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yikesitskennawrites · 2 years

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Transitions- Chapter Twenty-Five: Coffee From Lauren

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Pairings: Steven Grant x (platonic) Reader, Marc Spector x (platonic) Reader, Jake Lockley x (platonic) Reader, Layla El-Faouly x (platonic) Reader

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“Thank you so much for the coffee,” You tell Lauren. She sat on the metal cart next to the counter top that you were currently sitting on. Her legs swung back and forth as she adjusted her bun on top of her head. It was a slow morning so far, one that you were grateful for due to your exhaustion, yet, you also hated it because sitting still made you more aware of how tired you were.

“You rarely ask for these types of things, the least I could do is buy you a coffee as a thanks for picking up my shift this Friday.” She smiles, her own coffee cup filled with lemon tea sat on the counter you perched on. You sip on your warm beverage as she speaks. Right, you have a double shift in a couple of days from now. Seven in the morning to six in the evening, fun. You roll your eyes at that. It was a day you would make a lot of money though, hopefully you’ll be well rested enough to not be too tired throughout that day. You already knew what you were doing tonight after work, eat dinner with Steven and Marc and go right to bed. You had to get a new laptop this weekend too, school was on Monday and that was less than a week away.

You were stressed about that. You really needed that laptop for your senior year otherwise you would have to drop out and re-enroll next year or try and get your GED. It would be difficult trying to apply once more since they would try to contact you for your whereabouts and why you weren’t doing any school work within the first two weeks of the term. So, you would have to create a new identity and that would be even harder this time around since the American government has finally got most of their shit together. It was pure chaos when everyone came back, the government was backed up on files since the sudden appearance of everyone who was gone for five years came back. It took awhile for them to get ninety percent of the blipped back on file and confirm their status of life.

The cheapest option for you to buy a laptop is if you could find one at a yard sale like you did for your previous one, but that might not happen. You haven’t seen any flyers for a garage or yard sale. You know for a fact you don’t have five hundred euros saved to buy a brand new computer, you had enough for small items like the strawberry waffles you keep internally promising to buy for Marc and Steven, and maybe the pyramid paperweight you saw at that glass shop a couple of months ago.

“What are you thinking about?” Lauren asks as she sips her tea. You could see the lemon flavored tea paper attached to the tea bag string in her cup from where you sat. You blink tiredly at her and smile.

“Just the amount of sleep I didn’t have last night.”

“You haven’t slept?”

“I’ve been up for-” You pause and place your coffee next to you before you count off the amount of hours you have been up since. You worked yesterday and didn’t get any shut eye last night. Your shift yesterday was at eight am, but you woke up at six thirty and right now it's nearing ten, so you’ve been up for almost twenty-eight hours and you don’t get off until three.

“I’ve been up for almost twenty eight hours.” You tell her and her mouth drops open.

“Are you serious?”

“Deadass.” You say as you pick up your coffee and sip on it. You didn’t want to drink it too quickly and have a caffeine crash mid-shift or on the bus ride back to the apartments and miss your stop. You were falling asleep on your feet this morning, the passenger you almost fell asleep on moved several feet away from where you stood so you couldn’t drool on their backpack.

“That’s not healthy.” Lauren says with a frown. “Is there something keeping you up?” You let the caffeinated liquid sit in your mouth as you think of what to say. You couldn’t tell her the whole truth. It would sound insane if you did. You can’t tell her about Khonshu and his declaration of not being the god that held you out a window Saturday. You also have to keep quiet about your neighbor who you began to trust and his lies that made you take a couple steps back and think of who he is. Could you trust him completely? You don’t know and that thought alone hurts you. You can’t tell her about your friend, Layla, and her weird absence on Saturday, what was up with that? Maybe she was doing some black market shit? That would be a huge can of worms to open with Lauren. And finally, you can’t talk to her about Jake and how he threatened to kill you and yet, he saved your ass and made sure you were breathing for a month and a half; and now his absence and zero want to communicate with anyone, including you, kind of, surprisingly, hurts.

You don’t like that he threatened to kill you, but for a while, he was the only person you had. You can’t tell Lauren that because she would absolutely call the police.

“I’m just anxious,” You tell her a slice of the truth. Saying that this weekend was terrible would be an understatement.

“Do you want to talk about it?” She asks. You knew that she truly meant her promise about how you could talk to her about anything. But, you can’t take her up on this. Maybe in the future you can tell her about any normal problem such as how you mixed colors in your wash and now all your white shirts are pink and the amount of frustration you feel for yourself for that mistake. But, this anxiety issue needs to be kept away from her. You don’t know what you will do if Lauren ever finds out the truth about what you know. You will admit that you would feel relieved that you had someone normal to talk to about the existence of deities, your neighbors and how one works for a god and took down a cult, and also your friend's occupation as an illegal seller for the black market. You can’t let her in on the truth about yourself, though. If Lauren ever finds out about your real age and your fraud, she will never trust you again. Straight to the police station you go.

“I don’t know why I’m anxious,” You lie and shrug to make it more believable as you bore your tired gaze onto her. “I need to start taking melatonin if this becomes a habit.”

“You’ll need to go to the doctor if this becomes a habit.” She corrects. “When was the last time you went to the doctor?”

“When I lived in New York, I think I was…” You squint in thought. “Thirteen.” It was true that the last time you visited the healthcare clinic was for a bone you thought you broke but turned out you sprained it. That was- for you- nearly four years ago. But as far as Lauren knew that was-

“Five years ago?” She says. “Ten years actually! The healthcare here is free, you need to go get some check-ups done.”

“I know, I know.” You groan. “It’s just that it costs so much in America without the insurance and even if you did have insurance it would cost like five hundred dollars for it.”

“Well, it’s free here.”

“I know.” You repeat. “It was a habit to not go to the doctor or the hospital unless you absolutely needed it.”

“A habit that is free to break.” She says. You nod in agreement. “Molly needs to go to the doctors soon for her yearly check up.”

“Oh yeah?”

“She needs to go on the scale and the measurement scale and get her knees tapped at with those hammers.”

“Any shots?”

“I don’t think so.” She says. “Jamie needs to get his four year shots next year. He needs to get his polio and mumps and measles. When Molly got hers, she was crying and we had to reward her with ice cream for being so brave.” You smile at the thought of little Molly crying as she ate her ice cream. It was a comedic sight to imagine. The last time you received any vaccinations was for your annual flu shots in your local pharmacy, you were fifteen and still underneath your parents insurance plan. You should make an appointment for the flu shots this year so it wouldn’t hit you as hard as it did last year, but you weren’t sure if you needed to be insurance to receive the vaccinations.

“Well, it’s Jamie's turn to get ice cream for his reward.” You smile. “Are you packed for your trip?”

“No,” She groans. “We’re doing that tomorrow. We still have to pack the kids bags since they’re staying at Kris’s parents house this weekend.”

“Are they excited to be staying at their grandparents house?”

“They are! They don’t seem to realize that it’s more than one night though.”

“It’s going to be a surprise when they realize that you aren’t picking them up until Sunday night.” You laugh. “They’re going to miss their mom’s.”

“Every time I think about that I almost begin to cry.” She says. You glance at her and sure enough there were tears forming in her eyes.

“It’s just for the weekend, they’ll be fine.”

“Their grandfather is going to feed them a lot of sugar and send them home with us.” She says, you laugh.

“That’s the rules though.” You say. “They’ll eat the sugar and be hyperactive before inevitably crashing.” “Just like you are?” She asks and gestures to the coffee next to you.

“You’re the one who ordered it to be sugary.”

“Well, having pure black coffee is a crime.”

“My dad used to drink it straight from the pot without adding any milk or sugar to it. He should have gone to jail for it.” You joke and she grins at that. “I don’t know how he did it, but he drank it every morning.” A ping of sadness hits you as you finish the statement. Your dad will never drink coffee again and you will never have the opportunity to make fun of him for it with him standing next to you.

“What’s your favorite coffee so I know what to order for you the next time around.” She asks and you swallow around the lump forming in your throat.

“You don’t have to-” “I know I don’t,” She cuts you off. “So spill, what is it?”

“Caramel Frappuccino.”

“You basic bitch.”

“You can’t just ask me for my favorite drink and bully me for it.”

“I just did.”

“You have no room to speak because you are drinking lemon tea.” You gesture to her paper cup.

“At least I have taste.”

“Yeah, weak ass taste.” You scoff. “You didn’t even get raspberry and mint or some other tea with more than one flavor. You paid a coffee shop to make you tea, something you could have made at your own place.”

“I could say the same for your coffee.”

“Actually you can’t because I don’t have a Keurig.” You say before you pick up your cup and sip on the liquid.

“This is why us English people don’t like you Americans.”

“We don’t even like ourselves.” You laugh and she chimes in with you. The noise hurts your ears in the small space but the sound was melodic. A light feeling spreads through your chest as you both giggle at your teasing of each other. You missed this, the feeling of being relaxed and carefree enough to crack some jokes. It’s been awhile since you haven’t been obsessed with whatever new drama was happening in your life. It was nice to have a normal friend who wasn’t tied to deities or cults. Once the laughter dies out, a comfortable silence settles between you. The bell above the entrance rings and Lauren pushes herself off of the cart and briefly pats your thigh as she passes you.

You could hear her greet the customer from where you sat on the counter. You listen to her talk about the specials of the day and if there were any coupons underneath the desk that the customer could use for their meal. You only tuned out when you began staring blankly at the box of spices on the shelf across from you. Saying you were ready for bed would be an understatement. The caffeinated beverage was helping a little but not as much as you wish that it would. The word of the black pepper on the side of the cardboard box you burn your gaze into became indistinct the longer you stared at it. You knew what the word was and what it meant, but there was an odd disconnect from it. Your brain was not quite clicking it together in your mind.

This only happened one other time when you were at your lowest a couple of weeks after moving to London. Everything that was words whether it was on the back of a granola box or sentences of articles on your phone became a blur of unknown words and phrases that you could not comprehend for the life of you. Staring at the two bolded words in front of you now, an odd feeling settles in your chest. You couldn’t describe the feeling, it was hard to put a finger on what it felt like. You force yourself to blink and look away from the box. You could hear Lauren tell the customer to have a good day before you hear her footsteps on the tile floor and see her near you out of the corner of your eye.

“I was joking about your taste,” She says as she hops back onto the cart and grins at you. “If that wasn’t clear and you feel insulted about your terrible choice in coffee.” She adds. You don’t say anything for a moment as you muddle your way to form a proper sentence in your mind and make it roll off of your tongue so she wouldn’t get concerned and send you back to your apartment early.

“I know and I was joking about your poor taste in tea.” You say, it doesn’t sound like it came from you despite the vibration in your throat. You rapidly blink as she parts her mouth in fake irritation. You breathe in through your mouth and hold your breath for a moment before letting go.

“It’s decent taste actually.” She defends herself. The words on the box in front of you made much more better sense in your mind as you forced out a laugh. This time the noise sounded like it belonged to you.

You trail your tired gaze back to her as you say, “Hmm. Sure.” Whatever has just happened to you scared you a little. Maybe it was caused by the lack of sleep you had, whatever it was you didn’t want to experience again.

Lauren didn’t seem to notice you as she says, “That customer wanted me to put crisps on their sandwich.”

“Did you?”

“No! That would be cross contamination if I did.”

“Good.” You say. “Emily told me that someone asked her if she could put cookies on their sandwich.” She wrinkles her nose at that.

“Cookies?” She says, “Like the ones in the cookie cabinet?”

“Those exact ones. Chocolate chip onto of their ham sandwich.” You reply. You watch as a look of disgust forms on her face and you agree with her. When you first heard the story, you had the same expression as she has now. You pick up your coffee and sip on it.

“That's disgusting.”

“I can get potato chips on top of a sandwich, but cookies?” You shake your head. “That's a crime in itself. They need to be jailed.”

“Agreed.” She says. The bell above the entrance rings and you both share a look before looking at the monitor. It was just a single customer, you couldn’t tell who they were from the glare of the lighting but that didn’t matter. You trail your gaze away from the monitor and to Lauren.

“Your turn.” She says before she picks up her own cup and sips on her tea. It was only fair if you were to take turns until lunch rush came. You blink tiredly and yawn as you place your cup onto the counter and hop off of it. You raise your arms above your head to stretch your muscles as you begin to walk to the front. Another yawn escapes you as you greet your first customer of the day.

You don’t care how many orders you messed up today, you were just glad to be ten minutes away from your neighbors apartment. Usually, you would be beating yourself up for putting ranch on a customer's sandwich when they clearly asked for mayonnaise; but you were way past the point of caring by the end of your shift. Your coffee was long gone and your bladder was empty from the endless amount of peeing you seemed to go through today. Caffeine makes you pee more often and you weren’t used to having so much caffeine in a day. You could feel yourself crashing with every step you took towards your apartment complex. Your feet ache and your back hurts a little.

Maybe you’ll change the plans of you passing out after dinner to taking a nap on Stevens couch before eating instead. You don’t know if that would make you more cranky if Steven or Marc wake you for the meal, but you don’t care enough about it. If you’re lucky, maybe Steven has some snacks you could eat instead of waiting for dinner. Or you could just go to your own apartment and sleep on the couch, you could put your phone on silent and shoot Steven a text message stating that you won’t make it to dinner. Perhaps you’ll pop into his apartment and show him that you’re alive and breathing before heading over to your own and passing out for the remainder of the afternoon and night.

You would like to sleep in his bed since it wouldn’t hurt your back as badly as your couch does, and his place brings you comfort, but you just want to sleep in peace more than anything. Marc or Steven might make too much noise for you to fall asleep and you weren’t going to ask them to be quiet in their own flat. If Khonshu or whatever deity decides to fuck with you when you’re trying to sleep in your apartment, damn them. You’re tired and cranky enough to beat a bitches ass if they decide to pull some shit like that. Maybe they’ll be willing to show their face and you can pop them in their jaws. You’ll like to think that you’re pissed off enough to throw hands with them. Either way, sleep was your main priority and nothing was going to-

Suddenly, the feeling of something or someone grabbing the back of your shirt and dragging you into the open end of the alley you were just passing causes you to lose your train of thought. You yelp as you get slammed into the brick wall, knocking your head against it and you let out a groan at the contact. Holy fucking shit. You snap your eyes in the direction of the open end of the alley and see someone standing there. They wore a cloth mask on the lower half of their face and a beanie covering their hair. The jacket they wore was zipped up to their neck and a turtle neck shirt hid any identification on their body, the black pants were baggy on their legs. The only visible thing was their brown eyes and the white skin surrounding it. They held onto a knife with glove-covered hands and you can feel their eyes glaring onto your body. You can not catch a fucking break this week, can you?

“Give me all your money,” They said, their voice deep and gruff. Your stance tenses as you stare at him. Just three months ago you were in almost the exact same situation, why does this bullshit seem to only happen to you? Well, you don’t want it to happen to anyone but it was weird that it happened twice to you.

“I’m flattered that you think I have any.” You say. You know that you shouldn’t be rude to this man and you should hand over any cash you have on you, which you don’t since tips were terrible today. You were more awake than you have been all day thanks to the adrenaline rushing through you. The heaviness in your limbs and the baggy feeling around your eyes was gone. You were slowly planning on how to escape this situation. You could pretend to give him some cash or punch him in his dumb face and run for it; or you could throw your apron at him as a distraction and run- wait where the fuck is your apron? You rack your brain for where you left it and your heart nearly drops to your stomach as you realize that you left it in your locker after you grabbed your phone, keys and the Eye of Horus paper.

Fucking fuck. Okay, scratch that, go with plan number one and if you get shanked, you have to leave the knife in and go get help. God, you just wanted to go nap and this fucker decides to choose you to mug. Life really just stopped holding back their punches, huh? What did you do to upset the universe?

“I know you.” He says after a long pause. You squint at him. Maybe he was a customer you served today and that’s why he says that he knows you? You sure as hell don’t know anybody that would rob teenagers for their tip money. Well, maybe Jake would though? Where the fuck is he when you need him anyways? Man, it would be the perfect time for him to swoop down from the buildings and do his Moon Knight thing. Kick some ass, take some names. Beat the absolute shit out of this guy so you could go take a nap. Do you have to call for him to come appear and save you or does Khonshus job only happen at night? You doubt that Khonshu would warn Jake about the situation that you’re in. The little bird-bitch.

“I don’t know you.” You say. Man, you really should have brought your taser. What’s the point of having a taser if you don’t carry it around on you? You just didn’t want to get arrested for having one on you because it’s illegal in the United Kingdom. But, it would be really fucking handy to have it now. You could feel your phone pressing against your thigh. The emergency number for the U.K is 999, all you have to do is be able to call them if you need to. You should actually dial them and report a mugging but you don’t want to get involved with the police because of what you did to move countries. You only need to call them if you get a stab wound or any other major injuries.

You tuck your fingers inward to make a fist as you prepare yourself to throw hands. You did this last time and you only got away because of your neighbors. They aren’t here now, so you’re on your own. Maybe you’ll call Marc's number if you get stabbed, he was in the marines and a mercenary, he has to have knowledge on stab wounds. He told you not to call his number unless it was a emergency and if this isn’t one than you don’t know what the fuck is.

“You don’t remember me?” He says. You almost snort at how pretentious he sounds.

“Yeah, I don’t remember every brown eyed bitch that is willing to rob a kid.” You say. Why is he so surprised that you don’t know who the fuck he is?

“We met before.” He supplies and you stare blankly at him. You obviously were familiar to him unless he was mistaking you for another person.

“June.” He hints and your mouth parts open in surprise. This man is the same god damn mugger from before! Holy fucking shit. You almost laugh at that. Even after Marc beat his ass, he still is working the same nine to five job and he’s boasting about it. You stare at the eye slits across his face, any bruises that he might have had were healed. He sure as hell didn’t learn his lesson. What were you supposed to say to him now that he confirmed who he is? Hey man, how have you been? Still mugging teens huh? Or: How’s the kids and partner? Are y’all still a family or married? Going through a divorce huh? Yeah, I would divorce you too if I found out you were mugging children.

“Oh,” You say instead. “I thought you were dead for a while.” His eyes narrow at you. You did hope that he wasn’t dead because it would have meant you were a acquaintance to murder; but if he did kick the bucket, it means that you would be safe from this and you would be going up the stairwell and napping sooner than later.

“Still alive and well.” He snarls at you. You glance at the knife he held. It was the size of a bodice dagger, the blade was about five inches long. If you get stabbed, that’s going to cause some damage. Of course, it depends how bad it will be for where he aims and lands on. You just need to throw a punch and push past him. You need to run for your apartment. Wait, should you lead him to where you live? That sounds like a terrible idea. Okay, well, maybe you should book it for the bus stop? There has to be people there. There’s no fucking way that this man would be willing to stab a kid in front of a group of bystanders.

“I still don’t have any-” You start but get cut off by his fist connecting with your face. Your head whips to your right as all your breath seems to stop and freeze in your chest. The pounding in your head covers any noise that could have warned you that he was taking a step forward before you feel his hand wrap the cloth of your shirt into his fist. He smelled like cigarettes and axe body spray. The left side of your face stung from the impact and you knew that a bruise would be forming on your face by tomorrow if you make it out of this situation alive.

You reach up and grasp his wrist, your fingernails digging into the cloth of his gloves. If you’re going to die at the hands of this fucker, you’re going to get his DNA underneath your damn nails for the police. He pulls you forward and slams your back into the wall, whatever breath you had is gone as soon as you felt the impact. Your head stung and your chest aches. You let go of his wrist and form your hand into a fist before swinging. His head whips to the side and he groans at the impact of your fist against his cheek. Slowly, he turns his head and glares angrily at you. Did he seriously not expect you to fight back?

He lets go of your shirt and steps back a little before his fist makes contact with your stomach. You wheeze at the feeling and bend forward, clutching your torso with both hands before he grabs you by the back of your collar and throws you down to the ground. You roll a couple of feet, your skin gets torn apart due to the road burn. You slow to a complete stop and groan as you lay on your side. The gravel of the alley digs into your skin and crunches underneath his feet as he walks towards you. Fucking hell your body hurts. Your palms sting as you roll onto your back and try to catch your breath from being punched in the gut. You need to get up before he kicks the ever-loving shit out of you and gives you a concussion or breaks your ribs or arms.

You need to get up before he makes sure that this is the last bit of daylight you’ll ever see. Through half lidded eyes, you stare at the bright blue sky above you, and watch a bird fly over you with its wings spread wide. You couldn’t tell what type it was and you didn’t care much at the moment to think about it. You just need to get up. You need to get the fuck up. Your palms press into the gravel as you bend your torso to sit up. The muscles in your torso ache in protest as a shadow blocks your view of the sky above you. You bend your neck back and glare at the man before you. You could feel trickles of blood run down your forehead and you saw the drip of blood drop from the arch of your right brow and hit your cheek before continuing on trailing a path down your face.

He swipes the knife across your cheek and narrowly misses your eye. You jerk backwards from him as a sting of pain spikes across the fresh wound and warm blood runs down your face. A gasp leaves you and a scream begins to build up in your throat. This is the moment that you understood that he wanted more than money or any belongings that he could pawn, he wanted revenge; and even though you weren’t the one who beat his ass until he was unconscious, you were there as your neighbor did so and you didn’t stop him.

