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writingonleaves · 8 months

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i tell you that i think i'm falling back in love with you - luca fantilli

pairing: luca fantilli x original female character

warnings: swearing, slight angst, mostly fluff, like one mention of COVID, proofread maybe once, probably too many taylor swift references

word count: 9.2k

based on: "the alcott" by the national ft. taylor swift + "this love" by taylor swift. title from "the alcott"

author's note: first one ahhh!!! had this done months ago when i saw that day in the life video the umich social team posted of luca and then promptly went on a six hour plane ride and banged this out. apologies if some of the details are inaccurate — i tried my best though some are also made purposefully to fit with the narrative

*****

Melody Lin rarely talks about it.

In the instance that it gets brought up, she just shrugs, always giving just a brief overview because there’s no point in summing up 18 years of history in a few sentences, especially when she knows if she thinks about it too much and talks about it out loud she’ll get emotional.

Growing up in the suburbs of Toronto was the typical suburban experience. She grew up only a street and a 2 minute car ride from her best friend Shayla and even though Shayla ended up going to University of Michigan and she went to Northwestern, they remained the closest of friends. Melody’s close with the whole Gallo family to the point where she just walks in and no one bats an eye anymore. Wherever Melody is, Shayla isn’t far behind, and vice versa.

Being close with the Gallo family means she’s been to almost every family gathering, every big family event. Everyone in their families knows the other because the two girls are so close that they’re pretty much sisters.

Melody doesn’t even remember the day she met Luca Fantilli.

Luca is one of Shayla’s many cousins, only two years younger than Shayla. His family lives around a 10 minute drive away, so their parents love to gather on the weekends, therefore bringing the kids close together. Age wise, it goes Shayla, then Luca two years later, then Adam and Katie, Shayla’s younger sister, are the same age. There’s other cousins, older and younger, but these four have always been close, finding themselves naturally in a group when their families get together.

That means that naturally, Melody grew up also being close with the four, coming by many weekends when the cousins gathered and being dragged into their shenanigans, from playing tag when they were kids to piling in a car to get ice cream when they were teenagers. And they loved her too. Katie loved having another older sister figure with Melody being more calm compared to Shayla. Adam loved how funny she was and how no matter how much shit they gave her, she’d brush it all off with an easy smile.

And then Luca. Like his brother and cousins, he loved how friendly she was. During the few years they overlapped in the same school, she always said hi to him in the hallways, never treating him or his brother any differently just because they were younger. When he needed a ride, whether it was to the rink or gym or that he just wanted to get out of the house, he could always text her and she would drive him, even if she gave him flack for it. And even though she started out as just Shayla’s friend, they quickly grew to have their own friendship, texting from time to time even when he was at Kimball for two years and she went off to college. He loved how giving she was and how smart she was and how no one ever really seemed to have a bad word to say about her. He’d always light up at seeing her and looked forward to the crushing hugs she would give him, especially after a few months of not seeing each other.

Those weekends are imprinted in Melody’s brain, when the Gallo house is loud and lively and all the adults are chatting and laughing and the kids are off doing whatever they want, her and Shayla always being put in charge because they’re the oldest of the five. Sometimes there were guest stars — Shayla’s high school boyfriend, Adam’s high school girlfriend, whoever the hell Luca was dating at the time, Katie and her best friend — but it was mostly just the five of them.

It was always Shay, Mel, Luca, Adam and Katie.

(If you ask Luca now, he probably fell in love with her back when they were teenagers, somewhere between when she would drive him and his brother home after a rough practice and let them rant and when she’d laugh so loudly by the pool during the summer that she’d snort)

(Melody obviously loved everything about Shayla, thought Adam was one of the sweetest boys she’s ever met and adored Katie like a younger sibling. But even from the start, she had a special place in her heart for Luca, with his infectious smile and his positive energy. Somewhere along the way, he stopped being just Shayla’s cousin)

That friendship strengthened when he and Adam signed a commitment to play with the Chicago Steel starting Melody’s sophomore year at Northwestern. Shayla was thankful that her best friend was there for her two younger cousins, though the two hockey players never needed anyone to look after them. Since Melody had a car and her and Shayla’s breaks often overlapped, Melody would grab Adam and Luca in Chicago and then drive through Ann Arbor to pick Shayla up as they all headed home. The drive wasn’t all that bad, especially with the company.

Somewhere during the start of her sophomore year, she and Luca confessed to each other that they had feelings towards each other and started dating. It started out well. Inbetween her classes and college commitments and his practices and games, they’d find time to see each other. It helped that they both had cars as well.

There was this cafe / book bar place between them called The Alcott that she had discovered by a recommendation from a friend who lived around the area that wasn’t closed because of COVID. That started to become the place for them to meet. Whether she had to drag along her laptop and notebooks or not, it started to become their place. She tried to go to as many of his games as she could and he tried to come to campus to be with her, even when she was cramming for exams and couldn’t give him much attention.

She’d feel bad during the days where she wasn’t much fun, but he didn’t care. Being in her presence was enough, he’d always say with an encouraging kiss and a promise for milkshakes after dinner as a treat before he’d have to go back to Chicago. She met his teammates and he met her college friends and they tried and tried to make it work. When the Chicago Steel won the Clark Cup, she made it a priority to go to watch the final, not having been able to go to his last regular season game and all of playoffs due to final projects and labs. At the end, she had leaned over the boards to crush Adam in a tight hug before kissing Luca sweetly.

And then two weeks after that, when summer was about to start — which should’ve been the time they would be at their best and brightest together, things started to fall apart. Though, when Melody looks back at it now, things were slowly falling apart for a bit before then. Pointed questions about what each other’s plans were for the night when they could’ve been together, weak excuses for skipping the nightly FaceTime call, just generally not as much effort from both sides.

Even throughout it all, she still deeply cared about him. That didn’t change even during their last argument that led to their break up.

“Mel, I don’t know what you want me to do at this point,” Luca says, pacing around her room and running his hair through his hair.

“I don’t ask for much,” she says, biting her lip, watching him pace and trying to keep her control. “I know hockey keeps you busy. I get it. I knew what I was signing up for. But I didn’t hear from you for a week, Luca. Not a call. Not even a good morning text. What the fuck am I supposed to do with that?”

“I told you I was going to be busy, angel.” Even the pet name doesn’t soften her. She starts raising her voice.

“Goddammit, Luca. I know! But guess what? I’m also busy too. You think college is easy? I don’t know if I’ve slept for more than 5 hours a night this last month. But I still make the time.”

“Do you?” His eyes flash with something she’s never seen from him before. He’s not quite yelling, but he’s not talking at a normal volume either. “When’s the last time we went out to dinner? When’s the last time before the final that you came to one of my games? Jackson asked me before the final if we were still together since he hadn’t seen you. Do you know how fucked up that is?”

“Since when the fuck do you care about what anyone has to say?”

“Since all of their girlfriends are in the stands every week!”

She flinches. “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to playoffs but you told me it was okay. I didn’t know you felt that way because you don’t talk to me anymore. I can’t read your mind. I’m trying my best here.”

“You know what? I can’t do this anymore.”

“Can’t do what?” She whispers.

“This. Us. It’s clearly not working.”

“Luca.”

He sits down on the chair across from her and puts his head in his hands momentarily. “You’re right. We barely talk. We’re both so busy. The last thing I want is for you to resent me.”

“So that’s it?” She croaks out.

His eyes are watery. “Please don’t make this harder than it has to be, angel.”

“You’re the one making this hard!” She bites her lip and looks up to keep the tears from falling, which isn’t working because a couple tears still slip out. She fights a brief battle with herself and then deflates. “I’m always going to be your biggest supporter.”

He lets out a shaky breath. “Mel.”

“I mean it. I meant it years ago when we were kids. I mean it now. I’ll mean it forever.”

He laughs hollowly. “This sucks.” He lets out a shaky breath. “Do you think we could still be friends?”

She tries to smile. “Well, I’m still best friends with your cousin and that’s not gonna change. So I’m sure I’ll see you around.” She swallows. “I need time though, if we want to be friends in the future.”

“I get it. Yeah.” He sighs. “I’m sorry.”

She shrugs dejectedly. “I’m sorry too.”

“Can I get one more hug?”

The hug is already sad enough. The kiss in her hair has her crying into his chest.

It was tough that summer especially, because she still wanted to spend time with Shayla and she also knew that Shayla still wanted to see Luca. But it was still too fresh, so when she knew that Luca was coming by, she avoided going to Shayla’s, which her best friend understood. She took Adam out for ice cream a couple of times, genuinely wanting to see how he was doing and catch up and everything was good and normal as they steered away from topics that were still fresh. Except during one hug as she dropped him off, where he whispered in her ear, “I know it’s too soon. I completely get it. But I know Luca would love to see you before you head back to school.”

(She doesn’t end up seeing him)

Junior year comes and goes. She has a great time despite the hours of studying for exams and the stress of classes. She makes new friends, gets closer with her old ones, collects new memories and laughs until there’s no sound coming out of her mouth. She sometimes wakes up with a hangover, but has to trudge to the library anyway to cram for a Monday morning exam. The first time she goes to The Alcott post break-up, she tries to sit in the spot by the corner and she has to leave within 5 minutes so she doesn’t have a meltdown in public.

Shayla tells her that Luca and Adam are both officially committed to play at Michigan next year, and she’s not sure if she should text them. She ends up texting them both separately right when they post on Instagram though because she’s so happy and excited and proud of them, even if Luca isn’t hers anymore.

i heard about the good news!! congrats on umich (officially)!!

Thanks Mel!! So good to hear from you. I hope all is good at Northwestern

all’s good here! seriously, luca. i’m so proud of you.

He simply had liked the text and it was enough for the both of them. It had to be enough.

She tried her best to steer away from hearing about him, but it was really hard, especially when both him and Adam were doing so well in hockey and were the talk of the town, especially back home. They always had been, but nowadays it was more and more and it was bittersweet to hear.

She didn’t come back home for the summer of her senior year, her internship leading her to New York City. And while it was sad because she couldn’t see Shayla, who herself was doing an internship in Detroit, it gave her a bit of relief that she wasn’t going to be in her hometown when a large reason she calls it home is because of the boy who she had given her heart to. She had fun in New York, went on a couple of dates — which was the most she’s done with her romantic life since her breakup — but while her friends were living up their summers and she was cheering them on, she couldn’t shake the feeling of the younger Italian hockey player away from her mind. She hated that she couldn’t shake him off.

(You’ve been friends for almost two decades, Shayla would remind her. Of course you’re not gonna get over it quickly. There’s too much history there)

As Melody entered her senior year, she set out a goal to have fun. Work hard, of course, but also to have fun and really enjoy her last year. With parts of her college experience being interrupted by the pandemic, she felt like it was only right to give herself some time before she’d be in labs and research the rest of her life.

She still followed Luca on social media, so she saw his Snapchat stories and his Instagram posts. He looked like he was having a blast at Michigan and she honestly couldn’t have been any happier for him, even if there was always a stab of something in her heart seeing him pop up on her feed. She still drove through Ann Arbor during school breaks to pick up Shayla, and now Adam and Luca as well when they didn’t have to stay for hockey commitments. Shayla tried telling her friend that she didn’t have to, but Melody always waved her off. Luca texted her happy birthday and she did the same and she ended up crying in the shower both times.

Shayla had convinced her to come to a Michigan vs Michigan State hockey game and Melody didn’t really have an excuse, since she was gonna drive up that morning from Northwestern to go home for winter break. She had been hesitant, not wanting to overstep but Shayla had just laughed in her face. Come to Michigan, stay the night with me, and then we’ll all head back to Ontario in the morning. Shayla had even gotten Adam and Luca to text her to convince her, with Luca’s text being the final push

Heard from Shay and Adam that you were hesitant on coming to the game. If that hesitancy is because of me, please don’t let it be. It’ll be a fun one.)

The game is fun and thrilling, just like Luca promised it would be. Melody’s met some of Shayla’s college friends before and they’re no less welcoming than they always are. After the game ends, Shayla and her are walking back to her apartment when Shayla stops. Adam just texted me, she says. They’re all at one of the hockey houses and they want to meet you. Let’s stop by. Melody stills for a moment before letting Shayla lead her in the opposite direction. She knows Shayla knows some of the guys, but she’s never met any of them and she doesn’t want to make it awkward.

But that thought immediately goes away as Adam hugs her and spins her around as soon as they walk in, causing her to laugh and Shayla to pout playfully. Adam just rolls his eyes after setting Melody down. Shay, I see you all the time, he says. Melody gets on her tiptoes and kisses him quickly on the cheek, rolling her eyes as he playfully wipes it off. He leads them into the house and Melody’s thrown into a round of introductions and she’s a bit overwhelmed but she’s smiley and friendly and congratulates them all on the win. She’s immediately enraptured in a brief conversation with Nolan Moyle, Mark Estapa and Luke Hughes and she pretends to not see the other guys eyeing Luca with a knowing look.

Melody Lin rarely talks about it. She wonders how much Luca Fantilli does, especially since they all seem to know who she is.

She would be the slightest bit uncomfortable, but a majority of them are younger than her and she knows how to deal with the rowdiness of hockey boys. So weirdly enough, she feels right at home, even though it’s her first time here.

When she finally makes her way to Luca, she smiles, even if it’s a bit dimmed. She’s keenly aware of eyes on her but she tries to ignore them as she hugs him tightly, trying not to breathe in his cologne too much.

“Good game,” she mutters into his ear before pulling away.

“Thanks, angel.”

She kinda wants to kill him. He lost his right to call her that when he broke up with her. But she just smiles before turning to introduce herself to Ethan Edwards.

When she pulls up to Adam and Luca’s place the next morning with a big yawn, Shayla in the seat next to her, Adam hands Shayla a hot chocolate and she’s pleasantly surprised when Luca hands her an iced coffee. She takes a sip as they dump their bags in the trunk. A latte with two pumps of vanilla syrup. He still remembers.

She hates him. She loves him. She’ll always love him

(She watches the game on her laptop and sighs sadly when Michigan’s run at the Frozen Four is cut short. She texts in the group chat consisting of Shayla, Katie, Adam, Luca and her rather than individually.

💛💙proud of you both always

When Adam wins the Hobey Baker the day after, she immediately calls him, not expecting him to answer and ready to leave a voicemail. But he answers after two rings, and the first thing he asks is if they can switch to FaceTime. Suddenly, her screen is filled with Adam with his shades on in the Florida sun with the disgusting mullet. She just grins and congratulates him while he’s positively beaming. He shows her the trophy briefly and she hears some of his teammates yelling their greetings and she just laughs at all the chaos. She lets him go after another round of congratulations and tries not to let her smile fade when Luca comes on the screen with a wave.

Her heart aches.)

Graduation week is crazy and bittersweet and wonderful as she says goodbye to her younger friends and holds on to make some last minute memories with her best friends before her family and loved ones come to celebrate officially at the ceremony. She has dinner with her parents, her older sister Elena, Shayla and Shayla’s parents the night before her school convocation. She cheers for her friends when they walk across the stage the next morning, tries not to trip when she walks across and honestly kind of blacks out. Shespots her family in the stands purely from Shayla waving like crazy and laughs, waving back. Through all the chaos, she finds her family afterwards and pauses.

Because there’s Luca. Dressed in a white short sleeved button down and blue jeans, hair out of a baseball cap for once and standing there with a sheepish smile, a beautiful bouquet of purple and white flowers in his hand.

Why is he here?

She tears her eyes away from him as she hugs her parents and sister with a big smile. She squeals as she hugs Shayla, swaying side by side, reflecting back to late April when Shayla was the one graduating and the positions were reversed.

But all she can see is Luca. You, you, you, her mind whispers.

“Hi.”

“Hey.”

“I didn’t know you were coming.”

He shrugs. “Wanted to surprise you.” He hugs her and she can’t help but smile being tucked into his chest. “Congrats, Mel. I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks,” She mutters, blinking as he gives her the flowers. “These are beautiful. Jesus.”

“Here, let me hold something for you.” He takes her bag off her shoulder as well as her diploma out of her hands as she adjusts the three bouquets of flowers she’s gotten, trying not to crush any of them.

“Picture time!” Melody’s mom exclaims and then there’s a flurry of smiling and picture taking and lighting and angles and every combination possible, ending with Melody and Luca.

(When her mom sends the pictures later that night, she blinks at how couply they look. There’s a particular picture where she’s laughing at something Shayla said off camera and he’s looking at her like he might still be in love with her)

They stop by her apartment briefly so they can change before they all go to dinner. Apparently, everyone else knew Luca was coming because no one bats an eye as he comes along to their dinner. She’ll have to talk to Shayla about that later.

And it’s good, really. The conversation is easy and the food is good and she tries to ignore everytime her elbows brush against Luca’s and notes when his arm is around her chair so she doesn't lean back. They discuss the plan for the next day where Melody is just planning on packing before the all university commencement the day after. Her family is planning to explore the Chicago area while Shayla is attending another friend’s commencement at University of Chicago. When Luca’s asked of his plans, he hesitates. She doesn’t know what makes her say her next sentence, but she says it.

“If you wouldn’t mind, I could use another set of hands to help me pack.”

His head whips to her, mouth open a little. She tries to smile assuringly. He nods. “I don’t mind.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. It’ll be fun.”

She snorts. “Packing is not fun ever, but I like the enthusiasm.”

The next morning, she picks him up from the hotel all of them are staying at (“I’m in a room with Shayla and it’s a nightmare. How does someone’s shit get everywhere in such a short period of time?”) and drives in the opposite direction from her apartment. It takes him a surprisingly short amount of time to realize that they’re going in the wrong direction. When he asks where they’re going, she bites her lip.

“I’m craving one last iced vanilla latte from The Alcott.”

Silence and then a small chuckle. “Are their blueberry muffins still as good?”

“Yup.”

“We gotta get some of those too then.”

And conversation is surprisingly easy. They talk about Michigan’s run to the Frozen Four and how that was cut short but what an amazing season they had, Adam’s World Championship win with Canada and his upcoming draft (she was invited months ago by Adam and the entire Fantilli family to Nashville, to which everyone but her was not surprised about), her last year at Northwestern, his first year at Michigan, and anything and everything in between. It’s so easy that it almost aches, the familiarity of The Alcott and what it means to her and what it means to them as she watches him order for the both of them and pays even though she tries to fight. She wanders over to the corner — their old spot — because she wants to savor this one more time before she has to let go. Before she has to let go of this place and this boy. Because she can’t keep him. He was never hers to begin with.

