#this is from 2022 baby. RAIN NEVER FORGETS | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

deathofpeaceofmiiind · 5 months

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high infidelity | one

Do you really wanna know where I was April 29th? Do I really have to chart the constellations in his eyes? April 29th 2022 (a/n yes I know some of these dates don’t actually add up, it’s just for story purposes!) Elliots POV Nursing really wasn’t for the faint of heart, which makes me wonder why I do it. Part of me knows it’s cause I’m a pathological people pleaser and like all the pats on the back I get. On the other hand I did land myself a great position in the NICU and helping babies get healthy and go home was such a rewarding feeling. I worked twelve hour night shifts but they went by pretty fast. It was about 6:45am and I was wrapping up some charting as my phone buzzed beside me. It was my best friend Danielle. “Hey boo! Don’t forget we got tickets for Bad Omens tonight!”

Shit, I totally forgot. I sighed deeply, catching stares from some of the parents visiting their babies. I hated texting Tyler about anything because he acted like everything was fine but sadly, I had to play the part too. “Hey I totally spaced and forgot I’m going to a concert with Danielle tonight. My dad is going come over to help with Liam’s dinner and bedtime until you get home.” “Okay :) See you when you get home!” I rolled my eyes so hard they almost got stuck. My shift was over so I handed off report to the nurses coming on shift and headed towards my car. I lifted my mask off as the fresh air hit my face, waking me up a little bit. I took my phone out of my scrub pocket and texted Danielle back. “I can’t wait…I need a girls night.” “Come to the venue at 5 so we can have some drinks and sneak front row.” Danielle worked at the venue where Bad Omens would be playing, which worked in our favour. She always got us free tickets to every event and snuck us in early to get a good spot. I discovered Bad Omens around the same time I met Tyler. I heard Careful What You Wish For on the radio and I was hooked. During the pandemic, I found myself watching all of Noah’s twitch streams every single day. It was his way of staying connected to the fans and to fill the void of uncertainty of this virus. Something about his voice was so soothing, seriously, he could do audiobooks or podcasts if this singing thing doesn’t work out. When I got home, Tyler was on his phone typing away, probably to whatever her name was. Marissa? Miranda? I don’t know or fucking care enough to remember. He got up from the table and tried to kiss me but I turned my head and lied about having a cold sore forming. He went to make me coffee and I suddenly felt nauseous. Every time he tried to do something nice for me my blood would boil. He wasn’t doing this because he loved me, he did it to keep his image. I took the coffee from him and turned away from his sad attempt to kiss me again. “You never want any affection from me anymore, what is going on?” Oh if only you knew. “Tyler, I spend all fucking night with babies on me and being overstimulated by people. I just want an hour where I’m not touched or talked to.” “Right.” “Sorry.” I lied, rolling my eyes. I started to walk towards the stairs so I could go up and shower but he stopped me dead in my tracks. “You know tonight will be the third time you’ve gone out with your friends this month.” He shot me at me. That was the one thing I fucking loathed about him. He was really, really good at being a dick about absolutely anything. I never bothered replying to him, I just headed to my master bathroom and turned on the shower. The water felt so good as I washed off last nights shift, which was a mixture of formula and spit up. After my shower I took my coffee into my bedroom and settled on a rerun of Friends while I waited for Liam to wake up. I heard Tyler leave and I felt like I could breathe properly.

A few hours later there was a knock on the door. Liam and I were having a nap on the couch after we had lunch. It started to rain earlier so it ruined our plans to go to the park, instead we settled on Disney movies and snuggles. His nap time was the only time I got to sleep during the day unfortunately unless he was at daycare. I slipped out of his grip to go answer the door, it was my Dad. He greeted me with a hug and we walked into the kitchen. I threw on some coffee for us as a yawn escaped my mouth. “Thanks again for staying here until Tyler gets home.” “Anything for you pumpkin.” He replies as he grabs the creamer out of the fridge for us. “Is everything okay? You seem a little down lately.” “Uh…yeah there is something.” I said before taking a deep breath. “Tyler’s been having an affair. I haven’t told him I know, I’ve been getting everything in order with my lawyer before I serve him the papers.” “When did you find out?” “A month ago.” I laughed. I don’t know why I was laughing, but somedays this situation felt comical to me. “I’ve only told Danielle because her mom is a lawyer.” “Why didn’t you tell me?” “I was afraid you would’ve shown up here with a shot gun.” I chuckled before taking a sip of my coffee. He half smiled but I could tell he was really upset. “Dad I’m fine. I’m going to figure this out.” “I know. Just talk to me sooner next time okay? Now that your mom is gone you and Liam are all I have.” “I miss her so much.” I said as I felt that all too familiar lump in my throat anytime I thought about my mom. We sadly lost her to Covid after she came home from a girls trip in Mexico, right around the time the pandemic hit so we didn’t know the severity of it. It hit her so fast, causing her to go into cardiac arrest and passing hours later. I had days where guilt hit me hard since she was admitted to the hospital I worked at. I wasn’t allowed to care for her cause looking after family is considered a conflict of interest. It’s been so difficult without her, but it has made my bond with my Dad a lot stronger. We talked and finished our coffees before Liam ran into the kitchen after his nap. He was only fifteen months old and could already outrun us all. I picked him up and showered him with kisses before I headed upstairs to get ready for tonight. I opened a raspberry White Claw as I put Taylor Swift’s Reputation album on shuffle, it was my favourite album by her and it was my go to while I got ready. I settled on a pair of faux leather leggings, a low-cut bodysuit to show off my sternum tattoo, and black Doc Martens. I was still learning to love my postpartum body but I had to admit, the new hourglass shape I had was starting to grow on me.

My phone buzzed that my Uber was outside and it caused my heart to flutter. Something about the idea of finally seeing these boys in real life was making me nervous, and I had no idea why. I never put them on a pedestal or thought they were gods but it’s gonna be surreal after only seeing them behind a screen. I said goodbye to my dad and Liam before heading out the door. I was so happy it was almost May, the weather was mild enough that I didn’t need a jacket anymore. “There she is!” I smiled as I walked up to Danielle who was with our other two friends, Amy and Taylor. They complimented my look and it gave me the confidence boost I desperately needed. Danielle walked up to the bar when we got in and got us a round of double gin and tonics which was just what I needed. My nerves were getting the best of me and I really needed to loosen up a little bit. After a few more drinks we headed to the barricade and waited for the concert to start.

“So El, are you excited to see Noah?” I furrowed my brow and looked at Taylor, “Uhh…I’m excited to see the whole band.” “Obviously, but you’re obsessed with Noah. You’ve been practically drooling over him since he was streaming.” “I have not.” At this point I was blushing so hard and I couldn’t blame it on the drinks we had. I mean, she wasn’t wrong. His long hair would make me fold every time I saw him and don’t get me started on the buns he used to do where strands of his hair would perfectly fall around his face…or when he used claw clips or… Make them Suffer came onto the stage and interrupted my thoughts that were going south. The girls and I thrashed around to their setlist and right after that A Thousand Below came on followed by Dayseeker. I cried a little bit during Without me then went back to dancing and even caught a guitar pick. I was feeling better than I have in months, I felt so carefree, happy and not thinking about what my home life was like. I wish I could feel like this every night.

The lights went dark and I froze. I could feel my heartbeat in my ears as Folio walked towards his drum set and started to play to the beat of Concrete Jungle. I had tried my best to stay off TikTok to avoid spoilers but I knew Noah came out next before the rest of the band. Before I could process what was going on, he was right in front of me. He stood there all dressed in black, his leathered hand wrapped about the mic stand and he started to sing. Holy fuck. I couldn’t take my eyes off him throughout the entire show. He was captivating as he had the crowd in the palm of his hands. His voice sounded better than I could’ve imagined, he had the voice of an angel and the screams of a demon. I don’t know if I was being delusional, but I’m sure we made eye contact a few times. He sat down at the edge of the stage and serenaded the crowd with who are you? and he was right in front of us. He was so close I could see clusters of freckles on his shoulders peeking through his tattoos. When our eyes connected again I waved at him to embarrass him and it totally worked cause he fumbled his next line. He got up and walked towards the other side of the stage, not before turning back around to look at me again…he was completely flustered. “What was that?” Danielle screamed at me as the girls just stood there in disbelief. I just shrugged at them before putting my attention back on the band. The show came to an end, not before Noah and I stole more glances at each other. I tried to gain my composure, but I couldn’t. I cannot believe I just flirted with Noah Sebastian. Also the show? Fucking best concert I’ve ever been to, so good that my throat was hoarse and I’m pretty sure my toes were bleeding. “Hey guys before we go, I just need to go to my office to grab my purse. I can’t stress this enough though, no looking for the band okay?” As much as I wanted to find Noah, we nodded our heads in agreement before heading back there. I was not about to get my best friend fired from her dream job cause I wanted to flirt with some boy in a band. I really needed to pee though after holding it for almost three hours so I went on a mission to find a bathroom. I circled for a few minutes before finding a women’s bathroom. As I walked in the toilet flushed and the stall door opened. It was Noah. He put his hands up in protest as he flushed pink, “I promise I’m not a woman.” I forced an awkward laugh as I looked him up and down. He already looked like he showered and changed. The scent of his cologne lingered over to me and I could feel my face burning. He walked over to the sink to wash his hands so I took the opportunity to admire his tall stature. He was wearing black skinny jeans with a grey Chief hoodie and white Nikes. He had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his tattoos were exposed. My face was getting hotter the longer I watched him…I felt like a victorian man seeing a women’s ankles for the first time.

Also…Chief? One of my favourite bands? What are doing to me Noah? “Nice hoodie.” Noah smiled at the ground before looking back up to me. His eyes were so dark you could hardly see his pupils. They were the kind of eyes you could get lost in…and I definitely was. “Sorry I’ll give you some privacy.” He said gesturing towards the bathroom stall. I smiled at him as he walked past me towards the door. Noah stopped as he opened the door to turn back to me, “oh by the way, thanks for making me fuck up tonight.” “I did no such thing!” I audibly gasped. Noah shut the door and walked back over to me, “you definitely did.” “I was testing a theory that you were eye fucking me through the whole show.” I said as I crossed my arms, trying to make myself look taller but I was failing miserably. “Well, how was my eye fucking?” He replied with a deeper tone to his voice. He crossed his arms as well and got closer to me, close enough that he towered over my 5 foot frame with no problem. I was completely lost for words on account that my bladder was about to burst. “I have to pee.” “Ok fine, I’ll go.” He said, looking down at me as he grinned like a devil, “this isn’t over.”

#bad omens #noah sebastian #fanfic

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ashesaint · 2 months

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𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐚'𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐬 ♡ — sentences from delaney bailey's 2022 album (i would have followed you)

this album tells a love story, from the sweet beginnings through to the bitter heartbreak and eventual acceptance. this prompt list contains emotional material. take care of yourself ♡ please feel free to change anything to suit your muses.

j's lullaby (darlin' i'd wait for you)

darlin', i'd wait for you even if you didn't ask me to.

i'd bottle the feeling you give me and shelve that stuff for years to come.

baby, when your arms are around me, i'd swear that i'm holding the sun.

i'd give you the sun if you asked me.

you could have the stars and the trees.

when dividing up the universe, you could have mine.

darlin', i wish that you could give me some more time.

i thought i loved you too i just didn't have the words to say.

love letter from the sea to the shore

i think i loved you in another life.

i was the sea and you were the shore.

i come back to you for more and more and more.

you hold in my tide.

i would die a thousand times just to see you in another life.

i think i loved you in a thousand ways.

you remain stagnant on my troubled days.

no matter how far i drift away, you'll be there when i come back one day.

i wish you'd come with me.

move with the swells, my love.

i love you too much to drift completely.

wait for me, i'll be back.

oh love

i don't miss you anymore, but sometimes i wonder if you think of me.

i am prone to being forgotten.

i have learned that i am relatively easy to leave.

i don't care that you lied.

it was nice to need you like a drug.

i don't want to turn back time anymore, but i do miss when i thought that i was loved.

i do miss the thought of being in love.

i don't miss you anymore, but sometimes i wonder if it's you i'll keep.

i have learned that love is always out of reach.

i don't care that you hide.

it was nice to have something to find.

i don't want to change your mind anymore, but i do miss when you took up all my time.

i do miss the love i could leave behind.

mud

you tracked mud in the living room, trampled the flowers in the front lawn.

i'm still glad that i got to see you.

i'll flip the switches, off the lights you turned on.

i'll replant the flowers for the attention.

try to find the divide between love and obsession.

i'll never tell anyone the whole story, and you'll never tell anyone that you loved me.

simmer down all these years to a text, but you'll still show all my songs to the next.

was i just a bragging right?

i meant something to you, right?

forgetting delaney

we started out the same, praying for the sun in the shade.

suddenly one day, you outgrew the shape of me.

your friends are taller now, their voices louder somehow.

fuck someone else and in the morning you regret it all, but at least you'll forget ( muse's name ).

has your mind cleared since i've gone?

is it cold there in the fog?

do the bodies pile up?

how many girls have watched you leave?

your hands are calloused now, more rough than before somehow.

burned bridges as a hobby.

pushed me away and in the morning, you'll regret it all. but at least you'll forget ( muse's name )

my skin

my skin's not what it used to be.

i hope the place you're hiding is safe and warm.

i hope you're finding shelter from the storm.

i'll stand in the rain long enough to feel clean.

i'm not sure i'll return to me.

you took her and made sure she wasn't worth finding.

i know someday i'll close the door, refuse to help you find what you're looking for.

i'll stand up in place long enough to be ashamed.

i'll love her more than you let me.

(i would have followed you)

how many summers would we have together?

how would my name sound in your mouth at 65?

would a lifetime really feel like forever, or would i still be selfish, begging for more time?

if we didn't have our lives to live, if we didn't have some growing up to do, would you have followed me, everywhere?

would i have followed you?

i would have followed you.