You saw his leg swing back before you felt his foot make contact with your ribs. You fall back, your head hitting against the ground and once again, all air gets knocked out of your lungs. He steps forward, placing his foot on your chest and putting all his body weight onto the joint as he leans downward a bit and stares at you. The sunlight glints off of the blade he grasps in his hand and momentarily blinds you. This was going to be difficult to run away from since he’s already beating your ass. You need to scream for help, surely there’s someone nearby and willing to check in on you or call the police. Your hands wrap around his calf as you try to push him off of you so you could inhale some air but alas your attempts are futile.

You kick your feet against the ground, scrambling for some leverage. Maybe if you use the force of your torso against him he will stumble away from you. Your shoes slide against the gravel as you struggle to plant your feet onto the ground and force your torso into the yoga bridge pose. He presses his foot down harder and you swore that you felt your sternum crack under the pressure. You let your legs slide down and lay flat against the ground as you stare with anger at the man. You could feel panic begin to settle in your bones as you open and close your mouth like a fish out of water. You need to scream for help but you had no air in your lungs to do so. You try to force away the panic so you would have a clear brain to think with.

Okay, you need to get him off. How do you get this fucking man off of you? Your eyes land on the one sight that all of your male classmates would protect the most during a game of dodgeball at recess in middle-school. He’s a man with a weak spot that happens to be right at arm's length. You should have realized it before, you would have gotten him off of you sooner. You let go of his calf and ball your hand into a fist before harshly slamming it against the area where the sun doesn’t shine. He lets out a gasp of air and stumbles back a few steps. You take a deep breath of air as you waste zero time to push yourself off of the ground.

You spare a glance down at your palms and frown at the sight of blood seeping from the wounds that were made from when you scraped along the pavement when he threw you down. You pat your pockets for your belongings as you walk towards him. He was bent over and clutching his privates as he blocked the only exit to the alley. You need to run past him and book it for either your apartment or the bus stop. You pick up your pace into a jog before pushing your legs to move faster past him. He reaches out on his right side and grabs onto the cloth of your shirt and tugs you towards him. He stands up straight as you call for help, screaming it like you were a getting murdered and it was your last chance of survival, and it sure as hell felt exactly like that. Your back hits his chest as his left arm wraps around your throat and his knife pokes into your throat.

“Call for fucking help one more time and I’ll slit your god damn throat.” He threatens. Huh, this sounds awfully familiar. Your nose began to sting from the tears forming in your eyes. You could only hope that anyone that was nearby would be willing to check on your pleas. Maybe you’ll get really lucky and someone would pass the alleyway and see this. He kicks at the back of your knees, letting go of you temporarily as your knees give out underneath you and hit the gravel. He bends down, wrapping his arm once more around your throat and digging the tip of his blade back into your skin. You feel the blade digging into your throat as he bends down and begins to pat your torso for anything to take from you.

With each hard pat, you know that the spots will be red from his hits. His hands trail down to your jean pockets and he pulls out the Ziploc bag that contains the Eye of Horus paper, your lanyard falls out of the same pocket and lands on the ground.

“What is this?” He says behind your ear. His breath was hot on your ear and you wince at how close he is to you. He keeps your head tucked to his body as he removes the knife from your throat so both of his hands are available to open the baggy. You know that the piece of paper was just that: a piece of paper. But you don’t want him to damage it. It brought you comfort like it was a teddy bear and you don’t want to lose that. He takes out the paper and drops the bag as he unfolds the parchment. You swallow as you look down your nose and at the eye that stares back at you. Your blood drips off of your jawline and onto the paper, a small splat could be heard as it hits the parchment.

“Horus.” He grumbles, “What is that? An anime character or some shit?” You don’t answer, you weren’t going to explain to this prick what this symbol means. He doesn’t add anything but scoffs, you think the sound meant that he finished skimming through the description of the god and the protection symbol. He grips the edge of the paper and you nearly cry out when he tears it in half. Your wide eyes watch as he layers the paper over each other and he tears it once again. He lets the paper drop to the gravel, you swallow around the lump forming in your throat and try to ignore the sting of your nose and tears begin to make your eyesight blurry.

More of your blood soaks the torn paper as his hand travels to your other pocket and pulls out your phone, the lock-screen picture of your parents lighting up on the device with the movement before he clicks the button on the side and the screen goes black. In the reflection, you could see your injured face and the desperation behind your eyes.

“Please don’t take that.” You plead. “That’s the only thing I have left of my parents.” Every photo of the life you had before was on that phone since you don’t visit your old social media accounts in fear of it stating that you were active online. The SD card was still in the phone and any image saved to the device was more valuable than gold to you. You don’t see him pocket the phone but you can hear him do so. This time the tears roll down your cheeks and the sob you were holding back leaves your throat. His grip tightens around your windpipe, making you choke on your own sob and quiet down from anyone who might be nearby. All of this for zero money and just to get some revenge on a teenager for being in the wrong place and at the wrong time. Fuck this dude. You felt the tip of the blade poking into your neck before you saw his right arm was up and pointing the knife at your throat. The tip drags from the right side of your neck and to the back of your neck. Another choked sob escapes you as tears blur your vision and mix with the trail of blood and sting the cut on your cheek.

You felt his boot hit your back before you registered that you were face down on the pavement. The smell of metal, dirt, and paper fill your nostrils before you roll over onto your back with a groan and a half moan for help. He marches a couple of steps to your left and he pulls back his leg, the toe of his boot hitting the side of your head, once, twice, three times before he directs his kicks to your side. He had what he wanted, your phone. He could wipe the memory off of it and reset the device before trading it into a pawn shop for some cash. But, this was the cherry on top of the cake for him. He’s getting his revenge nearly three months later and you were nothing to him but a punching bag.

You don’t know when your eyes closed and darkness took you from the beating you were receiving. But you do know that when your eyes peel open, your lashes stick to your cheeks from the dried blood on your skin, that the world is spinning and it isn't going to stop any time soon. You lay still, your body past the point of it aching and hurting and more into the territory of it feeling like you got hit by a bus and you were in absolute pain. You could feel a puddle of blood surrounding your head and the damp collar of your work shirt didn’t help the suffocating feeling you were experiencing by how it clung to your skin and around your bruising neck.

The sky above you was covered in gray and white clouds that were slowly darkening with patches of blue poking through. It was going to rain soon and you didn’t want to risk walking back to your apartment injured and bloody on wet pavement. You need to get up; and still, despite that realization, you lay there and watch as the clouds roll by and cover the patches of blue. You don’t know what time it is, but you do know that there’s a chance that Steven may knock on your apartment door or call your phone if the bitch hasn’t shut it off yet. He’ll figure something went wrong and he might look for you if you don’t head over for dinner. A selfish part of you didn’t want him to find you bleeding out in an alley and save you from whatever potential internal bleeding you have. Not because it would cause him trauma and self blame for not looking for you sooner; But because, you hope that you will die in this alley due to everything you lost.

Your old life was on that phone. You lost the memories of the life you had before you were blipped. You lost the pictures and videos of your parents and friends; of homecoming dance pictures, trips to Coney Island, and bookstores. You lost the audio of you and your best friend laughing together over some dumb joke and how both of your eyes shined in the video with wrinkled corners and wide smiles. You lost the video of your mother and father speaking your name as they urged you to cut the video and to set it up to a timer for a photo instead. You will never get to look back on how they sounded and spoke your name with love and affection. Your parents lay six feet underground in the same Earth that you walk on every day; and you laying in your own pool of blood was the closest that you have ever been to them since.

Everything was gone simply because a man chose you as his victim and you couldn’t defend yourself well. You don’t notice that it began to rain until you felt the first few drops land on your face. You need to get up and go take care of your injuries so Steven and Marc won’t find you dead in an alley. They will blame themselves for your death and you know that they will also do so for how beaten up you are. You need to get up and you don’t want to. You want to die. You want to give up and go to whatever or wherever it is that you’ll go to after you pass. You want to just call it quits and leave this Earth or roam this planet like a ghost. You just don’t want to exist anymore.

Everything about existence hurts. You hurt; and it’s more than just the physical pain that you were currently going through. You have wounds that you have yet to heal after years of neglect. You want to die. You want to die. You want to die. You want to die, but you still painstakingly push yourself up into a sitting position.

Your sides scream in protest and your breath gets caught in your throat. The buildings around you sway as if you were on a boat and blood mixed with rain ran down your forehead and made you close your right eye to prevent any blinding you. Your palms are wet and sticky with blood, your jeans and shirt cling to your skin with the liquid of the body fluid and rain. Saying that you are uncomfortable would be an understatement. You slowly inhale a breath of air through your mouth, the taste of metal was gross on your tongue. Your sides expands slowly and you only hiss out in pain when a shock floods your torso. You bend forward a bit, the movement causing you to cry out and clutch your bruising side as you squeeze your eyes shut.

Dying is an easy choice, getting up is going to be a bitch. A mumble of string together curse words leaves your lips as you wait for the pain to die out enough that you could focus on opening your eyes and taking in how bad your injuries are. You sure as hell felt like your ribs on your left side were cracked and perhaps broken. You had to have a concussion and the blood loss was making you woozy. The cut on your hands and cheek probably had to have some form of infection beginning to fester in the wounds from the dirty ground; and they definitely will get infected if you don’t clean them properly in a couple of hours. Slowly, you open your eyes and tilt your head down to your damp shirt. You carefully pull back your shirt from your torso and lift it enough just see some of the damage below your belly button on your side.

Blood and rain ran down the visible patch of your torso as you stared at the darkening of your skin, it was slowly turning purple and black. You lower your shirt, you don’t need to raise it up any higher to know that it was matching the bit that you saw. You glance at your right hand, your knuckles are a little swollen and the sight of it makes you a tad bit more numb inside. You did fight back, you did punch him, it just wasn’t enough. You look away from it and to the entrance of the alley way, cars pass with their windshield wipers sliding back and forth across the glass. The windows were rolled up and people were tucked warmly inside with the heater blasting on high. You wonder if anyone saw you knocked out in an alley and thought that you were just a knocked over trash bag with your work uniform being a black shirt and black pants. Did they not notice? Were they too busy paying attention to the road or listening to whatever was happening on the radio? Or did they see you and just not care to check on you?

There were a lot of people like that in New York. Some of the people who were homeless were often doing drugs or drinking their problems away with alcohol. There were several stories of people pushing others onto the subway tracks when the train was visible and about to make its stop. New York was not kind and maybe you thought London would more likely be kind enough to check on a person who was injured. You don’t know if you're grateful or not that nobody seemed to notice you. Your gaze trails to the ground in front of you. There lay the damp and shredded pieces of paper of the Eye of Horus, the ink was running from the rain and your blood; and not far from it was the wet plastic bag you carried it in and the orange lanyard that holds your keys. You bend forward, reaching for the plastic baggy and crying in pain and despair as your fingers wrap around it.

Carefully, you pick up the pieces of paper, most of it falls apart as you pinch the parchment between your fingers and place it into the baggy. You don’t know if the liquid running down your cheeks was the rain, tears, or your blood, but either way you try to collect and save as much as the paper as you could, just so one less thing could get taken away from you. Sobs begin to build up in your chest and you try to hold them in as you focus on picking up the paper Steven gave to you. Your shoulders start to shake as you pick up the final piece and pinch the baggy shut. You hold the bag to your chest as a sob escapes you and soon another one follows. You try to hold in your cries but all that causes is more pain in your body. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fucking fair. Why does this bullshit happen to you?

A choked out sob leaves you and just like that, the water-gates were open and you were completely crying. Nothing was fair, why do you have to have a shitty week? Why did you have to be the one chosen to be this asshole's victim? Why did your parents have to die and why weren’t you in their shoes? You let everything out in your cries and sharp pains of breath. You just wanted a damn nap and you sure as hell got one because you went unconscious for who-knows-how-long. Everything hurts and sucks and here you are: crying in an alley during a rain storm while shivering and drenched in blood and rain water. This was a terrible Tuesday, the worst one you think you ever had. By the time that you calm down enough to think rather than to feel, the rain seemed to become heavier and you were sure that you were getting hyperthermia. You were cold, especially your hands and nose. Your teeth clatter together and your face aches. You need to get up. You let the emotional numbness take over, you feel drained and exhausted.

With the state that you’re in, you’re going to need support on getting up, there is no way that you would be able to push yourself off of the ground without help. You look around the alley, trying to focus enough that you could clearly see your surroundings through the rocking of the world. There wasn’t anything but trash cans and bags of garbage that you could use. Through your hazy thoughts, you consider that you could knock them over and injure yourself more if you did try to use them. Your eyes trail away from the bins and to the brick wall next to you. There was about an inch between each brick that you could use as a ledge to help pull yourself up. It might damage your fingers some but it’s your only chance to get up. You didn’t move to London after committing fraud, get scared by a deity multiple times, and have a knife held to your throat twice just to die in an alley.

You stuff the plastic baggy into your jean pockets and scoop up your lanyard off of the ground and place it into your other front pocket. You cry out as you rotate your body so you’re on your hands and knees before crawling slowly over to the wall. Your body screams as you lift your upper body and grasp the wall with your hands. It took what felt like forever to stand and lean against the brick to help stabilize yourself. The world seems to spin faster as you’re standing and you close your eyes and try to calmly take a breath and do some breathing exercises. Inhale slowly, try to ignore the sharp fucking pain in your side, hold for five, four, three, two, one; and slowly exhale and repeat. You go through the cycle several times until you feel nauseous. Your stomach churns and you don’t have a chance to hold back your vomit. You throw up directly onto your shoes, almost in the same spot you did all those months ago. The taste of bile was gross and your throat burns a bit from it. You keep your eyes closed as you wait for your stomach to settle.

You let out a shuddered breath, the smell of vomit, rain, and metal floods your nostrils as you inhale and prepare yourself to continue to fight. Your eyes flutter open and you stand up straight. With every exhausting step you take, you lean your hand against the wall and move; and you keep moving despite the stumbling of your feet and spinning of the environment around you. You keep moving despite your head pounding and the brightness of the world becoming too much for you; and when you fall due to slipping on a mixture of your blood and rain water on the sidewalk's pavement, you get up and continue. You push forward and persevere just like you always have.

—

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ruvviks · 11 months

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Chapter >> 17 [x] Characters >> Cato Wu (oc), Eddie Wolfe (oc), Lauren Dimas (oc), Mikhail Koshechkin (oc), Panam Palmer, Rogue Amendiares, Viktor Vektor, Vincent Mayer (oc), Vitali Dobrynin (oc) Total >> 9.2k Warnings >> Blood, chess mention :/, death, injuries, irresponsible driving, violence

‘Hey- Get up. Can’t have you dying on me now.’

The constant, gentle beeping of a nearby heart monitor slowly woke Cato from her slumber, the noise reminiscent of her alarm yet she did not even have to open her eyes to know that this was anything but an ordinary morning; if it was even morning to begin with.

She inhaled deeply, eyes moving behind eyelids and head heavy on the questionable-quality pillow of the unfamiliar bed she found herself in; a weight pressing down on her chest, keeping her locked in position, even the slightest of movement burning painfully through her muscles.

Where the fuck am I?

Cato only remembered flashes.

A car chase- no, she had been on a motorcycle- a stolen one, no less, racing through the streets of Northside in the middle of the night after yet another failed attempt to get help, trying to-

Trying to-

She groaned, memories from seemingly another lifetime flooding back into her mind and her chest painfully tightened, sudden fear overtaking her. Had they finally captured her, now? After everything she’d done- every precaution she had taken to get them off her trail, all the cut ties, all the words left unspoken-

Another deep inhale. It did not smell like a hospital, wherever she was; it did not smell like any of their medbays, or a Trauma Team ambulance, or any other corporate location for that matter. The vague smell of blood and sweat lingered around her, mixed with bleach, some sort of disinfectant-

It stung a bit.

Finally Cato opened her eyes, squinting against the bright light of some lamp pointed directly at her face. She slowly let her gaze trail the room- oh, yeah, a ripperdoc, alright- past cold concrete walls, a surgery chair, makeshift medical equipment and a cluttered desk in the corner on her far right, until she found two figures; one sitting on a stool, the other leaning against the wall.

She did not recognize either of the two men; that was, until the one standing took a few steps closer upon noticing she was awake. Her heartbeat instantly spiked and she jolted up- but her vision faded instantly and with that she sank back down onto the surgery bed she was-

Handcuffed to?

‘Standard procedure,’ the man said, gesturing at Cato’s wrist before running his hand through his short, bleached hair. ‘My apologies. It is always tricky to determine if a merc is going to resort to violence once awake or not.’

‘I’ll fuck you up,’ Cato spat before she could stop herself, her voice hoarse as it left her lips- words scraping past raw throat and it caused her to cough, the raspy noise echoing through the room.

‘I don’t doubt that for a second.’ A pause, as Vitali Dobrynin reached into his pocket and took out a key, then reached for Cato’s wrist and- respectfully keeping his hands to himself- freed her from her restraints.

‘Cato Wu,’ he said, grabbing a chair from the side of the room and setting it down next to the surgery bed while Cato slowly sat up a second time, carefully now, allowing the dizziness to settle before she moved any further.

‘How’d you know my name?’

‘I have my ways.’

‘Right- fixer.’

‘Do I sense contempt?’

Cato sucked in her cheeks and raised her hand, mockingly putting her thumb and the tip of her index finger a mere millimeter apart. ‘Thiiis much. Pinky promise.’

Perhaps not her wisest decision- mocking a fixer like that only inches away from his face. And not just any fixer, either; a new face on the big stage in town, sure, and not nearly as famous- or infamous- as Rogue Amendiares or Dexter DeShawn, but one making his way to the major leagues quicker than anyone ever before.

Of course Cato had heard of him. She had gone looking for him to ask for his help, for fuck’s sake.

She watched carefully as Vitali’s eyes trailed over her face, scanning every little detail- reading her, and she slightly straightened her back in response. No one said anything; and instead it was merely the sound of the heart monitor filling the space around them, Cato’s heartbeat once more steady now that she had calmed down.

‘You have quite some history, from what I could gather,’ the fixer finally spoke, slowly leaning back in his chair as the corner of his mouth slightly pulled up. ‘Active in security since age 17- and now on the run from Kang Tao, no less.’

‘Nothin’ I can’t handle.’

‘I’ve sent some of my people after the squads. They won’t find you here.’

‘Wasn’t concerned.’

‘Of course not.’

Unbothered by her attitude, playing along- yet playfully so, and Cato finally relaxed a little bit as the other man in the small ripperdoc clinic wheeled himself over as well, moving around her to carefully unplug the medical equipment from the port in her neck.

‘Take it easy the next couple days, alright?’ he said. ‘Hit your head pretty hard in the fall. Your helmet caught most of the impact and took most of the damage, but-’

His voice trailed off and Cato immediately glanced into the rest of the room again, her eyes finding- well, what remained of her motorcycle helmet, sitting on top of the desk in the corner.

‘You got lucky, kid.’

Wouldn’t be the first time.

A sharp exhale left her nostrils as she redirected her attention to Vitali, who had not taken his eyes off her for even a second; alert, still, perhaps waiting for her to do something now that she was no longer held down by the handcuffs and the cord in her neck. Their gazes met in the middle, and he leaned forward again, resting his elbows on his knees as he tilted his head in a questioning manner.

‘You were calling out for me, when my mercs found you,’ he said and Cato instantly lowered her gaze again, glad the monitor beside her no longer showed her heartbeat. ‘Said you needed to speak with me.’

‘I need protection,’ she cut him off, turning on the bed to let her feet dangle down and she placed her hands on either side of her body, shoved underneath her thighs.

‘I can work. Do gigs for you, provide security- hell, you’ve done your homework. Seen my resume. Whatever you need, can get started whenever, just- I don’t think I can stay ahead of ‘em for much longer.’

Oh, how she hated to admit it.

Had done fine for months- but she was tired, slipping up left and right, and Kang Tao had not given up on her just yet for whatever fucking reason and it was driving her up the walls. She had no idea if her old squad was still out there, if they were even still alive; and had no way to check it either, each and any attempt to reach out a risk for all parties involved.

‘Endurance hunting,’ Vitali said, a sudden sharp edge to his voice that had not been there before. ‘Running you to exhaustion- minimal effort for them over a longer period of time, while your whole life falls apart around you until there’s nothing left and you are right for the taking. They’re good at that.’

‘Sounds like you know what you’re talkin’ about.’

‘Better than you can probably imagine.’ He paused, jaw slightly clenching as he straightened his back. ‘It’s a good thing you decided to reach out. I think we can help each other.’

Not the first fixer Cato had spoken to- but the first to not tell her no. His words slowly settled in her brain and the look on her face must have told him enough, because he merely smiled in return and slowly stood up again.

‘Go home, for now,’ he said, the rings around his irises lighting up bright blue as a location in the north of Wellsprings popped up in Cato’s view. ‘Get some rest. Visit my office when you are feeling better, and we will get you relocated to a safehouse and discuss business, yes? Vik- You can put the costs on my tab.’

‘One step ahead of you, Vito.’

‘Full price, this time, I hope?’

‘Eh- returning customer discount.’

‘I’ll…allow it this time.’

Cato was no longer listening to them, a strange sense of relief washing over her to the point she suddenly noticed just how exhausted she was. All her muscles were sore- and even with the painkillers she had probably already gotten she could still feel the heavy thrumming in the back of her head, constantly threatening to move closer.

Months of uncertainty, of being alone; and it was all finally going to change, and hopefully for the better. Cato did not know much about how Vitali Dobrynin worked, but his surprisingly charming attitude and his treatment of both her and the old ripperdoc were already a lot more promising than what she had seen from many others before him.

