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mostlysignssomeportents · 29 days

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Live Nation/Ticketmaster is buying Congress

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me THURSDAY (May 2) in WINNIPEG, then Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), Tartu, Estonia, and beyond!

Anything that can't go on forever eventually stops. Monopolies are intrinsically destabilizing and inevitably implode…eventually. Guessing which of the loathesome monopolies that make us all miserable will be the first domino is a hard call, but Ticketmaster is definitely high on my list.

It's not that event tickets are the most consequential aspect of our lives. The monopolies over pharma, fuel, finance, tech, and even beer are all more important to our day-to-day. But while Ticketmaster – and its many ramified tentacles, like Live Nation – may not be the most destructive monopoly in our world, but it pisses off people with giant megaphones and armies of rabid fans.

It's been a minute since Ticketmaster was last in the news, so let's recap. Ticketmaster bought out most of its ticketing rivals, then merged with Live Nation, the country's largest concert promoter, and bought out many of the country's largest music, stage and sports venues. They used this iron grip on the entire supply chain for performances and events to pile innumerable junk fees on every ticket sold, while drastically eroding the wages of the creative workers they nominally represented. They created a secret secondary market for tickets and worked with ticket-touts to help them run bots that bought every ticket within an instant of the opening of ticket sales, then ran an auction marketplace that made them gigantic fees on every re-sold ticket – fees the performers were not entitled to share in.

The Ticketmaster/Live Nation/venue octopus is nearly impossible to escape. Independent venues can't book Live Nation acts unless they use Ticketmaster for their tickets. Acts can't get into the large venues owned by Ticketmaster unless they sign up to have Live Nation book their tour. And when Ticketmaster buys a venue, it creams off the most successful acts, starving competing venues of blockbuster shows. They also illegally colluded with their vendors to jack up the price of concerts across the board:

https://pascrell.house.gov/uploadedfiles/ful.pdf

When Rebecca Giblin and I were writing Chokepoint Capitalism, our book about how tech and entertainment monopolies impoverish all kinds of creative workers, we were able to get insiders to go on record about every kind of monopoly, from the labels to Spotify, Kindle to the Big Five publishers and the Google-Meta ad-tech duopoly. The only exception was Ticketmaster/Live Nation: everyone involved in live performance – performers, bookers, club owners – was palpably terrified about speaking out on the record about the conglomerate:

https://chokepointcapitalism.com/

No wonder. The company has a long and notorious history of using its market power to ruin anyone who challenges it. Remember Pearl Jam?

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pearl-jam-taking-on-ticketmaster-67440/

But anything that can't go on forever eventually stops. Not only is Ticketmaster a rapacious, vindictive monopolist – it's also an incompetent monopolist, whose IT systems are optimized for rent-extraction first, with ticket sales as a distant afterthought. This is bad no matter which artist it effects, but when Ticketmaster totally, utterly fucked up Taylor Swift's first post-lockdown tour, they incurred the wrath of the Swifties:

https://www.vox.com/culture/2022/11/21/23471763/taylor-swift-ticketmaster-monopoly

All of which explains why I've always given good odds that Ticketmaster would be first up against the wall come the antitrust revolution. It may not be the most destructive monopolist, but it is absurdly evil, and the people who hate it most are the most famous and beloved artists in the country.

For a while, it looked like I was right. Ticketmaster's colossal Taylor Swift fuckup prompted Senator Amy Klobuchar – a leading antitrust crusader – to hold hearings on the company's conduct, and led to the introduction of a raft of bills to rein in predatory ticketing practices. But as David Dayen writes for The American Prospect, Ticketmaster/Live Nation is spreading a fortune around on the Hill, hiring a deep bench of ex-Congressmen and ex-senior staffers (including Klobuchar's former chief of staff) and they've found a way to create the appearance of justice without having to suffer any consequences for their decades-long campaign of fraud and abuse:

https://prospect.org/power/2024-04-30-live-nation-strikes-up-band-washington/

Dayen opens his article with the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which is always bracketed by a week's worth of lavish parties for Congress and hill staffers. One of the fanciest of these parties was thrown by Axios – and sponsored by Live Nation, with a performance by Jelly Roll (whose touring contract is owned by Live Nation). Attendees at the Axios/Live Nation event were bombarded with messages about the essential goodness of Live Nation (they were even printed on the cocktail napkins) and exhortations to support the Fans First Act, co-sponsored by Klobuchar and Sen John Cornyn (R-TX):

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/08/arts/music/fans-first-act-ticket-bill.html

Ticketmaster/Live Nation loves the Fans First Act, because – unlike other bills – it focuses primarily on the secondary market for tickets, and its main measure is a requirement for ticketing companies to disclose their junk fees upfront. Neither of these represents a major challenge to Ticketmaster/Live Nation's control over the market, which gives it the ability to slash performers' wages while jacking up prices for fans.

Fans First represents the triumph of Ticketmaster/Live Nation's media strategy, which is to blame the entire problem on bottom-feeding ticket-touts (who are mostly scum!) instead of on the single monopoly that controls the entire industry and can't stop committing financial crimes.

Axios isn't Live Nation's only partner in selling this distraction tactic. Over the past five years, the company has flushed gigantic sums of money through Washington. Its lobbying spend rose from $240k in 2018 to $1.1m in 2022, and $2.38m in 2023:

https://thehill.com/business/4431886-live-nation-doubled-lobbying-spending-to-2-4m-in-2023-amid-antitrust-threat/

The company has 37 paid lobbyists selling Congress on its behalf. 25 of them are former congressional staffers. Two are former Congressmen: Ed Whitfield (R-KY), a 21 year veteran of the House, and Mark Pryor (D-AR), a two-term senator:

https://www.bhfs.com/people/attorneys/p-s/mark-pryor

But perhaps the most galling celebrant in this lavish hymn to Citizen United is Jonathan Becker, Amy Klobuchar's former chief of staff, who jumped ship to lobby Congress on behalf of monopolists like Live Nation, who paid him $120k last year to sell their story to the Hill:

https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/lobbyists?cycle=2023&id=D000053134

Not everyone hates Fans First: it's been endorsed by the Nix the Tix coalition, largely on the strength of its regulation of secondary ticket sales. But the largest secondary seller in America by far is Live Nation itself, with a $4.5b market in reselling the tickets it sold in the first place. Fans First shifts focus from this sleazy self-dealing to competitors like Stubhub.

Fans First can be seen as an opening salvo in the long war against Ticketmaster/Live Nation. But compared to more muscular bills – like Klobuchar's stalled-out Unlock Ticketing Markets Act, it's pretty weaksauce. The Unlocking act will "prevent exclusive contracts between ticketing services and venues" – hitting Ticketmaster/Live Nation where it hurts, right in the bank-account:

https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2023/4/following-senate-judiciary-committee-hearing-klobuchar-blumenthal-introduce-legislation-to-increase-competition-in-live-event-ticketing-markets

It's not all gloom. Dayen reports that Ticketmaster's active lobbying in favor of Fans First has made many in Congress more skeptical of the bill, not less. And Congress isn't the only – or even the best – way to smash Ticketmaster's criminal empire. That's something the DoJ's antitrust division could power through with a lot less exposure to the legalized bribery that dominates Congress.

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/30/nix-fix-the-tix/#something-must-be-done-there-we-did-something

Image: Matt Biddulph (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/mbiddulph/13904063945/

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Flying Logos (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Over_$1,000,000_dollars_in_USD_$100_bill_stacks.png

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

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writeroutoftime · 10 months

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Omg! If your still doing Jamie tartt requests please can you write about the readers ex boyfriend being a footballer and Jamie has to play against him in a match

word count: 0.5k

a/n: oh, I just love this idea! thank you for sending this my way, and please enjoy!! (also, I am so sorry this took forever for me to write, forgive me!)

oOoOo

"Alright, everybody, listen up." Ted called into the locker room gathering the team around him. "We're playing Crystal Palace this week and we need to be prepared."