#prompts #rp prompts #rp meme #rp memes #sentence starters #roleplay memes #roleplay starters #rp starters #roleplay prompts #sentence memes

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readingwiththereids · 11 months

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yanda! speaks: hi my loves! so here’s chapter 1! i’ll hopefully have chapter 2 out by tonight since this one doesn’t really have any carmy in it but i really hope you like it still! also let me be so real and say that i did use google translate for the spanish parts and realise that i probably should have left this part to actual hispanic/latino authors, so if you’d like to give suggestions or just yell at me if the translations are wrong, please do so. i face claimed alisha boe as my baby camila but feel free to visualise any other person as well! lots of love and light 🤎

masterlist

night rain ; chapter 1

2022

Music, the soft sizzle of pans on the stove and a beautiful, sweet aroma flooded the small home as Camila’s mother rushed into the kitchen while putting on her earrings.

“Mija, what are you making? It smells wonderful.” Tina asked as she peeked over her daughter’s shoulder.

“Raspberry souffle pancakes.” Camila smiled, slapping her mom’s hands from taking one of the berries on her right in a dish. “My little pastry chef,” Tina said as she kissed the brown girl’s curls. “¿Quieres venir conmigo a la tienda hoy?” [Do you want to come with me to the shop today?]

“Mami, I already told you that I-”

“You don’t want to go in yet, I know but Camila, you’re going to have to tell him at some point. The more time goes on, the less understanding he’ll be when he finds out that you’ve been hiding an entire-”

“I know, I know.” Cam sighed.

Rubbing her daughter’s shoulders, Tina attempted to comfort her. “It’s okay, I know you’re not ready. Is she up yet?”

“No, but I'll wake her up soon when I’m done.” Camila said as she flipped over the last pancake.

This caused Tina to immediately perk up, asking “Can I do it? Please please please?”

Before the young mother could even answer, the older of the pair was already quickly shuffling in the direction of the bedrooms. The heartwarming sound of Emelia’s giggles rang through the home as Tina walked in holding the child in her arms before handing her over to her mother.

Emilia Antonia Ivy was born in the late fall of 2019 and was the perfect byproduct of Camila Ivy and Carmen Berzatto alike. Though not even yet reaching the age of three, Emmy already demonstrated having the biggest heart and mind that her mother had ever seen. She was polite, kind, never threw tantrums and was always eager to watch her mother in the kitchen. She enjoyed seeing and mimicking the same focus exhibited on her mom’s face while cooking, characterised by a small pout. However, it only reminded Camila of the toddler’s father more than anything.

Camila and Emelia moved back to Chicago to stay with Cam’s mother and help her deal with the death of her chosen son, Michael who had committed suicide a few months prior. From the moment Camila heard the news, she instantly thought about everyone else who might need her at that moment, completely forgetting her own pain that seemed to be consuming her chest. She was unselfish in that way, or maybe too selfish, rather opting to focus on everyone else than allow herself to hurt. And so she packed their bags and flew straight to Chi-town to take care of her mom, help Sugar with the funeral and even check on The Beef, though making sure to leave the shop before Carmy’s arrival.

It had been about three years since she had seen the man who she once called the love of her life. Granted he was only demoted from that title by his very own child, but Camila still loved him very much. One however could attempt to dispute that statement by the fact that she had still not told him about said child. At first it was understandable, most of her friends and family supported her choice for the first couple of months, but then months turned to years before it just never felt like the right time.

“Morning, Bear.” Camila laughed while smothering the two-year-old’s face with kisses before setting the girl on the kitchen stool and pushing a plate of warm pancakes dripping with white chocolate sauce in front of her.

“Why don’t you two ever eat your pancakes with syrup like normal people?” Tina laughed, watching both girls tear into their respective plates.

“Because of the tartness, Abuela.” Emmy said with her mouth still full.

“What, are you gonna go to the CSI now too? Huh?” The older woman smiled as she tickled the toddler on her sides. Just then, she realised she would be late for work and so she bid her two next of kin goodbye.

“You wanna go to the park today, Bear?” Camila queried excitedly.

🏷️ list: @rexorangecouny

[dm me to get on the tag list <3]

#carmen berzatto #carmen berzatto fic #carmen berzatto x reader #carmen berzatto imagine #the bear #the bear fanfiction #the bear fic #the bear fx #carmen berzatto x oc

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bearseokie · 2 years

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BLOOD ORANGE

an elusive man who had your heart from the get go, the bloodied bruises of his occupation lend you a new lifestyle—but at a cost. hyungwon had always run the money for the bar, always had control over the fights, but when you slip into his life and bring him love to learn from, he forgets to never mix work with pleasure.

DETAILS — [ 18+ | fight club | 5k ] GENRES — bookie! au, forbidden love! au, mafia! au, thriller, romance, angst, smut WARNINGS — mature content, organized crime, violence, robbing, blood/cuts/major injuries, mentions of stitches, use of petnames (baby & doll) SMUT WARNINGS — sexual content, teasing, quickies, unprotected intercourse RELEASED ON — JUNE 27TH, 2022

spotify playlist // blood orange

LAST | FATAL LOVE SERIES MLIST | TAGLIST | NEXT

one. | two lens shades.

Just because you leave a party unscathed doesn't mean you beat the night. The darkness at the end of the day doesn't turn you loose from the ensued chaos until dawn breaks and the sun rises. And you were no exception.

Dead roads in every direction, veins in your limbs completely exempt of any traces of alcohol—intoxication would have only amplified your lost state of mind. You had slipped from the party to be with an old friend, the reacquaintance giving you a warm feeling and bringing you back to life. Things move on, life goes on, and when you finally return to the beat of the stereo booming through the large, old home, your friends had managed to forget your existence. They had left a mere ten minutes of you returning to them, and had you quieted the conversation with that mundane person any sooner, you wouldn't be wandering down the abandoned streets attempting to find any living soul.

Dark pavement with oil and rain puddled every few steps, your shoes were soaked from the previous storm. They squeaked with every movement, nearly driving you insane—almost covering the sound of the booms at a bar a few yards from your shivering form.

A large tavern out in the middle of nowhere. Despite every red flag, every get out sign, even the aberrant aura of the bar itself, you still closed in on it.

The thick scent of the same substance you escaped from filled your nostrils, the smell seeping through the cracks of the front door. Your fingers wrapped around the handle, pushing into it, but nothing availed. You thrashed, put your full body weight on it, kicked it once—but you still stood out in the lasting rain dripping from the roof, down the gutters, and off the cover at the front of the building onto your head.

Soaked, freezing, shivering and soon to be sick, you asked yourself: "Why have an open bar with the doors locked?" People were clearly inside making more noise than the party you left.

One person's mistake is another person's gain. A click of the window at the bar hours prior gave you the source you bound for. A gentleman looking to have a smoke, not wanting to go outside in the ice cold rain. You could smoke inside if need be, therefore he simply opened a window. But the man would never be aware that his small motion in the world caused a ripple in your own.

A neon ‘open’ sign buzzing over your head, the slightest push brought the window to rise in the sill. Foot first, ankle, entire leg—halfway in you knew this was a bad idea.

Screams, yells, even call-outs echoed through the building, but no one was above. Empty chairs, no music playing upstairs, glasses stacked on the bar; all was as if time had just stopped. You stood alone in the place meant for people all alike and different at the same time.

Dim lights from the kitchen shared your surroundings. Your guts twisted, turned, told you to make a run for it while you could. Then you saw it—right there, out in the open. Something no one ever dared to touch.

There are perfectly good reasons why abandoned places conceal such historical, sometimes important objects. Stories pass through small towns and large cities like a sickness, all to warn those around to never go near a specific place. Don't touch whatever's inside. Don't take anything you see, no matter how valuable. Items and objects like these are possessed—by spirits or people. And they always return to them, always.

The cash register left unattended clicked open. Luck wasn't ever on your side, the universe seeming to have it out for you. Be it karma, a simple mistake in the past once blurred over. Things didn't work out for you as well as most.

Your fingers pricked at the container, drawer rolling out for you like the golden ticket. Tens of hundreds of dollars at your mercy. Some people don't live to see this kind of cash, only dream of it, think about it every little while—but it was real, and right in front of you.

What's life without hardships? Your friends that abandoned you at the party were from college, so out of their mind from life they didn't know left from right. You slept on a mattress on one of their floors, never complained or prodded into their lives. But in these moments, this moment, you knew it was your time to have your own out of body experience.

Your fingertips brushed the money like it was the silkiest hair you could ever feel. It was real, actual cash pulled from the unguarded register and into your palm. Bill after bill, almost a thousand laid in your hold.

But the dominion right around the corner, out of your sight—he witnessed it all. He watched the greed in your eyes, the flip of contemplation on your tongue.

You couldn't even feel the breeze of the man at your back before your collar was lifted. Snatched from you, the money removed from your grasp, you were caught red handed.

"I—I, please!" Was bargaining right to do here? Or was your life on the line?

Mint-scented breath breaking past your skull and into your nose quickly overlapped the hard scents of the alcohol. His fingers were colder than your own, soft padding of what felt like bandages running across your skin. He yanked you upwards, pressing your front into the counter until you felt a bruise forming at your hip bones. Nothing of the sorts that softness could express, you were in deep shit here.

"I-I'm not a crook." He didn't say anything—didn't have to. You'd spill it all to him if you didn't bite your tongue at the realization of how dull and weak you looked.

Pressed against the counter by the faceless man, his deep voice finally encountered your senses in a growl. "Not a crook, but you're robbing me? How does that make sense?"

Admittedly, this did look terrible.

A click over your head, he had hit a switch. A single light over the bar turned on and illuminated your silhouettes to make shapes. His bone-chilling features now in your peripheral, you hissed at the force he continued to use.

Glasses shading his face, the red and orange lenses kept you from seeing the colors of his irises properly. It was like he wore a mask, black hair tucked behind one ear and smooth, untethered leather jacket the same color as if both lenses bled together making you peer up and down at him.

Your shirt was ripped open across your chest, a mishap at the party paired with the gruesome cut across your cheek. It was illegal for a college dorm to have weapons on the premises, that's why college parties move to households. Somewhere to free their mind and not receive warnings from the authorities, you hated those around you. A knife had gashed you on your way out, your confused mind more consumed with being left behind than the blood pouring down your cheek.

But a single glimpse at the cut made the man release his tight grip. He stepped back an inch, gave you space, and your deep breath in finally gave you the courage to speak.

"The open sign is on. No one was up here, so I took a jump for it. I'm sorry, please don't call the cops. I've never done anything l-like this. I'm just desperate." Broken sobs through every sentence, his cocked brow and tight jawline convinced you he was thinking.

The click of his tongue was like a trigger going off on a bomb. Music below turning lower, the screams lessening, and calls dimming out. He seemed visibly worried the moment everything began to turn quiet.

His fingertips drove into your arm, painful hold pulling you from the counter and into his side. Cold eyes behind the shaded glasses glistening like diamonds in the light made you hiccup in worry.

"I suggest you leave. Now." Stern and upholding, he pushed you in the direction of the back door adjacent to the same window you crawled through. "This isn't your place."

"That's just it!" Blabbed tongue caught by the man again, his stern glare made you bite down on the wet muscle. "I don't have any real place to be, or even go."

"Then I sure hope you find one." His fist balled into your ripped shirt at your back, form guiding you towards the back door.

"B-But, please!" Now you were just begging. Pathetically begging at a stranger that clearly read more signs of danger than the building, itself. "Just a little bit of the cash, and you'll never see me again."

"That's not how this works." He growled, moving faster. Chaos broke downstairs as he moved you, the sound of fists hitting together and skulls bashing filling up the silence of the upstairs room. "You've gotta go."

"Anything! I'll do anything for any of it. Just tell me—"

"Fucking stop!" The rise in his voice brings chills across your skin, a shock through your spine, and a clench of your muscles all at once. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Who the hell do you think you are? You were trying to rob me, and now you're trying to enforce a deal?"

"Is it so bad here? Really that bad?"

"Why do you ask that?" His grip got so tight you felt his nails about to break the skin. You could feel the burn of the tissues, skin changing colors from his fingers leaving marks where they pressed into your limbs.

"I got in so easily. You clearly don't know what security means. What are you running here? Drugs, some type of mafia?" Your lips moved faster than your mind, almost too fast to stop before he did anything drastic.

"You're way out of line here, doll."

"You need me." You finally rounded back at him, perfectly hitting him where it hurts, figuratively speaking.

"You know how to hit an off button?"

"Sure." Your response was quick.

"Know how to count cash?"

You laughed. "What did it look like I was doing in there?"

"Do you know how to protect yourself?"

"Why don't you try to fight me and we can find out?"

Chae Hyungwon: runner of the tavern, night owl, infectious in a cold way, and the bookie of the biggest and growing fight club the world had ever seen.

One person's mistake is another person's gain. You just didn't know which part of the equation you were.

two. | sit pretty.

Legs bent into your own form, the chair accompanied your body like a back hug. Same dark room as you snuck into, crystal glass reflecting the bright light above the bar, and a similarly eerie feeling of being on an entire floor of a building alone. Every creak of the walls and floors shot jolts up your spine, the lonesome bar still echoing with a riot within the cellar.

You had no instructions, and little insurance to your life in a place like this. A simple tell to stay put, distract yourself from whatever you hear; He hardly spoke a word before dashing off and ducking under the steel beam at the bottom of the staircase. His blood red leather jacket could be seen from a mile away, the scent of his cologne light but filling to the air, and the graveled tone of a man who hadn’t slept a good night’s sleep in who knows how long. The man was a ghost.

But it wasn’t the interactions he held with you that caused curiosity, but with others. His dealing, whatever job he was accustomed to here at the tavern, was usually done downstairs and finished above. It was obvious that you were meant to be masked from this, and that he had to switch things up to keep you out of the difficult part.

The stairs creaked with heavy footsteps, man after man rising from the cellar with cash in their hands and blood pouring down their bodies. The aroma was heavy, the ding of the bell above the front door sounding over and over as women and friends to the men rushed in to see their winnings and assist their wounds.

