#it can become our rite of passage
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I dare you to rewatch all Byler scenes from S4 with Careless Whisper in the background .
I fucking dare you.
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Rite of Passage
Summary: Spencer is home alone with his daughter when she gets her period for the first time
Request: Spencer and Reader are married. They have a teenage daughter who gets her period for the first time (initially requested to @imagining-in-the-margins)
Pairing: Technically Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader but it’s mostly about Spencer and his daughter!
Category: Comfort, Fluff
Content Warnings: mentions blood, menstruation, period hygiene, cramps, female anatomy and biology, crying, food
Author's Note: I wrote this for @/imagining-in-the-margins Kid Fic Writing Challenge!
Masterlist
Sunday mornings always brought a certain calmness with them. Spencer was still half asleep when you kissed him goodbye, leaving for a little day trip with your friends when the sun was barely up.
Spencer mumbled something that should have sounded like I love you before he closed his eyes once more, looking forward to some father-daughter quality time with your wonderful kid Marie.
That was until he was awoken by shrill screams coming from her room.
You were long gone when Spencer jumped out of bed, all of his years working with the FBI having him expect the worst. He rushed into his daughter’s room, finding her sitting in her bed, a look of horror spread across her face.
“Are you okay!?” Spencer almost yelled when he reached her bedside.
His daughter slowly shook her head while pulling back the blanket, revealing small blood stains on her pajama pants and the sheets. It only took Spencer a split second to realize what was happening. His facial features softened instantly.
He thought he still had a few more months, maybe even another year, until this would happen. He had also hoped that you would be home for this occasion, certainly handling this a lot better than he ever could.
“Oh sweetie,” he cooed while sitting down on the edge of her bed. “I think you got your period.”
Instead of saying anything, Marie just buried her face in her hands and started wailing. Spencer wasn’t sure if she was still in shock or if the general discomfort made her cry.
“It’s okay. It just means you’re becoming a woman.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he wished he could have taken them back. He hated the thought that his little girl was actually growing up more than anything. And it certainly didn't help in this moment.
Without thinking about it, he did what he was most comfortable with and started rambling, “We talked about this, do you remember? It means that your uterine lining is shedding which results in the discharge of blood through your–”
“Dad!” She cried. “Please stop talking about my… you know! It’s weird!”
“I’m sorry, I’ll stop.”
His little girl wiped away some tears from her cheeks before muttering, “Where’s mom? I wanna talk to her.”
Spencer sighed. He would have liked nothing more than to be able to let you take over right then. “She already left for her day trip. She won’t be home until six.”
This explanation only led to more crying. Spencer reached out his hand to offer comfort with a gentle touch on her arm but Marie shied away from him.
“I feel gross,” she whined.
“Why don’t you hop in the shower to get clean and then change into fresh clothes?”
It seemed like he finally said something helpful. Her sobs simmered down as she got up from her bed to walk over to the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Spencer quickly changed the sheets and put out some clean clothes for his daughter before disappearing in his bedroom.
He let out a loud breath as he reached for his phone to call you. Before you could say anything, he blurted out, “She got her period and won’t stop crying and I don’t know what to do!”
“Oh my poor girl! Is she with you right now?” You wanted to know.
“She’s in the shower. Can you please come home?”
You knew that he wasn’t being serious. A quiet laugh escaped our mouth before you said, “Don't be so dramatic, Spencer. I’m sure you're very capable of handling this.”
“I told her that her uterine lining was shedding. It was not helpful,” he sighed.
“Yeah, maybe hold off on the biology lesson for now. You know where my pads are, right?”
“Oh yeah, right. She's gonna need them.” Spencer paused for a second. “Oh god, what if she wants to use a tampon? I can’t explain that to her. That conversation will make the both of us cry.”
“Give her a pad for now, those are self-explanatory. I can talk to her about tampons later if she wants.”
“Okay, okay, yeah. She just turned off the shower, I gotta go!”
“Good luck! And stop panicking!”
That was easier said than done. Spencer almost jumped when he heard Marie knocking on the bedroom door.
“You can come in!”
His daughter, tightly wrapped in a bathrobe, stepped into the room. She had stopped crying but still seemed upset. Spencer’s heart always broke a little when he saw his little girl in discomfort.
“I’m still uhm…bleeding,” she whispered.
“Yes, that's gonna last a couple of days,” Spencer replied with a soft voice. He disappeared in the master bathroom for a second to get a pack of pads. “Here. Do you know how to use them?”
“I’m not an idiot, dad,” she snubbed.
The tone of her voice gave away how irritated she was. Usually Spencer would remind her to be more respectful but decided to let it slide this time.
“I know, Mimi. I just wanted to make sure,” he said instead.
The use of this nickname for his daughter was yet another reminder of a time that seemed so long gone right then. Marie had trouble pronouncing her own name as a toddler so she’d say Mimi instead. Spencer loved it so much that he stuck with it ever since.
Without saying another word, she disappeared in her room. Spencer rubbed his temples for a moment before getting ready for the day himself. He decided to give his daughter some space and prepare breakfast in the meantime.
He was focussed on not burning the chocolate chip pancakes he was making when Marie stepped into the kitchen.
“I’m sorry I snapped at you,” she mumbled.
Spencer turned his head to smile at his daughter. “It's okay, sweetie. I know you aren’t feeling well.”
She placed her hands on her lower stomach and muttered, “It hurts.”
“Here,” Spencer said as he reached for the hot water bottle he had already prepared. “Heat has a proven effect on relieving period cramps.”
“Thank you.”
A timid smile appeared on her face when she realized her father was preparing her favorite breakfast. She stepped closer to catch a glimpse of the pan while chirping, “Chocolate chip pancakes?”
“You know I’d do anything to make you feel better, Mimi,” Spencer spoke in a soft voice while offering his daughter a hug.
This time she accepted, tightly wrapping her arms around him. Spencer was relieved that he didn’t mess up yet another thing. Marie was very bright and realized something Spencer had thought about earlier, too.
“Wait,” she said as she stepped back. “You always make mom her favorite meal when she’s in a bad mood.”
“You have a lot in common with your mother, “ he explained. “I figured I should try what works for her.”
“Now you’ll have to deal with two cranky girls in the house,” Marie laughed while taking out two plates.
“I really don't mind,” he sincerely replied. “I can’t imagine what it’s like to have all kinds of uncomfortable side effects during your period. Taking care of your mom – and now you – is the least I could do.”
After a moment of silence she said, “Earlier you said that I’m becoming a woman now. I thought about that when I was in the shower… What if I don't wanna grow up yet?”
“I don’t know if that helps, but… You’ll always be my little girl,” Spencer responded while filling both plates with pancakes.
“So you’ll still watch Disney movies with me?”
A wide smile spread over Spencer’s face as he took the plates to walk over to the couch. “I was hoping you'd ask!”
Please like, reblog and leave a comment! I need your lovely words to stay motivated to write more stories.
Taglist: @nomajdetective @reidsbookclub @gspenc @samuel-de-champagne-problems @matthew-gray-gubler-lover @malindacath @reidselle @alexxavicry @frickin-bats @spencersprettyslut @sebs-oxygen @happymangospot @cynbx @hotchandspencearedilfs @emiliaserpe @thenerdthatwrites @velvetthunder93 @saturnstringz @missabsey @guacam011y @hugyourlungs @reiderwriter @enamoradax @hales-17 @cham9ions @loaksulluyswife @ecneremili @xserenax-13 @grumpyy-bearr @luredwithpretzels @castiels-majestic-wings @super-nerd22 @pleasantwitchgarden @yeonalie @r-3dlips @evvy96 @torigorie @meyaareads @luvdella @luvley2k @bunnylovesani
#spencer reid#spencer reid fanfic#spencer reid fanfiction#spencer reid fluff#dr spencer reid#doctor spencer reid#spencer reid comfort#spencer reid x you#spencer reid x reader#criminal minds#criminal minds fluff#criminal minds fanfic#criminal minds fanfiction
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I need to... (7)
... Solve this
A Targaryen special
MASTERLIST
Summary: A few weeks with the Targaryens
Pairings: Cregan Stark x Fem!Reader
Warnings: There are mentions of them being Minors! at some point in their relationship, cursing, cheating, angst, depression, inappropriate relationship student/professor, might miss some warnings. I smoked something, and the holiday in the seven Kingdoms is celebrating the coming of Azhor Ahai, aka the princess that was promised, aka our Dany, who saved the au from eternal winter HAHA take away my computer
Wordcount: 3.8 k
Notes: This was hard, and I can safely say this will be the only chapter like this haha I did not check this, like I said, my brain melted jeje
I never wanted anyone else but my gorgeous girlfriend, ever, with her I had it all. The looks, the brains, the sex, the image. She wanted to go to that frosted wasteland, that was not even ranking in the first three universities, so I convinced her to go in the right direction, it was good of me, not bad, it was what she had to do, to become the best version of herself, the one who was perfect to become the wife of a politician. She was perfect for the imagine of a wholesome family, the one I was going to give to her.
I was Jahaerys, she was my Alyssane
I had her, she was here with me, in Dragonstone, we were set for forever, I put a ring around her finger, a promise ring, I had my mother’s blessing, my father’s too, her godmother was a powerful friend of the family who gave money for my father and his career
So what if I enjoyed a bit of female’s attention? So what if now I realize, that, under the right setting, under the proper social circle, I was the most interesting and sought after man in the entire school?
What if I wanted to test how far I could take it?
Fucking a professor was like a badge of honor amongst guys, at least, that is what Criston Cole told me around campus, that if I managed to pull it off I could be some sort of God, I was just, reaffirming what I already knew
That I belonged at the top of the food chain, in Dragonstone University
And my girlfriend didn’t have to know, she was already here by my side, with my friends, my school, dependent on me…
If you think about it, all men go through it, the younger version, the older one, this is just like that, a rite of passage
Sadly, you did not see things as I did, you didn’t see the bigger picture, the future of us together, having a successful career, after letting out steam in our younger years, I thought you were going to be the Cyresse to me Maegor, there through everything, but no…
Your shortsightedness was very illuminating for me
You did not see things so far into the future, and that was probably my fault for not train you properly for that, for what was expected of me, and now you for being my girlfriend, the picture my parents and even grandfather had painted for me and I was so eager to fulfill. The perfect roll.
My oldest sister was a disappointment, my brother Aegon was a disappointment, Helaena was… barely there
It fell on me
To be the perfect son
And I was gladly going to take that roll
Because I could…
I was going to finish my degree in politics and diplomacy, I was going to marry my powerfull girlfriend, and I was going to give myself to public service and life, following a political career, it was all laid out for me…
But this was just fucking great
As I watch her walking away from me in the dorm’s hallway, I knew something was going to be different
This wasn’t like other times, when we fought… no, it has to be, she needed time to cool off, the anger needed to dissipate, and when she weighs in the pros and cons, like she always did, she was going to achieve the conclusion that suited me, that she had to forgive me, there was too much to loose for her. Nothing had to change, not a single part of my plans
What is a politician's life without a bit of scandal?
Now I have other things to take care off
My steps are sharp and decisive, no matter how fucked up things look like, I have to keep my composure
I know that at this time of day, she must be cleaning her art supplies after her sophomore’s class… And there is exactly where she was, with her back turned to me
“I want a paternity test”, is the first thing I say once I check quickly for undesired ears. She turned around and she looks shocked
“She told you? really? I was hoping to tell you tonight, I… had something planned, I gave her class an entire research about…”
“Before we do anything, I want a paternity test”, I repeat, no, this cannot happen to me,
“I’m only like eight weeks”, she said, her hand on her lower belly
“I will wait”, she frowned, which by now, I have never seen her do, frown lines were not something that she had on her face
“What happened?”, she asked, suddenly angry
“She knows”
“I know that”, she said
“And it never crossed your mind giving me a heads up? she had known for a week!”, I growled
“She pulled her threatricks today in my class, and I found out she knew”, she whined back, “but why does it matter?”, she kept asking, “you are finally free”
“For what?”, I ask, “to be with you?”, she looked like I slapped her, my sharp and disgusted tone gave that effect
“I thought that’s what we were doing”, she said, fixing her hair, trying to keep her composure, “being… together…”
“How do I know I was the only one you were fucking?”, I asked point blank, and she moved her hand quickly, I turn my face as her finger collided with my cheek, the sting came after
“I thought what we had was special”, she whined, tears in her eyes
“That I was going to drop everything for this?”, I asked bitterly
“I can be what you need”, she purred, I chuckled darkly
“like I said, I want a paternity test”
“Is yours!”, she fought
“I need it in writing”, I say back
“Why don’t you believe me!?”, she was losing it
“Because I barely know you, and you said, you were taking care of yourself, and clearly you aren’t”
“No birth control is 100% effective”, she bit
“If the child is mine, the money won’t be a problem”, I said formally
“The money?”, she said back, “what about you?”
“I’m a Targaryen, I cannot be involved in this”, I only muttered, and I left the room
I had finals, I couldn’t be bothered, I had a plan and…
Fuck fuck fuck
The words in front of me, in my book, about the Valyrian republic started playing in my mind, dancing across the page, and suddenly I Was re-reading for the third time the same page because i couldn’t process the words
This is ridiculous
The plain page mocking me, the huge amount of information right then in front of me…
Fuck
Where are those stupid study cards?
Flashcards, I searched for them in my suitcase and once I found them, with your lettering, and colors for me to learn by chapter, one color a different chapter…
But these were old, for the midterms, not for the finals…
FUCK
How hard could it be?, I started rereading, and summarizing, and after four hours and the librarian kicking me out of the library, I had nothing
A day wasted
How the fuck did I became so codependant in a studybody? even if that studybody was you?
The final was tomorrow, and I barely scraped two chapters of the four
This was going to be a long night
Not even Cole could pull me off of this
The next day, after I barely slept I barely kept myself awake to give the damn test
I was obviously going to pass, but… I was not so sure about the excellency grade on this one
I’m so fucking pissed.
How could you abandon me at a time like this?
So selfish and short sighted
I slip one time, once! and this is how you are supposed to support me? be by my side?
Two days had passed and no news from her, anything, she had left her ring on my nightstand front he last time we fucked, and she won’t even text me to get it back, and that was worrying…
So, deciding I should be the bigger person and apologize so we can leave all of this nightmare behind us, I went to look for her…
Alys’ baby wasn’t mine, I knew so, I heard about this sort of thing all the time, I was not going to fall on this, she was trying to babytrap me, and I was not going to let that happen.
And you? you were punishing me, it's alright, I can take it, soon you will be back in my arms, and our lives together were going to be back on track
This was just a slump on the road, and you both should be thankful that happened so early on, so you could control it, and make it disappear in the rearview mirror
And that is why, when I knocked on your dorm room, I found it strange that your name had been erased from the small white board on the door, and then Maris opened, and when she saw me, her eyes lit up, and her mouth shaped to a sick grin
“Aemond”, she greeted
“Maris”, I said shortly, “is (y/n) here?”, and her smile only got wider
“She told you the other day! she left”
“What?”, I asked
“Yes, she left!”, she opened the door and took a step away for me to look into the room, and her entire side was empty, completely gone, she, was gone, even her bed, Maris had already invaded your side
“Where is she?”, i ask, feeling all blood leaving my face
“A nice, older lady came one day and helped her put everything in boxes, and in a couple of hours…”
“Fuck!”, I slammed the door no my way out and I cursed the day that nosey Cerenna decided to finally meddle in your life
She was a poor influence on you, she has always had been
I grab my phone and dialed your number, number five on speed dial
It didn’t even ring.. did you?