“Do you remember when we were snowed in here?”

She turns her head to look back at him before letting out a small chuckle at the memory. “Yeah. You were panicking because you thought your game was still on and I was surprised when it was cancelled, considering it’s Chicago and they never cancel anything due to snow.”

“And then they gave out free coffee refills and you were probably the happiest person in this place, just studying and humming along or scribbling in your journal.”

“We must’ve been here for, what, 6 hours?”

“Probably more, to be honest. Donna wouldn’t let a single person even think about driving until the storm had passed.”

She smiles, even if a bit sad. “Good times.”

He hums in agreement, and if she was looking at him and not out the window, she would notice that he’s looking at her fondly. “You’re a college graduate.”

She rolls her eyes. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“You’re right. It’s not, because we all knew you were always the smart one. But it is a big deal because it’s just crazy how time moves so fast.”

“How do you think I feel watching you and Adam get old and go to college? Not that you were innocent before, but Adam sent me some snapchats of your shenanigans at frat parties and sometimes I genuinely wonder how you’re alive and kicking for practice the next morning.”

“Fucking Adam. Always painting me in a bad light,” Luca scoffs, before clearing his throat. “How have you been? How do you feel?”

She lets out something between a laugh and a sigh. “Okay, I think. Overwhelmed. Excited. Scared. Thankful. Thinking about all the stuff I have to pack.”

“Do you have most of it done?”

She snorts. “Absolutely not. That’s what you’re here for.”

“Glad I could be of service.”

She stands up with her drink. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

Once they get to her place, Melody puts Luca to work immediately, instructing him on which boxes to put things in as she cleans up her room. They work well together. When he’s stepping behind her to get somewhere or something, he always touches her back or elbow or shoulder gently and he doesn’t get annoyed at her indecisiveness on how to pack things, just dutifully following all her instructions. They’re about 70% done when her roommates Alison and Carey come in briefly and they meet Luca and they know exactly who he is but Melody’s thankful that they don’t let it show and gives them a meaningful look as they leave.

By the time most of her things are packed, it’s dinner time and she suggests that they drive to another one of her favorite spots on campus to grab a bite. A little sweaty, a little exhausted, she has to stop in her tracks when he shoots her the sweetest smile, adjusting the hat on his head and washing his hands before they head out.

And because it’s only seniors left on campus, it’s not surprising when she runs into a couple people she knows, weaving through to order and find a place to sit at the bar. More often than not she’s stopped and she introduces Luca to everyone and he’s smiling and she knows that everyone is immediately charmed because it’s Luca and that’s always been his effect on people, ever since they were kids. He’s wearing a Michigan hat and gets some chirps that he takes in stride and that make her giggle.

(If you were to ask Luca, it makes complete sense that everyone they’ve run into has nothing but a smile on their faces. Melody’s always been able to make anyone she’s come into contact with fall in love with her)

She heads to the bathroom at one point and when she walks back out, she sees a drop dead gorgeous blonde girl sitting where she sat and Melody’s not surprised but her heart falls a bit, watching the girl clearly flirt with him, if her body language indicates anything. She observes for a couple of seconds before taking a deep breath and walking back. She platers on the largest smile she can muster, her lips softening to a more genuine one when she sees him perk up.

“And there she is! The reason I’m here and the star herself.”

She can’t help but chuckle. “You’re sweet.” She turns to the girl. “Hey, I’m Melody. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Connie. Nice to meet you too. You graduated this weekend too?”

“Yup. You?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, congratulations.”

“Congratulations to you as well.”

Connie turns to Luca and Melody tries her best to not roll her eyes. “It was nice to meet you, Luca. I hope Melody gives you a proper tour of Evanston.”

“Best tour guide there is,” Luca responds easily, and Connie slips out of her chair with one last smile before Melody sits back in her seat. “Cool it with the death glare.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Uh huh.”

She takes a sip of her coke, determinedly staring at his water. “You can flirt with anyone you want.”

“She was flirting. I wasn’t flirting back.”

“That doesn’t sound like you,” she tries to tease lightly. “I’m sure girls fall at your feet at Michigan.” I know what that’s like, she thinks to herself. “Speaking of, anyone I should know about? Just so I can prepare myself for when I get jumpscared when I take you out for ice cream.”

“First of all, that’s an Adam move. And nope. No one’s caught my eye.”

“No?”

“No.”

“Surprising.”

He shrugs.

She hums, letting it go and steering towards safer conversation topics.

In the car on the way back to the hotel, she gets the courage.

“Luca.”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you break up with me?”

A sharp inhale. The words linger in the air. She grips her steering wheel.

“I don’t know.”

Silence. A disbelieving scoff.

“Thanks, Luca.”

“No, no. Give me a second. I truly mean it, especially now looking back. At the time I thought it was what was best so that we would stay friends and not grow to hate each other, but when I think about it more and more, that reasoning is shit so I don’t know anymore. You deserved better.”

(Honestly, it’s probably good that they’re hashing this out now. She was far too nice to him two years ago.)

“If I deserved better why didn’t you do better?” She whispers. “Luca, you didn't even give me a chance to fix it.”

“I know. I know. I panicked and I ran and I lost you.”

“You’ve never lost me. I’m best friends with your cousin. I’ve driven you and Adam to and from school. I’m still here. The last thing I wanted to do that night was break up. You practically jumped at the chance..”

“But I lost you in the way it mattered.” He reaches over to grab her hand and she doesn’t pull away. He takes that as a good sign. “I fucked it all up, didn’t I? All this time we could’ve been together but we weren’t because I just ran away.”

“Why did you break up with me?” She repeats stoically.

“I guess, I guess I got it into my head that you deserve so much better than me. I mean, I was playing junior hockey and you were at fucking Northwestern and you’ve always been so much smarter than I am which I love, don’t get me wrong. You are so, so beautiful and kind to everyone and generous and you’ve literally been there for me since forever and… I just felt like I was holding you back and you deserve better and-“

“It’s not your choice to determine what I think I deserve,” she says firmly. “If you had just talked to me about it…Luca. All I wanted was for you to talk to me that night. And the few weeks before. I loved you for who you were, junior hockey and all or whatever the fuck else you said. Do you forget that we grew up together? I’ve seen it all, and I’ve stuck by you because I loved you.”

He takes a deep breath. “Do you know why no one’s caught my eye at Michigan?”

She freezes, having a feeling what the answer is but hoping it isn’t true (or hoping it is true). “Why?”

“Because the only girl who I see myself with is in Chicago.”

She swallows roughly. “You can’t just say that shit, Luca. It’s not fair.”

“I know, I know. I just-I…I’m sorry. I know I’m not being fair. I just…I miss you. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that I was coming to your graduation but I couldn’t miss it. I really am so proud of you. I’ve always been your biggest fan.”

She stops at a red light and looks at him. “I hated you for a bit.”

“I don’t blame you.”

“But looking back, I don’t think I ever hated you. I was just sad and heartbroken.”

He squeezes his eyes shut. He had always vowed to himself that he would never hurt her. The light turns green and she drives again.

She speaks up again. “Everyone always told me time is the best thing after a breakup. I didn’t know what they meant until I did. And seeing you got easier everytime, and I still wanted the best for you, even if I wasn’t the one by your side anymore. I still do. But at the same time, I wanted to forget you.”

“Would you consider trying again?”

“Luca-”

“I, just hear me out. I fucked up. I know that. God, I knew that the second I walked out of your place that night. I love you. I still love you. And I know I’m being unfair about all of this. But I just…my life is so much better with you by my side. I’ve realized that more than ever these last two years. And if you don’t feel the same way anymore, I get it. We can keep being friends or I can give you space if you want…whatever you need. I just had to say it. I love you. I can’t really see myself ever stopping, to be honest.”

In the middle of his little speech, she had pulled into the hotel and parked, killing the engine. It’s silent for a few moments as she mulls over his words.

“You really hurt me, Luca. I don’t know if I love you anymore.” His face starts falling, but she quickly continues. “But I think I could. Love you again, I mean. Maybe. But it has to be different this time.” He perks up but she holds up a hand and he listens. “We need to communicate better. We have to talk through our problems when they come up, not run away from them. We can’t just sweep things under the rug.”

“Deal.”

“I’m gonna be working in Chicago and you’re gonna be in Ann Arbor. The distance is still gonna be like before. We’re probably gonna be away from each other more than we’re together.”

“Worth it,” a soft smile appears on his lips. “Congratulations, by the way. On the job. I don’t know if I mentioned it yet.”

“Thank you,” she looks down at her hands. She sighs. “I wanted us to work the first time. I really did. God, Luca. You’re one of the most important people in my life.”

“I’m gonna try so hard to be someone that you deserved the first time and that you deserve now.”

She smiles a bit sadly at that. “All you need to be is yourself. That’s all I ask.”

“Deal.”

“I know things are kinda busy coming up, with your cousin’s wedding and Adam’s draft and me going on my trip. But, uh, maybe we can go on a date when I’m back? If it isn’t too late.”

“It’s never too late when it comes to you,” Luca says. “I’d love that.” He leans in to kiss her cheek.

“Come on. I’ll walk you up to your room.”

Things still don’t quite fall into place after that weekend. The next time she sees Luca is when she comes to Nashville for the draft. Luca’s been beaming all day, extremely proud of his brother, but it doesn’t compare to the feeling he felt earlier when Melody and Shayla walked out of their hotel room, Melody wearing a blue satin jumpsuit and looking as stunning as ever. When she greeted him with a hug, he planted a brief kiss in her hair and watched fondly as she embraced Adam, straightening out his collar and placing a sweet kiss on his cheek, muttering some words to him that only those two could hear, Adam closing his eyes and nodding as she smiled. Luca knows how much her being here means to Adam.

(Only close family knew that on Adam’s vest on the back are the names of the important people in his life. When he takes off the suit jacket to show Shayla and Melody, the former beams while the latter starts sniffling. Both so proud of him. Both honored to be on his back in cursive. And Luca just hands her a tissue when she sees a particular picture on the inside of his jacket of the four of them when they were younger at the beach. It’s one of her favorites. It means so much.)

She cries when Adam gets picked third overall to the Columbus Blue Jackets and squeezes Shayla’s hand in excitement as Adam walks onto the stage. Afterwards when she sees him, she practically leaps onto him and squeezes him so tight as he spins her around.

(“Oh, Adam,” she says with a sniffle. “I’m so, so proud of you. Congratulations.”

“Thanks, Mel.” He says into her shoulder. “Thank you for everything. Everything.”

She pulls away but can’t help herself and hugs him again. “I love you. I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” he says as she backs away, biting her lip while placing her hands on his cheek.)

She’s then traveling with a couple friends around Europe and he’s in Pittsburgh for a few days for development camp before hanging out with friends and training. They text semi-frequently but she’s abroad and having fun and he respects that. He’s trying to figure out how to show her that he’s serious about the second chance she’s given him while trying not to overstep.

When he picks her up from Toronto Pearson Airport in mid July, it’s 7 am and she looks and feels like shit. But she comes out of Arrivals and immediately sees Luca waving, big smile on his face, a Michigan shirt on, a hat flipped backwards on his hair and a bouquet of carnations in his hands, looking at her like she’s the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen. She hugs him, taking the flowers with a smile as he grabs her duffle from her shoulder. Whether from exhaustion or simply because she’s missed him in more ways than she’d like to admit, she leans into his side as they walk out of the airport and into the parking lot and he immediately responds by putting an arm around her shoulder and pressing a kiss on her forehead.

It’s so easy to fall back into rhythm with him, as she just admires him while he’s driving, too tired at the moment to recount her travels. Once they get off the highway, he puts the windows down and opens the skylight and there’s a pang of deja vu as he turns up the music a bit, humming along to some country tune. He slows down in front of Betty’s Diner and she furrows her eyebrows.

He smiles, stopping the engine. “I’m gonna go in real quick and grab some food, okay? Told Betty you were coming back today and she insisted on cooking you your favorite. I convinced her to put it in a to-go box but I promised her we’d come back to eat in at some point.”

Melody’s heart practically melts at the thoughtfulness. “Thanks, Lu.”

(He almost trips over himself getting out of the car. She hasn’t called him Lu in so long)

Luca’s house is empty, as Adam is training and his parents are both at work. Melody takes a quick shower to wash off the grime of the plane and when she comes out — in a UMich shirt and sweats she has to roll up that he laid out— the breakfast is all heated up on plates, the bouquet of flowers he gave her still wrapped but in a cup of water so they don’t die. Luca turns around at the sound of footsteps and something flashes through his eyes at the sight of her wearing his clothes again but he shakes himself out of it, instead just sliding a plate towards her. She slumps down on the kitchen island and thanks him with a hum before diving in.

Once she’s full and Luca’s taking all the plates and washing them before she can even blink, she speaks up. “Is this the date?”

“No,” he admits. “I figured I’d give you a couple of days to get over the jetlag before taking you out for real. I just, I wanted to do something nice.”

She wipes her lips with a napkin. “Not that I don’t appreciate all of this, because I do, but what…why?”

“You gave me a second chance. I’m not gonna waste that chance.” His eyes widen in fear. “I-I’m sorry if I’m overwhelming you or being too forward. I-if you wanna go home or to Shayla’s, I can drop you off or-”

She smiles slightly. “Relax, Luca.” He blinks. It’s times like this he remembers that she’s two years older and much more level headed than he is. “I was just curious. You don’t have to do this all for me, you know?”

“I want to,” Luca replies simply. “Making up for lost time, I guess.”

“Then come over and finish up these waffles for me,” she says with a small smile, laughing when he barrels over and inhales them.

After breakfast, he can tell she needs sleep even if she won’t admit it. So he puts on Abbot Elementary and puts an arm around her shoulder as she leans into him on the couch. Halfway through the episode, she’s fallen asleep on his chest and he just smiles, staring down at her. He very carefully turns the volume down and shifts so that they’re both more in a comfortable position.

(When Adam comes back from training, he walks into the sight of his older brother and someone who might as well be his older sister cuddling, both asleep with Abbot Elementary still playing. He turns the TV off and tosses a blanket over them, staring at them both thoughtfully before heading to his room)

They do end up going on a date a couple days later. Luca picks her up at the door of her childhood home, waves to her mom and dad and gives her another bouquet of flowers (daisies this time). He then drives them to a nearby park that she hasn’t been to in at least 5 years and then pulls out a picnic basket of sandwiches, fruit, pasta salad, chips and cans of seltzer. She blinks as he lays it all out, because he’s really pulling out the stops and she has to stop herself from just leaning in and kissing him.

And the conversation between them is, yet again, so easy, reminding her of one of the many reasons she always liked him, even before they started dating. Their ability to bounce off of each other and talk about practically everything isn’t something that she’s been able to replicate with anyone else quite yet. There are some instances where they slip into some dangerous territory, but they successfully steer away from it. Those are conversations that need to be had, but not today.

For awhile, especially after their breakup, Melody had only fixated on their differences, with his hockey and party life at Michigan and her research and much tamer college life at Northwestern. But during that picnic, laying down with her head on his lap, she had a realization that they were similar in many ways she hadn’t thought about before — their love for Toronto, their distaste for judgemental people, their passion for leaving an impact, the way they love their friends and family, their love for music.

(It probably only took that date for Melody to fall in love with Luca again, but she would never admit that to herself)

They book a last minute trip to Seattle in late July— it’s purely because Melody found tickets to Taylor Swift last minute that were a reasonable price. She would’ve taken Shayla, but she already saw Taylor in Detroit two days before Melody’s graduation. So the couple hike some trails, eat some good food and have a blast at Taylor Swift.

(During ‘Fearless,’ which is one of Melody’s favorites, she’s hyper emotional, feeling Luca’s hands around her waist and him singing softly into her ear. He must also remember all the times she played this in the car growing up. During ‘Love Story,’ which is Luca’s favorite, she swears the stadium is shaking and it’s such a wonderful feeling to be a part of something like this. In the middle of the second chorus, she looks back at him with a smile, and he kisses her probably too deeply for what’s considered proper in public. But she can’t care less. And when he sings the last four lines to her in her ear, it feels something like a promise.)

He drives down with her to Chicago mid-August to help her move into her new apartment with a mutual friend from college who’s coming in September. Just like when he helped her move out, he doesn’t complain once. But this time, inbetween moving boxes, he puckers his lips and gets a kiss. The moment she realizes that she’s in her new home for the foreseeable future is when she’s placing some framed pictures around in her room, this particular one being of Shayla, Adam, Luca, Katie and her at the draft just under two months before. She doesn’t have that many framed pictures around, but this one was important to her to have up. She sets it down on the desk and just looks at it, even as Luca comes up to hug her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder.

Shayla’s off to Houston for her job, Adam is off to Columbus to play in the NHL, Luca’s going back to Ann Arbor to do what he loves, Katie is going back to UCLA for her second year and she’s starting her job in Chicago.

All five of them doing what they love, excited for the future, grateful for the past. And doing it together, even if they’re all in different states.

He stays with her for a couple of days before heading back to Michigan. That goodbye sucks in particular, as she clings onto him. She’s trying so hard not to let tears fall, but when he softly mutters that he loves her (the first time he’s said those words since they decided to try again), the waterfall starts and she just sobs into his chest as he quietly whispers sweet nothings and rubs her back, kissing her hair and face and fingers and whispering that they’ll see each other in no time — which isn’t true. She has no idea when she’ll be able to get some time off as a new employee and he’s not gonna have that much time to spare once hockey season officially starts.

(She doesn’t say it back yet, something inexplicable holding her back. But as he kisses her soundly at the airport before heading through security, she knows she does)

As she’s driving to Ann Arbor in December it takes her an embarrassingly long time to realize why it feels like deja vu.

Last year around this time, she made this exact same drive to see a game against the exact same team. Except this time, it’s different. Adam isn’t there. Shayla isn’t there. The team is different. Her and Luca are different.

And as she’s driving to Ann Arbor, she knows she has to let him know. She has to let him know she loves him.

This is only the third time she’s seen him since he helped her move in August. She would be lying if she said it hasn’t been tough and there haven’t been moments where she wonders if it’s worth it. But then her phone lights up, signaling a text from him or food she didn’t order ends up at her doorstep or she watches streams of UMich games and watches him score and then she’s reminded that she made the right choice in giving Luca a second chance.