He rose up the stairs last, alone, and a briefcase full of something that was heavy enough to cause his arm to twitch beneath the jacket. His eyes covered by the deep lenses, hair lightly sweated to his forehead, and a smooth walk to the office beside your chair. You rose from your seat, took a single glance into the small space, and had your sight met with the shielded glasses once more. His voice groggy, mind clearly somewhere else, He issued the second instruction of the night.

“Sit down.”

And the night only repeated itself. Four days of the week, your ass stuck in the same chair staring at nothing but darkness as you listened to the hammering punches and blows from the men downstairs. Each night passed by in a blink, the same stand-offish glares from the man sending sparks of electricity up your frame each time. You sat, you listened, and you witnessed all that you could see.

“What’s the point of me being here if all I do is sit and look pretty?” Your voice finally reclaimed the air, the men filing out of the tavern on the fifth night just as he rose up the stairs.

You had seen it. Two men were wheeled out on stolen stretchers, enough gashes in their bodies to bring them to death without medical care in their near future. They rolled right past you, the elusive man at their tail to assure they got out to the equally stolen ambulance outside. His face was chiseled from stress, a single bead of blood from his temple running down the side of his face, and all he had to do was look over at you. But he didn’t, the man leading his path with a blank stare and even duller voice. “Don’t even think about asking.”

Each time you heard his voice, you knew things were worse off here than they appeared. No one speaks about their time downstairs when they come up, even those who come inside don’t ask questions. And most surely, he never speaks on the acts of the business or his work.

“Do you ever think to make yourself useful?” The man reiterated your question about sitting in the same chair in a way that made you seem like a nuisance, the toes of his shoes halting right at the edge of yours to bend down and stare at you eye to eye.

“You could give me a to-do list.” Your tongue hissed at the small glimpse of his plump lips tweaking while holding back a smirk.

“But that would be too easy for you.”

“Then what’s the deal, Hyungwon?”

He had never once told you his name. You had to find it for yourself, the quick glance into his office while the door was open showing you the single name plaque on his desk. It was read so fast, your mind had to recreate it just for memory. Even then, it stuck with you well.

“The deal is, you’re here because I let you stay. Not because I want you here.”

“Then what would you like me to do?”

It was the second time you had actually made his eyes out through the thick lenses, like he wanted you to see into his own view for once. The reflection in the glasses showed you your own face—scorned and confusion riddled, but you still saw his black irises. Dark, seen more than he wished to, Hyungwon stood up straight in tandem with the last thing he said to you that night.

“Just sit there and look pretty.”

The click of the office door turned into nails on a chalkboard the more you heard it. It was the defiance of the man that steered you from your instructions, caused your blood to boil, and made your sight almost run as red as his jacket. Your body raced over to the counter, hands flat on the countertop until you felt the grossness of the sticky substances staining the table before you realized just what you could do.

Was it annoyance that led to you pulling two bottles of cleaning spray and rags out? Running them over every surface you could find until they were spotless and you were out of breath? Or was it the specific glance through Hyungwon’s glasses— what made you finally be able to see him as he is—that put you on this pedestal?

You did see him for him. A sketchy man whisking away his nights in an old tavern doing illegal work beneath the building that left him with small drops of blood and a heavy case in his hand each and every night. You saw him, but you didn’t know of him. Two different things with vicarious meanings.

Dawn peaked through the large windows covered with broken blinds when the door finally peeled open, glistening floors cleaned spotless and bottles refilled and organized around the bar. It was the disturbing smirk that finally placed on Hyunwon’s lips that made you twist around to peer at his face with anger.

“I never said you were here to clean.”

“Then what am I here to do, Hyungwon?” You asked again.

“Why don’t you look in our office and see?”

three. | sweet release.

His scent had forever linked itself to your nose, the sounds of his footsteps echoing in the building and coming in closer always making the hair on your frame rise. There was nothing about Hyungwon that didn't catch your attention, and much less—the scent of when his blood added into his natural aroma and cologne.

Money had been racking up, two and three suitcases full moving out each night making his brow break in a sweat and his eyes glisten like glass from exhaustion. With every night, the rowdy sounds of fists swinging and blows hitting coming from below, the man seemed to shiver with worry.

His tongue held so many words that would go unspoken, twisting and tapping at your own. Heated kisses and bodies pressed together was the true link to your minds, a place of pure solace. The more his fingers would press into your skin harder, thrusts grew deeper, and guttural groans would claim your name as his source of pleasure from the chaos—you knew the horrors of your unknown future were coming closer.

Watching his neck lose the support it needed to hold up his head, the tension in his shoulders fading with his release, and his toughed form grow weak even for a second—it was like seeing a shooting star on a cloudy night as it rained.

Every chance you had at breaking down his solid wall would be lost to his barricading, almost paranoid response. Simple questions like where a scar came from were enough to silence any sounds he released, make his fast-paced fucks even quicker, and caused him to leave you to catch your breath all alone.

When the office door opened—his word of choice being "our" in the concept of who was working in the small room—you figured you were getting closer.

Hyungwon was only letting you in step by step. To sit on the couch and count the earnings from that night by hand while he recounted the previous amount through a machine. His numbers were always right, and only becoming more and more accurate with your help. What you could never wrap your head around was what all the money was going towards.

The bar stayed the same for the three weeks you had been assisting the bookie, Hyungwon. Nothing new added, no repairs made, and no exchange of payment for your work.

The fourth week seemed all the same to closed eyes. More men coming in and out, Hyungwon's lingering stares and head shaking at you to stay away from certain ones who attempted conversation with you. Slowly, it became different.

Until the difference was dangerous. Howls and bones cracking the most common sounds rising from the basement every other night, an escalated chant growing as you drew closer to the open double doors.

Uncommon, the use of names—everyone knew who was currently in the ring. Hyungwon's name was shouted in tandem, punches and blows so loud even your ears could catch them.

He was winning.

His muscles stronger from holding you closer these last few weeks helped give him leverage to have a more repetitive cadence than how he had fought before. It was clear by the chants of his name, the excitement in every man within the enclosed space—Hyungwon was close to beating an old opponent.

But as all things can go forwards, they can go backwards.

Context clues, a sudden break in the chants—"oh" and "fuck" sounding from both Hyungwon and the men surrounding him. He had kept his head so high during the duration of the battle until the last minute when it was colliding with the fist of the strongest man in the ring, and again with the concrete of the floor.

Your step by step tactic has become a rushing force, your legs carrying you too far into the situation—the deadly reality of working alongside a man who is trying to keep from getting killed, himself, on the surface.

A fight club, men all around staring at your form like an alienated creature coming into a new world.

His body was shirtless. Bare feet calloused from holding himself upright on the hard flooring with knicks and cracks along it. Knuckles busted open from the raw punches he had taken. And his head pouring more blood than you had ever seen, his unconscious self unaware of your sudden presence.

The circle around the fallen bookie had become silent compared to their ravaging calls minutes before. "You're not supposed to be down here." One deep voice claimed, your hand pressing at his chest to back him away and allow you to close in on Hyungwon only making him silent again.

"What have you done?!" Your eyes were on the opponent, his taken-back appearance making him back away from the bleeding man. "Get a medic!"

No one moved, Hyungwon's body only barely twitched on the floor. It was like time had stopped, like you were meant to be rewinding back to the night you slipped through the window—to make the choice to leave before everything even began.

But even if you could, you wouldn't leave him like this.

"Do you hear me?" Your voice was full of rage, cheeks becoming heated. It was as if you had lit a fire under their feet, your words putting them at your mercy. "I know you have someone to help when someone is hurt." Their eyes watched you like characters in a film taking notice of the audience. "Get someone!"

The men shifted on their feet, some rushing up the stairs to retrieve the men who sat outside in the ambulance for medical aid. It only took two minutes for them to be in your vision, accessing Hyungwon and clearing that he was okay to be moved.

You watched him be lifted onto the stretcher—saw every grown man around you follow Hyungwon with their eyes. A guttural feeling of true horror could be felt in the pit of your stomach.

"T-Take him into the office up the stairs." You called from behind them as they carried him up, only one medic responding.

As soon as time slowed down, it sped up. His placement down on the couch in the office, the stitches going into the skin of his head, bandages wrapped around all his wounds—and his form in a deep slumber before you.

His chest rose and fell as everyone left the room, leaving you to care for him on your own. You had become so used to his eyes watching you from a distance, assuring you were alright—nothing had prepared you for the roles being switched.

"Here because you let me stay." You repeated his own words to him, centering your reality all at once. "Not because you want me here."

Your voice was small, traveling into his ears just as your rising frame missed his twitching fingers—the only response he had given in an hour.

"What if I want to be—" You felt the heat of the tears rushing down your face, eyes peering into the tavern's bar as if the place you had come to know was only your imagination. "—with you?"

For once the tavern seemed to stand still. Nothing but Hyungwon's mesh shirt in your hands, his jacket over your shoulders, and his scent surrounding you. His blood splattered just a floor beneath your feet made a sick feeling rumble in your stomach.

"There has to be something more than this, Hyungwon." You whispered, but his ears still caught the sweet sound of your voice. "There has to be something better for us."

His voice was so deep, vocal chords just as weak as his limbs. Hair finally drying from the cold sweat that had layered on his skin, body resting firmly on the same couch you both managed to sleep on together every night, and the smile creeping onto his face like he had lost every worry in his mind just at the call of your words.

"I knew that pretty little head of yours would figure it all out eventually." He chimed, mind still clouded from the morphine cushioning him through the pain. "So—what's the plan, baby?"

four. | old flames.

It had come to you just days into working alongside Hyungwon. How careful he was with the money, how he drove it somewhere to someone, and how that someone never came within arms reach of the bar.

"Accidents happen." You claimed.

The coffee cup cradled in his large, veiny hands still steaming—he could only chuckle "Accidents?"

All it would take is for the gas line on the old refrigerator to be loosened, for a blue flame from the stove to be lit—and a massive fire to burn down the space you and Hyungwon had come to call home.

"Ashes to ashes." Hyungwon almost sang, humming into his coffee as a single strand of hair fell over his forehead. "Dust to dust."

"And a way out for us."

"It would be a damn shame for the business to lose so much money." He claimed, shaking his head and squinting his eyes.

It was clear that Hyungwon had never thought to act on breaking his speechless contract with the runner of the fight club. He had lived in and owned this bar for years, becoming an asset to the business. It was perfect.

"They would never know it was on purpose." He spoke, eyes widening and staring at your shaking legs standing across from him. "Not on purpose—done by me, at least. It would seem like an act of tyranny done by someone in the club or someone from the outside who's taken notice of us."

As the cut on your cheek had begun to turn into nothing more than a scar, Hyungwon had taken it upon himself to gain more wounds. His tired state now focused on the paradise of leaving the tavern and never returning—you could see something twisting in him.

"It's foolproof."

Every light in the bar had become blinding the more you took notice of them in such a dim space. You and Hyungwon had fucked on every clean surface—the place was losing its spark. Your words had been true, there was more for you somewhere else. And the tavern, being a bookie, had easily become a distant memory even while still being placed in the building.

One thing the business had never taken into account, the use of security cameras. Had they, you would have been caught long before Hyungwon found you stealing from the cash register.

But they were too durable, too updated. Glass breaking alarms would be set off too often, smoke alarms would never work in a bar that allows smoking, and cameras would be evidence of violence and suspicious activity that was pulled in by the true use of the tavern.

Foolproof.

Hyungwon hadn't once commented on his own leather jacket now on your body, only pulling it off you to fuck you on the couch one last time. His feverish hot skin against yours, the squeak of the wooden frame shaking hard enough that his jacket slid to the floor, and the rush of his cum deep into you until you could feel him shaking.

It wasn't his normal shake of release, every limb of his body coming to terms with what was occuring. What he was blackmailing, who he was going against, and the run of his life coming his way.

Then again, he always fucked to think or forget.

Every metal handle cold against your hot palm made you shiver, the amount of money packed away inside the cases bringing a smirk to your lips. His classic car backed up to the back door of the tavern looked so normal, spaced out to appear as if he was hiding the vehicle.

With almost ten miles surrounding the tavern, unoccupied and shielding your actions—you could feel the thump of your heartbeat as every minute passed and you and Hyungwon got closer to getting in the car and driving away.

The gas line had been loosened in the kitchen by a tool in a box under the sink, Hyungwon's body almost dancing its way out of the small space. Taking your hand, the smile growing on his face—the two of you stepped out into the world that was waiting for you and away from the bar just as the blue flame grew large enough to reach the gas leaving the fridge, igniting a flame that was soon engulfing the entire main floor by the time the engine was roaring.

His glasses’ lenses reflected what he could see in the rear-view mirror, the tavern now completely lit and burning the same color of his lenses if they bled together, along with the jacket you wore.

His fingertips met the frame of the glasses, pulling them from his face and clicking them closed. With a push of the accessory into the open compartment of the dash, he could only release a huff at the sight of his old life being placed behind him right before his eyes.

The eyes you begged to see the first night you met him, and the eyes you'd stare into with love until the day you died.

But for now, you'd just let the world believe you died by a blood orange flame you called Hyungwon.

if you enjoyed this: vote for the next fatal love story!

TAGLIST — @blizzardfluffykpop @crownofluminarys @honey-zip

#hyungwon smut #monsta x smut #monsta x imagines #monsta x scenarios #hyungwon imagines #hyungwon scenarios #fatallovemx.series #bearseokie.monstax #monstax.series #monsta x series #mx series

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mlwritersguild · 2 years

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Baby, even on our worst nights (I'm into you), by @2manyfandoms2count

Based on Paramore's Still Into You, submitted by @team-leo-v

AO3 link; Post-Canon, Post-Hawkmoth Defeat, Aged-Up Character(s), Established Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Anxiety, Nightmares, Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir Gets a Hug, Angst with a Happy Ending

Summary:

A stormy night in Paris, six years after Hawkmoth’s defeat. Marinette and Adrien should be over all the butterflies, but they still haunt them, each in their own way.

