theatre work. Of course, it wasn’t anything involving dance and singing, because it’s absolutely not my thing.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’d do just fine,” she assured me. “I saw your new movie a month ago and I really enjoyed it. I’ve actually seen a few of your movies since Chris told me about you. I do like how you don’t stick to one genre and it always turns out great.”

“Thank you so much,” I said, my voice shaking. “I’m sorry, I’m just a bit nervous. I feel like I’m at a job interview, but not because of you. I just have that natural fear of saying something stupid in important situations.”

Lisa laughed at me, but in a kind way. She admitted that she was a little surprised and hesitant, when Chris told her that I was younger – only because he always dated his age – but it didn’t take her much time to realize how important I was to him and that we were God door each other. With that said, I could feel tears pool in my eyes. Suck it up. “You know, whenever Chris brings a girl home, I’m a bit nervous. I do trust his taste, but the last one was a total miss, if I have to be honest. The main problem is that he hasn’t had a long-time relationship for a very long time now and I’m worried. You know, I’m fine with whoever he goes for, but I want him to be happy. And I know that for him, happiness means marriage and, eventually, kids.”

I knew what she meant. And she was trying to get information in the most polite way possible. “Lisa, I love him. It’s still early to even think about it, though. The one thing I can say is that I’m sure Chris is going to be a great husband and father, so if we work out for a time long enough, I’ll happily help him make his dreams come true. I don’t know how much it’ll take for me. It could be 2 years, could be 5.”

Lisa sighed and smiled. “You’re both really similar. You like the same things, I can see that you’re comfortable around each other,” she admitted. “Chris called me after your first date and said that you’ve known each other for a day and he felt like he was just wasting his time before he met you.” I couldn’t help but smile as the said that. I knew that our relationship was moving fast, but knowing how he felt about me in such early stages... “I really hope you two work out, because I’m looking forward to seeing my son as happy as he is with you more frequently.”

At this point I was just grinning like a crazy person. “Oh God, I have no idea what to say now.”

I was actually holding back tears after our little chat. Lisa was an incredible woman and I saw that she cared for her children, but not in an invasive way. She didn’t make me feel like she’d hunt me down if something went wrong in our relationship.

Lisa stayed in a little longer, but I went outside where Chris was waiting for us. He’s changed his clothes after visiting the gym, his hair was pulled back but in a messy way. “How was your day?” he asked as I kissed him on the cheek.

“Well, I watched a few rehearsals, talked to the kids and then had a nice talk with your mum,” I answered. “She nearly made me cry.”

“What?” he seemed confused.

“She almost made me cry by being so nice and supporting of us.” I explained with a big grin on my face.

“Oh, that sounds more like her,” he said, wrapping his arm around me. “Now, will you tell me how is it possible that my filming schedule has been conveniently pushed back a day, so I don’t have to work on my birthday?”

I just shrugged. “I have no idea, BUT I bet you should thank your awesome girlfriend for that. Just in case.”

He pulled me into a hug and I felt his tense muscles against my body. “Thank you so much and seeing you excited for what you’ve prepared makes me even more anxious to find out what it is.” He whispered against my neck.

I leaned back a bit to face him. “You’re gonna love it, I promise.” I said and kissed him gently. I loved Chris' habit of pulling me tightly against his body whenever we kissed. It made me just forget about the whole world and focus on him.

Lisa soon joined us and we drove back home, where I helped Lisa cook dinner. The whole family came over in the evening, apart from Scott, who was in LA. I got to meet Chris’ dad, Bob. He spent some time with us. I couldn’t believe how similar Chris and his father looked.

I was actually trying to observe how they acted, because, well. They’ve been divorced for quite a while now and have adult children, which required them to spend a lot of time together. But, as I suspected, it was an incredibly friendly and respectful relationship. It was obvious that something just hadn’t worked out and they both decided to get a divorce. I could only hope that my parents will be exactly the same.

Chris and Bob went out to the garden to play with the kids, while I stayed in the kitchen with Lisa. “So, Chris has told me about your parents' separation...”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I was actually watching you and Bob and the way you are after getting a divorce.”

“Oh, we’ve been divorced for almost, what, 15 years,” she laughed. “Right now, I can barely remember what it was like being married to him. It was tough at the beginning, but the marriage just stopped working out for us, so we decided to end it.”

“I hope my parents are like that once they get a divorce. I’d hate to be just put in between them.”

“I’m sure it will be fine. It’s much easier to separated when you don’t have small children anymore. There’s no custody battle, which is one of the reasons why divorce cases take so long.”

Lisa was right. I kept thinking about my parents like they couldn’t handle their own life. I’m not dependent on them anymore, so I don’t have to worry about their relationship. Yes, it would be ideal if they stayed friends, but it’s their life.

In the evening, we all sat down in the living room, played some board games and watched a movie. I felt incredibly comfortable amongst Chris' family and some friends who have joined us. I was very sad about us leaving tomorrow and having to go to bed early in order to get more sleep. “I love your family.” I whispered against his chest as we laid in bed.

“That's convenient.” He pressed a kiss against my forehead.

The next day, we spent some time in the house, but had to rush to the airport in the afternoon.

“When are you going to tell me where we're going?” Chris asked as we entered the airport.

“I’d like to keep it a complete secret,” I answered. “Until an airport employee accuses me of kidnapping or something, I’m not spilling.”

It was all carefully planned. I gave Chris earplugs and somehow, he still didn’t know out destination as we entered the plane. I couldn’t make him wear earplugs during the safety training, so that was where he found out.

“Why are we going to Houston?” he seemed a bit confused. I just shrugged, so he knew I wasn’t going to say anything.

Chris was a bit desperate to find out what was going on. He kept saying that it’s his birthday and I should tell him. Then he tried to bribe me with sexual favours, which also did not work out. To be honest, I thought he would’ve had it figured out by now, but he still was clueless.

I had it all prepared – we drove to the hotel and then to the NASA Space Center, where I not only booked us a trip around the center, but also paid for it to be open for 3 more hours, so we could have a private tour and then, after it gets dark, use some of the telescopes.

“You have got to be kidding me, Emilia.” Chris blurted out as I put a NASA cap on his head. “That is so fucking awesome.”

He was like a child in Disneyland. No, scratch that. Chris was acting like himself in Disneyland. I loved the fact that it was thanks to me and he was actually enjoying himself. He was such a fucking dork and I loved every second of it.

Chris kept asking questions to our guide and I was actually stunned by the knowledge he already had.

I’m getting him a meeting with Neil Degrasse Tyson next year.

@daybreak96 @coffeebooksandfandom @smilexcaptainx @betinalunardi @rollinsuh @lily2089@stella2445 @hy-pocrite @l0rd-disick @beholdoritou @klaussstilinski@achishisha@givenchymercury @just-trying-to-survive-marvel @henry-cavill-gossip-girl @rock-titties @bombsandsparkles @marvel-fan23 @cap-just-said-language @blackaestheticislife @justsomemarvelspam @nerdchester17 @shyofaspark @cssrogersse@crispyearthquakezombie@ultragalaxy @bit-of-a-timelord @kingofallthingsz @morguleth@calicokitkat @areelphony@gemgemswift @donut-crazs @dontchawishyouknewhowtosalsa@kandomeresbitch @deafeningpsychicpandahands @severely-theoretic @chmedic @patzammit@winterssoliderss@metalarmlover @saturnki @sammyjammy92

#chris evans #chris evans smut #chris evans fic #chris evans fanfic #blurb #chris evans x reader #chris evans fan fiction #chris evans imagine #cevans fic #cevans

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dat-fandom-losertown · 5 years

Text

The Drift Between Us

•◊•◊•◊•◊•

Chapter 3: I’ll Do Better

•◊•◊•◊•◊•

Hank Anderson x Connor and Gavin Reed x RK900

Pacific Rim AU

Warnings: I think I’m just gonna stop putting swearing as a warning? Cause it’s in literally every single chapter Lmao, Arguments, a moment with PTSD and anxiety

Word Count: 8,739

•◊•◊•◊•◊•

Previous <~> Masterlist <~> Next

•◊•◊•◊•◊•

“What’s got your panties in a twist this time?” Tina teases with her signature smirk as Gavin sits down next to her at their table.

“Fuck off, Tina.” Gavin shakes his head, knowing that his words don’t have the venom they would if he were to say them to anyone else.

“Aw, come on! You look even more bothered than usual and you’re not gonna tell me what happened?” The woman doesn’t give enough time for him to reply before continuing again. “I have ten bucks in my pocket that says it has to do with the new trainees roaming around.”

“That and Hank fuckin’ Anderson.” He begins around the food in his mouth, “Didn’t even know he could be awake at this hour anymore, let alone be sober enough to pull the ‘my old partner’s the current marshal’ card. I mean, he didn’t use it on me, but I heard him use it on one of the new fuckers.”

“One of the trainees? What’d they do?”

“For once in my life I was just mindin’ my own fuckin’ business, when two newbies come around the corner. Of course, I’m just trying to get to lunch, right? So I plan on just walking around them, but this kid fuckin’ tries to shoulder-check me! And when I didn’t budge he started acting like I started it!”

“So you picked a proper fight?” Tina’s turned towards him now, engrossed in Gavin’s story.

“No! Like I said, I just wanted some fuckin’ food! So I threatened the guy a bit and... gave a warning, you could say. I could immediately tell he had an ego larger than my ass, so I couldn’t just let him walk away, ya know?.”

Another woman’s voice pipes up, “Wait, you said there were two trainees. What about the other one?” Gavin doesn’t know when she got here, but now she’s sitting across from Tina.

“It was the same dude I saw daydreaming in the hall yesterday, and he kept trying to get the other dude to just walk away like the fuckin’ coward he is. He even got the shit beat outta him sometime after dinner yesterday. He was all bandaged up and limping a bit. Anderson rounded the corner before I could even start with him.”

“And you said he was awake, walking around, and sober earlier? Wow.” Tina leans back in her chair. “I’m impressed. That’s the second time this month he’s been sober and calm so early in the day.”

“You think he’s finally coming to terms with whatever happened to him?” Tina’s official partner– Angie? Allie? Amy? Who fuckin’ knows and who fuckin’ cares– asks, sounding genuinely hopeful for the washed up drunkard.

Gavin barks out a harsh laugh, “Nah, there’s no way. His hangover probably just woke him up earlier than normal.”

“What exactly do you have against him, Gav?” the same lady asks.

“What do you mean ‘what do I have against him’? He’s done nothing but sit around on his ass drunk as hell for the past couple of years and no one’s done anything about it because he’s the ‘oh so great Pilot Anderson’ and his fuckin’ bff is the one in charge of this shit hole!” Gavin leans back in his chair with crossed arms, his food already scarfed down and tray empty. “If any of us acted the way he has been for even a month we’d be kicked out of here before we could even pack our stuff! Besides, isn’t he too fuckin’ old to pilot anymore anyway? Why in the hell is he even still here?”

“He’s only barely in his forties you know,” Tina informs patiently, having heard this rant a hundred times over by now, “He started going grey in his early twenties, something about genetics. Can’t imagine the stress and grief helped at all, either.”

“Grief. What could have possibly happened to make him ‘grieve’ for this long? Like, don’t get me wrong, I get it, but it’s been fuckin’ years of this shit. He needs to get it together, ‘cause at this point he’s just dragging us down.”

Gavin lowers his head and averts his eyes, enviously thinking about how he wasn’t ever given the kind of treatment Anderson is given on a daily basis. His face must start looking softer because Tina looks at him with a sort of concern and confusion. He scowls at her and shakes his head with a huff in dismissal.

All throughout training, each pilot is taught that no one can hold back any memories from their partner while in the drift. While that fact was usually used to keep trainees in line since everything they do will be seen by another person eventually, it was true. Mostly. After certain things took place long ago, Gavin accidentally stumbled upon a way to keep memories from whoever was his partner. From the complaints he’s heard in the past, it’s just as uncomfortable for them as it is for him, if not more so. So far, only Tina and her new partner have been able to put up with it more than twice..

The whole point is, no one here truly knows his story. The people who did have either retired, or they were killed in action, or their name is Jeffery Fowler. No one knows what kind of life he had growing up, if he has siblings or not, how long he trained to be a pilot before arriving here; and nobody knows if Gavin’s “pissy, jackass attitude” is a result of something or if that’s just who he is.

Spoiler alert: it’s just how he’s fuckin’ been his entire damn life, and he has no intentions to change any time soon. Even if Gavin wanted to, he doesn’t think he could actually change enough for it to matter, anyway. So fuck it.

“You don’t know what happened!” Tina’s partner sounds thoroughly offended on Anderson’s behalf. She must be newer or more empathetic than he thought. “They said this started right after a particularly big battle with a kaiju, he probably lost family or something!”

“I lost my family and my home when I was 17, and no one’s ever seen me moping around, constantly high as fuck and unable to do my job! ‘Cause heaven knows I wouldn’t get drunk of all things to forget my problems, I still have some self-respect.”

He must have said something wrong because the looks on both women’s faces make him feel like he’s the main attraction of a pity party. He scowls again and is about to snarl out “what?” when Tina finally speaks, albeit softly, as if he, Gavin Reed, a man tougher and more stubborn than the most overcooked jerky, would break.

“You were only 17 when..?”

And just like that, it clicks.

“No, you fucks!” he exaggeratedly rolls his eyes, “I was kicked out by my bitch-ass mother. They haven’t died or anything like that. At least, I don’t think they have…”

Both women relax, Tina already going back to her almost finished meal as if nothing happened, knowing full well that they weren’t going to get anything else out of Gavin for the rest of the week. However, her partner seems a bit more adamant on knowing the story, if the look in her eye is anything to go by. Just as she’s about to open her mouth, Gavin abruptly stands up. It’s time to get the hell outta dodge.

“Well, as much as I’d like to say it was a pleasure talking to you asshats, I can’t.” Tina’s smirk is enough to let Gavin know that she knows he’s just messing around now. “Don’t have a sucky ass day, I guess. Or do, I’m not your fuckin’ parent.” He promptly turns with his empty tray in hand and leaves the food court area after putting everything in their designated places.

Whenever Gavin gets worked up, going to the gym usually helps. Growing up, the only way he learned to deal with his short temper was to let it out through physical exertion. When he was younger, that meant getting into fights and punching walls until he felt calm and safer to be around again. Now, though, it means going to the gym and showing anyone else who may be in there how it’s done. Not only does he feel better about himself– contrary to popular belief, punching the nearest person or thing had never done well for his conscience after all was said and done– he also gets some of the best scores in fighting skill from his admittedly excessive training. To be completely honest, those high scores are probably the only thing keeping him here at this point.

Gavin takes his sweet, precious time getting to the gym. He meanders through the endless, reinforced halls until he gets to his room. They placed him right across from Tina’s room since she’s the only one who can tolerate him and is the only one Gavin doesn’t regularly want to deck in the throat. Even though she has an official partner now, that girl’s still relatively new and Tina is a better match in the drift for Gavin than anyone else is. Now that he thinks about it, he may not be able to slack off like Anderson, but he can admit that the higher-ups of this place have done a lot more to keep him here than they likely would have for anyone else. Not even he had to do “intern work” for Fowler during his first week of training, and it’s that one assbag’s second day here and he’s already managed to fuck it up.

He changes into his work out clothes quickly and grabs the wraps for his hands. He puts them on expertly on the way, having gone through the wrapping process much more often than anyone he knows has. Gavin’s about to turn into the gym when he hears the voice of that daydreaming coward coming from around the corner.

“Connor, would you stop your whining. Do you want what happened today in class to happen again?”

Gavin quickly backtracks to hide behind one of the support beams on the wall. He wants to know what happened during their class, because he has a feeling it has to do with how fucked up the guy was this morning.

“No I don’t,” the same voice replies? Is he talking to himself? Is this another case of Fight Club? “But we just got told to lie down and relax today since our hands are too bruised to hold pens. I don’t think it’s wise to go in there in case–”

“–In case we’re found here while this injured, I know.” Well, it’s definitely not the same person, since there were clearly two voices talking over each other just then. “You’ve said that only a million times now. We’re allowed to be in here, we just won’t be using the equipment.”

Gavin takes a chance to lean his head out and look at whoever is talking. He immediately recognises daydreamer on the left by the light grey shirt he’s wearing, which means his identical twin is wearing the black shirt. The doppelganger– apparently named Connor– looks slightly worse off than his twin.

These pilot wannabes just got here recently, right? So they must have been paired up for the initial evaluation and roughed each other up good. Maybe the twink-looking asshole isn’t a coward at all. Maybe the dude is just confident that he could win in a fight against Gavin. Although, that doesn’t explain why he was so certain that Gavin could win against that other fucker– was it Alex?– in a brawl just earlier. Maybe it’s more of an “You can’t beat me, but you can win against him” kinda deal.

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum both enter the gym, still continuing on with their conversation about morals and finding loopholes within rules and orders, and Gavin takes that as his cue to follow them inside.

•◊•◊•◊•◊•

“I still think we shouldn’t hold back around the instructors. They’re here to evaluate us, right?” Connor asks, still very much concerned about hiding things from the people who are above them in rank.

It’s just that, what if they get caught holding back and are punished for it? Connor doesn’t even want to think about the times that had happened while training with Amanda, let alone repeat it. He knows logically that Luther wouldn’t dream of doing something like that to his students, but the inconvenient part of Connor’s head is not letting him actually believe it. It’s better to expect the worst and get better results than assume decent results and get blindsided.

“Yes, but if we don’t hold back, then they’ll probably make us graduate much earlier, which means less time to find new partners.” Ritch hisses at him.

Connor just sighs, knowing he’s right but not liking to go behind instructors’ backs, even for something as important to them as this. Ritch likely knows what kind of war is going on in his head right now, which is probably why he’s being much more patient with him than usual today.

“I know you don’t like this, but it’s necessary.”

“I know. You’re right, as always.” Connor relents finally, sitting down in the far corner of the gym where it will be obvious that they’re just sitting there, watching everyone else train and work out. They need to get a feel for how much they should be holding back for now, and how fast they should progress throughout training.