No
I looked up the texting app and…
No photo
I send a text…
And… no double tick
No… no, no, no, no
Instagram?
Couldn’t find you
No
No, you were just punishing me, you were going to come back, you always did
Maybe you got scared, and Cerenna came and picked you up, but you were not leaving, not permanently, you were coming back
You were
So I wrote the first email
But it rebounded
Even email, uh?
So I created a new email address, and I wrote the first one
No big deal
I had other finals to get to
And giving you time to cool down was the best idea.
So I did my best
The amnio test I had to make Alys take was in about one more month, according to her… so nothing I could do until then, until after Winter Break
I just had to keep it together, nothing had a turning point, I still didn’t hit the point of no return, I knew it
Fuck Fuck
The semester was over, and I didn’t even want to join the celebrations of my classmates, or with Cole, who knew the dirty details of the lowest parts of Dragonstone, the whole city
But I didn’t have it in me
In fact, every desire I still held to celebrate the successful first semester of university was killed when I received word from my father, that we were all supposed to spend holidays together in King’s Landing… and all of us ment
Fucking Rhaenyra and all her family
The liberals, the underdogs, the pariahs
It was going to be interesting
As soon as I arrived, the questioned was asked
“Where is she?”
As always you were expected to spend the holidays with us, and now, not even I had an answer for your whereabouts
“She is spending it with Cerenna”
“But they live in King’s Landing dear, didn’t you invite them? I’ll have to call them”, muttered my mother.
I looked at her intensely as she dialed the number, but it rang and rang, and nothing
No one answered
“That is strange”
“Cerenna mentioned she wanted to take her to a small vacation, you know they both aren’t as festive”
“But dear, is the week before the elections!”, she said urgently
“I know”
It was expected of me to take you back into the fold
So I did as the men before had done, before cell phones existed
I went to your house
But it was empty, and no, I’m running errands empty
Empty empty as we will not be coming back anytime soon
We all lived in the same neighborhood, at the top of Rhaenys’ hill, a very exclusive palace
And then when I first started to think, you were not going to be so forgiving
At least, not as easy
If you had been with another man, I would have been difficult to forgive you, I would have make you work hard for my forgiveness, it was alright, I was going to put up the work
When I came back to my father’s house, I came face to face with Jacaerys
“Jace”, I greet shortly
“Uncle”
“How is that frozen wasteland?”, I asked
“How is that sticking up your ass they put you in Dragonstone?”
“Feels great”, i mutter
“So as freezing my ass off”, he answered
That little shit, that because he had other beliefs and wants to fight for survival in his university he believes he is better than me
Tonight the festival in the commemorations of Azor Ahai, the princess that was promised was commencing and it was going to be a whole week long, it was indeed going to be a long weekend, celebrating the coming of our savior, who saved us from eternal winter.
As my mother was performing her prayers, a phone dinged you opened your eyes to look at Jace, who took only one look at his screen and his face lit up, and then looked straight at me, with a mocking grin on his face
He had asked about you
I told him you were taking the holidays to be with your godmother
But something in his smiled and his mocking eyes
That little shit knew something
“Where is (y/n)?”, he asked out loud, I growled
“I told you, she is in vacations with Cerenna”
“I don’t think she is”
“This is hardly appropriate”, mocked Alicent
“But concerning”, said Daemon, who presence here I still don’t understand, “elections are next week, and the Lannisters are not in town”
“How do you know?”, I ask
“Oh I know”, he mocked, Laena, hsi wife, smiled shyly, mockingly
Where they all in on it
“What does it mean?”, asked Viserys, recently catching up
“It means that neither Aemond’s girlfriend, nor her billionaire sympathizer godmother, nor her family of billionaires and politics financiers are here for election week, and i’m guessing, the reason for their absence has something to do with the fact that your son, has no fucking idea of where her girlfriend is”
“Meaning?”, he asked again
“Iluminate us Aemondd, where is your girlfriend?”
“On travels”, I said
“On holidays? on election week?”, asked Daemon
“Yes”
“Aemond..”, whispered Alicent, “what did you do?”
“Nothing”, I growled
“You did something”, muttered Jace
“You know where she is”, i say angrily
“I know where she is going to be”, he mocked
“What does that mean?”, asked Alicent. I couldn’t take it anymore
You left Dragonstone, you canceled your enrollment, you finished your tuition. You told me you were going North and I didn’t want to believe it
“She left Dragonstone”, i say, “she met a guy from Winterfell University, and she left me, and Dragonstone”
“What?”
Rhaenyra had been oddly quiet, only looking at everyone, but now, she couldn’t hide her triumphant smirk in her cup of whine
“She left you?”, asked Alicent, horrified, “how could she do that?”
“The better question would be, what did you do baby brother?”, teased Aegon
“She left me”, i defended
“She wouldn’t do that without reason”, muttered Helaena, that, didn’t even seemed she was paying attention to the conversation
“What did you do Grandson?”, asked Otto HIghtower
“I told you, she left me”
“And she managed to convince the Lannisters to go with her? I don’t believe that!”, he said, raising his voice, Daemon laughed, drinking wine
What a great fucking dinner
“I’m sure there is an explanation for this!”, said Alicent
“She left with a guy named Ben”, I defended
“You know what? it doesn’t surprise me, she always looked like a problematic, wanton little tart”, the sound of a cup breaking in millions of tiny pieces made everyone fell quiet as Rhaenyra had crushed the damn thing with her bare hand
“Don’t you dare speak about her like that”, she growled. My mother only chuckled darkly, “she is the daughter of one of my best friends, and my son’s youth companion”
“Takes one to know one”, and that is when Jacaerys stood up
“If she left Dragonstone to follow her dreams clearly Aemond pushed her to do it, I know for sure the Lannisters wouldn’t get involved in all of this if the matter wasn’t serious”
“Jace”, called Viserys
“Call Tyland and ask him why he is not here”, hee demanded, “call him grandfather”
Viserys picked up the phone, and called his political ally, it ranged twice, and then it sounded like Tyland had hang up on him
“What did you do to my friend?:, asked Jace
“You haven’t spoken in years!”, I defended, “what do you know?”
“Enough!”, called Alicent, “we are in holidays”
The appetites were pretty much sated after that
I tried to speak to Jacaerys in the days that followed, but he wouldn’t tell me anything
Than the primaries came, and the Lannisters were a no show
And my father lost the primaries
Fuck
FUCK
And when I thought things couldn’t be any better
I was summoned into my father’s office, and when I entered, my parents, and my grandfather Otto were there
“What’s the matter?”, I ask
“Aemond, why did I receive an email about a Professor called Alys Rivers, saying she is expecting your child?”
FUCK FUCK FUCK
My phone ranged in my pocket, a text from Alys, a picture, a picture of us, fucking, a Terminantion letter..
All, in one day
“So now we know why we lost all the founding and costs us the elections!”, growled my Grandfather
It was the most humiliating afternoon of my life
Alys fired
A picture circulating Dragonstone University
Alys taking me down with her
an email from the Dean asking me to meet her as soon as the vacations are over
And you? never to be seen
Alys claims you took and send the picture around
You had received all my angry emails, at least they didn’t bounce, but still, no answer
Daemon, and now Jace knew where you were and yet, they wouldn’t tell me
My mother lost a chunk of her hair in the reunion where they were berating me. Viserys stood awfully quiet, looking at the table in front of him, clearly calculating how much this was going to cost him.
And Otto was calling lawyers to prepare for the meeting with the Dean
The freedom I had, the reliance I enjoyed from my family, the trust they had in me, the respect, everything was destroyed.
Now, I was no better than my brother who tried to study multiple careers and couldn’t finish one, the one who had multiple ladies and scandals with sex workers, I was no better than him, my mistake had been more permanent, more public, and that, in the world of politics, was unforgivable
And yet
And yet
I needed to find you
It wasn’t even later, after I had my grandfather threaten the Dean with letting me continue my studies or else, even after the time was up and I told Alys to take the test
She tried to tell me she had already taken it, that she had found a lock of my hair…
But I made her repeat it, so I went to the doctor with her.
And while I waited for the results, I started to think, to meditate
Maybe I could turn this around
Maybe, if the kid was mine, I could get married. Alys was exquisite, in looks at least, she was enticing, had something about her, I could train her, to dance to the politics’ song.
You could do it, make all of this worth it. The Lannisters were back, clearly just wanted to give us a scare, they will never support the Liberals, they were just taking a warning shot, perhaps…
Perhaps this could work
My father had a team, a PR team dedicated to this sort of thing, to spin things to make them look great, to gain advantage from the worst of points
Yes, if the baby was mine, I could spin this around.
And then the results came
NEGATIVE
What a surprise… a gold digger tried to baby trapped me and she didn’t even do it right
She accused me to my mother of fathering a lie…
And now…
FUCK!
If you had never found out, if Alys haven't told my mother
But you did, she did, you blew up everything, she also, and now… I had nothing…
As I stared at the results on that paper
“I never want to see you again”, I say to the woman in front of me
“The test was wrong!!”, she cried
“You tried to baby trapped me, you accused me to my mother”, I growled
“You have to understand”
“If I see you again I’m going to make sure you never get another job teaching”, I threatened, and in tears, she left the apartment I had rented
My respect from my family was gone
My flawless record in my elite university was gone
My reputation was tainted
You were gone
Since the second I lost you, I continued to lose everything else…
No…
If I win you back, if I take you back, I bring you back to me, all the problems were going to be solved
So I put all my contacts to work, but I didn't have to look too far…
Jacaerys was happy to share pictures in a pagan party, and you were on them
Winterfell Fucking University
And who was that fucking guy looking at you in all the pictures that look like a wolf pup?
lIke I say, my brain melted... I dind't even corrected this, is just rambling, but an insight of what happened when Aemond's life imploded!
taglist!
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#misguidedneed#aemond targaryen#aemond targaryen x reader#aemond#hbo house of the dragon#house of the dragon#house targaryen#aemond x reader#aemond fanfiction#house of the dragon aemond#hotd aemond
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𝔇𝔯𝔢𝔰𝔰 - 𝔍𝔗𝔎
jtk x f!reader
I love this song SO much UGH
warnings: alcohol usage, mentions of fwb situation, hickeys, lil angst
THIS BLOG IS 18+ MINORS DNI
taylor's version masterpost
reputation masterpost
☮
Our secret moments in your crowded room
They got no idea about me and you
Even though your own gaze had found purchase on the chip in your big toe’s nail polish through your open toed heels, another’s scorched your cheek. His stare was reminiscent of the ones he gave you in the bedroom, and you blushed at the thought. In his deep brown eyes, lay memories of the previous night, which could be found in the left side of your bed, where his shape had stayed because you couldn’t find it in yourself to make it and destroy whatever he had left.
You found that if you stared for too long, the craving for him would become abhorrently intense. By the smirk on his gorgeous face, you knew that he could see how shaky your champagne-filled hand and your deep breaths had become.
In your attempt to make it seem like you weren’t staring for too long - don’t attract too much attention - you realized you had lost him in the crowd. That being, before his long finger was tapping you on the shoulder and for a second, your heart stopped. The fear did not cause the abnormal beat, but his presence did, and everything seemed to halt in that moment.
Say my name and everything just stops
I don't want you like a best friend
“Enjoying yourself, sweetheart?” You rolled your eyes at his saccharine tone.
Caving in, you answered, “I would be more if there weren’t … such a crowd.” Subtle.
“I can see how that would bother you.”
When he offered no explanation, you countered, “How so?”
“Well those bruises peeking out from under all that makeup on your chest looks like they hurt.” You blushed, covering what only he knew was there.
“I told you not to be so … obvious with your … affection,” you lightly scolded him, even though you had practically begged him for them. The same way you would probably beg him later on.
He hummed as a first response, pausing then asking, “New dress?”
“Mhm.” You took a sip of your champagne, your head swimming despite how little you had drunk. “New other things too.”
He couldn’t even reply before Josh was pulling him away, apologizing but insisting his presence was required. You scoffed when you saw Jake clearly playing wingman for Josh, some girl hanging off of his arm, and you downed your drink, heading for another.
At the end of the night, Jake ended up at your apartment once more. The tipsiness was affecting both of you but your drunken kissing was so much more intoxicating.
Everyone thinks that they know us
But they know nothing about
“You’re all mine, you know that?” It wasn’t in the normal dominating tone he donned in the bedroom. There was a softness to him in that moment, and he caressed your jaw as he spoke and even after.
You looked at him in earnest, wondering how anyone could ever deserve him. “I know Jakey.”
“I don’t think you do.” He smiled and went back in for another sparkling kiss. He was yours but Jake Kiszka belonged to everyone around him: his brothers, his friends, his fans.
You needed him like you needed the air around you to fill your lungs, and some part of you hoped he needed you in the same way. It was a selfish thought, of course, but you had given up the most needed parts of yourself to him. Your affection was his, your hope was his, your heart, well, I think you know.
When your “relationship,” or whatever it was, first started, you had the generic friends-with-benefits rules: no mouth kissing, no staying the night, no feelings etc. However, as time passed, the rules felt arbitrary, and you had both come to ignore them no matter the personal cost. Jake loved the taste of your lips after a night out with your friends. You loved curling up next to him, and, even more, waking up with him. The feelings were there, yet unspoken. The last rite of passage before it became an official relationship, and neither of you were sure when to take that step. You needed him to confirm what you already held as fact. So much that you were willing to almost ruin it.
Carve your name into my bedpost
'Cause I don't want you like a best friend
“Danny asked me out.” He was silent, and you watched his eyes harden.
“Well,” he cleared his throat, “what did you say?” You scoffed.
He could be so dumb when he wanted to be. “Of course, I said no.” Like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and it was.
“Why?” The obvious answer would be that you loved Jake, but that wasn’t even the obvious question. Jake wasn’t asking why you turned his friend down, he was asking why you told him. Truthfully, you weren’t really sure.
Your throat tightened a bit as you spoke, “I just wanted you to know.”
“Know what, exactly?” He asked with a hum and a sharp inquiry of your name.
“I-I don’t know, know that he asked. Know that other people are interested. Know that I feel like I’m losing every sense of self the longer I tell myself that one day you’ll man up and tell me that you love me so I don’t have to keep telling myself!”
Even in my worst lies
You saw the truth in me
He softened. “I never meant for that to happen, baby.” Tears had nearly breached the edge of your eye and you wanted them to, to make him feel worse, to know that he made you cry.
“I don’t want to keep pretending that our relationship is strictly professional, or god, friendly! If it’s a conflict of interest, I-I’ll fucking resign and find something else, but I don’t want to find anyone else to share my heart with, Jacob, I can’t.” I already gave it all to you - went unspoken.
“Okay,” he spoke calmly as he reached to hold you in his embrace, and you welcomed him.
“I’m not good at coming up with words on the spot, but I want you to know that every fiber of my being belongs to you, that my soul is yours to keep and cherish for as long as you want. I love you.”