Thankfully, they can always count on each other.

Fic written for the MWG’s August 2022 event.

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

The bedroom’s ceiling is white, void of any cracks.

Marinette could tell even without seeing it in the pitch dark of the night; she’d stared at it enough over the course of… Kwami, has it already been three years? she thought as she shifted from the edge of the bed to lie on her back. She sighed as she did so, the sound barely audible over the pitter-patter of the rain outside.

It was one of those nights. The nights when, no matter what she tried, there was just no going to sleep. The nights when it felt like she’d never be able to untie the knots in her stomach, in spite of how much experience she had with yarn.

A flash of lightning illuminated the room.

Still no cracks, she noted, the fact oddly relieving, making her forget about her nerves for a second.

Strangely, or so some people could’ve said, it wasn’t the thunderstorm that bothered her; if anything, she’d always found them to be quite soothing. After all, a lot of memorable things had happened to her in the rain, and — even when it had felt like pathetic fallacy — there’d always been something bright to hang onto. A single, beautiful, ray of sunshine.

Next to her, Adrien mumbled and shifted in his sleep. She rolled to her side to face him.

A frown was creasing his perfect (in her humble, totally unbiased opinion) forehead. His breathing was accelerating, as, she was sure, was his pulse, sounding more like gasps than proper breaths. A drop of sweat rolled down his face from his right temple.

Marinette immediately scooted closer, her hand seeking his. Upon contact, his fingers retreated briefly, as if he’d been burned. Then he gripped her hand like his life depended on it, and something told her that it probably did.

She winced at the tightness of his grasp, which squeezed her fingers together uncomfortably, and gently loosened his hold on her with her free hand. She grimaced apologetically through the process, even though he couldn’t see it; she loved the man sleeping next to her with all her heart, but she wasn’t ready to lose body parts for him over a nightmare. She adjusted their hands so their fingers were interlocked, brought them to her lips, and wrapped herself around him in a tight hug.

“I’m here, mon chaton,” she whispered. “You and me against the world.”

While Adrien had always been able to sleep through his anxiety attacks, she could never sleep a wink; somehow they were always hit at the same time, suffering through the night together. The famous— no, legendary, Ladybug and Chat Noir sync, still at play ten years later. Marinette’s lips tugged into a gentle smile at the thought, lovingly stroking her boyfriend’s hair. Surviving six years of relationship, including three of living together.

Six years. Six years of freedom. Six years of clear skies. Six years of dreams and fairytale love.

But also six years of getting back up. Six years of judgement. Six years of nightmares and sleepless nights.

All because of one fateful day.

Marinette didn’t need to be a mind reader to know exactly what had Adrien whimpering in his sleep, breaking her heart as tears rolled down his cheeks and he incoherently pleaded to someone she couldn’t see. She’d been there with him in the crypt. She’d seen the scene play out in front of her very eyes.

The day they’d discovered that it had been Gabriel Agreste, of all people, who’d been terrorising their city. Who’d relentlessly pursued them for years, stealing their teenage years instead of their magical jewellery.

The day they’d discovered Emilie’s body in the crypt of the Agreste Mansion. What little of Adrien’s world still remained standing had crumbled right there and then, under the pouring rain.

Ladybug, Chat Noir and the weather had barged in from above, cornering Hawkmoth against the closed coffin after days of hiding. It was Chat Noir who’d rushed to rip off the brooch from Hawkmoth’s chest, freezing when the magic receded around Gabriel. Marinette wasn’t entirely sure what had happened then, if Gabriel had guessed who Chat Noir was, if it’d been a gamble, a simple distraction, or even an accident, but the coffin had opened. After a second of Chat Noir’s eyes darting between it and Gabriel, his legs wobbling beneath him, he’d finally collapsed to his knees.

That was when Ladybug had connected the dots.

Gabriel had lunged at his motionless son, reaching for a Miraculous, any Miraculous. He’d snatched the brooch, but Ladybug had sent it flying into the depth of the crypt, landing a good punch on his cheek. Her glare had been icy when Gabriel looked up at her, and his initially outraged expression quickly changed into fear. Ladybug’s anger had increased tenfold, giving her the ability to tie him up and throw him in a corner of the crypt.

Through all of it, Adrien hadn’t moved. She wasn’t sure she’d even seen him breathe at all until the police had arrived. He’d just stared emptily at his mother’s lifeless body, the rain plastering his blond locks to his forehead, mixing with the tears on his cheeks.

Had she not known any better, she would’ve snatched her partner’s ring and wished for a new reality where he’d been born into a loving family. She’d refrained to act on her impulse and resorted to watching the bizarrely breathtaking picture of the Agreste family, not daring to disturb the moment of grief. Adrien clearly needed it, and he deserved it.

In her quiet contemplation, the Butterfly brooch remained where it had landed.

When the special forces had arrived, she’d helped the hull of her best friend, her partner, the boy she loved, up, holding his hand as they watched his father get carried away. She hadn’t let go when the police had offered them a ride home. She’d promised herself that she wouldn’t ever let go of him again, if he’d let her.

“Adrien,” she’d whispered in his ear after their driver had turned on the radio.

Chat Noir had started and looked at her with wide eyes. She’d squeezed his hand and given him a small smile.

“I know this might not be the best time, but… I love you.”

She’d heard Chat Noir’s breath catch in his throat, and decided to hug him with her free arm, the other one still clutching his hand.

“You don’t have to say anything back,” she’d continued, the hair above his ear tickling the bridge of her nose. “But I thought you should know.”

She hadn’t realised how tense his shoulders had been until he’d let his chin rest on her shoulder, and he’d wrapped his arm around her waist. It was like his muscles were melting under her fingers, and yet it felt to her as if he’d fly away if she let go.

“I love you too, my Lady,” he’d mumbled in her hair, his voice thick with emotion.

She wasn’t sure what she’d expected would happen next; maybe that he’d collapse again, this time in the safety of her arms. Maybe that he’d just hold her tighter. Or maybe, just maybe, that he’d kiss her.

What she hadn’t expected was that the radio host would announce Station’s Holiday Camp, and that it would have Adrien snap to attention. He had looked at her with wide eyes and a disbelieving grin, before leaning between the two front seats to ask the police officers to turn the volume up.

Then he’d started singing with all his heart, and Marinette couldn’t help but join in. They’d sung together for the rest of the song, fingers still interlocked; they’d remained that way through the officers dropping them off in a random street Ladybug had named off the top of her head, the walk back to her house, dinner, and they would have stayed that way all night, had Sabine not insisted that Adrien and Marinette both needed a shower, and obviously a separate one.

By the time they were both in night clothes (Adrien floating in a t-shirt Tom had lent him), both heroes were too tired to think beyond crashing somewhere resembling a bed. Marinette had made it up her mezzanine, while Adrien had stumbled onto her sofa. They might not have been in physical contact anymore, but it hadn’t mattered. They were together, and knew they wouldn’t ever willingly be apart again.

They hadn’t had nightmares that night.

In the morning, they’d discovered that nobody had found the Butterfly Miraculous in the Agreste crypt after Gabriel’s arrest. Or, rather, nobody with good intentions; soon after, a new villain had stepped out of the shadows. They’d managed to get a hold of them after some time, but the Miraculous had already changed hands again. When they’d finally retrieved it, it was the Peacock Miraculous that had gone missing. And so on, and so forth, for six, long, years.

Beyond their bad nights and constant quest to regain the Miraculouses, things hadn’t been a walk in the park. Ladybug and Chat Noir had promised the Parisians that they’d reveal their identities when the full Miraculous roster was back inside the Miracle Box, and that the latter was safely in Ladybug’s possession. Only their closest friends and family knew their secrets.

The rest of the city remained oblivious, but had learned about Adrien and Marinette’s relationship through a tabloid, a few days after Hawkmoth’s defeat had been announced. Marinette couldn’t count the number of anonymous letters she’d received over the years, judging her for dating the son of a terrorist, the number of articles that had been written about her relationship, “offering her a way out if she was trapped in it”, calling her a traitor for associating with “the enemy”. And that wasn't counting the piles of mail that she knew were gathering inside the Agreste mansion. Seeing Adrien painted as a villain had made her want to scream.

And yet, every time, Adrien had gently closed the offending browser tabs, pried the paper out of her hands, and hugged her as she cried her bitter tears, wondering if they shouldn’t throw caution to the wind and just reveal their identities to the world. To make Adrien’s pain, although he hid it well, go away.

“As long as you're by my side, I don't care if it doesn't make sense to them,” he whispered. “It's you and me against the world.”

“Always,” Marinette vowed back.

Adrien whimpered again in his sleep; Marinette kissed his sweaty forehead.

Everything they'd faced, and everything they were still facing, could have frayed their relationship, inching them closer to a breaking point. It would have, for most people.

Yet, it seemed to Marinette that it kept bringing them closer. In her darkest hours, it was only when Adrien was near her that she knew she'd be alright, and she had an inkling it was a reciprocated feeling.

Their relationship went beyond mere reassurance and safety, though. Their bad nights were the worst part of their relationship, that much was true, but the rest was so good. Every morning, her heart swelled as their eyes met for yet another day. She couldn’t get enough of his jokes, of the butterflies she felt when she heard his laugh. Of all the trivia he’d collected kwami-knew-where. Of the enthusiasm at every new project their loved ones would talk about. Of the way his hand always found hers when they walked side by side.

Marinette loved Adrien; more than anything in the world.

She told him, often, but in the middle of the storm that night, she found that she needed to extricate him from his disturbed sleep to tell him again, and to go a step further.

“Adrien,” she said gently, wiping a tear off of his cheek and combing his hair back with her fingers.

His features relaxed a little. Kwami, he’s so perfect.

“My love,” she repeated slightly louder.

Adrien’s eyes fluttered open as he took a deep, shaky breath.

“Marinette? Oh, I’m sorry,” he sniffled. “Did I wake you because I was crying again?”

Marinette couldn’t tell if her heart broke or melted at the question, or both at the same time. Leave it to him to put her feelings above his own.

“Of course not, Chaton.” She kissed his forehead. “I just wanted to make sure you knew that I love you.”

Adrien’s lips pulled into a wobbly smile, and he pulled her closer. “You always know exactly what to say, my Lady,” he mumbled against her cheek.

“I also had a fairly urgent question,” Marinette said in a contented sigh.

“One that couldn’t wait until morning? I’m all ears, love.” He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.

Marinette took a deep breath.

“Will you marry me?”

#ml writers guild #august event 2022 #2manyfandoms2count #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug fic #ml fic #mlb #miraculous #adrienette #adrinette #adrien agreste x marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #marinette dupain-cheng #love square #lovesquare #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir

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arithmeticanimaniac · 9 months

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tag someone you want to know better

tagged by @romanceyourdemons

favorite color: bright pink (also any happy color)

last song: the last song i deliberately played was either “Almost Like Being in Love” by Nat King Cole or “September in the Rain” by Dinah Washington, but the last song that came up on shuffle was “Juliet” by LMNT

last movie: either around the world in 80 days (2004) or inception (2010)

currently watching: the last season of archer (2009)

other stuff i watched this year: lmao i actually have a lot of half baked reviews in my drafts but i never posted them because i’m almost always at my queue limit so here’s my chance to do a rapid fire round of reviews (based entirely on whether i enjoyed them)

how to marry a millionaire (1953) 👍 too many people forget what a comedic genius marilyn monroe was

Love Sarah (2020) 👍 🥲 a bakery, romance, grief and healing, intergenerational bonding, what more could you want

My man Godfrey (1936) 👎 boring

bringing up baby (1938) 👎 it has its moments, blueprint for disney channel show shenanigans

memories of the sword (2015) 👍 sooooo melodramatic

The Dig (2018) 👍 haunting

the misfits (2021) 👍 it is Not Good, but inexplicably charming

Free guy (2021) 👍 responsible for the resurgence of mariah carey in my playlist

Papillon (2017) 🤷🏻‍♀️ hard to get through but not bad

Chungking Express (1994) 👍 i’m not usually an atmospheric film type, but wow

The Lost City (2022) 👍 i had fun

The French dispatch (2021) 🤷🏻‍♀️ tried watching this multiple times, fell asleep each time but the fact that i tried multiple times means it goes on this list

most of the movies in the DCAMU (2013-2020) 👍 i saw a gif from Teen Titans: the Judas contract (2017) which led me to watch 11 of these 16 movies lmao curse you tumblr

Blue crush (2002) 👎

the Batman (2022) 👎

Lost in the stars (2022) 👍 the whole thing could’ve been avoided if (spoilers) were lesbian, but anyways it made me want to visit hainan and shanghai

Dumplings (2004) 👍 i mean i can’t eat dumplings anymore without gagging but

the burning sea (2021) 🤷🏻‍♀️ i remember laughing at the cheesiness (idk how accurately they translated from norwegian), but solid disaster movie

alive (2020) 👍 korean filmmakers really know zombies, but mix in quarantine era

Palm Springs (2020) 👍 went into this blind expecting white lotus lol (very much not white lotus)

The babysitter: killer queen (2020) 👍 i can only do horror if it’s campy horror

the menu (2022) 👎 well made movie, not for me

blockers (2018) 👍

joy ride (2023) 👍

Spider-Man: across the spider-verse (2023) 👍

king arthur: legend of the sword (2017) 👍 i don’t care i enjoyed its ridiculousness

Austenland (2013) 👍 it’s so bad!! i laughed, i cringed, i awww’ed

the tuxedo (2002) 🤷🏻‍♀️ better enjoyed in highlight clips

Matilda the musical (2022) 👎 if i hadn’t seen the danny devito version i might have enjoyed this

heathers the musical (2022) 👎 the off bway actors were better

Mayhem (2017) 👍 samara weaving and steven yeun! another movie apollo threw a covid dodgeball at

Charlie Chan at the wax museum (1940) 🤷🏻‍♀️ could’ve been good, hard to watch with the yellowface and racism

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) 👍

shows i dropped this year/didn’t finish: justified (2010), killing eve (2018) , gannibal (2022), beef (2023), doom patrol (2019)

currently reading: bel canto, but mainly just a lot of medical articles

currently working on: finding a new job because hellooooo 2 year itch

current obsession: ok so if you look at english language sources, most say that pregnant onions are toxic and therefore not edible. however, the medicinal value of pregnant onions is apparently not uncommon knowledge in other cultures (fuck yeah china and south africa). so a family friend gave us a few mature plants that make into soup and i picked off the little seedlings and have been tending to them. that led to spending more time tending to my other plants (i have a lot more loquat trees than i remember) and now i’m trying to air layer some stuff. TLDR; gardening

tagging anyone who wants to do this :)

#tag game #tag me bc i’m sooo nosy about stuff people are watching #this was fun! i forgot i watched so many things so digging through my memory took a while #long post #.txt

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beetlebrownleaf · 2 years

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#WoLiangerWeek 2022 Day 7 - Closure

Mind the content warnings. Major Endwalker spoilers.