She loves watching hockey. She loves watching Luca play hockey.

She got the number of Maggie, Kienan’s girlfriend, from Luca because she would only be able to make it to Michigan right before the game started, and Maggie was more than happy to lead her inside with her media pass and introduce her to some of the other significant others before she’d actually have to get back to work. It was a bit weird, being one of those significant others and being a bit older, but she was a college student up until June, so it’s not like she feels completely out of place.

She parks outside of Yost and texts Maggie, who directs her on which door to walk to. After an enthusiastic hug, she leads Melody through the back way into the arena, saying that the boys are already on the ice for warmups and that everyone is excited to meet her (“We’ve heard so much about you, from Luca and even from Adam last year, so we’re all really excited to meet you.”)

She gets introduced to Ellie and Kayleigh, Jacob and Rutger’s girlfriends respectively, and they’re so peppy and excited and nice that she doesn’t feel as nervous as she sits down as they immediately want to get to know more about her. They have decent seats, so she can see some of the players’ expressions if she looks hard enough. She immediately spots 63 and just smiles before turning back to the girls, not wanting to distract him from warmups, even though she finds herself eyeing him while talking. It isn’t until one of the guys, Ethan, if she remembers his number correctly, nudges Luca and nods in their direction does she smile and give a small wave. Even from this far, she sees him light up and wave back before focusing on warming up again.

The game, like any Michigan vs Michigan State one, is chippy, loud and exciting. She’s watched so many of Luca and Adam’s games growing up, yet she still finds herself nervously playing with her sleeves. Michigan ends up winning 2-1 and everyone’s in happy spirits as they leave the arena. She bids farewell to the girls and thanks them for letting her sit with them before Maggie’s back to lead her towards the locker room to meet up with Luca.

She waits patiently outside of the locker room with Maggie, just chatting casually, smiling when Kienan comes out and they embrace. Melody gives him a hug as well. The next guys to come out are Mark, Ethan and Seamus, who she remembers from last year and they all give her hugs before she wishes them a good holiday break. She tells them that they don’t have to stay and they all wave her off. (“Are you kidding? I’m not missing this reunion. Luca’s been talking about seeing you non-stop for forever.” Ethan jokes.)

They don’t have to wait long, as Luca’s the next one to come out. His cheeks are a bit flushed and he’s dressed in her favorite suit of his. His eyes dart all over until they meet hers. He immediately shrugs off his backpack and lifts Melody up in a hug. She lets out a little squeal and laughs as he spins her around.

“Hi.” She mutters into his shoulder.

“Hi angel.” He pulls away and kisses her twice. “I missed you.”

She pulls back and runs a hand through his hair with a light smile. “Missed you. Good game.” She looks beyond his shoulder to see the rest of his teammates smiling or smirking, some she recognizes, others she doesn’t. She detaches herself from him and nudges him. “Introduce me to your teammates.”

He groans playfully. “Do I have to?”

She rolls her eyes and smiles at the boys warmly. “Hi. I’m Melody, if we haven’t met.” She gives everybody a quick hug as the freshmen introduce themselves, laughing when Dylan wiggles her around.

Everyone’s a bit tired, so within 10 minutes, everyone’s saying goodbye and leaving the arena. She insists on driving Seamus, Rutger and Gavin since they all live together. When they get back, she’s helping him fold clothes to bring back to Toronto for break as he sits back on his bed, one hand behind his head and just looking at her. She’s grown out her hair and got a perm as a treat to herself after her first paycheck. And she had FaceTimed him immediately after she walked out of the salon, but seeing it in person is something entirely different. Still donned in his MIchigan crewneck that mysteriously disappeared from his closet over the summer and a yellow bow in her hair, she’s wearing flannel pajama pants now instead of jeans and folding a pair of his jeans before tossing it into his duffle and zipping it up. Luca’s suddenly overwhelmed by how blessed he is.

The next morning, after brunch at one of Luca’s favorite spots around campus, when they’re at the start of their drive back to Toronto and at a long stoplight, she remembers.

“Hey, Lu?”

“Hm?” He immediately looks at her and places a kiss on the back of her hand that he’s been holding.

“I love you.”

Luca’s eyes light up and she bites her lip so she doesn’t grin like a crazy woman. “Yeah?” He breathes out.

“Yeah. I love you.”

He leans to press a sweet kiss on her lips and then her cheek, and mutters against her skin. “I love you, angel. So much. Always have. Always will.”

And she chuckles under her breath when she tunes into what song is playing through the speakers of her car.

This love came back to her, indeed.

#k writes #hockey fanfiction #hockey fanfic #umich #umich hockey #luca fantilli #luca fantilli fic #luca fantilli x oc #adam fantilli #team 101 #luca fantilli blurb #hockey blurb

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makeyoumine69 · 2 months

Text

My Lovely Detective I

— PAIRING: Patrick Bateman x Fem!Detective!OC

— CO-WRITER: @iron-flavored-lipgloss

— SUMMARY: Being a detective in New York was pretty hard, and being a woman detective was even harder, but not for Andrea Moore. Despite the fact that she lived the life of an average American without any luxury or wealth, she loved her job, her life and her boyfriend, who always supported her. One day, her boss — Detective Kimball — assigned her to a case regarding the disappearance of a very rich man from Wall Street named Paul Allen, and her first task became to interrogate the man who was suspected to be connected to it. From that moment on, Andrea would have to reveal what secrets were hidden behind the perfect facade of Patrick Bateman...

— CONTAINS: Swearing, misogyny, mind manipulation, mild seduction.

— WORDS: 2.4k

— A/N: Me and my dear friend @iron-flavored-lipgloss have been working on this writing project for quite a while and now it's finally here! Feel free to share your opinion, we hope you like it!

— LINKS: [MASTERLIST]; [SERIES MASTERLIST]; [AO3}.

Pierce & Pierce

The first impression I got when I stepped into the glass box called P&P office was the unprecedented atmosphere of wealth and elitism I'd never experienced before. It only confirmed Donald Kimball's statements about Wall Street and its special aura that consumes you from the moment you enter the space where arrogant yuppies rush past you without paying attention, even if they push you painfully on your shoulder.

Today, I had to interrogate one of the vice presidents of Pierce & Pierce, his name was Patrick Bateman and Detective Kimball - my boss - had a very strange opinion about this guy and he made me aware to be careful and attentive to the things he would say. And I didn't know why my heart was beating so fast when it was such a common thing for me to interrogate someone, but once I got to the right floor and went into Bateman's office I saw a beautiful blonde woman who was supposed to be his assistant. Her name was Jean and she asked me to wait a bit before she sneaked into Patrick's office to ask him if he was not super busy.

One minute, two minutes...

I was getting more and more nervous the longer I waited, but luckily for me, Jean appeared almost as I was about to start digging my nails into my skin; she politely asked me to come in.

With deliberate movements, I entered the fashionable office to see a handsome man sitting at the wooden desk, his brown hair with a golden hue slicked back, and the moment he raised his eyes to me, I felt a tight knot form in my stomach.

"This is Detective Andrea Moore," Jean introduced me with a friendly smile. "Can I get you some coffee?" She asked immediately, but her question wasn't addressed to me as I noticed her devoted gaze on the brown-haired man who still hadn't said a word.

For Patrick Bateman, there was little to distinguish one workday from the other. Everything went in pleasantly bland and repetitive cycles: arriving at the office (impeccably styled from head to toe like any self-respecting yuppie, but still a little sleeker than everyone else, he reassured himself), the new release by whatever popular band was blaring in his headphones. With world economic news on the TV and a crossword puzzle to complete, he told Jean to cancel unnecessary meetings every morning.

But not today.

There was a moment of irritation when Jean declared that there was an unexpected visitor waiting outside his office. A detective, she said, but this time it wasn't Kimball, and this additional information was what really started to bother Patrick.

He had to make an effort to manipulate Kimball, sure that the man would finally believe in his integrity and drop the 'Paul Allen' case.‘Maybe I need to get my lawyer involved, maybe money needs to be paid to solve this.' The door opened again, this time Jean led the detective in, and in an instant a wave of relief washed over Patrick. He dismissed Jean with a smile that was almost natural to him by now. He let her go and then turned his eyes back to the woman in front of him. ‘A female detective... If they exchanged Kimball with her, for whatever reason, my situation can't be that bad.’ Patrick let his eyes glide over her body, his confidence returning with every second. Aside from her sex, this person truly presented a different image than Kimball. Illuminated by the morning sun, her suit shimmered in a way that only cheap polyester could. ‘What a feeble attempt to demand respect,’ Patrick thinks with mild disgust. Despite its loose cut, the suit did little to hide her voluptuous figure. 'Nice tits. Could be an hourglass figure if it weren't for the fat around her waist.'

Disinterested, he focused again on her face, framed by brown and unruly curls - another flaw in his book. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Miss ...?" Patrick asked in a tone of false pleasantness, but with a face that didn't betray much happiness. He didn't remember her name very well either, even though Jean had said it just a few seconds ago.

"Miss Moore," she replied briefly, taking a seat across from his desk. At first the woman reached out to shake his hand, but then she pulled back. "Detective Donald Kimball has decided to let me continue his investigation into Paul Allen's disappearance," Andrea paused to retrieve the notebook and pen from her bag. "We have another missing persons case."

Though her voice sounded confident and stern, there was a turmoil of emotions raging within her, but the woman managed to regain her composure. God, why was reality so cruel to her? When Kimball had given her this case, he had never mentioned what Bateman looked like, and that had made Andrea think that Patrick was a typical middle-aged banker, but she had been so fucking wrong that now she felt embarrassed and nervous, and her hands were shaking slightly.

"According to my information, you were seeing a woman named Bethany not too long ago," the detective looked at Patrick while he made some notes. "You were studying at Harvard together. Is that correct?"

‘She has an exotic look to her, despite the last name. A "first generation raised outside East Harlem" kind of vibe, ' Patrick thought dismissively. ‘Girls like her have a lot to prove, and they always bring that insecurity into the conversation. They cover it up by acting all masculine and bossy.’

It wasn't lost on him how her fingers trembled as she reached for the notebook, and that was the only reason the mention of Bethany's name didn't worry him for the moment. Perhaps Paul was having an affair with her? New York's elite is a small world.

Right now, this interview was nothing more than an inconvenience for him. "That's true. But really, our relationship ended after graduation. I also can't help but wonder how any of this relates to Paul Allen. At least that was the topic of conversation with Detective Kimball."

'What a smug son of a bitch.' The detective didn't flinch, her face devoid of emotion despite the storm brewing inside. "You see, sometimes we work with the police to help find missing persons," she explained, unbuttoning her jacket to reveal a simple blue blouse underneath. "A few weeks ago it was reported that a woman named Bethany Simmons had disappeared under strange circumstances, but before that she had dined with you. Her hairdresser confirmed it."

A sudden power shift in the conversation made Andrea feel a little more confident as she detected a slight tension in the way Bateman frowned.

"What happened after dinner, Mr. Bateman?" The woman asked insistently, pen in hand, ready to catch every word the man was about to give her. "Maybe you can tell us where Bethany is now?"

Patrick couldn't help but feel his body stiffen at Detective Moore's words before he forced himself to lean back in his chair - just keeping up the pretense of casualness.

"We met for a late dinner, nothing more. After that we parted ways, I would have assumed she went home. But this is really disturbing to hear."

Mimicking a sad expression, Patrick studied the woman across from him intensely. Maybe he needed to be careful. Kimball had a different attitude, one that Patrick already began to miss because of its familiarity.

‘Why so aggressive with this lack of hard evidence? A hairdresser... Believe a hairdresser over the testimony of a vice president of a leading Wall Street firm! I bet she just hates men.’

And yet his eyes lingered on her now exposed blouse.

The detective was about to check the time, but when she noticed the gold Rolex on Bateman's wrist, she somehow changed her mind, not wanting to reveal her cheap watch.

"Okay," she smiled suddenly and put her notebook on her lap. "May I ask about your relationship with Bethany? Maybe she shared some concerns with you during that dinner? Did she think she was in danger? Maybe someone was threatening her?" Andrea asked with undisguised interest in the case she was investigating. "I know that Mr. Kimball had a conversation with Bethany's fiancé..."

The sudden pause hung in the air like a suffocating rope around Patrick's neck.

'He's lying, I can feel it.' The woman grinned wider and made some notes. "I really hope you'll give me some information so I don't have to deal with your lawyer. People in your circle always like to do that." Andrea fixed her curly locks that tried to block her vision. "But I understand how busy you are."

Hidden under the desk from the detective's watchful eyes, Patrick's fingers began to dig into his thigh. Oh, how he wished it was her neck instead.

How much information could Bethany's fiancé really have? No, this seemed more like a strategy to make him panic, and yet it was starting to work in a way.

"Oh, I don't see any need to get a lawyer involved. These questions are only reasonable," Patrick fought to maintain the image of an innocent man and gave the most sympathetic smile his tense muscles could muster. "She didn't mention anything specific, but you know. She had a tendency to meet up casually with different men, so who knows where she went after our dinner. I'm not sure how informed her boyfriend is about that either. As for me and her - we were just catching up for old times' sake.”

At this point, Patrick started to seriously think about what had happened to Bethany's body.

Andrea did her best to catch up with Bateman's comments, writing them down with calculated precision. Then she massaged her temples shortly - a clear sign of her tired state. "You said Bethany was seeing other men...do you think she might be unfaithful to her fiancé?" The detective asked suddenly, arching her eyebrow in a thoughtful manner as cogs began to turn in her head. "Also, do you know her boyfriend? Could he be dangerous to Bethany?"

The woman didn't even notice her foot tapping on the floor, the adrenaline from the current conversation coursing through her veins, and that was the strongest drug for her.

"Have you been having an affair with Bethany behind his back? That can be a motive for him to commit a crime, you know what I mean?" She murmured in a suddenly low voice, her throat was dry from tension, but she didn't dare ask for water. A muffled rustling of city life could be heard in the moment of silence and the woman hoped that Patrick couldn't hear her fast heartbeat.

Maybe it was the way she looked at him (tired? dismissive? annoyed?), but something inside him shifted. Suddenly, Patrick found himself dangerously overwhelmed by irritation at her audacity and bold questioning, more than anything else.

"It was her who invited me, and during our time together she was clearly trying to make a move. Well, she didn't get what she wanted out of that dinner. I'm engaged myself, you know."

‘She thinks she's so smart, but if we had met under different circumstances, in a club for example, she would be throwing herself at me right now.’

"You said it yourself, I have a very busy lifestyle," and with a playful glance at his Rolex, Patrick continued. "But I'm making time for you, willing to prove good intentions. And all I can say is that I knew Bethany better when we were together. I'm unfamiliar with her exact current situation and fiancé."

Beyond the carefully curated faux friendliness, he leaned forward and looked deeply into Detective Moore's dark eyes.

"But if a woman in a committed relationship looks at other men the way she looked at me that night - her boyfriend can't be good. Wouldn't that be the logical conclusion?"

His unexpectedly brazen remark made Andrea's jaw clench in anger. "Maybe after we find Bethany, you can ask her that question."

The woman tried to hide her annoyance as his words found some resonance within her - Bateman was an utterly handsome man, it was foolish and stupid to try to argue with that fact, though that didn't mean the detective had to admit it either.

"Well, thank you for your time, Mr. Bateman," the woman muttered and tucked her things back into her bag. " I will take some time researching information and discussing it with Mr. Kimball. I think we can meet here in a week or...maybe at a café?" The woman's expression didn't change even when she realized what she had just said. "I don't want to bother Jean and the people in here," Andrea tried to shake off her nervousness. "But this is all up to you."

Patrick raised his eyebrows, taking her sudden desire to leave as a success on his part. "Why do you say you bother Jean? This is her job. But if there is any way I can help you with your research, please do."

He held one of his business cards out to her, his attitude now almost charming.

‘Of course she wants to meet me for dinner. Like all the women I've met, huh?’

"Call this number and Jean will discuss a convenient time and date with you. I will get us a good reservation at a restaurant, for whatever topic you want to discuss with me. You see, I just don't like unannounced interruptions."

The woman took the business card and, without looking at it, quickly put it in her notebook. "See you soon, have a good day, Mr. Bateman."

With that Andrea picked up her things and got up to leave the office as soon as possible, she didn't say anything to Jean. When she was finally outside, she took a moment to breathe deeply, as if she was suffocating from lack of oxygen all the time. The pedestrians passed her like ghosts, her heartbeat pulsed in her ears and Andrea couldn't really remember being so... shocked and puzzled by any man before.

Even in the subway all she could think about was Bateman and his pathetic attempts to deceive her and mislead her investigation. Now she had more questions than answers, and she desperately needed to talk to Mr. Kimball. ‘I'm gonna make you talk, Bateman, I'm gonna do more than that.’

P.S. Thank you for reading until the end! You can follow my side blog @makeyoumineagain and my amazing co-writer @iron-flavored-lipgloss and turn on notifications to know when we update!

#american psycho #patrick bateman imagine #patrick bateman #slasher smut #patrick bateman smut #patrick bateman headcanon #christian bale smut #christian bale #patrick bateman imagines #patrick bateman x oc #patrick bateman x fem!oc #slasher x oc

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blueteamjax · 4 months

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Okay, so post season 13 on my rewatch and I have a lot of the same complaints I did when I initially watched it.

The main thing being the pay off of Tucker's development as a leader and the parallels that were set up. I'll maybe get into it more later, but the Felix/Locus/Sharkface set up to Tucker/Wash/Carolina just didn't feel satisfying. I don't think it would make sense to have Tucker on the same level as the freelancers but it would have felt more narrative satisfying to see him hold up more of a fight. Him eventually leaning on his friends to help him win opposed to Felix being alone would have still worked, it would have just been nice to see just a bit more resolution to all of his training and experience.

I do think the Carolina and Wash vs Felix and Locus fight has great moments, but narratively it just feels out of place for me. I wish they had maybe had more time to explore what was set up with Sharkface and The Counsilor with Carolina. The fact that Carolina and Wash don't even know that the Counsilor was working with the space pirates was also a big let down.

I didn't get this feeling the first time, but having Wash go back to gray armor really feels like it's distancing him from the Reds and Blues and kind of walking him back from where he was at the end of season 10. I was talking with my sister and we both agreed that we wish he'd maybe gotten his own shade of blue armor (if available with us not knowing anything about Halo) instead of going back to Church's.