A few minutes pass of silently watching a man on a treadmill, another at a punching bag, and a woman lifting weights before Connor leans over to speak into Ritch’s ear.

“Are we going to match their skill? Or are we going to try going weaker than them?”

“After the show we put on earlier, I don’t think we can pull off playing as much weaker or less skilled than these people without the others becoming suspicious.” he answers immediately, eyes never leaving the tiring man on the treadmill.

Connor nods silently, leaning back into his own space again. It isn’t long until Ritch is leaning over to whisper in his ear, this time.

“Do you see the guy at the punching bag?”

“Yes?” Connor confirms, watching the man go to town on the hanging bag.

His technique is very good, and he has a lot of power behind each punch. It’s obvious that he’s tougher and stronger than he looks, not unlike Ritch and himself. Connor wonders if Ritch is going to suggest matching with him. It wouldn’t be a good idea at all, seeing as how he seems to be at almost the same level as them. Plus, judging by the scars littered around his face and arms, he has real experience in combat, which gives him a leg up on the other trainees.

Actually… That might be Pilot–

“That’s Gavin Reed.” Ritch unknowingly confirms his thought. “He’s trouble, so just try your best to avoid and ignore him. I’ve already run into him twice and both times he’s tried to pick a fight with me.”

That wasn’t what Connor was expecting. He knew the rumors of Gavin Reed being testy and short-tempered, but he’s picking fights with Ritch of all people so soon after their arrival?

“Really? It hasn’t even been 24 hours yet.”

“Yea. The first time he shoulder checked me while I was walking on the correct half of the hallway while he was going the opposite way, and the second time happened just before lunch. Apparently Alex bumped into him but he–” he nods to Gavin “–was adamant on finishing what was started. Mr. Anderson had to come and diffuse the situation.”

Connor turns to face Ritch. “Mr. Anderson was there?”

“Yes.”

“Did he seem okay? He seemed to have a terrible hangover this morning at lunch, and I’m sure any yelling that was happening wasn’t helping.”

Now Ritch turns to him. “Why do you care? He hasn’t been in a jaeger in years. Unless you became much more attached to who he once was than I thought.”

Connor huffs out what could be considered a growl and turns back to Gavin, “Can’t a guy just care about someone else’s health?”

“Not you.” Ritch follows Connor’s gaze, “When you care about someone’s health, it’s one of the first signs that you’re getting attached to someone, and I really don’t believe that Mr. Anderson is someone you should be getting attached to.”

“Why do you think that?” Immediately defensive.

“People talk, and he isn’t–.”

“Just like how they used to talk about us?”

“This is different than us.”

“How so?”

Ritch sharply turns back to his twin, irritation causing his eyebrows to set even lower and his mouth to thin. “Look, I don’t give a damn about who you imprint on or whatever anymore. I am trying to help you out here, because unlike the times people have talked about us, what people are saying about Mr. Anderson are all factual and we’ve both seen the proof. You need to lay off of him because not everyone feels the incessant need to not be alone.”

Connor finally allows himself to snap back. “Maybe you’re wrong this time. Yes, he drinks and he’s a miserable human being who doesn’t like other people, but how do we know that just who he is? What if he’s just like how we were way back in the orphanage, where everyone treated us like glass or ruined goods all the time? What if he wants– needs someone to be fuckin’ normal around him for a change to bring him out of his pit, and no one is there?”

“If he wanted someone, he would have found someone. He had plenty of friends before he started this!” Ritch raises his voice from a whisper, and Connor can already tell that this isn’t going to end well, especially since he isn’t willing to roll over and surrender this time.

“We had plenty of friends too, but they just didn’t understand once they found out, huh? They ended up just making things worse until all we had was each other. And there’s the thing! We still had one other person who understood! We had each other! And we’ve never remembered whatever trauma we’ve been through! He remembers it probably like it was yesterday and he is completely alone!”

“This isn’t a fairy tale, Connor! This is real life, and in real life you can’t just swoop in and save the depressed, rumored suicidal alcoholic through the magical power of friendship!”

“I don’t plan on saving anyone!” Connor shouts. The entire room becomes silent all of a sudden. He takes that moment to take a breath and continue at a normal speaking volume, “This is what you and everyone else don’t understand. I don’t want to save or fix people! I just want them to realize that there’s still hope for a somewhat normal life after their entire world shifted on its axis!” Connor takes another breath, recognizing that the three people in the room are no longer hiding the fact that they’re listening to him.

“I know I’ve said before that people can’t ‘fix’ or ‘save’ other people. They can only ever offer hope and a sense of normality among the chaos and hope that person finds enough of their own strength to fix themselves. And go ahead and make fun of me for being ‘naive’ or whatever you want. This is what I’ve always thought and this is the one thing I will not let anyone change about me. Now, I’m going to go take a nap. Enjoy your people watching.”

With that, Connor calmly makes his way across the gym area, a contradiction to the anger showing on his face and burning in his chest. He needs to calm down, and the best way to do that is to curl up in a calm, quiet place. He nods a silent greeting to the supposed troublemaker, Gavin Reed, on his way towards the door. Mostly to spite Ritch, but also because the guy had a really good form and the strength to back it up, and that deserves some kind of acknowledgement in Connor’s opinion.

Connor vaguely hears his name being called by Ritch as he steps out of the gym area, and normally that would be enough to make him pause, which then gives him think over the argument. Nine times out of ten, during this process of thinking things over, his brain somehow convinces himself that the entire fight was his fault and the person won’t ever forgive him. This time, though, he doesn’t pause. He doesn’t give his messed up head a chance to twist things on him. Connor knows he’s right this time, and he’s not going to allow himself to bow down to Ritch about this topic. In this case, bowing down to Ritch would be the equivalent of bowing down to Amanda, and she isn’t here to control him anymore.

No matter how far Connor was pushed during training as punishments, he never let her think she brainwashed that part of him, and she had not gone easy on him whatsoever.

Call him naive, childish, innocent, too optimistic, whatever. He’s heard all of that and much more and much worse from countless people. He likes to give people the benefit of the doubt, he likes giving people second and sometimes third chances (but only if they truly deserve it, and never a fourth). He likes to think that most people in the world don’t mean to do harm, and if they do they have a reason behind it. This way of thinking is the only thing that keeps him going some days, and on the days he’d temporarily forgotten how to maintain that mindset were the days that not even threats and cruel promises from Amanda could get him out of his bed. Mr. Anderson may have been able to get away with staying in bed most days, but that’s because he was once a decorated jaeger pilot. Connor is barely an official trainee, he can’t afford any more missed time.

“Connor!”

The familiar, gruff voice snaps him out of his thoughts. It doesn’t sound like that’s the first time he’s tried calling Connor, either.

“I apologise Mr. Anderson,” He starts with, turning on his heel quickly to not keep the older man waiting for his full attention a moment longer, “I was a bit lost in my head there for a few moments. I won’t let it happen again.”

Mr. Anderson makes a face that falls between scowling and confusion, “Must’ve been deeper in there than you thought ‘cause this ain’t close to any place you’d be needed.”

Looking around, he’s right. Connor doesn’t recognise these walls at all. There are different pipes and the floors are a slightly different texture than the rougher, more worn down metal or concrete of the other places he’s seen. He’s definitely in a bunker area, though, just not anywhere he’s been before, which means he’s probably in the area meant for more experienced pilots. Their bunkers are placed closest to the jaeger loading docks for faster take off. Connor must have taken a wrong turn at some point, still not completely used to this place’s layout.

It was probably for the best, though, since the first place Ritch would surely check for him is their room (especially since he claimed that he was going to take a nap), and he doesn’t want a repeat of what happened in the gym nor a chance to apologize to his brother for the sake of ending the fight. Both options are equally possible at this moment, so plan “get back to the dorm to calm down in the quiet” changes to plan “avoid Ritch while finding a good place to calm down in”.

“Fucks sake, Connor!” Mr. Anderson calls again, once more sounding like that wasn’t the first thing he’s said to the younger man since he had zoned out.

Connor immediately tenses, not liking when people start raising their voices at him, and snaps out of his thoughts again. Here he is, causing problems and inconveniences for people again, just like the fuck up he’s been lately. He needs to find a calm, peaceful place to relax sooner rather than later; he can’t be in public any longer like this.

“I’m sorry,” Connor takes a step back, then another, all while curling into himself, “I must have taken a wrong turn, I apologize for taking up your time,” He takes a few more steps back, not lifting his gaze from the ground, “I’m sorry, I’ll leave now. Sorry again–” Connor finishes weakly and darts out of the area, giving Mr. Anderson no chance to say anything to him.

He tries to force his head to stay in the real world so he can actually register where is and find out where he’s going, but it’s slowly getting more difficult. He speed walks through the huge jaeger storage room, easily dodging all of the busy people moving about and doing their jobs. After a particular quick change in direction to avoid the woman with her nose in her clipboard, Connor is painfully aware that his leg is still throbbing from this morning, despite the painkillers he was given.

At the reminder of the training room, he quickly finds a safe spot to stand in then checks the time. He hadn’t realised how much time has passed since lunch, and he isn’t sure how long of the past hour and a half was spent in the gym people watching and how much of it was spent wandering around aimlessly. He supposes it doesn’t matter at the moment. What does matter is that the training room should be empty by now, since everyone should be taking the written part of the exam so they can get a break from the physical exertion.

Connor eventually makes it to the vacant room successfully. No one else tried to stop him or talk to him. No one else seemed to take any particular note of him at all. There was no sign of Mr. Anderson, Gavin Reed, or Ritch that he’d been able to find. He should be safe here.

The first thing he does when he enters the room is find the best spot to spend over an hour in. He decides to camp in the left corner of the room, leaning against the wall the doorway he entered from is on. A minute or so of sitting and bouncing his leg and tapping his fingers pass before Connor decides to do some stretching. Yoga has always been his guilty pleasure and one of the few things that calmed him down completely. Besides, Amanda never complained about him being more flexible during fights. She said it complimented Ritch’s more solid technique.

Why does every little thing bounce back to her? Stop that. She’s gone now, so stop thinking about her. Stop thinking…

He isn’t sure when he fell asleep, but he knows he’s been in the Child’s Pose for a fair amount of time, if the pin pricks in his calves and feet and the ache rising in his knees and lower back have anything to say about that. With a quiet grunt, he rolls onto his back and straightens out his body, trying to stretch out all of the aching joints and muscles. Connor doesn’t think it would be as bad if it was his entire body that ached, because then it would be easier to ignore it and move on.

“Oh shit. Connor, what are you doing in here?” North asks, making Connor jump.

Connor should have realized that he wasn’t alone in the room. With how tired he was, and still is, there’s no way he would have woken up on his own while the sun was still up.

Connor notes the random sounds of concern and confusion and the footsteps growing closer to him. He decides to go with sarcasm and humor, rather than the blunt truth. He’s already caused enough inconveniences today, and he knows this group well enough to know that they won’t somehow be offended by it.

“Oh, you know. Just doing yoga. I don’t recommend falling asleep in the middle of a pose though…” Connor fails to cover a groan as he sits up. His legs have gotten a bit better, but his back and ankles certainly haven’t yet. “Yea, definitely not the best position to fall asleep in.”

Markus offers a hand to lift him up to his feet, and Connor gladly takes it. “Why are you doing yoga in here of all places? If you don’t mind my asking, of course.”

“I didn’t even know you did yoga,” Josh jumps in.

Connor elects to ignore Markus’ question for the time being, “It’s always been a guilty pleasure of mine, and once my… Once the person who was taking care of me and Ritch figured out I was doing yoga in my spare time instead of doing extra studying, she didn’t actively try to stop me.” He starts leaning and twisting his torso in different directions to try to stretch his back, grimacing at how it pulls at some of the bandages and injuries on his torso. “She actually said that my flexibility and fluidity in fights complimented Ritch’s more rigid and solid form.”

“Jesus,” Simon breathes out, “The way you and Ritch describe– Amanda was it?” Connor nods, “Makes it seem like she wasn’t your stepmother at all.”

One would think that Connor would learn to think before replying.

“That’s because she really wasn’t.” He finally straightens up for good, his back better, now. “I think she only adopted us because we said we wanted to become jaeger pilots when we grew up. Well, I did, anyway.” Connor adds that last part softly, massaging his left palm with his right thumb.

“Wait,” Josh blurts, “You said her name was Amanda?”

“Yes?” Why does Josh look like he’s found the missing last piece to a 500 part jigsaw puzzle?

“Amanda, as in, Amanda Stern? Do you share her last name?”

Seeing how everyone’s eyes light up confuses Connor even more. He’s definitely missing something here.

“Yes? Have you met her before or know somebody else who has?”

“Have we met her!?” North suddenly exclaims, “Are you kidding me!? Only a small group of people have met her, everyone else just knows of her and her work! She’s a fucking legend among the jaeger pilot and special forces trainers! She always trains the best fighters! No wonder you two are so far out of our league! Especially if you’ve been in her care for so long!”

“I didn’t realise she was popular.”

“She��s more than just popular. She’s downright famous within the jaeger and military community.” Simon corrects.

“I’m actually shocked you didn’t know. Did you never question what those gatherings were, as you and Ritch call them?” Josh asks.

“Uh, no? Asking particularly dumb questions usually meant more work the next day for us, so neither of us wanted to ask. We just knew that wealthy people came over for conversation and drinks and we had to stay out of the way unless sought out and spoken to.”

Markus seems to snap out of his silent contemplation then. “More work for asking dumb questions. A life wearing nothing but uniforms and sleepwear, little to no toys and electronics growing up despite her having the funds for more than enough. That mixed with how you guys are pretty much soldiers already and claim to have learned most of it on your own… She does not sound like someone who deserves the high praise she gets. It all sounds questionable at best.”

“I mean… I guess? But she was only trying to get us used to following orders and stuff so we wouldn’t get in trouble here.” Right? “I don’t think she wasn’t a bad person? She just liked having things a certain way and was very determined to get it that way. We just weren’t good enough pilots for her in the beginning, is all. She was very nice and pleasant to us when we did something right, and always was to other people, too.”

Whatever Markus is thinking, Simon catches on too. Maybe they have the telepathy thing that Connor and Ritch have, too. “Were you and Ritch holding back this morning?”

Connor doesn’t know where this is going, but he doesn’t like it.

“What do you mean? We were told to go all out so we could be evaluated properly.”

“That’s what you were told to do,” Markus puts a kind hand on his shoulder. It’s oddly and undeniably comforting. “But did you actually?”

“No. We held back.” Ritch’s voice says from the doorway, having just popped in, “We had to be at least a little more gentle than usual because we were on those thin mats, and not mud or thicker foam like we’re used to. But after seeing everyone else’s skill levels this morning, we decided it would be best to blend in and hold back more.”

“What happened to keeping that hidden? What if Luther and Chloe find out?” Connor steps towards his brother, causing Markus’ hand to fall from his shoulder.

“I see no reason to hide that from this group in particular.” Ritch remains as stoic and unbothered as always. “They’ve proven themselves to be trustworthy, and at least two of them had already figured it out. It’d be more effort to try to continue hiding it from them.” Connor goes to retort, but Ritch continues, “Why are you getting upset? I thought you wanted to come clean?”

Connor has to curl his hands into fists and clench his jaw to keep the angered words and growls from leaving his mouth. It doesn’t help in the slightest that he never got to properly calm down from the fight earlier. He just fell asleep on the floor.

“What brings you here, Ritch?” he asks calmly, instead.

He rolls his eyes– a thing he would have gotten smacked for if they were still under Amanda’s roof, Connor’s brain supplies. “Well, you kind of stormed out earlier.”

“That generally means that person doesn’t want to be in the other’s presence anymore.”

“Oh would you stop being a child for two seconds and come with me to eat dinner. You need to eat and we can finish talking then.”

Connor sharply looks to the side. “I’ll be there in a few. Go ahead without me.” He continues as Ritch opens his mouth to say something, “And if you just stay here and wait for me I will purposely skip dinner and breakfast tomorrow. And you know I’ve lasted longer without food before and it won’t faze me.”

“And you know it won’t faze me either.”

“Won’t it?” Connor usually lasted just over three days without food before giving in during Amanda’s “survival evaluations”. Ritch only lasted one and a half on average.

There’s a heavy, tense silence where Connor is painfully aware of the other four’s presence, and that they have no clue what to make of this or how to handle it. Thankfully, Ritch caves first with a sigh.

“Fine then, but I don’t want you near Mr. Anderson.”

Connor clenches his fists and law. “Good thing you’re not my guardian or superior then.”

“He is, though. Your superior.”

“And he hasn’t kicked me off of his table yet. And don’t even claim that he could be letting me stay just to be polite or whatever. We both know he isn’t like that.”

Another silence, less tense and much shorter this time, though. Yet it’s broken by Ritch’s sigh once more.

“Fine.” He snaps, shaking his head, “It’s your life, your downfall, your embarrassment, and your panic attack when he comes to dislike you.” He turns around and starts walking out of the room. He doesn’t pause as he calls over his shoulder, “Don’t come crying to me this time. This will be all your doing, and I am not your guardian.”

“Wasn’t going to.” the other half calls back.

Well that was a disaster. Well, not so much of a disaster as a wreckage of notable size. Here Connor was, thinking that it would be himself that would ruin his relationship with Markus, North, Josh, and Simon, but oh no. No, it was going to be Ritch that destroyed it in the end. That robotic asshat.

Well, time to do some damage control.

“I am so sorry you guys had to see that–”

“Are you two like this all the time?” Josh interrupts.

His question makes him freeze and stumble over his previous thought. Why would he care how he and Ritch act around one another?

“Yes and no? I mean, when we’re not talking business, we’re either doing our own thing and leaving each other alone or training together, but our arguments don’t usually last this long. It’s usually solved one way or another by now.” Connor takes a deep breath, and finally relaxes his fists and stature, not realizing he was tense for a fight. He turns to the group that is now cautious, not unlike treading on eggshells, but not treating him as if he were delicate or unpredictable. More like unsteady, if he was forced to choose a word. “You guys know how siblings are, after all. This will pass.”