[CW for mentions of pregnancy and suicidal ideation.]

Urianger stirred awake, quietly groaning as he wrapped more blanket around him. It was a peaceful, if gloomy morning, the rain smattering gently against the roof, dripping down the windows. In truth, Urianger wondered if it truly was raining, for his dream involved rain as well.

More dreams. More recollections. It would seem Vesper’s memory, once again, stirred in his sleeping moments.

Is it something I’ve done?

No. There is nothing you have done.

…I miss you, Hermes.

You will forget me, in time.

Is that what you want? To be forgotten?

What I want is to have never been born. To have died before this question, this agony, had ever burned within my breast. I'm sorry. I know it isn't fair to you, Vesper, but I just wish to be left alone.

…Then I will honor that wish.

The realization sunk heavy, but not as painfully as one might expect. Like remembering not one’s own wound, but that of another - another who is long gone.

But he wasn’t gone, was he? Not fully… Vesper was a part of Urianger. Or, perhaps, rather, the other way around. Urianger wondered: was he a lesser piece, a smaller piece, lying in wait within the soul of Vesper? A piece that would never have been seen, had the Sundering never occurred?

“Hey.”

Urianger averted his gaze to his wife, now sitting on her knees above him. She had two mugs in her hand, and he could tell from the wafting fragrance that she had brewed his favorite vanilla oolong.

“You alright?”

“I am… unsure,” he said, rising to take the mug of tea.

He looked at her, wearing a light sweater, a messy braid, and not much else. It was one of his sweaters, in fact, and it threatened to swallow her whole, but she liked to sleep in them specifically because of that. He took in the sight of her, fair and glowing in the downcast gloom, and he sighed, smiling warmly, with fondness in his tired eyes.

“I love thee,” he announced, quietly, gently.

“I love you too,” she said, settling against him.

There was not a word shared for a long moment, the two of them drinking their tea and listening to the rain. Beetle rested her hand on her belly; it was already beginning to grow heavier with child. She had not felt movement, but she had read it was much too early for that anyways.

"You know, the book I read said the baby should already have little arms and legs by now," she said.

"Truly? How fascinating," he replied, still rather sleepy, "Perhaps the baby shalt be knocking at thy door soon."

"My 'door'?"

"Aha, that is what Moenbryda's mother called it, when the baby begins to kick and move about in the belly. She wouldst claim that Moenbryda wert 'kicking in' the door, when she carried her," he said, with a small laugh, "I pray thine experience is far more merciful."

"Yeah, well. I don't know. I can't seem to kick the tea habit - can you believe I not only have to nix alcohol, but caffeine as well? Although I read that, if I am used to caffeine, I shouldn't just cut myself off cold turkey. I'll try to wean myself off slowly. Or, hells, maybe Whoever will just be born jumpy as a frog.”

Urianger frowned, her wording rekindling his memory.

What I want is to have never been born.

Beetle could feel the change in his heartbeat as she rested up on him.

"Something the matter?"

He sighed.

"More dreams doth plague me," he answered, "Rather revealing dreams.”

“Is it Vesper again?”

“...Yes. And Hermes.”

Beetle’s brows rose.

“You mean… Fandaniel? That Hermes?”

“Yes,” he said, “I now recall the relationship that I– that Vesper - shared with him.”

Beetle took a long, thoughtful sip of her tea.

“It ended… sadly, didn’t it?” she said, recollecting herself, “Did you - ugh, damn it, - did they ever make up? I can’t really remember.”

Urianger breathed deeply through his nose, thinking.

“It was… it was some time after the events of my dream, I believe,” he said, “Yes… but mere weeks before the Final Days.”

Beetle’s eyes widened.

“Ohh, that’s right,” she said, “I remember thinking - rather, I remember Branwen thinking how tragic it was, after the end of it all… the world, in ruins… the souls of the Convocation changing… Hermes, he clung to you, didn’t he - he said–”

“He said he could feel his soul changing, and he worried… he worried what he may do. The way he cried…”

“Gods, and, you know,” Beetle said, sitting up, placing her mug down, “It all makes sense now… the way Venat looked at me - at Branwen - she looked like she wished she could tell her something so badly… and of course, I get it now. She knew. Gods… the way she hugged me - Branwen - the way she held onto her before we - before Vesper and Branwen were to start their journey out to the wider world… she knew she would never see her again. She’d never see the woman she loved so much again… gods. I feel like, in all the years I knew Hydaelyn, I never really knew her until I went to Elpis. And then everything made sense. She and Branwen were lovers, of a kind. The core of the group was Branwen, Vesper, Hades, and Hythlodaeus, but I… Branwen… had a special bond with Venat. And you - or, well, Vesper… gods this is confusing - had a similar bond with Hermes.”

Urianger sighed.

“I understand thy disorientation - I experience it myself, at times. There art times where I awaken from a dream, still believing I am Vesper. We art not them, and yet, we are. We are remnants of the beings known as Vesper and Branwen. Thou art a remnant of Azem.”

Beetle picked her tea back up, taking a sip as he continued:

“Always didst I feel some… some piece missing, some question unanswered regarding Vesper. I find myself wondering why it had been a mystery to me for so long, but I think, perhaps… perhaps Vesper himself buried it away. As far as he could. He was fond of Hermes; I would even go so far as to say that he loved him. But it was a neglected, unnurtured love, cut off and withered too soon… how tragic. If only Hermes had merely allowed Vesper to help him in his grief… even if this grief wert false, seeing as Meteion had not truly died, as he so believed.”

“Gods, or if he let anyone help him, for that matter. And poor Venat… the burden she carried. I understand it only too well… I have to wonder how hard a decision it must have been, to place such burdens on me, knowing how it feels on even an unsundered being… gods. I used to hate her so much at times, I used to get so angry… but of course, I see now. Did she do the right thing? I don’t know if I can say. But I can understand it now, at least.”

She took another sip, listening to the rain. Urianger was quiet, and Beetle turned to him.

“You alright?”

“Yes,” he answered, “It is… a sad feeling, knowing what I now know, but I am… content. I am at peace.”

Beetle nodded.

“Yeah. Closure is like that, I guess. Sad, but complete.”

They both looked out at the rain, separately but simultaneously likening their feelings to it. Gloomy, but peaceful. Urianger placed down his mug as he curled up around her.

“I love thee.”

Beetle began to gently scratch his scalp, eliciting a contented hum from him.

“I love you too.”

#woliangerweek #woliangerweek2022 #ew spoilers #endwalker spoilers #6.0 spoilers #6.0 #endwalker #ship: the sun and all her stars #ship: I trust you

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gardenpolh · 2 years

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Fanny brice

Thirteen years after her death she was portrayed by Barbara Streisand in Funny Girl, the hit musical about her life. Her successful career earned her the Grammy Hall of Fame award for her hit single “My Man,” and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her second husband, also the father of her two children, served three years in a penitentiary and disappeared when he was released. There is no director who can direct you like an audience.” She experienced the typical amount of upheaval in her personal life that often seems to follow performers. Fanny Brice originally did My Man, My Man. She said, “Your audience gives you everything you need. Fanny Brice covered Id Rather Be Blue, Second Hand Rose and If You Want the Rainbow (You Must Have the Rain). Another version by Ted Lewis and His Band charted at 2. She ended up singing in a burlesque house, which was the least competitive performance venue at the time, and was discovered there by Ziegfeld who made her a star in his famous Ziegfeld Follies that same year.īrice relied on the response of the audience rather than her directors. Great song Introduced by Fanny Brice in the 'Ziegfeld Follies of 1921'. She got her start in a talent contest when she was 13 and won first prize for the song “When You Know You’re Not Forgotten by the Girl You Can’t Forget.” She left school to pursue a career in the music industry, but she failed in her first attempts. Lea Michele's return to Broadway is rapidly approaching she takes over the role of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl beginning September 6.In anticipation, the production shared on their social media. Marital problems caused the family to separate, and as a result Brice ended up in New York, settling in Brooklyn. Her father was a bartender and her mother worked in a factory. Julie Benko will play the lead role of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl at the August Wilson Theater until August 31, 2022, after which point she will play the role every Thursday as an alternate to Lea Michele.Like many performers of her time, Brice did it all singer, actress, comedian, and radio personality. Fanny Brice was a popular and influential American comedienne, singer, theatre and film actress, who made many stage, radio and film appearances but is best remembered as the creator and star of the top-rated radio comedy series, The Baby Snooks Show. For the month of August, however, the stage belongs to Benko. The character of Brice herself mirrors Benko's story in many ways - a young actress that nobody knows proves she's got what it takes to be a Broadway star.įeldstein's tenure in Funny Girl ended on July 31st, and it was announced that Glee's Lea Michele would take over the role on September 1. Shot in black-and-white, the teaser shows Michele rehearsing for the show along. As Benko played more performances, audiences fell more and more in love with her, cheering her on as Fanny Brice. On Friday, Broadway’s Funny Girl officially revealed the first footage of Lea Michele as lead Fanny Brice. Arnstein, here Lea Michele is The Emmy nominated actress will return to Broadway this September, stepping into the role of Fanny Brice in the revival. Ambitious and determined, she never let setbacks deter her from pursuing. Julie Benko '13 (BFA, Drama)/'21 (MFA, Graduate Acting) was hired to play the understudy to Beanie Feldstein's 'Fanny Brice' in the Funny Girl revival. Find the location of Fanny Brices star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, read a biography, see related stars and browse a map of important places in their. However, Brice spent three years on the Eastern Burlesque Circuit perfecting her skill. Emmy nominee Lea Michele is taking over the. Legendary musical Funny girl will have a new lead actress stepping in as Fanny Brice. Today, the 2022 Funny Girl revival may be doing the same for another up-and-comer - just not the one people may have expected. In just over a week, big changes are coming to Broadway. When Funny Girl first premiered on Broadway in 1964, the show (and subsequent movie) helped propel a young Barbara Streisand into stardom. Fanny Brice was a popular and influential American illustrated song model, comedienne, singer, theatre and film actress, who made many stage, radio and. The Development & Alumni Relations Team.Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.Rita & Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing.Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film & Television The real Fanny Brice was, in her time, a tremendously popular comedienne who first established herself in vaudeville and later in radio, portraying her.

#Fanny brice

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dybdahltravels2022 · 2 years

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Hello Scotland!

Today is September 12, 2022 - Stromness. We are in the beautiful sunshine drenched Orkney Islands - no, wait - I mean the wet and rainy Orkney Islands - no wait - the sunshiny Orkney Islands - nope the raining like hell Orkney islands - no..... OH forget it. We are in the Orkney Islands I have NEVER seen weather change so dramatically so quickly in one place. We left the ship today at 9:30 and the skies were bright blue, with small whispy clouds

We drove about a half hour to a local farm and still sunshine galore our coats tucked into our backpacks. The Orkney Islands is a archipelago of 70 islands - not all inhabited but mostly used for grazing. There are big and "peety" islands but the island we are on is referred to as Mainland Orkney. "Peety" is an Orkadian word for small.

They invited us in, served us pancakes, tea and jams and showed us a beautiful - but dying art - of utilitarian basket weaving. Orkney Islands have no trees - and as such have no wood. (Wood until regular ferry serivce and Amazon was drift wood - mostly from ship wrecks.) These baskets made of straw and cord used to be standardly used for baby bassets and to hold anything that we might put in cupboards, drawers etc. Today, they can have anything they want shipped in - but for the last few 1,000 years that was not the case. These baskets were study and heavy - and BEAUTIFUL!!

Shortly after that, we walked to the barn but we needed our jackets - brrrrr! . While we heard about their newly impregnated sheep -

the skies opened and it poured. Then it stopped and we walked to another barn. We learned about barley and other protein that it takes to keep sheep throughout t the winter - then it rained - LIKE crazy. Then some of us walked and some of us rode in a hay wagon out to the fields in the bright sunshine - then we stopped at a learning center for the study of some endangered birds of Orkney - then it rained. Soon we hopped on the wagon again in the sunshine and went back to the farm - but I put on my gloves and scarf!!

We had a delightful lunch and it was pouring rain while we ate. Then sunshine - but when it came to leave - raining like crazy. The bus was just outside the house - but we were drenched. 30 minutes later we boarded the boat in the cold windy sunshine.

30 minutes after that came the rain - horizontal and loaded with hail. OMG!!! It has been at least 30 minutes since then and it is bright and sunny. I felt a bit like a "peety" yoyo.

BUT - I am way ahead of my self. We arrived in Inverness, Scotland on September 5, 2022. We spent the first two days exploring the beautiful city. It is chilly there and we needed coats for the first time although we had drug them around with us since we left Michigan on August 12th. The temps felt GREAT!!! This is Mark and me standing on a bridge over the River Ness.

Inverness is lovely!

Both outside and in.

We stayed in a lovely flat - but sadly it was on the third floor of this building.