Only bought this dress so you could take it off
〚taglist〛
gvf: @doodle417, @brokenbellz, @gretavanfleas, @pyrojoshy, @greta-van-chaos, @xserenax-13, @hayley1623, @kdarling1, @autumns30, @keighoe, @chalametpwk, @sammysvanfeet, @shawnsthighs, @gretavanbitches, @sammiejane22, @gretavanbestie, @jordierama, @alexxavicry, @spark-my-nature, @rainy-darling
jokey: @loofypoofy, @livkiszka
#josh kiszka#jake kiszka#danny wagner#sam kiskza#josh gvf#jake gvf#danny gvf#sam gvf#greta van fleet#gvf imagine#gvf fic#jake kiska fic#jake kiszka smut#jake kiskza x reader#greta van fleet fan fiction#greta van fic
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Ours.
In which you and your wife plot on the boy that comes from a star.
Ours. Neytiri X Jake X reader (Small angst, fluff smut)
⚠️warning⚠️
Smut, cursing, moat being delulu, threesome, small text
“You know, I admire you Jake. You are strong, even when you’re on the brink of death.” You say, voice soft while you dip the tips of your fingers in the war paint. The man in front of you smiles softly as he listens to you, big amber eyes never leaving your pretty face as your fingers gently pressed against his jaw, and slid down the long columns of his neck.
He shouldn’t be feeling this way towards you, no, you were mated with his teacher for god's sake!
And she was mated with you, the worrier that would one day become the leader of this clan.
He took a shaky deep breath, throat bobbing against your slim fingers as he tries to gather his guilty thoughts.
It was time for his Uniltaron, his dream hunt.
The dream hunt was very dangerous, it is a rite of passage in which the Na'vi seek their spirit animal. Usually, the warriors participate, sometimes even the hunters.
In the beginning stage of the ritual, you are fed a glow worm, then stung with an arachnoid. Its venom slows your heart, bringing you close to death to help you find your bond.
Many navi die from this, but many survive, becoming our greatest warriors. You survived it, Neytiri, your mate didn’t have a chance to as she was destined to be tsahik, Tsu’tey also survived it. You know Jake Sully can, he will survive it.
“You are strong, brave… a little stupid.” You said the last part with a grin, plump lips coming back on your fangs as Jake chuckles. “I know the risks… your mate taught me well,” he says, voice barely above a whisper as your painted fingers go down his shoulders and chest.
“But I want to be with the omatikyan. I want- no I need to prove myself. I… want you all to trust me.” Finally peeling your amber eyes away from his blue skin, your eyes meet with his. He was genuine, eyes dilated as they were already stuck on yours. “Well…survive this Jake silly,” your heart flutters from the intensity of his eyes, tail thumping against your thigh.
He truly wanted to be one of you. “And not only will you be omatikyan, you will be family. You will be our brother… a strong worrier that is loyal to us..then you will choose a mate, and you will be loyal to them.”
“Yawne? Is he ready?” Her long legs were the first thing you saw as she turned the corner, beautiful white paint you placed on her beforehand was carefully painted against her face, shoulders, chest, and arms.
Eyes meeting your wife’s eyes, you smile softly, which she returns to you. “Stum, yawne. Come, help me get him prepared.” Neytiri hums softly, golden eyes scanning the unfinished canvas on his back.
“Hey.” The male gives your wife an awkward nod, always feeling a little intimidated by her. “Hello,” she greeted back as she walks behind him, and settled herself on her knees. “Are you ready?” She asked, gentle fingers dipping into the bowl of paint, before meeting the warmth of his back.
“Um-yeah, somewhat heh.” And that was the truth. He knew how dangerous the dream hunt was, but he didn’t know how to prepare himself, how he should act, how painful it would be. “There is no somewhat. It is yes, or it is no.” This time it was you who spoke, fingers softly gliding their way down his hard stomach, causing him to get goosebumps from how low your fingers were.
You weren’t stupid, you knew what you were doing. Painting one’s body was an intimate act, no one should do it except the person's lover, or themselves. And definitely not someone who’s promised or mated to someone else.
Eyes looking up from his soft abs, and above Jake's shoulder, you were already met with the soft gaze of your wife, then the slight smile and a nod as she looks back down at the patterns.
You didn’t make this decision on your own, the both of you wanted him.
“W-well yes. I’m ready… as ready as I will ever be.”
If someone were to walk in, two wives sandwiching a dream walker, hands going over his body in such a detailing, delicate way, you’d be looked at crazy, no, not that a poly relationship was frowned upon, they were actually quite common, but because Jake Sully was yet to be apart of the clan.
“Good, then let us go jake sully, the tsahik and Olo'eyktan are waiting for your arrival.” You stood up, hand reaching out for your wife, which she took.
He watches as you reached your other hand for him, he was hesitant to take it, but you raised your invisible brow, signaling him to hurry. He was quick to grab it, a gasp leaving his mouth as you pulled him up with ease, making him stumble against you, but you stood stiff, not even moving backward from the force.
He quickly sat up straight, eyes meeting your grin as you removed your hand from his, and placed it on his lower back as you lead your wife and him into the deep and darkest part of Hometree.
The hums from the spirit circle calmed down into a buzzing silence.
You and Neytiri glance up at each other, nothing but anticipation and nervousness floating throughout your bodies as you watch Jake go from grunting in pain, rolling in the soil to going limp, breathing heavily. He must’ve passed out, or this might be his last breath.
“He, has passed,” you almost raised from your knees to crawl to him, heart stuttering in panic as your mother-in-law utters those words “his test, he has passed his test.”
“Mother.” Neytiri sends a glare over to her mother, moat just sends you both a grin as you sink back down in the soil. Something is seriously wrong with that woman
“Come daughter, you are future tsahik, help me wake him.” Your mate was quick to crawl into her mother's space. Everything was already laid out
You watched as your mother-in-law and wife mixed and crush herbs before Neytiri took the bowl and poured it into a pouch. Moving close to the ground, your love presses the sack of herbs against Jake's mouth and nose.
He took in one large breath before his eyes snapped open and a fit of coughing escaped from him. “O-oh god! It’s like smelling salts, get it away!” He coughs out, face turning the opposite way. The crowd around him released a chuckle from the reaction. “What is god? What is smelling salts?” Neytiri asked while placing a hand on his back.
“My love, no time for questions.” Your smile was wide as you crawled to the avatar, large eyes scanning his neck for the arachnoid sting. It was irritated and swollen, but nothing major. “Jake Sully,” Eytukan speaks up, voice loud, eyes proud as he reaches his hand up for the male to take.
Neytiri and you stand together as your father-in-law gives Jake Sully a nod of approval. “Congratulations brother. We shall celebrate!”
And celebrate you did, the night was beautiful. After Eytukan placed his hands upon Jake Sully's shoulders, you as the next leader were honored to wrap the band around his waist. “You are now one of us Jake Sully… You will protect us as we will protect you. Don’t disappoint us.”You joked, smile never leaving your face. “Never.” He responded, a smirk on his face as he never breaks contact.
During the middle of the celebration you slowly pulled Jake away from the crowds. “Come. I must show you something important.” You ignored the man’s questions as you dragged him through the lit forest.
“Ma Jake, ma y/n!” Neytiri called out with a smile, hands extending for both of your hands. “This, is Utraya Mokri, the tree of voices” you explain to the male as you walked with them on both of your sides. You released their hand and turned to them, Neytiris tail swaying back and forth with excitement as she gently grabbed the tendrils and gave you and Jake one.
“Here, we connect with Eywa, to hear the voices of our ancestors. This is a place for prayers to be heard. And sometimes answered.” Your wife explains as she grabs her queue and lets the nerves wrap around the tendril, with you following along with a deep breath.
Jake watches the both of you with a parted mouth before he grabs his braid, and connects to the tree. “Whoa.” He whispers and sighs. He watches as you and Neytiri make eye contact with dilated eyes and a soft smile, whispers going through his head that didn’t belong to him.
“ They live Jake, within Eywa. It is something very special to us. Something we share with the people we love.” You spoke, four-fingered hand making its way around jakes bicep. “And you’re sharing it with me?…” he looks into your shining eyes, the lights reflecting from them so beautifully.
“Jake…” Neytiri starts, hand grasping her braid and disconnecting it from the tree. “Today you finally became one of the people, omatikyan. This is what you’ve been wanting, what we’ve been training you for. ” she smiles softly as you disconnected, making him do so as well.
“This means you can make a bow from the wood of home tree.” You began circling around the man, making him turn his head to follow your voice, but only turning it back to Neytiri as she speaks. “And you may choose a woman. If not a woman then a man.” Neytiri's eyes trail away from his in a jealous silence, you notice this and quickly make your way to your wife, holding her hand to pull her close.
As the two of you share longing looks, Jake slowly makes his way closer to the both of you. “We have many fine women, Ninat is the best singer.” You started off the list, eyes never leaving your wife’s until you felt the warmth of Jake's body closing in. “I don’t want Ninat.” He knew what he wanted, the first time the both of you threaten to kill him, he knew exactly what he wanted.
“There is Beyral- she is a good hunter.” Neytiri follows your eyes, also locking eyes with Jake Sully. “She is a good hunter.” With this, you gently squeeze your wife’s hand as she releases a sigh and looks up at the glorious tree above them. “But I don’t want her either.” You felt your heart relax in your chest as Jake raises his hands and places them on you and Neytiris cheek, thumb gently rubbing over her scar, pulling her attention back to him, and over your glowing freckle.
“I’ve already chosen.” His voice went softer as he looks you both in the eye, your tail wrapping around his leg as a way to claim him even if he hasn’t spoken his truth yet. “But these women must also choose me.” You break out into a smile, head turning to your wife, her eyes already facing you with excitement. “Jake…” you whispered, a hand coming to rest upon the curve of his jaw and neck. “They already have.” Neytiri finishes your sentence as you lean in close and capture his lips with yours.
The three of you sink down onto the glowing soil below you, lips detaching from yours to attach to Neytiris. For once you didn’t feel jealous and protective about your wife, this felt right, this is what was meant to happen.
As Jake pulls away from Neytiri, you waste no time on taking your braid in your hand, your wife mimicking your actions and Jake doing the same, breath releasing shakingly from anticipation. “Next, we bond.” Your smile was soft as you glanced at your wife, this being her favorite part, she was quick to bring her braid to the middle.
Jake watches her queue move around, arousal spiking throughout his body as connects his own to hers, and yours to his. Breathing in that euphoria and releasing a shaking breath, you grabbed Jakes hand and brought it up to your chest, to your fast-pacing chest.
“Do you feel us, Jake? Our hearts, our breath,” you drag his large hand down your beaded bra, then down your toned stomach until you get to the shorter cloth of your loin cloth. “How aroused you make us? Because,” you dropped his shaky hand and crawled up to him onto his lap to hold his head on your hands, your wife making her way behind him
“We feel the way we make you feel. You’re nervous,” he breathes out, mouth parted open and eyes fluttering as Neytiris mouth slides against the column of his throat. You leaned in, resting your forehead on his, feeling his warm breath on your lips “you want us.”
You attached your lips to his, kissing him with so much passion, Jake never noticed your wife untying the knots that kept your cloth upon your waist. “My love lay him down.” She whispered in your ears, and you listened to her,lifting your hips, causing the cloth to fall down, leaving you bare as you gently pushed him on the moss.
You pull away from his lips, cold breath filling your lungs as you catch it. “W-wait, are you guys positive this is the best idea?”
“Yes.”
“Of course.”
The both of you say at the same time, the tail behind you swaying up high in arousal. “Ma Jake, lift your hips.” His brows come together, but he does as Neytiri says, a shocking expression appearing on his face as he feels his cloth slide from his body and a moan leaving his parted lips as he felt his arousal slap against the plush of your butt.
“Yawne,” you leaned down above Jake, the tip of his hard-on grazing your plump clit as you hover your hips above his. “Ye-yes?” He stutters from the feeling, Neytiris thumb running against his swollen lips, strong gaze never leaving them, anticipating.
“Don’t you want our mate to sit on this sayrìp face of yours?” He feels his cock twitch at the question, goosebumps going up his neck and down the flesh of his queue, causing all three of you to feel it. He didn’t know what the hell you said, it could’ve been an insult but he didn’t care
“Fuck, yeah- yes do it” This was like a dream come true. You and Neytiri look up at each other, a small smile shared on your faces as she positioned her hips above his mouth. Without a second wasted, the two of you link hands while Jake wraps his arms around her thighs, pulling her down until her weight was damn near suffocating him.
You watch as her face relaxes, jaw opening slightly as she feels Jake's rough muscle slowly lap up her juices with a groan in his throat. “Sìltsan Neytiri~” you leaned in, giving her a kiss on the mouth. Releasing her hands from yours, weak fingers make their way below you to gently grip the hard-on that rubbed against your clit, causing the male below the two of you to twitch. “My love..” she breathes out “Are you ready?” You nod with a soft smile, nervousness shooting up your spine as you were about to lose your virginity to the man who comes from a star.
You release a breath as your wife lined him up with your slicked hole, her other hand coming up to grip your hips to help you glide down with ease. Pulling away from the sweetness above him, Jake takes in a deep breath as he feels your hot heat slide down him, causing his hips to jerk up.
“Oh fuck~” he curses out, fingernails softly digging into the skin of his future wife, making her whimper. “Jake~” both women moan out, you reaching the base while Jake pulls Neytiri back onto his tongue, lips going around her clit to suck.
It was going to be a long night.
________________
Not edited
Glossary;
Yawne:beloved
Sayrìp:Handsome
Ma: hey(y’all be thinking it means my)
#blackreader#domgirl#femreader#top!reader#dom!reader#sub jake sully#sub avatar#avatar smut#avatar 2009#avatar 1#avatar the way of water#sub Neytiri#sub character
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𝐆𝐎𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 — 𝐖𝐄𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐓
𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: You want to hate her, but hate that you can't blame her. She has Wes's heart something you’ve longed for.
𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆(𝐒): purely angst
𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 2,088
𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: Wes Bennett & fem!Reader
𝐀/𝐍: I hope you enjoy it! I'm being extremely harsh on my writing rn so this might seem good to you but I'm critiquing this piece so much! Also, Olivia Rodrigo has a hold on me bad rn. Inspired by 'Lacy'.
𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓
You couldn't pinpoint when exactly you let yourself be heartbroken for a boy, a boy who didn't even know just how much you longed to have his heart. To want him to see you and look at you like he did at Liz. Like you hung the stars in the sky. But he never did...he wouldn't cause his heart beat for her, and there was nothing you could do but let him go.
"What are you doing out here?" You look up to find Wes making his way over to you.
"Trying to understand why prom is considered this penultimate high school rite of passage..." You blow a raspberry.
"And?" Wes plops right on down beside you.
"It's not. If anything it's overhyped. I mean hours spent poring over makeup tutorials, fingering elegant ball gowns at the mall until you find the right one, and visualizing how the night will potentially play out. It's overwhelming. And don't get me started on the obnoxious public proposals in front of the whole school. What rite of passage is it? We're conditioned to obsess about how we look, how our hair is done, how our nails are shaped, and whether we'll have some eye candy on our arm when we walk through the front doors. They make it seem like if you don't attend you miss out. Well, I'm here...what am I missing?" You gesture to the double doors. Wes frowned, his head dipped as he looked over to meet your clearly broken expression. You were troubled, he could tell by the way you overthought about something, this something being prom.