The Chorus Trilogy is still one of my favorite parts of the whole series though. It has a lot of great moments and still really love the characters and lore that were introduced. Dr. Grey is a delight to have on screen whenever she's there and the Lieutenants are always a joy to see. And of course I fell in love with Kimball all over again.

Once we start season 15 we'll be getting to territory that I haven't seen cause I fell off during the anthology season. I'm hesitant based on some spoilers but I want to give it a fair shot. The plan is to get to RvB: Zero, but we'll see.

#red vs blue #rvb #rvb13

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rubykgrant · 4 months

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Imagine RvB characters with superpowers. But just one each, like in RWBY or My Hero Academia. Could totally see Sarge being an unstoppable force, or Tucker being the center of attention, or Caboose being able to make things not work properly. Church splitting off parts of his psyche as clones. Maine having permanent copies of powers. Wash making a memory fog. Kimball having a speed buff for herself & others. Jax making videos of his memory. Just so many possibilities!

There are a handful of RVB Super Power AUs out there that are all very interesting (the two I'm more familiar with are the "Villain AU" by @smilysstuff , and "We Didn't Even Kiss Until Issue 26" by @cinaed . I've also seen some cool Spider-Man/Spider-Verse concepts from @leonardalphachurch and @donut-entendre ~)

You've got some cool super power ideas for them too! The characters are all so weird, it is easy to take the various talents or certain personality traits and turn them into super abilities, either ones that fit easily with them, or perhaps ones that seem like the "opposite" of what is typical.

If I was going to put them into a Super Hero setting, but maybe try to make it a little different from some of the others I've seen... I might put them in a Batman scenario! Except it doesn't totally follow the same formula... because NONE of these dudes are a billionaire playboy who is also a scientist and expert martial artist. So instead...

"Blood Gulch" is actually the name for a small area of the city (basically, Crime Alley), and through some random (or perhaps connected) events, a lot of people have had an unpleasant experience there... Church woke up with no memory besides his name and a few vague bits of info of his life. Tucker was attacked, and his child was kid-napped. Caboose lost his penny (everybody thinks this is stupid, but you don't understand; it was the GIANT penny!). Donut got nailed with a grenade. Grif got ran-over by a tank (followed by Simmons agreeing to give up some organs to try and save his life at a hospital, but when doctors insisted Grif wouldn't survive the surgery, Simmons followed a very shady tip that somebody from that area could help them both... and so Simmons got a back-alley operation, then woke up a Cyborg. Grif is OK). Sarge got shot in the head. Tex "died" for the first time, and discovered she doesn't STAY dead. A strange villainous voice seems to "haunt" the area, but is only ever heard when Doc is around. Nothing bad happened to Kai, but she got busted for throwing a rave in an old warehouse there once.

Not all of this happened on the same day or anything, but it sure is a COINCIDENCE that all these people hurt somehow in this general area, isn't it!? Anyway, Church meets Tucker after Junior got kidnapped, and despite seeming so unfriendly, he's the only guy that listens to Tucker's weird story (because the group that took Junior didn't seem... human). The cops won't help, and Tucker doesn't want to leave the city unless he has a lead, so... Church takes him to where he's been crashing.

Which turns out to be a HUGE mansion, that has sat abandoned for years. Church may be a hobo, but he's a hobo with standards (also, he seems to know all the combinations for the locks. wonder why). Eventually, they run into Caboose out on the streets, sobbing over his penny. He follows them around all night, and Church finally agrees to let him com back to their mansion. Once inside, Caboose's clumsiness and nonsensical luck allows them to discover SECRET PASSAGEWAYS! There is a whole underground lair below the mansion! With some very interesting (and suspicious) technology. Oh, and it seems to be OCCUPIED as well?

So, while all that was going on, Sarge has been running around Blood Gulch at night, being a weird vigilante about it (he still has his own shotgun, but after it got damaged, the thing doesn't actually fire anymore. instead, he carries it around for the AESTHETIC, and a lot of people in the city start rumors about a guy who has a gun he doesn't shoot for some "metaphorical" reasons, but it really isn't that deep; it broke, he doesn't want to throw it away, he can't afford to get it fixed, and he's too stubborn to just get a new one. on the plus side, various bad guys have gotten the idea that if they don't use guns, the vigilante won't shoot them, so everybody has gotten less lethal in general). Sarge also collects weirdos who have gone through their own odd incidents...

He likes the idea of having a cyborg on his team, and Grif seems to be good at... not dying? That comes in handy. Donut just kinda invited himself and stuck around. Sarge finds an abandoned robot one night, so now they have a robot! His speech functions are stuck on Spanish, but Lopez is very capable at just about any task (he will still complain the whole time). Sarge decides to call their group... The Red Hood Gang! He still wears the red hoodie he had on when he got shot when doing vigilante stuff (plus a mask, and other gear). They move into what they THOUGHT was an old cave system outside the city... and find it has LOTS of interesting tech inside!

When Church's group finds out the Reds are basically living in their basement and hoarding all the cool junk, and the Reds realize these guys have an upstairs with actual bathrooms and a kitchen, they proceed to have a whole war over who gets to keep everything. As they fight and claim certain things for themselves, one of the big computers comes online... and a strange, high-pitched voice who introduces himself as Vic starts giving them info and "advice" on how to find the people that have caused their problems. Begrudgingly, the two groups decide to work together (Church's team calls themselves Blue Birds, since the gear they get is blue, and themed after birds; also, they get a cool vehicle! Sheila is their Batmobile~).

So, now the Reds and Blues are all doing vigilante stuff. They still bicker with each other, but no longer enemies. Other people in the city do not know how to deal with these chaotic weirdos. They eventually meet up with Tex, and Grif's sister figures out what her brother is up to. Doc has a brief time being "kid-napped" by the :evil voice" as O'Malley tries to be a full-on villain like the Joker, but eventually he settles down, accepts that he's really part of Doc, and they other accept Doc is part of their group too. Tucker even gets Junior back, and Caboose finds his GIANT PENNY! Things seem to being well... but THEN-

A corrupt police force doesn't like all these vigilantes exposing their own criminal activity, and hire outside help of a special agent; Washington. He initially tries to very seriously solve some of the problems in the city, and when he gets framed for even BIGGER problems, he just has his own villain-moment, taking it out on the Reds and Blues... but they win him over. New vigilante hero! He moves into the mansion with the rest of them, but one night when they return, the place has a new guest; Carolina, who informs them that this is HER FAMILY'S HOME. She's been away, doing all kinds of cool secret martial arts training around the world (that's right, she's the REAL Batman~), and comes back to to find a whole circus moved in while she was gone?

She also explained that the underground caves were where he father once had a whole secret project going on, with people being part of several experiments that claimed to make them "super heroes", but those running the show had ulterior motives (some of them were selling tech to other groups, thus creating lots of criminals with a huge advantage). Wash had been part of this program, but like the Reds, he never knew about the mansion above ground or the connection to Carolina's family. Tex was part of it too, but she kind of forgot some of it. Church... well, it seems that one the plans of Carolina's father was to try and bring her mother back to life, and one attempt involved a sample from a supernatural pool of energy, which he tested on himself first. The result was Church (this is a bit like all the R'as al Ghul/Jason Todd stuff).

More Batman-tastic shenanigans ensue... meanwhile, over in Metropolis, all the Chorus problems are happening! Instead of a surviving child of Krypton coming to Earth, a ship containing the collective history and technology landed on the planet. In secret, a group has been slowly using the advanced tech for personal gain, and some people are also stealing it for themselves. Two sides of a "war" break out, each being manipulated into fighting because once they're all gone, nothing will stop a certain rich business man from taking everything for himself (Hargrove is basically Lex Luthor. Felix and Locus use lots of Krypton tech, and also have access to the temporary Super Serum that gives them small doses of powers).

Sorry, that was a LOT for a basic "Batman/Superman" AU haha

#ask #answer #anon #red vs blue #rvb

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leonardalphachurch · 7 months

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another out of context excerpt. this one was written a while ago and is just dialogue

Wash: When I set off that E.M.P., it was to kill The Meta for good. [content cut for spoilers]

Tucker: Wait. What do you mean, “when you set off the E.M.P.?”

Caboose (suddenly nervous): Uhhhhhh.

Donut: Yeah, what’s an E.M.P.?

Tucker: That’s not—

Sarge, Grif, and Simmons (in unison): He means emp.

Donut: Ohhhhh, why didn’t you say that?

Wash (already exasperated): We are not having this discussion again.

Tucker: I wasn’t asking about—

Simmons: You should really be using the proper terminology, Wash.

Grif: Yeah, no one knows what the fuck you’re talking about.

Wash: Everyone knows what I’m talking about! You are the only people who don’t know what I’m talking about!

Tucker (increasingly frustrated): I don’t—

Donut: See, Tucker didn’t know what you were talking about!

Tucker: I was not saying that.

Wash: Tucker agrees with me.

Tucker: I wasn’t saying that either!

Caboose: Maybe we should talk about something else…

Wash: Please.

Tucker: No—

Carolina: Look, it doesn’t matter how it’s pronounced.

Sarge: Right! It doesn’t matter that it’s pronounced emp.

Wash: Carolina doesn’t pronounce it like that

Carolina: Well…

Wash (utterly betrayed): No.

Carolina: I’ve… typically said emp…

Wash: Oh my god.

Tucker: Will you all stop arguing about dumb bullshit? I’m trying to—

Epsilon: Tucker’s right; let’s all just agree that Wash is wrong and move on.

Tucker: Shut up! That’s not what I’m—

Wash (desperately): I am not wrong! Please, Dr. Grey,

Grey: Oh, I have long since learned to stay out of these discussions.

Kimball: And that’s something we should all learn. Let’s get back to—

Tucker, screaming: EVERYONE STOP TALKING!

Grif: Whoa.

Donut: Oop!

Carolina: Do not talk to Kimball like—

Wash: Tucker, you don’t—

Tucker, furious, directly at Wash: SHUT UP! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU KILLED CHURCH?

—

#CCCR AU #chromatic writing #chromatic excerpt #also. this scene will have to be rewritten slightly actually. because. doc. should be here.#doc is present here. i can’t believe i forgot to give him any lines. 💀#also the transition from tucker being interrupted to him yelling at wash is a little awkward. part of that is bc this is just dialogue with-#minimal blocking. like the actual writing would be. yknow. actually written.#but i still feel like there’s probably a smoother way to to get tucker yelling at wash

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sam-monroe · 3 months

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Summary: Following after the film, Sam starts to realize that the time after his father's death only started to hurt him more than let him thrive. However, how can you thrive when you seem cursed to be doomed in misery? Characters: Sam Monroe, Robin Kimball, Adam and Ryan Kimball, various OCs to fill the gaps LOL Warnings: minor character death (? maybe can be considered major, but he's not from the film), teenage angst, sam re-emofying himself Ships: None Word Count: 6.9k words A/N: This directly follows after the film (with some time gap because funeral planning), and it does have a minor character death in it. I wanted to expand on Sam's story, and I really didn't like the "feeling lighter looking lighter" trope they had with him. Let him stay emo... :( Anyways, I hope you enjoy this. I'm currently crying over it for the 3428794237 time. VERY loosely based off Your Graduation by Modern Baseball. Edit 02.29.24: Major rework, adding details, fixing punctuation, etc etc. I'm sorry I'm a shit writer. Read here on ao3

Normally summer breaks would be marked with back to school shopping, maybe a few more parties or something else to bring a close to the months of break from school. However, this wasn’t the case for Sam this summer. The summer wasn’t marked with the rushed supply shopping for all three kids, no. It was marked with another divorce and a funeral. Luckily, they didn’t have to move, and due to his stepfather’s shit talk of Sam behind his back, Sam didn’t have to see him anymore.

Good riddance.

Unfortunately with grief things seemed to get better for the family, getting closer again, but Sam had felt so much more lost. He headed up the light wood stairs as they had come back from the funeral as the sun poured into the mostly white and light wood decorated home. He was wearing muted earth colors, having one of his father’s flannels on him as he felt so puffed up from crying so much. Even Adam and Ryan cried a little. His mother guided them to the kitchen to make a snack, but he moved to his room. He got the left door open, looking around at the walls covered in spray paint, Manson posters and other various things from magazines.

Maybe his room could use a makeover like the house did. No idea what it would be changed to. He moved to his built in bathroom, moving the beads of the Sacred Heart to the side to get in the surprisingly clean bathroom. Compared to his room, his bathroom was always clean. He got to the sink to get some cold water on a washcloth before pressing it to his face. Hopefully this would help the swelling, and hopefully he didn’t cry again.

He held the cloth there for a few moments before ringing it out to get it draped over the faucet before moving back out. There was a knock from his door and he silently came over, opening it. His mother was there, voice soft,” I’m going to make some sandwiches, do you want one?” “No… I was thinking of cleaning my room.” “You haven’t eaten since breakfast,” she gently prodded,” come on. The room can wait.”

It still felt like a trap. How she was suddenly nice to him. He didn’t know if he should like it, but still, he was hungry and his energy felt nearly depleted. “Alright,” he grumbled, moving to follow her back down to the large kitchen. He sat at the little bar area in the middle of his half-brothers, sighing softly.

Robin moved to get ingredients from the double door fridge, absently flicking the radio on to fill the silence. She got plates set up before getting started on the sandwiches,” what drink do you boys want with it?”

Ryan chimed for apple juice which Adam nodded for and Sam was just quiet. She glanced at her oldest, voice soft,” Sam?”

He finally came back from the zoning out he was in as he looked at her. “Apple juice is fine.” After he spoke, his eyes dropped back down to the gray tile of the counter as she just opted to work on their lunch.

Plates were soon placed in front of them before she moved to grab three glasses for juice. Getting them placed on their table setting, she got a bag of chips open and dumped into a bowl before placing it in front of Sam. “Now, eat up you three. It’s the best thing you can do after crying a lot. Your body needs the energy back.” Ryan and Adam didn’t have to be told twice, but the new kindness was still unsettling to Sam while he grabbed a handful of chips to place on his plate before munching on one.

Eventually, Robin made herself a plate and leaned against the counter as she ate, watching Sam a moment. “What do you think you want to change in your room?”

“I dunno … maybe everything. Maybe some doors for my closet.”

“If you won’t break them, I can get a contractor to see about the space.”

“I won’t … Can I paint the walls?” Glancing up, he gave a small shrug, popping another chip into his mouth afterwards.

“Anything but black.”

He took a bite of the sandwich, thinking for a moment as he tried to think on what he even wanted to do. “I was thinking of a slate color.”

Robin nodded a moment as she listened,” that would be nice, especially with all the windows you have there.” And it would hide all of the spray paint you sprayed everywhere. She took a chip, hiding her mouth with her hand while she chewed momentarily,” would you want new furniture? I don’t know if the wicker can be salvaged from the spray paint on it.”

“I can paint it over… it just needs to be sanded and primed.”

“Alright, if you’re sure, we can go get paint after lunch for the walls. Do you want to do your bathroom also?”

“Yeah, a light gray.”

“First, we’ll do your room then the bathroom.”

“Can we redo our bedrooms, Mom?” Ryan chirped out, grinning at her with some mustard smeared on his cheek. She chuckled as she came to wipe it off. “If you want, but Sam’s first because he’s the oldest.” And I hate the sight of that room.

After lunch had been eaten and dishes were taken care of, she took a brief trip to get paint samples. Returning, she told him to make patches of the colors on a section of the wall to figure out which one dried best. He nodded as he moved back to his room, getting inside with the bags of four samples. He first moved to get all of the posters and images down around his room before getting the dresser pulled back from the wall holding his bathroom door in the corner. He got squares painted up and penciled on the wall beside them which color was what before he looked to his room.

Well, might as well clean it. He began with gathering up the clothes, working in silence before he couldn’t handle it anymore. Getting music flicked on, he steadily worked on cleaning his room out. He gathered up the makeup he had stolen from stores, throwing it out along with the various materials he used for huffing. He started to go through his clothes, clearing out some of them. It felt like he had just started when he was called for dinner, but his room was finally cleaned for the first time in forever. Well, at least he could see the floor now.

It was strange to see the walls so empty. He brought the beads he had gathered to the side from the bathroom door down first before he headed down, stomach aching finally while he registered his hunger. Cleaning was a good distraction though ... Maybe the renovation would help.

The time for his first day of school came, and god, he didn’t want to face the bullshit of introductions and trying to find his classes … Or getting shit on like usual. Alyssa tried to talk to him, but the summer had been such a shit show, he didn’t want to really talk to her. Not after she admitted to kissing his father when he was on morphine. He moved through the halls to get to his locker, and Nick came up to him, confused at his appearance.

“Yo, what the fuck, dude. Where’s your piercings and shit?” His eyes were wide while a brow arched, glancing over him.

“Gone. Stuff happened this summer, okay?”

“Yeah, dude. We were wondering why you weren’t at Lake Tahoe with us, it was so fucking fun dude. I was high most of the time or fucking,” he grinned lazily at Sam.

Well, at least Sam’s guess of how that trip would have been was right. “I was with my father working on a house.” Sam shrugged absently, glancing over to Nick. You know … just before he died.

“Duuuude , that sucks. I bet that was boring.”

He remembered demolishing the old house, thinking about how stress relieving it was. At least, when he had finally decided to help. “… It was kind of fun.” He shrugged as he swapped out a few textbooks for his starting class.

“Sam, you hate your father. What the fuck? It was fun?” Brows furrowed as Nick looked over him trying to piece who his friend had become in a few months. No piercings, earthy tones, the blue in his hair had severely faded out and his hair wasn’t as styled as usual. Not to mention the clear lack of makeup.

Sam slammed the door shut as he looked down at Nick,” I said stuff happened. That’s all you need to fucking know. Okay?” There was the normal Sam.

“Chill out dude,” Nick rolled his eyes,” you know, this might be the year I finally dump your ass.”

Irritation was already building up in Sam from the conversation,” then just fucking do it already like everyone else. I don’t give a fuck,” he moved past him to get to his science class, weaving through the crowd.

As the school day progressed, Sam just isolated himself more and more, focusing on the work for once. He got to his car after the last class dismissal, getting inside with a slow sigh. He hit his forehead against the wheel for a moment before starting the car up. He could get some coffee. He got his window rolled down a bit before he lit a cigarette, starting to drive to the nearest coffee shop.