That is our flat on the top floor. It was hard getting our luggage up to our place - but other than than it was great. Climbing steps is good for us - FYI.

We had a great time in Inverness and ate in local restaurants and ate local foods including this traditional Scottish Breakfast (we split this FYI). Some haggis, blood pudding and a potato scone always gets your heart pumping in the morning.

During our sty - we took 2 tours and enjoyed ourselves learning a little bit about this beautiful country.

Below is the write up from September 7.

Wednesday, September 7, 2022,

Today we took a tour of some of the wonders that surround Inverness, like Loch Ness and the Culloden Battlefield. ( FYI - If Michigan was part of Scotland, Michigan would be surrounded by Great Lochs.)

Inverness sits atop The Great Glen fault. Check out the perfect line that cuts the Scottish Highlands into:

Loch Ness is part of that fault and it is the deepest of all the lakes in Scotland and holds more water than all the other lakes in Scotland combined. Think about that!! Loch Ness is also part of the of the Caladonia Canal system built in the early 1800s. Sadly by the time the Canal was opened it was discovered that it was too shallow for the large ships Scotland had hoped would use it - so back to work. After another 20 years the much deeper canal system opened but by this time the trains ruled the day - so it never did what was planned and today is used by pleasure boaters only.

Loch Ness is also the home of Nessie - the giant sea monster that looks like a plesiosaurus! Spoiler alert - the is no Nessis - but there are some very long and fat eels that live in the dark deep recesses of the loch. The lake is 750 feet deep at the deepest point and it is brown due to the peaty land surrounding the lake that leach tannic acid into the lake with every rain - and OMG - they get a lot of rain!!

It is said that in one day a person can experience all four seasons - and during our 8-hour tour, we came close. Our day started with coats, scarves and umbrellas. We had rain 3 different times and bright sunshine and heat which caused everyone to shed our coats - several times. Dark skies, gray skies, blue skies - it made my head spin.

Back to Loch Ness: It is cold with the summer temp reaching about 6 C or 44 F. No one swims in it of course without a wetsuit - but it is beautiful!

On a strategic promontory once stood the castle of the Grant clan, Urquhart Castle. The Grants were a big fans of the English Protestant King George II and an enemy of the Jacobites - the Catholics that wanted King James IV or II depending on your political point of view and his heir Bonny Prince Charlie - returned to the throne. Long story short - the Jacobites blew up the Grant castle and this is what is left.

Some info on The Jacobites: (This is VERY IMPORTANT history to the Scots!!) It all started with James VII, as they called him in Scotland or James II as he was known in England, the last Roman Catholic monarch to reign over the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. Invaded by his Protestant son-in-law, William of Orange and subsequently overthrown, James was forced into exile in France in 1688. The Jacobites (which means supporter of James) were around from his time until well into the next century.

A bit of info about King James - whatever Roman numeral you want to use. He converted to Catholicism and when his brother, King Charles II, died he became King in 1685. His brother had been rather progressive sharing power with Parliament, talking about peoples rights, etc. but King James whatever #, thought - OH HELL NO!!! Kings - anointed by God to rule the people - do NOT share power with anyone. This sorta’ set the tone. Three years was enough of this tyrant and he was replaced and exiled to France in 1688.. King William and Queen Mary (Protestant daughter of James the whatever.) At first that was cool with James, but on second thought he thought - I really DID like being the King and he started gathering this supporters - the Jacobites. (Jacobus is James in Latin - FYI)

So William and Mary ruled and they accepted and supported a comprehensive Bill of Rights of 1689 including the provision eliminating cruel and unusual punishment and - get this - worked WITH Parliament. Our own Bill of Rights uses many of the components found in this English document. Most people liked them (William & Mary) - Catholics not so much - but they did allow Catholics to worship as they wished with their heads on - so to speak.

But James and his supporters kept up their hope to return to the throne. From 1689 to 1690 James' most zealous Scottish supporters, rallied troops and turned to military action against William and Mary's government forces. The first Jacobite rising broke out, but popular support for a Jacobite war wasn't forthcoming. But they were not done.

In 1707, the two kingdoms of Scotland and England were united much to the dismay of those who supported the Jacobite cause. James VIII/III attempted to claim the throne twice, in 1708 and in 1715, which resulted in the Jacobite rising of 1715 . In 1719, the Jacobites found an ally in Spain - a passionately Catholic county - so they tried again to retake the throne.

After failing to persuade the French government to commit to another invasion, Prince Charles, (Bonnie Prince Charlie or the 'Young Pretender,) decided to fund his own Jacobite rebellion in 1745. He sailed from France to Scotland, arriving in July 1745 and then travelled across the Highlands, to assemble a Jacobite army. And that brings us to the biggest and last battle of the Jacobites - the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Spoiler alert: The Jacobites are no more after this.

Two important things: 1. The Jacobites were not just people from the Highlands - despite the TV shows you are watching. There were bands of people from many places in England, Wales and Ireland - FYI. 2. The people opposing the Jacobites were not just English. There were English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh people who wanted William and Mary to remain on the throne. So to fully understand this final battle one must understand it was the Jacobites vs the current Government troops. Of course the government troops had uniforms, military equipment and supplies - lots of supplies - including food for their troops.

The Jacobites were volunteers who brought their own weapons and relied on the villagers to give them food, when their supplies ran low. They were fierce and brutal and dominated in hand-to-hand conflict when they fought in a line - on their terms. Each of the fighting men carried a shield and a broadsword. In a line, the guy to the far right pushed away his enemy with the shield and the man standing next to him killed that guy and pushed his opponent to the left with his shield so his buddy standing on his left could to do the same. Rinse and repeat. It worked great as long as they picked the place to fight and were prepared, lined up and ready to go. But in April of 1746 there was a spat between the commander who had won every battle fought so far and Bonny Prince Charlie - so like his Dad and thought he knew best - you know - as God’s anointed one to rule the land. So, he played the power card and took control and the battle took place in a bog and a ditch and the technique for which they were famous could not be used. By April 16th all most all of the Jacobites - excluding Bonny Prince Charlie who lived to fight another day - were dead on the Culloden battlefield.

And while that should have been the end - it was not because the head of the Government forces (who happened to be a nephew of the King) began to earn his nickname “Butcher Cumberland.” He commanded his men to examine the battlefield and to kill anyone who was not already dead. NO PRISONERS.

So, it should have ended there - but it did not and for the next 3 years the government troops led by Butcher Cumberland marched into each small Highland village, raped the women and children and then killed everyone. FOR THREE FREAKING YEARS!!! It mattered not if the village had been fans of the kings or the Jacobites. The only good Highlander was a dead Highlander. It is estimated that this sadist maniac and his troops killed more than 30,000 people. Finally, the troops were ordered home and the King exiled his nephew. (Although I think if EVER there was a case for drawing and quartering it was right there!)

This was officially the end of the clans of the Highlands and while a few people escaped - their lives changed forever. This - BTW - did not endear the English to the Scots.

Another interesting fact: At the time of this battle the tartan had nothing to do with identifying the clan. As a matter of fact there were only two manufactures of tartars - a long piece of plaid material wrapped around the waist several times and then over the shoulder and held in place with a brooch or pin. They did not wear kilts - as there were no kilts (that came later.). The two plaid patterns didn’t tell what clan you belonged to - but where you purchased your tartan. The large lengths of cloth were multi-use for example they were used as a sleeping bag too. The clan tartans were a brilliant marketing concept and at the beginning there were 40 clans who bought into the idea. Now the manufactures are making 4,000 different tartans - one for any name that has ever had any connection with Scotland, Ireland, Wales and regions of England. There is an Armstrong tartan, a Keith, Leslie, Grant, Logan, Bowen, Anson and Colin tartan. No Dybdahl, Eberle, Haven, Kepler or Sagan tartans - sorry. (Sorry girls - no girl names- except Leslie.)

Anyway we went to see the Culloden battlefield and other than getting a pretty good understanding of why this battle was so important, seeing the battle flied is not a real thrill. Below is the battlefield now covered with heather.

And speaking of heather here is a building that was on the battlefield at the time of the battle and the roof is thatched with heather - which lasts about 25 years.

And lastly, the memorial to all the men who died here - on both sides.

Our tour contained many other components as well - for example we saw the famous "he-lee coos."

These are super shaggy cows that are native to the Highlands and apparently their meat is fabulous. I didn't know how to spell the name of these "he-lee coos." so I asked and our guide spelled HIGHLAND COWS. Ahhhhhh..

We visited the ruins of a priory in Beauly, Scotland built in the 1400s and burned by the Jacobites. It is still a stunning building - now just a part of the local cemetery.

Also saw some burial mounds with standing stone rings. Fascinating!

These mounds are 5000 + years old and were once at least 5 feet taller. They rocks that made up these mounds can be found in buildings and walls all over the area. The interior chamber of the mounds is illuminated at the very minute of the winter solstice. HOW DID THEY DO THIS!?!?!

Rings of standing stones - or monoliths are everywhere too. If only we knew why they are there.

All in all - it was a great experience. Stay turned to see what Harry Potter authour J. . Rowling used as inspiration for some of her creative additions to her books.

Stay tuned.

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justanotherbeinghere · 2 years

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I had an after-death experience in my dream. I always woke up right before I died in any of my dreams/nightmares. But this dream was definitely different. And funnily/weirdly it was a dream, not a nightmare.

So apparently me and my husband decided to go on solo plane rides because it was a "technology" that made the plane controls look and operate just like the insides of your regular car. We would each be driving/flying out own car-like-looking plane.

it was a beautiful lake with boat launch pads. I got into my plane and I launched off. The launch off ramp was a literal boat ramp🤣

So the very moment I launch, and the reason I say launch and not take off is because I started flying like it was a rocket. I was headed straight for the heavens for a couple seconds before I flipped the plane on its back and did a vertical 360°.

I tried to gain control by remembering Tom Cruise in Top Gun🤣 LITERALLY 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I somehow regained control and flew haphazardly for a while. But the plane went inside a thunderstorm cloud and by the time I got out of the black cloud and saw clear blue sky, I could also already see the roof of a house I was approaching. I knew I was going to die. I couldn't believe it. "This must be a nightmare, I must be in my bed right now" was on a loop in my head. I was hoping I would wake up right before the impact. Because that is what normally happens. I get very close to dying and yet I never die in my dreams. Not until today that is.

When I didn't snap back to reality, I remembered two people. First I remembered my husband and how he always said "your reckless adventures will kill you one day", well baby you turned out to be right. And then I remembered you, and how sad I was that I couldn't pung you one last time and if you would ever read these words of mine like I instructed you to.

I could hear people screaming from the houses.

Then there was the impact.

I felt no pain. There was a warm sensation all over my body. I knew I was dying. I might have died instantly on impact, but I could feel that moment like it was an eternity long. I then opened my eyes and just knew I was dead. I was a mere spirit already. But I was sad. I was sad that there is an after-death. I was sad that I would have to see my loved ones crying over me. I was sad that you don't just "cease to exist" once you die. I was so sad at that moment.

I was about to look around and see if I find my dead ass, and the crash site and everything but at that moment my brain decides to wake me up.

I was sleeping in my normal sleep position. I could feel my heart racing, but it wasn't the kind after a nightmare. It was SOMETHING alright. I took a moment to take in what I just experienced. I looked at the time and it was 2:30am. The sprinklers outside were still on. I was awake a few minutes before I saw this dream. Because the sprinklers turn on automatically at around 2am, that woke me up for a while. I was imagining the sounds of sprinklers to be the rain,the sound of water pitter-patter. It's weird how fast all this happened.

It was an experience I don't think I will remember to forget anytime soon.

Sept 7, 2022

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raisaumexique · 2 years

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16/06/2022

celestún

part 2/3

3 hour bus ride time skip. we arrive in the municipality of celestún. a beautiful beach down on the mexican gulf, that inhabits colorful houses each unique. we were extremely hungry so we went into one of the local beach restaurants where we had some fish. (TW : eating disorder lol) i had a little crisis because there was rice on my plate and i realised that rice triggers my ED very badly and so i wasn’t able to digest my food really good at first but then when the rice disappeared from my view it was better.

after eating i looked up to the sky to see that a storm was brewing. my pulse immediately picked up and i was extremely happy to be on this heavenly beach and commune with the rain and the sea again. so i stripped out of my clothes and ran into the water. the rain wasn’t hard but the sound of thunder was titanesque. it seemed unseen gods were roaring to make their presence known and i could only acknowledge them. there’s something extremely gratifying of being in the water while rain is pelting down on you. a mere mortal standing between two realms that i will never truly know nor understand. the skies and the seas holding me close and tenderly when they could crush or engulf me swiftly. how humbling. after the rain we stayed in the water, joking around completely forgetting that we wanted to take a boat tour of celestun. gladly a man came to see us in the water to ask if i we wanted to get on the last boat for the tour ! we immediately said yes and told him we needed to get changed and we’ll be ready. i asked him how much it was and he said 400 pesos. because i’m a smart cookie and am traumatized by being scammed at the tulum mayan ruins i ask people what original prices are before doing anything so i told him : no that’s not possible, my friend paid 300 pesos for the boat ride. he was like no it’s 400 pesos now the prices have changed. i said since when ? he said since this year. i said that’s impossible she was here yesterday, it’s 300 pesos. he then stared at me as i stared back. during this interacting annabelle was getting her ass beat by the waves. we stared at each other then he broke « okay it’s 300 pesos you’re right just please don’t tell the other passengers because they’re paying 400 pesos ». INSTANT GRATIFICATION. i told him i wouldn’t snitch that business was business, we shook hands and got our stuff to get on the boat. on the boat there were some columbian ladies and a belgian couple. the belgian guy, victor, asked us how much we paid to check if they got scammed. i personnally took immense pleasure in confirming that yes they got scammed. after some light joking the boar ride started. what ensued was grandiose. we rowed along the coast of celestun for 6km. i immediatly slipped into a meditative state. the constant buzzing in my head went silent, the other passengers disappeared it was just me, the vibration of the boat in the distant sealine. we rowed into the celestun grove. we were surrounded by the outskirts of the jungle, it was surreal. rowing deeper into that space we started seeing pink flamingos flying in formation above our heads. earlier the boat man told us that we wouldn’t see the flamingos because of the storm. but then we approached a scene that i never thought i would see in my life. baby pink flamingos huddled up in a gigantic group with their companions flying in geometrical formations and landing lightly on their feet to join the supper. it was magical. i took a thousand pictures then i just had to put my phone down and register what i was seeing. it is a true blessing to witness untouched wild life. moving on from this wonderous scene our guide took us through a mangrove tunnel. he explained that this mangrove was a protected place and that the work of the tree’s raïs (roots hihi) was to purify the water and vice versa. i fucking love trees so much. i felt their protective energy and their reconnaissance. this is what we are, what we do. our roots are interconnected and with these connections we can produce transformative healing. god i fucking loooove trees.