Perhaps it would all be over now. Perhaps Kang Tao would finally give up, finally leave her alone, perhaps she would no longer have to be scared to get taken back in- to get tortured, and killed, if they would even show her that kind of mercy after everything that had happened.

Perhaps she could finally be safe, now.

Cato had not felt safe in months.

She could no longer tell where it had gone wrong. Too much time had passed, too many parties involved; and frankly, at that point it mattered very little who was to blame. She understood why Vitali also didn’t know what to do anymore- he was grasping at straws, but so was everyone else.

But now things were starting to get seriously out of hand.

Hurried pace through the hallway, combat gear on and gun holstered and at the ready. Another day, another tragedy; another citywide mercenary attack traced back to the Broker, yet the man himself once more stayed out of the spotlights like he always did.

Yet something was wrong about it all.

Prior incidents had all had a clear purpose; taking away their resources, exhausting them, rising tensions in town and in the Council and attempting to frame Vitali as the big bad behind it all. Weeks of planning, carefully thought out moves- like some fucked up, intricate game of chess.

Man, the fucking irony.

Yet this time it had come entirely out of nowhere.

And Matvey’s mercenaries merely seemed to be out for blood.

‘Hey-! Cato, wait.’

Cato had almost reached the elevators, but she stopped in her tracks and turned around, heart skipping a beat upon spotting the source of the voice behind her; Lauren, running after her and easily catching up only to drag her in for a hug, arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders and hand on the back of her head.

‘Forgot to say goodbye, was in a hurry,’ Cato sheepishly said, Lauren’s hand gently running through her hair and moving to her face to cup her cheek. ‘You on runner duty today?’

‘W-What? I- Yeah, I am, but-’

Lauren’s voice got caught in her throat and she looked up again, a worried frown decorating her brow as her eyes trailed over Cato’s face and her thumb softly ran over her lips.

Cato didn’t know what to say.

Her brain was stuck in work mode; it left very little space for any distractions, and as much as Cato loved her girlfriend she found herself completely at a loss for words, eyes briefly wandering off as she slightly leaned in to Lauren’s touch and took a hesitant step closer to her.

And in response, Lauren leaned down and kissed her, the scent of her cologne mixed with a hint of coconut from her shampoo wrapping around Cato like a warm blanket, as if the two of them were safely at home rather than in the hallway of Vitali’s office, preparing to make dinner together instead of preparing to put their lives on the line once more in an attempt to regain control of the situation out in the streets.

Cato stood on her tiptoes and kissed Lauren back, grabbing the edges of her jacket to tug her closer and she could feel the corners of Lauren’s mouth turn up into a small smile.

Oh, how she had missed the quiet moments with her; they’d had some time, between all the chaos, but with both of them focused on work and the constant threat hanging above their heads it had been difficult to fully find some time for themselves.

They had wanted to move in together at the start of the year.

Cato still lived alone, now.

‘Be careful out there, okay?’ Lauren quietly said, her lips brushing past the bridge of Cato’s nose before she kissed her forehead, lips lingering on her skin a lot longer than necessary.

‘I’m- so good at that,’ Cato replied and wrapped her arms around Lauren’s waist. ‘Powerhouse. Unkillable, even.’

‘Holding you to that.’

‘As you should! As you fuckin’ should.’

She smiled when a quiet giggle left Lauren’s chest and she hid her face in Cato’s neck, carefully wrapping her arms around her again and nearly lifting her from the ground.

‘You be careful in there, too,’ Cato hummed in her ear and gently ran her hand through her girlfriend’s curls. ‘Wanna come home to you, ‘kay? Alive.’

‘And you will, baby. Alive and well.’

And with that, they finally parted ways, Cato glancing over her shoulder one last time and smiling at Lauren before quickly stepping into the elevator and mashing the button of the garage until the doors closed- but she kept going just a little longer, even when the elevator was already on the move, as if the action would keep the tears welling up in her eyes from rolling down her cheeks.

Cato knew like no one else their jobs came with risks.

She had always been a risk taker- largely calculated decisions but with an uncertainty or two that would make most mercs reconsider their options. Cato was too confident for that; or too stubborn perhaps, if you’d ask her friends, but either way she knew what she was doing and she knew how to clean up her messes like no one else.

She sucked in a deep breath and glanced at herself in the mirror of the elevator, quickly grabbing a hair tie from her wrist to pull her black and pink hair into a tight ponytail to get it out of her face. The elevator came to a stop, and the doors opened- but she lingered inside just a little longer, expression blank and eyes fixed on her own reflection.

Hope I can get some sleep tonight. Looks like I fuckin’ need it.

The garage was surprisingly crowded, several squads getting ready to try and get a grip on the situation outside. Cato left the elevator and quickly pushed her way through the crowd to the other side, until she reached Mikhail, Eddie and Vincent, waiting for her next to one of their armored vehicles.

‘Everyone ready?’ she asked, hopping on her tiptoes and sinking back to her heels as she nodded at the car.

‘Almost,’ Mikhail responded and clicked his tongue, not moving away from his position against one of the pillars of the garage. ‘Waiting for one more.’

‘One more- seriously? Bit crowded for one car, don’t you think?’

‘Would you prefer for me to sit on the roof, then?’

The sudden voice from behind her caused Cato to freeze and Vitali walked around her, fastening the clip of his chest armor as he gave her a playful nudge with his elbow. A soft scoff left her lips in return and she quickly averted her gaze to the ground.

‘Alright, listen to me!’ Vitali shouted, causing silence to instantly wash over the room and everyone’s heads to turn in his direction.

‘We don’t know exactly what is going on, just got eyes on important locations they’re attacking,’ he continued. ‘Lauren is pinging you the hotspots, report back to her once everything is dealt with. Panam- I want you and your squad to follow us.’

‘Where to?’ Panam asked.

‘Afterlife. Rogue called.’

Well, that can’t be good.

Cato slowly wandered over to the passenger seat while everyone got on the move, head completely elsewhere. She did not know Rogue like Vitali did, or Vincent- but she knew her well enough to know she was not one to ask for help, more than capable enough to deal with situations such as this one herself.

‘It’s chaos out there,’ Eddie said as they climbed onto the backseat on the left side of the car, next to Vincent who was sat in the middle. ‘Bet they already got eyes on us.’

‘I do not doubt it.’ Vitali buckled his seatbelt and started the car, slightly adjusting the rearview mirror before starting to make his way outside the garage. ‘V- Are you alright?’

‘Yep,’ Vincent quickly answered, though Cato could hear how strained his voice was. ‘Peachy.’

Deafening silence washed over the car and Cato glanced in the side mirror to look at Mikhail, who merely stared straight out of the window with no readable expression on his face.

Trouble in paradise?

Not the right time to ask.

The sun already hung low on the horizon, leaving the city in warm orange and pink light; yet smoke lingered in the air from a nearby fire, rapidly threatening to get entirely out of control due to the heat and drought. Not an uncommon occurrence during Night City’s summers- despite the vastly different current circumstances- and Cato quickly took a mask out of the dashboard locker to cover her nose and mouth.

The streets were still busy, as they always were; though Vitali appeared unbothered by it as he swiftly maneuvered between all the other vehicles on the road, hands white-knuckled around the steering wheel.

He was stressed.

Of course he was- Cato was too, heartbeat like a drum in her chest and breathing shallow behind her mask. She let her gaze carefully trail their surroundings, looking for anything out of the ordinary-

Bingo.

Through the side mirror she could easily spot the heavily armored Arasaka SUVs closing in. Entirely out of place in the otherwise still relatively calm Wellsprings; and when someone leaned out of one of the windows, dressed in makeshift armor and holding some sort of customized assault rifle, Cato knew exactly who they were dealing with.

‘Behind us!’ she yelled over her shoulder and quickly reached for the control panel between herself and Vitali- grabbed the cord of the car’s systems while Eddie and Mikhail both opened their windows to lean out and shoot at their pursuers, and plugged it in the slot in her neck after a deep inhale.

She was never going to get used to it.

Vision going dark instantly, despite being wide awake and having her eyes open; it never failed to trigger her fight or flight response, body instinctively taking the sudden loss of vision as a direct attack, and nausea washed over her as she tightly gripped the edges of her seat to not lose her balance.

It settled quickly when her vision returned to her; though not in her own body but in a drone deployed from the underside of the car instead, and it slowly emerged from underneath as Cato gained control over its movement.

Mostly intuitive, but disorienting- Cato had done it enough times to no longer randomly lose control of the drone because of concentration loss, but it had happened one too many times in the past. Too worried about her surroundings, worried about getting killed, or getting disconnected too early; or she would think too hard about how to steer the drone, actions that would otherwise come naturally to her in her own body.

She relaxed in her chair as the drone flew up into the air and circled above their car, to assess the situation down below; three cars in pursuit, one of them trailing behind a little as it appeared to be in combat with Panam’s squad.

But the other two were closing in quickly, switching lanes to try and flank the car on either side. Cato dove down with the drone, her hands intuitively moving up as she readied the two small SMGs installed in the bot- and without wasting any time she began firing, quickly maneuvering around the side of the car so she could get a clear shot on the tires.

One of the mercs took notice of her and fired at the drone, knocking it out of its course. Cato hissed a quiet fuck and readjusted its alignment, instinctively leaning to the side in her seat as well as if that would help. She took another sharp turn with the drone and positioned it in front of the car instead- and shattered the windscreen with ease, hitting the driver in the shoulder and chest several times and causing them to lose control of the wheel.

The car rammed into the guardrail, causing Vitali to be forced to hit the brakes and swerve around it. An involuntary yelp left Cato’s lips as she nearly lost her balance, despite being sat down- hands desperately reaching around to find any support until Vitali suddenly grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze, pulling it closer to the wheel so he could keep driving.

The drone had lingered behind a bit in the brief moment of panic and Cato quickly turned it around to get it back within shooting range. The second car was still close; now positioned slightly ahead of them on the driver’s side, and Eddie was attempting to get one of the tires to pop.

Cato activated the boosters on the underside of the drone to speed it up and dove down once more, positioning it underneath the Arasaka SUV. She carefully deployed an explosive and stuck it right between the two front tires- then slowed down and steered the drone back to their own car.

‘Turn right!’ she yelled, and the second she felt the motion of the car switching direction- and saw it happen through the camera attached to the drone- she detonated the explosive, causing the SUV to get blasted from the road and catch fire mid-air before landing on its side.

‘Preem work, Cato,’ Lauren’s voice suddenly popped up in Cato’s earpiece. ‘Taking control of the drone now- you can disconnect.’

‘Thanks, baby,’ Cato replied and quickly let go of Vitali’s hand again to disconnect the cord; she had to blink a few times to regain control of her vision, Kiroshis briefly struggling to focus on what was in front of her.

‘More of ‘em closing in as we speak,’ Lauren continued, and Cato rolled down her window to be able to lean out of it as well. ‘Four vehicles approaching from the east. Cato, Mish- get ready.’

She had not even finished her sentence when the vehicles in question skidded around the corner on Cato’s side of the car, one of them cutting the curb and nearly ramming into a food stand as the driver struggled to stay in control of the wheel. Cato drew her gun and charged up a power shot- released the trigger and the bolt of energy hit the front car right above the grill, sparks flying off the point of impact as the hood of the car flew open and obscured the windshield.

She charged up another shot as she let Mikhail deal with the now vulnerable and exposed car, a small smirk taking shape on her face when dark smoke followed by flames-

Followed by an explosion that knocked her back into her seat, seatbelt cutting into her skin and flesh and head forcefully snapping back causing a cry of pain to leave her lips. She released the trigger of her gun and the projectile got freely launched into the air, managing to hit one of the other cars’ side mirrors on its path.

‘Blyat- They’re flanking us!’ Vitali yelled from beside her and suddenly Cato’s gun was no longer in her hand, taken by the fixer as he leaned out of his own window to assist Eddie in taking down their pursuers. Cato cursed and grabbed the wheel, only just able to get the car back in its own lane- then cursed again when the cars in front of them slowed down for a traffic light and she swerved around them onto the lane on their right, grabbing the back of Vitali’s chest armor to make sure he wouldn’t fall out of the window.

‘This is a horrible fucking idea, boss!’ Cato screamed, wincing as the car rammed into a line of traffic cones, each of them flying over the windshield and landing somewhere behind them scattered all over the road. She took a sharp turn right, only vaguely remembering the route to the Afterlife- but with that cut off one of the other vehicles and it rammed their backside, causing the car to skid around and come to a full stop in the middle of the intersection.

‘Putting ‘er in reverse, hold on!’ Cato yelled and yanked on the steering wheel, slapping Vitali’s knee to make him put all his weight on the gas. Her eyes rapidly scanned the control panel again and she mashed some buttons- until she found the one that added an additional layer of bulletproof glass over the windshield.

She turned around on her seat, holding out her free hand to Vincent to pull him in; he quickly climbed over her and joined her in the passenger seat, leaning out of the window to shoot at the cars now all positioned right in front of them while Cato kept an eye on the road through the back window.

‘What the fuck are you guys doing?’ Lauren asked, genuine confusion audible in her voice.

‘Don’t even worry about it,’ Vitali replied, sitting back down in his seat to reload and wincing when some gunfire hit the side mirror and with that nearly his shoulder. ‘Cato is a fantastic driver.’

‘Cato would love to be in the fucking driver’s seat for that next time round!’ Cato roared in response, reaching over to drag both Eddie and Mikhail back into the car one by one before reaching back to grab Vincent by the arm and give the steering wheel another spin with all the strength left in her body, to position the car back in a forward position on the road.

Vitali hit the gas again and Cato reached up to adjust the rearview mirror, a sharp exhale leaving her body when she noticed two cars still in pursuit. Panam’s squad was no longer on sight- probably took another turn somewhere, to deal with more mercs, or to make use of a shortcut.

‘We have to get across bridge,’ Vitali said, nodding to the road up ahead. ‘Get back on highway and turn left- we get rid of them there.’

‘Yessir,’ Cato said, slightly relaxing against Vincent’s body. ‘Heads up, they’re closin’ in.’

Not her first car chase, by far- but Cato hated all of them, and for good reasons. Her breathing was shallow behind the mask, hairs on her arms standing up straight as she took the turn onto the highway, toward the bridge; a wide open space, both an advantage and a disadvantage at the same time.

Vitali accelerated and Cato repositioned herself on her seat, readying herself to maneuver between the vehicles up ahead. Eddie, Mikhail and Vincent leaned out of their windows again, opening fire on the Arasaka SUVs in pursuit; but Vitali seemed to be waiting for something, eyes carefully scanning the road before slowly but surely leaning out of his seat, aiming his gun at something ahead of them.

Cato instantly realized what he was going to do.

‘Is that a good idea?’ she asked, raising her voice a little to be audible over the gunfire as she steered around a few cars.

‘No,’ Vitali replied, ‘but when have I had any good ideas lately?’

And with that, he opened fire on the tires of an NCPD vehicle driving diagonally in front of them, effectively causing the driver to lose control of the wheel. Cato clenched her jaw and moved in, cutting the car off and causing them to swerve to the side- and both Arasaka SUVs rammed right into it, causing it to flip on its side and come to a stop in the middle of the road.

‘Easy,’ Vitali said, sitting back down and taking the wheel from Cato again. His voice was a few octaves higher than usual.

‘Well, that takes care of that,’ Lauren said. ‘Cut their communication, no backup en route currently. Dunno how long I can hold them off, though.’

‘Just do what you can,’ Vitali replied. ‘We will be arriving shortly anyway- NCPD would be stupid to try and enter Afterlife.’

‘They could send MaxTac.’

‘For the sake of this conversation, let’s pretend they don’t exist.’

Everyone remained quiet for the rest of the car ride. Vincent crawled back onto the backseat and Cato closed her window again, heartbeat settling down only a little bit as she took her gun back from Vitali and put the safety back on. She was waiting, still- waiting for more of them to show, or waiting for Lauren to warn for incoming backup-

But much to her relief, nothing else happened.

The silences after combat were always the worst to her.

Cato’s brain often needed a moment to catch up, body still alert and ready to jump back into the fight if necessary- but in those quiet moments it would often all come crashing down on her, realization kicking in to the point she would be more aware of the pain in her body and the taste of blood in her mouth than she would be of her own heartbeat.

She relaxed in her seat, eyes carefully trailing the roads surrounding them as Vitali continued their way to the club. It was getting darker and darker; street lights turning on around them and the neon lights and signs of Watson turned the streets into colorful hazes of distractions, marking the beginning of the city’s nightly life.

The entrance of the Afterlife was a mess.

Cato hopped out of the car before Vitali could even bring it to a full stop and she readied her weapon again while carefully scanning the parking lot. Cars stood scattered everywhere- two of them merely a chassis and still smoldering, dark smoke lingering in the stuffy evening air and obscuring her view.

She stayed low to the ground, biting the inside of her cheek as she stepped over a couple of bodies- no idea who they belonged to- until she reached the front entrance of the place that once used to be a morgue; and by the looks of it was now reduced to that very same earlier functionality.

Another car arrived at the scene and Cato instantly turned, raising her gun- but noticed Mikhail raising his hand at her from the corner of her eye and waited, realizing soon enough the car belonged to them and was simply Panam and her squad.

‘Mikhail, stay out here with Panam,’ Vitali said, the usual strictness to his voice Cato was used to; though she could hear his exhaustion, the slightly pleading undertone seeping through his words, as if he was no longer sure whether or not his authority was still in place.

‘V, on me!’ she immediately said, raising her voice a little as she pulled her mask off her face. ‘Eddie, stick with the boss, take the back entrance. We’ll meet in the middle.’

‘Copy that. Lauren, you got a visual?’

‘Nix plugged the whole network, you’re on your own from here. Bet Matvey’s runner is tryna poke some holes- I’m stayin’ out of that.’

Cato’s gaze met Vitali’s-

And for a brief moment she could barely recognize him.

The sudden defeated look in his eyes, a stark contrast with only minutes ago when they had been back on the road; demeanor similar to that of a kicked puppy and the gratitude and relief spilling from the expression on his face suddenly made her realize how vulnerable her friend was.

He had always been different from other fixers to her.

Had been the first one to open his doors to her, let her in- and he had offered her a safehouse, protection, things he did not have to do yet did anyway from the kindness of his heart.

‘We’ll figure this out,’ Cato said, loud enough for everyone on the parking lot to hear- yet she was talking to one person directly, eyes still fixed on his face as she spoke and he gave her a weak nod in response, rapidly blinking a couple times before looking away and following Eddie around the building.

Cato inhaled deeply, taking a moment to regain her composure as she pulled herself out of her head and turned to Vincent, who gave her an affirming nod in return. The two of them quickly entered the building through the main entrance, already able to hear gunfire coming from within while descending down the stairs. Security turrets snapped into their direction the moment they turned the corner- but did not fire upon seeing who was entering, and they both did a quick wave at one of the security cameras before quickly running inside.

The interior of the Afterlife was similar to its current exterior, bodies and debris scattered around- some sort of explosion, perhaps- and several tables had been overturned, used by mercs and clients as cover in what appeared to be the final moments of a gunfight.

Cato made a run for the bar and jumped over it with ease, taking cover behind it as she carefully assessed the situation; she recognized some of the mercs as Rogue’s and could easily tell the remainder of the Broker’s mercs apart from everyone else- makeshift armor, cobbled together from what they had been able to find at the abandoned Arasaka facility as well as their own supplies.

She steadied herself on the countertop and fired a few shots in their direction, most of them bouncing off the wood and metal of the tables and chairs- but it did what she was hoping for, getting the mercs agitated enough to attempt to fire back and with that exposing themselves to the lines of fire of everyone else in the club, soon enough leaving the ringing in Cato’s ears as the only noise filling the space around her.

‘Everyone still in one piece?’ Rogue’s voice echoed from the other side of the club. Cato slowly stood up and quickly glanced around until she found Vincent- not too far away from her, giving her a thumbs up the second she looked in his direction.

More gunshots sounded from the hallways further into the building. Cato turned and finally noticed Rogue- emerging from behind a pillar, hair tied back to keep it out of her face and some blood splattered across her cheek and jaw- and watched her march into the direction of one of the doors, only for it to bust open before she could reach it.

Vitali tumbled inside, two mercs attacking him at once and one of them attempting to slit his throat; Cato instantly lunged forward over the bar to close the distance between herself and the scuffle on the floor, but before she could do anything Rogue pulled out a gun and fired- two rapid, loud gunshots, two dead bodies, and Vitali yelped as he pushed them both off himself and scrambled back to his feet as fast as he could.

‘We clear?’ Rogue asked, glancing up when Eddie too entered through the door, and Vitali quickly nodded in response as he straightened his back and pushed back his shoulders while rapidly scanning the room- found Vincent and Cato, and he visibly relaxed again.

Thought Matvey didn’t want Vitali dead?

‘Nix says there’s more on the way,’ Rogue continued, speaking loud enough for everyone inside to hear as she took a few steps back to look around. ‘Including MaxTac. Which I can only describe as an unpleasant fucking surprise.’

‘Probably best if we delta,’ Vincent immediately said, hints of a grimace on his face as he shared a nervous look with Cato. ‘Let them- you know. Fight it out.’

‘Where to?’

‘Whe- Uh. Boss?’

‘Safehouse.’ Vitali paused to lick his lips. ‘Rancho Coronado, should be abandoned. Enough space for all of us, for now. Regroup there?’

‘Preem, lead the way. And, hey- you owe me an explanation, Dobrynin.’