"Yeah, some more than others." Issac quipped, smacking Jamie's shoulder, which was shortly followed by a chorus of "ooohs" from the rest of the boys.

Ted and Beard shared a confused look before turning back to the rest of the team for guidance. Roy finally stepped forward from the corner and spoke up. "Crystal Palace is home of Jack Thompson, probably a bigger prick then the prince prick of all pricks." Roy explained, nodding his head towards Jamie. "And the ex-boyfriend of our resident, y/n."

Jamie, who up until this point had silently stood back from the group, pushed his way forward and addressed the room. "Right, listen. This is just another match, so I don't want to hear another word out of anyone. Okay?" he asked, looking around for a response.

Sheepishly, the rest of the team mumbled their agreement and made their way to the pitch for the morning. And if anyone noticed that Jamie's kicks were just a bit more aggressive then normally, not a word was spoken.

oOoOo

At the end of the week, you stood outside the locker room, arms wrapped around Jamie, his number proudly adorned on your back. "I'm sorry if this game is going to be awkward." you apologized quietly.

"Babe, it's only going to be awkward for the prick who let you walk out of his life." he reassured, leaning in for a short kiss before watching you walk away to the owner's box with Keeley, Rebecca, and Leslie just as you did every week.

Walking onto the pitch with the rest of the team, Jamie did his best to keep his eyes forward and his mind clear. Unfortunately, your ex had other ideas and forcefully knocked his shoulder against Jamie's, and that was only the start.

Every chance Thompson had to get in Jamie's way or under his skin, he took the chance. "Hey Tartt, how's y/n doing?" Thompson threw over his shoulder, blocking Jamie from intercepting the ball.

"Much better in my jersey than in yours." Jamie shot back, finally allowing himself to give in and ran forward to intercept the ball back before passing it to Sam.

Whether it was the comment or the move, Thompson was not a fan and ran towards Jamie, sending him tackling to the ground. There were gasps all around the stadium as Jamie landed on his back, eyes closed for a moment. He knew what he had to do, and really played up his part, grasping his knee in faux pain until he heard the whistle from the referee.

As though he was suddenly healed, Jamie jumped to his feet just in time to see Thompson get a yellow card. Jamie subtly flipped him off, laughing with his teammates as he prepared to score a goal. And when the ball went soaring into the net only moments later, the rest of the team erupted into delighted cheers as Jamie turned towards you and blew you a kiss.

All you could do was shake your head lovingly at your boyfriend's antics, and blow him a kiss back, never giving your ex a second thought after that.

#jamie tartt x reader #jamie tartt imagine #rita writes

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hier--soir · 23 days

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feb + mar + apr reads

norma jean baker of troy by anne carson [★★★★★]

"Sometimes I think language should cover its own eyes when it speaks."

"Is she human? Are you? Is she a beast out of control? There's so much danger. No human can become just a beast, you plunge beyond - beyond what? Remember Jack the Ripper? 'I'm down on whores and I shan't quit ripping them till I get buckled,' Jack wrote in a letter to the newspaper, September 18, 1888. He never did get buckled. Of course insane, his mind blooming with it, who could go down that rabbit-hole or unlock such a puzzle as Jack? - but still, the woman! the thing is! the woman has everything and you smile and you take some."

: ̗̀➛ an exploration of the lives and myths of marilyn monroe and helen of troy.

: ̗̀➛ anne carson is there anything you can't do? please email me back. please.

piglet by lottie hazell [★★★★]

"'I want to make some food,' she said. 'For both of us?' he asked. 'No, just for me.'"

: ̗̀➛ one woman, piglet, and the lead up to her wedding in the face of a big confession from her fiancé.

: ̗̀➛ this one slipped beneath my skin and writhed around the spot inside me where i've tucked away all of my food issues.

merciless gods by christos tsiolkas [★★]

"I'm scared that if I let go, not only the room, not only this city, but the whole world will go cold forever."

"Your false gods cannot save you. There is only one God, my God."

: ̗̀➛ short stories that bash you over the head with how awful things and people and places can be. i did not live for this one... particularly wasn't into the one where a guy jerked his dad who has alzheimers off.

foe by iain reid [★★]

"All day. Time keeps moving. I've always thought that was a good thing. Until recently. I'm not so sure now. Is it good? For time to go by fast?"

: ̗̀➛ they want to send junior to space and replace him with a robot that looks and acts and talks exactly like him so his wife has company in his absence.

: ̗̀➛ marriage and trust and complacency, and a guy called terrence who we get reminded over and over has long gorgeous hair.

: ̗̀➛ a little boring for my taste. i had an idea of where it was going pretty early on, and it took a while for me to be proven right. pretty disconcerting!

acts of desperation by megan nolan [★★★★]

"The need was a true and human part of me, but I could feel nothing else of myself to be true or human, and so the need seemed ungodly, an aberration."

: ̗̀➛ a book full of confession, desire, jealousy, violence, and power. messy messy messy!!!! readers procceed with caution.

: ̗̀➛ shout out to everyone who said i should read this - you were right, it is up my alley.

gone girl by gillian flynn [★★★★]

"My wife was no longer my wife but a razor-wire knot daring me to unloop her, and I was not up to the job with my thick, numb, nervous fingers. Country fingers. Flyover fingers untrained in the intricate, dangerous work of solving Amy. When I'd hold up the bloody stumps, she'd sigh and turn to her secret mental notebook on which she tallied all my deficiencies, forever noting disappointments, frailties, shortcomings."

: ̗̀➛ i have become a gillian flynn STAN this year, it's true. despite having seen the movie multiple times, i enjoyed reading this, and was delighted to find some differences in the texts [for better and for worse].

: ̗̀➛ nick dunne, big fan of the lie of omission, mama's boy whose mama is dead, i'd like to introduce you to couples therapy.

dead beautiful and life eternal by yvonne woon [reread] [★★★]

: ̗̀➛ the first two books in a paranormal romance trilogy. these kinda bang guys, i can't lie. 15-year-old me was onto something when she decided to keep these instead of donating them. however, they DO have some of the worst book covers i've ever seen, sorry yvonne.

fourth wing by rebecca yarros [★★★]

: ̗̀➛ a romantasy book that has dragons, smut, and twists that you'll see coming from a mile away. pretty fun. recced to me by one man in person and a thousand women on tik tok.

: ̗̀➛ no one who has the thought 'double standards for the win' is using 'whomever' in a casual sentence with the guy she's having sex with.

: ̗̀➛ good enemies to lovers should have actual murder attempts. but maybe that's jusT MY OPINION.

my book rating system is as follows:

★ = i felt pure contempt the entire time

★★ = yeah it's a book

★★★ = i liked it!

★★★★ = good fucking book, damn

★★★★★ = blew my dick clean off and i'll throw a tantrum if everyone i know doesn't also read it and love it

#what i've been up to!#if you've read any of these lets talk #books #jessie reads

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willalove75 · 9 months

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Keeley and Rebecca would gossip at lunch about Roy and Reader . Especially after seeing them workout together , reader has tattoos . Maybe they go on a double date or with Jack ? Some banter , teasing . Rebecca KNOWS what gets reader going 😳🔥

Yessss!! Love this request so much! Sorry I took literally FOREVER to get to it💕

Warnings: 18+ ONLY. Minors DNI

Tags: flirty, teasing

A/n: Holy shit it's been a MINUTE since I've done a Rebecca fic! I'm going to be trying to do a better job at responding to the Rebecca requests that have been in my inbox for months. I'm so sorry it's taken so long to get through them!

Rebecca and Keeley walk through the halls of AFC Richmond together as they're on their way to lunch. They make their way through the locker room in search of you. Rebecca knocks on Ted's office door and walks in.

"Well howdy boss! Keeley! What are you two rascals up to?"