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s-hera · 2 years

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Nothing's gonna hurt you baby

~ Character. Manila!Mikey x reader

~ Tags. Fluff, babying Mikey, From my old blog, Grammatical errors, Typos, Not proofread.

~ Wc. 0.5k

Mikey likes to be held by your arms, like a small child, he finds it very comforting. everything stops when he's held by you. he’s so in love with you, he hopes you won’t let go. But you won’t because he has your heart.

you met mikey when it’s raining on a very dark alley. but his eyes and hair was darker, his dull eyes before was unforgettable, his dull eyes that tells his dark past, where his demons hide.

He thought he can never escape that shitty life but then he met you. his miracle, he was so close on ending his life, many attempts have failed he almost end his life that night and he’s grateful that he think about them first. he think about his memories, his siblings who kep saying in his dreams that he should continue life because one day he would find someone, someone who would cherish him like they did. someone who would understand him, someone who would hug him like they did. That night it was getting dark and you stayed with for hours, he clinged to your body like he wanted that to last forever, the both of you. He thinks of that night were the both of you were in the dark and it was getting dark,what a time. It wasn’t a lie when you said you’d stay with him, that you will be his girl when he just suddenly confessed that night even though the both of you barely know each other, you know how to save a life. He thought he did something wrong again but the way he expressed his problem is painful, he stayed up with you all night and you saved his life.

He hate life but he was just kidding himself, if you ever go, was there something he could say to make your feelings more lighter? It might kill him if you ever feel worthless.

You, yourself know that even if mikey hurts you, you wouldn’t leave him, you never saw that image in your head, you leaving him?he might do something crazy again. it’s better if he keeps blaming you than blaming himself if something goes wrong with the relationship you two have. if he ever leaves you then before he leaves you wouldn’t forget to remind him that your always there for him.

If you ever leave him, what about the future you want with him?what about that?what about the time you spend together?what about the plans?what about trust?what about love? Where did it go? But he’’ll be ready.

The both of you throws your trouble at the burning pile.

But yet you always remind yourself that he was a kid who was stuck on his own thoughts and can’t get out of it.

Nothing will change by running away. Yet again, he’s always in your care.

#tokyo revengers #tokyo rev x reader #tokrev #tr anime #tokrev x reader #tokrev x you #tokyo revengers x y/n #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyorev headcanons #tr mikey #mikey x y/n #mikey x reader

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dreamescapeswriting · 2 years

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It’s Going To Be Okay ~ KTH [Request] [TW]

⤜WORD COUNT: 2.2K

⤜PAIRING: Taheyung X Fem!Reader

⤜GENRE: Pregnancy trope, first pregnancy, high emotional couple, fighting, a lil angst with a soft and happy ending

⤜PLEASE READ WARNING: Contains themes of bleeding during pregnancy but there isn’t a cause for alarm please do not read if you aren’t comfortable

The black genesis SUV pulled onto the street outside and you instantly knew who it was. It wasn't hard to guess that your husband was on his way home from work, even if the rain that was hammering down outside blurred the vision a little. Taehyung was the only one who had the key to get into your private driveway, other than the guards of course. You'd been worried sick all afternoon about where he'd been.

At lunch, you'd tried to call him but got no answer on his phone, when you questioned the boys on everything they claimed he'd gone ou and had no idea where to. All you wanted to do was find out if he wanted to go shopping tonight. The two of you were in the middle of planning the nursery and you were in desperate need of some more items for it.

Decals for the walls, a changing table and you were planning on stocking up on nappies, wipes and clothes while you had the chance to. But when you couldn't get hold of Tae your mind had instantly gone to all places that were bad. Convincing yourself that he had gotten into some kind of accident because of the rain. You'd spend hours going online scouring the internet for any scene of an accident in the nearby area but there was nothing online to suggest anything.

"Daddy's home," You whispered in relief to your baby bump as you slowly rubbed it through the shirt that you were wearing. It was one of Taehyung's button-up shirts since it was currently the only thing you seemed to be comfortable in. Slowly raising yourself up from the window seat in the nursery you began to make your way toward the staircase. Forgetting that you were angry for Taehyung for not answering his phone and just happy that he was finally home but the second the front door slammed you knew something was wrong.

"Tae?" Your voice strained as you saw him standing at the bottom of the stairs gazing at you, an angry look on his face as he shook his head at you. All afternoon long he had been getting countless calls and texts from you and the boys, demanding to know where he was when all he wanted was some time alone.

Ever since you had gotten pregnant it was as if he had to be around you 24 hours a day and seven days a week, it was exhausting. Today was the day he finally thought he was going to have some time to himself, time to arrange things and make sure he could clear his head but it was ruined.

"Can you not go five hours without hearing from me?" He questioned harshly but you thought he was joking as you let out a small laugh, shaking your head at him. As soon as Taehyung didn't laugh back you stopped and stared at him, breath catching in your throat as the look on Taehyung's face seemed to change.

"You're so fucking exhausting." He grumbled rubbing the bridge of his nose as he began to take off his coat and shoes, putting everything away neatly as you stared over at him. Completely taken back by what he had said to you.

Never in the seven years that the two of you had been together had he ever said something like that to you. Ever. Tae was the kind of person that would come to you if anything ever bothered him, to talk things out rationally.

"Seriously, is it the hormones making you this clingy all of the time?" You didn't know if he wanted an answer or if he was just saying all of this to try and get a rise out of you either way you were getting pissed off. This was your first time ever being pregnant and you wanted to experience it all with Taehyung. That included going shopping together and making sure all of the things you needed for the baby were ready before the baby eventually arrived.

"I was just wanting to ask if you would take me out for the last bits..." You said slowly, trying your best not to anger him more than he seemed to be. The last thing you wanted was to have a fight over something so completely pointless as just asking where he was this afternoon.

"We have everything." He grumbled as he began to make his way up the staircase, you turned on your heel and made your way into the nursery. He couldn't have been more wrong if he tried.

There was no way near enough clothes for the little one, not to mention the walls were half-finished and almost none of the furniture was assembled or even bought yet.

"We're missing a changing table and not to mention a rocking chair." You informed him as he stood in the doorway of the nursery, glancing around at the yellow walls. The animal decals you had purchased were still waiting in a box on the window seat, you were planning to put them up when you noticed Taehyung coming home.

"We can get them whenever, we have a while before the baby comes." He grumbled making his way over to the window and staring down at the decals. The two of you had gone with gender-neutral colours for the baby since neither of you wanted to know the sex until the bundle of joy was born.

"Do you really think I'm being clingy?" You finally gathered the courage to ask when he wasn't looking at you. A sinking feeling gathered in your chest as you watched your husband stare at the wall, deciding whether or not to put the decal there or not.

"Tae-"

"Fuck, what is it?!" He snapped angrily as he turned to look at you. The anger on his face froze you to the spot as you tried to remember what it was you were going to say, your mouth opening and closing a little like a fish.

"You're being annoying Y/n. I wanted one day! Just one where I could be alone!" He yelled this time, turning to face you as you felt your heart thumping against your chest heavily. The look on his face was one you had never seen before, it was mixed with so much anger and hurt.

"Tae I just wanted-"

"You always want something! I just wanted some time alone! With no one bothering me and yet everyone decided to call and text. Demanding to know where I was!" Your breath caught in your throat hearing the man you loved yell like this, even when you thought Tae would hardly raise his voice at you. It wasn't something he ever found himself doing until now.

"Tae-"

"Don't! Just give me space! That's all I want!" You groaned a little feeling pain in your side as Taehyung continued to ramble on about being left alone. Your hand instantly flew to where the pain was and your eyes screwed shut. You'd only ever felt this pain before when you were going to be sick but this time it was different. A little stronger than any of the other times you had felt this.

"Where are you going?!" Tae called out, his tone both annoyed that you were walking away but worried as you slammed the bathroom door not bothering to give him an answer.

The second you sat on the toilet and looked down you let out a scream.

Blood. It wasn't much but it was blood and blood while pregnant instantly began to raise red flags for you.

"T-Tae!" You screeched out waiting for him to walk in as you stared up at him, tears welling up in the corners of your eyes as you stared at one another. Neither of you knew what to do at the moment but everything changed. Taehyung was no longer angry about his pathetic fight and he was racing to grab your hand.

"Come on." He whispered as he helped you up, carefully pulling the shorts up around your waist and helping you out of the bathroom.

“It’s going to be okay,” He promised as he ushered you into the car, repeating the same sentence over and over again as you stared down in front of you. Too afraid to move, to afraid that something inside of you was going wrong.

In all of the books you’d read, blood was a bad sign and now that was happening to you. Only a small droplet or two of blood and yet your mind and body were racing faster than you could. Faster than the car appeared to be moving as Tae tried to get you to the hospital as quickly as possible. The same sentence “its going to be okay” ringing in your ears. It had completely lost all meaning as you sat there, hand on your bump as you tried to pray, manifest and do anything that you could think of to make sure that this baby was okay.

The longer you sat in the waiting room of the hospital the more you began to worry. This was the first time you had ever been pregnant, you didn't know what was normal, you didn't know what to do with anything that was happening. None of the classes taught you about any of this. The walls of the waiting room felt like they were squishing down in front of you, making you feel claustrophobic as you watched countless other people being called in before you.

People who had arrived after you getting seen long before you while you and Taehyung were left to wait. Terrified that something was going on inside of you.

A small squeeze on your hand made you sigh as you turned to look at Taehyung, your heart racing almost as fast as his as you waited and waited for someone to call your name. Anxiety bubbling up so far inside of you that you couldn't begin to calm your heart down. Taehyung hadn't left your side and the fight you had been having was completely forgotten as you let Tae hold you in the waiting room.

"I'm sorry," Tae whispered as he kissed the top of your head, using his hand to rub up and down your arm. Doing his best to comfort you in any way that he could.

"I was-" He sighed heavily as he shook his head at the thought of it. All-day long he had been planning something for you and for that he had to be away from you.

"I was in town getting everything we needed...I was going to surprise you with it but I had to come back because the boys were yelling at me." He admitted looking at you as you moved on the seat to stare at him. It explained where he had been but it still didn't mean that he had the right to go off the way that he did at you,

"I am so sorry...I was pissed and I didn't mean to take it out on you." He whispered as he kissed the top of your hand as you smiled weakly. Leaning your head down on his shoulder.

"I didn't mean for the boys to question you either, I'm sorry too." You whispered as you both continued to wait there. Anxiety still prickling inside of you as you watched the seconds on the clock tick by.

"Mr and Mrs Kim?" A voice called out from down the hall, Taehyung stood up first to let them know you were on your way.

"So...Everything is okay?" You questioned looking at the screen, your baby on full display as the nurse took photos of the ultrasound for you both. Taehyung's hand hadn't left yours from the moment you sat in that waiting room and even now. Both of you clutched onto one another anxiously.

"Perfectly healthy." She agreed with a smile on her face, glancing down at your notes to make sure you didn't want to know the gender of your baby. She glanced back to you both and handed you a small wipe to clean your stomach off with. It wasn't the first time that first time parents would come in because of some spotting and it wasn't going to be the last time either.

"It's pretty common to bleed and it's usually not a cause for alarm but it's good that you came in," The nurse informed you both as she began to write down in your notes, both you and Tae sighing in relief knowing that your baby was doing well.

"Stress levels can cause hormones to fluctuate and cause some spotting, have you been under any kind of stress?" Both you and Taehyung glanced at one another and nodded,

"A small argument..." The nurse nodded her head with a small smile on her lips, it wasn't uncommon for fights to happen.

"Just try not to fight often or as agitated with one another, take it easy." She spoke before excusing herself, leaving you and Taehyung alone as you sighed. Laying your head on his shoulder you looked down at the floor.

"I'm going to take you home, make you a hot bath and order you any food you want...Tomorrow we can go out and get everything we need." He promised as he rubbed your lower back, both of you seeming to relax a little as you nodded your head.

"Can we just go home, I'm tired." You admitted, hopping down from the table and going to get your bag from the corner of the room as Taehyung nodded kissing your cheek as you both began to make your way home. Happy knowing that the baby was healthy and everything was going to be okay.

Tagline: @lyoongx @mitzwinchester @rjsmochii @taestannie @sw33tnight @sweeneyblue1 @jin-from-the-block @acciocriativity @mwitsmejk @taeechwitaa @justbangtanthingz @stillwithlix @kookiekuu @lolalee24 @lenorelove @yubinism @hannahantonette17 If you would like to be added or removed from this (or any) tagline please let me know x

#bts #bts x reader #bts x you #bts imagine #bts imagines #bts x y/n #kim taehyung #taehyung #taehyung x reader #taehyung imagine #taehyung imagines #kim taehyung x reader #kim taehyung imagine #kim taehyung imagines

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neondiamond · 2 years

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♥️ Recently Read Fics - February 2022 ♥️

These are all the amazing fics I read over the past month (from shortest to longest). Don’t forget to leave kudos and comments to show the authors your appreciation if you read any of these! 💗

♥️ what’s that sound by @onlyfor-thegays (485, NR)

An omega freaking out the first time they hear an alpha purr because they were raised by and around betas and omegas. They had never heard it before and they freaked out thinking their alpha was hurt.