"Can I give my two cents?" He wanted to test the waters. Not wanting to further ruin your already bad mood.
"Will it contradict my running argument about Prom?" Your voice comes out softer than you imagined it to.
"It might, but I won't if it'll upset you again." He admitted.
"You can proceed..." You mutter anxiously.
"I don't see it as this rite of passage okay? Coming to prom, I didn't have this structured idea in mind that I was gonna become this new person. If anything's overhyped it's thinking you have to have sex on this one night. Certainly not what I was aiming for tonight. If anything...I'm just happy we all got to be in the same room one last time. Things haven't been so great within the group, but tonight, for just this one night, we all let our guards down and are spending it together. We're surrounded by all our friends whom we love, and having a great night. Well, not everyone..." He smirked, nudging you with his elbow gently. You rolled your eyes at him. "You wanna tell me the real reason you're sitting out here alone and not inside." This makes you scoff in shock. You let your shoulders slouch forward in defeat.
Of course, he read right through me.
“What gave me away?” You hum in amusement.
“You’ve been planning for this night since second grade after your mom told you about it.”
Oh right. That she did.
“If we’re being honest about how this night has been for us.” You exhale deeply. You rub your hands up and down your calves. Your skin feels cold to the touch. “You may not have had a structured idea in mind, but I did. I played out this ideal visualization of how the night would potentially play out, but turns out obstructed ideas just stay that…silly little ideas.” You laugh out nervously. “It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for me tonight, and it’s not going to be.”
“Can you tell me?” The edges of his mouth curled downward once more. You made it your goal to never have to see him frown again right then and there.
“No.” Your saddened smile was written with a taste of acceptance. Sitting with him, talking to him, and gracious for his attentiveness. The way he always listened and never interrupted you, or anyone for that matter. Made you realize that you’d never have his heart wholeheartedly, only momentarily.
“Why not?” He gave a shrug. The laugh he released weighed heavily against your ears.
“Cause it’d change everything.”
“Change everything? What do you mean?” His brows furrowed.
“N-Nothing.” You started fidgeting with your fingers. Finding it difficult to let your gaze fall on his this time.
“Hey, don’t do that.” He pushed. Not wanting you to close off on him.
“We should head back inside the group is probably wondering where we are?” You looked over your shoulder. Yet the grab of your shoulder brought your attention back onto him.
“What aren’t you telling me?” His brows were knitted in thought. Wondering what the hell you meant by it’d change everything.
“Nothing. I said everything I wanted to say.” You smile but it does nothing to convince him, especially with the bullshit of an answer you just gave him.
“Y/n, I’m serious-“
“Hey, you two. There you are, been looking all over for you!” Your heads whip over your shoulder. Liz standing against the pushed door. Her smile was as radiant and pretty as the white gown she dawned for this evening. The moonlight made her red hair stand out against her pale skin. She looked ethereal. Seeing her stand there, made you immediately realize the real reason you came out here in the first place. Your envy and admiration of her took control of your mind and if you stayed inside any longer than you did, you would have given into every impulsive decision, good or bad. You turn your head and let your eyes lock onto his. You hoped he hadn’t noticed the shift in your demeanor. The way your eyes lost their light in them. You forgot how to breathe for that mere second your eyes met. You would have risked it all. Confessed all your troubling insecurities and hopes and desires. Yet for the sake of your own sanity, for the sake of not wanting to get in between them, you looked away and averted your attention to the redhead waiting on you. You mustered up your courage and stood up.
“Hey, Libby Loo. Just needed some fresh air. It was getting kind of hot in there.”
“Oh tell me about it!” She agreed. You walked over to where she stood, taking over holding the door. “What were you two talking about?” You heard the underlying tone of her insecurities build up. You found it within the nervous laugh she emitted.
“Debate over whether prom is this rite of passage or a total waste of time.” It fell past your lips so easily, that it shocked you. Liz physically relaxed. The roll of her eyes made you ease up. She didn’t think you and Wes were having a moment just then. Phew.
“Of course you were. Well all-knowing, obviously a rite of passage, right?”
“Yeah…obviously, been planning for this since second grade. Not a waste of time…at all.” You smirk. You let your gaze linger back to Wes where he caught you in your own lie again. Shaken by his disappointment. You exchange spots with her. Liz now lingering out the door, and you, ready to run away again. You weren’t a stranger to her newfound affection for the jock standing a few feet away with his hands in his slacks. It took her long enough to fall for him, but Wes was willing to wait this long for her…and now he was finally getting her emotionally and physically. And you, you were losing everything you’ve never had a chance to have.
“I’m gonna head back inside now. Do you know if there’s still any punch left?” You begin to excuse yourself.
“I think one of the boys spiked it.” Liz made a face.
“Great…” You sighed. “Well, I’ll see you two in there.” You playfully nudge her, stepping past the threshold and beginning the dark trek to the gym.
“Hi…”
“Hi.”
You didn’t even want to spare them a second glance, knowing just how your heart would shatter in an instant and you knew you wouldn’t recover from it.
You let the quietness embrace you like a hug. It let you hear just how loud your thoughts were going. It gave you a moment to recollect yourself before you had to face everyone again and pretend that you weren’t in a demise because you didn’t go after what you wanted. You were about to turn the corner when the loud pull of the metal door opened behind you. You would have kept walking were it not for the rapid footsteps booking it down the hall. And you wouldn’t have frozen in place were it not for the exclaim of your name.
“Y/n!” Your breath hitched hearing his voice. “You didn’t turn around, too scared, not wanting to bear whatever he came after you to tell you. “You didn’t answer me. What would change?”
Your shoulders grew rigid and tense, then and only then did you slowly turn and face him. Expectedly and curious eyes he had.
His shoulders slumped seeing a tear fall down your cheek. He still pushed for an answer. He gives for anything really.
“What would change?”
Us.
You would have answered, you’d have given him an answer. You would have given him a reason, but your burden had walked in a minute after he did. You go to speak but your mouth stays open, at a loss for words, to cross the line of friendship you’ve been straddling for years. Wes follows your line of sight and there she is. Everything he’s ever wanted, right in front of him, yet as he looks back at you, you stare at her like she’s anything but his everything. Then you stare at him and it’s like he’s your…He knew that look, all too familiar of sporting it when he tried to help Liz get with Michael. A hopeless feeling that you can’t have the one person you want most. The frown happens before he speaks.
You pick up on the way the air feels a lot more tense. The way he straightens up and the shift in his eyes as he looks between you and Liz. The line was crossed and you wished to have stayed on the opposite side of it.
“Y/n…” He sighs heavily.
“Please don’t.” You give a tight-lipped smile. The tears spilling out faster than you can wipe them away. “Please don’t…I’m okay. I know…and I’m aware. So please for my sake just don’t.”
“Can I give my two cents?” He pleads.
“No.” You smile again. Shaking your head, closing yourself off, and wishing you could be under your bed covers right about now.
“I’m so sorry.” He says defeat was written over his face.
“You guys enjoy your night okay.” You nod and begin walking backwards.
“Y/n are you okay?” Liz finally walks over. Her concern warms you and makes you want to punch her in the face.
“Yeah Libby Loo, just feeling a bit under the weather. I think I'm gonna head on home.” You laugh out loud nervously. Still walking painfully slow, and backwards.
“Well hold on, we can give you a ride.” God you really wanted to punch her.
“No Libby it’s okay. I’ll make do. Really? I’ll be fine. Like always…” You say the last bit quietly, yet they don’t miss it. Wes looks on the verge of crying and Liz concerned about your well-being is starting to make you really feel sick.
“You sure?” She frowns. Not at all convinced with the way your smile isn’t even reaching your eyes anymore. You weren’t even hiding it.
“Y/n-“ Wes tried again. But you shake your head.
“You kids have fun okay.” This time your smile does reach your eyes and then you turn around and make your leave. You can’t even be mad at Liz because she didn’t do anything wrong and you hate her for it.
“Y/n!” Wes yells after you but you don’t react, nor do you turn around. The effect he has on you starts wearing off and the ache in your chest slowly diminishes into nothing the further you get from them. And you can’t even be mad about it.
“What did you do?” Liz smacked him. He didn’t even flinch. “She was fine a few minutes ago!”
“No…she wasn’t.” Wes watched solemnly as your figure finally rounded the corner and you were no longer in his sights.
#wes bennett#wes bennett imagines#wes bennett imagine#wes bennett x reader#wes bennett oneshot#wes bennett x fem!reader#bttm imagines#bttm x reader#better than the movies#better than the movies imagines#my gif#writings by juls
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Hi there, hope all’s well! 🌷
I just came across your post about the emotional starvation of (cis) boys (excellent visualization of what the majority of boys/men go through from the get go).
In my day to day life I offer services and rituals to celebrate and honor women in ways that the world often has not; and I work to be all inclusive (nb, trans, and whatever might fall in between or outside of that). This work uses, showcases, AND teaches this feeling of sorority/sisterhood/community safety.
In order to balance out towards the other side—because I have been saying this same thing about boys and men missing this vital bit of living, and therefor perpetuating the rift between men and women whether they want to or not— I’ve started apprenticing as a barber. This seems to me to be one of the “softest” self care rituals men indulge in.
Would you say, in your experience, that this type of self care and perhaps the celebration/ritualization of milestones could help boys and men interact in healthier ways with their own masculinity, and the world at large?
I mean…yes and no.
Yes, because rituals and rites are nourishment for the soul, and no, because the kind of approach you're suggesting is designed to address systemic marginalization rather than systemic isolation. The reason why you don't already see cis men seek empowerment in relation to their gender because they don't need to be.
Instead, what they covet is to belong in despite of it.
See, the way we raise boys—and the experiences boys have growing into men—teach and reinforce this specific narrative:
"It doesn't matter who I am as a person, what my personality is like, or how strong of a bond someone forms with me; the moment I'm [too girly / too manly / not manly enough / the wrong kind of man / etc] my belonging is revoked and I'm disowned."
This is a trauma so ubiquitous within our Western society that many of us write it off as a feature of the XY chromosomes as opposed to conditioning. It's as omnipresent to men as objectification is to women, and equally as despised.
The origin of male isolation comes from the same place as everyone else's disenfranchisement: Western Imperialism. Western imperialism teaches us that the way we get anything good in this world is through acts of conquest:
"We become happy by conquering sadness."
"We become healthy by conquering our bodies."
"We become good people by conquering the parts of us that are bad."
"We become good adults by conquering our behavior as children."
"We become masculine by conquering effeminacy."
"We become cherished and loved by conquering the parts of ourselves that are problematic and detested." Etc.
The only way I was every able to really truly heal my lifelong traumas was by ending the reign of conquest in myself. Conquest is what traumatized me to begin with, so ending conquest is what allowed me to heal.
My guess is that the same logic can be applied on a societal scale. But it would mean changing the way we go about achieving results.
(I also want to point out that cis men actually have tons of rituals and rites of passage in relation to healthy masculinity. They're just covert, and rather than speak to one's sense of agency—which is something cis women and trans* folks desire in relation to their genders—they speak to one's sense of belonging, which is, again, what cis men desire in relation to theirs.)
It's a huge topic. It's taken days for me to even write this reply because there's so much about it I could say. Let me know if you want me to address something specific.
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Vessel of possibilities (part one)
Phantom is still new and learning about his element. He gets more than he bargained for while sick.
WC 1k
Includes - phantom has a cold, mention of dew burning a building down, but it’s all so fluffy.
No one's exactly sure why, but there's something about a ghoul getting sick, even something as minor as a common cold, that just makes their element go haywire, causing their powers to short-circuit and become volatile and hard to control. It's something of a rite of passage that each ghoul eventually goes through, and each one ends up with a story to tell.
It had been several months since Phantom was summoned, and he was settling in well topside. He was slowly learning all the things he needed to know and bonding with his new pack, who had quickly accepted him as their own. He just slotted in like a missing puzzle piece, a natural, effortless fit.
But now he was in his bed, dramatically telling anyone who came to check on him that he was most definitely dying, and they should all be saying their goodbyes (he could rival Dew and his drama queen levels). Aether had been at his bedside the whole time, assuring the sickly quint that it was just a cold, and it would pass in a few days; he just needed to rest up and drink plenty of water. Luckily, Mount was right there with all the soothing drinks and warm soups a ghoul could possibly need, and Lus had lent him her softest blanket, so at least he could die in comfort.
"Are you sure I'm not dying? Because I'm pretty sure this is how dying feels," Phantom whined quietly in a raspy voice. "I'm sure, Bug, it's just a cold. We all get them," Aether said reassuringly. "I know they’re not fun, and I'm sure you feel rotten, but it will just be a few days."
Phantom let out a small grunt; he wasn't convinced by Aether's words. He did feel rotten—his throat was itchy, his nose kept running, and the sneezing was beginning to feel like a cruel joke, each one making his whole body tense up and ache.
On the second day, during which Aether assured him it was 'the worst of it', he sat up to drink one of the many drinks that Mount had left on his bedside, hoping to ease the tickle building in the back of his throat. Unfortunately for him, the warm steam that wafted up from the cup only made the tickle worse, spreading from throat to nose, and he let out a sudden and violent sneeze.
Now the sneeze itself was bad enough; it was one of those particularly nasty ones that feels like you’re going to break a rib and your bladder might betray you, but poor Phantom's bad luck was about to get even worse.
At some point mid-sneeze, his quintessence had spiked, flaring up in a way out of his control, and a peculiar sensation washed over him. Before Aether could even react, he looked up to see Phantom, blinking in bewilderment, now sporting a pair of delicate bat wings, softly fluttering in the dimly lit room.
Aether let out a shocked gasp, barely believing his eyes, while at the same time Phantom's brain caught up to what just happened, and he let out a high-pitched scream. Aether dashed across the room, but in the split second it took for him to cross the room, the bat wings had receded, leaving a very confused Phantom muttering away to himself on his bed, his throat raw from the unexpected outcry. He stared at Aether with wide, pleading eyes, hoping he had an explanation for the utter weirdness that had just occurred.
Lucky for Phantom, Aether did have an explanation. He sat down on the bed next to the shaking and dumbfounded younger quint, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder, trying to find the words to begin explaining what just happened.
"So, Bug, when ghouls get sick, it can sometimes mess with our element; we don’t really know why, but we’ve all experienced it. Dew burned his room down the first bad cold he got after the element change,"
Phantom's expression softened, and he let out a small laugh as Aether continued.
"I should have explained this to you earlier, Bug, but I guess now is as good a time as any. Quintessence is a strange element; it’s most commonly used to heal others, like Omega and I do in the infirmary, but basically, you can control most forms of organic matter, including your own."
Phantom tilted his head gently to the side, letting out a small sound of confusion. "My own? You mean like my body?"
"That's right, to put it simply, you have the ability to shapeshift. I suspect that's what happened when you sneezed, causing you to turn into a bat for a brief second. Does that make sense, Bug? I know it's a lot to take in."
The smaller ghoul nodded, thinking for a moment before his eyes suddenly lit up and he excitedly whispered, "Does that mean if I learn to control it, I… I could turn into a bat whenever I want?"
Aether let out a somewhat relieved chuckle, “Yeah, I guess so. It's not easy; shapeshifting takes a long time to master and is both physically and mentally exhausting, but yeah, you could, with a lot of practice, turn into a bat whenever you wanted, Bug."