"Good afternoon Ted." Rebecca says. "Have you seen y/n? I thought she would be in here."

"Ah, I think I saw her and Roy head into the gym a little while ago."

"Of course that's where they are." Keeley says with a playful eyeroll.

The duo head to the gym and lo and behold, there you were. You were doing bench presses and Roy was your spotter.

Rebecca's breath hitches in her chest when she sees you. Her eyes rake over your body, your legs spread on either side of the bench, the little arch in your back, the tight white tank top you had on - you must have pulled your work shirt off. She was practically drooling over the way your muscles flexed when you brought the bar down to your chest and pushed it back up. The tattoos covering your arms were glistening with a thin layer of sweat and it made her heart skip a beat. You didn't even know she was standing there and you were already driving her crazy. It was baffling to Rebecca that someone had such an effect on her.

"Hi babe!" Keeley says as she trots over to Roy and kisses him on the cheek.

As you bring the bar back down to your chest you hear Keeley and look over and see Rebecca practically gawking at you. You flash her a quick smirk before Roy brings you back to reality.

"You're not done yet." He growls. "Four more. For every second you stare at her I'm adding two more."

You quickly refocus and bang out the last four reps before Roy helps you rerack the bar. Using it as leverage, you pull yourself up into a sitting position and look back over at Rebecca who's strutting her way over to you.

"Hey babe." You say.

"Hello my love." She says, leaning down to give you a kiss on the cheek.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"Well we were going to invite you to lunch, but it looks like you're rather preoccupied at the moment." Rebecca says.

You look over at Roy who lets out a low growl letting you know he's not finished kicking your ass yet.

"I'm sorry baby, but it looks like Oscar the Grouch here isn't done torturing me just yet."

"You asked for this." He deadpans.

"It's okay my love, we'll get lunch another time." She says.

"Okay lets go! I'm so hungry I could fuck a horse!" Keeley says.

You, Rebecca, and Roy all look at Keeley.

"Don't you mean 'eat a horse?'" You ask.

"Nope. Bye babe!" She says before kissing Roy and heading towards the door. "Lets go Rebecca!"

You shake your head at her and Rebecca looks down at you. Looking up at her like this does things to you and she knows it. She tries to do it as often as she can and it drives you wild. She bends forward and subtly squeezes her breasts together so you get the best view of her cleavage since you can see right down the front of her shirt. You can feel your cheeks turn red and it's not from working out. Rebecca cups under your chin and pulls you in for a kiss.

When she pulls away and you open your eyes you're met with a beautiful pair of piercing green eyes staring back at you. Your heart stutters in your chest and she gives you a little smirk.

"I'll see you later, love." Is all she says before turning around and walking away. She sways her hips a little as she walks away and you develop an ache between your legs.

After she leaves you drag your hands down your face and groan.

"That woman will be the death of me."

Roy snickers at you and you shoot him a look.

"You chose that punishment. I have no sympathy. Lets go, you have two more sets to finish and then I'm throwing you in the ice tub." You groan in protest. "After that little, whatever the fuck that was, you're gonna need it."

At lunch Rebecca and Keeley are seated at a table and they go over the menu after placing their drink orders. Rebecca is chewing on her bottom lip as she looks over the menu and Keeley giggles at her.

"What?" Rebecca asks.

"You."

"What about me?"

"She really got you flustered by just existing, didn't she?" Rebecca rolls her eyes at Keeley and looks back at the menu. "Oh come on! I saw the way you were looking at her and how you practically eye fucked her in front of the entire team!"

"Keeley Jones! I did no such thing!"

"Oh yes you did and you know it!"

"I wasn't eye fucking her, just, playfully flirting."

"Yeah, okay. Anyway, we should go on a double date, we haven't done that in ages!"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, Friday night?"

"Perfect."

Friday night rolls around and you and Rebecca and dressed and off to your double date with Roy and Keeley. Her driver drops you off at the restaurant and Keeley and Roy pull up right after you. After exchanging hello's the four of you head inside and are lead to your table. Drinks and orders are placed and the conversation starts to pick up.

"So how do you think the boys are going to do at next weeks match?" Rebecca asks Roy.

"They better kick their fucking asses." He says.

"How's Isaac's injury?" Keeley asks you.

"He should be fine to play next week. Luckily he didn't tear anything in his knee so I worked on him throughout the week to try and strengthen it so he should be good to go." You say.

"Well that's a relief." Rebecca says.

You go to speak but your words die on your lips when you feel a foot drag up your leg. Looking across the table at Rebecca, she's resting her chin in her hand and looking at you as if she's not teasing the shit out of you right now.

"Are you okay, love?" She asks.

"Yup. All good." You say as you take a sip of your drink.

Her foot climbs higher and pushes your legs apart a little and you try to not choke on your drink. Thank god Roy and Keeley started talking about something else so they don't see you struggling.

The waitress comes over with your food and you feel Rebecca's foot pull away and a wave of relief washes over you. The four of you start eating and just as you're about to take a bite her foot begins stroking your leg again. Looking at Rebecca she has a smirk on her face and you watch as she slowly brings her fork to her mouth and wraps her lips around it before pulling it away. You take a sip of water when you feel your face flushing. This woman can breathe in your direction and immediately fluster you.

"So how has working out with Roy been?" Keeley asks you,

"It's been really good, he's been kicking my ass."

"You needed it." He says.

"Okay, listen-"

"That wasn't a question."

"Such a prick." You laugh.

"Why have you been working out so much, love?" Rebecca asks.

"I don't know, I like it. Especially since I have full access to a gym at work I mean, why not?"

"You have certainly gotten stronger over the last few weeks." She says as she reaches across the table and squeezes your bicep. She's subtle about it but you can feel her drag her nails across your skin as she pulls away.

"Thanks." You sputter and try to cover it with a sip of your drink.

Throughout dinner Rebecca keeps catching your eye, maintaining eye contact when she takes a bite of her food, watching you squirm when her foot grazes the inside of your thigh. She drives you crazy the entire night.

The waitress brings out dessert and Rebecca maintains eye contact with you once more as she takes a scoop of her dessert and eats it.

"Here." She says. "Try it."

Rebecca picks up a spoonful and reaches across the table and feeds you. She slips the spoon between your lips painfully slow and pulls it out at the same pace, not once breaking eye contact. You let out a small moan and try to play it off as if you're moaning about the dessert. Keeley and Roy don't seem to notice but Rebecca's eyes flash with lust for a moment.

She reaches across the table again and drags her thumb across your bottom lip, wiping away some of the dessert left behind.

By the end of the night you're squirming, the heat between your legs is damn near unbearable and she knows it.

You say your goodbyes to Keeley and Roy and climb into the car. Rebecca pushes the button to pull up the privacy divider between the front and back seats of the car and looks at you with lust in her eyes. You try and make a move but she stops you pinning you back against the seat. A pathetic moan leaves your lips and she smirks.

"What's the matter, love?" She says as her lips ghost the shell of your ear.

"Rebecca." You pant.

"Yes love?" She asks before placing soft, open mouthed kisses on your neck. "What's the matter? Got you all worked up?"

"Yes." You groan.

"So easy to fluster."

"Please."

Rebecca cups your core and presses her fingers against your soaked panties.

"All this for me?" You nod your head.

She pulls her hand away and you whine.

"Don't worry my love, when we get home I'll have you whining for all of the best reasons."

#willalove75 #hannah waddingham #rebecca welton #rebecca welton x reader #wlw fanfic #rebecca welton fanfic #ted lasso fic #ted lasso

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heavyhitterheaux · 1 year

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You Better Call Becky With the Good Hair Part 2

Synopsis: You and Jack have now been divorced for 10 years because of you catching him cheating. The two of you get a lot more than you bargained for when someone sees an article on the internet mentioning the divorce and why it happened. Can you two overcome your past?