Getting parked when he had his black coffee in hand, he just sat and smoked as music played. On day one, he lost his friend, nearly fought someone at lunch, and already got a threat of going to the principal. He sighed softly as he leaned his head back, shaking his head absently while taking a slow drag.

“Fuck this.”

It was never going to get better, was it?

Unfortunately, it didn’t really seem to. As the weeks of the new year went on, he started to fight with his mother again. To Robin, it seemed like the summer with his father didn’t change him as much as she hoped as the winter break started to approach.

Sam just focused on his room, the walls now painted while the bed frame as it dried in the garage. His mattress was flopped on the floor for now as he laid on it after completing his homework. He had his headphones on with his eyes shut, absently holding some of his comforter as he had locked his door once again.

He knew that the niceness from his mother was just fucking performative as he laid there. His eyes slowly opened to look at the ceiling as he thought things over.

I will never be good enough for her, would I? What the fuck am I doing? Why did I destroy my room? All in the name of Dad's memory? No. Fuck this. This isn’t who I fucking am, he thought as he moved to pause the CD before making his way downstairs. Luckily they hadn’t donated much of what he had been through and he hauled the bags of clothing back up to his room. He dumped them near the mattress on the floor, some shirts spilling out before he left his room to hunt Robin down.

He found her in Peter's previous office on her computer, brows furrowed in concentration before looking up as her eldest entered. Here we go.

“Can I borrow $40? I'm going to the mall," he asked, arms crossing over his chest while his gaze bore into her slightly.

“Alright, be back for dinner.” She sighed softly, getting a $50 bill out for him. “Use the extra ten for whatever or food. I don’t have smaller bills.” Something was happening with him again, but she didn't have the energy to try to fight him back on it. Landing them right back to square one before the summer.

Sam took it from her, getting it shoved into his pocket while he gave a small grumble of thanks. "I'll be back soon."

He got to the local mall before navigating his way into the Hot Topic he had definitely stolen from before. he had gotten a little too good at it, and the employees never knew... Though, theft wasn't unheard of in the store. What was another person using the five finger discount? This time, Sam was hoping he could find some new AP magazines for posters and maybe some new jewelry. Maybe I could get a job too. Then I would have more money for shit.

He got past the metal doors, brushing absent strands of curls back from his forehead as he entered the dimly lit store. God, there was so much new shit. He started to look around, noticing there was a hiring sign out. He asked about it to an employee and was soon at the back counter filling out an application for associate while leaning against it heavily as the manager watched him on occasion after returning from her break. After he filled it out, he moved to flip through the stack of magazines on the side display case. He wasn’t so sure he wanted Manson everywhere again, but he could try to find maybe a Nirvana one or something. Anything to take up the space on his walls. He found a few that interested him before he moved to get to the jewelry racks until a cool looking pair of pants had caught his attention. Still, he knew that pair would eat up half his money. He started to look through the jewelry once again, grabbing a few rings and a necklace before moving to find the hair dye.

He looked over the items he had before calculating how much he had already spent before determining he could buy dye. Picking bright red, he made his way back to the register while smiling a moment. A nice change. Something different than blue. While leaving the store, he absently checked his phone for the time, making a soft sound. Still some time until dinner. Getting to the FYE store, he started to browse through CDs, quiet as his head absently bopped along to the music from the speakers. The hours started to pass as he began to look through CDs, starting to accumulate a pile of possible purchases. It wasn’t until his phone started to vibrate that he realized the time. He answered it as he grabbed a TOOL CD, heading to the register,” I’m checking out at the CD store. I lost track of time.”

His mother gave a slow sigh,” fine. Just be here in thirty minutes.” It wasn’t long before she hung up after that, and he soon paid for the CD silently with the employee. He tucked it into the Hot Topic bag, heading out with a small nod of thanks to the cashier.

He felt a little better as he got into his car, setting the bag in the passenger seat as he started it up. He knew it just wasn’t a fucking phase. He had felt so miserable, and constantly like he wasn’t even himself while working on his grief. Not He had experienced bad moments of a dissociative state, and God, he hated every single one. It was unnerving that he wasn’t fucking high but his body just doing it.

A horn going off somewhere in the lot caused him to come back, breath soft as he backed up to head home. Maybe one day he could find more posters or tapestries or something. One day, his room will be back to normal and maybe he would feel better... more like himself again. He headed on the route to home, fingers tapping along the steering wheel. The drive had been uneventful and honestly, Sam didn't remember most of it while he parked in the drive way. He sat in his car for a moment, lighting a cigarette again to just have a few more precious moments before an awkward, silent dinner. Once he finished it, he soon came inside, heading up the steps quickly to toss the bag onto his mattress before heading to the garage.

He poked at the black painted headboard experimentally, pulling his fingers back to check his skin. Thank fuck it was dry.

Moving back inside, he got to the dining room where his mother and brothers waited for him before he sat down. He didn’t speak as he ate, his brothers chatting about school and their friends. He didn’t have any updates of his own, so why would he talk? His mother was more than happy to have silence from him instead, listening to Ryan and Adam as she ate.

As soon as he finished his plate, he moved from the table to take care of it before he moved to the garage to get the pieces of his bed frame back into his room. He got some help from the live-in maid, Trish, getting the pieces into his room before he set to work on reassembling it. Setting the bed in the same spot as before, he got the mattress back on before he half-assed made his bed again. He would just kick the sheets around in his sleep, it didn’t matter if it was made or not.

Sam grabbed his CD player that was on the floor and got onto his bed once again, getting the new CD unwrapped and popped into it. Soon settled down on the bed, Sam was again staring at the ceiling. God, I would do anything to have weed right now. A flash of the summer came when he was about to sell himself out for money before he pushed that idea away as disgust came at himself. Why am I so fucked up? Besides, if I get a job, then I don't have to fucking do that.

Easy answer: he was nurtured into it. He thought of the previous years, and he hadn’t truly been happy since he was six before the divorce. Nothing ever seemed like it would get better. Not since his mother remarried that fucking asshole, not since he got half-brothers, not since he started using when he was twelve to just feel something. He was fucking depressed and it felt like no matter what he did, it was never good enough or that he wasn’t enough.

Robin had walked in on him having a fucking scarf tied around his fucking throat in his broken closet and she still didn’t ask if he was okay. Instead, she went to her then second husband saying he needed a man in his life. He had lingered in the hall to see if maybe she would say something good, but there was no concern. Just disgust. He was disgusting to his family. He doubted that it had changed since George's death.

So, why should I try to make them feel better by conforming?

He shut his eyes slowly, letting out a slow breath, fuck it.

Fighting with his mother was beginning to be a daily occurrence as Sam got a nose piercing and got his lower lip piercing again. Luckily, since he had taken care of his ear piercings, he was able to get some back into the lobes but not tragically not the cartilage. He started to swipe makeup once again from the drugstores, and he believed he felt a bit better. His teachers were surprised as he slowly looked like himself again, yet he wasn’t neglectful of the work this time. In fact, he was getting almost straight As now. He was sober even if begrudgingly, and left his shitty friends behind. In September, he did finally make a new friend, a boy who just moved from New Mexico, and he was just happy with that.

He had gotten a little close to his history teacher, often lingering in the classroom after school ended to do homework and ask about certain eras. He was lingering now with Matt beside him as they worked on a science project together, each of them having an earbud from Matt’s pair as they listened to the TOOL CD. Matt moved his pencil to circle an area with the eraser on Sam's paper,” that’s supposed to be a different formula.”

He looked at the formula, brows furrowing as he glanced over to Matt,” that’s the one we were given.”

“It’s the work formula, not for the kinetic energy that you need.” Tilting his head, he leaned over again to get a better look at Sam's paper while brushing some dark brown strands back from his eyes.

Sam let out a slow sigh as he slowly melted to lay his head on the desk. “I can never get it no matter how much I try. I’ll pay you to finish it. I can’t focus. I give up."

Mrs. Nellings watched the two of them with a soft smile as she heard the struggling while she worked on grading. It was still good to see Sam making some connection that was within his age group. She had certainly heard about his behavior through the years, but she couldn't believe that it was him now. Then again, he did lose a loved one.

Matt watched Sam with softening green eyes, patting his back,” it’s alright. I can do it. I know things have been hard again.”

That was still strange, being comforted and reassured. Still, Sam was reassured about it as he lifted his head, nodding. “Alright … But I’m buying us tacos or something.”

“You know I can never deny my love for Taco Bell.” Matt dramatically said as he placed a hand over his heart as he watched with a brow arched up in amusement.

“I was thinking more like a taco truck since … y’know. California. Maybe some elote too. Y'know, not that shit they slop around at the Bell.”

“Hey, don't talk about my beloved," he grinned, eyes lighting up at the mention of a truck. "Oh, fuck yeah. Just give me all the papers, and I’ll make a page so you can write it down another night.”

Sam nodded as he gathered up everything to give it to him for far better safekeeping than he could ever do himself," alright. I guess that'll work. I doubt I'm going to ever use physics ever in my life."

Placing everything into the project folder, Matt soon was shoving it into his backpack with a small shrug. “Never know, dude. Might be handy one day ... Buttttttt, I am hungry, so I’m demanding payment now.”

Sam snorted as he rolled his eyes briefly while getting up after zipping his bag up,” alright. Let's go then.” Motioning Matt to follow, he navigated through the empty halls of the school to get out into the parking lot. Grimacing at the familiar heat, he led Matt out He opened the trunk to throw his bag in after getting his wallet from the front pocket as Matt chucked his into the trunk with a grin.

After getting inside and getting it started up, Sam started the way to find one of the taco trucks, humming along with the CD in his car playing.

Matt absently drummed on his thighs as he watched the passing scenery, glancing at him. “I did mean it, though. It is okay if you can’t grasp concepts. Not everyone’s brain is wired for physics or science and math.” He looked over to him again, a soft, reassuring smile on his lips before looking ahead to the road.

Sam glanced at him briefly, scoffing momentarily,” yeah, but I’m not good at anything.”

“That’s not true. You’re pretty good at art, and you’re very talented at writing. Maybe you could be a comic writer one day.” Matt's thick brows furrowed, letting his gaze return to his friend then as he tilted his head.

“I don’t know about that. I don’t have a story to tell.”

Matt moved his hands up in a wild, grand gesture,“ You could scream from the mountain tops how parents shouldn’t be shitty. Show how much it damages someone.”

“There’s been enough media about that already.”

“Yeah, but I think your story is pretty unique.” Matt shrugged absently before looking out the window,” not every day or every summer you build a fucking house with your dad before he’s gone.”

“Yeah, and if I publish it, Mom’ll be pissed and screaming at me again for how I portray her and her exes.”

“It’s just the truth though. They’ve dragged you through fucking hell, dude. Yeah, you have your anger moments and you sometimes say shit that hurts, but it’s not purely malicious. It’s literally because you’re hurting.”

“Okay, don’t turn into Freud.” Sam shook his head, glancing at him.

“It’s the truth, Sam. I know you for you, and I’m happy I’m able to. People have beaten you down so fucking much you think you’re nothing and that isn’t right. You’re really the only person that actually started to talk to me after I moved here from New Mexico. Plus, I know the shit others say about you at school.”

“You had a cool Metallica shirt. I had to say something.”

“And I appreciated it and now you’re stuck with me,” Matt laughed softly, grinning brightly at his friend.

Sam glanced at him, a hint of a smile coming before he shook his head as he pulled into a lot,” more like you’re stuck with me.”

“Nope. You’re stuck with me, motherfucker. I annoy everyone.”

“You’ve never annoyed me … Well, minus when I’m already irritated.”

“That doesn’t count because it’s usually your family or an asshole at school.”

Matt leaned back, and Sam nodded,” yeah. Usually. I can’t wait to fucking graduate … Hopefully I’ll be able to move out fast.”

“You can move out with me when we get jobs and shit. Maybe find a third person to bother the both of us.” He nudged him, grinning as Sam was able to park,” we’ll get you out of there, Sam. You deserve better … Maybe some therapy too. But for now, we get tacos and elote and have a good time.” He moved to slide out as Sam watched him, shaking his head absently before getting out.

They got to the truck, getting in line as the after school rush hit food establishments around town. He was quiet as he looked over the menu, deciding on lengua tacos with a coke. It was such a good combo, he couldn’t help it. Too bad he didn’t have any weed to fucking ascend into another dimension for a bit. He looked to Matt,” what are you gonna get?”

“Probably two beef tacos with jalapeños like normal. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it, know?” He shrugged as he looked up at Sam,” What are you gonna get?”

“The lengua with the green sauce on it.”

“Oh shit dude, you’re like a taco connoisseur.”

“No, I’m not,” he snorted, shaking his head,” it’s just good. Especially with the onions and when you have a cold bottle of Mexican coke.”

“Oh, dude, always the bottle,” Matt grinned again,” fuck it. I’ll try your order. See if you got a good palette.”

“I don’t know about that,” he snorted, shaking his head as he got to the window. He at least knew how to speak the order in Spanish, three shitty years of it coming to his vague aid. He paid in cash, moving to the other window to wait for the order to be called out.

Matt followed along,” this is gonna be so good.”

“Yeah, they also have trays so we’ll get everything on one, then we can sit in the trunk of my car and eat.”

“Sounds good, here, I’ll put our bags in the back seat,” he held his hand out as Sam fished the keys from his pocket, holding it to him.

Matt plucked the keys from his hand, grinning before he started the trek to the car that was a good distance from the food truck. Sam watched him as he absently listened for their order with arms crossed loosely to make sure he made it. Squealing tires soon filled the air as a car turned fast into the lot to barrel through to the other side, and Sam noticed before Matt did, calling out for him.

It was a few seconds too late as Matt was hit by the speeding car that only sped off faster after the collision, a few people screaming as Sam immediately ran over to his friend. “Matt! Fuck. Matt,” he crouched down to see his friend covered in blood with body crushed from the tires. He didn’t hesitate to call for an ambulance, hand shaking. Matt was unconscious already, blood starting to stain his shirt on his side.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He stayed beside his friend as the police lingered at the truck for eyewitness testimonies after securing the scene. Luckily, he was allowed to go with Matt to the hospital, watching him closely as he chewed on his thumbnail as he rocked a little. An EMT was focused on driving while another was in the back with them, trying her best to reassure Sam that Matt had a high chance of survival. Sam knew better. That speed and the sounds that came from the impact. Matt would be lucky if he bounced back.

At the hospital, he gave as much information as he could to the receptionist and nurse to contact Matt’s family, but he was soon sitting in the lobby. He pulled his phone out, shakily calling his mother then as he rocked back and forth again, fighting tears back.

She answered in irritation coating her voice while she tried to fix a necklace,” where are you, Sam? It’s late.”

“M-Matt got hit by a car,” he said shakily as he wiped his face. Fuck. However, his voice and tremble caused her to put the pliers down as her irritation melted to worry,” what? Are you okay? Is he okay? What hospital are you at?”

“I’m at Healdsburg General … just in the l-lobby. I'm okay, but I don't know what's happening with him.”

“I’m on my way, did you drive there?”

“No. My car is in a lot … uh ... 34th Avenue near a taco truck. My spare key is in the kitchen.” He leaned back against the back of the chair, staring at the florescent lights until his eyes began to burn.

“Okay, I’ll get Trish to drive it home, but I'll come to you … Do you need anything?” She stood up, glancing at the clock. God, it was already so late.

“F-Food.” He whimpered out as he shut his eyes tightly leaning over his legs.

“Okay, okay. I’ll be there in a moment. Trish will bring your car.” She moved to find Ryan in the back in the pool, calling for him to come with her as Adam looked up from his book as he sat at the patio table.

“Everything okay?”

“Sam’s friend got hit by a car and is in the hospital. I need to have Trish and the two of you help get his car back here while I go to him.”

Sam was still on the line, hearing them as they started to move around the house quickly. Robin soon spoke again to him,” I’ll be there in about an hour and a half, maybe two with traffic. Okay?”

“O-Okay.” He quietly said, sniffling, hanging up only moments later as Robin moved to find the housekeeper. First, she would have to help her find the car before heading to Healdsburg, and hopefully somewhere close was a place that Sam liked to eat from.

Stacy watched from her reception desk, heart softly aching for Sam as she watched him sit with his head in his hands. God, he already seemed in shambles, and he had said he needed food. She absently told Denise she would be back before she moved closer to him, voice soft,” do you want some money for the vending machine while you wait?”

He looked up, nodding while she gave a soft smile,” alright. Hold on.” She moved to the staff room to get $10 out from her purse, pausing to grab some tissues as well. Making her way through the lobby, she saw Sam pathetically leaning his head against the wall, staring blankly at the doors leading into the main hospital. "Here, it's not much, but it's at least something to help you until they come."

He took the tissue box from her first, using up a few to blow his nose and wipe his eyes. “Th-Thank you.”

“And as promised,” she held the bill out,” the machines are down the hall to the left.”

He nodded as he took it, straightening up then with a weakened thanks to her. He got to machines, looking over prices in the soft glow of the lighting before getting a Sprite, Doritos, and barbecue chips. He returned to the lobby, giving Stacy the change with a soft thanks once again before sitting down. Staring at the packaging, he tried to wrap his head around the evening, focusing on food to avoid his head from wandering too much as the harsh crinkling of the package soon echoed in the lobby.

The doctor came out only thirty minutes later, pausing while looking over paperwork. “Sam Monroe?”

Sam lifted his head, giving a little nod as he straightened up. “Yeah?”

“Is Matt’s family here?” Making his way over, Dr. Keller's tall frame gracefully weaved through other patients and family members before the blond was next to Sam.

“No … our families are a bit away. My mom said 90 minutes to two hours. I … don’t know how long it’s been, but I can try to call her.” He started to get his phone out from his pocket after rubbing the barbecue dust off his fingers.

"You don't have to do that Sam." The doctor sat beside him, letting out a slow sigh as he gently placed a hand on Sam’s back,” unfortunately … Matt has passed away from his injuries.”

Sam stared at him as he stopped, brows furrowing as he blinked rapidly,” I don’t understand.”

“His ribs punctured his lungs in three different places, his spine was shattered and had a lot of internal organs bleeding from the hit.”

Sam shook his head,” no. No. No. ” His voice started to get desperate," he can't be gone. He's the stronger one out of the both of us. He can't fucking die from a fucking car!"

Dr. Keller’s lips pursed as he watched as the tears started to fall again, pulling his hand back cautiously as he started to try to comfort him.