‘Let’s get out of here alive first, yes?’

There was not much to explain, from Cato’s point of view. They hadn’t figured out what was going on still- did not know what Matvey was trying to achieve with any of this, and frankly, it had gotten to the point where trying to find an ulterior motive was more pointless than attempting to make sense out of his weird revenge fantasy in the first place.

She lingered behind a little with Vitali while everyone began making their way back outside, eyes once more trailing the interior of what remained of the Afterlife. It wouldn’t be the first time a gunfight had taken place inside- though she doubted it had ever gotten that bad before, and already feared for the consequences the Council would decide on were they to catch wind of all this.

Problem for later. Got more pressing matters at hand.

Reinforcements had shown up outside in the meantime and Cato instantly snapped back to reality, following Eddie and Vincent around the burnt out car chassis to put more distance between themselves and their enemies. She crouched down, moving around the both of them to get to Panam- kneeled next to one of their other mercs, bleeding from their shoulder.

‘Wound’s superficial!’ Panam yelled over the noises around them. ‘But we gotta get ‘em out of this heat!’

Cato glanced over the concrete road barrier they were sat behind; several vehicles blocked the only road out of the parking lot, and there was no way of safely getting past them without having to abandon their own cars in the process.

She turned back- eyes frantically scanning both Panam and the other merc until they landed on two grenades attached to their belt. She snatched them off and hopped over the barrier, trailing along the side of the parking lot to stay out of sight as she slowly moved closer to get a better angle.

And once she was close enough, she pulled the pins out of both grenades without hesitating and hurled them at the cars of the Broker’s mercs, covering her ears and withdrawing herself back behind the corner of the wall as the double explosion rattled her bones and caused the ground below her feet to shake.

She stayed in her position, waiting until her heartbeat had settled down; waiting for the pained screams and cries to die down, waiting for the gunfire to end, waiting for her nose to become used to the smell of burnt flesh- or for her brain to successfully convince her someone was simply throwing a barbecue just around the block, and there was nothing else to worry about.

‘Everyone, move out!’ Rogue yelled when Cato finally lowered her hands- and a humming noise somewhere above them instantly caught her attention, a sudden breeze picking up, and she turned her head to sky to-

Another explosion blasted her straight off her feet and she fell backwards, back hitting the wall and everything momentarily went black before she was suddenly face down on the ground. She tried to push herself back up on her elbows, grunting as the muscles on the left side of her body painfully protested-

And with that she was yanked back on her feet though not in the friendly manner she had been hoping for and a heavily armored figure appeared in her view, holding a heavy handgun firmly pressed against her forehead.

MaxTac.

But Cato was fast.

Smacked the weapon aside before they could pull the trigger on her and forcefully grabbed the helmet to yank it off their head, spinning 360 degrees before slamming it into the MaxTac agent’s face at full speed. Her arms were grabbed from behind and she was pulled back, one hand reaching up to grab a handful of her hair and drag her along, away from her friends-

But then she was on the ground again, a large boot kicking her in the face and her vision faded away once more for a couple of seconds. She blinked, coughing and wincing in pain as she noticed a tall figure hovering over her and they grabbed her hand to pull her back up on her feet.

‘Hey- Get up. Can’t have you dying on me now.’

Mikhail’s voice was soft, yet somehow the only thing Cato could hear as she suddenly struggled to realize where exactly she was; as if the two of them had been sent years back in time, back to when they used to work together- before Cato ran off with Kang Tao and Mikhail went to work for Arasaka instead-

Still difficult to believe, sometimes, that he had been part of the reason Kang Tao had started to hunt her and her squad down.

‘Wasn’t planning to,’ Cato quietly replied and gave him a small smile in return, allowing her friend to ruffle her hair before they both crossed the parking lot to get around the now empty MaxTac aircraft back to the car.

Let’s get the fuck out of here.

‘Get a medkit!’

‘Alright, sit down, careful-’

‘Misha? Catch.’

‘Someone bring me some towels!’

Vitali slowly followed the others inside the abandoned house in southern Rancho Coronado, lingering behind just a little longer as his gaze moved over the empty streets one final time. In the clear, for now- yet he remained alert, gun still in his slightly shaking hand as he dragged himself through the entrance hall and the living room to the other side of the house to sit down on a stool in the kitchen next to the large glass door leading to the backyard.

His leg and forearm were burning.

He’d forgotten to take any painkillers before departure.

The merc’s injuries were superficial and nothing Mikhail could not fix; just another day at work and one of the risks of their line of work. But the panicked sounds surrounding him, of his friends running around looking for more supplies, Panam nearly running right into him on her way to grab more towels, people getting weapons ready and sharing ammo with each other while preparing for yet another thorough perimeter check-

Vitali’s eyes fluttered shut.

And for a brief moment, it was entirely quiet around him.

The black void swallowing him whole was comforting, in a way; a cool patch of shade on a scorching hot summer day, a gentle breeze on a balcony overlooking the ocean, a wild river dragging him down by his feet until his entire body was submerged.

He often found himself standing there, in the dark- wondering. Wondering when it would end, when he would regain control again; wondering what else was left there for him; wondering what else he could say, if a half-assed apology would be enough to save him this time.

And all he would get in response was silence.

Strange, how that worked- to crave something he feared so deeply at the same time, to want something he knew he could not have without losing himself in the process.

And with that, the noise returned to him, panicked screams and cries and sobs and the feeling of hands grabbing his wrists and tearing at his clothes and clawing at his face, nails and teeth drawing blood, like hungry wolves feeding on a deer’s carcass-

He knew what dying felt like.

‘Hey.’

V’s voice had always been strangely soothing to him. Like a gentle kiss on a bruise- a voice that could cause his heartbeat to settle down even in the most stressful of moments.

But Vitali could not open his eyes.

Could not bear to look at him- what would he even say? After everything that had happened and everything that was happening around them now; he would only end up digging himself deeper into that hole, as stubborn as he was, unable to accept his defeat.

A quiet sigh left his lips when V gently cupped his cheeks, thumbs running over his skin as he gently tilted his head a little to the side.

‘You’re bleeding,’ he quietly said, and Vitali finally allowed himself to open his eyes, watching worry spilling from the expression on the merc’s face as he carefully moved his fingers to just behind Vitali’s ear.

‘It’s nothing serious,’ Vitali merely responded, holstering his gun and reaching up to push V’s hand away, but V dodged him and instead tried to tilt his head further.

‘I said-’

‘I heard you. Let me take a look.’

‘V-’

‘Vincent.’

A short pause, and Vitali sucked in a shallow breath.

‘Please.’

Vincent.

Vitali held his breath, heart skipping a beat as a weirdly comforting fog in his head blocked everything else out and caused him to only see what was right in front of him. He slowly scanned V’s face as his head was once more tilted to the side- no sign of sarcasm, no sign of discomfort, or hesitance.

Their gazes met; and V shot him a small, encouraging smile, lower lip trembling slightly as he did.

And with that, Vitali finally allowed Vincent to assess the damage, a wave of relief washing over him as he closed his eyes again and briefly pressed his lips against the bloodied palm of his boyfriend’s hand.

The carnage at the Afterlife had taken its toll on him, a lot more than he had initially expected. Something had caused the harsh reality of it all to fully kick in there- and they had learned nothing, other than the fact that apparently Matvey’s mercs were now taking a completely different approach.

Vitali involuntarily clenched his jaw and sucked in a deep breath, the memory of the two heavy bodies on top of him creeping back into his mind- the knife that had only been inches away from his throat- Ravager’s hands wrapped tightly around his neck-

‘Is anyone here gonna tell me what the fuck’s going on?’

Rogue had walked over to the two of them and stopped right next to Vitali the moment he looked up again, hands on her hips and a mostly unreadable expression on her face- though he did not need to ask to know she was fucking furious.

‘Genuinely wish I could,’ he answered, flinching lightly when Vincent dabbed the wound behind his ear with a wet towel. ‘Attack came out of nowhere, I don’t think any of it was planned. No pattern, no motive- they tried to kill me, as you saw. That’s new.’

‘So your- the Broker is changing their strategy?’

Vitali clenched his jaw again, but did not answer.

He didn’t know what his father was attempting to achieve with any of this. It made no sense- had their last encounter finally caused him to stop fucking around, to stop wasting time? Had this been part of his plan all along?

Vitali swallowed heavily and pushed the thought out of his head. Anything was possible at that point, but he decided to choose to believe his father had better backup plans at hand. Whatever had happened, whatever it was that had changed- there had to be a logical explanation to it all.

‘Just gotta figure out where they’re stayin’, then we can get this over with,’ Vincent quietly said, glancing in Rogue’s direction before looking back at Vitali. ‘Whatever happens, happens.’

He was right.

Vitali closed his eyes again and inhaled deeply, a strange knot settling deep within his stomach as he realized what that meant. Whatever happens, happens- no way around it anymore this time, nothing else left to do or say. No more grasping at straws; nothing left within his reach.

All he had wanted for himself, was a happy ending.

Selfish, in hindsight, to wish that for himself after getting so many other people caught up in the crossfire. Stupid of him to think that his father would stop, naive of him to think that he could get his family back after everything that had happened between them, after all their years apart.

Vincent cupped his cheeks with both hands and left a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth- I know, baby, I know- and it only then dawned on Vitali a tear had escaped his eye and was steadily rolling down his cheek, Vincent’s thumb softly running over his skin to wipe it away.

Oh, how Vitali had hoped it wouldn’t have had to get to this.

He opened his eyes again and slowly let his gaze trail through the room. Most people had sat themselves down in the living room, everyone a bit calmer now that the mercenary’s injury was being looked after by Mikhail and weapons had been reloaded. Rogue slowly wandered away again too, redoing her ponytail while quietly mumbling to herself- just too quiet for him to hear what she said.

‘Boss-? Someone’s approaching the house!’

Vitali’s head snapped up toward the front door, a rush of adrenaline instantly waking him up again. He grabbed the gun in his holster, dragging himself from the stool and pushing past Vincent to get to Cato, who had called out for him. She briefly glanced over her shoulder, then readied her own weapon and kicked open the door, both of them stepping outside and aiming at-

‘Wait, wait, wait- Don’t shoot!’

Dusty?

Vitali froze.

It was unmistakably his ex mercenary, hands up in the air while he stumbled back a few steps, wide eyes focused on the guns pointed at his head. Vitali instantly lowered his own- and so did Cato, though she also walked closer without hesitation and used the butt of her weapon to smack Dusty in the head- hard.

‘You fucking cunt of a traitor!’ she yelled, stuffing her gun in her holster while grabbing one of his arms and forcefully twisting it behind his back.

‘Cato-’ Vitali said and raised his hand, but other than that did nothing to stop her and just stood motionless to the ground while Dusty sputtered and cried out in pain as Cato dragged him off the street, closer to the house.

‘You got some serious balls showin’ your ugly face here after everything!’ she snarled, pushing Dusty into the outer wall of the house and aiming her gun at him again. ‘I should shoot you where you stand!’

Vitali’s brain struggled to catch up.

He walked a little further into the street, eyes carefully scanning each and every corner; it was too dark for him to be able to see very far but everything seemed clear from where he stood, the only movement he could see coming from the corner of his eye, some of the others emerging from the house to see what was going on.

‘Check the perimeter,’ he heard Rogue say, and turned around again just in time to see a few mercs scatter and vanish into the dark, weapons at the ready- and then he realized everyone who was still there was staring directly at him, even Cato, a questioning look on her face and her gun pointed directly at a still whimpering Dusty, her hand slightly swaying from side to side.

‘Why are you here?’ he asked, slightly raising his voice as he walked back and straightened his back, regaining his composure within mere milliseconds. ‘No fucking around- give me something to work with or I’ll let Cato do whatever she wants.’

‘Sanders is dead,’ Dusty promptly replied, and he dropped his arms past his body, carefully lifting his head from the wall. ‘Your old man killed him. His mercs are out of fuckin’ control- out for your blood, they don’t care about no contract anymore.’

Oh.

Vitali stopped in his tracks, mouth half open as the words got caught in his throat and he exchanged a look with Cato as a sudden location in Charter Hill popped up in the corner of his vision.

‘They locked him up,’ Dusty continued, his voice low. ‘Usin’ every little bit of the supplies he keeps in that building to burn this entire city to a fuckin’ crisp- and they’re not gonna stop any time soon by the looks of it.’

Dead silence fell over the dark street.

Well, as silent as it could be.

If you listened closely you could hear it in the distance- vaguely audible over the light breeze and some distant music- the noises of what was going on downtown, sirens howling through the night sky and heavy gunfire rattling through the streets, not uncommon at all but far heavier than it usually was.

Vitali felt light-headed.

Unsure what to think of it all- unsure if he could even trust Dusty’s word- but the sheer panic and fear in the merc’s eyes said enough and he bit the inside of his cheek, heart beating heavily inside his chest.

They locked him up.

This is not his doing.

He promptly walked back inside, past all his mercs, past Rogue- avoiding eye contact with each and every single one of them as he ran up the stairs as fast as he could to reach the safehouse’s weapon storage. His heart was once again racing in his chest, ramming itself into his ribcage as the pain in both his leg and forearm flared up again.

Painkillers can wait.

The small closet wasn’t nearly as impressive as back at home or at his office, but Vitali didn’t care. It was enough to stock up on ammo- and all he was looking for anyway was the box of explosives, tucked away in the far right corner and hidden behind some shotguns.

Nothing too powerful, of course- there was no need to level the whole thing to the ground, no need to potentially harm innocent people in the somewhat impulsive act of destruction he was carefully planning out in his head. Merely enough to get rid of what was inside; wipe out the threat and get rid of every and any tool used by the mercs to keep their citywide onslaught going.

He closed the door of the storage closet with his hip and nearly walked right into Vincent and Rogue, the both of them having followed him upstairs and giving him a puzzled look before glancing down at the box in his arms, realization kicking in for the both of them at once upon seeing the explosives and the dangerous shimmer in his eyes.

‘Get everyone together,’ Vitali said, and the corner of his mouth pulled up into a small smile.

‘Let’s go blow up a building.’

#nuclearwriting #rbs much appreciated :) <3 #it's all coming to a fucking end baybeeey #hope dusty doesn't feel like too much of a deus ex machina here. technically he's been relevant since chapter 1 so like. you know #was only a matter of time before his scrawny traitor ass would come running right back #ANYWAY. HEHE. much to think about much to yell about #lots of cato pov because i love my girl and also the way she observes situations is interesting to me #the car chase was so facking difficult to write. the rest of the action scenes too tbh but i was being very brave about it #the fact that the last sentence kind of implies that this will end similar to like. the canon in-game events #and also kinda similar to the end of the arasaka arc. and all of them being about arasaka in a way #idk it's interesting!!! it's like an endless cycle that the characters are stuck in. can you ever really get away from arasaka and all that #anyway let me know what you guys think of this one!! as always super excited to see everyone's thoughts >:^)#ch:the broker

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thefallennightmare · 2 years

Text

Broken-one

Parings: Barry Keoghan x Reader

Warnings: smut, swearing, angst, fluff. all the good stuff

Summary: A failed marriage wasn't in the cards for Reader, she thought she found her happily ever after with Barry. While trying to overcome the heartbreak, a tragic event brings them back together temporarily. Will the devastating loss bring them back together or be what pushes them apart for good?

Author's Note: I'M BACK BITCHES! TBH, I've been torn about whether to do a Barry Keoghan or Andy Barber fic that deals with this story line so I kind of have something for both written but unsure if I should do both. Let me know! I'm hoping to get updates out more often than I used to but no promises

The clock ticked away, the soft noise bouncing around the small office, as I stared at the man that sat on the other end of the long table. The shell of the man that I once knew all those months ago refused to meet my broken gaze. He knew that if he did, this meeting would maybe have a different outcome.

Maybe.

I didn’t want to be here, more so than him, but it was what he wanted. I was willing to put in the extra time and work, not wanting to waste the last five years.

I can’t give ya what you want, love. I’m not home much anymore. It’s not fair.

His words slammed around in my head which caused a quiet sniffle to sound in the room over the ticking of the clock but I did my best to mask it by clearing my throat, hoping he would ignore it; like he ignored many other things.

“Ya alright?”

My gaze lifted from my lap to the green eyes across the table and did my best to nod.

“Yeah, just fighting off a cold,” I lied.

If he saw past the lie, like he used to be able to, he made no mention of it.

Lips parted to speak but no words fell because the door to the office opened, two bodies walking in. The once quiet room was filled with the hustle and bustle of bodies in the hallway, their conversations slipping inside before the door closed.

“Sorry it took so long but I think the papers should be one hundred percent finalized this time,” Jake, his lawyer, said while sitting next to him. “How are you doing, Barry?”

Barry nodded. “Alright.”

I smiled sweetly to the woman who sat next to me, herself returning a smile. Only this one was a sorrowful smile, one that only meant one thing.

“Oh no.” I muttered.

“So,” Jake cleared his throat and pulled out some papers from his briefcase. “Lauren has a copy for you Y/N. If you want to look over everything to make sure there’s no mistakes this time.”

The annoyed tone didn’t go unnoticed by me and I scoffed.

“It’s not my fault.”

“Y/N, why don’t we look it over and see if we can finally come to an agreement?” Laura suggested.

With a reluctant nod, voices seized while both Barry and I looked over our own packets and everything was going fine until I got to the last two bullets of how our shared belongings would be divided.

Mr. Keoghan will keep custody of Koda.

Barry was already watching me with his own sorrowful expression, him biting at the inside of his cheeks.

I merely shrugged, trying to keep my broken heart together.

“You bought him, it’s only fair you keep him.”

The next bullet point, however, is what really dug the knife deeper into my heart.

Mr. Keoghan will keep the home in Ireland while Mrs. Keoghan, soon to be Miss. Y/L/N, will keep the penthouse in New York City.

“He gets to keep the dog AND the house?” I exasperated.

The home that we built together, from the ground up. It held so many memories; good for the first few years and bad the last year. I thought he would at least let me have something good. I barely spent any time in New York anymore, we only stayed there when he was filming in the States, so it didn’t make sense for either of us to keep it.

“Do we have an agreement?” Jake questioned.

When Barry or I didn’t say anything, Jake handed us both pens, clearly ready to get this meeting over with. It had been dragged on for months, us never finding the perfect time to sit down and sign away our marriage. Barry had been busy filming and this was his only day off for the next two weeks.

We can't keep putting this off, Y/N. It’s over.

I blinked away tears at his old words and with shaky fingers, I grasped the pen in my hand. Time felt frozen as my eyes burned a hole into the line where my signature was supposed to go. In a matter of seconds, our marriage would no longer exist, erased in the past. The vows we shared that day meant nothing as I gave Barry a teary look.

“It didn’t have to come to this.”

He pinched his eyes shut. “Y/N, don’t-.”

I shook my head. “I was willing to work on everything, but you wanted to give it all up. Do you even love me anymore?”

My sobs echoed throughout the room.

Barry blinked, unsure how to answer my cries.

I knew the answer, though. The rumors online told me everything.

“Was she worth it?”

Barry was silent, knuckles turning white from how hard he was gripping the pen.

Without a second thought, I signed away our love on both copies, not bothering to look back at the man that I had given literally everything too.

#barry keoghan #barry keoghan x you #barry keoghan and you #barry keoghan x reader #barry keoghan and reader #barry keoghan x yn #barry keoghan and yn #barry keoghan reader insert #barry keoghan divorce #barry keoghan angst #barry keoghan smut

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cecescomposition · 1 year

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@febuwhump Day 2: Flinching

Hello, Lovelies! I don’t normal write Laurens fics, but this prompt couldn’t go without some Laurens - Hamilton whump!

•••

John cursed as he felt Hamilton’s weight suddenly settle more heavily against his side. He tugged Hamilton to the side and settling him against a tree, keeping his hand on Hamilton’s shoulder to steady him. Alexander’s forehead was still running with blood.

“You can’t walk like this anymore,” John mused, “we need to do something about this.”

John was concerned, more than concerned for his companion. Had they not been so stupid Hamilton would not have been injured.

The gash on Hamilton’s head was curtesy of a gruesome fall he had taken off of a tree merely an hour before. They had been separated from the group, lost in the woods during a training exercise miles away from camp. They had no food, no horses.

Laurens himself had suggested they climb - stupid suggestion - to the top of the nearest evergreen to make an attempt at locating the path. So, they had climbed, all the way to the top before settling on the highest branch. By that time the pair were both so exhausted, so they settled on the branch and just breathed for a moment.

John hadn’t meant to startle him, he really hadn’t. He was so caught up in how Alexander’s eyes reflected in the setting sun, how his skin shone like honey, his hair blowing in the thin air, and he had kissed him. Alexander had always been jumpy, a little skittish around others, but that isn’t the best reaction to have when you’re sitting 40 feet above ground.

And John had never felt fear like looking down at Alexander’s motionless body. He had been so relieved when he had made his way down to the ground (much faster than was probably safe) and found Alexander’s eyes peeking open.

“J’hn…” He had wheezed pitifully.

Laurens’s heart had tightened as he hauled Hamilton up, ignoring the way he stumbled against his chest, and started walking, not entirely paying attention to where he was headed.

That’s how they ended up here, with blood crusted along the side of Alexander’s face and neck, pupils dilated and speech slurred. No, they couldn’t continue like this. Hamilton was clearly concussed. John couldn’t risk moving him more and causing more injury.