Pairing: Ex-Husband!Jack Harlow x Ex-Wife!Reader

Original request by: my treacherous twin @harlowsbby 😘💕

Read Part 1 First

Please Do Not Repost My Content Anywhere

“LeLe! You have ten minutes to get down here before I leave you! You’re going to make us both late!” You yell up the steps to your eleven year old daughter.

The second child that you had by Jack.

And you didn’t think there was going to be another one because of him cheating on you, but you found out right before you were able to file for divorce.

You cried for two weeks when you had found out and they definitely were not happy tears. It didn’t really hit you until you were once again holding a baby girl in your arms after being in labor for six hours.

When you originally told Jack, he obviously wanted to make it work between the two of you, but you just weren’t having it. You filed for divorce when you weren’t even two months into your pregnancy. You admit that it did add another layer of stress, but you wanted to cut as many ties as you could that held you to Jack.

But two ties that will be with you forever were your two daughters.

Even though you were upset about finding out that you were pregnant for a second time, once you saw those chubby cheeks and brown eyes you fell in love with the thought of having another mini me besides Amiyah.

He made his bed and now it was time for him to lie in it.

You happened to find out all of the information about his little fling, Rebecca Davis and couldn’t understand for the life of you what she had that you didn’t.

Until you realized,

She didn’t have a damn thing on you and your ex-husband had just been stupid.

After he got caught, he cut off all contact with her.

Or at least that’s what he told you.

“Coming mom!”

You were waiting by the door with your keys in your right hand with her lunch that you packed for her in the other.

Your oldest Amiyah lived with Jack full-time.

You admit that when she originally asked you two years ago when she was twelve that she wanted to live with him and if you were okay with it, your heart shattered. She was your little mini-me and had obviously been attached to your side since she was born.

There was no way in the world that you would keep your children from seeing their father and vice versa.

Of course you didn’t mention to her why it seemed like there was such a disconnect between you two when at one time it was the complete opposite.

She did her best not to mention it because she noticed that despite being divorced, the two of you did still have a soft spot for one another.

Amiyah was a daddy’s girl and there was no way of getting around it. You knew she loved you obviously, but being around Jack was top tier and you knew deep down that it hurt her being away from him for long periods of time.

It hurt you too and it had been hurting you for the past ten years.

She was now 14 and just recently started high school and she came over every weekend and she made sure to facetime you and talk to you every day.

You knew in the back of your mind that it was only a matter of time before she found out why her parents weren’t together anymore and you were dreading it. She was getting to that age and getting more mature and knew that she was bound to ask sooner or later.

“I’m here, I’m here!” Aaliyah said coming down the steps with her book bag and jacket in her hand.

“Mm hmm, you were up again weren’t you?” You asked while handing her the lunch you made for her as she started to make her way to the car.

“I have a history test! I want to do good on it mom!”

“I heard Netflix, but I’ll let it slide, come on.”

It was around noon and you were hanging up some new designs in your boutique when you suddenly got a call from Amiyah.

This instantly made you nervous seeing as it was school hours and she knew better than to be on her phone unless it was an emergency.

“MiMi? Are you okay?” You blurted out as you quickly sat down.

“Mommy, can you come and get me?” She only called you mommy when she was upset so you knew that this had to be a big deal.

“Bub, what’s wrong? Did something happen? Are you hurt?”

“No, just please.” She pleaded with you and you could tell that she was now crying.

“Okay, I’m coming.”

You slipped your phone in your back pocket and made your way over to where Luna and Lav were.

You opened your boutique soon after the whole cheating ordeal and Luna and Lav help you to run it on a daily basis. Homebase was in Louisville, but you had stores in New York, Miami, Atlanta, D.C, L.A., and you were working on getting one in Houston.

“Something’s wrong with MiMi. She won’t tell me over the phone so I’m going to go get her.”

“Why didn’t she call her big ass forehead father?” Lav asked before Luna looked at her and rolled her eyes.

“I don’t know. She sounded really upset. Maybe it’s a girl thing and she needed me.”

“Well we’ll be here and we have everything covered.”

You said a quick thank you before hopping into your range rover and speeding to the high school.

When Amiyah slipped into the passenger seat, her eyes were filled with tears and you could tell that there were dry tears covering her cheeks.

“What happened MiMi?” You asked, concerned while looking at her. All she did was shake her head.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me right now. I want you to take your time and tell me when you’re ready. But for now, how about we have lunch and get our nails done?” You said while trying to wipe her tears away.

“Okay.” She quietly said before you started driving in the direction of the nearest chick-fil-a. That would always make her feel better and Jack would sometimes joke about him feeling some type of way seeing as she liked that better than KFC.

The radio was on a low volume as you were weaving through the Louisville traffic when you could see that she was looking at you.

“Mimi?”

“Thanks for coming to get me.”

“Of course. Anything for you, you’re my baby. You know that. Was your dad busy?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t call him. And Aaliyah is your baby.”

“Aaliyah is my youngest baby while you’re my oldest baby. Amiyah, let him know that you’re with me. I don’t want him to go up there when school is over and be looking for you.”

“Can you do it, please? I don’t want to talk to him.” You suddenly got a confused look on your face. In fourteen years, this was a first.

“Baby girl, what is going on? There has never been a time when you turned down talking to your dad.”

“And I want to stay with you for the rest of the week.”

“Amiyah Margaret Harlow, you have me nervous.” You responded while pulling into a parking space.

“Please, I just… I’m mad at him.”

“Sweetheart, you have to tell him that and tell him why. How do you expect to fix things if you don’t talk about them? We taught you that.”

“I’m not ready to talk to him.”

“Okay… just… I’ll text him. Let’s just get our food.” You said while turning off the car and opening the door.

You then sent Jack a quick text so that he wouldn’t be worried and be looking for her later

You- I have Amiyah. She called me crying and asked for me to pick her up from school which I did. But she won’t tell me what’s wrong. Did something happen between the two of you recently?

Jack- Not that I can think of. She was fine this morning when I dropped her off at school.

You- She also said that she wanted to stay with me for the rest of the week and that she was mad at you. I told her that she needed to tell you this and not me.

Jack- Mad at me for what? Literally nothing out of the ordinary happened

You- I don’t know, but you need to call her later and fix this because she was crying crocodile tears when I got her earlier.

Jack- Well you focus on Amiyah and I can pick up Aaliyah. When I drop her off, I’ll talk to her.

You- Okay

“You know what you want, Mimi?”

“My usual, please.”

“You got it.”

After having lunch with you and getting a mani and pedi done, you could tell that she was still upset, but she tried not to let it show.

It was nearing 3:45 and you knew that Jack would be coming with your youngest soon and tried one more time to get information out of your oldest.

“Mimi, are you ready to talk now?” You quietly asked and turned down the television in order to hear her response.

“Um, I guess.”

“What is going on between you and your dad and why don’t you want to talk to him?”

After you asked that question, tears started to form in her eyes again and you quickly went and sat next to her and hugged her.

“Because he ruined our family.”

“What? Amiyah, we just grew apart….”

“Mommy stop making excuses. Daddy cheated on you with a lady named Rebecca and that’s why you two divorced. This is his fault why we aren’t all under one roof. And I noticed that you’re still sad all the time. You don’t date anyone and neither does he. I just want the two of you back together.”

Well, shit.

“Amiyah….”

Before you could respond to her, the doorbell rang and you hopped up to answer it.

And of course you were then face to face with your ex-husband and a bouncing bubbly Aaliyah who was sipping on a slushie from 711. She was going to be bouncing off the walls until bedtime and made a mental note to kill Jack later for that since he let her get the largest size.

“Sorry, mommy! Forgot my key again!” She said as she stepped past you and smiled. She looked to the living room to see her older sister and she was upset and quickly went to give her a hug. You admired their relationship and how close that they were.

You then turned back to Jack and he was now looking at you concerned.

“Umm, first off, hi.” You said, trying to come to terms with what Amiyah just told you.