No one says or indicates anything. Are siblings not usually like this?

Markus takes a step forward. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but were you and Ritch pitted against each other often?”

Connor almost considers leaving the room right then, making use of the out he was given. He’s been talking way too much today, anyway; he feels the way his throat is getting hoarse with how much he’s been using his voice. On top of that, he just doesn’t want to go into detail about their training. He doesn’t want their opinions of him or Ritch to change because of what they’ve done in the past. Although, if his twin didn’t feel like waiting until they were alone to continue their dispute, then why should Connor spare him of this?

“I was under the impression that everyone fought against their partner in order to train. It helps both trainees’ styles to be either complementary to one another or near identical, and it helps them think in similar or complementary ways during battles, too. Did you guys not spar against each other regularly?”

“There’s a difference between sparring against your partner and being pitted against them, Connor.” North responds this time, uncharacteristically subdued.

“Well, yes, I suppose so…” There are so many regrets right now. After this, he’s just not going to talk anymore. It’s not worth it.

Simon takes a slow step forward, watching his reaction, “Stop me if I’m going too far, but were you guys ever told to fight with the intentions to harm or subdue each other, rather than just to train? ‘Cause that is usually considered illeg–”

–hand in his hair, boot digging into his back. He can’t breathe, he may as well be drowning on the mud he’s being pushed into–

“No.” he says with a sharp shake of his head. Whether it’s an answer to Simon’s question or a reaction to his thoughts, not even Connor himself knows.

–he takes the knife from his leg, wincing and hissing as it tears through–

No.

–loses his grip, causing him to be pinned again. He can’t move his arm. Why can’t he move his arm?–

No, no no no no no–

–it’s cold in summer..? Why is my vision so blurry? Wait, why am I alone now? No, wait! Don’t leave me! Please! I’ll do better! I promise I’ll do bet–

“Connor?!”

Connor finally snaps out of it with a small gasp, realizing that his vision really is getting blurry, but for a different reason. Crying is extremely disgraceful and impolite, especially in front of others. You have to be on your best behavior in front of people, and crying and curling up on the ground is not good behavior. He straightens up and forcibly relaxes his posture, using a single knuckle to wipe the threatening tears in the corners of his eyes. It’s now that he realizes he was beginning to hyperventilate. He needs a minute to be alone and calm himself, but he doesn’t want to be left alone. He really doesn’t want to be left alone–

Ah, but he isn’t alone right now and they won’t be leaving him, he can distantly hear them telling him that right now. Maybe there’s a chance they won’t completely avoid him in the near future. Although, for now, he needs to be fine, and his small group of allies certainly don’t see him as fine right now. He needs to calm down. He’s making a fool of himself in front of them. He needs to reassure them that he’s fine. He’ll be fine. He’ll definitely be fine–

“Connor, I’m so sorry.”

“No, it wasn’t your fault. I apologize for the way I reacted just then.” Manners are key, especially when forced to cut a conversation short. He bows his head with practiced grace, “And to answer your question, no, we weren’t ever told to fight each other with such an intent. Honestly. It– ah– we weren’t technically against each other…” He looks up at the clock on the wall; it’s nearly dinner time. “Ah, you guys came in here earlier for a reason and I just keep getting in the way. My apologies.” Markus opens his mouth to speak, but Connor doesn’t give him time. “Thank you for keeping me company, though.”

“Connor, I’m sorry for asking–”

No no no. Can’t think of that. Don’t think. It never happened. It was just a bad dream. Just think of it as a bad dream. Ritch said it would help. Amanda may lie, but Ritch doesn’t. Does he?

“No no, you’re quite alright. You didn’t know, it wasn’t your fault. It’s natural for people to be curious, and it really wasn’t that bad. I simply have a habit of over reacting to things.” Connor tries to make his following laugh sound genuine, but falls short. “Well, I should go now. Dinner will be starting soon and you still have business to attend to. I’ll see you guys later if you’re interested.”

Connor finally manages to shuffle out of the room, but he never makes it to dinner that night, even if he told Ritch he would. Despite what he just claimed, he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to talk to them again. People hate when others are large burdens, and that’s exactly what he’s becoming for them. He thought he could be better with fresh, new faces, but apparently it doesn’t work that way. It’s not how it works. It won’t ever be how it works, so it’s better to just leave them alone and let them have peace.

Ritch was right. He probably needs to start leaving Mr. Anderson alone. He understands now. Maybe he can still sit there to be alone? But why would he stay here at the base just to be alone? If he can’t even handle getting casual friends, how will he ever find a partner? And Connor’s replaceable in a way the ex-pilot is not, so they would not be nearly as patient with him.

Does that mean he needs to quit after all? What could he even do if not this? What would Ritch do? Connor’s the reason he’s even here in the first place. He’s the reason Ritch will be stuck in a life style he never particularly wanted growing up. Why can’t Connor ever do anything right? Everyone is right, he’s too naive, too childish, too quick to get too deep into things. It needs to stop. He’ll pack his things tomorrow and tell the instructors about all of this and he’ll be gone by tomorrow evening or the next morning, whenever Ritch isn’t around. If Ritch finds out he’ll definitely blame Connor and make him stay with him as payback or something. Connor can’t stay, though. He’s useless.

His room’s door opens with a creek, causing Connor to instinctively curl into himself, but he forces himself to relax and slow his breathing. If Ritch thinks he’s asleep when he gets back, he’ll leave him alone. With every footstep, adrenaline rushes through Connor. He’s distantly aware that he’s being like this because he’s afraid Ritch is going to pop out of nowhere and confront him, knowing he won’t have the energy to fight back now. They’ve been arguing all day and a good chunk of yesterday too, it’d only make sense for Ritch to try something like that.

Instead of doing so, though, Connor simply changes into sleeping clothes and climbs into bed. The main light was never turned on, so the room has been coated in darkness from the start. After some time of resting, though, there’s the creak of the door, then a click accompanied by a soft, yellow light flooding the room. It stays on for a long while before Connor hears Ritch shifting around again. This time, the other twin climbs out of the lower bunk and sounds like he’s about to put on his real clothes again, but pauses in the process.

“Connor.” The man in question can hear the stern frown in Ritch’s voice. He uses all of his self control to not stiffen because of it, but it apparently wasn’t good enough. “Connor, I know you’re up. Why didn’t you eat?” that same stern frown is likely still on his face.

Connor doesn’t move, hoping that if he keeps up the act and ignores his racing heart, Ritch will convince himself that he was just seeing things. He knows it’s not a realistic thing to hope for, but still.

“Connor, even if you weren’t up before, I know you would be by now. Why weren’t you in the food court? The others were.”

No response. He remembers what he said before in the training room, he doesn’t want to talk to anyone anymore. It just makes things worse. Besides, his throat is still a bit scratchy.

“Fine. Be a child. I don’t care. I’m not putting up with this shit anymore.”

No, wait, please don’t leave. I take it back, I’ll get better at talking so I can do it without messing up, like you can. I’ll teach myself how to respond better so I don’t have to worry about making things worse anymore. I’m sorry. I don’t want you to hate me. I don’t want anyone to hate me. I don’t want to be alone again. Please–

“Connor?” Soft footsteps creep closer. “Are you crying?” If Connor didn’t know better, he’d almost say that Ritch sounded concerned.

Before responding, he takes a shaky breath so he can speak without too many tremors in his voice. “I’m not crying.” Another, shorter breath. “It’s impolite and childish, especially in front of people.” The next breath is shakier, and definitely a give away that he’s slowly failing his attempt at not crying. “I’m fine. You need rest.”

“Connor–”

“You’re not my guardian. You don’t need to babysit me. Just let me self destruct like you said you would. It’s not even anything serious. Goodnight.” Just because his sleep schedule is going to be completely ruined, doesn’t mean Ritch’s has to be as well.

“Connor…”

He doesn’t respond.

There’s a shuffle of Ritch sitting down on the bed as he asks, “Did they ask more questions?”

“Yes, but you were there for them.” Maybe he’ll let him go to sleep if he plays along.

“Was that the only thing they asked?”

Connor sighs, annoyed. “Yes.”

“What did they ask?”

Connor finally makes himself sit up. “Ritch, I just said–”

“Connor.” If a tone of voice could paralyze, Connor wouldn’t even be able to blink.

He sighs again, this time in defeat. “If I tell you, would you let me sleep?”

“Depends on if what I’m told and if it’s a lie or not.”

Connor hesitates.

“...if I promise to tell the truth, will you leave me alone?”

“Depends on what the truth is.”

“Then no.”

Ritch jumps up from where he sat on his lower bunk. “Connor! I swear to god–”

“They brought it up, okay? God, are you happy now?”

“Brought what up, Connor? Use your words–”

“It.” he snarls, “They asked a question that made me think of when it happened. And I know you aren’t as affected by it as I am, but I can’t handle anything like you can. I just can’t...” Connor finally lets himself fall back down on his bed in a desperate attempt to hide the silent tears that are finally falling.

This time, Ritch is the one that doesn’t have a response. Good. Let him think about when it happened. Let him suffer just like Connor was trying to avoid because he’s a nosy prick.

Ritch heaves a deep sigh. “I’m sorry. I can talk to them about it tomorrow, try to calm them down. They’re probably very worried about you or both of us now.”

Connor grunts. They probably should be worried, but he knows that leaving things as they are now would only make things worse for himself in the long run.

“Connor.” Another grunt. “Please try to eat something tomorrow. I’ll talk to Luther to see if you can take tomorrow off. I’m sure he’ll understand.”

“I’m not a child anymore.” he grumbles.

“No, you’re not.” he agrees softly.

Another grunt, this time followed by a heavy sigh. He won’t be getting that break. Even if he did get it, the chances of him being put in the danger zone of being sent home are more likely than most of the other trainees. If he can’t even handle being here for two days without becoming so completely and utterly useless, then what business does he have trying to be a fully-fledged pilot? None, that’s the answer.

He is distantly aware that Ritch has started trying to talk to him again, but Connor really just wants to go to sleep and forget about today, and so he does. He assumes his twin goes to bed soon after he did, though, because when he tries to wake Connor up for breakfast the next morning, he appears to be well rested. No obvious dark circles or bags under his eyes, no sluggish movements, his eyes clear. That’s good. Ritch will do just fine here. He knows how to talk like a normal human being and responds to others well. He’ll definitely find a new partner in no time.

Ritch walks out the door. Connor almost tries to get up to get ready for class, then figures that if he’s actually going to quit soon, then he may as well just stay put. Therefore, he’s still in bed by the time breakfast ends and the first class begins. No one tries to come get him. He’s not surprised, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still sting. He tries to convince himself that it’s just because Ritch told everyone that he needs a day off, but, if anything, that makes the sting in his chest worse for some reason.

He’ll try going in after lunch, after he’s had some time to settle down a bit.

After deciding on that, he goes to his dresser drawer and pulls out the small bottle of strong sleeping essential oil that Ritch and Amanda have no clue he has, let alone needs often enough for it to maybe be unhealthy. Here, he has it stuffed in the back of his dresser-locker under some clothes. He rubs a bit of it onto his foot then pulls a sock on because he doesn’t want that horrendous smell getting all over his sheets. His head doesn’t even quite make it onto the pillow properly before he’s out like a light.

Sleeping means no thinking, and no thinking means no stressing, after all, and that oil does a damn good job at knocking people out.

•◊•◊•◊•◊•

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A/N: Hey guys! Sorry about the long wait! I promise future updates won’t take this long! I’m just in the middle of a move and life kinda bitch slapped me outta no where there for a hot minute, but I think things are going better now. The next update probably won’t be as soon as I want it to be, but y’all won’t have to wait four months again Lol. Thank you to anyone who stuck around this long, despite me being new Heheh 😄 Thank you for reading and I hoped y’all didn’t hate it!! I absolutely promise that next chapter will be filled with lots of comfort and fluff!! 😄💖💕

#reed900 #gavin reed x rk900 #reed900 fanfic #reed900 fanfiction #reed900 au #hankcon #hankcon fanfiction #hank x connor #hannor fanfic #hannor fanfiction #dbh #dbh fanfic #dbh fanfiction #hannor au #hankcon au #slow burn #pacific rim!au #The Drift Between Us #Chapter 3

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nerds4life · 5 years

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The Essence of Evil: Sex with Children Has Become Big Business in America

By John W. Whitehead for Global Research, April 24, 2019

“Children are being targeted and sold for sex in America every day.”—John Ryan, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

Children, young girls—some as young as 9 years old—are being bought and sold for sex in America. The average age for a young woman being sold for sex is now 13 years old.

This is America’s dirty little secret.

Sex trafficking—especially when it comes to the buying and selling of young girls—has become big business in America, the fastest growing business in organized crime and the second most-lucrative commodity traded illegally after drugs and guns.

As investigative journalist Amy Fine Collins notes,

“It’s become more lucrative and much safer to sell malleable teens than drugs or guns. A pound of heroin or an AK-47 can be retailed once, but a young girl can be sold 10 to 15 times a day—and a ‘righteous’ pimp confiscates 100 percent of her earnings.”

Consider this: every two minutes, a child is exploited in the sex industry.

According to USA Today, adults purchase children for sex at least 2.5 million times a year in the United States.

Who buys a child for sex? Otherwise ordinary men from all walks of life.

“They could be your co-worker, doctor, pastor or spouse,” writes journalist Tim Swarens, who spent more than a year investigating the sex trade in America.

In Georgia alone, it is estimated that 7,200 men (half of them in their 30s) seek to purchase sex with adolescent girls each month, averaging roughly 300 a day.

On average, a child might be raped by 6,000 men during a five-year period of servitude.

It is estimated that at least 100,000 children—girls and boys—are bought and sold for sex in the U.S. every year, with as many as 300,000 children in danger of being trafficked each year. Some of these children are forcefully abducted, others are runaways, and still others are sold into the system by relatives and acquaintances.

“Human trafficking—the commercial sexual exploitation of American children and women, via the Internet, strip clubs, escort services, or street prostitution—is on its way to becoming one of the worst crimes in the U.S.,” said prosecutor Krishna Patel.

This is an industry that revolves around cheap sex on the fly, with young girls and women who are sold to 50 men each day for $25 apiece, while their handlers make $150,000 to $200,000 per child each year.

This is not a problem found only in big cities.

It’s happening everywhere, right under our noses, in suburbs, cities and towns across the nation.

As Ernie Allen of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children points out,

“The only way not to find this in any American city is simply not to look for it.”

Don’t fool yourselves into believing that this is merely a concern for lower income communities or immigrants.

It’s not.

It is estimated that there are 100,000 to 150,000 under-aged child sex workers in the U.S. These girls aren’t volunteering to be sex slaves. They’re being lured—forced—trafficked into it. In most cases, they have no choice.

In order to avoid detection (in some cases aided and abetted by the police) and cater to male buyers’ demand for sex with different women, pimps and the gangs and crime syndicates they work for have turned sex trafficking into a highly mobile enterprise, with trafficked girls, boys and women constantly being moved from city to city, state to state, and country to country.

For instance, the Baltimore-Washington area, referred to as The Circuit, with its I-95 corridor dotted with rest stops, bus stations and truck stops, is a hub for the sex trade.

No doubt about it: this is a highly profitable, highly organized and highly sophisticated sex trafficking business that operates in towns large and small, raking in upwards of $9.5 billion a year in the U.S. alone by abducting and selling young girls for sex.

Every year, the girls being bought and sold gets younger and younger.

The average age of those being trafficked is 13. Yet as the head of a group that combats trafficking pointed out,

“Let’s think about what average means. That means there are children younger than 13. That means 8-, 9-, 10-year-olds.“

“For every 10 women rescued, there are 50 to 100 more women who are brought in by the traffickers. Unfortunately, they’re not 18- or 20-year-olds anymore,” noted a 25-year-old victim of trafficking. “They’re minors as young as 13 who are being trafficked. They’re little girls.”

Where did this appetite for young girls come from?

Look around you.

Young girls have been sexualized for years now in music videos, on billboards, in television ads, and in clothing stores. Marketers have created a demand for young flesh and a ready supply of over-sexualized children.

“All it takes is one look at MySpace photos of teens to see examples—if they aren’t imitating porn they’ve actually seen, they’re imitating the porn-inspired images and poses they’ve absorbed elsewhere,” writes Jessica Bennett for Newsweek. “Latex, corsets and stripper heels, once the fashion of porn stars, have made their way into middle and high school.”

This is what Bennett refers to as the “pornification of a generation.”

“In a market that sells high heels for babies and thongs for tweens, it doesn’t take a genius to see that sex, if not porn, has invaded our lives,” concludes Bennett. “Whether we welcome it or not, television brings it into our living rooms and the Web brings it into our bedrooms. According to a 2007 study from the University of Alberta, as many as 90 percent of boys and 70 percent of girls aged 13 to 14 have accessed sexually explicit content at least once.”

In other words, the culture is grooming these young people to be preyed upon by sexual predators. And then we wonder why our young women are being preyed on, trafficked and abused?

Social media makes it all too easy. As one news center reported,

“Finding girls is easy for pimps. They look on MySpace, Facebook, and other social networks. They and their assistants cruise malls, high schools and middle schools. They pick them up at bus stops. On the trolley. Girl-to-girl recruitment sometimes happens.”

Foster homes and youth shelters have also become prime targets for traffickers.

Rarely do these girls enter into prostitution voluntarily. Many start out as runaways or throwaways, only to be snatched up by pimps or larger sex rings. Others, persuaded to meet up with a stranger after interacting online through one of the many social networking sites, find themselves quickly initiated into their new lives as sex slaves.