For a brief instant, you wouldn't even guess that Phantom was still under the weather. His grin was broad, lighting up his face, his pupils dilated with excitement as he jittered slightly on the edge of the bed. Overcome with eager anticipation, he managed to stammer out just four words:
"Could you teach me?"
“of course bug. i’d love to. but first you have to get better. Now try and get some rest”
Phantom agreed, his excitement was starting to wear off, and he settled deeper into his blankets and pillows, his eyelids fluttering, growing heavier with fatigue. Aether adjusted the top blanket, tucking it gently under his chin before leaning down to give the almost asleep little ghoul a kiss on his still very warm, forehead.
#eternal phantom brainrot#this was initially just a hc#but then it turned into this#and then a second part#and now it might be 3 parts#the band ghost#phantom ghoul#shitghosting#cryptidrambling#my fics
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Tine Poppe, from the series G I L D E D L I L I E S
Portraits of cut flowers in constructed landscapes
WINNER LENSCULTURE CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS 2023
Tine Poppe is an artist photographer living and working in Oslo, Norway.
Born and bred in industrial scale greenhouses, cut flowers have no contact with nature and generate high CO2 emissions - not unlike humans in the Western world.
Flowers are powerful symbols. People around the world use them to mark rites of passage and significant life events. In the Victorian era, flowers were considered the best medium to express feelings. Each type of flower was associated with specific, symbolic meaning.
Previously the western world’s supply of cut flowers derived from local run green houses. Today most of the flowers we buy in our stores have been transported by plane or lorries from industrial scale digitally run greenhouses around the world. Colombia, Ecuador and equatorial East Africa are the largest producers of cut flowers in the world. The greenhouses contribute to high water use and chemical runoff. On top of pollutants and water use, flowers can generate serious carbon emissions because of refrigeration and long-haul transport. Stems may be transported up to 6000 miles in refrigerated airplane holds. When grown in cooler climates, flowers need heated greenhouses and generate high CO2 emissions because of its high electricity usage.
The portrayed cut flowers were shot against a background of prints of my own images from vulnerable areas of the world. When giving these magnificent flowers and plants close attention, they become a mysterious, dreamlike universe in themselves and a reminder of the incredible beauty of nature that we are at serious risk of losing.
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As per last poll's results, here is the winner- Sir Pentious, as the Six of Swords!
It's starting to make a LOT of Hazbin/Helluva cards. Only three... or four... left to do. Probably. Maybe.
Anyway! Explanations for the choice of card under the cut!
The Six of Swords Upright shows that you are in a state of transition, leaving behind what was familiar and moving toward the unknown. For example, you might currently be working of redeeming yourself, leaving hell to thrive for heaven. You may feel sad or reluctant to leave your life behind (especially your minions. God forbides anyone take them away from you); however, you know this change is essential for your growth and personal development. You will become a better person as a result- maybe even a winner? The card invites you to let go of whatever is holding you back; instead, gaze ahead to your future and choose the way most in alignement with your Highest Good. You might need to make tough decisions, like, who knows, attacking an angel with a very bid machine, or saying sorry to a very awful deer man. See it as a rite of passage; you are headed towards a much better position in life. Or death. You have to change how you view yourself: move away from who you used to be, and towards whom you want to be. For that, the Six of Swords encourages you to reflect on any emotional or mental baggage you may carry, just as Charlie pushes the hotel residents to do.
Reversed, the card is much more focused on the spiritual and personnal nature of this journey, as you are actively working on changing the core of who you are. You need to get out of your comfort zone to be able to evolve as a person. The reversed card may also be a sign that you are resisting change and transition, whether it may be because you believe you were forced into it (you came here to spy, after all), or you can't trust the ones around you (they look at you funny). You have to focus on the benefits this change might bring you. Finally, the card encourages you to look for the unfinished business that might held you back. Maybe you never got to kiss the girl; maybe you have a unresolved conflict with someone; maybe you feel like you haven't done as much as you could in your previous situation. Resolve those issues, and only then would the change be able to happen. You can now go aboard your death machine, and peacefully be obliterated. You are heading towards a better future; that's all the card is trying to tell you.
And that's it for our little snake! I actually loved his colour palette as an angel, it's was so lovely to shade- but I still prefer the original design. Such a king.
I hope you enjoyed today's card! Here are all the cards I already did for this fandom, and dang, I reached the limit of pictures allowed in one post- so, have them hastily stuck together, by three or two.
#digital art#tarot project#six of swords#sir pentious#sir precious#hazbin hotel#hazbin#hazbin fanart#hazbin hotel fanart#hazbin pentious#sir pentious hazbin hotel#sir pentious heaven#tarot cards#egg bois#love the egg bois actually#they crack me up so much
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. – Quinn Hughes
Summary: Ignoring the pain of a break up is a lot easier when you're not best friend's with your ex's brother
Author’s Note: A song title being a period is very annoying for writing, prepare for angst below
Word Count: 4.4k
Album Series Masterlist
It's been so hard
Ever since you broke my heart
But I'll never tell
Honey, I'm not doing so well
It’s like a rite of passage to get a crush on your friend’s older sibling. There’s some sort of forbidden love chemical that goes off in your brain and you just can’t help it.
You never expect anything to happen with it, maybe some embarrassing moments of staring or a few ridiculous confessions in a diary, but nothing more.
Lux wishes her crush could have been more aptly named, and the puppy love had been squashed before anything actually happened.
“Can I get into my house and wash the car off of me before you start bothering me,” Lux tries to sidestep Jack who’s sitting on her porch.
After a five-hour drive, the last thing she needs is to deal with a needy Jack. She’s physically exhausted and doesn’t feel like becoming emotionally exhausted on top of it.
“No, you ignored my texts.”
“Gee, I wonder why,” she rolls her eyes.
She tries using her suitcase to box him out and make it to the door, but of course he’s faster than her and grabs her ankle pulling her down onto the porch into a heap. She sits up with a huff, but can’t help but notice how serious Jack looks.
“Are you gonna ignore me all summer? Because you graduate next year and you may never get a summer off again!”
“You can’t expect me to just happily go hang out at the lake all summer.”
“She’s only gonna be there for like two weeks, she has a job to go back to,” he says it like it’s a selling point.
“You know it’s not just about her, but since I can already see you’re not going to stop unless I say yes, I’ll see you in two weeks,” she tries to escape again, but Jack grabs her wrist.
“Luxy, please come to the party this weekend, my mom would love to see you,” she wants to kick him for playing the mom card, “and I’ll even drive you home so you don’t have to spend the night.”
She narrows her eyes, “Yeah right, you’ll get drunk and then I’ll be held captive in the house of testosterone.”
Jack’s eyes dart around because he can’t deny the possibility of that happening.
“Don’t let Quinn ruin our summer fun,” he settles on that dagger.
“Fine,” she caves and Jack does a fist pump in response, “but you have to stay here for dinner because my mom keeps peeking through the curtain and she’ll be pissed if you leave.”
Lux wouldn’t be in the position if she had never befriended Jack in the first place. Or as she usually referred to it, Jack begrudgingly endeared himself to her.
It had started in middle school, when Jack had chosen drama class as his art elective and of course Lux had gotten assigned as his scene partner for the semester. It was the classic partnering of the ‘class disruption’ with the ‘class delight’ in hopes they’d balance each other out.
Jack was loud and brash and loved to rile up Lux, making fun of the way her cheeks would burn red in exasperation. Lux was the quiet girl in class, but one on one she could hold her own with an acid tongue that could easily rattle Jack’s demeanor. Their teacher thought she couldn’t have made a better pair.
The first time Lux went to Hughes’ house to practice lines, she fell in love.
Quinn was only a couple years older but with her tween brain rotting with hormones; Lux thought she was seeing a man for the first time, when she was always surrounded by mere boys.
Lux decided being Jack’s friend was something she needed in her life, if only for the proximity to her new crush. And when Ellen learned Lux was good in science, she recruited her to tutor Jack and the girl became ingrained in the family’s life.
For Lux and Jack their friendship grew to be a nice escape from usual social circles; a comfortable space where there were no expectations to act or talk or think a certain way.
And Lux got the extra benefit of secretly glancing at Quinn. Sure, her mouth turned to sand when he would merely say hi, or her face cherry red when she had even the slightest physical contact with him. Even if was just ruffling her hair in an older brother sort of way. But it all felt worth it for those miniscule interactions.
It was the one thing Jack never made fun of her for, maybe he thought it would fade away over time, like all of his crushes. But it never fully disappeared, even when she dated boys in her own grade, her heart held a special place for Quinn.
And against the odds something happened.
Lux went to Michigan for a college visit and Quinn offered to show her around a little.
“I can even give you a non-parent approved tour,” he had joked.
It was the first time they had spent any time alone, and something just clicked. They laughed at the same jokes, especially at Jack’s expense, talked about their futures even when Quinn’s was clearly more set in stone than Lux’s. By the end of the visit, they didn’t want to stop talking. So, they didn’t.
Texting went from occasionally, to daily. Texting turned to phone calls. Phone calls turned into visits to Quinn’s dorm to hang out and help him study.
Neither made a move for a long time. Lux, because she was worried that she might be reading too much into it. Quinn because she was still in high school and one of Jack’s friends.
Nothing happened until Jack’s graduation party. Jack was preoccupied with his other friends from hockey as they talked about the upcoming draft. And Lux was about to duck out to go to another friend’s party after she finished a piece of cake.
“Congrats valedictorian,” Quinn says, of course, while Lux has a mouthful of cake.
“Congrats on dropping out of college,” she laughs, hoping her wit covers up her nerves.
“Ouch.”
“Sorry, I spend too much time with Jack and that means keeping his ego in check.”
“The world thanks you for that,” they both laugh.
There’s a long silence, Lux fills it with finishing her cake before she gathers some courage.
“I was going to head out to another party, want to come with?”
They never made it to the party; they ended up pulling into a parking lot and making out. It was a start of a summer romance, something to enjoy before Quinn went to Vancouver and Lux to Northwestern. It was a bonus making Jack constantly annoyed by their PDA.
The summer ended and they didn’t, a long distant relationship tided over by games in Chicago, spring breaks, and summers off.
Things were great. And then they weren’t. And then they were over.
It’s been months since the breakup, but the wound is still fresh for Lux. Her grades started slipping in the last semester, she began losing weight in the bad kind of way, she stopped going out with her friends as much.
Lux wishes she was doing better. Not to show Quinn, who already had a new girlfriend, up. Rather, to prove to him (or maybe herself) that her world didn’t end when he ended things. Most days it felt like it had.
She checks her rearview mirror for the thousandth time to make sure she looks well-rested and her eyes aren’t puffy and red from crying on the way over.
“You can do this, there will be other people and you don’t have to talk to him more than hello,” she gives herself a pep talk.
After another deep breath she gets out of her car, grabbing her overnight bag because deep down she knows she’ll end up staying.
She lets herself into the house like normal, and is surprised by how quiet it is. She walks further into the house and finds Ellen in the kitchen chopping fruit.
“Lux, it’s so good to see you!” She puts down the knife and engulfs the girl in hug, “I’m glad someone’s here to help keep them out of trouble.”
Lux follows her eyes to where a group of man-children are outside.
“That’s a lot to ask of one person,” she chuckles before meandering around the kitchen island to avoid going outside, “do you need any help?”
Ellen’s eyes soften giving Lux a sad smile before pulling her into another hug.
“I know it’s hard sweetie, but it’s going to be okay,” she squeezes her once more, “and there’s some veggies you can cut.”
Lux can’t help but notice how at home she feels here, she knows where everything is like it’s her own place, which last summer it sort of had been. She had helped the boys move in and decorate and organize.
“How’s school? Your mom tells me you’re taking the MCATs next?”
“I’m taking them, but I don’t know if I want medical school or grad school or what,” she doesn’t mention that her breakup with Quinn has her second guessing every life choice.
“My dad thinks I should take a year off to figure it out."
"That’s not a terrible idea, you work too hard.”
“Luxy!”
“Lukey!” She laughs at the lanky teen and pulls him into a hug, “Do they feed not feed you at college? You’re all bones.”
She thinks she hears Luke mumble under his breath, “I could say the same about you,” but Ellen speaks up before she can dwell.
“He’s like a bottomless pit, we’re banishing him to Jack and Quinn’s cause he’s eating us out of house and home,” Ellen laughs from the counter.
“Good call, they got that NHL money now.”
“Why didn’t you come out and say hi?” Jack calls out when he and the boys start entering the house.
“Because I’m a polite house guest and I'm helping your mom with food,” she stabs the knife in the air to make her point.
Jack comes over and gives her a hug and a spin.
“Glad you actually came,” he whispers as he sets her down.
Some of the other boys from the National program come and give her hugs, they were never close friends but friends by proximity.
The back door opens again and Quinn comes in, hair wet from the lake and leading an equally wet girl by the waist. She knew she would see them but it doesn’t stop her heart from deflating a bit.
Lux can already picture how Quinn picked her up and jumped in the lake with her, then kissing her when they resurfaced until she wasn't mad anymore. Maybe they'd gotten more handsy under the water, until one of the guys called them out and they separated a little flustered but not enough to completely detach.
Lux knows from experience.
She feels a pinch on her side removing her from conjuring her own nightmares, “Lux, I said why didn’t I see you at my last game in Chicago?”
She looks over and blushes, embarrassed she’s been caught, she tries to pull it together before she gets any sad eyes. She’s sick of the pity everyone has been giving her.
“I had finals Z,” she rolls her eyes at Trevor.
Lux knows Z only invites her with hopes she’ll bring a cute friend with her.
“And this goes for all of you stop giving me tickets to Chicago games, I don’t care about hockey or you guys enough to go every time. I barely want to go see Jack and he only plays the Hawks like twice a year.”
She tries to ignore the fact that Quinn is standing by the island now, wrapping a towel around the new girl's shoulders while looking towards Lux.
“What about me? We went to prom together!” Cole says with fake offense.
“You only asked me because I make you look tall!”
She hates how comfortable she feels, laughing with the boys and making fun of them. Then she makes the mistake of making eye contact with Quinn’s new girl.
“Hi we haven’t met, I’m Samantha. I’m Quinn’s girlfriend,” she gives a shy wave.
To everyone’s credit they act remarkably chill about the moment, pretending there’s nothing out of the ordinary.
“I’m Lux.”
“Oh, you’re Jack’s girlfriend, he won’t shut up about you,” she smiles brightly.
Lux and Jack can’t help but let out loud, awkward laughs at the same time. Nothing has ever sounded more ridiculous.
“Jack and Lux no way,” Trevor starts to open his big mouth, “it’s Lux and–“
Lux elbows him in the ribs.
“It’s Lux and me all the way,” he puts an arm around her shoulder, “Or at least it will be when she moves to LA.”
“LA?” Quinn speaks up for the first time.
“I looked at some schools down there, it’s a maybe.”
She shrugs like it’s no big deal but feels a little smug that Quinn is so curious.
“I’m still lobbying for Princeton or Columbia,” Jack says.
“Just what Lux needs, you within driving distance all year round,” Ellen chides her middle son, “Quinn why don’t you start grilling the hamburgers.”
Quinn and Ellen head outside carrying some food supplies. Samantha thinks about staying for a second but everyone else must have a weird fake smile like Lux, because she mirrors the smile before following her boyfriend outside.