“Hey, you okay? Where’s Mimi?” Jack asked, trying to step past you, but you quickly pulled him back.

“She knows.” You whisper and Jack looked at you confused.

“Knows what?”

“Why we aren’t together anymore and she is upset with you.”

“How did she even find out?” Jack muttered and his heartrate had now sped up.

“It is all over the internet, Jackman if you know where to look. We did our best with trying to shield her, but there’s only so much that we can do. That’s what comes with having a father whose famous.”

“Fuck.” Jack quietly muttered and you had no idea what to even do at this point.

You then noticed how Jack’s eyes went wide and you turned around to see Amiyah giving him a death glare.

“You are such a hypocrite! You tell me not to settle when it comes to boyfriends after I got cheated on and that I deserve the best when you were out here cheating on your wife!”

“Amiyah, baby….” Jack said, pleading with her.

“No! How could you do that to her and do that to us? Now we have to split our time between two houses, have two of every holiday all because of what you did! You weren’t thinking of us at all!”

“Amiyah! Do not raise your voice at your father!”

“Mom, how can you still take up for him after what he did to you and to us?”

“At the end of the day, he is still your father and you need to respect that.”

You suddenly heard slurping and you looked to your left to see Aaliyah looking on with wide eyes.

“Um, so can we have pizza for dinner? And daddy? I know that lady you cheated on mommy with definitely wasn’t as pretty as she is.”

—-

You had finally convinced Amiyah to talk to Jack while you went and entertained your youngest child upstairs in her room to give them two some privacy.

They were both in the living room sitting next to each other while Amiyah had her arms crossed.

“Amiyah?”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry that you found out from the internet and not from me about what happened. I regret what I did every single day and I’m holding out hope that one day your mom will forgive me and take me back. I admit I was wrong and that instead of working through our problems in our marriage, I just wanted a distraction from it all and that’s what I did. I still remember the look on your mom’s face when she found out and my heart breaks every time that I think about it. I told you not to settle for less because I meant it. I guess that was my karma. Me cheating on your mom and then you getting cheated on. I never thought that I would see you in that position and the fact that I know I wouldn’t want that to happen to my daughter so why would I do that to someone else’s daughter? Been ten years since it was finalized and I still get on myself about it every day.”

“She still cries from time to time about it. I know she doesn’t think I know, but I do. I heard her talking to Aunt Lav the other day and I heard her say as much as she hates what you did that she misses you.”

“And I have no one to blame but myself for it.”

“I think she would take you back if you asked her.”

"I highly doubt it. She barely accepts the gifts that I give her for her birthday every year. And besides, it's been ten years."

That's when the wheels in Amiyah's head began turning to try and come up with a plan to get her parents back together.

“It’s been ten years, but neither of you ever dated anyone else. That counts for something. Right?”

—

Amiyah had been planning what she wanted to do for the two of you for about a week now, but she knew that she was going to have to have help. And what better people to help her than the two people who were covering up her father’s cheating ways?

Uncle Urban and Uncle Sunni.

Amiyah- Uncle Urban and Uncle Sunni we miss you. Can you pick me and Lele up from school today?

Aaliyah- Yes! Pretty pleaseeee you owe us a lunch date

Urban- anything for my girls. I'll make sure Uncle Sunni isn't late this time either

Sunni- That was ONE time

Amiyah- One time too many smh

Amiyah had let both of you know that their uncles would be coming to get them and that they didn’t need to worry about picking up either of them from school. You decided to treat yourself and get your hair done since there was no need to rush to get either of them.

They had all finished eating and Amiyah had her arms crossed and was eyeing both of her uncles as they both looked at her confused while Aaliyah was looking at the dessert menu.

Amiyah nudged her and she knew it was game time.

"You two okay?" Sunni asked concerned while trying to figure out what was happening.

"We know what you two did and the both of you are going to help us fix it."

"What did we do?" Urban curiously asked.

"Not tell our mother that our father was cheating on her which led to their divorce."

Urban went pale

Sunni was trying not to choke on his drink

Aaliyah was just following in her big sister's footsteps.

"They're both miserable and we want to see them back together. Well I’ve actually never seen them together since it happened when she was pregnant with me.” Aaliyah added while pointing to the picture of the molten chocolate lava dessert and scooting it towards Urban.

"Girls this really isn't our business to intervene with this. Your parents…"

"Not intervening eleven years ago is why we're where we are now. Obviously daddy is at fault. However, you two turned a blind eye and hurt my mom in the process and it's the fact that she still cries about it to this very day. I want my entire family back under one roof." Amiyah added and the two of them knew that the girls were not about to let this go.

“So, what exactly did you two have in mind since it doesn’t look like we’re getting out of this one.” Sunni muttered while looking at Urban.

“First, we have to get them to spend more time with each other. I don’t know how, but I’ll make it happen. And once that happens, I want to recreate their first date that they had at Vincenzo’s.”

“Are we actually doing it at the restaurant or?”

“No, in mommy’s backyard and the two of you are responsible for setting it up while we keep them distracted. It helps that Aaliyah is with her and I’m with dad.”

“And what if this doesn’t work?” Urban asked nervous about the answer that his goddaughter was going to give him.

“It has to, because I don’t have a plan B.”

“If it doesn’t, I’ll just start crying. Usually they both fold when that happens.” Aaliyah said while digging into her dessert.

“Mom is going to kill you. You have been eating sugar nonstop all week.”

“She won’t know if you don’t tell her.”

“She’ll be able to tell because you’ll be bouncing off the walls until you go to sleep.”

“Okay so when are we starting to execute this plan?”

“Now.”

—

“Daddy, this is pretty. Do you think mom would like it? You should buy it for her.” Amiyah said while she was out with her dad to get some new shoes that she wanted and saw a necklace that had you written all over it.

“She would probably like it.” Jack answered her while shrugging and admiring the necklace at the same time.

“So buy it for her.”

“Mimi, we talked about this.”

“You have to try. I know you still want to be with her and that she wants to be with you. It’s like you’ve given up!”

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do, baby girl, but she made her intentions very clear when she told me she wanted to divorce me.”

“No offense, daddy but that was 100% your fault.”

“I-...”

“Tell her how sorry you are!”

“Don’t you think I’ve already tried that? I still give her gifts on her birthday every year, still get her flowers periodically and even give her gifts on what was supposed to be our anniversary. Let it go, Amiyah.”

“But what if I don’t want to?”

“You doing this might make her more upset in the end and that’s the last thing that I want. Did you think about that?”

“Well, no. I just want to see both of you happy and right now I feel like I’m watching a very sad episode of those soap operas that grandma likes.”

“I know, but promise me you’ll stop. It’s just…”

“It’s just what? You don’t have a secret child do you?”

“AMIYAH MARGARET!”

“What?!? I was just asking!”

“It’s nothing, now let it go and stay out of grown folks business. Your mom is the only person that I've ever gotten pregnant.”

“But you two are my business. You’re my parents.”

“You definitely got that attitude from her. It has Y/N written all over it.”

Amiyah was now back to square one with her plan, but she wasn’t giving up. She instructed her baby sister to tell their mother that she missed the two of them and to invite them over for a movie night.

“MOM, PLEASE?!”

“You’ll see your dad this weekend. You can’t wait until then?” You asked while scrolling through your phone on door dash, not wanting to cook anything for the two of you tonight.

“No! I miss him and I want to see him now!” She whined and you couldn’t for the life of you figure out what was going on between the both of your daughters lately.

“Come on, let's facetime him.”

“That’s not good enough!”

“Aaliyah, what in the world is going on with you and why are you almost twelve years old having a full blown temper tantrum?”

“I just miss daddy. I just… I never got to experience having both of you under one roof and Amiyah did. It’s just not fair.”

All you did was sigh.

You couldn’t even be mad at her about that one.