Debbie, a straight-A student who belonged to a close-knit Air Force family living in Phoenix, Ariz., is an example of this trading of flesh. Debbie was 15 when she was snatched from her driveway by an acquaintance-friend. Forced into a car, Debbie was bound and taken to an unknown location, held at gunpoint and raped by multiple men. She was then crammed into a small dog kennel and forced to eat dog biscuits. Debbie’s captors advertised her services on Craigslist. Those who responded were often married with children, and the money that Debbie “earned” for sex was given to her kidnappers. The gang raping continued. After searching the apartment where Debbie was held captive, police finally found Debbie stuffed in a drawer under a bed. Her harrowing ordeal lasted for 40 days.

While Debbie was fortunate enough to be rescued, others are not so lucky. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, nearly 800,000 children go missing every year (roughly 2,185 children a day).

With a growing demand for sexual slavery and an endless supply of girls and women who can be targeted for abduction, this is not a problem that’s going away anytime soon.

For those trafficked, it’s a nightmare from beginning to end.

Those being sold for sex have an average life expectancy of seven years, and those years are a living nightmare of endless rape, forced drugging, humiliation, degradation, threats, disease, pregnancies, abortions, miscarriages, torture, pain, and always the constant fear of being killed or, worse, having those you love hurt or killed.

Peter Landesman paints the full horrors of life for those victims of the sex trade in his New York Times article “The Girls Next Door”:

Andrea told me that she and the other children she was held with were frequently beaten to keep them off-balance and obedient. Sometimes they were videotaped while being forced to have sex with adults or one another. Often, she said, she was asked to play roles: the therapist patient or the obedient daughter. Her cell of sex traffickers offered three age ranges of sex partners–toddler to age 4, 5 to 12 and teens–as well as what she called a “damage group.” “In the damage group, they can hit you or do anything they want to,” she explained. “Though sex always hurts when you are little, so it’s always violent, everything was much more painful once you were placed in the damage group.”

What Andrea described next shows just how depraved some portions of American society have become.

“They’d get you hungry then to train you” to have oral sex. “They put honey on a man. For the littlest kids, you had to learn not to gag. And they would push things in you so you would open up better. We learned responses. Like if they wanted us to be sultry or sexy or scared. Most of them wanted you scared. When I got older, I’d teach the younger kids how to float away so things didn’t hurt.”

Immigration and customs enforcement agents at the Cyber Crimes Center in Fairfax, Va., report that when it comes to sex, the appetites of many Americans have now changed. What was once considered abnormal is now the norm. These agents are tracking a clear spike in the demand for harder-core pornography on the Internet. As one agent noted,

“We’ve become desensitized by the soft stuff; now we need a harder and harder hit.”

“In America, we had ‘special jobs.’ Oral sex, anal sex, often with many men. Sex is now more adventurous, harder.”

A common thread woven through most survivors’ experiences is being forced to go without sleep or food until they have met their sex quota of at least 40 men. One woman recounts how her trafficker made her lie face down on the floor when she was pregnant and then literally jumped on her back, forcing her to miscarry.

Holly Austin Smith (image on the right) was abducted when she was 14 years old, raped, and then forced to prostitute herself. Her pimp, when brought to trial, was only made to serve a year in prison.

Barbara Amaya was repeatedly sold between traffickers, abused, shot, stabbed, raped, kidnapped, trafficked, beaten, and jailed all before she was 18 years old.

“I had a quota that I was supposed to fill every night. And if I didn’t have that amount of money, I would get beat, thrown down the stairs. He beat me once with wire coat hangers, the kind you hang up clothes, he straightened it out and my whole back was bleeding.”

As David McSwane recounts in a chilling piece for the Herald-Tribune:

“In Oakland Park, an industrial Fort Lauderdale suburb, federal agents in 2011 encountered a brothel operated by a married couple. Inside ‘The Boom Boom Room,’ as it was known, customers paid a fee and were given a condom and a timer and left alone with one of the brothel’s eight teenagers, children as young as 13. A 16-year-old foster child testified that he acted as security, while a 17-year-old girl told a federal judge she was forced to have sex with as many as 20 men a night.”

One particular sex trafficking ring catered specifically to migrant workers employed seasonally on farms throughout the southeastern states, especially the Carolinas and Georgia, although it’s a flourishing business in every state in the country. Traffickers transport the women from farm to farm, where migrant workers would line up outside shacks, as many as 30 at a time, to have sex with them before they were transported to yet another farm where the process would begin all over again.

This growing evil is, for all intents and purposes, out in the open.

Trafficked women and children are advertised on the internet, transported on the interstate, and bought and sold in swanky hotels.

Indeed, as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the government’s war on sex trafficking—much like the government’s war on terrorism, drugs and crime—has become a perfect excuse for inflicting more police state tactics (police check points, searches, surveillance, and heightened security) on a vulnerable public, while doing little to make our communities safer.

So what can you do?

Educate yourselves and your children about this growing menace in our communities.

Stop feeding the monster: Sex trafficking is part of a larger continuum in America that runs the gamut from homelessness, poverty, and self-esteem issues to sexualized television, the glorification of a pimp/ho culture—what is often referred to as the pornification of America—and a billion dollar sex industry built on the back of pornography, music, entertainment, etc.

This epidemic is largely one of our own making, especially in a corporate age where the value placed on human life takes a backseat to profit. It is estimated that the porn industry brings in more money than Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Yahoo.

Call on your city councils, elected officials and police departments to make the battle against sex trafficking a top priority, more so even than the so-called war on terror and drugs and the militarization of law enforcement.

Stop prosecuting adults for victimless “crimes” such as growing lettuce in their front yard and focus on putting away the pimps and buyers who victimize these young women.

Finally, the police need to do a better job of training, identifying and responding to these issues; communities and social services need to do a better job of protecting runaways, who are the primary targets of traffickers; legislators need to pass legislation aimed at prosecuting traffickers and “johns,” the buyers who drive the demand for sex slaves; and hotels need to stop enabling these traffickers, by providing them with rooms and cover for their dirty deeds.

That so many women and children continue to be victimized, brutalized and treated like human cargo is due to three things: one, a consumer demand that is increasingly lucrative for everyone involved—except the victims; two, a level of corruption so invasive on both a local and international scale that there is little hope of working through established channels for change; and three, an eerie silence from individuals who fail to speak out against such atrocities.

But the truth is that we are all guilty of contributing to this human suffering. The traffickers are guilty. The consumers are guilty. The corrupt law enforcement officials are guilty. The women’s groups who do nothing are guilty. The foreign peacekeepers and aid workers who contribute to the demand for sex slaves are guilty. Most of all, every individual who does not raise a hue and cry over the atrocities being committed against women and children in almost every nation around the globe—including the United States—is guilty.

Note to readers: please click the share buttons below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His new book Battlefield America: The War on the American People (SelectBooks, 2015) is available online at www.amazon.com. Whitehead can be contacted at [email protected].

#spread this #make sure people know #get educated #be aware #save some lives #i worry many of you are prime targets for this #I can see the insecurity and desire for attention #rape culture #human trafficking #mine #this is a problem throughout the world

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pwchronicle · 5 years

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Ring of Honor “Best in the World” TV Taping Report June 29th in Philadelphia, PA

ROH followed up their annual Best in the World PPV in Baltimore with a TV taping at the 2300 Arena. For fans in my neck of the woods, it was either this or All Elite Wrestling’s second show, Fyter Fest, available for free on B/R Live. There was also UFC airing on regular ESPN, so plenty of choices tonight. A number of people chose not to attend tonight’s taping; it definitely did not look like the sell-out ROH was reporting, certainly down from the last two times ROH ran here last October and December. Myself? I can catch these other shows later in the weekend. I went in to this after just reading about what went down in Baltimore, unfortunately not all that compelled to order it, but still looking forward to fun stuff tonight.

Future of Honor: Azrieal beat Matita (?) with a splash off the top rope. That’s right, Azrieal, the former Special K member who cleaned up his act, has made his way back into ROH after being absent for several years. He and his opponent (billed from Africa) both looked pretty good. I probably butchered his opponent’s name, but towards the end he was up on the top rope when Azrieal shoved the ref into the ropes, pretending it was an accident as his opponent was crotched on the top. Azrieal then hit him with a draping DDT to lead to the finish.

Future of Honor: The Tate Twins (formerly The Boys) beat Geddy Cahoon and “Classy” Max Stenway after a double chokeslam on the larger Cahoon. The Boys have matured a little, with a Batman-esque video screen that still calls them The Boys as they come out in capes. I’ve seen Cahoon once before in Chikara’s Young Lions Cup tournament last year I think. He has an old-school look, black trunks with white boots, while his partner wore gray pants and a top that looked like a buttoned vest. I thought this was okay, one noticeable hiccup being one of the twins and Cahoon doing some sloppy pin exchanges.

The injured Colt Cabana was able to make it out tonight, with the help of a cane, to call the action with Ian Riccaboni. Kenny King joined them on commentary for the first televised match.

1. Shane Taylor beat Rhett Titus in a Proving Ground Match after hitting him with a headbutt. Titus did some flexing early to get out of Taylor’s grip for comedic effect, and he was able to hit a nice dropkick early. Taylor was all business and gave him a legdrop on the edge of the ring. Nearfall by Titus following at least three running boots in the corner and a Samoan Drop.

- Following Titus’ loss, King came down ringside and said he was disgusted. He brought up his history with Titus as the All Night Express, when they picked up wins over the Briscoes, the Young Bucks, Roderick Strong, and Tyler Black. Now King thinks Titus is a joke, and he brought up his pregnant wife in the crowd. He asked Titus how she could be proud of him, and why Titus’ son (Jimmy Controversy? I’ve seen him wrestle late last year) can’t look him in the eye. Titus got hot, but he just left the ring as King called him a punkass bitch.

2. Tasha Steelz won a 4-Way #1 Contender’s Match over Angelina Love (w/ Velvet Sky and Mandy Leon), Jenny Rose, and Stella Grey when she pinned Grey after hitting an ace crusher. Kelly Klein joined commentary for this, and this was the first time I’ve noticed Brian Hebner reffing for ROH. Sky said this match was bull and that Love is already the true #1 Contender to Klein’s WOH World Title. Leon, meanwhile, had a dog with her, and the dog was wearing a leather jacket. There were no incidents between the Allure and fans in the crowd, but there wasn’t much enthusiasm from fans during this match either, even though Rose and Grey got hometown wrestler pops, and everyone liked the dog, though it didn’t get involved. Leon got involved trying to trip one of the women, and Hebner ejected her, Sky, and the dog from ringside because of it. Love hit a dive to the floor from the top rope, then got up in another corner to call out to Klein afterward. Klein came down to ringside briefly, and this distraction led to the other three wrestlers taking down Love.

- After the match, the lights went out while Love and Steelz were still in the ring, the Maneater video played, and when the lights came back on, newcomer Maria Manic was standing behind Love and Steelz. Manic got a good reception. Love bailed out of the ring while the next title challenger Steelz stepped up to her. Four crew members separated the two of them. Manic took out all four guys herself, including putting one of them in a torture rack before dumping him out of the ring, and taking out another with a tree slam. This made Manic even more popular, so a job well done on her arrival into ROH and Women of Honor.

3. Jay Lethal & The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brian Milonas) beat The Kingdom (Matt Taven, TK O’Ryan, and Vinny Marseglia) after the Bouncers hit O’Ryan with Closing Time. Good action with three popular babyfaces. Before the match, Lethal demanded timekeeper Amy Rose (not Sonic the Hedgehog’s friend) to leave the ringside area because of her interference in Lethal’s match against Kenny King at Best in the World (she returned maybe two matches later). The Kingdom preferred to be in the ring with Lethal as opposed to the Bouncers, and Lethal was worked over before making hot tags to each of them. Lethal hit his suicide dives towards the end. The Bouncers’ stock continues to rise (they recently earned a Tag Team Title shot in the Northwest), but before they could celebrate with post-match beers, Taven yanked Lethal down from the apron and gave him a Climax on the floor. The Bouncers and other crew attended to Lethal as he was helped to the back.

4. Eli Drake beat Grizzly Redwood with an air raid crash. Pretty short squash by new NWA signee Drake on another returning face in Redwood, though he’s local, so I’m not sure how much of a return it really is. Nick Aldis, flanked by Kamille, was on commentary during this. Drake cut a promo afterward about his arrival into the NWA and his pursuit of the World Title, and I thought he came off well.

5. Coast 2 Coast (LSG & Shaheem Ali) beat Marcus Kross & Griff Garrison when Ali pinned Kross after a Boss Man Slam spun out from a powerslam position. This ended up being a competitive match and not a squash, with Kross (with gear and hair inspired by Goku) and Garrison (who just looks like an in-shape wrestler) getting a good amount of offense against the more established Coast 2 Coast. I also thought it was quite good, and a portion of the crowd chanted “Please Come Back!” to Kross and Garrison.

6. Jonathan Gresham won a Four Corner Survival over Jeff Cobb, Kenny King, and Dalton Castle. Caprice Coleman joined the commentary team from this point on. Castle, who is now heel and has ditched the flowing, winged robe for just a glittery jacket, was still beloved by the crowd. He and King hesitated getting in the ring, while Gresham and G1 Jeff kept it more serious. The Four Corner Survival rules of only two men in the ring at a time via tags (which confused the rowdy group of guys behind me, down from Ottawa, ONT Canada [!] for a bachelor party) naturally broke down, leading to Cobb going nuts with his suplexes. The end came when King took a shoe from Amy Rose to use as a weapon, but Gresham got a hold of it, hit King with it, and pinned King with a handful of his trunks. I thought it was fun, and it might come off better to me if I were to watch it on TV. Gresham returned the shoe to Rose.

- Jay Lethal came out to speak to the crowd. He said he hasn’t spoken about his losing the ROH World Title at G1 Supercard because he’s a bad loser, and it was a heavy pill to swallow. Then he remembered that he’s a two-time World Champion, meaning he lost it once, but worked hard and was able to win it again. He will have a title match next month in New York, and he plans to win the title back from Matt Taven. This cued Taven to come out and dress down Lethal. He said Lethal was embarrassing his parents, who were in the crowd, and that Lethal was proving that his parents raised a liar. Taven said Lethal choked in Madison Square Garden, and now Taven is the face of ROH, and they’re living in the Time of Taven. As Taven finished what he had to say, out came Alex Shelley in a suit. He’s making his return, as he said he was careful not to say he was retiring when he last appeared in ROH. He said he’s been wrestling for seventeen years, has constantly been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but he’s left his mark around the world. He said he’s pulling out his proverbial veteran’s card yet again, and that he wants a shot at whoever is the champion after the match in New York. This segment was followed by intermission.

7. The Soldiers of Savagery (Moses & Kaun) beat two wrestlers after hitting double chokeslams on both of them. After just doing run-ins up until now, the Soldiers of Savagery had an official entrance, and it was a pretty cool one. Quick post-intermission squash, as they attacked their opponents (who were in matching gear) before they could be introduced.

- Caprice Coleman came out to the ring to host an interview segment with Nick Aldis. Kamille held the NWA World Heavyweight Title for Aldis. Coleman brought up the Summer Supercard happening in Toronto on August 9, with ROH hosting talent from New Japan and CMLL. Coleman had heard the NWA World Heavyweight Title would be defended at Summer Supercard and asked Aldis who his challenger would be. Aldis started by bringing up his fight with the Briscoes at Best in the World, and he offered Jay Briscoe a title shot whenever he pleases. As for Summer Supercard, he suggested he might want to have another match with Marty Scurll. This prompted Scurll to come out, and he said that he would also like to have a rematch. Aldis said he wasn’t finished, as he’s actually offering the title shot at Summer Supercard to any member of Villian Enterprises, and he will let Scurll choose who it will be. Aldis and Kamille left, as Coleman asked Scurll who he chooses for the title match, or if he’s taking the match himself. Scurll stalled for a little bit and said he had a lot to think about. Coleman closed by reiterating the name of the event and it’s August 9 date.

- Another segment followed, with Riccaboni and Cabana coming down to ringside. Riccaboni talked a little about Cabana’s injury and asked him for an update. Cabana stated how he has a cane now, barely got the the okay from his doctor to fly out to the events this weekend, but then James Storm interrupted. He was dressed to wrestle, brought up his match against Cabana in Chicago for the NWA National Title, and that he’s here for those five more minutes Cabana offered after the match went to a time limit draw. Cabana brought up how Cabana would have given him those five more minutes, but the Briscoes attacked him and Storm did nothing. Cabana began to leave when Storm shoved him from behind to the ground and berated him. Cabana agreed to the title match after this, despite his bad leg and not being dressed to compete.

8. James Storm beat Colt Cabana to win the NWA National Title. This couldn’t have lasted more than five minutes. Cabana tried for his Superman pin right off the bat but couldn’t get it properly with his bad leg. Storm worked over Cabana’s leg as Riccaboni remained at ringside and tried to convince Storm to stop, very concerned for Cabana. Storm put Cabana in a half crab on the injured leg, but Cabana got to the ropes. Cabana fought back, and he tried and failed to get Storm in the Billy Goat’s Curse. Storm hit a superkick and locked in the half crab in the middle of the ring, finally forcing Cabana to submit. Storm then made Riccaboni announce him as the winner and new NWA National Champion. Good drama throughout that the crowd followed. This was likely the end of Cabana’s commentary for the night.

9. Silas Young beat Josh Woods with a small package. After the opening bell but before any action took place, Young got a hold of the mic. He said Woods has been in ROH for two years, but he hasn’t accomplished anything. He said the fans don’t respect Woods like they respect him, and that Woods could benefit from learning from him. He then gave the mic back to the ref, and as the ref did so Young kicked Woods in the groin and rolled him up for the quick win. Young has already corrupted Gresham, and he might be doing the same to Woods.

10. Shinobi Shadow Squad (Cheeseburger, Eli Isom, and Ryan Nova) beat Brian Johnson, Joe Keys, and Dante Caballero after they hit Caballero with a draping DDT/top rope double stomp combo. The three Future of Honor regulars, especially Johnson and Caballero, got a chance to show more of their personalities during this match. They suffered from some miscommunication though, ending with Keys accidentally hitting Caballero to lead to the finish. Afterward, Keys and Caballero came to blows with each other and had to be separated while Johnson just walked off.