Laurens removed his cravat and pressed it to the wound on Hamilton’s head. Hamilton gasped quietly and flinched away from the pressure. John wasn’t prepared for Alexander to react, he had been near silent for the past twenty minutes or so, and found himself flinching back as well. He quietly settled Hamilton into a seated position, careful not to jostle him much.

“Take it easy, Alex,” John soothed, “That’s it, it’s okay.”

John looked up, suddenly aware of the sky quickly darkening above them. If they couldn’t get back to camp soon they would be stuck out here all night. And if Hamilton didn’t die from the concussion before they could get a doctor… the cold would take him instead.

“Hold this here,” John instructed Alexander, pulling his hand up to take hold of the cravat which was slowly soaking through with blood. As much as John loathe to leave Hamilton as he was, he knew he couldn’t drag him along while he tried to find the road.

John pressed a soft kiss to the top of Alexander’s head and rose quickly. He turned North, set to find a path, a road, even an abandoned shed to take shelter in. He had to move fast if he had any hope of saving Alexander.

But, as he moved tot ale his leave, he felt a small hand wrap around his wrist. John turned to see Hamilton looking up at him with half lidded eyes, his mouth moving silently. He was trying to speak, but no words were coming out. Maybe he was farther gone than John thought.

John knelt down once more, taking Alexander’s hand in his and squeezing.

“I’ll be back soon, Dear Boy, I promise. Sit tight, I’m going to get you some help.”

And then he ran. He had to find something, anything to help his Alexander. He wasn’t even sure if Alexander had understood anything he had said, but even behind his cloudy eyes, John could see that Hamilton was in pain, and terrified.

He would help him. His feet pounded on the ground in rhythm with his rapid heart beat. How stupid he was, if he hadn’t taken Hamilton up that damn tree, if he hadn’t allowed himself the freedom to kiss-

It was all his fault.

He ran for what felt like hours. The cramps set in. His lungs heaved as he crashed into the shagged ground and lay there. He felt something give in his ribs and he had to bite his sleeve to keep himself from screaming (one never knows where enemies are lurking nearby).

John scrambled to get his hands under his shoulders, but as he pushed up and felt his ribs grind together he remembered the danger the doctor had warned the battalion of. Broken ribs could pierce a lung, could kill him.

He had to get back to Hamilton.

How stupid he was.

#febuwhump #febuwhumpday2 #hamilton musical #hamilton fanfic #alexander hamilton #john laurens #lams fanfiction #lams #prompt challenge

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jssygns · 1 year

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✧⁠*⁠。One Act Play ✧⁠*⁠。

THEME: Forgiving for a Change to have a Chance

LENGTH: one act play

SETTING: School Building and Hospital

CHARACTERS:

Lauren Maxene Martinez

Kiel Aiden Juarez

Lyane Rae Salvador

Nate Anderson Vera

Ethan Dela PAz

Pierre Jefferson Tan

WHAT WILL BE YOUR NAME IN THE PLAY?

Lauren Maxene Martinez

WHAT WILL YOU BE LIKE?

I will be the main character

WHO ELSE CAN BE PART ON YOUR DREAM ROLE?

Aiden’s circle of friends

What will he/they be like?

They will be Aiden’s bestest friends

————— - ————— - ————— - —————

NARRATOR: Aiden is patiently waiting for maxene outside her building to apoligize because of a prank that his friends did.

Lyane: your face is telling me that it’s the end of the world, atty.

Maxene: this is nothing.

NARRATOR: Almost everyone is rooting for Maxene to succeed. That’s why she cried when she wasn’t able to finish her recital with Atty. Peralta. The pressure to live up to the expectations of the people around Maxene made her think that, maybe, these are the standards she needs to follow to attain her dreams and goals. The last time she almost failed a subject, her family was ashamed of her. That is why she can’t forget the day that Aiden put her life in hell.

Lyane and Maxene are peacefully walking not until someone caught maxene’s attention.

Austin: MAXENE! Maxene, let’s talk.

NARRATOR: Maxene heared a familiar voice.

Lyane: Oh God Maxene, your ex is here. Austin’s here.

Lauren: The cheater is in the house.

NARRATOR: Maxene whispered. She breathed heavily and faced her friend.

Maxene: Lyane Rae, If I said run, run, okay?

NARRATOR: Lyane confusingly and forcefully nodded. They started walking again while Austin is still trying to follow them to catch up with Maxene.

Maxene: 1, 2, 3, RUN!

NARRATOR: They run as fast as they can. Maxene is still not ready to face her ex. She don’t want to see the guy that fooled her.

Lyane: Max, I’m starting to get tired.

Maxene: you can’t get tired, he might find us.

NARRATOR: They are about to take a turn when Maxene saw that Austin is getting closer to her. Lyane is faster than her that’s why she also tried her best to keep up until she saw Aiden. He is quietly standing close to the storage room. There is a paper behind his head but she wasn’t able to read it since Aiden is blocking the way. She can’t decide if she’ll read the sign, look at Aiden, or she’ll run. However, Maxene ended up pushing Aiden inside so that Austin wouldn’t see them. After getting inside, Maxene immediately shut the door.

Maxene: Don’t make any noises, please. Just for once, Aiden. I’m hiding from Austin so stay quiet. I’m asking u for a few minutes.

NARRATOR: minutes have passed and Aiden is trying his best to fight his fear of small spaces. Maxene did not notice Aiden’s current state.

Aiden: Max-

NARRATOR: Aiden fell to the ground and Maxene was in shock. She doesn’t know what to do but she sat down beside Aiden and supported his head.

Maxene: you look so pale.

Aiden: please open the door.

NARRATOR: Maxene stood up quickly to open the door for Aiden but seems that they got stuck inside the storage room.

Maxene: hang in there, I’ll try to call Lyne to ask for help.

NARRATOR: Maxene tried to call Lyane and her friend answered.

Maxene: Hello, Lyane?! Tell the faculty that we are locked in the storage room. I'm with Aiden. Please faster. Leave the class if needed. I don't think Aiden is fine. Hurry!

Aiden: please don’t leave me

Maxen: I’ll stay by your side, I’m here.

NARRATOR: Maxene doesn’t know what to do but she stayed by his side and did not leave his side until they were saved.

They rushed Aiden to the hospital because he passed out. Maxene still insists to come even if Aiden’s friends were there to be with him because she promised that she will never leave his side.

Maxene: Aiden’s Claustrophobic?

Pierre: Yes, but me and our other friends are the only one that knows his phobia. He told us not to tell anyone because it’s embarrasing for him. It started when we were in senior high school. He was bullied by his classmates. They often locked him inside the bathroom. He still handled it at first but he they were too much and Aiden wasn’t able to handle all the trauma they gave him.

Nate: The bullying did not stop. When we were in first year, It was the final week for our first sem and they locked him again inside the bathroom. He badly wanted to get out that time because his mom was fighting for its life. Tita was suffering from Aneurysm, but he can’t make a way to get out but luckyly, there’s this one janitor that went to the bathroom to open the door.

Ethan: So I hope that you can forgive Aiden for the things he unintentionaly did. He might have ruined the most important requirement of your finals but he lost his mother and he has obtained a fear that he can never take away.

Maxene: I’m so selfish.

Nate: Aiden understands why your still angry at him but this day is a reminder that it is not too late to fix things, okay? It’s not too late to forgive, Maxene.

“It’s not too late to forgive Aiden and Yourself”

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carolap53 · 2 years

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September 12, 2022

Light the Way LAUREN GREEN MCAFEE

Lee en español

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105 (NIV)

Every morning growing up, hours before most of my friends were awake, I was up learning math from my dad.

Since I was home-schooled until middle school, I would wake up before the sun, eyes still drowsy, and march downstairs to see a dim light stretching out from my dad’s office, where I would start my lesson for the day.

The soft glow from my dad’s office pierced the darkness and gave me enough light to see the stairs I walked down. And there, behind his desk, my dad would be reading his Bible — allowing the Light of the World to shine into his heart.

Today when I read our key verse, Psalm 119:105, I often think of those early-morning math lessons.

Many years after my middle-school days, my dad would end up leading an effort to found a world-class museum dedicated to the Bible, called Museum of the Bible, in Washington, D.C. When you walk into Museum of the Bible, one of the first things you see, etched in the marble pillar in the middle of the lobby, is the museum's theme verse, which is also our key verse today: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (Psalm 119:105).

This verse is found in the middle of the longest chapter in the Bible. This majestic chapter celebrates the incredible gift that is the Scriptures. What we have in the Bible is a miracle the children of ancient Israel only saw in flashes during the Exodus or received from the prophets.

God has spoken to us, and we have His words preserved. And what are we to recognize His Word as? Light. But if I’m being honest, I don’t always see it.

The day-to-day busyness of parenting, marriage, cleaning the house, volunteering at church, working and trying to stay engaged in my friendships can feel like there is never enough time in the day to study and appreciate God’s Word or see its light for my path. Yet every time I prioritize the space for Scripture engagement, I find myself more refreshed and strengthened. What a gift, that God has given us His Word to light our paths!

Ultimately, the light of God’s Word makes Him known. John 1:4-5 says, “In him [Jesus] was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (NIV). Jesus showed us what a life following God’s path looks like. Each step He took, every person He touched, every word He spoke, was filled with love and truth. Jesus’ words brought healing to the hurting and life to the broken. They also brought judgment on the wicked and rebuke to the religious.

It was because He claimed to be God that the religious leaders of the day killed Him. Jesus, the “light of the world by darkness slain,” as one hymn puts it, was murdered on a cross. At the moment of His death, it was noon, yet there was a blackness that covered the sky. Darkness seemed to have won. Yet the promise in John 1:4-5 was true. The light of Jesus shined into the darkness, and the darkness could not overcome it.

What is darkness but the absence of light? You can’t spread darkness; you can only make things darker by hiding the light.

My dad’s passionate dedication to God’s Word has had an impact on me I will never forget. And it is my prayer now that, as I learn to take time to allow God’s Word to be a light to my feet, it will have an impact on my daughter as well.

Father, thank You for not keeping Yourself a mystery from us but revealing Yourself to us in Your Word. Forgive me, for I so quickly turn to words from people rather than to the words You have given to me to better understand You and how to live life. I ask that You would give me eyes to see new things in the Bible that might illuminate my life’s path more clearly. Make me faithful to yield to Your way, no matter the cost. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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anonforlackofabettername · 2 years

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Aight, here we go:

♤ honorable mention

♤ pretty in punk

♤ grand theft autumn

♤ homesick at space camp

♤ a little less sixteen candles

♤ the music or the misery

♤ golden

♤ don't you know who i think i am?

♤ disloyal order

♤ what a catch

♤ light em up

♤ save rock and roll

♤ the kids aren't alright

♤ twin skeleton's

♤ church

♤ heaven's gate

~ Lauren

FOB Asks

honorable mention: what would you title a movie of your life?

It would probably be a pun on my last name. I’m not sharing my last here name so I’m keeping this to myself

pretty in punk: punk, emo, scene or goth?

Punk for the values, emo for the mid-00s music, goth for the aesthetic (attraction). My personal style is unfortunately none of these. I’m very soft femme or sports gay. I’ve moved away from nerd girl chic thank god.

grand theft autumn/where is your boy: which was the first fall out boy song you heard and liked?

It’s either Dance Dance or Thnks fr th Mmrs way back when IOH first came out and FOB was a band my sister liked instead of anyone I listened to on my own. I know those were the only two songs I had on itunes before I got obsessed. My Songs was also getting a ton of radio play my senior year of high school that I liked but didn’t link that to the band. I think the first “Yes!” song when I was getting obsessed with them on my own was Phoenix. I’m still a lot obsessed with Phoenix.

homesick at space camp: what do you blast when you’re angry?

It really depends on what my mood is. I’m rarely ever just angry. If I’m angry and want to stew, usually I’m Not Okay (I Promise) is the right mood. If I’m angry and sad I’ve got a handful of playlists that help me deal with it. Most of the time I just put shuffle on and hit skip until the vibes are right.

little less sixteen candles, a little more “touch me”: favourite fall out boy mv?

Does the entirety of the Youngblood chronicles count? Does it? Am I going to have to pick a single song from that? You’re going to send me on a FOB MV YouTube binge after this aren’t you? (side-eyes you) (I’m finishing this and then I’ll go on the YouTube binge).

the music or the misery: favourite fall out boy bonus track?

I don’t know what counts as a bonus track. Are they the remixes? The live recordings? The random singles that aren’t one one of the main studio albums? All of the above? I’m going pick Dear Future Self (Hands Up) and Alpha Dog from the greatest hits albums (Believers Never Die Volume One and Two)(tho I’ve got them listed backwards DFS is on 2 and Alpha Dog is on 1).

golden: do you prefer fall out boy’s upbeat songs or the more emotional ones?

It depends on the mood I’m in tbh. Also what does this mean by upbeat? Some of their most emotional songs have the fastest tempos. The only ones I can think of that are emotional and slow are What A Catch Donnie and The Kids Aren’t Alright. The band is very good at being loud while hurting. So I guess upbeat.

don’t you know who i think i am?: which high school stereotype would you describe yourself with?

I was absolutely the only girl in the group of nerds. The wears science puns on her shirt and can’t get a date unless it’s a popular boy baiting her (jokes on them I’m queer and ace I don’t want a popular boy to date me and never did). Nowadays? Well I’m still a girl in stem so I guess that hasn’t changed even though my fashion sense has.

disloyal order of water buffaloes: which is your favourite fall out boy lyric?

So many. Fuck you for making me choose.

“I’m gonna change you like a remix/then I’ll raise you like a phoenix”

All of Miss Missing You but especially “Sometimes before it gets better/the darkness gets bigger/the person that you’d take a bullet for is behind the trigger”

Cold open no music “Where is your boy tonight I hope he is a gentleman”

“The ribbon on my wrist says do not open before Christmas”

“I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me”

“Anything you say can and will be held against you/so only say my name”

My sister’s favorite opening to any song ever (it’s not relevant here but it came to mind when I was trying to choose): “Are you ready for another bad poem”

what a catch, donnie: favourite artist that features in a fob song?

Elton John (2008 Panic! is a close second - not whatever Brendon Urie is doing now as a solo act under the name P!atD, Panic! circa Folie a Deux and Pretty Odd). Everyone who featured on What A Catch Donnie gets a shout tho, they all rock

my songs know what you did in the dark (light em up): favourite single?

Lol of the songs I listened to as singles I’m gonna have to pick American Beauty/American Psycho with honorable mentions going to both My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark and Centuries.

save rock and roll: thoughts on elton john?

Yes. Absolutely yes. I don’t love all of his music and I never really listened to his discography in depth before the Rocket Man biopic a couple years ago but since then I’m yes. At this point he’s a flamboyant elder queer and I’m like rock on you funky little rocket man.

the kids aren’t alright: if you could send a message to yourself five years ago, what would it say?

God five years ago I was going into my senior year of college. I’d probably tell her that she has time to figure it all out. Shits going to be bad and good and everything in between but stressing ourselves out trying to fix it doesn’t actually change much. There is no way to make the one right decision that will make everything perfect from now until eternity and she shouldn’t try but for G-d’s sake do something nothing is not an acceptable choice. Also work harder on your senior project, talk to your counselor about ADHD, and be kinder to yourself but not too kind that you do nothing.

twin skeleton’s (hotel in nyc): describe your exact opposite.

A neurotypical cishet Christian who is already married with kids and thinks coding and modern technology is for heathens.

church: what do you associate with fall out boy?

I associate this specific song (Church) with oral sex lol. Now that that’s out of this way, idk I associate it a lot with my college years cause that was like the start and peak of my hyperfixation but also sitting in my living room while my sister had the music video channel on on the tv (not mtv lol a different channel) when I was like 12. I associate them with 1am youtube binges. I associate them with saying these motherfuckers (affectionate)(derogatory). I associate them with with rock and pop punk and a song for every mood. With broadening my horizons and also one of the things that helped me grow into liking shit whether or not it’s mainstream, niche, nerd, cringe, and anything or everything in between.

heaven’s gate: give one way fall out boy have helped you.

We’re friends because of FOB. I wanna be clear that we’d probably still be friendly without the shared special interest in FOB but we would be different friends. We were kind of tentative on the friendship/roommate front until we saw we had the same Fall Out Boy poster and from there we built the foundations of our friendship on that and ace shit.

Fall Out Boy Asks

#asks answered #anonymous #well sorta #but you sent it anonymously so I’m not gonna tag your blog #i hope to god this doesn’t show up in the main tags #fob

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harryssweatcreaturee · 2 years

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the one with y/n and her inexistent love life

a/n: after a much needed break from tumblr... I’M BACK!!!! i missed you guys so so so so so much and finally writing again feel sooo good. furthermore, enjoy this request i was able to write up after my exams.

please remember to reblog if you like and feedback is HIGHLY encouraged!

word count: 1.3k

warnings: none

“(Y/N), seriously? I’ve told you so many times that he won’t care!”

(Y/N) scoffed with a shake of her head as she passed the hair iron through another strand of Gemma’s hair, “Yeah, that’s what Lauren said about Daniel, and he left me in the middle of the restaurant the second I said I have a daughter. It was so embarrassing.”

(Y/N) gave up on dating months and months ago. Every time she mentioned she has a child, the person would run to the hills. She didn’t think it was a bad thing, not at all. But apparently everyone else did and now (Y/N) no longer had a love life.

Gemma has spent the past two or three months trying to get her to go out with her brother, Harry. Besides the fact that Gemma swears they have a thing for each other, she’s always going on and on about how she thinks they’d be a great couple for various reasons. And of course, (Y/N) isn’t blind. She’s always found Harry attractive and so sweet and gentle but given that she has yet to find someone who’s okay with her having a kid, she couldn’t help but think that was what he thought too.

“I know Harry. He’s my brother. I promise he wouldn’t care, (Y/N). And plus, he already knows you have a daughter and I know he likes you anyway. You both get all weird and jittery whenever you’re both over.” (Y/N) sighed softly, picking up another strand of hair and closing the iron grips, slowly moving down her hair.

“Alright, fine. Fine. But-“ Gemma gasped and immediately turned, hair falling out of (Y/N)’s fingers as Gemma’s hands came up to grip around (Y/N)’s biceps. “Oh, finally! Oh my god I can’t wait to tell him to ask you out. Been waiting too damn long for this to happen.”

(Y/N) rolled her eyes and made her turn back around so she could finally finish ironing Gemma’s hair for their girl’s night out.

Not even a week after seeing Gemma, (Y/N) could tell she had already told Harry, indicated by the text she had just received while at work. It was sweet and straight to the point making (Y/N) smile and agreeing to going out on a date barely a minute after she received the text.

But even if she was excited and just a little bit optimistic about Gemma’s assurance, (Y/N) still refrained from keeping her hopes up. She understands that many people that don’t have kids aren’t ready for a partner that does have. So she made a promise to herself that if it fails with Harry, she was done for a while… and for real this time.

After a few more texts between (Y/N) and Harry, they had decided Thursday evening was going to be the night and (Y/N) got nervous. That was only two days away and all she could think about was who could take care of Kaylie for the evening and what she should wear. But of course, her mind immediately ran to Gemma. She knew she’d take care of her daughter for the evening, and especially since her date was with her brother.

Thursday strolled around, Kaylie was now at Gemma’s for the whole night after Gemma insisting she’d keep her overnight, and (Y/N) still didn’t know what the hell she would wear.

Half of her closet and drawers were all over her bed, jeans on the floor, shoes spread out everywhere. (Y/N) let out an exasperated sigh as she fell back onto her bed, turning her head with a pout when her eyes land on a pair of white jeans hanging off the corner of the bed and a black lacy top right above it. A smirk formed onto her lips as she reached over, snatching the clothes, and immediately putting them on.

Finally, after spending nearly three hours deciding on an outfit. She almost couldn’t believe she was actually content with the clothes adorning her body. (Y/N) looked at the time, gasping when she realized Harry could arrive at any time making her scramble around for a pair of heels and a purse. This made her realize she made the great choice of doing her make up first in neutral colors because she was well aware it was going to take forever to decide on an outfit.

The knock on (Y/N)’s door startled her, her feet carrying her down the stairs and straight to the door. The second she opened the door, a smile broke out on her face. Harry had a bouquet of roses in his hands, the sweetest smile adorning his plump lips, and those emerald green eyes glistening so beautifully under the porch light right above (Y/N)’s door.

“(Y/N)… Hi. You look beautiful. And um, these are for you.”

(Y/N) giggled and reached over and grabbed the roses, “Thank you, Harry. You look stunning yourself. Just – I’m going to put these in some water, and we can head out, yeah? Come in, come.” She stepped aside to allow Harry entrance, then scurrying off to the kitchen to grab a vase and fill it up with water before setting the roses in there and walking back to Harry who was stood by her door. “Alright, all good to go.”

Harry was such a chivalrous gentleman and that didn’t surprise (Y/N). He opened the doors for her, asked her how her day went, pushed the seat for her at the restaurant…

There wasn’t a single thing Harry didn’t make her smile about. He was fantastic. Gemma vouched for her brother and (Y/N) could tell why, knowing how well her friend knew where (Y/N)’s standards were set at.

“So I gave her the last croissant and she finally left us all alone.” Harry said with a small laugh before taking a sip of his wine, (Y/N) breaking out into a fit of laughter, as quiet as she could, hand at her chest to try and catch her breath.

“And you did that just so she would leave you all alone? She left you with nothing to eat!”

(Y/N) felt so happy. She was on a cloud – eating great food with an amazing man on such a beautiful night.

“Well, Harry… I think this is the part where you run away.”