Standing up, Sam's hands started to shake,” Fuck.” God, I could really use a fucking blunt right now. Ignoring the doctor, he moved outside before he started to hit at one of the columns with his fist to at least avoid some public humiliation,” fuck, fuck, fuck!” His knuckles soon were bloody and aching from the concrete tearing the skin before he crouched down, tucking his hands into his chest. "FUCK." His shoulders started to tremble and chest began to ache as he started to sob, trying to stay quiet.

The doors to the ER soon opened, and Dr. Keller slowly made his way over after telling security that it was alright. He's just grieving. He's just a teenager. It's a lot for him right now. Leaning over to place his hand against his back gently, his voice was gentle,” come back in, Sam. I’ll get your hand bandaged up. You can’t have an infection or leave that exposed.” Taking a moment, he knew that the doctor was right, soon following in one of the side rooms to get his hand wrapped.

Dr. Keller softly spoke as he started to clean the pale knuckles,” I can see he meant a lot to you Sam. I’m sorry we couldn’t have done more, but I’m assuming the car was traveling at a high speed.”

“It w-was,” he choked out,” it happened too f-fast. One m-moment he was heading to m-my car, and another he was on the fucking ground.” Breaths were unsteady as his brows scrunch in pain while his knuckles were disinfected, hissing out softly in pain.

"You're going great, Sam. I need to make sure it's cleaned up before I can put any ointment on it. Looks like you got some particles actually in the wound," Keller lifted up the cotton ball with his gloved hand, looking at the little specks of dirt he had cleaned off from the wound. "Unfortunately for hit and runs, it's common. It's rare that aid is ever given."

“Can I see him? ... Please?" Blue eyes lifted up to the doctor for a brief moment before watching the cotton ball be discarded.

“I don’t suggest it,” he shook his head,” that would be the last memory you have of him. That impacts a lot of people more negatively than if they didn’t, even if they witnessed the trauma.”

“I’m going to see him at his funeral,” Sam grumbled out, wincing again as a gauze pad was placed on top of his knuckles.

“Yes, but with that, he is at least prepared for viewing ... wounds are mended with putty and makeup to make him presentable. Right now, it’s the early stages and frankly, he looks like hell. I don’t suggest it, Sam. Please.” Green eyes were gentle towards the teenager as he gave a soft pat to his forearm, offering a weakened smile to try to comfort him from the loss.

Sam watched him for a moment as he started to wrap his hand up,” … Okay… I won’t.”

“Good. I promise it will be better in the long run for you.” He got the wrapping secured, standing,” come on. Let’s go back to the lobby.” As they got out, the families were there, and Sam moved to his mother who held a McDonald’s bag in hand,” Sam.” She held onto him as he buried his face into her shoulder, and the doctor moved to Matt’s family, delivering the somber news. His mothers started to cry, holding onto each other as his biological mother wept into her partner’s shoulder.

Sam took a moment to pull away as they looked at him, Mary’s voice soft,” thank you for coming here with him, Sam. I know you meant a lot to him.” Sam only moved to hold onto her, and Jessica held onto the both of them. They soon ushered Sam to go back home and rest and they’ll tell him details for the funeral. He had waited long enough for them to just arrive. He took a moment, but Robin softly reassured him that it was okay and that there was nothing else he could do. However, she asked how much it would be to pay for bandaging his knuckles and the doctor dismissed it,” don’t worry about it Ms. Monroe. Just get home safely.” They gave another hug to Jessica and Mary before they headed out of the hospital.

He somberly followed her back out as she passed the bag to him,” two cheeseburgers and fries with honey mustard. No pickles. I have a Coke in the car for you.” He nodded as she got him there, texting Adam and Ryan that they were on their way back before she restarted her car.

On the drive, he was slow to eat, but he ate everything. God. Winter break was going to be the worst. He shut his eyes as Robin glanced over at him, voice soft,” just rest, Sam. I’ll wake you when we get home.”

He moved the seat back to lay down all the way back as she turned the radio off, letting him fall asleep. She was more worried now. Sam had at least been a bit more tolerable with having Matt around, but now he was gone. Not only was he gone, but the night was traumatic for her son. She only wondered how this would affect him and if he would be worse. She couldn’t handle the havoc of Sam anymore. She really couldn’t.

When they were home, Sam at least took care of his trash before Trish gave him the key to his car,” I also found the original, it’s in the glovebox for now.” Sam just slowly nodded at the housekeeper, softly thanking her for her help. He moved up the stairs to his bedroom, getting the key on his shelf unit that had his CDs and record player before he moved to his bed after shutting the door. He thought a moment before working off his shoes and socks, getting at least his shirt changed before he crawled into bed.

It never seemed to end. Would it? It felt endless.

He got settled in bed, getting himself bundled up in his maroon comforter before he was asleep once again.

Winter break and the rest of senior year was difficult for him, but since he had clearly been through something, luckily most teachers were understanding and more than happy to help him. As he graduated, he only hoped that Matt was there. Somewhere in the crowd watching as he walked across the stage and out of high school. Maybe it could end now. Maybe it could be better…. Just maybe.

#.pdf #sam monroe #sam monroe fanfiction #life as a house #aching body series

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anneapocalypse · 12 days

Note

14 and 20 for that ship meme!

14. Opinion on the importance of marriage?

It completely depends on the ship. I don't think every character would or should get married no matter how in love they are, or maybe they would get married under certain circumstances but not others. And for others, maybe marriage is extremely important!

(Spoilers for Red vs. Blue, Dragon Age Origins, and FFXIV: Heavensward ahead.)

I don't see Agent Carolina from Red vs. Blue, for example, as the marrying kind, and in my Mainelinaverse marriage is never going to be a thing. However I actually make an exception for Kimbalina, not just because I think it's something Kimball would want but because the institution of marriage even being a thing again is a sign of Chorus rebuilding and being A Society again. I still think it would take Carolina a good few years on Chorus to get comfy with the idea. But I do like the idea that she and Kimball eventually get married.

My Dragon Age OC Ilana Tabris never wants to get married and never does. She and Zevran spend the rest of their days happily and polyamorously in love and never marry. My other Tabris, Talith, is excited to get married and devastated at what happens on her first wedding day, and twelve years later marries Orlesian refugee Briala to offer her political protection and only after the wedding bells do they fall in love!

And as for Ariane in FFXIV... I do think marriage is something she's open to, though not something she'd rush into, and I think it is in her future with Urianger post-Dawntrail. (Fun/sad fact: Count Edmont tells her after Haurchefant's death that he was planning on proposing to her, which leaves her with even more heartbreak and messy feelings about what could have been--she totally would have said yes, but also never would have really fit in in Ishgard.) I think with Urianger the way it eventually comes up is probably that Ariane asks him if he'd ever want a kid (the answer's yes), and that discussion segues into "Do we want to get married?"

20. Who’s the ship’s biggest in-universe supporter?

Hah, that's a good question! Thancred and even Y'shtola both give them a nudge a certain point, but it's more in a "can you two get your shit together" kind of way. Alphinaud is weird about it at first because he's kind of had a crush on Ariane in that way teenagers do even though he knew it was absolutely never happening because he's too young for her. Alisaie is just kind of "Good for them" about it.

I'd actually have to say the biggest supporter is Ryne! (And I'm going to be so self-indulgent here and share a few snippets from a WIP because I feel like it.) Urianger has become like family to her, and he talked about Ariane so much during those three years, Ryne almost felt like she knew her too.

Minfilia had never met Ariane, but she had been hearing of her, ever since Thancred came and took her from Eulmore. It was Thancred who first told her of Ariane, the Warrior of Light. Not the ones who had brought on the Flood, but a Warrior of Light of a distant star, both like this world and different. He told her of other companions too, a group called the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, and of the one who once led them: Minfilia. The first Minfilia. His Minfilia, he called her. Then she met Urianger, who lived with the pixies. He spoke often of Ariane, calling her a "dear friend." One day, he said, she too would be brought to the First, and when she did, things would get better. Ariane was kind, Urianger said, and caring, and clever, and a skilled healer in multiple disciplines; in fact it was in part she who had inspired him to take up astrology, even in a world with no night. "Ariane sounds wonderful," she said to Thancred once, and Thancred let out a sort of laugh. "She's… quite lovely," he said, sounding as though there was something he wasn't saying. Minfilia had come to know the sound of that. "Though I dare say she sounds especially lovely when Urianger speaks of her." "What do you mean?" Minfilia asked, instantly curious. "Oh, nothing," Thancred said with a short laugh. "He's very fond of her, is all."

Ryne is very quick to notice that Urianger's fondness for Ariane is not one-sided, and she bonds with Ariane quickly too when she arrives, both because she's heard so much about her and because Ariane reaches out and treats her kindly and is clearly trying to get to know her as a person, not just as the Oracle of Light.

So when she realizes they aren't spending time together anymore after the First is saved... it really shakes her. It's like realizing something's wrong between two family members that you love dearly.

He was with Ryne at her astronomy lessons when the girl looked up suddenly, and said, “I haven’t seen you with Ariane very much lately.” “Ah…” he said, considering how to reply. 'Twould be fruitless to deny it; Ryne was an observant child. “’Tis true, we have seen little of one another of late.” He had meant to keep his voice light, but Ryne looked at him with an expression of some alarm. “You haven’t quarreled, have you?” “Nay,” he was quick to assure her, then added, “…not precisely. If we have been distant, the fault is mine.” “But you’ll be all right, won’t you?” Ryne pressed. “You’ll work it out? The two of you care so much for each other.” Urianger was at a loss as to how to reply. He longed to assuage the girl’s worries, and yet he could little assure of her of that of which he was himself uncertain. He reminded himself that Ryne could handle the truth—nay, deserved it. (As had Ariane. Had he only found a way to share it with her, without risking everything.) “Ariane hath asked time to herself,” he said at last. “There are times when another may ask the gift of our absence, and if we care for them, we must grant it. She shall return when she is ready… and until then, I shall respect her wishes.” Ryne nodded. “I see…” and Urianger could tell that it still troubled her. Nevertheless, she said no more.

#ffxiv stuff #ask anne #ecosystem administrator #ask meme #shipping meme #the stars are blind my love #fic snip #wip

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snowyaika · 4 months

Text

pairing: felix x rebel!reader

summary: you and felix became close when he joined the rebellion. when he’s gone from a mission longer than he should be, you set out to find where he really is.

word count: 2.2k

warnings: season 6 chapter 10 spoilers, swearing, symptoms of a panic attack but not actually stated, brief mention of suicide(but not acted upon), pain pain pain!, kind of an open ending, all lowercase, gn!reader, follows plot of show

notes: whew! put a lot of prompts into this one, gotta make it sting a little! keep in mind this is my first work for this fandom and for…well, anything! please please please comment your thoughts on it, hope you all enjoy :)

“felix, rendezvous back at the ship, it’s time to let them end their war once and for all.” the radio goes quiet for a moment, the other side contemplating their choice of words.

“tie up your loose ends.”

the line cuts off with static, locus supposedly getting ready for the attack on the federal army.

it’s quiet, until a long sigh breaks through the empty room. “fuck.”

it’s no question that felix and you have a… special relationship. ever since he joined the rebellion, it’s as if you two just clicked.

you were one of the best in the rebellion, although you didn’t have much competition. because of your superior skill, or well, the inferior skill of others, you had trouble connecting with the other soldiers.

when felix showed up, everything changed.

like a flipped switch, you were never alone, always by each other’s side. of course, other than when he went on his own missions and when you had your own duties to attend to on base.

you two did everything together. training, dining, hell— even chores (although, he was more so just keeping you company as you were on dish duty).

eventually, things started to take a turn. training sessions and missions suddenly turned into late night walks and deep conversations in your quarters.

of course, this soon led to more… intimate moments between you both.

soon after, everyone could catch on that you two had something going on.

… or maybe it was after felix beat up a new recruit to the brink of death when he found out the poor guy was flirting with you.

nevertheless, things were going fine— perfect even. as fine as things can be during a civil war.

until everything wasn’t.

“felix? i thought kimball sent you out to scout the feds?”

you’re in the back of the weaponry, sharpening your knives (gifted by a certain someone) and preparing your other guns for an upcoming mission when you spotted him walking up to you.

“oh god, please tell me she doesn’t want me to tag along. i don’t know how many more bullets i can take for you.”

he let out a soft chuckle as he stood in front of you, staring down at you seated on a crate.

“oh please, it was one time. and you didn’t even get shot, it grazed your leg.” his eyes flicker down to the knife in your hand, his chest puffing up smugly.

he’s weird that way. seeing you use the knives he gifted you gave him a sense of possessiveness, as if he was staking his claim on you. you always called him a creep when he brought it up.

neither of you brought up how you never denied it.

“as much as i’d love to have you on this next mission, no, she didn’t tell me to come get you.” he clears his throat before continuing, “i just… wanted to you to see me off.”

you pause your work, staring up at him with a confused look. of course because of the helmets, he doesn’t see it, so you both stare at each other in awkward silence for a moment.

“...okay, i’ll bite. why?” you set your weapons to the side so you can stand face to face with him. “you don’t plan to die on this one, do you?” your tone has a tint of humor to it, but your body is clearly tense.

“darling, please. look who you’re talking to. you think some weak federals can kill this awesome bod? i’m offended.” he makes a pose of showing off his arm muscles, causing you to just scoff and lightly shove his shoulder.

“right. i forgot i was hanging with the strongest man on the planet,” your tone drips with faux praise, glancing behind him at the lingering soldiers giving you both cautious glances.

“i’m serious though. i just wanted to see you before i left.” he steps closer, his hand reaching for yours, his fingers brushing against your wrist. your helmet clinks gently against his like a childish kiss. everyone already knew about you two, but it’s nice to keep some professionalism in public.

“how long will you be gone?” you whisper softly, as if raising your voice would shatter the intimate moment between you two.

“not long. intel says it’ll be quick. i should be back in a few days.” he responds just as gently, all humor in his voice gone and replaced with a tone you would never hear him use with anyone else.

“okay, be safe.”

it’s been two weeks since your last conversation with him, and it’s safe to say you were… on edge.

you’ve been going around the base non-stop asking the same questions, where is he, what do you know about the mission he was sent on, and at some point during it all kimball summoned you herself after you snapped at one of the rookies.

“what the hell were you thinking, pulling a gun on a fucking rookie? have you lost your goddamn mind?!”

kimballs voice is loud enough to echo throughout the whole base, yet you remain unphased as she throws words towards you that are intended to hurt. you tune her out, completely uninterested in what she has to say.

your mind hasn’t been the same since he left. you can handle when he goes off on his usual missions, but when he doesn’t come back two weeks after he said he should’ve?

it’s logical for you to get a little high strung.

you let her hurl a few more insults towards you before interrupting. “it won’t happen again. am i dismissed?”

she grinds her jaw to restrain the next string of curses about to be let out, and huffs. “look, i know you’re stressed that felix is gone. shit, i don’t know where he is either, okay? but you need to get your shit together. i don’t want to see another fuck up like this again, understand?”

you only nod, turning on your heel and walking out of the building. as you make your way towards your quarters, you overhear the galaxy's greatest heroes (a bunch of lazy idiots if anyone were to ask you) talking about some sort of rescue mission to save the rest of their team.

you tense up. maybe felix was sent to go after them and got captured himself? you were willing to take the chance to find out.

pausing, you contemplate the risk of asking to join them. not because it would be betraying your alliance to the rebellion, but because hanging around with them will surely lower your chance of survival.

waving away your doubts, you walk into the building they were in. they notice you immediately, instantly becoming tense. “oh… hey there,” the yellow (orange, he always corrects you) one says.

“i want in on your little rescue mission. it’ll be wise for you to bring me along.”

they all share a look, before the teal one speaks up, “uh… sure. but why?”

oh my god, they’re fucking idiots.

there is absolutely no possible explanation as to how the five of you have made it this far, and you don’t plan on questioning it, instead thanking whatever god is up there that you haven’t blown your own brains out from the frustration of having to deal with their idiotic antics.

you don’t think about it any longer once they reunite with their team, your disappointment evident when you don’t see felix being one of the people among them.

for fucks sake, where could he have gone?

your question gets answered shortly after.

“...felix?”

you stand amongst the other soldiers, staring at him with a confused expression. your heart stutters in what you thought was relief, but you should’ve known better.

once the fight broke out, you were so confused. you had no idea what to do. do you shoot at him? what if it was just a huge misunderstanding? why was he with locus? there was too much going on. before you even knew it, one of the soldiers, you’re assuming one of the heroes allies, teleports your team away.

you were left behind.

following your instincts, you fucking book it and run, away from whatever the hell just happened and whoever the hell was chasing you.

not long after, because your training wasn’t that good, you’re worn out from running away, deciding to take cover behind one of the many rocky pikes surrounding the base.

you drop your gun, your hands shaking too much to hold it steady. “fuck, fuck, fuck!” you hear footsteps running past you, and you try your best to hold your breath. you didn’t know what to do, you weren’t cut out for this, you weren’t cut out for this war.

your breath is shallow as you rip off your helmet, taking large gasps of air and clutching your chest tightly to help ease the pain forming there. you couldn’t feel anything, your chest was hurting so much it numbed the pain in your legs from running.

trying to steady yourself, you count your breaths, praying that you can just calm down and keep running.

“i knew i’d find you here.”

your heart drops, and you raise your head to look up at the person approaching you. you take a deep breath to try and focus.

“felix, i thought you- what the hell is going on?” you stand up straight, starting to walk towards him. you’re so confused and you need to know if it's really him.

before you can even take a step, his gun is aimed straight at your face. “stay where you are.”

your body instantly freezes, a sudden chill shooting down your spine. “felix.. what are you doing? we can leave before they find us, stop messing with me and put the gun down!”

he doesn’t seem to listen, his gun following your head as you try to move slightly out of its range.

“you know, from the day we met, i knew i’d hurt you eventually,” he lowered his gun, starting to pace slowly in front of you.

the radio in his suit buzzes, most likely containing orders to the soldiers nearby to eliminate you immediately, but all he does is switch it off.

“i was surprised, really, how easily you opened up to me. i mean, come on, trusting a mercenary? i thought i taught you better,” he keeps the gun lowered, but you know the threat is still prominent, “and then you had to go and fall for me. you sure gave me trouble finding ways to report to command without you being on my back all the time.”

your brain lags, trying to piece together what he’s saying but you’re so deep in denial. “felix i- what are you even saying?”