11. Karissa Rivera beat Sumie Sakai after sitting down on a sunset flip attempt for the pin. This was Sakai’s first match back from injury, and this seemed to get a good amount of time with a lot of nearfalls. The action was pretty decent, though there was a moment where Sakai bowed to Rivera, Rivera went to bow back, and Sakai rolled her up in a small package that looked pretty bad. Rivera getting the upset win here came off well to me based on the crowd reaction, and Sakai sold the shock of it. Quinn McKay came into the ring to interview Rivera about it, but Sakai intervened and offered Rivera a handshake and congratulated her. If this is just a torch passing from Sakai, that’s A-okay.

12. Rush & Dragon Lee beat Jay & Mark Briscoe when Rush pinned Jay after hitting the Bull’s Horns. This match came off fantastic, as it was basically a fast-paced brawl. They began brawling on the floor early, starting when Dragon Lee went to hit a suicide dive onto the Briscoes, but they caught Lee and gave him a double suplex onto the floor. A little later, Mark came up bleeding heavily from the forehead, and I don’t know how it happened if it was hardway. It likely was as someone retrieved a towel to attend to Mark. This wasn’t at the level of how Jay has bled in the past, but Mark was bleeding so much Rush began focusing on it, wiping some of it on his chest and biting at the wound. ROH TV likely wouldn’t allow spots like this, so I imagine this match will be heavily edited when it airs, with the full uncut match featuring these spots put on HonorClub. Nevertheless, the blood added some intensity to the match, and the wrestlers capitalized on it. Mark used a chair to assist his running dive over the top to the floor. Rush was given a neckbreaker by Jay and the Froggy Bow by Mark, but Rush still kicked out that a lot of fans saw as three. Lee took out Mark with a running hurricanrana over the top rope to the floor to leave Rush to finish off Jay. A wild match that had the crowd shitting apes. Dragon Lee continues to be on a roll after some stellar matches these last two months in New Japan.

- There was a quick change of the ring canvas and wiping down of the ropes as Bobby Cruise announced that Villain Enterprises would be out next. When the ring was ready, the LifeBlood trio of Bandido, Tracy Williams, and Mark Haskins came out (they’re all that’s left of this faction!). Haskins brought up how Villain Enterprises played a fast one on them at the PPV with their recruiting of Flip Gordon when they thought he would join LifeBlood, and they demanded they came out. Marty Scurll came out again, accompanied by Gordon, Brody King, and PCO. Scurll properly introduced Gordon to the crowd as the newest employee of Villain Enterprises, the understudy, the intern, and the mercenary. He then gave Gordon the night off (following a potential injury at the PPV) to watch this six-man tag team match from the back, and he told LifeBlood that this would not be for their recently remade Six-Man Tag Team Titles, as they just defended them at the PPV (against Haskins, Williams, and PJ Black). Williams was fine with that, as they just wanted a fight, and given where they were, he demanded a Philadelphia Street Fight. The crowd was all for this, Villain Enterprises agreed, and the match was on.

13. LifeBlood beat Villain Enterprises in a non-title Philadelphia Street Fight when Bandido pinned Scurll. Chaos from the start. The timekeeper’s table was cleared off early and set up where the entrance way reaches ringside. The first big moment was King attempting to superplex Haskins onto two rows of chairs, but King went through them himself after Williams and Bandido made the save. LifeBlood began using canes. Bandido gave PCO a hurricanrana off the top rope through the table on the floor, and it all seemed perfectly executed. This left Scurll alone, and he was put into a sharpshooter by Haskins and a cane-assisted crossface by Williams, but King made the save. Dives to the floor from King and PCO was followed by a twisting dive from the top by Bandido. The landing looked rough but Bandido still got up. Back in the ring, Bandido gave PCO his version of the GTS, followed by the 21-plex onto an open chair. During all of this, a woman in the crowd shouted, “Leave him alone! He’s old!” This was only a nearfall as Scurll and King made the save, and then they brought a second table into the ring. Williams and Haskins peppered King with more cane shots. Scurll responded with shots from his umbrella. Scurll took down Bandido with his umbrella, placed him on the table, and went up top, but Bandido recovered and stopped Scurll, finally giving him his moonsault slam off the top through the table for the big win. Another wild, crowd-pleasing match. Bandido, Haskins, and Williams shook hands with all of the ringside fans, and then Williams took the mic and thanked the crowd for coming out on behalf of LifeBlood and everyone at ROH.

The main show started at about 6 PM and ended at 9:47 PM. I had some issues with the pacing of this show early on. A lot of talking segments that were good, some longer matches that weren’t good, and some shorter matches, but I really enjoyed the two last matches, and they energized the crowd and ended the night on a high note. A lot of focus on the NWA, and I’m not sure how it will play into ROH as I don’t know how much of it will be part of ROH TV. Cabana vs. Storm likely will be, but I don’t know about the Aldis-Scurll segment or the Eli Drake squash. ROH has a little bit of direction with the faction warfare, the World Title picture with Alex Shelley returning, and Maria Manic joining the women’s division, but I listened to the reactions, and they varied to people from Dalton Castle to Rush. No direction for Jeff Cobb following the PPV as he’s off to be G1 Jeff, and late in the game I joined the bandwagon of wanting him to win the ROH World Title and take it with him to Japan for a month in change, throwing the other contenders into crisitunity over the summer in the attempt of some more compelling stories. But no, ROH is focused on Matt Taven and company, and Taven still has his fans. No return date was given for Philadelphia, while they hit up New York City and Lowell, MA next month.

#ROH #Ring of Honor #ROHBITW #ROHPhilly #Wrestling #nwa wrestling #NWA

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cinemasnob412 · 5 years

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The Definitive Surviving Girls Of FRIDAY THE 13TH

Inspired by an article featured on VHSRevival.com I’ve decided to compile what I consider to be the definitive ranking of the FRIDAY THE 13TH series’s “final girls”. If you’re not well versed into what makes a slasher film “final girl” so special let’s break it down in simple terms: she’s gotta be the smart one, the “pure” one and in a perfect world would go head to head with the big baddie during the film’s finale, ultimately coming out on top, but not successful enough to make it through a sequel. With the ground rules set, here’s a look at the FRIDAY THE 13TH films’ worst to best “final girls”. Warning, there may be spoilers to follow.

12 - Amanda Righetti - Whitney - FRIDAY THE 13TH (2009)

I’ve never kept it a secret just how much I dislike any FRIDAY THE 13TH film post-Paramount. 2009′s reboot has a few good things going for it: Julianna Guill and a pretty aggressive Jason Voorhees (Derek Mears). In all reality they’re about the only two positives I can come up with off the top of my head. What it’s lacking though is what really made the original set of FRIDAY THE 13TH films so enjoyable. Marcus Nispel’s film leans more into TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE territory than it does FRIDAY THE 13TH. It’s also short on a likable and true to form “final girl”. Righetti’s Whitney character, while by all accounts is the smart and “pure” one, is too reliant on her co-star Jared Padalecki’s Clay character to be considered Jason’s nemesis this go-round.

11 - Lexa Doig - Rowan LaFontaine - JASON X (2002)

New Line Cinema’s entries into the FRIDAY THE 13TH cannon are my least favorite of the bunch. Along with JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY, 2002′s JASON X feels almost nothing like a Jason Voorhees vehicle. Too bad for Lexa Doig, whose Rowan LaFontaine character exhibits all the “final girl” traits, but does so in a pretty terrible film.

10 - Monica Keena - Lori Campbell - FREDDY VS. JASON (2003)

Monica Keena’s Lori Campbell character is really unnecessary in a film like FREDDY VS. JASON. If Jason was going to have an adversary to challenge him throughout the film’s final reel it needs only be Freddy Krueger (Robert England) right? Final girl fail!

9 - Kari Keegan - Jessica Kimble - JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY (1993)

Adam Marcus’s JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY is not even a true FRIDAY THE 13TH film in name. It sure as hell isn’t a true FRIDAY THE 13TH film in content either. With body-swapping, newly revealed Voorhees bloodline ties and not a teenager in sight, JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY is just a complete mess. Kari Keegan’s Jessica Kimble character, like the film she appears in, is a “final girl” by default only (she’s the last girl standing, so I guess that makes her pretty “final”). Her contributions to the “final girl” club are minimal. I guess she does get to stab Jason in the chest with a medieval dagger, that’s pretty cool, right? No!

8 - Jensen Daggett - Rennie Wickham - FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN (1989)

Ah! Finally, the Paramount Pictures contributions to the Voorhees legacy. 1989′s FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN is easily the weakest of the first eight films, as is the “final girl” character of Rennie Wickham (Jensen Daggett). She dresses like a forty year old mom who’s given up on life, is more of a fragile character than usually required to be an imposing, and victorious “final girl”. It’s not all Daggett’s fault. In reality she's ultimately a victim of lousy writing and poor creative choices by the film’s director, Rob Hedden.

7 - Adrienne King - Alice Hardy - FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980)

FRIDAY THE 13TH purists may cry foul with this one. Hear me out. As a die hard fan I love Adrienne King’s Alice Hardy. She’s the perfect “final girl”. The only real drawback to her character is that she never gets to actually go toe to toe with Jason Voorhees. In fact, the one and only time (not counting the first film’s dream sequence finale) she comes face to face with Mr. Voorhees (in 1981′s FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2) she takes an ice pick to the temple! Her “final girl” days were over at that point.

6 - Lar Park Lincoln - Tina Shepard - FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD (1988)

In 1987 when Paramount Pictures and New Line Cinema couldn’t come to an amicable agreement on potentially featuring both of their marquee horror icons in one film, Paramount forged on with another “versus” idea. Jason versus “the new blood” (I guess that’s what they meant by that title) Tina Shephard (Lar Park Lincoln). Tina fits the mold of the “final girl” perfectly. Add to that fact that she also comes equipped with almost supernatural, telekinetic powers, and old Jason was in for one heck of a showdown in his sixth outing, and the seventh overall FRIDAY THE 13TH film.

5 - Kimberly Beck - Trish Jarvis - FRIDAY THE 13TH - THE FINAL CHAPTER (1984)

Ask me now, ask me in one hundred years, what is the best FRIDAY THE 13TH film? Hands down, 1984′s FRIDAY THE 13TH - THE FINAL CHAPTER. Joe Zito’s film has everything the series has come to be known and loved for. In the fourth entry, Kimberly Beck’s Trish Jarvis, along with her younger brother Tommy (Corey Feldman) put a (temporary) end to the hockey masked killer. Trish is fierce and just as brutal with old Jason as he is with her. She protects her brother, faces her fears head on and ultimately holds her own quite well against Crystal Lake’s most famous resident.

4 - Dana Kimmell - Chris Higgins - FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3 - 3D (1982)

By 1982, the slasher genre’s “final girl” had become well defined. The third FRIDAY THE 13TH entry runs with that established characterization with no hesitation. Dana Kimmell’s Chris Higgins not only finds herself alone, one on one with the seemingly unstoppable force that is Jason Voorhees, but the film, halfway through clues us in that she’s sort of been through this before, having had an encounter with Jason in her younger days that she can’t quite completely recall. Maybe it was her earlier experience with Jason that prepped her for her Higgins’ Haven redux. She hangs the big fella, whacks him in the back of the noggin with a log and a shovel, stabs him in the leg and even tattoos him in the dome with a full on swing of an ax. She thinks and works quickly, constantly keeping herself one step ahead of Jason throughout the entire final reel of the film. Kimmell’s “final girl” would definitely top the list if it were not for our final three candidates.

3 - Jennifer Cooke - Megan Garris - FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI: JASON LIVES (1986)

Jennifer Cooke’s Megan Garris character is not so much a “final girl” as much as she’s the partner in crime with the sixth film’s “final guy” Tommy Jarvis (Thom Mathews). Why so high on the list then? For starters she’s hot. That counts for something, right? Seriously though, she’s one tough cookie. Not content with just going along for the ride, Megan helps Tommy along the way, compiling all the necessities to return Jason to his watery grave once and for all (?). She even steps in to save the day when Jason gets the best of Tommy during the film’s finale, on the water Crystal Lake fight scene. Just as Dana Kimmell’s Chris Higgins character did in the third film, Megan leaves a permanent mark on Jason’s infamous hockey mask (thanks to her quick thinking and a readily available boat propeller), something that would visually define Jason’s trademark mask throughout the seventh film.

2 - Melanie Kinnaman - Pam Roberts - FRIDAY THE 13TH PART V: A NEW BEGINNING (1985)

I know what you’re thinking. “But Pam never fought Jason, she fought the impostor, Roy”. Well, factually speaking you’d be right. And if you took what I said about Adrienne King early and applied it here, then theoretically Melanie Kinnaman’s Pam Roberts should also be lower on the list. I say you’re wrong though. Kinnaman’s final showdown with Roy (Jason impostor or not) is the stuff of FRIDAY THE 13TH legend. She’s tough, protective of her younger costar (similar to Kimberly Beck in FRIDAY THE 13TH - THE FINAL CHAPTER) Reggie (Shavar Ross) and aggressive when it comes to taking on the masked murderer intent on putting an end to her. She wields a chainsaw for Pete’s sake! Plus, let’s not forget she looks pretty darn good doing all of this!

1 - Amy Steel - Ginny Field - FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 (1981)

Amy Steel’s Ginny Field is one bad ass chick! Her showdown with Jason is pretty standard fare when you stack it up against the others in the series. What sets her apart though is her quick thinking and use of psychology to take on Jason when the chips are down. Tricking Jason into thinking she’s his beloved mother by donning her rotten sweater in an effort to strike the death blow on the confused Voorhees may have worked had it not been for one false move. No biggie though, she still lays the smack down on him by way of a machete in the shoulder blade that not only saves herself, but her boyfriend Paul Holt as well, who is in a life or death struggle with the maniac until she lands the fateful whack. Like the character of Tommy Jarvis in the later films, it would have been great to see the Ginny Field character return to do battle with Jason again. Amy Steel has talked about her willingness to return to the series, so maybe, fingers crossed, us fans will one day see the return of the greatest “final girl” in FRIDAY THE 13TH history. A boy can hope!

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janebennetts · 6 years

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jily gbbo au

lily is slightly drunk when she signs up for gbbo. her mum has just passed away and baking was their thing. lily would come home after a bad day and her mother would already be setting out things so they could bake a cake together

she works for a small online magazine and tells herself she could use the exposure, but really she knows she’s doing it because it would make her mum so happy

james is an teacher. his students love him, parents love him, his fellow teachers love him

he also makes the best scones in the entire world. sirius would marry one if he could

he, remus, and peter have definitely wrestled over which flavor james should make

sirius signs up in james’ name and announces it by spelling out “BAKE OFF” with jaffa cakes on their kitchen table

james cries, sirius cries, they clean up by eating every single jaffa cake in eight minutes

so the auditions are long and grueling but our kiddos are great bakers and they delight the producers and both earn spots on the show

when they come to film james’ intro on the show they think sirius is his husband at first

mostly because they call each other babe constantly

they ask how sirius feels about his partner doing this and he starts telling this ridiculous story about how he baked twenty cakes in the shape of toilets they saw on their travels around the world for their wedding

and then remus calls from the other room, “they’re not married!”

everyone has dinner before filming so they can all get to know each other

james gets there pretty late bc when is he not and the only available seat is beside the most beautiful person he has ever seen in his life

she smiles at him and he dies right there

he’s so flustered that instead of introducing himself, he’s like, “so, have you ever baked before?”

she kinda laughs but just says, “yeah, i bake a little.”

lily shows up on the first day of filming with five bags of ingredients

james shows up with a pair of novelty darth vader oven mitts

the signature and technical challenges are pretty simple stuff, they’re both in the middle of the pack

but then, the showstopper

they have to bake 48 fairy cakes/cupcakes

james ices and arranges his to look like paul hollywood’s face

mel and sue are laughing so hard they can’t speak

paul LOVES it ofc and james gets his first of TWO paul hollywood handshakes

lily has it a little harder

paul and mary love the flavor of her grapefruit and white chocolate fairy cakes but say they could’ve used a few more minutes in the oven and she cries

it’s not a big deal, plenty of people did a lot worse, but she’s so upset

james feels awful so in the next episode he makes a big show of tripping as he takes his eclairs out of the oven, which destroys them

(he was going to start over anyways, but he hopes it might make her laugh a little)

she knows exactly what he’s doing, but she laughs anyways

lily slowly starts dominating technical challenges

james has somehow made every single thing from the technical challenges but he always forgets what they’re supposed to look like

paul hollywood laughs for a solid two minutes when he somehow turns the buttercream in his opera cakes bright green

“they’re delicious, but james… they’re green”

“yes sir that would be the mint i added”

“why did you do that?”