“What? Why – why would I do that?”

“I… well you know about Kaylie, and I understand if that’s something that is off putting for you”

Harry chuckled and shook his head, reaching over for her hand and giving it a small squeeze. “(Y/N), I’ve known about you having a daughter since Gemma introduced us. If that were something I didn’t potentially want in my life, I wouldn’t have asked you out in the first place. And besides, I’ve had such a great time tonight and I really enjoy your company.”

(Y/N) opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Instead, she sighed and smiled at Harry, giving his hand a squeeze in return before the man weaved their fingers together. “You’re so sweet, Harry. Thank you for such an amazing night.”

The delicious dinner and long conversations with Harry weren’t enough. (Y/N) was sad she had to go home, spend the night alone with this man suffocating her mind. He drove her home, walked her up to the door with their fingers messily intertwined with each other’s. They stopped in front of her door, standing in front of each other with small smiles and longing gazes.

“I had a wonderful night with you, (Y/N).” Harry’s unoccupied hand came up to her cheek, (Y/N) leaning into his touch as her mind told her to say things she was a little too shy to confess… but thankfully the wine her system did enough to bring that wall down and spit out the words.

With a small smirk on her lips, and her voice barely above a whisper, (Y/N) finally speaks up. “Who says it has to end here?”

taglist: @mouthfulloftoothpasterry @imavirginhoe @camflowervol6 @evanjh @peaceandloverry @majasophieanna @msolbesg @harrysddtittys @lollypopsx @damnasstyles @gucci-hazza @awesomebooklover17 @ayeshathestyles @harryspumkinloveslonghairstyles @tenaciousperfectionunknown

#harry styles fic #harrystyles fanfic #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles blurb #harry styles blurbs #harry styles au #harry styles fluff #harry styles fics #harry styles writing #harry styles #harry styles imagines #harry styles one shots #harry styles x reader #harry styles x y/n #harry styles preferences

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pub-lius · 2 years

Note

Do you have any fun facts about John Laurens?

Hm. Here's the thing with Laurens, we don't have a lot of information about him, and I haven’t done excessive research on him like I’ve done with some people, but I will do my best ^.^

So, for this ask, I reopened Gregory D. Massey’s John Laurens and the American Revolution (much to my dismay), to try to find better descriptions of the few facts I thought were interesting and not widely talked about, so if you want sources, I recommend that book, but if you want to keep your brain cells mmmm don’t read it!

1. Henry Laurens called John an incel

“Master Jack is too closely wedded to his studies to think about any of the Miss Nanny’s I would not have such a sound in his Ear, for a Crown; why drive the poor Dog, to what Nature will irresistably prompt him to be plagued within all probability much too soon.” -Henry Laurens, 1766

He was not plagued with any attraction towards the Miss Nanny’s. He became too closely wedded to a very sus ginger.

2. Because of how smart, John was as a kid, his dad asked him for help writing his political pamphlets

In the 1760s, Henry Laurens had legal troubles because some dude confiscated his ships and he was like “what the hell bro you can’t do that” and the guy was like “i totally can do that” so he sued him, but still didn’t get the outcome he wanted so he wrote Extracts from the Proceedings of the High Court of Vice-Admiralty. While writing this, he “...puzzled [John] about a Grammatical term or so,” and asked John to translate Samuel Pufendorf’s writings into English from Latin.

3. John wasn’t allowed to enroll in Oxford because his dad thought it was too sleazy

Henry Laurens was a very... careful, conservative guy. When he was trying to find a school for John in London, he visited Oxford and Cambridge to see if they would be good fits. They would not, at least not in Henry’s opinion.

“The two Universities [Oxford and Cambridge] are generally, I might say universally censured. Oxford in particular is spoken of as a School for Licentiousness and Debauchery in the most aggravated heights.”

He also just hated London in general, so nothing could really make Henry happy.

4. John was a walking existential crisis

While he was in school, John was trying to figure out what he wanted to do as a career, but didn’t really want to do any of the four options he had: merchant, doctor, lawyer, or minister. Of being a minister, he said, “...commands the most solemn Silence and serious Attention from all his Audience, my Soul burns to be in his Place,”; of being a lawyer, “...the same emulous Ardor rises in my Breast,”; of being a doctor, “...I can’t refrain from wishing to be an equal Dispenser of Good.”

Really, John couldn’t choose because he didn’t know which job would make him more famous: “No particular Profession is in itself disagreeable to me; each promises some Share of Fame.”

He did not want to be a merchant tho. He said no way in hell. Jk, he actually said, “I never lov’d Merchandise, nor can I now.”

4. My guy had severe daddy issues, bc his dad basically guilted him about everything

So, Henry left John in Geneva to complete his education, and John ended up spending too much money, and “jamming with the wrong crew” as my dad would say. I’ll just include an excerpt from John’s response letter here so you can see how depressed he was:

“I feel my Mind a little eased, tho’ it will not be free from Pain and Anxiety, ‘till it receive some words of Comfort from you. And I am persuaded that however greatly I have offended, you would pity me, could you conceive the Tort[ur]e of Mind that I have undergone this day… Yes you have shewn me myself… You have shewn me such a Man as I almost hate… I supplicate Your Pardon, and Pity, how dare I ask to restore to your Esteem, Your Unworthy, tho much afflicted and penitent Son John Laurens.”

Yes, I cry every time.

Basically John’s baggage was that he thought he was a selfish, uncontrollable, terrible person whenever he did anything slightly wrong because of how strict his dad was. Henry Laurens was a very loving father, but oh my god dude your son is dying inside. Also, there are like three other letters like this at least.

5. My guy almost got literally smashed by an iceberg

ice age vibes

This was while he was traveling to France in 1780 to bribe the French for money. Idk how but randomly their ship was just like... floating around with a bunch of icebergs. Also Thomas Paine was there. And John was standing on this one part of the ship like an aimless idiot, and when he walked away, there was a big boom as an iceberg slammed into the ship right where he was standing and he would have gotten smushed like an ant.

After that, everyone got so distracted that they almost died again, according to Paine, who said, “The pleasure occasioned by his escape made us for a while the less attentive to the general danger.”

6. The entire French court fucking hated him

So, John Laurens was chosen to be a special minister or envoy or something to Versailles. If the 1777 campaign hadn’t existed, this would have been the first stupidest decision in American history (jk every decision was a stupid decision in american history).

You see, Laurens was a spicy lad, and liked to throw tantrums whenever he didn’t get his way, which worked better when you were using swords and guns instead of just your mouth (well it didn’t really work out that well for him but-).

One person he annoyed in particular was the Count de Vergennes, who I personally think is a rat bastard, but he’s the rational one in this scenario. Laurens basically annoyed him every five minutes to give him more money. Vergennes did not want to give him more money, but he was scared Laurens would snitch to Washington.

“Mr. Laurens shows zeal, but I tell you in confidence that he did not express it in a manner suited to the nature of his mission…I think I should speak to you about this officer because it is possible that, because he was annoyed at not obtaining everything he asked for… he may give a biased account to his chief.” -Count de Vergennes, 1781

Laurens definitely would give a biased account to his chief.

Benjamin Franklin also thought he was a bit much, but Franklin didn’t do jack shit.

“Mr. Laurens is worrying the minister for more money and we shall I believe obtain a farther sum.” -Benjamin Franklin, 1781

The reason Laurens was so grouchy was because he hated literally everyone he talked to. Vergennes said that France was giving America favors (which they kinda were, America was absolutely not giving them their money back) and Laurens got PISSED, and said, “Favors! Mons Le Comte, the respect I owe to my country will not admit the application of such a term.” Like stfu bro with your patriotic ass and go back to Texas, yee haw.

There’s also that story about how Laurens went to meet King Louis XVI. I couldn’t find it in Massey’s stupid little straight man book, so I’ll just give you a vague retelling.

Basically, in Versailles, you weren’t supposed to speak directly to the king as a guest, but instead you’d speak to one of his ministers. John was too American for that, and just went straight to the king with his demands. He only got some of them, and they were poorly arranged, and Congress never asked him to go back <3

7. Laurens was a badass at Yorktown, but Lin Manuel Miranda won’t tell you that

So, during the Siege of Yorktown, the Americans were obviously going to win, but they couldn’t get around these two redoubts, numbers 9 and 10. No. 9 was put under General Lafayette’s command, and No. 10 was under Alexander Hamilton’s, and Laurens had a column under Hamilton.

Laurens’ men were the first to charge the redoubt from behind, then Hamilton charged from the front. It was super cool, Laurens captured an officer, and then they won yay!!!!

But then dun dun duuuuunnnnnnnn they had to negotiate surrender terms, and since no one learns their lessons, Washington made Laurens one of the four dudes that would be negotiating.

Now, there’s a really long little story that Massey included in his book, but its long, so Imma just summarize it like an incorrect quotes post bc this is tumblr and im tired

Ross: this is rude :( Laurens: which one Ross: ‘the troops shall march out with colours cased, and drums beating a british or german march’ Laurens: yep. Pretty harsh, right? Ross: wtf why is it here Laurens: because, my good bitch, I was at Charles Town where you Brits forced us to march out under the same conditions. “It is not the individual that is here considered- it is the Nation.” if you don’t stop complaining, I’m leaving <3

So yeah, those are some of my favorite facts :)

This actually made me realize I need to do more research on Laurens, which I will do... after I finish crying over the 27 books I have to read. But its FINE because everyone’s blond, angry, patriotic himbo makes it worth it <3 hope this helps and thanks for the ask!!!

#john laurens #historical john laurens #history #amrev #i am once again not posting on the account i made just for these posts #but i swear this is the last one #unless someone else sends me an ask on this account #then i'll answer it here #bc idc lol #ok bye <3

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fa-by · 3 years

Text

AMA’s 2018

Hey guys 👋🏼🤗. As promised, ta-daaah 🎉✨🎊🎉✨🎊✨. Before diving headfirst into this big, detailed ass analysis, I’d like to say a couple of things.

First thing: I'll repeat what I already said in my previous post.

I absolutely don't want this analysis, this post, to get out of here. Nope. If you've known me for a while, then you guys already know how much I don't want to be involved in any way. Most of all, I don't want my stuff to get to their teams or Camila and Lauren themselves. Like, never. Never, ever, never in a million years. I'd rather go back to being a silent fan. You also already know how much I despise Twitter, but by ‘I absolutely don't want it to get out of here’, I really mean nowhere else. So, no YouTube, no Instagram, no Facebook, no TikTok, and yes, especially no fucking Twitter of course.

I love Tumblr for a reason, but unfortunately, I'm aware this is the internet. I'm aware of the risk that the same thing that happened with my very first post, could happen again with this one. I can’t control the actions of others, and I certainly can’t decide for you. I can, however, ask you to have respect for my decision. If you really have the need to publish it elsewhere, then please ASK ME before doing so. This also applies to the proofs you'll see in the post. Please, ask me first, and we'll arrange what's good for me for you to post and what's not, okay? That's all I'm asking. Don't make me regret even creating all this. Please and thank you 🙏🏼.

Second thing: This post was possible also thanks to the help of @romanticentropy and @mentesimploria, who helped me collect the proofs. I've already thanked them many times privately, but I'm also doing it publicly. I would have done it regardless because, you know, it’s the way I am 🤷🏻‍♀️😄, but someone, *cough* Nadi @mentesimploria *cough*, insisted by even wanting a whole paragraph to thank her 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣. Sorry, bish, but as I already told you, not gonna happen. Just settle for it 😜.

All kidding aside, thank you. Thank you so much once again, you two 🤗. Thank you for dedicating your free time to the research, thank you for sending me what you found, thank you for the patience, and thank you for helping me in general 🥰. For real, thank you so much 😘.In the post I'll point out when one of the two of them has sent me something, so you'll know exactly how much this has actually been possible thanks to their help. They haven't read the post, so it will be a surprise for them too, and I really hope they both like it 🤞🏼😊.

Oh and, a little special shoutout also to my friend, lil J (@jane-ellie) 👋🏼😁, for that conversation that helped to confirm even more other things.

Last important thing you need to keep in mind, is that this post is based on the real hours that happened. Like, literally. They won't all be 100% accurate and you'll see why, but they're still those ones anyway, and they're based on the actual Los Angeles hours. I believe this is why this post will be different from all the others and make a difference in your eyes.

Having said that, let's get started. Enjoy, babies 🙃.

‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍

That year's American Music Awards took place on October 9, 2018, as always at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. By starting with Lauren, she was at the JW Marriott Hotel getting ready before the show. Justine Marjan (celebrity hairstylist and beauty influencer) and Carlene Kearns (celebrity makeup artist) took care of her hair and make-up. Justine and Carlene have known Laur for a long time:

Justine since August 2017 when she started hairstyling 5H https://www.instagram.com/p/BYUXonwHeSi/?utm_medium=copy_link, while Carlene also for longer and for many more things than Justine (tours, awards, performances, etc.), since March 2016 https://www.instagram.com/p/BC_2XrKpuWd/?utm_medium=copy_link (👈🏼 first time she did their makeup). But focusing only on Laur, Justine and Carlene have both hairstyled/put makeup on Lo for many things, including the music videos for All Night, Expectations, and More Than That. And about that night, they both posted pictures and IG stories:

Including that famous IG story that Carlene still has among her posts (third slide).

Besides Justine and Carlene, it obviously couldn't miss her oh so precious PR with which she immediately started the stunt thanks to the help of Tara Beikae (manager of both of them at the time; Lo's since the end of December 2015 with 5H) and some people/friends from Tinky Winky's personal team who were there in that room with them. Now. Why am I so sure that that room was in the JW Marriott Hotel? Because first of all, the hotel was tagged in one of the proofs that I'll exhibit later, and second of all, because I compared their first stunt video of the evening with the actual pictures of the hotel itself:

See that particular floor design? Here:

With this, even the color of the wall:

Oh and, the JW Marriott Hotel and the Microsoft Theater are basically attached to each other:

Let's move on to Camila. After performing at the Live Austin City Limits Music Festival on October 7, 2018, Mila arrived in L.A. the day before the AMA’s, which is on October 8, 2018: (remember this pic for later)

She and her parents stayed in the same hotel for two nights before leaving for Brazil to continue the stops of her Never Be the Same Tour:

The same evening they settled in the hotel (the 8th), Mila posted a video in the room with her dad to advertise the orchestral version of Consequences which would've been released at midnight of the same night, and which she would've performed live for the first time the next day at the AMA’s:

Contrary to Lauren, Camila got ready directly in the theater for the AMA’s. She left the hotel in this outfit, and yes, this picture was posted days later when she was already in Brazil, but it actually dates back to October 9:

and she changed into the theater. Besides her parents, there were three people on her team that night with her: Dvora Englefield (her publicist since October 2016), Roger Gold, and Gian Mitchell (both her managers; Roger since March 2015, Gian since April 2017). Dimitris Giannetos (celebrity hairstylist) and Allan Avendaño (celebrity makeup artist) took care of her hair and make-up:

Mila's been friends with them for years now:

and they're the ones she calls most of the time for her projects/events. Allan met Mila and started doing her makeup since September 2016 https://www.instagram.com/p/BKTv6OXDfRk/?utm_medium=copy_link, while Dimitris knew her much earlier because he started hairstyling her and 5H since November 2014 https://www.instagram.com/p/vY85TMjoFy/?utm_medium=copy_link.

Having said the pre-show, let's move on to the actual show. As I said at the beginning, this post is based on the actual Los Angeles hours which are in the Pacific Time Zone. The AMA's started at 5 pm and finished at 8 pm: (Thanks, baby, for the website of the second pic 🥰)

I’m going to write the whole schedule setlist of the show, and my love’s sent me all the tweets (except the last one) from the official account, so thanks for these too, babe ❤. They were punctual to both start and finish according to the schedule, therefore, keep in mind that we have to calculate that the team behind the account took about 5/10 minutes, sometimes even a little longer, to receive the pictures or videos, edit them, write the caption, and lastly post the news, okay? Oh and, I've used the bold font for Mila and the performances, and I've of course only picked the key tweets we're interested in.

AMA's schedule setlist:

- Taylor Swift: I Did Something Bad

As you can see, the show opening was tweeted at 5:06 pm, but it started at 5 pm sharp, and by 5:02 pm, people were already tweeting about Tay's performance. Indeed, the team of people or person behind the account, used the present continuous because the performance was still ongoing since it lasted for about 6 minutes and 30 seconds. In fact, it was ending at that moment.

- Tracee Ellis Ross (the host) with her opening dance routine

- Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line presented Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist (winner: Cardi B)

*commercial break*

- Amber Heard introduced Twenty One Pilots = Twenty One Pilots: Jumpsuit

- Macaulay Culkin presented Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist (winner: Post Malone)

*commercial break*

- Heidi Klum presented Tour of the Year (winner: Taylor Swift)

5:59 pm, so let's say 5:52 pm.

- Chloe x Halle introduced Mariah Carey = Mariah Carey: With You

*commercial break*

- Shawn Mendes, Zedd: Lost in Japan (Remix)

- John Stamos and Busy Philipps presented Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist (winner: Khalid)

*commercial break*

- Tracee Ellis Ross introduced Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin = Cardi B, Bad Bunny, J Balvin: I Like It

- Ashlee Simpson and Evan Ross presented Favorite Pop/Rock Song (winner: Camila Cabello)

6:15 pm, so let's say 6:05.

*commercial break*

- Sara Gilbert and Thomas Rhett presented Favorite Country Female Artist (winner: Carrie Underwood)

- Normani and Liza Koshy introduced Benny Blanco, Khalid and Halsey = Benny Blanco, Halsey, Khalid: Eastside

- Billy Eichner and Kathryn Hahn presented Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist (winner: Shawn Mendes)

*commercial break*

- Constance Wu and Rita Ora presented Favorite Pop/Rock Duo or Group (winners: Migos)

- The Chainsmokers and Kelsea Ballerini introduced Post Malone and Ty Dolla Sign = Post Malone, Ty Dolla Sign: Psycho & Better Now

6:34 pm and 6:43 pm are 9 minutes, but the introduction and the performance actually last for about 5 minutes and 10/12 seconds, so you see what I mean? And according to the calculations I made, the performance ended at 6:33 pm.

*commercial break*

- Dua Lipa: One Kiss & Electricity

- Vanessa Hudgens introduced Jennifer Lopez = Jennifer Lopez: Limitless

- Lauren Daigle and Kane Brown presented Favorite Soul/R&B album (winner: XXXTentacion)

*commercial break*

- CAMILA CABELLO: CONSEQUENCES

7:08 pm, but actually started at 7:02.

- Amandla Stenberg presented Favorite Pop/Rock Album (winner: Taylor Swift)

*commercial break*

- Taran Killam and Leighton Meester presented Favorite Country Male Artist (winner: Kane Brown)

- Tracee Ellis Ross introduced Ciara and Missy Elliott = Ciara, Missy Elliott: Level Up & Dose

*commercial break*

- Tyra Banks presented New Artist of the Year (winner: Camila Cabello)

7:32 pm, but actually around 7:23 pm.

- Tracee Ellis Ross introduced Carrie Underwood = Carrie Underwood: Spinning Bottles

*commercial break*

- Rami Malek, Joseph Mazzello, and Gwilym Lee introduced Panic! at the Disco = Panic! at the Disco: Bohemian Rhapsody

- Lenny Kravitz presented Artist of the Year (winner: Taylor Swift)

7:47 pm, but actually a couple of minutes before.

- Tribute to Aretha Franklin = Gladys Knight: Amazing Grace - Donnie McClurkin: Climb Higher Mountains - CeCe Winans: Mary Don't You Weep - Ledisi: How I Got Over - Mary Mary: The Old Landmark

8:10 pm, and 8:05 pm tweeted by a fan, but the AMA's actually ended at exactly 8 pm.

Now that you know the schedule setlist, let's delve into the events that happened during it. We're interested in three: PRen/Tyren, one of the commercial breaks, and Consequences. All three are connected and intertwined with each other, and all three of them are about Lauren. But before that, you need to have an understanding of the surroundings to understand everything better.

Both Camren were seated in the Microsoft Theatre area that's called the orchestra. It's divided into five parts by six hallways. Those five parts, are in turn subdivided into let's say invisible sides of the right and left as regards the assignment of the seats (thanks, mi corazón, for having understood this 😘). Lauren was sitting in the center-right orchestra on the invisible left side in the third seat of the fifth row. While Mila, was in the central orchestra on the invisible right side in the ninth seat of the first row. Because of the semicircle shape, the center-right and center-left parts have one row fewer seats in front, and that’s why Lauren turned out to be in the fifth row and not the fourth; because the assignments are calculated by the central orchestra as a reference point.

I created the layout of the theater of that night and compared it with the original floor plans to make you understand better what I'm talking about:

And with these, you can understand even better:

Do you see Mariah Carey's seat? Despite being the first row of the center-right orchestra, it's calculated as the second row because it's prospectively in the same line as the second row of the central orchestra.

Having explained that, let's move on to those three events that I mentioned earlier and, I'm sorry for this, but I'll also debunk some moments in which many thought that Lauren was there when in reality wasn't.

During the commercial break after Mariah Carey’s performance, PRen left the theater to go to the trailer they assigned to Tycoon so that he could change for his performance. This means that Laur wasn't there when Mila won the Favorite Pop/Rock Song award. I saw that picture that spread around, but that's not Lauren. Don't worry, I'll show it to you later along with other proofs.