As soon as the door shuts behind her, Lux pinches Trevor on the shoulder where she can tell a sunburn is coming in.
“Ow fuck!”
“What the hell was that?”
“I wanted to help out, make Quinny jealous,” Lux furrows her brows at him, “It was working for a bit.”
“Did I ask for your help?”
“No, but you looked like you could use a win,” he shrugs.
She looks around at the other guys, they aren’t really making eye contact. She realizes she doesn’t just feel like a pathetic loser, she must look like one too.
She picks up the vegetables she sliced and carries them outside, determined to show them that she’s not broken. Even if that’s not true.
People start trickling in and it starts to become a real party. She mingles with some girls she’s met in previous summers who live in cabins nearby. She even talks to Samantha when she looks a little lost as people start interrogating Quinn about hockey.
In another life Lux and Samantha would be great friends. Lux hates her a little for that. And she drinks a little too much in response.
A haze fills her peripherals, she’s wobbly on her feet but not quite to the level of falling over or getting sick.
“Quinny!” Lux and Samantha say in the same tone when he comes by with a cup of water handing it over to his girlfriend like he used to do for Lux.
“Why didn’t you tell me how great Lux was?” Samantha says a bit too loud and too fast, “I would have made my plans to overlap with her more.”
Quinn awkwardly laughs and raises an eyebrow to Lux.
“What can I say? I’m very lovable. You know that Q,” she feels herself try to wink, but it’s not quite right.
“Luxy come be my pong partner, I need someone to drink for me,” Luke helps the girl out of the chair, he’s not allowed to heavily drink while his parents are around.
“I don���t think she needs to drink more,” Quinn warns.
“That’s none of your business anymore Quinn,” Lux says with a sharper tone than she realizes she’s capable of.
Luke is extra good at pong because he’s practically sober, while their opponents are on par with Lux. Which means there’s not much drinking to be done on Lux’s part. She can feel herself sobering up and she hates it. She hates it even more when she sees Quinn and Samantha making out by the fire pit.
“I don’t feel well,” she mumbles but Luke hears her.
“Want me to take you home?”
She looks over to see Jack didn’t hold up his end of the bargain and is too drunk to drive her home. She’s probably good to drive herself but she thinks she might drive herself into the lake on purpose.
“Um– no. I drove so it will be a whole thing with my car. I’m– I’ll just– I’ll find somewhere to lie down.”
“You can sleep in my room if you want.”
She’s silent for too long thinking about what to do, she should just go home. Ask Ellen for a ride. Anything to get away from here. She could just sleep in her car.
Instead of doing anything she pulls Luke into a hug, he wraps his arms around her. It’s like he’s holding her together.
“Whoa, are you trying to collect Hughes brothers?” Jack says loudly from across the lawn, he’s too drunk to realize it’s not exactly a funny joke.
Everyone knows what he means, Lux whips her head towards Quinn and Samantha. She looks thoroughly clueless, but Quinn is fuming.
Lux runs into the house, she doesn’t care if she cockblocks Jack or makes him sleep on the couch, she takes his room and buries herself under the covers and sobs.
She didn’t prove to anyone that she’s doing well.
The next morning her head hurts and she can’t tell if it’s from drinking or crying too much. Jack is snoring in a makeshift bed he made on the floor, she thinks about kicking him in the ribs on her way out.
No one is up when she makes her getaway.
The next time she goes to the lake house is by accident.
She’s out with some friends from high school who go to Michigan. They start out with brunch and it spirals out of control from there.
They’re out getting pizza, all on wobbly, baby deer legs, and deciding where to go next when her friend Kylie’s fiancé comes to pick her up.
“Refueling for round two?” He laughs at the group and tries to gather Kylie.
“More like round three,” Kylie giggles and tries to plant a kiss and misses leaving a sloppy, wet kiss on his neck.
Lux and her other friends ‘aww’ at that even though it’s definitely not cute and more embarrassing.
“And you’re you sure you guys want to continue on?”
“Yeah, we’re good,” Lux gives him a thumbs up.
She isn’t entirely wrong, they make it to the next bar with little issue, though maybe the bartender shouldn’t serve them at this point.
They’re talking about planning Kylie’s bachelorette party in the way drunk girls do, too elaborate to actually be executed.
The conversation switches to their current love lives, which is not exactly the topic Lux wants to broach. At least when it comes to herself. She tries to keep the spotlight off her and that works for the most part, it’s nice to hear about her friends falling in love and their bad hookups.
“What the fuck Lux? I’ve been waiting outside for 10 minutes.”
Jack is standing over the table trying his best to look mad, but having a hard time with the four girls staring up at him in a drunken stupor.
“This a is girls’ night, you’re not invited!” Lux slurs and takes a sip through her straw, going back to her friends.
“You texted me an SOS,” he thinks for a second, “or it seemed like it cause you texted me gibberish followed by your location pin, so I thought you needed rescuing.”
“Well, you can see I’m fine so see you later,” she waves him off and her friends laugh.
“Not happening, I haven’t seen you in weeks and I drove all the way here, you’re coming with me.”
He leans forward to grab her arm only to be assaulted by a chorus of ‘nos,’ so he backs off for a bit, reaching for his wallet and taking out a few bills.
“Next round is on me.”
“She’s all yours Jacky boy,” her friend Ashley winks and grabs the cash.
“Traitor,” Lux sticks out her tongue as Jack helps her out of the booth.
“If a Hughes is gonna take you home, we’re glad it’s him,” Ashley makes a stern face, “tell Q he sucks for us.”
“Quinn doesn’t suck,” Lux says protectively, like he’s hers to protect.
“I’ll happily tell him Ash,” Jack cuts in before anyone picks at that scab anymore, “C’mon Luxy I’ll buy you some pizza.”
She reluctantly goes, blowing kisses to her friends. Jack helps her get into the car and she splays out in her seat.
And that’s how she accidentally ends up at the lake house.
“This isn’t my house?” She mumbles through a mouthful of pizza that she snuck during the drive.
“Obviously, if I have to kidnap you to hang out,so be it.”
Lux rolls her eyes, she’s too hungry and getting too sleepy to argue so she just gets out of the car, carefully because she can’t lose any precious pizza.
“Pizza delivery!” Lux yells out and makes a beeline to the fridge taking out a drink.
“Should you really be drinking more?”
“My knight and shining armor brought me to safety,” she ungracefully rubs a hand across Jack’s face, “so I might as well stay this drunk until I fall asleep.”
Jack jokingly puts a hand on her face and grabs the drink out of her hand, “then let me catch up with you a bit first.”
That’s when Quinn and Luke come into the kitchen, with Jack and Lux awkwardly holding each other’s faces.
“Girls’ night?” Quinn smirks, having been on the other side of that hand many times.
“Oh, I thought Lux was settling for the worst Hughes brother,” Luke laughs and Quinn kicks his shin.
“Lux would be so lucky,” Jack grabs a piece of pizza.
“And there would be a murder-suicide,” Quinn rolls his eyes.
If Lux was sober, she would be able to appreciate the normalcy of this moment.
“Lux can hear you and Lux,” she forgets her point for a moment, ”Lux is drunk and over Hughes brothers. Do the Tkachuks need a new friend? They even have a sister it’d be a better fit.”
“I can put a good word in for you with Brady,” Quinn snickers at the drunken rambling.
Lux grins at him and even through her drunken haze her heart does a little flip, this is what it feels like to be with her Quinn.
“Let’s get you to bed before you really embarrass yourself.”
Jack hooks an arm around her shoulder. Lux is smart enough to know what he’s implying, that’s not her Quinn anymore and she’s inebriated enough to say something she regrets. Jack won’t let that happen on his watch.
“There’s even a guest room with your name on it.”
Jack gives her some clothes to wear and tucks her into her bed.
“I know I’m your favorite Hughes,” he kisses her forehead.
“Yeah, but don’t tell anyone, it’s really embarrassing.”
Lux wakes up an hour later desperately needing to pee, she scrambles out of bed only to realize she’s still heavily under the influence. She tries to wanders the hallway in the dark, pretty sure she’s familiar enough with the layout to find her way.
She’s wrong.
Opening a door she walks into Quinn’s room, who’s just walking out of his ensuite bathroom toweling his hair, naked.
“Oh god, I’m sorry,” she slaps a hand over her eyes, “I was looking for the bathroom and this is the one I’ve used the most.”
He lightly chuckles, “it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”
“That’s true,” she opens a crack between her fingers and peeks through.
“That wasn’t an invitation to look Lux,” he tinges pink before thumbing towards the open door, “bathroom’s free.”
“Oh right, I’ll be a second then out of your hair.”
When she comes back out, Quinn is sitting on his bed, the side that used to be hers. She can feel hot tears boiling in her eyes and tries to make a quick exit.
She trips over nothing, her faculties still not her own, and finds herself flopping her legs out and leaning against his dresser. Admitting defeat and letting herself cry.
“You okay?” Quinn gets up and takes a seat on the floor next to her.
“I’m sorry.”
“For falling down?”
“No for us. I’m sorry I cut you out and didn’t tell you how I felt and was just a shitty girlfriend.”
“You weren’t a shitty girlfriend.”
He wraps an arm around her shoulder, Lux flinches at the contact before relaxing into the familiar warmth.
“I didn’t know what I wanted and I let get in the way of a good thing,” she kicks her legs like a kid having a tantrum.
“You’re 21, unlike the weirdo Hughes brothers it’s pretty normal to not know what you want Lux.”
He gives her a little squeeze, “I also think us not being in the same city or even country for almost our whole relationship didn’t really help either.”
They sit in silence after that, they’ve always been good at reveling in a quiet moment.
But his hand is so warm on her arm and Lux can’t revel, she can’t hope, she can’t pretend that there’s more to this than just Quinn being nice. And that means fighting her drunken thoughts that are telling her to kiss him or tell him she loves him.
“Samantha seems nice.”
“Yeah?” He looks towards her, trying to hold back a smile as they make eye contact for the first time.
“And it’s nice to see you so happy, I like happy Quinn.”
“I like happy Lux; I have a feeling she hasn’t been around much.”
“No,” she squeaks out, trying to keep the dam of tears together, it doesn’t work for long.
“I’m not dealing with the breakup as well as you.”
“It’s okay,” he pulls her into his chest and lets her cry.
“I’m dealing with it a lot better than I thought I would, and I’m the one who broke up with you,” his voice sounds pinched but Lux doesn’t dare look, “and you’re gonna be okay, I’m not that great.”
Lux gives him a little slap at that comment.
“When you do finally figure out what you want, there’s going to be no stopping you.”
Lux pulls back and kisses the corner of his mouth. There’s no romance in it; it’s a goodbye to what they were.
“I wish we could have worked out, but I guess I’m dodging a bullet by not becoming a Hughes,” she lets out a laugh.
“There’s the Lux, I know,” they’re both grinning like idiots.
He gives her hand one last squeeze as she leaves, hands slowly parting until they’re too far away to touch. It doesn’t fix everything, her heart isn’t completely welded back together, but it’s a start.
#quinn hughes#quinn hughes fic#quinn hughes imagine#quinn hughes story#vancouver canucks#vancouver canucks imagines#vancouver canucks fics#nhl#nhl fic#nhl imagines#nhl stories#hockey#hockey fics#hockey imagines
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Jay Kuo at The Big Picture:
In 2020, Trump launched his Big Lie about a stolen U.S. election. Through a conspiracy among Democrats, foreign countries, and nefarious, shadowy bad actors including innocent voting machine and voting software companies, so the theory went, Joe Biden had managed to switch millions of votes and win his election illegally, making him an illegitimate president. It was such an audacious, almost laughable lie that historians and political scientists dubbed it Trump’s “Big Lie”—one so outrageous and so stunning in its implications that it somehow has to be true, at least in the minds of his followers.
Now, in 2024, Trump is back at it again. On top of his original Big Lie, Trump is now pushing a 2024 version for the upcoming election: that illegal immigrants will be voting in numbers by the millions, rendering any result other than a Trump victory yet another fraud upon the American people.
Undocumented migrants aren’t allowed to vote in this country, and there are already laws on the books covering that. And there have been very few documented cases of non-citizens voting, certainly not enough to change the outcome of a national election. Nevertheless, recently House Speaker Mike Johnson made a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to stand beside Donald Trump and proclaim that they were united in their resolve to pass a new law to prevent non-citizens from voting, never mind that there’s already such a law on the books and that such fraud rarely ever happens.
Their actions are of course performative, meant to plant dangerous seeds that could grow into even more dangerous lies. In today’s piece, I’ll explore this newest attack and how Trump is hoping to spin it into The Big Lie 2024 style.
Existing law already outlaws non-citizen voting
Last week, when Speaker Mike Johnson traveled to Mar-a-Lago to seek Trump’s support, it felt eerily familiar. It’s become a rite of passage for GOP House Speakers to make the journey to bend the knee to Trump. We all remember the photo of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy standing supportively by Trump just months after the deadly attack on the Capitol that Trump helped incite.
Like McCarthy, Johnson’s speakership hangs by a thread these days, with the far right ready to decapitate yet another GOP leader for having failed to toe the line, this time for Russia by denying critical aid to Ukraine. Trump’s support of Johnson came with a price, of course, because Trump is always transactional in his dealings. In this case, it was a pledge by Johnson to support a bill to clamp down on the alleged crisis in non-citizen voting.
[...]
What the right claims about “illegal” immigrant voting
The idea that millions of undocumented migrants will cast ballots in 2024 and help steal the election for Biden is objectively far-fetched. But it taps into far deeper fears of brown- and black-skinned people taking over America in something broadly known as the Great Replacement Theory.
The Great Replacement Theory is a racist ideology that falsely warns that migrants who don’t speak our language and don’t share our values are deliberately being let into the U.S. so that Jews and other Democrats can turn them into millions of future voters. This process will allegedly displace “white” Americans politically and economically. Right-wing amplifiers of this include Tucker Carlson (formerly of Fox News) and Elon Musk, owner of the X platform.
This is by no means a recent theory. Waves of immigrants from Ireland, Italy and Eastern Europe sparked the same unfounded fears and conspiracies in the 19th and 20th centuries with respect to the “replacement” of more established “Northern European” Americans.
But recent conspiracies around migrants have shortened the timeline of the Great Replacement and are warning that the hordes of desperate asylum seekers crossing into America now will be deployed this November to unlawfully tip the election to Biden.
[...]
It’s crucial to call this out and push back
When Trump began attacking mail-in voting in 2020, claiming falsely and without evidence that mailed ballots were vulnerable, easily tampered with, and unreliable, it should have clued us in that he would reject the results of the 2020 election if they were unfavorable to him.
We also should have known that Trump would exploit the “red mirage” created when Election Day ballots, which would favor the GOP, were counted before the mailed ballots, which would favor the Democrats. Trump would go on to demand that the vote counting stop while he was still ahead, even though millions of mailed ballots remained to be counted.
We now already know that a main attack by Trump and the MAGA GOP will be upon the ballot counts, particularly in battleground states with high numbers of migrants whom he will claim voted illegally by the millions. This necessitates preemptive action.
Donald Trump, GOP politicians, and right-wing media commentators are pushing the lie that noncitizen voters will get Joe Biden re-elected, never mind the fact that noncitizens aren’t allowed to vote in federal elections. This is part of the right-wing’s white nationalist “great replacement” theory shtick.