“i don’t… know???”

james is better at showstoppers because he’s so dramatic and loves building things

lily is really good at tiny details and piping too

they’re making sculptures out of biscuits for one showstopper and he’s making a 3D postcard of the world (yes, he’s dumb)(yes, sue knocks over the eiffel tower four times) and he calls lily over to show him how to pipe details on the Sydney Opera House better

their hands brush over the piping bag

things are getting truly wild over here

people all over twitter are thirsting over james. he’s this season’s tamal

but people also notice how james and lily look at each other as they bake

paul makes a face over lily’s pomegranate iced matcha shortbread bc somehow he doesn’t like the matcha flavor but he can’t taste it either and she just barely rolls her eyes

the camera cuts to james who high fives her as she walks back

he asks to taste one after judging ends and she picks one up and straight up feeds it to him

he starts moaning about how it’s the best thing he’s ever eaten

the camera gets it all and the next day, there’s two buzzfeed articles and many, many gifs

james steals chocolate chips from her constantly

he throws some to her and she tries to catch them in her mouth like jake and amy in “the bet” from brooklyn nine-nine

they lay on the ground together as they wait for things to bake and he braids her hair

y’all know james is star baker of bread week. he nails that focaccia! everything is perfectly proved and baked! another paul hollywood handshake!

lily makes a pretty good apricot and chocolate braided bread for the signature

while james’ loaf is proving she’s making her apricot spread and is like, “while you’re sitting around, come knead this for a sec”

so she finishes up the spread as he kneads her dough

he does that really loud slapping method too

-lily: “so that’s the method you go with? i’m prefer really getting my hands in there”

mel and sue tell them they’re putting them out of a job

lily cries when they say james is that week’s star baker

at the end of the episode they interview her and through her tears she keeps saying how proud she is and how much he deserves it

“he never shuts up about bread! never! i’ve never met someone so passionate about dough!”

the next week is retro week

she ties a scarf in her hair and makes the best black forest gateau anyone has ever had

she and james bump hips when they announce that she’s star baker

and finally it’s the finale and they’ve both made it along with a nice grandmother who’s good, if a bit old fashioned

they both swear the other will win

they’re rolling out dough in the signature and lily starts humming “wannabe” from the spice girls and james just starts singing along

and they look up and do the rap together and roll out the dough in sync

the final challenge is to do a tower of macarons

lily makes him close his eyes and taste her fillings so she knows the flavors are strong enough

“what flavors are you getting?”

“lemon???”

“yeah, but what kind?”

“what kinds are there?”

“i don’t know!”

she smears some of his face and he doesn’t wipe it off

they finish and go out to the big tea party. sirius, remus, and peter sit at a table with them and eat both

they do their interview together. lily smiles and says, “i don’t care if i win. either way, i think things are going to be fine.”

they hold hands as they wait for the winner to be announced. neither of them notice.

when they call out lily’s name she turns to james and kisses him

mel and sue are shook

“looks like we’ve actually got two winners today!”

they both become famous afterwards, and both have cookbooks

james remains a teacher but lily becomes sort of a lauren conrad type figure and has a wildly popular baking blog

they are revered on social media in the best way (with no weird fans), and often post pictures of bakes with the caption “guess who made this one?”

spoiler: it’s usually both of them

#my writing #jily #jily headcanons #hp headcanons #hp #harry potter #jilyfic #userliyah #mollywecsley #struttinglikeapotter #lunalovey #fyeahjamesandlily

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dailyaudiobible · 3 years

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09/13/2021 DAB Transcript

Isaiah 12:1-14:32, 2 Corinthians 13:1-14, Psalms 57:1-11, Proverbs 23:9-11

Today is the 13th day of September welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you today as we approach the middle…well…I mean we’ll get to the middle of the week, and we’ll be in the middle of the month. We’re working our way through the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament. We’re working our way through the second letter to the Corinthians in the New Testament and we will conclude that letter with today's reading. So, let's dive in. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. Isaiah chapters 12, 13, and 14 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we concluded the second letter to the Corinthians today. And as letters go, it's…it's a good-sized letter, but we probably noticed that a bunch of this letter is Paul defending himself in part, and we've already gone over this. Other people were coming and visiting these churches and nuancing what Paul was teaching. He did not like that a bit. And they were associated with, you know, like some kind of pedigree, some kind of association to the actual disciples of Jesus in some form or another. And, so, they’re super apostles. And, so, he has to defend himself and spends a bunch of the letter doing that. Let's just pause though and remember that Jesus Christ, the Savior, dealt with the same kinds of scenarios where he's constantly being asked, “by what authority are you doing these things?” And all kinds of assumptions about Jesus were flying around. And we've explored that we went to the Gospels. So, let's just notice here in this letter that these kinds of things were going on in the early church. They continue to go on until this day where we pick our favorites and then we defend our favorites and we’re always looking for a certain kind of pedigree or a certain kind of proof. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's in some ways called discernment. Paul essentially was saying, can't you just…like…do I have to brag? Do I have to boast? Do I have to show how I have done more for God than these other people? Can't you just look at what my life is? Can’t you look at the consistency of the message of the gospel? Can't you see what we've been through to bring it to you? Can’t that matter? Do we have to actually get into a bragging contest? Is this what we’re doing here? And that's fair. Jesus had the same kind of thing going on. Remember Jesus being accused of getting His…the source of His power to heal from the devil? And Jesus is like, what are we…what are we doing here? What are we talking about here? How can that even be? A house divided against itself can't stand. So, we’ve had the opportunity to explore the ways in which we judge and what we’re looking for. But Paul ends this letter actually in a really pointed but very helpful way. And, so, if we think about the way that we discern or we judge, if we look at the way that Jesus was judged, if we look at the way that Paul was judged then we see how we do the things that we do and we might begin to realize that it's mostly outward. Like, we are mostly outwardly judging without looking in the mirror and including ourselves in the equation. And that is how Paul rounds things out. And I quote. “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you fail to meet the test.” So, we can watch the super apostle’s brag. We can watch Paul brag back and defend himself. And we can sit there and go okay well here's my choice, I judge for Paul, or I judge for Apollos, or I judge for Cephas, right? Because we've seen all this going on in the early church. Paul is just suggesting as he closes this letter that maybe we just look at ourselves for a while, maybe we examine ourselves realizing that Christ Jesus is within us, and we don't have to be the judge. We have the Spirit of truth. We should keep our eyes on our own lives and what God is doing in our beautiful wild life that we've been given, and then live that out into the world not worrying about the rest.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit come into that. We…we walk into so much distraction. We walk into so much stuff that just entangles us in one way or another, big or small. When we are given permission to become aware of Your presence in our very lives and to examine ourselves. So, come Holy Spirit with the light of truth and help us do that, examine ourselves. And lead us into all truth, we pray. In the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home…home base, it’s where you find out what's going on around here. It’s how to get connected around here. It’s how to find resources that are available for this journey around here.

So, like, check out the Community section. That's where you will find links to the different social networks that we participate in. The Prayer Wall actually also lives in the Community section and that is a gift and a beautiful thing unto itself. It is always on, always active, always happening any time of day or night. No matter what you might be going through you can always go there and reach out to brothers and sisters, ask for prayer. But maybe even more importantly sometimes it's a…it's a place to go and pray, it's a place that we have as a community here around the Global Campfire. These are the things that are going on in our lives and…and there's a myriad of things going on. I mean, any given day in any one of our lives brings usually some sort of drama of some sort. It doesn't have to be life altering drama. It's just life. Life among other human beings. Life in all of the different cultures and all of our attempts to make it work, and to make it make sense. Every day that's challenged and every day we…we need prayer, but maybe even more importantly, maybe we need to reach out in prayer and reach toward one another through prayer, as we reach to God for His intervention or His direction and clarity in the thoughts, words, and deeds of our lives. And, so, the Prayer Wall is a wonderful resource for that. And that can be found in the Community section whether you’re on the website or whether using…using the Daily Audio Bible app. So, be sure to check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission…if the mission of the Daily Audio Bible, which is to bring the spoken scriptures read fresh every day and offered freely to anyone who will listen anywhere on this planet any time of day or night and to build community around that rhythm so that we know that we are not alone on this journey through the Bible or in life, if that is life-giving to you than thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that’s the little red button up at the top, or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning DAB I'm going to go by His Farmer. This is the first time I've called in. I've been listening to DAB for a couple years now. I was inspired by Marked as His and I want you to know that we're praying for you. I'm a farmer also and it is a struggle right now trying to find help to…to get all the work that we need to be done. I just want to encourage you that…keep praying, keep listening to the DAB. I've been listening to the DAB for about two years now since I was being treated for cancer about two years ago and I've never stopped listening since I…since I was in the bed listening…being treated for cancer and here we are today in remission, and I praise God give him all the glory and really love listening to the prayer requests and…and God’s scripture. It's 6:00 o'clock in the morning here and I'm feeding my cows too. I understand the struggle. It's tough. It is not easy this year. It's never been harder I don't think to be a dairy farmer that I can remember in my 40 years of working on our family farm. So, I just wanted to let you know that we’re…we’re definitely praying for you here and understand the struggle. It is tough.

Heidi Abby this is Amy and I just have a praise report and testimony, and everything wrapped up in one. Tonight, I was just about to have my shower tonight and I stepped out of the bathroom for less than a minute. And as I stepped out and was about to go back in the entire ceiling caved in. And, you know, I’m still kind of in shock right now because it just happened a few hours ago. But I'm just so thankful to God for my life because if I had stayed there a minute longer or had gotten into the shower already, I don't know where I would be right now. So, I just want everybody to, you know, really praise God with me and for me because I'm just, you know, my life was just…I’ve just been thinking about this since it happened, that I am so thankful to God for my life but it's just, you know, it's just given me a new way of looking at God and that He actually is with me is with me because I stepped out into the hall in the middle of brushing my teeth. That never happens because I know needed me to get out of that bathroom before the ceiling caved in. I just want everyone to please thank God for me and just, you know, be encouraged. Keep praying even when it doesn't look like anything is happening because God is truly working for you, and He will protect you. Thank you very much everybody and have a good day. Bye.

This is Jamie in New Jersey standing on the word of God. Dear Father in heaven we come to You in humility and prayer. We want to recognize our shortcomings to You and ask that You would help us. Your word tells us that we should take heed lest we fall. We confess that so many times we have given our promise to You Lord that we would do something only to regret it later when we lack the strength or courage to carry it out. When we think about our Christian life and how many things that we have pledged to do but have failed to do we realize that without Your Holy Spirit we have no strength to sustain any of it. Some of us have pledged to be bolder in our evangelism but when the moment came to be bold, we have lacked the courage we needed to speak out boldly. We have preached many things that we ourselves have failed to do. Our prayer lives are not what we have pledged to You that they would be. Prayer has easily been squeezed out of our schedules and the busyness of the day. Lord for these and so many more failings we confess. Create in us a new heart. Write Your commandments on the tablets of our hearts. We surrender our wills to You again and again. Lord write Your word on the palms of our hands. Remind us that You will do…that it will do us good to diligently devour and pay attention to it daily. It will bring light into the darkest places of our hearts like the dawning of the day and the rising of the morning star. Help us seek and wait on You every day. Father You know each and every one of us and You know our desire to walk in Your ways and bring glory to You and draw others out of darkness into Your loving Kingdom. Please take our frailties and turn them into power for Your purposes. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. Thank You, my brothers, and sisters. I love You all dearly. God bless the…

Hi DAB family I'm a long-time listener, been seven years now and I wanted to thank Brian for all that he's done for me and my family. My wife has also been listening for a couple years now. Listening to the Bible every day has truly been a life changing experience and it's gotten me through some of the most difficult times of my life. But I'm not calling for myself today I'm calling for a close family friend. I've known him since he was a young boy and now, he's grown up to be a very devoted and committed man. He's traveled to India civil times to share the gospel and his family is committed to planting churches all across that country. He's going to undergoing heart valve replacement surgery on the 21st and I'm just asking anyone who feels compelled to just pray for a smooth recovery and a smooth operation. His name is Prasanth. He lives in New York and I just hope that you would all keep him in your prayers. I'm also listening to your prayers and my wife, and I pray for all of you guys regularly. God bless.

Good morning DAB family this is Terry in Prattbull I just heard Lisa on September 9th. Lisa’s ill. She's been ill since January and she's struggling. She's struggling with feelings of being a burden and…and fear. And I just want to lift her up to God in prayer. Heavenly Father I lift Lisa up to You and…and Father let her know how love she is by her family by her DAB family, by everyone around her. And Lord God help her to know that the brokenness of this world, through disease and all of the bad things in life, that’s Your will for our lives. Your will for our lives is how we respond to that. And heavenly Father I give You all the glory in the world for the help she's receiving, the care and the love that she’s getting, the skill from the doctors. And Lord I…I just lift her up and I ask her Holy Spirit to fill her heart with joy and help her to realize Your love for her. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Good morning this is Tina from Texas coming on here to pray for miss Lisa who called in on September 9th…well I heard her on September 9th. And she says she's been feeling sick from kind of like a chronic viral inflammation. And hearing her voice and hearing her say that she feels like a burden to her family because of her sickness, I just wanna say first and foremost you're not a burden, you're never a burden. With Christ on your side, you're never a burden. I just want to pray that father God that you just heal her and keep her and let her know that you're…you're never alone. Lisa…miss Lisa is never alone with in her sickness, within her burdens, that she casts all her burdens and her worries and her sorrows onto you and that you comfort her and take them over for her and that you surround her with people that you know love her and truly care for her, to banish those thoughts those negative thoughts out of her mind, to keep up the fight for her health and for the faith and for the Kingdom. I thank you for bringing her to Daily Audio Bible to ask for prayer and I just ask that we all continue to pray for her in the name of Jesus and bring a miraculous healing to her, so she feels no pain and only joy and peace and comfort. Lisa, we love you. God loves you more than ever and Christ and Jesus loves you just as much. Thank you for calling. Will be praying for you. These blessings I ask in your son's holy name Jesus. Amen. Thank you. By miss Lisa.

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fangirlsarecool · 7 years

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So Unprofessional - Jake Peralta x Reader

Based around the episode “The Road Trip”. Enjoy! Also on AO3. My other one shots start here.

Holt came over to you and Jake. The two of you had been going over your open cases at Jake's desk before you set off for a prison transfer. You would have preferred to stay and work the cases but you couldn’t refuse the instructions of your CO. "Morning, detectives. Let's go over the prisoner transfer upstate." he requested. You closed your file and looked to him. "The perp is called Jesse Hermick. Arrested for nine counts of armed robbery but he skipped bail." you informed him. "He was just picked up in Neustadter, New York, trying to pay for a hoagie with a gun." Jake added.

"The sheriff said we have to pick him up tomorrow morning at 6:30. We're going up today and spending the night." you finished. Holt nodded, handing out a file to you. "Here are the transfer forms. Please don't--" "Get any Jake on them?" you posed, taking it from him. "They'll be in my safe hands the whole time, sir. Maybe I should put them in a bag in my overnight bag." "That's a good call." Jake reached beneath his desk and pulled out a bottle. "All the drinks I'm taking are blue." You grimaced; anything with artificial colours was a huge no-no for you. "Naturally." Holt said. He looked to you. "Call me if you need anything." You nodded. "Yes, sir." He took his leave, heading to his office. You went over to your desk and put the forms into your overnight bag. "Hey, I hope this is cool with you, but since we're not technically on duty 'til tomorrow morning, I invited Sophia to join me upstate," Jake told you, "The B&B we're staying at looks really nice. It's almost like it's haunted by fancy ghosts." You smiled. "Why would I mind?" Of course, you really did mind. It wasn’t anything to do with Sophia; she seemed nice, even if she was a defence attorney. You had just been hoping to spend some one-on-one time with him. The truth of the matter was, you fancied Jake. You moved from a precinct in Manhattan about a year ago and he had been partnered with you on your first case at the 99. It had helped you remember how fun police work could actually be. The two of you went for a drink once the case was solved. He'd told you how his dad left him when he was a kid and you'd told him how your mom had done the same. There were many differences between you but you felt you'd found a kindred spirit. And from that moment on, your heart had leeched itself to him. "I just thought all the romantic stuff might be awkward. You know, because of whatever girl your pining over." Raising an eyebrow, you walked back over to his desk. "I'm not pining over anyone." you assured. "And why do you assume it's a girl?" "I've just never seen you get this fixated on a guy before. Remember the girl from the grocery store?" he explained.

You went bright red. "I only mentioned her once." Jake scoffed. "Yeah. Once a day." You shook your head and sighed. "For the record, it's a guy." His eyes widened. "Who is it? Do I know him? Is it Charles?" he probed. You could barely mask the unattractive snort that the thought elicited. "It's not Boyle." "Well, whoever he is, he must be special." A warmth washed through your body. "He is." You tore yourself from his gaze, walking to your desk and grabbing your bag. "You finish up. I'm gonna wait in the car." "Alright. I'll be out in a sec." You nodded, pulling the bag up onto your shoulder and walking out of the bullpen. Once the elevator doors closed, you had to resist the urge to smack your head against them. Hard. Jake was going to bombard you with questions in the car and the more he knew, the more likely he was going to figure out who the 'mystery guy' was. And that would not end well.

It barely took five minutes for Jake to start his bombardments. You managed to dodge the first few of his questions until he asked, "Is it someone from the 99?" Your heartbeat sped up and your palms grew sweaty. He was sure to work out it was him (if he ruled out those not in the 'inner circle'). "I know you said it was a guy but I've seen you making eyes at Rosa and…" You couldn’t help but laugh. "You think I like Rosa?" you wheezed, "I mean, she's gorgeous. But she's freaking terrifying." "Point taken." he replied, chuckling a little. "It's definitely no-one on the squad, then. Unless it's me." Luckily, you had enough residual laughter to brush it off though you could feel your cheeks burning up your face. "Jake Peralta, the only way you will ever find out is if I get drunk enough to lose my filter. Which will never happen." A smirk grew on his face. "Never say never, (y/n). We're not on duty until tomorrow." You shook your head. "So unprofessional." you sighed. "Am not. I do most of my paperwork and I wear a tie sometimes." "Sometimes I wonder how you even reached detective status." "Because I'm a badass hero and the commissioner's always like 'Peralta, you're Brooklyn's number one. Take all the cases'. " He paused before explaining, "It was a dream I had once. John McClane gave me the Medal of Valor. Kate Hudson was there. Also the Ninja Turtles." You chuckled. "You have a weird brain." "So do you. Because you're pining over Terry? Gina? Amy? Holt?" he suggested, his voice growing more exasperated with each name. "I'm not gonna tell you, Jake. And you're never gonna work it out."

"Come on, (y/n), I'm Brooklyn's number one. I'm gonna find out." You shook your head again, something you found yourself doing a lot whenever Jake talked. Placing your head against the window, you watched the scenery whiz by in a blur of colour. And you hoped to God that Jake would give up on trying to figure your secret out.