“do you remember the first time we met?” he cuts you off, taking a step closer. “the first conversation we had?”

when you don’t respond, he takes pride in answering his own question, “i told you not to get too close to me. kimball said it herself– i was hired to help you guys, what makes you think you and your little crush on me could ever change that?”

it’s like a wave of ice water washes over you, and you finally come to your senses. it really is felix, and he really is betraying you.

your gaze slides down to your previously dropped gun, and as if reading your mind, he lifts his gun again towards you, “i don’t think so, darling.”

what once was a nickname that made you smile giddily, now makes your body tingle in a new feeling of discomfort.

“what is this, a lesson in not trusting people? god, spare me the act,” your words leak with newfound hatred, glaring at him as if looks could kill. “just get it over with and say you never loved me.”

your brain yells at you to not be so hostile, to start begging for your life, but you’re stubborn.

just how he taught you.

your comment takes him by surprise, the grip on his gun faltering slightly. he quickly recovers, tightening his grip and aiming it at you with a new sense of justification. “don’t make me kill you.”

you let out a scoff, “what, going to shoot me? go on, do it.”

after a moment of silence between you both, and still no sound of a trigger, your eyes narrow at him, “don’t have the balls to do it? you don’t need me to call locus over, do you?”

he lets out a low growl, but still makes no move to pull the trigger. letting out a sigh, you lean back on your heels. if you were going to die now, you’d at least like one of your questions answered.

“what was going through your head when i told you i loved you?” you try to sound like you don’t care, like him betraying you didn’t feel like a fucking train wreck, but you can’t help the unsteadiness in your voice.

“that i wish you never had trusted me.”

you see his finger twitch on the trigger, and you look up to the sky.

as much as you hated the feds, they had a pretty damn good view.

#rvb felix #rvb felix x reader #felix x reader #red vs blue #rvb #rvb x reader #red vs blue x reader #x reader #rvb locus #rvb tucker #rvb grif

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pumpkinstep · 7 months

Note

Thank you you understand

honestly, that theory is something I've been thinking about ever since I saw the option to confess to lying.

it really forces a wedge between player knowledge and harry knowledge. I think you kinda get little moments like this when Harry himself has dialog options and choices that don't line up with your shared pool of info. kinda like the Kimball thing. there was no way we as a player would have known that but harry does.

or like how he has complex opinions about politics despite supposedly knowing absolutely nothing about any political party/force in the world at large, let alone revichol (I hope I spelled that right, the city you play in I mean, if I didn't,)

there's a whole bunch of moments in the game like this and I think you see it a lot more if you play the intelect harry. which was my first harry type when I started playing, BTW.

there is definitely a basis for a more solid, harry was lying the entire time or more or less lying to himself more than half the time in a desperate attempt to become someone new and start over type of theory. However the idea of harry being stuck in a time loop against his will and reliving the same case over and over again is such a fun idea.

there's a thought that maybe this isn't the first time it's happened before either and everytime he goes on a bender, it's because he's losing his mind in the loop he's trapped in, but because of his drinking, he can't properly articulate what is happening or remember that it's happening.

though I suppose we could go doom cop route, the most prevalent out of all the cop types, right next to sorry cop, and superstar cop in terms of dialog options that can accidently lead you to those copotypes. He's seen the future and he keeps looping until everyone fully understands what's gonna happen. unfortunately, it's taking a toll on him and the loop only ends when he forgets the future to live in the present.

only when he reaches the point of time when he goes back in the first place, does the cycle begin anew.

I think the fanfiction pool of angst here in terms of ideas is nearly bottomless lol

#bear barks #disco elysium

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delafiseaseses · 3 days

Note

What are your thoughts on Samuel Cooke?

Ooo this is a good question. Samuel Cooke's an interestin' bloke.

As we all know, Cooke is very anti-NCR, its even how he ended up in prison. As Cooke describes it 'I was blowing up supply caravans along the 15 freeway. The NCR got wise to my ambush spots, picked me up and threw me in a cage.' (this makes the fact the geniuses in the NCR Prison system put him in proximity to dynamite ridiculous in a way that proves 'ow incompitent the NCR am).

And Cooke is 100% correct in this statement which serves as his motivation:

"Their "republic" is a joke. They're a bunch of tyrants led by an even greater tyrant, that idiot Kimball. They think they have the right to annex every inch of dirt in the West and force their system on every man, woman, and child."

His revolution at the NCRCF, unfortunately, certainly hasn't helped the people of the Mojave: The Primm Escaped Convicts, the Deathclaws infesting the Quarry, the NCRCF Powder Gang which is just a Raider Gang.

Now, I'm not gonna blame Samuel for this, I don't know which parta the Gangers raided the Quarry, I know Cooke probably did some raiding to survive until he found Vault 19, but most of the shit that's happened is other men's faults, not Cooke's.

In fact, Cooke himself seems overall scornful of Raiders as he describes the Fiends as "Like raiders, but worse - these guys are messed up on every damn chem there is. You can spot them by the horned skulls they wear as hats." and prior to his conviction he presumably was only attackin' NCR Military Supply Caravans.

No credit will be given to Cooke in the default Vault 19 ending, the direction he's heading if y'don't interact wi' Vault 19 "Armed with a wide array of improvised explosives and stolen weapons, the Vault 19 Powder Gang tormented the Mojave Wasteland for years. Citizens of the NCR were favorite targets, and they always suffered the worst fates" in that case he ends up just as much a Raider as Eddie, and the specification that they go after Citizens of the NCR and give them 'the worst fates' that's fucked up. Cooke knows not everyone in the NCR Lands is a willing citizen, but I guess the strain of keepin' the gang t'gether and fed made him lose that awareness in that timeline.

Cooke is needed for the gang to stay together too as the 'Cooke Dead' ending says "With Cooke dead, the Powder Gangers at Vault 19 fell apart. Those who weren't destroyed by the Courier fled into the hills or attempted to work their way back through the Mojave Wasteland. Few survived." so without him it all ends badly for those loyal to him.

The Lem Surrender endin' of Vault 19 isn't particularly relevant, as the guys turn 'emselves in, probably will never be released from prison an' Cooke leaves, never to be heard from again (probably runs out of luck an' dies to a Deathclaw or somethin').

Then we have the Khans endin' for Vault 19, where they join wi' the Khans. Its a sensible tactic, though it doesn't change no matter what else y'do with the Khans (also Lem can be convinced t' do it too, but that's also not important).

Cooke's logic is simple an' understandable "There aren't enough of us here to make a real impact on the NCR, and the Khans probably hate the NCR more than we do. Strength in numbers, they say." this also provides an explanation f'why Cooke ends up just a Raider otherwise. He never thinks to ally himself with Mojave-based factions, but its possible he thinks that they wouldn't accept him and his men due to the Raiders that use the Powder Gang and Escaped Convict names.

So, in the end it says "After the majority of the Vault 19 Powder Gangers joined the Great Khans, the weaker members scattered throughout the Mojave Wasteland. Though a few managed to erase their pasts, most never survived the journey." deeply unfortunate for those weaker members. You could write an interestin' story from the perspective of someone in that situation, actually... hmm, maybe another time.

However, sadly, this means that Cooke's revolution, no matter what, never gets off the ground. The Prison Break actively hurt the Mojave and Cooke's legacy to most who know of him would likely be "Guy behind the NCRCF Outbreak" rather than "Anti-NCR Revolutionary". Samuel Cooke was right, but circumstances beyond him meant his revolution never made it.

Also, he killed Philip Lem for understandable reasons, but I'm not gonna let that slide. He could've let Lem leave like he leaves if y'side wi' Lem. Like "Didn't have a choice. He was confusing the men, and I need to control them or we're just a bunch of disorganized idiots." is not an excuse, Cooke.

#fallout #new vegas #fallout new vegas #ncr #powder gangers #samuel cooke #philip lem

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aimmyarrowshigh · 7 months

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I know this is a super broad question, but; I'm in Chicago this weekend for MPCA/ACA and was wondering if you have any recommendations on what I could do in my freetime? Any smaller/niche museums or bookstores or whatever. Anything you think is interesting/nerdy. And food, of course! Food recommendations are always good :)

Oh man, I wish I had less touristy answers to give you, but I live just enough outside of the city that I mostly do touristy kinds of things when I go down there, and I've only been once since the 2020, so a lot of my answers aren't open anymore/didn't survive the pandemic.

BUT: I do have one that's not touristy! If you're into crafting or found objects at all, there's a secondhand crafts supply store called The WasteShed on Kimball Ave. that's very cool. My favorite thing there are the collections of donated old family photos and slides that people just sort of... give away, when someone in their family dies and they don't want to keep the personal effects(?????). I found an amazing pair of gorgeous family portraits from 1928 in Tokyo last time I was there. The family's names, ages, and the date are all written on the back in both Japanese and English. I'm glad those portraits didn't go into the landfill. But I'm a Small History person who loves things like ephemera. They also have tons of stuff for every type of art or craft imaginable!

Greektown also used to be super cool, but I don't know whether it still is. AFAIK the big tentpoles all didn't survive the pandemic, so don't quote me on that one.

I'm also always going to hype the fairy castle at the Museum of Science & Industry. It was created by and for Colleen Moore, the flapper and silent film star, and she used to tour the country with it to show at children's hospitals. It's fucking amazing. There's a 1" actual Guttenberg bible in there. There's a polar bear rug made of mink and mouse teeth. There's mother-of-pearl chairs made from her earrings from the set of a movie. There used to be running water on the Weeping Willow, but they had to turn off the water in the '90s because it was eating through the materials after 70 years. It's truly my favorite dollhouse, and I've seen the Nutshell Studies.

...I also love American Girl Place but that's literally just a me thing. I also sort of hate-love it, because they have Lost Their Way Severely.

I also am a big fan of the Field Museum -- I know, I know, museums evil, but it does genuinely seem like they're trying to course-correct and make amends -- and the Shedd Aquarium (same). You can touch a manta ray. You can see otters. You can smell penguins. I mean, you can also see them, but boy can you smell them. And Sue (the t-rex at the Field) is an unofficial Chicago mascot.

This is a good list of cool bookstores in the city, which I have to say I haven't explored as much as I should. I've been to a ton of cool bookstores in the Twin Cities, New York, and Staten Island, and some in the SF area and Seattle, but I haven't really explored the ones in Chicago too much because there used to be THE BEST children's/YA bookstore in my suburb and it was where I spent my entire life. This list looks like it has good options for many neighborhoods in the city, though, so wherever you're staying there should be something near-ish to you.

Which is kind of the other reason I haven't explored Chicago as much as other cities in which I've lived, despite living here the longest: public transit here FUCKING SUCKS and I hate city driving more than anything in the world. Maybe you'll have a better experience with the L than I ever do, though, so don't let me being terrible at the L put you off trying it out. I just am not good at it. I can do the subway! I can do trams and the Skyway! I can do street maps okay! I cannot do the L. Somehow every single time I try, I miss a stop and have to circle all the way around again.

Ooh, one other fun thing I did in like 2019 in the city was go ax-throwing, so if you want to try that, they have that right near the symphony building. That's surprisingly fun and not scary.

Food-wise, Chicago is full of good food. Pretty much everything I've ever eaten in the city was great, from the popcorn at Union Station (YOU MUST GET THE CHEDDAR AND CARAMEL MIX AT UNION STATION. IT IS THE BEST POPCORN.) to the $600+ per plate price fixe at Alinea (the only good thing I ever got from an ex). I feel like Sam @copperbadge has a more "a la minute" (hyuk hyuk) set of opinions about Chicago dining than I do -- like I said, a lot of the places that I really liked didn't survive the pandemic or they're outside of the city itself.

Oh! And it is sort of touristy but also very nerdy: the International Museum of Surgical Science. There's an exhibit right now about Frankenstein!

Honestly, looking at the MPCA/ACA website, I'm just jealous you get to be doing/seeing that all weekend. I feel like that's the nerdiest and most fun-seeming ticket in town. What are you there to present or see specifically?? I'm so intrigued!

#asks

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chilly-moss · 3 months

Note

24 for Kim Kitsuragi

Firstly, I know what you did.

Secondly, I'll be looking at this from a character standpoint. Kim is...sceptical of you at the start, but gradually opens up to you and eventually saves your life (arguably more than once). He thinks the phasmid is bullshit but still goes with it. He thinks the church kids are running a drug operation, but still jams with them in the end. I think, in a sense, he's equally Kim Kitsuragi and Kimball.

But who does he remind me of in other fandom? (Insert like 10 minutes of me poring this over.)

Weirdly, I think maybe... Officer Hayward from The silt verses? At least up until chapter 24, which is where I am.

Hayward is seen as this unrelenting pursuer in season one, the antagonist to the main characters. But after the attack on the radio station? After he sees someone's innards being turned to coal and oil? He realizes it's his job. It's his job to be a sceptic, and for the first time he's sceptical about what he used to be, about what he served. And he realizes he isn't who he was anymore, and that his duties are now his own.

That being said, Kim and Hayward are still very different characters to me, but this is the closest parallel I could find at short notice without just answering with "idk lol."

If I find a better answer after I post this I will add it.

#lulu #ask game #mossy asks

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graciellasamma · 1 year

Text

My AU of Previously On

Sup guys! As you can see on the title this is pretty much of what my version of RvB Season 15 Episode 5 “Previously On” because that episode is my favorite in season 15 because of how funny it is on their story of their retirement. If you want to know about the AU I made, then I suggest to go look at my oc “Frøy Kurenai.”

I hope you guys like it!

Grif: (groaning) Lots of bullshit, I don’t know where to start.

Tucker: Before or after the temple? If it’s before, this is gonna get NSFW real quick.

Sister: Oh yea.

Horobi: Oh God...

Izu: “Temple?”

Tucker: Ho yeah! After we captured Hargrove, we partied fucking hard! See, Chorus has this ancient relic called the Temple of Procreation that when activated makes-

Wyoming, Simmons, & Grif: WE SAID WE WOULDN’T TALK ABOUT THAT!

They quickly look at each other and Grif and Simmons quickly look away, embarrassed. Wyoming just blushed in embarrassment.

Blake: Wait. It doesn’t due as the same implies right?

Sarge: Oh it does! It was all like a planet-wide aphrodisiac! Things got real Bohemian! (knowingly) Mm-hmm!

Tucker: Yeah, y’all keep saying that! But everything felt normal to me!

Sister: Ya, it was completely normal.

Washington: Surprising no one.

Weiss: Gross!

Yang & Urataros: I wish I was there!!

Weiss & Momotaros: DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT, YANG/YOU PERVERTED TURTLE!!!

Ruby: Ugh, from you Yang, I’m not even surprised.

O’Mally: Hehe, let me ease up Papa Wolf’s concern over his pup’s virginity. Once the idiot with the sword over here activated the temple. Frøy got bored and decided to play Monster Hunter on his Nintendo while hearing music with his earphone.

Jiro: So he didn’t do anything... weird?

Doc: No not at all, we just doing our business while Frøy too distracted by his game and hearing music.

Jin: I don’t get it, what are they talk about??

Horobi & Aruto: We’ll talk about it when you’re older!!

Felix: Locus was already off of Chorus by the time the planet-wide party began.

Grif is still looking away from Simmons.

Simmons: Can we-can we change the subject?

Ramon: why are you guys so nervous?

Caboose: (To Ramon) Oh, they’re just upset because they got locked in storage closet during the whole thing and Reggie and Flowers were in-

Gamma: Yes, and of course they were.

Ikazuchi, Yang, Nora, Momotaros, & Vice: WHAT?! HAHAHAHA!!!

Wyoming: THE SUBJECT. CHANGE IT.

Frøy: Hold on, I thought you were the one who-

Wyoming: I SAID: CHANGE IT.

Washington: To actually answer your question, after the war on Chorus we decided we were due some time off.

York: We’ve earned some R&R. Even Carolina, Tex, and South agreed!

Tex: When did I ever agree to th-

South: It was for the best. Clearly. (Takes a glance at Carolina)

Carolina: I thought I’d give the simple life a day in court.

Gamma: Surprising. Everyone.

Grif: No more adventure? Hell yeah, I was on board!

Butch: We were all on board.

Simmons: Kimball set us up on this isolated moon, and she built us some of the most awesome new bases, ever!

Shot of the new Red and Blue bases, which look like luxury condos.

Tucker: Everyone adjusted to the peace and quite differently. Some of us were natural!

Grif: Don’t hate the player.

Theta: Sarge got hopelessly depressed after not dying heroically on Chorus!

Sarge: Hogwash! Baseless slander!

Simmons: But you said-

~*~*~

Cut to the Red Team, including Lopez, outside their new base. Sarge walks up.

Sarge (flashback): I am hopelessly depressed after not dying heroically on Chorus! We need a new enemy...

Hearing this, Red Team quickly scatter.

Sarge (flashback): ...something to fight. Where y’all going?

~*~*~

Back in the Bases, CT looks at Carolina.

CT: Sarge wasn’t the only one having a hard time adjusting to inaction.

Everyone looks at Carolina.

Carolina: What?!

Washington: Fortunately, we found a tutor.

~*~*~

Cut to Carolina and Grif in a small ravine, Grif sitting cross-legged on the ground and Carolina standing up, looking at him as though he were a wise master. Or Yoda, maybe.

Carolina (flashback): (dead serious) Help me, Grif. Help me be the best at being lazy.

Grif (flashback): (wise and mysterious) You’re not ready, padawan.

Carolina (flashback): I can try!

Grif (flashback): No. There is no try.

Felix (flashback): (offscreen, yelled) YOU SAID THE LINE!!

~*~*~

Flowers: (narrator) The peaceful times didn’t last too long. Turns out this planet has some native lifeforms!

~*~*~

Loud thumping as Flowers, Frøy, North, Simmons, Tucker, and Grif run across the scene. We hear the sound of a dinosaur roaring.

Simmons (flashback): AHHHH, RUNNN!!!!

Grif (flashback): I CAN’T DIE AS FOOD! OHHH HOOO, THE IRONY!!!!!

North (flashback): HOW IS THAT IRONY?!?!

Frøy (flashback): HAHAHA!! I’M HAVING SO MUCH FUN!!!

~*~*~

Carolina: (narrator) While everyone debated if dying as food was technically ironic, Caboose went and made friends with the dinosaurs.

Hiromi: Why would he do that?