See Also:
MMFA: Right-wing media figures are citing a Spanish-language flyer of dubious origin as evidence that Democrats are importing new voters to “rig” elections
#Noncitizen Voting#Donald Trump#Mike Johnson#Voter Fraud#2024 Elections#2024 Presidential Election#Undocumented Immigrants#The Big Lie#Anti Immigrant Bigotry#Great Replacement Theory
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1. Pretty sure Jimin said he wanna keep on performing so that doesn't change because he became 30
2. Jimin also said he'll be if he got chance to just sit on a chair and sing for fans when he's not able to perform anymore
3. If he's queer who wants kids.. realistically there's no other option except dumping Jk, marry a woman and have kids.
4. I thought everyone who's approaching 30 feels the same way. Joon had it, jm already started talking about it... so it's surprising to see Tae who's the exact same age being so unbothered about it and living his carefree life
🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️
What has same age got to do with anything?
Yes Jimin has said all that- he's also said he's lonely in while surrounded by family and loved ones.
Vmin said they want to grow old together- yet here they are. Couldn't even do the buddy service together🥲
Jungkook has always wanted to be a singer- didn't stop him from trying to yeet himself from the group to pursue dance🥲
BTS knew they wanted to sing and dance and be part of the group- didn't stop them from considering disbanding even though music is what they all dream of making till the end.
Ever bought something you wanted so bad and felt a few seconds later you shouldn't have bought it? Even though you know it's something you've always wanted and something you'll probably always want?
Humans are complex multilayered beings with complex thoughts feelings and ideas.
Life, dreams, goals- our desire for them can be so fluid sometimes and Introspection is a common human phenomenon that accompanies these fluid moments of choice making.
Jimin is just being introspective at this point in his life is all we are saying.
There's nothing too complex about that that it should be confusing. A person can want something or someone and still express fears and doubts uncertainty and anxiety about that same thing.
It's right there in his songs when he sings about how it's begun, that he is in his prime time. I think it's out of such honest introspection that he's able to spit out those beautiful lyrics he pens. His past, his future, he's in the in between. Transitioning, becoming🤭
We act like the concept of 30 thirty is difficult phenomenon to comprehend when 30 is even the age limit for Korean men to serve. If you can't relate to turning 30 think of how idols have to put their careers on hold for 2 years how they have to shift their life goals and plans to factor in serving by 30.
Vmin are same age yes and OF COURSE they both have to worry about serving before 30. Every Korean Male worries about this at the barest minimum if not anything at all. I don't know why people can't seem to comprehend this.
Like you said, the hyungs went through a similar phase- unlike the hyungs, the maknaes don't get to sit with it. They have to do a lot of thinking at base and we can't tell them cheer up, we can't reassure them, we can't give them a unique perspective- we are on different sides of the wall.
Rather than construe the whole turning 30 phenomenon as some abstract Far fetched phenomenon- perhaps let's not. It's not that complicated 💀
These things are very natural and very common among us humans but especially for people who have a culture where turning 30 is a major rite of passage- Besides, late 20's and early 30's is when lots of people's brains fully mature biologically speaking- or so I hear so it makes sense why people would suddenly start being hyper introspective around that age.
To some it's a myth but to some they do very much enter this hyper introspective phase when they reach that point in their life. If you frame the discourse as one of introspection as you should then you'll find it as preposterous as I do the idea that Tae isn't introspecting about turning 30.
Unbothered????
Youve never heard him talk about how he doesn't look as handsome every now and then?
I recall him complaining about Covid and how it's stealing their youth and how frustrating that was for him. I recall him talking about children and how he would love to see each member's kid.
Of course he thinks about his life, marriage, kids, his career and even his changing facial features. Joon tries to shut him up when he talks about these things but he does. For someone who worries about these on a regular a particular age turn perhaps may not make much of a difference don't you think?
Tae can be very introspective as well. It may not be a seasonal thing for him like it seems to be for Jimin and others but rather more part of who he is.
He doesn't say much during his lives but he can be in his feels too- at the most random times too.
They are all human
Aside- do you know you give off "your colleagues are getting married what are you doing with your life" vibes?
It's giving Indian parents, Nigerian moms🤣
"You are the same age as that person why are you depressed when they're happy with their life" 💀
The concept of individuality seems lost on you
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Picture this: Knuckles Wachowski sitting up on the porch or at the window with a rigid posture and intense stare at the road when Tom is out on duty for longer than usual or goes to deal with something actually mildly eventful or even potentially dangerous, from the second he leaves to the second he returns. Keeping watch. Not responding to anything. Not moving or talking, never glancing away, barely blinking or breathing. No matter what happens around him. He won’t eat or drink until the sustenance is placed directly in front of him, so he can consume it with little to no taking his eyes off the road.
Because when his last father left, he didn’t come back.
Now, to cheer up, picture this: Sonic, Tails and Maddie get concerned about Knuckles when nothing they do - not even Sonic’s teasing - can make him react. They can’t distract him from or reason him out of his anxiety. Instead, they offer unconditional, nonjudgmental comfort and companionship, turning the Dad Watch into a family activity with them sitting beside him and creating a beanbag and towel nest/blanket fort (depending on whether he’s outside or inside). It helps to not be alone, like he was in his village those days and nights of helpless waiting. He slowly allows himself to talk to them beyond the polite bare minimum, then banter and joke with his brothers, play with Ozzie, be hugged by Maddie, etc.. He eventually trusts them to perform the Dad Watch entirely on his behalf until something happens. Tails plans a shift rotation for the times it really stretches on, but they all end up snuggling together anyway. And so Tom stops being greeted by the crushing grip and thorough examination of his tense, brittle eldest son who fiercely demands to know every detail of his work and keeps him in his line of sight for the rest of the day; and starts coming home to his happy, relaxed wife and kids whose faces light up to see him in not relief, but pure love and joy.
I also imagine Knuckles generally being clingy with and protective of Tom once he accepts him as his new dad. At least at first, before it sinks in that serious threats like Robotnik are very much outliers. Mama’s boy - or as @samthefrank put it, ‘Mother’s Best Boy’ - Knuckles is wonderful, but I think since his father seems to have been his only parent, it makes sense he’d have a deep care, respect and appreciation for Tom too. His previous definition of parent was just ‘Dad’. That’s important! I imagine he’d greatly value doing traditional Earth father-son activities with Tom (*slams open the door in ecstasy* “Brothers! I have received the Rowboat Bestowal of Wisdom, the sacred rite of passage of our family line!”). Maybe Tom offhandedly calls him “champ” and it becomes his official nickname because Knuckles is “honoured to be celebrated as Father’s Champion!”. A contrast to Sonic’s initial ‘You’re my friend, not my dad’ attitude that Tom cherishes.
#knuckles wachowski#he is Mother’s Best Boy and Father’s Champion#tom wachowski#maddie wachowski#sonic wachowski#tails wachowski#wachowski family#sonic movie#sonic movie 2#sonic cinematic universe#scu
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The Fridges. Oh My God, The Fridges.
This is a continuation of the last piece I wrote on the weird shit that happens in classified facilities.
The building I work in has somewhere around 30-35 people in it. It also has around 20 fridges. There's kind of a saga that goes into this, so I'll start with the first part: The Hoarding.
The building has an insane overabundance of space. They just keep adding new rooms every time an old room needs an update, so it just sprawls on forever. There's also an extremely limited ability to get anyone who does not work full time in the building, into the building. This means that while we work on missiles, we also clean our own desks and vacuum the floors and mop and all of those other tasks that most places would consider "non-engineer work." This is fine if it's something anyone with a body can do, but this causes problems when you're looking at the physical limits of engineers. Namely, we are not very muscular people.
Thus, if something needs to get manhandled into a space, it gets manhandled by whatever group of nerds you can bribe, threaten, or guilt into joining you. When a fridge dies, it is a motherfucker to remove it from the building, so they often just...didn't. What they did instead was get the fridges onto dolleys, which isn't too bad, wheel those dolleys to the elevator, and then park them in a relatively empty part of the basement that we shall call The Graveyard of Fridges. This wasn't originally meant to be a permanent solution, but when you have space but lack muscles, it can become permanent really fast. Eventually, someone realized that you can padlock the fronts of the fridges and use them as document storage, which has the added perk of meaning that the people on site don't have to assemble more filing cabinets. Everyone here hates assembling filing cabinets. It's fucking terrible.
(It is worth noting that in this era, you would occasionally get directions to a secret file that looked like "1970's model, lime green, left crisper.")
We will call this the peak of the Hoarding Era. It is followed by the Mechanical Engineering Era.
Around 2015, it was realized that the group needed engineers familiar with industrial machinery, and not just standard electronics, so mechanical engineers (MEs) began to get hired. The new ME's made it a sort of rite of passage for proceeding new hires to repair an old fridge. So the site went from having 4 functioning fridges and 15ish being used for document storage to around 15 functioning fridges and 4 used for file storage.
Every time a fridge got fixed, people just put them back on the dolley, wheeled them back in the elevator, and got them wedged in their personal office spaces. If you were a bigwig, you might be able to get dibs on your own personal fridge, and if you were a new guy confined to the cubicle jungle you might have to share one with four or five other guys. But it was still a ludicrous amount of fridge space.
And that is how a base with 35 people on it wound up with 15 fridges.
#fridges#DoD#clearance#blogging#yes#this is what it's like working for shadowy government organizations#we do have a real lime green fridge#the mechanical engineers do have weirdly personal relationships with the fridge they fixed#0.428 fridges per person
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Anomaly- Chapter 3
Neteyam
“Keep up you guys!” Lo’ak yells back as we run through the forest.
The twins, who had been allowed to stay here almost one month ago, trail behind us. My brother and I take a turn, pushing back the rough plants for each other as we continue our run. Yet, it does not last long when we hear a loud, “Owwww!”
Lo’ak and I stop turning back to the twins, one of which, Noah, tries not to laugh as the other, Y/n, holds her face. “I am so sorry,” he tells her, attempting to keep his smile hidden.
“What happened?” I ask as we move closer to them.
“He let go of the leaf and it hit me in the face,” she says, her hand still covering her cheek.
“You’re probably fine,” Lo’ak says, getting closer so that he can move her hand away.
With her hand away, the red mark left in the shape of the plant's leaves is left on her cheek, “Oh, damn,” Noah says, finally letting his laugh out.
My brother laughs as well, making Y/n cross her arms and roll her eyes at them, “You guys are annoying.”
Two weeks ago, when the twins were officially allowed to be here by Mo’at and both my parents. Seeing as she was not excited for them to be staying here, my mother gave them a list of rules to follow. Like how they couldn’t wear na’vi clothes, or how they had to stay at the lab when they were not training with me or doing something for Norm. These rules were not permanent though, seeing as I was to train them to learn the way of our people.
It was a task given to me to test my abilities of being Olo’eyktan, and a task given to them because if they had fully learned our ways and could pass the rite of passage, they would officially become na’vi and a part of our clan.
The only thing was that they only had three months to learn what most of us trained our whole lives to be able to do. If they couldn’t pass the rite of passage by the end, they would be shunned away from the clan. Luckily for them, the RDA had trained them in combat which made them pretty agile already but the forest still was a difficult terrain to manage.
Our first week, the focus was fully understanding the importance of the senses. Na’vi have much stronger senses than the sky people, in turn, the twins did as well. These senses help us in every aspect of life, from hunting to identifying nearby danger. Though they knew they had the heightened ability to pick up on smells and sounds, they had not fully known the advantages of it or its importance in the life of a na’vi.
They were quick to understand and master that though, which is why we moved on to navigating the ground terrain. Learning how to move quickly despite the rocks, roots, and endless amount of bumps that could get in the way. Knowing how to move quickly through it all is a must for survival.
Since meeting them, I have learned more about the twins' lives back at the RDA. Nothing too personal, just that Y/n spent most of her time in the lab, where Noah would go out into the forest for missions. That’s how they would help keep the sky people away from us; Y/n would interfere with experiments they attempted and Noah would somehow manage to mess up the route and lead them away from our clan.
The difference between the two definitely stems from this. It’s why Noah had been able to adjust to the forest terrain much easier, only really having to work on his speed, whereas Y/n had never really been in the forest much before. But their differences balanced out, because where Noah knew how to navigate our terrain, Y/n knew a lot of the science behind it. Being around so much information in the labs made her a much more calculated person than her brother. And teachings from Norm allowed her to also have a pretty good understanding of our language and even a bit of our culture.
Despite their differences, the two of them have been pretty good navigating down here, despite the slight setback we had just encountered. “Are you alright?” I ask her.
“Yeah,” she mumbles, rubbing her cheek as the red mark slightly fades.
“Okay good,” I tell her before speaking to both her and her twin. “I think that we are good to move on.”
“To what?” Noah asks.
“Same thing as down here just,” I point up. “Up there.”
The twins follow my pointed finger and look up at the high trees. “Oh my,” Y/n mumbles.
“It’s basically the same thing,” Lo’ak tells her.
“Just do as we do,” I add.
Lo’ak is the first to climb a nearby tree, kicking off the trunk and jumping up onto a branch before using his leverage to propel him from one branch to another. I go after him although I only move to the first branch. When we look down the twins simply look at us as if we are crazy for expecting them to do the simple action. “You’ve got to be joking,” Y/n says.
“Come on, just try it!” Lo’ak calls down.
The twins look at each other seemingly deciding that Noah would go first through the glimpse. With a deep breath he runs towards the tree, jumping off it and reaching for the branch I stood on. He catches it, letting out a breath of relief before he pulls himself up onto the branch. He stabilizes himself before looking up to the branch that Lo’ak stood on, mentally preparing himself for the jump before he actually commits.
When he does commit it's a smooth jump that ends with him catching the side of the branch and pulling himself the rest of the way up. “Wooooo!” Lo’ak cheers, roughly patting Noah on the back as he stands. The boy pants, holding his hands on his knees as he catches his breath. “Good job, bro!”
“Thank you,” he breathes before looking down at his sister. Lo’ak and I follow his lead, looking down at her.
She looks up at us as if she’s expecting us to do something. “We’re waiting on you,” I remind her.
“Oh.. yeah,” she speaks under her breath, seemingly getting snapped back into reality. She shakes her head and takes a few steps back as she removes her rings and slides them into her pocket, “Here goes nothing.”
She starts off running fast, kicking off the tree with a force that propels her up as she reaches for the branch. But despite how close she gets to it, she never fully makes it.
Terror flashes in her eyes as she realizes she’s about to free fall before they squeeze shut, a sharp squeal escaping her mouth. The sound is short lived though when she realizes she was not falling. Her eyes pop open instantly, finding mind before realizing I had caught her hand. She exhales a breath of relief. “Thank God,” she mumbles.
I feel my brows furrow as I lift her up and help place her on the branch next to me. “ I don’t know who God is.. but my name is Neteyam,” I reminded her.
“Oh yeah, sorry, sky people word,” she explains. “Thank you, Neteyam,” she corrects, my name falling effortlessly from her mouth.
“It’s no problem, you are very light and easy to catch.”
She almost smiles, “Thank you?”
I nod before continuing, “But since you are so tiny, you have to put more force in your jump. And don’t focus just on your legs, your entire body must propel you through each jump.”