Sophia was already at the B&B when you and Jake arrived. "Hey." you greeted. "Hi, (y/n)." she replied with a smile. You went to the check-in desk to get the key to your room. "I have a room booked under (y/l/n)." you told the man at the desk. He typed your name into the computer then looked at you for the first time with a bright smile. "Of course, ma'am. I'll just get your key." He turned to the board behind him. For some annoying reason, you couldn’t help but tune into Jake and Sophia's conversation. "I got us the room of a thousand dolls." she finished. "Oh, sounds creepy." he remarked. "Super creepy." They both chuckled. "So I'm gonna go unpack, and then I'm gonna take a bath, and then we have dinner, and then--" "Doin' it." You had to stop yourself from reacting to his indelicacy. "I was gonna say dessert." "Oh. Synonym. Cool. Better." You felt so stupid; you were a grown woman, wishing you were the one having failed innuendos with Jake instead of Sophia. It was as if you were in high school again, pretending in your head that you were strong enough to hold up the main cheerleader in the pyramid. You couldn’t really blame young you for that - the girl had some pretty strong arms. "Ma'am?" You were dragged back to reality by the concierge holding your room key out to you. "Thank you." you said. "Enjoy your stay! And don't forget to try one of our famous mapletinis!" You smiled weakly before turning to the couple. "We're gonna go up to settle in." Jake told you. You nodded. "Cool. I'm um…" You tried to think of something to do that wasn’t staying holed up in your room all night. "Gonna hit the bar. Try a mapletini." you fabricated. "Hey, I'll join you if you want." Every fibre of your being was telling you to say yes but instead you found yourself saying, "It's fine. I'm sure you and Sophia have got stuff you wanna do." Jake turned to his girlfriend and whispered something. She nodded. "I'll see you later, (y/n)." You smiled as she went upstairs. "Is everything alright?" Jake asked, "Just tell me if I pushed things too far with the whole 'who do you fancy' thing. I'm just really--" You butted in. "It's fine. I'm fine." you reassured. Jake wasn’t an idiot (most of the time); you knew he knew something was off but you also knew he wouldn’t pry. "You're sure?" You nodded. "Absolutely. I'll join you for dinner, if you're lucky." You chuckled awkwardly. Get it together, you told yourself. "Go have fun with Sophia. I promise you I'm fine." "Excuse me, sir? Can you call room 14 for me and tell him to get his butt down here? This place is about to get turnt and he's gonna miss out." "Ma'am, we've already placed the call. He said he'll be down in a moment." Somehow, one mapletini had turned into two. After the second drink, everything became a bit fuzzy. But at least you were having a good time now and not constantly thinking about what Jake and Sophia were doing. "Thank you…" Your voice trailed off as you peered at the bartender's name badge. "M…m…marrow? Mermaid? Mervin?" "It's Meredith." she corrected. You shook your head defiantly. "I'm pretty sure it says marrow." You paused before a really good idea popped into your head. "Can you do me favour, marrow?" you asked. "It's Meredith." she repeated with a heavy sigh. "Whatever. I need you to call room 14. Tell him that our perp is in this hotel and we can take him back to the 99 now." You jabbed you finger down on the bar to emphasise the urgency. "Ma'am, I've already called room 14. And as I said before, the man at the other end told me he'd be down in a moment." She moved down the bar, probably to take someone else's order. Following her down, you dropped into the seat in front of her, preventing her from moving on. "His name's Jake." you told her with enthusiasm. "He's got sparkly eyes and a great butt. And really strong arms. Or maybe that was the cheerleader." "(Y/n)?" Your head whipped round so fast that you probably could have given yourself whiplash. You gasped. "That's him." you whispered to the bartender. She grunted before moving to the next customer. "Jakey!" you whooped, hopping off your stool and skipping over to him. "Are you drunk?" he queried, his amusement of the situation written all over his face, "I thought you were just having one mapletini?" "I did. But then I fancied another one. I had a glass of wine after that. It was fruity…I think. And then," You lowered your voice, "I stole someone's shots." He tried and failed to fight the grin on his face. "I may have been waiting a long time to see drunk you," he began, "But we have to be up early tomorrow. Isn't that 'so unprofessional'?" He made his voice higher at the end. He was mocking you. You scoffed and raised an eyebrow. "That was supposed to be me? I can do a way better me than you can." You cleared your throat loudly as if Jake was supposed to expect something amazing. "So unprofessional." you said, changing nothing about your voice. He chuckled. "Okay. That was cute." You were sure you were blushing but the room was already so hot that you couldn’t tell. "Let's get you to bed." He placed a guiding arm around your waist and it was as if you could feel every single chemical reaction exploding inside you like tiny fireworks. It was a good job he was helping you as your legs had turned to jelly. Looking up at him with a sort of dazed smile, you remarked, "You're looking after me." "Of course I am. That's what friends are for." he replied with a warm smile. The fireworks inside of you died off - all of them clumping together and sinking to the bottom of your stomach. Before you had any idea what was happening, words came tumbling out of your mouth. "I hate it when you say that." you admitted. His face fell and you instantly regretted your words. "Say what?" Apparently, there was no stopping you now. "That we're friends." His brow furrowed. "You don’t like that we're friends?" You shook your head. "No, I do. But I don't." And when his brow creased even further, you found yourself saying, "I want us to be more." His expression didn’t change. You didn’t know whether he'd heard you. "It's you, Jake," you continued, "The mystery man. The hang-up. The special guy." The look on his face was unreadable but you didn’t know if that was because you were drunk. "You like me?" he uttered.

"Well, duh." you replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And today was supposed to be about us. We were gonna play ping-pong, drink mapletinis and see if we could find any fancy ghosts." Realising how much you sounded like a whiny, jealous bitch, you stopped. Something gurgled in your stomach but you chose to ignore it. For once, it seemed Jake was speechless. "You laughed when I suggested it was me." he said. "But I didn’t say no. Why do you think I was so cut up about you going undercover? Why do you think I always volunteer to check over your paperwork? I let you drink blue drinks in my car." Your stomach gurgled again and something shifted inside you. You started to giggle. "What?" Jake asked confused. "I'm about to throw up on your shoes." you tittered. And, before he could even react, you did exactly that.

You slumped into the car seat, placing your sunglasses back on. Why, oh why, did you drink last night? Of course, you knew the exact answer to this and couldn’t bear to remind yourself of it. You’d been so stupid and now you were paying the price. Jake shut his door, the sound reverberating through your skull, after securing the perp in the backseat. “You did a pretty good job of not seeming hungover.” he chuckled.

You groaned. “Turn off your mouth siren.” “I’m sorry. Is it too loud for you?” he replied, raising his voice. You cringed away; it felt like someone was just hammering away at your brain. “Jake.” you whined. He reached for the drink holder and held out a bottle to you. “Want some blue?” You stared at the bright blue liquid for a moment before taking it from him. Unscrewing the lid, you considered if a dry mouth was good enough excuse to stoop this low. But after last night, you didn’t think that was physically possible. Jake watched in wonderment as you chugged at least half the bottle. “Wow. Last night really broke you, huh?” You nodded. “I only stopped throwing up about an hour before we left.” There was a pause. You watched as he opened his mouth then closed it again, contemplating whether or not to say something. Knowing that whatever he wanted to say would be a stain on your character from last night, you jumped in. “I know this goes without saying but I’d really appreciate it if you don’t tell Holt.” you requested. “Of course. I’ve done way worse when I’ve been on duty.” You raised an eyebrow. “Worse than getting drunk, puking on your partner’s shoes then turning up for a prison transfer hungover?” “Good point.” The hesitant air settled in the car again and you watched Jake’s jaw shift before speaking. “So, last night you said something to me.” Your heart leapt up into your throat and your face burned bright red. “I did?” you choked out, sincerely hoping drunk you hadn’t spilled your secrets to him. “Yeah. You…um… told me how you wished we could have spent time together yesterday." You didn’t think your face had ever been so red; drunk you sounded like a needy toddler. "Oh, God. Jake, I am so sorry." You paused before adding, "Did I say why?" He shook his head and you sighed with relief. "You just said I was a funny guy then vommed on my shoes." You covered your face with your hands and groaned again - Jake was never going to let you forget that. "How are your shoes, by the way?" you asked, muffled by your hands. "Oh, they were past their best about two months ago. Picked these up in lost and found. They'll do." You lowered your hands and peered at his shoes. They were illuminous colours and someone had drawn flowers all over the white fabric. "Yeah. Until we get back." you said. "Oh, no. They'll do until they fall apart. Or someone throws up on them again." The two of you laughed. "Anyway, because we missed out on time together, I want to make it up to you." he offered. Your heart swelled as you stuttered, "Oh, Jake…y…you don’t…" "(Y/n), this idea took me forever. Let me have this." You sighed but kept schtum. "You and I are gonna have ourselves a good old competition off. I was thinking we could go to that arcade your brother used to take you to. It'll have air hockey, shooter games and probably some dance machines." Eyes wide, you looked to him with a small smile - he'd remembered about the arcade. "But it's in Manhattan." "We both have a day off next week, yeah?" You pushed your sunglasses up onto your head. "And you want to spend it with me?" You were completely gob-smacked; the endorphins were rushing through you. Jake must have been the most thoughtful guy you'd ever met. "It may surprise you to know that I like spending time with you." The familiar feeling of fireworks set off inside you. "I like spending time with you too." Jake gave you a quick glance and the look on your face confirmed that what you'd said last night was true. It seemed it wasn’t so hard to get you to spill your secrets after all.

#jake peralta x reader #my writing

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acoolguyscoollife · 4 years

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Chapter 32: The Grid

The next two days were, to put it simply, busy as hell. Tabitha was closing in on Uchen’s location, and while we hoped we were wrong, it definitely seemed like we were going to fight, which meant training. I didn’t mind too much, finding that sinking my time into what I was doing helped keep my mind from other issues, but I could tell that people were getting as tired as I was, and had no reason to push themselves further like I did. I felt especially bad for Amy and Aki, who were the ones that were training with me constantly.

Seth and Tabitha only came in when there were short periods of downtime between the computer doing… something I wasn’t aware of. Aki, however, was forcing herself to fight on the same level as I was, challenging me at every chance she got. I wasn’t stupid enough to go easy on her, because if she thought she was already on a similar experience level as I was, she would end up being reckless and it could get her hurt. I tried not to pull my punches too much, but there are only so many ways you can fight with a sword without actually severing any limbs or stabbing them. Amy posed more of a challenge, with the two of us pretty much hitting an even level of exhaustion when we duelled, only stopping because if we tried to fight harder, there would end up being more than just basic injuries. By the end of the second day, however, Aki had gotten a lot more improved, only having slight flaws in her fighting style that seemed more like flukes than anything else. When she challenged me to another duel, once again with no holds barred, I could tell that something was different. Sure enough, I hadn’t been as prepared as I should have been, and almost got my ass kicked for it. However, at crucial points, her attacks were slower than they could have been, so knocking her down was an opening quickly given to me. It was only when she used one of my signature moves against me that things began to click. Her foot connecting with my groin, knocking the wind out of me and causing me to cry out in pain, made the gears in my head turn. The slower movements, where she had been as agile as the cat that most of her appearance and mannerisms seemed to come from, were because of tiredness, more than usual. And while I didn’t have a patent on groin-kicks, the way she had let herself fall onto her back, and how she had been fighting leading up to that, made it clear that she had chosen to mimic me, presumably with the recording of us training. The sheer number of cameras in this place was insane. With her having taken me down, and with my own move no less, I had to concede her victory, and congratulate her, both while keeping my cool demeanour.

“Ow.” I said, one hand on the back of my head and the other on my unmentionables. Looking around the room, I could see that Amy was wincing, one eye covered very poorly by her hand, and that Aki was clearly considering whether she had gone too far. “Good round.” I reassured her, despite still not being able to feel my legs. “Here’s hoping that whatever we fight has balls though, otherwise that move won’t really work too well.”

“Well, it’s just one guy, right? No matter how smart someone is, they can be defeated by a kick in the nards.” Amy’s wisdom as to testicular torment got me thinking, mostly about how much pain I was in, but also in how little I actually knew about Uchen’s former protégé. Tabitha had told me that that the guy was smart and also insane, which, judging from her having roped us into this whole thing, wasn’t too uncommon. The more I thought, the more I wanted answers, and I knew I wasn’t going to get those answers by sitting around and fighting someone who was now able to fight back. I needed to go straight to her.

The three of us marched back into the main room, where we were greeted by a bleary-eyed Seth, and a manic-haired Tabitha, neither of whom were a very good welcome wagon.

“Sup, man?” Seth asked, or it might have been Eddie. It was getting annoying that there wasn’t any way to distinctly figure out who was who, but what could I really do except bitch about it? I gave him a wave, not stopping my stride towards Tabitha.

“Oh hey guys, you’re just in time. We’ve pretty much locked on now, but obviously we need to brief each other and prepare for what’s coming.” Tabitha said, looking up at us with a smile that definitely suggested that we were test subjects.

“Yeeah, on that subject…” I began, drawing out my words ever so slightly because I had a feeling that she wouldn’t like putting her plans on hold for some boring exposition. “Me and the others were thinking that maybe we should know more about the guy we’re fighting. The last thing we need is to go in unprepared.” I finished, and before I had even been given a chance to close my moth, I was sold down the river.

“I never said that.” Amy said, to which she got murmurs of agreement from Seth and Aki. Tabitha raised an eyebrow.

“Why would you screw me like this, damn it?” I said, turning back around to face her. Seth giggled from where he was, and I quickly knew what he was going to say before he said it.

“That’s what she said!” He almost exploded, before bursting into peels of laughter. We let him take a second to finish, before turning our focus back to the main task at hand.

“So, you were saying something about how we should delay the important thing we need to do in order to make sure you know some life details about someone we’re probably gonna end up killing?” The room quickly fell silent as Tabitha finished her question, with my only response being to nod.

“Honestly, now that he brings it up, it makes sense.” Seth conceded, making me feel less like the only one who actually gave a shit about this stuff. Tabitha gave a sigh, before turning her attention to the computer again. Without looking at us, she began to speak.

“His name was Gerald Untermeyer, and he was… well, amazing.” She began, almost as if fangirling over him. “I told you about the stuff he’d been working on, but I barely even touched on everything he’d already made. Without his help, I doubt Uchen would have even been able to get as far as he did with the machine.” Though Tabitha didn’t say what the machine was, it didn’t take much effort to figure it out from context clues.

“He helped that much? Surely if he was that smart, he’d have made it by himself and the whole issue of what to do with it would never have come up.” I said, briefly forgetting that the guy in question had been insane and probably would have just not thought to do that. However, Tabitha had a more reasonable explanation.

“He lacked the money. While some of what he had worked on was astounding, it was a net loss overall. So he came to work under Uchen, and soon enough they were like partners.” Tabitha tapped a few buttons on the computer keyboard, and diagrams appeared on the screen. There was a lot of scribbling that I could barely decipher, but a 3D-rendered image of some of the machinery I could see in the room was also visible. “Uchen worked on the hardware, and Untermeyer worked on the software, including…” She trailed off as she hit more buttons, causing the screen to now display something entirely different. It almost looked like a room of sorts, with neon lighting covering the floor and walls. I watched as the colours pulsed, and changed, with every few moments. “The Grid.”

“Aptly named.” I replied, deadpan. “What is it?” The room didn’t changed as the view zoomed out, revealing more of what was inside the room. Or rather, revealing more of what wasn’t in the room, which was anything.

“The void we stay in sometimes is an offshoot of The Grid. The void holds our physical attributes, while The Grid digitizes whatever data it can, serving as a backup in case of any issues that might arise.” Tabitha pressed a button, and figures appeared in the grid. Though I’d never really seen it from an outside perspective before (aside from the clone in Despair), one of them was unmistakably me. The others were everyone else that was in the room and listening to her, which only prompted more confusion. “These are our data selves. They remember pretty much everything we do, but they’re not alive. If we end up losing memories, we can use them to restore our own.” Tabitha looked over at them. “I’m not going to lie, even I’m not completely sure what they can be utilised for.”

“Then what’s the point in telling us about The Grid? Surely we should be focusing on Untermeyer, right?” Seth asked, and I could tell from Tabitha’s expression that it wasn’t that simple.

“In theory, that would have been the situation, but the closer we lock on to Uchen, the more apparent it becomes as to where he is.” Tabitha bit the bottom of her lip as she paused, looking back at the screen. “They’re inside The Grid.” Of course they were.

“What does that mean for us?” Amy questioned, and Tabitha shrugged.

“How are we going to get in?” Aki chimed in, and Tabitha shrugged again.

“Will we even escape?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer, and not sure that Tabitha even knew it. Sure enough, Tabitha shrugged in response.

“I can’t answer any of these questions because I don’t know The Grid like Untermeyer or Uchen do. Thankfully, when we get to him, Uchen should be able to help us get out of there.” The general situation didn’t bode well at all, but Tabitha at least had a plan for getting out. “My assumption is that Untermeyer ended up becoming purely digital, so the mirrors, while working, will only be splitting him into separated chunks of data. From there he should hopefully fade into nothingness with time.” Tabitha reassured us, or maybe it was herself.

“I swear to god, if we end up riding on motorbikes and throwing disks at each other, I’m going to kill myself.” I said, looking back at the rest of the group. “Actually, thinking about that, what are we going to be fighting with?” I asked, unsheathing the Cobatana and the magic dagger and looking at them. It would be the first fight I would have done with the dagger, which was definitely going to be interesting.

“Well, nothing really changes, we still have everything we had.” Tabitha said, doing a hand-wavey gesture to signify her magic. “Except Seth, who for some reason threw away a shotgun ages ago.” Tabitha raised a very valid point, and soon enough all eyes were on Seth.

“I like my pistols more.” Seth said, and I groaned aloud. He had forgotten what every game we’d ever played together had taught him, and had decided against hoarding everything he could weapon-wise. What a moron. “Besides, Eddie should be able to help me, and I’ll just get Amy to make me a second pistol.” Seth finished, and now it was Amy’s turn to be annoyed.

“What am I going to be making a second gun from? The air?” She asked exasperatedly, and from the look on Seth’s face, it was clear he didn’t know that wasn’t possible.