Laur returned during the commercial break between the Migos' winning for the Favorite Pop/Rock Duo or Group award and Post Malone and Tinkerbell’s performance. Right after the performance, PRen left the theater again, and Tara posted that boomerang to let believe that they were leaving the AMA's:

Now that I've shown you that collage, I can delve into the topic of one of the commercial breaks specifically. You see, once back in the theater and before going to her seat, making those stories, and attending Tympanum’s performance, Laur made a small detour:

Yeeep 😏. Despite the painful pixelation due to the zoom for the distance and the potato ass quality, we can very well see that it's them. I even took the pic where Laur is from behind and I mirrored it, changed the perspective to have her more or less in the same position as the other pic, and I played with colors, shadows, and other things to compare them. Here:

I defy anyone to say that that's not Lauren even after this 😎. But anyway. She did it at that moment precisely because it was a commercial break. Risky? Yeah, 100%, but at least she had a public excuse: to say hi (as if they hadn't seen each other for a long time 🙄🤣) and congratulate on the award that Mila had won. Let's talk for a moment about why she did it knowing the risks, and mind you, this is just my theory, and no, it's not about Camren in this case.

3 out of 5 former Fifth Harmony members were at that event. The fake narrative of the feud was still going on. Hell, it still is today when it's convenient 😒. They knew, all three knew that the media would create rumors for gossip, and I don't know if you remember, but they were all pretty sick of playing along in that period. So what did they do? They played in advance. Both Laurmani met Mila at different moments in front of everyone (and by everyone, keep in mind that I mean more like ordinary people/fans and not industry people since they know everything about everyone most of the time). Why? Because they wanted people to see them together, even if briefly, to be able to disprove the rumors that were then indeed created. Fans didn't capture the moment of Normila's meeting like they did with Camren, and so we don't have visual proof, but we have proof thanks to Mama Dre:

I mean, why should Laur have risked being seen talking to Mila in such an open way? She, who's forced to pretend to be allergic to Camren? Because it's the same plan they used the year before at the 2017 Jingle Ball. And same thing with Mani. What reason would Andrea have had to clarify that if that wasn't the plan? She could very well have said nothing and let another fake rumor spread, but she didn't. Especially after they ‘had buried the hatchet’, of a war that never really existed 🤭, from the 2018 Billboard Music Awards:

So this is my theory. Of course I could be wrong, but that's the only thing that makes sense to me. Let’s move on.

When Tara posted that boomerang to let believe that they were leaving the AMA's, PRen were heading back to the trailer they assigned to Typod. Remember that Twix's performance ended at 6:33 pm and that Mila's one started at 7:02 pm? Good, because this means that Laur had exactly 29 minutes between one thing and the other. And what does that mean? That she had all the time in the world to go back to see Mila. Hell, in 29 minutes you have time to take a shower, or read a couple of chapters in a book, or have a meal, and I mean, you get it, right? So let alone go back to the theater 🤣.

Now not only will I give you the proof that Laur wasn't there when Mila won the Favorite Pop/Rock Song award as I mentioned earlier, but I will also debunk another big proof that unfortunately spread throughout the fandom, and at the same time, I will confirm the true version.

So. I created this collage of the stories she posted just before Tyco Bell's performance to show you the people around her:

In addition to those people, you can also notice how the stairs were slightly to her left from her perspective. You can also compare it with the layout of the theater that I created in that collage that I showed you previously.

I created this collage to show you both the people around her and in her proximity, and her seat position from a better and more realistic point of view:

And lastly, I created this one to show you the people who were around her and how SHE DIDN'T APPEAR:

First pic: as I've already explained to you, Laur was sitting in the center-right orchestra on the invisible left side in the third seat of the fifth row, and the stairs were slightly to her left from her perspective. That girl? She was in the central orchestra. Lo and Tijuana (and his sister) left during the commercial break after Mariah Carey's performance, so she wasn't there when Mila won. And as if that weren't enough, the dress the girl was wearing was black. Take a closer look and notice how there's also the lack of the tulle of the skirt that Lo wore:

The rest of the collage pics: I'm sorry if everyone thought the one in the famous Consequences video was Lauren, believe me, it hurts my soul 🥺, but it's just not her. That girl, the “fake Lo” as I named her, has always been there. You can also notice her in the previous collage in the second pic (Post Malone's speech). Not to mention that that's the third row, while Lo's seat was in the fifth row. Here, take a look at this other collage I created to better understand:

I know perspective can be deceiving. It mostly depends on the starting angle, and I mean, what the hell, look at this other picture:

From this angular perspective, it looks like Laur’s seat is very close to Mila’s, but as I showed you even with the previous collage, they weren't at all. I mean, Mila and Cardi were sitting in the front row of the central orchestra, while Laur, Angel, the guy from Lo's IG stories, and the guy in a suit were sitting in the fifth, sixth, and seventh rows of the center-right orchestra respectively. And does it look like that in this pic? Absolutely not because it's a matter of perspective, and as I've already told you, it can be deceiving.

Going back to the collage where Lo doesn’t appear, I even zoomed in on the third pic (Taylor's speech (after Consequences)) to show you not only the same people, but also how the seats that belonged to Angel, Laur, and Tipsy were empty:

And, I had already edited the screenshots of the original video for the collage so that you guys could see better, but I also zoomed in on the “fake Lo” to compare her with the real Lo:

This girl had shorter hair, and even here like the other pic with that other girl, the dress was black and no tulle skirt. The only thing similar to Laur's dress is the neckline. I'm sorry, babies, but that's not Lauren. BUT, don't worry. I said that girl isn't Laur, but I never said she wasn't there. Indeed, if you remember, I also said that she had all the time in the world to go back to see the performance. Just because we didn't see her in the videos, doesn't mean she wasn't there. I mean, she did it on purpose since she couldn't be seen, but unfortunately for her plan and luckily for us, there are four proofs that confirm it.

Proof number 1: (Thanks, Nadi, for the link of these two tweets 😄)

This proof is the least reliable because it's just words. Don't get me wrong, it's still proof, but it's just an attestation without actual visual proof, like, I don't know, even a shitty-quality pic.

Proof number 2: I think you all remember that fan's IG stories, right? In case you don't, her name is Raffaella Lamar and she posted 9 IG stories in order of how the show unfolded:

As you can see, the pic with Lo was posted after Consequences. People asked her if Lo stayed during the performance, and she first said yes, but then changed her answer to no when she saw that the news began to spread. Now, let me tell you and show why she did it. Raffaella has known them for many years. She's part of that group of fans (who understands, understands). Plus, she is or she was a Camren Shipper. She had a Camren/5H fan account. Oh and, remember how I told you to remember that picture from when Mila arrived in L.A. the day before the AMA's, which is October 8, 2018? You'll find it again in this collage, because yes, it's the same girl: (thanks, Nad, for the translation of that tweet 😊)

Honestly? I would've done exactly the same thing in her place to protect them. Actually, I wouldn't have answered yes to the question at all, but you know, we're not all the same, and there's also the excitement/adrenaline of the moment of knowing something beautiful and important that no one else knows and that you'd like to shout at the top of your lungs. So it's understandable on the one hand. But, we have to consider that the biggest risk Laur took that night wasn't the one of going to Mila to ‘congratulate’ her after the award since, as I told you, I think all three of them decided it together, but it was the one of coming back to see her performance.

Now, I don't know how things really went. I don't know if it was Raffaella's own idea because she saw how the news spread and therefore changed her version so she wouldn’t get into trouble. I don't know if she did it on her own initiative to protect them after realizing that her answer “Ela ficou até o final” (She stayed until the end) spread everywhere. I don't know if she was contacted to declare that Laur wasn't there. I know nothing. I can only hypothesize. But one thing is certain. Laur was there, and the order of publication of the stories proves it in itself, with or without her confirmation.

Proof number 3: Another thing that proves it is in that same picture:

If you zoom into the one with Lo, you can notice how the pic was taken in the hallway (n° 3) between the center-right orchestra (Laur's) and the central orchestra (Mila's). You can even notice G-Eazy, who we know was seated in the front row of the center-right orchestra. The other thing that can be noticed, is how that pic was taken during yet another commercial break (you can even see how all the people are standing up talking to each other), and that makes me understand that Raffaella was going to Laur, saw her, and stopped her just as she was about to leave the theater to go back to Tic Tac’s trailer. This explains the reason for the location: the hallway.

Proof number 4 (the best one in my opinion 😏): Once she got back to Tyred’s trailer, they both took a picture with the GD Media Enterprises guy:

Yeah, the guy messed up in the caption which he then corrected, but, in this case, you don't have to focus on yet another proof of their PR even though it was important. You have to focus on why I'm so sure it happened after seeing Mila's performance.

Let's do a little calculation before showing you this other proof that's connected with that picture. Consequences' performance began at 7:02 pm, and lasted for 4 minutes. Amandla Stenberg’s Favorite Pop/Rock Album presentation and Tay's speech lasted for about 2 min. 6 min for everything, so 7:02 pm+6 min= 7:08 pm. 7:08 pm+let’s assume another 2/3 minutes between talking and taking the picture with Raffaella, it gives us approximately this time: 7:10/11 pm. Now, I don't know exactly the distance between the trailers and the theater, but also calculating another ten minutes of time for Lo to get back to Typology's trailer, it gives us approximately this time: 7:20/21 pm. Maybe a little more or maybe a little less, who knows 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Having explained that, this is the other proof:

As you can see, the sunset (so when the sun disappeared below the horizon) happened at 6:26 pm. From 6:26 pm to 6:51 pm, the civil twilight occurred. From 6:51 pm to 7:20 pm, the nautical twilight occurred. And lastly, from 7:20 pm to 7:49 pm, the astronomical twilight occurred. Remember that Post Malone and Tyronic's performance ended at 6:33 pm? That means the sunset occurred when PRen were still inside the theater, and that the boomerang that Tara posted, was made once outside during the civil twilight. When Lo arrived at the trailer according to the calculations I made earlier, it was approximately 7:20/21 pm, and this means it was during the astronomical twilight. I don't know exactly if that pic (PRen+PR guy) was taken right after she arrived or a little more time after that, but you can literally see the lights on even in the back buildings if you zoom in. You can also notice how Twinkle Twinkle Little Star wore the same after-party outfit that I’ll show you later.

The GD Media Enterprises account unfortunately no longer exists, so we can't know the exact time when that picture was posted (because yes, there is a way, and you'll see it in other proofs later), but I believe these two proofs and my calculation show us very well that PRen were still in the Microsoft Theater at that time. So, Miss Tara Beikae from Maverick, with that boomerang and like so many other times during that PR, you failed 🤣. Besides, I don't think Typecast needed almost an hour to get changed, and he certainly couldn't leave without Lo. So he leisurely changed, waited for Laur, they took that picture with the GD Media Enterprises guy, and left the Microsoft Theater together. Most likely, Lo went to get her things from the JW Marriott Hotel room where she got ready before the show, but once outside, they both went their separate ways 😏. We'll come back to that later 😉.

Let's go back to Mila now. She stayed inside the theater until the end of the show (8 pm), and right after, she went to the press room for the pictures, both single and with the awards won (for New Artist of the Year, Collaboration of the Year, Video of the Year, and Favorite Pop/Rock Song). 2 min for the pictures. For the interviews we have E! News: 1:41 min. Access: 1:41 min. EntertainmentTonight: 2:20 min. Stingray Music: 35 sec. ExtraTV: 1:21 min. InStyle: 52 sec. Variety: 1:26 min. On Demand Entertainment: 51 sec. And lastly, Billboard with Chelsea: 2:23 min.

15:10 min for everything to be exact. So it was 8:15 pm when Mila finished with the press and went to her dressing room for the last time to collect her things and change. You can also see here how the various press account teams started tweeting about it once she left (still because you have to calculate the time needed to receive the pictures or videos, edit them, write the caption, and lastly post them): [thank you, amore mio, also for these two 💖]

After gathering her things and changing into the same outfit she’d arrived in (the same as the afternoon and the pic she posted on the 12th, but with different shoes), Mila was out of the theater around 8:20 pm. She met a bunch of fans both outside the Microsoft Theater and in the parking garage where they had their car: (thanks, Nadi, for the link of the video and for the one of the third pic's tweet 😁)

Among these, a girl with her hair gathered up whose pic was photobombed by a girl and none other than another fan who has known them for years, Ricardo De La Cruz:

Ricardo then posted the same pic, but cropped and with the location:

He was also at the AMA's:

And once the show was over, he staked outside and waited in hopes of meeting celebrities exactly as he did before the show when he met Chelsea Briggs as I've shown you, J Balvin (singer), and Bryan Tanaka (dancer, choreographer, and boyfriend of Mariah Carey). Same thing he did hours later managing to catch Debby Ryan (actress), Luc Mbah a Moute (basketball player), Josh Dun (Twenty One Pilots drummer), and PRen at the JW Marriott Hotel:

You can see the location at the top also in these two as well as in the one with Mila, and you can also notice that Typo has the same outfit (you can notice especially the same shirt and the same jewelry) as the pic with the GD Media Enterprises guy as I mentioned to you before:

People thought that the pictures Ricardo posted with Camren were taken in the same place mostly because of the type of road, but that's not the case. First of all, the location is indicated in both pics, and second of all, as I've already shown you at the beginning, the JW Marriott Hotel and the Microsoft Theater are basically attached to each other, so it's normal they have the same type of road. I even checked by making the road route with the Google Maps little yellow man 🤣.

After people's insistence even years later since that day, Ricardo posted TikToks on January 31, 2021, to explain again how those pictures weren't taken in the same place, and how the times were also different. The TikTok that interests us in this case, is this one (thanks, Nad, for the link 🙃). I took the screenshot and circled the info at the top to give you another proof:

As you can see, there's a difference between the two. The one with Mila only indicates the date and the time, while the one with Laur also indicates the location (South Park is a neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles that includes both the Microsoft Theater and the JW Marriott Hotel, btw). Why's that? Because unlike the selfies he himself took with PRen, the pic with Mila wasn't taken with his phone because he just photobombed by appearing in the camera view of the other girl while she took her selfie with Mila. That pic with Mila, was sent to him by that girl, and that's why the info of the pictures we see in the TikTok of his gallery/camera roll are different.

Oh and, another important thing. In the TikTok, Ricardo said that people told him that he got paid to say those things and that he was leaving stuff out for that reason, but he was actually telling the truth for real. BUT, and yes, there is a but 😏, at the same time, he actually really left a detail out. He said that PRren left at 10:27 pm and that Mila left at 9 pm, and proved it by showing the details in his gallery/room roll. The time indicated in the pics with PRen is accurate precisely because, as I've just explained to you, he himself took those pictures, but the time indicated in the pic with Mila? Nope, it's not. 9 pm is the time he received the pic from the girl, and not when the pic was actually taken 😎. So that's not the accurate time Mila left the Microsoft Theater, and this is another proof that further confirms my calculation, which is that Camila left the theater around 8:20 pm, and calculating more or less another ten minutes spent with the fans on the way from the theater, the parking lot, and lastly to the car, she left at approximately 8:30 pm.

An umpteenth proof I can give you is the precise time when Ricardo posted the pic with her. Remember how I told you earlier that we couldn't know the exact time the PRen pic with the GD Media Enterprises guy was posted because the GD Media Enterprises account no longer exists, but that there's actually a way to see it and that I'd have shown it to you in other proofs? Here, this is the moment. Thanks to my tech baby 😍 who viewed the HTML source code of the picture for this:

See the blue part? [<time class="_1o9PC Nzb55" datetime= "2018-10-10T04:42:05.000Z" title= "Oct 9, 2018">October 9, 2018</time>] What interests us is the datetime part. The letter T indicates the end of the date, and the letter Z, indicates that the timestamp is expressed in UTC+0 (Universal Time Coordinated) timezone. So we need to read it like this: (2018-10-10) October 10, 2018, (04:42:05) 4:42 am in UTC+0. And doing the calculation with the Los Angeles time in the Pacific Time Zone, we get: October 9, 2018, 9:42 pm in UTC-7.

Ricardo posted that pic with Camila at 9:42 pm, which is 42 minutes after receiving it, and certainly in one of the free moments before going to stake out in front of the JW Marriott Hotel or while he was already there waiting to catch the other celebrities that I mentioned to you earlier. I'll also show you later on the exact time in which he posted the one with Lo because it's very important, but for the moment, let's go back to Camila and Camren.

After leaving the Microsoft Theater, Mila and her parents went to the hotel. It took them about 29/30 min to get there, so they were there by 9 pm. Once they arrived at the hotel, they stayed there for a while, surely also to relax for a moment and catch their breath after the show, and in the meantime, both Camila and Alejandro changed because they would then have to go out to dinner at Madeo Restaurant in Beverly Hills (an Italian one 😜 ayy, wassup!):

I think you’ve all recognized that it's the same tracksuit that Mila wore also in those two of her famous IG stories 😏. We'll get to that, don't worry, won't be long now 😉. Now let me prove to you why I'm 100% sure Camilita and her parents went first to the hotel and then to the restaurant. These are Ale and Sinu outfits:

And these are Mila's:

If they had gone to the Madeo Restaurant right after leaving the Microsoft Theater, then both Mila and Ale would’ve been wearing those same outfits and not the tracksuit for Mila and different pants and shoes for Ale. But as I just proved to you, that wasn't the case 😜. Mila tweeted this once she changed while still in the room:

And now, why specify and show you both Mila and Ale’s change of clothes, and the time of that tweet? Why are all those details so important? Just because I'm a perfectionist who has to know and explain every little detail? Yes 🙈🤣, but also because with those two famous IG stories, Mila purposely confused the timing of the events. It was her plan, and it worked perfectly. Let me explain.

In the story, she said “I'm in a food coma”, but she hadn't even gone to the restaurant yet in reality 🤣. So how did things really go? It's time to reveal to you also the name of the hotel where Mila and her parents stayed for those two nights. I didn't want to mention it before on purpose *sound effect* 🎵dun, dun, dun🎵. Sorry, not sorry 🤭🤣. Believe me, it was a challenge, but after searching every hotel for five hours non-stop, I finally found it 🥳. The hotel was the Sunset Marquis in West Hollywood (that's why I knew it took them about 29/30 minutes to get there), and I even managed to find the room:

I also created this collage so that you can see how it all coincide together:

Oh and, if you've ever seen this around:

please, don't believe it because it's not true. As you can see here:

that was an IG story by songwriter/producer Blake Slatkin made on October 11, 2018, in the studio. It's not a proof! I always say it and I will always repeat it: this is the reason why we're called delusional shippers, and I hate it 😒.

But anyway, back to the post. Remember I told you that PRen left the Microsoft Theater together and that once outside they went their separate ways? Good, because Typic went to have dinner in a restaurant with his friends (I'll show you later) and instead Laur went to Mila's hotel. When Mila arrived at the hotel, Laur was already there and had also ordered room service by dining directly there. Reason why we can see the congratulatory dessert ordered by Lo which they most likely shared:

When Mila said “But I still have dessert left”, it was actually the first thing she was eating 🤣. So Mila arrived, changed, tweeted her thanks to the fans by saying she was going to eat, and stayed with Laur to celebrate for a while by even recording those two IG stories which, however, she didn't post right away. And yes, babies, of course that was Lauren:

And why didn't Mila post them right away? Simple: I remind you that paparazzi are called. Especially during awards nights when so many celebrities are in different places scattered around the city. Mila knew that when she'd have gone to the restaurant they would've been there, and since for some unknown reason which I'm very grateful for she wanted to show Lo, she waited to post the stories when they both were already in different places. Which is when? When she was at the restaurant herself, and when Lo was already with Tiresome for their stunt of the night. She did it so as to have a cover. An excuse like “no, it wasn't her because, see? I'm in the room (but I'm actually in the restaurant), and she's in a club. Look at her IG stories”. Let me prove it to you.

Typhon was the performer of dj Dre Sinatra's birthday party at the Avenue. Their after-party, took place in that club. Same club in which Lo posted a couple of stories; the same ones I mentioned in Mila's example:

And other people who were there also posted stories: (thanks, mi bebé, for the link 💓)

The party started at 10:30 pm, but thanks to the fan, Ricardo, we know PRen were outside the JW Marriott Hotel at 10:27 pm when he met them there. So Lo went to Mila's hotel, had dinner, waited for her to arrive, they spent some time together celebrating, she changed, left the hotel around 10 pm to reach Tyro outside the JW Marriott Hotel, and together, they then went to the club for their stunt by arriving there around 10:50/11 pm.

The proof I was telling you about, Mila's plan, is this (they're three related in reality):

N° 1: The time of the publication of the IG stories. This is a screenshot of the update account that took longer to post it, 11:44 pm:

N° 2: The time of the publication of Mila's stories and Ricardo's pic with Laur, was exactly the same: (thanks, Nadi, for these two 🤗)

N° 3: Remember I told you that later on I would also have shown you the exact time in which Ricardo posted the one with Lo because it's very important? Good, because it's super important actually: (thanks, my tech cutie, also for this 😻)

Remember the blue part as before? [<time class="_1o9PC Nzb55" datetime= "2018-10-10T06:13:46.000Z" title= "Oct 9, 2018">October 9, 2018</time>] Remember that what interests us is the datetime part? So we need to read it like this: (2018-10-10) October 10, 2018, (06:13:46) 6:13 am in UTC+0. And doing the calculation with the Los Angeles time in the Pacific Time Zone, we get: October 9, 2018, 11:13 pm in UTC-7.