“Okay, baby. Let’s facetime him and ask him and Amiyah to come over for movie night if he isn’t doing anything. Sound like a plan?”

“Yes.” She answered while sniffling and laid her head in your lap while you began to call him.

He picked up immediately.

“What’s wrong? You have that look on your face.”

“Your youngest misses you and wants you to come over for movie night if you and Amiyah aren’t doing anything.”

“Let me talk to daddy! Hand me the phone please!” Aaliyah said while popping up from your lap and you quickly handed her the phone.

“Daddy!”

“Yes, baby girl. How are you?”

“I miss you so can you and Mimi come over so we can have pizza and watch movies?”

“I miss you too, but you know that it’s a school night, right?” Jack asked while eyeing her. One thing that the two of you always prioritized was them doing well in school.

Her smile immediately turned into a pout.

“Yes, but…”

“I’ll tell you what. Is all your homework done?”

“Yes! And I already finished studying for my test at the end of the week.”

“I expect an A on it.”

“It’s my best subject. Of course I’ll get an A.”

“Okay, we’ll be over there soon. Hand the phone back to your mom.”

“Okay!”

Aaliyah handed you back your phone and proceeded to go upstairs to her room.

“What in the world is going on with your daughters lately?” You asked while eyeing him.

“Oh, so they’re my daughters now?” Jack answered, noticing that you were wearing your favorite pair of earrings that he had bought you almost 13 years ago.

It’s been years since he saw you wear them.

“Yes, because they act just like you.”

“Mimi got that attitude from you. Let’s be clear about that.”

“Okay, now that I agree with but, Aaliyah was literally having a full blown temper tantrum until I called you. She hasn’t done that since she was six.”

“I wonder why.”

“She… she did say that she felt some type of way because Amiyah got to experience having two parents under one roof and she didn’t.”

“Oh. I can imagine that’s hard on her.”

“Yeah, but um.. You two can come over when you’re ready.”

“I’ll pick up pizza for us. Be there soon.”

“Okay.”

“IS THAT MOM?!” You heard Amiyah yell in the background before she proceeded to grab Jack’s phone without waiting for an answer.

“Hi my baby. It’s me.”

“I got an A on my science project!”

“Was that the one that I helped you with?”

“Yes, because all daddy can help me with is music class.”

“HEY! I HEARD THAT!”

“I got my brains from mom! We all know this!”

“Give your dad some credit, he’s smart too when he wants to be.”

“Y/N! Outta pocket!” Jack exclaimed and all you did was laugh.

“Hurry up and get here you two.”

“Aaliyah, baby, not again!” Jack exclaimed as she decided that she wanted to watch Encanto.

“But it’s my favorite and the two of you used to sing the songs to me when I was younger!”

“That’s all you ever pick! Do something else!” Amiyah said while stuffing her face with pizza.

“Fine, Encanto, the sing along version.”

“AALIYAH!”

“Okay fine! Princess and the Frog!”

“Now we’re talking!” Amiyah answered since that was her favorite Disney movie. The two of them purposely sat next to each other and spread out across the couch so that you and Jack had no choice but to sit next to each other too.

After the movie had gone off, you had mercy on your youngest child and let her watch Encanto next, before the girls knew it, the two of you were sleeping with Jack’s arm wrapped around you and your head was on his chest.

“Mimi, take a picture. We’re going to need this later.”

"They look so cute!"

You woke up by the sound of your two daughters and it seemed like they were arguing.

“No, Aaliyah! Not like that! Here let me help you!”

“But I can do it!”

“You’re going to drop it because it’s too heavy. You carry that and I’ll get this. Come on before they wake up.”

You were startled to find that you were in fact cuddled up against your ex-husband with your head on his chest and his arm wrapped around you and it was light outside.

“Good morning parents!” Amiyah exclaimed while setting a tray of food down in front of the two of you.

“What time is it?” Jack asked with his eyes still closed.

“Umm 9.”

“Wait a minute! You two should be in school!” Jack said, fully alert and looking at the two of them. Aaliyah noticed that his arm was still wrapped around you and smiled to herself.

“Umm, you see what had happened was…”

“Amiyah Margaret!”

“We forgot to set our alarms! We can stay home and have a family day, right?!” She asked hopeful.

“Just this once.”

“Good, because I have an entire day planned out for us.”

You and Jack immediately groaned.

“She got that from you.” Jack whispered and you immediately laughed.

“Did not, that is definitely all you.”

—

Over the next two months, you and Jack had been spending more and more time with each other and the girls as a family and reality was starting to hit you with how much you missed him.

You were now looking at your wedding album pictures with you and Jack and trying not to cry. It was two in the morning and you couldn’t sleep.

Aaliyah got up to go to the bathroom and saw your bedroom light on and knocked on the door.

“Mommy, can I come in? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, baby, come in.” You answered her while quickly wiping away your tears so she wouldn’t see you.

“Why aren’t you asleep?”

“I saw your light on when I went to the bathroom. What are you looking at?” She curiously asked and knew that there was no use in hiding from her.

“My wedding pictures.”

“I’ve never seen them before!”

“You want to see them? Come here.” You said and patted the space next to you and she immediately hopped up.

You turned all the way to the beginning and she was mesmerized.

“You look so pretty and… so happy.”

“I was. I definitely was.”

“Daddy looks so handsome and so excited to marry you.”

“It was an amazing day. We were actually scared that it was going to rain, since it had rained all week, but on the day of the wedding it didn’t.”

“Oh, Uncle Urban always had long hair, I see.”

“He has for the most part and he was your daddy’s best man.”

“And there’s Uncle Sunni next to him.”

“I want to show you this one, I think you’ll like it.”

You turned to the picture that showed you and Jack laying next to one another. You were looking into the camera, but Jack’s eyes were focused on you. Your youngest was already a hopeless romantic so you knew that she would love it.

“Mommy?”

“Yeah, bub?”

“Daddy still looks at you like that when you aren’t paying attention.”

It was now time for the final part of the plan and Amiyah and Aaliyah were responsible for getting both you and Jack to the backyard by 7 pm.

School had let out last week for the summer and the girls had requested that they had dinner with their parents in the backyard because of how nice it was outside.

Aaliyah was currently trying to get you to put on a dress that was similar to what you had worn on your first date with Jack while Amiyah was trying to do the same thing for him.

“You should definitely wear this one.” Aaliyah said while going into your closet and picking the dress off of the rack.

“Umm, why? It’s just going to be us, your sister, and your dad. I would usually wear that when going out to dinner, not staying in.”

“But it would look so pretty and do your hair how you had it last week. Daddy loves when you wear it like that.”

“Aaliyah, what are you up to?” You curiously asked because the last part of her statement threw you off. Since when did she notice that Jack liked your hair like that and why did she care?

“Nothing, just want you to dress up. You haven’t done it in a while and I know how happy it makes you. I’m going to wear my dress that’s similar to this one. Can you put my hair in a high ponytail when I’m ready?”

“Sure baby. Go get ready because they’ll be here soon.”

You took a quick shower and moisturized with your lavender lotion to help calm you down.

Were you actually nervous to be around your ex-husband?

You were staring at the dress that Aaliyah had laid out for you on your bed debating on whether you were going to put it on or not.

A sigh escaped from your lips as you slipped it on along with a pair of your white sandals and proceeded to sit at your vanity to start to do your hair and make up. You were thinking how you had worn it last week and then you suddenly had a realization.

The style was similar to the one that you wore on your wedding day.

As you were finishing up, Aaliyah came into your room wearing a dress similar to yours like she promised, except hers was a light purple.

“Are you ready? Amiyah text me that they’re on their way.”

“Just about, now let me do your hair for you.”

After you finished doing her hair for her, she ran down the steps as she heard the doorbell in order to answer it while you were still trying to calm your nerves.

“MOMMY! COME ON! WE’RE HUNGRY!” You heard Amiyah yell from downstairs and decided that it was now or never.