♥️ The Phantom Heart by @haztobegood (500, NR)

Harry notices the small stain at the edge of fabric. She scrapes her nail across the mark. It won’t come off. A smudge of crusted paint forever staining the threads baby pink with a bittersweet memory.

♥️ Thunder and Rain by @neondiamond (628, G, yes this one is mine, but we love a bit of self-promo in this house)

There’s a storm outside and Louis can’t find the puppies. Luckily, Harry’s there.

♥️ let me show you by @thestylinsons (1k, T)

After three rounds and several empty bottles, Louis is feeling a bit tipsy and everyone else seems to be enjoying themselves. Niall has just finished his turn, “Never have I ever got a tattoo”, to which everyone else groans and reluctantly drinks. Louis laughs to himself because he remembers the time he swore he’d never get a tattoo, and now he’s got an arm full. At this point, the alcohol slides down Louis’ throat like honey.

“Tommo, it’s your turn now.” He hums and looks around the room. Niall’s staring at him, giddy off the high of his last turn. Harry’s got both hands around his drink now, the label torn to pieces on the floor. Zayn and Liam are next to each other, and Louis remembers Zayn telling everyone something that happened a few months ago.

Or, everyone plays 'Never Have I Ever', and Louis discovers something about himself.

♥️ Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now by @allwaswell16 (1k, NR)

Louis is having a personal crisis, a third Valentine's Day being single. Unless he meets someone this week at the high end department store he works at, he'll be stuck going to Niall's Valentine's Day party--again.

Or the one where Harry mistakes Louis for a mannequin.

♥️ forever&more by @solitudeandchaos (1k, G)

Harry hands the envelope over to her and watches her throw it into the bin full of letters.

“Are you sure it’ll get to New Zealand in time?”

“It should but it’s hard to tell with Covid.”

Harry bit his lip worriedly, nodded and tapped his phone against the card machine to pay.

it's valentine's day. harry and louis haven't seen each other in two and a half months, they swap valentine's day cards from eleven thousand miles apart.

♥️ as long as there’s us by @hershelsue (2k, G)

Harry and Zayn discuss what to do for Valentine's Day. It doesn't really matter.

♥️ Happy Valentine’s Day, You Cockroach by @allwaswell16 (2k, NR)

Harry Styles, new director of the Milltown Zoo, has a great idea for a Valentine's Day themed fundraiser. For a donation, they'll name cockroaches after people's exes and then feed them to the meerkats on a live stream. He just didn't foresee how many cockroaches would end up with his name...

♥️ you (lost and lonely) by @hershelsue (2k, E)

Harry and Louis have a couple of days together before Louis goes on tour. Sometimes, however, dysphoria hits Harry harder than he can handle. Louis makes it alright.

♥️ Lips of an Angel by @beelou (2k, G)

And Louis can’t believe what he’s seeing. A man, cuddling with a grown bear. Literally rubbing its belly like a contented puppy. He can hear baby talk coming out of the man’s mouth too. Louis rubs his eyes to see if this is actual real life, but when he uncovers them, the sight before him is still there. He didn’t think that when he took his siblings to the zoo that they would see something as odd as this.

♥️ Sleepy Nouis series by @ladyaj-13 (2k, T)

A collection of unrelated Niall and Louis stories where for whatever reason, they end up in bed together.

♥️ take me home (forever and ever) by @twoghostsdancin (2k, T)

As he grips the counter tightly with his sweaty palms, the cashier gives him a concerned glance, an eyebrow angling in confusion. Louis is sure he’s saying something, but he can’t hear a single thing coming out of his mouth. It’s like someone just turned off all his senses, and all he can hear in his ears is a faint ringing sound. He staggers backward, his mind swirling, and his breaths shallow until he feels himself fall into a strong grip.

The world goes black.

Or. The first time Louis falls, Harry catches him. The second time he falls, it’s for Harry.

♥️ At Last by @juliusschmidt (3k, T)

That’s when Louis sees it, scrawled in the corner: let’s do valentine’s.

There’s a few more notes after that, a place and a number, but Louis can’t process them in that moment.

His heart pounds and his head spins. Zayn wants to spend Valentine’s Day… with Louis. Louis’d spent so much time equivocating about whether or not to ask Zayn on a date that Zayn had beat him to it.

♥️ Gonna Dress You Up In My Love by @fallinglikethis (3k, T)

Harry decides to take up knitting. He's horrible at it.

Louis wears everything anyway.

♥️ I Can Be Your Vice by @littleroverlouis (3k, E)

It could be his innate flight or fight instincts kicking in. His predator is closing in and he is the prey. Fear would be a rational response.

After all, there is a centuries old vampire standing directly behind him.

“You’re ahead of schedule, Louis.”

Or Harry and Louis are FWBB (friends with bloodsucking benefits)

♥️ I'll do anything you say (If you say it with your hands) by @harrystomlinson (3k, G)

"What d'ya say curly?" Louis raises his eyebrow, mischievous smile playing on his lips.

"I'll do anything you say." Harry's voice comes out breathy, eyes widening when he realised what he'd said.

Louis doesn't reply- only takes his hand and pulls him in.

♥️ Make Your Mark by @ladyaj-13 (3k, T)

When one of Liam's classmates isn't getting the hint that he's not interested, Louis suggests they make him look unavailable.

♥️ Been Waitin’ (After Weekend After Weekend After) by @absoloutenonsense (3k, T)

Louis and Harry meet at a laundromat.

♥️ Validation by @lululawrence (3k, NR)

“Hey, how are you?” Harry asked. He’d found that sometimes just a smile and a kind face was all that was needed to brighten someone’s day.

“Oh, uhm. I’m alright. Can you validate me? »

Harry chuckled inwardly, but decided to go ahead and take him literally.

Or the one where Harry worked in a parking garage and he totally didn’t mean for this, the whole validation of people as well as their parking tickets, to become a thing. It just kinda...did.

♥️ Somersault by @sun-lt (4k, G)

“Got you something,” Louis whispers eventually.

Something in Harry’s stomach fizzes; the idea of presents—especially surprise ones—has never failed to evoke somersault excitement in his belly. And though he never has any expectations, it’s certainly not uncommon for Louis to spoil him like this when he knows Harry’s had a rubbish sort of day.

Louis gets Harry presents. Harry’s contemplating getting Louis a ring.

♥️ in the shallow water, you can swim around me (i won’t mind) by @non-binharry (4k, E)

“What’s got you all worked up this morning, princess?”

Louis tickles up Harry's ribs and Harry squirms, slapping his hands away.

"Your little footie players are in here giving their mummy hell this morning." Harry explains. “I could barely sleep so I had a little bath. I thought it was only fair that you give me a hand to lotion myself up.”

“And just where do you want me to rub you down, my love?” Louis asks, an amused lilt to his question. Harry knows that Louis had already figured out exactly what he was really getting at, too embarrassed to flat out say he was horny at 8 o’clock on a Thursday morning. Harry’s libido was going haywire in his final trimester, and while Louis was never going to refuse pulling his cock out to give his baby exactly what he wanted, Harry felt undignified over the reality that he could barely function these days if he didn’t do something first to relieve the aching pressure building just beneath the surface.

“Hmm,” Harry says, tapping his chin, “I think I want you to start… here.”

♥️ Click by @allwaswell16 (5k, E)

When Louis got assigned a roommate, he wasn’t exactly thrilled, but as far as roommates go Marcel was a pretty good one. That was until Marcel started clicking a counter everywhere he went...

♥️ baby I’ll never leave (if you keep holding me this way) by @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed (6k, T)

His fingers curl around the first thing he can find that would be suitable as a weapon, an umbrella that has a rather impressive looking metal pin at the end. He holds it in front of him the way he imagines people hold a sword, tiptoeing through his living room until he can find whoever’s in his kitchen. He briefly considers calling 999, figures that if someone’s trying to burgle him, he should probably not be a hero and actually rely on professionals to arrest them, but he’s never been the type to sit back and wait, and -- is that singing?

It is singing. Whoever is trying to rob him is in his kitchen, singing an eighties pop song under their breath.

And they made cookies?

♥️ you bring me home by @solvetheminourdreams (6k, G)

OTRA Melbourne — 14th of February, 2015

It's Valentine's day. It's Valentine's day and Harry's annoyed, because instead of spending the night with his boyfriend after a day packed with promo and a show—he can't find him anywhere.

Or the one where the boys trash a dressing room, Liam and Zayn just want a gift wrapped, Niall's life is in peril, Louis is MIA, and Harry's just a tad frustrated.

Did he mention it's Valentine's day?

♥️ Kiss Me Again, You Fool by @wabadabadaba (6k, E)

“Louis, you’re cuter than a button. Will you be my valentine? Hm, no,” Marcel scowls. “It is true but no. ‘I love you a latte!’ But wait, does he drink coffee? Only sometimes so that doesn’t make sense.”

Marcel sticks his tongue out as he ices three more cookies.

“I go bananas for you,” Marcel giggles. “That’s cute, but not sophisticated enough. He’s the best designer on our floor, he deserves something better. ‘Right from the start, you stole my heart?’ No, I don’t want to scare him off. I should probably just speak from the heart, that’s always what mom says. But then Gemma says that’s lame, I don’t knooow,” Marcel groans.

or the one where Marcel has a huge crush on his coworker, Louis, and decides Valentine's Day is the day to put himself out there.

♥️ Where Love Grows by @neondiamond (6k, T, more shameless self-promo)

When his husband leaves without warning only weeks after the birth of their first child, a struggling Harry is forced to move in with a work colleague and raise his newborn in the desolate, dreary outskirts of London. There, within the walls of a shitty apartment complex, he meets Louis Tomlinson, fellow struggling parent and hopeless romantic.

♥️ young hearts on the chase by @polaroidlouis (7k, G)

Before he can question him any further, Harry’s holding out a drink to him, ‘Louis’ written on the side of it with messy, pink letters. Warmth spreads all throughout Louis’ body when he takes it, starting from the tip of his fingers where they brush Harry’s to curl around the cup and settling in his chest.

��I also got us– um,” the omega starts, nervous fingers fumbling to get the paper bag open. “Got you an egg muffin. Or– or a normal muffin if you don’t like egg ones.”

“Who doesn’t like egg muffins?”

The smile that breaks across Harry’s face in response is as bright as the one yesterday. Louis almost expects it to be kissed into his cheek as well. It looks like Harry’s considering it for a moment, too, dreamy gaze gliding all over Louis’ expectant face. He seems to decide against it with a sigh though, and Louis’ not disappointed when they start walking side by side instead (he’s not).

harry’s a hopeless romantic, louis’ oblivious, and it’s going to be Valentine’s Day.

♥️ in comes the rain by @starlitlou (7k, M)

Louis glared down at the calendar notification on his phone, as if by the power of his gaze alone, he could make time skip forward. He just really did not want to deal with this.

Stupid fucking heat. Stupid fucking biology.

He knew it was dumb how worked up he got about it. It was far from his first time having to deal with it and it would be far from his last. And yet.

Being ace and an omega had never been Louis' favourite combination. Even less so when his heat is involved. Unfortunately, it's not something he can avoid forever. Harry makes it all a bit better.

♥️ With You Here, It’s Better by @chloehl10 (11k, M)

Louis hates Valentine's Day, especially since he's found himself suddenly single yet again.

When he stumbles upon his ex in the pub cavorting with his new boyfriend, Louis has had enough. He doesn't, however, expect a tall, curly haired stranger to come and turn his night around...

♥️ It’s Been Ages by @2tiedships2 (13k, NR)

“We need to talk,” Niall said as he plopped down on Louis’ bed. “It’s you and Harry. You like him, he likes you, it’s a match made in heaven and you will one day be mates,”

Louis shook his head in exasperation. “If you’ve been watching, you would see that Harry is interested in, like, alpha alphas. Not me.”

“What the fuck is an alpha alpha?” Niall asked with furrowed brows.

“You know what I mean,” Louis said, giving Niall a pointed look.

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

♥️ two sugars by @sun-lt (21k, T)

Louis rushes away to the kitchen, waving distractedly, and as his and Niall’s voices rise in a muffled squabble, Harry commits his first ever act of theft.

Louis’ blanket, emerald polar fleece still heated from his body, soaked in the mountain lake notes of Louis’ scent and the sugary aroma of the café, fits easily beneath his parka. Harry’s heart pounds like he’s run a marathon and his tea—perfectly sweet—burns as it splashes on his cheeks and chin, his trembling fingers failing to control the tilt of the paper cup.

Lonely and anxious in a new city and a new job, obsessed with preparing for a picture-perfect future he can’t actually picture, Harry begins to nest but can’t allow himself to indulge enough to satisfy the bone-deep, instinctual urge. Louis works in a café with a yellow door, has an extensive collection of soft sweaters, and keeps offering Harry books and pastries.

♥️ With A Little Kindness by @jacaranda-bloom (33k, E)

The man lays his hand on Harry’s forearm and Harry looks up as the stranger leans in. “I just wanted to say,” he whispers. “Can I cover your bill? I’m a big believer in paying it forward and I can see you’re struggling. It’s none of my business, of course, but I’d really like to help.”

OR the one where Harry is a struggling single parent who doesn’t have time for relationships and Louis is a generous stranger who is unlucky in love, until fate decides to step in and bring them together.

♥️ Bring It Back That Old Feeling by @all-these-larrythings (57k, M)

After six years together, Harry thought there wasn’t anything that he didn’t know about his husband, and no problem they couldn’t solve with a kiss and a snuggle. After a painful year of booze and heartache, he realizes some problems are much harder to fix, but the wait is always worth it.

#28th appreciation #monthly recs #lots of shorter ones this month #hltracks #hljournal #hlsource #hlcreators #trackinghome #trackinghappily #tracksintheam #fics #fic rec

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