Grif: (narrator) Because of course he did.

~*~*~

Carolina, Flowers, North, Frøy, Tucker, Grif, Sarge, and their AIs are staring up in awe the camera, while we see the shadow of a dinosaur with a Caboose-sized figure on its head.

Caboose (flashback): (offscreen) Awww, who’s a good boy?! Awww, you are a good boy!

Felix (flashback): Holy shit!

Flowers (flashback): CABOOSE, get down from there!

Church (flashback): How the hell does he get up there without getting eaten?!

Frøy (flashback): Can I eat it?

Sarge (flashback): Tell him to fight me!

Theta (flashback): Ummm Sarge, you do know you are gonna lose that fight in a heartbeat, right?

~*~*~

Tex: And let’s not forgot, trivia night.

Everyone except Felix, Wash, Delta, Theta, Carolina, Caboose, and Donut groans at that.

Felix: Hey, you guys wanted to give me a party, and that’s what I got.

Tucker: Easy for you to say! You got all the answers right!!

Simmons: You gave us hard questions.

Felix: Are you serious? It was easy!

York: It was a trick question!!

Ryutaros: What’s trivia night?

Delta: They are like pub quiz, one of us has to ask the question that we made while the rest of us have to answer the question correctly.

Theta: We decide to make a theme on all the questions from his favorite movie series!

Tucker: Which is Star Wars by the way. (glaring at Felix)

~*~*~

Everyone gathers around for trivia night.

Grif (flashback): Anakin Skywalker.

Felix (flashback): (monotone, like church) No.

York (flashback): C-3PO.

Felix (flashback): (monotone) No. That’s a droid.

Sarge (flashback): Grif.

Felix (flashback): No. He’s not even a Star Wars character Sarge.

Sarge (flashback):............. You sure?

~*~*~

Felix: WHAT PART OF “THE MOST ANNOYING CHARACTER IN THE STAR WARS UNIVERSE” DID YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?!

Sarge: It was a trick question!

Felix: Oh come on! I gave you plenty of hints! Even Caboose got it right!

Caboose: I nearly said Tarkin because he is mean.

Frøy & Church: Well not all of us is a Star Wars nerd like you, so sorry if we don’t know all the characters!!

Felix: Oh fuck you both!! (Giving them the middle finger)

Grif: (narrator) And then DONUT somehow managed to burn down our bases!

~*~*~

Donut standing in the foreground, while the bases burn in the background.

Donut (flashback): Whoopsy-daisy!

~*~*~

Grif: (narrator) Ah-ha, why, why, oh why?!

Church: Some of them were crying, and some of them didn’t care.

Tucker: And you were one of those people who didn’t give a shit.

Church: I expected things to go wrong from the start. Don’t blame me if I didn’t help with the problem, dickhead!

Donut: (offscreen, still unfiltered) I told you, it was a simple mishap with my vanilla-satin-scented candles. Sheesh.

Flowers: DONUT! CLOTHES!

Donut: Party pooper!

Kintaros: Why is he naked?

Leo: THAT’S your first question?

Aruto: Why did you have a candle in the first place?

Wyoming: We need them to remove the stench that was coming from the kitchen.

All eyes from the Reds and Blues glared at Carolina yet again.

Carolina: I was trying to find a hobby, so don’t blame me.

Frøy: Are you kidding me?! I wasn’t able to use the toilet because of both Grif and Sister were stuck in the bathroom for weeks because of food poisoning, and the toilet clogged because of that!!

Grif: I regret ever tasting that MRE.

Jiro: I know how you feel.

Both Jiro and Ramon glared at Riki because of the stench in his room and his cooking skill.

Simmons: Anyway, we lost 80% of our rations in the fire, so these two fat-asses (looks at Grif and Sister) over here started going around and eating native plants!

~*~*~

Grif and Sister approach some wild mushrooms that glow a mysterious blue coolor.

Grif (flashback): Oh, hey there, sexy.

Sister (flashback): These look good.

~*~*~

Simmons: (narrator) Oh, and as it turns out, the mushrooms are basically crystal meth ON crystal meth!

~*~*~

Cut to Grif and Sister running by, in order, Sarge fighting a tree, Carolina fixing a Warthog, and Simmons going for a walk.

Grif (flashback): (super fast) Heyhohowyadoin’? Good?Okay. I’mgonnagoforarun. AlotofpeoplesayI’mnotfast,butI’msuperfast. Don’ttell anyybodythough,it’soursecret, Okay, bye!

Sister (flashback): (super fast) I’msofullyetIhavesomuchenergy.

~*~*~

Back to the base.

Grif: Yeah? Well, at least I didn’t spend my summer learning Esperanto!

Simmons: (ashamed) I thought “Esperanto” was Spanish for “Spanish.”

Church: Spanish is just Spanish! Me and Delta told you thst multiple times but you kept saying Esperanto is Spanish!

Simmons: I know...!

Frøy: And now you’re the only one in the universe who speaks a dead language! How appropriate!

Simmons: (sigh) Mi estas tiel sola. (I’m so alone.)

Caboose: And Freckles got a new body! He can use any bathroom he wants now!

~*~*~

Freckles walks threateningly into the scene. We then cut to a wide shot to reveal he’s hopelessly small, with Caboose and Tucker looking at him.

Freckles (flashback): (like a chipmunk) Prepare to be exterminated!

He shoots Caboose. Caboose dramatically falls.

Caboose (flashback): AHHH! Tucker! You’re supposed to be playing dead.

Tucker (flashback): (leaving) Riiight...

~*~*~

Back to the base.

Tucker: That’s right around when we tried to raise some money for new bases by selling off our movie rights!

Delta: I believe we didn’t have any-

Ruby, Jin, Ryutaros, Aruto, Leo, & Vice: You have movie rights?! Awesome!

Pyrrha: Even with my fame. No movie company has asked for me to be in any of their films.

Izuku: What rights did you own?

South: Us and for some reason Reservoir Dogs. We still have no idea why we own that.

Grif: Yeah well, Hollywood really screwed the pooch on that one.

Church: We should have burned the script when we had a chance.

Weiss: Was it bad?

Doc: Well it received positive reviews and critical acclaim. They just got us and the story all wrong.

O’Mally: Ugh, they just have to ruined my character.

Simmons: Oh, but we were rich!

Grif: And then we realized water parks were way more awesome than bases!

Carolina: So we built the galaxy’s greatest... water park.

CT: 101 on how to waste money on useless stuff, we don’t need.

~*~*~

Cut to the water park. Where all the boys even Washington jump in the air with joy. Carolina, South, and CT refrains.

Boys (flashback): Yay!

Girls (flashback): (with disinterest) Yay...

~*~*~

Ruby, Jin, Vice, Ramon, & Ryutaros: That’s so cool!!

Yang: I wanna swim! I’ll get my bikini!

Wyoming: Don’t bother.

George: What? Why?

Grif: BECAUSE OF DONUT-!

~*~*~

Mirroring the shot from before, Donut is in the foreground as the park burns in the background.

Donut: Whoopsy-daisy.

~*~*~

Grif: I MEAN HOW?! HOW DO YOU BURN DOWN A WATER PARK, DONUT?!

Delta: It is highly illogical of how he did it.

Donut walks in, now wearing his armor.

Donut: 1) Lube isn’t normally flammable! And B) I didn’t burn down the whole water park! Just the park part!

Caboose: And then we formed the best band ever!

Washington: Tucker thought it might attract... chicks.

Tucker: Which worked.

~*~*~

Cut to Grif and Tucker arguing over the name, with Caboose watching on the drum while Frøy was on the mic and while Church and Felix just standing and floating at their partner’s side while watching the whole argument.

Grif: The Talking reds!

Tucker: Mötley Blüe!

Grif: How about redmau5?

Carolina: Hey, I heard you boys are looking for a backup singer.

Tucker: Uh, yeah! Chick singers are awesome!

Grif: Can you sing, though?

Frøy and Church does a killing gesture knowing their sister’s voice.

Carolina: (confident) Can I sing?

~*~*~

Cut to the base.

Tucker: (unconvincingly) Carolina sings. So good.

Carolina: Thank you.

Simmons: Oh, and we’re definitely not hust saying that because she could kill us.

Wyoming: And break every bone in our body.

Grif: (strained) So. Good.

Tucker: I mean... Frøy wasn’t bad.

Frøy: Please stop it.

Simmons: Sarge decided to make his own enemy, so he built an evil robot army to invade our valley!

Tucker: But the robots malfunctioned and attacked the dinosaurs!

Theta & Iota: And it was the awesomest battle ever! Of all time!!

~*~*~

Cut to the Reds and Blues watching an enormous battle happening offscreen. We get explosions and roars and some flashes of red light plus a black plume of smoke coming in from off-camera.

Theta/Iota (flashback): Woah.../Wow...

Washington (flashback): I have seen some amazing things in my life, but this...? This takes the cake.

Frøy (flashback): I think I can died happy now.

~*~*~

Back to the base.

Vice: Now that is so cool!

Ryutaros: Are the dinosaurs still alive?

CT: Yeah they are, they just destroyed the robots and left. Haven’t seen them in awhile though.

Carolina: (snickering) And then Grif convinced Simmons Game of Thrones really happened.

Leo: What the heck is Game of Thrones?

Ikazuchi: A really good TV show ever!

Blake: And Grif convinced him that a fictional series actually exist?

Simmons: He explained it to me in very convincing manner.

South: And apparently, after that, we learned Simmons has a knack for-

Simmons: (panicked) Don’t say it!

~*~*~

Grif and Simmons are standing on top of the base, mirroring their positions in the first episode.

Simmons (flashback): Nuh-uh.

Grif (flashback): Uh-huh.

Simmons (flashback): Oh, shut up!

Grif (flashback): Seriously, dude!

Simmons (flashback): Nah, nah, no way!

Grif (flashback): Yeah, way!

Simmons (flashback): Dude.

Grif (flashback): Dude.

Simmons (flashback): Dude!

Grif (flashback): Dude.

Simmons (flashback): Dude!

Grif (flashback): Yeah, dude.

Simmons (flashback): That’s awesome! Man, I’m gonna go visit!

~*~*~

Weiss: Seriously?

George: Wow, you’re must be an idiot for falling for that.

Ryutaros: Wai! Simmons-no-baka!

Simmons: What? I can’t believe in it? Anyway, Sarge found a new enemy! One that would keep him busy for the rest of our time here.

~*~*~

The Reds are gathered outside the new base, watching Sarge walks on camera again.

Sarge (flashback): For far too long our people have been oppressed, crushed, under the weight pf ourselves! If we don’t start standing up to our mortal foe gravitty, by god who will?

Washington, Frøy, Church, Felix, Carolina, and Tex are watching nearby.

Carolina (flashback): Are we really going to let this play out?

Washington (flashback): Why not see where it goes?

Felix (flashback): This is gonna be good.

Church (flashback): Something we can agreed on.

Frøy (flashback): You both are just cruel.

Lopez is in the Warthog, Sarge nearby.

Sarge (flashback): Buckle up, friendo! It’s time we take this fight to the enemy!

Lopez (flashback): Por farvor no. (Please no.)

The Warthog goes flying off a cliff.

Sarge (flashback): Chaaaarge!

~*~*~

Simmons: But that just meant Blue Team had one more Jeep than Red Team.

Tex: Not the First time either.

~*~*~

Back to outside the base: Donut, Grif, Simmons, North, South, Wyoming, and CT are standing there, while the warthog is on fire in the background.

Sarge (flashback): Gentlemen and lady, we simply cannot let Blue Team have tactical superiority over the canyon! This means war! Red. VS. BLUE!

Lopez (flashback): (offscreen) Mierda... (Shit...)

~*~*~

Back to the base.

Tucker: That helped us realize just how outdated this whole Red Team-Blue Team thing really is.

Simmons: So, we had a meeting to debate a new form of government.

Yaiba & Naki: Oh this should to be good.

~*~*~

The Reds and Blues are facing each other outside their base, Carolina having joined the Blues this time.

Grif (flashback): I vote anarchy.

Simmons (flashback): You can’t vote anarchy, you dumbass!

Omega & O’Mally (flashback): But it fit us so well!

Flowers & Doc (flashback): No!

Tucker (flashback): Monarchy! Whoever holds the magical sword, (draws his sword) Excalibur!

Caboose (flashback): Party Paryarchy!

Felix (flashback): Jedi Order!

Frøy (flashback): Of course, you’ll choose that.

Felix (flashback): Hey, up yours Frøy.

North (flashback): Democracy?

Sarge (flashback): Military Dictatorship!

Carolina (flashback): Matriarchy.

CT (flashback): I like where you’re thinking.

South (flashback): Fuck yeah!

Tex (flashback): We can make an agreement on that. (smirks)

Church (flashback): Typical.

The girls (flashback): Hey!

Church (flashback): Not all of us are girls in this valley! Heck, most of us are pretty much a dude! Of course, it’s freaking cliche.

Caboose (flashback): Oh! How about Malarkey?

Flowers (flashback): Caboose, that’s not a type of government! It just means meaningless talk and nonesense!

Long silence.

~*~*~

Washington: (back at the base) Malarkey won.

Theta: There was also the time when Frøy built a bomb and it blew up and make a wormhole to a new universe.

Grif: And what came out was really, really, really weird.

~*~*~

Everyone is gathered up.

Wasington (flashback): This has to be one of the strangest things I’ve seen ever... Of all time.

Frøy and female Frøy are looking at each other with Church and Felix floating at their partner’s side also in their opposite gender. Both wear identical armor and have identical weapons.

Both Frøy (flashback): THIS IS AMAZING!!

Both Church, Felix, & Tex (flashback): This is a fucking nightmare.

~*~*~

CT: The destruction they caused was enormous.

Frøy: (sigh) Too bad she had to go home. I never met someone that I could have so much fun with.

Church: Thank God for that!! I don’t think I could handle another Frøy and Felix.

Felix: I could say the same for you, asshole.

Tex: I suppose to be the one to say that\, consider that I have to be the one to handle the both of you cockbites.

Church & Felix: Shut up, bitch.

Donut: Oh! And don’t forgot York and Carolina’s wedding!

Ruby: (gasp) Really?! That’s amazing you guys!

Leo: Congrats, you two!

Sakura: Omedetō!

George: Congratulation!

Ikazuchi: Mazel tov!

York and Carolina: Thanks.

~*~*~

Carolina was in a nice Cyan dress with York in a suit holding each other hands. Behind Carolina were CT, South, and Kimball while behind York were Wash, North, and Tucker while Frøy as the Ring Bearer with Church, Felix, and Tex floating at his side. In the center is Sarge marrying them.

Sarge (flashback): And now by the power vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife. Just kiss the bribe already.

York chuckles with a grin.

York (flashback): You don’t have to tell me twice.

Before York could even kiss her, Carolina grabbed him by the collar and dipped him, he got startled by this but he kissed her back as everyone cheered. The lieutenants and feds shot their guns in the air as Donut and Jensen were crying.

~*~*~

Wyoming: And that’s when we knew who would be in control in bed.

Tucker: (chuckles) That’s not what I saw at the-

Carolina: Finish that sentence and I’ll make sure you have surgery so you be a women.

There was an awkward silence for that until Caboose broke it.

Caboose: Ah, you haven’t mentioned the dark place!

Tucker: Oh yeah! Somehow Caboose got stuck in another dimension!

Frøy: I didn’t do it.

~*~*~

Caboose is somehow in the Upside-Down from Netflix’s Stranger Things.

Caboose (flashback): Hello? Anyone there? THIS IS AWESOME!

The Reds and Blues are staring at the alphabet Christmas lights from Stranger Things.

Washington (flashback): “Neat.” He just... keeps saying, “Neat.”

North (flashback): I think he’s just excited, or he could be yelling for help if “neat” meant something.

Delta (flashback): How did he even end up there?

~*~*~

Back to the base.

Tucker: Oh, and we found Donut dead!

Nora: Really?

~*~*~

Grif and Wyoming find Donut’s supposedly dead body lying next to a body of water.

Grif (flashback): Sweet.

Wyoming (flashback): I guess it was the best day ever.

Simmons, Tucker, York, Wyoming, Grif, North, and their A.I.s are staring at a shallow grave.

Grif: (voiceover) We decided to bury him in a shallow, unmarked grave.

They look up, hearing Donut offscreen.

Donut (flashback): (offscreen, unfiltered) Aw, fiddlesticks! I can’t find my suit!

Grif: (narrator) Turns out he was just... skinny-dipping.

York: (narrator) And that’s where I got second-degree trauma. Thanks a lot, fuckface.

Donut (flashback): (offscreen, unfiltered, cont’d) Guess I’m going au natural! Nice and breezy!

~*~*~

Leo: Did you see him?

Grif: Yes! Yes, we saw him!

~*~*~

In the exact same shot from when they were running from the dinosaur, Simmons, Tucker, York, North, and Grif run from Donut.

Simmons: AAAAAHHHH, RUN!

Wyoming: DON’T LOOK! DON’T LOOK!

Grif: AH, THE IRONY!

York: I’M BLIND!

North: I’M SCARED FOR LIFE!

~*~*~

CT: But that wasn’t even the weirdest thing that happened! Wash, Grew. A bread...

~*~*~

Cut to Washington standing outside. Of course, we can’t see the beard because his helmet is on.

Washington (flashback): It’s kind of... itchy.

~*~*~

Tucker: And then this morning Grif spiked Simmons’s couscous with his meth-meth shrooms! And Sister wanted to see if she was faster than him.

Grif: You know, for the lolz.

~*~*~

Cut to the shot from the opening, with Grif and Flowers talking to Frøy and the rest of his companion that he met and brings them to the base as Simmons and Sister runs by.

Simmons (flashback): (super fast) Ihaventbeenbeenthishypersinceihadamargerita!

Sister (flashback): (super fast) FastImfastyougotabetterone

Donut (flashback): (offscreen, voice unfiltered) Anyone seen my tanning oil?

Flowers (flashback): Jesus Donut, we have guests!

Grif (flashback): Put some clothes on, for Pete sake!

Tucker appears again.

Tucker (flashback): Oh ho, Blue-Tang Clan!

Grif (flashback): The Red Kennedys!

There is a loud whistling sound, as though something is falling from a great height.

Sarge (flashback): (falling with it) SUCK IT NEWTON!

We quickly cut back to Grif before Sarge hits the ground.

~*~*~