“I… uh…” Seth began, which was a glorious way to start a sentence, in the grand scheme of things. Amy rolled her eyes.

“I can probably tweak something we have, but you really need to tell me when we’re doing stuff like this.” Amy replied, and Seth moved to thank her. However, a chime rang out across the room before he had a chance, and I looked around in confusion.

“Was someone microwaving something?” I asked, unsure of where the noise had come from.

“We’ve locked in. Ready or not, we’re going.” Tabitha said, moving to the area where we would be in the sights of the machine. I was most certainly not ready, but I was also definitely not about to say that. We were in the endgame now.

#A Cool Guy's Cool Life #cool guy #story #creative writing #writing

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nerdreid · 7 years

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chemistry killer

the BAU gets called in for a series of murders happening in Brooklyn, New York. when they arrive at the police precinct, they are met with an odd set of detectives, some more excited about their arrival than the others. and what is is about dr. spencer reid that fascinates detective jake peralta so much?

a/n: i’m just gonna be honest, i usually don’t like crossover fics, but i thought of this and i just had to write it because the bau team and the nine-nine squad meeting? amazing. this is probably going to be long with multiple chapters so this is only the first part. i promise it will get more interesting! also, this is alternatively titled: jake has a crush on a fbi nerd but everyone including himself is clueless

please leave some feedback if you liked it (or didn’t like it that’s good too)

Everyone in the Behavioral Analysis Unit was finishing up paperwork from prior cases and getting ready to go home. That was, until Garcia walked into the bullpen. Holding up her phone, she clarified: "Sorry my dear crime fighters, I just got a text; we have a case."

The others in the room groaned. "We just got back from Florida, please tell me it isn't Florida again", JJ said, throwing her head back in frustration.

"It is not, follow me", Garcia replied as she walked up the stairs leading to the briefing room. The others closed their files and followed her example not long thereafter.

When all the agents had taken a chair at the round table, Garcia picked up the remote and started the briefing. She frowned in disgust of the pictures that showed up on the screen. "This morning an unidentified body was found in a dumpster in Brooklyn, New York."

Reid leaned forward, "just one body? Why did they call us in?"

"Oh sweet boy wonder," Garcia shook her head, "you didn't let me finish. Two weeks ago the remains of Gerald Reynolds were discovered in an alley, just four blocks from the dumpster one." More photos appeared on the monitor. "And a week after that, the lifeless body of Ethel Hall, also in an alley behind a dumpster. That makes three."

"The local police department contacted us, so we're heading there now. Wheels up in thirty", Hotch said. The other members of the team closed their tablets - Reid his paper file -, and started packing their stuff.

---

"The FBI? You mean that the actual federal bureau of investigation is taking over our case?", detective Peralta half-yelled, "I'm not sure whether this super awesome or worse than the Vulture."

"Yes. There have been three murders, which classifies as serial. That means we have the contact the FBI. Their behavioral analysis unit is flying over here as we speak. You will be working together closely", captain Holt stated matter-of-factly. "Please treat them with respect, they are the best at what they do."

Peralta scoffed, "we can solve this case by ourselves, we don't need some federal jerks to come run this place, right?"

Silence.

"We have no physical evidence, no witnesses, no suspects and no leads. Admit it, there is a serial killer on the loose and we are nowhere near solving it. Let the Feds do what they gotta", Diaz said to him before returning to her desk.

Peralta sighed and let himself fall back in his office chair. He couldn't handle the fact that there were cases he couldn't solve and that outsiders were going to step in. But, on the other hand, it is kind of amazing to get to work with the FBI. What would they look like? Are they all in a full suit with a tie and cool-looking sunglasses, like in movies? That would be epic, Peralta thought to himself.

A couple of hours later the elevator dinged, and revealed six people slightly crammed in there. The first man to step out was, in fact, wearing a suit. Behind him were three more men and two women, not in suits, but still intimidating. Captain Holt walked out of his office to introduce himself. "You must be from the behavioral analysis unit, I'm captain Raymond Holt, welcome."

"Yes, I believe we spoke over the phone. Aaron Hotchner", the suit said, "this is my team: SSA's David Rossi, Derek Morgan, Emily Prentiss, Jennifer Jareau and dr. Spencer Reid." They all shook hands with Holt, except for dr. Reid, which earned him an odd glance. The agent waved as a form of greeting, giving the captain a sort of apologetic look.

Holt nodded, "You'll be working with our squad; sergeant Terry Jeffords and detectives Jake Peralta, Amy Santiago, Charles Boyle and Rosa Diaz. You can set up in the meeting room over there."

"Thank you." Agent Hotchner turned around to face his own team, "Morgan, I want you to go to the M.E. and see what they have to say about the cause of death. Reid, I want you to start with the geographical profile and go over possible suspects together with JJ. Prentiss and I will go to the latest crime scene. And, Dave, if you could go back to the second dump site, maybe it could tell us more about the unsub."

"You might want one of my detectives to assist you, they know the way around here", Captain Holt said. "Diaz, Santiago, Boyle, please", he ordered them over.

Agent Hotchner shook hands with Diaz, who was assigned to him and agent Prentiss, "I appreciate that, thank you."

The FBI agents and their assigned detectives exited the building, leaving dr. Reid and JJ behind. The two walked over to the meeting room, where multiple whiteboards were set up.

Peralta stood up out of his chair, "what about me? Why are you giving all the others the cool tasks?" Motioning towards the meeting room, Holt replied, "you can assist them."

"I'm not gonna sit there listening to them talking when I could be out there solving the case", Jake sighed. His captain stared at him, "Peralta, go over there. That is an order."

Groaning, the detective made his way to the table on which the two agents where sitting. The male said something to the female before standing up and grabbing a marker. He drew something on the map pinned to a board, and pointed at it while turning back to his partner.

"Wow, what's all that?", Peralta asked in reference to the multicolored arrows on the map. "The locations where the three victims were found and where they were last seen. I'm putting together a geographical profile based on those factors. Which means that the unsub probably works or lives in this area", the male agent said as he pointed to the triangle he had drawn.

Jake frowned, "unsub?"

"Unknown subject. It's what we call the offender", the man clarified.

The female turned her attention to Jake, "you're detective Peralta, right? I'm SSA Jennifer Jareau."

Jake took the hand she stuck out, "yes, Jake Peralta it is. Nice to meet you." He went to shake the male agent's hand too, but didn't get much movement in response. "I have a... eh, germ thing. Sorry. Dr. Spencer Reid", the man introduced himself.

"Cool cool coolcoolcool", Jake paused, "so, um, is there something I can do for you?"

"Actually, yes", agent Jareau said, "based on the sophistication of the crimes, we think this isn't the unsub's first time doing this. He might not have killed before, but he has probably been arrested at some point, for smaller offences like animal torture, abuse or even arson. We need all of your arrest files on those types of crimes, going back at least five years."

"Uh, sure. I'll get you a computer and a log-in code for the system"

"Actually," agent Reid said as Jake was about to leave the room, "I would like to have the paper files."

Jake was a little confused, "are you sure? There are like, hundreds of those. It would take days to get through every single one."

Agent Jareau smiled at him, "trust me, detective, it won't be a problem."

"Okay, okay, okay. You might need to help me carry all of them though."

JJ left with Jake to get the files while Reid stayed behind to work on the profile. About twenty minutes later they were on their fourth time walking back with a stack of files in their arms. In the briefing room dr. Reid was sat behind the piles of paper, flipping through them one by one. Jake put his stack next to the others. "We're almost finished, just a couple of boxes left to go through now", he told the FBI agent. He didn't get a reaction and Jake wondered if Reid had even heard what he said.

Another stroll to the archive room and dozens of files later, Jake sat down on the corner of the desk on which all the paper was lying.

JJ walked in holding another stack, "there only a couple left back there now."

When Jake made an effort to stand up, she stopped him with a friendly smile, "I'll get them."

The detective raised an eyebrow at her, but she had already left the room. Jake decided to take a chair next to agent Reid, who was still going trough the files at an incredibly high speed. "No offence, but, are you even reading the words?", he asked.

"I am. I can read 20,000 words per minute. It's a method called speed reading where you use scanning and meta guiding to get through the text faster. Scanning is the process where one actively looks for information by organizing information in a visually hierarchical manner that showcases the interrelatedness of the information for better retrievability-", Reid replied, without removing his eyes from the paper once. "- I think I got something."

Jake blinked, surprised by the sudden amount of words spoken, "I've know idea what any of that was what you just said, but that doesn't matter. Show me what you got! -Wait, no", he bit his lip and shook his head, "that sounds wrong. never mind. What did you find?"

Reid seemed unbothered by the other man's comment and slid the file slightly in Jake's direction. He started explained his theory and how the suspect's backstory fit exactly into the preliminary profile they had. After a couple of sentences he began to use terms too complicated for Jake to understand and thus he trailed off. So, Jake let his eyes wander over to take a good look at the agent. Dr. Reid was tall and pretty skinny, which made him appear even taller than he already was. His hands were constantly moving while he was talking, but seemingly without any clear purpose. Speaking of his hands, he had long, elegant fingers that caught Jake's attention when Spencer traced a line on the map. His way of dressing was kind of odd, though. Jake would probably describe it as 'grandpa style', mostly because of the cardigan. The FBI agent was still talking and didn't detect that the other person in the room wasn't listening at all. In the waving of limbs, Jake noticed that Reid wore his watch over his sleeve.

Agent Jareau's entrance made him snap back into reality. "I got the last files. Did you find something?", she asked.

"Actually, yes", dr. Reid began, "I think we need to call Hotch about this. Look."

JJ took the paper Reid handed her and while she was reading it, her eyes widened. She took out her phone and dialed a number.

"Hotch, it's me. Yeah, Reid might've found something. Guy tortured animals almost in the exact same way as the bodies."

Even though he hadn't been paying much attention before, detective Peralta now was curious to see what this was all about. He picked up the file that JJ had put back on the table, flipped through the pages, and immediately regretted it. At the sight of mutilated pets he scrunched up his face and quickly threw the papers away. Dr. Reid noticed and shot him a puzzled glance.

Agent Jareau, who was still on the phone, turned herself to her partner, "call Garcia, we need to know everything there is on this guy."

Reid nodded and got his phone out of his pocket. An old Nokia. Now it was Jake's turn to shoot a glance, who uses those things these days?

"Hey Garcia, I'm gonna put you on speaker, hang on."

Reid's slender fingers clumsily pushed some buttons and he set the phone down on the table. A female voice spoke, "this is the oracle of miracles speaking, talk to me."

"Find out everything you can about a Rob Carrier, he might be the unsub", dr. Reid said.

A faint tapping of keys could be heard from the other side of the line. "Searching... Found it! Robert F. Carrier, born on November 23rd 1987. Works as a janitor at the Feldman Chemistry lab. Was arrested for, oh god, animal torture and has a juvie record for beating up his classmate because, quote "the turd", unquote, stole a pencil from him."

Jake snorted at the choice of words, which caused the others to give him a disapproving look. Spencer turned his attention back to the phone, "did you said Feldman Chemistry? The second victim worked there."

"You're right, Ethel Hall, one of the lead chemist in the lab. She has been working there for twenty years now, recently got another promotion", Garcia said.

"That's a connection and motive. Garcia, can you send us Carrier's-"

"Adress? Yes, already done. Sent it to the others too", she interrupted Reid. "Be safe, babies. Penelope Garcia out." There was a click; Garcia had hung up.

JJ picked her jacket up from the chair it was thrown over and said, "Hotch and Prentiss got quite something out of the dump site, but they can brief us over the phone. We will meet them at Carrier's house, let's go."

Jake pretty much jumped out of his chair, he was way too excited about there finally being some action to care what some FBI agents thought of him. They were staring at him though. "You're the lead investigator on this case, you're supposed to go first. We're only here to assist the police", agent Jareau clarified.

"Right."

#i can't believe i actually wrote this #it's so boring i promise it will get better #criminal minds #brooklyn nine-nine #b99 #spencer reid #jake peralta #crossover #criminal minds fanfiction #fanfic

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go-redgirl · 5 years

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The Essence of Evil: Sex with Children Has Become Big Business in America The Rutherford Institute ^ | April 23, 2019 | John W. Whitehead

“Children are being targeted and sold for sex in America every day.”—John Ryan, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

Children, young girls—some as young as 9 years old—are being bought and sold for sex in America. The average age for a young woman being sold for sex is now 13 years old.

This is America’s dirty little secret.

As investigative journalist Amy Fine Collins notes, “It’s become more lucrative and much safer to sell malleable teens than drugs or guns. A pound of heroin or an AK-47 can be retailed once, but a young girl can be sold 10 to 15 times a day—and a ‘righteous’ pimp confiscates 100 percent of her earnings.”

Consider this: every two minutes, a child is exploited in the sex industry.

According to USA Today, adults purchase children for sex at least 2.5 million times a year in the United States.

Who buys a child for sex? Otherwise ordinary men from all walks of life.

“They could be your co-worker, doctor, pastor or spouse,” writes journalist Tim Swarens, who spent more than a year investigating the sex trade in America.

In Georgia alone, it is estimated that 7,200 men (half of them in their 30s) seek to purchase sex with adolescent girls each month, averaging roughly 300 a day.

On average, a child might be raped by 6,000 men during a five-year period of servitude.

This is not a problem found only in big cities.

It’s happening everywhere, right under our noses, in suburbs, cities and towns across the nation.

As Ernie Allen of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children points out, “The only way not to find this in any American city is simply not to look for it.”

Don’t fool yourselves into believing that this is merely a concern for lower income communities or immigrants.

It’s not.

For instance, the Baltimore-Washington area, referred to as The Circuit, with its I-95 corridor dotted with rest stops, bus stations and truck stops, is a hub for the sex trade.

Every year, the girls being bought and sold gets younger and younger.

The average age of those being trafficked is 13. Yet as the head of a group that combats trafficking pointed out, “Let’s think about what average means. That means there are children younger than 13. That means 8-, 9-, 10-year-olds.“

Where did this appetite for young girls come from?

Look around you.

This is what Bennett refers to as the “pornification of a generation.”

In other words, the culture is grooming these young people to be preyed upon by sexual predators. And then we wonder why our young women are being preyed on, trafficked and abused?

Social media makes it all too easy. As one news center reported, “Finding girls is easy for pimps. They look on MySpace, Facebook, and other social networks. They and their assistants cruise malls, high schools and middle schools. They pick them up at bus stops. On the trolley. Girl-to-girl recruitment sometimes happens.” Foster homes and youth shelters have also become prime targets for traffickers.

With a growing demand for sexual slavery and an endless supply of girls and women who can be targeted for abduction, this is not a problem that’s going away anytime soon.

For those trafficked, it’s a nightmare from beginning to end.

Peter Landesman paints the full horrors of life for those victims of the sex trade in his New York Times article “The Girls Next Door”:

Andrea told me that she and the other children she was held with were frequently beaten to keep them off-balance and obedient. Sometimes they were videotaped while being forced to have sex with adults or one another. Often, she said, she was asked to play roles: the therapist patient or the obedient daughter. Her cell of sex traffickers offered three age ranges of sex partners--toddler to age 4, 5 to 12 and teens--as well as what she called a “damage group.” “In the damage group, they can hit you or do anything they want to,” she explained. “Though sex always hurts when you are little, so it’s always violent, everything was much more painful once you were placed in the damage group.”

What Andrea described next shows just how depraved some portions of American society have become. “They’d get you hungry then to train you” to have oral sex. “They put honey on a man. For the littlest kids, you had to learn not to gag. And they would push things in you so you would open up better. We learned responses. Like if they wanted us to be sultry or sexy or scared. Most of them wanted you scared. When I got older, I’d teach the younger kids how to float away so things didn’t hurt.”

This trend is reflected by the treatment many of the girls receive at the hands of the drug traffickers and the men who purchase them. Peter Landesman interviewed Rosario, a Mexican woman who had been trafficked to New York and held captive for a number of years. She said: “In America, we had ‘special jobs.’ Oral sex, anal sex, often with many men. Sex is now more adventurous, harder.”

Holly Austin Smith was abducted when she was 14 years old, raped, and then forced to prostitute herself. Her pimp, when brought to trial, was only made to serve a year in prison.

Barbara Amaya was repeatedly sold between traffickers, abused, shot, stabbed, raped, kidnapped, trafficked, beaten, and jailed all before she was 18 years old. “I had a quota that I was supposed to fill every night. And if I didn’t have that amount of money, I would get beat, thrown down the stairs. He beat me once with wire coat hangers, the kind you hang up clothes, he straightened it out and my whole back was bleeding.”

As David McSwane recounts in a chilling piece for the Herald-Tribune: “In Oakland Park, an industrial Fort Lauderdale suburb, federal agents in 2011 encountered a brothel operated by a married couple. Inside ‘The Boom Boom Room,’ as it was known, customers paid a fee and were given a condom and a timer and left alone with one of the brothel’s eight teenagers, children as young as 13. A 16-year-old foster child testified that he acted as security, while a 17-year-old girl told a federal judge she was forced to have sex with as many as 20 men a night.”

This growing evil is, for all intents and purposes, out in the open.

Trafficked women and children are advertised on the internet, transported on the interstate, and bought and sold in swanky hotels.

So what can you do?

Educate yourselves and your children about this growing menace in our communities.

Stop prosecuting adults for victimless “crimes” such as growing lettuce in their front yard and focus on putting away the pimps and buyers who victimize these young women.

_______________________________

OPINION: That’s one reason that Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer don’t want a wall built in our country because their are aware of what’s going on with those that are coming into this country illegally.

Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer is very much part of the ‘deep state’ and they are aiding an abiding those criminals that are ‘child trafficking’ drugs trafficking and all other illegal crimes that’s coming across the border.

They are the ones supporting and advancing ‘criminals’ that coming into our country. Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and the rest of the ‘evil’ demons are protecting those that are destroying the ‘very fabric’ of this country.

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