You walked downstairs to see Jack also dressed up in a similar outfit that he wore on your first date and simply eyed your daughters who had the biggest smiles on their faces.

“I-... they made you dress up too?” You asked while looking at him and took everything in you to not hop on him right then and there.

You were done with not being honest with yourself.

You missed your ex-husband.

“Amiyah wouldn’t let me leave the house until I did. She actually made me change my outfit because I was wearing something else before.”

“Well, you look nice.”

Actually he looked fine as fuck, but you didn’t want to say that in front of the girls.

“And so do you. Love when you do your hair like that.”

“I told you, mommy!” Aaliyah whispered to you and you simply smiled.

“Okay, now that we’re all here, follow us.”

“What in the world are you two up to?” Jack asked as both of you followed them to the backyard where you saw Sunni and Urban also dressed up.

“Welcome to Vincezo’s de la Harlow! Your servers tonight will be Uncle Sunni and Uncle Urban! We have a four-course meal ready for you! Have a seat at the table and we’ll bring out your drinks. We know daddy doesn’t drink alcohol, so I hope sparkling water is okay.”

Both of your jaws were on the floor.

“Go on! Don’t just stand there, sit down!” Amiyah said while smiling at her parents.

The two of you walked over to the table and Jack pulled out your chair for you before going to sit across from you.

“Uhhh Urban, Sunni? What did my daughters threaten you with to make you do this?” You asked while looking over at both of them.

“Uh, nothing. They just wanted our help.” Urban answered you while trying not to mention the fact that they knew that he and Sunni had known about Jack’s cheating ways and didn’t say anything to you.

“You seriously recreated our first date?” Jack asked while looking around at the decorations around the backyard.

“This was all them, they came up with the plan and simply asked for our help.” Sunni added while shrugging.

Amiyah came and sat two glasses filled with sparkling water in front of each of you before Urban and Sunni went back in the house which you assumed was to get the food.

“When in the world did they have time to do this? This was happening in my backyard and I literally heard nothing.”

“They probably did it while you were at the boutique earlier.”

Just then Sunni placed a plate of fried mozzarella between the two of you.

Same thing that you had on your first date.

“Wait, Sunni did you actually make this or?”

“Y/N, come on. Since when do I cook? This actually is from Vincenzo’s so the two of you won’t be poisoned by my lack of cooking skills.”

“I was just curious.” You said while holding up your hands in defense.

When Sunni walked away, it left the two of you alone.

It wasn’t an awkward silence, but you were wishing that Jack would say something.

“I now see that they’ve been planning this for months.”

“Planning what?”

“They want us back together. Did you notice that they’ve been wanting to spend more time with us? I think this is the most time we’ve spent together since before we were divorced.” Jack said while reaching for another piece of fried mozzarella.

“And the time where Aaliyah had a temper tantrum because she missed you? Movie night? Then probably purposely not setting their alarms to spend the day with us? It makes sense.”

“Aaliyah told me that you showed her our wedding pictures not too long ago.”

“I did. And that was actually the first time that I’ve looked at them in ten years.”

“I would’ve thought that you would have put it in a place where you knew that you would forget about them.”

“Why? Why would I do that?”

“Don’t you regret marrying me?”

“No, not even for a second. That thought has NEVER crossed my mind. Besides giving me my two beautiful girls, I’m still very thankful to have been married to you.”

“That feels good to hear you say.”

“Despite what happened and why it ended, there should be no doubt in your mind how much I love you and how much I care about you still. That just doesn’t go away overnight.”

“And apparently it doesn’t go away in ten years either. But we’ve done a good job with co-parenting them.”

“I agree.”

“Wait, did you say you love me and care about me? Like present tense?” Jack asked suddenly, having a realization of what you had just said.

You simply nodded.

“You do not know how hard it was for me to file for divorce. I found out that I was pregnant and my mind was on overdrive. At that time, I didn’t think that I would regret it.”

“How do you feel about it now?”

“Before Aaliyah came in and saw the wedding pictures, I was looking at them and crying and thinking to myself where did I go wrong to have you cheat on me?”

“No, absolutely not. You didn’t do anything wrong. Don’t ever think that. I was just so wrapped up in focusing on myself, I forgot what was really important and that was you. I regret doing that every single day. All I ever wanted was for you to find somewhere in your heart to forgive me for treating you like that.”

“But I have forgiven you. I forgave you a long time ago because it was not doing me any good to hold onto that hurt. The best thing for me was to move on.”

“But you haven’t moved on, neither of us have.”

“Because I knew deep down that I couldn’t imagine myself being married to anyone else.”

After the two of you had finished dessert, you were simply looking up at the stars that were covering the sky and sighed to yourself.

“I have to ask…” You heard Jack say and you looked over at him to give him your full attention.

“Ask, what?”

“Could we maybe go out on an actual date? Without our girls around? You said that you forgave me for what I did, so I’m asking for a second chance.”

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#jack harlow #jack harlow fic #jack harlow fanfic #jack harlow x reader #jack harlow x black reader #jack harlow imagine #jack harlow fanfiction #jack harlow fluff #jack harlow angst #jack harlow concepts #jack harlow x you

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solaneceae · 6 months

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【 𝙿 𝚁 𝙾 𝙹 𝙴 𝙲 𝚃 : 𝙳 𝚄 𝙲 𝙺 𝙻 𝙸 𝙽 𝙶 】 | a QSMP Baghera playlist 🐤

a narrative playlist retracing her story, from her humble origins to Purgatory.

cover art by @Rion_Riots on twitter

⤵️ tracklist under the cut ⤵️

CHAPTER 1: lab rat

a duckling opens her eyes to white tiles and syringes.

Bumblebees are Out - Jack Stauber

A Bird in a Gilded Cage - Alex Niedt

Body - Mother Mother

rises the moon - liana flores

CHAPTER 2: Duckling and Bluebird

a bond is formed between two birds of a feather.

Rule #4 Fish in a Birdcage - Fish in a Birdcage

Two Birds - Regina Spektor

Evelyn Evelyn - Evelyn Evelyn

Innocence - Madeon

CHAPTER 3: escape!

this little duckling has had enough.

Escapism - Rebecca Sugar

THE KID WHO KEPT RUNNING - Vylet Pony

Shelter - Porter Robinson

We'll Meet Again - The Ink Spots

CHAPTER 4: drifting away

the ocean waves are tall and scary, but she presses on.

Weird Fishes/Arpeggi - Radiohead

Ship in a Bottle - fin

Shackleton - Adam Young

soundscape diary - vylet pony

CHAPTER 5: a new life of music and dirt fountains

she finds new friends. and slowly, she forgets.

Youth - Daughter

Tout Oublier - Angèle

La veriter - KronoMuzik

I Say - Zerator & BagheraJones

CHAPTER 6: [[We Hope You Enjoy The Island :) ]]

you didn't think it would be that easy, did you?)

Fallen Down - Toby Fox

Amnesia was Her Name - Lemon Demon

HEAVEN SAYS. - chart

Clocks - Alex Niedt

CHAPTER 7: binary green and white bears

federation? codes? where am i?

Your Best Friend - Toby Fox

Beware The Friendly Stranger - Boards of Canada

01001010 01000001 01001101 - Red Skies Project

Untrust Us - Crystal Castles

CHAPTER 8: cherished egg

the island has granted me the gift of motherhood.

Daughter - Sleeping at Last

I'm a Survivor - Reba McEntire

Apple Pies and Butterflies - Blue Wednesday

Little Moth - chloe moriondo

CHAPTER 9: petit frère

APLUPLUUUUUU

Anything You Can Do - Bernadette Peters, Tom Wopat

Amor de irmão - Barão Vermelho

Brother - Kodaline

For Forever - Ben Platt

CHAPTER 10: can I call you Bébou?

(gifting furniture is his love language.)