This shows that Mila's two IG stories were latergrams because, if Ricardo saw Lo at 10:27 pm, but posted the pic at 11:13 pm which is the same moment as Mila's stories time of the publication (the update account took longer to post it, 11:44 pm), this means that Mila already saw Lo, and she was in the restaurant at that moment and not in the room 😎.

Remember I'd also have shown to you that Tyrannosaurus went to a restaurant for dinner with his friends after PRen left the Microsoft Theater together? Nadi managed to find these two tweets, and I asked my boo to contact the first account for having more information: (thanks to both of you 🤩; oh and, the translation is a mix of all three of us 🤭🤣)

We have no visual proof of those stories, but at least they're two attestations, and we know that the first account, said that Typewriting was at the restaurant at the same time as Camila's video, while the second one, said that he was at the restaurant while Lo and Mila were in the hotel together, and the latter, confirms what I said and is another proof that proves that while Camren were in the room, Tyro was in a restaurant on his own.

All of this, is what we know for sure. Unfortunately, since after Lo's podcast with Becky G, many accounts no longer exist, and with them, some proofs of that night. I found another ‘proof’ in which a fan implied that PRen left the club around 12:40 am and that along with other fan friends of theirs, they then went to Mila's hotel at 1:40 am to ask for her, and that the receptionist told them she wasn't available because she had a guest. This is the ‘proof’:

I found out that that IG account no longer exists. I managed to find that account's girl and we tried to contact her to have the confirmation that it was her in the first place, and then eventually ask her about it or if she had concrete proofs of what that fan said, but she unfortunately never replied. But now, why did I write proof in quotes? Because n° 1, there's no visual proofs, and unlike the previous proof, it's just an anonymous person who said it. I mean, it's just words, you know? But more important thing, the n° 2, the thing that makes me think it's not true, is that whoever that fan who wrote to @itscamrenbish was, said that the club and Mila's hotel were 30 minutes apart when in reality, it wasn't true. These are all the distances:

If that fan was telling the truth, then they should’ve known that the club and Mila's hotel were actually only 15 minutes apart 🤷🏻‍♀️. I truly do believe Laur really went back to Mila after the stunt, but I'm sorry, I don't believe this fan's words and times just because they should’ve known the distance between the two places if they really had been at Mila’s hotel reception.

So. Quick recap before leaving you:

The AMA's started at 5 pm and finished at 8 pm. Lauren got ready at the JW Marriott Hotel and Mila directly at the Microsoft Theater. During the commercial break after Mariah Carey's performance, PRen left the theater and returned before his performance in the commercial break during which Laur made that little detour to go to Mila. After the performance (6:33 pm), PRen went to the trailer again, and Tara posted that boomerang to let believe that they were leaving the AMA's, but we know that's not true. Laur went back to the theater, saw Mila (Consequences, 7:02 pm), took that picture with Raffaella, and left during the commercial break by returning to the trailer (7:20/21 pm) where PRen took that picture with the GD Media Enterprises guy before leaving the AMA's together. Once outside, they arranged to see each other later, most likely Lo even got her things from the JW Marriott Hotel room where she got ready before the show, and while he left with his friends then eventually to a restaurant, Laur went to Mila's hotel, the Sunset Marquis (distance between JW Marriott Hotel/Microsoft Theater and Sunset Marquis: 29/30 min), where once arrived, she called room service by dining directly there while waiting for Mila’s return.

After the show (8 pm), after the press (8:15 pm), after having changed by leaving the theater (8:20 pm), and after the pics with fans including the photobombed by Ricardo one, Mila left (8:30 pm) by arriving at her hotel at approximately 9 pm. Once there, Mila changed (Alejandro too), tweeted her thanks to the fans by saying she was going to eat (9:37 pm), and stayed with Laur to celebrate for a while by even recording those two IG stories which, however, she didn't post right away. After dessert, Lo changed and left the hotel (10 pm) by reaching Typable at the JW Marriott Hotel where they took that selfie with Ricardo (10:27 pm) before heading to dj Dre Sinatra's birthday party at the Avenue (10:50/11 pm) (distance between JW Marriott Hotel and Avenue: 24/25 min). Meanwhile, Mila was at the Madeo Restaurant (distance between Madeo Restaurant and Sunset Marquis: 13 min) with her parents to celebrate (paparazzi photographed them both when they arrived and when they left), and posted those two IG stories at the same moment that Ricardo posted his selfie with Laur (11:13 pm). After the restaurant, Mila returned to the Sunset Marquis and waited for Laur to reach her after her stunt at the club (distance between Sunset Marquis and Avenue: 15 min).

If you want to believe what that fan implied, then I also add that PRen left the club around 12:40 am, and that by 1:40 am when they together other fans went to ask about Mila at the reception, they were told she wasn't available because she had a guest.

Aaaaand that's really all, babies 🥳. I tried to cover really everything for real, but this is all we could find. Obviously if you have other information (must be valid tho) feel free to contact me and I'll add it to the post 😊.

I would like to thank both @romanticentropy and @mentesimploria again for helping me collect the proofs and making this possible. Thanks, guys 🤗, and I hope you both liked it 🥰. Please give them a virtual round of applause 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼.

After this post that took me really but a really long time, I will take at least a couple of days off before starting to answer the 31 asks in my inbox. Please understand me 😅, and don't hate me 🙏🏼. Hope you enjoyed it, and see you at the next one 😄. Byyee 👋🏼.

As usual, remember to be nice. Always. Both with others and with yourselves. Be a good example. Be patient. Be safe and take care of yourselves. Don't let our ship sink. Keep shipping them, but please respectfully 🙏🏼 Sending you virtual love and hugs 🤗🤗🤗 I love you, babies. Always with love, F ❤️

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nightscissor · 2 years

Text

The Bad Batch

Love Languages HC

Part One: Wrecker

so we can all just casually imagine ourselves with our sweet gentle giant!! this is mostly fluffy with a hint of spice because we all know he’s touch starved and a tiiiiiny bit horny. but i promise this is sfw!

(this is my first fic to make it out of my drafts since the infamous and horrifying john laurens x alexander hamilton modern college au wattpad incident of my questionable middle school self LOLZ so i suppose even if this isn’t fantastic, it can’t get worse than that ahdjsjsjak)

warnings: two slight sexual references (minors no thank u) but let me know if i missed anything else i should tag for!

length: idk how to check word count yet, but short i think :3

Our big boy is totally physical touch and quality time, I mean, we see how he shows his brotherly support for Omega by hanging out with her and carrying her on his shoulders! He also likes to give his brothers loving shoves and pats on the back, so that translates to your relationship with him, but of course in a romantic context instead!

Cuddling is undeniably Wrecker’s favorite, he loves to hold his Lula, but he loves to hold you way, way more. Wrecker especially loves wrapping you up in his strong arms while spooning you, and he likes to run his big hands over your body because you’re just so cute and little compared to him! Remember, it doesn’t matter what size you are, you’ll always be tiny compared to Wrecker, and he is absolutely obsessed.

Another favorite of Wrecker’s is having you lie on top of him with your legs on either side of his hips and your head on his chest. He never has any trouble breathing or moving since he’s so incredibly strong and you weigh practically nothing to him, and his big heart just melts when you nuzzle your face into him. The only problem with cuddling is that he’ll often wake up with his little “friend” showing how much he loves you, but that’s a story for another day.

If you’re hanging out with the whole group, Wrecker makes a point to sit as close to you as physically possible and will try to be touching you in some way, even though he knows he’ll be teased relentlessly by his brothers for it. At 79s, he keeps an arm slung around your shoulders and pats or rubs your back if you take a particularly strong shot.

He even tries to keep you sitting in his lap at all times on the Havoc Marauder, although when you (frequently) have to brace for a crash landing, Tech insists you strap in separately for safety’s sake. Wrecker would rather keep you close to him to keep you safe himself, but if sitting separately is what it takes to ensure you won’t be hurt, he begrudgingly obliges.

Wrecker would love to spend alone time with you to show you his explosives and he always makes time to work out together. Working out with Wrecker means lots of big smiles and pats on the back of encouragement. He always makes sure to spot you when you’re lifting and although he’d never tell you this for fear of making you feel uncomfortable or objectified, his favorite is when you’re doing squats or deadlifts with him spotting. Nothing gets this man going like seeing his crush/partner being strong, and as someone with a total ass preference, he secretly likes to watch you when you’re building those glutes.

On the off chance that something does go wrong with some heavy weights and you need his help, Wrecker notices instantly and uses one hand to grab the bar from you and the other on your lower back to stabilize your body so you don’t fall and hurt yourself. He sets the weights down and picks you up to cary you to a good place to sit so you can take a breather and hydrate. And even though you’re both sweaty and a little stinky, Wrecker likes to keep you in his lap or at least keep his hands on you because you startled the big sweet boy and he just wants to make sure you’re alright.

The best way to show Wrecker how much you love him back is to reciprocate his affectionate touches and to set aside time to spend alone with him.

Wrecker absolutely melts when you hold his hand, his favorite is when you hold onto his index and middle fingers while he wraps his huge hand around your comparatively tiny one. He just loves the way your warm little hand fits within his own large one. He also likes knowing that you’re safe and sound right next to him when you’re walking.

After a long day, a hard mission, or an intense workout, Wrecker loves a nice massage. He’ll never ask for one, but when you offer he just can’t refuse. Your hands running along the expanse of his back and working out the knots in his muscles relaxes him more than anything and he’ll be nearly asleep before you’re done.

If you have some free time reserved and ask him to be the one to spend it with you, you’ll get to see Wrecker smile brighter than the stars as he enthusiastically accepts. Wrecker would do nothing or anything as long as it’s with you!

#the bad batch #star wars #star wars fanfic #tbh #wrecker bad batch #wrecker tbb #tbb wrecker #tbb wrecker x reader #i’m a lil nervy to post this since it’s my first fic on here!!!!! eeee wish me luck!

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unwantedtomost · 3 years

Text

the night before — sebastian stan

sebastian stan x fem!reader

word count: 2,644 words

summary: you were invited to your ex’s wedding and despite all logical reasoning, you decided to go. now it’s the night before the wedding and you’re in the same night club with your ex. time to make some more mistakes.

warnings: angst, crying, cheating, oral (fem receiving), unprotected sex.

a/n: i am going to make a part two because i want to explore this more. also, thank you so much for almost 500 notes on my first one shot! enjoy :)

The love of your life was getting married and it wasn’t to you. When you heard the news, you laughed out loud, a bit too loud for being in a quaint cafe. You thought that the girl Sebastian was dating was going to be nothing more than a rebound from you, even when you heard the news that they were engaged, you thought that it wasn’t serious. But now it’s the day before their wedding and you’re pretty sure she’s not a rebound anymore.

You wish you didn’t know what day the wedding was, but you did because you were invited. Sebastian invited you. What kind of asshole would do something like that? You know he saw it as taking the high road, being a bigger person, but it just came off as a pretentious douche bag move to show that he could be happy too. Without you. And how did this get past his fiance, Lauren? Did she want you to come?

You planned on not attending because why the fuck would you want to go? But then your friend, Emerson, talked you into it. “It’s in Hawaii,” “It’ll show him that you can still be friends,” “Rub it in their faces that you don’t care anymore.” They were all very shitty reasonings but you were drunk when you RSVP’d and even drunker when you booked the plane ticket. You had been drinking a lot in the weeks leading up to the wedding, it was the only thing that made all the nerves go away. You promised yourself that you would stop drinking so much after they were married and you intended on keeping that promise.

You had been trying your best to stay as far away from Sebastian as possible in the three-day period leading up to the wedding. It had been working well so far, until tonight. You and Emerson decided to go to a nightclub away from the resort you were staying at because you heard that that’s where the bachelor party was being held. Much to your surprise, that was false information. Now you’re starring at Sebastian from across the room with eyes wide and a jaw down to the floor.

“I thought you said they were gonna be at the resort!” You yelled at Emerson over the loud music.

“That’s what the bridesmaids told me,” she defended. “But it doesn’t even matter, we came out to have a good night. Fuck him! You can be nice tomorrow.”

You quickly started to regret every single one of your decisions you had made in the past three months. Accepting the invitation, booking the plane ticket, and leaving your hotel room tonight. You knew you shouldn’t be here but you were and you hated it.

“This was a mistake. I’m booking a plane ticket and I’m going back home. Tonight.”

“What?! You can’t do that.”

“The hell I can’t.” You grabbed your phone from your purse only to get it grabbed from your hand and shoved into Emerson’s pocket. “What the hell!”

“You’re not just going to leave.”

“Why not?”

“It’s been two years, y/n. You have been telling me that you’re finally over him for a year, that’s why we’re even here, right? Because you’re over him?”

You took in a shaky breath. No, you weren’t over him. You knew you should be, but you weren’t. You thought seeing him say “I do” would force you into moving on, finally letting him go. Now, you wanted to slap yourself for being so stupid.

“Yes,” you lie despite yourself.

“Good, so let’s go get you a drink and a hot piece of ass! And in the morning we’re going to watch as he gets married and you’re going to finally let go of him, okay?”

“Okay,” you nod.

You had to get over him, it had been two years. This was the way to do it. You would force yourself to let him go and be happy. That would make you happy … right?

You and Emerson walked to the bar, ordering shot after shot until you were dizzy. Then you ordered a long island ice tea which you did not need. After you basically chugged the drink, you made your way to the dance floor.

You changed from grinding on Emerson to random individuals and you couldn’t have cared less. Everything about tomorrow and moving on left your mind completely. Right now you were living in the moment, something you were always working to do. You could tell that the individual dancing behind you hadn’t switched for four songs, so you decided to turn around. You were hoping for it to be someone cute and nice. Someone to take you somewhere and fuck the worries away. Instead, it was Sebastian.

Your smile faded and so did his. You went still, your eyes trained on his. It felt weird to be the only people in the crowd not moving. You had lost all sense of anything, you didn’t know if you stood like that for seconds or for hours.

Something in your jumbled thoughts forced you to speak. “Hi.”

“Hi,” he yelled back. His face was unreadable at that moment, you blamed it on the alcohol but you weren’t sure if you could have deciphered what it meant even if you were sober. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Yeah, a few months, I think.” You were sure, it had been four months prior, right before you heard about the engagement. You ran into each other at a red carpet event and you tried your best to act normal.

“Do you … uh—do you want to go get a drink?”

You stood still again, silent. Your brain needed a minute to process the request. You definitely did not need another drink. “Sure.”

You followed behind Sebastian to the bar, a trip you had made with Emerson no less than an hour ago. He ordered himself a Screwdriver and you a Sex on the Beach, your favorite. You had both sucked down half of your drinks before either of you spoke.

“How are you?” He asked.

“Fine, I guess,” you replied. “How are you?”

“Good, good, really good.”

“That’s good.”

It went quiet again and even though the music all around you was blaring, it sounded only like white noise at this point. A thought came into your mind “tell him how you feel.” In a sober state, you would have shut down the thought immediately, but now it played on a loop. The chant continued to play in your head as you finished the last of your drink. You felt the tension in your body rise from your feet to the pit of your stomach, up past your throat, and to your head, making you dizzy.

“Can I tell you something?” You blurted out.

“Sure.”

“It’s loud in here.”

Sebastian chuckled, almost in relief. “Is that what you wanted to tell me?”

“No,” you said, too unaware to get how cringe-worthy you were being. “Can we go somewhere, uh, quieter?”

He nodded and you took his hand and went to go find a secluded location. You weren’t going to be that asshole who jammed the bathroom door shut. Also, you were pretty sure you’d get kicked out if you did that. It took a few minutes but you finally landed your sights on a room. The door was unlocked and you realized it was a coat closet, so you picked it as your location. You closed the door before turning back to Sebastian.

The music was quieter in here, it was muffled and far away. It smelled vaguely of cigarettes but you didn’t mind too much, it was dull.

“What did you want to tell me?” Sebastian asked, voice louder than it needed to be due to how unexpectedly quiet it was.

This was it, your one time to speak your mind. You might never get another situation like this ever again. You needed to let it all out.

“I don’t think I’m over you,” you confess. “And I really don’t know if I will ever be. I know it’s been two years and you’re getting married tomorrow, but I’m still not over you. I’ve been telling myself that when I see you at that alter tomorrow, everything is magically going to go away, but I don’t know if it will.”

“Why are you telling me this, y/n?”

“Because this is the one-shot I’m gonna get. You’re getting married tomorrow morning and you need to know this. Well, actually, you probably don’t, but I need to tell you. I need to let it out or otherwise, I think I might actually fucking explode.” You took a deep breath before the words started pouring out again. “When I heard you were engaged I laughed. It was funny that you were getting this poor girl’s hopes up when we all knew that you were just going to call it off. But you never did, and I was the only one laughing. I’m pretty sure that you were my person. And I think the only reason I accepted that we were done was because I didn’t think we were actually done. I thought you were gonna come back to me. I thought one day we would look back on this and laugh because it was so stupid.”

As you talked, your throat began to feel sore, your eyes stung from the tears forcing their way down your cheeks.

“I’m sorry about everything. I should have fought for us when we had the chance and I should give up right now and—”

Sebastian cut you off by cupping your face and wiping the tears away. “Hey, hey, hey,” he cooed softly, pulling you into him. You buried your face in his chest as he softly rubbed the back of your head. “It’s okay, you’re okay.”

His sweet tone made you cry harder. You wished he would have been mean. You wish he told you to get over it and move on. But he was sweet and consoling you because that’s the type of guy he was. He was the girl who consoled his ex-girlfriend on the night before his wedding. That’s the kind of guy girls want to marry, that’s the kind of guy you should have married. At least if he was an asshole, it would have easier to move on. No one gets hung up on the asshole, they get hung up over the good guy.

You pulled away from him, wiping the tears away with the back of your hand.

“Do you still love me?”

“Y/n…” he sighed.

“Tell me you don’t. God, please tell me you don’t. Tell me that you moved on and that you love her. Could you tell me that? Tell me that you never think twice about me and that you only invited me to your wedding because you honestly think we can be just friends. I need you to tell me you still don’t care. If you tell me that, I’ll walk out the door right now and you don’t ever have to see me again. I’ll wish you good luck on your marriage and I’ll be gone. Can you just tell me that? I really need you to tell me that.”

You looked up to him with pleading, puppy dog eyes. You wanted him—you needed him to tell you that it was never going to happen. You needed closure to move on.

“I-I can’t,” he confessed. “Not honestly.”

You let out a breath you were holding before pulling him closer. You kissed him deeply and passionately, you needed him. He pulled you closer, melting into your mouth. This was it, this felt right. You didn’t think about the repercussions, you couldn’t. All you could think about was his mouth on yours, his hands on your skin.

He backed you up so your back was flat against the door. The hand that wasn’t pulling you closer by the hip locked the door. He hoisted you up, seemingly with no effort as you wrapped your legs around his waist. You made haste with his button-up as he started to push your dress up your thighs. You stayed like that for a while, tugging, kissing.

After a while, Sebastian put you down. This made you nervous, was he going to leave you here? Was the kiss just one dumb, hot mistake?

Instead of walking away, he knelt down in front of you. He grabbed your panties and pulled them down your legs. You looked down at him and let out a moan at the sight of him; lips read and raw from kissing, eyes blown out with lust. He hiked your right leg over his shoulder before looking up at you, asking you if you wanted him to continue. You nodded aggressively, letting out a few whines of anticipation.

He dived in, sending you into a state of euphoria. You pressed your head against the door as your hands tugged at his jet black hair. You pulled your bottom lip between your teeth, trying your best to keep in whatever moans he coaxed out of you. You felt you were nearing your high, but he pulled away before you could get there.

You let out a cry at the loss of contact. You tryed your best to pull him back to you, but he instead pushed your hands away, pinning your wrists against the door. He stood back up, form towering over your own.

“You’re so fuckin’ needy,” Sebastian stated, voice low and raspy. He undid his pants before hosting you up against the door again. He pumped his member before putting the tip at your entrance, teasing you. “Are you sure?”

You nodded, pulling him closer by his shoulders. “Please, fuckin’ need you.”

With that, he pushed in, both of you letting out loud wanton moans. You forgot what is was like to be with him. He was on the bigger end of the men you’d been with and he was by far the best. As he thrusted into you, you started to realize how much you missed him every sense of the word. You missed the way he would kiss you in the morning, you missed the way he said he loved you in the middle of a fight, and you missed the way he grunted in your ear when you would have sex.

You both held each other close as he continued to snap his hips against yours. One of his hands reached down to rub your clit, making you let out another moan. You knew you were close again and you wondered how you could finish so fast when you were with him.

“I’m so close,” you warned.

“I know baby,” he cooed. “Wanna watch you.”

You leaned your head back so you could now see each others faces. He admired how you looked all fucked out and needy. He loved how your eye brows knitted together when you were trying not to cum and he loved the way you bit your lip every time he stared into your eyes. And he loved you.

“I love you, y/n,” he accidentally said, thoughts slipping into words.

Your eyes went wide but you couldn’t help but smile. “Fuck, I love you too, Seb.”

The confession brought you closer to your high and before you knew it, you were clutching his shirt in your hands as your legs cleanched around his waist. You both moaned loudly as you came, holding each other as close as possible. You stayed against the door, holding onto him tightly for a while. Then he slipped out of you and set you back down on shaky legs.

“Did you mean it?” You asked after minutes of staring into his eyes.

He hesitated, “yes.”

“Now what are we gonna do?”

#Sebastian Stan #sebastian stan smut #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan x y/n #bucky barnes smut #bucky barnes #fanfic #tfatws #oneshot

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