“Oh, okay,” she says, taking my note before turning to the branch that each of our brothers had been waiting on. She bends her knees more when she jumps this time, pushing her entire body through the air when she jumps this time.
She catches the side of the next branch this time, squealing in excitement as she pulls herself up to stand with Lo’ak and Noah. I effortlessly jump over to them as well, joining in congratulating her before we continue moving through the branches. We move slowly as they get used to the type of jumps but for their first day, they did pretty good.
That night, our family sat around a fire, enjoying a small dinner together. With Spider at the lab tonight it was just the Sully’s. Like every night since they had arrived, the twins were brought up. Normally it was by my dad, simply asking how training was going until my mother had gotten sick of the topic. But this time it was brought up another way, by a younger Sully.
“When can I play with the twins?” Tuk asks.
My mom’s ears peak as she looks over to Tuk before she redirects herself to the food she began to poke at upsettingly, “They are not playmates, Tuk.”
“But they seemed so fun.”
The air stills at her words as all attention from our mother moves to Tuk, “When did you encounter them?”
Realizing her mistake, Tuk looks up, accidentally glimpsing at me before she looks up to our mom. “Oh no.”
“Neteyam, you brought them around Tuk?” My mother asks, moving her eyes to me.
My ears lower, “No, not exactly.”
“Then what exactly did you do?”
“They may have tagged along the first time Lo’ak and I went to get them from the lab.”
Her hand covers her forehead in frustration. “Of course Lo’ak was a part of this,” she sighs.
“Hey, I am not the one who dragged everyone along,” Lo’ak defends.
“I apologize, truly,” I cut in. “But mom, everyone was so excited, I did not want to disappoint.”
“We all begged him,” Kiri cuts in. “If anything it’s all our faults.”
“They just seem so cool!” Tuk whines.
“They are pretty cool,” I admit. “We have been working with them for almost a month, and I can say that they are very nice people.”
“We don’t know anything about them,” our mom hisses.
“You don’t know anything about them,”Lo’ak mumbles.
Both heads of our parents swing to look at him. “Lo’ak!” our father finally speaks, reprimanding Lo’ak because of his disrespectful words.
“What?” he questions. “I am right, you are judging them and you’ve never truly met them. If you had, you'd understand why Tuk wants to play with them.”
“You all understand I am trying to protect our family,” our mother explains. “The sky people have already taken so much from our clan.”
“But they aren’t sky people,” Tuk pouts. “They are only a little different than us.”
My mom sighs as my dad interjects, “I agree with them, honey.”
His words shock all of us, especially our mom as she swings her head to look at him, hitting him in his arm, “You dare take their side over me?”
He laughs a bit, placing a gentle hand on her arm, “I am not picking them over you. I am simply saying that I agree they can’t be that bad. Neteyam has spent almost a month with them, I think we can trust his judgment on this one.”
“Pleeeeeeease!” Tuk begs.
Our mom finally, though unwillingly, breaks. “Fine, you may all hang around the twins. But let it not get in the way of their training or distract any of you from your duties,” she says, sounding almost like our father.
“Is she understood?” the man himself asks.
“Understood,” we all chime out, excited about our mothers words.
- - -
“When are they going to get here?” Spider impatiently asks.
“Soon,” I sigh.
“How do you know that?”
“I just do,” I grit out.
“But h-”
“Stop questioning me!”
“Okay, okay,” he mumbles. “Someone’s grumpy.”
“Maybe we should have just guided them here, bro,” Lo’ak says.
“No, Lo’ak. They need to learn how to find their way through the forest. Plus, when they do end up finding us, I can count them getting here as their training for the day,” I tell him.
Yes, forcing the twins to find their way through the forest alone was probably a task I'd prematurely given them, especially when they had just learned how to move through the trees yesterday. But they had very little time to learn so many things. I had to speedrun some of the lessons.
I had told them some of the main landmarks they would run into in order to arrive at the clearing of the forest that my siblings and I had awaited in. I had also gotten Spider to come here earlier to keep them from using him as a crutch. If they could use the information I'd given and combine their lessons on navigating our terrain, it would prove major growth.
And seeing as they had no clue that I had asked them here simply to hang out, they’d have a little surprise at the end.
“Neteyam,” a softer and way less annoying voice chimes in. I look over to my youngest sister who holds a box of beads, “Do you think she will want to make jewelry with me?”
I squat down to her height. “I would think so,” I say. She wore so much jewelry all the time, why wouldn’t she? “Why are you so worried about her not wanting to?”
“Because Lo’ak said that it was boring and she would say no!” she says, pointing to our brother.
“Such a tattle tale,” Lo’ak groans.
I can’t help but chuckle, “Lo’ak just thinks bracelets are boring. I bet she would love making bracelets with you and if she doesn’t then I will make bracelets with you..”
She smiles, “Okay I will ask. But when will they be here,” she whines.
Before I can answer we all hear a slight scream and a thud. The clothes instantly register that the being that is now laid on the ground is Y/n but before we can react, another body lands right on top of her. “OW!” the girl yells.
“Oh my,” Kiri says as well all rush over.
“Are you okay?” Lo’ak asks.
“I’m okay, it wasn’t that hard of a fall,” the boy says, only lifting his head to look up at us.
“Yeah because my ribs broke your fall,” Y/n grunts from under him. “Get off me, dumbass.”
“Oh yeah, sorry,” he says, rolling from on top of her.
Y/n instantly gasps for air when he’s off of her, rolling on to her side. “You way a ton,” she exasperates, holding her ribs. Kiri helps Y/n on to her feet, dusting off some of the dirt from her clothes. “Thank you,” she says before realizing who was helping her. She looks around at all of us, “Wait.. you’re all here?”
“Yeah,” Tuk says, drawing Y/n’s eyes down to her height. “Our mom said we could play with you. I brought beads if you want to make bracelets with me.”
Y/n smiles, “Awh I would love to.”
Tuk turns to smile at me before she reaches for Y/n’s head and drags her over to sit beneath a huge tree. Kiri follows, sitting in a circle with the other two girls. “Wait, we're learning how to build bracelets today?” Noah asks, now on his feet and before us as well.
“No, dude. We aren’t training today. There is this really tall tree close to here, wanna climb it with us?” Lo’ak asks.
“Sounds cool. I’m in.”
“Alright let’s go then,” Spider says.
We turn to leave when Tuk’s voice stops me, “Neteyam!” I turn to see her as well as Y/n and Kiri looking at me. Tuk’s bottom lip pokes out in a pout, “I thought you said you would make bracelets with me too.”
“Tuk you have two other people,” Lo’ak points out.
“But Neteyam makes those really cool hair things,” she whines. “Y/n said we could put them in her hair!!”
Y/n furrows her eyebrows, “I did?”
Tuk glares at her, ‘Yes. You did.”
“Oh yeah, I just remembered. I did say that.”
I shrug, “I don’t mind staying.”
“Really, dude?” Lo’ak asks as I start walking to the small group on the ground.
I turn to them although I still back towards the group of girls, “What? I did tell her I would. Be safe and be back in no more than two hours!”
“Yes sir,” Lo’ak mocks as he rolls his eyes. Spider laughs a bit before they decide to go.
“Bye, Y/n!” Noah yells when they finally start leaving.
“Bye!” Y/n calls back as I finally make it to the circle.
I plop down between Tuk and Kiri, across from Y/n. They have already started making jewelry of their own, pulling beads onto string in different methods.
I didn’t mind staying to craft with them, I’d actually been interested in it since I was young. I had learned how to make jewelry when Kiri was little to keep her entertained when I watched her. I never expected to like it but it was something I always came back to when it came to my sisters.
I look over at Y/n who is focused on the piece she was starting to make herself. I focus more on the jewelry she wears around her neck and on her hands. The main color theme she has seems to be black and silver, the only pop of color being the dark purple and green on one of her necklaces and the occasional piece on another.
I decided to use black string to go with her theme but I use colored beads for the decorative piece just because I thought a pop of color would be nice on her.
We mainly work in silence until Kiri asks, “Where did you get your necklaces?”
“Oh, I made them,” Y/n answers.
“Sky people have beads?” Tuk asks.
“Yeah, but I didn’t have a lot of them so I just stole them from some of the old jewelry the scientists had. Or I’d make my own.”
“You made your own beads?” I ask.
She looks over at me and nods, her hands pausing her work to point to one of the metal beads on a necklace. “I molded it out of an old bullet shell.”
“That sounds time consuming,” I say, noticing how much silver she had worn.
“It was, but I had a lot of free time,” she shrugs before going back to her necklace.
“So you made necklaces?” Kiri asks.
“Yeah.. Well, mainly when I was like 14, I kind of grew out of it for the most part. But I'd make them all the time for Noah and I.”
“Which one is your favorite?” Tuk asks.
“Um, this one,” Y/n answers, pointing to the necklace with dark purple green beads. “Noah always refused to make necklaces but the one time I’d convinced him to make one, he made this.”
“Neteyam makes things all the time,” Tuk says. “He’s the one who taught Kiri and I how to do it.”
“Awh,” Y/n smiles, her eyes flickering over to me for a split second. “That’s cute.”
I don’t know why, but I feel my face heat up at her simple words.
For the rest of the time that we make bracelets we go around with simple conversation. By the end of it we all know more about Y/n, and she knows more about us. “I’m finished,” I mumble as I tie off the last hair piece for Y/n.
Y/n’s ears flicker up excitedly as she looks over. I must admit I am a little nervous to hand them to her, I partially feared she wouldn’t like them. That fear is wiped away when she instantly smiles at them, “Oh this is so cute.” I can't help but smile too when her eyes meet mine again, “Will you put them in my hair for me?”
My ears shoot up at her question, “Are you sure?”
Her brows furrow at my uncertainty, “Yeah, why not?” With those words I am reminded that she had grown up around humans. To her, touching one another's hair was not as sacred as it was to the na’vi. I’d have to remember to teach her that one day so she’d understand my questioning.
I shake my head, dismissing my questioning before I get up and move behind her. I squat down so I can better place the jewelry into each of the buns her hair had been wrapped into. I am careful not to agitate the queue that I knew ran through one of them. Although this had not been anything special to her though, I can’t help the way I feel somewhat honored from being allowed to touch her hair.
“There you go,” I mumble, when I have finally placed each piece before moving back to wear I sat across from her.
“Thank you!” She smiles as she turns her head, allowing both Kiri and Tuk to see the jewelry that now decorated her hair. “How do they look?”
“Very pretty,” Kiri comments.
“I love it! I knew it would look so good,” Tuk says.
Y/n laughs, “Thank you guys.”
“I made something for you too,” both Kiri and Tuk say at the same time.
Y/n’s face turns a light shade of red, “Oh! Thank you guys but you didn’t have to.”
“Well we wanted to,” Kiri says, rolling her eyes as she hands Y/n a bracelet.
The bracelet was made of string, the base color being black making the green and pink string that made the shape of flowers and leaves pop. “Oh wow, Kiri. This is so pretty!”
Kiri smiles at the compliment before helping Y/n tie it onto her wrist. “Perfect fit,” she commented.
“Okay it’s my turn!” Tuk says, dragging all our attention to see what she’d made. She holds up the long string of jewelry. “It goes around your waist!” The piece of jewelry commonly worn by na’vi women was decorated with random black and brown beads with the occasional colorful one. It was a mess of beads that reflected the fact that the young girl was still learning how to color coordinate.
Despite the mess of colors, Y/n smiles as if it’s the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. It makes my heart melt. “Awh, Tuk. It’s so pretty, but isn’t this something that na’vi women wear?” Y/n asks, questioning the jewelry she had known to be somewhat significant to our culture. She looks at me, “Am I allowed to wear it?”
Remembering what my mother had said about the twins not being allowed to wear na’vi attire, I understand the girls' questioning, but I see no problem with it. “I don’t think it’d be that big of a deal,” I tell her.
She and Tuk instantly smiles before Tuk moves to tie it around her waist, Kiri ends up having to help though when the young girl can’t seem to tie it herself. Y/n giggles as their fingers fumble against her skin, unintentionally tickling her. “There,” Kiri says when they finally get it on.
Y/n’s laughing ceases when their hands pull away, though she keeps smiling as she looks down at the jewelry that sat perfectly on her slim waist. “Agh, I love it. Thank you, Tuk.”
Tuk smiles and says, “You’re welcome.”
“Now it’s my turn to give you all gifts,” Y/n says, as she holds up the three bracelets she’d made. I think the three of us are all surprised that she had thought to make us gifts, but my heart warms as she passes them out and I see how much thought she’d put into each of them.
The beads of Tuk’s bracelet matched the color theme of the beads in her hair. In the same manner, Kiri’s matched the color of the necklace she always wore, and mine matched the color of the band I’d wrapped around my upper arm. “Let me help you put them on,” she says, before turning to Kiri and tying the bracelet on for her.
“Thank you,” my sister says, earning a warm smile from Y/n.
Y/n waddles over to me on her knees, pulling my arm into her lap so she can tie the bracelet on for me. My ears lower and I find it hard for me to focus on anything else while my arm is in her grasp, her small fingers gently brushing against my skin as she ties the knot. Despite the feeling of her cold rings, my body heats at the minimal contact and it confuses me.
What is wrong with me?
When the bracelet is tied on I will myself to mumble out a low ‘thank you’ in which I receive a warm smile and a ‘mhm’ befores she’s waddling over to help Tuk.
A thump to my arm draws my attention to Kiri who gives me a suggestive look, ‘what?’ I mouth. She rolls her eyes before mouthing back, ‘you’re a skxawng.’
“I love it so much!” we hear Tuk say before we turn back to Y/n and our youngest sister. Tuk hops from her spot onto Y/n who instantly embraces her. “Thank you so much,” she mumbles into her shoulder.
“You’re very welcome,” Y/n giggles.
The moment ends when we hear bickering. We all look over and see Lo’ak, Spider, and Noah returning. “That was so fun, man,” Noah comments.
“Yeah, sorry we had to leave so quick,” Lo’ak says.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised that they had arrived on time. I truly believed that I would have to go searching for the group but no. Lo’ak had been responsible and gotten them back in a timely manner. I think this new found behavior has been all thanks to the fact that Lo’ak feared ruining the twins chances of staying here with his own actions.
“Wait, we are done hanging out?” Tuk says, still holding on to Y/n.
“Yeah,” I say, as I stand up along with Kiri. “There are some things we have to do for mom back at home and I don’t want the twins out during the eclipse.”
“Awh but I want to stay with Y/n,” my youngest sister whines, not letting go of Y/n even when she stands.
“We can play another time, Tuk,” Y/n says, drawing Tuk’s eyes to her.
“Promise?”
“If your mother still permits then yes, I promise.”
_______________________________________________________
A/N: Hi Guys! I really hope you liked this chapter. I apologize for taking so long to post it, it was supposed to be like twice as long as it is but I ended up splitting that with the next chapter so I had to do some major editing. I will hopefully have Chapter 4 up soon which is where a lot of our early drama will take place so I hope you continue to follow along with the story. AGH ALSO THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR SWEET COMMENTS!!! OKAY I AM GOING TO POST THIS NOW BYE! - Mak
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#neteyam#neteyam x reader#neteyam fic#neteyam x f!reader#neteyam x y/n#lo’ak x reader#kiri x reader#tuk x reader#avatar#avatar fic#fanfics#avatar way of water#found family
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