Lemon Boy - Cavetown

Demons Are a Girl's Best Friend - Powerwolf

It's Alright - Mother Mother

Chateau - Angus & Julia Stone

CHAPTER 11: ordo theoritas

call her apollo, because her theories ALWAYS turn out correct.

Cry Babies - cclorox

Touch-Tone Telephone - Lemon Demon

Dream Sweet in Sea Major - Miracle Musical

A Good Song Never Dies - Saint Motel

CHAPTER 12: don't you want to become a leader?

the election arc.

NOW'S YOUR CHANCE TO BE A - Toby Fox

Blood // Water - grandson (first death: whale)

14.3 Billion Years - Outer Wilds (second death: the tower)

Brutus - The Buttress

Animal Farm - BIBI

CHAPTER 13: There is no escape this time.

a childhood bedroom hidden beneath engine steam.

Everything Stays - Rebecca Sugar

715 - CREEKS - The Nor'easter

Memories - The Midnight

Look who's Inside Again - Bo Burnam

CHAPTER 14: "Pomme reviens... les gosses me manquent."

she waits for things to change. she seeks her origins.

Dear Wormwood - The Oh Hellos

CRT Days - Waveshaper

Implanted Memories - Infinity Frequencies

What Was I Made For? - Billie Eilish

CHAPTER 15A: P U R G A T 👁️‍🗨️ R Y part I

i don't want to leave. i can finally be myself, here.

Wonderland - Caravan Palace

Misery Meat - Sodikken

Hayloft II - Mother Mother

Chainsaw Girl - Chainsaw Girl

Family - Mother Mother

CHAPTER 15B: P U R G A T 👁️‍🗨️ R Y part II

adios, bolas. i won't leave without her.

Idioteque - Radiohead

Eat Your Young - Hozier

My Friends - Oh Wonder

Goodbye - Bo Burnham

On the Nature of Daylight - Max Richter

#qsmp #baghera jones #qsmp baghera #qsmpfanart #baghera #Spotify

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inventedfangirling · 11 months

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Hello this is basically a long post about me sorting through my feelings about bad buddy and why it means so much to me.

So over the past few weeks ( i first watched the show 7 weeks ago) ive been trying to figure out what exactly about bad buddy and patpran in particular have got me so inexplicably fond and devoted to them and apart from the usual answers of great writing, directing, performances and the best most electric chemistry and banter known to humankind, i did arrive at couple of other answers too.

First of all pat and (especially) pran are deep and well rounded characters.

Their worlds feel lived in and real.

Their feelings and thoughts and motivations are of course excellently portrayed by both ohm and nanon. and they gave representation to queer people everywhere. pat being the pan/ bi king he is and pran being the gayest babyboy warrior poet ever. pran especially given his repressed nature and emotional closed-off-ness is somebody a lot of people surely saw themselves in, including myself. seeing myself represented like that starting off the way he is and then taking small steps one by one over the course of the whole show (and over years in the show's universe) to arrive at the more assured, more open, more ready to be vulnerable (but still very much the pran we all loved in the first episode itself) was so wonderful to see.

The fact that the show happens in a non homophobic universe doesnt take away from just how special it was seeing queer characters fall, be and stay in love. and most importantly that they got their happy ending (i wont be hearing anything against this cos the ending was happy, despite the slightly bittersweet tinge of it, it was happy and there shall be no counter arguments begone i cant with that)

That episode 12 gave a glimpse of their future.

A world where pat will one day be able to sit with pran in his house eating food made by dissaya. that pran and pat's mom work on a common hobby together cos why not. a world where they no longer have to hide, a world were they could well and truly thrive.

Its so so important as queer people that we get representation and that in a world that is often cruel to the likes of us especially here in asia, that we see happy adult queer lives, where they can be in love in the most mundane of ways.

Patpran and bad buddy gave us that and i will forever be thankful for it.

That still doesn't capture exactly why i rate them as a couple so so highly in my head.

So i thought of patpran in the context of all the other love stories i could possibly remember watching. i thought of some of my top favourite couples - mondler, phil & claire, schmidt & cece, peraltiago, leslie & ben, jack & rebecca, randall & beth, simon & wilhelm, jaeyong & sangwoo, ji hyun & jaewon, bai lang & xun an, tara & darcy, sumi & rimjhim and so so many more and what stood out for me when it came to patpran was that they were the one couple out of all these couples i adore who didnt let anything get between them once they got together.

Every other couple among the ones ive listed have had jobs or other relationships or distance or parents or workplace rules /etiquette or circumstances or the royalty standing in between their love and as a result causing the couple to break apart ( a couple of episodes for mondler to seasons of confusion for peraltiago and schmidt & cece etc) even if briefly.

Except for phil & claire (who btw wasnt even sure about marrying phil when she did) almost none of these couples got together and stayed together throughout their relationship. and yes i agree that a lot of these obstacles and circumstances are very real and taxing and no wonder people chose their own peace at least for a while to deal with everything BUT i just cant help feel more appreciative of pat pran even more cos these two 19 year olds figured this whole thing out faster than any of those full grown adults did.

And yes its fictional and maybe even unrealistic (given the kind of relationships i see irl) yet patpran really do deserve all the love they get. they do deserve a lot of props.

Its not like they didn't have adverse obstacles standing in their way, they had to fight against their families years and years of lies and all the intergenerational trauma and their faculty rivalry and a shitty friend who outed them and any single one of these should have caused at least 12 episodes worth of conflict and miscommunication in any other couple.

And yes i do recognise that bbs didnt have the luxury of time or multiple seasons but they could have kept them apart for a whole episode at least, i was convinced we were in for that at the end of episode 8 as the aftermath of wai outing them. like there is no way the relationship comes out of it unscathed ( i thought! ). and while im sure they personally were rattled and betrayed (pran more so), instead of blaming anybody else or each other they actually chose to handle it together, they worked together and chose to move forward together.

The fact that such a terrible experience instead of breaking them apart actually reaffirmed to both pat and pran just how much their relationship means to the both of them, that they come out of it actually stronger??

i was friggin shook to my core.

And then came the gunshots and the family finding out and the running away and the coming back and the fake breakup and the pressures of all of this should have been enough to drive a serious wedge between any two characters, especially at their age and lack of experience. and yet??? and yet at each obstacle they get up, they draw the other closer and they get down to working on it together again.

Over and over and over and over again.

So for me what separates patpran from everybody else is the fact that ever since they got together, they have chosen eo, intentionally, that has made the difference.

Pat and pran's story may have been destined ( i personally don't know if i believe in destiny). they may have been born neighbours and felt unexplainable intense feelings (that later turned to love) for the other but when it came down to it, at its core, bad buddy soars when the two come together and they choose to keep being together, despite everything that stands in their way.

Love is a choice. love is a sacrifice. but its also a sacrifice and a choice they made for themselves and for each other and above all for their relationship.

Almost all the couples mentioned above arrive at similar destinations but they arrive at it with years of experience and years of struggle. i just cant help marvel at our teenagers who did love better than whole ass adults double their age could.

And more importantly above the awe i feel inspired and hopeful because they showed me that there's always a choice. thats there's always another option. you dont need to get out of your comfort zone. but you also dont need to be in the comfort zone always. you dont need to keep lying to yourself. you dont need to hide every single part of you. there are always other options. there is always a choice.

That hope is not just a noun its also very much a verb. That you and i and each one of us can make that choice.

That if ever i choose to partner up with someone and if we do proper healthy communication (patpran invented healthy communication and consent btw, they deserve EVERYTHING for just that but thats a whole other post) prioritizing the relationship where it mattered, i too could have something ( even remotely) like their love.

For the first time in my life probably i felt like that kind of love was attainable for me if i wanted to pursue it. They gave me hope. and they gave me joy. and i will never not be unbelievably grateful for it.

#bad buddy #patpran #pran x pat #sorry for the long post #not sorry for the love #thankyou paof

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